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Several El Al aircraft landed at Ben Gurion Airport shortly before the onset of Shabbos on Friday evening, leaving some Shabbos-observant passengers facing the extraordinary prospect of spending Shabbos inside the airport after there was insufficient time for all their luggage to be unloaded and for them to leave before shkiah.

The unusual situation unfolded amid the continuing fallout from Thursday’s surprise strike by workers at Ben Gurion Airport, which caused massive disruptions to flights and baggage handling and left airport personnel struggling to clear a significant backlog throughout Friday.

Several El Al flights arrived in Israel extremely close to the onset of Shabbos. Although the aircraft themselves succeeded in landing before Shabbos, the late arrivals left passengers with only a very limited window to disembark, pass through passport control, retrieve their luggage and leave the airport.

The continuing baggage crisis made that virtually impossible for some travelers.

With suitcases not expected to be unloaded in time, Shabbos-observant passengers who remained at the airport when Shabbos began were expected to spend Shabbos at Ben Gurion rather than leave the airport after shkiah. Their luggage was expected to remain in the airport’s baggage system until it could be processed.

The remarkable scene was the latest consequence of a chaotic 24 hours at Israel’s primary international airport. While Thursday’s strike ended and airport operations formally resumed, its effects continued throughout Friday, particularly in the baggage-handling system.

Thousands of pieces of luggage had accumulated during the disruption, leaving ground crews facing a major backlog as they attempted to service arriving and departing aircraft.

Some arriving travelers were forced to wait extended periods for their suitcases, while some departing flights reportedly left Israel without all of their passengers’ checked baggage in an effort to prevent further flight delays.

The proximity of Shabbos created an additional complication for El Al, which maintains a longstanding policy of not operating flights on Shabbos.

Earlier Friday, El Al canceled Flight LY8 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after delays made it impossible for the aircraft to reach Israel before Shabbos. Passengers had already boarded and were seated when the decision was made to cancel the flight.

Rather than allow the aircraft to depart knowing that it would land after the onset of Shabbos, El Al returned the plane to the gate and had passengers disembark.

The flights that were already airborne and approaching Israel Friday afternoon presented a different scenario. Those aircraft were able to touch down before Shabbos, but the narrow window between landing and shkiah left observant passengers confronting the question of whether they could actually get out of Ben Gurion in time.

For those who could not, the issue went well beyond the inconvenience of delayed baggage. Once Shabbos began, traveling home from the airport was no longer an option for Shabbos-observant passengers.

As a result, some passengers were expected to remain inside Ben Gurion throughout Shabbos, unable to continue their journeys until after Shabbos ended Saturday night.

The extraordinary predicament underscored the far-reaching consequences of Thursday’s airport strike. What began as a labor dispute and resulted in flight cancellations, lengthy delays and mountains of stranded luggage ultimately spilled into Erev Shabbos, leaving travelers racing against a deadline that could not be pushed back.

For the passengers aboard the final El Al flights to arrive Friday afternoon, the planes made it to Israel before Shabbos.

Getting home before Shabbos was another matter entirely.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is looking for a new cook at Gracie Mansion, with the city seeking someone experienced in preparing South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine to serve the mayor, his wife and their guests for a $64,500 annual salary.

The city posted the opening earlier this month for a “Cook” to join the kitchen staff at the mayoral residence on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Beyond culinary skills, applicants are expected to exercise considerable discretion about what they see and hear while working inside the mayor’s home.

“Reporting to the Senior Executive Chef, the Cook is responsible for preparing and serving high-quality meals for the Mayor, the Mayor’s family, and their guests for daily service, events, and official functions,” the job posting states.

The listing makes clear that privacy is a significant part of the position.

“Must maintain strict confidentiality regarding the Mayor, Principals, guests, and household operations,” it adds.

The successful applicant will also need experience preparing the types of food favored by Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji.

“The role requires experience with multiple cuisines with a focus on South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine.”

The listing does not specify exactly which dishes the new cook will be expected to prepare. Mamdani has previously named biryani, paan and lamb adana laffa among his favorite foods while discussing his preferred New York City restaurants.

Mamdani also marked his election victory as the city’s first Muslim mayor by sharing an aloo dum lunch with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in November.

The opening was created after a member of the Gracie Mansion kitchen staff left to take a restaurant job. The four remaining members of the five-person culinary team all served at the mayoral residence during the administration of Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams.

In addition to maintaining confidentiality, applicants are expected to have at least three years of culinary experience, possess “strong knife skills,” be capable of lifting as much as 50 pounds and “adapt quickly to shifting kitchen demands,” according to the posting.

The city did not provide specific working hours for the full-time position, but anyone hoping for a predictable schedule may be disappointed. Applicants must be prepared for a “fully flexible schedule including days, nights, weekends, holidays, and short notice shifts.”

At $64,500 annually, the Gracie Mansion position pays considerably more than the average compensation for comparable cooking jobs in New York City, according to Salary Expert.

It also pays more than some other culinary positions within city government. A senior cook opening posted last month by the New York City Department of Correction offered a maximum salary of $52,242.

The newest member of the Gracie Mansion kitchen will work under Executive Chef Feliberto Estevez, who has remained in charge of the mayoral residence’s kitchen through the administrations of Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams and now Mamdani.

Mamdani confirmed in June that Estevez would remain in the position. The mayor said some of the most noticeable culinary changes under his administration included bringing meat back onto the menu while excluding pork — and ending the green smoothies that became closely associated with Adams.

Adams had posted videos showing himself preparing the unusual drink, which combined romaine lettuce, avocado, banana, orange and red apple.

Asked whether he had instructed the Gracie Mansion staff to continue making his predecessor’s vegetable-and-fruit concoction, Mamdani indicated that he had not.

“I have not asked,” Mamdani told Fox 5.

{Matzav.com}

A 40-year-old Jewish woman was tragically killed after a vehicle plunged into a residential backyard swimming pool on Elinor Road in Hewlett, Long Island.

The horrific accident occurred when the vehicle apparently left the roadway, crashed onto private property and landed in the swimming pool behind a home.

Emergency personnel rushed to the scene following reports of the crash. Despite efforts to save the victim, the woman was pronounced dead.

The circumstances surrounding the crash, including what caused the vehicle to leave the roadway, were not immediately clear. Authorities are investigating the sequence of events leading up to the fatal accident.

It was also not immediately clear whether anyone else was inside the vehicle at the time of the crash or whether additional injuries were reported.

Additional details, including the identity of the victim, have not yet been released.

Boruch Dayan Ha’emes.

{Matzav.com}

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly pursued a far more ambitious role in American political life than previously known after leaving their duties as senior members of the British royal family, including an alleged effort by Markle to position herself for Kamala Harris’ U.S. Senate seat and a later attempt by the couple to secure an Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden.

According to a source cited by the New York Post, Markle sought a meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election because she “wanted to be considered to be appointed” to Harris’ Senate seat if the California senator became vice president. The source said the conversation was publicly portrayed as a welcome-to-California discussion in an effort to head off questions about its purpose.

