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A man wanted on murder and armed robbery charges was taken into custody Wednesday after a 15-hour standoff with police at a Chicago restaurant just blocks from the Democratic National Convention, authorities said. Joshua Zimmerman had been sought by the U.S. Marshals Service since his escape from a Mississippi courthouse in June. He was located Tuesday at the restaurant, according to Justin Smith, chief deputy with the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi. After marshals learned that Zimmerman was in Chicago, an agency task force concluded that he was at a seafood restaurant, where investigators believed he was working. “During the arrest attempt, Zimmerman retreated into the ceiling and barricaded himself,” the agency said in a statement. A Chicago police SWAT team was then called to the scene. The restaurant is about a half-mile from the United Center, where the political convention is being held. The Marshals Service said there was “no connection or threat to the event or those attending.” Without using Zimmerman’s name, the Chicago Police Department said a person was taken into custody about 7:20 a.m. and that the SWAT action that began about 4 p.m. Tuesday had ended. The Marshals Service said Zimmerman escaped from the circuit court building in Hernando, Mississippi, where he was being held on attempted murder and armed robbery charges. He was also awaiting extradition to Houston, Texas, where he’s charged with murder, the Marshals Service said. Zimmerman was wearing street clothes, not a jail jumpsuit, when he escaped. A screenshot from a courthouse security video showed him wearing khaki pants and a white shirt and no handcuffs. Smith told reporters that the sheriff’s department and other agencies have been investigating why Zimmerman was not wearing handcuffs and how he escaped. He said authorities want to bring him back to Mississippi. “That’s why we’re excited to actually get a chance to sit down with Zimmerman and get some more facts,” Smith said. According to court records in Harris County, Texas, Zimmerman is accused of fatally shooting a woman, Keyanna Mercer, at a Houston motel on Sept. 2, 2023. The two were asked to leave the motel after multiple complaints of fighting, and when staff members checked the room to see if they had left, they found Mercer’s body with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. Court records also show Zimmerman was arrested in Connecticut in 2022 on a felony sexual assault charge. He pleaded not guilty and was freed on a $200,000 bond, but a warrant was later issued for his re-arrest. Connecticut State Police did not immediately provide details on the case. (AP)

A legal challenge filed in April against the Canadian government’s decision to resume financial support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will need to cross a key hurdle this week or face dismissal.

The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA)—the advocacy arm of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA—announced a hearing taking place on Wednesday and Thursday in Ottowa to make the case that a lawsuit filed by family members of those murdered by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7 can continue.

The hearing will determine if the plaintiffs have filed their suit in the correct jurisdiction, which the Canadian government’s lawyers deny. If the judge agrees, then the suit would be dismissed.

“CIJA brought together the Canadian families who lost loved ones in Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attacks to take the federal government to court because the government and its actors must be held accountable and abide by the law,” said Richard Marceau, CIJA’s vice president of external affairs and general counsel, in a statement.

Marceau pointed to UNRWA’s ties to the terrorist organization and “its employees’ history of moonlighting as Hamas operatives” as reasons to oppose the decision to restore government support for the group.

“Not only was the decision to restore UNRWA funding morally unconscionable, but it was also unreasonable—both in fact and in law,” Marceau said. “We are deeply concerned that Canadian government funding may be ending up in the hands of Hamas or other listed terrorist organizations. The minister’s decision must face judicial review, and UNRWA must be disqualified from funding.”

(JNS)

