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President Donald Trump issued a firm call tonight for the Hamas terror group to hand over the remains of fallen hostages without delay.

In his message he declared, “We have a very strong PEACE in the Middle East, and I believe it has a good chance of being EVERLASTING. Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action.”

He added urgency, noting, “Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not.”

Referring to earlier commitments, he emphasized: “Perhaps it has to do with their disarming, but when I said, ‘Both sides would be treated fairly,’ that only applies if they comply with their obligations. Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.”

The night before, a senior Israeli official told Yediot Acharonot that while Hamas could return the bodies of up to eight additional hostages, the group claimed ignorance of the whereabouts of five others.

“They’re playing games and stalling to prolong the ceasefire even without moving into the second stage, which requires disarmament,” the official alleged.

Though Hamas released 20 living hostages under Trump’s Gaza peace plan, the group has delayed returning the bodies of deceased hostages and insists it does not know the location of most of them.

On Thursday morning, Israel’s Defence Minister Yisroel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and senior officers from the IDF Intelligence Directorate briefed U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance at the Kirya in Tel Aviv.

According to Kan 11 News, the Israeli delegation told Vice President Vance that Hamas is capable of retrieving at least ten of the thirteen hostage remains still in the Gaza Strip, even without external assistance.

The intelligence shared with Vance indicated that Hamas can act independently and does not require the deployment of Arab forces or an “international peacekeeping force” proposed under the Trump framework.

Further warning from military intelligence officials described how Hamas has used the ceasefire to rebuild its position in Gaza: rehabilitating terror tunnels, recruiting new personnel, repairing weapons and reorganizing its command structure. These sources cautioned that Hamas shows no sign of disarming or giving up its authority.

And the message delivered to Vice President Vance was direct: “Progress under the Trump framework cannot currently proceed until Hamas fulfills its part of the agreement.”

{Matzav.com}

President Trump warns that Hamas will face “a very big problem” if the ceasefire in Gaza fails.

The IDF confirmed a drone strike in southern Lebanon that killed Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, a terrorist in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Fatouni led the group’s anti-tank missile unit and was involved in rebuilding Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the region, the military said.

Lebanese media reports an Israeli strike targeting a car in the southern Lebanon town of Qlaileh.

Trump on the White House ballroom: “We’ve raised over $350 million. It’s a beautiful room… I don’t have any plan to call it after myself… we haven’t really thought about a name yet.”

Trump on the September inflation data beating expectations: “Very good. We have great financial numbers… We had a new stock market high — we’re doing great.”

Video shows Egyptian teams and heavy machinery entering Gaza to help recover the bodies of hostages.

When asked about meeting Putin again, Trump said, “We need to know a deal will be made—I’m not going to waste my time.”

French investigators have confirmed that the $102 million Louvre jewel heist was an inside job, with digital evidence linking a museum security staffer to the suspects. Authorities say over 150 clues, including DNA traces, support the case. The Louvre has since reopened amid nationwide outcry and a full security audit.

Israel will return to standard time overnight between Saturday and Sunday, marking the end of daylight saving time for the year. At 2 a.m. early Sunday, October 26, clocks will move back to 1 a.m., giving Israelis an extra hour of sleep. Daylight saving time will return on March 27, 2026. The time change coincides with that of the European Union, but not with the United States, which will switch back on November 2.

Jabalia in northern Gaza has been left in ruins after intense Israeli bombardment destroyed much of the city.

President Donald Trump has embarked on a five-day trip to Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea—his longest foreign visit since taking office—aiming to secure trade, mineral, and ceasefire deals before meeting China’s Xi Jinping on Thursday, where he hopes to strike a major agreement despite lingering tensions over his trade policies.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s main goal in Gaza is to destroy Hamas’s remaining tunnels and dismantle its weapons, calling this key to securing victory. He said the IDF is prioritizing tunnel demolition while coordinating with U.S. officials to fully implement President Trump’s plan to eliminate Hamas’s military infrastructure.

A Channel 12 evening report on Friday relayed that a large portion of Hamas’s tunnel system was left intact after the Gaza fightingm with more than 60% still undestroyed, Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz told U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

Many of those subterranean routes reportedly run on both sides of the yellow line, meaning some lie inside zones currently under IDF control as well as inside Gaza.

The same coverage said one of the remaining tunnels was the route used by the militants who killed two IDF soldiers during last week’s Rafah operation. Taken together, the figures imply that, across the past two years, Israeli efforts have eliminated under 40% of the tunnel network.

In his conversation with Vice President Vance, Katz emphasized the strategic priority: “The destruction of the tunnels is the most important joint mission in the demilitarization of Gaza, in accordance with the Trump plan, and preparations must be made to carry it out.”

He added a broader objective: “We must bring back all the hostages and fallen, eliminate all the tunnels, take the weapons from Hamas, and ensure it is not a governing force in Gaza.”

