President Donald Trump is reviewing whether to authorize military action against Iran as diplomatic discussions are set to resume in Geneva, while his top military adviser has cautioned that such a move could carry serious consequences, including the danger of a drawn-out conflict.
According to Axios, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has told Trump and senior national security officials that launching a campaign against Iran could expose the United States to significant risks, among them the possibility of becoming mired in a prolonged war. The report cited five individuals who either participated in or were briefed on high-level internal meetings.
Axios reported that Caine has not urged the president to carry out a strike, though he would carry out any directive ultimately issued. One person familiar with the discussions described him as a “reluctant warrior” when it comes to Iran, noting that his stance differs from his backing of the mission targeting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. While Caine was said to have strongly supported the Venezuela operation, two sources indicated he has taken a more measured approach regarding Iran, viewing the stakes as higher and the risks of escalation and American casualties as more substantial.
Another individual with direct insight into Caine’s perspective told Axios that the chairman does not oppose a military campaign outright but is “clear-eyed and realistic” about the chances of success and the potential chain of events that could follow the start of hostilities. A senior official, however, rejected the suggestion that Caine had expressed doubt about military action.
Joint Staff spokesman Joe Holstead told Axios that in his role as an adviser, the chairman outlines “a range of military options” and includes “secondary considerations and associated impacts and risks,” providing that guidance privately. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a written statement that Caine is a “talented and highly-valued” member of Trump’s national security team and that the president listens to “a host of opinions” before determining what course best serves U.S. national security.
Axios also reported that Caine has recently been “the only military leader” briefing President Trump on the escalating tensions with Iran. The outlet noted that U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper has not participated in the Iran-focused meetings convened by Trump and has not spoken directly with the president since the standoff began in early January. A senior administration official confirmed that Trump has not communicated with Cooper during that time. By comparison, Cooper’s predecessor, Gen. Erik Kurilla, had provided briefings to both Trump and President Joe Biden on Iran-related matters, the report said.
Behind the scenes, senior officials have been debating how to handle the confrontation with Tehran and what the consequences of each potential path might be. Several advisers have urged caution, although one person familiar with the deliberations said the president has recently shown a leaning toward approving military action. Another source said Trump has insisted that his envoys continue diplomatic efforts to ensure all options are “exhausted” before he reaches a final decision. Those briefed on the meetings said none of the participants has supported sending ground troops or undertaking a “boots on the ground” operation.
At 3:11 p.m. on Monday, President Trump on Truth Social:
Numerous stories from the Fake News Media have been circulating stating that General Daniel Caine, sometimes referred to as Razin, is against us going to War with Iran. The story does not attribute this vast wealth of knowledge to anyone, and is 100% incorrect. General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won. He knows Iran well in that he was in charge of Midnight Hammer, the attack on the Iranian Nuclear Development. It is a Development no longer, but rather, was blown to smithereens by our Great B-2 Bombers. Razin Caine is a Great Fighter, and represents the Most Powerful Military anywhere in the World. He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack. Everything that has been written about a potential War with Iran has been written incorrectly, and purposefully so. I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them.
Vice President J.D. Vance has voiced concern during internal discussions that military action could pull the United States into a wider confrontation. One source told Axios that Vance has questioned the operational complexity and potential fallout, while another said he has been laying out arguments “on both sides” so the president can weigh the full picture. The same source added that Vance is not “outright opposed” to a strike.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to two sources, has not taken a firm public stance either for or against military action, instead “sitting on the fence.” Although Rubio has traditionally been seen as hawkish on Iran, Axios reported that his recent focus has shifted more heavily toward matters involving Venezuela and Cuba.
Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Thursday for another round of indirect negotiations brokered by Oman. Axios reported that both advisers have encouraged Trump to hold off on military action for the time being, arguing that further diplomacy could strengthen Washington’s position before any irreversible step is taken.
Speaking to Fox News over the weekend, Witkoff said Trump has been “frustrated” and “curious” that Tehran has not “capitulated” despite mounting U.S. military pressure, while cautioning that such descriptions might exaggerate the president’s stance. Witkoff also warned that Iran could be “a week away” from converting its highly enriched uranium into “industrial-grade bomb-making material,” a development he said would sharply reduce the remaining space for diplomacy.
Beyond the administration, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been among the most vocal advocates for military action. In remarks to Axios on Saturday, Graham said he was frustrated that some of Trump’s advisers were counseling restraint and opposing strikes. He also spoke directly with the president on Sunday, urging him not to postpone military measures.
