Feed aggregator

Wikipedia is facing renewed accusations of anti-Israel bias over the opening sentence of its main article on the Oct. 7 massacre, which describes the Hamas-led assault as “a series of coordinated armed incursions from the blockaded Gaza Strip” — language critics say inserts an implied justification for the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust before even describing what occurred.

The controversy is the latest flashpoint in a much broader battle over Wikipedia’s treatment of Israel, Zionism, Hamas and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish and pro-Israel organizations have repeatedly accused activist editors of manipulating articles to advance an anti-Israel narrative, an issue that has become increasingly significant as Wikipedia material is also used by search engines and artificial-intelligence systems.

“It’s yet another example of the Wikipedia editors’ anti-Israel bias,” Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, said. “They modify entries to support a distorted narrative that erases Jewish history and the Jewish experience. This time they added the word ‘blockaded’ to try and justify Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 7 massacre.”

Lewin said the wording echoes rhetoric that has repeatedly surfaced among anti-Israel activists since the massacre, including claims that “resistance is justified” and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s controversial statement that Oct. 7 “did not happen in a vacuum.”

The disputed word did not appear in the article’s opening sentence from the beginning. “Blockaded” was added in February, setting off what initially was only limited opposition on the article’s Wikipedia “talk” page, where editors debate proposed changes and disagreements over content.

The dispute gained new life in August as additional editors challenged the wording. On Sept. 11, a formal discussion was launched to determine whether there was sufficient consensus among Wikipedia editors to retain “blockaded” in the article’s first sentence.

Under Wikipedia rules governing highly contentious Israel-Palestinian articles, participation in such discussions is restricted to established editors who have been active for at least 30 days and have made at least 500 edits.

“The edit ignores Hamas’s history of diverting humanitarian aid intended for Gaza’s civilian population,” Lewin said. “Indeed, Hamas used pre-Oct. 7 aid to build a massive terror tunnel network under homes, schools and mosques from which it launched its attacks, cynically exploiting civilians as a human shield and then crying ‘genocide’ when Israel defended itself.”

The argument over the word carries particular significance because of the enormous reach of Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia is among the world’s most heavily visited websites, and its material frequently surfaces prominently in internet searches and can influence the information used by artificial-intelligence systems.

Criticism of the phrase also comes against the backdrop of Guterres’s remarks shortly after the massacre. Speaking at the U.N. Security Council, the secretary-general said the attacks “did not happen in a vacuum” and that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”

The remarks provoked an angry response from Israel. Gilad Erdan, then Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said Guterres’s comments “expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder.”

The Wikipedia editor who initiated the formal debate over retaining “blockaded” defended the terminology, writing that “Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip is a defining feature of this topic and necessary context for a non-specialist reader.” The editor argued that high-quality sources supported describing Gaza that way in the article’s opening sentence and maintained that doing so was consistent with Wikipedia’s requirement for neutral language.

In making the case, the editor cited Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi, describing him as the “preeminent expert in modern Palestinian history.” Khalidi’s background has itself been the subject of controversy. Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has said that Khalidi served as a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization during a period when the PLO was designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. Khalidi has denied that characterization.

The Wikipedia editor defending the wording went still further, comparing the inclusion of Gaza’s “blockaded” status to providing context about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against an oppressive regime.

“We must not create an exception to obfuscate through omission here,” the editor wrote.

Opponents of the wording argued that placing “blockaded” in the opening sentence does more than provide geographical or historical context. They said its placement before a description of the massacre risks suggesting a causal or moral explanation for Hamas’s actions.

A different Wikipedia editor wrote Tuesday that “blockaded” should be removed because “the word suggests justification.”

“To the unedified reader, it may well connote the most extreme version of what ‘blockade’ might mean, like the complete stoppage of all food and supply into a territory,” the editor wrote.

The debate remained unresolved, with editors continuing to argue over whether the word constitutes necessary context or injects a political interpretation into the opening description of the massacre.

