Feed aggregator

Three religious Givati Brigade soldiers were sentenced Sunday to 10 days in military prison after refusing to enter an armored personnel carrier with a female medic, triggering an uproar among rabbinic and political figures who accused the IDF of disregarding the religious commitments of observant troops.

The three soldiers, members of the Rotem Battalion and students at Hesder yeshivas, declined to board a Namer armored vehicle while their unit was operating in the Gaza Strip.

The prison sentences quickly drew condemnation from religious and political leaders, who charged that the military had failed to respect accommodations for religious soldiers and had placed them in a situation that conflicted with Jewish law.

Noam Party chairman MK Avi Maoz placed responsibility for the episode on Israel’s political and defense leadership. “Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, this is on your watch. You are turning your back on IDF soldiers,” he said. “Givati soldiers, Rotem Battalion, you risked your lives with self-sacrifice in Lebanon, and today the army is turning its back on you. It is not acceptable that with one hand the army calls on the haredim to enlist, and with the other it harms outstanding soldiers who want to live according to their faith. Even if you are required to sit in prison, do it with your head held high and Jewish pride. Free to be a Jew.”

Rabbi Dror Aryeh, a rabbi at the Hesder yeshiva in Sderot, sharply criticized the soldiers’ punishment as well. “This is brazen arrogance without parallel,” he said. “The Minister of Defense failed to protect dedicated soldiers from progressive theatrics. The soldiers are heroes; jail will not break them. They are the pillar of fire before the camp, and they will be remembered for generations as the true victors in this bizarre story. Their commanders acted contrary to Jewish law and contrary to orders. Those who should have been tried were the commanders who violated the procedures.”

Wives of Soldiers for the Sanctity of the Camp, an organization advocating on issues of religious standards in the military, demanded that the three soldiers be freed immediately and called for action against the officers responsible for the incident.

“We demand that the soldiers be released immediately and that those who mistreat them be punished. The agenda of progressive coercion has reached the lowest moral low point and resulted in extreme, violent action. The IDF is a Jewish army; Jewish law, the mitzvah and sanctity are our guiding principles. Observant Jews should not be treated like a discarded object by commanders who are not worthy of that. This is a disgrace and a badge of shame for the IDF chief of staff and the Minister of Defense.”

The group warned that incidents of this kind could also damage attempts to persuade more chareidim to enter the military. “You will not be able to talk about drafting the haredim as long as observant Jews in the IDF are being persecuted for the existence of Torah and sanctity,” it said.

Rabbi Hagai Lundin, head of the Holon yeshiva, had earlier sent a message of encouragement to the Rotem Battalion soldiers, framing their refusal in the context of their religious beliefs and the approaching Rosh Hashanah.

“Dear friends, I want to remind you now, in the month of Elul ahead of Rosh Hashanah, of the things the rabbi writes in his introduction to the cycle,” Lundin said. He went on to explain that the central focus of a person’s prayers on Rosh Hashanah should be the revelation of Hashem’s kingship rather than his own personal concerns.

“In other words, on Rosh Hashanah, it is a good day that a person must decide with whom he works. Does he work for his own interests, or does he work for Your blessed kingdom, with the Holy One, blessed be He? And you stood precisely in that test. You are not working for the media, nor with the progressive operation, nor for all kinds of people who think that the state belongs to them. You are working for the Master of the Universe, who goes through with Israel, through what the rabbis told you, through the IDF, which is the order to remain in the camp in the humility of purity and sanctity.”

“Therefore, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed,” he concluded. “You did what needed to be done, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will lead the events exactly where they need to go. We are all with you, and most importantly, our Father in Heaven is with you. Wishing you success and a good year.”

The confrontation took place in the Rotem Battalion as troops operating in Gaza prepared for an operational mission that was to include travel in a Namer armored vehicle. A female medic was assigned to be inside the vehicle.

The three soldiers refused to enter. Sources familiar with what happened said they were then asked whether another member of the platoon would agree to participate in the mission, but the soldiers responded that none of their fellow troops were prepared to do so.

According to a source familiar with the episode, the company commander spoke directly with the soldiers and stressed that the mission was both important and urgent. The soldiers nevertheless continued to refuse. The source said the brigade rabbi was brought into the matter and authorized the mission to proceed with the female medic because of the operational urgency and importance involved.

Rabbi Tzvi Kostiner, head of the yeshiva in Mitzpeh Ramon, and Rabbi Shlomo Shushan, head of the yeshiva in Beit She’an, were also reported to have directed their students serving in the company not to enter a combat vehicle when a female medic was inside.

The Association of Hesder Yeshivas backed the soldiers, maintaining that their conduct was consistent with the IDF’s joint service regulations and arguing that soldiers who adhered to those arrangements should not have been disciplined.

The IDF, however, said its joint service regulations generally entitle soldiers who observe a religious lifestyle to conduct operational activities within a gender-segregated framework, while allowing exceptions in unusual circumstances. According to the military, the soldiers’ refusal ultimately prevented the force from carrying out the planned operational mission, which was subsequently canceled.

{Matzav.com}

Gadi Eisenkot will receive security protection through Election Day following a new recommendation from Israel’s Advisory Committee for Personal Security, reversing an earlier decision that had drawn public criticism.

The committee convened Sunday and recommended assigning security protection to Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party, through the upcoming elections.

The change came after members of Eisenkot’s team presented security officials with warnings and new information concerning potential threats against him.

The committee also decided that it will hold a separate meeting at a later date to consider security arrangements for Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan. Similar information regarding possible threats against Golan has also been submitted to authorities.

Sunday’s recommendation reverses a decision reached just one week earlier that generated controversy. Shin Bet Director David Zini had determined at the time that there was no justification for providing Eisenkot with security guards.

Zini explained that the Shin Bet had received no intelligence pointing to a concrete threat against Eisenkot. He emphasized that the determination was based entirely on professional considerations and followed consultations that included Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg.

The initial decision prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene publicly later that evening.

Netanyahu instructed Zini to reconsider the issue and ensure that Eisenkot receives an appropriate level of protection based on an assessment of his security requirements.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

Amudim has been answering crisis calls since 2014. In that time, more than 321,000 calls have come in across more than 23,000 cases. People reach out for help with sexual abuse, addiction, mental health, and domestic violence. And the need has not slowed down. In an average week, about 70 new cases begin.

What stands out to us is how often the same questions come up. Different people, in different communities and at different points in their lives, often find themselves asking nearly the exact same things. Most of those questions aren’t about the law. They’re  about someone they love, trust, or are afraid to lose.

These are the questions we hear again and again: “What do I do now that I know my father abused my daughter.” , “My brother told me what happened to him years ago. My other siblings do not know. What am I supposed to say to him.” “My son said his rebbi touches him.” “Everyone respects him. Who is going to believe me?”

There is another reason many of these calls reach Amudim. Often, it’s not because we were the first place someone thought to call. It is because asking someone closer felt like it could come with a cost.

You see it most clearly in the questions that do not fit neatly into one category. Someone may need a halachic answer, but the situation also involves mental health. A choson or kallah may be trying to understand what needs to be disclosed before a wedding, and to whom. A mother may be weighing whether to go to the police while also wondering what that decision could mean for her family.

Those questions do not always have an obvious place to go. A rav may understand the halachic side but not have experience with the clinical piece. A therapist may understand the emotional and mental health side but cannot answer a shaila.

So sometimes the question goes unanswered for months or even years, and the person carrying it starts to assume that no answer means there is no way forward. That is not the case.

Rabbi Yisroel Grossberg serves as Amudim’s rav for these kinds of questions, and many of them are ones he hears again and again. Different people, in different years, often come  believing they are the only one who has ever had to ask. In reality, there is often more room in halacha than people realize, and some of the questions that feel hardest to say out loud are the ones we hear most often..

