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More than 18 months after returning from Hamas captivity, Omer Shem Tov is speaking about the inner struggle that accompanied his ordeal, describing how faith, humor and hope helped him survive the tunnels of Gaza and how he is now confronting the lasting trauma of what he endured.

In an interview with the Hebrew-language Arutz Sheva website, Shem Tov discussed his new book, “Meeting Myself in Hell,” which focuses less on documenting the brutality of captivity and more on the personal journey he underwent and his decision to choose life and hope after returning home. He said he initially resisted the idea of publishing his story.

“I didn’t want to publish yet another book by a hostage,” he admits. “I told myself there would soon be an entire shelf of hostage books, and I didn’t want to be just another one on that shelf. Eventually, I realized that I didn’t just want to tell people what happened to me. I wanted to talk about how you can rise from the darkness and find light within it.”

Among the most difficult subjects Shem Tov addresses is the guilt he continues to carry over Maya and Itay, two friends whom he persuaded to attend the Nova music festival, where they ultimately found themselves caught in the October 7 massacre.

“Maya was my best friend. I was the one who convinced her to come to the festival, and Itay decided to come because of her. Knowing that they ended up there, were wounded and kidnapped because of me was incredibly difficult. Neither of them ever blamed me, but deep down, it’s a feeling that is very hard to let go of.”

Those feelings have followed him beyond his immediate circle of friends. Shem Tov said encounters with wounded IDF soldiers and the families of troops who were killed while fighting during the war have left him grappling with the sacrifices made in the effort to rescue him and other hostages.

“There are people who went into hell to save me. Some were seriously wounded, and some never came back. When wounded soldiers tell me, ‘I would do it another thousand times,’ it shakes me. It’s hard to comprehend that someone was willing to pay such a price for you.”

One person whose actions remain deeply etched in Shem Tov’s memory is Ori Danino. Although the two had known each other for only a matter of hours before the October 7 attack, Shem Tov said Danino’s instinct to help others was immediately apparent.

“Ori was a light. He was always looking for a way to help. When the attack began, he had already managed to save four people. Then he called me and asked me to send him our location so he could go back and get us too. He knowingly returned into the inferno to save us. Later, he was kidnapped, and after months in captivity, he was murdered. It is a level of heroism that is almost impossible to describe.”

Even amid the terror of captivity, Shem Tov recalled discovering that humor could provide brief moments of relief and help the hostages preserve a sense of normalcy.

“We would quietly laugh into our pillows so they wouldn’t hear us. We even turned the IDF bombardments into a game, trying to figure out where each explosion was coming from. It may sound strange, but that was our way of remaining human.”

The sounds of Israeli military operations above ground brought their own complicated mixture of fear and reassurance. Every explosion carried the possibility of danger, but the sounds also reminded Shem Tov that Israel was still fighting to bring the hostages home.

“Hearing IDF tanks and aircraft gave me strength. I felt that I hadn’t been forgotten, that they were fighting for me. It gave me hope, even though every explosion was frightening.”

Shem Tov said he also attempted to develop a workable relationship with his Hamas captors as a survival strategy. He tried to make himself useful and establish some degree of rapport, even while the abuse continued.

“I cleaned for them, cooked for them, and tried to make them laugh. It didn’t make them human – they continued to beat me, humiliate me and spit on me – but it did slightly improve the way they treated me and helped me survive.”

The most transformative element of his captivity, Shem Tov said, was his renewed connection to faith. During his first days underground, confined in the darkness and barely able to move, he reached an emotional breaking point and decided to surrender his fate completely to G-d.

“During the first week, I simply went crazy. Then came a moment when I said to God: ‘Father, here I am. I’m in Your hands. Do whatever You want.’ From that moment on, I felt warmth, light within the darkness, as if someone was simply wrapping their arms around me. It’s a feeling I’ve been trying to return to ever since.”

Shem Tov also believes there was a profound connection between his own prayers underground and those being recited by his family at home.

