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Israeli intelligence officials believe Tehran is accelerating efforts to restore its missile capabilities, pushing harder than at any point since the 12-day conflict in June. According to Israeli assessments, Iran’s arsenal was significantly reduced during that war, with missile stockpiles dropping from roughly 3,000 to about 1,500 and the number of launchers cut in half, from around 400 to 200.

Against that backdrop, Western intelligence agencies have detected activity that has raised fresh concern. Iran International reported on Shabbos that intelligence services observed “unusual aerial activity” involving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force. The report said the movements and coordination were “beyond normal patterns” among drone, missile, and air-defense units, prompting increased scrutiny.

Israeli and American officials cited by Axios said one working assessment is that the activity could still be part of a military exercise. However, they stressed that the scale of the maneuvers and the level of synchronization among different forces have attracted particular attention and fueled anxiety.

Israeli officials have conveyed those worries directly to Washington. According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, Israeli representatives warned the Trump administration that recent IRGC missile exercises might be more than routine training and could serve as preparation for an attack on Israel. The report cited three Israeli and US officials with direct knowledge of the discussions.

Sources familiar with the intelligence said that, so far, the information collected points mainly to force movements within Iran rather than clear attack preparations. Even so, Israeli officials remain on edge, noting that Israel’s willingness to assume risk has sharply diminished since the Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023.

One Israeli source told Axios that similar alerts were issued about six weeks earlier, after Iranian missile movements were detected but ultimately did not lead to action. “The chances for an Iranian attack are less than 50%, but nobody is willing to take the risk and just say it is only an exercise,” the source said.

American intelligence officials, meanwhile, told Axios that the United States currently does not see signs that Iran is preparing an imminent strike.

Behind the scenes, coordination between the two militaries has intensified. According to the report, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir spoke on Saturday with US Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper to outline Israel’s concerns about the IRGC missile maneuvers that began several days earlier. Zamir warned that the missile activity, together with other operational movements, could be used to mask a surprise attack and pressed for close US-Israel cooperation on defensive steps.

Cooper then traveled to Tel Aviv on Sunday, where he met with Zamir and other senior IDF officials to review the situation. The IDF declined to comment publicly on the meetings, and CENTCOM did not respond to a request for comment.

Diplomatic discussions are also looming. Israeli sources said Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in Miami on December 29. NBC News reported on Saturday that Netanyahu plans to raise concerns about Iran’s expanding ballistic missile program and the possibility of another Israeli strike against Iran in 2026 during that meeting.

{Matzav.com}

Wikipedia’s main page on Israel has been altered to state as fact that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a dramatic shift in language that has further exposed its bias and the erosion of neutrality on the world’s largest online encyclopedia. The change was made on December 11 and remains in place despite extensive internal […]

The next presidential election is three years away, but Turning Point USA already knows it wants Vice President JD Vance as the Republican nominee. Erika Kirk, leader of the powerful conservative youth organization, endorsed him on opening night of its annual AmericaFest convention, drawing cheers from the crowd. But the four-day gathering revealed more peril than promise for Vance or any […]

In a speech last week marking the Day for Strengthening Ties with Diaspora Jewry, UTJ MK Meir Porush addressed the serious damage that the arrests of bnei yeshivos have caused to ties with the frum community in the US. “The largest Jewish community in the world outside Israel is in New York and New Jersey,” […]

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis accused President Donald Trump of playing “political games” Sunday after the Trump administration denied disaster declaration requests following wildfires and flooding in the state earlier this year. Polis’ office said he received late Saturday two denial letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The letters follow requests for major disaster declarations […]

Following overwhelming demand and a sell-out of a venue seating over 5,000, the Chanukah Festival has announced a global livestream, allowing audiences around the world to experience the event live. With tickets selling out rapidly and requests pouring in from across the U.S., Israel, Europe, and beyond, organizers opened live access to ensure that no […]

Monday night’s Powerball drawing is set to feature a massive estimated jackpot of $1.6 billion, placing it among the biggest lottery prizes ever offered in the United States, according to Powerball officials.

Players chasing the top prize face extremely long odds. Powerball puts the chance of winning the jackpot at 1 in 292.2 million, a reflection of the game’s six-number format and the difficulty of matching every required ball.

The jackpot grew after no one claimed the top prize in Saturday’s drawing. The winning numbers that went unmatched were white balls 4, 5, 28, 52, and 69, along with the red Powerball 20. As a result, Monday’s drawing now represents the fifth-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history and the fourth-largest ever offered by Powerball, the lottery said in a news release.

Whoever eventually wins will have a choice in how the money is paid out. The cash option is currently estimated at $735.3 million, while the annuity option totals about $1.6 billion, both figures calculated before taxes. The annuity plan includes an initial payment followed by 29 yearly payments that rise by 5% each year, Powerball explained.

