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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced a barrage of condemnation from Israeli, American and Jewish officials Wednesday after using his statement on the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre to accuse Israel of “genocide,” “apartheid” and “war crimes,” with critics charging that he had hijacked a day meant to remember Hamas’s victims in order to attack the Jewish state.

Among the harshest responses came from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who branded Mamdani’s message an “outrageous & disgusting rant” issued on a day that “ought to honor the over 1200 civilians butchered by Hamas including 46 Americans.”

Huckabee compared Mamdani’s approach to commemorating the September 11 attacks by simultaneously condemning America for its response to al-Qaeda.

“There is NO genocide in Gaza,” Huckabee stated, blaming the death toll on Hamas and its continued holding and abuse of hostages. He added that an apology for Mamdani’s “obtuse and utterly ignorant remarks” would not be enough, concluding: “God help the people of New York for electing a jihadist sympathizer!”

Israel’s Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, also issued a blistering response, accusing Mamdani of displaying a shocking lack of sensitivity on the anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

“Anyone with a human heart should be ashamed today of the New York City Mayor’s response to the October 7th massacre,” Akunis stated.

“A day when human monsters invaded the State of Israel on a holiday, murdering, kidnapping, beheading hundreds, and raping hundreds of women.”

Akunis said Mamdani had chosen to continue making what he called antisemitic accusations against Israel rather than devote the anniversary to remembering those murdered and abducted by Hamas.

“Mamdani is displaying a complete lack of human sensitivity and continues to spread his antisemitic blood libels against the Jewish state,” he said.

“It is a disgrace to New York City that such a man stands at its helm, and that, on this day, he chooses to disparage the memory of the murdered victims.”

Akunis then renewed an invitation he had extended to Mamdani earlier this week to attend a screening in New York of the IDF’s approximately 47-minute compilation of raw footage from the October 7 atrocities. The film includes graphic material recorded by Hamas terrorists themselves during the massacre.

“It is not too late for him to attend the screening of the horror film we are hosting this evening, and to witness with his own eyes, for the first time, the kind of human monsters he supports,” Akunis stated.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon similarly accused the mayor of attempting to transform the anniversary from a day of remembrance into another vehicle for anti-Israel messaging.

“’Mamdani-ism’ – an attempt to hijack the anniversary of October 7 and turn it into yet another propaganda attack against Israel. It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists. We will not let this happen. We will remember those who were murdered, and we will never forget who was behind this massacre.”

The Israeli-American Council also delivered an extensive condemnation, saying that whatever political debate Mamdani wished to have about the Gaza war, October 7 was first and foremost a day for the Jewish and Israeli communities to remember the victims of Hamas’s attack.

“For the Jewish and Israeli community, October 7 is, first and foremost, a day of mourning, remembrance, and trauma. On the third anniversary of Hamas’ mass murder, mass rape, mass torture, and mass hostage taking of over 1,200 Israelis, Mayor Mamdani chose, once again, to use the day to accuse Israel of “genocide.” That claim is demonstrably false. The IDF has taken extraordinary steps to minimize civilian casualties, far beyond what the law of armed conflict requires, while fighting an enemy that systematically hides beyond women and children and uses civilians as human shields.”

The organization said Mamdani’s remarks could not be dismissed as a single poorly chosen statement, arguing that his rhetoric about Israel has become a recurring feature of his public messaging and has consequences for Jewish New Yorkers.

“This is not a one-time lapse. Every year, on the anniversary of the day our community buries its dead, the mayor reaches for the same blood libel against the Jewish state. Rhetoric like this doesn’t stay online – it is exactly the kind of messaging that has fueled a documented rise in antisemitic incidents across New York City,” the IAC said. “The mayor’s job is to keep New Yorkers safe and ensure Jewish and Israeli residents can mourn without their grief being hijacked for a political attack. The mayor today has betrayed his duty and continued to fuel anti Jewish hatred.”

