A wave of shootings over the weekend left at least 11 people wounded across Chicago, with one of the victims later dying from her injuries, according to multiple reports.
CBS News said those struck by gunfire ranged in age from “18 to 55,” underscoring the broad impact of the violence across the city.
Details of the fatal incident were reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which said the shooting took place around 8:20 a.m. Shabbos. A gunman in another vehicle opened fire on a car driven by a 22-year-old woman “in the 200 block of East 103rd Street.” As she attempted to flee, her vehicle crashed into a tree. She was transported to a hospital, where she later died.
Police said the shooter was able to escape the scene and has not been taken into custody.
The latest violence follows a deadly pattern seen in recent weeks. Breitbart News reported that the previous weekend saw nine people shot across Chicago from Friday into Sunday morning, with one of those victims dying from gunshot wounds.
Citywide homicide figures remain high. Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Chicago recorded 395 murders from January 1, 2025, through December 9, 2025, highlighting the continued toll of violent crime in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.
{Matzav.com}
A new report by the Anti-Defamation League says a significant minority of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition appointees have past connections to anti-Zionist activism, prompting sharp debate over the makeup of his incoming administration.
The ADL said its findings are based on a review of more than 400 individuals selected by Mamdani for advisory and administrative roles. According to the report, at least 20 percent of those appointees have online activity or organizational ties linked to anti-Zionist or anti-Israel causes.
Among the groups cited are Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Within Our Lifetime, which the ADL describes as a leading hardline activist organization in New York City.
The report states that some appointees publicly expressed support for Palestinian “resistance” against Israel. In one case, an appointee wrote that such resistance was “justified” one day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Two appointees were identified as having posted messages endorsing that framing.
The ADL also found that at least four individuals connected to the transition have ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, including online posts praising or supporting him.
Campus protest activity also featured prominently in the report. According to the ADL, at least a dozen appointees voiced support for anti-Israel encampments at universities, and at least five personally took part. One individual appointed to the Committee on Youth and Education joined a City University of New York encampment and shared images of herself standing before a banner bearing an inverted red triangle — a symbol associated with Hamas — alongside the words “Long live the resistance.”
The report further alleges that at least one-fifth of Mamdani’s appointees have posted statements characterized as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. Examples cited include a Committee on Legal Affairs nominee who wrote that “Zionism is racism,” and a Committee on Criminal Legal System appointee who was involved in circulating a statement describing Zionism as a “genocidal ideology.” Another appointee, the report says, shared content claiming that Zionists are worse than Nazis and asserting that “Zionists are never Jews.”
At the same time, the ADL emphasized that many of Mamdani’s selections raised no concerns. The organization noted that at least 25 members of the transition team have prior relationships with the ADL or documented records of support for the Jewish community.
In response to its findings, the ADL announced the launch of a “Mamdani Monitor” initiative aimed at tracking the mayor-elect’s policies and appointments. The move has drawn criticism from progressive activists and from Mamdani himself.
Addressing the report at a press conference, Mamdani said, “I have always spoken out against antisemitism and hatred in any form and have made it clear that the commitment that I have made to protect New Yorkers, to protect Jewish New Yorkers, is one that I will uphold.”
He also pushed back on the ADL’s conclusions, saying, “We must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government and the ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction, and in doing so, it draws attention away from the very real crisis of antisemitism.”
{Matzav.com}
Israel’s High Court of Justice has ordered the state to submit its long-awaited response to a petition demanding media access to Gaza by early January, sharply criticizing the government for what it described as a pattern of stalling.
In a ruling issued Sunday, Justice Ofer Grosskopf made clear that the court would not tolerate another postponement in the case brought by the Foreign Press Association. The judge set January 4 as the final deadline for the state to present its position, rejecting a request for an additional three-week extension.
“Now the respondents [the state and the defense minister] are requesting another extension, this time of three weeks, and they [may yet] ask for more. It is not possible to agree to this,” Grosskopf wrote, adding that if the state does not comply, the court will issue a ruling without waiting further.
The petition, filed in 2024, challenges Israel’s sweeping ban on independent journalistic access to Gaza since the outbreak of the war. The state initially informed the court in June last year that it could not allow journalists into the territory due to security concerns, a position it has not formally updated since.
Grosskopf noted that the government had previously committed to submitting its response by November 23, but then sought and received two extensions that pushed the deadline to Sunday. Those delays were granted despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that came into effect on October 10, a development the court expected the state to address.
The FPA welcomed the court’s decision, saying, “After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out.”
“We renew our call for the State of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip. And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the Supreme Court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” the organization added.
Since the war began, policy set by the defense minister and the Israel Defense Forces has barred all journalists from entering Gaza independently. Israeli reporters, and a smaller number of foreign correspondents, have been permitted into the enclave only as embedded journalists accompanying IDF units.
The state has argued that allowing independent media access would endanger both soldiers and reporters, citing operational and personal security risks. Those justifications, the petition maintains, are far less compelling in light of the cessation of hostilities.
According to the FPA, the government has requested eight separate deferrals since the petition was submitted, all of which were approved by the court. A hearing was also postponed earlier this year due to the June conflict with Iran.
In its filing, the association argues that the blanket prohibition on independent reporting from Gaza “contravenes the foundational principles of the state as a democratic country, and represents a severe, unreasonable and disproportionate injury to the freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and freedom of employment for journalists and the right to information.”
The petition further claims that foreign journalists have been given fewer opportunities to embed with the IDF than their Israeli counterparts, that decisions on who is allowed to enter Gaza are made largely without coordination with the FPA, and that embedded reporting is so tightly supervised that it prevents comprehensive and meaningful coverage of the war.
{Matzav.com}
