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Israeli PM Netanyahu arrives at the Bal Harbour Shul, where he will address local community leaders and high school students.

More than 69,000 Israelis left the country in 2025 amid the prolonged shadow of Israel’s wars with Gaza and Iran, marking the second consecutive year in which Israel recorded a negative migration balance, according to a year-end report released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The CBS reported that despite the outflow, Israel’s total […]

Federal lawmakers are preparing to intensify scrutiny of alleged large-scale fraud tied to Minnesota’s social services system, as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ramps up a wide-ranging investigation.

According to committee leadership, the panel is digging into what it describes as extensive fraud and money laundering uncovered by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, signaling that the inquiry stretches beyond isolated incidents.

The Trump administration has already acted in response to concerns that federal programs in Minnesota were exploited on a broad scale, including a recent decision to halt federal child care payments to the state.

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said the move was part of a wider effort to confront fraud and lax oversight, citing worries that public funds were being diverted away from the children and families those programs are meant to serve.

Enforcement efforts across the federal government have stepped up, officials said, with multiple agencies involved. The administration has pointed to ongoing investigations and arrests, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the Justice Department has been probing the allegations for months, resulting in dozens of convictions.

As part of the congressional effort, the committee plans to conduct transcribed interviews with Minnesota state officials and has sought records, correspondence, and documents from state leadership related to alleged misconduct.

In addition, the panel has asked the U.S. Treasury Department to turn over relevant Suspicious Activity Reports connected to the investigation.

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced that the committee will hold a public hearing next week focused on alleged misuse of federal funds in Minnesota.

The hearing, titled “Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part I,” is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 7 and will feature testimony from Minnesota lawmakers who have sounded alarms about what Comer says is widespread abuse within the state’s social services programs.

Comer also said the committee has invited Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to appear before the panel on Feb. 10.

“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have either been asleep at the wheel or complicit in a massive fraud involving taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs,” Comer said in a release announcing the hearing, adding that Americans “demand and deserve accountability” for the theft of taxpayer funds.

Comer said the Department of Justice is actively investigating and prosecuting fraudsters who have “stolen billions,” and argued that Congress has a responsibility to expose breakdowns, tighten safeguards, and ensure meaningful penalties for those responsible.

Lawmakers slated to testify at the Jan. 7 hearing include Minnesota state Reps. Kristin Robbins of Maple Grove, Walter Hudson of St. Paul, and Marion Rarick of Wright County. The committee noted that additional witnesses could be added.

Committee leaders say the upcoming hearing represents a critical moment for accountability, raising the question of whether officials and agencies responsible for overseeing taxpayer-funded programs will be compelled to answer for lapses that allowed alleged fraud to spread.

With Washington emphasizing efforts to curb waste and rebuild public confidence, the committee said it plans to continue pressing forward until taxpayers receive full transparency and consequences are imposed on anyone found to have enabled the misuse of federal funds.

{Matzav.com}

BREAKING: President Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services is freezing child care funding to all 50 states, not just Minnesota, ABC News reports. States will now be required to submit detailed data to the federal government demonstrating that the funds are being spent on legitimate child care programs. According to the administration, the money […]

A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protected Status for migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua, ruling the decision failed to fully consider country conditions and citing statements that suggested discriminatory motives.

Escalation in Iran’s Hamadan Province – Protesters are heard shouting “Death to Khamenei” as they seize and set fire to a Basij militia headquarters, a paramilitary force that operates under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has signed an ordinance establishing a legal framework for a “Reparations Fund” to address historic discrimination and displacement affecting Black residents. The plan could eventually allow payments of up to $5 million per eligible resident, but the measure does not allocate city funds or guarantee payments. Lurie says no taxpayer […]

Rep. Fallon: “Whether you’re here on a visa, whether you’re here on a green card, whether you’re here as a recently naturalized citizen, I think we should have the option to denaturalize you and send you home, because you don’t come here and commit crimes and rob from our people”

Israel is preparing to fully reopen the Rafah Crossing to both outgoing and incoming Gaza residents, with the move expected shortly after Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu returns from Washington later this week, according to an Israeli television report. The step would mark a shift from Israel’s previous position and comes amid intensified pressure from the Trump administration.

Channel 12 reported that Israel intends to proceed with reopening the crossing in both directions, citing an Israeli official who said the government does not want to be portrayed as obstructing Trump’s Gaza peace initiative. “Yerushalayim doesn’t want to be seen as the party that is blocking the implementation of Trump’s Gaza peace plan.”

