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The ongoing investigation into the fire that spread on Sunday in Yerushalayim revealed that the blaze ignited at three different sites, according to a fire official.

The fire spread through the dry vegetation in the Valley of the Cross near the Israel Museum. Workers had to be evacuated from the museum as a precautionary measure. Fire and rescue teams, working together with six firefighting planes, managed to prevent the fire, which reached the museum’s fences, from spreading inside.

The fire spread from the forest and began burning the outside of one of the museum’s buildings; firefighters rushed to the location of the fire in order to prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings. After an anxious hour, the Israel Museum announced that “there is no danger to the works, and there are no casualties or damage.”

Later on Sunday the Israel Museum said in a statement: “The fire spread from the direction of the Valley of the Cross adjacent to the museum and first hit the roof of the youth wing building, but the fire brigade fully took control of it. There are no casualties or damage, no artwork is in danger. In addition, all the people from the museum area were evacuated to safety.”

{Matzav.com}

California’s largest wildfire so far this year was significantly surrounded Monday after blackening a swath of hilly grasslands between San Francisco Bay and the Central Valley. The Corral Fire was 75% contained after scorching more than 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) during the weekend, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. One home was destroyed and two firefighters were injured. The wind-driven fire erupted Saturday afternoon on land managed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the country’s key centers for nuclear weapons science and technology. The cause was under investigation. Thousands of people in the area, including parts of the San Joaquin County city of Tracy, were ordered to leave for evacuation centers Saturday. Evacuation orders were lifted when improved weather allowed firefighters to make progress against the flames. The wildfire presented no threat to any laboratory facilities or operations, Lawrence Livermore spokesperson Paul Rhien said in a statement to The Associated Press early Sunday. California has had back-to-back wet years that ended drought but spawned vegetation growth. Cal Fire’s outlook for 2024 noted that increasing dryness from mid-May to June would potentially lead to more small fires and a chance of larger fires depending on wind. The Corral Fire is by far the largest of more than 1,200 wildfires so far this year. The progress against the Corral Fire comes just ahead of a predicted major heat wave. The National Weather Service has issued warnings for “dangerously hot conditions” throughout the Central Valley from Tuesday through Thursday. Though this fire is nearly contained, in general, fire burns hotter when the weather is hotter, said Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus in the geography and the environment department at Syracuse University. He added that high winds can carry embers across freeways. Drought contributes to dangerous fire seasons, but paradoxically, wetter years can too. “The flip side of that is that moisture allows for growth as well,” he said. In some places, a wet winter that causes vegetation to flourish can ultimately exacerbate the following fire season when all those plants dry out and become fuel. That’s what happened in drought-stricken Osteen, Florida this weekend when a brush fire ran toward houses; multiple fire departments had to assist the forest service with the blaze, said Volusia County fire department’s battalion chief Scott Smoak. That fire is now 95% contained but warmer temperatures than usual for this time of year are a concern, he said, because they further dry out the fuels that built up during an unseasonably wet winter. He encouraged locals to exercise extreme caution when burning anything and to avoid throwing cigarettes out windows or parking on grass. “The conditions we have, we’re trying to eliminate any potential for other fires to start,” he said. Elsewhere in the country, at higher elevations, there tend to be fewer fires when the snowpack melts gradually over the course of the summer, but with higher temperatures overall due to climate change, more of that snow tends to fall as rain and the snowpack that does build up melts earlier. That, too, has been an issue in past years, Bendix said. (AP)

On Monday the Israel police announced that they had approved the route for the annual flag march to be held on Yom Yerushalayim, likely under pressure from Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. The parade, which will take place on Wednesday, will include thousands of young Israelis marching through Sha’ar Shechem into the old city of Yerushalayim, ending at the Kosel. Some 3,000 police officers will provide security.

Yom Yerushalayim, which commemorates the city’s unification after the Six-Day War, will proceed amid the lingering effects of the October 7 events and ongoing conflict. Thousands are expected to march, and the police have said that they are fully prepared for the event, major roads will be closed for extended periods, and they urged the public to act responsibly and follow safety guidelines.

Historically, the Flag March has been faced some tension, especially when passing through Sha’ar Shechem. In 2021, the march coincided with Operation Guardian of the Walls when Hamas launched rockets toward Yerushalayim. In 2022, former U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides requested then-Minister of Public Security Omer Bar-Lev to change the route, but the route remained unchanged. Last year, the march again passed through the gate with only minor disturbances.

