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Even before Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza began in late October, Vice President Kamala Harris’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon, feared that neither the Israeli military strategy nor key parts of the planned U.S. response would work.

Gordon worried that the only way to accomplish Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas entirely was to destroy Gaza along with it, with all the humanitarian tragedy that would entail, according to a person close to him who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Gordon did not believe the United States could influence Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, whom he had dealt with during Israeli-Palestinian peace talks a decade earlier, the person said.

It is widely expected that Gordon would be the national security adviser in a Harris White House, should she win, and his personal views, which have not been previously reported, have largely aligned with Harris’s as the Israel-Gaza war has unfolded, according to several people familiar the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private relationship. The two have worked hand-in-hand to formulate Harris’s remarks at numerous inflection points in the war, providing clues as to how she could reshape U.S.-Israel policy if she wins the presidency.

Harris would probably conduct a full analysis of U.S.-Israel policy to determine what is working and what is not, according to several people familiar with her thinking, with Gordon leading the effort. It is unclear what would come of that process, but those familiar with conversations between Harris and Gordon say she could be open to imposing conditions on some aid to Israel, a policy that President Joe Biden has largely rejected.

Biden has taken some steps that Harris could build on to pursue such a policy. In February, Biden issued a memorandum requiring countries that receive U.S. weapons to adhere to certain standards, including abiding by international law and facilitating transport of U.S. humanitarian assistance, which critics say the president has not enforced. He also briefly suspended a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs this year.

The Israel-Gaza war has deeply divided Democrats since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, when militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, creating a humanitarian crisis and widespread hunger in the enclave.

Since becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris has faced pressure from activists to break from Biden’s Israel policy – but she has declined, not least because she is still his vice president.

But if she wins the Oval Office, she could set her own course. And as she formulates her foreign policy, Gordon has become one of her closest and most trusted advisers, helping to guide her through issues from the Middle East to the war in Ukraine.

Harris’s office said it would not discuss her potential policies should she become president. “We are not going to address hypothetical policy questions. She remains the Vice President of United States and stands by the Biden-Harris Administration policies,” Dean Lieberman, Harris’s deputy national security adviser, said in a statement. “The Vice President has made clear she will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. … She will never leave Israel unable to defend itself.”

While Harris has not articulated the specifics of her foreign policy, she is expected to largely continue Biden’s approach in many areas if she wins, including supporting Ukraine against Russia, pushing back against China’s assertiveness and seeking to build international alliances.

The area where Harris is most likely to differ from Biden, allies and analysts say, is on Israel. Despite her public support for Biden’s position, her private comments and concerns as the war has unfolded suggest she would be open to challenging Israel more directly, according to people familiar with her views who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

“The best-developed [policy] in terms of what could change is on the Middle East, because they know what’s not working,” said Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who has known and worked with Gordon for decades. “There is plenty of evidence that a Harris administration and Phil would urge a fresh look at how we approach our overall Middle East policy, which they’re pretty clear now has to have an end state for the Palestinians at its core.”

Biden also supports a Palestinian state, but many activists say he has done little to promote it or to hold Netanyahu accountable for undermining its viability. Several current and former administration officials also said Harris has spoken more forcefully and explicitly about the need for a Palestinian state and self-determination.

Gordon’s résumé is in many ways typical of Washington insiders. He served as director of European affairs at the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, then as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs under President Barack Obama, eventually becoming a Middle East specialist in the White House during Obama’s second term.

One former official joked that Gordon stands out because he is not part of the “pale, male and Yale” crowd that composes much of the U.S. Foreign Service. Gordon graduated from Ohio University before earning a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. That scholarly background, associates say, informs much of his methodical, dispassionate and even academic approach to foreign policy.

While Gordon’s former and current colleagues say he is not political, he was one of the first people to join Obama’s 2008 campaign, even as much of the Democratic establishment favored Hillary Clinton at the time. In 2019, Gordon became an informal foreign policy adviser to Harris’s ill-fated presidential campaign before advising Pete Buttigieg.

“Phil finds candidates he believes in,” said Frank Lowenstein, a former State Department official who has worked with Gordon. “He makes up his own mind about people he thinks would make great presidents and gets on board early.”

When Biden won, early supporters or longtime advisers received most of the top foreign policy jobs. Gordon became Harris’s deputy national security adviser and ascended to the top foreign policy job in her office in early 2022.

