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California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Friday aimed at accelerating state oversight of artificial intelligence, including exploring a requirement that developers of advanced AI systems create an emergency “kill switch” that could shut down frontier models if they pose a serious threat. The order also calls for faster implementation of California’s recently enacted independent AI auditing and oversight programs.

Newsom coupled the announcement with criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to regulating the rapidly developing technology, accusing the federal government of abdicating “its responsibility to protect Americans.” The governor called for Washington to adopt stronger national AI safeguards as increasingly capable systems are developed.

Under the executive order, California will convene experts to develop recommendations for strengthening the state’s existing AI safety laws. Among the proposals to be considered are independent safety assessments of frontier AI companies and mechanisms allowing advanced models to be shut down during emergencies.

“We’re not waiting to act – we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late. We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action,” Newsom said.

Newsom also used a video posted to his personal YouTube channel to criticize President Donald Trump’s position on additional AI regulation.

“There’s still no comprehensive federal law, none, requiring AI companies to report dangerous incidents when they happen, and President Trump has rejected calls for new regulation. No new regulation. Let it rip. He’s dead wrong,” Newsom said.

The executive order is also intended to accelerate implementation of California laws establishing a system for independent organizations to evaluate artificial intelligence models for safety and risk. Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 earlier this month, establishing frameworks for independent AI verification organizations and a state registry for AI auditors.

The order moves up the implementation timetable for California’s AI auditor registry and oversight program, with the governor seeking to have key elements in place by December 2027 rather than January 2029.

Newsom acknowledged that precisely what an AI “kill switch” would entail remains unsettled. His order calls for experts to study the issue and develop recommendations, rather than immediately imposing a finalized shutdown mechanism on AI companies.

A kill switch “means a lot of things depending on who you talk to,” Newsom said, adding, “So we want to flesh out exactly what that means and how to come up with a framework that works.”

The issue has also surfaced in Washington. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., sought this week to advance federal legislation addressing an emergency shutdown mechanism for powerful AI systems, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked the effort.

“I think it would be crazy to get on the floor one day and regulate an entire industry,” Paul told reporters. He argued that passing such a piece of legislation would require input from industry leaders.

President Trump has generally favored accelerating American AI development while resisting regulatory measures that his administration says could impede innovation and weaken the United States in its technological competition with China. At the same time, the administration has adopted AI-related rules in national-security settings, including a June directive requiring military and intelligence AI systems to be robust, controllable and subject to clear lines of accountability.

Trump has also repeatedly promoted the construction of data centers and other infrastructure needed for the rapidly expanding AI industry, while warning that slowing American development could allow China to gain an advantage.

On Monday, Trump rejected calls for additional federal restrictions on artificial intelligence amid warnings from prominent figures in the technology industry, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk, about potential risks posed by increasingly powerful AI systems.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump announced Friday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico are being barred from the White House, accusing the three news organizations of repeatedly disseminating false reporting about his administration and warning that additional media outlets could face similar restrictions. The move, which Trump said was effective immediately, was confirmed by multiple news organizations Friday.

Trump disclosed the decision in a post on Truth Social, where he sharply criticized all three outlets and explained his reasons for excluding them from the White House.

“I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them ‘alive.’ Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Trump wrote.

The President said the action was prompted by what he characterized as persistent falsehoods in coverage of him, his administration and the country, while indicating that Friday’s announcement might not be the last such action.

He continued, “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

The announcement marked the latest chapter in Trump’s long-running clashes with major news organizations, with CNN in particular having frequently been the target of his criticism. The Associated Press noted that the scope and enforcement of the newly announced ban were not immediately clear, while the restrictions are expected to raise legal questions involving press access and First Amendment protections.

One of Trump’s most prominent confrontations with CNN came during his first term in 2018, when the White House temporarily revoked the press credentials of CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta following a contentious exchange at a presidential news conference.

In the aftermath of that dispute, Trump suggested establishing a new U.S.-based international television network that could compete with CNN and present what he said would be a more positive picture of the United States to viewers overseas.