Only one U.S. lottery jackpot has ever topped the current prize. That record-setting $2.04 billion jackpot was won in 2022, when a ticket purchased in California matched all the numbers. The winner chose a lump-sum payout of $997.6 million.

Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The game is administered by the Multi-State Lottery Association, a nonprofit organization representing state lotteries. States use proceeds from ticket sales to fund public education programs and other government services.

{Matzav.com}

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Sunday that Israel was prepared to take military action wherever necessary, signaling that future strikes could extend well beyond Israel’s immediate borders.

“The IDF will act against Israel’s enemies wherever required, on near and distant fronts alike,” Zamir said, speaking at a ceremony marking the transition of leadership at the IDF Planning Directorate.

Zamir placed Iran at the center of Israel’s current war effort, describing it as the primary force driving the multifront conflict that erupted following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. “At the heart of the longest and most complex war in Israel’s history stands the campaign against Iran,” he said.

He accused Tehran of orchestrating and sustaining the network of hostile forces surrounding Israel. “Iran financed and armed the ring of strangulation around Israel and stood behind the plans for its destruction,” Zamir said, referring to Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, Iraqi militias, and Iran itself.

His remarks came a day after NBC News reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to present President Donald Trump with plans for a possible renewed strike on Iran during an upcoming visit to Washington.

According to the report, Israeli officials had grown increasingly alarmed that Iran was rebuilding — and potentially expanding — its ballistic missile production following the 12-day conflict between the two countries in June. Officials cited in the report said Jerusalem viewed the missile program as a more urgent threat than Iran’s nuclear efforts.

“The nuclear weapons program is very concerning. There’s an attempt to reconstitute. [But] it’s not that immediate,” one source familiar with Israel’s thinking told NBC News.

Another source emphasized the danger posed by Iran’s missile capabilities, saying, “The threat of the missiles is very real, and we weren’t able to prevent them all last time.”

Sources with knowledge of the assessments, along with former US officials, told NBC that Israel believed Iran could increase ballistic missile production to as many as 3,000 missiles annually if no action was taken.

From Tehran, Iran’s foreign minister responded defiantly. Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran had already repaired facilities damaged in Israeli strikes earlier this year and was ready for another confrontation if necessary.

“We have reconstructed everything that was damaged in the previous aggression,” Araghchi said in an interview with Russia Today, as cited by Iran’s ISNA news agency. “If they want to repeat the same failed experience, they will not achieve a better result.”

He acknowledged the extent of the damage but insisted Iran’s capabilities remained intact. “The reality is that our facilities have been damaged, and seriously so,” Araghchi said. “But there is another reality, and that is that our technology remains intact, and technology cannot be bombed.”

Araghchi added that Iran’s resolve had not weakened. “Our determination and will still exist,” he said, asserting that Iran had “a completely legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology, including enrichment.”

The foreign minister said Iran remained open to diplomacy under certain conditions. Tehran, he said, was willing to reach “a fair and balanced agreement” through negotiations, but would not accept outside pressure.

“We are prepared to provide full assurance that our program is peaceful and will remain peaceful forever,” Araghchi said. “This is exactly what we did in 2015.”

{Matzav.com}

The Powerball jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.6 billion, making it one of the largest lottery prizes in U.S. history, Powerball officials said Sunday. No ticket matched all six winning numbers on Saturday — white balls 4, 5, 28, 52, 69 and red Powerball 20. That sets up the fifth-largest U.S. jackpot ever for […]

Former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu, arguing that Israel stood at an unprecedented point of regional strength but was losing that advantage due to its current leadership.

Speaking on the Pod Saves America, Emanuel said Israel’s strategic position was stronger than at any time since the state’s founding, even as its political standing had deteriorated. “Israel has never been more strategically secure since Ben Gurion was dancing the hora in 1948 in Tel Aviv, but more politically vulnerable,” Emanuel said.

Emanuel, who previously served as chief of staff to Barack Obama and later as mayor of Chicago, went further, accusing Netanyahu of pushing Jews into isolation. “Never in my life [did I think] the prime minister of the State of Israel would lead Jews back into the ghetto, and that’s what’s happening in Israel, and that’s what’s happening in the world,” he claimed. “Jews can’t go to Europe and participate in Eurovision, while the UAE is hosting the world financially and in the F1 [Formula One racing].”

Emanuel argued that Israel’s diplomatic environment was unusually favorable, citing peace with neighboring countries and the absence of an immediate regional military threat. “This is the best strategic terrain Israel’s had since the founding. You have peace in Jordan with Israel; you have peace with Egypt; Syria and Lebanon — basically call it non-belligerence… Iran is on their back foot… You don’t really have in the near geography a strategic threat,” he said.

