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Former President Donald Trump blamed “Comrade Kamala Harris” for what he called the “Hostage Crisis in Israel” on Sunday, in the wake of the murder of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin by Hamas, Breitbart reports.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “The Hostage Crisis in Israel is only taking place because Comrade Kamala Harris is weak and ineffective, and has no idea what she’s doing. I look forward to seeing her at the Debate! Biden failed, and now he spends his day on the beach, plotting and scheming how to take out his once Political Opponent, ME, who took him out both at the Debate, and otherwise. THE OCTOBER 7th ISRAELI CRISIS WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT”

Notably, Trump did not blame Harris specifically for the deaths of the hostages, but for the overall crisis.

Harris (like President Joe Biden) had tried to discourage Israel from entering Rafah, the town in Gaza where Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages were found dead in a Hamas tunnel on Saturday.

Biden issued a statement while on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, saying he had worked “tirelessly” for Hersh’s release and would continue to work “around the clock” for a hostage deal.

Critics speculated online that Israel might have rescued them if it had entered Rafah sooner.

Autopsies revealed that the hostages had been alive until very recently and had been shot in the head at some point in the previous 48 hours, likely to prevent Israeli soldiers from rescuing them.

Trump has long maintained that the October 7 attack and the war that followed would not have happened if he had still been president. There were no wars between Israel and its neighbors during his term from 2017 to 2021, and he negotiated the Abraham Accords peace agreement between Israel and several Arab states.

{Matzav.com}

A significant portion of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu should not seek another term and should step down before the next elections, according to a poll released by Channel 12 news on Friday.

The survey revealed that 69% of participants think Netanyahu should step aside when the next elections are held, while only 22% believe he should run for prime minister again. The remaining 9% were undecided.

This sentiment was echoed even among voters of the coalition parties, where 46% said Netanyahu should resign, while 43% supported his running in the upcoming elections.

Consistent with results from recent polls, Netanyahu was still viewed as a stronger candidate for prime minister than opposition leader Yair Lapid and National Unity leader Benny Gantz.

Netanyahu saw a slight increase in approval over Lapid, leading by 36% to Lapid’s 27%, a one-percent gain from a similar poll conducted last week. Meanwhile, one-third of those surveyed preferred another candidate, and 4% were unsure.

When pitted against Gantz, Netanyahu’s approval rating was only 1% higher, with 33% favoring him over Gantz’s 32%. Of the other respondents, 30% indicated they would choose a different candidate, and 5% were uncertain.

Interestingly, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is currently not active in politics, was the only figure in the poll who surpassed Netanyahu’s approval rating. Bennett received 38% approval, compared to Netanyahu’s 33%. Another 25% of respondents expressed a preference for someone else, and 4% were undecided.

The survey also gauged public opinion on the upcoming ceremonies commemorating the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

This issue has sparked controversy, particularly among families directly impacted by the October 7 tragedy, who have criticized the official state ceremony being organized by Transportation Minister Miri Regev. Regev dismissed the growing boycott and objections from Gaza border communities and families of the hostages as mere “noise.”

Respondents were asked which ceremony they felt was more appropriate – the official state ceremony or an alternative event organized by the families affected by the attack.

Only 18% of those surveyed felt the state ceremony was more appropriate, while 60% favored the families’ alternative ceremony. The rest were unsure.

In addition, 60% of respondents indicated they would not watch the state ceremony, which is being pre-recorded without a live audience and will be televised instead of livestreamed. Only 24% said they planned to watch it.

Meanwhile, with the school year set to begin on Sunday amid uncertainty due to the Teachers’ Union threatening a strike in high schools, the poll revealed widespread dissatisfaction with Education Minister Yoav Kisch.

When asked to evaluate Kisch’s performance, 59% of respondents rated it poorly, while 24% believed he was performing well.

Parents with school-aged children were also questioned about their overall satisfaction with the education system. A large majority, 74%, expressed dissatisfaction, while only 23% were satisfied.

{Matzav.com}

Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Democrats including Vice President Kamala Harris “have always been supportive of building barriers and walls for certain parts of the border.”