“My mother would recite chapters of Psalms at home, and at that exact time I would be reciting the same chapters in the tunnel. I felt her prayers.”

Returning to Israel did not end the battle. Shem Tov said the psychological impact of captivity remains with him and requires constant effort as he tries to rebuild his life.

“I still feel that I have light to spread, but it’s a daily battle inside my head and my soul. Post-traumatic stress doesn’t simply disappear.”

Drawing from that experience, Shem Tov urged others struggling with the psychological wounds of war to speak openly about what they are experiencing. He also called on their families and friends to pay close attention to suffering that may not be readily visible.

“I want everyone dealing with PTSD to understand that it’s okay to talk, it’s okay to cry, and it’s okay to share. It doesn’t make you less of a man or less of a human being. And to those around them, I say: Open your eyes. Look at the people around you. Sometimes what you see from the outside is only a small part of what is happening inside.”

Shem Tov, however, does not want captivity to define the rest of his life. With his ordeal behind him, he is pursuing an ambition he held long before October 7: becoming a professional actor.

“I always dreamed of becoming an actor. I completed an acting course in New York, and my dream is to land a leading role in a major film. After that – an Oscar. I always dream big. After returning from captivity, I feel that anything is possible.”

{Matzav.com}

Between 20% and 30% of the humanitarian aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip through Israel over the past week were carrying supplies other than food, including medical equipment, medications and materials for water, sewage and sanitation infrastructure, according to new figures released by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

COGAT published the latest breakdown of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza on its official Facebook page, detailing the types of supplies transferred into the territory during the week.

According to the agency, food continued to account for the overwhelming majority of the shipments, with approximately 70% to 80% of all trucks entering Gaza during the period carrying food products.

Hundreds of additional trucks transported medical supplies into Gaza over the course of the week. Those shipments included wheelchairs, surgical equipment, medications and other healthcare-related items.

Dozens of trucks were also permitted to enter carrying equipment and supplies intended for Gaza’s water and sewage networks, as well as sanitation and hygiene needs. Among the items delivered were large water tanks and chlorine tablets.

COGAT separately reported that approximately 150 Gaza residents holding authorization to enter third countries departed the Gaza Strip last Tuesday. The group traveled through Israeli territory to Jordan before continuing on to their respective destination countries.

The latest figures were released as opposition to Israel’s continued transfer of humanitarian assistance into Gaza remains a source of controversy within the country.

During the past week, Gilad Erdan, chairman of the Ha’achdut party, visited the Kerem Shalom Crossing along the Gaza border, where he participated in a demonstration opposing the continued delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The protesters also voiced opposition to the deployment of foreign forces in the territory.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s Shin Bet confirmed tonight that Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, faced a serious assassination threat that led Israeli authorities to urgently remove him from Florida and return him to Israel under heightened security.

The confirmation marked the first time the Israel Security Agency publicly acknowledged receiving intelligence pointing to a significant threat against Yair Netanyahu’s life.

According to the Shin Bet, security officials conducted an assessment after receiving the intelligence and determined that the danger was sufficiently severe to warrant bringing Netanyahu and his security detail back to Israel immediately.

The disclosure came several days after Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed that Iran had sought to assassinate one of his sons. At the time, the prime minister did not identify which of his children had been targeted.

The Shin Bet’s statement also followed a report in the United States that Israeli intelligence had discovered an Iranian operation targeting Yair Netanyahu as early as December, while he was residing in Hallandale Beach, near Miami, Florida.

According to that report, Iranian operatives had progressed beyond simply discussing a possible attack. Members of the cell were allegedly already active in the area, surveilling Netanyahu’s residence and collecting information about his movements and daily schedule.

American authorities were informed once Israeli officials determined the seriousness of the threat, according to the report. Yair Netanyahu was then ordered to leave the area without delay.

The evacuation was carried out so urgently that Netanyahu reportedly left personal possessions behind in Florida. He was subsequently transported back to Israel under heavy security.

