President Donald Trump on Wednesday put forward a proposal to raise U.S. military spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027, arguing that the country is facing what he described as “troubled and dangerous times.”
The proposal comes just days after Trump ordered a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and remove him from the country to face drug trafficking charges in the United States. At the same time, American military forces continue to build up their presence in the Caribbean Sea.
Under current plans, the U.S. defense budget for 2026 stands at $901 billion.
Beyond Venezuela, Trump has recently floated a number of other aggressive national security ideas, including taking control of Greenland, a Danish territory, citing strategic concerns. He has also indicated a willingness to consider military action in Colombia, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that longtime adversary Cuba “is in trouble.”
Announcing the proposal on Truth Social, Trump said, “This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe.”
The Pentagon already received a substantial boost last year, with roughly $175 billion allocated through the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax cuts and spending reductions that Trump signed into law.
Despite that increase, Trump’s call for even more defense funding is expected to face opposition on multiple fronts. Democrats have traditionally pushed to keep defense and non-defense spending increases in balance, while fiscal conservatives within the Republican Party have warned against further swelling the federal deficit.
Trump has countered those concerns by pointing to increased federal revenue generated by tariffs imposed by his administration on allies and adversaries alike since his return to office. He has argued that these tariffs give the government the financial flexibility to fund higher military spending.
However, while tariff revenue has risen sharply, it still falls far short of covering Trump’s wide-ranging pledges, which include paying down the national debt, issuing dividends to taxpayers, and now funding a major expansion of the military budget.
Separately on Wednesday, Trump also issued a warning to Raytheon, one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, saying the company could lose Pentagon business if it does not stop buying back its own stock and instead reinvest profits into expanding weapons production.
Trump has repeatedly complained in recent months that defense contractors have failed to deliver critical weapons on time while continuing to reward investors through dividends and stock buybacks and paying hefty compensation packages to top executives.
“Either Raytheon steps up, and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer be doing business with Department of War,” Trump wrote on social media. “Also, if Raytheon wants further business with the United States Government, under no circumstances will they be allowed to do any additional Stock Buybacks, where they have spent Tens of Billions of Dollars, until they are able to get their act together.”
Raytheon manufactures several of the U.S. military’s most prominent missile systems, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, the Javelin and Stinger shoulder-fired missiles, and the Sidewinder air-to-air missile.
{Matzav.com}
An account purporting to depict a Rabbi Menachem Goldberg has some 100,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, and although the accounts post videos that have backgrounds with apparently secular or Christian tapestries hanging on walls of shuls with multiple aronei kodesh, some with nonsensical Hebrew inscriptions, some users appear to be duped by the account.
Some commenters thank the “rabbi,” who wears a long beard and a black hat, and thank “him” for his words of wisdom. Others appear to be aware that something is amiss with the account, which launched on Dec. 29.
Both the Instagram and TikTok accounts hawk publications called “The Five Pillars” ($9.99) and “Rabbi’s Blueprint” ($19.99).
According to a biography on the website, the “rabbi” has “dedicated over 40 years to studying and teaching the intersection of Jewish wisdom and financial prosperity. Based in Brooklyn, he has helped thousands of people from all backgrounds achieve meaningful success through timeless Torah principles.”
In some backgrounds of the films, the “rabbi” sits in an apparent shul, in which a Sefer Torah lies open and unattended on a desk.
Many of the things that the “rabbi” says in the videos are platitudes, delivered in succession with minimal translations. The apparent rabbi refers to “God” rather than “Hashem,” and does not tend to cite particular Torah verses or rabbinic commentators in any of his messages. He also refers often to “abundance” and “renewal.” He often signs off his videos by directing people to buy his books and in several says just “link in bio.”
He says at one point that the Torah says not to put a stumbling block before “another.” The posuk says before a “blind person.”
Rabbi Gil Student, director of Jewish media and publications at the Orthodox Union, is part of the team developing Ohrbit, an artificial intelligence tool that delivers personalized Torah learning experiences.
“AI is a powerful tool to amplify Torah and help people study more Torah,” he told JNS. “AI should not replace human involvement and effort but can be an incredible tool when used responsibly.”
“AI requires transparency and responsibility,” he added. “Jewish tradition requires that any book, whether written by a human or AI, have a responsible human review and approbation.” JNS
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump is expected to announce the formation of a new international body known as the Gaza Board of Peace next week, as the ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase, according to U.S. officials and sources familiar with the plan.
The board would be led by Trump and include roughly 15 world leaders, with a mandate to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction and supervise the establishment of a yet-to-be-formed Palestinian technocratic government.
A source with direct knowledge of the process said, “Invitations are going out to key countries to be members of the board.”
Countries expected to participate include the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey.
U.S. officials cautioned that the initiative could still be adjusted depending on developments in other areas of Trump’s foreign policy agenda, including matters related to Venezuela and the Ukraine-Russia peace negotiations. The White House declined to comment.
Former UN envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov is expected to serve as the board’s representative on the ground. He is currently in Israel for meetings with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and other senior officials ahead of Trump’s anticipated announcement.
Netanyahu’s agreement to proceed to the second phase of the ceasefire during his meeting with Trump last week helped pave the way for the forthcoming declaration.
The first gathering of the Gaza Board of Peace could be held later this month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Trump said last month that he planned to reveal the board’s membership in early 2026 and emphasized that it would include top global leaders. “It will be one of the most legendary boards ever,” Trump said at the time, adding that it would be made up of “heads of the most important countries in the world – Kings, heads of state, and presidents – they all want to be on the ‘Board of Peace.'”
The Board of Peace, along with other elements of Trump’s broader plan for Gaza, was endorsed by the UN Security Council in a resolution adopted in November.
{Matzav.com}
The United States is withdrawing from a United Nations body that has pressed for race-focused policy frameworks and a worldwide reparations effort, following an executive order signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump, according to administration officials.
State Department officials said the decision targets the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, arguing that its agenda conflicts with core constitutional principles, including the 14th Amendment and equal protection guarantees. Officials accused the forum of promoting racial grievance narratives and what they described as “victim based social policies” within the UN system.
Announcing the move, Tommy Pigott, the State Department’s principal spokesman, said the administration would no longer participate in bodies it considers discriminatory. “America will no longer lend its credibility to racist organizations,” Pigott said.
Pigott added that the administration is drawing a firm line against what it views as coercive ideology. “Radical activists who embrace DEI ideology and seek to compel the United States to adopt policies mandating race-based wealth redistribution, in organizations such as the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will no longer be entertained,” he said.
He underscored the point by reiterating the administration’s stance: “The United States is proudly withdrawing from racist organizations such as this forum.”
The forum has openly advocated what it calls a “global reparations agenda,” seeking to “compensate Africa and the African diaspora for the enduring legacies of colonialism, enslavement, apartheid and genocide between the 16th and the 19th centuries.”
Beyond reparations, the body has linked other policy areas to race, asserting that “efforts to advance climate action” must be rooted in “racial equity,” and arguing that “climate justice cannot succeed without addressing historical and structural forms of injustice.”
Its positions have also extended into emerging technologies. In statements on artificial intelligence, the forum contended that only “reparatory justice” could prevent what it labeled “technology-enabled racism.”
One of the forum’s members was Justin Hansford, a law professor at Howard University and a proponent of critical race theory, who began serving on the panel in March 2022. He was the only member based in the United States among the forum’s ten participants.
Hansford has previously called for dismantling police departments, expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and endorsed the creation of a UN tribunal that would require the United States to pay $5 million in reparations to Black Americans, according to prior reporting by the Daily Mail.
{Matzav.com}
