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A startling report published Monday alleges that young Chareidi men were paid hundreds of shekels in cash to cast ballots for designated candidates in the Likud primaries, with two of the participants openly acknowledging that they had little interest in the political process and were voting according to lists supplied to them.
The footage, revealed by reporter Yossi Abdu, was recorded during the Likud primary voting at Binyanei Ha’Uma in Yerushalayim. Two young Chareidi men are seen speaking openly about the payments they allegedly received and the prepared lists of candidates they were instructed to support.
“To tell you the truth, I came to vote. I don’t care about politics or anything, but they paid me money,” one of the young men said, declining to provide his full name.
According to the young man, Likud representatives send people to the polls and pay them in exchange for their votes in the primaries.
“I’m Chareidi and I came to vote, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m voting for someone Chareidi. I vote for whoever paid me,” he said.
His friend, identified as Elchanan, said that he, too, had received money to participate, claiming that the amount he received was even higher.
Another young man, Netanel, pulled a detailed list from his pocket containing the numbers of the candidates he had allegedly been instructed to select. The list included candidates numbered 103, 105, 143, 122, 125, 126, 127, 128, 133, 138, 144 and 208 on the national slate, along with candidate 315 in the Yerushalayim district. Of the candidates involved, the only name he recognized was Dudi Amsalem, whose name appeared first on the list.
Both young men stressed that their membership in Likud and participation in its primaries did not mean they intended to support the party in the general Knesset election.
Elchanan said explicitly that he would not vote for Likud in the general election. Netanel said he would ultimately vote according to the instructions of rabbonim, before adding: “If Ben Gvir pays me money, I’ll vote for him.”
Netanel said he had been paid 400 shekels to come and cast his ballot.
The two summed up their attitude toward their participation in particularly blunt terms: “Only money, only money. We don’t work for free, we want money, what can you do?”
Monday’s Likud primaries were open to approximately 142,000 registered party members. Among them are thousands of Chassidim and other Chareidi members representing various communities and chassidusen.
Estimates place the number of Chareidi Likud members at approximately 7,000. Because a candidate may need only several thousand votes in the primary system to secure a realistic position on the party’s Knesset slate, organized voting blocs can potentially wield significant influence over the results.
The report raises serious questions about the integrity of the primary process and whether the alleged payments represented isolated incidents or were part of a broader, organized operation.
Similar allegations of vote-buying have surfaced during party primaries in Israel in the past. However, it is unusual for alleged participants themselves to be captured on camera describing so explicitly the payments they received and acknowledging that they were voting according to instructions supplied in exchange for money.
{Matzav.com}
Mohammed Dahlan has emerged as a key intermediary linking Hamas, Egypt, Gulf states and the Trump administration as efforts intensify to shape Gaza’s political future and build a broader Palestinian alliance ahead of elections in the Palestinian Authority.
Trump administration envoy Jared Kushner met Sunday in Egypt with senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, with Dahlan also present. The meeting marked another step in implementing the American roadmap for ending the war, which calls for an Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a national committee responsible for administering and rebuilding the Gaza Strip.
According to Ynet, increasingly close ties between Hamas and Dahlan’s political faction are aimed at bringing Hamas into a broader political framework rather than having the terror group run independently in Palestinian elections scheduled for late November.
Senior Hamas official Hussam Badran confirmed that discussions are underway to establish a “national alliance” that would include Hamas, Dahlan’s faction and independent Palestinian figures.
For Hamas, such an arrangement could provide a path away from its status as an organization governing a separate Palestinian enclave in Gaza. For Dahlan, the emerging alliance offers an opportunity to return to the center of Palestinian politics without depending on the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah.
Officials in the Palestinian Authority are closely and anxiously watching the developments, particularly as donor countries pressing the PA to hold elections have reportedly responded positively to the proposed political arrangement.
A senior Palestinian Authority official said Ramallah’s deepening economic crisis, combined with the absence of an agreed-upon successor to 91-year-old PA President Mahmoud Abbas, has left the Palestine Liberation Organization increasingly vulnerable as the new alliance takes shape.
“Israel did not want ‘Fatahstan’; the question is whether in the end it will get ‘Hamastan’ in the form of Dahlan,” the official warned.
Meanwhile, Hamas announced that it has agreed to the second stage of the American roadmap.