There is another part of this that is important to say carefully. Many of these calls involve someone who is trusted or well regarded in the community. That is not unique to our community. It is part of what can make abuse so difficult to recognize and respond to in any community.

Access is often given to people because they are trusted, and that same trust can make a disclosure harder to believe or act on. The person being described may already have a reputation, a role, or relationships that carry weight, while the person speaking up is left wondering whether anyone will believe them.

Some of the hardest calls come from people who have been carrying these questions for years. They may have spent decades in therapy, raised children, built full lives, and still find themselves wondering: Is it too late?

What Comes Next is a chance to bring those questions into the open, and to answer them in a room where many people may be carrying the same ones without realizing they are not alone.

The panel will include Rabbi Zvi Gluck and Rabbi Avi Landa, LCPC, of Amudim; Dr. Myriam E. Lankry, DSW, LCSW, Amudim’s clinical director; and Zeldy Broyde, founder of Ray of Hope. Nachi Gordon of the Meaningful People podcast will moderate.

This event will take place Thursday night, September 3, at 8:00 PM at 153 Grandview Avenue in Monsey. Separate seating and family seating will both be available. The event is free, seating is limited, and registration is required .

Click HERE to register!

A recording will be released a few days later for anyone who cannot attend in person, or who would feel more comfortable watching privately.

The panel will also answer questions submitted through the registration form. Those questions can be submitted confidentially, without a name.

And if what you are carrying cannot wait until Thursday, Amudim is available confidentially at 646-517-0222.

A new Kan 11 poll shows a dramatic shift in Israel’s political landscape, with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud falling to just 21 seats and former IDF general Ofer Winter’s newly established party crossing the electoral threshold, while a separate Channel 14 survey presents a sharply different picture, giving Likud 31 seats and Netanyahu a commanding lead in the race for prime minister.

According to the Kan 11 survey, Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party would emerge as the largest faction in the Knesset with 24 seats. Likud would finish second with 21, while Naftali Bennett’s Beyachad party would strengthen to 14 seats.

Within the right-wing bloc, Otzma Yehudit would receive seven seats and Religious Zionism, led by Bezalel Smotrich, would win five. Winter’s entry into politics appears to be reshaping the competition for right-wing voters, with his new party projected to win four seats and enter the Knesset.

The remainder of the Kan 11 poll gives the Democrats nine seats, Yisrael Beytenu eight, United Torah Judaism eight, the Joint List eight, Shas seven, Ra’am five and Amcha Yisrael four. Bayit Tzioni, Blue and White and a party led by Gilad Erdan would all fail to cross the electoral threshold.

A Channel 14 poll conducted Sunday, however, produced dramatically different results. In that survey, Likud remains comfortably in first place with 31 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s Yashar with 24. Bennett’s Beyachad receives only six seats.

Channel 14 projects Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beytenu at seven seats each, while Religious Zionism and Amcha Yisrael would each receive four seats.

According to the Channel 14 numbers, the right-wing bloc would command a 63-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 45 seats for the left-wing bloc and 12 for the Arab parties.

Netanyahu also holds a substantial advantage in Channel 14’s question on suitability to serve as prime minister. Fifty-one percent of respondents chose Netanyahu, compared with 35% for Eisenkot and 10% for Bennett.

{Matzav.com}

Michelle Obama is facing criticism after saying she does not miss the years when her daughters lived at home, telling Jon Stewart that she now enjoys having complete control over her schedule while emphasizing that she remains extremely close with her children.

The comments came during Wednesday’s episode of Obama’s “IMO” podcast, where Stewart discussed how the daily responsibilities of raising children had provided structure and meaning in his life. When he asked Obama whether she missed that stage of parenting, her answer was brief.

“I’m good,” Obama said.

The remarks quickly drew criticism, including from California Republican Party Delegate Elizabeth Barcohana, a mother who told Fox News Digital that Obama’s comments appeared to reflect resentment toward motherhood at a time when the subject has become part of a broader national discussion.

Barcohana said she interpreted Obama’s comments as suggesting that she was relieved the years of actively raising daughters Malia and Sasha were behind her.

“There is a difference between a mother expressing exhaustion from the demands of motherhood — which is real and relatable — and expressing resentment,” Barcohana said. “Resentment is what appears to come through in Michelle Obama’s remarks, and it is especially painful to hear amid the national conversation surrounding the Lindsay Clancy trial.

“She seems happy that her daughters’ childhoods are over. That is not a relatable feeling for most mothers at all.”

Obama, however, made clear during the discussion that her feelings about no longer having her daughters at home should not be confused with a lack of affection for them. She said she loves Malia and Sasha and noted that she was scheduled to have dinner with them that same evening.

“I don’t miss them. I don’t. I love them. I’m going to see them tonight for dinner. I love them,” she said. “But Barack cried when they went to college. I was like, ‘Bye, little — goodbye.’ Now I … now Friday nights aren’t wrecked with terror and fear about, ‘Where are you? Where are you?’”

Obama contrasted her reaction to becoming an empty nester with that of her husband, Barack Obama, saying he cried when their daughters left for college while she welcomed the transition.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh was among those who attacked Obama over the remarks, accusing her of having been eager for her daughters to leave home despite the advantages and assistance he said the family’s wealth provided.

“And yet she still couldn’t wait for the kids to leave because the minor demands they made on her time and energy were still too much for her. Just a total raging narcissist,” Walsh said.

Political commentator Link Lauren similarly criticized Obama, arguing that the remarks fit a broader pattern in which she publicly complains about her family and privileged lifestyle.

“This podcast is just her sitting around her mansion in Martha’s Vineyard complaining about how hard her life of luxury is and how much she despises her husband and children,” Lauren said.

Obama offered additional context for her reaction to becoming an empty nester, saying she enjoys the independence that comes with her daughters being adults and believes she already devoted substantial time to raising them and developing close relationships with them.

“I love my schedule. I have a great schedule, and it’s all mine,” Obama said. “I mean, I’ve had so much quality time with my children. So much. Yeah, yeah. I know them inside and out.”

Obama has also spoken positively about Barack Obama’s role as a father. Last year, she said both of them consciously made their daughters a priority during the eight years that the family lived in the White House.

“It was important for both of us, for me and Barack, to carve out that time in those eight years when our girls were in their formative years, you know,” Obama said.

{Matzav.com}

Sen. Ted Cruz is leaving open the possibility of another run for the White House in 2028, saying Sunday that his immediate priority is helping Republicans in November’s midterm elections and that decisions about his own political future will come later.

Asked during an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether he was seriously weighing another presidential campaign, the Texas Republican stopped short of ruling it out, instead emphasizing his work on behalf of GOP candidates around the country.

“The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us there’s a time for every season. This is not that season right now. This is the season of the midterms, and I’ll tell you, I’m spending my time on the road, campaigning for candidates all over the country,” Cruz said.

“There will be a time for that conversation,” he added when pressed about running for president.

The remarks came after Cruz said in a separate interview with MS NOW that Republicans should not assume Vice President JD Vance has already been chosen as President Donald Trump’s political heir.

“There’ll be time to figure that out,” Cruz said in that interview. “I’ll certainly be part of the discussion.”

Trump himself fueled speculation about a possible Cruz candidacy when he was asked Thursday at the White House whether the Texas senator might seek the presidency in 2028.

“I would say that he’s very talented. He’s a very good friend of mine. I think he might do that, yeah,” Trump said.

Cruz previously sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and became one of Trump’s most formidable primary opponents. He ended his campaign after losing the Indiana primary. Although the contest between the two included an intensely personal exchange of attacks, Cruz and Trump subsequently developed a close political alliance.

During Sunday’s interview, Cruz also turned his attention to Venezuela, renewing his demand for democratic elections following the Trump administration’s announcement that the United States had obtained majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves.

