During his “Medabrim” radio program, Israeli media personality Yaakov Friedman launched a fierce critique of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, contrasting him sharply with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whom he described as the only politician in the right-wing bloc who continues to stand firmly with the chareidi public.
Friedman noted that although Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit ran on a joint list in the last election—winning 14 seats together—their partnership has grown increasingly strained. “Anyone who remembers how much muscle Smotrich flexed before agreeing to run with Ben-Gvir can see that things look very different today,” Friedman said. “Ben-Gvir isn’t just growing stronger—he’s eating up Religious Zionism. Some polls show them hovering near the electoral threshold.”
The host emphasized that Ben-Gvir’s loyalty to the chareidi cause has been consistent, particularly regarding the sensitive issue of the draft law. “When it comes to the matters that matter most to us—especially the Chok HaGiyus—there’s not one word against us. Not one person on his team can be accused of turning his back on the chareidim,” Friedman asserted. In contrast, he accused Smotrich of “siccing the media” on the chareidi community and cited Smotrich’s earlier remark that “the unwritten pact is over.” Friedman shot back: “It didn’t end with you, Mr. Minister—and it certainly didn’t start with you.”
Friedman also pointed to what he called Smotrich’s “arrogance,” referencing comments made earlier that day at an Yisroel Hayom conference. When asked if he liked Ben-Gvir, Smotrich curtly replied, “No.” According to Friedman, when pressed about the possibility of another joint run, Smotrich hesitated—proof, Friedman said, that “he knows he needs Ben-Gvir.”
In contrast, at an Otzma Yehudit press conference later that evening, Ben-Gvir was asked by journalist Yehuda Schlesinger to respond to Smotrich’s remark. Ben-Gvir replied simply: “I love every Jew.” When asked again, he repeated, “I love every Jew—except maybe Ofer Cassif—and I love Minister Smotrich.”
Friedman concluded by highlighting the stark difference in tone between the two men. “Look at the contrast,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on with Smotrich—maybe he’s chasing headlines, maybe he’s just trying to stay above the threshold—but the difference in derech eretz speaks for itself.”
{Matzav.com}
The East Wing of the White House, which had stood for generations, was demolished last month at President Donald Trump’s direction. Rising in its place is a sprawling new ballroom — a gleaming 90,000-square-foot monument that may not outlast the next election cycle.
If a Democrat wins the presidency in 2028, the ornate new space could quickly become a political lightning rod. While any incoming administration would have weightier issues like foreign crises and domestic policy to tackle, there’s already growing chatter among Democrats about what should be done with the ballroom that Trump built. They could actually tear it down.
Within the Democratic Party, influential voices are brainstorming ideas for transforming the $300 million structure into something less reflective of Trump’s opulent tastes. Some have floated proposals that would turn the space into a cultural or civic center, rather than the gilded venue Trump envisioned for high-profile events and dinners.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who has hinted at a possible presidential run if Democrats reclaim the House, said he has no intention of leaving Trump’s vision intact. “No way,” Raskin declared. “This is a space that’s owned by the people and that serves the people. So, it should be used opposite of what Trump has in mind, which is for the American aristocracy and plutocracy to gather.”
California Rep. Ro Khanna, also viewed as a potential presidential contender, echoed that sentiment, suggesting that the hall should instead “celebrate and empower forgotten Americans,” rather than serve as a setting for lavish state banquets.
Critics within the party argue that maintaining the ballroom would reward what they call Trump’s disregard for process — tearing down the East Wing without warning and using private donations to bankroll the construction. To them, preserving it as a ballroom would symbolize complicity.
Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen takes the opposition even further. “I don’t think it would be a bad idea to tear it down,” he said bluntly. “It’s this gigantic blob there that’s Donald Trump.”
Asked about what might become of the ballroom after Trump leaves office, the White House declined to comment. Trump himself, however, has defended the project as a practical improvement, designed to eliminate the need for outdoor tent events. He has said the ballroom will allow future leaders to “hold large events in a convenient indoor space.” White House officials insist that presidents for over 150 years have wanted precisely such a facility.
Anita McBride, a board member of the White House Historical Association and former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, praised the idea — provided it is done right. “I hope it remains a ballroom and hope that it’s tastefully and beautifully done so that future presidents will be proud to host honored guests there,” she said. “But what I mostly hope is that the new building includes offices for the Office of the First Lady, White House social office and White House Visitor Office. Those offices serve the presidency in a unique and special way, welcoming all visitors to the People’s House.”
History shows that presidents altering the White House often invite criticism. Harry Truman was ridiculed for adding a balcony to the South Portico in 1948, prompting a cartoon that mocked him saying, “Love me… love my balcony.” Yet none of those renovations compare to the scale of Trump’s new addition — or to the controversy surrounding it.