In a targeted operation, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out a precise strike on a Hamas command and control center located in a compound previously used as the “Salah al-Din” School in Gaza City. The strike was directed by IDF and ISA intelligence. Hamas operatives had been using the compound as a hideout and base to plan and execute attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel. To minimize the risk of civilian casualties, the IAF employed precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence measures prior to the strike. The IDF emphasized that Hamas systematically violates international law by operating from within civilian infrastructure and shelters in the Gaza Strip, exploiting the local population for its terrorist activities. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are seeking to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over Tsarnaev’s death sentence. Tsarnaev’s lawyers said during a hearing in federal court in Boston on Wednesday that U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole should be recused from the case, pointing to what they said were comments O’Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process. Prosecutors said they are not opposed to a hearing on the issue, but they said they believe the motion is meritless. O’Toole scheduled a hearing on the recusal request for next month. Tsarnaev was not in court. “I want to dispose of that issue immediately, one way or another,” O’Toole said. During the hearing, O’Toole also said all future filings connected to the case are to be done under seal to protect the integrity of the process. A victim of the bombing, Mikey Borgard, attended Wednesday’s hearing. Borgard said he was walking home from work on the day of the marathon when the bombs exploded. He suffered hearing loss and from post-traumatic stress disorder. “I was 21 when the marathon happened. I’m 33 now. This has been a very, very long process and I really kind of wish it was over,” said Borgard, who wear hearing aides. Despite his injuries, Borgard said opposes capital punishment. “I very strongly oppose the death penalty and that’s across the board. It does not matter who you are, I think the death penalty is inhumane,” he said. “That is essentially an eye for an eye, and that is very old way of looking at things.” A federal appeals court in March ordered O’Toole to investigate the defense’s claims of juror bias and to determine whether Tsarnaev’s death sentence should stand following his conviction for his role in the bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds near the marathon’s finish line in 2013. If O’Toole finds jurors should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev’s sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine if Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence imposed on Tsarnaev after the 1st Circuit threw out the sentence in 2020. The circuit court found then that the trial judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to extensive news coverage of the bombing. The Supreme Court justices voted 6-3 in 2022 when they ruled that the 1st Circuit’s decision was wrong. The 1st Circuit took another look at the case after Tsarnaev’s lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn’t consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to seating two jurors they say lied during questioning. Tsarnaev’s guilt in the deaths of those killed in the bombing was not at issue in the appeal. Defense lawyers have argued that Tsarnaev had fallen under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan, who died in a gun battle with police a few days after the April 15, 2013, bombing. Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier […]

Major Israeli banks with business ties to the Palestinian Authority have stopped accepting shekel cash deposits from their Arab counterparts in Yehuda and Shomron in a move that has the potential to collapse the P.A.’s economy, officials in Ramallah claimed on Wednesday.

Within days, Arab banks in Yehuda and Shomron will be “unable to finance trade operations between Palestinian and Israeli merchants, as their ability to make financial transfers is directly connected to shipping the accumulated shekel banknotes to their Israeli counterparts,” the P.A.’s Monetary Authority said in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning.

The statement warned of “imminent consequences on all aspects of life” should Israeli financial institutions continue to decline to accept the Israeli shekel banknotes that have accumulated at Palestinian banks.

In accordance with agreements signed in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the shekel is the primary currency in Yehuda and Shomron, alongside the Jordanian dinar.

Two months ago, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich extended a waiver shielding Israeli banks with relations to the P.A. from lawsuits stemming from charges of supporting Palestinian terrorism.

The waiver, which the finance minister signed for a period of four months, extends the indemnity to Israeli correspondent banks that transfer money to P.A. fiscal institutions throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

The decision to extend the indemnity waiver was reportedly made as a tradeoff for Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s approval to retroactively legalize several Jewish outposts in Yehuda and Shomron.

JNS sought comment from Smotrich’s office, as well as the Bank of Israel, on Wednesday evening but did not hear back by press time.

‘Critical for processing transactions’

Earlier this year, Smotrich threatened to topple the P.A.’s economy in response to Ramallah’s push for unilateral statehood and support for the International Criminal Court case against the Israeli leaders.

Ramallah is “working against Israel with political terrorism and promoting unilateral measures around the world,” he said. “If this causes the P.A. to collapse, let it collapse.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed to use “all diplomatic efforts” to thwart such plans. “I’m particularly concerned by Israel’s threats to take action that would lead to Palestinian banks being cut off from their Israeli correspondent banks,” she stated on May 23.

“These banking channels are critical for processing transactions that enable almost $8 billion a year in imports from Israel, including electricity, water, fuel and food, as well as facilitating almost $2 billion a year in exports on which Palestinian livelihoods depend,” she said.

(JNS)