The backlash followed Mamdani’s official statement Wednesday morning marking three years since Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, murdering approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 others into Gaza.

Mamdani began by acknowledging the massacre and the continuing pain experienced by New Yorkers with relatives and friends affected by it.

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7,” Mamdani wrote on X.

“On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”

But Mamdani then devoted most of his statement to Gaza, declaring that Palestinian suffering “did not begin nor end that day” and accusing Israel of conducting an “ongoing genocide.”

He claimed that more than 74,000 Palestinians, including more than 21,000 children, had been killed by Israel, and said more than 1,400 Palestinians had died since what he called the “so-called ceasefire.” Those figures are based on casualty counts from authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel has repeatedly disputed Hamas’s presentation of the casualty figures and categorically rejects the charge that it is committing genocide.

Mamdani also accused Israel of bombing ambulances outside hospitals, targeting residential buildings and journalists with drone strikes, and preventing shipments of food from crossing into Gaza. He said American taxpayers were financing Israeli “war crimes.”

He concluded by calling for an end to what he characterized as Israeli “occupation and apartheid” and accusing the federal government of complicity through continued weapons shipments to Israel.

The controversy came only days after Mamdani’s administration unveiled a $7.4 million citywide initiative aimed at combating antisemitism, including increased security measures, educational programs and training for city employees. The mayor has maintained that his fierce criticism of Israel should be distinguished from hostility toward Jews.

The timing of Wednesday’s remarks nevertheless intensified criticism from Jewish and Israeli leaders, particularly as memorial ceremonies were being held in New York, Israel and around the world for those murdered and abducted three years ago.

Mamdani’s October 7 rhetoric has been controversial before. On the second anniversary of the massacre in 2025, before becoming mayor, he similarly mourned those killed by Hamas before accusing Israel of waging what he called a “genocidal war” in Gaza, drawing a condemnation from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

{Matzav.com}

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ignited a new firestorm Wednesday after using his official statement marking the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre to accuse Israel of carrying out an “ongoing genocide” in Gaza, practicing “apartheid” and committing “war crimes” with American support.

While Mamdani began his statement by acknowledging the Israelis murdered and kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack, the bulk of his message focused on condemning Israel and the United States, prompting fierce criticism from Israeli officials and Jewish leaders who accused the mayor of turning the anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust into a platform for his longstanding attacks on the Jewish state.

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” Mamdani said.

He then pivoted immediately to Gaza.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them—all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.”

The casualty figures cited by Mamdani are based on figures from authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. Israel has disputed Hamas’s accounting of casualties throughout the war and strongly rejects allegations that its campaign constitutes genocide, saying its military operations target Hamas and other terrorist organizations while seeking to minimize civilian casualties. Israel also disputes accusations that it systematically blocks humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

Mamdani went on to condemn Israel’s presence in Palestinian territories and Washington’s continued military assistance to the Jewish state.

“Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment,” said Mamdani.

“To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”

The statement came exactly three years after Hamas-led terrorists stormed across Israel’s border on October 7, 2023, murdering approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages into Gaza. Entire communities along the Gaza border were devastated, hundreds of young people were murdered at the Nova music festival, and families were slaughtered or abducted from their homes.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon blasted Mamdani for using the anniversary to shift attention from the victims of the Hamas massacre to accusations against Israel.

“What he is trying to do is hijack the only day we have for the victims and survivors. He’s trying to hijack the day to talk about attacking Israel,” Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon told The Post.

Danon compared Mamdani’s approach to using the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks to focus simultaneously on the terrorists responsible for them.

“It’s like on 9/11 you talked about victims and al-Qaeda terrorists. It’s basically taking the only day we have for victims and trying to attack Israel with propaganda. He’s dangerous and sophisticated. He will go to both ceremonies and try to say he feels for both losses of life.”

Menashe Shapiro, who served as an adviser to Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, issued an even more blistering condemnation, calling the mayor’s statement “incitement and electronic violence against New York’s Jews.”

