Eight years after the tenure of Rav Yisrael Meir Lau as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv came to an end, the city is finally moving forward with elections to fill the long-vacant post. The election date has been officially set for Tuesday, 17 Teves 5786 (January 6, 2026).
The decision marks a major step in concluding one of the longest rabbinic vacancies in any major Israeli city. The election committee for the Tel Aviv rabbinate convened this week at the Ministry of Religious Services to advance the process for appointing a new city rabbi.
The committee is chaired by Dayan Emeritus Rav Yaakov Zamir, a former member of the Great Rabbinical Court. During the session, committee members approved the composition of the electoral body that will choose the next Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv.
With both the election date and the voting body now confirmed, officials say it will be nearly impossible to halt the process, even in the event that the Knesset dissolves and Israel heads to general elections.
Two prominent rabbonim are expected to vie for the position. Leading the race is Rav Zevadya Cohen, Av Beis Din of Tel Aviv, who enjoys the backing of the Rishonim L’Tzion, the Shas party, and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai.
Also likely to contend is Rav Tzvi Yehuda Lau, son of Rav Yisrael Meir Lau and the current rav of the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood in Tel Aviv.
{Matzav.com}
Michelle Obama is opening up about the relentless public scrutiny she says she endured during her years in the White House — particularly as a black woman — and how she used her wardrobe as a form of expression under that intense spotlight.
In her new book, The Look, the 61-year-old former first lady reflects on the unique pressures of being part of the country’s first black presidential couple, saying that every decision — including what she wore — carried symbolic weight. “We were all too aware that as a first black couple, we couldn’t afford any missteps. And that as a black woman, I was under a particularly white hot glare,” she wrote.
She added that the Obamas were not given the same leniency as other first families. “We didn’t get the grace that I think some other families have gotten,” she said, noting how political opponents weaponized race against them.
“Making a mistake in a political environment where you’re the first and people are where your opponents are using your race as a fear-based strategy to make you seem like the other, then everything matters,” she told Robin Roberts in an interview with ABC’s 20/20.
Obama explained that she initially avoided talking about fashion because she wanted to be known for her work, not her wardrobe. “I wanted the public to know me by the work that I did and not what I looked like,” she said. But over time, she began to see her fashion choices as “soft power.”
“You know, style and fashion, and how we show up in the world is an important way that we send a message,” she explained. “What you’re wearing says something about what you care about. It speaks to your background, your culture. So, I really thought about what I wanted to say.”
That consciousness extended beyond politics — it was also about representing the women who came before her. She said she often thought about “the mothers and grandmothers out there who I knew would be shaking their head if I didn’t show up right.”
Obama lamented how women, especially those in public life, are frequently judged by their appearance. “We live in a culture, sadly, where, you know, if somebody wants to go after a woman, the first thing they do is go after our looks, our size, our physical being, as a way to, you know, make us feel small, to keep us in place,” she said.
She also criticized the fashion industry for its exclusivity, saying some designers felt possessive of the First Lady role. “There’s a tendency for certain designers to feel like they own the first lady,” she said. “So like anything else, that kind of attitude blocks out opportunities from other designers. So I thought about that.”
Over the past year, Obama skipped two major events — Jimmy Carter’s funeral and President Trump’s inauguration — prompting speculation after she said she didn’t attend Trump’s swearing-in because she “didn’t know what to wear.” The absences fueled rumors about her marriage, which both she and Barack Obama publicly dismissed.
Now, Obama says she’s more at peace than ever. “You know, there’s something about the 60s. It is the best time of my life now that my daughters are launched and doing well,” she said. “My husband’s settled. There’s a certain freedom that I feel I’m at that stage in life where I can say, ‘Yeah, maybe I know a few things.’”
{Matzav.com}
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, an architect of the global war on terrorism and second Iraq war who served for decades in Congress and three Republican administrations, died Monday night of complications from pneumonia and cardio and vascular disease, his family said in a statement. He was 84.
Cheney served as vice president for eight years under President George W. Bush and as defense secretary under his father, President George H.W. Bush. Before that, he served in the U.S. House as a Republican from Wyoming and as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family statement, provided by their spokesperson Jeremy Adler, said. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Cheney, a forceful and polarizing figure in Washington, was a key figure in the defense and foreign policies of the two Bush administrations. A defense hawk, Cheney spearheaded two major U.S. military operations during Bush senior’s tenure, including an invasion of Panama that toppled the country’s leader, General Manuel Noriega, and the first Gulf War, in which a U.S.-led coalition of allied nations liberated Kuwait from Iraq after its leader Saddam Hussein’s brief and widely condemned invasion of the country. Unlike the second war in Iraq, the 1991 conflict did not end in the removal of Hussein and a protracted occupation by U.S. and allied forces.