Israeli security officials said the extraordinary measures were based on concrete intelligence indicating that Netanyahu faced a genuine threat to his life. The objective, they said, was to remove him from the danger as quickly as possible.

The confirmation provides additional context to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments earlier this week regarding the extensive security provided to members of his family. Netanyahu argued that such protection should not be viewed as a luxury or special privilege, saying that actual threats against his relatives demonstrate that the security measures are necessary.

{Matzav.com}

In a first for the Karlin-Stolin chassidus — and what is being described as an unprecedented development in the chassidishe world — the traditional sale of aliyos for Rosh Hashanah will move online this year, with members of the chassidus bidding through a specially created digital platform.

The change was announced ahead of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah and will apply to aliyos for both days of Yom Tov at Karlin-Stolin’s massive bais medrash in Givat Ze’ev.

Until now, as is customary in shuls and chassidishe courts around the world, the aliyos were auctioned in the traditional fashion, with a gabbai announcing each aliyah and members of the tzibbur submitting their bids in the bais medrash.

But the enormous growth of the Stoliner community has made that increasingly difficult.

Thousands of chassidim crowd into the main bais medrash in Givat Ze’ev for the Rosh Hashanah tefillos, creating practical difficulties in conducting an auction and ensuring that the gabbai’s announcements can be heard throughout the enormous crowd before Krias HaTorah.

As a result, Stoliner askanim decided that this year’s auction will instead take place in advance through a dedicated digital system.

The decision was outlined in an official notice distributed to members of the chassidus under the heading “Sale of Aliyos for the Upcoming Days of Rosh Hashanah.”

“For the sake of benefit and convenience, and due to the large number of attendees, kein yirbu, and the difficulty created in selling the aliyos and making the announcements heard by the entire congregation, it has therefore been decided to establish a special platform for the sale of aliyos for the days of Rosh Hashanah,” the announcement stated.

Under the new arrangement, chassidim interested in purchasing an aliyah during the two days of Rosh Hashanah will be able to participate in an auction conducted through a digital platform developed specifically for that purpose.

Full details regarding the bidding process and how members of the chassidus can participate are expected to be released in the coming days.

The move is believed to mark the first time that a major chassidus has shifted the sale of Rosh Hashanah aliyos from the traditional in-person auction to a digital bidding system conducted in advance.

The development has generated considerable discussion both within Karlin-Stolin and across the broader chassidish world. The sale of aliyos by a gabbai in the bais medrash is a familiar tradition stretching back generations, making the decision to replace the live auction with a technological alternative particularly noteworthy.

At the same time, the unusual change reflects a challenge created by Karlin-Stolin’s considerable growth: a practice that worked easily when a congregation numbered in the hundreds becomes far more complicated when thousands of mispallelim are gathered under one roof.

This Rosh Hashanah, the aliyos themselves will remain unchanged. The bidding for them, however, will be taking place in a decidedly different way.

A military judge has barred prosecutors from using a 2007 confession by accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, ruling that the statements were not voluntary and delivering another major complication to a prosecution that has already dragged on for more than two decades.

Lt. Col. Michael Schrama concluded that statements Mohammed gave investigators in 2007 could not be admitted against him, according to a report by the New York Post. The ruling was not initially released publicly, but sources familiar with the decision said the judge had excluded Mohammed’s confessions from the case.

Mohammed, who has been held at Guantánamo Bay for more than two decades, is accused of serving as the principal architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in which nearly 3,000 people were killed.

The decision creates yet another potential obstacle as the military commission attempts to finally bring Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators to trial after years of legal disputes, procedural battles and repeated delays.

The development came during the same week that Schrama established June 2028 as the trial date for Mohammed and three co-defendants: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. The announcement came shortly before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Prosecutors had sought to begin proceedings much sooner, asking for a January 2027 trial. Schrama rejected that timetable, finding that it would not provide sufficient time for the “resolution of pretrial evidentiary and compliance motions.”