{Matzav.com}

David Levy, z’l, an Israeli politician born in Morocco who fought tirelessly against deep-seated racism against Jews from North Africa and went on to serve as foreign minister and hold other senior governmental posts, has died. He was 86. Levy moved at age 20 from Morocco to Beit Shean, an isolated town in Israel’s north. He first worked in construction and got his start in politics as a representative of the construction union. He served in the Knesset, or parliament, from 1969 to 2006, holding the posts of foreign minister, deputy prime minister and housing and construction minister at various times. At the height of his career, he was a rival in the Likud party to Israel’s current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s early leaders, mostly of European, or Ashkenazi, descent took a paternalistic attitude toward Jewish immigrants from Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Many of these immigrants, known as Mizrahi Jews, were sent to shantytown transit camps and largely sidelined. Levy galvanized the disenfranchised Mizrahi community to help the right-wing Likud sweep to power under Menachem Begin, wresting control from the left-wing parties for the first time since the country’s founding. During his tenure as foreign minister, starting in 1990, Levy renewed relations with many countries, including China and what was then the Soviet Union. He was the foreign minister during the Madrid Conference in 1991, which helped launch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, though he did not attend. “From the transit camp to the White House in Washington, to the State Duma in Moscow and on to the Elysee Palace in France,” Levy told Haaretz. “In all these places, the transit camp was with me as were those eyes who I felt were accompanying me. My great achievement is that I paved the way for many more and created a reality in which people began to believe in themselves, in their potential to dare and succeed,” he said. “With all of his heart and soul, he represented those that didn’t have anything,” long-time Likud politician Dan Meridor told Israel’s Army Radio. He added that Levy brought diversity to the Likud at a crucial time and ensured that Israel’s political echelons were not controlled by a small group of homogenous elites. Levy is considered one of the country’s most effective housing ministers for pushing a series of major housing developments that helped modernize the “maabara,” the word for the shantytown camps that housed Mizrahi Jews, including his own family, in the early decades of the state. In 2018, he was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement, one of Israel’s highest honors. The selection committee called Levy “a social fighter for the weaker classes, a labor leader and representative of the development towns and the country’s outskirts.” Netanyahu hailed Levy on Sunday, praising the man who “paved his way in life with his own two hands.” “The life story of David Levy, the teenager that came from Morocco straight to the shantytowns, and from there made his way to the top leadership in the country – is a striking example of true and inspiring social leadership, which reflects the beautiful face of Israeliness,” President Isaac Herzog said. Levy, with a head of thick, white hair, could command any room in French, Arabic and rich Hebrew. But […]

On Monday afternoon, undercover Border Police agents entered the Balata camp in Shechem, and located a wanted major terrorist using precise ISA intelligence.

In broad daylight, the undercover agents surrounded the wedding hall where the terrorist was located.

When the terrorist noticed the soldiers, he tried to escape to the roof of the building with a weapon. The undercover agents shot and killed him.

The terrorist target was Adam Faraj, one of the highest-ranking members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, in the Balata camp.

During the undercover operation, terrorists in the area shot at the forces and threw explosives at them. The undercover agents returned fire, wounding several terrorists. Additional IDF soldiers have been moved into the city to reinforce them in the ongoing battle.