He maintained that Netanyahu’s conduct over time had deepened Israel’s isolation rather than capitalizing on these advantages. “He has literally — in the way he has executed pieces of the last — not just the last two years, but over his time — isolated Jews in Israel,” Emanuel said.

Turning to broader regional shifts, Emanuel said the Gulf states had evolved dramatically and now sought integration into the global economy, something he argued should have played directly to Israel’s strengths. “When we were starting in politics, the Gulf was all about just oil. Today, they want to be part of the world economy, which is what Israel’s ace is,” he said. “That is an invitation for Israel, and they’re pissing it away with this prime minister.”

{Matzav.com}

A senior State Department bureau pushed back against claims that the United States planned to bankroll a massive reconstruction effort in Gaza, flatly denying a report that Washington intended to commit $60 billion to the project, while stopping short of disputing other details of the proposal described in the report.

The response followed a report published Friday by The Wall Street Journal, which said the United States had circulated a long-term vision to prospective donor nations outlining a dramatic transformation of Gaza into a high-tech, upscale Mediterranean hub over a 20-year period, with an estimated total cost of $112 billion.

According to the Journal, the proposal envisioned the United States serving as an initial financial “anchor” by contributing $60 billion, with additional funding coming later from international donors and from Gaza itself as development progressed.

Soon after the report appeared, the X account of the State Department Near Eastern Affairs Bureau shared a link to a New York Post summary of the Journal’s reporting and issued a brief denial, writing, “This is fake news. Nowhere in the plan does it say the US will pay $60 billion.”

The post notably did not address other aspects of the Journal’s reporting, leaving open the possibility that the broader outline of the plan was accurate, even if the specific funding claim was not.

The Journal reported that it had reviewed a 32-page slideshow marked “sensitive but unclassified” that laid out a four-phase approach to clearing debris, rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure, and lifting residents out of poverty. The presentation, the paper said, had been shared with wealthy Gulf states, as well as Turkey and Egypt.

{Matzav.com}

In the wake of growing antisemitic attacks across the globe, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called on Jews everywhere to relocate to Eretz Yisroel, warning that the situation facing Jewish communities had become increasingly dangerous.

Speaking at a Chanukah candlelighting ceremony in Rishon Lezion, Sa’ar reflected on the reality confronting Jews worldwide and the lessons of Jewish history. “Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience,” he said. “Today, Jews are being hunted across the world. Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!”

Sa’ar emphasized that the State of Israel stood ready to receive them, stressing both the emotional and historical bond of the Jewish people to their homeland. He said Israelis “are waiting for you here with open arms. With love. In the true home of the Jewish people. Why raise your children in this atmosphere? Come with your families to the land of our forefathers, to the State of Israel, where the Jews taught the entire world what Jewish self-defense means. The time has come.”

{Matzav.com}

A surge in antisemitic incidents worldwide since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023, has placed Jewish communities on heightened alert, particularly during the eight days of Chanukah. Those concerns intensified further after a terror attack at a Chanukah gathering in Australia last week left 15 people dead.

Against that backdrop, a video now spreading on social media claims to capture a violent confrontation in Istanbul involving Jews on their way to a shul for Chanukah celebrations. The footage appears to show seven Jewish individuals surrounded and attacked by a large group described as pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In the video, one assailant can be heard shouting, “We don’t want Zionists in our country.” The authenticity of the footage and the precise circumstances surrounding the incident could not be independently verified.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has issued a blistering legal opinion rejecting a government-backed bill that would establish a new type of commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and atrocities, warning that the proposal would undermine any serious effort to uncover the truth.

In an opinion released Sunday, Baharav-Miara argues that the legislation — a private member’s bill introduced by Likud MK Ariel Kallner — should not receive government backing due to what she describes as fundamental and far-reaching flaws. According to the attorney general, the bill would damage the integrity of any investigation and block the possibility of a future, independent inquiry conducted without political interference.

“At issue,” she writes, “is a ‘personal bill,’ that is ‘tailored to the measurements’ of the current government and coalition.”

Baharav-Miara contends that the proposed framework would inject politics directly into the heart of the investigative process. The commission envisioned by the bill, she says, would be shaped by coalition and opposition appointments with almost no standards governing members’ qualifications, creating what she describes as a serious risk that political motives would override professional judgment.

“The proposal politicizes the commission, creates a commission for which there is a real concern that political considerations will override the professional considerations essential to investigating the truth, whose investigative powers are not appropriate for such a panel in the absence of a senior judge at its head, and whose mechanism is cumbersome and will thwart the ability to investigate the truth and draw objective conclusions,” she writes.