Military prosecutors were contacted by Fox News Digital regarding Friday’s decision. The organization 9/11 Families United declined to offer Fox News Digital a comment on the ruling.

The exclusion of Mohammed’s confession is the latest development in a case that has repeatedly stalled amid complicated legal fights, including disputes involving evidence and unsuccessful attempts to resolve the prosecution through plea agreements.

A major effort to settle the case appeared to be taking shape in 2024, when Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi agreed to acknowledge their involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Under that arrangement, the three would receive life sentences and be spared the death penalty.

All three defendants remain in U.S. military custody at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The proposed agreements prompted intense criticism from numerous relatives of those murdered on Sept. 11, many of whom objected to an arrangement that would remove the possibility of capital punishment.

The Biden administration subsequently withdrew the deal, a decision that triggered additional litigation and further complicated efforts to bring the extraordinary long-running case to a conclusion.

Beyond taking the death penalty off the table, the proposed agreement would have required the defendants to respond to questions from victims’ families seeking answers about the planning and execution of the attacks.

With Mohammed’s 2007 statements now excluded and the trial scheduled for June 2028, the prosecution of the men accused of orchestrating the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil is poised to continue well beyond the attack’s 25th anniversary.

Members of the Jewish community are being urged to be vigilant following the launch of a new missionary campaign specifically designed to target Jews, using a highly recognizable internet domain and billboards placed throughout the New York metropolitan area.

The campaign is being promoted through “Jews.com,” a website operated as part of an effort by Kirt Schneider and his Christian missionary organization, Discovering the Jewish J—-, to persuade Jews to accept Christian beliefs.

According to promotional material released by the organization, billboards advertising the campaign have been placed throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan and northern New Jersey, including a prominent location outside Barclays Center in Brooklyn and additional locations on Manhattan’s East Side. Organizers say they intend to expand the effort to other major metropolitan areas across the United States.

The campaign is particularly concerning because of the way it has been packaged. Rather than presenting itself simply as conventional Christian evangelism, the initiative employs Jewish terminology and imagery and directs unsuspecting visitors to the domain Jews.com — a name that, on its face, gives no indication that the website is devoted to missionary activity.

Schneider, who refers to himself as a “rabbi” and uses Hebrew and Jewish terminology in promoting Christian theology, made clear that Jews themselves are the specific focus of the new effort.

“Acquiring Jews.com, to me is equivalent personally to when the Lord parted the Red Sea for Israel. The chance of me ever acquiring the domain name Jews.com was impossible, yet the Lord himself literally gave it to me. Why? Because he knew that we’d be faithful by his grace to proclaiming Y—- as the Messiah to the Jewish people.”

Schneider said that after years of directing much of his preaching toward Christian and non-Jewish audiences, he is now “laser-focused on reaching Jewish people.”

The website has accordingly been constructed specifically with Jewish visitors in mind. According to the organization, it offers videos, personal accounts, religious teachings and written materials seeking to convince Jews of Christian claims by presenting them through what it describes as a Jewish framework and by attempting to reinterpret passages from Tanach as references to Christian theology.

Schneider described the project as arising from what he considers a religious calling to intensify missionary activity among Jews.

“I knew right then and there, in an instant, that God was calling me and Discovering the Jewish J—- to challenge Jewish people in a whole new way, at a whole new level, with the good news of Messiah,” Schneider said.

The campaign is also attempting to recruit Christians themselves to participate in the effort. Its organizers openly describe Jews.com as a tool that Christians can send to Jewish friends, relatives, coworkers and neighbors, allowing the website to do the missionary work even when the person sharing it has little knowledge of the theological arguments involved.

“This is the most powerful tool on earth we have right now to share the love of Messiah with Jewish people,” Schneider said.

Promotional material for the campaign explicitly encourages Christians to circulate the site among Jews and “let Jews.com do the rest.”