{Matzav.com}

A German manufacturer has turned this week’s Paris art heist into an unexpected marketing moment.

The company behind the furniture elevator used by the thieves in the dramatic Oct. 19 Louvre robbery — in which priceless Napoleonic jewels valued at roughly $102.63 million were stolen — is now capitalizing on the global attention with a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign.

Husband-and-wife team Alexander Böcker and Julia Scharwatz, who head Böcker Maschinenwerke in Werne, western Germany, immediately recognized the equipment featured in photos of the crime scene circulating worldwide. The lift, an Agilo model produced by their firm, had been used by the burglars to haul away their loot through a museum window.

Once they confirmed that no one had been injured in the theft, the couple decided to seize the publicity opportunity. They purchased the rights to one of the now-famous images and published an ad the following day, Oct. 20. The campaign slogan read: “When you’re in a hurry, the Böcker Agilo carries your heavy treasures.”

Böcker told The New York Times that the company had no plans to actively promote the ad in France, but the reaction elsewhere was immediate. Speaking to Reuters, he said, “We have even had feedback from abroad saying, ‘Hey, you Germans do have a sense of humor after all.’”

Ironically, Böcker revealed that the Agilo elevator in question had itself been stolen — taken from a Paris-based company that had originally purchased it from Böcker Maschinenwerke in 2020.

The daring heist, which has left France reeling, continues to dominate headlines — and now, inadvertently, serves as an unorthodox showcase for German engineering and gallows humor.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that trade discussions with Canada have been suspended following outrage over a Canadian political advertisement that featured a manipulated recording of late President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. The video, Trump said, was a “fraudulent” distortion of Reagan’s words.

“Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump declared on Truth Social.

Earlier this year, Trump had imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and automobiles, leading to retaliatory measures from Ottawa. Despite that, both governments had continued working toward a deal addressing the metals sectors — until the controversy over the advertisement brought talks to an abrupt end.

The ad, released by Ontario’s provincial government more than a week ago, was designed to criticize protectionist trade policies. It featured Reagan’s voice saying tariffs trigger “trade wars and economic disaster.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford later confirmed that the clip had drawn Trump’s attention. “I heard that the president heard our ad. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy,” Ford said Tuesday.

The advertisement used segments from Reagan’s 1987 Presidential Radio Address, editing and rearranging several sentences to create a message opposing tariffs. “When someone says, Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs,” Reagan says in the clip. “And sometimes for a short while it works — but only for a short time.”

He continues in the same recording, warning that “over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” and that trade wars make “markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation quickly objected to the ad, calling it a distortion of Reagan’s message. “The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address [by Reagan in 1987], and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks,” the foundation said in a statement, adding that it was exploring legal options.

According to the foundation, the video spliced together five complete sentences from the five-minute address but presented them out of context. Reagan’s speech, they noted, was actually meant to defend temporary tariffs his administration had placed on Japanese imports, calling them an unfortunate but necessary exception to his broader support for free trade.

While the Canadian federal government did not issue an immediate response, the controversy quickly escalated into a diplomatic headache.

Trump, a staunch defender of his tariff policy, has described tariffs as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has repeatedly used them as leverage in global trade negotiations.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed reporters Thursday, saying that Canada “will not allow unfair U.S. access” to its domestic markets if negotiations on various trade agreements falter.

The timing of the dispute is particularly sensitive. The United States, Canada, and Mexico are scheduled to review their 2020 continental free trade pact next year — a process that could be overshadowed by the latest breakdown in trust between Washington and Ottawa.

{Matzav.com}

Chelsea Clinton has come out swinging against President Donald Trump’s plans for a massive renovation of the White House, accusing him of transforming the historic building into what she called a personal monument rather than preserving it as a national treasure.

In a USA Today opinion piece headlined “Trump is Wrecking the People’s House,” Clinton denounced the project — a $250 million privately funded overhaul that includes replacing part of the East Wing with a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. “What was dismantled today isn’t just marble or plaster,” she wrote. “It is a reflection of how easily history can be erased when power forgets purpose.”

Clinton described her criticism as rooted in respect for tradition and civic duty, noting her own years growing up in the White House during her father Bill Clinton’s presidency. “Although I spent many of my formative years living in the White House, I always knew it wasn’t my house,” she wrote. “It was my home, absolutely, but not my house. The White House belongs to the American people.”

She contrasted Trump’s plans with those of earlier presidents who made renovations with historical sensitivity. “When Mrs. Kennedy restored and renovated the White House, she did so with historians, landscape architects and preservation experts,” Clinton said. “It is unsettling that such substantial alterations to the 225-year-old People’s House are being undertaken without a historic-preservation review and seemingly without the involvement of any historians.”

According to the Trump administration, the new ballroom will be completed in time for America’s 250th anniversary next year. Officials say the gold-trimmed space, designed to accommodate 650 guests, will feature bulletproof glass and cutting-edge broadcast equipment. Aides insist the expansion “will not interfere with the building’s original design.”