Divers searching the wreck of a superyacht that sank off Sicily found the bodies of five passengers Wednesday and searched for one more as questions intensified about why the vessel sank so quickly when a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed. Rescue crews unloaded three body bags from rescue vessels that pulled into port at Porticello. Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicily civil protection agency, said two other bodies had also been found in the wreckage for a total of five. The discovery made clear the operation to search the hull on the seabed 50 meters (164 feet) underwater had quickly turned into a recovery one, not a rescue, given the amount of time that had passed and that no signs of life had emerged over three days of searching, maritime experts said. The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged yacht, went down in a storm early Monday as it was moored about a kilometer (a half-mile) offshore. Civil protection officials said they believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water, known as a waterspout, and sank quickly. Fifteen people escaped in a lifeboat and were rescued by a nearby sailboat. One body was recovered Monday — that of the ship’s chef, Recaldo Thomas, of Antigua. Thomas was born in Canada, according to his cousin David Isaac, but would visit his parents’ homeland of Antigua as a child, moving permanently to the tiny eastern Caribbean island in his early 20s. Italian officials previously listed Antigua as the nationality of someone on board. The fate of six missing passengers had driven the search effort, including British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and associates who had successfully defended him in a recent U.S. federal fraud trial. Lynch’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Meanwhile, investigators from the Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office were acquiring evidence for their criminal investigation, which they opened immediately after the tragedy even though no formal suspects have been publicly identified. Questions abound about what caused the superyacht, built in 2008 by Italian shipyard Perini Navi, to sink so quickly, when the nearby Sir Robert Baden Powell sailboat was largely spared and managed to rescue the survivors. Was it merely the case of a freak waterspout that knocked the ship to its side and allowed water to pour in through open hatches? What was the position of the keel, which on a large sailboat such as the Bayesian might have been retractable, to allow it to enter shallower ports? “There’s a lot of uncertainty as to whether it had a lifting keel and whether it might have been up,” said Jean-Baptiste Souppez, a fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects and the editor of the Journal of Sailing Technology. “But if it had, then that would reduce the amount of stability that the vessel had, and therefore made it easier for it to roll over on its side,” he said in an interview. The captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell sailboat, which came to the Bayesian’s rescue, said his craft had sustained minimal damage — the frame of a sun awning broke — even with winds that he estimated reached 12 on the Beaufort wind scale, which is the highest, hurricane-strength force on the scale. He said he had […]

Dear Matzav Inbox,

I’m wondering why there is such a disparity between cholov Yisroel and cholov stam products.

Friendship’s OU-D sour cream is $2.49 for a 16 oz pint, while cholov Yisroel sour cream, if priced well, is $4.99 for a pint.

Now, consider this: the ingredients in Friendship, as well as in other OU-D sour creams, are cultured cream only. The cholov Yisroel versions, however, contain the following ingredients: Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Cream, Modified Food Starch, Calcium Sulfate, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan, and Enzyme.

So, the Orthodox consumer is sold an inferior product at twice the price. Shameful. Perhaps we need competition and more educated consumers.

Thanks.

David K.

To submit a letter to appear on Matzav.com, email MatzavInbox@gmail.com.

{Matzav.com}

On Tuesday, Aug 20th, the Aish.com website, a website dedicated to spreading Jewish wisdom to English and Spanish audiences, was hit by a major DDOS cyber attack that started at 10:45 a.m. Israel time, and continued for 6 hours. The scope of this attack, which saw over 219 million requests in that span of time, is unprecedented in the history of the website or the Aish organization. Director of Technology and Computer Programming for Aish.com Shraga Botwinick said “I was immediately notified by our monitoring tools that we have in place with regard to the unusual activity. After investigating the issue I noticed a major DDoS attack. As a result of the attack, the website stopped responding for between 5-10 minutes when the attack was initiated, but following that pause our internal security systems kicked in and the site began functioning normally once more.” The organization reports that no information was lost or stolen in the attack and that the Israel National Cyber Directorate was contacted upon learning of the attack. In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting the services of a host connected to a network. Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding the targeted machine or resource with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload systems and prevent some or all legitimate requests from being fulfilled. The Aish.com website has previously been hit with similar but much smaller DDoS cyber attacks since the beginning of the October 7th war. In May 2024, following one such attack, the organization added a significant amount of extra security protection to prevent these attacks from affecting service on the site which is visited by more than 1 million users per month who are seeking to learn more about Judaism, Israel, and connect to their roots. Rabbi Steven Burg, the CEO of Aish, who is currently attending a Jewish Heritage mission in central Europe, expressed his thanks to the staff for their handling of the situation and said that he “is not surprised” by the incident. “Israel and the Jewish people are under attack on all fronts, both physically as well as in the cyber world. Aish is an a-political organization but because we are dedicated to strengthening the Jewish people by spreading Jewish wisdom and Jewish values, we too are under attack. I want to thank the excellent staff, especially Shraga Botwinick, for their expert handling of the situation. These attacks are part of the delegitimization tactics used by our enemies to harm any attempts at Jews standing up for themselves or strengthening one another. But Aish will continue to do just that, spread Jewish Wisdom, speak up for the Jewish people, and strengthen all Jews around the world, no matter who or where they are.”