The controversy is hardly the first involving Wikipedia’s coverage of Israel. Critics have accused groups of highly active editors of working together to reshape articles dealing with Israel, Zionism, Palestinian terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wikipedia’s own arbitration process has previously taken disciplinary action against several editors involved in the contentious subject area.

Outside investigations have also alleged coordinated editing campaigns aimed at changing the framing of Israel-related articles, including efforts to emphasize criticism of Israel while minimizing or removing material concerning Palestinian terrorism, antisemitism and violence. The accusations have intensified since Oct. 7, as battles over individual words, descriptions and sources have played out across numerous Wikipedia entries.

The consequences, critics argue, extend far beyond people who deliberately visit Wikipedia. Material from the encyclopedia is frequently reproduced or summarized elsewhere online, meaning editorial decisions made by a relatively small number of volunteer contributors can potentially influence how millions of people encounter information about Israel and the Middle East.

Max Abrahms, an associate professor of political science at Northeastern University who studies terrorism and the Middle East, said the problem is connected to a broader ideological imbalance in academia.

“The removal of pro-Israel scholars and even Israel-neutral ones” from academia has impacted “Wikipedia and many other forms of discourse influencing the public,” Abrahms said.

“Zionist-free higher education reduces balanced scholarship and contributes to Wikipedia’s bias,” he said. “The same is true of podcasts and social media, where almost no pro-Israel scholars can be found.”

Abrahms argued that those concerned about the trend should focus on strengthening intellectual diversity within universities rather than treating individual Wikipedia disputes in isolation.

“Philanthropists who care about Israel and intellectual pluralism must make targeted investments to ensure there are faculty to teach the younger generation, which will also have all sorts of additional benefits like objectively correct entries on Wikipedia,” he said.

Eliya Cohen, who survived 505 days in Hamas captivity after being abducted from the Nova music festival, delivered a simple and defiant message to his former captors and terrorists around the world Tuesday at the United Nations: “I won.”

Cohen spoke before roughly 400 people at U.N. headquarters in New York as Israel’s mission to the United Nations marked three years since the Oct. 7 massacre. The gathering brought together survivors, senior diplomats, government officials and community leaders to remember those murdered and abducted and to focus on the resilience of those who survived.

Television host and psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw moderated an emotional conversation with Cohen and his wife, Ziv Abud, both of whom survived the Hamas attack on the Nova festival on Oct. 7, 2023, before being separated for 505 days.

Abud recounted how she and others attempted to flee the festival by car as rockets filled the sky and the music abruptly stopped. They eventually took refuge in a roadside bomb shelter that became packed with 29 people.

Hamas terrorists attacked the shelter, repeatedly throwing grenades inside and opening fire before eventually entering. Abud was shot in the leg and lost consciousness. When she awoke, she found herself beneath a pile of bodies.

She had no idea what had happened to Cohen. He had been taken alive to Gaza, while Cohen, for his part, spent his captivity believing that Abud had been murdered in the shelter.

“I fought for them for 505 days without knowing anything,” Abud said, of those she lost. “It will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Cohen was ultimately freed in February 2025 after 505 days in Gaza, much of that time spent deep underground in Hamas tunnels. He has described enduring severe hunger, beatings, isolation and psychological torment during his captivity.

His reunion with Abud brought an extraordinary conclusion to their 505-day separation. The couple subsequently became engaged and married in Israel in August, surrounded by approximately 1,000 guests, while also remembering the friends and relatives they lost on Oct. 7.

“We are here, and we survive,” Abud told those gathered at the United Nations. “We need to live a normal life.”

Dr. Phil asked Cohen what emotion now defines him after everything he endured during his 505 days as a hostage. Cohen said he has made a conscious decision not to allow anger or bitterness to determine who he is, and he rejected the suggestion that his ordeal makes him fundamentally different from other Israelis.

“I don’t count myself as special or something,” he said.

Cohen noted that Israelis throughout the country continue to live under the threat of terrorism, making the trauma of Oct. 7 something that cannot simply be relegated to the past.

Dr. Phil made a similar point, telling the audience that the psychological impact of the massacre remains ongoing rather than being confined to a single traumatic event three years ago.

