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Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, said on Thursday that there will be appropriate security at the Salute to Israel Parade, scheduled for Sunday, which he plans to skip despite a tradition set by his predecessors.

“We expect tens of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors to gather along Fifth Avenue for this event, and while I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part,” Mamdani said at a press conference at New York City Police Department headquarters.

“As the mayor of our city, I take seriously my responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of every New Yorker and every event, regardless of my attendance,” he said.

Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the NYPD who is Jewish, also spoke at the press conference.

“It’s the largest celebration of its kind outside of Israel, and for so many of us, it’s one of the most joyful days of the year,” she said. “But the sobering truth is it is also taking place in a heightened threat environment with multiple threat vectors active at the same time.”

“Since Oct. 7, 2023, we have seen an unacceptable rise in antisemitism and dozens of attacks across the United States, Canada and Europe targeting the Jewish community. That has only increased in the wake of the start of hostilities in Iran on Feb. 28,” Tisch said.

She noted that two weeks ago, a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander “connected to approximately 18 attacks and attempted attacks across Europe and Canada in just the past few months alone was arrested for those attacks and for allegedly planning to target a synagogue in New York City.”

“In that threat environment, to be blunt, we are not messing around with security at this year’s parade,” Tisch told reporters. “The NYPD is one of the most robust municipal counterterrorism capabilities of any city in the world, and I am bringing all of that to bear for this year’s parade.”

“This Sunday, New Yorkers will see the most extensive security plan that the NYPD has ever put together for the Salute to Israel parade, including the largest number of officers ever assigned to that detail,” she said. “Included in that security plan will be the most heavy weapons teams ever, robust camera coverage of the area and comprehensive screening of everyone entering the parade route, including spectators, vendors, participants and the press.”

“If you think you are too important to be screened, don’t come,” she said. “There will be no exceptions.”

The NYPD will also screen and sweep “all assets deployed on the route, including vehicles and porta potties, according to Tisch.

“We will not tolerate any disruptions to the parade. Any unauthorized persons entering the parade route will be arrested,” she said. “The public should also expect to see counterterrorism teams, explosive detection canines, helicopters, drones, emergency service, mounted unit, hostile surveillance teams and other assets.”

Streets leading up to the parade route will have “hardened block NYPD vehicles and heavy sanitation trucks,” she said.

There will be designated screening entry points at East 61st, 63rd, 66th, 70th and 73rd Streets off Madison Avenue, and the entire west side of Central Park West, which borders Fifth Avenue, will be closed off to pedestrians and parade viewers, according to Tisch.

Historically, parade viewers lined both sides of the legendary Fifth Avenue, where the parade has been held annually since 1964.

“At this time there are no serious or credible threats against the parade,” Tisch said at the briefing.

Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council-New York, which organizes the annual show of pride that typically attracts more than 250,000 participants and spectators, also spoke at the press conference.

“We are expecting one of the biggest turnouts ever this Sunday at the Israel Day on Fifth Parade,” he said. “We are expecting sunny and 70-degree weather, baruch Hashem,” praise God, “and the Knicks are going to the NBA finals, all happening at the same time,” he said.

“We’re expecting tens of thousands of folks from New York, across the state, across the region, even folks from the tri-state region and beyond in celebration of our love and our story and our pride and our identity of who we are as a people,” Treyger said.

Liz Berney, director of research and special projects at the Zionist Organization of America, said during an online meeting about the parade’s history on Thursday that fewer people might show up for fear of a terror attack.

“I’m hearing this from other organizations marching in the parade—that they have people calling them” and canceling, Berney said. “It’s not what the parade should be.”

Mamdani has said that, breaking with decades-long custom from City Hall, he won’t march in the parade. Jule Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, who is Jewish, intends to be part of the parade, as do candidates in upcoming Democratic congressional primaries around the city scheduled for next month.

“It’s the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly,” Tisch told reporters.

A reporter asked Mandani if he will send someone to represent his administration in his absence. Tisch looked at Mamdani and pointed at herself and smiled.