Hunter Biden’s upcoming federal tax evasion trial is set to proceed next month, following a California judge’s rejection of his recent attempt to have the case dismissed. The trial, which will take place in a Los Angeles court on September 9, centers on allegations that the son of President Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.

Hunter’s defense team sought to have the three felony and six misdemeanor tax charges dismissed, arguing that David Weiss’ appointment as special counsel to prosecute the case was unconstitutional. They also claimed that Weiss, who serves as a US attorney in Delaware, lacks the jurisdiction to oversee a case in California.

In response to the motion, Los Angeles Judge Mark Scarsi warned Hunter Biden’s legal team that they could face sanctions for making false statements about Weiss’ role in the investigation.

Hunter’s attorneys countered, stating that any inaccuracies were unintentional, attributing the issue to the misuse of a single word on two occasions.

Judge Scarsi, who had already denied three previous motions by Hunter to dismiss the case, dismissed the latest attempt on Monday. He explained that the defense did not present any new legal arguments and that the motion was filed too late in the process.

Last month, Hunter’s legal team once again challenged Weiss’ appointment, arguing that a recent decision to dismiss the documents case against former President Donald Trump due to special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment should similarly affect Hunter’s case. However, Judge Scarsi dismissed this argument, stating that the Trump ruling was “non-binding” and therefore irrelevant to Hunter’s situation.

Hunter Biden has entered a not guilty plea in the case.

In a separate legal matter, Hunter was convicted in June for illegally possessing a firearm while using drugs. His sentencing in that case is scheduled for November 13, and he could face up to 25 years in prison, with Weiss also handling the prosecution.

{Matzav.com}

Incredible nissim occurred on the yishuv of Katzrin on Wednesday morning amid the destruction caused by the heavy rocket barrage that Hezbollah fired directly at a civilian area in northern Israel on Wednesday morning. Hezbollah fired 40 rockets directly at the yishuv of Katzrin and several homes scored direct hits but only one man was injured. Shai Bettleman, a member of the Katzrin city council, said that many children, who are on summer vacation, were at home during the attack. Two of those children experienced an incredible neis. Daniel’s house [seen in the video below] sustained a direct hit while he, his wife and two young children were at home. The rocket hit the living room while they were in the hallway and they were Baruch Hashem unharmed, but they couldn’t leave the house from the front door as the living room was full of smoke and fire. He led his family out of the house from the back windows. Another neis occurred at a nearby camping site. In the photo below, Rabbi Yoel Rakel holds the fragments of an interceptor rocket that fell five meters from a tent full of children. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Moscow came under one of the largest attacks by Ukrainian drones since the start of fighting in 2022, Russian authorities reported Wednesday, saying they destroyed all of those headed toward the capital. The drone attacks come as Ukrainian forces are continuing to push into Russia’s western Kursk region. In the past week, they have also struck three bridges, several airfields and an oil depot in a sign they are not letting up on their attacks. “This was one of the biggest attempts of all time to attack Moscow using drones,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel. He said strong defenses around the capital made it possible to shoot down all the drones before they could hit their intended targets. Russia said it downed 45 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 11 over the Moscow region. There was no independent information to verify those figures. Some Russian social media channels shared videos of drones apparently being destroyed by air defense systems, which then set off car alarms. Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia, targeting the Russian capital and second city St. Petersburg, and an airport in Western Russia, according to Russian officials. Since the beginning of this year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault. A fire at an oil depot targeted by Ukraine burned for the fourth day Wednesday in Rostov, a region in southwestern Russia that borders Ukraine. Priests from the Russian Orthodox Church held a prayer service for injured firefighters as dark plumes of smoke rose in the distance at the oil depot in Proletarsk, according to a photo shared on social media by the Volgodonsk diocese. Ukraine’s daring land incursion into Russia has raised morale in Ukraine with its surprising success and changed the dynamic of the fighting and raised the morale of Ukrainians. But it is also a risky move. Ukrainian forces were already badly stretched, with active hostilities taking place along more than 970 kilometers (600 miles). The gains in Kursk come as Ukraine continues to lose ground in its eastern industrial region of Donbas. The Russian state news agency Tass reported that 31 people had died since Ukraine’s attack on Russia began Aug. 6, figures which are impossible to verify. It said 143 people had suffered injuries, of whom 79 were hospitalized, including four children. A Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on a car in the Bolshesoldatsky area of the Kursk region, slightly northeast of the town of Sudzha, the acting governor Alexei Smirnov said. One woman was killed on the spot and two others were hospitalized, he said. Russia’s Central Electoral Commission announced that local elections in six districts and one city of the Kursk region scheduled for Sept. 8 will be postponed and rescheduled when voters’ safety can be guaranteed. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Ukraine’s attack on Kursk has ended “any possibility” of peace negotiations. “Who will negotiate with them after this, after the atrocities, the terror that they are committing against peaceful residents, the civilian population, civilian infrastructure and peaceful facilities,” she said at a briefing Wednesday in Moscow. Ukraine said it was respecting the Geneva Conventions, the international humanitarian […]