Trump’s disputes with members of the press have extended well beyond CNN. During an April 2020 White House briefing, he clashed with Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker after Rucker questioned him about a Department of Homeland Security presentation concerning research into the possible effects of heat and humidity on the coronavirus.

“I’m the president and you’re fake news,” Trump responded, adding, “It’s a just a suggestion from a brilliant lab, from a very very smart, perhaps brilliant man. He’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat. And you see the numbers. That’s it, that’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m here to present ideas.”

The latest restrictions also come after other battles between the Trump administration and news organizations over White House access. In 2025, the Associated Press challenged restrictions placed on its access after it declined to adopt the administration’s preferred terminology for the Gulf of Mexico, a dispute that resulted in ongoing litigation.

Shelly Meshel-Yogev, the mother of Libby Cohen Meguri, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023 massacre, confronted Aharon Haliva, the former head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, during an unexpected encounter in a park on Friday, accusing him of failing to personally face her family in the aftermath of the disaster.

Cohen Meguri was murdered while trying to flee the Supernova music festival massacre. During the emotional confrontation, Meshel-Yogev told Haliva that despite the fact that he lives close to the family and knows Libby’s father, he had never reached out to them or come to see them.

“You live a kilometer from our house, and you never came. You know her father, and you didn’t come. Don’t lie,” Meshel-Yogev said in a video of the encounter posted to her Instagram account.

Meshel-Yogev continued, directly blaming Haliva for the intelligence failures preceding the Hamas invasion and demanding that he acknowledge the magnitude of what happened.

“Where are you? Where were you? My daughter was buried because of you! You should feel humiliated and carry responsibility, and not breathe and say, ‘I want to come to you, I want to cry with you, because I am also suffering.’ You should say you are suffering like me! You don’t understand this?” she told Haliva.

She contrasted Haliva’s conduct with that of Herzi Halevi, the former IDF chief of staff, who she said had personally contacted the family.

“You didn’t bother to talk to us once – unlike [former IDF Chief of Staff] Herzi Halevi, who called and said I want to come. Where are you? Where have you been?”

Video from the encounter shows Haliva standing and listening as Meshel-Yogev speaks to him. He does not answer her during the recorded exchange.

Haliva stepped down as head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate in 2024, announcing his resignation in April, approximately six months after the October 7 massacre. In his resignation letter, Haliva publicly accepted responsibility for the Intelligence Directorate’s failure to provide the warning expected of it before the Hamas attack. His departure officially took effect in August 2024.

“The Intelligence Department under my command did not fulfill the mission we were entrusted with. I carry that dark day with me since then, day by day, night by night. I will forever carry with me the tremendous pain of the war,” he wrote.

Haliva returned to the subject publicly in August 2025, when Channel 12 aired recordings in which he discussed at length the failures surrounding October 7 and his view of the responsibility borne by Israel’s military and political leadership.

“I took responsibility. They won’t forgive me for October 7th – I failed,” he said.

Haliva argued in the recordings that the catastrophe resulted not simply from an individual mistake, but from deeply rooted assumptions that had taken hold throughout Israel’s security establishment.

“It’s not arrogance, it’s a whole culture. We got used to thinking we knew everything – IDF Intelligence, Shin Bet, Mossad – and the enemy was deterred. This wasn’t an accident that you just change four tires and move on. It requires deconstruction and rebuilding.”

In those recordings, Haliva also addressed Halevi’s conduct before the attack, contending that the prevailing assumptions about Hamas were shared broadly among senior security officials.

“Herzi was not negligent – he was paranoid. He didn’t wake me up at night, but even if he did, I would have gone back to sleep. That was the mindset we all had.”

Haliva also offered a harsh assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing him as an “attentive, situation-reading man – but a coward. He failed the test of results.”

Discussing his own responsibility as the officer who headed IDF Intelligence at the time of the massacre, Haliva said that he had not sought to conceal his role in the failures and had acknowledged it openly before other officers.

