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A dramatic standoff unfolded in the Knesset Thursday evening after Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri ordered his party’s lawmakers to walk out of the plenum, declaring that the party would not support a controversial campaign finance bill unless opposition factions also backed the legislation.

The bill, which would increase public funding for political parties ahead of the upcoming elections, requires the support of at least 61 Knesset members to pass. After learning that opposition parties did not intend to vote in favor of the measure, Deri instructed all Shas MKs to leave the chamber, effectively jeopardizing the bill’s chances of securing the necessary majority.

Explaining his decision, Deri accused the opposition of attempting to benefit from the legislation while allowing the coalition—and particularly the Chareidi parties—to absorb the political criticism.

“I will teach the opposition a lesson. They are always saying the Chareidim only want money. We don’t need this money. Shas is the most organized party and has no debts,” Deri said during conversations in the Knesset. “They want this law more than we do, but they want us to pass it, take all the criticism, and then they will receive the money.”

Officials in Shas said they view the opposition’s position as an attempt to reap the financial benefits of the legislation without publicly supporting it. As a result, the party has made clear that it will not provide the votes needed to pass the bill unless opposition lawmakers are also willing to vote in favor.

With the Knesset’s 25th term rapidly drawing to a close ahead of new elections, it remains uncertain whether supporters of the measure will be able to assemble the 61-vote majority required to approve the legislation before the current session ends.

{Matzav.com}

A heated dispute over Chareidi education is unfolding in Netanya after local authorities reportedly sought to move girls’ Chareidi preschools into the state-run Chareidi school system. In response, leading rabbinic figures in the city, joined by Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, have issued a strongly worded letter urging parents not to enroll their daughters in the new framework.

The letter was signed by Rav Moshe Dov Broida, the rabbinic leader of the central Chareidi community in Netanya, and Rav Aharon Aryeh Waldenberg, rabbi of the city’s Minyan Avreichim synagogue. The two rabbanim warned parents against what they described as the dangers of the state-run Chareidi preschool system.

In their letter, the rabbanim wrote, “There must be no surrender and no temptation whatsoever to send our daughters to this framework under any circumstances.”

Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch added his signature to the letter and personally wrote an additional handwritten message stating, “The public, G-d forbid, should not be enticed by their words, and they should stand firm—very firm—in continuing pure Torah education.”

The letter has sparked considerable discussion throughout Netanya’s Chareidi community and beyond. It comes in addition to a separate, detailed letter sent by Rav Moshe Dov Broida to parents of preschool children, in which he warned that unless the situation changes, the upcoming school year will not open under the proposed arrangement.

The controversy marks the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over the expansion of the state-run Chareidi education system, a move that has faced strong opposition from many leading Torah authorities, who have repeatedly called on parents to preserve the traditional model of Torah-based education.

{Matzav.com}

Ramat Gan Mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen personally apologized Thursday to a Chareidi man who was allegedly attacked because of his appearance while waiting at a city bus stop. In addition to sending a letter expressing regret over the incident, the mayor also delivered a cake to the victim as a gesture of support.

The apology followed a report by Kol Berama Radio detailing the assault. In his letter, Shama-Hacohen wrote that he was “deeply shocked to hear about the display of violence and threats that were made at you in the streets of our city. Such an incident is in complete contradiction to Ramat Gan’s fundamental values. There is and will not be any place for expressions of hatred or discrimination in the city.”

The mayor added that “the fact that you are a resident of the neighboring city of Bnei Brak who visited our city, makes the incident even more painful and upsetting.”

According to the victim, the attack took place Wednesday afternoon on Herzl Street in Ramat Gan as he waited for a bus back home. He told Kol Berama that while speaking with his brother-in-law by phone, he stepped to the side of the bus stop so as not to disturb the other passengers waiting there.

It was then, he said, that a man riding a bicycle while holding a beer bottle approached him and began shouting, “Haredi, what are you doing on this street? Go to Bnei Brak.”

