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The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau has launched an investigation after a viral social media photo appeared to show two uniformed Bronx police officers making hand gestures associated with the Mac Baller Brims, a violent Bronx-based faction of the Bloods gang tied to murders, shootings, and armed robberies.

The image, which surfaced on Instagram on May 4 before spreading widely on X, shows two masked officers posing with a young man inside what appears to be a McDonald’s restaurant. In the photograph, one officer is seen crossing his middle finger over his ring finger, while the second displays three fingers with his index finger bent backward.

According to the New York Post, both gestures are recognized as signs connected to the Mac Baller Brims.

“This incident is under internal review,” an NYPD spokesperson told the Post, confirming that the matter is being investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau.

Sources cited by the newspaper identified one of the officers as Shane Cruz, who joined the department in 2024 and was reassigned earlier this year from the 43rd Precinct in Soundview to the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville.

The second officer is also assigned to the 43rd Precinct, though he has not yet been publicly identified because his badge number cannot be seen in the image.

A law enforcement source told the Post that Cruz’s reassignment had nothing to do with the circulating photo and claimed the officers had merely been “messing around” with a young man they knew personally.

Eric Sanders, an attorney and former NYPD officer, told the newspaper that the gestures shown in the photograph were legitimate Mac Baller Brims hand signs and argued that both officers should immediately be placed on modified duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

Retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor said the officers appeared to be attempting Bloods-related signs, though he suggested they may have done so incorrectly. He also questioned whether the blue clothing worn by the civilian in the photo — a color commonly associated with the rival Crips gang — indicated the exchange may have been intended as a joke.

Michael Alcazar, a former NYPD detective who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Post that investigators would likely review the officers’ backgrounds and determine whether the conduct violated department standards.

He added that if either officer failed to disclose prior gang affiliations during the hiring process, it could potentially result in termination from the department.

The Mac Baller Brims have long been a focus of both federal and state prosecutors in New York.

In 2019, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged 13 alleged members and associates of the gang with racketeering, drug trafficking, and firearms crimes linked to violence in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx between 2017 and 2019. A superseding indictment filed the following year added murder charges.

In another major case, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicted three alleged gang members in May 2023 in connection with a series of armed robberies targeting smoke shops in Chelsea, Union Square, and the West Village.

The controversy comes as the NYPD continues grappling with recruiting and staffing challenges.

In February 2025, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reduced the department’s college credit requirement for recruits from 60 credits to 24, citing a growing hiring crisis and the fact that 29 percent of applicants — roughly 2,275 people — had been disqualified under the previous standards during 2023.

Tisch, who remained police commissioner after Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election victory, has repeatedly emphasized internal discipline and accountability since taking over the department in November 2024 under Mayor Eric Adams.

Iran executed a man accused of spying during the ongoing war with Israel and the United States, marking the first time the Islamic Republic has imposed a death sentence for wartime espionage tied directly to the current conflict, AFP reported.

Iranian state judiciary outlet Mizan Online identified the executed man as Mojtaba Kian. According to the report, Kian, “who sent information related to the country’s defense industry units to the enemy, was hanged early this morning.”

The regime claimed that Kian secretly transferred classified information concerning Iran’s military production infrastructure during the approximately 40-day war.

Since the outbreak of fighting, Iranian authorities have sharply escalated arrests and executions involving alleged cooperation with what Tehran calls the “Zionist-American enemy.” However, until now, those executed had allegedly committed their offenses before the war began.

Sunday’s execution marked the first known case involving accusations connected specifically to intelligence activity carried out during the conflict itself.

According to court documents cited by Iranian media, Kian “sent multiple messages to hostile networks affiliated with “the Zionist-American enemy”, including coordinates and information on facilities producing parts related to the country’s defense industries.”

Iranian authorities further alleged that the information was transmitted through foreign satellite television channels. While the judiciary did not identify the specific broadcasters involved, Tehran has repeatedly accused Persian-language media outlets operating abroad of serving as intelligence arms for Israel.