The issue was a focal point during Netanyahu’s meetings on Monday with President Donald Trump and senior U.S. aides, after which a U.S. official told The Times of Israel that Washington expects the crossing to begin operating for both entry and exit of Gazans in the coming days.

Although the reopening of Rafah was included in the October ceasefire arrangement for Gaza, Israel has until now conditioned its cooperation on the crossing being used solely for departures from the Strip. Egypt has rejected that approach and has kept the crossing shut, contending that Israel’s stance amounts to an effort to thin Gaza’s population by preventing residents from returning.

Facing American pressure, Netanyahu presented the idea of reopening the crossing in both directions to his cabinet last week. The proposal encountered resistance from far-right ministers, some of whom have advocated throughout the war for policies aimed at encouraging Gazans to leave the territory.

{Matzav.com}

Protests driven by economic desperation are intensifying across Iran, exposing the widening gap between a population crushed by inflation and a ruling system that continues to answer hardship with arrests, threats, and recycled accusations of foreign plots. For a fourth consecutive day, demonstrators poured into streets and campuses across the country on Tuesday as the […]

Israel ended 2025 with a second consecutive year in which more people left the country than arrived, as tens of thousands departed amid ongoing war and domestic tensions, according to figures released Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The CBS reported that more than 69,000 Israelis moved abroad during the year, while the overall migration balance showed a net loss of roughly 20,000 people. This marked the second year in a row of negative migration, following a similar pattern in 2024, when 82,700 Israelis left the country — about 50,000 more than those who arrived.

At the same time, Israel’s population continued to grow, though at one of the slowest rates in the country’s history. The CBS said the population rose by 1.1 percent in 2025, reaching a record 10.178 million residents, matching the growth rate recorded the previous year.

A separate report published Wednesday by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies painted an even bleaker picture, estimating that population growth stood at just 0.9 percent — the first time Israel’s annual growth rate has fallen below the 1 percent mark.

Immigration figures also declined. According to the CBS, about 24,600 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2025, a drop of roughly 8,000 compared to 2024. The bureau noted that this number is still higher than the 21,900 immigrants announced earlier this week by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry. Much of the decrease was linked to a sharp fall in arrivals from Russia, after immigration from that country surged following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

During the year, approximately 19,000 Israelis returned after spending extended periods abroad, and another 5,500 people entered the country under family reunification frameworks. Even with those returns, departures significantly outpaced arrivals.

Demographers have pointed out that for most of Israel’s history, immigration exceeded emigration, with notable exceptions during parts of the 1950s and 1980s. The recent reversal, they say, reflects growing unease tied to Israel’s political and security situation.

Analysts have linked the trend to the ongoing war in Gaza, which erupted after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, as well as frustration over the government’s judicial overhaul initiatives, which opponents argue weaken democratic safeguards.

The CBS cautioned that emigration figures are calculated retroactively, as individuals are only classified as emigrants after spending the majority of a year outside the country. As a result, many of those counted in the 2025 data actually left Israel in 2024.

The demographic breakdown released Wednesday showed that Israel’s population of 10.178 million includes 7.771 million Jews and others — a category that encompasses non-Arab Christians and people not classified by religion — accounting for 76.3 percent of residents. Arabs number about 2.147 million, or 21.1 percent, while approximately 260,000 people, around 2.6 percent, are classified as foreigners.

Birth and death figures also contributed to overall growth. Some 182,000 births were recorded during the year, with 76 percent to Jewish mothers and 24 percent to Arab mothers. Meanwhile, about 50,000 residents died in 2025, a slight decline from the 52,000 deaths reported in 2024.

Taken together, these factors resulted in a net population increase of 112,000 people over the past year, according to the CBS, even as migration trends continued to raise concern among policymakers and demographers.

{Matzav.com}

Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong’s New Year celebrations. Not this year. The territory will ring in 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people. The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show Wednesday […]

Police in Bnei Brak–Ramat Gan have opened an investigation following the circulation of a disturbing viral video showing two young men tearing mezuzahs off the doorposts of a residential building in the chareidi city of Bnei Brak. In the footage, the suspects are seen approaching apartment doors, forcefully ripping the mezuzahs from the doorframes and […]

A storm erupted across the chareidi political spectrum following an interim ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court ordering a halt to coalition funds earmarked for chareidi educational frameworks that lack state supervision. The order was issued in response to a petition filed by the Yesh Atid faction.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid welcomed the court’s move, arguing that the freeze was unavoidable. “The Supreme Court issued an interim order against the fund transfers for one reason: they are illegal. Even the chareidim are not exempt from the laws of the state. Anyone who wants to receive funds will need to teach the core curriculum and accept proper supervision. You won’t take the money of reservists and taxpayers and use it to preach against conscription and deny young Chareidim the opportunity to gain tools for the job market. The chareidi parties have convinced themselves that they are above the law – they are not, and Yesh Atid will ensure that they are not.”