While Harris and Gordon did not initially have a strong personal relationship, associates say they have steadily become closer as the vice president has taken on a more prominent foreign policy role. She has met with European leaders as part of the administration’s effort to build a pro-Ukraine coalition, and she has traveled several times to southeast Asia to bolster alliances against China.

In many ways, Harris’s view of foreign policy is informed by her background as a prosecutor, according to aides and allies. She often focuses on whether countries are abiding by international humanitarian law and the “rules-based order” – an approach that can be particularly thorny when it comes to Israel.

That lawyerly approach has informed many of Harris’s most noteworthy comments about the war, including an assertion that Israel has a right to defend itself “but it matters how” and a statement that there are “no excuses” for not allowing more aid into Gaza.

Unlike Biden, Harris has not stressed or even publicly noted that Hamas embeds its fighters among civilians – not because she does not believe it, but to avoid giving Israel cover for the high casualty rate, according to two people familiar with the thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private strategy. She has strongly condemned Hamas for a litany of other actions, including sexual violence on Oct. 7 and killing civilians.

Still, the specifics of how Middle East policy would change under Harris remain unclear. Much depends, of course, on whether the Israel-Gaza war is still raging. And several Middle East veterans cautioned that changing U.S. policy toward Israel can be politically difficult.

Aside from imposing conditions on aid, there are other steps the United States could take to change the nature of its relationship with Israel. They include legally recognizing rulings from international bodies, including a recent one from the International Court of Justice, which in July said Israel should end its occupation of Palestinian territory, evacuate existing settlements, stop building new ones, and pay reparations to Palestinians who have lost land and property.

Lieberman said Harris “will continue to stand up against anti-Israel bias in international organizations.” He added that Harris has been clear that her priority is finalizing the cease-fire and hostage release deal that she and Biden have been seeking for months, and that “more must be done to protect Palestinian civilians and to deliver humanitarian assistance, and international humanitarian law must be upheld.”

For now, Harris opposes cutting off offensive weapons to Israel, something many progressives want. A group of pro-Palestinian activists in Michigan that Harris briefly spoke to this month urged an arms embargo of Israel after the interaction. But Gordon, in a rare statement from his official X account, clarified the following day that Harris did not support such a policy.

“@VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law,” Gordon wrote.

If Harris wins the White House, Gordon may have a bigger impact on foreign policy than Biden’s aides do. Biden came into the presidency with more than 50 years of foreign policy experience, including as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he is supremely confident in his own judgment, according to numerous current and former White House officials.

On certain issues, including his reluctance to withhold aid from Israel or to allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia, Biden has often been immovable, much to the frustration of some aides. Having a president so knowledgeable and confident of his own instincts can be an asset, since it provides clarity and direction, they say, but it also carries risk.

“That experience is a double-edged sword because Biden always thought he knew more than everybody and was intransigent,” one outside adviser said. “Most presidents use the policy process to present them with choices and manage debate and make a decision. I expect Phil would play the role of honest broker among a group of advisers.”

Gordon, by nearly all accounts, is the person Harris trusts most when it comes to global affairs, and his quiet, deliberate style has endeared him to her. Former associates said he is loyal and has no problem voicing his opinions in private but will fully back the administration’s policy in public.

That approach was evident when Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza in October. Gordon was at a meeting with Sullivan and several former national security aides, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

While the other officials were almost entirely focused on dissuading Israel from a full-scale assault, Gordon was already asking about the “day after,” one of the people recalled. How does this end? Gordon asked of the military campaign. How will the United States advance a two-state solution once the war is over?

The questions struck some in the meeting as overly academic and theoretical, given that the war was just beginning, according to one of the participants. But they ended up being prescient. And now everyone is asking about “the day after.”

(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Yasmeen Abutaleb 

Mastercard Inc. is expanding its efforts to eliminate the use of credit card numbers when customers make purchases online in a bid to fight fraud.

A decade after it first unveiled a technology that replaces consumers’ card numbers with so-called tokens, the company is now processing 1 billion such transactions every week, Chief Executive Officer Michael Miebach said in an interview. That’s after it took the payments behemoth three years to process the first billion of such transactions.

Now, Mastercard is planning to expand the use of the technology to replace security measures like passwords with biometric data such as fingerprints or face scans, Miebach said. It’s the latest step that the financial industry is taking to combat the rising issue of online payment fraud, which is expected to exceed $91 billion by 2028.