“I’m accountable for the investigations at IDF Intelligence, to dozens of officers, in bright sunlight. Nothing was hidden. This happened on my watch. I despise anyone who says, ‘That wouldn’t have happened to me.’ I was the CEO of a monster – and I’m responsible. Period.”

A Sefer Torah stolen nearly two weeks ago from the Chabad House in Haifa’s German Colony has been returned to the shul in an extraordinary turn of events, after a Jewish man recognized the Sefer Torah from publicity surrounding its disappearance, paid the non-Jew who was holding it, and personally arranged for its return.

The recovery, which took place Thursday, came just days before Yom Kippur and brought tremendous relief to the Chabad House, which had been left without its only kosher Sefer Torah.

The saga began on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech, when the Sefer Torah disappeared from the Chabad House. The disappearance was subsequently publicized in an effort to locate it.

At the time, police issued a statement saying that the Sefer Torah had been located and returned to the shul and that the incident apparently had not involved a theft. Chabad officials, however, disputed that account, insisting that the Sefer Torah had indeed been stolen and remained missing.

With Rosh Hashanah only days away, the disappearance caused particular distress because the stolen Sefer Torah was the only kosher one belonging to the shul.

“There was a theft, and the Sefer Torah was not returned,” Rabbi Ben Tzion Gagula said at the time. “The Sefer Torah that disappeared was the only kosher Sefer Torah in the shul. We are three days before Rosh Hashanah and we have no Sefer Torah. The door was locked, everything was locked. Apparently, they entered through the window.”

The breakthrough finally came Thursday evening.

A Jewish man who had seen the publicity surrounding the missing Sefer Torah contacted Rabbi Gagula with startling news: the Sefer Torah was in his possession.

According to the account provided by the Chabad House, the man had encountered a non-Jew who was holding the Sefer Torah. Having seen the reports about the theft, he realized that it appeared to be the missing Sefer Torah from the Chabad House.

Rather than risk losing track of it, the man used his own money to purchase the Sefer Torah from the individual who had it, intending from the outset to return it to its rightful home.

Once the Sefer Torah was safely returned, members of the Chabad House offered to reimburse the man for everything he had spent to recover it. He refused.

The man, who asked that his identity remain private, explained that once he realized he had encountered the stolen Sefer Torah, he felt there was no question that he had to do whatever was necessary to bring it home.

“It was truly a miracle,” Rabbi Gagula said emotionally. “This righteous Jew acted quickly, redeemed the Sefer Torah with his own money and brought it to us. He called me in the evening and informed me that he had the Sefer Torah in his possession. He even brought it all the way to the area of my home.”

For Rabbi Gagula and the members of the Chabad House, seeing their Sefer Torah again after nearly two weeks of uncertainty was an emotional moment made all the more powerful by its timing, just before Yom Kippur.

“It was an excitement that is impossible to describe,” Rabbi Gagula said. “After almost two weeks in which we did not know where the Sefer Torah was or what had happened to it, suddenly it was found and returned to us. To see again the Sefer Torah that we had been missing, especially when it is just a few days before Yom Kippur, is truly an enormous joy.”

The anonymous man’s refusal to accept reimbursement added another dimension to the story.

“We told him that we wanted to reimburse him for what he paid, but he would not agree under any circumstances,” Rabbi Gagula said. “He did it for the sake of Heaven, to save the Sefer Torah and return it to its place. It is an act of kindness that is difficult to remain indifferent to.”

During Rosh Hashanah, while their own Sefer Torah remained missing, the Chabad House had been forced to use a borrowed Sefer Torah for the Yom Tov davening.

Now, just days before Yom Kippur, their own Sefer Torah is back where it belongs.

“We thank first and foremost Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who performed this miracle for us, and we thank that righteous Jew who redeemed the Sefer Torah, as well as everyone who helped, worried, publicized and prayed,” Rabbi Gagula said. “After we held the Rosh Hashanah prayers with a borrowed Sefer Torah, now, just a few days before Yom Kippur, the Holy One, Blessed is He, arranged matters so that the Sefer Torah returned to us. We are entering the holy day with a feeling of gratitude and tremendous joy.”