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has likewise pressed for strikes. Axios reported that since meeting with Trump about ten days ago, Netanyahu has grown concerned that the United States may ultimately decline to act militarily. A U.S. source who met with Netanyahu last week told the outlet that the prime minister left his discussion with Trump unsure whether he had persuaded the president. “Is he still with us?” Netanyahu asked, the source said.
A senior administration official summarized the internal dynamic, telling Axios, “Everyone has a job to do and does their job. Rubio isn’t figuring out what planes to fly. Caine isn’t worrying about diplomatic fallout. The decision to strike, when and how or if at all, has not been made.”
{Matzav.com}
Tensions between United Torah Judaism and Shas have spilled into the open, after Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni sharply criticized Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri for unilaterally reclaiming the chairmanship of the Knesset Health Committee.
Speaking during a United Torah Judaism faction meeting on Monday, Gafni accused Deri of breaking a coordinated agreement among the chareidi parties. According to Gafni, the factions had reached a clear understanding to withdraw together from coalition roles and to maintain a unified legislative boycott, including joint decisions on “what goes up and what does not.”
Gafni said the purpose of the agreement was to preserve a united front in negotiations with the government on issues central to the chareidi public, foremost among them the draft law.
However, he charged that Deri deviated from that consensus. “Suddenly he decides unilaterally to return to the chairmanship of the Health Committee. He decides on his own,” Gafni told fellow faction members.
Gafni further revealed that in a prior meeting with the prime minister, Deri had emphasized to him, “I do what Gafni says.” In light of that statement, Gafni asked pointedly: “Suddenly when it comes to jobs he decides on his own. Now it no longer matters what Gafni says?”
Within chareidi political circles, Shas’s move is being interpreted as an effort to retain key parliamentary positions during a period of political strain and to avoid losing influence over sensitive areas such as the health system. By contrast, Degel HaTorah officials argue that unilateral steps weaken the bargaining position of the chareidi factions vis-à-vis the coalition and signal internal division.
The dispute comes at a particularly delicate moment, as the draft law controversy and ongoing tensions with the High Court continue to cast uncertainty over coalition stability.
{Matzav.com}
New York City, still reeling from a historic blizzard, is bracing for additional snowfall in the coming days after a storm that has already secured a place among the 10 largest winter events ever recorded in the city.
By this afternoon, snowfall in Central Park had reached 19.7 inches, surpassing the 19 inches recorded during the January 2011 blizzard, which previously stood as the ninth-largest snowstorm in city history.
The powerful system, driven by a bomb cyclone that struck from Sunday into Monday, delivered the most significant snowfall the city has experienced in over a decade.
Within the five boroughs, Staten Island reported the single highest total so far, with 24.1 inches measured in the Grasmere neighborhood, according to the National Weather Service.
Brooklyn also saw substantial accumulation. Sheepshead Bay recorded 22.5 inches, while Williamsburg and Crown Heights followed closely behind with 21.1 and 21 inches, respectively.
In Manhattan, Washington Heights led the borough with 22.1 inches of snow measured to date.
Queens’ highest total was logged at LaGuardia Airport, where 22.2 inches were recorded.
The Bronx saw the least accumulation among the boroughs, with 14.8 inches measured in Co-Op City.
Beyond city limits, snowfall totals were even higher in some areas. Lynbrook in Nassau County on Long Island reported 24 inches, while Babylon in Suffolk County tallied 29.5 inches as of the latest reports.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said public schools will reopen Tuesday after students were granted a three-day weekend due to the storm.
The mayor added that some neighborhoods could receive an additional 2.5 inches of snow by tonight as the system continues to move through the region.
{Matzav.com}
Police raided an apartment in Bnei Brak that had been converted into a drug laboratory, seizing large quantities of narcotics and arresting two suspects, authorities said.
The operation took place yesterday on Dangur Street, where detectives discovered what they believe was a facility used for the cultivation and production of illegal drugs. Inside the apartment, officers found 156 cannabis plants with a total gross weight of 31 kilograms. In addition, a substance suspected to be cocaine, weighing 10 grams gross, was located in a vehicle connected to the case.
Two suspects — a 25-year-old resident of Bnei Brak and a 24-year-old from Rehovot — were arrested and taken in for questioning at the local police station. Following their interrogation, both were remanded in custody. A court has extended their detention until February 26, 2026.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv District Commander Chief Superintendent Chaim Sargarof signed an order yesterday to shut down the apartment for 30 days, through March 23, 2026.
{Matzav.com}
Mexico mobilized its army, air force and elite security units — backed by intelligence assistance from the United States — to eliminate Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the powerful head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, in a sweeping weekend operation that officials described as unprecedented in scale.