Former Hamas hostage Noa Argamani met with top global diplomats on Wednesday to raise the plight of the 109 captives still being held by the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.

“Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life,” the 26-year-old told senior diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo.

“And until the moment I was [rescued] … I just did not believe that I’m still surviving,” she added. “And in this moment that I’m … sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here,” she said.

Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan were rescued from two separate locations in Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza on June 8. The operation was renamed in honor of Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Israel Border Police’s “Yamam” National Counter-Terrorism Unit who was mortally wounded during the mission.

Argamani and her father Yaakov joined Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in Washington for his address to Congress last month.

“Avinatan, my boyfriend, is still there [in Gaza], and we need to bring them back before it’s going to be too late. We don’t want to lose more people than we already lost,” said Argamani on Wednesday.

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday morning recovered the bodies of six hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7, from a tunnel in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Argamani and Avinatan Or were abducted from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the murderous Hamas onslaught in southern Israel. A total of 354 people were killed during the festival massacre.

Argamani wrote a public letter to Or this week on Tu B’Av, an Israeli holiday marked by couples exchanging gifts and heartfelt expressions of love, much like Valentine’s Day in other parts of the world.

“Happy Tu B’Av, my love. Every year, you’d surprise me with a bouquet and share the story of Tu B’Av’s origins—how young women in white would dance in the vineyards of Shiloh under the full moon, hoping to find their soulmates. That’s why Tu B’Av symbolizes beauty and love,” wrote Argamani.

She concluded with a heartfelt wish: “Here’s to many more kisses and days filled with love—together, not apart.”

Earlier this month, the foreign ministers of the G7—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Union—discussed “the urgent need for de-escalation in the Middle East.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his colleagues talked about “ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire that secures the release of hostages and allows a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” per a U.S. State Department readout.

“They discussed how a ceasefire in Gaza would unlock the possibility of greater peace and stability in the region, including across the Blue Line,” Foggy Bottom added, referring to the Israel-Lebanon border area. “The secretary and foreign ministers reiterated their commitment to Israel’s security and urged maximum restraint from all parties to keep the conflict from escalating.” JNS