Iran has long accused Israel of conducting sabotage operations inside the country and has routinely arrested, prosecuted, and executed individuals accused of cooperating with Israeli intelligence services.

Human rights organizations say Iran remains one of the world’s leading executioners, second only to China, and accuse the regime of using executions to intimidate the population and suppress dissent.

Amnesty International reported last week that more than 2,150 people were executed in Iran during the past year.

According to the organization’s findings, at least 2,707 executions were carried out worldwide in 2025, with Tehran alone responsible for 2,159 of them — more than double the number attributed to the Iranian regime in 2024.

{Matzav.com}

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The IDF announced Monday morning that Sergeant Nehoray Leizer Hy”d, 19, of Eilat, was killed during combat operations in southern Lebanon.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Sergeant Leizer was killed Sunday at approximately 3:00 p.m. when an explosive drone launched by the Hezbollah terror organization detonated near a group of Israeli soldiers operating in the area.

The attack also left another IDF soldier seriously wounded.

Israeli intelligence officials now believe that the violent demonstrations and repeated clashes along the Gaza border fence in the months leading up to October 7 were part of a deliberate Hamas operation aimed at preparing for the massive terror assault on southern Israel.

According to newly uncovered intelligence assessments, Hamas operatives exploited the protests to study Israeli military response patterns and locate vulnerable areas along the security barrier.

Israeli officials say terrorists posing as civilian demonstrators, balloon launchers, and rioters collected operational intelligence during the disturbances and even marked specific sections of the fence that would later serve as breach points during the invasion.

The findings, first reported Sunday by the Israeli news outlet Srugim, indicate that Hamas identified 114 separate locations along the Gaza border fence in advance of the attack.

Those same locations were reportedly activated simultaneously on October 7, when more than 6,000 Hamas Nukhba terrorists and armed Gazans poured into southern Israel.

According to the report, some of the breaches were narrow openings intended for individual gunmen, while others were large enough to allow motorcycles and pickup trucks to move through rapidly, transforming parts of the border into what Israeli officials described as a “terror highway” leading directly into Israeli communities.

The intelligence conclusions are reportedly supported by an internal Hamas document attributed to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Officials involved in the assessment say the document indicates that Hamas leadership believed Israel had completely misread the purpose of the border unrest and failed to grasp the broader military operation being quietly developed behind the scenes.

Israeli intelligence sources cited in the report said Hamas determined that Israeli officials “did not take the staged protests seriously” and failed to realize that the disturbances were being used to gather intelligence and rehearse the large-scale infiltration that unfolded on October 7.

{Matzav.com}

A $25,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the safe return of Esther, the missing Toronto teenage girl whose disappearance has sparked widespread concern and ongoing search efforts throughout the community.

Newly released posters distributed Sunday identify the girl as possibly going by the names “Esti” or “Sylvia” and include updated information about her last known movements. According to the latest details, Esther was last spotted in downtown Toronto on a bus at approximately 12:35 a.m. on May 16.

Authorities also released a new surveillance image showing Esther wearing gray sweatpants and a green top, believed to be the outfit she was wearing at the time she disappeared.

The updated posters prominently announce a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to her safe return and urge anyone with information to come forward immediately.

The case has drawn major attention in Toronto and beyond, with volunteers, community organizations, and law enforcement continuing intensive efforts to locate her.

Family members and organizers involved in the search continue pleading with the public to remain alert and report any possible sightings or information that could assist investigators.

Anyone with information is urged to call 647-478-2230 immediately.

{Matzav.com}

A yeshiva bochur who recently enlisted in the IDF described a painful and humiliating confrontation he says he experienced at a train station in Haifa, where a woman allegedly screamed at him for not serving in the military — and then spit in his face after he showed her proof that he had just signed his enlistment papers.