During the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Cheney was taken to a White House bunker. Reflecting on that day in a 2009 speech, he said, “I’ve heard occasional speculation that I’m a different man after 9/11. I wouldn’t say that. But I’ll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities.”
In the days afterward, Cheney initially told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the U.S. response should be aimed at Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, not Iraq. Bob Woodward later wrote in his book “Bush at War” that while then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld lobbied for military strikes on Iraq, Cheney also “expressed deep concern about Saddam and wouldn’t rule out going after Iraq at some point.”
As vice president under George W. Bush, Cheney fiercely defended the 2003 invasion of Iraq despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in the country, which the Bush administration had claimed were a threat given what it alleged were the Hussein government’s links to al Qaeda. Cheney also rebuked Democrats for accusations that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to invade Iraq, calling the attacks “dishonest and reprehensible.” Cheney said in 2006 that the U.S. invasion of Iraq would have been the right move to safeguard national security even if the intelligence community had determined beforehand that there were no weapons of mass destruction.
Cheney spearheaded the Bush administration’s “war on terror” and argued in favor of warrantless wiretapping efforts domestically and harsh interrogation techniques abroad. Even after the CIA stopped using those tactics and Cheney had left the White House, he continued to maintain that those policies were justified.
Wikipedia’s co-founder Jimmy Wales stepped in personally to halt public edits to a controversial article titled “Gaza genocide,” blasting the page’s introduction for presenting a one-sided, anti-Israel narrative.
Wales said the entry violated the site’s neutrality standards because it presented the phrase “Gaza genocide” as fact rather than opinion. “This article fails to meet our high standards and needs immediate attention,” he wrote, noting that the description did not acknowledge the claim as an allegation and lacked attribution to reliable sources.
His message cited Wikipedia’s core policies on neutrality and verifiability. “I believe that Wikipedia is at its best when we can have reasonable discussion rooted in a commitment to write articles that reflect a neutral point of view,” he said. “I believe that’s especially important on highly difficult or contentious topics. While this article is a particularly egregious example, there is much more work to do.”
The decision to freeze the page’s edits on Sunday represented a rare intervention by Wales, whose platform dominates online information searches and appears in the majority of AI-generated summaries.
Wales directed volunteer editors to rebuild the entry from a neutral standpoint, suggesting that it begin with balanced wording such as: “Multiple government, NGOs, and legal bodies have described or rejected the characterization of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.”
He reminded editors of Wikipedia’s unbending rules: “Remember: ‘This policy is non-negotiable, and the principles upon which it is based cannot be superseded by other policies or guidelines, nor by editor consensus.’”
The controversy comes as lawmakers and analysts accuse Wikipedia of becoming a tool for coordinated disinformation. In August, House Oversight Chair James Comer and Rep. Nancy Mace alleged that groups were violating the platform’s guidelines to push antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda. Their letter to Wikimedia CEO Maryana Iskander demanded records detailing how the foundation detects and punishes such manipulation, citing reports that taxpayer-funded academics and foreign agents were editing entries to promote anti-Western and pro-Kremlin talking points.
Tensions over Wikipedia’s credibility have also coincided with Elon Musk’s launch of Grokipedia, a self-described politically neutral, AI-driven alternative to Wikipedia. Musk said his platform was designed to eliminate what he sees as pervasive “lefty bias.”
Not all editors welcomed Wales’ involvement. “It feels very improper for the WMF to be intervening here due to political pressure, even if you are ostensibly acting as an individual,” one contributor complained on the page’s discussion board.
As of Monday morning, however, the lead paragraph of the “Gaza genocide” article still declared without sourcing: “The Gaza genocide is the ongoing, intentional, and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel during the Gaza war.”
It continued: “The genocidal acts include mass killings, starvation, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and preventing births,” listing additional claims such as “blockading, destroying civilian infrastructure, destroying health care facilities, killing health care workers and aid seekers, causing mass forced displacement, committing sexual violence, and destroying educational, religious, and cultural sites.”
While readers could still view the page, editing was locked. A notice featuring a padlock icon announced: “This article is currently protected from editing until November 4, 2025 at 21:47 UTC, or until editing disputes have been resolved.” It clarified that the restriction was “not an endorsement of the current version.”
