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Funeral services were held Saturday for victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the war in Ukraine began, as Ukraine’s president vowed to increase domestic military production by creating underground weapons factories. The funerals took place in the eastern Ukrainian city of Poltava for the victims of a Russian missile attack on a military training facility that left over 50 dead and more than 300 injured. Hundreds of mourners, including grieving families, local residents, and officials, gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the city, some 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, for the solemn ceremony. Sobbing relatives, many holding red carnations, stood over caskets placed outside the church, draped in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags. An air raid siren sounded during the service. Residents knelt in silent tribute as hearses carrying the victims passed by on their way to a military cemetery outside the city for burial. Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure across the country and causing deadly strikes in residential areas. The attacks have underscored Moscow’s long-range capabilities as Ukraine braces for what will likely be another difficult winter as Russia continues to smash Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out some 70% of generation capacity and rupturing heat and water supplies. The sound of explosions thundered over the Ukrainian capital overnight as multiple Russian attack drones were intercepted by the city’s air defenses. No injuries or serious damage were reported. The Ukrainian Air Force said that 67 drones were launched over the country overnight, with air defenses active in 11 regions. Fifty-eight drones were shot down, with three more destroyed by electronic weapons systems, it said. Debris from one drone was photographed on the street outside Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Ukraine’s parliamentary press service confirmed that drone fragments had been found but said there were no casualties and no damage to the parliament building. Elsewhere, a Russian artillery attack Saturday on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka killed four men and injured three other people, said Donetsk region Gov. Vadym Filashkin. He said the attack damaged a high-rise building and local power lines. Late Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the death toll from the Sept. 3 strike at the Military Institute of Communications in Poltava had risen to 55, with 328 people injured. “That includes people with severe injuries, such as amputations and internal organ damage,” Zelenskyy said, speaking at a conference outside the Italian city of Milan. “Our people are under constant threat of Russian missile and drone strikes — every night and every day.” Zelenskyy renewed his call for the removal of restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory, adding that Ukraine was ramping up its own weapons production. “We are setting up underground weapons production facilities so Ukrainian soldiers can defend themselves, even if supplies from our partners are delayed,” he said. “We have developed new drones and missiles, and we are gradually bringing this war back to Russia. Eventually, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will feel the pressure to seek only one thing: peace.” Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made a statement Saturday warning Iran against sending arms to Russia. It warned Tehran that if the reports were confirmed, it would have “devastating consequences” for Ukrainian-Iranian bilateral relations. […]

On Friday, just before the Zman Shabbos, a suspect was arrested by the NYPD with the help of Boro Park Shomrim volunteers at 18th Avenue and 59th Street for stealing a bike.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of R’ Yitzchok (Itchie) Selengut z”l. He was in his 90s.

R’ Itchie, a longtime resident of Boro Park, Brooklyn, was a distinguished talmid of two of the greatest Torah giants of the previous generation. R’ Itchie learned at Bais Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, NJ, under Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l, and at Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim on the Lower East Side under Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. His years of immersion in Torah produced an individual of profound Torah knowledge and sterling middos.

R’ Itchie was not only an outstanding talmid chochom but also a person of warmth and kindness. He always had a kind word or a thoughtful vort to share, and his presence was a source of inspiration to all who knew him. His deep commitment to limud haTorah was mirrored by his humility and genuine concern for others.

He is survived by his devoted wife, Mrs. Bryna Selengut, and their children: Rebbetzin Tova Greenblatt, Mrs. Estie Deutsch, R’ Dovid Selengut, R’ Aharon Selengut, R’ Eliyahu Selengut, Mrs. Naomi Berliner, and R’ Naftoli Selengut; and many grandchildren.

The levayah will take place today at 11 a.m. at the Congregation Sons of Israel Holocaust Memorial Chapel, located at 613 Ramsey Avenue in Lakewood, NJ, followed by kevurah at the adjacent Mt. Sinai Cemetery.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

Evacuations were ordered Saturday as a wildfire scorched the foothills of a national forest east of Los Angeles, amid a days-long heat wave that pushed temperatures into the triple digits across the region. The so-called Line Fire was burning uncontrolled along the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of L.A. As of midday Saturday, the blaze the charred about 6 square miles (15.5 square km) of grass and chaparral, leaving a thick cloud of dark smoke blanketing the area. The fire began Thursday evening, and the cause is under investigation. About 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, supported by water-dropping helicopters that hovered over homes and hillsides, along with aircraft. Firefighters said the blaze had the “potential for large fire growth” in the next 12 hours. No injuries were reported, and no homes or other structures had been damaged or destroyed. The National Weather Service said downtown Los Angeles hit a high of 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44 Celsius) Friday, which marked the third time since 1877 that a high of 112 degrees or more has been reached there. (AP)

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A three-car MVA occurred early this morning at Avenue M and East 17th Street. Flatbush Hatzolah was on the scene. Injuries were reported.