{Matzav.com}

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has awarded a $16.7 million contract for thousands of electric shock gloves to be used by agents in the field, moving forward with the purchase despite objections from civil liberties advocates who raised concerns when the plans emerged earlier this month.

According to a notice posted in a federal contracting database, ICE entered into a no-bid agreement with Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies to acquire the equipment. ICE has played a central role in President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement campaign.

Under the contract, the agency will purchase 6,000 pairs of the devices over the next six months, along with related equipment and services. The gloves are capable of administering painful electrical shocks intended to interfere with an individual’s ability to respond.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, disclosed earlier this month that the agency intended to purchase devices known as CTG-5 Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, or GLOVE units.

The American Civil Liberties Union sharply criticized the planned acquisition, warning that providing immigration officers with “a concealed means of delivering terrible pain is a recipe for more harm to the public and less accountability.”

DHS, however, characterized the equipment as a tool intended to assist agents in controlling confrontations without escalating to more serious uses of force.

The department described the gloves as “a Conductive Distraction and De-escalation Device which will be issued to Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement Removal Operations officers and agents.”

The purchase comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE and its enforcement operations. Fatal shootings by ICE agents involving two U.S. citizens in Minnesota earlier this year, along with concerns raised by advocacy organizations over conditions inside ICE detention facilities, have fueled protests against the agency.

More than 50 people have died while being held in ICE custody nationwide since Trump returned to the White House early last year.

Trump has defended his administration’s intensified immigration enforcement efforts as necessary to strengthen security inside the United States.

Civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations have strongly opposed the administration’s approach, arguing that the crackdown is discriminatory and infringes upon free-speech and due-process protections. Critics have also contended that the enforcement environment has created particular concerns for ethnic minorities, including fears of racial profiling.

{Matzav.com}

Four young men have pleaded guilty to an arson attack that destroyed four Hatzolah ambulances in London’s heavily Jewish Golders Green neighborhood, causing approximately £1 million in damage in an incident that prosecutors say they will argue was connected to terrorism.

Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali, 18, entered guilty pleas at the Old Bailey to destroying or damaging property while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

The attack occurred during the early morning hours of March 23, when four fully equipped ambulances belonging to Hatzolah were deliberately set ablaze in Golders Green.

Prosecutors have said they believe the Hatzolah vehicles were specifically targeted because of their connection to the Jewish community.

According to evidence presented in court, three members of the group carried out the actual firebombing of the ambulances while the fourth remained nearby in a vehicle.

Gas canisters inside the ambulances exploded after the fires were started, adding to the destruction at the scene.

Each of the ambulances was valued at approximately £250,000. Four electrical charging stations and their cables were also damaged in the blaze, with each charging installation valued at roughly £5,000.

Prosecutor Leo Seelig told the court that when the defendants are sentenced, the Crown Prosecution Service intends to argue that the arson should be treated as an offense connected to terrorism.

Mrs. Justice Cheema Grubb declined to make a determination at this point about whether the attack was terrorism-related. Defense attorneys have maintained that there is no evidence establishing such a connection.

Sentencing for the four defendants will take place after the case against a fifth man, Subhan Ahmed, is resolved. Ahmed has pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender.

Iqbal and Khan, both from Leyton; Atshatshi, of Dagenham; and Ali, of Walthamstow, were ordered to remain in custody.

Hatzolah has provided emergency medical services in Golders Green and the surrounding north London community since 1979. Operated by volunteers, the Jewish-led nonprofit provides emergency medical assistance and hospital transportation free of charge to people regardless of their religion.

The Community Security Trust, which works to protect British Jews against antisemitism and terrorism, welcomed the guilty pleas and said the actions of the defendants “caused immense shock and distress across the Jewish community”.

“This was an appalling antisemitic act against a volunteer ambulance service providing emergency medical assistance to people of all backgrounds across north London, simply because those ambulances belonged to a Jewish charity,” a spokesperson added.