“There need to be democratic, free elections in Venezuela,” Cruz said, calling for elections to be held “midway through next year.”

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez assumed power after U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro in January and transported him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.

“Delcy Rodríguez was Nicolas Maduro’s vice president,” Cruz said. “Maduro was illegitimate. He was a Marxist. He had seized power contrary to the will of the voters, and from the beginning, I have been urging, and I believe the administration is working towards this, that there should be free and fair elections.”

Cruz said he believes the Trump administration is “working rapidly” toward holding elections in Venezuela, while arguing that those efforts can move forward at the same time as the newly announced oil arrangement.

“The oil deal as announced sounds like it could have a very positive impact on the United States and the United States economy, on American jobs, and a very positive impact on gas prices over the long term,” Cruz said.

The Texas senator said Venezuela should hold elections “no later than midway through next year.”

Earlier this month, Cruz joined senators from both parties in introducing a resolution expressing U.S. support for free and fair elections in Venezuela.

Cruz also weighed in on the U.S. military conflict with Iran, saying the ultimate objective should be the collapse of the Iranian government and urging the Trump administration to provide weapons to protesters seeking to overthrow the regime.

“I would like to see the longer-term objective be regime collapse,” Cruz said.

At the same time, Cruz argued against deploying American ground troops to Iran, saying the United States should instead arm Iranians seeking to bring down the government themselves.

“What I’ve been urging is for President Trump and the Trump administration to arm the protesters, so that the people of Iran … remove this regime from power,” Cruz said. “Not American boots on the ground, but the Iranian people.”

Trump recently posted an image on Truth Social declaring “mission accomplished” in Iran. Cruz said Sunday that the “initial mission” of weakening Iran’s military capabilities had been achieved, while arguing that the eventual removal of the Iranian leadership should remain a longer-term goal.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited a prison holding Palestinian female security prisoners on Sunday, confronting inmates over complaints about their treatment and declaring that he is personally responsible for maintaining stringent conditions behind bars.

Footage of the encounter, which Ben-Gvir posted on his X account, shows the national security minister entering the women’s section of the prison and speaking directly with inmates who complained about the conditions under which they are being held.

During the exchange, one female prisoner complained that the inmates had been unable to shower for several days and were not receiving adequate care.

“This is our third day without showering. We are not receiving medical treatment, and our clothes are not clean.”

Ben-Gvir responded by making clear that the tougher conditions were deliberate and that he stood behind the policy.

“The good conditions in the prisons are over. This is the current situation, and I am directly responsible for everything. I am pleased with these conditions.”

In a social media post accompanying the footage, Ben-Gvir dismissed what he described as the “whining” of prisoners over their conditions, pointing to the treatment of Israeli hostages who had been held captive in Gaza.

“I’ll continue to lead a policy of the bare minimum of the minimum,” he said.

Palestinian organizations reacted angrily to the video. Gaza’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs condemned Ben-Gvir’s appearance inside the women’s section and accused him of using the encounter to intimidate and humiliate the prisoners.

The organization said the minister’s presence was “not an inspection visit,” but rather a “political spectacle and public incitement against the female prisoners” intended to frighten the inmates and break their resolve in front of the cameras.

The Palestinian agency further alleged that Ben-Gvir’s statements demonstrated that the conditions imposed on Palestinian prisoners were part of a broader retaliatory policy involving “humiliation, torture, starvation and deprivation.”

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society also criticized the footage, telling Al Jazeera that recording the female inmates and subsequently publishing the video constituted “an assault on their human dignity.”

The organization claimed that hundreds of accounts provided by released Palestinian detainees and prisoners have documented serious mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

Ben-Gvir has made tightening conditions for Palestinian security prisoners a central part of his policies since becoming national security minister in late 2022. Measures implemented or promoted during his tenure have included reducing food and water supplies, restricting family visits, limiting the amount of time prisoners may spend showering and eliminating privileges previously available inside prison wings.

{Matzav.com}

New details have emerged from the interrogation of one of two Israeli teenagers charged with carrying out assignments for an Iranian operative, including his admission that he continued performing tasks even after becoming aware of the operative’s connection to Iran. The teen told investigators that he initially thought the individual was a “leftist,” but later acknowledged knowing that he was carrying out assignments for an Iranian agent.

The details, reported by i24NEWS, emerged Sunday following the filing of an indictment against the two minors. During questioning, the teenager described the assignments he performed, the point at which he began suspecting the person directing him, and his actions after realizing that the individual was connected to Iran.

“After I sent him videos of the mall in Herzliya, I deleted everything because I was afraid he would carry out an attack. When he asked me to photograph a mall in Tel Aviv, the number of exits and the guards, I started to suspect – I stopped sending messages and deleted the chat”, the minor told investigators.

Despite those suspicions, however, the teenager remained in contact with the operative. When an investigator asked why he continued carrying out assignments, the teen said the individual contacted him through another username and proposed that he establish a Telegram channel to recruit other teenagers.

“He contacted me from another username and suggested that I open a Telegram channel and think of ways to recruit more teenagers for jobs. He transferred 900 shekels to me so that I would buy a phone, and I forged a KSP receipt”, he said.

Investigators also questioned the teen about his assertion that he had not initially realized he was communicating with an Iranian operative and had instead believed the person was a “leftist.” An investigator confronted him with a message in which the teenager himself had written: “A trick on the Iranian.”

The teen responded: “I called him that, but I still wasn’t sure he was Iranian”.

Later in the interrogation, an investigator confronted the teenager with the issue directly, asking: “Do you confirm to me that you carried out tasks for an Iranian agent knowing that he was Iranian?” The teen answered affirmatively.

“Yes, but he didn’t ask me to do anything dangerous to the country or the citizens. I just wanted money. After the graffiti mission and photographing the mall in Herzliya, he told me that he was connected to Iran. I made a mistake, I regret it”, he said.

The indictment was filed Sunday morning in Haifa District Court against two minors, ages 14 and 16, from Kiryat Motzkin. Prosecutors allege that the teenagers performed a series of assignments for a foreign operative working on behalf of Iran.

According to the charges, one assignment involved spraying graffiti beneath a bridge on Hashmonaim Street in Kiryat Motzkin. The messages painted by the teenagers included: “Extremism has given us endless wars”, “Our future is not in the hands of a dictator” and “We will not allow war to stain our lives”.

The primary defendant allegedly received approximately $250 for spraying and documenting the graffiti. He then gave his friend 150 shekels from the payment. Authorities say the main defendant received approximately 3,500 shekels in total from the operative.

The Iranian operative subsequently instructed the teenager to photograph a shopping mall, particular roads and a government building in the Tel Aviv area. He was also asked to document the number of exits at the mall and the number of security guards stationed there.

The second teenager refused to participate in that assignment, telling his friend that he suspected they were dealing with an Iranian agent. The primary defendant nevertheless proceeded with the task, sending the requested photographs and information to the operative and receiving approximately 600 shekels in return.

As part of one assignment, the teenager photographed the Seven Stars Mall in Herzliya. He later deleted the videos he had sent because he feared the material could be used by the operative to carry out a terrorist attack, but he did not end contact with him.

At a later point, the teenager directly asked the operative whether he was Iranian and was told that he was “connected to Iran.” The teen also sent the operative photographs of his passport and his face to verify his identity, receiving approximately $100 in exchange.

The operative later transferred money to the teenager to purchase a new cellphone that was supposed to be used to establish a channel for recruiting additional people to carry out assignments. The teenager did not ultimately purchase the device. However, in a voice message to his friend, he asked him to recruit “as many children as possible” to the Telegram channel and explained that he was looking for “children who don’t care about getting caught” to undertake “high-risk” assignments.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to report NBC News anchor Kristen Welker to the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the “Meet the Press” moderator of deliberately misrepresenting his record of endorsements in Republican primary races and calling for possible disciplinary action.