{Matzav.com}

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, the wealthiest politician in office in the United States, made headlines at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday after boasting about his billionaire status—just moments after Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) decried the influence of the “billionaire class” in America. Pritzker, whose estimated net worth stands at $3.5 billion, took a direct shot at former President Donald Trump during his speech. “Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich,” Pritzker remarked, before quipping, “But take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity!” The audience responded with cheers and applause. The timing of Pritzker’s remarks, however, sparked some irony as it followed Sanders’ fiery critique of the wealthiest Americans. In his speech, Sanders called out the economic disparity in the U.S., stating, “Too many of our fellow Americans are struggling every day to just get by, to put food on the table, to pay the rents, and to get the healthcare they need.” He continued his attack on the wealthy, saying, “We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the billionaire class!” Sanders took aim at the concentration of wealth among the top 1%, criticizing their influence over economic policy. “When 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck, the top 1% have never ever had it so good, and these oligarchs tell us we shouldn’t tax the rich?” Sanders argued. CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings noted the awkward contrast between Sanders’ anti-billionaire rhetoric and Pritzker’s subsequent speech. “They had Sanders out here trying to defenestrate all the billionaires, and it’s, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, here comes three-and-a-half billion dollars, J.B. Pritzker!’” Jennings remarked. In a desperate attempt to make the messaging make sense, CNN senior political analyst Van Jones defended Pritzker, saying he represented a different type of billionaire—one who understands the role of government in creating a fairer society. “This is a party that has room for you,” Jones said. “If you want government to be strong and good, if you want business to be strong and good, if you want the community to be strong and good, if you want strong and good, you’re welcome here.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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Israeli Defense Forces spokesman RAdm. Daniel Hagari speaks after the rescue of the bodies of 6 hostages held by Hamas – Peace activist, Holocaust historian, husbands, fathers, grandfathers and sons.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a 14-term incumbent and a fixture in his hometown of Paterson for more than four decades, died Wednesday. He was 87. Pascrell had been in and out of the hospital with an illness recently. He died Wednesday morning at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, according to his long-time chief of staff, Ben Rich. “It is with deep sadness that we announce that Bill Pascrell Jr., our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning,” a statement posted on Pascrell’s X account said. “Bill fought to his last breath to return to the job he cherished and to the people he loved.” Pascrell was slated to run for a 15th term in the fall. Pascrell was a longtime advocate for emergency responders. He spearheaded the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, which delivers grant dollars directly to fire departments across the country. He was instrumental in getting the Great Falls recognized as a national historical park. The waterfall on the Passaic River in Paterson falls 77 feet and is an emblem of the city and its past as an industrial town. Pascrell used the waterfall on his office’s letterhead. Known for his candor and willingness to use New Jersey’s reputation for sharp-elbowed politics, he served on the influential House Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax-writing legislation. After Superstorm Sandy devastated the state’s shoreline in 2012, causing $65 billion in damage, and some lawmakers balked at approving aid, he took the House floor to chastise them. “I don’t think that this is time for a pedantic debate. It’s time to take the gloves off — Jersey style,” Pascrell said. The House passed the legislation two days later. A lifelong resident of Paterson, Pascrell served in the Army and Army Reserve after college and graduate school. He worked as a teacher in Paterson and served on the Board of Education there from 1979 to 1982 before going on to the state Legislature. He was Paterson’s mayor from 1990 to 1996, when he ran for Congress. A baseball fan and sometime player who coached the Democratic team in this year’s congressional baseball game, he said in an interview with Roll Call he had two tryouts with the Philadelphia Phillies “I was a catcher. I weighed 125 pounds in high school. I loved it. I used to eat a little dirt before every game to try to scare the other team. They’d say that guy is totally nuts,” he said. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy remembered Pascrell for “an unwavering instinct for drawing strength from our state’s diversity” and said he was a “champion for our most vulnerable neighbors.” (AP)

Target Corp. ended a string of sales declines in the second quarter, drawing in consumers buying more items on sale and discretionary products.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said comparable sales, a key gauge of retail success, rose 2% in the period – higher than the average estimate of analysts while breaking four straight quarters of contraction. Earnings per share also beat expectations.

The company’s shares, which are trading ex-dividend, rose as much as 17% in New York trading at 9:32 a.m., its biggest intraday gain since Nov. 15. The stock had risen 1.3% year to date through Tuesday’s close, compared with a 17% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

It’s the first sign of a turnaround at Target after higher inflation and interest rates prompted consumers to pull back from big purchases and spend less on discretionary products. That has hurt categories such as home decor and apparel, which are Target’s bread and butter. Now, higher traffic in stores and rising online sales are helping to reverse the trend.

“We made a commitment to get back to growth, and our team delivered,” Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said on a call with reporters. “We are staying on offense.”

Target’s discretionary categories have improved for four straight quarters as consumers flock toward deals such as $15 bras and $1 pool noodles. Comparable sales of these products were slightly negative during the quarter, but apparel and beauty products were among the categories that saw growth. Recent price cuts on essentials such as milk and bread also helped accelerate unit and dollar sales of groceries and other basics.

Positive traffic indicates that lower prices and a new assortment in discretionary categories are resonating with shoppers, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Bartashus wrote Wednesday. She added that it’s encouraging to see margin expansion even as the company cuts prices on essentials.

Despite the improvements, Target is taking a measured approach with its guidance due to uncertainty about the broader economy. The company maintained its view that comparable sales will be flat to up 2% this year, but now expects the result to likely be in the lower half of that range. At the same time, Target raised its earnings per share outlook due to “strong profit performance” in the first half.

The quarterly results also benefited from an easier comparison period. A year ago, Target’s business slowed notably following the lengthy pandemic boom, while a controversy around LGBTQ-themed products also weighed on sales. To end the slump, Target executives have zeroed in on the retail basics of prices, assortment and inventory.