Hezbollah fired about 50 rockets at Kiryat Shmona and nearby communities in the Upper Galil overnight Motzei Shabbos. Two rockets scored direct hits in Kiryat Shmona, with one hitting a building, causing heavy property damage. Another hit a sidewalk, damaging a parked car. Baruch Hashem, there were no injuries as the town is largely empty of residents, who were evacuated from the area shortly after the war began. The IDF said that at least 50 rockets were fired in three separate barrages, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Some rockets fell in open areas. Hezbollah claimed responsiblity for the attacks, saying that the strikes were in retaliation for an IDF strike on a town in southern Lebanon, in which three emergency responders were reportedly killed. In response to the overnight strikes, the IDF carried out aristrikes against Hezbollah terror sites in southern Lebanon. One strike killed two Hezbollah operatives in a terror compound in Froun. Footage from Kiryat Shemona: (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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Three Israelis were murdered in a shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing on the Israeli-Jordanian border in the Jordan Valley on Sunday morning. The shooting was carried out at the cargo terminal. The victims, men in their 50s working at the terminal, were critically injured. Paramedics were called to the scene and carried out resuscitation attempts on the victims and two helicopters were deployed to the border area to evacuate the victims to the hospital. Sadly, after a short while, the paramedics were forced to declare the victims’ deaths. The terrorist, a truck driver who entered Israel from Jordan, was neutralized at the scene. An initial investigation of the attack revealed that the terrorist, a Jordanian truck driver, hid a weapon inside his truck. Immediately after crossing the border, he pulled out the gun and opened fire. IDF forces are carrying out extensive searches in the area to rule out the presence of additional terrorists. and have set up blockades on nearby roads. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Vietnamese authorities say Typhoon Yagi has killed at least four people and injured 78 others after making landfall Saturday afternoon in the north of the country. Yagi, described by Vietnamese meteorological officials as “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade,” made its way to the Southeast Asian country after it left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the Chinese province of Hainan. The typhoon landed at Vietnam’s coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), state media reported. Before landing, strong winds felled a tree, killing a woman in the capital, Hanoi, local media said Saturday. Quang Ninh is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay, known for its many towering limestone islands. Hundreds of cruises were canceled at the popular site before the typhoon landed, according to local media. Haiphong is an industrial hub, home to large factories, including EV maker VinFast and Apple supplier Pegatron. The typhoon has also triggered power outages in large parts of Quang Ninh and Thai Binh provinces. Earlier, the government issued several alerts, and those vulnerable to floods or landslides were evacuated. Four airports were shuttered, including in Hanoi, and Haiphong. Authorities pruned trees in Hanoi to make them less susceptible to falling, but wind and rain knocked over several along with billboards in northern cities. Local media reported that many moored boats were swept out to sea. “I am going to stay inside and try and stay safe with my family,” said Bao Ngoc Cao, 24, a businesswoman from Hanoi. She added that the last time a typhoon this strong hit Vietnam was in 2013 and that storms usually weaken before reaching the capital. “But we still need to be prepared.” On Friday afternoon, Yagi struck the Chinese city of Wenchang in Hainan province with wind speeds of up to about 245 kph (152 mph) near its center. Authorities said the typhoon left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the province. It has affected over 1.2 million people as of noon Saturday, according to the local Global Times newspaper. Some 420,000 Hainan residents were relocated before the typhoon’s landfall. Another half a million people in Guangdong province were evacuated before Yagi made a second landfall in the province’s Xuwen County on Friday night. Meanwhile, the meteorological observatory of the city of Haikou downgraded its typhoon signal from red to orange on Saturday, as it moved further away. Before leaving Hong Kong, Yagi forced more than 270 people to seek refuge at temporary government shelters on Friday, and over 100 flights in the city were canceled due to the typhoon. Heavy rain and strong winds felled dozens of trees, and trading on the stock market, bank services and schools were halted. Yagi was still a storm when it blew out of the northwestern Philippines into the South China Sea on Wednesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and 26 others missing mostly in landslides and widespread flooding and affecting more than 2.3 million people in northern and central provinces. More than 82,200 people were displaced from their homes in Philippine provinces, and classes, work, inter-island ferry services and domestic flights were disrupted for […]