“This isn’t Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he said. “This is something that is ongoing.”

Dr. Phil reflected on Abud’s experience of spending hours beneath the bodies of murdered victims, saying that the reality of what she endured is almost impossible to comprehend while sitting comfortably inside an air-conditioned room at the United Nations. The physical attack may end, he said, but its psychological consequences can remain long afterward.

During his remarks, Dr. Phil also described his own journey toward learning about Israel and the Jewish people. Growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, he said, he had never met a Jew as a child and knew little about Israel.

As an adult, Dr. Phil has traveled to Israel and met with hostage families, released hostages, Holocaust survivors and rabbis, seeking to learn firsthand about Israel and its people. He said his faith has played an important role in that process.

“Faith, for me, is a foundation,” Dr. Phil said. “I think it’s the foundation for your family, and I think it’s a foundation and a moral compass of how you live your life.”

He said that reliance on faith becomes particularly important during periods of suffering and uncertainty.

Faith is “the one thing that never varies,” and a person can “lean on” it every day, he said.

Dr. Phil told the gathering that the Hamas attack created a permanent dividing line in the lives of Israelis and Jews around the world, with people increasingly viewing events through the prism of what happened before and after that day.

“Oct. 7 will never be just another date,” he said.

At the same time, Dr. Phil said his encounters with Israelis have left him struck by their determination to continue living despite the enormous suffering they have experienced.

“The one thing that struck me is their extraordinary ability to carry the memory of this immense loss, suffering and pain but at the same time live beautiful lives,” he told attendees.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon also addressed the commemoration, telling the audience that Hamas failed in its attempt to destroy Israel’s spirit.

“Oct. 7, Hamas tried to break us. They did not,” the envoy said. “They changed us. They wounded us. They left a scar that will never fully heal, but they did not break us.”

Danon pointed to Cohen and Abud as living examples of that resilience. The two entered the Nova festival together, survived different horrors after the attack began, were torn apart for 505 days and ultimately found their way back to each other and married.

Abud also spoke about the people she lost at Nova and the challenge of returning to an ordinary life after surviving the massacre. She said she continues to struggle with “survivor’s guilt,” questioning why she was able to return home while so many others were murdered.

Among those killed was her nephew, Amit, who was inside the same shelter. During the attack, Amit repeatedly threw grenades back outside after Hamas terrorists hurled them into the shelter, an effort that helped save lives before he himself was murdered.

When Dr. Phil asked Cohen what message he wanted to give the Jews and Israelis who supported him throughout his captivity, Cohen answered with an appeal to Jewish pride.

“Stay proud to be Jewish,” he said. “Stay proud to be Israeli.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also addressed the gathering, highlighting Cohen’s refusal to cooperate with Hamas propaganda efforts while he was a hostage.

Waltz said Hamas tried to force Cohen to record a propaganda video before his release in which he would claim that his captors had treated him well. Cohen refused to do it.

“He refused. He held firm,” Waltz said. “He said, ‘No.’”

Hamas again attempted to turn Cohen’s eventual release into a propaganda spectacle, Waltz said, but Cohen once more refused to play along.

“You are a proud, strong Jew. You’re undefeated,” Waltz told Cohen.

Waltz also praised Abud for surviving the Nova massacre and then enduring more than a year of uncertainty over whether Cohen was alive. He recalled the heroism of her nephew Amit, who repeatedly threw Hamas grenades back out of the shelter before he was killed.

The U.S. ambassador said the broader strategy pursued by Hamas and Iran to isolate Israel has also failed, pointing to the continued expansion of the Abraham Accords as evidence that the region is moving in another direction.

“Oct. 7 completely, and I think irreversibly, has backfired on Iran and all of their terrorist proxies,” he told attendees. “Peace is possible. America will stand with the Jewish people.”

“The terrorists are on their back foot,” he added.

[COMMUNICATED]

The Lasting Engraved Kvittel!

For Only $362 The kvittel stays at the Ribnitz Rebbe’s tzion all year, keeping you deeply and uniquely connected to the Rebbe.