The incident came to public attention after media personality and Channel 14 host Yinon Magal shared on X a WhatsApp message he received from the young man, identified only as Ariel.

In the message, Ariel wrote: “Hi Yinon, I’m a yeshiva bochur and today I signed enlistment papers for the IDF. On my way back, a leftist woman around 60 years old started screaming at me about why I’m not enlisting. When I showed her the document proving that I signed up for the army, she spit in my face. And then people say this isn’t pure hatred of chareidim.”

Magal responded in disbelief, writing: “She spit in your face?? Crazy.”

Later Sunday evening, Ariel recounted the incident in an emotional interview with Yaakov Grodka on Kol Barama Radio’s main news program, describing the ordeal in greater detail.

“I was returning from the enlistment office after signing my IDF draft papers,” Ariel said. “At the train station, a woman around 60 years old approached me and started screaming that I’m a chareidi who doesn’t enlist. When I showed her the document proving that I had literally enlisted that very day, she simply spit in my face.”

The yeshiva bochur openly described the emotional toll the encounter took on him.

“After she spit on me, the thought crossed my mind that maybe this whole thing was a mistake and why I even needed to enlist in the first place,” he shared. “I felt deeply humiliated, and it took me a long time to calm down. At the same time, I’m not looking for anyone’s appreciation — this is something between me and myself, and I’m completely at peace with it.”

Ariel also said he believes the woman’s behavior reflected deep-seated hostility toward the chareidi community rather than anger over military service itself.

“That woman didn’t want to see chareidim in the army — she simply hates chareidim,” he said. “They hate that we are in the government, and they hate our very existence. While she was publicly humiliating me and spitting at me, several of her friends were standing there laughing together with her.”

{Matzav.com}

A quiet meeting between former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni took place last week immediately after Rav Dov Landau’s dramatic declaration regarding the “dismantling of the right-wing bloc,” according to a report aired Sunday evening on Channel 12 News.

The reported meeting comes amid mounting political turmoil surrounding the draft law and intensifying efforts by opposition figures to reshape alliances ahead of a possible election campaign.

According to the report, the atmosphere during the meeting was positive despite the sensitive backdrop surrounding the ongoing debate over the enlistment of bochurim and members of the chareidi community.

At the same time, Eisenkot has recently come under attack from political rivals who argue that his proposed draft framework is significantly softer on chareidi enlistment than the positions advanced by Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman.

Under Eisenkot’s proposal, approximately 30 percent of bnei yeshiva would receive exemptions and would not face sanctions. Bennett and Lieberman, however, continue insisting on universal enlistment policies under the principle that “whoever does not serve receives nothing.”

Sources close to Eisenkot declined to confirm or deny that the meeting took place, saying only that “he is operating through numerous channels to advance elections and bring down the government.”

Meanwhile, representatives for Gafni’s office stated that they “do not comment on meetings held by Gafni with various public figures.”

Last week, Eisenkot made clear that the issue of military service remains a red line for him politically, even if it leads to another round of elections.

“There are profound disagreements between myself and the chareidim, and the distorted reality that has developed cannot be accepted,” Eisenkot said during a conference hosted by the Association of Corporations.

Reports published roughly two weeks ago indicated growing communication between chareidi political figures and Eisenkot. According to those reports, chareidi representatives urged him not to rush into alliances with Bennett or Yair Lapid, while expressing the view that Eisenkot’s enlistment framework is more practical and leaves room for compromise.

Shortly after those reports surfaced, Eisenkot was seen touring Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, where he also declined to rule out joining a future coalition government that includes chareidi parties.

Israel’s Land Authority officially enacted a new policy Sunday barring individuals classified as draft evaders from participating in government-subsidized housing lotteries, marking a significant escalation in efforts to pressure military-age citizens to regularize their status with the IDF.

The move follows a recent High Court ruling ordering the government to revoke various state benefits from individuals designated by the military as draft-eligible citizens who failed to resolve their enlistment status.