A decade ago, the common thinking was “if you want to keep it safe, protect data and protect transactions through passwords,” Miebach said at Mastercard’s London offices. “That worked for a while. And then it started to become the vulnerability instead of effective safety and security.”

Mastercard and rival Visa Inc. first introduced token technology about a decade ago after fraudsters had targeted the payment systems of retailers including Target Corp. and Best Buy Co., absconding with tens of millions of consumers’ credit card information. At first, the technology was focused on replacing card numbers with a token that only the networks can unlock, meaning it’s useless if a hacker does get their hands on it.

Fueled by payment services such as Apple Pay, that helped reduce fraud for in-store purchases. Now, though, criminals are targeting e-commerce sites that require consumers to manually put in their card information to make a purchase.

Increasingly, hackers are also targeting websites in places including India that rely on one-time passwords to help with security. These passwords – which retailers and banks send to consumers in order to authenticate their identity – have grown increasingly vulnerable to fraudsters, Miebach said.

Mastercard will partner with banks and payment providers around the world to replace these one-time passwords with a token based on consumers’ biometric information. It introduced the service in India this week after inking partnerships with PayU and banks including Axis Bank Ltd.

“The source of the problem was that if the data was exposed and somebody penetrated and got into that data, they could use it,” Miebach said. “The digital economy – what is the one thing that’s holding it back? It’s the risk of data breaches of fraud and so forth. And tokenization is a big lever to curb those.”

Mastercard has said it expects all e-commerce transactions to be tokenized in Europe by the end of the decade.

(c) 2024, Bloomberg · Aisha S Gani 

[Video below.] At a seudah on Thursday marking the yahrtzeit of the Divrei Yoel of Satmar zt”l, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum of Satmar delivered an important address on the pressing issue of the housing crisis in Kiryas Yoel.

For years, the community has grappled with skyrocketing housing prices, fueled by investors and developers who have been inflating prices, making affordable housing increasingly scarce for local families.

In response to this growing concern, Rav Aharon announced the development of two major housing projects in Kiryas Yoel, each slated to include nearly 1,000 affordable apartments.

These developments are a critical step toward alleviating the housing shortage and providing relief to families struggling to find suitable accommodations within their means.

To ensure that these new housing units remain affordable, Rav Aharon outlined strict guidelines that will be enforced throughout the development process. Key among these is a cap on construction costs, with permits being granted only to developers who agree to charge no more than $300 per square foot. This measure is intended to keep the final sale prices of these units within reach for the average family in Kiryas Yoel.

Moreover, to prevent speculation and the hoarding of units by investors, Rav Aharon decreed that buyers will only be allowed to purchase a single home within these developments. This rule aims to curb the practice of buying multiple units for the purpose of renting them out at inflated prices, which has exacerbated the housing crisis in recent years.

Rav Aharon also addressed the concerns of current residents living in smaller affordable apartments who may wish to upgrade to a larger unit within the new developments. He emphasized that these residents would need to sell their existing apartments at the same $300 per square foot rate before purchasing a new unit. This policy ensures that affordable housing remains accessible and that the cycle of inflated prices is not perpetuated within the community.

These clear directives have been widely praised as a crucial step toward stabilizing the housing market in Kiryas Yoel.

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{Matzav.com}

A dramatic military raid in western Iraq left at least 14 Islamic State fighters dead and seven American troops wounded, according to defense officials, who disclosed the injuries Saturday and said all were in stable condition.

U.S. Central Command, which coordinates American military activity throughout the Middle East, said the operation was conducted Thursday, in the early morning hours, and designed to “disrupt and degrade” the terrorist group’s ability to plan and launch attacks in Iraq and beyond. The raid force, comprising an unspecified number of U.S. and Iraqi personnel, targeted ISIS leaders, Centcom said in its statement, though officials did not identify them by name.

U.S. officials said 15 ISIS fighters were killed. Statements from the Iraqi armed forces placed the number of dead at 14 and said their identities would be made public following DNA analysis. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

Iraqi officials said Thursday’s operation began at 4 a.m. east of Wadi Al-Ghadaf, a river bed that runs through the Anbar desert, in an area they identified as Al-Hazeemi. U.S. and Iraqi forces targeted four “secure and highly camouflaged hideouts,” they said.

