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IDF Busts West Bank Rocket Factory, Nabs Terror Cell in Ramallah; Group Tried Launching Rockets At Israeli Cities

Yeshiva World News -

In a major counterterrorism operation, Israeli security forces arrested three members of an armed terrorist cell operating a weapons-manufacturing workshop in Ramallah, the IDF and Shin Bet announced Friday in a joint statement with Israel Police. The raid uncovered dozens of rockets in various stages of production, including two ready-to-launch rockets lacking warheads, alongside explosives and raw materials. Investigators said the findings directly linked the suspects to recent attempts to manufacture and fire rockets toward Israeli territory from the West Bank. Security officials believe the cell attempted to launch a rocket last week — an escalation that, if successful, would have marked a dangerous new phase in West Bank terrorism. According to the IDF, forces surrounded the building housing the suspects and opened fire at the structure, prompting the three men to surrender and exit. They were immediately arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation. All rockets, explosives, and related materials were destroyed on site by IDF engineers to prevent future use. The arrests come as part of a sweeping campaign against terrorist activity across the West Bank. In the past week alone, the IDF and Shin Bet have detained more than 75 wanted individuals. Among them: 13 terrorists from the Bethlehem area plotting attacks on civilians and soldiers, 10 from Kabatiya, and nine Hamas operatives. Weapons and ammunition were also seized during parallel operations in the Menashe Brigade and Tulkarm sector, underscoring the extent of the terror infrastructure in the area. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

“You’ve Done a Great Job”: Kamala Harris Claims Trump Privately Praised Her In Phone Call During Bitter 2024 Campaign

Yeshiva World News -

Former Vice President Kamala Harris claims Donald Trump privately praised her and promised to soften his campaign rhetoric during their bitter 2024 race, even as he publicly mocked her with derisive nicknames and mispronunciations. In excerpts from her upcoming memoir 107 Days, published Thursday by The New York Times, Harris recounts two strikingly cordial conversations with Trump — one after he survived an assassination attempt, and the other on election night when she conceded defeat. According to Harris, the first call came shortly after Trump was shot in the ear during a rally in Pennsylvania. Though he had publicly blamed her rhetoric for the attack, she reached out through aides. When Trump picked up, she says he surprised her with flattery. “You’ve done a great job, you really have,” Trump told Harris, according to the book. “My only problem is it makes it very hard for me to be angry at you. … I’m going to tone it down. I will. You’re going to see.” He then added that his daughter Ivanka was “a big fan” and asked Harris to pass greetings to her husband, Doug Emhoff. Harris wrote that she didn’t buy the charm offensive. “He’s a con man. He’s really good at it,” she wrote. “I’d readied myself for a phone conversation with Mr. Hyde, but Dr. Jekyll had picked up the call.” The second call came on election night. After Harris phoned to concede, Trump praised her again. “You are a tough, smart customer, and I say that with great respect,” she quotes him as saying. “And you also have a beautiful name. I got use of that name, it’s Kamala.” For the first time all campaign, Harris notes, he pronounced it correctly. On the trail, Trump had repeatedly labeled Harris and Democrats “fascists,” “communists,” and “Marxists.” He also mocked her name, at one point calling her “Kamabla.” The memoir also reveals moments of tension within Harris’s own party. She writes that President Joe Biden phoned her “minutes” before her lone debate with Trump to confront her about a rumor that she had bad-mouthed him behind his back. “I just couldn’t understand why he would call me, right now, and make it all about himself,” Harris recalled. Harris’s 107 Days takes its title from the brief span of her 2024 campaign, launched after Biden dropped out following his disastrous June debate performance. The book is set to be released later this year. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

“The 1930s Are Back”: Germany Confronts Antisemitism Surge After Shop Posts ‘No Jews Allowed’ Notice