{Matzav.com}

South Korea announced Monday it’ll suspend a rapprochement deal with North Korea to punish it over its launches of trash-carrying balloons, even after the North said it would halt its balloon campaign. Over several days, North Korea flew hundreds of balloons to drop trash and manure on South Korea in an angry reaction against previous South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns. On Sunday, South Korea said it would take “unbearable” retaliatory steps in response, before North Korea abruptly announced it would stop flying balloons across the border. On Monday, South Korea’s presidential national security council said it has decided to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean agreement aimed at easing frontline animosities, until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored, according to the presidential office. The security council said the suspension would allow South Korea to resume military drills near the border with North Korea and take effective, immediate responses to provocations by North Korea. It said a proposal on the suspension will be introduced at the Cabinet Council on Tuesday for approval. Observers say South Korea needs the deal’s suspension to restart blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, K-pop songs and outside news from border loudspeakers. They say such broadcasts have previously stung in the rigidly controlled North, where most of its 26 million people are not allowed official accesses to foreign news. The 2018 agreement, reached during a brief period of reconciliation between then-liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, require the Koreas to cease all hostile acts against each other, including propaganda broadcasts and leafleting campaigns. But the accord doesn’t clearly state civilian leafleting should also be banned. That has allowed South Korean activists to continue to fly balloons to drop anti-Pyongyang leaflets, USB sticks with South Korean dramas and world news, and U.S. dollars in North Korea. Enraged over such leafleting campaigns, North Korea has previously fired at incoming balloons and destroyed a South Korean-built, unoccupied inter-Korean liaison office in the North. The 2018 deal has already been in the danger of collapsing. Tension spiked after North Korea’s spy satellite launch last November prompted both Koreas to take steps in breach of the accord — South Korea resuming frontline aerial surveillance and North Korea restoring border guard posts. Since last Tuesday, a total of about 1,000 North Korean balloons carrying manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth and waste paper have been discovered in various parts of South Korea. No hazardous substances were found, according to South Korea’s military. On Sunday night, Kim Kang Il, a North Korean vice defense minister, said the North would stop its balloon campaign because it left the South Koreans with “enough experience of how much unpleasant they feel.” He said North Korea will fly balloons again if South Korean activists restart their own balloon activities. Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign, reportedly the first of its kind in seven years, is meant to trigger a divide in South Korea over its current conservative government’s tough policy on the North. Since 2022, North Korea has dramatically ramped up its weapons tests in what analysts call an attempt to bolster its nuclear capability and increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S. (AP)

Congressman Mike Lawler, who introduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act in Congress, began his keynote speech at the 50th commencement for Touro University earlier today with this quip, “Rashida Tlaib is so sorry she couldn’t be here with us today.” He followed that with impassioned words supporting Israel and encouraging the students to stand up and join him in the fight against antisemitism.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by TheYeshivaWorld.com (@theyeshivaworld)

Today, IDF representatives informed the families of the hostages Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell, that they are no longer alive and that their bodies are held by the Hamas terrorist organization.

The pronouncement was made based on intelligence and was confirmed by a Ministry of Health expert committee, in coordination with the Ministry of Religious Services and the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

The circumstances of their death in Hamas captivity are still being investigated by all the relevant professionals.

The IDF uses a variety of methods to gather information about the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.

Amiram Cooper, 84, was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nirim. His wife Nurit was kidnapped along with him. She was released on October 23 together with Yocheved Lifshitz.

Yoram Metzger, 80, was kidnapped together with with his wife Tamar (Tami) Metzger. She was also released.

Haim Perry, 79, was an entrepreneur and peace activist. His wife, Osnat, said that he saved her life during the Hamas massacre.

Nadav Popplewell, 51, was kidnapped along with his mother, Channah Peri, 79. His mother Channah was released on November 24 as part of the temporary hostage and ceasefire deal. His brother Roi was also murdered on October 7th.