It remains unclear how seriously Newsom considered any such request. After Harris resigned from the Senate shortly before becoming vice president on Jan. 20, 2021, Newsom selected then-California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the vacancy. Padilla went on to win a full six-year Senate term in the 2022 election.

A source close to Harry and Meghan strongly denied that Markle had sought Harris’ Senate seat

A memorandum from Newsom’s office that emerged in February 2021 showed that the governor held an “introductory meeting” with Harry and Meghan on Oct. 19, 2020. Newsom’s office characterized the conversation as social and did not disclose what was discussed. It was unclear whether Markle separately sought another meeting with the governor following the election.

Had Markle actually been appointed to the Senate, her status as the Duchess of Sussex could have raised significant constitutional questions. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution provides that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust … shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

The presence of a member of the British royal family in the U.S. Senate could also have collided with longstanding American hostility toward hereditary titles. Alexander Hamilton wrote in “The Federalist Papers” that “the importance of the prohibition of titles of nobility … [is] the corner-stone of republican government; for so long as they are excluded, there can never be serious danger that the government will be any other than that of the people.”

The reported interest in Harris’ Senate seat was not the only effort by Harry and Meghan to establish connections at the highest levels of American politics after their departure from royal duties.

In late 2021, the couple sought a meeting with Biden inside the Oval Office and also requested accommodations at Blair House, the presidential guest residence generally used to host foreign dignitaries during official visits, according to multiple sources.

White House officials rejected the proposal. One source said an Oval Office appearance featuring Biden alongside Harry and Meghan “would have caused a major diplomatic kerfuffle” with both the British government and the Royal Family.

A former Biden administration official said Biden and first lady Jill Biden, both admirers of Queen Elizabeth II, were wary of becoming entangled in the highly publicized tensions between Harry and other members of his family.

The Bidens “didn’t want to get into a family squabble,” the source said.

An Oval Office reception and stay at Blair House would have given Harry and Meghan a significant boost in stature as they attempted to establish a new public identity in the United States following their January 2020 departure from frontline royal duties, widely dubbed “Megxit.”

The couple enlisted several political consultants with ties to the Obama administration, including Miranda Barbot, who currently serves as Harry’s chief of staff. Those connections reportedly helped provide a channel to the Biden White House through which the couple’s request was communicated.

Jen Psaki, who served as Biden’s White House press secretary after previously working as communications director in the Obama administration, was reportedly among those connections. Psaki wrote in her 2024 memoir, “Say More,” that Markle once sent a box of lemons to her home in Virginia so that Psaki could personally bring them through White House security and deliver them to Jill Biden’s East Wing office.

A source close to the Sussexes denied Thursday that Harry and Meghan had requested either an Oval Office meeting or accommodations at Blair House. However, the couple reportedly made another unusual request involving the presidency the following year.

After Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022, Harry and Meghan inquired about returning to the United States aboard Air Force One, according to the report.

That request was quickly rejected.

The couple also became involved in American political issues through public statements and advocacy. During a September 2020 video appearance for Time magazine, they encouraged Americans to vote and “reject hate speech,” remarks widely interpreted at the time as favoring Biden. The intervention drew criticism from those who argued that Harry and Meghan were violating the British royal tradition of remaining outside partisan politics.

“I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it,” Trump responded dismissively to the couple’s appeal.

Markle, who remained an American citizen after marrying Harry in 2018, later became directly involved in a major legislative debate. In November 2021, she personally contacted several U.S. senators as part of an effort to advocate for federally mandated paid family leave.

Despite those moves, Harry and Meghan never succeeded in establishing the kind of major political influence they reportedly sought, with their attempts to build a significant role in American politics eventually losing momentum alongside setbacks in some of their Hollywood and lifestyle ventures.

Sources said the couple also eventually exhausted some of the goodwill they initially enjoyed within the Biden administration, despite the Bidens’ personal sympathy toward Harry over the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a 1997 automobile crash. Biden had himself endured a devastating family tragedy when his first wife, Neilia, and infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a 1972 car accident that also injured his sons Beau and Hunter.

Jill Biden had meanwhile been a regular presence at the Invictus Games, the international sporting competition for wounded military personnel founded by Harry in 2014, and had frequently appeared alongside the prince at the event. After becoming first lady in January 2021, however, she stopped attending, reportedly because of concerns over the political and diplomatic optics created by Harry’s split from the Royal Family.

{Matzav.com}

More than four decades after the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, a painful chapter in Israeli military history has finally come to a close, as the remains of Staff Sgt. Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, the last soldier still missing from the 1982 battle, were laid to rest on Har Hazeisim in Yerushalayim.

Katz’s remains were located this week in Lebanon during a joint operation carried out by the IDF and Mossad, 44 years after he disappeared during the First Lebanon War.

The funeral procession began at the Kerem B’Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva, where Katz had learned before serving in the IDF, and continued to Har Hazeisim.

Rav Mordechai Greenberg, the rosh yeshiva, recalled Katz’s commitment to maintaining his spiritual standards while serving in the military.

“Yehuda wrote for himself what special commitments he had undertaken to uphold in the army,” Rav Greenberg said.

The Association of Hesder Yeshivot said Katz embodied the ideals upon which the Hesder system was established — combining Torah learning with a sense of responsibility toward the Jewish people and Eretz Yisroel.

Katz’s brother, Avi, delivered an emotional hesped, describing the decades of uncertainty endured by the family and the difficulty of finally accepting that his brother had been identified.

“How much hope and longing for rebirth and a new beginning your name carries. When the army informed us that you were missing, Dad’s first sentence was, Auschwitz is not over. When they came this week to tell us about the identification, it took us 14 hours of struggle to convince ourselves that this was final. My brother, today we are burying you, but this is not our private story, this is the story of Am Yisrael,” he said.

Avi recalled how his brother had touched the lives of others from a young age and said his influence only grew during the 44 years that he remained missing.

“Already from a young age, you touched people and influenced them deeply. There are countless stories we hear from your friends, and in the 44 years of your absence, your influence did not diminish but only intensified. My children and my sister’s children grew up with you, prayed and hoped, dreamed dreams about you and about the day you would return to us. Dad and Mom traveled for 12 years, night after night, summer, winter, rain, snow, from Ramat Gan to the Kosel in Yerushalayim to pray for you to return. We never despaired and never gave up on you for a moment.”

Struggling through his grief, Avi said that the discovery of his brother’s remains had brought pain rather than relief.

“The feeling when we were informed that he had been found was not relief or joy, but pain and deep sadness, like someone had plunged a knife deep into his heart. For us, Yehuda was killed this week and not 44 years ago. At this moment, I ask your forgiveness for all those moments when I despaired.”

Col. Gal Levy, commander of the IDF’s 10th Brigade, delivered remarks on behalf of the military, reflecting on the question that had haunted the Katz family for more than four decades.