Under the bill, the inquiry would be labeled a “state-national” commission, with members selected jointly by the coalition and opposition — a structure the opposition has already pledged to boycott. Baharav-Miara contrasts this with existing law, under which a state commission of inquiry is appointed by the president of the Supreme Court and chaired by a retired Supreme Court justice, a model she views as critical to ensuring independence and credibility.

She further criticizes the origins of the proposal, asserting that it did not emerge from professional legal analysis but from political maneuvering at the highest levels. “It is not the result of professional staff work, but rather of political discourse led by the prime minister and in cooperation with the coalition factions,” she states, warning that this approach would produce a deeply compromised investigative body.

Baharav-Miara also addresses the broader principle at stake, arguing that the scale and gravity of the October 7 catastrophe demand less government influence over an inquiry, not more. Any reform of inquiry mechanisms, she says, should aim “to reduce the dependence of a state commission on the government” in order to strengthen public confidence — not to increase that dependence through a politically constructed panel.

In another sharp criticism, she accuses the bill’s sponsors of exploiting the legislative process by advancing the proposal as a private member’s bill. The move, she says, allows the government to sidestep legal oversight, since government-sponsored legislation requires the attorney general’s approval, while private bills do not. In her view, the bill is meant to “serve the personal, political interests of the government and its members, while abusing the [legislative] pathway of a private member’s bill.”

The attorney general also takes aim at a ministerial committee set to begin discussions on the scope and mandate of the proposed commission, a body chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She argues that the committee has no legitimate legal standing, noting that such committees operate only alongside a properly constituted state commission of inquiry under existing law.

“Therefore, there is no place for the government to support the bill,” Baharav-Miara concludes, urging the government instead to follow established legal procedures and create a standard state commission of inquiry to examine the October 7 failures.

{Matzav.com}

Following mounting criticism of its reporting on the Israel-Gaza war, the British Broadcasting Corporation has said it will conduct an extensive review of its Middle East coverage, acknowledging that serious journalistic errors were made along the way.

The decision comes in the wake of a detailed, 13-page dossier accusing the broadcaster of bias, along with the leak of an internal memo authored by independent adviser Michael Prescott. That memo argued that BBC reporting frequently presumed negative intent on Israel’s part. It also charged that BBC Arabic minimized Israeli suffering while depicting Israel as the aggressor, even though Hamas initiated the war with its October 7 terrorist attack.

Addressing the complaints, Peter Johnston, the BBC’s Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews, issued a formal response evaluating the allegations. In his report, Johnston admitted that the corporation committed several major errors, including incorrectly stating that the International Court of Justice had determined there was a “plausible cause of genocide” in Gaza.

Johnston’s findings also pointed to serious problems in how casualty figures were presented. Among the mistakes cited was a Newsnight segment that raised alarm over claims that 14,000 babies were at risk of starvation within 48 hours — a figure the BBC later acknowledged was wrong.

Other failures outlined in the report included a televised claim that Israeli forces had buried bodies in mass graves, when in fact Hamas was responsible, as well as a story about Gaza medical workers that failed to mention allegations that Hamas was operating from the hospital in question. The BBC further conceded that it did not disclose that the narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official.

According to Johnston, the BBC later issued corrections and acknowledged that it erred by relying on freelance journalists whose social media activity reflected support for Hamas and antisemitic sentiment. He also noted that the Editorial Guidance and Standards Committee had already begun rolling out additional training for BBC Arabic staff.

Looking ahead, the BBC Board, together with the Editorial Guidance and Standards Committee, plans to launch a full editorial review of the broadcaster’s Middle East reporting. Johnston said this process is intended to provide a thorough assessment of coverage on a highly complex and sensitive subject and to ensure that lessons are properly learned.

Beyond the Middle East, the report also reviewed the BBC’s approach to other contentious areas, including gender identity issues and Britain’s colonial past. In those cases as well, it acknowledged weaknesses in how criticism was handled and called for further internal scrutiny.

{Matzav.com}

A tragic accident in Brooklyn’s Marine Park neighborhood claimed the life of a motorized scooter rider on Sunday. The incident occurred at the intersection of Fillmore Avenue and East 38th Street just before noon, where the rider was struck by a vehicle. Flatbush Hatzolah rushed to the scene and transported the victim in traumatic arrest […]

VP JD VANCE: We believe it is wrong for companies to bypass American labor just to go for cheaper options in the Third World.

The mother of the last Israeli hostage still being held in Gaza, Ran Gvili, to Sky News – “We will finish Hamas if they don’t give us Rani.”

TRAGIC UPDATE: The individual who was riding a scooter and was struck by a vehicle on Fillmore Ave and East 38 Street in Marine Park, was unfortunately Niftar at the hospital. Sources tell Flatbush Scoop that he is a Russian Jew, who Davens at the Chabad House in Mill Basin. A name and more details […]