Dahlan, who has been issuing public statements regarding progress in the negotiations while simultaneously serving as a channel between the Americans and Hamas, called on all Palestinian factions to refrain from taking any actions that could derail the agreement with Israel.
{Matzav.com}
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, made an unexpected visit to a kosher restaurant in the Yerushalayim hills on Monday, dining with Ron Dermer and several others before personally paying the bill and leaving the staff an unusually generous tip, Matzav.com has learned.
Kushner arrived at Naya restaurant with a group of eight people, including Dermer, the former Israeli minister and ambassador to the United States.
Restaurant employees received only about 30 minutes’ advance notice that Kushner would be arriving, with the visit coordinated through Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Kushner and his entourage were seated in the restaurant’s private room and the adjoining outdoor area. Although the visit was arranged on short notice, the presence of security personnel and large American vehicles outside made it clear that an unusual guest was inside.
During the meal, Kushner held a private conversation with Dermer. He also used the restaurant’s private room to conduct an interview with Fox News.
When it came to the meal itself, Kushner reportedly passed on the sushi and selected other dishes from the menu, while other members of his party sampled a selection of fish and sushi specials.
One restaurant employee described Kushner as “מאוד נחמד ודיבר עם כולם” — “very nice and spoke with everyone.”
Kushner paid for the meal with his personal credit card and left a tip of more than 35%, according to the report. He also personally thanked the restaurant staff for their hospitality before departing.
{Matzav.com}Efforts to resolve tensions between Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and Rav Yitzchak Yosef have hit a significant obstacle after Deri rejected a proposed agreement intended to prevent future clashes between the two sides, according to Israeli sources.
The setback comes amid intensive behind-the-scenes efforts to restore relations between Deri and Rav Yosef ahead of the upcoming elections. Despite the latest breakdown, intermediaries are continuing to work toward an understanding that could prevent the dispute from escalating further.
According to the sources, contrary to speculation surrounding the negotiations, Rav Yosef’s camp is not currently demanding that he be appointed president of the Shas Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah.
Instead, the central issue in the discussions has been a proposed arrangement governing the relationship between Rav Yosef and Deri going forward.
As part of the negotiations, Rav Yosef reportedly asked Deri to sign an agreement establishing understandings designed to prevent future confrontations between the two camps and allow Shas to operate while maintaining a functional and respectful working relationship.
Deri, however, firmly rejected the proposal, causing the talks to reach an impasse.
Despite that refusal, efforts to bridge the differences have not ended. Discussions are continuing quietly behind the scenes in an attempt to formulate an arrangement acceptable to both sides and prevent the existing tensions from intensifying as the election approaches.
The developments follow an earlier report that intensive contacts have been underway in recent days between Deri and Rav Yosef’s household, with those involved seeking to calm the strained relationship before the country heads to the polls.
Serving as the intermediary in the talks is Momo Deri, the Shas chairman’s brother, who is regarded within the party as a trusted figure frequently tapped to handle sensitive and particularly delicate assignments.
{Matzav.com}Attorney General Todd Blanche says the Trump administration does not need to seek a new vote from Congress to proceed with President Trump’s planned White House ballroom, arguing that lawmakers have already provided presidents with the legal authority to carry out such construction on the White House grounds.
“We don’t believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we’re doing,” Blanche said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday.”
Blanche pointed to renovations and construction undertaken by previous administrations, maintaining that Congress has long recognized broad presidential authority to make changes to the White House complex.
“Many presidents have done a tremendous amount of work to the White House, as they should, and Congress has authorized them to do so,” he added in discussion with anchor Shannon Bream, a lawyer criticized by Trump after the interview aired.
Bream pressed Blanche on why the administration would not simply request explicit congressional authorization for the project, which is estimated to cost approximately $900 million, if officials are confident that lawmakers have already granted the necessary authority.
The legal dispute has become increasingly urgent after a federal appeals court directed the administration to halt all work on the ballroom by Aug. 21 unless the Supreme Court intervenes and permits construction to continue.
Blanche said the administration is optimistic that the justices will side with the White House, while arguing that the project goes beyond providing an elaborate new venue for official events and includes significant security improvements.
“We’re hopeful that the Supreme Court recognizes that so we can get the ballroom finished as soon as possible. Remember, yes, it is a ballroom, but it’s also a meaningful upgrade and necessary part of the security of this city and the security of the president and his family,” Blanche said Sunday.