For many Democrats, the ballroom is an irresistible political symbol. It plays perfectly into their narrative of Trump’s excess and disregard for norms. Polling backs their instincts: a recent Washington Post-Ipsos survey showed that 88% of Democrats and 61% of independents oppose the project altogether.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, another name floated for a 2028 presidential bid, pulled no punches when discussing it. “It’s a metaphor for this administration — the recklessness to which he goes about things, the fact that he doesn’t believe in rules, he doesn’t believe they apply to him,” Newsom said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. “So, you know, he’s a wrecking ball presidency.”
Still, tearing it down could prove politically cumbersome. With other priorities competing for attention, a Democratic president might simply decide to ignore the ballroom and focus elsewhere. Even Newsom, who is no admirer of Trump, hasn’t said what he would do with it. His office declined to comment.
Some on the left, however, are already pitching creative ideas. Saikat Chakrabarti, a congressional candidate from San Francisco running for the seat being vacated by Nancy Pelosi, said he would introduce legislation to turn the ballroom into a Smithsonian museum about “corruption and autocracy.” The exhibit, he said, would showcase the private donors who financed the project, to “really put into the sunlight how this thing came to even be.”
Raskin envisions something different — a mixed-use hall that hosts some official events while also serving as an educational space on American democracy. “One side of the space,” he proposed, would trace the history of attempts to “undermine and thwart popular democracy in American life,” from King George III to Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results. His suggested name: the “Democracy Matters Ballroom.”
Khanna, meanwhile, thinks the public should have the final say. “We need a White House that is not for the tech billionaires, but for forgotten Americans,” he said. “In that spirit, we should ask Americans — in rural communities, urban centers and hollowed-out factory towns — for their ideas of what to do with the space.”
Republican presidents might choose to keep the ballroom intact, viewing it as part of Trump’s enduring legacy. Yet even within the GOP, tastes differ. Trump’s penchant for gilded décor and grand halls isn’t universally shared. As one historian observed, the project risks altering the image of the White House itself.
“The White House is a residence that symbolizes American democracy,” said Edward Lengel, former chief historian of the White House Historical Association. The ballroom, he cautioned, makes it look less like a presidential home and more like “a palace.”
{Matzav.com}
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President Trump delivered a fiery address at the McDonald’s Impact Summit on Monday, telling attendees that America narrowly avoided an economic collapse by electing him in 2024. Speaking before an audience of McDonald’s owners, suppliers, and executives, he declared, “You are so […] lucky that I won that election, I’m telling you,” a line that drew laughter and applause from the crowd.
Trump contrasted his record with that of Vice President Kamala Harris, asserting that her leadership would have plunged the nation into disaster. “Welfare was going up. Everything was going up. Government jobs were going up, real jobs were going down,” he said, claiming that Harris’s policies would have drained the economy. “So you would have had that catastrophe, and on top of that, instead of $20 trillion coming in, you would have had $10 trillion leaving our country. In other words, you would have had a catastrophe. You probably would have had a bankrupt country,” he warned.
The president’s remarks come amid mounting frustration among voters and economists over the nation’s sluggish economic performance. While Trump campaigned on reversing inflation and cutting costs after what he called the “Biden-era price explosion,” inflation has remained stubbornly high through his second term. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices rose 3 percent in September — the same level as when he assumed office — and the job market has cooled sharply, with fewer than 30,000 new positions being added per month. Several major corporations have already announced upcoming layoffs heading into the end of the year.
Throughout his campaign, Trump promised to reignite growth, vowing to restore the strength of the U.S. economy through tariffs and deregulation. However, the reality of persistent inflation and job losses has forced a recalibration within the administration and the broader GOP. After Republicans suffered setbacks in last month’s elections, party strategists have urged a renewed focus on the cost-of-living crisis that has dominated voter concerns.
To that end, Trump has introduced new measures in recent weeks aimed at easing financial pressures. He moved to roll back tariffs on key imported food products such as beef, bananas, and coffee — a reversal of policies he had once touted as economic leverage. Additionally, he directed the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the meatpacking industry, accusing major producers of conspiring to inflate prices for consumers.
Trump and his allies have continued to emphasize positive indicators like record-breaking tax revenue from tariffs and promises of future corporate investment, seeking to reassure the public that his strategy remains sound. Still, the administration faces growing skepticism from both economists and everyday Americans as prices remain stubbornly high and job growth falters.
{Matzav.com}
An essential component of the internet’s background mechanics experienced a widespread failure on Tuesday, resulting in numerous websites displaying error notices to users across the globe.