“44 years in which Yehuda was missing. Years of longing, memories and one question that gave no rest: Where are you? The tank soldier who went out to battle and did not return. That question accompanied the Katz family for four decades. Today we can say Yehuda has returned home, after the family never stopped the struggle to bring him back. Sadly, his parents Sarah and Yosef are not here with us at this historic and painful moment.”

The Association of Hesder Yeshivot also issued a lengthy statement honoring Katz and the persistence of those who never stopped hoping for his return.

“For 44 years, Yehuda Yekutiel Katz was missing from his family, his friends, Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva and the entire Hesder Yeshiva family. Generations of students were born and grew up since that battle, but the prayer for his return never ceased. Yehuda embodied in his character the deep foundation upon which the world of Hesder Yeshivot was built – the connection between the bais medrash and responsibility for the nation and the land. Between toil in Torah and the willingness to leave the seforim at a moment’s notice, put on a uniform and go out to defend Israel. We embrace the Katz family, his friends and the family of Kerem B’Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva.”

Katz disappeared during the fierce Battle of Sultan Yacoub on June 11, 1982, the sixth day of Operation Peace for Galilee. The battle took place south of the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub in the Bekaa Valley, just hours before a ceasefire was scheduled to take effect.

Twenty Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle, dozens more were wounded, and six soldiers were initially listed as missing.

Three of those missing soldiers were subsequently returned to Israel through prisoner-exchange agreements.

The remains of Zachary Baumel were recovered in April 2019 with assistance from the Russian Defense Ministry. The remains of Zvi Feldman were brought back to Israel on May 11, 2025, following a covert Mossad operation.

With the identification and return of Yehuda Yekutiel Katz this week, the fate of the final missing soldier from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub has now been resolved, bringing an end to a 44-year wait for his family and for Israel.

{Matzav.com}

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has developed a carefully structured strategy, backed by President Donald Trump, aimed at bringing the nation’s soaring $40 trillion debt under greater control by ensuring that economic growth ultimately outpaces the growth of federal debt.

During an appearance on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline,” Vance said the administration’s approach has been deliberately pursued by Bessent and is already beginning to move the country in the desired direction.

“He [Bessent] has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the president of the United States, to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt,” Vance said on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline.”

Vance acknowledged that the size of the debt remains a serious problem, while blaming the Biden administration for leaving the Trump administration with what he described as a fiscal “debt bomb.” He said the key to addressing the problem is generating economic expansion at a faster pace than the debt accumulates.

“And if you look, we are on track. So, even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt and that’s the most important thing,” the vice president added.

Vance’s comments came the same day Bessent argued that robust economic growth can enable the United States to overcome its massive debt burden, which crossed the $40 trillion threshold on Wednesday.

“There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that,” Bessent told “Squawk on the Street” co-host Sara Eisen on CNBC.

The Treasury secretary also pushed back against what he characterized as misleading claims surrounding the federal deficit and the deficit as a percentage of the nation’s gross domestic product.

“But what we do want to signal is I think there’s been a lot of misinformation in terms of what’s going on with the deficit, what’s going on with the deficit to GDP,” he added.

Bessent said part of the current debt picture reflects a temporary factor stemming from tariff refunds mandated by the Supreme Court after its February ruling against emergency tariffs imposed by Trump.

According to Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer intends to establish “the same level of tariffs,” which the Treasury secretary expects will leave “2026 tariff income is going to be roughly what it was in ’25.”

The $40 trillion debt milestone has renewed concerns on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have increasingly warned about Washington’s inability to meaningfully confront a fiscal problem that has grown steadily more difficult to ignore.

Republicans have generally pointed to the scale of federal spending and the cost of entitlement programs as major drivers of the country’s mounting debt. Democrats, meanwhile, have argued for raising additional revenue from wealthy Americans and corporations while also pursuing changes to federal spending.

The IDF has eliminated a Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7 massacre, was involved in holding numerous Israeli hostages in Gaza, and later took part in their transfer to the Red Cross during the November 2023 hostage releases.

The terrorist, Sabhi Sami Mahmoud Shahatut, was killed Wednesday in an IDF strike in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza. Shahatut served as a platoon commander in Hamas’ military wing.

According to the IDF, Shahatut infiltrated Israeli territory during the Hamas-led massacre on October 7 and subsequently played a role in holding multiple hostages in Hamas captivity throughout the war.

Shahatut was also directly involved in the November 2023 hostage releases conducted as part of Operation “Heaven’s Doors.” He participated in Hamas’ staged handover ceremonies and was documented transferring returning Israeli hostages into the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The IDF said that more recently, Shahatut had been working to advance terrorist attacks against both Israeli troops and civilians.

The military said he was therefore targeted and eliminated in order to remove the threat he posed.

IDF Southern Command forces remain deployed throughout the area in accordance with the existing agreement and will continue operating against any immediate threats to Israeli forces and civilians, the military said.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump and his onetime personal attorney Michael Cohen appear to have put years of bitter hostility behind them, with the two speaking directly in a radio interview and Trump praising Cohen for walking back previous claims he made about the president.

Excerpts from their conversation aired Thursday on Cohen’s program on New York’s 77 WABC, with the complete interview scheduled to be broadcast Sunday.

Cohen spent years as Trump’s personal attorney and fixer before becoming one of his fiercest adversaries. Their relationship collapsed spectacularly, and Cohen later emerged as the prosecution’s star witness in Trump’s 2024 New York criminal trial involving hush-money payments. Cohen acknowledged in court that he facilitated payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels related to an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

During their new conversation, however, Trump struck a dramatically different tone toward his onetime confidant, arguing that Cohen had been used as part of a broader campaign against him and praising him for subsequently reversing his previous statements.

“They weaponized you; they weaponized a lot of people, and I respect the fact that you recanted everything you said, and that’s a big thing that you did,” Trump said during the interview.

Cohen has recently made public efforts to repair his relationship with Trump. Appearing last month on John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby’s WABC program “Cats & Cosby,” Cohen revealed that he unexpectedly received a message from Trump approximately six months earlier.

“Out of nowhere, when I was sitting with my wife at a restaurant, my phone buzzed and it was a text from that friend who expressed to me the president’s genuine empathy for the hell that I was being dragged through … I deeply appreciated that text,” Cohen said. “I actually texted the president. I thanked him. Expressed my sincere hope that this long, exhausting feud between the two of us could finally end.”

According to Cohen, Trump responded “almost immediately” and indicated that it was “actually time for us to meet.”

Cohen leaned into the extraordinary reconciliation on his own program Thursday, playing War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” immediately before airing the Trump interview.

Once the conversation began, the former bitter rivals moved on to politics and policy, discussing polling and the state of the economy. Trump expressed confidence about his political standing and suggested that his margin of victory would be enormous if he were facing voters now.

“running today, I think I’d win by 25 points.”

The discussion also touched on immigration and security at the southern border, along with U.S. military operations involving Venezuela and Iran.