The four defendants are expected to be sentenced in the spring of next year. Prosecutors intend to present evidence at sentencing supporting their contention that the attack had a terrorism connection, while attorneys representing the defendants told the court that none of the four is involved in terrorism.

The case has also drawn the attention of British intelligence officials amid a wider investigation into possible Iranian involvement in attacks targeting Jewish communities during 2026.

British intelligence officials initially kept open the possibility that the Iranian government or groups operating on its behalf could have played a role in the Hatzolah attack and other incidents targeting Jewish interests. They subsequently concluded that classified intelligence indicated possible involvement by Iran or Iranian proxies.

Those suspicions have been reinforced by an FBI investigation involving Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iranian-Iraqi man facing trial in Manhattan over allegations that he orchestrated attacks against Jewish communities in Europe.

U.S. court filings allege that al-Saadi, described as a commander in an Iraqi militia, was connected to attacks in London, including the destruction of the Hatzolah ambulances.

Al-Saadi was arrested in Turkey in May and subsequently extradited to the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that he participated in planning more than a dozen terrorist attacks across North America and Europe.

Federal court documents in the United States detail numerous incidents across Europe that the FBI alleges were connected to al-Saadi. In several cases, attacks targeting Jewish institutions were claimed online by a little-known organization called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.

According to U.S. prosecutors, a social media account associated with the group claimed responsibility for the London ambulance arson. Prosecutors further allege that al-Saadi personally posted propaganda footage of the attack on social media.

“On or about March 23, 2026, at approximately 1:45 a.m., three masked individuals carried out an arson attack on four Hatzalah Ambulances in London, United Kingdom,” reads the indictment before the US court.

“That same day, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya posted on Telegram a propaganda video in which it claimed responsibility for the attack. On or about March 25, 2026, AL-SAADI posted on social media propaganda videos of the attack.”

The Justice Department has additionally accused al-Saadi of posting another propaganda video connected to an attempted arson attack against Finchley Road Synagogue in north London in April.

Attorneys representing al-Saadi in the United States have previously maintained that he is a political prisoner.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration told the Supreme Court two weeks ago that construction of a new White House East Wing was “65% finished,” part of its argument that the work was too far along for the court to halt.

But by the White House’s own standard for measuring the project’s progress, established in a confidential agreement with contractor Clark Construction that was reviewed by The Washington Post, work on the controversial project was far less complete.

The agreement, finalized before Clark began demolition last October, stipulates that payments to the contractor be proportional to the amount of work completed, and that work cannot begin until the government approves spending for it. Based on that, if 65 percent of the work has been done, then the government should already have paid 65 percent of the total cost of the project.

Publicly available appropriations data shows that as of the end of July, the White House budget office had approved $144 million in spending from an account used to pay for the East Wing and other White House projects. Even if that entire amount were spent on the East Wing, it would come to only about 24 percent of the $600 million estimated construction cost that Clark provided the White House in March. The Post has previously reported that cost estimate.

In the same mid-August court filing in which the administration claimed 65 percent of the project was done, it said that it had already spent “around $200 million.”

If the government had spent $200 million on the East Wing project, the work would be just 33 percent complete, based on the $600 million budget estimate.

“You really want to understand why there’s such a big gap there,” said Carl Elefante, a retired D.C.-area architect and former president of the American Institute of Architects. In response to The Post’s findings, he called the government’s claim about the completion percentage “doubtful.”

The 65 percent claim was made in a sworn declaration by Joshua Fisher, the director for White House Management and Administration, who is overseeing the construction project. In the declaration, Fisher did not explain how the percentage was calculated but said, “Work has progressed too far to go back to the drawing board.”

His assertion came as the administration asked the Supreme Court to allow work on the ballroom to continue after lower courts ruled that the project was probably illegal without congressional approval and that construction must stop. The administration argued in part that stopping work while courts considered the merits of the case brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation would cause “chaos in service of nothing” because the project had already progressed “beyond the point of judicial intervention.”