Host Jon Karl said, “Another issue that didn’t come up in the CNN interview is her now apparent support for at least in some aspects, the border wall. I mean, we’ve seen in her ad, she uses images of the border wall. She says she’ll sign the Senate bill which provided $650 million for more border wall construction. She had called previously, the border wall a medieval vanity project, and a stupid use of money that she vowed to block. So what’s changed there?”

Polis said, “Look, this is another issue that as it gets into the public discourse is very misleading. Democrats in general, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, you know, Barack Obama, have always been supportive of building barriers and walls for certain parts of the border as part of a comprehensive border strategy.”

Karl said, “Wait a minute. She called the border wall a medieval vanity project, a stupid use of money and said that she would block funding for it. So she wasn’t talking about supporting.”

Polis said, “That’s true. The border wall that Donald Trump has proposed is a huge boondoggle waste of taxpayer money. He effectively talked about a wall across the entire border rather than using barriers of different kinds effectively in a cost effective manner including imagery from satellites, including on the ground intel to secure and lock down the border. What Kamala Harris is for is securing the most cost-effective way possible to stop the illegal flow of people, of guns, of drugs across that southern border. Of course, Donald Trump’s border wall would not work, would waste taxpayer money. Of course, barriers and walls are a part of the overall comprehensive strategy that Kamala Harris will deliver on to secure the southern border.”

{Matzav.com}

The United States is preparing to offer a final “take it or leave it” proposal for a ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas, according to a Washington Post report citing a senior official from President Biden’s administration. This deal was being formulated in collaboration with Egypt and Qatar before the discovery of the bodies of six young hostages, which has now cast doubt on Hamas’s seriousness in negotiations. Despite this grim development, the official stressed that it does not derail the process but rather adds urgency to concluding it. However, the discovery has complicated matters, necessitating a renegotiation of the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners involved in the exchange. The official confirmed that US intelligence agrees with Israel’s assessment that the hostages were executed by Hamas, which raises questions about the group’s commitment to the negotiations. With time running out, US officials will intensify their efforts over the next 48 hours to see if a deal can still be achieved. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Anthony Scaramucci claims that Melania Trump wants Kamala Harris to win the 2024 presidential election, and that she “hates” her husband. The former White House communications director recycled allegations that the former first lady is not keen on four more years in the White House.

“I judge hatred of Donald Trump by the Melania standard,” he said, adding that he could only think of one person (who he named as General Mark Milley, appointed by Trump as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2019) whose apparent hatred for the former president surpasses that of his wife.

Scaramucci’s hyperbolic claims come nearly two months after Melania Trump was last seen with her husband, having made a one-night-only cameo at the Republican National Convention in July. Scaramucci’s tenure in the Trump administration lasted a historic 11 days, amid a period of particular turnover and upheaval.

“The Mooch,” who has since left the GOP and supported President Biden’s campaign in 2020, has become a vocal critic of his former boss.

Read more at The Daily Mail.

At a rally in Tel Aviv, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker is among the hostages, spoke out: “Nadav is alive. My son is still alive. But every day is a Russian roulette. Netanyahu’s Russian roulette.”

She accused the prime minister of playing this dangerous game “until they’re all dead, [but] we won’t let him.” Zangauker pointed to the six murdered hostages, stating they were sacrificed “on the altar of Philadelphi [Corridor] spin,” referring to the strategic Gaza-Egypt border that Netanyahu insists Israel must maintain control over.

Addressing families who have recently lost loved ones, she offered her support: “You are not alone. The people of Israel embrace you. The blood of your loved ones won’t be in vain. We’ll do everything to get all the hostages home.”

Zangauker also criticized Netanyahu harshly, saying he has “put the hostages to the guillotine. He’s the hangman of Gaza Street,” a pointed reference to the street where Netanyahu’s residence is located in Yerushalayim.

She expressed the scale of her anger, claiming that “The history books will not have sufficient space to record the magnitude” of the disaster Netanyahu has caused. She declared, “Your time is up,” adding, “I, Einav Zangauker, a Likudnik from Ofakim, tell you it’s over.”