“OK,” the reporter said, amid some laughter. “So that’s an answer.” JNS

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that negotiations between the United States and Iran have advanced significantly, though key disputes remain unresolved and no final agreement has yet been approved by President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters, Vance indicated that both sides continue to work through outstanding issues related to a proposed memorandum of understanding.

“It’s hard to say when or if the President is going to sign the MOU. We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points. I do think we’ve made a lot of progress here. It’s very clear, I think, the Iranians want a deal and they want to open the Strait of Hormuz. We want them to open the Strait of Hormuz,” Vance said.

He noted that the most difficult discussions continue to revolve around Iran’s nuclear program, particularly its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and future enrichment activities.

“There are a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff and the highly enriched stockpile, the question of enrichment,” he continued. “So we’re going back and forth with them. We do think they’re negotiating, at least so far, in good faith and we’re making some progress.”

Vance expressed cautious optimism that additional progress could pave the way for presidential approval, while stressing that no final decision has yet been made.

“Hopefully, we’ll continue to make progress and the President will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously, that’s still TBD.”

His remarks followed confirmation from White House officials that American and Iranian representatives have tentatively agreed to a 60-day memorandum designed to extend the ceasefire and launch formal talks over Iran’s nuclear activities.

Sources familiar with the mediation effort told Axios that although negotiators have reached a preliminary understanding, Trump has not yet signed off on the proposal. Two U.S. officials and a regional intermediary involved in the talks said final approval remains pending.

According to Axios, the proposed framework would represent one of the most significant diplomatic developments since the conflict began, although major issues would still need to be negotiated before a comprehensive agreement could be finalized.

One key provision would guarantee uninterrupted passage through the Strait of Hormuz. A U.S. official said Iran would be barred from imposing fees or interfering with commercial traffic and would be required to clear all naval mines from the strategic waterway within 30 days.

The proposal also envisions a gradual rollback of the American naval blockade as commercial maritime activity resumes.

Officials said the memorandum would include a formal Iranian pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons. During the initial 60-day period, negotiators would concentrate primarily on the future of Iran’s highly enriched uranium reserves and the broader question of uranium enrichment.

The report said Washington would also be prepared to discuss easing sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian assets as part of the talks. Additional discussions would focus on creating channels through which Iran could obtain goods and humanitarian aid.

Trump, meanwhile, signaled during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that he remains unconvinced by the current state of the negotiations and expects more concessions from Tehran before any agreement is finalized.

“They want very much to make a deal. So far, they haven’t gotten there,” Trump said, adding, “We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be. We will be either that, or we’ll have to just finish the job.”

Even while voicing frustration with the pace of progress, Trump suggested that the negotiations are moving in a positive direction and indicated that Iran may be beginning to yield on issues the administration considers essential.

He said he believes “the Iranian regime is starting to give us the things that they have to give us.”

{Matzav.com}

An anti-Israel Wikipedia editor was indefinitely banned this week from editing articles related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The editor, known as “TarnishedPath,” has made more than 54,000 edits on the site and was sanctioned through Wikipedia’s Arbitration Enforcement process, in which administrators enforce rulings issued by the site’s Arbitration Committee, Wikipedia’s highest dispute-resolution body in contentious topic areas.

TarnishedPath and another editor, “Sean.hoyland,” were accused of repeatedly defending “M.Bitton,” an anti-Israel editor who was recently banned from Wikipedia, and, in so doing, of violating Wikipedia policy against turning the site into “a battleground between factions.”

One administrator initially imposed a 90-day ban on TarnishedPath from editing articles related to the conflict over conduct on the talk page for Wikipedia’s main Zionism entry, separate from the original complaint. After reviewing the editor’s broader conduct, other administrators escalated the sanction to an indefinite topic ban.

Sean.hoyland received an informal warning, a notice from administrators cautioning that further problematic conduct could lead to sanctions.

TarnishedPath can appeal the sanction, but the editor has not yet done so.

Shlomit Lir, a University of Haifa researcher who specializes in Wikipedia, told JNS that “the English Wikipedia article on Zionism remains one of the most contested and deeply problematic entries in this topic area.”