{Matzav.com}

A 49-year-old Breslover chassid from Beitar Illit was detained while attempting to leave Ukraine following Rosh Hashanah in Uman and was reportedly taken for compulsory service in the Ukrainian military after authorities determined that he was subject to the country’s wartime mobilization requirements.

The man, an Israeli citizen who was originally born in Ukraine and has lived in Israel for many years, was stopped at the Romanian border while making his way back to Israel. According to sources, his family has since lost all contact with him and does not know where he is being held.

The man, who became religious later in life and subsequently settled in Israel, had traveled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah together with the thousands of Breslover chassidim who spend the Yom Tov near the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov.

The trouble reportedly began when Ukrainian authorities examined his documents as he attempted to cross the border into Romania.

A source familiar with the incident described what happened at the crossing.

“He spoke to them in Ukrainian, and then they took him aside and checked him and discovered that he was required to enlist, and they simply arrested him. The family has no communication whatsoever with the father, and they are extremely worried.”

The incident has left the man’s family and members of the Breslover community scrambling for assistance, with efforts underway to determine both his whereabouts and whether there is any legal avenue through which he can be released and permitted to return to Israel.

A Breslover community activist involved in efforts to help the family said that numerous rabbis and communal figures in Ukraine had already been contacted, but thus far no solution had been found.

“We are at a loss. We have reached out to all the rabbis and community activists in Ukraine, and no one has a solution for how to get him released.”

Friends and acquaintances of the detained man are now urgently reaching out to individuals with connections and influence in Ukraine in the hope of securing his release and returning him to his family in Israel.

Compounding the family’s distress is the fact that they reportedly have limited financial resources and have not been able to retain an attorney to represent him.

A community activist familiar with the case said that the situation appears particularly difficult because neither the detained man nor his family has the connections or resources that might help them navigate the Ukrainian system.

“The story is tragic because the man has no connections and the family does not have the money to hire a lawyer, and it looks like the man may simply remain there for a long time. No one has any idea where he is.”

According to the sources, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has been contacted and is attempting to assist the family. At this stage, however, officials reportedly have not even been able to establish precisely where the man was taken after his detention.

The Foreign Ministry told the family that its immediate effort is to determine his whereabouts, since his current location remains unknown.

The case comes against the backdrop of Ukraine’s wartime mobilization rules, under which Ukrainian men who fall within designated categories can face restrictions on leaving the country and may be subject to military service.

For the man’s family in Israel, the immediate concern is establishing contact with him and determining where he has been taken.

As of Friday, his relatives and members of the Breslover community were continuing urgent efforts to locate him and find a way to secure his release, with the family anxiously awaiting any word about his condition or whereabouts.

After nearly six decades at the helm of one of France’s longstanding Torah communities, Rav Shmuel Akiva Yaffe-Schlesinger, the longtime rav and av bais din of Strasbourg’s Eitz Chaim kehillah and one of France’s senior rabbonim, has announced that he intends to step down from his position.

Rav Schlesinger made the announcement during the regular shiur he delivers each Thursday via Zoom to members of his kehillah, bringing toward a close an extraordinary period in which he has been virtually synonymous with the Torah community of Strasbourg.

During his remarks, Rav Schlesinger also addressed his absence from Strasbourg for Rosh Hashanah, the first time in decades that he had not spent the Yom Tov together with his kehillah. He apologized to community members for not being present and explained his circumstances before turning to the question of the kehillah’s rabbinic leadership going forward.

Rav Schlesinger stressed that the selection of his successor is not his decision to make and that he cannot determine for the members of the kehillah who should serve as their next permanent rav.

For the interim period, however, Rav Schlesinger recommended Rav Yosef Chaim Waknin as a rabbinic address for the community until a permanent decision is reached.

Rav Waknin, a native of Aix-les-Bains, France, currently serves as a maggid shiur in a kollel in Strasbourg. Rav Schlesinger spoke warmly of him during the shiur, describing him as a yerei Shomayim and also noting his experience as a mohel and the excellent manner in which he performs brissim.