Trump additionally addressed Israel and the Middle East, asserting that his presidency had been critical to Israel’s survival and that the region would otherwise have faced devastating consequences.

“Look, there would be no Israel if there was not a Donald Trump president,” he said.

A New York Jewish couple visiting South Florida was subjected to a violent antisemitic attack in Surfside, with the assailant allegedly striking the husband in the head, hurling antisemitic abuse at the couple and threatening to kill him.

Jordan Steven Peruzzo, 35, was arrested Wednesday at the Surfside restaurant where he works in connection with the attack. Authorities allege that Peruzzo targeted the victim because of his Jewish religious and ethnic identity.

The incident occurred Sunday evening near 95th Street and Harding Avenue in Surfside, an area that is home to a large Jewish community.

The victims, Avraham and his wife, Sofia, were visiting from New York and had just left a restaurant when Peruzzo allegedly approached them while riding an electric scooter.

According to police and the victims’ accounts, Peruzzo began directing antisemitic insults at the couple and Jews generally, referring to them as “evil demons.”

The confrontation then allegedly turned physical, with Peruzzo striking Avraham in the head and threatening his life.

“Now you’re going to die,” Peruzzo allegedly told him.

“Stay away before I kill you,” he also allegedly threatened.

Sofia managed to record part of the confrontation on her cellphone. She said Peruzzo also attempted to attack her during the incident.

The confrontation ended after an older passerby intervened, shouting at the alleged attacker in Spanish and causing him to flee the area.

Surfside Police Chief Jay Matelis said his department would not tolerate attacks of this nature.

Police records reportedly indicate that Peruzzo has had previous encounters with law enforcement. In June, he was arrested on suspicion of slashing a giant inflatable World Cup soccer ball displayed in Miami Beach.

Avraham and Sofia expressed appreciation to police for their swift handling of the case.

Despite the frightening attack, the couple said they would not allow the incident to deter them from returning to South Florida in the future.

{Matzav.com}

The New York Times was ordered Thursday to pay $9.25 million to former University of Alabama basketball player Kai Spears after an Alabama jury found that the newspaper defamed him in a 2023 article that falsely placed him at the scene of a deadly shooting.

Spears was an 18-year-old freshman walk-on with the Alabama Crimson Tide when the Times published a report incorrectly identifying him as a passenger in a vehicle present at the scene of the January 2023 shooting that killed 23-year-old Jamea Harris.

Following a nine-day trial, an eight-member jury sided with Spears and determined that he was entitled to $9.25 million in damages from the newspaper.

The false identification appeared in a March 2023 article written by New York Times sports reporter Billy Witz. The report linked Spears to the scene of the fatal shooting despite the fact that he had not been the person inside the vehicle.

The Times eventually appended a lengthy editor’s note to the article in June 2023, after Spears had already filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

“The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with [Crimson Tide star player] Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred,” the note began.

The Times acknowledged that its initial reporting had relied on information that wrongly identified Spears. The newspaper also said that although Spears’ father and the University of Alabama athletic director had denied that Spears was present, the Times initially reviewed its reporting and decided against making any further changes.

“Based on information from a person familiar with the case, the article erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player. After the article was initially published, Alabama’s athletic director and Spears’s father denied that Spears was present. The Times included those responses and reviewed its reporting, but did not conclude that any other change to the article was warranted at that time.

“On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report.”

During the trial, Witz testified about the sourcing behind the incorrect identification. The longtime Times reporter, who began working for the newspaper in 2008, said one anonymous source he relied upon was a “high-level person, professional.”

Witz explained that he considered the source well-positioned to know details surrounding the case because of the individual’s professional position and access to investigative materials.

“I think the way I was looking at it, Source A, by their job title and by virtue of their access to the transcript, videos and impound photos, was somebody who knew a lot about this case,” Witz said, according to a report from The Tuscaloosa Patch.

Witz also described the broader direction he believed the article was taking as he worked on the story.

“In my mind, the story had a focus, and this tragedy, as bad as it was, could have been much worse.”

Another unnamed source had provided Witz with a vague description of the person believed to have been in the vehicle, without supplying a name.

“I can tell you it’s a White guy on the basketball team, I just don’t remember his name,” that source told Witz, according to his testimony.

While testifying at the defamation trial, Witz ultimately acknowledged that the published account had gotten a significant fact wrong.

“Yes, [the story] had a mistake, no question.”

The Times, reporting on the verdict itself, noted that the case marked an extraordinary legal defeat for the newspaper. According to its account, the Times had not lost a defamation lawsuit in the United States stemming from one of its articles in more than half a century.

Following the jury’s decision, the newspaper said it disagreed both with the finding of liability and with the multimillion-dollar damages award and indicated that it could pursue further legal action.

“We’re disappointed the jury found The Times liable for an honest mistake,” a Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We thank the jury for its service, but believe the verdict and award of damages are contrary to law and not supported by the evidence. We are reviewing our legal options.”

Dear Matzav Inbox,

There comes a point when a community is entitled to ask a question that nobody in government wants to hear.

Is Lakewood, NJ being punished?

I understand how serious that question is. I understand that accusing an elected official of political retribution is not something to toss around casually. I also understand that budgets are complicated, that federal cuts have consequences, that Trenton has its own fiscal problems, and that every government official can produce a spreadsheet explaining why this dollar disappeared and that program had to be reduced.

But there is also something called looking at what is happening in front of your eyes.

And what is happening to Lakewood right now is outrageous.

Families throughout the Lakewood region learned yesterday that the cost of non-mandated busing through the Lakewood Student Transportation Authority is exploding from $385 per child to $945 for the coming school year. It is an additional $560 per child, announced practically on the doorstep of the new school year.

Think about what that means in Lakewood.

We are not talking about a town where the typical family has one child who needs transportation to school. A family with four children affected by the increase is suddenly looking at $3,780 for busing. Five children? $4,725. Six? $5,670.

For a bus to get your children to school.

And this is happening in a community where families are already being squeezed from every direction.

So naturally, people want to know: How did we get here?

The answer begins well before the $945 bill landed in parents’ laps.

Lakewood has an educational structure unlike virtually any other municipality in New Jersey. Tens of thousands of children attend nonpublic schools, creating transportation obligations and other expenses that simply do not fit neatly into a state school-funding formula designed around conventional public-school districts. This isn’t some newly invented Lakewood talking point. The problem has been litigated for years, and an appellate court previously found merit in Lakewood’s contention that its unusual financial circumstances, including the enormous costs associated with transporting nonpublic-school children and providing special-education services, were not adequately addressed by the state’s system.

And now, instead of fixing the problem, government has tightened the vise.

The Sherrill administration came into office confronting a state budget gap and proposed billions of dollars in spending reductions. The governor’s first budget ultimately totaled more than $60 billion, and New Jersey nevertheless retained billions of dollars in reserves.

At the same time, the Trump administration’s federal reductions have placed additional pressure on New Jersey and its municipalities. Governor Sherrill herself has repeatedly complained about the impact of federal cuts on the state.