Zangauker ended her speech with a call to action: “This is the time to act. To shake the nation until there is a deal. Go to the streets, people of Israel. Go to the streets!”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Senator Lindsey Graham called on President Biden and Israel to take decisive action against Iran after the brutal killing of six hostages by Hamas, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Graham expressed his heartbreak over the deaths and condemned Hamas, describing the group as “barbaric, religious Nazis” who “couldn’t care less about the hostages or the Palestinians.” Graham urged the Biden administration to hold Iran accountable, asserting that Iran is the driving force behind Hamas. “If you want the hostages home, which we all do, you have to increase the cost to Iran,” he said. He also suggested targeting Iranian oil refineries if the remaining hostages are not released. Graham also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing her of undermining U.S. foreign policy. He argued that her decision to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress sent a signal to Hamas and Iran that “America really doesn’t have Israel’s back.” Graham labeled Harris a “wrecking ball” on foreign policy, pointing to her involvement in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and her handling of border security as key failures. “She’s been a wrecking ball on foreign policy,” Graham said. “It’s been the most incompetent administration I can remember on things that matter to the American people, your safety and your prosperity.” Graham also addressed a reported incident at Arlington National Cemetery, where former President Trump participated in a wreath-laying ceremony honoring the 13 U.S. service members killed in the 2021 ISIS-K bombing during the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal. He stressed that the deaths were a result of the administration’s incompetence, which he believes has led to a rise in terrorism and the loss of U.S. deterrence on the global stage. “Nobody in the world is afraid of Kamala Harris,” Graham added. “If you want to avoid more dead Americans, vote for Trump.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu spoke today with Oxana and Grigory Lobanov, the parents of Alexander Lobanov, who was tragically killed while being held captive by Hamas.

The Prime Minister expressed his deep sorrow and apologized to the family for Israel’s inability to rescue Alexander and the other five hostages alive.

During the call, Prime Minister Netanyahu told Alexander Lobanov’s parents, “I would like to tell you how much I regret and request forgiveness for not succeeding in bringing Sasha back alive.”

It was disclosed during the conversation that the Prime Minister’s Military Secretary, Maj.-Gen. Roman Gofman, had returned this morning from Moscow, where he had been working to advance the hostage negotiations and had discussed the case of Alexander Lobanov and the other hostages.

Throughout the day, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been, and will continue to be, in contact with additional families.

Last night, the IDF recovered the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master-Sergeant Ori Danino from Rafah.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated this morning, “A few hours ago, we informed the families that the bodies of their loved ones had been located by IDF troops in an underground tunnel in Rafah. According to our initial assessment, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”

An Israeli source mentioned this morning that three of the hostages whose bodies were retrieved by the IDF had been on the list of those whom Hamas had agreed to release in the proposed deal from early July.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. Forty-six of the drones were over the Kursk region, where Ukraine has sent its forces in recent weeks in the largest incursion on Russian soil since World War II. A further 34 were shot over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region, and 14 over the Belgorod region — all of which border Ukraine. Drones were also shot down deeper into Russia, including one each in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, and the Ivanovo region, northeast of the Russian capital. Russia’s Defense Ministry said drones were intercepted over 15 regions, while one other governor said a drone was shot down over his region, too. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that falling debris from one of the two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at an oil refinery. Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault. Also in Russia, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 people were wounded in Ukrainian aerial missile attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Sunday. These included eight in the regional capital, also called Belgorod. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had taken control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area. At least three people were killed and nine wounded on Sunday in Russian shelling in the town of Kurakhove, some 20 miles (33 kilometers) south of Pokrovsk, Donetsk regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said. Also on Sunday, 44 people were wounded when Russia attacked the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The city was struck by 10 missiles, with a shopping center, a sports facility and residential buildings among those damaged. Elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, eight drones were shot down out of 11 launched by Russia, according to the Ukrainian air force. One person was killed and four wounded in shelling overnight in the Sumy region, local officials said, while Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said five other people had been wounded in his region. (AP)

The six hostages whose bodies were recovered on Motzoei Shabbos had been brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists, who shot them multiple times at close range, the Health Ministry reported on Sunday.

Forensic experts from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv determined that the six victims were likely killed between 48 and 72 hours before the examination, which means the killings took place on Thursday or in the early hours of Friday.

On Motzoei Shabbos, the IDF and ISA successfully located and retrieved the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, bringing them back to Israel.