Clinton, however, called the project a symbol of what she described as the administration’s “disregard for history.” She accused Trump’s team of erasing cultural and historical references from government resources. “Our greatness doesn’t come because we ignore our history,” she wrote, “it comes because we acknowledge it, we learn from it and build a better future on it.”

Her essay also cited examples of what she views as cultural neglect under Trump, including the “censoring of museum exhibits” and the removal of content about women’s and LGBTQ history from federal websites. She charged that the White House renovation was part of the same pattern — “taking a wrecking ball to our heritage.”

Not everyone agreed with her critique. Social media users quickly mocked Clinton for what they saw as hypocrisy, given her own family’s history with the presidential residence. “You might want to sit this one out, Chelsea,” one user on X wrote. “…your mom ripped off the furniture and fine china when she left.”

Another user fired back, saying Clinton’s outrage was misplaced: “You should really rethink this post. Your parents did renovations all over the White House and used private funds to do so. The history of presidents leaving their make on the White House is long and available online in the public archives. Please stop treating the American people like we are dumb.”

{Matzav.com}

After months of speculation, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries officially threw his support behind Zohran Mamdani’s bid for New York City mayor, ending the suspense surrounding his long-delayed decision.

The Brooklyn lawmaker, in a statement given to the New York Times, said that while he and Mamdani share “areas of principled disagreement,” unity within the Democratic Party was essential when facing what he called the “existential” threat posed by President Trump.

“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” Jeffries wrote in his endorsement statement.

Jeffries’ backing arrived just under two weeks before the November 4 election. The move followed months of hesitation by national Democratic figures to embrace the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist, whose surprise primary win in June sent shockwaves through the party establishment.

Hints that Jeffries’ stance was shifting came Thursday during an appearance on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio program Keepin’ It Real. Jeffries told Sharpton that his endorsement would “likely come Friday,” saying, “I do hope to talk to the Democratic nominee either late today or tomorrow, in advance of early voting.”

He went on to praise Mamdani’s decision to reappoint NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch if elected, calling it “a positive step in the right direction.” Jeffries explained that keeping Tisch signaled a balanced approach: “while he is going to of course focus on affordability — and that is the number one concern of the people in the communities I represent.”

Speaking later with Bloomberg Television, Jeffries expanded on his praise, describing Mamdani’s intention to keep Tisch, whose leadership of the NYPD has been widely commended, as “a strong step toward community trust and public safety.”

“Zohran has demonstrated a real partnership with local communities and a willingness to work with all New Yorkers to make the city more affordable and inclusive,” Jeffries added.

Throughout the campaign, Jeffries, known for his pragmatic style and centrist instincts, maintained open lines of communication with Mamdani, focusing on affordability and housing policy.

Sharpton, who appeared with Mamdani at a rally in Harlem earlier this year, has lauded the candidate publicly but has not yet issued a formal endorsement. When Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo, met with Sharpton in September, rumors swirled that the meeting was meant to secure Sharpton’s backing.

Cuomo did, however, gain a nod from Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday. Governor Kathy Hochul, who initially withheld her endorsement after Mamdani’s primary upset, followed a trajectory similar to Jeffries’ — ultimately announcing her support in a New York Times op-ed last month.

“We’ve had our disagreements,” Hochul wrote, acknowledging divisions over taxation and fiscal policy, while emphasizing shared priorities such as making New York “more affordable and safe.”

Her endorsement, which came after months of conversations with Mamdani, was seen as a breakthrough moment that helped close ranks between the party’s establishment and its progressive wing. It also underscored the growing legitimacy of the Democratic Socialist’s candidacy within the broader party coalition.

Still, some influential Democrats remain silent. Among them is U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has yet to publicly endorse Mamdani, leaving a few final pieces of the party’s unity puzzle unresolved as Election Day approaches.

{Matzav.com}

At a recent gathering marking the yahrzeit of the Chasam Sofer, leading posek Rav Shmuel Eliezer Stern delivered a forceful address condemning the growing trend of antiquities dealers who cut apart holy manuscripts for profit.

The rov, known as one of the foremost transmitters of the Chasam Sofer’s teachings, decried those who have taken the great tzaddik‘s original writings and sliced them into separate pages to sell individually at exorbitant prices. “Lo yinakeh mi she’asah es zeh — one who committed such a wrong will not be absolved,” Rav Stern declared, warning that “certainly, the Chasam Sofer, z’chuso yagen aleinu, is greatly pained and offended by this.”

To illustrate the magnitude of the desecration, Rav Stern offered a powerful analogy: “Imagine if someone were to take the Sefer Torah of the holy Baal Shem Tov, z’chuso yagen aleinu, and cut it into pieces just to earn a few more dollars.”

{Matzav.com}