Trump’s criticism followed comments Welker made during an appearance on NBC4 Washington, where she described the results of candidates backed by the president as mixed. Trump countered that his endorsed candidates have won 100% of the Senate primaries and approximately 98% of the House primaries tracked by Fox News.

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular ‘Hostess’ of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has ‘mixed results’ on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached,” Trump continued. “Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment. Unfortunately, she is not the only one.”

NBC News responded to Trump’s announcement Sunday by publicly defending Welker, who serves as moderator of “Meet the Press.”

“Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her,” an NBC News spokesperson said.

Welker did not make the disputed statement during Sunday’s edition of “Meet the Press.” The comment came earlier in the day while she was appearing live on NBC4 Washington to preview the program. During that appearance, she said Trump had backed “a slate of candidates in the primaries” and “had some mixed results.”

Citing NBC’s own reporting, Welker also predicted that Trump would “loom large” over the upcoming midterm elections. She immediately pointed to Darline Graham’s recent primary victory as an example of a Trump-backed candidate prevailing.

“He’s going to loom large over these midterms. There’s no doubt about that. He, of course, has endorsed a slate of candidates in the primaries. He’s had some mixed results, but most recently, his pick of Senator Darline Graham, of course, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, was successful in her primary battle, so now she takes on Dr. Annie Andrews in South Carolina,” Welker said.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter criticized Trump’s call for FCC action, portraying the president’s demand as an attempt to wield the federal agency against a journalist because of coverage he disliked.

“Trump is getting more explicit about weaponizing the FCC. This morning he said @kwelkernbc will be ‘reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment’ for saying something he didn’t like about his endorsement record. (By law, the FCC can’t punish Welker.) And that’s not all…” Stelter posted to X.

According to a Fox News tracker published Thursday, Trump-endorsed candidates won all 24 Republican Senate primaries in which he made an endorsement and prevailed in 214 of 218 House primaries. Those figures translate to a 100% success rate in Senate contests and approximately 98% in House races.

Two of the victories highlighted by Trump came Tuesday. Graham defeated Rep. Ralph Norman in the Republican Senate runoff in South Carolina, while former Oklahoma state Sen. Mike Mazzei defeated state Attorney General Gentner Drummond by roughly 2,000 votes to secure the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Trump’s gubernatorial endorsements produced a somewhat different record, according to the Fox News tracker. Sixteen of the 21 candidates he backed won their races, while five were defeated, including Pamela Evette in South Carolina, Mike Lindell in Minnesota and Megan Degenfelder in Wyoming.

Trump accused media organizations of focusing on those defeats as a way of diminishing what he characterized as an extraordinarily successful overall endorsement record.

“Their new weapon is to say that my 99% SUCCESS Rate on Endorsements, 100% on Senatorial Endorsements (Many of whom were not even given a shot of winning until I Endorsed!), is either a mixed result, or not very good. In actuality, it is, without question, the strongest Endorsement in the History of Politics,” Trump said.

The president concluded by directing his appeal to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and urging the commission to treat the issue seriously.

“The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously,” Trump said.

Carr has previously warned broadcasters that alleged news distortion could become a consideration during the license-renewal process.

The FCC, however, licenses individual broadcast stations rather than networks such as NBC. Under the commission’s published news-distortion policy, action requires evidence that a report was deliberately intended to mislead an audience, rather than simply involving an error, disputed characterization or difference of opinion.

{Matzav.com}

The Torah community in Bnei Brak was plunged into mourning on Friday with the petirah of Rav Chaim Harari zt”l, rov of the Ateres Moshe bais medrash and rosh hakollelim of its network of kollelim. He was 82.

Rav Harari was born to his parents, Rav Moshe Harari z”l and Mrs. Teresa Rochel a”h. He later came to Eretz Yisroel from Argentina and learned at Yeshivas Porat Yosef in Yerushalayim, where his rabbeim included Chacham Shimon Baadani zt”l and Chacham Shalom Cohen zt”l. He remained deeply attached to his rabbeim throughout his life.

As a young avreich, just six months after his marriage, Rav Harari was sent by his rebbe, Chacham Shimon Baadani, on a mission to Mexico to help strengthen Yiddishkeit there. After a year and a half, he returned to Eretz Yisroel, determined to raise his children in the Artzos Hakedoshah.

Rav Harari subsequently served as a ram at Yeshivas Magen Hayeled, Yeshivas Tiferes Moshe and Yeshivas Daroma, becoming deeply beloved by his talmidim.

For many years, both in the yeshivos hakedoshos and in his own bais medrash, Rav Harari served as a baal tefillah during the Yomim Noraim. His tefillos were marked by extraordinary emotion and hishtapchus hanefesh, as a son pleading before his Creator.

Rav Harari maintained a particularly close connection with Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l, who gave a haskamah to his seforim. Rav Shach wrote of him: “A rov who is precious among the precious, crowned with virtues and good character traits that the Sages enumerated among the acquisitions of Torah, etc. I have based my words on the fact that I have known him for a long time…”.

Approximately 40 years ago, Rav Harari was among the founders of the Avos organization, a nationwide organization established for Sephardic bnei Torah.

Throughout his life, Rav Harari authored numerous seforim on Shas, halacha and aggadah. Writing and learning Torah were his life and the joy of his heart. About four decades ago, he founded Kollel Ateres Moshe, which he subsequently expanded into a network with several branches.

Rav Harari’s condition deteriorated approximately a month and a half ago, and he was niftar on Friday, Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Ki Savo.

The levayah departed from his bais medrash on Malachi Street in Bnei Brak, followed by kevurah on Erev Shabbos at the Ponevezh bais hachaim.

Hespedim were delivered by the mara d’asra of Bnei Brak, Rav Masoud Ben Shimon; Rav Nissim Ben Shimon; Rav Yitzchok Abitbol, who was Rav Harari’s chavrusa for approximately 40 years; as well as his brothers-in-law and sons.

Rav Harari leaves behind sons, sons-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all continuing the distinguished Torah legacy he devoted his life to building.

Yehi zichro baruch.

{Matzav.com}

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is facing criticism after appearing in a hijab during a visit to an Islamic center, with critics accusing the Democratic governor of engaging in political pandering and questioning how the gesture squares with the party’s longstanding emphasis on women’s rights.

The controversy reflects a broader criticism leveled by some conservatives at the Democratic Party, which they say spent decades portraying itself as a champion of “female liberation” while increasingly embracing Muslim communities and political figures whose religious and cultural practices can conflict with Western liberal values.

Hochul became the latest focus of that criticism after wearing the traditional Muslim head covering while appearing before a Muslim audience in New York.

"Feminist icon" NY Governor Hochul just put on a hijab for Muslim men pic.twitter.com/D1RfqBqnf1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 30, 2026

"Feminist icon" NY Governor Hochul just put on a hijab for Muslim men pic.twitter.com/D1RfqBqnf1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 30, 2026

"Feminist icon" NY Governor Hochul just put on a hijab for Muslim men pic.twitter.com/D1RfqBqnf1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 30, 2026

"Feminist icon" NY Governor Hochul just put on a hijab for Muslim men pic.twitter.com/D1RfqBqnf1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 30, 2026

"Feminist icon" NY Governor Hochul just put on a hijab for Muslim men pic.twitter.com/D1RfqBqnf1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 30, 2026

Kathy Hochul wears a head dress as she panders to Muslims and talks about the Quran in New York.

What is your reaction? pic.twitter.com/ElC8PBOw2a

— AmericanPapaBear (@AmericaPapaBear) July 31, 2025

During her Friday appearance, Hochul wore a hijab while addressing attendees and acknowledging several of those present, including Ambassador Tareq Albanai.

“I want to thank his excellency Mr. (Ambassador Tareq) Albanai. I want to thank him for (inaudible) be part of the family, to our imam, and the other executives who are a part of this organization.”

