[Video below.] Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Sunday that he would support possible US military action against Iran, but only after every available nonmilitary option aimed at Iran’s leadership has been fully pursued.
Speaking in an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States should intensify pressure on Tehran’s ruling regime. “I think the US should be taking every step possible to end this regime,” he said.
Cruz argued that Washington still has a wide range of tools at its disposal short of military force and called for increased American support for the widespread anti-government demonstrations currently gripping Iran. “I hope and believe that America is doing everything we can to support the protesters. There are lots of steps we can and should be taking short of a bombing strike,” he said.
His remarks followed comments made a day earlier by President Donald Trump, who told Politico that Iran needs “new leadership” and sharply criticized Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling him “a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people”.
Cruz said Trump’s remarks represented a significant turning point in US policy. “In the last two days a really important step occurred where President Trump came out unequivocally and said it is time for new leadership in Iran,” he said, describing the moment as “massively important.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded Sunday to Trump’s statements, warning that any move against Khamenei would be treated as an act of war.
Writing on X, Pezeshkian said: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”
Relations between Washington and Tehran have been increasingly strained in recent weeks, as Iranian authorities carried out a deadly crackdown on protesters and Trump warned that Iran would face severe consequences if demonstrators were killed.
At one point on Wednesday, tensions appeared to peak, with the possibility of imminent US military action widely discussed. The situation later appeared to ease after Trump said the killings of protesters had stopped.
According to a report published over the weekend by The Washington Post, officials across the Middle East and in Washington believed late Wednesday morning that Trump was close to authorizing heavy US airstrikes against Iran. The report said Trump ultimately decided against the strikes after receiving a message through envoy Steve Witkoff that Iran had halted plans to execute 800 people.
{Matzav.com}
A senior spokesman for the Islamic Jihad terror organization said the group is prepared to work with a committee overseeing civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip, while at the same time rejecting the political structure surrounding that body and opposing any framework linked to President Donald Trump.
In an interview with the newspaper Al Araby Al Jadeed, Muhammad al Khaj Musa said Islamic Jihad is willing to cooperate with the Gaza administration committee led by Ali Shaath “in order to ease the suffering of the residents of the Strip.”
Musa stressed, however, that the organization has serious objections to both the makeup of the committee and the political vision behind it, arguing that it operates under American backing and influence.
He said Islamic Jihad rejects the “Board of Peace” initiative established by Donald Trump, declaring that the group opposes any form of “international sponsorship over the Palestinian people,” which he claimed is designed to dismantle armed factions and strip them of their weapons.
Turning to the issue of hostages, Musa accused Israel of preventing progress, asserting that the body of Ran Gvili—the final hostage held by the organization—is trapped in a tunnel that was filled with large quantities of concrete by the IDF.
According to Musa, recovering the remains “requires special engineering equipment,” but he alleged that Israel “is placing obstacles and conditions,” including tying the return of the body to advancements in a future agreement.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan, Hamas—which controls the Gaza Strip—was supposed to return all hostages held in Gaza during the first phase. Nevertheless, Gvili’s body remains in terrorist custody, even as Hamas claims it does not know its location.
Israel, for its part, has passed along what it says is vital information regarding the burial site of Gvili, but Hamas has declined to act on it.
{Matzav.com}The Trump administration is examining whether the United States should offer asylum to Jews from the United Kingdom as concerns mount over rising antisemitism, according to remarks given to The Telegraph by a senior figure close to President Donald Trump.
Robert Garson, the president’s personal attorney and a former British barrister originally from Manchester, said he has been in contact with the US State Department to discuss the possibility of granting refuge to British Jews who feel increasingly threatened in the UK.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Garson said Britain is “no longer a safe place for Jews,” pointing to an Islamist attack on a synagogue in Manchester and what he described as a sharp increase in antisemitism following the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel. Those events, he said, convinced him that American protection should be extended to British Jews seeking to leave.
Garson said he believes there is “no future” for Jews in the UK and placed responsibility on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, accusing him of failing to confront antisemitism and allowing it to spread.
He noted that after being appointed last May by President Trump to the US Holocaust Memorial Council—following the removal of appointees from the Biden era—he raised the asylum proposal with Trump’s antisemitism envoy, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun.
At 49, Garson has emerged as a prominent figure within Trump’s inner circle. He is currently representing the president in a $50 million lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward and also serves as legal counsel to Donald Trump Jr. in connection with Winning Team Publishing, which has released books by conservative writers, the president himself, and Charlie Kirk, the assassinated right-wing activist.