The United States-based firm Cloudflare, which provides services essential for safeguarding countless websites against cyber threats and other issues, encountered an unnamed difficulty on Tuesday. This incident prevented some internet users from reaching certain websites that rely on the company’s protection.
A representative for Cloudflare stated: “We saw a spike in unusual traffic to one of Cloudflare’s services beginning at 11.20am. That caused some traffic passing through Cloudflare’s network to experience errors. While most traffic for most services continued to flow as normal, there were elevated errors across multiple Cloudflare services.
Owners of some websites were also unable to log into their management tools and performance monitoring dashboards.
Addressing the root cause, the spokesperson added: “We do not yet know the cause of the spike in unusual traffic. We are all hands on deck to make sure all traffic is served without errors. After that, we will turn our attention to investigating the cause of the unusual spike in traffic.”
Though the disruption is still active the company announced a degree of return to normal operations: “We are seeing services recover, but customers may continue to observe higher-than-normal error rates as we continue remediation efforts.”
{Matzav.com}
[Video below.] A newly surfaced video of Rav Hershel Schachter, rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon (RIETS) of Yeshiva University and a leading posek for the Orthodox Union, features comments from him regarding the recent atzeres tefillah in Eretz Yisroel protesting the drafting of yeshiva bochurim into the army.
In the video, Rav Schachter dismissed the large public gathering—attended by leading gedolei Torah and hundreds of thousands of people—as “utterly ridiculous.”
“They just had in Eretz Yisrael, they had this whole yom atzeret,” he said. “I think it was utterly ridiculous. The country is at war and no one wants to go to the army? I think the whole thing was ridiculous. I don’t think anybody from YU would ever participate in such an atzeret.”
Rav Schachter continued, “They’re big talmidei chachamim, but they exaggerate so much that nothing else counts by them. Here we’re more reasonable. Torah is important, and the war is important, and the army, everything is important, everything is. You shouldn’t exaggerate [and say] everything just depends on Torah.”
“The Jewish people has to have an army. If everyone’s gonna sit and learn, the enemy is gonna kill all of us,” he said. “You have to have an army, you have to have other things. So I think our hashkafah is more normal, more reasonable.”
Concluding his remarks, Rav Schachter added, “We have to present it to the public. They shouldn’t think anyone who learns Torah is a meshuggener. Everything is exaggerated.”
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{Matzav.com}
During an interview on Fox News, Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was asked how he would feel if New York’s incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, were to follow through on his earlier remarks about arresting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should he visit the city.
The interviewer noted that Mamdani, known for his vocal anti-Israel positions, previously declared that he would have Netanyahu detained if he set foot in New York. “He said that if Prime Minister Netanyahu comes here, he will arrest him,” the anchor reminded Bennett, pointing out that a Republican congresswoman from New York had already fired back on social media, writing: “I invite you—go ahead and invite him to your inauguration. I dare you to try to arrest him on January 1.”
Bennett responded sharply, questioning Mamdani’s priorities: “Is he so obsessed with a country that’s six thousand miles away? Has he solved all the crime here? Is the economy perfect? Are prices low? Has everything else been taken care of that he can afford to be so fixated on Israel?”
When asked how he personally felt about the possibility of Netanyahu facing such a threat—given their long and complex political relationship—Bennett said that, despite his political opposition, there were limits no Israeli would tolerate being crossed.
“Yes, I’m in the opposition, and I oppose Netanyahu domestically,” Bennett said. “But make no mistake—every Israeli would be outraged and would fight anyone who tries to arrest our prime minister, whoever that may be. We stand behind Israel, our soldiers, and our leaders.”
{Matzav.com}
An attack at the Gush Etzion Junction in the West Bank has resulted in one death and several people injured.
Medics report four people injured, with one woman in critical condition, two in moderate-to-serious condition, and one lightly hurt.
Magen David Adom confirmed a man in his 30s died after being stabbed.
The incident reportedly began with an attempted car-ramming before the assailants exited their vehicle and tried to stab victims. Security forces shot and killed the at least two attackers involved.
Magen David Adom transported three other injured individuals to hospitals in Yerushalayim: a woman in serious condition and a man and a teenager in moderate condition.
{Matzav.com}
Three recently freed Israeli captives—Matan Angrest, Segev Kalfon, and Etan More—spent Shabbos together with their families at the Waldorf Astoria in Yerushalayim. The gathering, arranged by Kesher Yehudi founder and CEO Tzili Schneider, was meant to give the survivors and their loved ones a chance to reflect, heal, and draw strength from one another.
Arutz Sheva reported on the weekend. Over the course of the weekend, the men spoke openly about what Shabbos meant to them during their time in Hamas captivity. For the first time, they described the Shabbosos they observed deep underground, in darkness and danger—moments of emunah and connection that helped them endure the impossible.