“Due to the geographical difficulty of the area and to ensure the surprise of the enemy and its entrenched leaders, consecutive and surprise airstrikes were carried out on all the hideouts, followed by an airborne operation,” the Iraqi statement says.

U.S. military officials said the militants appeared ready for a fight, characterizing them as heavily armed with “numerous weapons,” including grenades and explosive belts used for suicide attacks.

The Iraqis said all four hideouts were destroyed along with the ISIS fighters’ weapons and ammunition, and that documents, computers and phones were seized.

On Saturday, Maj. Gen Tahseen Al-Khafaji, a spokesman for the Iraqi joint operations command, said that a team of counterterrorism personnel stopped a vehicle and detained two people trying to escape with documents.

Of the seven U.S. service members were wounded, a U.S. defense official said, two had to be evacuated for follow-on care. Two were injured in a fall, which was not described nor was the nature of the others’ injuries. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the operation, said all were in stable condition.

It is unclear if the Iraqis also suffered injuries.

There was no indication any civilians were hurt, Centcom said.

Thursday’s mission underscored a persistent challenge facing the 2,500 U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and another 900 in neighboring Syria who are tasked with trying to stamp out the remnants of the Islamic State. And it was notable for the relatively high number of injured personnel relative to other missions.

U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have also contended with a dramatic surge in drone and rocket attacks by other adversaries. Iranian-backed militants have repeatedly struck bases housing U.S. troops since Israel began its military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, occasionally eliciting a military response from the Pentagon. Those groups are angry with Washington’s military and political support for Israel.

In February, after at least 165 attacks on U.S. forces since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, the Biden administration approved limited airstrikes in response and to avenge the deaths of three U.S. soldiers killed in a one-way drone strike on their base in Jordan.

The American military presence in Iraq is deeply unpopular with the country’s citizens. Washington and Baghdad have discussed a possible withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops but have yet to announce any concrete plans for doing so.

(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Alex Horton, Mustafa Salim 

A Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for victims of the powerful defoliant dioxin “Agent Orange” used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War is among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards — regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prizes. The other winners announced on Saturday were a group of doctors who struggled to secure adequate healthcare for Thailand’s rural poor, an Indonesian environmental defender, a Japanese animator who tackles complex issues for children and a Bhutanese academician promoting his country’s cultural heritage to help current predicaments. First given in 1958, the annual awards are named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, and honor “greatness of spirit” in selfless service to people across Asia. “The award has celebrated those who challenge the status quo with integrity by courageously confronting systemic injustices, transform critical sectors through groundbreaking solutions that drive societal progress, and address pressing global issues with unwavering resilience,” said Susanna B. Afan, president of the award foundation. Vietnamese doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong carried out extensive research into the devastating and long-term effects of Agent Orange which she said she first encountered in the late 1960s as a medical intern when she helped deliver babies with severe birth defects as a result of the lingering effect of highly toxic chemical, according to the awards body. “Her work serves as a dire warning for the world to avoid war at all costs as its tragic repercussions can reach far into the future,” the Magsaysay foundation said. “She offers proof that it can never be too late to right the wrongs of war and gain justice and relief for its hapless victims.” American forces used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and to destroy crops for the Vietnamese Communists, or Viet Cong, who fought against South Vietnam and the United States. Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of the chemical agent dioxin used in Agent Orange across large swaths of southern Vietnam. Dioxin stays in the soil and in the sediment of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals. Vietnam says as many as 4 million citizens were exposed to the herbicide and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses from it, including the children of people exposed during the war. Indonesian Farwiza Farhan won the award for helping lead a group protect the Leuser Ecosystem, a 2.6-million-hectare forest on Sumatra Island in his country’s Aceh province where some of the world’s most highly endangered species have managed to survive, the foundation said. Her group helped win a court verdict that led to $26 million in fines against a palm oil company that burned forests and stopped a hydroelectric dam that would have threatened the elephant’s habitat, the foundation said. Miyazaki Hayao, a popular animator in Japan, was cited by the awards body as a co-founder in 1985 of Studio Ghibli, a leading proponent of animated films for children. Three Ghibli productions were among Japan’s ten top-grossing films. “He tackles complicated issues, using his art to make them comprehensible to children, whether it be about protecting the environment, advocating for peace or championing the rights and roles of women […]