CLICK HERE!!

The Lasting Engraved Kvittel!

For Only $362 The kvittel stays at the Ribnitz Rebbe’s tzion all year, keeping you deeply and uniquely connected to the Rebbe.

CLICK HERE!!

The Lasting Engraved Kvittel!

For Only $362 The kvittel stays at the Ribnitz Rebbe’s tzion all year, keeping you deeply and uniquely connected to the Rebbe.

CLICK HERE!!

Jewish New Yorkers have been targeted in more than half of all confirmed hate crimes recorded across New York City this year, with newly released NYPD statistics showing 245 anti-Jewish incidents through the end of September — an extraordinary share for a community that represents roughly 10% of the city’s population.

The 245 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes account for 52.9% of the 463 confirmed hate crimes recorded citywide during the first nine months of 2026. The number of anti-Jewish incidents is also slightly higher than during the same period last year, when 242 were recorded, representing an increase of 1.2%.

“The most striking trend continues to be antisemitic hate crimes,” Jessica Tisch, commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“So far this year, 53% of all confirmed hate crimes have targeted Jewish New Yorkers, despite Jews making up only roughly 10% of the city’s population,” she said. “Those numbers are deeply concerning.”

The numbers stand in particularly stark contrast to the city’s broader crime picture. Overall major crime fell 6.6% during the first nine months of the year, while New York recorded the fewest murders, shooting incidents and shooting victims for that period in recorded history. Confirmed hate crimes, however, moved in the opposite direction, rising 12.9%, from 410 during the first nine months of 2025 to 463 this year.

“On the eve of the third anniversary of Oct. 7, we renew our pledge to Jewish institutions that they will not be left to protect themselves without a strong partner in the NYPD,” Tisch added.

The third-quarter figures offered a somewhat more encouraging picture for the Jewish community. Between July 1 and Sept. 30, the NYPD confirmed 59 anti-Jewish hate crimes, representing 47.2% of the 125 confirmed hate crimes citywide. That was a 13.2% decline from the 68 anti-Jewish incidents recorded during the same three-month period in 2025.

But Jewish leaders cautioned against interpreting the quarterly decline as evidence that the broader antisemitism problem has subsided.

Evan R. Bernstein, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, said that “the most alarming thing in these numbers is how unremarkable they have become.”

“Jews are about 10% of New Yorkers and the targets of 53% of the city’s confirmed hate crimes—245 of 463 through September,” he said. “A quieter month does not make that normal. It means the largest Jewish city in the world has learned to live with antisemitic hate crime as the baseline three years after Oct. 7.”

The figures show that anti-Jewish incidents vastly outnumber every other hate-crime category tracked by the NYPD. The next-largest category was crimes motivated by sexual orientation, with 52 confirmed incidents during the first nine months of the year, meaning there were nearly five times as many confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes.

Anti-Muslim hate crimes also increased sharply. The NYPD recorded 32 confirmed incidents targeting Muslims through September, compared with 18 during the same period in 2025, an increase of 77.8%. During the third quarter alone, 11 anti-Muslim hate crimes were confirmed, compared with four during the corresponding period last year.

The NYPD additionally recorded 52 confirmed hate crimes based on sexual orientation, 37 targeting religion more broadly, 31 targeting Black New Yorkers, 20 based on gender, 16 targeting Asians, 13 based on ethnicity, 11 targeting Hispanics and five targeting white New Yorkers during the first nine months of 2026.

The department also distinguishes between hate crimes that are initially “reported” and those that are ultimately “confirmed.” During the third quarter, 181 incidents were reported as possible hate crimes, of which 85 — roughly 47% — were reported as anti-Jewish. Fourteen reported incidents targeted Muslims.

The distinction became significant earlier this year after the city changed the way it publicly presented its hate-crime statistics. Beginning in February, the city initially published confirmed incidents rather than reported incidents, making direct comparisons with some earlier figures difficult. In March, officials said both categories would be released separately.