The White House did not answer The Post’s questions about the 65 percent figure and instead provided a statement from spokesman Davis Ingle. “President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify the People’s House as we approach our great Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence,” the statement said. “Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come.”

The Justice Department, which represents the administration in court, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fisher did not respond to a request for comment. Clark referred questions to the White House.

Clark’s contract says the company will be paid monthly based on the percentage of total work that has been done. This is common in the industry, according to eight construction experts consulted by The Post who said that dollars spent is the standard method for measuring completion of large-scale construction projects.

Even if progress was measured according to Trump’s repeated claim that the ballroom will cost $400 million, paid for by private donors, it would be considered only halfway complete.

In public statements, the president has sometimes drawn a distinction between funding for the ballroom and security improvements tied to it, which the administration has acknowledged will be paid for by the Secret Service and the military. Clark’s March budget estimate indicated that half the total $600 million cost was to be paid for with tax dollars.

In its request to the Supreme Court to allow construction to proceed, the administration appeared to draw a similar distinction between the overall project, which includes a secure underground bunker, and the ballroom, writing: “The Project is on time and under budget, and the ballroom is funded with approximately $400 million in private donations … zero taxpayer dollars are needed or required.”

Measured by the expected duration of the work, the project is about 30 percent complete, according to the administration’s timeline.

Fisher said in his declaration that construction began in late October 2025 and is expected to be complete in August 2028. That puts the work 10 months into a 34-month construction schedule.

The president is still tinkering with the overall plans for the East Wing, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe internal discussions.

Some of those changes involve the ballroom’s exterior. Renderings that the administration shared with the Supreme Court this month included the addition of a new feature that Trump picked out – golden seals on the exterior of the ballroom – and the restoration of another feature, a staircase, that had been included in prior plans before being abandoned.

One of the people with knowledge of the project said construction was not nearly 65 percent complete. “I’m not sure they’re 65 percent complete with designing the ballroom,” the person said, mocking the administration’s claims. “The ballroom continues to undergo significant changes to the base design, even while construction is ongoing.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Sarah Blaskey, Jonathan O’Connell, Dan Diamond, Jarrett Ley 

A seven-year-old boy died Friday after drowning in a lake at Park Darom in Tel Aviv, despite extensive rescue efforts and prolonged attempts to resuscitate him.

The child had entered the lake together with a friend but failed to emerge from the water. When the other boy came out of the lake alone, it became apparent that the seven-year-old was missing, prompting an urgent search.

Emergency and rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene, including Lahava, the Israel Fire and Rescue Service’s national special-rescue unit, as crews searched the lake for the missing child.

The boy was eventually located in the water and pulled out unconscious. Emergency personnel immediately began performing CPR before rushing him in critical condition to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Doctors later pronounced him dead.

Magen David Adom personnel described the large-scale emergency response that followed the initial report.

“We received a report of a child who was missing in a lake. We arrived at the scene with large forces, including ambulances, motorcycles and rapid-response vehicles,” MDA personnel said.

They said that while the search was underway, the child was brought to rescuers without a pulse and not breathing.

“During the searches, the child was brought to us unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. We immediately began performing resuscitation efforts, providing ventilation and administering medication. We placed him in an MDA intensive care ambulance and evacuated him to the trauma room in critical condition.”

ZAKA volunteers Avshalom Darchi of the organization’s motorcycle unit and Barak Sharabi, who responded to the scene, said they initially received a report that several children had entered the water and that one of them was missing.

“We received a report of several children who entered the water and one of them was missing. A civilian who was at the scene located the child unconscious and pulled him from the water to the rescue personnel, who performed resuscitation efforts on him and ultimately were forced to pronounce him dead.

“Together with additional ZAKA volunteers, we are ensuring the dignity of the deceased and assisting the police forces operating at the scene.”

Police remained at the scene following the tragedy as authorities continued their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the drowning.

{Matzav.com}