The coordinated assault brought together ground troops, aircraft and a specially trained National Guard force focused on combating cartel violence. Oseguera, a former police officer who had a $15 million US bounty placed on him, had long led what authorities consider the most formidable criminal organization in the country.
Over the years, Oseguera built a heavily armed force around him. At his luxury compound in the state of Jalisco, security personnel reportedly maintained rocket launchers and other advanced weaponry to defend the property.
After dominating Mexico’s criminal underworld for years, Oseguera’s organization had amassed military-grade firepower, making a conventional law enforcement operation unfeasible.
In a prior raid on a CJNG stronghold, authorities discovered a cache that included numerous automatic machine guns, grenade launchers and rocket-propelled grenades — weapons similar to those used in 2015 to bring down a military helicopter.
Investigators also determined that Oseguera’s estate contained armored vehicles and heavy weapons more commonly associated with an organized military force than a criminal syndicate.
In advance of Sunday’s operation, Mexican officials received assistance from the US Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel (JITF-CC), a unit established last month to analyze and map cartel networks operating along the border.
President Trump has made dismantling Mexico’s drug cartels — which serve as a primary source of fentanyl and other narcotics entering the United States — a central focus of his administration.
Brigadier Gen. Maurizio Calabrese, who leads the task force, explained that the unit applied experience gained from counterterrorism campaigns against groups such as al Qaeda and Islamic State to track cartel infrastructure.
“The cartels operate differently than al Qaeda or ISIS, different motivations, which makes it even more important for us to identify entire networks so that we can disrupt and dismantle (them),” Calabrese told Reuters.
After Trump formally classified Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations last year, the task force gained authority to deploy military tools and surveillance resources in monitoring trafficking networks.
Ultimately, US analysts assembled a comprehensive targeting dossier on Oseguera, identifying his presence in the rural community of Tapalpa.
Although specific intelligence contributions from JITF-CC have not been publicly detailed, the agency’s website outlines its mission as seeking to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Mexico’s Security Ministry confirmed that US officials supplied “supplementary information” to support the mission, though planning and execution were directed by Mexico’s central military intelligence command.
According to Mexico’s Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla, part of the intelligence effort involved tracing an associate connected to one of Oseguera’s romantic partners, ultimately leading authorities to the cartel leader’s secluded compound in the mountains.
Trevilla said that when the woman departed the property, Oseguera and his armed entourage stayed behind inside the complex.
Once preparations were complete, Mexican special forces advanced on the compound Sunday. As security personnel attempted to escape into the surrounding forest, they opened fire on the approaching troops.
The Mexican troops “returned fire,” killing four cartel members in the shoot out, with Oseguera and three other gangsters dying from their wounds during an air transport, according to the security ministry.
Air Force aircraft and rapid-response National Guard teams provided additional support, enabling federal forces to swiftly subdue the gunmen and secure the property.
News of El Mencho’s death triggered violent retaliation by cartel factions across Mexico, with roadblocks erected on key highways and vehicles set ablaze.
Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city west of Tapalpa, as unrest spread throughout the state.
Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch reported that at least 25 National Guard members were killed during the wave of violence in Jalisco, along with a prison guard and a state prosecutor’s office agent.
{Matzav.com}
Knesset Poised for Showdown Over Kosel Authority
A new dispute has erupted within the World Zionist Organization, as members of the religious-Orthodox bloc issued a sharp protest after a public statement was released in the name of the entire executive without their consent and contrary to their position.
The internal clash comes as the Knesset prepares to debate a bill that would grant the Chief Rabbinate full authority over all sections of the Kosel.
The controversy within the WZO follows last week’s incident at the Kosel, when police detained Women of the Wall activist Tami Gottlieb and issued her a restraining order barring her from the plaza after disturbances during Rosh Chodesh davening. The order was later shortened by a court ruling.
In the wake of that episode, several members of the WZO executive sought to publish a statement expressing support for Gottlieb, who also serves as a member of the organization’s executive. Representatives of the religious bloc objected strongly and refused to sign onto the statement. They have now released a counter-declaration, expressing what they describe as pain and protest over the original announcement, which they say was issued without their approval and does not reflect their position.
According to the Orthodox representatives, the statement fails to represent the will of the majority of voters in the most recent Zionist Congress elections. They argue that the results demonstrated a clear Orthodox majority across most major Jewish communities worldwide.