Yeshiva World News -

A sign banning Jews from a shop in the northern city of Flensburg has ignited outrage across Germany, drawing comparisons to Nazi-era boycotts and prompting swift condemnation from officials. “JEWS are banned from here!!!! Nothing personal. Not even antisemitism. I just can’t stand you,” the handwritten notice read. It was removed within 24 hours after police received multiple complaints, but not before photographs circulated widely online. Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor blasted the incident, writing on X: “The 1930s are back. It’s the same old hatred, just in a different font.” Prosor warned that antisemitism “was never about Zionism, it was always about Jewish life. And it never ends harmlessly.” Germany’s antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein called the notice “antisemitism in its purest form,” telling Die Welt that it directly evoked the Nazi era, when Jews were boycotted and subjected to similar signage. German Education Minister Karin Prien, herself Jewish, denounced the message as “blatant antisemitism” and urged a “tough crackdown.” Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into the case. By Thursday, counter-signs scrawled with slogans such as “[expletive removed] Nazis” and “Nazis Out” covered the shopfront. The store’s owner, whose shop sells books and gothic antiques, defended his action in remarks to the Schleswig-Holsteinische Zeitungsverlag, saying it was a response to the war in Gaza. “Jews live in Israel, and I can’t tell between them who are for and against the attacks [on Gaza],” he said. The controversy erupted just a day after Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that hostility toward Israel was increasingly serving as a pretext for antisemitism inside Germany. Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel, Merz said, hatred against Jews had become “louder, more open, more brazen, more violent almost every day.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Macron Defends Palestinian Statehood Recognition, Calls Gaza War a ‘Failure’

Matzav -

French President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to move toward recognizing a Palestinian state, insisting that doing so is the only way to “isolate Hamas” and respond to what he described as “a failure” of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza.

In an interview broadcast Thursday on Israel’s Channel 12 News with anchor Yonit Levi, Macron argued that this step should not be seen as rewarding terrorism, despite Israel’s objections and Hamas’s praise for the move.

Levi opened the conversation by highlighting Macron’s shift—from strongly siding with Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre to now pushing forward an initiative that many Israelis see as legitimizing Hamas.

Macron answered, “I think everybody here does respect and shares this trauma and infinite pain. We condemned the terrorist attack of Hamas. Our top priority remains the release of all hostages. We recognize the right of Israel to defend itself. But when Israel started to have a sort of permanent war in Gaza, we expressed a disagreement very respectfully but very clearly.”

The French leader argued that Israel’s military campaign is “totally counterproductive” and “completely destroying the image and the credibility of Israel, not just in the region but in public opinions everywhere.” He also denounced a recent Knesset decision that he claimed would “restore the colonization and the end of West Bank,” saying this move “has nothing to do with Hamas.”

Macron maintained that without a diplomatic solution, Palestinians are pushed toward groups with an “aggressive approach,” like Hamas.

He stressed, “The objective of Hamas has never been to make two states… They want an Islamistic state and they want especially to destroy Israel.” Macron said his plan was intended to give the Palestinian people a “legitimate perspective” separate from Hamas.

According to Macron, the Palestinian Authority recently sent a letter labeling the October 7 massacre as terrorism for the first time, while also committing to reforms, deradicalization, and a revised educational system. When Levi challenged him that similar commitments had been voiced since 1993, Macron responded, “Yes, but we never delivered collectively. When we don’t offer a political perspective, we just give the floor to those we offer a terrorist approach.”

Asked about whether the timing of recognition was appropriate while Israel is still reeling, Macron said he empathized but felt it was necessary “because precisely the approach of your government, some ministers especially, is to destroy the possibility of a two-state solution.”

He described the initiative as urgent, calling it “an emergency” and “probably… the last minute before proposing a two-state would become totally impossible.”

Macron also acknowledged that Israel had “very concrete and important results” in targeting Hamas leaders, but noted that the group has been able to replenish its ranks, leaving its manpower at the same level as October 7. “So this is a failure,” he said.

When questioned about potential economic measures against Israel, Macron replied, “if the Gaza City operation is pursued by the government, it’s clearly a debate we will need. Because I think this is a huge mistake, this is absolutely unacceptable, this is totally incompliant with international rules.” He emphasized that he would not call for a full boycott of Israel but would “refuse the access for some industrials or key people clearly involved in Gaza operations.”

Strains between Yerushalayim and Paris had already been escalating before Macron’s September 22 announcement at the UN General Assembly that France would formally recognize a Palestinian state, with Macron continuing to criticize Israel’s actions against Hamas in Gaza.

The French president has twice urged an arms embargo on Israel, arguing that halting “the export of weapons” used in Gaza and Lebanon was the only way to stop the battles with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Macron later suggested that Israel’s ongoing Gaza offensive may constitute violations of international humanitarian law.

In late August, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu sent Macron a letter in which he wrote that antisemitism had “surged” in France following Macron’s statement about Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu told Macron, “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas’s refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets.”