From within the coalition, the response was swift and blistering. United Torah Judaism chairman MK Moshe Gafni accused the judiciary of launching a direct assault on the Torah world. He said that “the court has declared war on the chareidi public and on Torah institutions.”

Gafni sharply criticized both the process and the substance of the decision. “The Supreme Court demanded a response within a few hours, which is not acceptable even in court, and the funds, which were approved legally, according to the standard procedure and the necessary approvals, were revoked with a sword swipe in half a day,” he said.

He went further, charging the court with ideological bias and disregard for democratic norms. “The judges’ malice to harm the livelihood of teaching staff and the harm to the system as a whole will not be forgiven, and the evil petitioners will not be exempt. It turns out there is no democracy in the State of Israel, and the judges make decisions according to their own views and worldview, with no connection to the subjects themselves or to the professional decisions made by the government and the Knesset. We will do everything to restore the situation to what it was,” Gafni declared.

UTJ leader MK Yitzhak Goldknopf also condemned the ruling, framing it as part of a broader political campaign. He warned that “the Supreme Court’s decision is adding fuel to the fire of the hatred campaign led by Yair Lapid. This is a direct attack on Chareidi children who are innocent of any wrongdoing, and an extension of the budgetary discrimination meant to prevent basic rights for the chareidi sector. We will not be silent in the face of this disgrace, nor will we accept turning hundreds of thousands of students into hostages of absurd petitions for propaganda purposes.”

Goldknopf added that responsibility also rests with the court’s leadership. “It is expected that the President of the Supreme Court, against whom a justified severe complaint was made today, will adopt the remarks of the ombudsman and act to temper the discourse and increase trust in the judiciary. The Supreme Court’s decision is an extension of the divide and increases distrust in the legal system. We will continue to fight with all the tools available to ensure equality for every child in Israel.”

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri raised the issue directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is currently in the United States, and conveyed his party’s fierce objection to the ruling. In an unusually harsh statement, Shas said: “The Supreme Court is out of control, like a reckless driver on a busy road, ruthlessly and unprecedentedly crushing the chareidi public. From stealing the bread of young children to harming Torah learning and the education of tens of thousands of students. There are no judges in Jerusalem, but a dangerous gang of arsonists, who, in their desperate attempt to save their collapsing control, chose to take the chareidi public hostage.”

The Shas statement concluded with a call beyond Israel’s borders: “We call on Jews around the world to raise their voices against this antisemitic torment. The chareidi public will stand firm like a wall against these wicked decisions.”

Criticism also came from within the Knesset’s financial leadership. Finance Committee chairman MK Chanoch Milvitzky accused the court of steadily expanding its reach at the expense of elected institutions. “It is no surprise that the protégée of Judge Amit freezes funds that were legally transferred to chareidi institutions. The Supreme Court is taking more and more powers for itself. Unfortunately, in the meantime, it is playing on an empty field. This will not stop until we decide to rebel against this judicial tyranny. We are already very late.”

The interim order has now placed the funding of numerous chareidi institutions in limbo, setting the stage for an intensified political and legal battle over the future of Torah education and the balance of power between Israel’s courts and its elected branches.

{Matzav.com}

As federal and state investigators continue digging into a sweeping fraud investigation tied to Minnesota’s human services programs, a Minneapolis day care center says it has been hit by a burglary that targeted sensitive records.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, all child care payments to Minnesota were frozen Tuesday night unless the state can demonstrate that the funds are valid. The halted payments totaled $185 million in 2025 alone, federal officials said.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of an expanding investigation in Minneapolis, where authorities say at least $1 billion in fraudulent claims involving food assistance, housing support, and child care subsidies have already been uncovered. Prosecutors have warned that the real total could climb as high as $9 billion. So far, 92 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged schemes, including 80 Somali immigrants.