{Matzav.com}

People across the world have been captivated for the past eight months by the plight of the hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. As their harrowing tale continues to unfold, Jewish reporter Jake Turx is on the hunt looking for another missing Jewish man: Vugar Ben Avraham Mikhailov, a 19-year-old Jewish Azerbaijani boy who was abducted by Armenians in the Füzuli region of Karabakh 31 years ago. Turx says he first learned of Vugar’s story 14 months ago, and “based on various sources, documents, and eyewitness accounts, I have tracked Vugar’s captivity across Karabakh – from a detention center in Seyidahmadli, to a prison in Khankendi, and a labor brigade in Shusha – areas that were controlled by separatists until recently. “Vugar’s last observed location was the remote mountain village of Chartaz, where he was one of an unknown number of Azerbaijani captives reportedly forced into slavery. Although Azerbaijan regained control of the entire Karabakh region eight months ago, the pervasive presence of minefields, booby traps, and unexploded ordnance made it impossible to conduct a search for Vugar.” He says that last week, he was finally given unfettered access to areas that had been previously inaccessible as he mounts “an ambitious and aggressive search for clues, information, and evidence about the whereabouts of Vugar, who turned 50 earlier this year.” Vugar has been missing for 31 years, but his family believes he is still alive. “So next time you pray for the hostages in Gaza, please add the name of one more missing hostage: VUGAR BEN NINA,” Turx wrote. He encouraged anyone who may have information or leads to contact him. “Our search has only just begun,” he says. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The cost of your next flight is likely to go up. That’s the word from the International Air Transport Association, which held its annual meeting Monday in Dubai, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates. While carriers recover from the groundings worldwide from the coronavirus pandemic, industry leaders told journalists that there are several costs likely to push those ticket prices ever higher. Part of that comes from worldwide inflation, an ongoing problem since the pandemic started. Jet fuel costs, roughly a third of all airline expenses, remain high. Meanwhile, a global push for the aviation industry to decarbonize has more carriers fighting for the little amount of so-called sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, available in the market. “The airlines will continue to do everything they can to keep costs in control as much as possible for the benefit of consumers,” said Willie Walsh, the director-general of the the International Air Transport Association, an industry-trade group. “But I think it’s unrealistic to expect that airlines can continue to absorb all of the costs. … It’s not something we like to do, but it’s something we have to do.” Also pressuring the industry is a pandemic hangover in aircraft production as well, they say. Carriers now keep older planes that burn more fuel flying longer. There also aren’t enough new aircraft to expand routes and increase supply to bring down overall prices. That warning comes as the IATA estimates globally, airline revenue will reach nearly $1 trillion in 2024, a record high. There will be 4.96 billion travelers on airplanes this year, with total expenses for carriers reaching $936 billion — another record high. But industry profits also are expected to be nearly $60 billion this year. In particular, Emirates, a main driver for Dubai’s economy, saw record profits of $4.7 billion in 2023 off revenues of $33 billion. The Emirates’ results track with those for its base, Dubai International Airport. The world’s busiest airport for international travelers had 86.9 million passengers last year, surpassing numbers for 2019 just before the coronavirus pandemic grounded global aviation. The airport now plans to move to the city-state’s second, sprawling airfield in its southern desert reaches in the next 10 years in a project worth nearly $35 billion. Tim Clark, the airline’s president, obliquely acknowledged that Monday by saying that he didn’t want people to “get boxes of tissues out and play the violins” when warning that the industry’s profit margins sit in the low single digits. However, he contended that as airlines have grown larger and carriers consolidated, cost savings have quietly been passed onto consumers now able to book flights across the world. “It is quite amazing that ticket prices are where they are today,” Clark said. “I think the value-for-money proposition that the consumers have had the benefit from for many decades is something that is one of those hidden bits of the narrative.” Yvonne Manzi Makolo, the CEO of RwandAir, also highlighted the taxes and fees imposed on carriers by the countries they operate in. She specifically cited those paid by carriers flying out of African nations as “already ridiculous.” (AP)

Derek Armstead, the mayor of Linden, N.J., was caught on tape saying he wanted to prevent Chassidic Jews from taking over the neighborhood. He claims that he is the victim of extortion ahead of the July 16 special election, in which he is running, for New Jersey’s 10th congressional district.

The 10th, which includes Newark, is the most Democratic district in New Jersey, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+30.

Donald Payne Jr., the district’s former representative, died on April 24 at age 65. President Joe Biden said at the time that Payne was an “accomplished public servant, whose kind strength and generosity of spirit won him love across his district and the U.S. Congress.”

Paul Oliveira, a former schools assistant superintendent in Linden, alleges in a lawsuit that Armstead, the schools superintendent and school board president engaged in an “antisemitic and illegal scheme” to “keep Linden from by being ‘taken over’ by Jews,” the Courier News and Home News Tribune, part of the USA Today network, reported.

Oliveira accused the trio of retaliation because he objected to their “nefarious and illegal agenda” to “deliberately exclude Jews” from district jobs. He also said that Armestead said during a recorded conversation to only hire black people and those of Haitian descent and that “that is what has to happen in order to keep our community from being taken over by guys with big hats and curls.”

In a May 29 statement, Armstead called the suit a $950,000 extortion scheme.

NJ Advance Media reported last week that Armstead said that “private remarks can be foolish and offensive.” The mayor “added that what he said ‘was a far cry from being antisemitic’” and that a settlement offer in the lawsuit was a “ransom note,” it added.

