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Joel Rubin, who led Jewish outreach for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has publicly distanced himself from the Vermont independent, accusing him of backing candidates whose views and rhetoric have contributed to rising antisemitism.

In an interview with Jewish Insider at the Aspen Security Forum, Rubin said Sanders has thrown his support behind “the most categorically anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates that we’ve seen in a generation, if ever.” He argued that those endorsements have helped normalize political figures whose positions have driven many Jewish voters away.

Rubin, who also served as a State Department official, said he once believed Sanders could bridge progressive ideals with strong support for the Jewish community. Instead, he contended, the senator has chosen to align himself with candidates whose rhetoric has gone beyond criticism of Israeli government policy and crossed into antisemitic stereotypes and hostility toward Jews. Rubin said those endorsements are especially troubling at a time when antisemitism is increasing in the United States and worldwide.

His comments represent one of the most pointed public criticisms Sanders has faced from a former senior member of his own presidential campaign, particularly someone responsible for Jewish outreach. Rubin said elected officials have an obligation to draw a clear distinction between legitimate debate over Israeli policy and rhetoric or movements that vilify Jews or encourage antisemitism.

Sanders, who is Jewish, has consistently maintained that his criticism of Israeli government actions is separate from antisemitism and has repeatedly rejected claims that opposing Israel’s policies is inherently antisemitic. Even so, Rubin’s remarks highlight the deepening disagreements within the Democratic Party over Israel, antisemitism, and the future direction of progressive politics as the 2026 midterm elections approach.

{Matzav.com}

France has become the first member of the European Union to approve a nationwide ban preventing children under the age of 15 from using social media, as lawmakers seek to curb the growing impact of harmful online content on young people.

The legislation cleared both houses of Parliament on Tuesday, marking one of President Emmanuel Macron’s signature domestic initiatives during his second term. In addition to restricting social media access for younger teens, the measure also prohibits mobile phone use in French high schools.

The vote comes amid mounting concern over the influence of social media on children’s mental health. In recent years, several French families have filed lawsuits against TikTok, alleging that harmful content on the platform contributed to teenage suicides. Child safety advocates and many parents welcomed Parliament’s decision.

“We’ve been campaigning for this bill from the start because, frankly, we have no other option, no other way to counter tech giants,” said Gaëlle Berbonde, a 52-year-old who lives in the Paris region. “The only thing we can do is protect our children, just as we protect our children from drinking alcohol.”

Berbonde told The Associated Press that her daughter received her first smartphone while in seventh grade. Although the family used parental controls to supervise her online activity, they were unfamiliar with TikTok and its content. Within months, they discovered their daughter had begun self-harming and was battling anorexia and depression. After spending a year and a half in the hospital, she has since recovered and is now 16 years old.

The bill represents one of the final major legislative accomplishments of Macron’s presidency before his term concludes next year. The French president hopes the new restrictions will take effect when schools reopen in September, although the legislation is expected to undergo constitutional review first, a process that could postpone its rollout.

The new law does not apply to educational resources such as online encyclopedias or scientific and academic directories.

Opposition lawmakers from the left-wing France Unbowed party voted against the measure, contending that its legality under the French Constitution remains uncertain. They also argued that enforcing the law would be extremely difficult and warned it could effectively eliminate online anonymity.

Ines Legendre, a legal advisor for the online protection group e-Enfance, cautioned that implementation will take time and will require significant technical solutions.

“We’ll also have to address the issue of existing accounts for those under 15. How do we identify them? How do we suspend them? And then there’s the question of age verification for all new accounts that will come into effect,” she said.

Data from France’s national health authority underscores the widespread use of smartphones among young people. According to the agency, half of all teenagers spend between two and five hours each day using their smartphones. A report released in December found that about 90% of children ages 12 to 17 use smartphones daily to access the internet, while 58% regularly use them for social networking.

Health officials also warned that frequent use of social media can negatively affect young users by lowering self-esteem and increasing exposure to content promoting dangerous behaviors, including self-harm, drug abuse, and suicide.

Before the legislation received final approval, lawmakers revised the proposal after the European Commission concluded that portions of the original bill conflicted with the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which regulates online platforms across the bloc. Following negotiations Monday, Parliament agreed on amended language that aligned with EU rules, paving the way for Tuesday’s final vote.

{Matzav.com}

New Jersey officials revealed Tuesday that a software malfunction at the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission mistakenly placed roughly 6,600 noncitizens on the voter rolls over the course of a year. State officials said fewer than 400 of those individuals ultimately voted before the erroneous registrations were identified and removed.

According to the Murphy administration, the registration problem occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, well before Gov. Mikie Sherrill assumed office.

Officials explained that the affected applicants had visited the MVC to obtain driver’s licenses or state identification cards and had correctly indicated that they were not U.S. citizens. Despite those responses, a flaw in the agency’s voter registration system automatically added them to New Jersey’s voter database.