Fine.

Blame Washington where Washington deserves blame. If President Trump’s administration cut money that Lakewood relied upon, say so. Republican dollars aren’t greener than Democratic dollars. A cut is a cut, and Lakewood families don’t care whether the hand reaching into their pockets has an R or a D attached to it.

But then comes the part that is so difficult to swallow.

Lakewood cannot simply make up the shortfall by raising whatever revenue it needs. New Jersey has imposed restrictions on local property-tax levy increases. The state controls the rules, controls the funding structure and, in Lakewood’s case, has exercised extraordinary oversight over the school district.

In other words, government can reduce the money coming in, limit the ability to replace it locally, and then stand back when services have to be eliminated.

What exactly did everyone think was going to happen?

Money doesn’t materialize because somebody in Trenton uses the words “fiscal responsibility.”

When the dollars disappear and Lakewood cannot replace them, something has to go.

And this time, it was the buses.

The elimination of non-mandated transportation funding has pushed the burden directly onto parents, resulting in the astonishing $945-per-child charge that families are now staring at. According to reporting surrounding the current crisis, approximately $2.7 million had been associated with the busing funding at issue.

And that brings us back to Governor Mikie Sherrill.

Governor, Lakewood remembers Election Day. You certainly do, too.

Lakewood went overwhelmingly for Jack Ciattarelli.

This wasn’t exactly a secret ballot collectively. The Orthodox community’s political leadership made a unified push for Ciattarelli, and contemporary election coverage specifically identified Lakewood as a major source of Republican strength. Even in analyzing congressional-district results after the election, the New Jersey Globe noted that Lakewood had voted overwhelmingly for Ciattarelli.

Maybe Lakewood made the wrong choice. Maybe it made the right choice. That’s democracy. People vote. Sometimes they vote for you. Sometimes they don’t. You won anyway. Congratulations.

But once the election is over, you become governor of all of New Jersey.

That includes Newark. That includes Jersey City. That includes Montclair. And yes, Governor Sherrill, it includes Lakewood.

Even Lakewood. Especially Lakewood.

This is where the optics become impossible to ignore.

A community votes overwhelmingly against the governor. Months later, that same community finds itself facing a devastating financial squeeze involving one of its most basic daily needs. State funding disappears. Local revenue options are constrained. Non-mandated transportation gets sacrificed. And suddenly ordinary parents are handed a bill of $945 per child.

Are we supposed to pretend nobody is going to connect those dots?

Now, can I prove that Governor Sherrill sat in an office somewhere and said, “Lakewood voted against me, so take away their money”? No.

And unless somebody produces evidence of that, nobody should claim that as an established fact.

But politics is also about trust. Government officials have an obligation not merely to avoid retaliation, but to govern in a manner that does not reasonably leave communities wondering whether retaliation is exactly what they are experiencing.

Right now, many Lakewood families have every reason to wonder. Because from where they are sitting, this sure feels like revenge. And if it isn’t revenge, Governor Sherrill has a wonderful opportunity to prove it.

Restore the funding. Fix the problem.

Call in the people who understand Lakewood’s unique school transportation system and figure out how to prevent thousands of working families from absorbing a massive, last-minute increase.

Don’t give us a speech. Don’t tell us about federal cuts. Don’t explain that the formula is complicated. We know it’s complicated. Governing is complicated. That’s why we have a governor.

What is particularly galling is that the state knows Lakewood is different. Everyone knows it. Lakewood isn’t hiding 30,000-plus nonpublic-school children in somebody’s basement. The demographic reality of this town has been discussed in Trenton for years. The transportation problem has been discussed for years. The funding problem has been litigated for years.

And yet somehow every few years Lakewood arrives at another crisis and everybody acts surprised.

How many times can you watch the same movie and still gasp at the ending?

There is another point that needs to be said plainly. Busing in Lakewood is not some luxury perk. Anyone who lives here understands what putting thousands more children into private vehicles twice a day would mean.

Have you driven on Route 9? Have you tried Cross Street at school arrival time? Have you been on County Line Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Cedar Bridge Avenue or Oak Street when schools are letting out?

School transportation in Lakewood is not merely an educational convenience. It is part of the functioning infrastructure of one of New Jersey’s largest and fastest-growing communities.

Take children off buses and you don’t make the transportation need disappear. You replace buses with cars. Lots and lots and lots of cars.

Parents still have jobs. Children still have to get to school. Schools still open in the morning. So now mothers and fathers who cannot afford another several thousand dollars annually will have to start arranging carpools, leaving work, juggling schedules and putting additional vehicles onto roads that are already bursting.

Who wins? The children don’t. The parents don’t. The schools don’t. Motorists don’t. Lakewood doesn’t. And New Jersey doesn’t.

Which is why the response from Trenton cannot simply be: Sorry, that’s the budget.

Governor Sherrill campaigned on affordability. That was one of the central themes of her campaign and of the Democratic message that carried New Jersey in 2025. Well, Governor, here is affordability. It isn’t a slogan. It is a father sitting at his kitchen table calculating $945 times four. It is a mother wondering whether she should pay the transportation bill or try to construct a carpool for children attending different schools at different times. It is a family already paying tuition, property taxes, food bills, insurance and every other expense of raising children in New Jersey being informed, at the end of August, that another several thousand dollars is now their problem. That is affordability.

And there is something else.

Lakewood pays taxes too. Sometimes one gets the impression that because so many Lakewood children attend yeshivos, the families raising those children somehow exist outside the ordinary compact between taxpayers and government. They don’t. Their parents pay property taxes. They pay sales taxes. They pay income taxes. They pay gasoline taxes. They own businesses. They employ people. They contribute enormously to the economy of Ocean County and New Jersey.

Their children count.

A child does not become less deserving of a functioning transportation system because his parents send him to a yeshiva. And a family does not forfeit its right to fair treatment from Trenton because it pulled the lever for Jack Ciattarelli.

That, ultimately, is the issue.

Not Jack. Not Trump. Not Republicans. Not Democrats. Fairness.

If the state government’s position is that these reductions were entirely fiscal, entirely neutral and entirely unrelated to Lakewood’s politics, then show Lakewood.

Don’t demand that the community prove retaliation. Prove that it wasn’t.

Explain why these dollars had to disappear. Explain what alternatives were examined. Explain why a community whose transportation situation is unlike anywhere else in the state should absorb this blow. Explain why Trenton cannot find roughly $2.7 million for transportation in a state budget exceeding $60 billion.

And then fix it.

Because $2.7 million sounds enormous around a kitchen table. In a $60.74 billion state budget, it is approximately four one-thousandths of one percent. Four one-thousandths of one percent.

You’re telling us the State of New Jersey cannot figure this out? Please.

Lakewood should also learn something from this. We love politics when politics loves us. We take pictures with candidates. We announce endorsements. We talk about voting blocs and influence and access and who can deliver whom. Wonderful.