With just days to go before his first — and likely only — debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump leaned into his familiar grievances about everything from his indictments and efforts to keep him off the ballot as he campaigned in one of the most deeply Republican swaths of battleground Wisconsin. “The Harris-Biden DOJ is trying to throw me in jail — they want me in jail — for the crime of exposing their corruption,” Trump claimed at an outdoor rally at Central Wisconsin Airport, where he spoke behind a wall of bullet-proof glass following his July assassination attempt. There’s no evidence that either Biden or Harris have had any influence over decisions by the Justice Department or local jurisdictions to indict Trump. The former president was speaking a day after appearing in court for an appeal of a decision that found him liable for sexual abuse, returning attention to his many indictments and criminal conviction. After his appearance, he delivered a lengthy statement to news cameras in which he brought up a string of past allegations of other acts of sexual misconduct — at times in graphic language — potentially reminding voters of incidents that were little-known or forgotten. Hours later, a Manhattan judge announced that the sentencing in his hush money case had been postponed until after the November election, granting him a hard-won reprieve. The sentencing had previously been scheduled for Sept. 18, about seven weeks before Election Day. At the rally, Trump again criticized Harris in dark and ominous language, claiming that if the woman he calls “Comrade Kamala Harris gets four more years, we will be living in a full-blown Banana Republic ruled by anarchy.” He also railed against the Biden administration’s border policies, calling the Democrats’ approach “suicidal.” Both Harris and Trump have been frequent visitors to Wisconsin this year, a state where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point. Several polls of Wisconsin voters conducted after President Joe Biden withdrew showed Harris and Trump in a close race. The crowd in Mosinee was greeted by a big screen video of Trump urging attendees to check their voter registration and make a plan for voting. “If we swamp them, they can’t cheat,” Trump said, continuing to raise unfounded concerns about voter fraud, which is extremely rare. Democrats consider Wisconsin to be one of the must-win “blue wall” states. Biden, who was in Wisconsin on Thursday, won the state in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes. Trump carried it by a slightly larger margin, nearly 23,000 votes, in 2016. As Trump was campaigning, Harris took a short break from debate prep on Saturday to stop at Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, where she bought a number of seasoning mixes. One customer saw the Democratic nominee and began openly weeping as Harris hugged her and said, “We’re going to be fine. We’re all in this together.” Harris said she was honored to have endorsements from two major Republicans: former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman. “People are exhausted, about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans,” she said, adding that her main message at the debate would be that the […]

With great sadness, Matzav.com reports the petirah of the Skulener Rebbe, Rav Yeshaya Yaakov Portugal zt”l, of Boro Park, at the age of 68.

The rebbe, known for his extraordinary tzidkus and yiras Shomayim, was a beacon of Torah, chessed, and avodas Hashem, leading his Chassidim with unwavering devotion.

Rav Yeshaya Yaakov, formerly of Montreal, Canada, assumed the mantle of Skulener leadership following the petirah of his father, the Skulener Rebbe, Rav Yisroel Avrohom Portugal zt”l, over five years ago, in 2019. He was the oldest son of Rav Yisroel Avrohom and a grandson of the Skulener Rebbe, Rav Eliezer Zusia Portugal.

His father, who had survived the horrors of the Holocaust and later became renowned for his mesirus nefesh in rescuing Jewish children during Communist rule in Romania, passed on a legacy of selfless dedication to Klal Yisroel, which his son continued with distinction.

The rebbe battled illness in recent times, but continued to serve as a source of inspiration and chizuk to his many chassidim and followers. His heart was open to the pain of others, and countless Yidden flocked to him for guidance, brachos, and support. His profound ahavas Yisroel and quiet humility left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege of basking in his kedusha.

The rebbe‘s petirah leaves a deep void in the Olam HaChassidus, and his loss will be felt by the many who drew close to his warmth, chochmah, and taharah.