Garson, who relocated to the United States in 2008, restated his concerns in blunt terms: “The UK is no longer a safe place for Jews. I have spoken to the State Department as to whether the president should be offering British Jews asylum in the US. It is certainly not an unattractive proposition. It is a highly educated community… It is a populous that speaks English natively, that is educated and doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals. There were conversations.”
He said shifting demographics and growing hostility toward Jews have led him to conclude that “there is a future for Jews in the United Kingdom” no longer. “For me, that is particularly sad,” he added.
Garson also lashed out at the Crown Prosecution Service, accusing it of failing to bring charges against protesters “on the streets of Britain who had glorified in the rape or death of Jews” in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks. He said there is “a lack of political will” to apply the Public Order Act to anti-Israel demonstrations.
In a further attack on the British government, Garson said: “Keir Starmer has turned a total blind eye to antisemitism.” He continued, “The Prime Minister has allowed rampant antisemitism to become commonplace in society and has allowed it to come from those who really don’t have Britain’s best interests at heart.”
Garson warned that if extremist Islamism is not confronted, parts of the country could eventually be governed by Sharia law. “Mark my words, they are coming for the Jews and then they are coming for your pubs. You are going to have sharia-compliant areas very, very soon,” he said.
{Matzav.com}
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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro writes in a newly released memoir that while being screened as a possible vice-presidential pick for Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign, he was confronted with a question asking whether he had ever “been a double agent for Israel.”
Portions of Shapiro’s book, Where We Keep the Light, were published in excerpts carried by The New York Times and The Atlantic.
In the book, Shapiro describes reacting with shock and offense to the question, recalling his immediate disbelief (“Was she kidding?”). He also recounts feeling deeply uncomfortable throughout the vetting process, which included repeated inquiries into his views on Israel — an area where his public record has generally been supportive.
Shapiro writes that being asked such a question “said a lot about some of the people around [Harris],” suggesting it reflected troubling assumptions within the circle conducting the interviews.
“I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” he says.
Reflecting on the tone of the interviews, Shapiro notes that while the meetings were outwardly formal, they were emotionally taxing. “These sessions were completely professional and businesslike,” Shapiro says. “But I just had a knot in my stomach through all of it.”
Harris ultimately selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, and the Democratic ticket went on to lose the general election to Donald Trump.
{Matzav.com}
As the annual yahrtzeit of Rav Dovid of Lelov zt”l approaches, thousands of Lelover chassidim are once again preparing to travel to Poland for the traditional pilgrimage to his kever. The gathering, held each year on 7 Shevat in the town of Lelov, is customarily led by the Lelover Rebbe, who is joined by large delegations of followers from Eretz Yisroel and abroad.
This year, however, an unusual and restrictive directive has been issued, leading to disappointment among many bochurim who had hoped to participate in the journey and benefit from the long-standing segulah associated with the yahrtzeit.
The Rebbe has instructed that bochurim and young avreichim who belong to age cohorts required to report for military service — and who fear possible arrest — must refrain from leaving the country and should not take part in the trip under any circumstances.
In recent years, the Lelover yahrtzeit has drawn not only chassidim but also many individuals seeking yeshuos, particularly bochurim who are delayed in finding a shidduch. Among Lelover chassidim, a well-known segulah involves unmarried bochurim dancing on a table during the yahrtzeit seudah in front of the assembled chassidim, an act seen as removing embarrassment and opening the gates to a shidduch. Numerous accounts have circulated in recent years of older singles who participated in the yahrtzeit and went on to get married within the following year.
This year’s directive follows a significant tightening of enforcement by military police, who have intensified efforts to compel attendance and arrest those who have not regularized their status. After the matter was brought before the Rebbe, a clear ruling was issued: Any bochur or avreich with even a remote concern of arrest — whether while departing Israel or upon return — is not to attempt traveling abroad for the yahrtzeit.
While the instruction is being widely accepted as a matter of pikuach nefesh and responsible leadership, it has nevertheless caused deep disappointment among singles who had pinned their hopes on participating in the pilgrimage and the associated segulah this year.
{Matzav.com}
Two days before the dramatic public announcement regarding the arrangement reached between Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu and MK Yisroel Eichler, the dayanim arbitrating the heated dispute between Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel had already signed a binding psak ordering Eichler to resign immediately from the Knesset.