The Islamic Center of New York subsequently publicized Hochul’s Friday visit.

Critics of Hochul argued that her decision to wear the head covering amounted to setting aside Western values in an effort to appeal to an Islamist audience.

The criticism also revived attention on controversial comments made following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha, who served as imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York City. Gemeaha blamed Jews for the World Trade Center attacks during an interview, according to a passage subsequently published by The New York Times:

“Recently, I read an interview with Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha — who was not only the representative in the United States of the prominent Cairo center of Islamic learning, al-Azhar University, but also imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York City. The sheik, who until recently lived in Manhattan on the Upper West Side, explained that ”only the Jews” were capable of destroying the World Trade Center and added that ”if it became known to the American people, they would have done to Jews what Hitler did.””

Critics contend that growing antisemitism and the Democratic Party’s outreach to Muslim and Islamist constituencies expose contradictions between the party’s traditional positions on women’s rights and other socially liberal causes and the views held by some of the groups it courts politically.

Friday’s appearance was also not the first occasion on which Hochul has worn a Muslim head covering.

{Matzav.com}

The United States carried out airstrikes against Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, marking the first American offensive against the country in weeks as Tehran threatened retaliation.

The attack was launched after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was allegedly preparing to deploy a new wave of underwater mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.

The strategically important waterway has remained a major focus of tensions between Washington and Tehran, with the latest U.S. operation targeting Iranian activity on Larak Island near the strait.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps acknowledged that the American strike had taken place and said several people were killed and wounded in the attack.

The IRGC did not immediately disclose additional information about the casualties or provide further details about the extent of the damage caused by the U.S. strikes.

{Matzav.com}

Senior U.S. military commanders have warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that the six-month conflict with Iran is placing an unsustainable strain on American forces and potentially weakening defenses elsewhere, according to a report by The Washington Post.

The concerns were detailed in the Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of War Orders Book by the leaders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as four-star commanders responsible for American military operations in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The classified document, produced twice each month, provides an accounting of the worldwide availability of U.S. military personnel, warships, aircraft and weapons systems, according to individuals familiar with the assessment who spoke to the Post on condition of anonymity.

One source summarized the broader message from military leaders as “too much for too long.”

The commanders of U.S. European Command, U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Southern Command, together with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, registered a formal “non-concur” with the document. The designation indicates that they oppose the deployment extensions even though they will carry out the orders.

Army and Air Force officials approved the extensions while simultaneously warning of substantial risks associated with them.

President Donald Trump has maintained more than 50,000 U.S. Central Command troops on alert for months while seeking to pressure Tehran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz and agreeing to American terms for bringing the war to an end. The conflict began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iran.

The United States reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports in early August after Iranian attacks against commercial shipping caused a June memorandum of understanding to collapse, according to a Congressional Research Service report released this month.

Under the Aug. 14 orders, some American forces deployed to the Middle East are expected to remain there through September, while others could stay in the region into 2027.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, objected to the continuing requirement that his command provide an aircraft carrier strike group and destroyers for operations against Iran. Leaders of European Command and Southern Command similarly warned Hegseth that transferring ships and surveillance aircraft to CENTCOM has diminished their ability to carry out homeland-defense missions.

Caudle warned Hegseth that the Navy cannot maintain its current operational tempo indefinitely without a clear end date. He also reported that only about one-quarter of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is currently ready for deployment, representing a steep decline from readiness levels before the war.

Speaking recently at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, Caudle publicly described the deployment extensions as “very challenging for our sailors,” adding that he pushes back hard on them, “but the enemy gets a vote.”

The Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, which mobilized 2,000 soldiers in March and would be expected to play a central role in any U.S. ground invasion of Iran, is anticipated to remain in the region through at least September, with additional extensions considered likely.

Army Patriot air-defense units are also expected to have their deployments extended. Supplies of Patriot interceptors have been reduced by their extensive use during the Iran conflict as well as earlier transfers to Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told the Post that decisions about where and how long U.S. forces are deployed are based on current threat assessments, President Trump’s priorities and recommendations from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders.

Parnell added that the Department of War “does not discuss internal operational processes,” including the orders book or “specific concurrences, non-concurrences, or risk assessments.”

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has disputed reports that the U.S. military is facing shortages of munitions.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that oil obtained through his administration’s newly reached agreement with Venezuela will be directed toward replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has fallen to levels not seen in decades following major drawdowns in recent years.

In a social media post, Trump said the process of “topping out” the reserve would begin soon, calling the Venezuelan crude a “Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States.”

Questions remain over how quickly oil supplied under the Venezuelan agreement could begin flowing into the U.S. reserve or whether the arrangement will have an immediate impact on fuel costs for American consumers. The broader deal unveiled by Trump on Friday is intended to rebuild Venezuela’s struggling petroleum industry, an undertaking expected to require substantial investment and improvements to the country’s energy infrastructure before production can increase significantly.

As of August 21, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve contained approximately 290 million barrels, putting the emergency stockpile near its lowest level in 44 years. Oil has been released from the reserve under both the Biden and Trump administrations amid international supply disruptions, including those stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict with Iran.

The announcement came a day after Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez disclosed additional details about the energy agreement with Washington, saying the arrangement would run for 25 years and seek to increase crude production to 1.5 million barrels per day while maintaining Venezuelan sovereignty over the country’s natural resources.

In an address Saturday night, Rodriguez characterized the agreement as “historic,” saying it could play a major role in reviving Venezuela’s economy, expanding government revenues and determining the country’s economic direction in the years ahead.

“This 25-year bilateral project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with a production target of more ⁠than 1.5 million barrels per day,” Rodriguez said on state broadcaster VTV.

“That figure relates solely to the bilateral agreement between Venezuela and the United States.”

Rodriguez said the planned 1.5 million barrels per day represents an initial production objective. The wider initiative also calls for developing eight previously undeveloped oil blocks as Venezuela seeks a broader expansion of its energy industry.

President Trump first unveiled the arrangement Friday, announcing plans for the United States to obtain partial control over Venezuela’s enormous petroleum reserves. The administration is betting that American companies can help rehabilitate the country’s badly weakened oil sector while creating an additional source of crude that could contribute to lower fuel prices in the United States.

Trump offered relatively few specifics about the structure of the agreement, saying the United States had obtained majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven petroleum reserves through a partnership involving private industry.

Although Venezuela possesses the largest proven oil reserves in the world, its current output stands at only about 1.25 million barrels per day, considerably below its potential. Years of inadequate investment, poor management and international sanctions have taken a heavy toll on the country’s oil industry.

Rodriguez estimated that the agreement could ultimately produce approximately $209 billion in revenue for the Venezuelan government if oil averages $65 per barrel, while acknowledging that petroleum prices could change. She said Venezuela would receive approximately $19 from every barrel produced and sold through the agreement, potentially providing a major new source of government income.

The Venezuelan leader insisted that the arrangement does not surrender the country’s control over its petroleum resources. She said Venezuela would retain “ownership of and sovereignty” over its natural resources, “while leveraging capital, technology and operational expertise to support the recovery of a strategic industry that has been severely affected by sanctions.”

The agreement has nevertheless encountered opposition inside Venezuela. Earlier Saturday, dozens of groups supportive of the government assembled in central Caracas to demonstrate against the U.S. presence in the country.

Despite those protests, Rodriguez publicly embraced the energy arrangement following Trump’s announcement, arguing that it would stimulate Venezuela’s economy while generating additional revenue for the government.

Venezuelan authorities are now preparing to finalize agreements as early as next week that would award new exploration and production rights to several energy companies, including firms based in the United States.

Two people familiar with the negotiations said Friday that Chevron is among the companies expected to complete discussions aimed at moving its existing Venezuelan joint ventures into the new energy framework.