The rebbe, as mentioned, was the oldest child of the previous Skulener Rebbe. His siblings are Rav Meir Portugal, Skulener Rebbe of Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Rav Efraim Chaim Yehuda Portugal, Skulener Rebbe of Monsey, New York; Rav Hersh Noach Portugal, Skulener Rebbe of Lakewood; Rav Shmuel Mordechai Portugal, Skulener Rov in Boro Park; Rebbetzin Leah Leba Stern, wife of Rav Chaim Dov Stern, Skulener Rov of Bnei Brak; Rebbetzin Chaya Sarah Weinberger, wife of Rav Shimon Yoel Weinberger, Skulener Dayan; and Rebbetzin Nechama Klughaupt, wife of Rav Dovid Leib Klughaupt, head of Skulener Kollel of Boro Park.

He is survived by his rebbetzin and family, and the many Chassidim who are left bereft.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

It is with profound sorrow that YWN announces the Petirah of the Skulener Rebbe, Harav Yeshaya Yaakov Portugal zt”l, who was niftar on Motzei Shabbos after battling a serious illness for the past several years. He was 68 years old. Born in Bucharest during a time of great turmoil, Rav Yeshaya Yaakov was a living emblem of resilience and strength. He was the eldest son of Harav Yisrael Avraham Portugal zt”l, and the grandson of Harav Eliezer Zusia Portugal zt”l, both of whom were pillars of the Skulen dynasty. From a young age, Rav Yeshaya Yaakov exhibited a deep hasmada in Torah and avodas Hashem, a path he would follow with unwavering dedication throughout his life. His early years were marked by the challenges of living under Communist rule, where he witnessed his father and grandfather risking their lives to preserve Yiddishkeit in Romania. This early exposure to sheroism undoubtedly shaped the Rebbe’s own approach to leadership, as he would later inspire and uplift Jews from all walks of life with the same courage and dedication. After relocating to the United States, the Rebbe continued the work of his illustrious father and grandfather, establishing himself in Boro Park, where he became a magnet for those seeking guidance and brachos. Night after night, a steady stream of chasidim and admirers would gather outside his home, waiting for hours for the opportunity to receive the Rebbe’s brachos and advice. His fatherly compassion and radiant smile were a source of comfort and strength to all who came to him. His leadership extended well beyond Boro Park, as he also played a pivotal role in supporting the Chessed L’Avraham network of schools in Eretz Yisrael, continuing the work of his father in spreading Torah and chessed to all corners of the world. The Rebbe was also known for his miraculous recovery from a life-threatening illness several years ago, an event he often spoke about and publicly thanked Hashem for. The Rebbe is survived by his brothers, the Skulener Rebbes of Williamsburg, Monsey, Lakewood and Yerushalayim, who carry on the work of the Skulen dynasty, and by his many chasidim who will continue to walk in the path he set out for them. Levaya details will be published when the become available. Baruch Dayan Ha’emes. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck and neck in the latest projections from Decision Desk HQ and The Hill.

The model indicates Harris has a 55% chance of securing the 2024 presidency, though the race remains wide open, according to the analysis.

This report surfaces just four days before the single presidential debate scheduled between Democratic nominee Harris and Republican nominee Trump.

“I would put this debate as high as stakes as the one we saw” between President [Joe] Biden and Trump, remarked Scott Tranter of Decision Desk HQ, in his conversation with The Hill.

The prediction from Decision Desk HQ stands in contrast to Nate Silver’s model, which gives Trump a 60.1% chance of victory, compared to Harris’s 39.7%.

Tranter explained to The Hill that, from a technical perspective, Silver’s model “is not an ‘outlier’ — to the general public we can understand how they might view his model as markedly different — in reality he is giving an ever-so-slight edge to Trump where we are giving an ever-so-slight edge to Harris.”

“There is a lot of mathematical reasons for this, but [it] is a foreshadowing of what the next few weeks will be like as we go down the stretch,” Tranter elaborated.

Silver’s model, as Tranter pointed out, includes more factors, such as momentum and a correction for polls conducted around or after the Democratic National Convention.

“We both cook a pretty good steak,” Tranter said. “He has a few more ingredients that we choose not to do.”

The Trump campaign attributes Harris’s recent polling boost to the immediate effects of the Democratic National Convention.

“We believe, internally, based on the data, that the plateau’s been reached,” said Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes, Bloomberg News reported.