But political influence is not measured by how many politicians appear at a pre-election event. It is measured the morning after the election. It is measured when your candidate loses. It is measured when the person you didn’t support controls the budget and your community needs $2.7 million. That is when you discover how much influence you actually have.

So where is everybody? Where are Lakewood’s elected officials? Where are the people who have relationships in Trenton? Where are the people who told us for years how important Lakewood has become politically?

This is the moment. Not three weeks before an election. Now.

Governor Sherrill, Lakewood didn’t vote for you. Yippie do. Shame on us, perhaps. Or perhaps not. But you are our governor anyway. That’s how America works. And if what is happening here truly has nothing whatsoever to do with politics, then there is a very simple way to demonstrate that.

Treat Lakewood like it voted for you. Find the money. Restore the transportation funding. Get the $945 burden off the backs of families who cannot afford it. And show the people of Lakewood that elections determine who governs us — not which communities deserve to be governed fairly.

Because if Trenton cannot do that, people are going to keep asking the question: Is this about the budget? Or is Lakewood being taught a lesson for Election Day?

Governor Sherrill, the next move is yours.

Avi Shapiro

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El Al canceled a flight from New York to Israel on Friday after delays made it impossible for the aircraft to reach Eretz Yisroel before the onset of Shabbos, with passengers already aboard the plane when the decision was made.

Flight LY8 had been scheduled to depart from John F. Kennedy International Airport, but a series of delays pushed back its departure. Eventually, airline officials determined that even if the plane took off, it would no longer be able to land in Israel before shkiah on Friday.

Rather than risk operating the flight on Shabbos, El Al canceled the flight altogether in keeping with the airline’s longstanding policy of not flying on Shabbos.

Passengers, who had already boarded the aircraft and taken their seats, were informed that the flight would not be departing. The plane returned to the gate, the passengers were asked to disembark, and their luggage was unloaded.

As of Friday morning, El Al had not announced when the stranded passengers would be placed on another flight or what arrangements would be made for them in the meantime.

El Al, Israel’s national carrier, operates under Jewish ownership and has long maintained a policy of Shabbos observance. Its aircraft do not operate from Friday evening through Motzoei Shabbos, and the airline’s schedules are generally structured to ensure that flights arrive before Shabbos begins.

Under Israeli aviation law, an airline may, under certain circumstances, cancel a flight when necessary to avoid landing after the onset of Shabbos. In such cases, the carrier may also be exempt from the usual financial compensation requirements that apply to canceled flights, depending on the circumstances and applicable provisions of the law.

That exemption, however, does not mean that passengers lose their other rights following a cancellation. Travelers whose flights are canceled are generally entitled to choose between being placed on an alternative flight or receiving a full refund, in accordance with Israeli law.

Passengers who face extended delays may also be entitled to assistance from the airline, including food and beverages. Where necessary, those obligations can also include hotel accommodations and transportation between the airport and the hotel.

It remains unclear whether El Al will place the LY8 passengers aboard regularly scheduled flights after Shabbos or arrange a special replacement flight.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio performed slightly better than Vice President JD Vance across most of a series of hypothetical 2028 general-election contests, according to a new national poll testing the two leading Republicans against several potential Democrat presidential candidates.

The Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey examined how Rubio and Vance would fare against five possible Democrat nominees. Rubio posted stronger numbers than Vance in four of the five hypothetical races included in the poll.

The largest gap between the two Republicans emerged in a matchup with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris defeated Vance 49% to 45% in the hypothetical contest, while Rubio turned the result around and held a five-point lead over her.

Rubio also performed more strongly than Vance when paired against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, although both Democrats maintained leads in those matchups.

Newsom held a five-point advantage over Vance, but his lead dropped to two points when matched against Rubio. Ossoff likewise led Vance by five points, compared with a three-point advantage over Rubio.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was the only potential Democrat candidate against whom Rubio did not improve upon Vance’s showing. Buttigieg led each Republican by five percentage points.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was the lone Democrat in the survey who lost hypothetical matchups against both Republican contenders.

Vance led Ocasio-Cortez by two points, while Rubio’s advantage over the progressive New York congresswoman stood at five points.

A significant number of voters remain uncommitted at this extremely early stage of the 2028 presidential cycle. At least 6% of respondents said they were undecided in every matchup tested, leaving substantial potential for the numbers to shift before the election.

The Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey questioned 1,000 likely voters from Aug. 16 through Aug. 17 and reported a credibility interval of plus or minus three percentage points.

Neither Rubio nor Vance has formally declared his candidacy for president in 2028.

Both men, however, have increasingly been viewed as leading potential contenders to eventually succeed President Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s presidential standard-bearer.

Previous Emerson polling has shown an extraordinarily close contest between them among Republican primary voters. A national survey conducted in July placed Vance at 39% and Rubio at 38%.

The same pattern appeared in an Emerson survey released in May, when Vance received 36% support among Republican primary voters and Rubio followed at 35%.

Rubio, who previously competed for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has indicated that he would step aside for Vance if the vice president ultimately decides to seek the presidency.

Vance, meanwhile, has said he intends to discuss the possibility of a 2028 campaign with his wife following the November midterm elections.

Trump has spoken favorably about both potential successors and has previously floated the possibility of the two eventually joining forces, saying a Vance-Rubio pairing would make “a great team.”

While the polling provides an early snapshot of Rubio and Vance’s prominent positions within the Republican Party, the large number of undecided voters and the more than two years remaining before the 2028 election leave both the GOP succession battle and the eventual general-election contest far from settled.

[Video below.] Torrential rain and powerful thunderstorms battered Brooklyn on Thursday evening, flooding streets and sending water pouring into basements, businesses and other low-lying locations, including the main bais medrash at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights.

Photos and videos from the 770 building showed substantial flooding inside the Main Shul after the intense downpour overwhelmed drainage in and around the heavily trafficked synagogue.

As conditions rapidly deteriorated, the National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Warning for Brooklyn and Manhattan shortly before 5:40 p.m. The warning was scheduled to remain in effect through 7:45 p.m., while additional flood warnings were posted for other sections of New York City as the storm system crossed the region.

A Flood Watch was also put into effect for New York City through 2 a.m. Friday. Officials cautioned that intense rainfall could cause water to accumulate rapidly on streets and highways and in underpasses, basements and other areas particularly susceptible to flooding.

Thursday evening’s severe weather was part of a broader storm system moving across the Tri-State Area, producing thunderstorms and periods of torrential rain during the evening commute. Forecasters said some sections of the city could experience rainfall rates approaching two inches per hour.

New York City Emergency Management specifically warned residents living in basement apartments to remain alert and be prepared to relocate to higher ground if conditions worsen. Officials noted that basement flooding can develop with little warning during intense rainfall and also urged residents never to attempt to walk or drive through flooded streets.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

A yeshiva bochur who is the grandson of a prominent rosh yeshiva was arrested near Ben Shemen Forest late Thursday night and subsequently transferred to the Military Police after authorities determined that he was classified as an army deserter, triggering protests and clashes near the Maccabim checkpoint.

