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Days after the fatal anti-draft protest in Yerushalayim that tragically claimed the life of 14-year-old Yosef Eisenthal z”l, the boy’s father has drawn attention with blunt remarks reaffirming his opposition to military enlistment.

In an interview with Israel Army Radio on Monday, Rabbi Shmuel Eisenthal addressed the slogan often heard at such demonstrations — “We will die and not enlist” — and said it still reflects his position. “They asked me whether the phrase ‘we will die and not enlist’ still stands. Honestly, I would prefer that he die and not go to the army,” he said.

Yosef Eisenthal was killed after being struck by a bus during a chareidi protest against military conscription in Yerushalayim. The incident unfolded amid severe disorder, as demonstrators blocked major roads, set trash bins on fire, and attacked a bus that entered the area before the deadly collision occurred.

During the interview, Rabbi Eisenthal acknowledged the public reaction his comments would provoke. “I understand that this is difficult to digest, and I am saying this as a bereaved father,” he said. “If they were to ask me whether I had two options — that Yossi go to the army or that he die the way he died — my answer is that I would prefer that he die.”

He stressed that his opposition to the enlistment of yeshiva students has not changed, even after the loss of his son.

The remarks come nearly a week after the deadly demonstration, which has since drawn heavy scrutiny over police handling of the protest. Following the incident, it was revealed that the bus driver had contacted the police emergency center during the unrest and requested assistance, later saying that no officers arrived at the scene in real time.

Last week, N12 reported that, contrary to the police’s initial account, a prior directive had been issued instructing Yerushalayim District officers not to deploy patrol vehicles into the protest zone. The instruction, coordinated with protest organizers and documented in an internal police document, prohibited police vehicles from entering major thoroughfares in the Bar-Ilan area and surrounding streets. As a result, no patrol cars were present in the area even as disturbances intensified.

{Matzav.com}

Inflation likely remained elevated last month as the cost of electricity, groceries, and clothing may have jumped and continued to pressure consumers’ wallets. The Labor Department is expected to report that consumer prices rose 2.6% in December compared with a year earlier, according to economists’ estimates compiled by data provider FactSet. The yearly rate would […]

Pete Hegseth made a high-profile visit Monday to SpaceX headquarters alongside Elon Musk, flashing a Vulcan salute as the war secretary outlined a push to overhaul how the Pentagon develops and deploys new technology.

Welcoming Hegseth to Starbase, the South Texas community built around SpaceX’s launch and manufacturing complex, Musk framed the moment with a pop-culture nod. “We want to make Star Trek real,” Musk said as he greeted the Pentagon chief at the sprawling rocket facility.

Hegseth echoed the sentiment with a brief aside of his own, responding, “Star Trek real,” after Musk introduced him to the audience.

Speaking as part of his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, Hegseth laid out a sweeping vision for maintaining U.S. dominance in what he described as a global race for technological superiority. He stressed the urgency of outpacing rival nations in areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous platforms, hypersonic weapons, space systems, directed-energy technology, biotechnology, and long-range drones.

He argued that prior to President Trump taking office, the Department of War’s system for bringing new capabilities into service had fallen badly behind modern realities.

“Worse than that, we’ve done nothing but add layer upon layer” of bureaucracy, Hegseth said, criticizing what he called “endless projects with no accountable owners” and a culture of “high churn with little progress and few outputs.”

Comparing the Pentagon’s approach unfavorably to SpaceX’s rapid-development model, Hegseth said, “That sounds about like the exact opposite of SpaceX,” warning that such stagnation is a “dangerous game with potentially fatal consequences.”

He promised a dramatic shift, saying the department would “supercharge” innovation and abandon what he characterized as a complacent mindset. According to Hegseth, the Pentagon is “done running a peacetime science fair while our potential adversaries are running a wartime arms race.”

To make that change tangible, he pledged to “cut through overgrown bureaucratic underbrush and clear away the debris, Elon-style, preferably with a chainsaw,” to speed the rollout of new technologies.

As part of that effort, Hegseth revealed that the War Department will begin using X’s Grok artificial intelligence system later this month, alongside Google’s Gemini model. Both tools will be deployed across the department’s classified and unclassified networks, he said.