His comments were widely understood as a clear recommendation that members of Eitz Chaim turn to Rav Waknin during the transitional period, even as Rav Schlesinger carefully reiterated that the ultimate choice of the kehillah’s next permanent rav belongs to the community.

The announcement marks the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of Strasbourg’s Orthodox Jewish community.

Rav Schlesinger was born in 1939 into a distinguished rabbinic family. His father, Rav Mordechai Yaffe-Schlesinger, served as the final rav of Eisenstadt, Austria, before World War II. The family fled Europe during the year of Rav Shmuel Akiva’s birth and settled in Eretz Yisroel.

Rav Schlesinger subsequently learned at Yeshivas Slabodka and later continued his learning in the United States, where he was privileged to study, among others, under Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l.

Over the course of his many decades in Strasbourg, Rav Schlesinger became one of the central figures of Torah life in the city. As the leader of the Eitz Chaim kehillah, he delivered shiurim, rendered halachic rulings and provided guidance to generations of families.

His responsibilities extended far beyond the walls of the shul. Rav Schlesinger was deeply involved in matters of kashrus, the local kollel and bais medrash, and other aspects of communal Torah life. Over the years, he became one of the most prominent rabbinic figures not only in Strasbourg and the Alsace region, but in French Jewry as a whole.

The extraordinary length of Rav Schlesinger’s tenure had already been formally celebrated nearly a decade ago. In 2017, Eitz Chaim held a special kiddush commemorating 50 years since he had assumed leadership of the kehillah.

Nearly another decade has passed since that milestone, meaning that Rav Schlesinger’s retirement comes after close to 60 years during which his name and that of the Eitz Chaim community have been closely intertwined.

Eitz Chaim itself is one of Strasbourg’s veteran Orthodox kehillos. Its shul is located on Rue Turenne, where the community established itself after moving from its previous location in the late 1990s.

Over the years, a broad Torah infrastructure developed around the shul, including a bais medrash, kollel and regular shiurim, with Rav Schlesinger serving as the central rabbinic figure of the kehillah throughout those decades.

The past several years also brought Rav Schlesinger a profound personal loss. In Tammuz 5784, his wife, Rebbetzin Sarah Schlesinger a”h, passed away following more than 60 years of marriage.

Rebbetzin Schlesinger, a daughter of Rav Chaim Tzvi Kruger zt”l, av bais din of Brussels, stood alongside her husband for decades as he carried the responsibilities of the rabbonus and built the Strasbourg kehillah. Following her petirah, she was brought to kevurah in Yerushalayim.

The Schlesinger family has long been prominent in the rabbinic world of Europe and the United States. Two of Rav Schlesinger’s sons, Rav Yisroel Dovid Schlesinger and Rav Yehoshua Eliezer Schlesinger, serve as rabbonim in Monsey, New York.

Rav Schlesinger’s brother, Rav Avrohom Yaffe-Schlesinger, author of Be’er Sarim, served for decades as the rav of the Machzikei Hadas kehillah in Geneva, Switzerland.

Toward the conclusion of his remarks, Rav Schlesinger made a special request of Strasbourg residents, urging them to attend the Shabbos Shuvah drashah that will be delivered by Rav Waknin.

The members of Eitz Chaim will now face the consequential task of determining the future rabbinic leadership of their kehillah following an era spanning nearly 60 years.

Rav Schlesinger made clear that the final decision rests with the community. At the same time, for the immediate transition, he left his longtime mispallelim with a clear recommendation: Rav Yosef Chaim Waknin should serve as a rabbinic address as Eitz Chaim prepares for a new chapter in its storied history.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration is preparing to announce that Medicaid programs in all 50 states will have access to international benchmark pricing for certain prescription drugs, expanding President Donald Trump’s effort to reduce the amount the United States pays for medications compared with other developed countries.