“Suspicions arise regarding the timing and motivations behind the leak of the recorded conversation, particularly given Armstead’s prominent position in the Democratic congressional primary,” the mayor said.

“Oliveira claimed in a lawsuit that he was compelled to take protected medical leave due to stress and anxiety caused by a conspiracy to exclude Chassidic Jewish individuals from employment within the Linden school district,” Armstead said. “Oliveira’s claims, however, lack evidence of any Chassidic Jewish candidates ever applying for positions.”

Later in the May 29 statement, the mayor denied that he excluded Chassidic Jews. “The mayor apologizes for comments referencing Chassidic Jews as ‘guys in big hats and curls’ and remains staunchly committed to diversity and inclusivity in the community,” he added.

“Armstead was advocating, as he always has, for a workforce that reflects the diversity of the student body,” he said. “Some of the 32.4% black students in LPS [Linden Public Schools] are of Haitian descent and only speak Creole, creating the need for Creole-speaking teachers.”

The mayor told NJ Advance Media that “he also spoke with a number of those from the Orthodox community, who he has known for years, regarding the context of his remarks.”

In a post on social media, the mayor wrote, “I will not allow anyone to exploit my poor choice of words to extort nearly $1 million from taxpayers and our children.”

Armen McOmber, attorney for Oliveira, said the mayor is “a bigot” who has “absolutely no business leading any city anywhere.

“Last week, the mayor said our client’s allegations were ‘hogwash’ and that he should ‘go to hell,’” McOmber said, according to NJ Advance Media. “This week, and hidden within his ridiculous, inaccurate and defamatory press release, is a pseudo-admission and apology by the mayor for his use of antisemitic language.”

The mayor’s efforts amount to a “rhetorical safety dance,” Politico wrote.

The Anti-Defamation League’s New York and New Jersey regional office stated earlier in the week, “We are appalled by allegations of antisemitism and discrimination detailed in a legal complaint filed last week in New Jersey Superior Court against the City of Linden’s mayor, Board of Education, superintendent, board president and others.

“We are grateful that the judicial system will adjudicate these disturbing claims,” the ADL said.

{Matzav.com}

An Israeli Jew was tragically killed in a fight that turned into a deadly shooting in Reno, Nevada, this past Wednesday. Police said they responded to Comstock Drive, where they found one man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The deceased has since been identified as Yeshayahu Dahan, a 39-year-old Israeli native who was residing in the United States. According to a report from B’Chadrei Chareidim, Yeshayahu z”l had kindly invited a homeless man to live in his home. However, following multiple incidents, Yeshayahu asked the man to leave, but he refused. This led to a dispute and then an outright fight, during which the man shot and fatally injured the Israeli. According to local media reports, the homeless man remained at the scene and cooperated with the police, who later determined that it was not a murder but an act of self-defense. Dayan’s family subsequently arranged for the body to be repatriated to Israel for Kevurah, with the Levaya taking place on Sunday in Beit Shemesh. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israeli authorities earlier this year thwarted a large-scale suicide bombing attack directed by Hamas’s terrorist headquarters in Turkey, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) revealed on Monday.

The security agency said it forces captured Anas Shurman—a Palestinian originally from Tulkarem who lives in Jordan—during a March 15 raid in the central Shomron terrorist stronghold of Shechem.

Interrogations revealed that three months earlier, Shurman had been recruited to carry out a suicide bombing by Hamas terrorist Imad Abid, an operative living in Turkey who was also born in Yehuda and Shomron.

As part of his preparations for the attack, Shurman allegedly videotaped a will, took motorcycle lessons and received funds and instructions to carry out the bombing, including where to collect the explosive device from a hidden location in Shomron.

The bomb, weighing some 26 pounds, was seized by Shin Bet agents near a spring in the Shomron, the agency said. Next to the explosive, they allegedly found written instructions on how to carry out the bombing.

Following an investigation, several Shechem residents were apprehended on suspicion of being part of the terrorist cell; the Shin Bet said the cell was given directions by Hamas terrorist Hudhayfa Salameh in Turkey.

Members of the cell were charged with serious security offenses under military law, including “attempting to intentionally cause death,” contact with the enemy and membership in a terrorist group.

“The investigation reveals the entrenchment of the Hamas headquarters in Turkey and its involvement in directing terror attacks in Israeli territory,” the Shin Bet charged in the statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long harbored members of Hamas. In 2022, the terrorist organization marked the 10th anniversary of the official establishment of its offices in Istanbul.