Under the NYPD’s system, an incident reported as a potential hate crime is investigated by the department’s Hate Crime Task Force. Investigators, working with the NYPD Legal Bureau, determine whether the case meets the definition of a hate crime under New York State law. Incidents that meet that legal standard are then classified as confirmed hate crimes.

The NYPD has said that presenting both figures “enhances transparency and reflects best practices in hate crime reporting.”

The latest figures continue a pattern that has persisted since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in Israel and the subsequent explosion of antisemitic incidents in New York and elsewhere.

The NYPD had already warned ahead of the recent High Holy Days that antisemitism remained the dominant category of hate crime in the city. At a security briefing last month, Tisch said the department had tracked threats against Jewish institutions since Oct. 7, including alleged plots targeting a Manhattan synagogue and a Jewish center in Brooklyn.

“Our Hate Crime Task Force continues to aggressively investigate these incidents, while we deploy additional resources to protect Jewish communities,” Tisch said at Tuesday’s press conference.

“This year, during the High Holy Days, we deployed an unprecedented number of officers to cover virtually every synagogue across the city,” she said.

The statistics were released one week after Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled New York City’s first municipal strategy specifically aimed at combating antisemitism. The plan includes $6.4 million for hate-crime prevention and survivor support, $1 million to strengthen security at synagogues and other houses of worship, expanded Holocaust education and additional investments in Jewish cultural and historical institutions.

The latest figures also show that the share of all hate crimes targeting Jews has declined slightly from last year, even as the actual number of anti-Jewish incidents has risen. During the first nine months of 2025, 242 confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes were recorded, compared with 245 during the same period this year.

The overall numbers nevertheless leave anti-Jewish hate crimes in a category of their own: through September, more than one out of every two confirmed hate crimes in New York City targeted Jews.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is considering suspending the federal gasoline tax as part of a widening effort to bring down sharply elevated fuel prices, potentially putting another 18.4 cents per gallon back in motorists’ pockets.

“We’re thinking about that,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether he would support suspending the federal gas tax.

Any nationwide gas-tax holiday would require congressional action, meaning Trump cannot simply eliminate the levy through an executive order. That presents an immediate obstacle: neither the House nor Senate is currently scheduled to return to Washington until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The federal government currently collects an excise tax of 18.4 cents on each gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents on each gallon of diesel. The revenue is primarily directed toward the Highway Trust Fund, which finances highway, bridge and public-transit projects around the country.

Trump did not say Tuesday how long a federal gas-tax suspension might last or provide details about legislation he would support. But the idea comes as the administration faces growing pressure to reduce energy costs following months of steep increases at the pump.

The national average for regular gasoline stood at roughly $4.37 per gallon Tuesday, up from about $3.13 a year earlier. Diesel remained even more expensive, averaging approximately $6.32 per gallon — nearly twice the $3.68 motorists were paying at the same point last year.

The current diesel average is down somewhat from the record $6.53 reached on Sept. 22, but the extraordinarily high cost continues to reverberate throughout the economy. Because diesel powers much of the nation’s trucking, agricultural and freight industries, increases in diesel prices can ultimately work their way into the prices consumers pay for food and other goods.

Energy prices have risen amid severe disruptions to global fuel supplies, including the war with Iran and Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries. Tight refining capacity and constrained global diesel supplies have added further pressure.

Trump has repeatedly said he expects fuel prices to decline as his administration takes additional steps to increase supplies and reduce costs. Speaking Tuesday, he said, “Prices are now coming way down.”

“And oil, as soon as the war is over, which will be soon, will be coming way down,” Trump said.

The possible federal gas-tax holiday follows a separate action Trump took Monday targeting diesel prices. The president signed an executive order temporarily expanding highway access to red-dyed diesel, fuel that ordinarily is restricted to off-road uses such as farming and construction and therefore is not subject to the same federal excise tax at the point of sale.