“Through no fault of their own, the system registered them,” Sherrill said in a statement obtained by the New Jersey Globe.

The announcement followed President Donald Trump’s prime-time address just five days earlier, during which he argued that New Jersey had a significant number of noncitizens listed as registered voters.

Trump claimed that 35,152 noncitizens appeared on New Jersey’s voter rolls and estimated that approximately 250,000 noncitizens were registered across New Jersey, California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

Sherrill said she first learned of the issue last week and immediately directed state officials to investigate the matter while removing every voter registration that had been improperly created during the affected timeframe.

“I also ordered the removal of any residents from our voter rolls who were erroneously added between June 2023 and June 2024,” she said. “The new MVC administrator that I appointed has begun the process of replacing the vendor responsible for administering the system.”

The software involved was administered by IDEMIA, a company that supplies digital identity and biometric services to government agencies, including the TSA PreCheck program.

Sherrill said the state has already completed the removal of the improper voter registrations.

“Our preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered for the first time because of the error voted,” she said. “They were registered as Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state.”

State officials have not disclosed which elections those ballots were cast in or whether any contests were affected by the votes.

The New Jersey Globe reported that the software errors occurred while Latrecia Littles-Floyd was serving as acting chief administrator of the MVC during the administration of then-Gov. Phil Murphy. The report also noted that Littles-Floyd had previously been linked to a separate MVC issue in which eligible U.S. citizens were mistakenly removed from the voter rolls and efforts to remedy that problem reportedly faced resistance.

Officials have not determined whether Littles-Floyd or other members of the Murphy administration were aware of the software defect before it became public.

“I am appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen, and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time,” Sherrill said. “This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now.”

While outlining steps to strengthen confidence in the state’s election system, Sherrill also criticized Trump’s repeated claims regarding election security.

“The difference is simple: when we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies,” she said. “We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public. That’s what accountability and good governance look like, and that’s exactly what my administration is doing.”

A major investigation by a leading Swiss newspaper claims Hamas spent years quietly building a terrorist network across Europe in preparation for a coordinated wave of attacks modeled after the October 7 massacre, with Israeli, Jewish, and Western targets reportedly in its crosshairs.

According to an investigative report published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Hamas established a clandestine infrastructure throughout Europe well before the October 7 attacks in Israel. The network allegedly included concealed weapons stockpiles, arms-smuggling operations, logistical support systems, and sleeper cells that could be activated at the direction of the group’s leadership.

Citing German security investigation files, the newspaper reported that German authorities believe Hamas intended to launch the planned attacks around the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Officials say the alleged plot was thwarted through intelligence gathering and coordinated arrests carried out in multiple European countries.

Investigators reportedly identified Hamas-related operations spanning Germany, Austria, Denmark, Britain, Greece, and Cyprus. Among the most significant discoveries was a cache of weapons uncovered in Austria last year that contained five loaded handguns, ten magazines, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, and several explosive devices.

The report identifies Vienna as the central logistical base for the network. Authorities arrested a 39-year-old British man in London in connection with the Austrian weapons cache, while investigators allege that 13 pistols, an AK-47 rifle, and more than 900 rounds of ammunition were moved through Denmark, Germany, and Austria. German courts have since convicted four Hamas operatives in connection with the operation.

According to the investigation, Hamas’s military wing secretly created an operational presence in Europe despite the organization’s longstanding assertions that its activities were confined to Israel, Gaza, and Judea and Samaria. Investigators say the network featured hidden arms depots, weapons-smuggling routes, and a system designed to rapidly activate terrorist cells once leadership gave the order.

The findings come as Germany’s Federal Prosecutor continues pursuing charges against Hamas members accused of establishing terrorist infrastructure throughout Europe. Prosecutors contend that the preparations began years before the October 7 massacre, reflecting what investigators describe as Hamas’s long-term strategy to extend its terrorist operations well beyond the Middle East.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

By Jamie Geller

I did not expect to hear the word joy so many times while making a film about grief.

In 2025, twenty Jews were murdered in antisemitic attacks outside of Israel. More than 800 severe antisemitic incidents were documented around the world. It was the deadliest year for Jews living outside Israel this century, and so I started working on a film to document it. When I began, I assumed I already understood the shape of that year. I did not. It took sitting across from the people who lived through it to see the pattern that had been there all along. They did not come for us at random moments. They came for us on our holidays.

A terrorist attacked Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, while worshippers prayed and fasted. Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were murdered that morning. Melvin was the first Jewish man killed in the United Kingdom for being Jewish in 80 years. Gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, killing fifteen people, among them a girl who had just turned ten, a Holocaust survivor, and a rabbi. And during the war between Israel and Iran, a ballistic missile struck a residential building in Haifa on the fourth day of Passover, killing four members of the Gershovitz family.