The victim said he tried to walk away and avoid any confrontation, but the attacker got off his bicycle and allegedly began striking him repeatedly with the beer bottle. He said he was hit in the face and stomach before the assailant allegedly attempted to smash the bottle while threatening him, saying, “If I see you here in another 10 minutes, I will come back and murder you.”

Before the attacker fled, the victim said he was able to record him on his cellphone.

Reflecting on the ordeal, the victim said the physical assault was not the most painful part of the encounter. Rather, he said, the anti-Chareidi abuse directed at him because of his appearance left the deepest emotional scars.

“The hardest moment was hearing the shout, ‘Haredi, don’t step on this street, go to Bnei Brak. If you stay here, I’ll murder you,'” he said.

The victim also expressed disappointment that, despite the attack taking place on a busy street near a bus stop filled with people, no one stepped forward to intervene or attempt to stop the assault.

He further criticized the way police handled his complaint, saying investigators refused to immediately accept the photograph he had taken of the suspect on his phone. Instead, he said, they insisted he upload it through a designated online portal—a process he explained was especially difficult because he uses a kosher cellphone.

The victim said he hopes Israel Police will conduct a thorough investigation and use security camera footage from the area, along with any other available evidence, to identify and arrest the suspect.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump has ordered the National Guard mission in Washington, D.C., to remain in place through the conclusion of his presidency, extending the deployment for more than two additional years as the administration argues the operation continues to play a key role in reducing crime in the nation’s capital.

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that the mission has officially been extended until Jan. 20, 2029, stating in an email that the deployment will remain active until that date, “or until terminated by the President.” The operation had previously been scheduled to conclude at the end of this year following an earlier extension.

The deployment has remained a source of political debate ever since Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 declaring a crime emergency in Washington and authorizing the activation of approximately 2,500 National Guard troops alongside additional federal law enforcement personnel. Administration officials maintain the initiative has contributed to a sharp decline in crime, while city leaders contend crime rates were already trending downward before the federal operation began.

Since arriving in the capital, National Guard personnel have taken part in a variety of public safety and community support efforts, including responding to medical calls, assisting law enforcement during arrests, clearing snow, and participating in neighborhood beautification projects.

“Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around,” Phil Mendelson, chairman of the District of Columbia Council, said in April, adding that “the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”

While similar National Guard deployments have been halted or limited through court action in states such as California and Illinois, smaller federal missions continue in several cities, including New Orleans. In Washington, however, Guard members remain highly visible, patrolling Metro stations, tourist destinations, public parks, neighborhoods, and other areas throughout the city.

The mission has also carried significant risks. In November, a National Guard soldier was killed and another injured when authorities say a gunman traveled from Washington state to the nation’s capital and opened fire outside a Metro station just three blocks from the White House. The victims were identified as Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who was killed, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, both of whom had been deployed from West Virginia.

Because Washington, D.C., is a federally created district rather than a state, Trump has direct authority over both the city’s National Guard and significant aspects of its law enforcement structure. That unique arrangement has allowed the administration to continue the mission without encountering many of the legal obstacles that have challenged similar deployments elsewhere.

Although Guard troops themselves do not have arrest powers, administration officials insist their presence has strengthened broader law enforcement efforts by allowing police agencies to focus more resources on fighting crime.

According to the White House, a joint federal task force has made roughly 12,000 arrests since the operation began. Officials also said those arrests included 62 identified gang members and led to the seizure of thousands of illegally possessed firearms.

Despite those figures, disagreement continues over how much of Washington’s improving public safety can be credited to the Guard deployment. Critics argue crime had already been declining before the federal intervention, though those statistics later became the subject of an investigation following allegations that local police data may have been manipulated.

{Matzav.com}

Regional tensions intensified dramatically Thursday after an Iraqi militia publicly announced a $10 million reward for the assassination of President Donald Trump, while an Iranian state-linked media outlet circulated what it claimed was information about locations where the president could be found, raising serious security concerns.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq issued an official statement offering a $10 million bounty to anyone who kills President Trump or assists in locating him. The statement was quickly echoed by Iranian state-aligned media, which published inflammatory material appearing to encourage attacks on the president. The coordinated messaging has heightened concerns over threats from Iran-backed groups operating across the region.