“Today, I am announcing another unprecedented step to bring down costs. For many years, farm vehicles, construction equipment, and other off-road vehicles have used what is known as ‘red dye’ diesel… which is exactly the same as normal diesel, but is sold tax-free for off-road vehicles and big trucks… Tonight, I am going to sign a historic Executive Order to officially waive the off-road requirement and allow anyone to purchase tax-free red dye diesel for any reason,” Trump said while announcing the action in Nebraska.

The order applies from Oct. 5 through Dec. 31 and directs the Treasury Department to determine how it can defer federal excise-tax payments associated with the highway use of dyed diesel without penalties or interest. It also directs Treasury to explore ways, including legislation, to ultimately eliminate the obligation to pay those deferred taxes.

The administration says eliminating the 24.4-cent federal diesel tax from a 250-gallon fill could save roughly $60. If states take corresponding action on their own taxes, the White House says savings could exceed $100 on a large fill-up.

The order also directs federal officials to work with states, fuel distributors, agricultural cooperatives and industry groups to expand access to dyed diesel, particularly in areas experiencing heavy demand. The Department of Agriculture was instructed to work specifically on ensuring supplies are available to farmers.

Trump’s moves come alongside an international effort to increase fuel supplies. G-7 countries — including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan — agreed last week to release a combined 100 million barrels of oil and diesel from strategic reserves in an effort to push prices downward.

At the same time, states have increasingly begun acting on their own rather than waiting for Washington, with both Republican and Democratic officials taking steps to soften the impact of higher fuel costs.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation temporarily eliminating the state’s 38.5-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax and 47-cent diesel tax through Dec. 31. The measure won bipartisan support after high fuel prices became a major concern across the state.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox moved to reduce his state’s fuel taxes by 6 cents per gallon through the end of the year.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suspended the state’s gasoline tax of roughly 33 cents per gallon and its diesel tax of roughly 37 cents, with the current suspension scheduled to continue through at least Oct. 29.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has also taken aggressive action, suspending the state’s 7% gasoline use tax along with its 37-cent-per-gallon gasoline excise tax. The combined move is estimated to save Indiana drivers roughly 59 to 61 cents per gallon at current prices.

Indiana’s 63-cent-per-gallon diesel tax remains in place, although Braun has expanded access to red-dyed diesel in an effort to provide relief to farmers and other eligible users.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, took a different approach, pausing automatic inflation-based adjustments that otherwise would have increased the state’s fuel taxes.

The growing state-level movement has added pressure on Washington to consider similar relief. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has proposed legislation that would suspend the federal gasoline tax and the underground-storage-tank fee for 90 days, with authority for the president to extend the suspension for an additional 90 days if economic conditions warrant it.

Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio has likewise called for federal action following his state’s decision to suspend its own fuel taxes.

A federal gas-tax holiday, however, would raise questions about how to replace revenue normally deposited into the Highway Trust Fund. The gasoline and diesel excise taxes together generate tens of billions of dollars annually for transportation infrastructure, meaning Congress would have to decide whether to replace the lost revenue from another source or allow the fund to absorb the reduction.

There is also debate over how much of a tax reduction would ultimately reach motorists. Supporters argue that eliminating the tax would provide immediate relief at the pump, while critics contend that during periods of tight fuel supply, some portion of the savings could be absorbed elsewhere in the supply chain rather than passed entirely to consumers.

For now, Trump has stopped short of formally endorsing a specific federal gas-tax holiday proposal. But his acknowledgement Tuesday that the administration is actively considering the idea represents the latest step in an increasingly broad campaign — from strategic-reserve releases and expanded dyed-diesel access to state tax holidays and potentially a nationwide federal tax suspension — aimed at bringing fuel prices down.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump has turned the long-running battle over daylight saving time into an extraordinary public feud with Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, publishing what he said was the Arkansas senator’s personal cellphone number and urging voters to call him directly and demand that he stop blocking legislation to end the twice-a-year changing of the clocks.

Trump’s move came as he intensified his push for the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the United States. The bill passed the House in July by a lopsided 308-117 vote but has since run into resistance in the Senate, with Cotton emerging as one of its most vocal Republican opponents.

“Everybody in Arkansas, Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, accusing Cotton of standing in the way of what the president argues is an overwhelmingly popular change.