He also announced a key leadership appointment, naming Cameron Stanley, a former Amazon Web Services executive, as the Pentagon’s new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.

Emphasizing that artificial intelligence depends on the quality and breadth of its data, Hegseth said he has ordered “all appropriate data” to be shared across “every service and component” so it can be “fully leveraged for warfighting capability development and operational advantage.”

“We must ensure that America’s military AI dominates, so that no adversary can exploit that same technology to hold our national security interests or our citizens at risk,” the Pentagon chief said.

He concluded with a warning that the United States’ inherent strengths could be squandered if mismanaged. Hegseth said America’s rivals “do not have our entrepreneurs … our capital markets … our combat-proven operational data … our hard-won classified technologies,” nor the ability to operate in places like “downtown Tehran or downtown Caracas without being seen in the process.” Still, he cautioned, those advantages will count for nothing “if we suffocate those advantages under a stifling bureaucracy.”

{Matzav.com}

The Department of Homeland Security has significantly expanded its public-facing database of criminal illegal aliens, adding roughly 5,000 new entries that allow Americans to review records of what officials describe as the most dangerous offenders living unlawfully in the country, Breitbart News reported exclusively.

Federal officials confirmed Monday that thousands of additional names have been uploaded to wow.dhs.gov, a searchable site that catalogues illegal alien convicts who have been arrested — and in many cases removed — by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Since its launch, the Worst of the Worst website has given Americans greater transparency into who the wicked and dangerous criminal illegal aliens DHS law enforcement has removed from their communities,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

She directed particularly sharp criticism at immigration activists, asking, “To the open-borders and anti-ICE activists, would you like to have these murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists living next door?” McLaughlin added, “This update is just a fraction of who we have arrested — and who we will continue to lock up — under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem.”

The newly added entries include Abdirashid Ibrahim and Zakariya Abdi, both Somali nationals convicted of homicide. Ibrahim also has convictions for domestic violence, weapons possession, and burglary stemming from crimes committed in Nashville, Tennessee. Abdi was additionally convicted of larceny in Bayport, Minnesota.

Also listed are violent gang affiliates, including MS-13 member Ever Rodriguez-Mendoza of El Salvador, who has prior convictions for assault, aggravated assault on a police officer, and robbery in Malvern, Arkansas. He appears alongside Tren de Aragua gang member Yohenry Josue Betancourt Brito of Venezuela, previously convicted of assault and larceny in New York City.

DHS officials also added Inland Empire 13 gang member Carlos Merlos Ortiz of El Salvador, as well as Nelson Ricardo Suarez of Cuba and Ghinh Nguyen of Vietnam. Merlos Ortiz has prior convictions for rape, impersonation, and illegal re-entry in Richland, Washington.

Suarez was previously convicted of crimes involving a child, along with assault, battery, and forced entry in Miramar, Florida. Nguyen’s criminal record includes convictions for rape with a weapon, assault, aggravated assault, kidnapping, discharging a firearm, intimidation, and weapons possession in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Additional names placed in the database include Juan Perez-Barahona of Honduras, who was previously convicted of child molestation, assault, and child neglect in Brooklyn, Connecticut, and Julio Lara-Avila of Mexico, who has prior convictions for assault, battery, terroristic state offenses, cruelty toward a child, and false imprisonment in Pollock, Louisiana.

{Matzav.com}

Thousands of New York City nurses were set to return to the picket lines Tuesday as their strike targeting some of the city’s leading hospital systems entered its second day. The walkout, which comes during a severe flu season, involved roughly 15,000 nurses spread out across multiple private hospitals, including NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, Montefiore Medical Center and […]

As Canadian leader Mark Carney arrives in China on Wednesday, his hosts see an opportunity to peel the longtime U.S. ally away from their rival, at least a bit. China’s state media is calling on the Canadian government to set a foreign policy path independent of the United States — what it calls “strategic autonomy.” Canada has […]

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams revealed Monday that he is launching a new cryptocurrency, known as the $NYC Token, announcing the initiative at a press conference held in Times Square.

Earlier in the day, Adams discussed the project during an appearance on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business Network program, where he said the digital coin is intended to help counter antisemitism and what he described as a growing trend of anti-American sentiment across the country.