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, in a 2021 report, said that Hamas’s headquarters in Istanbul has directed hundreds of terrorist attacks against Israelis and laundered millions of dollars.

“Turkey collaborates with terror organizations on both the ideological and operational levels. Terrorists working on Turkish soil establish infrastructures and plan terror attacks against Israel,” the report noted.

In April, Ankara invited Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s “political” bureau, to stay in the country, praising him as a “leader of the Palestinian struggle.”

Last week, Erdoğan called Prime Minister Netanyahu a “vampire who feeds on blood” and urged Muslims worldwide to act against the “threat” posed by Israel.

“The world is watching the barbarity of … a psychopath, a vampire who feeds on blood called Netanyahu, and they are watching it on live broadcast,” Erdoğan said in a speech to members of his AK Party.

Erdoğan urged Muslims and “young people” around the world to help eradicate Zionism, which he denounced as “lawless perversion,” and stop Netanyahu’s “murder network” from “spiraling out of control.”

{Matzav.com}

Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker emerged on Monday as the most-prominent candidate from within the country’s Shiite theocracy in the race for the June 28 presidential election to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month. The entry of Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, catapulted him to the front of the bevy of candidates, just a day after hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also registered his bid for the presidency. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech earlier Monday, alluding to qualities that Qalibaf himself has highlighted and potentially signaling his support for the speaker. However, many know Qalibaf who as a former Revolutionary Guard general was part of a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999. He also reportedly ordered live gunfire to be used against students in 2003, while serving as the country’s police chief. Those events could play into an election that follows years of unrest gripping Iran, both over its ailing economy and the mass protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who died after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf, or hijab, to the liking of security forces. The election also comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, its arming of Russia in that country’s war on Ukraine and its wide-reaching crackdowns on dissent. Meanwhile, Iran’s support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Middle East have been increasingly in the spotlight as Yemen’s Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Qalibaf, 62, registered his candidacy with the Interior Ministry in front of a crowd of journalists Monday. Speaking later to the media, he said he would continue on the same path as Raisi and the late Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a figure revered by many in Iran after his 2020 killing in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. Qalibaf insisted he would not allow “another round of mismanagement” to happen in the country and mentioned poverty and price pressures affecting Iranians as the country strains under international sanctions. “If I didn’t register, the work we have started for resolving economic issues of the people in the popular government (of Raisi) and the revolutionary parliament, and is now at the stage of fruition, would remain unfinished,” Qalibaf said. He did not elaborate and it remains unclear what those plans actually would entail as Iran’s currency, the rial, continues to spiral and again nears 600,000 to the dollar. The currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar when Tehran signed the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers. Like other candidates, Qalibaf stayed away from directly discussing the tattered nuclear deal — or the recent comments by officials that Iran potentially could seek the atomic bomb. Such matters of state remain the final decision of Khamenei, 85, but presidents in the past have leaned either toward engagement or confrontation with the West over it. Along with Ahmadinejad, another former parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, and former Iranian Central Bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati, who also ran in 2021, have also registered for the June balloting. Eshaq Jahangiri, a former vice president under moderate President Hassan […]

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the body of Dolev Yehud, a paramedic murdered by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been located on the kibbutz.

“Following a scientific identification and a thorough analysis by the IDF in coordination with anthropological experts, the body of Dolev Yehud was found in Kibbutz Nir Oz,” the IDF said.

The 35-year-old volunteer medic with the United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom emergency services left his home to attempt to save lives during the morning hours of the terror onslaught and was killed.

Initially, the IDF believed that Yehud was abducted to Gaza.

He leaves behind a wife and four children. His wife, Sigal, gave birth to their fourth child when he was thought to have been held captive. His sister, Arbel Yehud, 28, is still being held by the terror group in Gaza.

The announcement of his death lowers the number of hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7 from 252 to 251 and the number of hostages still in Gaza from 125 to 124.