{Matzav.com}

Aviva Siegel, a former Hamas hostage, recounted the harrowing experience of being forced to participate in propaganda videos for the terror group, all while enduring extreme conditions in the Gaza Strip. She was pressured to repeat scripted lines and give the false impression that she was being provided with sufficient food during her captivity.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Siegel shared that she struggled to memorize the lines fed to her by her captors due to the scarce food, water, and the suffocating atmosphere in the tunnels where she was held. None of the videos made of her have been released by Hamas.

“‘You didn’t say that you’re 62.’ ‘You didn’t say that you’re from Kfar Aza.’ ‘You didn’t say that Bibi needs to bring you back,’” Siegel recalled being instructed repeatedly during the filming sessions. She noted that it was difficult to remember all the details she was required to mention.

On October 7, Hamas militants abducted 62-year-old Siegel and her husband Keith from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Aviva was freed on November 26 as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement mediated by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel. However, her husband Keith remains a hostage.

Hamas has circulated numerous videos of other captives, in what Israeli officials and human rights groups have condemned as psychological warfare. Several released hostages have confirmed they were coerced into participating in these videos.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Siegel was forced to film propaganda footage three times over her 51-day captivity.

“So I had to say it again and again and again,” Siegel explained, describing the repeated attempts to capture the desired footage.

On two occasions, her captors filmed her eating, seemingly trying to project the image that she was being treated well.

“They would prepare food and put it on the table,” she revealed to the Journal. “We had to sit there, smile, and pretend everything was fine, just for the camera.”

Once, the terrorists offered Siegel a brush to tidy her tangled hair, which had become matted during her time as a hostage. She refused both the brush and a hair clip provided by one of her captors.

“I knew how I looked. I was filthy,” she remarked. “I looked at him, picked up my hair, and said, ‘beautiful,’” she added, with evident sarcasm.

The attack on Kfar Aza was part of a larger assault on southern Israel by thousands of armed Hamas operatives on October 7. The coordinated attack left nearly 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians, and resulted in the abduction of 253 individuals of various ages. Hamas fighters committed numerous atrocities and engaged in mass-scale sexual violence during the onslaught. Approximately 80 people from Kibbutz Kfar Aza were killed, while 18 were taken hostage.

Gershon Baskin, who played a key role in the 2011 negotiations for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, told The Wall Street Journal that Hamas has effectively used propaganda videos to manipulate public opinion in Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis regularly gather at protests demanding the government secure the return of the hostages.

“These videos are very well-edited and show a deep understanding of Israeli society,” Baskin explained.

“Hamas wants the war to end, and they believe this is how pressure can be placed on Netanyahu,” he said, adding, “I think these videos are having a significant impact on Israeli society, which is exactly what Hamas intends.”

Baskin also noted that Israeli intelligence agencies closely analyze each frame of the videos to assess the physical condition of the hostages, searching for clues about how they are being treated.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Protesters wearing keffiyehs paraded through Harvard University on Friday, carrying flags of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and shouting slogans such as “Long live the intifada” and “Globalize the intifada,” according to videos circulating on social media.

The Boston Globe reported that the demonstration was organized by a student group called “Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine.”

Leaders of this group were set to meet with Harvard’s president and the school’s management company later on Friday to discuss their demands that the university divest from Israel and any businesses linked to it, the report said.

During the protest, one speaker used a microphone to emphasize that dialogue isn’t enough without substantial changes, specifically calling for Harvard to sever ties with “apartheid in Israel.”

“I don’t know what you guys did this summer, but I stayed angry,” the protester declared, before leading chants, including “Free, free, free Palestine, from the river to the sea.”

Harvard has faced increased criticism over its response to antisemitic incidents on campus, particularly after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Following Hamas’ attack, 34 Harvard student groups released a statement that appeared to place blame on Israel for the incident.

In response, former Harvard President Claudine Gay faced backlash after her appearance, along with MIT President Sally Kornbluth and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, at a congressional hearing on antisemitism at U.S. colleges.

When questioned by Rep. Elise Stefanik, all three university presidents gave similar responses, failing to strongly denounce antisemitism or calls for violence against Jews. Gay eventually resigned from her position at Harvard.

Earlier this year, in May, anti-Israel protesters at Harvard removed a protest camp after the university agreed to engage in talks about their concerns regarding the school’s endowment.

In a separate development last month, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Stearns allowed a lawsuit by Jewish students against Harvard to move forward, accusing the university of fostering an environment of antisemitism.