“There’s a wave of anti-Americanism that’s sweeping not only our Ivy League college campuses, but in our inner cities,” Adams said. He added that proceeds tied to the token would also support education in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, as well as provide scholarship opportunities for New York City students.

“The money that’s raised is going to go to those nonprofits like Combat Antisemitism, going into the college funds, such as the historical HBCUs, so this is money that, without raising taxes, you can use to fight the issues, social issues in our city,” the former mayor added.

The $NYC Token’s official website describes the coin as a symbol of New York City’s spirit, stating that it “represents the unstoppable energy of the Big Apple.”

“Built for dreamers, innovators and believers who understand that in New York, anything is possible,” the website continues. “This is more than a token—it’s a movement.”

“There’s a wave of anti-Americanism that’s sweeping not only our Ivy League college campuses, but in our inner cities.” – Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Adams has publicly embraced cryptocurrency for several years and has frequently promoted digital assets during and after his time in office.

As one example, he converted his first mayoral paycheck into Bitcoin and Ethereum. Because of U.S. Department of Labor rules, however, the funds had to be exchanged through Coinbase, since New York City is not permitted to directly pay employees in digital currency, according to a press release issued at the time by the mayor’s office.

In October 2025, Adams signed an executive order establishing the city’s Office of Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology. The office was created to “promote the responsible use of digital assets and blockchain technologies, grow economic opportunities for New Yorkers, attract world-class talent and reinforce the city’s standing as the world’s hub for financial and technological innovation,” according to a press release.

In December, one of Adams’ final actions as mayor was the release of a 61-page blockchain strategy document. The plan was designed to guide city agencies in how to “investigate potential opportunities and risks, build public literacy on emerging technologies and establish mechanisms to track progress and coordinate citywide efforts,” according to a letter accompanying the report that was signed by New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration has reversed a Biden-era policy that barred banks from factoring immigration status into loan and credit decisions, a move that reshapes how lenders assess risk across mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.

Federal officials confirmed Monday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Justice Department rescinded guidance issued under President Biden that instructed financial institutions to disregard a borrower’s immigration status when reviewing applications. The change, first reported by Bloomberg, effectively removes a requirement that had governed a wide range of consumer lending.

Under the previous administration, officials argued that weighing immigration status in credit decisions could violate anti-discrimination laws designed to guarantee fair and equal access to lending.

The Biden guidelines were promoted as a way to help undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders put down roots in local communities, including by making it easier to obtain financing for housing, vehicles, and rental arrangements.

The Trump administration, however, concluded that the policy exceeded its legal bounds. Officials said the guidance improperly limited lenders and that taking immigration or residency status into account does not conflict with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974.

“We are correcting the last administration’s attempt to ignore these well-accepted and common-sense principles of our nation’s fair lending laws,” acting CFPB Director Russell Vought said on Monday.

During Biden’s term, regulators cautioned lenders that “unnecessary or overbroad reliance on immigration status” “may run afoul of ECOA’s antidiscrimination provisions.” The Trump administration’s review determined that this position lacked a firm basis in either statute or regulation.

“This administration is restoring alignment with established federal civil rights law rather than continuing the prior administration’s ideologically-driven departures,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, Trump’s assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

When the rule was unveiled in 2023, it sparked immediate backlash from Republicans, including then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance, now vice president, who criticized the policy as detached from financial reality and called the consideration of immigration status in lending decisions “nothing short of common sense.”

In a November 2023 letter signed by Vance and “every other Republican on the Senate Banking Committee,” lawmakers warned that lenders face heightened risk when borrowers may not remain in the country or under U.S. jurisdiction. “A borrower’s likelihood of repayment significantly falls if there is no guarantee that they will be residing in the same community, let alone the same country or legal system,” the letter stated.

Vance echoed those concerns in a separate press release at the time. “Financial institutions are right to be concerned that they may never see a return on loans issued to illegal immigrants,” then-Sen. Vance said. “If someone is deported to their home country, how is a bank in Ohio supposed recoup the loan it was forced to issue? The federal government should be cracking down on illegal immigration — not encouraging more of it.”