“Except for one or two countries,” Rabbi Pesach Lerner of the Eretz HaKodesh slate told Kikar HaShabbat, “in all the major countries around the world, in the United States and throughout Europe, there is a strong and clear majority of religious Orthodox voters who supported religious slates over the Reform slates. Despite this, representatives of the Reform and Conservative movements have the audacity to demand and publish statements as if they speak on behalf of world Jewry, when it has been demonstrated in the clearest possible way that the majority is Orthodox.
“It is time that we stand firm and state clearly: The majority of world Jewry supports the Orthodox position and seeks to preserve the voice of Torah and halachah in Eretz Yisroel. The Reform movement has no right to speak in the name of world Jewry.”
The WZO storm is unfolding against the backdrop of renewed legislative efforts in the Knesset. Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced Sunday that he intends to vote in favor of a bill that would place all parts of the Kosel, including the Ezras Yisroel section, under the full authority of Israel’s two chief rabbis.
“A few minutes ago, I received the announcement from the Government Secretariat that the meeting of the ministerial committee [for legislation] had been canceled. Since there is no government stance on this matter, I plan to vote for the bill. I urge all MKs, especially those in the coalition, to join me and send a clear message to the High Court: Enough is enough,” Levin said after Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu canceled a scheduled meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.
The prime minister reportedly acted amid concerns over potential backlash from Diaspora organizations. Coalition whip Ofir Katz later stated that members of the coalition would be free to vote according to their conscience, and a spokesman for Netanyahu said he had “allowed freedom of voting.”
The bill, sponsored by MK Avi Maoz, is intended to counter a recent High Court ruling requiring the state to move forward with upgrading the egalitarian prayer plaza, a step rooted in the Kosel compromise approved nearly a decade ago. Maoz’s proposal would grant the Chief Rabbinate ultimate authority over all activity at the site and define any action contrary to its directives, including non-Orthodox prayer services, as a “desecration.”
Maoz declared that he would bring the bill for a preliminary reading and called “upon all members of the Knesset to stand up and vote for the integrity of the Kosel and against the High Court.”
Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Otzma Yehudit issued a joint statement that they “will support the Kosel law that will be put to a vote on Wednesday. It was so in the past, and it will be so now.” The Religious Zionism party similarly announced that it would back the legislation, stating that it would “ensure the integrity of the Kosel and preserve its sanctity.”
Within the WZO, members of the Orthodox bloc insist that their stance reflects the authentic voice of the majority. In their formal protest, they stated that they were pained by what they called an unnecessary provocation that harmed the sanctity of the Kosel, while reiterating that every Jew has the right to daven at the holiest site of the Jewish people, provided that it is done in accordance with halachah and the longstanding status quo under the guidance of the Chief Rabbinate.
“We, members of the Zionist Executive on behalf of the religious-Orthodox factions, hereby express protest and pain over the statement that was published, contrary to our position, and purportedly in the name of all members of the executive following the provocation carried out at the Kosel plaza by executive member Tami Gottlieb,” the statement reads.
“The Western Wall is a most significant Jewish symbol. We respect the right of every Jew to pray there in accordance with halachah and Jewish tradition, while maintaining the status quo that has been in place for decades and the directives of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which was founded by Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Hakohein Kook. This is the position of millions of Jews in Israel and throughout the world, and we seek to express it clearly.
“We express our pain over the unnecessary provocation that harmed the sanctity of the site, which bears no connection to the compromise outline proposed by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and then-Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. We strengthen the hands of the Israel Police and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, who are entrusted with preserving the sanctity of the site and maintaining law and order in accordance with the directives of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate.”
{Matzav.com}
Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri on Monday sharply condemned the arrest of a 28-year-old yungerman from Be’er Sheva, accusing authorities of persecuting Torah students under the enforcement of Israel’s military draft laws.
Speaking during his party’s weekly faction meeting, Deri criticized the detention of the married kollel member, who is the father of a child with special needs and whose wife is currently pregnant. The man was reportedly arrested for failing to report for service under the Security Service Law, a move that Shas officials described as a “persecution of Torah learners.”
“What cruelty and wickedness to arrest a 28-year-old avreich, with a pregnant wife and a child with special needs, and throw him into prison for the crime of studying Torah,” Deri told fellow party members. “The world should be shocked by the persecution of Torah learners. We must not become accustomed to this.”
Deri also linked the arrest to what he described as a spiritually sensitive period for the nation, arguing that such actions carry broader consequences. “How much accusation and judgment this brings upon the people of Israel precisely during the difficult period we are in,” he said.
His remarks come amid heightened political tensions surrounding efforts to regulate the status of yeshiva students and their exemption from military service. Chareidi parties have warned against stricter enforcement measures and have placed responsibility on both political and defense officials for the current situation.
{Matzav.com}