“He doesn’t get to hide behind Hamas’ made-up stats to justify his open Jew-hatred.”

The controversy comes amid already strained relations between Mamdani and significant portions of New York’s Jewish community over his rhetoric concerning Israel. Mamdani has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and has sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government.

Those tensions have persisted even as Mamdani has sought to reassure Jewish New Yorkers that his administration is committed to combating antisemitism. Just days before the October 7 anniversary, City Hall unveiled a new citywide strategy to fight antisemitism, including enhanced security around Jewish institutions, educational initiatives and efforts to address anti-Jewish hate crimes.

A new survey released Wednesday underscored the depth of the divide. The poll of 503 Jewish voters across New York City found that 65% disapproved of Mamdani’s handling of antisemitism, including 47% who strongly disapproved, while 34% approved.

The survey also found substantial opposition among Jewish respondents to Mamdani holding or attending an official city commemoration of October 7, reflecting the distrust that has developed between the mayor and portions of the community.

The issue has taken on particular urgency in New York, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said this week that antisemitic incidents continue to constitute more than half of all reported hate crimes in the city, even though Jews represent only a fraction of New York’s population.

Mamdani has faced criticism from Jewish leaders before over the effect they say his language about Israel can have on Jewish New Yorkers. During an August meeting with a group of rabbis and Jewish leaders, participants directly confronted the mayor over those concerns.

{Matzav.com}

Israel is moving to tighten security screening for foreign airline crews following the attempted attack aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073, with crew members from countries designated as high-risk to undergo security vetting 48 hours before departing for Israel.

The new procedures were discussed Tuesday during a classified session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Intelligence Subcommittee, amid growing questions over how foreign flight crews are screened before being permitted to enter Israeli airspace and land in the country.

The meeting followed several days of finger-pointing among Israeli government and security agencies over responsibility for screening the crew of the Flydubai flight.

According to the plan discussed at the session, the National Security Council will work with the Mossad and Shin Bet to formulate a list of countries that will be classified as presenting a heightened security threat.

Once that list is established, the identities and personal details of flight crew members from those countries will have to be provided to Israel 48 hours before a scheduled flight, allowing Israeli security agencies to conduct background checks and grant approval before departure.

A second change will involve passengers and crew members traveling on passports issued by countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

At the request of the Transportation Ministry, the Population and Immigration Authority will be required to provide the ministry’s security division with lists identifying passengers and crew members holding passports from such countries.

The closed-door discussion also sought to establish more clearly which Israeli government agency bears responsibility for each stage of the screening process.

According to information presented during the meeting, responsibility for checking the passports of passengers and flight crew members rests with the Population and Immigration Authority, working through the National Security Council. Relevant information is then supposed to be transferred to the agencies responsible for carrying out the necessary security assessments.

The changes follow revelations of significant gaps in Israel’s existing system for vetting foreign flight crews.

According to previous reports, Israeli authorities received the crew list for Flydubai Flight FZ1073 in advance and raised no objection to any of the individuals aboard. The flight’s Omani co-pilot was subsequently accused of attempting to carry out a terrorist attack during the Israel-bound flight.

The incident raised questions over whether the existing system adequately evaluates the backgrounds and nationalities of foreign crew members before they are permitted to operate flights to Israel.

Tuesday’s classified meeting was therefore aimed at creating a clearer division of responsibility among the National Security Council, Shin Bet, Mossad, Population and Immigration Authority and Transportation Ministry, while ensuring that potentially significant information reaches the appropriate security agency before an aircraft departs for Israel.

Under the proposed framework, Israeli authorities would have a 48-hour window to examine flight personnel from countries considered particularly sensitive, rather than confronting potential security concerns only after a flight is already underway or approaching Israeli airspace.

{Matzav.com}

Six people aboard a medical transport jet traveling from Bermuda to Boston are presumed dead after the aircraft reported electrical problems, plunged thousands of feet and disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket, with the U.S. Coast Guard later locating wreckage from the plane.