A trio of young Trump enthusiasts stole the show at Friday’s rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as they entertained attendees and Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) hosts with a spot-on impersonation of the former president. As lines formed outside the rally venue, eager supporters waited to hear from former President Donald Trump. RSBN, known for its extensive coverage of Trump events, mingled with the crowd, interviewing attendees ahead of the rally’s start. During their interactions, the crew stumbled upon a memorable scene—a pint-sized Trump impersonator, flanked by two equally small “Secret Service” agents. The young “Trump” confidently criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, humorously labeling her as “part two of President Joe Biden,” and even dropped in the word “dementia” during a brief discussion on immigration and MAGA. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)  

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu dismissed claims on Motzoei Shabbos that there was an agreement for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza to facilitate the delivery of polio vaccines to the population there.

“The reports of a general ceasefire for the provision of polio vaccines in Gaza are false,” the Prime Minister’s Office clarified. “Israel will allow only a humanitarian corridor for the movement of vaccination personnel; specific safe zones will also be created where vaccines can be administered during set times.”

“Israel recognizes the critical importance of preventing a polio outbreak in Gaza, not just for the residents there but also to prevent the spread of disease in the wider region.”

Related articles: In mid-August, Gaza documented its first polio case in 25 years, prompting international pressure on Israel to enable expanded vaccination efforts in the area.

Since the conflict began, 2,821,260 doses of polio vaccine have been sent into Gaza.

In late August, Prof. Hagai Levine, who heads the Health Division of the Hostages Families Forum, sent a letter to both the WHO and UNICEF, advocating for the inclusion of hostages in the ongoing polio vaccination efforts and other health interventions.

The Hostages Families Forum stated: “Given the severe conditions under which the 107 hostages, including elderly individuals, women, and children, have been held captive for 328 days, all are considered high-risk. Including them in the vaccination campaign is essential for their survival, just as it is for everyone else in Gaza.”

“To this day, Hamas’s refusal to provide proof of life or allow Red Cross visits to the hostages exacerbates the health crisis in Gaza.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “We have to have borders. We don’t have borders — we have nothing. We have people that are just allowed to walk in from countries unknown… those children are now occupying seats in our schools, taking them away from our citizens. Our veterans are sleeping on the street outside of hotels where illegal immigrants are living inside… The country’s really on a bad course… I’ve never seen it like this.”

Today, President Joe Biden addressed reporters’ inquiries regarding the IDF’s recent discovery of several bodies in the Gaza Strip, acknowledging that the IDF is currently working to identify the remains but that he has little additional information to share at this time.

“I’m not sure the exact number…there’s a lot of speculation on who they are. I’m not at liberty to do that at this moment,” Biden stated.

He also touched on ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages, emphasizing the importance of ending the conflict. “It’s time this war ended…I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement,” he remarked.

Expressing cautious optimism, Biden noted, “people are continuing to meet,” and affirmed his belief in the potential for an imminent agreement. “We think we can close the deal, they’ve all said they agree on the principles,” he added.

Biden’s comments followed a confirmation from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit that multiple bodies had been discovered during operations in Gaza.

“At this time, the troops are still operating in the area and are carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies that will last several hours. We ask to refrain from spreading rumors,” read the IDF’s official statement.

The president has been advocating for a ceasefire and a deal for the release of hostages, a plan he originally proposed in May.

Last Sunday, two Egyptian security officials informed Reuters that negotiations in Cairo aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release had concluded without a resolution.

Later, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reaffirmed that the U.S. is still “feverishly” working towards a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Cairo.

These comments followed Hamas’ rejection of a proposed hostage deal that had been presented to them.

{Matzav.com}

Natalie Zangauker, the younger sister of Gaza hostage Matan Zangauker, was trampled by police during the weekly protest for the release of the hostages at the Kirya Bridge. In video footage online, protesters can be heard shouting “shame” and “you’ll end up in jail” at the policeman.

Zangauker was taken to Sourasky Medical Center due to her injuries, where she published a video saying: “Not even a police officer will stop me from protesting on behalf of Matan and the other hostages.”

On Motzei Shabbos, Israeli Police reported it arrested three people at protests in Tel Aviv who were blocking the road at the intersection between the intersection of Shaul Hamelech and Menachem Begin.