“And so it’s not just about a place for world leaders to come and have dinner, it’s also about making sure that the president and his family, guests, world leaders are safe when they’re in this city,” he added.
Democratic lawmakers have rejected the administration’s contention that the ballroom project serves a significant national-security purpose and have called on the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the undertaking.
The project is being financed through a combination of taxpayer money and private donations, an arrangement that has also drawn scrutiny from critics who have questioned the transparency of the funding and the process used to approve the construction.
“The scale of this project, the destruction of historic architecture, the opaque and unorthodox combination of public funds with private funding sources, and the absence of standard federal review processes raise serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and stewardship of this national landmark,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the acting GAO comptroller general, Orice Williams Brown.
Zionist Organization of America National President Morton A. Klein is sharply condemning Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation over millions of dollars in grants to progressive Jewish organizations that Klein says undermine Israel and place Jews at risk.
Klein, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, issued the criticism following an exposé by Israeli-American activist, Betar leader and ZOA Coalition member Ronn Torossian titled “Where Schindler’s List Money Went.”
Torossian’s report examined IRS Form 990 filings from the Righteous Persons Foundation and detailed millions of dollars distributed to various organizations. Spielberg established the foundation with profits generated by Schindler’s List, his acclaimed film about the Holocaust and German industrialist Oskar Schindler’s rescue of Jews during World War II.
“This misuse of monies from Spielberg’s Holocaust film is despicable, shameful and frightening,” Klein charged.
Klein said the origins of the foundation’s money make the grants particularly disturbing, arguing that some of the organizations receiving the funds are pursuing agendas that threaten the very people whose survival was chronicled in Spielberg’s film.
“The brave German industrialist Oskar Schindler and the Jews whom Schindler saved must be rolling over in their graves,” he added. “The descendants of ‘Schindler’s Jews’ are now endangered by the organizations funded with Spielberg’s profits.”
Among the organizations identified in Torossian’s report, according to Klein, are Bend the Arc, which reportedly received $1.2 million; Jews United for Justice, which received approximately $925,000; T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, which received roughly $690,000; and the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable, which received about $250,000.
Klein singled out Bend the Arc for particularly strong criticism, pointing to the organization’s opposition to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism as well as its political activism. He noted that Bend the Arc’s political arm endorsed Zohran Mamdani during his campaign for New York City mayor and assisted his candidacy through fundraising, canvassing and advertising.
The ZOA leader also attacked T’ruah, accusing the organization of repeatedly adopting positions antagonistic toward Israel. Klein pointed to its criticism of Israeli military operations in Gaza, opposition to the IHRA antisemitism definition, partnership with Breaking the Silence and activism involving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Klein further charged that T’ruah and similar organizations supported wartime campaigns aimed at preventing weapons sales to Israel, arguing that efforts to restrict Israel’s access to arms endangered Israeli and Jewish lives.
He additionally took aim at T’ruah’s campaign challenging the tax-exempt status of pro-Israel Jewish charities and its emphasis on what the organization calls “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria. Klein vehemently rejected that description, calling it a “blood libel” that he said misrepresents incidents surrounding attacks on Jews.
According to Klein, his review of the Righteous Persons Foundation’s tax filings uncovered financial support for other organizations that he considers hostile to Israel, including the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Klein criticized the JCPA for leading a letter opposing Trump administration measures directed at anti-Israel activity on American college campuses. He described the administration’s actions as attempts to stop Hamas supporters from targeting Jewish students.
Klein argued that the controversy is made especially troubling by the history behind the money used to establish the foundation. Spielberg has said that he did not personally take a salary for Schindler’s List, with profits connected to the movie instead helping fund charitable projects focused on Jewish causes and Holocaust remembrance.
The ZOA president contrasted the grants documented in Torossian’s report with what he described as a lack of financial support for organizations dedicated to publicly defending Israel, protecting Jewish college students and combating attacks on the Jewish state.
Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation “apparently gives no grants to Jewish organizations that defend Israel against libels and demonization, protect Jewish students on college campuses, protect Jewish safety, and truly stand up for the besieged Jewish descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors,” Klein charged.
“Shameful,” he concluded.
{Matzav.com}