Reactions among Wikipedia contributors were sharply divided. “Thank you for these important words. This is a first step toward correcting the bias and restoring neutrality to Wikipedia,” one editor wrote in support. Another added that Wales’ intervention was measured and sincere: “He has not ignored consensus nor tried to overturn it; he has come here to discuss it and try to reach a new consensus. And he is here as an editor — he made crystal clear that he is here in a personal capacity.”
Others were incensed. One editor fumed that his move was “disrespectful to all the experienced, good faith editors who put a lot of hard work into getting this article to the place it is,” while another accused him of bias because of his connections to Israel.
Wales, who has visited Israel numerous times, received the Dan David Prize from Tel Aviv University in 2015, an honor recognizing outstanding contributions to society and scholarship.
{Matzav.com}
Donovan Hall, 35, of Mesa, Ariz., was sentenced to 49 months in prison for stalking Jews in New York City and sending more than 1,000 threats to murder and assault them, the U.S. Department of Justice stated.
Hall “targeted Jewish victims with a sustained campaign of intimidation, terror and harassment,” stated Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. “The approximately 1,000 threats he sent to these New Yorkers were alarming and brazen. The prosecution of this case and the sentence imposed make clear that this office will aggressively bring to justice those who perpetrate senseless crimes of hate.”
Over three months, Hall contacted “several” New Yorkers about 1,000 times and “made antisemitic and violent threats to torture, mutilate, rape and murder them and their families,” the Justice Department said. “In particular, starting in August 2024, Hall made dozens of threatening phone calls, many of which were antisemitic in nature, to the Jewish owner of a hotel located in Manhattan, the owner’s family members and hotel staff.”
“During these calls, Hall threatened numerous times to kill the victims,” it said. It added that he “escalated” his threats by “texting photographs of two firearms and a machete to the hotel owner, along with threats to use those weapons to harm the owner and his family.”
Officers found and recovered the two guns, which weren’t registered to Hall and one of which was loaded, and ammunition at his home.
He was sentenced to three years of supervised release after his jail term. JNS
{Matzav.com}
The United States has formally presented a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council calling for the creation of an international stabilization force to operate in Gaza. According to reports aired Monday night on Israel’s Channel 12, the proposal envisions the multinational force being deployed for at least two years, with authority extending through the end of 2027 and the option for renewal.
Under the draft plan, Israeli forces would gradually scale down operations in Gaza and withdraw from additional areas of the Strip during a defined transitional phase. At the same time, the Palestinian Authority would undergo internal reforms aimed at preparing it to assume future administrative responsibility over Gaza.
The U.S. draft is expected to be debated among Security Council members in the coming days, with a goal of holding a vote within weeks. If approved, the first contingent of international troops could arrive in Gaza as early as January.
The stabilization force, the report said, would operate under the direct supervision of a newly established “International Peace Council,” chaired by President Donald Trump and composed of senior representatives from several nations. The force’s mandate would include securing Gaza’s borders with both Israel and Egypt, dismantling and preventing the reconstruction of terrorist infrastructure, and permanently disarming all non-state militant groups.
The multinational force would operate under unified command approved by the Peace Council and coordinate closely with both Israel and Egypt. It would be authorized to use “all necessary means” to fulfill its mission, in accordance with international and humanitarian law.
The proposal further outlines that the Peace Council would oversee and support a technocratic, non-political Palestinian committee made up of qualified professionals from Gaza. This committee would manage the Strip’s daily civil administration and public services.
An American official told Channel 12 that the Peace Council is expected to begin functioning even before the Palestinian technocratic committee is formally established.
Humanitarian assistance for Gaza would also be channeled through organizations cooperating with the Peace Council, including the United Nations, the International Red Cross, and the Red Crescent. The draft stipulates that any group found responsible for diverting aid to armed factions or misusing humanitarian supplies would be barred from continuing operations in Gaza.
The mission’s stated objectives include protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian activity, training and supporting approved Palestinian police units, securing humanitarian corridors, and carrying out other assignments necessary to implement the overall stabilization plan.
The force’s mandate would run until the end of 2027, and any future extension or operational changes would require consultation with Israel, Egypt, and the Security Council.
A source familiar with the proposal told i24NEWS that Washington intends to formally introduce the resolution within the next few days, with a possible vote as early as next week. “The Americans wanted to move quickly and have the force established before the end of the year,” the source said.
{Matzav.com}
WATCH:
LISTEN:
https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Bitachon4Life-Shiur-1621-Chikuy-Part-21-Beyond.mp3For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.