Police said that the protesters were given permission to protest at Kaplan Junction, but a group of protesters started moving towards the southbound side of the Ayalon Highway, protest at Kaplan Junction, which a group of protesters disobeyed. The police said the protesters moved towards Ayalon South, “risking human lives while the vehicles were moving at high speed on the road.”

The deputy director of Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus’s transplant department, Dr. Vladimir Tank, was arrested when he tried to help Natalie with her injuries.

The Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus and the Israel Medical Association have not responded to the arrest yet.

The medical director of the Hostage Families Forum, Prof. Hagai Levin, said: “[This was] a violent arrest of a person who has dedicated his whole life to saving lives. And this man is the ‘enemy’ of the Israel Police.”

Knesset Member Naama Lazimi responded to the incident saying: “Currently, the department director is abroad and if there is an emergency transplant, the deputy director is nowhere to be found! He is somewhere with the police but we don’t know which station he is at. I appealed to the health minister and his chief of staff to act immediately regarding this issue. The police’s decision has far-reaching consequences for the public’s peace and health.”

{Matzav.com} 

Ehud Olmert, Israel’s former Prime Minister, recently signed a proposal with Nasser al-Qidwa, a nephew of the notorious Yasser Arafat and a former official of the Palestinian Authority in charge of foreign affairs. According to Palestinian affairs expert Ehud Yaari, this proposal outlines a potential agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The proposed agreement would pave the way for the creation of a Palestinian state using the 1967 borders as a foundation. It includes the annexation of 4.4% of Judea and Samaria to Israel, with the Palestinian state receiving a comparable area in return. This swap would also incorporate a passage linking Gaza to Judea and Samaria.

As outlined in the proposal, once the IDF withdraws, the Gaza Strip would come under the governance of a Palestinian administration made up of technocrats rather than political figures.

The Palestinians would formally acknowledge the new Jewish neighborhoods in Yerushalayim as part of Israel, while the Arab neighborhoods that were outside Yerushalayim’s municipal borders before 1967 would become part of the Palestinian capital within Yerushalayim.

A trustee board, with members from five countries, including Israel and Palestine, would be responsible for overseeing the Old City. The UN Security Council would determine the board’s authority. Furthermore, the parties would enter negotiations concerning the future of Israeli settlements and their inhabitants, along with the refugee issue. The potential deployment of an international force along the Jordan River would also be considered.

{Matzav.com Israel}

A bus crash early in the day in Mississippi killed seven people and injured dozens more when the vehicle rolled over after experiencing a tire failure, according to the state’s highway patrol and federal transportation authorities.

A pair of siblings – a 6-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl – were among the seven that died, said Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey, adding that he was still working to identify the remaining five victims. The siblings’ mother survived the crash.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol responded to a crash about 12:40 a.m. on Interstate 20 near Bovina, a city roughly 35 miles west of Jackson. A 2018 Volvo commercial passenger bus traveling westward had gone off the road and was overturned, the agency said in a statement.

Six passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, and one died at Merit Health River Region in Vicksburg, officials said. Thirty-seven others were transported to hospitals across Vicksburg and Jackson.

Local media footage of the crash site showed a large red bus with shattered windows, parts of its exterior crumpled.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on social media that it would send a go-team to conduct an investigation into Saturday’s crash. The team is expected to arrive Saturday evening.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol and the state’s Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division are also investigating, officials said.

(c) Washington Post

Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge’s order. X missed a deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension. It marks an escalation in the monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, told internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. As of Saturday at midnight local time, major operators began doing so. De Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month. “Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday. The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it. In a later ruling, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs. The dispute also led to the freezing this week of the bank accounts in Brazil of Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink. Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month. “This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish it did not have to come to this – it breaks my heart,” X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said Friday night, adding that Brazil is failing to uphold its constitution’s pledge to forbid censorship. X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.” “When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote. X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users. Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users. In his decision Friday, de Moraes’ cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct […]

In this episode of “Inside the Agudah,” Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for government affairs and Washington director and counsel at Agudath Israel of America, sits with Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger, Agudath Israel’s Director of Torah Initiatives, to discuss his work on behalf of the frum community. Appointed to the Agudah’s fledgling office in Washington D.C. decades ago by Rabbi Moshe Sherer, Rabbi Cohen has distinguished himself as an exemplary and respected advocate for the Jewish community in our nation’s capital. Knowledgeable, experienced and a true public servant who has represented the Agudah on a variety of matters both to the federal and to foreign governments, Rabbi Cohen’s efforts have paved the way for many successful initiatives that have brought significant benefits to the klal. Watch and learn more about what Rabbi Cohen and the Agudah do each day.