Judge Stearns declined the university’s request to dismiss the case, noting that the students had presented valid claims that Harvard’s response to incidents of antisemitism had been inadequate, and that the evidence suggested the university had failed to protect its Jewish students.

{Matzav.com}

A 27-year-old woman was arrested and jailed on Friday for throwing sand at Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on a beach in Tel Aviv.

Noa Goldenberg was jailed at Neve Tirtza Women’s Prison in Ramla, with a court set to hear her case on Motzei Shabbos.

Police said they were “taking the offense of assaulting a public servant extremely seriously and working to bring the suspect to justice.”

The suspect’s mother posted a picture of her daughter in a holding cell at a Tel Aviv police station prior to her being moved to Ramla.

“The dictatorship’s police chose without justification to risk the life of my daughter who suffers from a chronic illness, and is leaving her in detention,” Sharon Goldenberg wrote on X.

The suspect was detained Friday afternoon at Geula Beach, where Ben-Gvir was visiting with his family.

During the visit, a bystander harassed the minister, calling him a “murderer” for refusing to capitulate to Hamas’s demands in ongoing hostages-for-ceasefire negotiations.

“I arrived today for a few hours with my family at the beach in Tel Aviv and was received by bathers with great warmth,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. “A handful of left-wing protesters started shouting at me and calling on me to leave. Their right, this is freedom of speech, but the beach does not belong to them.

“At the same time, I thank the police and security guards who acted decisively to arrest a woman who threw sand at me and in the direction of my small children. Violence is a red line,” added the minister.

On Wednesday, Education Minister Yoav Kisch was escorted by police from a school in Kibbutz Kfar Menachem, as protesters demanding action on captives pursued him during his visit.

“For shame, you are destroying the country,” demonstrators shouted as the minister was led away by officers.

Police arrested two people for assault and attempted assault.

Kisch labeled the incident as “political” and accused the demonstrators of playing into the hands of Hamas.

(JNS)

President Joe Biden’s months-long push for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas has been upended again in recent days, putting the deal on life support as U.S. officials say they have indefinitely postponed their plan to present the two sides with a “take it or leave it” proposal.

The latest obstacle – the abrupt introduction by Hamas of a new demand surrounding which prisoners Israel would release – underscores the frustrating, often excruciating process that has preoccupied top U.S. officials, and Biden himself, for nine months. At several recent points the United States, along with Qatar and Egypt, believed a deal was within reach, only for Hamas to derail the talks with new demands that set negotiators back weeks or months.

Overall, Biden’s chances of ending the 11-month war in Gaza and bringing home the remaining hostages before he leaves office appear ever more remote.

Negotiators increasingly fear that Hamas is not truly motivated to reach a deal.

As U.S., Qatari and Egyptian negotiators were working through the final details of a “bridging proposal” aimed at resolving the remaining differences between the two sides, Hamas introduced the new demand that has for now put a deal even further out of reach, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential talks. Already, the negotiations had been stymied by demands Netanyahu introduced several weeks ago.

The two sides had tentatively agreed that at a certain point, Israel would release Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences in exchange for Hamas freeing Israeli soldiers. But now, Hamas said civilian hostages would also need to be exchanged for these longtime prisoners, an idea the official called a “poison pill.”

The biggest and most vexing question hanging over the talks is how many of the roughly 100 hostages in Gaza are still alive. Last week, the bodies of six hostages were recovered, setting off massive demonstrations in Israel against Netanyahu.

U.S. officials think a number of the remaining seven American hostages in Gaza are still alive and could be released in the first phase of a three-part deal, according to the senior official, along with a “significant number” of living hostages. Despite their concept of a “take it or leave it” offer, Biden officials said they will continue working toward a deal as long as they think it has even a small chance.

The latest setback to the cease-fire talks is the culmination of a process that started almost immediately after a one-week fighting pause in late November, which saw an increase in humanitarian aid into Gaza and more than 100 hostages released. The administration quickly began to work on another deal, one they hoped would last longer and lay the groundwork for a permanent end to the war.

Inside the White House, the news of the six slain hostages – particularly Goldberg-Polin, whose parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, had become well-known to Biden and his top officials, many of whom regularly texted with them as negotiations dragged on – personalized the impact of the failure to reach a deal. “Furious” and “horrified” were among the terms officials used to describe the news of his death.