Trump then took the highly unusual step of posting Cotton’s cellphone number.

“To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself,” Trump wrote. “Call Tom on his cellphone.”

Reporters who called the number reached either voicemail or a message indicating that the recipient was unavailable, with the voicemail box at one point becoming full.

Trump argues that Americans are fed up with moving their clocks forward and backward every year and that keeping daylight saving time permanently would provide an additional hour of afternoon and evening sunlight during the winter.

“We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of — every twice a year, turning your clocks back, turning your clocks forward, being late to dinner, being late for very important meetings, it’s ridiculous,” Trump told reporters.

“It discombobulates everybody,” the president said.

Trump has also argued that permanent daylight saving time would benefit sports and recreation by keeping daylight later into the afternoon and evening.

“You know who wants it? The farmers want it. You know who wants it? Sports want it,” Trump said. “Professional sports and amateurs that would like to play tennis at night, would like to play golf a little bit without having to run home after 14 holes.”

The president also shared a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp backing the legislation and arguing that additional evening daylight would allow Americans to play millions of additional rounds of golf each year.

Trump has framed the issue as more than a matter of convenience. He has argued that later sunsets could also reduce crime by allowing people to return home from work and other activities while it is still light outside.

“A table full of very distinguished people just told me that they HATE, immediately after a mandatory time change, going home at night – and it’s DARK,” Trump wrote.

“It’s depressing!” he added. “One of the gentleman stated that, ‘I just hate going home in darkness.’ It’s also, in Crime Ridden Blue States, a lot more dangerous to be walking home in the dark!”

Cotton, however, has refused to budge.

“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton wrote. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

Cotton’s central argument is that permanent daylight saving time simply transfers the problem from the evening to the morning. During the darkest weeks of winter, sunrise would come considerably later in many parts of the country, meaning children could be waiting for school buses and commuters could be traveling to work before sunrise.

The United States has tried year-round daylight saving time before. Congress instituted it during the energy crisis in the 1970s, but public support quickly deteriorated as Americans experienced dark winter mornings, and the experiment was cut short.

Trump responded to Cotton’s argument by accusing him of getting the issue exactly backward.

“If Tom Cotton were putting Arkansas first, he would give them an extra hour of daylight and, more importantly, they wouldn’t have to run all over their houses, farms, work places, and everywhere else, twice a year, having to change their Clocks, and often forgetting to do so,” Trump wrote.

The president then turned up the political pressure, arguing that Republicans should seize what he sees as an easy bipartisan legislative victory.

“Give the Republican Party a Senatorial WIN, for a change!” Trump wrote. “TAKE THE WIN TOM, JUST TAKE THE WIN! YOU NEED IT, AND SO DOES OUR BELOVED REPUBLICAN PARTY!”

Cotton is seeking reelection in Arkansas this November, although his race is not considered competitive. Trump carried Arkansas with more than 64% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.

Cotton is also not the only Republican senator skeptical of the legislation. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana has called the Sunshine Protection Act “dead as disco” and expressed doubt that Senate Majority Leader John Thune will bring it to the floor.

The dispute comes just weeks before Americans are scheduled to change their clocks again. On Nov. 1, most of the country is due to “fall back” one hour and return to standard time for the winter. The Sunshine Protection Act would eventually eliminate that ritual by keeping most of the country on daylight saving time year-round.

Polling has shown widespread dissatisfaction with the current system, although Americans remain divided over what should replace it. A 2025 AP-NORC poll found that only 12% of U.S. adults favored continuing to change the clocks twice a year, while 47% opposed the practice and 40% were neutral.

Trump’s decision to publicize Cotton’s number also recalled a similar episode during his first presidential campaign. In 2015, after then-Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized him, Trump publicly read Graham’s cellphone number during a campaign appearance and encouraged people to call him.

Now, more than a decade later, Trump has revived the tactic against another Republican senator — this time over what might ordinarily seem like one of Washington’s least dramatic policy disputes: what time Americans should see when they look at the clock.

{Matzav.com}