The company started a new low-cost store brand and cut prices on about 5,000 staples. Target’s loyalty program has been another area of focus, with a new paid membership program and two “Circle Week” sale events so far this year. About two-thirds of transactions during the latest Circle Week in July came from Target’s loyalty members.

These efforts are drawing consumers, who executives said continue to be resilient and consistent against the backdrop of more promotions. They are hunting for deals and value, but are spending when they find new, trendy products at affordable prices.

“While the economic data remains mixed, we see a consumer that is still willing and able to spend,” Rick Gomez, chief commercial officer of Target, said on a call with analysts. “Pressures are clearly weighing on them, and they’re looking for a refuge from the everyday stress that they’re feeling.”

Executives also said the company is working to improve shrink – inventory loss due to theft, damage and other factors – and that the progress is ahead of expectations.

The results further underscore the contrast between companies selling big-ticket items like appliances and those focusing on necessities. Walmart Inc., a key Target competitor that gets much of its sales from groceries and staples, raised its guidance last week, saying there aren’t any new signs of pressure from increasingly-selective consumers.

Macy’s Inc. lowered its sales forecast for the year, citing an increase in consumer cautiousness and more discounting by competitors. T.J. Maxx owner TJX Cos., meanwhile, lifted its annual guidance as shoppers flock to the off-price retailer for bargains.

Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. cut their outlooks as the housing market remains frozen and consumers wait for interest rates to drop.

So far, during back-to-school season, shoppers have sought value, including items like $5 backpacks and 25-cent boxes of crayons, Target executives said, noting that the back-to-college season typically stretches for a longer period.

Consumers have been purchasing products closer to when they need them, according to Target executives, and that trend is seen extending into the holidays, which is the most important season for retailers.

(c) Washington Post

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will speak Friday “about the present historical moment and his path forward,” his campaign announced Wednesday, fueling growing speculation that Kennedy could drop out and support Republican nominee Donald Trump. Kennedy’s running mate openly discussed the possibility on a podcast this week, saying the campaign was considering a move to “join forces” with Trump to limit the election chance of Kamala Harris, whose Democratic convention winds up Thursday night in Chicago. The move would have once seemed unthinkable for Kennedy, a Democrat for most of his life and — as the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy — a member of a beloved Democratic dynasty. Last month, during the Republican National Convention, Kennedy’s son posted and then quickly deleted a video showing a phone call between Kennedy and Trump, in which the former president appeared to try to talk Kennedy into siding with him. Kennedy will give a speech in Phoenix, hours before Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in neighboring Glendale. A spokesperson for Kennedy, Stefanie Spear, declined to say whether he planned to drop out or why he chose Arizona for his speech. After leaving the Democratic primary to run as an independent, Kennedy built an unusually strong base of support for someone running without the backing of a major party. It was unclear exactly where his support was coming from, which worried Republicans and Democrats alike. But since President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and Democrats coalesced around Vice President Harris as their nominee, Kennedy’s rise has been stunted. It looks increasingly unlikely that he will be able to make the debate stage when Trump and Harris face off next month, a moment Kennedy counted on for momentum and legitimacy. His campaign finances have also been strained. The news comes a little over a week since a New York judge ruled that Kennedy should not appear on the ballot in the state because he listed a “sham” address on nominating petitions. Kennedy has appealed, but has faced several similar challenges around the country. On Wednesday, he was in a courtroom in a suburb of New York City, testifying in a trial for another ballot suit in the state, this one backed by the Democratic National Committee, that challenges the signatures collected by his campaign. During a break in the court proceedings, Kennedy declined to answer questions from reporters about whether he was dropping out. He’s also facing a likely legal challenge in Arizona, where last week he submitted signatures that may have been collected by a super PAC that supports him, which Kennedy’s critics say is illegal coordination between a candidate and an independent political group. (AP)

IDF troops are conducting ongoing, intelligence-driven operations in the Gaza Strip, targeting terrorist infrastructure and personnel. In the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah, troops have eliminated dozens of armed terrorists, dismantled significant terrorist infrastructure, and seized large quantities of weaponry, including explosives, grenades, and AK-47s. In Khan Yunis, IDF troops have also eliminated dozens of terrorists, conducted targeted raids on terror targets, and located and dismantled military compounds. In cooperation with the Israeli Air Force (IAF), troops have identified and eliminated terrorists operating in areas from which rockets have been launched at southern Israeli communities. In central Gaza, IDF troops have struck military structures used by Hamas to conduct terror attacks against Israeli forces. Over the past day, the IAF has struck approximately 30 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military structures, armed terrorists, launch sites, tunnel shafts, and an observation post. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Growing up in Kibbutz Kfar Aza next to Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip meant a childhood that could be interrupted at any moment by sirens warning of a Hamas rocket attack. Sibling fights or quiet nights were instantly turned into a scramble for the nearest safe room. Hamas took control of Gaza a few months before I was born in 2007, so living in its shadow is all I have ever known.