In response, Macron’s office rejected the claims, blasting Netanyahu’s charge as “abject” and “erroneous,” and declaring that France “protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens.”

{Matzav.com}

U.S. Stands Firm With Israel, Rejects UN Resolution Calling For Gaza Ceasefire But Omitting Hamas Condemnation

Yeshiva World News -

The United States on Thursday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that the draft measure ignored Hamas’s role in launching the war and failed to affirm Israel’s right to self-defense. All 14 other members of the Security Council backed the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and called for Israel to lift restrictions on aid. U.S. officials said the resolution was fatally flawed because it did not explicitly condemn Hamas for its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and triggered the ongoing conflict. “Colleagues, US opposition to this resolution will come as no surprise,” said Morgan Ortagus, a senior U.S. policy adviser. “It fails to condemn Hamas or recognize Israel’s right to defend itself, and it wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council.” The resolution reiterated previous demands for the release of hostages still held in Gaza. Israel and the U.S. maintain that any ceasefire deal must be directly tied to the unconditional release of those captives. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, welcomed Washington’s veto, stressing that the proposed measure would not bring peace or secure the hostages’ freedom. “Israel will continue to fight Hamas and protect its citizens, even if the Security Council prefers to turn a blind eye to terrorism,” he said. The U.S. veto comes as Israeli forces continue a new ground operation in Gaza City aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military infrastructure. Israeli officials say the offensive is essential to preventing future attacks and ensuring long-term security for civilians on both sides. While critics lamented the failed resolution, U.S. and Israeli officials underscored that ceasefire calls absent any recognition of Hamas’s responsibility risk emboldening the terror group and undermining prospects for real peace. At home, opinion polling shows a divided American public, with many still supportive of Israel’s military objectives even as humanitarian concerns remain high. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Palestinian Authorities Arrest Suspect in 1982 Paris Kosher Restaurant Massacre

Yeshiva World News -

Palestinian authorities have arrested Hicham Harb, a 70-year-old Palestinian man long suspected of orchestrating one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in modern French history, France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office announced. The arrest, made in the West Bank, comes more than four decades after the August 9, 1982 assault on Jo Goldenberg, a kosher restaurant in Paris’s Marais district. The attack killed six people and wounded 22 others. French prosecutors described the detention as a “major procedural breakthrough” in a case that has dragged on for decades. The Jo Goldenberg attack began when terrorists threw a grenade into the crowded delicatessen. Gunmen armed with Polish WZ-63 submachine guns then stormed the restaurant, firing on diners and passersby on Rue des Rosiers before fleeing. Among the dead were two Americans and a French Jewish couple. The Abu Nidal Organization, a Palestinian splinter faction, was blamed for the assault. Founded by Sabri al-Banna, the group carried out hijackings, bombings, and assassinations across Europe and the Middle East before its leader’s death in 2002. Harb, whose real name is Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, is accused of leading the commando unit. He had lived openly in Ramallah despite an international arrest warrant issued by France in 2015. A Paris court indicted Harb and five others in July for trial before the Special Assize Court on charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Interpol notified French prosecutors of Harb’s arrest, crediting cooperation with Palestinian security forces. Efforts are underway to secure his extradition to France, where he faces a potential life sentence. Prosecutors noted that the trial cannot proceed fully without him. French Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti reacted to the arrest: “I welcome the excellent cooperation with the Palestinian Authority. We are working together to ensure his swift extradition. This is another step forward for justice and truth. My thoughts are with all the families who have endured the pain of waiting for so long.” Other indicted suspects include Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed, extradited from Norway in 2020 and now detained in France, and Hazza Taha, arrested earlier this year in Paris. Three others remain at large in the Palestinian territories or Jordan. “Forty-three years is an eternity to wait for accountability,” said Romain Boulet, a lawyer representing the daughter of one victim. “This arrest doesn’t erase the loss, but it affirms that no one is above the law—no matter how much time passes.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

ADMITTING THE OBVIOUS: Biden Chief Of Staff Testifies That President’s Memory Faded, Decision-Making Slowed in Office