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that federal immigration agents will pursue illegal immigrants wherever necessary, stressing that criminals and national security threats will find “no safe harbor” as the Trump administration expands immigration enforcement efforts across the country.

“President Trump is the president of the United States because he promised to enforce immigration law, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We’re sending a message to the world: The borders are no longer open. You can’t come here for a free pass and expect to stay forever,” he added.

During the interview, Homan mounted a broad defense of President Donald Trump’s deportation policies, addressing controversies involving arrests near school bus stops, the deportation of Haitians who have lost Temporary Protected Status, and accusations that ICE officers mistreated individuals being deported.

One issue involved reports from Connecticut that ICE agents arrested parents in the vicinity of school bus stops. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has accused immigration authorities of targeting parents who were waiting with their children in Danbury.

Homan said he had not been informed about the specific incidents but pledged to raise the matter with the Department of Homeland Security.

“ICE is out there to enforce the law against those that have been ordered removed by a federal judge,” Homan said. “And especially if they’re a criminal or if they’re a national security threat, there’s no safe harbor for them in this country. We’ll go where we need to go.”

Homan pushed back against claims that ICE agents were deliberately attempting to intimidate children, describing those allegations as political rhetoric that has helped fuel threats against federal immigration personnel.

The border czar also defended the administration’s decision to deport Haitians after their Temporary Protected Status was terminated, despite the violence and instability that continue to plague Haiti.

“They lost their TPS status. They’re ordered removed. They got to go home,” Homan said. “They have no status here anymore. They can’t stay here.”

Pressed on whether he was comfortable with people being sent back to Haiti in light of the country’s dangerous security conditions, Homan said he was not familiar with the current situation there but insisted that ICE has an obligation to carry out lawful removal orders.

“The bottom line is they’ve been ordered removed,” he said. “The judge has made a decision. They must go home.”

Homan also discussed Sunday the deportation of Milo Yiannopoulos, the British right-wing provocateur and Trump supporter who was taken into custody Thursday and deported to the United Kingdom the next day.

According to Homan, his understanding of the case was that Yiannopoulos had remained in the United States beyond the expiration of his visa, failed to appear for immigration court proceedings, and subsequently was ordered deported by a judge.

“He had his due process, ordered removed by a federal judge, and ICE removed him. It’s that simple,” Homan said.

Homan rejected suggestions that Yiannopoulos received special treatment because he was removed from the country only a day after his arrest. He said the Department of Homeland Security has been working more broadly to reduce the amount of time individuals spend in detention and to carry out deportation orders more rapidly.

The interview also touched on a New York Times report alleging that deportees who resisted leaving a U.S. deportation flight after it arrived in Liberia were subjected to abusive treatment. Homan said he did not believe the alleged conduct had taken place, while emphasizing that the accusations would nevertheless be investigated.

“We use minimum force required to make a detainee comply,” Homan said. “If someone acted out of line, it would be investigated by internal affairs.”

Homan additionally renewed his support for outfitting ICE field officers with body cameras, although he said he could not verify whether the agency had achieved its goal of providing cameras to every officer by the end of August.

“I’m a big proponent of cameras because I want the American people to see what the officer sees when he makes a decision,” Homan said.

Homan said the rollout of the cameras was underway but acknowledged that he did not know whether implementation had been completed across the agency.

“Are they 100% deployed today? I’m not sure,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

The Council on American-Islamic Relations included educational material blaming U.S. support for Israel among the factors behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and directing students to Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” in a back-to-school resource guide that was subsequently removed.

CAIR, one of the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy organizations, released its annual “Back to school resource guide” for K-12 students on Monday. The 16-page document contained a link to a “Muslim Studies Curriculum” presenting an account of 9/11 and its aftermath. The link disappeared from the guide the following day.

Screenshots of the material obtained by The Post show that the curriculum described the perpetrators of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, as a “group self-identifying as Al Quaeda hailing from the mountains of Afghanistan.”

The curriculum attributed the motivations behind the Sept. 11 attacks in part to U.S. “support of Israel,” along with American involvement in the Persian Gulf War and the “vast presence” of U.S. military forces throughout the Middle East.

The material then focused on the American response to the attacks, saying 9/11 produced an “aggressive shift in US domestic and foreign policy,” helped launch the War on Terror in the Middle East and resulted in an “erosion of civil liberties of many Americans.”

“While Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism existed long before the 9/11 attacks, this time period marked a stark shift in US policy and state sponsored Islamophobia in the US and abroad. There was immediate backlash against anyone perceived to be Muslim” wearing traditional garb, the curriculum stated.

The guide also argued that Muslims received unfair treatment in media coverage following terrorist attacks, contrasting that response with the treatment of “white supremacists” and “extreme animal rights activists” who, according to the material, had also resorted to “violence to further their cause.”

Nicholas Haros Jr., whose mother, Frances, was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, condemned the material as “evil propaganda.” Haros has previously drawn attention for criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar over her description of 9/11 as an occasion when “some people did something.”

“Israel had nothing to do with 9/11,” Haros said.

He warned that children growing up decades after the attacks could be influenced by an account of the events that places blame on the United States.

“The further we get from 9/11, this new generation of kids will learn to blame our country. These kids are going to be poisoned – and that’s the intent.”

The curriculum devoted considerable attention to what followed the attacks, saying the period saw “the rise in hate crimes and discrimination against American Muslim and perceived- Muslim communities.”

CAIR separately said in a press release that classroom discussions surrounding the terrorist attacks can become “a particularly dangerous time for Muslim students,” who “often experience a surge in bullying during school lessons about 9/11.” The organization has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the state governments of Texas and Florida.

Among the recommended materials included in CAIR’s student resources was bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” the manifesto in which the 9/11 mastermind sought to explain and justify his hostility toward the United States.

In that document, bin Laden wrote, “Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.”

The curriculum also presented background on bin Laden’s emergence during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It portrayed him in the context of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion and referred to the fighters as “rebels.” Among them, the guide said, was a “man named Osama bin Laden,” who with the “people later formed the Taliban.”

Another recommended background resource was the film “V for Vendetta,” which the guide described as being about “a young woman living in a dystopian society meets a shadowy freedom fighter who is plotting to overthrow their tyrannical government.”

The guide additionally defended bringing international political issues into classrooms, arguing that doing so could “promote understanding.”

Its suggested material also addressed how educators should speak with children about Gaza and “genocide.” The Post noted that the section did not discuss the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, in which approximately 1,200 people, including children, were killed.

When The Post contacted CAIR and asked whether the organization continued to stand behind the 9/11 material, CAIR did not deny that the hyperlink had been removed. The organization instead pointed to an attached note offering a general explanation for revisions made to an earlier version of the document.

The contents of the guide drew condemnation from Jewish community representatives, who accused CAIR of providing students with a distorted presentation of both the Sept. 11 attacks and the Israel-Hamas war.

“CAIR just nationalized a curriculum that refuses to call the 9/11 hijackers terrorists, assigns Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ as high-school reading, and coaches five-year-olds on Gaza without ever naming Hamas or October 7. That is not inclusion – it’s dangerous propaganda,” Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, told The Post.

CAIR was established in 1993. The organization came under federal scrutiny during the prosecution of officials associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based charity that was shut down after five of its leaders were convicted in 2008 in a case involving more than $12 million sent to Hamas.

{Matzav.com}

NASA’s newest major space observatory began its journey Sunday, launching on an ambitious mission to discover distant planets, investigate the mysterious forces shaping the universe and survey billions of galaxies and stars at unprecedented speed.

The $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off shortly after sunrise from Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Its destination is an observation point approximately 1 million miles from Earth, where it will operate in the same region of space as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Roughly the size of a bus, Roman is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer. The spacecraft is expected to spend more than three months traveling to its observation point before beginning a sweeping examination of portions of the universe that scientists have struggled to study in detail.