According to the militia’s statement, the reward was “collected from donations of its loyal and proud sons and supporters, designated for whoever kills the criminal Trump, or whoever assists in locating him or directing toward him, whether an individual, group, or organization.” The declaration was dated July 16, 2026.

The group portrayed the bounty as retaliation for previous U.S. military actions in Iraq, specifically referencing the killings of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

In the statement, the militia asserted that “the most eloquent evidence of the moral downfall of the American administration is the arrogance of the criminal Trump in targeting the leaders of victory, the martyrs Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.”

It further vowed that “the free people of the world will pursue the killer of children and scholars,” adding that the president would find no refuge from those seeking revenge.

At nearly the same time, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency shared a provocative post on X featuring a blood-red silhouette of President Trump accompanied by the headline, “Where to Kill Trump?!”

The post claimed to provide “information on the locations where the terrorist President of America is present” and told followers that “access to Trump is possible in these locations,” language that has drawn significant attention because it appeared to identify places where the president could potentially be targeted.

The combination of a multi-million-dollar assassination bounty issued by an Iran-backed militia and the dissemination of purported location information by an Iranian state-affiliated news agency represents a sharp escalation in anti-American rhetoric amid continuing U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

U.S. security officials are expected to treat the coordinated threats with the highest level of seriousness. With an Iran-backed militia publicly offering a financial reward for an attack and state-linked media appearing to encourage such an act, federal agencies responsible for protecting the president are likely to maintain heightened security measures in response to the explicit threats.

{Matzav.com}

WATCH:

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri delivered one of his most forceful public interviews in years on Thursday, launching a blistering attack on Israel’s Supreme Court, the IDF chief of staff, and the political left while pledging unwavering support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In an interview with Kikar, Deri also revealed what he described as a dramatic warning he once received from a leading Israeli academic about the future of the Torah world and announced that he intends to urge the Chareidi parties to boycott upcoming High Court hearings on the recently passed arrest-freeze law.

Breaking weeks of public silence, Deri sat down for an extensive interview with Kikar HaShabbat, addressing the draft crisis, the imprisonment of yeshiva students, Israel’s security situation, and the upcoming election campaign.

Deri began by condemning recent media reports regarding alleged Israeli efforts to topple Iran’s regime, calling the leaks themselves a serious threat to national security.

“I think those publications are extremely serious,” he said. “I never confirm or deny such matters, but where is the responsibility? I understand the thinking of whoever leaked the information to the foreign press, regardless of how much of it is true, but Israel is still at war. How can someone publish something like that just to justify an operation? I call on the Mossad director, who has the authority, to immediately launch an investigation. Whoever leaked it should be prosecuted. It is an extremely serious blow to Israel’s security in the middle of a war.”

Deri then turned to the controversy surrounding the draft law and the arrests of yeshiva students, arguing that the Chareidi community is facing unprecedented pressure.

He revealed what he described as a previously undisclosed conversation that took place during the judicial reform protests before the war. According to Deri, numerous public figures visited him at his former home in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood in an effort to persuade him to distance himself from the government’s judicial reform agenda.

One visitor, he said, was Prof. Uriel Reichman, founder of Reichman University.

“I’m going to reveal something I’ve never spoken about before,” Deri said. “During the judicial reform period, many people came to me because they thought I was the responsible adult, the moderate one. They asked, ‘What do you have to do with Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Yariv Levin?’”

According to Deri, Reichman warned him that continued Chareidi support for the political right would fundamentally alter the relationship between Israel’s establishment and the Chareidi community.

“He told me plainly: ‘We gave you Yavneh and its sages. We gave the Chareidi community its own space. Now you’ve crossed the line by joining the messianists, Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Yariv Levin. If you continue down this path, there will no longer be “Yavneh and its sages.” We will dismantle everything you have received over the past several decades.’”