“The mood was, ‘We don’t have a deal, we now have six dead hostages, and we’re all not doing enough,’” a senior administration official said.

Negotiators increasingly fear that a deal is out of reach. Netanyahu has rightfully not wavered on the Philadelphi Corridor, despite rising pressure from hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have flooded the streets to protest his position. Even if Netanyahu agrees to phase one of a deal, negotiators are not confident he would ever accept a phrase two.

Negotiating with Hamas has proved agonizing, U.S. officials said. Only its terror leader in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar, can sign off on behalf of the group, and it remains unclear how motivated he is to come to an agreement.

“You can’t be the mediator between two sides when you want something more than the two sides want it,” said Ivo Daalder, ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “Just because there isn’t an alternative doesn’t mean this strategy is working. The amount of talent we’ve deployed to get where we are, which is nowhere, is really remarkable, and at some point you need to decide it doesn’t work.”

(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Yasmeen Abutaleb 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the Muslim world today to unite in opposition to Israel, alleging that Israel harbors ambitions of expanding its control throughout the region.

“Israel will not stop in Gaza. After conquering Ramallah, it will want the lands of Syria and Lebanon,” Erdogan claimed.

Erdogan continued, “They will set their eyes on our homeland, between the Tigris and Euphrates. They openly declare this on every map they show. That is why we say, ‘Hamas opposes on behalf of Muslims.’ That is why we say, ‘Hamas does not only protect Gaza, it protects Islamic lands, it protects Turkey.'”

At an event organized by an Islamic schools association near Istanbul, Erdogan stated, “The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance and plunder, and the terrorism of the State of Israel, is an alliance of Islamic countries.”

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized Erdogan, saying, “He continues to throw the Turkish people into the fire of hatred and violence for the sake of his friends from Hamas – he has been working for years with Iran to undermine moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East.”

Katz added, “Erdogan continues to throw the Turkish people into the fire of hatred and violence for the sake of his friends from Hamas. Today he calls on Islamic countries to form an alliance against the State of Israel ‘that wants to conquer countries in the region and also Turkey’. This is a serious lie and incitement.”

“Israel protects its borders and citizens against Hamas murderers and rapists and the Shiite axis of evil led by Iran. Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood alliance have been working for years together with Iran to undermine moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East. It would be better if Erdogan remained silent and ashamed,” Katz concluded.

{Matzav.com}

The mother of the suspected Apalachee High School gunman told family members that she called the school on the morning of the shooting and warned a counselor about an “extreme emergency” involving her 14-year-old son, according to text messages obtained by The Washington Post and an interview with a family member.

That account is supported by a call log from the family’s shared phone plan, which shows a 10-minute call from the mother’s phone to the school starting at 9:50 a.m. – about a half-hour before witnesses have said the gunman opened fire.

“I was the one that notified the school counselor at the high school,” Marcee Gray texted her sister following the shooting on Sept. 4, according to a screenshot of the exchange. “I told them it was an extreme emergency and for them to go immediately and find [my son] to check on him.”

A counselor told Gray during the call that her son had been talking about school shooting that morning, according to Gray’s sister, Annie Brown, who described family discussions of the events to The Post.

Around the same time, a school administrator went to the son’s math classroom, according to Lyela Sayarath, a student in the class. Sayarath said there seemed to be confusion involving another student in the class with a name similar to that of Gray’s son. Neither student was in the room, and the official left with a backpack belonging to the similarly named student, she said. The shooting began minutes later.

The phone log, texts and interviews provide the strongest indications yet that school officials were alerted to concerns about the suspect on the morning of the shooting and may have been looking for him in the minutes before he allegedly killed four people and injured nine with an AR-15-style rifle inside Apalachee High. The texts also show that the school and family were in contact about his mental health a week before the shooting, and that Brown told a relative the teen was at the time having “homicidal and suicidal thoughts.”

Barrow County School System Superintendent Dallas LeDuff did not answer detailed questions from The Post and told reporters to instead contact law enforcement. “Our focus is currently on healing our community and supporting our students during this incredibly difficult time,” he wrote in an email.

Marcee Gray did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Representatives of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency overseeing the investigation into the shooting, and of the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office declined to answer questions and referred The Post to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Brad Smith did not respond to requests for comment.

The suspect, Colt Gray, is charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder. He appeared in court Friday but did not enter a plea.

The call log and texts were provided to The Post by Brown, who said she administers the family’s cellular plan.