She said it was “encouraging” that Wikipedia administrators were recognizing “patterns of battleground editing, procedural obstruction and attempts to flatten or distort the historical meaning of Zionism.”

“This is an important, if overdue, step toward protecting a knowledge space that should represent historical complexity rather than politicized framing under the appearance of neutrality,” she told JNS.

{Matzav.com}

The Sequoia Union High School District, which has about 9,000 students in eight schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, conceded that it must protect Jewish students better, settling a lawsuit alleging that it mishandled antisemitism.

“For years Jewish students have endured not only overt antisemitism, but their complaints about those experiences have been ignored or even maligned,” Lori Lowenthal Marcus, legal director of the Deborah Project, told JNS.

The settlement “requires policies of transparency, unbiased decision-making and concrete protections from antisemitic indoctrination and bullying” by district students, teachers and administrators, Lowenthal Marcus said. (JNS sought comment from the district.)

The agreement, which lasts until June 30, 2029, calls on the district to pay the six families who sued $325,000 in legal fees and for emotional distress and other damages. JNS saw a copy of the settlement.

The district also agrees to list the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “controversial issue,” which means teachers will have to present the matter neutrally, without sharing their personal views on the subject.

Teachers in the district will also have to warn students not to draw conclusions on the subject without having all the relevant information.

The Deborah Project, a public-interest law firm, and Ropes and Gray represented the six families who sued the district in November 2024.

They alleged that the district was deliberately indifferent toward instances of Jew-hatred and that district officials “shifted blame onto the victims, refused to engage with concerned parents and used superficial ‘investigations’ to whitewash legitimate concerns.”

A neutral, independent decision-maker, or a curriculum expert that that person approves, will need to clear any supplementary instructional materials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict used in the classroom, per the agreement.

“Parents get to see any materials that are going to be used in the classroom,” Lowenthal Marcus told JNS.

The settlement requires the district’s board to state explicitly in its policies that antisemitism is a barred form of discrimination.

The district’s definition of antisemitism also must include “the denial of the right of Israel to self-determination and self-defense, and holding Israel to a standard or behavior that other democratic nations are not,” Lowenthal Marcus told JNS.

“That’s huge,” she said. “It isn’t only when kids say, ‘heil Hitler’ or a teacher tells a Holocaust joke, as horrible as those are, and those generally are recognized already as being antisemitic.”

“But you can’t call Jewish kids, tell them that their families are committing genocide and you can’t say that Israel has no right to exist,” she told JNS. “That is verboten, and that has not been the case before.”

As part of the agreement, the district agrees to provide mandatory Jew-hatred training to administrators, teachers and staff and to provide yearly anti-hate programs for students.

The district also commits to provide at least one antisemitism lesson in world history classes at its schools.

The agreement also stipulates new ways that the district must handle discrimination complaints.

It will be required to hire a third-party investigator who has not worked for the district within three years of the complaint and who cannot have any other conflict of interest. The investigator will provide a report to the district and the complainant after the probe, and an independent decision-maker will review the findings and make a determination that will be provided to both the complainant and district officials, according to the agreement.

“It used to be that all the policies and all the control were essentially owned by the district and able to be used and manipulated by the district,” Lowenthal Marcus told JNS. “Now the students and the families have a degree of control.”

The district is not admitting to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

Lowenthal Marcus told JNS that the district is “going to go back and review the complaints that were filed that initiated this lawsuit.”

“That’s looking backward. Everything else is really looking forward, making new policies and requirements and putting teeth into what existed before,” she said. “There’s no more playing, ‘Well it depends on what you mean by X.’”

“It’s spelled out in the settlement,” she said.

A “neutral fact-finder” will determine if both sides are following the terms of the settlement, Lowenthal Marcus said.

{Matzav.com}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Yitzchok Alster zt”l, a distinguished talmid chochom, revered marbitz Torah, gifted baal menagen, and a noted talmid of Rav Yitzchok Hutner zt”l.

For more than seven decades, Rav Alster carried the teachings, spirit, and vision of his rebbi across continents, building institutions, nurturing talmidim, and bringing Yidden closer to Torah.