These six individuals had been taken hostage on October 7th, 2023, and were killed by Hamas in the days leading up to their discovery. Their remains were found approximately 20 meters underground, in a location that had not been previously identified by intelligence sources. The bodies were discovered about a kilometer away from the tunnel where hostage Farhan al-Qadi was rescued last week.

The bodies of the six hostages, found and returned on Motzoei Shabbos, bore gunshot wounds to the head and other parts of the body, with no signs of torture observed.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday, reacting to the murder of six hostages at the hands of Hamas who were found in a tunnel beneath Rafah, in southern Gaza – including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The murders, Trump said, “happened because Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are poor Leaders. Americans are getting slaughtered overseas… They have blood on their hands! Sadly, this is the total lack of ‘Leadership’ that Kamala and Biden represent.” He added: “Our Country and our amazing people are not safe under Joe Biden, and will be less safe under Kamala Harris. This terror would have never happened if I were President, and it will stop the day I am back in the Oval Office.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Animal lovers—and, perhaps, intelligence officials—are mourning the loss of Hvaldimir, a beluga whale and alleged “Russian spy” who was found dead Saturday in the waters off Risavika, a port city in southwest Norway.

In an obituary piece, the New York Times spoke with Mark Strand, the founder of Marine Mind, a non-profit focused on the whale’s welfare and broader advocacy for marine life.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Strand told the Times. “He’s touched thousands of people’s hearts just here in Norway.” Hvaldimir first made headlines in 2019 when he was discovered swimming in Norwegian waters. Upon closer inspection, he appeared to have been strapped with a harness holding a camera mount labeled as “‘equipment’ from St. Petersburg”—hence the spy theory, although the country has never claimed the whale as one of its operatives. (It’s not porpoise-terous to believe the country might’ve employed the whale for reconnaissance. As NPR once reported, Russia has previously used dolphins to patrol a naval base.)

Hvaldimir was well-known for his good-natured demeanor, like in this September 2019 YouTube video where he playfully stole a traveler’s GoPro. His comfort around humans led Strand to believe the 2,700-pound marine mammal had been “in captivity for a lot of his life.” Or, perhaps, spy school. Read more at The New York Times.

Brenda Abdelall, an Egyptian-American lawyer recently appointed by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign to lead its Arab-American outreach, is facing criticism for comments she made in 2002 about Zionist influence in American politics. The remarks, made while Abdelall was a college student attending a convention for the American Muslim Council, resurfaced in a Washington Free Beacon article on Friday. During the convention, one speaker claimed, “Zionists are destroying America.” In response, Abdelall was quoted by The New York Sun as saying, “Destroying is a harsh word,” but added, “The Zionists have a strong voice in American politics. I would say they’re controlling a lot of it.” She referenced the then-recent electoral defeat of U.S. Rep. Earl Hilliard, who had voted against a resolution supporting Israel, attributing his loss to significant support from pro-Israel groups for his opponent. The Harris campaign quickly responded to the report, saying, “Those 2002 comments do not reflect Brenda’s views or the views of the campaign.” The campaign highlighted Abdelall’s subsequent career, noting her work as a lawyer and her role at the Department of Homeland Security, where she became chief of staff for the department’s civil rights office. A campaign spokesperson emphasized that Abdelall played a key role in implementing the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and organizing a White House summit against hate-fueled violence. Abdelall herself has not issued a statement regarding the resurfaced comments. The scrutiny comes at a critical time for Harris’s campaign. Votes from Muslim and Arab Americans could prove decisive in battleground states like Michigan, where Abdelall grew up. The Arab-American community in Michigan, numbering around 100,000, has become a focal point due to concerns that some voters who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 may withhold their support in protest against the administration’s stance on Israel’s actions in Gaza. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday were at the scene of a bus crash in Mississippi that killed seven people and injured dozens of others. They plan to look at how well the tires were maintained, NTSB member Todd Inman said at a news conference late Saturday. The NTSB previously said the crash was caused by tire failure. The 2018 Volvo bus was traveling westbound on Interstate 20 near Bovina in Warren County early Saturday morning when it left the roadway and overturned, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol. No other vehicle was involved. Six people aboard were pronounced dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, according to a highway patrol news release. Thirty-six people were taken by ambulance to hospitals. The highway patrol did not immediately have an update on their conditions Sunday. The dead included a 6-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister, according to Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey. They were identified by their mother. Authorities were working to identify the other victims, he said. The bus was traveling from Atlanta to Dallas with 41 passengers and two drivers, the highway patrol said. Inman said the NTSB will also look at the carrier’s safety record and protections for bus occupants. The bus was operated by Autobuses Regiomontanos. A woman who answered the phone at its Laredo, Texas, office said it was aware of the crash, but she didn’t answer questions or provide her name. The transit company says it has 20 years of experience providing cross-border trips between 100 destinations in Mexico and the U.S. Its website promotes “a modern fleet of buses that receive daily maintenance,” and offers “trips with a special price for workers.” (AP)

