U.S. forces have now killed at least 106 suspected terrorist-linked drug traffickers in strikes aimed at smuggling vessels operating in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to military figures released this week.
The latest operation is believed to be the first conducted under “Operation Southern Spear” since December 22, and marks the 30th such strike since September 2.
U.S. Southern Command said Monday that another suspected drug-running vessel was destroyed in the Eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of two individuals described as “narco-terrorists.”
“On Dec. 29, at the direction of [War Secretary] Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” Southern Command posted on X.
According to the command, the target had been under surveillance and was moving through a well-known trafficking corridor. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post continued. “Two male narco-terrorists were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed.”
{Matzav.com}A milestone was marked this week in the rapidly growing chareidi community of Charish, with the formal appointment of a rav for the kehillah in the Choreish neighborhood.
Rav Reuven Miron was named rav of Kehillas Beis Hashem in Choreish during a ceremony attended by leading rabbonim and members of the community. Rav Miron is a close talmid of Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and a son-in-law of Rav Tzvi Weber, rav of the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in Yerushalayim. He has also served for many years as one of the rabbonim of Kollel Ahavas Shalom.
The first ceremony took place at the home of Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch as part of a series of gatherings held in the homes of gedolei Torah. The event was attended by members of the Charish community, Rav Weber, and rabbonim from other kehillos.
Rav Hirsch, who has accompanied and guided the Charish community since its founding, spoke at length in praise of Rav Miron, highlighting his personal qualities and his suitability to lead a kehillah. He recalled his long-standing personal connection with Rav Miron, noting that Rav Miron transcribed his shiurim during his years in yeshiva. Rav Hirsch offered heartfelt brachos to the newly appointed rav and to the community, expressing his hope that they will continue to strengthen and expand Torah.
At the home of Rav Dov Landau, the rosh yeshiva joined in extending warm brachos, wishing Rav Miron great siyata diShmaya in his leadership role and success to all members of the community.
Charish in general, and the Choreish neighborhood in particular, is widely viewed as having tremendous potential for Torah growth. The city’s rapid chareidization, relatively affordable housing, proximity to central Israel, strong mosdos, quality kollelim, employment opportunities, and convenient transportation to major chareidi centers have made it an increasingly attractive destination for young families seeking a strong Torah environment.
{Matzav.com}
Voluntary departures from the United States have surged during President Donald Trump’s second term, with the Department of Homeland Security reporting that close to 2 million illegal migrants left the country on their own initiative this year.
In a year-end summary of DHS activity released in mid-December, the department said 1.9 million people departed voluntarily between January and December 2025, a figure officials say reflects the administration’s intensified approach to immigration enforcement and deterrence.
According to the Washington Examiner, the numbers are being cited by the White House as proof that its strategy of encouraging illegal migrants to leave without formal removal proceedings is having an impact, despite sharp criticism from Democrats and activist organizations who argue the approach relies on intimidation.
Administration officials counter that the policy restores order while saving taxpayer dollars after what Republicans characterize as years of lax border enforcement. “President Trump is delivering on his promise to make America safe again and deport criminal illegal aliens,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Examiner, describing the effort as the “largest mass deportation operation of criminal illegal aliens in history.”
Beyond voluntary departures, the Examiner reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has removed an additional 600,000 illegal migrants, most of whom had criminal records. Together, the figures point to a dual-track strategy combining arrests with pressure for migrants to exit the country on their own.
Analysts quoted by the outlet said ICE’s limited staffing — roughly 6,500 deportation officers nationwide — makes large-scale arrests impractical, increasing reliance on self-deportation as a release valve for a system strained during the Biden administration. Former immigration judge Andrew Arthur said consistent enforcement sends a signal that many migrants understand. When the law is applied steadily, he said, people “get the message and leave on their own.”
That message, according to the report, has been reinforced through frequent social media posts and high-profile arrests. The Examiner pointed to a White House post highlighting the apprehension of an illegal migrant previously deported and later convicted of fentanyl trafficking, emphasizing the administration’s focus on criminal offenders.
Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks dismissed claims that the campaign is designed to instill fear, saying the goal is clarity. “Do not come,” he said, summarizing the administration’s warning to would-be migrants.