The bochur was identified as Motti Mishkovsky, a talmid at Yeshivas Nesivos Yitzchok in Tel Aviv, headed by Rav Lau. Mishkovsky previously learned at Yeshivas Bais Mattisyahu.

Mishkovsky is a grandson of Rav Nosson Zochovsky, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Gaon Yaakov and chairman of the spiritual committee of the Israeli Yated Ne’eman.

According to the report, Mishkovsky was initially detained by Israel Police near Ben Shemen Forest. After authorities discovered that he was listed as a military deserter, he was turned over to the Military Police for his failure to report for army service.

News of the arrest prompted an alert through the “Tzeva Shachor” system, which is used to mobilize protesters following arrests of yeshiva bochurim over the draft issue. Because the arrest took place near Ben Shemen Forest, however, protesters were unable to quickly gather at the location itself.

Instead, the protest shifted to the Maccabim checkpoint, where demonstrations escalated into disturbances and confrontations with police.

The latest arrest comes amid an intensification of enforcement efforts against those who have failed to report for military service, with the status of yeshiva bochurim remaining at the center of the ongoing confrontation over Israel’s draft policies.

Just two days earlier, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara called for the IDF and Israel Police to resume proactive enforcement operations and arrests against draft evaders from all sectors of the population, citing the principle of equal enforcement.

In a response submitted to the High Court, the attorney general’s office also acknowledged the particular difficulties authorities face when conducting planned arrests of Chareidi draft evaders because such operations frequently lead to large demonstrations and public disturbances.

The filing cited military and police officials as pointing to “the significant difficulty that currently exists in carrying out proactive operations and arresting draft evaders from the Chareidi public, in light of the large-scale disturbances that accompany them.”

{Matzav.com}

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is publicly urging New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to concentrate on the day-to-day responsibilities of governing the nation’s largest city rather than continuing to focus attention on Israel, as his rhetoric and policies toward the Jewish state remain a source of controversy.

In an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, Hochul was questioned about Mamdani’s approach to Israel and, in particular, a video the mayor released last month addressing his repeated campaign pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu.

In the video, which generated hundreds of millions of views, Mamdani acknowledged that he does not possess the legal authority to order Netanyahu’s arrest despite having repeatedly promised to do so. The mayor also leveled accusations against Israel, including describing Netanyahu as a war criminal.

The episode was the latest in a lengthy series of controversies surrounding Mamdani’s views on Israel. While campaigning for mayor, Mamdani refused to disavow the slogan “globalize the intifada.” He also faced fierce criticism over remarks he made about Israel on October 8, 2023, just one day after Hamas terrorists carried out the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Mamdani has repeatedly accused Israel of committing war crimes during its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. His stance toward Israel continued to generate controversy immediately after he entered City Hall, when, on his first day as mayor, he revoked executive orders related to Israel that had been enacted by his predecessor, Eric Adams.

The criticism has persisted during Mamdani’s tenure. He became the first New York City mayor to boycott the city’s annual Israel Day Parade, a decision that further strained his relationship with portions of New York’s Jewish community.

Mamdani’s rhetoric and policies have caused particular unease among Jewish New Yorkers at a time when the community has been confronting an increase in antisemitic incidents.

Asked by the Times whether Mamdani’s statements about Israel could leave Jewish residents feeling uncomfortable, Hochul suggested that the mayor would be better served by directing his attention toward the responsibilities awaiting him at City Hall.

“I encourage him to – ‘Let’s focus on blocking and tackling of city government,’” Hochul said, using the football metaphor to emphasize the basic work of managing the city.

The governor cited housing and child care as two major areas where she and Mamdani have common ground and where she believes the mayor’s attention would be more productively directed.

“That’s where I believe the main focus should be,” she added.

Hochul also emphasized that she remains firmly opposed to antisemitism and vowed to confront it whenever necessary, saying she would “throw my body against any antisemitism.”

“I have, and I will,” Hochul said.

The governor has previously broken with Mamdani over his rhetoric toward Netanyahu. When Mamdani’s pledge to arrest the Israeli prime minister became an issue late last year, Hochul dismissed the proposal as beyond the authority of a municipal government.

“The New York City mayor does not have the power to do that,” Hochul said at the time, while also distancing herself from other anti-Israel positions taken by Mamdani.

{Matzav.com}

The Belzer Rebbe has introduced a new practice for Belzer chassidim worldwide, calling on families — and particularly women lighting Shabbos candles — to add an additional candle each Shabbos and Yom Tov as a zechus for Jewish souls who have drifted away from Yiddishkeit, with a tefillah that they return to their roots.

The special initiative was announced Wednesday evening during a gathering at the Belzer Rebbe’s residence in Kiryat Belz in Yerushalayim, attended by leading Belzer rabbonim. The Rebbe expressed his desire that those who are able to do so without undue difficulty add one candle each week when lighting Shabbos candles. Along with the tefillos traditionally offered at that special time for one’s own children, families are being asked to daven for fellow Jews who have strayed, that they merit to return beneath the wings of the Shechinah and that Klal Yisroel merit the complete geulah soon.

Rav Pinchos Friedman and Rav Menachem Yisroel Reisman addressed the gathering in the presence of the Rebbe, speaking at length about the Rebbe’s longstanding devotion to bringing Jewish souls closer to Yiddishkeit. They expressed the hope and tefillah that the day will soon come when all of Klal Yisroel will be united in serving Hashem wholeheartedly.

At the beginning of his remarks, Rav Friedman formally announced the new practice on behalf of the Rebbe.

“By the holy instruction of the Rebbe, in the presence of the distinguished rabbonim and morei hora’ah, we hereby announce a practice requested by the Rebbe: Every Erev Shabbos, each person should add one candle for all the distant souls who, unfortunately, are far from Yiddishkeit, that they should merit to draw closer to kedushah, in the spirit of ‘For a mitzvah is a candle and Torah is light.’”

Rav Friedman then related that the Rebbe had asked, “What will be with Zeide’s candle?”

The Rebbe was referring to a well-known story from Belz concerning his grandfather, Rav Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the Mahari”d of Belz. In earlier generations of Belz, candles were prepared on the day of the Yud-Gimmel Middos on behalf of Jewish souls. One year, after the Mahari”d had completed preparing the candles, he took another wick and explained that he was preparing that candle for Jewish soldiers who were unable to properly observe the holy day.

The Mahari”d then took yet another candle and said that it was being prepared for Jews scattered throughout the farthest reaches of the world, “from Bohemia to San Francisco,” who did not even know that it was the holy day.

Rav Friedman also quoted the Belzer Rebbe as invoking the teaching that one who davens for another person while needing the same thing himself is answered first. By davening for Jews who have strayed from Yiddishkeit, he said, families can hope to merit that their own children continue along the path of Torah and yiras Shomayim.