Deri said he challenged the statement, asking Reichman what he meant by “we,” to which he claims Reichman replied: “You heard me. Take it to your rabbis and let them decide what they want.”

Addressing the prolonged effort to pass legislation regulating the status of yeshiva students, Deri blamed wartime circumstances, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, MK Yuli Edelstein, and the attorney general for delaying the process.

“You’re in the middle of a war, with 250 hostages, casualties announced every day, and at the same time trying to manage the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” he said. “Gallant disrupted the process for a year until he was removed. Edelstein held 80 meetings, and in the end it became clear that he misled us all.”

Deri reserved some of his harshest criticism for IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, accusing him of improperly intervening in politics by opposing the arrest-freeze legislation.

“What the chief of staff did was extremely serious,” Deri said. “He is my friend. I respect him, and I have defended him many times when others criticized him. But unfortunately, for a long time now, I believe he has lost his way.”

Deri insisted that senior military officials knew the arrests of yeshiva students would not result in additional enlistments.

“We would never have advanced this legislation without thoroughly consulting the highest-ranking military officials and confirming that these arrests were not producing soldiers.”

He continued: “Without any doubt, during an election period, what the chief of staff did—whether intentionally or not—helped the left-wing bloc. I have no doubt about that. For the past several years, everything they have done—the sanctions and everything else—has had one objective: stopping judicial reform.”

Deri argued that the chief of staff crossed a dangerous line by entering the political arena.

“He is the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He has no business involving himself in politics. What he did set a very dangerous precedent. It caused enormous damage to the army. It did not help the army.”

Turning to the expected Supreme Court challenge to the arrest-freeze law, Deri announced that he will urge both Shas and Degel HaTorah not to participate in the legal proceedings.

“I am going to recommend to my colleagues in Degel HaTorah and within Shas that we should not send legal representatives to the Supreme Court. We have no confidence in the Supreme Court. We already know what the outcome will be.”

He continued, “We must not be part of this game. We must not lend legitimacy to this charade by pretending justice will be done. We should tell them plainly: ‘We do not recognize your authority. We already know what the result will be.’”

Deri argued that because the court had already issued interim orders before the law officially took effect, its decision had effectively been made in advance.

Responding to criticism from senior Agudas Yisrael figures who claimed he always knew the legislation would eventually be struck down, Deri dismissed the accusations.

“I have tremendous respect for Agudas Yisrael,” he said. “Members of Agudas Yisrael themselves approached me yesterday and said those comments did not represent them. If they believed the law was meaningless, why did they vote for it? Why did the chairman of Agudas Yisrael congratulate Defense Minister Yisrael Katz after it passed?”

Deri also rejected claims that Netanyahu intentionally avoided the Knesset vote on the arrest-freeze law.

“That simply isn’t true,” he said. “He flew in by helicopter specifically to participate in the vote. He left only because he was called away for a diplomatic consultation and was already on his way back when the vote concluded. It was purely coincidental.”

The Shas chairman reiterated his party’s unequivocal support for Netanyahu.

“We support Prime Minister Netanyahu, period,” Deri declared. “There is no one else we can support today.”

He argued that any government led by MK Gadi Eisenkot would pose a greater threat to religious life than many realize.

“Everything connected to Judaism—marriage and divorce, kashrus, the Chief Rabbinate, rabbinical courts, Shabbos, public transportation on Shabbos—that is the camp he represents.”

At the same time, Deri said Shas continues to favor a broad unity government, saying wider coalitions create more consensus and reduce political division.

Deri sharply criticized Eisenkot’s proposed draft framework, saying it would be even more harmful to the Torah world than previous proposals advanced by Avigdor Lieberman or Naftali Bennett.

“Everyone says Eisenkot is more moderate, but his proposal is actually worse,” Deri said. “He wants quotas. He wants someone to decide which yeshiva student goes to the army and which one stays in the beis medrash. Who has the authority to decide who is a true ben Torah? Are we going to walk into Porat Yosef or another yeshiva and tell half the students to continue learning and send the other half into the army? Who could possibly make such a decision?”