CBS News reported last week that DHS has also expanded incentives for voluntary departure, tripling the so-called exit bonus from $1,000 to $3,000 for undocumented migrants who enroll through the revamped CBP Home app and leave the country by Dec. 31. Those who participate may also qualify for free airfare and relief from certain civil penalties related to unlawful presence.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS that migrants who decline the program will be “found,” “arrested,” and “never [allowed to] return” to the United States. DHS has said the initiative significantly reduces costs, with ICE estimating that a full arrest, detention, and deportation process averages about $17,000 per migrant — far more than airfare and a stipend.
While DHS said “tens of thousands” have used CBP Home to coordinate departures, officials have not released detailed figures showing how many received government assistance versus those who left independently.
Some analysts remain skeptical of the headline number. The Examiner reported that Cato Institute researcher David Bier cautioned the 1.9 million total could include some legal residents leaving voluntarily and may be influenced by incomplete survey data.
Even critics, however, acknowledge the underlying trend. As enforcement intensifies, departures — voluntary or otherwise — continue to climb.
{Matzav.com}As the city prepares to welcome a new administration in 2026, NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will quietly take office just after midnight in a closed ceremony held far below the streets of Lower Manhattan, his transition team said Monday.
The oath will be administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James at the long-abandoned Old City Hall subway station, with members of Mamdani’s family present. The underground setting will mark the official transfer of power as the new mayor enters office at the start of the New Year.
“When I take my oath from the station at the dawn of the New Year, I will do so humbled by the opportunity to lead millions of New Yorkers into a new era of opportunity, and honored to carry forward our city’s legacy of greatness,” Mamdani said.
The Old City Hall station, situated beneath City Hall Park, opened in 1904 as part of the city’s original subway system. Though it was taken out of service in 1945 amid system upgrades, the ornate station later gained recognition as a New York City landmark in 1979 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Reflecting on the choice of location, Mamdani said, “It was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives.” He added, “That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath City Hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above.”
Later that day, Mamdani will take part in a public ceremony he has titled the “Inauguration of a New Era,” to be held on the steps of City Hall. The event will include a Broadway block party with designated viewing areas, allowing residents from across the city to attend.
The public swearing-in is scheduled for 1 p.m. on New Year’s Day, with Sen. Bernie Sanders set to administer the oath.
{Matzav.com}
Amid growing anger over a sweeping fraud scandal in Minnesota, a conservative watchdog group said it was reviewing the personal finances of Rep. Ilhan Omar, citing questions about her sudden rise in wealth.
Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, said his organization had begun examining the Minnesota Democrat’s financial disclosures and related business ties. He told The NY Post that his team was “certainly looking” at Omar (D-Minn.).
The scrutiny followed recent reporting that highlighted a dramatic increase in Omar’s net worth. According to her financial filings, her wealth climbed to roughly $30 million within about a year — an increase of approximately 3,500% compared to 2023.
Much of that increase appeared tied to the business interests of her husband, Tim Mynett. His ventures included a California-based winery and Rose Lake Capital, a venture capital firm based in Washington, DC.
Rose Lake Capital’s reported value surged from nearly nothing in 2023 to somewhere between $5 million and $25 million a year later, according to previous reporting by The Post. The firm had also promoted the claim that its officers had overseen some $60 billion in “previous” assets.
More recently, the company removed the names and biographies of its nine officers from LinkedIn, prompting further questions about the firm’s operations and leadership.
Mynett’s winery, which had faced fraud-related allegations in the past, also saw a sharp jump in its estimated value. Omar’s disclosures placed the winery’s worth at between $1 million and $5 million in 2024.
The questions surrounding Omar’s finances emerged against the backdrop of the Feeding Our Future scandal in Minnesota, where hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds were siphoned off through a sprawling fraud scheme tied to pandemic-era food programs.
Omar had previously pointed to flaws in how COVID-era relief programs were rolled out, arguing that speed took precedence over oversight.
“I just think that a lot of the COVID programs were set up so quickly that a lot of the guardrails did not get created,” she told CNN earlier this month.
Republican critics said the situation demanded broader scrutiny, including a closer look at how Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Omar handled the unfolding fraud.
“On Walz’s watch, Minnesota became a fraud factory, aided and defended by allies like Ilhan Omar. Investigate everything,” Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) wrote on X.
“Prosecute everyone involved.”
{Matzav.com}
Against the backdrop of escalating tensions within the coalition, Knesset Members Meir Porush and Yisroel Eichler of the Agudah faction of UTJ declined both a meeting and a phone conversation with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu after he sought to speak with them over the weekend.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the prime minister’s outreach followed the two lawmakers’ decision last week to abstain from a Knesset vote on the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry headed by MK Ariel Kallner.