Born in Cologne, Germany, Rav Alster was still a child when his family escaped Europe shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Like so many refugees who arrived on American shores with little more than faith and determination, he would help build the very Torah world that barely existed in America at the time.

His spiritual home became Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, where he arrived in 1953 and came under the influence of the rosh yeshiva, Rav Yitzchok Hutner. What began as admiration developed into a lifelong kesher that would shape every aspect of his life.

Years later, reflecting on his arrival at the yeshiva, Rav Alster recalled that he had already sensed something unique before becoming a talmid. He noticed the extraordinary reverence that Rav Hutner’s talmidim displayed toward their rebbi and realized that theirs was no ordinary rebbi-talmid relationship. It was a profound connection that he himself yearned to attain.

That relationship, he explained, did not emerge overnight. It developed gradually through years of learning, observation, conversations, and immersion in the atmosphere Rav Hutner created. By then, Rav Hutner no longer delivered the daily blatt shiur and instead focused on the shiur klali and the famed maamarim that would later become the classic Pachad Yitzchok. Talmidim forged relationships with him through personal meetings in his office and by watching him during davening, shiurim, maamarim, and Yom Tov observances.

Rav Alster often spoke about the uniqueness of Chaim Berlin and Rav Hutner’s revolutionary vision. The rosh yeshiva, he explained, transformed the yeshiva into a family. A bochur did not merely attend classes there; he became part of a mishpacha. Rav Hutner often pointed to the words “mishpacha umishpacha” in Megillas Esther, teaching that the unity of a family rooted in kedushah could withstand even the corrosive influence of Amalek. Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin was built around that concept.

At a time when the American Torah community was still in its infancy and talmidim arrived from vastly different backgrounds, Rav Hutner understood that Torah education required more than transmitting information. It demanded shaping the entire person. He created an environment in which talmidim felt they belonged to something larger than themselves.

The Yomim Tovim reflected that philosophy. Rav Alster would later describe the unforgettable Pesach sedorim that Rav Hutner conducted through the night until vasikin. Bochurim flocked to the yeshiva from across New York to participate.

Central to Rav Hutner’s influence were the legendary maamarim. Rav Alster described them as masterpieces that combined Chazal, Rishonim, the Maharal, and the Vilna Gaon into a coherent worldview that taught talmidim not only how to learn but how to think, feel, and experience Yiddishkeit.

Rav Alster often quoted Rav Hutner’s insistence that these were not intellectual luxuries, but essential foundations of Jewish life.

Rav Alster explained that his rebbi sought to implant within every talmid an appreciation for penimiyus. Superficiality was anathema to him.

He once compared the challenge to crossing a large puddle. Sometimes, he taught, there is no way through except by making a great leap. The maamarim gave talmidim the ability to make that leap — to transcend the limitations of their surroundings and elevate themselves to a higher plane of avodas Hashem.

Rav Alster would later remark that while many sought prose, Rav Hutner spoke poetry. The four sections of Shulchan Aruch represented the prose of Torah, while the world of hilchos deios and Chovos Halevavos revealed its poetry. Few talmidim absorbed that lesson as deeply as Rav Alster himself.

Rav Hutner’s impact on him was so profound that Rav Alster remained his talmid for life. Even after leaving the yeshiva, he maintained a close relationship with his rebbi, regularly returning for Yom Tov and seeking guidance in major decisions.

When Rav Alster founded the Yeshiva of Pittsburgh in 1967, he brought with him the educational philosophy he had absorbed in Chaim Berlin. The yeshiva became an important Torah institutions in the city and helped shape generations of bnei Torah.

In 1985, he established Kollel HaTorah in New York, creating a framework through which businessmen and professionals could maintain serious Torah learning alongside their careers. Long before such programs became commonplace, Rav Alster recognized the need to provide opportunities for baalei batim to remain connected to sustained growth in Torah.

Yet another dream remained unfulfilled. For decades, Rav Alster longed to settle in Eretz Yisroel. In 2004, that aspiration became reality when he moved to Yerushalayim and established Kollel Nachlas Tzvi in Har Nof. There, as rosh kollel, he continued teaching and inspiring until his final years, bringing the spirit of Chaim Berlin and the teachings of Rav Hutner to a new generation.