On Sunday morning, over two million children began their new school year, while half a million remained at home because their classrooms were closed due to a teachers’ strike.

Despite intense, last-minute discussions between the Education Ministry and the Secondary Schools Teachers Association on Saturday night, a resolution to the ongoing wage and contract dispute could not be reached. This impasse led the union to follow through on their planned strike, which they had officially declared on Thursday.

The Education Ministry confirmed to The Times of Israel on Sunday that “around half a million students from 10th to 12th grade” were impacted by the strike.

According to ministry data, 514,000 students are enrolled in high schools for the upcoming school year, and 335,000 are in middle schools. In total, the education system serves 2,558,000 children, which includes 535,000 kids in kindergarten and state-run daycare facilities. There are 1.174 million children registered for elementary school.

As schools reopened on Sunday morning, approximately 179,300 children entered first grade. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, 144,000 students are registered for their final year in 12th grade.

The ministry also reported that 526,000 students are enrolled in the state-run ultra-Orthodox education system, and 530,000 are part of the Arabic track. In all, the education system encompasses 5,743 schools, 22,000 kindergartens, and 5,533 daycare centers, with a budget of NIS 83.6 billion ($23 billion) for the 2024-25 school year.

The teachers’ strike primarily affected grades 10-12 across the nation, although special education institutions were exempt. In some schools, 9th-grade classes were also disrupted, depending on the decisions of the school principals.

The strike did not affect certain regions in the north and south of the country due to the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip and escalating violence with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The threat of rocket fire from Gaza remains, while Hezbollah has been conducting near-daily rocket and drone assaults since October, when the war began following Hamas’s devastating attack on Israel.

The teachers union announced that there would be no strike in areas including Merhavim, Ofakim, Netivot, Ein Habesor, Sha’ar Hanegev, Shikma, and Sderot in the south, as well as Majdal Shams, Kabir, and Nofei Golan in the north.

In the northern regions, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and local security teams provided protection at school bus pickup locations and within the schools themselves.

The IDF also expanded the coverage of its air defense units to safeguard the routes used by school buses. Typically, air defense systems only respond to incoming threats if they are likely to strike urban areas.

Additionally, authorities have installed more small public bomb shelters in the north. However, Kan, a public broadcaster, reported that many parents are still hesitant to send their children to school, feeling that these measures are insufficient.

Meanwhile, about 17,000 school-aged children are among the tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes near the Lebanese border. These students will continue to attend local schools or temporary institutions near the locations where they have been living since October, whether in rented apartments, hotels, or relatives’ homes.

The teachers’ union has been in ongoing talks with the education and finance ministries, pushing for retroactive salary increases and other benefits that were agreed upon before the last school year but were postponed due to Hamas’s attack and the outbreak of war.

A central issue in the negotiations is the union’s demand for a collective wage agreement, while the government favors individual contracts for teachers due to budgetary constraints.

Despite efforts to reach a deal on Shabbos, no progress was made.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has pledged not to pay striking teachers, though Kan reported that the union has millions of shekels in a compensation fund that could be used to pay the striking educators. However, sources from the Education Ministry estimate that these funds would only last for a few days.

Strikes over wage disputes that delay the start of the school year have become a recurring issue in Israel.

Last year, high school teachers and government officials reached a last-minute agreement to increase salaries, narrowly avoiding a strike that would have delayed the start of classes.

However, the government later failed to honor those agreements, attributing the breach to budget cuts necessitated by the war.