The rabbonim further recalled a tradition dating back to the Sar Shalom of Belz that the preparation of the Shabbos candles is an especially auspicious time for bringing about yeshuos and refuos. They expressed the hope that the Rebbe’s new initiative — lighting an additional candle on behalf of Jewish souls — should bring blessing and salvation to Belzer chassidim and particularly to the Rebbe himself, with the tefillah that he continue leading his chassidim until the arrival of Moshiach.

At the conclusion of the gathering, the Belzer Rebbe personally emphasized that the practice should not become an undue burden.

“Adding a candle is certainly a great matter, and for someone who can light it without difficulty, it is a good thing!”

The Rebbe then requested one candle for himself and sent another to his son, Rav Aharon Mordechai Rokeach.

The European Union is reportedly preparing a package of sanctions against Israel that could affect trade, academic ties, security cooperation and diplomatic relations if Israel moves forward with construction in the strategic E1 corridor between Yerushalayim and Ma’ale Adumim.

According to a Channel 13 News report Thursday, two Western diplomats said European officials have already assembled a list of possible punitive measures. The diplomats also claimed that the United States is not opposed to the potential steps being considered by the EU.

Among the options reportedly being discussed are requirements to label Israeli goods, potentially including products manufactured within Israel rather than only in Judea and Samaria. Other possibilities include scaling back academic cooperation with Israel and freezing certain security and diplomatic partnerships.

The threatened European action comes after the Israeli government issued a tender Tuesday covering seven residential compounds and 1,234 housing units in E1. Those homes are part of approximately 3,400 housing units whose construction was approved in August 2025.

Britain has separately intensified its pressure on Israel over the project, with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband demanding Wednesday that the tender be withdrawn.

“This Israeli Government’s publication of a tender for the E1 settlement project is an unacceptable and destructive act. E1 would cut across the heart of Palestine and risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which would endanger the viability of a two-state solution,” Miliband said in a statement condemning the move.

Miliband argued that the British government has repeatedly made its opposition to E1 construction known to Israel and remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law,” he claimed.

The British foreign secretary said he personally raised the matter with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. Britain also summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires to formally protest the construction plans.

“Today, I made clear to the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that the Israeli Government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion. In addition, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires has been summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where we set out the UK’s profound objection to this move by the Netanyahu government and demanded an immediate reversal,” said Miliband.

Miliband further warned that London intends to announce additional measures targeting Israeli government policies in the coming weeks.

“Britain will not stand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution. In the coming weeks we will set out a comprehensive set of measures to respond to Israeli government policies, protect the viability of the Palestinian state, target sanctions at those who participate in illegal settlement expansion and support a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the UK Foreign Secretary declared.

Sa’ar responded Thursday by flatly rejecting the British demands and accusing Miliband of adopting a patronizing attitude toward Israel and the Jewish people.

“I reject outright the statement of the UK Foreign Secretary and the patronizing tone of his words,” Sa’ar wrote on social media.

Sa’ar argued that Jews have a historic right to reside throughout Eretz Yisroel and invoked Britain’s own role in recognizing the Jewish people’s right to reestablish their national home more than a century ago.

“The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel, just as the British have the right to live in London and throughout the United Kingdom. More than a century ago, the Balfour Declaration formally recognized the historic right of the Jewish people to re-establish their national home in the Land of Israel – including in the area in question.”

The foreign minister also accused Britain of applying a hypocritical standard to Israel while maintaining territories far beyond the British mainland.

“Britain itself still controls colonial territories thousands of miles from its shores. It is absurd for Britain to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their historic tiny homeland, when the Jewish people’s connection and right to this land is the most extensively documented of any people in human history.”

Sa’ar additionally challenged the portrayal of the E1 tender as representing a newly adopted Israeli policy, saying the underlying government decision had already been made last year and that the tender process had been progressing for months.

“There have been no new decisions regarding development in E1. The decision was made in 2025. The tender process has been underway for several months, with certain tender documents published only in recent days. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement is entirely one-sided.”

Later Thursday, Britain joined France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway in issuing a coordinated statement condemning the E1 tender, further increasing international pressure on the Israeli government.

The seven governments characterized the construction plans as “unacceptable” and demanded that Israel reverse course, saying they have repeatedly objected to the continued expansion of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

“The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank and harming the territorial contiguity of the Palestinian Territories,” the statement said.

The countries also reiterated their longstanding position that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria violate international law, citing a position they said has previously been reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council.

“We urge the Government of Israel to retract these plans immediately and end its expansion of settlements,” the statement said.

The seven governments concluded by warning that continued Israeli construction in the area would further undermine prospects for a negotiated peace agreement while also inflicting additional damage on Israel’s international standing.

{Matzav.com}

R’ Dovid Walder z”l, a longtime Magen David Adom volunteer and former chairman of the organization’s Rechovot branch committee, passed away at his home in Rechovot at the age of 82, concluding a lifetime marked by decades of lifesaving work and quiet chesed.

Colleagues at Magen David Adom remembered R’ Dovid as “a humble person who did much and spoke little. A man of kindness.”

R’ Dovid was born in Yerushalayim on the first night of Chanukah, the 25th of Kislev, in 1944. After completing his studies in yeshiva, he joined the IDF and served as a combat soldier in the Nachal Brigade. He later served in the reserves during Israel’s wars. Following his marriage to Chana, the couple moved to Rechovot, where they established their home and raised their family.

His involvement with Magen David Adom began approximately four decades ago, when he volunteered as an emergency medical technician and ambulance driver at the organization’s Rechovot station.

Over the years, R’ Dovid became chairman of the local branch committee and devoted considerable effort to expanding its volunteer network. According to MDA, during his tenure he succeeded in doubling the number of volunteers, bringing both adults and teenagers into the organization and enabling a substantial increase in the number of ambulance shifts staffed by volunteers.

Beyond his emergency medical work, R’ Dovid played an important role in developing social and humanitarian initiatives throughout Rechovot and the surrounding communities.

He was among the earliest and most prominent MDA figures involved in establishing a Kimcha D’Pischa project for struggling families in the Rechovot area. What began as an effort to provide food assistance ahead of Pesach grew over the years into an established tradition, eventually expanding to provide assistance ahead of other Yomim Tovim as well.

R’ Dovid’s dedication to chesed extended far beyond Magen David Adom. For decades, he operated an organization that distributed food to families in need, contributing both his personal time and his own money to the effort.

Those who knew him said he became a dependable address for people facing hardship, quietly stepping forward whenever assistance was needed. His MDA colleagues emphasized that despite the enormous amount he accomplished for others, he consistently avoided attention and never sought recognition for his work.

R’ Dovid z”l is survived by his wife, Chana, five children, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and two sisters.

He was laid to rest at the main cemetery in Rechovot, accompanied on his final journey by his family, friends and many others whose lives he touched during decades devoted to saving lives and helping those in need.

Yehi zichro baruch.

{Matzav.com}

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