Under the newly published decision by the Israel Land Authority Council, eligibility for participating in discounted housing programs such as “Target Price Housing” will now depend on military records confirming that neither the applicant nor a spouse is classified by the IDF as a draft evader who has not arranged his or her legal status.

According to the decision, sections 4.7.19 and 4.7.20 of the Israel Land Council regulations governing subsidized housing tenders were formally amended to include the new restrictions.

The policy change comes roughly one month after Israel’s High Court ruled that certain government benefits should be denied in order to encourage military enlistment. The justices emphasized at the time that the measures constituted the revocation of benefits rather than the denial of inherent legal rights.

As part of that ruling, the court specifically instructed the Israel Land Authority to convene and formulate a policy regarding eligibility for housing discounts — a directive now implemented through Sunday’s announcement.

The court also ruled that resolving one’s military status with the IDF would become a prerequisite for receiving additional state subsidies and discounts, including daycare assistance, after-school program subsidies, public transportation discounts, and municipal property tax reductions.

The judges noted that these measures represent only an initial phase and stressed that additional enforcement actions may still be necessary in the future.

In the same ruling, the High Court also criticized Israeli police for previously refusing to cooperate with the military in detaining draft deserters until military police arrived. Since then, the issue has gained renewed attention following a policy shift announced by Police Commissioner Danny Levy regarding police cooperation with military enforcement efforts.

New American intelligence findings indicate that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has gone into deep hiding at a secret location and is almost entirely cut off from direct communication with the outside world, according to a CBS News report released Sunday.

US officials familiar with the intelligence said the secrecy surrounding Khamenei’s whereabouts is so extreme that messages to him are being relayed through an elaborate chain of couriers rather than through conventional communication channels.

The breakdown has reportedly crippled the Iranian regime’s internal operations. Officials tasked with handling discussions involving the Trump administration are struggling to communicate even among themselves, creating major delays in negotiations and slowing progress on both current and previous agreements with Washington.

Sources told CBS News that whenever the United States sends diplomatic proposals or revisions connected to a possible deal, the complicated process of delivering the information to Iran’s top ruler creates severe delays. Two American officials said responses from Tehran can take an unusually long time because of the bottleneck.

A White House spokesperson declined to address questions regarding intelligence connected to Khamenei’s location or the regime’s communication methods.

Even amid the chaos, officials say some headway has been made. A senior administration official said Sunday that the Supreme Leader had approved the broad outlines of the latest draft agreement. At the same time, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he expects a final decision within days.

Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded during joint American and Israeli strikes carried out as part of Operation Epic Fury, has adopted extraordinary security precautions following attacks similar to those that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran from 1989 until Feb. 28. The extent of the secrecy surrounding him is evident in the fact that he has neither appeared publicly nor been heard from since before the war began.

American officials believe the paranoia gripping the regime stems from repeated intelligence penetrations by the US and Israel. According to one official cited by CBS News, intelligence gathered from sources inside Iran’s own government enabled the targeting and elimination of much of the country’s senior leadership during the conflict.

As a result, senior Iranian officials are reportedly living in near-total isolation. Sources said many of the regime’s remaining leaders rarely emerge into public view, spending extended periods inside heavily protected bunkers and limiting contact with one another unless absolutely necessary.

“Watching them try to figure out how to talk to each other is almost like watching a sitcom. They are completely exasperated,” one official remarked.

Officials said the strictest security measures are centered around the Supreme Leader himself. Even top-ranking members of the Iranian government reportedly do not know his exact location and have no direct means of reaching him. Instead, information is passed through a carefully designed courier network intended to conceal where he is hiding.

“This is why you see people saying things like, ‘The Supreme Leader has agreed to the framework,’ or ‘We’re waiting to hear back on the final deal points.’ Every piece of information he receives is dated and there’s a lot of latency to his responses,” an official explained.