In the 2024 budget, millions of shekels were cut from government ministries, including NIS 38,283,000 ($10.3 million) from the Education Ministry in July, to reallocate funds for residents displaced from the south and north due to the war.

{Matzav.com Israel}

A report from Columbia University’s task force on antisemitism released on Friday revealed disturbing details about the violent harassment faced by Jewish students on the campus of the once prestigious university following the October 7 assault on Israel. The 91-page report, based on testimony from over 500 students, revealed the extent of the antisemitic incidents, including physical altercations and verbal abuse, faced by Jewish students, especially those who are visibly observant.  The hostility and violence began immediately after the October 7 assault on Israel, well before the Israeli ground war in Gaza was launched. Students testified about having their necklaces ripped off their necks and being pinned against walls. Multiple people reported that visibly Jewish people simply walking past 116th Street  were stalked and verbally assaulted with statements such as “I hope you guys suffer” and “Go back to Poland.” “Students described being shoved, pushed to the ground, berated for showing support for Zionist causes, and watching Israeli flags burned,” the report said. Jewish students on campus were subject to vile rants from protestors, including “October 7 is going to be every day for you” and even “Kill your ——-self. And I’ll ——– kill you.” “On campus, my friends have been spit on, been called like terrible, terrible names, a very close friend of mine was called, a lover of genocide and then a lover of baby killing,” one student testified. “This was only a couple of days after October 7th.” Other students were subject to hearing chants such as “Yes Hamas, we love you, we support your rockets too,” or “We say justice you say how, burn Tel Aviv to the ground” and “kill another IDF soldier.” One student testified that she and her brother were pursued by protesters and chased off the campus. Students began avoiding walking alone on campus. One student said that walking on campus with a kippah or a visible Magen Dovid “could start World War III.” An Israeli student testified that when she went to seek medical care on campus in July, she heard two healthcare professionals speaking in the next room, one of whom was expressing refusal to treat her because of her Israeli identity. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

After learning of the murder of US citizen and hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin while in Hamas captivity, US President Joe Biden spoke with his parents Jon and Rachel.

A White House official told reporters on Sunday: “This morning, President Biden spoke with Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, to offer his condolences for the death of their son at the hands of Hamas.” Earlier, Biden had said that the murder of Hersh was ” heartbreaking, devastating, and tragic.”

Hersh’s levayah is expected to take place on Har Hamenuchos in Yersuahalayim on Monday.

Hersh was one of 8 Americans remaining in Hamas captivity.

He was murdered at point blank range within the past few days, along with 5 other hostages, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. Their bodies were located in a tunnel 65 feet underground, in the Rafah area. The terrorists who kept Hersh hostage appeared to have fled.

{Matzav.com} 

When Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, he didn’t do it alone. Though the billionaire tapped his vast wealth to cover the lion’s share of the $44 billion purchase price in 2022, he also relied on bank loans and a long list of investors, the full extent of which was only recently revealed.

At the time, analysts marveled at Musk’s ability to attract dozens of enthusiastic partners. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who rolled nearly $2 billion in Twitter stock held by himself and a Saudi holding company into the private deal, tweeted at Musk: “I believe you will be an excellent leader for @Twitter to propel & maximise its great potential.”

Two years later, Alwaleed says he is still happy with his investment. But to others, the deal looks significantly less appealing. Under Musk, X’s valuation has cratered – as Musk has acknowledged – leaving it worth as little as half what he paid.

Since late last year, Fidelity has consistently valued the X stake in one of its funds 70 percent below the purchase price, a drop in valuation first reported by Axios. Figures released Friday show that Fidelity now values that stake about 72 percent lower than when Musk took over X, taking its overall portion of the company from a valuation of around $316 million to $88 million.

Based on a Washington Post analysis using Fidelity’s estimates, the eight largest initial investments that were reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or otherwise publicly disclosed are worth about $5 billion less than when Musk bought X. His and his partners’ overall stake has shed $24 billion in value – a vaporization of wealth that has little parallel outside the realm of economic or industry-specific crashes, or devastating corporate scandals.

All but the second-largest investor declined or did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Fidelity declined to comment. Musk and X did not respond to requests for comment.