Portions of the beis din ruling have leaked, revealing for the first time that the dayanim unequivocally ruled that Eichler was obligated to vacate his seat as part of the long-standing rotation agreement between Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel. A senior source within Yahadus HaTorah said that Eichler would have resigned in any event, regardless of the position he later secured.
On Thursday afternoon, the political system was thrown into turmoil after it was revealed that Eichler had reached an understanding with Netanyahu under which he would resign from the Knesset and be appointed Deputy Minister of Communications. This step enabled MK Yitzchok Pindrus of Degel HaTorah to return to the Knesset and participate in the vote on the draft law.
However, it has now emerged that two days earlier, the arbitration panel—composed of Rav Betzalel Waksalstein, Rav Avrohom Direnfeld, and Rav Yaakov Farbstein—had already signed the final psak, determining that Eichler must step down immediately in favor of Pindrus, in accordance with the rotation agreement between the two factions.
Following the earlier resignation from the government, Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni demanded that Agudas Yisroel instruct Eichler—who at the time had been under consideration for the position of Housing Minister—to resign, as required by the rotation agreement. Eichler objected, leading the sides to bring the matter before a mutually accepted beis din to adjudicate the dispute within Yahadus HaTorah.
Last Tuesday, the panel signed its final ruling, stating clearly that Eichler is required to resign immediately from the Knesset. The psak bears the signature of Rav Avrohom Direnfeld, one of the senior dayanim associated with the Belzer chassidus, which Eichler represents.
An excerpt from the beis din ruling states: “MK HaRav Yisroel Eichler must, in principle, resign immediately from the Knesset, and the Agudas Yisroel party must instruct MK HaRav Yisroel Eichler to resign immediately from the Knesset. In practice, we grant the parties two weeks to reach an arrangement—whether among themselves, by way of the Norwegian Law, or through negotiations within Agudas Yisroel regarding who will resign in order to implement the rotation. Should no arrangement be reached, Rav Eichler shall resign from the Knesset without any claims.”
A senior official in Yahadus HaTorah remarked: “Eichler essentially managed to arrange a position for himself. This was not a deal with Degel HaTorah and had no direct connection to the draft law. He understood that the beis din—including the dayan from Belz—had ruled that he must leave the Knesset, and at the final moment he secured himself a role via the Prime Minister’s Office. Even without that position, he would have resigned. Had he not done so, the psak would have been made public by the end of last week. He simply acted first to preempt the fallout.”
{Matzav.com}
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul used a Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative church service in Harlem on Sunday to sharply criticize federal immigration enforcement and to laud Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, remarks that critics said crossed the line into overt politics during a religious observance, the NY Post reports.
Speaking from the pulpit at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church before a crowd of more than 1,000 congregants, Hochul reflected on the state of the nation and praised Bragg, briefly misstating his title in the process.
“I never thought I would see what is happening to our country,” the Democrat told the congregation at the church on West 138th Street.
Hochul went on to describe what she said was a climate of fear created by immigration enforcement, suggesting that some people are avoiding religious services out of concern they could be detained.
“Today, we have people struggling because they’re in fear. They are too afraid to go to church because an ICE agent may take them out of this place and take them to a detention center. Separate them from their families. That is what is happening in America today,” Gov. Hochul opined.
She then pointed to policies she highlighted in her State of the State address, asserting that certain locations should be off-limits to federal agents absent court approval.
“So I have said in my state of the state, no ICE agent can come into a sacred place like a church, or a hospital or a day care center or a school without a warrant signed by a judge,” she added. “They cannot violate this sacred space.
“We are not surrendering our rights. And we’re not going backwards, my friends! Not now. Not ever!”
Despite insisting she was not delivering a political message, Hochul also used the service to heap praise on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, even floating his future political prospects.
“We also have another fighter to keep people safe and that is our Attorney General,” Hochul said, before correcting herself.
“I’m sorry, our District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Who knows, maybe he’ll be an Attorney General some day too, change the occupant of the White House,” the anti-Trump politician said.
She continued to commend Bragg’s work with state leaders, crediting him with helping shape public safety policy in New York.
“But I’m not here to get political, you know what I’m saying. But he [Bragg’s] been a great partner in bringing ideas to us in the legislature and myself on how to make our streets safer and they are safer,” Hochul said.
“Crime is down to record lows, particularly here in Manhattan, and I give him so much of the credit.”
{Matzav.com}