Matan Angrest recounted how he found his way back to tefillah while in Gaza. “I had a prayer book that I got after a lot of digging, and I began to pray. I said, ‘I have a prayer book, why shouldn’t I pray three times a day?’ I saw during the Shabbat prayers that they talk about the Sabbath being holy and one of the most important things in Judaism. I felt something was missing, I said, ‘I can’t pray without observing Shabbat.’ Slowly, I began keeping Shabbat.”
He explained that Shabbos observance became a lifeline for him. “At first, I would recite Kiddush, and then for Havdalah, I would wait for the cup of black coffee, which would sometimes come days later. I wouldn’t eat at night to wait until Havdalah came on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. I would also study a daily Torah study booklet. Since learning was difficult, it was short. It got to me by chance; apparently, it was left by soldiers in the area. I would study it regularly.”
Segev Kalfon described how, even in the tunnels, they created a sense of Shabbos together. “We were in a small tunnel. We would welcome the Sabbath. Even though we would recite Kiddush on water, it’s the thought that counts. We would sing ‘Lecha Dodi’ (a liturgical song welcoming the Sabbath) and ‘Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai’ (a song about the Jewish sage, often sung on Friday nights). I would tell them not to fill up on salads, even though we only had half a pita and cheese to eat. We would sit and reminisce about what we would eat at home on Shabbat.”
Even Yomim Tovim were marked, though they often had no idea what day it truly was. “We would celebrate the holiday, we would finish it, and then it would turn out that the holiday just began. But it’s the thought that counts.” Kalfon reflected that keeping Shabbos helped them hold on to who they were, even while in the hands of their captors.
Eitan More expressed his gratitude in simple words that carried deep emotion: “I want to say thank you very much for Shabbat.”
Tzili Schneider, who organized the retreat, said she was deeply moved by their words. “It was moving to hear the amazing testimonies by the captivity survivors about their dedication to observing Shabbat in impossible conditions. Their stories are inspiring. It is amazing to discover how faith and Shabbat observance in the brutal captivity gave them strength to face the terrible difficulties.”
For the survivors and their families, the Shabbos spent together in Yerushalayim was more than a reunion. It was a reaffirmation that Shabbos kodesh can bring light, even in the darkest of tunnels.
{Matzav.com}
Negotiations between Israel and Syria over a potential security agreement have stalled, according to Israeli officials who spoke with Kan 11 News on Monday. The discussions, which had been progressing quietly for weeks, have now hit a standstill over Syria’s insistence that Israel retreat entirely from areas captured by the IDF following the downfall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Sources familiar with the talks explained that Israeli leaders flatly rejected President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s call for a complete withdrawal, deeming it unacceptable without a broader peace framework. They emphasized that Israel might consider giving up limited positions only in the context of a full peace treaty with Syria—something that appears unlikely for the foreseeable future.
The impasse follows statements al-Sharaa made last week during a visit to Washington, where he confirmed to the Washington Post that direct talks between Damascus and Israel were taking place. He reiterated his key demand that Israel return to the lines that existed prior to his rebel faction’s ousting of Assad. “We have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-Dec. 8 borders,” al-Sharaa said. “Today, we found that Mr. Trump supports our perspective as well, and he will push as quickly as possible in order to reach a solution for this.”
Al-Sharaa also dismissed suggestions that Syria might agree to a demilitarized zone south of Damascus, calling such a proposal unrealistic. “To talk about an entire region demilitarized, it will be difficult, because if there is any kind of chaos, who will protect it? If this demilitarized zone was used by some parties as a launching pad for hitting Israel, who is going to be responsible for that?” he asked. He continued, “At the end of the day, this is Syrian territory, and Syria should have the freedom of dealing with their own territory.”
In a separate Fox News interview broadcast one day earlier, al-Sharaa was pressed about whether Syria might join the Abraham Accords or formally recognize Israel. He avoided a direct answer, replying only, “Syria has borders with Israel, and Israel occupies the Golan Heights since 1967. We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now. Maybe the United States administration, with President Trump, will help us reach this kind of negotiation.”
Back in September, al-Sharaa had struck a more optimistic tone, telling journalists in Damascus that discussions with Israel over a potential security arrangement could “lead to results in the coming days.” He hinted that such an understanding might open the door to “additional agreements,” though he made clear that normalization or a formal peace treaty with Israel was not under consideration at that stage.
Now, with both sides holding firm to incompatible conditions—Syria demanding total withdrawal and Israel linking any territorial concessions to a broader peace—officials acknowledge that the once-promising negotiations have ground to a halt.
{Matzav.com}
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