Having 15 seconds to run to safety might not be a common theme in childhood nostalgia, but I convinced myself that it had made me stronger than kids from the comfortable Tel Aviv bubble.

Then came Oct. 7. Hamas terrorists charged into our home, shooting my father, Nadav, and sister, Yam, in a furious ecstasy of hate. I was dragged out of the house together with my mother and two younger brothers and forced into a car to Gaza. I see my father’s fading eyes when I close mine at night.

Arriving in Gaza, the car was surrounded by a mob, mostly people who appeared to be about my own age, 17, or younger. They smiled and laughed as I wept.

In Judaism, there is a tradition that baseless hatred – hatred divorced from all reason – is what led to the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. I now know what it means to be hated baselessly – for all that I am and all I am not.

My Hamas guards hated me for being Jewish, so I was coerced into reciting Islamic prayers and made to wear a hijab. I was forbidden from mourning my father and sister, and often ordered to look down at the ground. Six female hostages I met in a tunnel told me about men with guns who came into their shower rooms and touched their bodies.

Hearing about these young women’s fear of sexual abuse was agonizing. When one of my guards told me that he would find me a “husband” in Gaza, and that I would live the rest of my life as a chained slave-wife, my mother interrupted, deflecting his advances. I was fortunate to be released, along with my family members, in a prisoner exchange after 51 days. But those six young women are still in captivity, held for more than 300 days, without their mothers. They all should have come home a long time ago.

Baseless hatred can lead a person to awful places, but when that hatred is shared by a group, it is terrifying to witness. One morning, my family was moved from our safe house to a school hall, filled largely with Gazan women and children. Strangers asked if I wanted anything to sit on, or if I was thirsty – a rare moment of human connection.

But then, in an instant, the low buzz of conversation was drowned out by Hamas launching rockets, just meters away from us, from inside the school compound. The hall erupted in joy, and as the Gazans celebrated, I realized that Hamas had moved us there to serve as human shields.

Shortly before my family and I were released at the end of November, a guard made a point of telling us that, in the next war, Hamas would return to kill us. There would be no hostage-taking, no more dealmaking.

When we were transferred to a Red Cross vehicle for our ride out of Gaza, a mob formed, just as when we arrived. But weeks of Israel’s intense bombing had changed the mood. Instead of laughing and taking photos, the Gazans banged on the windows and screamed at us: Die, die, die. The word is almost the same in Arabic as in Hebrew – but, then again, hatred sounds the same in every language.

In captivity, I had often filled the long, silent hours by fantasizing, trying to keep the dread and terrible memories at bay. One of my fantasies was that we would be freed and the world would embrace us.

But the world I came back to was deeply divided and seething with anger. The hatred that I thought I had left behind in Gaza was waiting for me online.

My social media feeds were flooded with trolls, falsehoods and conspiracy theories, all with seemingly one objective: driving hate. The comment sections of news articles mentioning my name were battlefields, as hatred from one side was met with hatred from the other.

I have watched as the movement in the West for a Gaza cease-fire sometimes devolves into full-throated support for Hamas and the hounding of Jews in public spaces. I’m sure my kidnappers still hate me, but when American students call for “intifada” or chant in praise of Hamas terrorists “Al-Qassam, you make us proud,” I’m reminded that many other people do, too.

Now a dangerous escalation in the war that began on Oct. 7 may loom, involving an Iranian regime that has long promised to wipe Israel off the map. Theirs is the same hatred that killed my father and sister. The same hatred that poisons too many campuses and too much of social media.

On Tuesday, news arrived that Israeli forces in Gaza had recovered the bodies of six hostages. It is unclear how many of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas remain alive. Negotiations for their release continue. I pray for their freedom, but I have no illusions about the world to which they’ll return.

– – –

Agam Goldstein-Almog lives in Shefayim, Israel.

(c) Washington Post