Alongside his accomplishments in Torah, Rav Alster possessed another extraordinary gift. He was a uniquely talented composer of music.

Rav Alster’s melodies became woven into the soundtrack of yeshivos, batei medrash, and Jewish homes. His stirring composition “Vahaviyosim” first appeared on the iconic Chaim Berlin album Torah Lives and Sings. The album also featured some of his other beloved niggunim, including Heviani, Pischu Li, Dovko Nafshi, and his celebrated Yedid Nefesh, which is sung in homes across the Jewish world. You can listen to some of his niggunim here.

Many listeners never realized – and still don’t know – that Rav Alster was not only one of the album’s principal composers but also its producer. Through those recordings, he helped preserve and transmit the unique spirit of Chaim Berlin and Rav Hutner to audiences far beyond the walls of the yeshiva.

Those who knew Rav Alster understood that his music was not separate from his Torah. The same yearning for penimiyus that animated his learning found expression in his melodies. His niggunim carry depth, longing, warmth, and dignity, reflecting the inner world he spent a lifetime cultivating.

In speaking about his rebbi, Rav Alster often quoted Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky’s description of Rav Hutner as “the mechanech of the dor.” He marveled at Rav Hutner’s ability to understand each talmid individually and tailor his guidance to the needs of every soul.

Over time, many came to see that Rav Alster himself had inherited much of that gift. Whether through his yeshiva, his kollelim, his conversations, his shiurim, or his music, he possessed an unusual ability to uplift people and connect them to something deeper.

The generation of talmidim who heard him teach, learned under his guidance, sang his melodies, and absorbed the worldview he faithfully transmitted have lost a treasured link to one of the great chains of mesorah of the last century.

With the petirah of Rav Alster, the Torah world loses a talmid chochom of distinction, a master educator, a builder of institutions, a composer whose melodies continue to inspire, and a lifelong ambassador of Rav Hutner’s vision.

He is survived by his choshuve family, who continue his derech. One of Rav Alster’s daughters is married to Rav Chaim Yitzchok Kaplan, venerated mashgiach of Yeshivas Chevron and Yeshivas Pachad Yitzchok. 

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.co m}

Incoming Shas Knesset member Erez Malul declared that the chareidi parties will refuse to join any future coalition unless legislation guaranteeing the legal status of yeshiva students is fully secured, setting the stage for a major confrontation in the next round of coalition negotiations.

Speaking in an interview with Radio Kol Chai, Malul drew a firm line regarding the ongoing battle over the draft status of bnei yeshiva and made clear that the issue would determine whether chareidi parties enter a government at all.

“We will not form a coalition and we will not enter any government until the status of yeshiva students is resolved once and for all through a fortified and robust law,” Malul said.

Malul also painted a grim picture of the current political atmosphere in the Knesset, describing the sense that the government may be nearing collapse.

“It is the end of an era,” he said, adding that “inside the coalition, everyone is talking about dissolving the Knesset.”

Addressing the recent arrests of yeshiva students, Malul accused authorities and political opponents of waging an aggressive campaign against the Torah world under the guise of military concerns.

“There is a wild persecution happening here. People in this country simply want to dismantle the Torah world – they don’t care about the army or security; their sole objective is to ensure there are no Torah scholars here,” he said.

Malul also blasted efforts to impose financial penalties and economic sanctions on yeshiva students, arguing that the measures are designed to pressure avreichim into abandoning Torah learning.

“They think that if they suffocate the married yeshiva students financially, they will abandon the yeshivas and forget their identity. The tighter they squeeze, the louder the charedi public will cry out, and the more they will flock to the ballot boxes,” Malul said.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration filed lawsuits Thursday against four Democrat-led states after they refused to provide confidential license plates to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, escalating a growing battle over cooperation with the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts.

The Department of Justice announced legal action against Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington, accusing the states of unlawfully blocking ICE agents from obtaining undercover vehicle registrations commonly used by law enforcement agencies during sensitive operations.