Addressing recent polls showing declining support for Shas, Deri said he remains unconcerned.

“The late Professor Camil Fuchs consistently underestimated us in every election,” he said. “There is disappointment, and it is understandable. But when people go into the voting booth, they will understand exactly what is at stake.”

Deri also accused left-wing organizations of financing campaigns designed to discourage Chareidim from voting.

“This has been going on for a long time,” he said. “Kaplan protesters, left-wing money, international foundations, Israeli foundations, high-tech money—liberal left-wing funding that wants to secularize the country and dismantle the right-wing bloc—has unfortunately succeeded in recruiting collaborators from within our own community.”

According to Deri, those efforts included secretly recording rabbonim and attempting to create divisions among Torah leaders.

“Their goal is simple,” he said. “To convince the Chareidi public to stay home on election day.”

Asked at the end of the interview about recent criticism from Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni, Deri declined to escalate the dispute.

“Ask him those questions,” Deri replied with a smile. “Tell him I love him, I respect him, and we’ll continue working together. He grew up in southern Israel, and sometimes he’s a little Moroccan—he gets a little hot-tempered.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump is expected to announce during a nationally televised address Thursday night that at least 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in federal elections across the United States, according to information expected to be released by the Department of Homeland Security.

A source familiar with the matter told The Post that the figure comes from a forthcoming DHS report and represents the largest publicly disclosed number of noncitizen voter registrations ever reported in the country.

Although the total has raised significant concerns, the source said investigators have not yet determined how many of those registered individuals may have actually cast ballots illegally or what specific actions the administration intends to take in response.

The source added that the true number could ultimately be higher because the current total only reflects data collected from the states examined so far. The source declined to specify how many states have had their voter registration records reviewed.

Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, with violations carrying penalties of up to one year in prison and financial fines. However, responsibility for confirming a person’s eligibility to vote rests primarily with individual states.

The anticipated voter registration findings are expected to be only one portion of Trump’s primetime remarks, which administration officials caution remain subject to revision before the president speaks at 9 p.m. Eastern.

“As usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS. “The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in.”

Trump is also expected to use the speech to build support for the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship before casting ballots in federal elections while also implementing additional election security measures. The proposal has remained stalled in Congress despite repeated Republican efforts to advance it.

Republicans have attempted multiple times to move the legislation through the Senate, describing it as one of Trump’s highest legislative priorities this year, but Democratic filibusters have prevented the bill from moving forward.

According to the source, Trump may urge Americans to contact members of Congress and press them to approve the legislation.

The expected address follows action by the Department of Justice last week, when it sent warning letters to election officials nationwide stating they “could be criminally prosecuted for aiding noncitizen voting” if ballots cast by noncitizens are counted in an election.

Although White House officials have revealed few details about the speech, Leavitt told reporters Thursday that its central focus would be election integrity and suggested the information Trump plans to disclose “will shock you.”

“We should have the safest and most secure elections in the history of the world,” she said. “And what the president will be speaking about tonight will show you that perhaps that is not the case.”

Leavitt also maintained that safeguarding elections should not be viewed as a partisan issue, saying “the American people will be relieved to hear what they are hearing from the president of the United States” during the address.

“I think all Republicans and Democrats should recognize this should be a nonpartisan issue,” Leavitt said. “If we don’t have safe and secure elections in our country, we cannot have a country. It is a vital part of our democracy, of our constitutional republic.”

She also noted that the federal statute making it a crime for noncitizens to vote—the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996—was signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

The speech also comes after CBS reported Wednesday evening that Trump is expected to discuss allegations that Beijing “compromised US voter data,” along with purported “evidence the CIA knew about the action and didn’t share that information” with the president at the time.

The White House, however, appeared to push back on that report, offering CBS what was described as a tacit denial regarding those claims.