Despite repeated efforts by the Prime Minister’s Office to arrange a meeting at Netanyahu’s office, Porush and Eichler turned down the request. They later made clear that they were also not interested in holding a phone call with him.
Until recently, Porush and Eichler were viewed as the more flexible figures within the Agudas Yisrael faction, particularly in comparison to the party’s other representatives, former minister Yitzchak Goldknopf and MK Yaakov Tessler.
{Matzav.com}
More than two months after his release, Elkana Bohbot said he is still living “from hour to hour,” describing the lingering impact of more than two years in captivity and the difficulty of returning to ordinary life.
“I live from hour to hour, I have no routine,” he said. “I manage to enjoy myself and see the good, but it’s still not complete. There’s always a feeling that something is missing.”
In an interview published Monday, Bohbot said reconnecting with his family has been painful and slow. “I take care of myself, but it has not been easy connecting with my son, Re’em, again, after he didn’t have a father figure for two years,” he said. “It’s a process and it will be a long one.” He added that his family continues to face serious challenges. “My mother is sick and this is another battle, we’re fighting here for many things. I want to bring Re’em a brother or sister, and for them to have a safe home here in Israel to sleep in,” he said. “That’s all we want.”
Bohbot, 34, was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, from the Nova music festival and held by Hamas until his release during the opening days of the October ceasefire. He said most of his captivity was spent chained inside underground tunnels, enduring starvation and repeated abuse.
“As hard as it was physically, it was even harder mentally,” he said. “The last six months were the hardest, since they starved us.”
He described the tunnels in stark terms. “[In the tunnels], there is no difference between you and a dead person; both of you are buried without air, with the worms,” he said. “The only difference is that your heart is beating. Besides that, you are a corpse.”
Among the most disturbing revelations, Bohbot said his captors staged a fake suicide attempt for propaganda purposes, filming him and another hostage in a fabricated scene that was never released. “They drew blood from our hands and beat us so that we would be injured, to simulate a suicide scene,” he said.
He also said his captors used psychological torment, feeding him false information about his family. “They told me that my mother died and that my wife had left me,” he said.
Bohbot recounted that during his first days in Gaza, he and other hostages discussed a desperate escape plan. “The plan was that we would overpower the terrorists while they were praying, draw a Magein Dovid on a white sheet, go up to the roof and try to signal the helicopter with a flashlight,” he said.
The attempt never materialized. “From this apartment, they took us down to a tunnel, and underground, there is no way out,” he said.
He described the routine violence and humiliation inflicted on him, particularly when he asked for food. “You’re barefoot, thrown away like a garbage bag, they beat you, they play with you. It’s sickening,” he said, adding that he was forced to watch Hamas propaganda videos showing Israeli soldiers being killed.
Bohbot also revisited the moment of his abduction at the Nova festival, describing the attack as a calculated slaughter. “People lay on the floor in panic, and then the chaos began,” he said.
“It was a hunting trip, a massacre,” he said. “Suddenly, 70 terrorists were all around us, passing by with weapons, breaking windows of vehicles, verifying their kills.”
“Human animals, shooting dead people,” he said.
After being seized, he said, the fear of what awaited him intensified. “They loaded us into a van, and from there to Gaza,” he said, adding that he was terrified of being attacked by civilians once inside the Strip.
“I talked to God, I said: Free me from this suffering, give me a bullet in the head, just don’t let them lynch me,” he said.
Now free, Bohbot said survival has given way to another kind of struggle: rebuilding a life forever marked by captivity, loss, and the hope of restoring what was taken from him and his family.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said he had discussed Hamas and the issue of disarmament during talks with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, describing the subject as a central focus of their conversation.
According to Trump, the expectation was clear that Hamas would move quickly to lay down its weapons. “They have to disarm within a fairly short period of time,” Trump said.
Trump said Hamas “will be given a very short period of time to disarm,” adding that the process would be overseen from the American side by senior White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
He warned that the consequences of noncompliance would be severe. “If they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do, they agreed to it, then there will be —- to pay for them.”
In summarizing the discussions with the Israeli leader, Trump reiterated that the topic had been addressed directly and firmly. “Talked about Hamas and we talked about disarmament,” he said.
{Matzav.com}
