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El Salvador’s president escalated his public dispute with Hillary Clinton by issuing a sharp rebuttal to her criticism of the country’s highest-security prison, CECOT, which has held migrants deported from the United States.

The exchange began after Clinton shared an 11-minute PBS Frontline video on X titled “Surviving CECOT,” highlighting the experiences of three Venezuelan men who were sent to El Salvador after being removed from the U.S. by the Trump administration. In her post, Clinton wrote: “Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison.”

According to the film’s description, the documentary centers on Juan José Ramos Ramos, Andry Blanco Bonilla, and Wilmer Vega Sandia, all Venezuelan nationals who say they were wrongly labeled as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The men deny any affiliation with the criminal organization, despite U.S. government determinations that led to their deportation.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Armando Bukele, responded online by saying El Salvador would cooperate fully if Clinton or others believe abuses have taken place inside the prison. He went further, proposing a sweeping and unusual offer involving the entire inmate population.

“We are willing to release our entire prison population (including all gang leaders and all those described as ‘political prisoners’) to any country willing to receive them,” he wrote. “The only condition is straightforward: it must be everyone.”

Bukele argued that such a move would also satisfy journalists and advocacy groups seeking testimony critical of his government. “This would also greatly assist journalists and your favorite NGOs, who would then have thousands of former inmates available for interviews, making it far easier to find additional voices critical of the Salvadoran government (or willing to confirm whatever conclusions are already expected),” he added. “Surely, if these testimonies reflect a systemic reality, a much larger pool of sources should only reinforce the claim, and many governments should be eager to offer protection.”

He concluded that until any such offer is accepted, his administration will continue focusing on public safety at home. “Until then,” Bukele said, “El Salvador will continue prioritizing the human rights of the millions of Salvadorans who today live free from gang rule.”

Bukele’s comments come amid deepening cooperation with President Donald Trump, whose administration has arranged for certain migrants deported from the U.S. to be housed at CECOT. Venezuelan nationals accused of gang ties have been sent to El Salvador after Venezuela declined to accept their return.

Meanwhile, the deportations have drawn legal scrutiny in the United States. On Monday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide due process to a class of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador in March, giving the government two weeks to explain how it will comply—setting the stage for another significant confrontation between the White House and the federal courts.

{Matzav.com}

Eli Feldstein, who previously served as a spokesman to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, is claiming that the prime minister was fully aware of, and actively supported, the leaking of a sensitive intelligence document in September 2024 as part of an effort to influence public sentiment surrounding hostage negotiations.

In remarks made during the second installment of a two-part interview with Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Feldstein directly contradicts the prime minister’s denials. “He knew everything,” Feldstein says. “He is the one who was ultimately behind the leak to Bild.”

Feldstein goes further, asserting that Netanyahu’s statements denying knowledge of the affair are a “lie,” and insisting the leak was not a rogue action carried out without political backing.

According to Feldstein, he maintained continuous contact throughout the episode with Netanyahu aide Jonatan Urich, beginning when Feldstein first received the classified material from military intelligence reservist Ari Rosenfeld and continuing through the document’s eventual publication in the German newspaper Bild.

The document at the center of the controversy was described as an internal message from the Hamas terror group. Its release had been explicitly barred by Israel’s military censor due to fears that publication could expose and endanger an intelligence source operating inside Gaza.

Law enforcement authorities are now probing the affair. Feldstein, Urich, and Netanyahu confidant Yisrael (Srulik) Einhorn are all subjects of a criminal investigation tied to the leak. Netanyahu himself has not been named a suspect.

Describing Urich’s role, Feldstein said there was no gap between what he knew and what Urich knew. “Where [the document] came from, why it wasn’t put out in Israel, all of it,” Feldstein told Kan, stressing that nothing was hidden.

Challenging investigators to scrutinize his communications, Feldstein said, “Read all my texts [with Urich]. I don’t conceal anything,” adding that a review would show that “other than asking him if I can go pee, he knew everything. Everything. Everything, everything, including everything, including everything.”