{Matzav.com}

The BBC plans to ask a court to throw out U.S. President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show. Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida federal court, seeks $5 billion […]

Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the launch of his digital coin, $NYC Token, at a press conference in Times Square on Monday. While speaking with Maria Bartiromo on her Fox Business Network show earlier in the day, Adams said that the coin will work to “combat antisemitism,” as well as “anti-Americanism” nationwide. […]

A band of thieves disguised as IDF soldiers carried out an armed robbery of a jewelry store in the town of Dahariya, near Chevron, on Tuesday, stealing gold and jewelry worth tens of thousands of shekels. Following the report, the IDF spokesperson stated that “security forces were dispatched a short time ago to the Dahariya […]

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Central bankers from around the world said Tuesday they “stand in full solidarity” with U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after President Donald Trump dramatically escalated his confrontation with the Fed with the Justice Department investigating and threatening criminal charges. Powell “has served with integrity, focused on his mandate and an unwavering commitment to the […]

A medical resident at a hospital in Argentina has been suspended after posting a series of antisemitic messages on social media that included calls to murder Jews. In one post, Miqueas Martinez Secchi, an intensive care resident at the José de San Martín Hospital in La Plata, wrote, “Instead of performing circumcision, one should cut […]

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At least 12,000 people were killed in Iran amid nationwide protests as the regime imposed an unprecedented nationwide blackout that appears aimed not only at maintaining security control but also at concealing the scale of the violence, Iran International reported on Tuesday. Internet shutdowns, crippled communications, the silencing of media outlets, and intimidation of journalists […]

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A winter storm began in Israel on Monday night, with heavy rain and powerful winds of up to 100 km/h. The extreme weather conditions are expected to reach their peak on Tuesday. As of Tuesday morning, the winds had caused extensive damage in the coastal area, including the collapse of a historic winery wall in […]

By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld

The Rambam in Pirush Hamishnayos 5:4 explains that the ten miracles were the fact that the Yidden were saved from the ten makkos. Since each makka was inflicted exclusively upon the Mitzriyim and not upon the Yidden, that itself was a great miracle. When the Torah mentions each makka, it generally states explicitly that it took place only in Mitzrayim, with the exception of Makkas Kinnim. Although the Torah does not explicitly say that the Yidden were spared from Kinnim, it is obvious that they were not afflicted.

During the makka of Dam, we see that the Mitzriyim became exhausted searching for water. During the makka of Tzfardea, the posuk warns that the frogs will enter your houses, ovens, and other places. With regard to the makka of Arov, the posuk states that Hashem will make it clear that there is a distinction between Goshen and Mitzrayim. When discussing the makka of Dever, the posuk says that not a single animal belonging to the Yidden died. Regarding Shechin, the posuk states that the boils afflicted the Mitzriyim and their chartumim. The posuk describing the makka of Barad says that only in the land of Goshen there was no hail. During the makka of Arbeh, the posuk warns that it will fill your houses and the houses of your servants. Regarding Makkas Choshech, the posuk says that there was light for all of Bnei Yisroel.

The Meiri explains that from the pesukim we see that none of the makkos took place in the vicinity of the Yidden, with the exception of Kinnim, which afflicted the bodies of people. The posuk does not state that Kinnim did not reach the vicinity of the Yidden. The Gemara explains that although Kinnim was present in Goshen, it did not harm the Yidden in any way.

The Reshash asks on the Rambam from the posuk regarding Arbeh, which states that it would fill your house and the houses of all of Mitzrayim. This would seem to include Goshen, which was located within Mitzrayim. Yet when it comes to Kinnim, where the posuk says that it was in all of Mitzrayim, we say that Kinnim was also present in Goshen.

The Chida explains that regarding all the other makkos, the Mitzriyim were not fully convinced that they came from Hashem, since their magicians were able to replicate them. Hashem therefore demonstrated that these makkos were from Him by excluding Goshen, clearly showing that the plagues were divinely controlled. However, when it came to the makka of Kinnim, which the chartumim were unable to replicate due to its small size, they themselves admitted that it was the finger of Hashem. Since the source of the makka was already acknowledged, there was no need to exclude Goshen in order to prove that it came from Hashem.

The Yaavetz, in Avos 5:4, explains that proof that Kinnim did not affect the Yidden, but only the Mitzriyim, can be derived from the posuk in Shmos 8:13, which states that the Kinnim were “on adam and beheima.” This is explained to mean that it afflicted only an adam who is comparable to a beheima, as the Torah describes the Mitzriyim as “am hadomeh lachamor.” This posuk therefore indicates that the makka afflicted only the Mitzriyim and not the Yidden.