Among those shouldering the burden: Saudi and Qatari business leaders and royalty; Silicon Valley venture capital and tech investors; and Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. Musk took out loans to cover the rest of the deal, borrowing more than $12 billion that banks have not been able to offload, news outlets have reported.

“Elon’s done a tremendous amount of wealth destruction since he’s purchased Twitter,” said Ross Gerber, who said he invested less than $1 million, a stake he now considers worthless.

“For the people who put capital into him for any amount,” Gerber said, “ … trying to explain to people how he lost” so much money “is not a fun conversation.”

Among top investors, Dorsey – whose stake has lost an estimated $720 million – has made his displeasure known. Last year, he said Musk shouldn’t have purchased Twitter after all, posting on social media that he didn’t think Musk “acted right after realizing his timing was bad.”

“It all went south,” Dorsey said.

But Alwaleed, X’s biggest investor after Musk himself, said in an interview with The Post that he values his and Kingdom Holding Co.’s X stake the same as when Musk took over the site: $1.9 billion, a figure he said was a “conservative” estimate.

“In our books, on my books personally, we are valuing at minimum [at] the entry level that we entered with,” he said last week. “There’s no devaluation whatsoever.”

The largest investors – those with stakes of $250 million or more – received the right to confidential business information as part of the deal, prompting concerns in Washington about the involvement of entities associated with foreign governments and their potential access to user data. Alwaleed said he received no concessions or formal influence as part of his agreement to invest, calling his motives purely financial. A spokesperson said Alwaleed and Kingdom Holding Co., which the prince chairs, receive the same set of business information available to other X and xAI investors.

Alwaleed, who said he and his team are in frequent contact with Musk, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and Jared Birchall, head of Musk’s family office, said outside valuations that suggest massive losses do not take into account X’s bets through xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up. Alwaleed and Kingdom Holding Co. have become one of xAI’s largest investors.

“When you evaluate X, you have to evaluate their ownership in xAI of 25 percent,” Alwaleed said. He also said X needs to prioritize revenue. “Clearly, the game right now is monetization, having advertisers coming to X.”

As a major shareholder in Twitter, Alwaleed initially opposed Musk’s purchase – not because he was “against Musk,” he said, but because he thought Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share was too low.

“My first call with Musk was: I was fighting to stay in the company,” he said, citing his belief that Twitter was worth more.

Because Musk turned Twitter into a private company, it’s hard to know its up-to-the-minute valuation. But some things about its financial picture are clear: Advertisers, its key source of revenue, fled after controversies – some caused by Musk himself. Some advertisers were also put off by his decision to gut content moderation while restoring thousands of accounts previously suspended for breaking the site’s rules.

The deal has also faced scrutiny. The SEC has an active fraud probe into Musk’s purchase of the site, examining his early accumulation of Twitter shares without disclosing his investment – a move that could have affected the share price. Some investors have received subpoenas as part of the probe.

Here’s are the largest initial investors in the deal, what their stakes were worth when they bought in and what they’re worth today, extrapolating from Fidelity’s calculations.

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(c) Washington Post

Thousands of hotel workers in major cities across the country walked off the job Sunday morning in a strike wave expected to quickly reach other U.S. cities.

The initial strikes, which involve mostly Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt properties, will last three days. More than 10,000 workers walked out at hotels in San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Honolulu, Kauai, Boston, Seattle and Greenwich, Conn., early in the day. The strikes could spread later Sunday or Monday to other communities, including New Haven, Conn.; Baltimore; and Oakland, Calif.

The work stoppage threatens to cause disruptions on a busy holiday weekend. The Transportation Security Administration has said it expects this year to have the busiest Labor Day travel period on record.

As of Sunday morning, the strikes had affected 24 properties with more than 23,000 rooms, according to Unite Here, a national hospitality union with over 275,000 members, the majority of them women and people of color.

The union, which suffered major losses in membership during the height of the pandemic, says its workers are striking for higher pay, increased staffing and reduced workloads. It has accused hotels of using covid-era lockdowns as a pretext to permanently cut costs by axing employees and suspending guest services. As a result, the union says, members lost income and work, and those who remain endure “painful” working conditions.

“I’m on strike because I need higher wages,” Daniela Campusano, a housekeeper at Hilton’s Hampton Inn & Homewood Suites in Boston’s Seaport district, said in a statement Sunday. “I currently have two jobs, and I work about 65 hours a week. One job should be enough.”