“It’s going to find thousands of supernovae, tens of thousands of planets, billions of galaxies and tens of billions of stars,” said NASA science mission director Nicky Fox. “It’s going to be able to do things that we’ve never been able to do before with its massive field of view.”

Roman’s enormous viewing area is one of the features that sets it apart from NASA’s other flagship observatories. Its field of view is more than 100 times wider than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, which continues producing remarkable images after 36 years in orbit.

The Webb telescope, meanwhile, offers an even narrower but extraordinarily precise view, allowing scientists to closely examine extremely distant objects dating back nearly to the Big Bang.

Scientists plan to use Roman, Hubble and Webb in complementary roles. Their observations will also be combined with findings from the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft and the National Science Foundation’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile as researchers pursue answers to some of astronomy’s most enduring questions.

Among Roman’s major assignments will be searching distant galaxies for stars surrounded by planets. After Roman identifies promising worlds, Webb’s greater sensitivity and power can be directed toward those targets for closer examination.

“Roman’s vast reach will allow us to find the weird, the rare and the unusual,” senior project scientist Julie McEnery said ahead of the launch. “We’ll redefine what it means to find a needle in a haystack.”

The mission is also expected to provide scientists with important new information about dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious components believed to account for most of the universe despite remaining largely invisible and poorly understood.

By creating an enormous catalog of galaxies, Roman will allow researchers to study the expansion of the universe and better understand the role these unseen forces play in determining its structure and evolution.

One of Roman’s greatest advantages will be the speed with which it can conduct its surveys.

According to McEnery, Roman can accomplish in approximately one month a survey of the Milky Way that would require Hubble roughly a century to complete. Scientists expect the telescope to rapidly scan the dense galactic bulge at the center of the Milky Way, producing an exceptionally deep view into the heart of our galaxy.

Roman is equipped with a wide-field infrared camera offering sensitivity comparable to Hubble while operating about 1,000 times faster.

It also carries an experimental coronagraph designed to block the overwhelming light coming from distant stars. By artificially creating an eclipse-like effect, the instrument could allow Roman to directly photograph faint planets orbiting stars that would otherwise obscure them from view.

NASA engineers have also designed Roman with the possibility of extending its operating life. The telescope can be refueled, meaning a robotic servicing spacecraft developed during the next decade could potentially replenish its fuel and keep it operating longer.

The mission reached the launch pad nearly a year ahead of schedule and remained within its budget. Roman also becomes the first NASA space telescope named for a woman.

Retired NASA scientist Ed Weiler said the recognition is particularly appropriate. Weiler, whom Roman hired in 1978, dubbed her the “Mother of Hubble” because of the crucial role she played in advancing the concept of placing observatories above Earth’s atmosphere.

Roman joined the newly established NASA in 1959 and became a forceful advocate for space-based astronomy, arguing that telescopes operating beyond the atmosphere could observe the universe with far greater clarity and reach. She died in 2018 at the age of 93.

“This is very, very fitting. I think Nancy would be very proud” that the telescope carrying her name will investigate fundamental mysteries including dark energy, Weiler said.

Roman’s primary mirror measures nearly 8 feet in diameter, approximately the same size as Hubble’s. Unlike a mirror originally manufactured specifically for a NASA telescope, however, Roman’s was once surplus hardware from a U.S. spy satellite program.

The National Reconnaissance Office donated two unused mirrors to NASA more than a decade ago so they could be repurposed for scientific missions. One ultimately became the heart of the Roman Space Telescope, while the second remains in storage.

{Matzav.com}

A Jewish mother who brought her 4-year-old son to a Lower Manhattan puppet performance expecting an entertaining show about New York City says she was stunned when the production abruptly shifted into attacks on Israel, including accusations involving Israeli military actions and references to U.S. taxpayer support for the Jewish state, the NY Post reports.

“The Cardboard Pizza Puppet Circus,” produced and performed by the Boxcutter Collective, appeared this month at the International Puppet Fringe Festival, a multiday event supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The troupe promotes the production as “a celebration of” New York City.

Promotional material presented the show as a whimsical tour through familiar elements of city life. “Featuring dancing skyscrapers, giant rats, fossil-fuel-fighting flowers, a live brass band, and Lady Liberty herself,” its description states.

But roughly 15 minutes into the Aug. 13 performance, according to a 43-year-old Brooklyn mother who attended with her young son and asked that her name be withheld, the production suddenly departed from its New York theme and began incorporating political messages aimed at Israel.

“The anti-Israel stuff came out of nowhere,” the mother said.

“It went from pizza rat and parallel parking to accusations of Israel bombing hospitals.”

The approximately hourlong performance was held in a crowded courtyard before what the mother estimated was an audience of about 200 people. One segment featured eight performers staging a flotilla scene, which she said prompted enthusiastic anti-Israel reactions from members of the audience. The production also included comments about U.S. tax dollars being sent to Israel, according to the mother.

The woman, who described herself as a “proud Zionist,” questioned why such material was inserted into a production otherwise advertised as a celebration of New York.

“How does anti-Israel propaganda figure into a play that’s otherwise entirely about New York? Is hatred for Israel as synonymous with the City’s brand as pizza rat?” she asked, adding that her 4-year-old son “kept asking what was happening when he saw I was taken aback.”

The mother, a refugee from the Soviet Union who now lives in Windsor Terrace, said she became increasingly alarmed as the performance continued and members of the audience appeared receptive to what she characterized as “the litany of accusations” directed at Israel.

“(I was) feeling like I was surrounded by my ideological enemies,” she said.

“This particular group had very antisemitic views,” she said of the Boxcutter Collective. “It felt like a mob – the hairs on your neck stand up.”

The Boxcutter Collective has previously participated in pro-Palestinian programming. In November 2023, weeks after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which approximately 1,200 people were killed, the troupe participated in a performance of the “Gaza Monologues” on “The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” The event was presented in response to the “horrific war taking place in Gaza.”

The Brooklyn mother said she decided against challenging the performance because she feared how the surrounding audience might react.

“I knew that if I shouted something against Hamas, the crowd would turn against me, so I kept my mouth shut,” the mother told The Post. “My generation is now experiencing a fresh iteration of antisemitism here in New York that my family escaped back in the Soviet Union.”

Manuel Moran, founder and producer of the International Puppet Fringe Festival, told the Jerusalem News Syndicate earlier this week that festival organizers may not have known beforehand that the performance would contain the controversial material.

“As with many festivals, the full content of a production is not always known in advance, and the company premiered many elements of this work as part of the event,” Moran told JNS. “We stand behind our role in providing a platform for artists while recognizing that artists are responsible for their own work and should be able to speak to it directly.”

Moran also pointed to other programming at the festival, telling JNS that one performance incorporated Yiddish elements. He said the Israeli Hanut Theater Company had also been invited to participate but was unable to secure the necessary visas.

The controversy drew criticism from Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who questioned the use of government funding for programming that left a Jewish attendee feeling threatened.

“This is an inappropriate use of public resources. Publicly funded cultural programming should never contribute to an environment in which Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe,” Greenblatt wrote on X.

{Matzav.com}

Sen. John Fetterman is escalating his criticism of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, warning that the party has a “socialism problem” and accusing far-left candidates of damaging Democrats politically.

The Pennsylvania Democrat singled out Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, making clear that sharing a party affiliation would not prevent him from publicly condemning candidates he believes have moved too far to the left.

“These garbage kinds of people like El-Sayed in Michigan,” Fetterman told The Hill in an interview. “I don’t care if he’s a fellow Democrat.”

Fetterman also pointed to Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson in Maine, who has received the endorsement of the state’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter. He additionally cited Graham Platner, a far-left candidate who withdrew from the Maine Senate contest after a former girlfriend accused him of rape, an allegation Platner denied.