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A recent Channel 12 poll reveals that a significant majority of Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should step down and not run in the next elections. According to the survey, 69% of respondents believe Netanyahu should resign when elections are held, while only 22% support his candidacy for prime minister. Even among coalition party voters, the sentiment is divided, with 46% favoring his resignation and 43% supporting another run.

Israel’s Security Cabinet voted over the weekend in support of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s stance of maintaining an Israel Defense Forces presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt, in any hostages-for ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal with Hamas.

Eight ministers voted in favor, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant opposed the measure and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir abstained.

The ministers effectively approved several maps showing how Israel will preserve troop deployments along the corridor, previously Hamas’s main conduit for smuggling weapons to Gaza, through a vast network of tunnels.

The maps have reportedly been incorporated into the “bridging proposal” the U.S. put out two weeks ago that Jerusalem accepted but Hamas rejected.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to reconsider its position, following meetings with senior officials in Jerusalem.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu … he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it. It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” said Blinken.

“The single quickest, best, most effective way to relieve the terrible suffering of the Palestinians that was instigated by Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued is to complete this agreement,” he added.

During a Cabinet meeting this month, Netanyahu said that he is “prepared to go very far to release all of our hostages, while maintaining the security of Israel.”

The premier said that Hamas is demanding “that Israel not be able to return to the war [following a ceasefire]. It demands that we withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing [between Gaza and Egypt]—its lifelines, which would allow it to rearm and rebuild its strength. It is important to determine the principle: We are not leaving from there.

“Hamas is also unprepared to allow any mechanism to check for and prevent the passage of munitions and terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip. It is doing all this because it wants to recover and rebuild, and return again and again to the massacre of October 7, as it has promised to do,” Netanyahu continued.

“The fact is that it is Hamas which is preventing the release of our hostages, and which continues to oppose the outline, and not the government of Israel, which has accepted it. Whoever, like us, wants the release of our hostages needs to direct the pressure onto Hamas, and not onto the government of Israel,” he added.

The latest round of hostage negotiations ended without results as the Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea returned home from Cairo last Sunday.

Despite the lack of progress, Washington responded optimistically, calling the talks “constructive.” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the Biden Administration was working “feverishly” to reach a deal.

Off-and-on negotiations have continued for months with the U.S., Egypt and Qatar acting as mediators.

One hundred and seven hostages—alive and dead—remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza. JNS

{Matzav.com}

The Prime Minister’s Office, this evening (Saturday, 31 August 2024) [translated from Hebrew]: Reports about a general ceasefire in order to administer polio vaccines in Gaza are false. Israel will allow a humanitarian corridor only, through which vaccination personnel may pass; designated safe areas will also be established for administering the vaccines during certain hours. Israel views with importance the prevention of a polio outbreak in the Gaza Strip, including for the purpose of preventing the spread of diseases in the region.

According to a new report by the Gaza Division that was given to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi and published by N12 News, over 6,000 Gazans invaded Israel during the October 7 massacre. This figure is nearly double the previously estimated amount, and dramatically increases the scope of Israel’s security failure on October 7th.

Per the report, about 3,800 of the invaders were members of the Nukhba force, elite Hamas terrorists. An additional 2,200 Gazans, including official terrorists and looters, joined in the attack.

Furthermore, the report identifies 119 breaches of the border with Israel, almost double the previous estimate of 60 breaches.

Meanwhile inside Gaza, the report says that some 1,000 terrorists fired 4,300 rockets at Israel, also a much higher figure than previously thought.

N12 journalist Omri Maniv responded on X to the shocking report, saying: “These numbers are simply inconceivable. They are double what we knew, and they further reveal the depth of the failure and the strength of Hamas’s raid.”

Following the publication of the report, the IDF stated that: “the operational investigation has not yet been concluded and continues in accordance with the situation assessment and operational constraints. Once it is completed, it will be presented to the public in full transparently.”

A U.S. military operation Thursday in Iraq killed at least 15 Islamic State militant group fighters, and at least six U.S. soldiers suffered injuries, three U.S. defense officials said

The commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s central Gaza brigade, Muhammad Qatrawi, was killed in an airstrike on Thursday, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.