Unite Here is asking guests with reservations at hotels with striking workers to “cancel your stay immediately” and “demand a refund without a cancellation fee.”

Hotel companies say they’re trying to cooperate with union members.

Michael D’Angelo, a Hyatt spokesperson, said in a statement that the company “has a long history of cooperation with the unions that represent our employees” and is “disappointed that UNITE HERE has chosen to strike while Hyatt remains willing to negotiate.”

The hotels have plans in place to “minimize impact on hotel operations” related to the strikes, D’Angelo said.

Hilton said it “makes every effort to maintain a cooperative and productive relationship” with the union, adding that the chain is “committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements.”

Marriott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some 15,000 union members in 12 cities voted in August to authorize strikes, which could trigger the largest hotel strike in U.S. history if workers in more cities join. Union contracts covering housekeepers, front desk attendants, bellhops, restaurant waitstaff, cooks, bartenders and other workers in each of the cities expired in the weeks leading up to the strike, and the companies and union remained at an impasse early Sunday in contract negotiations.

“We’re on strike because the hotel industry has gotten off track,” Gwen Mills, Unite Here’s president, said in a statement Sunday morning. “Workers aren’t making enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to, and painful workloads are breaking their bodies.”

The union hopes to build on gains won in strikes and strike threats in 2023. Last summer, thousands of hotel workers in Los Angeles and the surrounding area participated in rolling strikes, winning higher wages and more equitable workload guarantees. And Detroit casino workers won an average 18 percent immediate pay raise and reduced workloads after a 47-day strike. In Nevada, the union’s powerful local won the biggest gains in close to 90 years for some 40,000 hospitality workers, after a mere strike threat.

Many U.S. hotels have kept covid-era cuts in place, with lower staffing, less frequent housekeeping, and fewer food and drink options, according to the union. Hotel staffing per occupied room fell by 13 percent from 2019 to 2022, it says.

Christian Carbajal, a 15-year employee at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, is among the workers on strike Sunday. During the pandemic, the hotel shuttered Carbajal’s room-service department, transferring him to a position in the hotel’s grab-and-go market. Without the room-service tips, Carbajal says, he earns about $800 less a month.

The pay cut has forced him, his wife and two kids to move in with three other family members in a house farther from the hotel, he said. He and his wife have also adopted alternating work schedules – he at night and she during the day – to avoid child-care expenses.

“We’re being pushed to go on strike because we’re not being given fair pay,” Carbajal, who makes $23 an hour, told The Washington Post before the strike action began. “It’s bad that we’ve had to go this far to get better working conditions, to feel appreciated as someone with so many years of service.”

(c) Washington Post

An imam based in the city of Utica in upstate New York on Aug. 20 called on students to “take out” pro-Israel Columbia University business school professor Shai Davidai.

“If you’re able to take out somebody like that and make an example, that might shut up a hundred more,” Imam Tom Facchine said during the webinar titled “Islamic Political Activism” hosted by the Columbia University branch of Students for Justice in Palestine.

Instagram removed the video and permanently banned it from its platform, Columbia’s SJP said, according to The College Fix, which covers higher education and campus news.

Davidai posted the segment to his X account.

“That Shai Davidai guy: How do we get him in trouble? How do we create a situation in which he’s in jeopardy,” Facchine said.

Facchine, 35, was born in New Jersey and educated at Vasser College. He quit Christianity and became an atheist, and then a Marxist, before settling on Islam in 2010, when he converted, according to the New York Post.

The university launched a probe of Facchine’s comments with outside security experts, who concluded that his rhetoric “did not create conditions that require enhanced security measures,” the school’s vice president of public safety Gerald Lewis told Davidai, the Post reported.

“I will not be silenced—I know I’m speaking the truth. It feels like they put a target on my back with the explicit goal to take me down, to get me fired, to make up complaints about me,” Davidai told the paper.

Davidai entered the spotlight last October for his viral video blasting the school for failing to protect Jewish students against terrorism-supporting mobs, and for not banning pro-terrorism organizations on campus. He swore he would never send his daughter to Columbia.

(JNS)