“Look at these other terrible communists and socialists,” Fetterman said. “Our party has a socialism problem.”

“I’ll be the one Democrat that calls it for what it is and not use the euphemism that it’s a big-tent situation,” he added.

Fetterman reserved particularly sharp criticism for El-Sayed’s decision to campaign alongside left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who previously drew widespread condemnation for declaring that “America deserved 9/11.”

“Democrats like El-Sayed are proud to campaign with garbage like Hasan Piker,” Fetterman said.

The comments are the latest example of Fetterman’s growing public break with the progressive flank of his party, with Israel emerging as one of the most significant areas of disagreement.

Fetterman has established himself as one of the Senate Democratic caucus’s strongest supporters of Israel and has repeatedly pushed back against members of his own party over their positions toward the Jewish state. Last month, he went so far as to say that he would leave the Democratic Party if it officially adopted an anti-Israel posture.

“If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,” Fetterman said at The Hill Nation Summit.

Fetterman’s willingness to challenge Democrats from the right has also earned him unusually strong approval among Republican voters in his home state.

A recent New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena University poll found that 73% of registered Republicans in Pennsylvania hold a favorable view of Fetterman.

{Matzav.com}

Tenant complaints across New York City have jumped dramatically this year, with landlords and housing analysts accusing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration of encouraging renters to flood the city’s 311 system with grievances as part of a broader campaign to increase pressure on property owners, the NY Post reports.

A Post analysis of 311 service requests found that renters have submitted 573,656 complaints so far this year across the five boroughs, a 25% increase from the 459,519 complaints recorded during the comparable period in 2025.

The increase comes as Mamdani officials have repeatedly urged tenants who believe they are being mistreated by landlords to report problems to the city. Property owners say some renters are now filing complaints with 311 without first contacting their landlords and giving them an opportunity to address the issue.

“The city put us in a situation where they’re just slowly beating us to death and blaming us,” said Lincoln Eccles, who owns a 15-unit building in Crown Heights. “The apparatus of the government is geared to squeeze us.”

The surge is showing up across a wide range of complaints handled by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which receives tenant grievances submitted through 311. During the past week alone, HPD received 67 complaints involving clogged toilets, a 500% increase from the same period last year.

Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, said he views the growing tenant-organizing effort as part of a much broader ideological agenda.

“All of this tenant organizing is part of a long term project to take wealth away from people and redistribute it,” Smith said. “They’re figuring out what pressure points they can act on to get their way.”

Brooklyn, where Mamdani enjoys particularly strong support in neighborhoods including Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint, has experienced the sharpest increase in complaints.

Residents of the borough have filed 169,675 complaints so far this year, compared with 128,337 over the same period in 2025, representing an increase of approximately 32%.

Queens has also outpaced the citywide increase. Complaints there have risen 29% from the same period last year.

The increases come amid a concerted effort by City Hall to encourage renters to report housing problems and organize collectively. Cea Weaver, Mamdani’s tenant advocate, explicitly urged residents earlier this year to make use of the city’s complaint system.

“Call 311,” Weaver told New Yorkers in February. “City Hall’s door is open,” she added, while saying in an interview with In These Times that the administration intended to become “bold and creative” in its housing policies.

Weaver, who previously described property ownership as a “weapon of white supremacy,” has also said, “if you don’t believe in the government’s sacred right to seize private property, it’s over.”

At a July briefing about the administration’s “rental ripoffs” hearings, Weaver said the city was increasing its ability to investigate landlords and enforce housing regulations.

“We’re expanding headcount to be able to do more housing code inspections and more targeted enforcement,” she said.

Mamdani himself promoted the administration’s enforcement efforts in April when he accompanied an HPD inspector through a Harlem apartment building for a social media video. The mayor highlighted six violations discovered during the visit, including relatively minor infractions involving information that was supposed to be displayed at the building entrance, and declared that “no issue is too small.”

The number of complaints soared during that same week. Citywide, 17,768 complaints were submitted, compared with 10,877 during the corresponding week in 2025, an increase of 63%.

The jump was even greater in Brooklyn, where complaints rose from 3,223 during that week last year to 5,499 this year, an increase of roughly 70%.

Some landlords say the campaign has fundamentally changed their relationships with tenants.

“They’re calling HPD non-stop day and night,” said property owner Yossi Azour, who is battling the Weaver-founded Crown Heights Tenants Union over his Hawthorne Street building.

“They’re playing the innocent victim and causing people to lose their property and suffer.”

“It’s a disaster,” Azour added, saying he had never encountered anything comparable during his three decades as a property owner. “That Mamdani is saying landlords are bad and housing should be free, it gives them headwind.”

Landlords told The Post that some of the complaints they have encountered appear frivolous, including tenants reporting a lack of heat during the summer and one renter objecting to the color of paint on a wall.

The administration’s expanded enforcement efforts are tied to Mamdani’s “block by block” housing plan, unveiled in May, which increased HPD’s budget by $2 billion.

The NYS Tenant Bloc, the nonprofit organization Weaver headed before joining the Mamdani administration this year, has openly described legal action over building repairs as one component of a broader effort that could ultimately shift properties away from private landlords.

“If landlords can’t maintain their buildings, tenants will,” the NYS Tenant Bloc said in June. “The Mayor’s Housing Plan directs $2.2 billion to taking housing off their hands.”

Under the existing enforcement process, a tenant complaint submitted through 311 is forwarded to HPD, which contacts the property owner. If the matter remains unresolved, an inspector can be dispatched to the apartment and issue a violation if a problem is found.

Violations that remain unresolved can lead to further city action. In the most serious cases involving numerous persistent and severe building-wide problems, HPD can pursue legal proceedings that can eventually result in management or ownership of a property being transferred.

Mamdani announced this week that his administration is moving to accelerate the court process for housing cases.

“People wait weeks, if not months, for a case to be heard,” he told reporters. “Today we take a critical step towards ending that.”

Property owners contend that some tenants have learned to exploit the enforcement process, filing complaints to establish a record against landlords while withholding rent.

“The tactic is to make these complaints. Make it seem like there is no interest in fixing the issue,” Eccles said.

The administration’s Office of Mass Engagement has also participated in door-to-door tenant outreach. Members of the office canvassed alongside the Democratic Socialists of America in Flatbush last week, encouraging renters to “band together” in their dealings with landlords.

Luis Altamiranda, president of Esther Consulting Group and a Washington Heights property owner, said misuse of the complaint system existed before the current administration but has increased substantially since Mamdani became mayor.

“I’ve totally seen what I would describe as a weaponization of 311 complaints,” Altamiranda said. “It existed before Mamdani, but it’s gotten by far exponentialized since he’s taken office.”

“What I see a lot of is you have tenants that have massive amount of arrears, and then they use the 311 complaints to create this sort of narrative that the landlord’s not doing his job.”

Christine Renzi, an East Village landlord whose family owns 11 apartment buildings, said she has also noticed a significant change in attitudes toward property owners.

“The landlords are being targeted,” Renzi said. “My father was never targeted like this. We used to get a lot of respect for being a landlord.”

“I actually have a tenant that feels that he does not have to pay his rent because of Mamdani. They feel like they are absolutely entitled to have a free ride,” she said.

Natalie Bonnano, 47, who owns 300 properties in Brooklyn and Staten Island with her sister, said confusion over Mamdani’s rent policies has even led some tenants to question whether they are required to pay rent at all.

“We even had one tenant who called me and asked why she was being charged rent. She thought that’s what the rent freeze meant,” Bonnano said.

Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, warned that repeated or baseless complaints can also undermine renters who are dealing with legitimate and serious housing problems.

“A fair and effective housing enforcement system should ensure that property owners are given reasonable opportunity to correct legitimate violations and weed out bogus tenant complaints. There also must be consequences for tenants who create the violations in the apartments, or report false complaints.”

{Matzav.com}