Yom Kippur. Hanukkah. Passover. While we were praying. While we were lighting candles. While we were celebrating. This has been something that has happened in Israel several times: the Yom Kippur War, October 7th, now it is spreading to the Diaspora.

As the person behind Aish’s Tisha B’Av documentary While We Were Celebrating, I traveled to three continents this year to sit with the people who lived through each of these attacks, and with the families they left behind. I went in bracing myself for grief. I have made enough films and sat with enough loss to know what to expect. What I found instead has not left me since.

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Karen Cravitz told me she was the one who encouraged her husband Melvin to leave for synagogue early that Yom Kippur morning, because that is simply what you do on the holiest day of the year. She has spent every day since turning that decision over in her head, a decision made entirely out of love and faith. Yoni Finlay was holding the synagogue doors shut to keep the terrorist out when a police bullet struck him in the chest and passed through his body into his friend Adrian, who was standing right behind him. And Rabbi Daniel Walker described his congregation to me as a reserved, quiet English crowd that does not usually dance on Friday nights. That next Friday, they danced.

In Sydney, Sheina Gutnik told me about her father, Reuven Morrison, who ran toward the gunmen at Bondi Beach and used his own body as a shield, saving dozens of lives before losing his.

Through the grief, through the funeral, through the memorial service that followed, Sheina lit Hanukkah candles. All eight nights. She told me she was not going to be the one to let the light go out. That message really moved me in ways I cannot explain.

Chavi Israel recounted how she threw herself over her baby, Meir, the moment the shooting started, trying to protect him and trying somehow not to suffocate him at the same time. She told me it was Reuven who saved both their lives. 

Yonatan Frank, a soldier who had come to Australia from Gaza days earlier, and wanted to go to the beach, found himself unarmed in the middle of a massacre and ran toward it anyway. Yonatan helped Chavi’s sister-in-law and her baby reach a waiting car that had arrived to rescue them. Eleven people ended up crammed into a car built for five. Chavi, Meir, Yonatan, and eight strangers who were suddenly not strangers at all. Once they were safe, they lit Hanukkah candles to keep the light alive.

In Haifa, Professor Lena Sagi told me about her neighbors, the Gershovitz family, who were found after an eighteen-hour search through what had been their home. Lena had lost everything but her life that night, the Gershovitz family weren’t as lucky. Lena told me that she later danced at her daughter’s bat mitzvah. Alex Gershovitz, Vladimir’s brother, still cannot speak about his family without his voice catching. In the same moment that he described himself to me as a secular Jew, he looked me in the eye and said that he believes God has a plan.

I sat with each of these people separately. Different continents, different languages, different circumstances. None of them knew what the others had said, yet every single one of them told me the same thing, completely unprompted.

They did not want to talk to me about their pain. They wanted to talk to me about joy. Not in spite of what happened to them, but because of it.

They chose to speak now, ahead of Tisha B’Av, because they understand what that day means to the Jewish world. It is our most reflective moment, the day we sit with our losses across history. None of these people are asking to be pitied. They are asking to be heard; they are asking us to understand our mission to live.  

This is nothing new for us. It runs through our history like a current, from the Inquisition to the pogroms to the Holocaust to October 7th, to Manchester, to Bondi, to Haifa. Our enemies have tried to extinguish our flame in every generation, and in every generation, the answer has been the same.

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Live more Jewishly. Live more joyously. Celebrate again. That will be the ultimate victory over our enemies.

This Tisha B’Av, as we sit on the floor and mourn what we have lost, I am sure that I will keep hearing Karen, Sheina, Chavi, and Lena in my head, asking this of me. I did not write their message. I am only carrying it, but now I am not making simple assumptions; I too am listening.

———————–

While We Were Celebrating, the Aish Original Tisha B’Av documentary film, premieres worldwide on July 22. It is free to watch. Register at aish.com/9av. To arrange a community screening, visit 9av.aish.com/groupscreening. For more information email 9avfilm@aish.com

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the federal government is halting more than $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota while officials investigate what they believe may be fraudulent claims involving the programs.

“We are not sending Medicaid dollars out the door until we have confidence that they are being spent lawfully and appropriately,” Kennedy said at an announcement on Tuesday.

Kennedy said the funding will remain on hold unless California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz can demonstrate that the payments are valid. According to the secretary, if the governors “want the money to fund low-income healthcare, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate.”

The HHS secretary placed responsibility for the alleged problems on the Biden administration, along with Democratic leaders in California and Minnesota, accusing them of failing to safeguard taxpayer-funded healthcare programs from abuse.

“Instead of protecting your money, they open the floodgates to theft,” Kennedy said. “They dismantle basic program integrity and oversight.”

The suspension of the Medicaid funds is the latest step in the Trump administration’s broader campaign to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government.