Amid the heightened scrutiny, Nakomis Day Care Center, which is operated by members of the Somali community, reported a break-in earlier this week. Nasrulah Mohamed, the center’s manager, said a suspect entered the building through a rear kitchen area, damaging a wall before forcing entry into the office on Tuesday.

Mohamed told reporters that the intruder took materials he described as “important documentation,” including records related to children enrolled at the center, employee paperwork, and checkbooks.

He pointed to a widely circulated YouTube video posted last week by Nick Shirley, who visited numerous Minneapolis-area day care centers while examining potential fraud, as a catalyst for the incident. “This is devastating news, and we don’t know why this is targeting our Somali community as one video made by a specific individual made this all happen,” Mohamed said, adding that staff have received “hateful” and “threatening” messages in recent days.

Describing the situation as emotionally draining, Mohamed said, “This is frightening and exhausting,” and dismissed Shirley’s work as “false.”

Nakomis Day Care Center itself did not appear in Shirley’s video, which has surpassed 110 million views online, but the attention generated by the footage has placed Minnesota’s child care system — and the communities connected to it — under intense national scrutiny.

{Matzav.com}

China’s People’s Liberation Army said Wednesday that it “successfully completed” two days of military exercises in the waters off Taiwan, concluding a set of high-powered maneuvers aimed at asserting its sovereignty over the island — actions that ratcheted up tension in East Asia during 2025’s waning days. In a New Year’s Eve announcement, the PLA said that the operation […]

Assistant Chief Charles A. Minch has officially been promoted to serve as the NYPD’s Chief of Patrol for Brooklyn South, assuming command of one of the department’s most significant and demanding patrol boroughs. Chief Minch’s promotion follows years of dedicated service and leadership within the NYPD, where he has been widely respected for his commitment […]

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited southern Gaza today with senior commanders and met with troops in the field. He said the IDF is fully determined to disarm Hamas and will not allow it to rebuild, adding that Israel will continue operating until the last hostage, Ran Gvili, is brought back for burial […]

At a discussion held this week in the Knesset, Yitzchok Goldknopf, head of United Torah Judaism, addressed questions from twelfth-grade students of Ulpanat Ra’aya in Beit El about the ongoing debate over chareidi enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces.

Goldknopf concluded the meeting by rejecting claims attributed to him in the past regarding Religious Zionism, which were published by Makor Rishon. He said the report was fabricated and caused unnecessary pain. “This was lies and falsehoods, and was not said by me. It’s a shame that bereaved families shed tears over this. Since then, I do not give interviews there, because they falsify things.”

During the exchange, students challenged Goldknopf on why the chareidi community cannot follow the model common in their own families, combining Torah learning with military service. He pushed back, arguing that the issue is broader than the chareidi public alone. “Does no chareidi enlist? Do you know how many secular Israelis do not enlist? The head of the Personnel Directorate said that there are more draft-dodgers in the Tel Aviv area than there are in the entire chareidi community. I have a nephew in Gaza who has still not returned from there.”

Expanding on that point, Goldknopf said the focus on yeshiva students ignores the larger picture of non-enlistment nationwide. “Over 50% of the general public does not enlist. Where are they? [Former Supreme Court President] Aharon Barak once said, ‘Those whose Torah study is their occupation – are forbidden to cease studying.’ Those who do not learn Torah – we do not represent them. Whoever does not study Torah – whatever the law says.”

Goldknopf also emphasized what he described as the central role of Torah study in Jewish continuity, framing it as a national asset rather than a sectorial interest. “We, the nation of Israel, what has held preserved us for thousands of years is Torah study. There is a minority who want to study Torah, and I am speaking about them. When someone turns to [Likud MK Boaz] Bismuth and tells him to enact sanctions against Torah learners, is that Torah? Why punish him?”

Addressing enforcement directly, Goldknopf said that those who neither learn nor serve should be dealt with under the law, but insisted that responsibility lies with the state, not with yeshiva students or their representatives. “Whoever does not learn Torah and does not enlist, activate the enforcement system against him. What do you want from me? Why am I to blame for the fact that the army is not organized? On October 7, as well, it was not organized. If someone does not pay taxes, am I to blame? If you have an issue, enforce it.”

{Matzav.com}

Israel and the United States have agreed to give Hamas a two-month window to fully disarm, a move that sharply escalates pressure on the terror group and sets the stage for renewed Israeli military action if the deadline is not met. According to Yisrael Hayom, the agreement was reached during an overnight meeting at Mar-a-Lago […]