President Trump is expected to promote the initiative at the White House on Friday alongside the governors of South Dakota, Mississippi and Arkansas. The announcement comes as the administration has placed prescription drug costs among its major domestic policy priorities ahead of the November midterm elections. Semafor first reported details of Friday’s planned announcement.

According to estimates from the White House Council of Economic Advisers cited by Semafor, the initiative is projected to produce $27.6 billion in net savings for state governments over the next decade, in addition to $36.6 billion in savings for the federal government. Those figures are administration estimates and have not yet been independently demonstrated through the program’s results.

The administration’s approach is based on the idea that Medicaid should be able to obtain prices for certain medicines that more closely resemble the lower prices paid in selected foreign countries.

“This is a clear cut example of how you can save money in the Medicaid program in a way that strengthens the program as a whole,” a White House official told Semafor. “By getting lower drug prices, more people will have access.”

Reuters reported that the administration was preparing to make the announcement, although the news organization said it had not independently confirmed Semafor’s reporting.

At the time of that report, neither the White House nor the Department of Health and Human Services had immediately responded to Reuters requests seeking comment.

At the center of the initiative is the administration’s GENEROUS Model — short for GENErating cost Reductions fOr U.S. Medicaid — which was launched in January 2026. Under the program, participating drug manufacturers provide supplemental rebates intended to bring Medicaid’s net cost for selected medicines in line with prices paid in certain other countries.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the five-year model is voluntary for both states and pharmaceutical manufacturers. States choose whether to participate and which eligible medicines they want covered through the program.

The initiative is part of President Trump’s broader push for what the administration calls “most-favored-nation” drug pricing, an approach intended to narrow the gap between prescription drug prices in the United States and those paid abroad.

The administration has also been reaching agreements directly with pharmaceutical companies. On Aug. 31, it announced another group of agreements involving nine midsize pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharma and UCB. Those arrangements followed earlier agreements reached with other major drugmakers.

The ultimate size of the savings produced by the Medicaid initiative, however, remains uncertain.

One reason is that Medicaid already obtains significant discounts on prescription medications through federally required manufacturer rebates. States are also permitted to negotiate supplemental rebates of their own, raising questions among health-policy analysts about how much additional savings international benchmarking can generate. Semafor noted that experts have questioned whether the GENEROUS model will produce savings on the scale projected by the administration.

CMS has reported that gross Medicaid prescription drug spending exceeded $100 billion in 2024. After manufacturer rebates were collected, net spending was approximately $60 billion.

The administration nevertheless believes the international-pricing mechanism can drive those costs down further.

Under the GENEROUS system, CMS negotiates with participating pharmaceutical manufacturers, which report applicable international net prices. Participating states can then obtain supplemental rebates intended to reduce the net Medicaid price of eligible drugs toward the agreed international benchmark.

Friday’s announcement represents a nationwide expansion of access to that approach, giving state Medicaid programs across the country the option of participating as the Trump administration seeks to make lower prescription drug prices a prominent part of its domestic agenda.

{Matzav.com}

David Friedman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel during President Donald Trump’s first administration, came to the defense of current Ambassador Mike Huckabee on Friday, suggesting that Huckabee may not have been provided with all the relevant information before his controversial visit to Turmus Ayya earlier this month.

The controversy centered in part on Amishav Melet, a Jewish resident whom Huckabee filmed as Melet drove a security vehicle near the gathering in Turmus Ayya. Melet subsequently maintained that he was carrying out a routine security check and had not come to interfere with the ambassador’s visit. Friedman pointed to a recent interview with Melet and suggested that Huckabee’s Palestinian Affairs Unit may have failed to provide the ambassador with important background before arranging the trip.

“Gov. Mike Huckabee is an incredible US Ambassador to Israel – maybe the best ever,” Friedman wrote on X. “As occasionally occurred when I was Ambassador, I think his Palestinian Affairs Unit withheld some key facts in arranging his trip to Turmus Aya. Here’s an interview with the guy who the Palestinian residents of that town claimed was a terrorist – Amishav Melet – whose brother was murdered by residents of this community just 7 weeks ago. Take a look at this interview and decide for yourselves.”