The announcement follows a major healthcare fraud crackdown unveiled last month by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who revealed that 455 defendants had been charged in schemes involving approximately $6.5 billion in fraudulent healthcare claims.

Federal officials described that operation as the “greatest combined federal and state effort in combating health care fraud in history,” alleging that participants exploited taxpayer-funded healthcare programs to bankroll lavish lifestyles.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump signaled growing ties between the United States and Lebanon during a White House meeting Tuesday with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, while also delivering a stark warning to Iran that any attempt to rebuild its nuclear infrastructure would be met with overwhelming military force.

Speaking alongside Aoun, Trump emphasized Washington’s commitment to supporting Lebanon and expressed optimism about the future of bilateral relations. “We’re gonna help [Lebanon] a lot,” Trump said. President Aoun responded, “The time has come for Lebanon to be stable and secure.”

During the meeting, Trump also suggested that Lebanon could eventually join the expanding list of nations participating in the Abraham Accords.

“The Abraham Accords have been, I think, a tremendous success. I think you’re going to see a lot of countries joining pretty soon,” he said.

Turning to Iran, Trump said the United States has no interest in negotiations unless Tehran is willing to make meaningful concessions, despite what he described as repeated efforts by the regime to open talks.

“The Iranians are desperate to meet with us, but until they’re prepared to do something meaningful, we’re not interested in meeting with them,” Trump said.

He reiterated that Iran has been attempting to initiate secret contacts with the United States but insisted those overtures will continue to be rejected unless they lead to substantive progress.

“They want to desperately meet – and until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest,” he said.

Trump concluded with a forceful warning over reports that Iran has relocated uranium-enrichment centrifuges to the underground Pickaxe Mountain facility, making clear that any effort by the regime to revive its nuclear program would trigger an immediate American military response.

“How about these people? They’re in this because of nuclear weapons, and they’re trying to possibly reconstitute a site? We’ll hit that site. Any site where they’re even thinking about nuclear – we’ll be hitting it very, very powerfully.”

{Matzav.com}

The Treasury Department says it has prevented nearly $100 million in federal payments from being sent to deceased individuals after launching a government-wide payment verification system, marking another step in the Trump administration’s campaign to curb fraud and improper spending.

According to information obtained by The New York Post, Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service uncovered the questionable payments while reviewing roughly 885 million federal transactions with a combined value approaching $2.7 trillion.

Since the screening process began in March 2025, officials have flagged more than 4,900 payments totaling about $99 million that were linked to recipients who had already died, Treasury said.

Rather than allowing the money to be distributed, Treasury returned those payments to the federal agencies that initiated them so they could be examined before any taxpayer funds were released. Officials noted that payments directed to deceased individuals can often be a warning sign of fraud.

Although the blocked payments represented only about 0.0036% of the $2.7 trillion reviewed, Treasury emphasized that the amount was more than three times higher than what had been detected before President Trump took office last year as part of the administration’s broader effort to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.

“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“Together with Vice President Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, this new safeguard addresses a longstanding vulnerability and helps ensure every dollar the federal government spends reaches its intended recipient,” Bessent added. “Treasury will continue efforts to modernize the federal payment system, strengthen safeguards against fraud and improper payments, and protect taxpayer dollars.”

To identify the improper payments, Treasury relied on the federal Do Not Pay program, which verifies a recipient’s identity, eligibility, and banking information before federal funds or awards are issued. Officials also employed additional verification technologies that helped detect the nearly $99 million in payments intended for deceased recipients.

Treasury said it dramatically broadened the use of these verification tools last year in response to directives issued by President Trump.

A law enacted in 2021 temporarily gave the department access to the Social Security Administration’s Full Death Master File, enabling officials to identify many of the deceased individuals listed as payment recipients.

That authority became permanent in February when President Trump signed the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law, ensuring Treasury retains ongoing access to the federal death records database.

Looking ahead, Treasury estimates that the expanded safeguards will generate approximately $330 million in net savings by preventing improper payments from being issued to deceased individuals.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s military confirmed on Tuesday that it is constructing a physical barrier along the so-called “yellow line” in Gaza.

The confirmation came after the Associated Press presented the Israel Defense Forces with satellite imagery analyzed by the news agency. The military said that the project is part of a broader security zone aimed at preventing infiltration and protecting troops and nearby Israeli communities, outfitted with advanced intelligence and technological infrastructure.

Satellite imagery shows the barrier stretching more than 23 kilometers (14 miles) across Gaza, with a rapid expansion in recent months.

The military declined to detail the barrier’s full route or planned extent but said it is working to clearly mark the line, which was designated as a temporary boundary under a U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization which led the Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

Imagery indicates continued expansion in both southern and central Gaza, including near Rafah and Khan Yunis, with additional segments in the north. JNS

{Matzav.com}