Feldstein also maintains that by the night before the article appeared, Urich had already updated Netanyahu about the plan to leak the document. He points to text exchanges that he says reference the prime minister directly, including a message from Urich stating: “The boss is pleased.”

After the article was published, Feldstein says he participated in a conference call with Urich and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to coordinate how they would publicly address the report. According to Feldstein, the discussion quickly shifted to clarifying — and containing — what Netanyahu was said to have known.

During that call, Feldstein claims, the group agreed to publicly maintain — despite knowing it to be untrue — that the prime minister had not been informed of the leak. At the same time, they decided to highlight claims that the military was withholding crucial information from Israel’s political leadership.

{Matzav.com}

This past Sunday night, the 46th Annual Chanukah Festival, presented by Chabad of South Broward, delivered a breathtaking, sold-out celebration before an arena of over 5,000 attendees. From the very first moments through the final encore, the crowd remained on its feet, transforming the evening into a powerful shared experience of joy, remembrance, and pride. […]

Rabbi Yaakov Menken sharply criticized Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, arguing that the media figure’s words and actions have crossed a line into promoting dangerous antisemitic falsehoods that have historically fueled violence against Jews.

Speaking on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America,” Menken said Carlson’s conduct has earned him an infamous distinction recently bestowed by the Jewish civil rights group StopAntisemitism, which named Carlson its 2025 “Antisemite of the Year.” The group described the label as a “distinct dishonor” that “is reserved for the most bigoted and hateful individual.”

Menken, who serves as executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said the designation reflects a growing body of evidence rather than a single incident. He pointed to Carlson’s repeated decisions to give airtime to extremists and to Carlson’s own commentary. “I think the evidence for this is overwhelming,” Menken said, citing “the amount of times that Tucker Carlson has brought an avowed antisemite on the show to spout lies … and then he himself spreading traditional antisemitic tropes.”

According to Menken, those tropes are not harmless opinions but accusations with a long history of deadly consequences. He referenced one of the most enduring claims used to justify persecution of Jews throughout history. “The rivers of blood have been shed on the idea that Jews of today are responsible for the Jewish Council that said that Jesus deserved to be put to death,” he said, stressing that “it was the Romans that did it.”

Menken contrasted that reality with what he described as a persistent double standard applied to Jews. “Nobody thinks today that Italians should be slaughtered because of that, because they were the ones who actually put him to death,” he said. “But no, we’re going to go after the Jews.”

He said such narratives continue to circulate because some people are willing to accept conspiratorial thinking despite a lack of evidence. Menken argued that antisemitism thrives when individuals “find excuses to believe the Jews are stealing, that the Jews are conspiring against everybody else.”

Menken also criticized Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts for what he described as an inadequate response after Carlson interviewed white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He said that failure had real consequences within organized efforts to combat antisemitism. “We were one of the first organizations to leave the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which began as a project of the Heritage Foundation,” Menken said.

He added that the controversy quickly undermined the initiative itself. “The task force itself, a week later, had to withdraw because they realized if they didn’t, they would lose all credibility,” he said.

Carlson has faced mounting backlash in recent months over statements about Jews and Israel that many critics view as antisemitic. Among the claims attributed to him are assertions that Jews control America’s banking system, Congress, the Pentagon, and even President Trump.

More recently, Carlson suggested that Israel was somehow connected to the death of Charlie Kirk, tying the allegation to Kirk’s opposition to striking Iran’s nuclear facilities. Critics have said such remarks further illustrate the pattern Menken described, warning that rhetoric rooted in conspiracy and collective blame carries consequences far beyond words.

{Matzav.com}

Instacart is ending its AI‑driven price‑testing system after customer backlash and growing scrutiny. The company acknowledged the program “fell short of customers’ expectations” and said the tests are being shut down immediately.