Yeshiva World News -

Former White House chief of staff Jeff Zients told congressional investigators Thursday that President Joe Biden’s memory and decision-making capacity deteriorated during his term in office, according to the NY Post. Zients, who served as Biden’s top aide from 2023 to 2024, said he recommended to White House physician Kevin O’Connor that the president undergo “a full medical workup,” including a cognitive exam, after Biden’s widely criticized June 27, 2024, debate performance. That night, the president stumbled through answers, spoke with a raspy voice, and made a series of confusing statements — including a claim that his administration had “finally beat Medicare.” While Biden’s team at the time insisted he was suffering from a cold, Zients testified that the “mental freezes” observed by aides were unprecedented. Other senior officials — including former communications adviser Anita Dunn and national security adviser Jake Sullivan — also pushed for cognitive testing. Cabinet officials such as Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, VA Secretary Denis McDonough, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly doubted Biden’s ability to mount a successful second-term campaign. Zients further disclosed that Biden began showing difficulty remembering names and dates, and that policy decisions increasingly required additional meetings to reach conclusions. “Decisions that once required three meetings eventually began to require a fourth,” the source said, describing Zients’ testimony. The issue of Biden’s stamina was reportedly a recurring subject inside the West Wing, with First Lady Jill Biden urging staff not to overschedule her husband and to allow him to return to the residence earlier in the day. Deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini also discussed limiting the president’s walking distances and stair use, according to testimony. Zients told lawmakers his role was to ensure Biden had access to a wide range of advisers to inform his decisions. A second source close to the former chief of staff emphasized that he “had full confidence in President Biden’s ability to serve as president and is proud of what President Biden accomplished during his four years in office.” The six-hour closed-door session is part of the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing probe into the Biden administration. Chaired by Rep. James Comer, the panel has questioned several other former aides, including ex-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who recently announced a tell-all book on what she described as a “broken” administration. White House physician O’Connor and Jill Biden’s chief of staff Anthony Bernal have both invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer the committee’s questions. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Blue States, NYC Push Back on Trump Admin Vaccine Changes

Matzav -

Seven northeastern states led by Democrats, along with New York City, have joined forces to create a new partnership aimed at issuing vaccine guidance and coordinating public health policies in response to shifts made by the Trump administration.

The newly announced group, called the Northeast Public Health Collaborative, includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and New York City.

This initiative is the latest example of Democrat-governed states pushing back against the administration’s approach to healthcare, particularly regarding vaccines. Earlier this month, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington launched the West Coast Health Alliance, promising to share public health information to ensure that residents receive “credible information free from political interference.”

The northeastern bloc has been cooperating since the start of the year, but officials from the participating state health departments convened in Rhode Island last month to finalize their joint framework, The Hill reported. The group now recommends COVID-19 vaccination for babies and toddlers ages 6 to 23 months, for all adults 19 and older, and for children and teenagers ages 2 to 18 if parents choose.

Back in May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped COVID-19 vaccines from the standard federal schedule for healthy children and pregnant women. Under the revised guidelines, annual shots are no longer recommended for younger, otherwise healthy adults or children. The federal advice now emphasizes vaccination for individuals 65 and older or those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk.

HHS officials clarified that this change does not remove access to COVID-19 vaccines. The shots remain available for older adults, those with underlying conditions, and in some cases for others as well, though coverage and distribution may be more limited.

“We are not going to let Donald Trump or Robert Kennedy take away your ability to make your own health care decisions,” Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared in a statement Thursday. “Massachusetts will continue to lead with science and protect access to life-saving vaccines. We are taking this action today so the people of Massachusetts know that you will continue to be able to get the vaccines you want and need – no matter what happens at the federal level.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul voiced similar sentiments, emphasizing the importance of maintaining access to vaccinations. “Vaccines remain one of the strongest tools we have to safeguard our families and our communities,” she said. “As Washington continues to launch its misguided attacks on science, New York is making it clear that every resident will have access to the COVID vaccine, no exceptions. By standing with our partners across the Northeast, we are ensuring that New Yorkers have the protection and the information they need to stay safe and healthy.”

Meanwhile, the West Coast alliance issued its own recommendations on Wednesday, urging that everyone six months and older get a flu shot this fall. It also encouraged COVID-19 vaccination for children between six months and two years of age as well as pregnant women. In addition, the coalition recommended RSV vaccines for babies under eight months and seniors over 75. Federal health agencies have not revised their guidelines regarding flu or RSV vaccines.

Both the Northeast and West Coast coalitions have aligned their recommendations with guidance from leading medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Family Physicians, according to The Hill.

{Matzav.com}

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