Based on the premise that Kinnim was present in Goshen, albeit without affecting the Yidden, we can answer a question raised by the Achronim regarding Yaakov’s request not to be buried in Mitzrayim. One of the reasons given is that Yaakov foresaw the makka of Kinnim and did not wish to be buried in a land that would be infested with it. If so, one could ask why he did not request to be buried in Goshen, where the makkos did not occur. The answer must be that Makkas Kinnim was the exception to the rule of Goshen being spared, and therefore Yaakov did not want to be buried in a place where Kinnim would be present.

May we be zocheh to the Geulah Sheleima and witness the wonders of the Geulah Ho’asida.

{Matzav.com}

In a wide-ranging and unusually blunt interview, Moshe Gafni, chairman of Degel HaTorah, made clear that the chareidi parties will not vote in favor of the state budget unless legislation regulating the status of yeshiva students is passed first. Speaking with Yishai Cohen of Kikar HaShabbat, Gafni said the position has already been conveyed directly to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

“Will we vote for the budget without a draft law? No. The answer is no,” Gafni said. “That is what we heard from our rabbanim. First there must be a law — not even just a first reading. This is the message we also delivered to the prime minister. Everyone knows it.”

Gafni devoted significant attention to the petition filed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, which challenges the transfer of funds to chareidi educational institutions and demands stricter state oversight of core curriculum studies.

“He has completely lost his bearings,” Gafni charged, arguing that salary payments to educational institutions have historically been approved in this manner for years — including during Lapid’s own tenure as finance minister. “All salaries were always paid on time. Many times, until the Treasury brings the transfer to the Finance Committee and the committee approves it, the salaries are already paid. He did the same thing himself.”

Gafni lashed out at Lapid in unusually harsh language, accusing him of singling out chareidi institutions while ignoring similar funding transfers to state-religious schools. “Everything connected to the chareidi public — he has something to say, and he says it aggressively. He wants the money returned. There has never been such a thing. He lost all restraint. His main goal is to bring down this government. Who is he anyway? Zero.”

Addressing recent rulings and judicial conduct, Gafni said the behavior of the Supreme Court of Israel toward the chareidi public has pushed the chareidi factions to actively support judicial reform legislation.

“Today they are doing it openly,” he said. “There is no justice here, no fairness, nothing equal, only against the chareidim. Now we are voting for laws to reduce their power and limit their ability to influence.”

Responding to criticism that he has spoken against the right-wing government, Gafni rejected ideological labels. “We are not right and we are not left,” he said. He accused elements within the right, including factions in Likud and Religious Zionism, of adopting narratives created by the left in order to undermine the coalition — particularly surrounding the draft law.

“They promised to make our lives bitter because we went with Netanyahu,” Gafni said. “From time to time you hear voices on the right repeating claims that were invented to bring down this government.”

Gafni also addressed growing tensions within United Torah Judaism, warning that disagreements with Agudas Yisrael could threaten the joint framework ahead of elections. He accused Agudah of violating a written agreement requiring a resignation to allow MK Yitzchak Pindrus to enter the Knesset.

“They are not honoring the agreement — black on white,” he said. “If someone thinks Agudah has four mandates and we have three, they should wake up quickly from that dream. They are endangering the possibility of running together.”

On his ongoing dispute with Shas chairman Aryeh Deri over control of the Yerushalayim Religious Council, Gafni said Degel HaTorah is at least as strong as Shas in the capital and cannot be sidelined. “You cannot act as if one side takes over the entire system,” he said. “We also have agreements.”

Asked about Arab parties announcing opposition to the draft law, Gafni rejected claims of any political alliance. “There was never a pact between Tibi and Gafni,” he said. “I believe there is a halachic obligation to preserve the rights of all communities living in Israel. Sometimes I ask Arab MKs to support us, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. When the vote comes, we will try to speak with whoever is possible so they do not vote against us.”

Gafni also reiterated his opposition to the death penalty for terrorists promoted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, warning against populist legislation that could further inflame tensions.

{Matzav.com}