NYC’s Flatbush Avenue bus lane redesign is drawing both optimism and concern. The city says center-running bus lanes in Brooklyn will speed up commutes and improve safety, while critics question whether the changes will work as intended.

UPDATE: The suspect who vandalized the menorah in Miami-Dade County was arrested by police less than 24 hours after the incident, authorities say.

Two police officers were killed, and two others were hospitalized in serious condition, following an IED explosion on Yasenevaya Street in Moscow. Authorities say an unknown individual threw the explosive device into a police vehicle.

WATCH: The Bobov45 Rebbe distributed Chanukah gelt to thousands of talmidim from the Bobov-45 Yeshivas of Boro Park, Union City, and Monsey during Chanukah.

From the outside, everything may look fine. But it isn’t. I am falling apart — quietly, privately, and painfully. This struggle is no longer abstract or temporary. It is affecting my health, my home, and my children. I have fallen on hard times in a way I never imagined possible. My business has struggled. The […]

U.S. software giant ServiceNow has agreed to acquire Israeli cybersecurity firm Armis for $7.75 billion, in one of Israel’s largest high-tech exits. The deal’s final value could exceed $8 billion once retention grants are included. Armis, founded in 2016, specializes in protecting connected devices and operational technology from cyber threats.

U.S. car payments now average about $760 a month, as the average new-car price has passed $50,000, up 33% since 2020. To cope, more buyers are taking longer loans: one-third now finance cars for 72 months or more, with some stretching to 85–100 months. A $50,000 loan at 5% drops from about $950 a month […]

The Trump administration will begin garnishing wages of student loan borrowers in default starting Jan. 7, the Education Department said. About 1,000 borrowers will receive notices initially, with more sent monthly. Roughly 5 million borrowers are currently in default.

The DOJ has sued Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and AG Kwame Raoul over a new Illinois immigration enforcement law.

A fuel tanker carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas exploded on the A1 highway near Teano, Italy, after a rear-end collision between heavy vehicles. Emergency services quickly evacuated the area after a fire erupted, resulting in zero casualties.

Dramatic body camera video captured the moment a Josephine Police officer rescued a child from a pond on Saturday in Josephine, Texas.

A well-known matzah bakery in Boro Park was completely destroyed in a major fire last week, drawing an extraordinary response from its owner that has since resonated across the neighborhood and beyond.

The blaze tore through the famous Boro Park Matzah Bakery on 14th Avenue, reducing the facility to ashes.

Firefighters battled the flames for nearly seven hours before finally bringing the inferno under control, according to local reports.

As firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, the bakery’s owner, R’ Chaim Bru, a chossid of Vizhnitz, stood nearby watching his livelihood go up in flames. Rather than reacting with anger or despair, he distributed sheets of paper to onlookers bearing the words “Ein Od Milvado,” and repeatedly called out the phrase, expressing his firm belief that everything comes from Hashem and is ultimately for the good, even amid enormous financial loss at the peak of the matzah-baking season.

In footage recorded at the scene, R’ Chaim can be heard explaining his outlook with striking clarity. When one bystander asked whether a malfunctioning oven may have sparked the fire, he replied that it was Hashem Above who caused it. “When Hashem gives a person a slap,” he said, “you don’t ask questions.”

True to his word, R’ Chaim later took his message a step further. A massive banner bearing the words “Ein Od Milvado” was hung prominently on the remains of the bakery, serving as a public declaration of faith and acceptance. The sign, now impossible to miss along the busy avenue, has become a powerful symbol of emunah.

{Matzav.com}

Belgium has formally joined South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, escalating a landmark legal challenge that accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and deepening international pressure over the conduct of the war. In a statement, the ICJ — the United Nations’ highest court — confirmed that Brussels […]

French authorities have launched a criminal investigation after a disturbing video surfaced showing a man harassing and humiliating a young Jewish child inside a Paris airport, forcing the boy to repeat political slogans and mocking him. The footage, first posted Sunday by the X account The SwordOfSalomon, has been viewed more than 440,000 times. It […]