Friedman had already publicly backed Melet earlier this month following the dispute over Huckabee’s visit.

“Enjoyed a cup of coffee this morning with Amishav Melet. He’s the guy who the residents of Turmus Ayya tried to portray as a terrorist when all he was doing was driving a security patrol and bothering no one.”

Two weeks ago, @GovMikeHuckabee filmed a security Ranger near Turmus Aya and called it “dangerous settlers.”

After Shabbat, the driver identified himself. Amishav Melet (@amishav_ ) — a 35-year-old farmer and father of six from the Shiloh Valley. Amishav explains why he was in… pic.twitter.com/jnZRTY7cQB

— Channel 18 Israel (@channel18israel) September 18, 2026

Friedman described Melet as “a vegan, a pacifist and a farmer,” adding, “He wants nothing more than to work the land promised to the Jewish people by God.”

“He says he harbors no hatred for the Palestinians, even though a Palestinian murdered his brother just six weeks ago,” Friedman continued.

“The Jew-haters will need to get another poster child for their ‘settler violence’ campaign. This one won’t work (neither will any other),” he concluded.

The dispute began after Huckabee traveled to Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, on September 5 to meet Palestinian Americans living in the town and listen to their accounts of violence, property damage and intimidation. During the visit, Huckabee publicly condemned violence and said those who commit attacks should face consequences.

At one point during the visit, Jewish residents drove near the area where Huckabee and the delegation were assembled. Video from the scene showed Huckabee taking out his cellphone and recording the vehicle as it passed.

According to Channel 12, people present at the gathering said Huckabee indicated that he planned to personally send the footage to President Donald Trump to show what was described to him as an effort by Jewish residents to “disrupt” the visit.

Following the visit, Huckabee wrote on X that he had traveled to Turmus Ayya “to hear disturbing stories of criminal & terrorist actions by a band of trespassers who brazenly roam through property of lawful property owners.”

At the same time, Huckabee made clear that his criticism was directed at those engaging in violence and illegal conduct, rather than Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria generally. He said he supports “Israelis living in Judea/Samaria where they have right to be,” while emphasizing his opposition to violence and lawlessness. During the visit, Huckabee also explained his preference for the biblical terminology Judea and Samaria.

After Shabbos, Melet publicly revealed that he had been behind the wheel of the security vehicle Huckabee recorded.

“Dear Mike Huckabee,” Melet wrote. “Well, that was me. I was the driver of the Ranger you filmed.”

Melet offered a sharply different account of what had brought him to the scene. He said a shepherd had alerted local residents after noticing dozens of vehicles gathering near Turmus Ayya, in an area where, according to Melet, Jewish residents had previously encountered attacks and arson.

Melet said he got into the local security Ranger to investigate what was taking place and simultaneously notified the IDF, as required under the security procedures followed by residents in the area.

“When we arrived and saw respectable people and media crews, we said hello and continued on our way,” he wrote. “Shortly afterward, the army informed us that this was a proper, coordinated visit.”

Melet insisted that neither he nor the others with him had gone there to confront Huckabee’s delegation.

“That is the entire story,” Melet added. “And yet, within minutes, we were portrayed in the media as ‘dangerous settlers.'”

Melet has also said that his brother, Bnayahu Melet, had been killed weeks earlier during a violent confrontation in Samaria, and that he himself had received threats. Those statements are Melet’s account of the events and circumstances surrounding his presence near Turmus Ayya.

Friedman’s latest comments appeared aimed not at criticizing Huckabee personally, but at questioning the information presented to the ambassador before and during the visit. By highlighting Melet’s account, Friedman argued that Huckabee may have been given an incomplete picture of why the security vehicle approached the area.

Huckabee, for his part, has continued to distinguish between Israelis living in Judea and Samaria and individuals who engage in violence or property crimes. During his Turmus Ayya appearance, he said that people who burn cars or mosques, vandalize homes or seize property should be treated as criminals and, in certain circumstances, terrorists, while reiterating his longstanding support for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

{Matzav.com}