{Matzav.com}

A 34-year-old Syrian citizen approached the Israel embassy in Bucharest on Monday and hurled a Molotov cocktail at its main entrance. The man then tried to set himself on fire. The security guards immediately overpowered him and arrested him. The Molotov cocktail caused a small fire that was extinguished immediately. No one was hurt in the incident. The local police are investigating the incident. Last week, the Mossad revealed that Iran has been promoting terror via criminal proxies against Israeli and Jewish targets, including Israeli embassies, throughout Europe. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she announced on social media Sunday, adding that she expects to be “occasionally absent from Congress” as she undergoes treatment.

“My doctors confirmed my diagnosis of pancreatic cancer,” Jackson Lee wrote in a letter shared on X. “I am currently undergoing treatment to battle this disease that impacts tens of thousands of Americans every year.”

Jackson Lee, 74, has served in Texas’s 18th Congressional District since 1995. Throughout her career she has sponsored legislation on issues such as police reform, sentencing laws, safe gun storage and white supremacy-motivated hate crimes.

Jackson Lee also sponsored legislation that led to Juneteenth being recognized as a federal holiday in 2021; that same year, she was arrested during nonviolent protests that called for the protection of voting rights.

Last year, Jackson Lee announced she would seek a 16th term in the House after losing a bid to become Houston’s first Black female mayor. She won the Democratic primary on Super Tuesday earlier this year.

“As a member of Congress, I’ve been honored to be one of the leaders in the fight for justice and equality for all,” Jackson Lee wrote on Sunday. “Today, my fight is more personal, but I will approach it with the same faith and courage.”

Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3 percent of all cancers in the United States. About 66,440 people are estimated to be diagnosed with it this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Generally considered an aggressive form of cancer, the disease does not often present symptoms during its early stages.

People with pancreatic cancer may experience jaundice, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, poor appetite and pain in the back or abdomen. The disease can also cause blood clots and diabetes as well as gallbladder or liver enlargement.

Jackson Lee did not specify the type or severity of her pancreatic cancer, but said she is confident her medical team has developed “the best possible” treatment plan.

“The road ahead will not be easy, but I stand in faith that God will strengthen me,” she said.

(c) Washington Post

Kibbutz Nirim has announced that Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old British-Israeli hostage, was brutally murdered while in Hamas captivity. His body remains in Gaza. The announcement was made based on new intelligence received by Israel that shed light on Popplewell’s tragic fate. Nadav was taken captive alongside his mother, Channah Peri, 79, on October 7 when Hamas terrorists stormed their home in Nirim. Peri was released on November 24 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal, but her son’s fate remained uncertain until now. The two were held together in a tunnel under Gaza during Peri’s captivity, a harrowing experience that has left a lasting impact on her. Weeks ago, a 10-second video clip released by Hamas showed Popplewell, offering a glimmer of hope for his safe return. However, the latest news confirmed their worst fears. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Cyrus Vance Jr., a Democrat and the former Manhattan District Attorney says he does not believe Trump will be sentenced to any jail time. Vance Jr. retired in 2022, and was replaced by Alvin Bragg, who proceeded to prosecute Trump for falsifying business records.

“Well, I’m not going to answer that question because that’s really just for Mr. Bragg to decide,” Vance said to Peter Alexander. “If you ask me, ‘do I think the court will impose jail in this case?’ As I said to you, I think yesterday, I think not. But ultimately, that’s Judge [Juan] Merchan’s decision.

“The president has made this a little more complicated by having been found in contempt ten times during the court, but I think that with the proximity of the Republican convention four days after his sentencing, and then if he is the candidate for the Republican Party the proximity of the election, I would be surprised that he would be sentenced to any imprisonment.”

Vance then continued by saying: “Now, that said, the court could adjourn sentencing until after the general election and then essentially decide then.”

Regarding Trump’s expected appeal, Vance said there would be strong appeals, and “there are going to be issues that will be carefully considered by the appellate courts.”

During his time own time as DA, Vance investigated Trump but did not pursue prosecution.

“Well, we did investigate the former president on a range of issues. I ultimately believed that our investigation was best focused on financial crimes,” Vance said.

“I’m confident that we made the right choice for us at that time in pursuing the financial crimes investigation. As you know, it resulted in convictions.”

The former district attorney defended the judge in this case, Judge Merchan, whom Trump and his allies have attacked.

“I think he is honest as the day is long,” Vance said of Merchan. “He was careful. He was caring. And I think he handled a very difficult trial with a neutral hand and gave the president every benefit of the doubt that he was entitled to under the law.”

{Matzav.com}