The texts Brown received about Gray notifying the school were sent from a phone belonging to their mother, the suspect’s grandmother, but Brown said Gray was the sender. The two address each other as “sister” in the exchange. A screenshot provided by Brown shows that the number that made the call to the school that morning was saved in Brown’s phone under “Mar,” a shortened version of her sister’s name.

Brown said her sister called the school after she learned something concerning about her son and feared an “impending disaster.” Brown said in the interview she did not know details about what her sister had learned or how.

Brown previously told The Post that her nephew had spent months “begging” for mental health help, and that the “adults around him failed him.” His struggles were complicated by a difficult home life, she said.

The suspect’s mother in December pleaded guilty to a charge of family violence and was ordered to have only limited contact with Colin Gray, her husband and the suspected shooter’s father, according to court records. In 2022, the Grays were evicted from their home and the suspect’s mother and father separated, according to law enforcement records. The family has also had contacts with Georgia’s child welfare agency, authorities have said.

In May 2023, local law enforcement officers contacted the teen after receiving an FBI tip about online threats to carry out a school shooting, according to records released by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The teen denied that he had made any such threats. Colin Gray told authorities at the time that he kept hunting rifles in the house, and that his son was allowed to use them with supervision but did not have “unfettered access.”

Colin Gray has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the killings, as well as involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children. Authorities said he knowingly allowed his son to have the weapon. The Post attempted to contact the father before his Thursday arrest but was unable to reach him.

The week before the shooting, the teen’s grandmother, Deborah Polhamus, had met with a school counselor to request help for him, The Post has previously reported. He “starts with the therapist tomorrow,” Polhamus wrote in a text message to Brown after that meeting.

It’s not clear whether the suspect attended that therapy session. Polhamus has not responded to The Post’s requests for comment.

In an Aug. 29 text with a family member, Brown said she was hopeful about plans the family had made with the school to get her nephew into therapy. She also raised concerns about her nephew’s access to guns in the home.

“He has been having homicidal and suicidal thoughts, he shouldn’t have a gun, and he should’ve been in THERAPY months ago,” Brown wrote. She wrote that she had previously tried to get him into therapy without success.

After the shooting at Apalachee, the suspect’s mother expressed frustration that the school had not prevented the tragedy, text messages show. The amount of time that elapsed between her warning to the counselor about her son and the first shots fired was “just a long time for them to intervene so I’m curious to know what happened in that time,” she wrote to Brown, according to a screenshot of the message.

Sayarath, 16, who previously spoke with CNN about her experience, told The Post she was in her second-period algebra class shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning when an administrator came looking not for Colt Gray – Sayarath’s seat neighbor – but for another student who sat nearby and had a similar name.

It is not clear what prompted the administrator’s visit and whether the call from Marcee Gray played a role.

That student had gone to the bathroom, the algebra teacher told the administrator, Sayarath said. The student’s red and black backpack was still in the classroom, and the administrator took it with her when she left.

In that moment, Colt Gray was also not in the classroom. He had left, Sayarath said.

Shortly after, the student with a similar name returned with his backpack in hand, Sayarath said. He told her that an adult in the hallway had asked him about a first-period teacher he didn’t have, and that he believed that the adult may have been looking for Colt Gray.

Not long afterward, a voice came over the intercom asking the teacher to check her email, according to Sayarath. The teacher walked to her computer, then continued going over algebra problems. Moments later, Colt Gray approached the classroom and the teacher said up to the intercom, “Oh, he’s here,” Sayarath recalled.

Another student was about to open the door to let him inside, but then noticed he had a gun and stepped back in alarm, Sayarath said. The door was locked, and armed teen could not get into the classroom. Sayarath heard the first shots seconds later.

Rabecca Sayarath, Lyela’s mother, drove to Apalachee as soon as she got a call from her daughter about the shooting as it unfolded.

That evening, Sayarath tried to ask about her daughter’s account at a news conference with law enforcement officials, and she made a number of assertions about the suspect’s behavior and the school’s response. Without being specific, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said she had “wrong information.”

In an interview with The Post, she said she believed school officials had been looking for the suspect and was furious they did not take more aggressive action sooner. “You were looking for the kid … and you didn’t lock up the school when you found out he wasn’t in the class?” she said. “If they had locked the school down, a lot of people might still freaking be here.”

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(c) Washington Post