According to the lawsuits, the states declined to reverse policies denying ICE access to the confidential plates, which the administration says are necessary for agents carrying out arrests as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Officials in Maine and Massachusetts had previously defended their stance by pointing to what they described as aggressive ICE enforcement tactics, arguing that state resources should not be used to assist covert civil immigration operations.

The lawsuits follow warnings issued earlier this month by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett Shumate, who sent letters to state officials threatening legal action if the policies remained unchanged.

The Justice Department argues that the states are violating the Constitution by discriminating against federal agencies, specifically ICE and other branches of the Department of Homeland Security, while continuing to cooperate with other law enforcement entities engaged in undercover investigations.

Federal officials also contend that denying the confidential plates places immigration agents at risk by making them more vulnerable to identification, tracking, harassment, and possible attacks while performing arrests.

“Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe and must be able to carry out their ⁠duties effectively,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Representatives for the governors of Maine, Oregon, and Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the announcement of the lawsuits.

A spokesperson for Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey instead referred reporters to a letter her administration sent to the Justice Department last week defending the state’s policy.

In that letter, Healey’s administration argued that the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles applies the policy broadly and does not single out federal immigration authorities. The state maintained that confidential license plates are restricted not only for federal agencies, but also for state and local law enforcement unless the request involves criminal investigations.

The Justice Department disputed that claim in its lawsuit, asserting that until recently — including as late as 2025 — federal agencies such as ICE and Customs and Border Protection routinely received confidential vehicle registrations and plates in Massachusetts.

According to the complaint, the policy shifted earlier this year after Healey’s administration announced it would no longer assist ICE operations in that manner.

{Matzav.com}

A federal judge has pushed back the criminal trial of former FBI Director James Comey until October as his legal team prepares a broad constitutional challenge to charges accusing him of threatening President Donald Trump through a controversial Instagram post featuring the phrase “86 47.”

The case centers on a 2025 social media image posted by Comey showing seashells arranged on a beach to form the numbers “86 47,” a message prosecutors claim constituted a threat against Trump, the nation’s 47th president.

Comey’s attorneys requested additional time to prepare what they described in court filings as “multiple motions on constitutional grounds,” arguing the case may ultimately be dismissed entirely before ever reaching a jury.

The trial had originally been scheduled for July, but federal prosecutors did not oppose delaying proceedings until Oct. 21.

The postponement gives Comey’s defense team several additional months to argue that the Instagram post represented protected political expression under the First Amendment rather than a criminal threat.

The legal fight is expected to center heavily on free speech issues and could become a major constitutional test case before trial proceedings formally begin.

Comey has remained one of the most polarizing figures connected to the Trump years dating back to the 2016 election cycle. He drew national attention over his handling of Hillary Clinton’s private email investigation and later became a central player in the early stages of the Russia probe before being dismissed by Trump in 2017.

The indictment stems from the now-deleted Instagram post Comey published in May 2025 featuring the phrase “86 47.”

Federal prosecutors argue the message carried threatening implications. The term “86” is commonly used slang meaning to remove, discard, or eliminate something, while “47” was interpreted as a reference to Trump’s presidency.

After intense backlash erupted online last year, Comey removed the image and publicly denied intending any threat toward Trump. He said at the time that he was unaware the phrase “86” could be interpreted as advocating violence.

The decision to postpone the trial was issued by U.S. District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush.

The prosecution has also fueled broader political debate, with critics accusing the Trump administration of using the justice system to target political adversaries.

“Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to turn our justice system into a weapon for punishing and silencing his critics,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said of the indictment after it was announced. “Our system depends on prosecutors making decisions based on evidence and the law, not on the personal grudges of a politician determined to settle scores.”

Supporters of the charges, however, argue that Comey crossed a legal line and that threatening language directed toward a sitting president cannot be shielded as political speech.

“It’s not a very difficult line to look at, and it’s not, in my mind, a difficult line for one to cross over, one way or the other,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said of the case in March. “We cannot, you are not allowed to threaten the President of the United States of America. That’s not my decision. That’s Congress’s decision, and a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year.”

{Matzav.com}