The Gulfstream G100, operated by Ontario-based Latitude Air Ambulance and flying as Heartbeat 104, was carrying a Bermudian patient and her son, along with two Canadian pilots and two Canadian medical crew members, when it went down early Saturday, Oct. 3.

What began as an enormous search-and-rescue operation ended after approximately 66 hours, with the Coast Guard suspending its active search after covering thousands of square miles of ocean. No survivors were located.

The six people aboard have since been identified as 66-year-old Marilyn Lavonne Bean of Bermuda, who was being transported to Boston for medical treatment; her 41-year-old son, Sergio Wayne Lottimore; Captain Philip Gregory Childerhose; First Officer Thomas Henry Farquhar; flight nurse Sarah Jane Paton; and respiratory therapist Jolene Beth Weir.

The Canadian-registered aircraft, tail number C-GRJP, departed Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport shortly after midnight and was heading to Boston Logan International Airport when the crew encountered trouble while approaching the northeastern United States.

The plane was scheduled to arrive in Boston at approximately 1:25 a.m., but air traffic controllers began having difficulty communicating with the crew as the aircraft flew north over the Atlantic.

Chilling air traffic control recordings captured a controller struggling to understand transmissions from the jet as its apparent emergency developed.

“You’re coming in blind? Is that what you said?” the air traffic controller asked around 12:46 a.m. “Are you declaring an emergency or no?

“You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was,” the controller added.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has since confirmed that the crew reported electrical difficulties as the aircraft approached the Boston area. The jet subsequently entered a rapid descent before air traffic controllers lost contact with it south of Nantucket.

Flight-tracking information showed the aircraft falling from approximately 24,000 feet to around 11,000 feet in roughly three minutes beginning at about 1:04 a.m. The jet appeared to stabilize following the dramatic descent, but communications problems continued.

At Boston Logan, emergency personnel were already preparing for the aircraft’s arrival. At approximately 1:12 a.m., a Massport Fire Rescue dispatcher alerted crews that a plane experiencing an “electrical issue” was expected to land in Boston in about 15 minutes.

“The aircraft has lost radio and radar,” the dispatcher said of the plane.

Those preparations would prove futile. The jet never reached Boston, and an official search-and-rescue alert was triggered at approximately 1:20 a.m.

“The FAA is coordinating with the Rescue Coordination Center and the U.S. Coast Guard to locate the aircraft,” the agency said as the search began.

The Coast Guard deployed an extensive array of resources into the waters south of Nantucket, including an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft and MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod, a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Brant Point and the Coast Guard cutter William Sparling.

The William Sparling continued searching through the night as aircraft and vessels combed the ocean for any indication of the missing plane or its six occupants.

Crews eventually spotted a debris field in the Atlantic south of Nantucket. The Coast Guard subsequently confirmed that the wreckage was associated with the missing Gulfstream, extinguishing hopes that the aircraft might somehow have remained airborne or made an emergency landing elsewhere.

During the first 27 hours alone, Coast Guard crews searched approximately 1,644 square miles. The massive effort ultimately continued for about 66 hours and covered thousands of square miles before officials concluded that the chances of finding survivors no longer justified continuing the active search.

Latitude Air Ambulance subsequently said that the six people aboard Heartbeat 104 were presumed dead. The company described the loss as a devastating event and said it would cooperate with investigators while supporting the families of those aboard.

The flight was a medical mission carrying Bean from Bermuda to Boston for treatment. Her son Lottimore, a Bermuda-based reinsurance executive and former Warwick Academy student, accompanied her on the flight.

The four Canadian crew members were experienced aviation and medical professionals tasked with carrying patients requiring specialized care between countries. Latitude Air Ambulance is based in Hamilton, Ontario, and specializes in long-distance medical transportation.

Attention has now shifted from rescue operations to determining exactly what caused the aircraft to go down.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board announced that it will lead the investigation because the Gulfstream was registered in Canada. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will participate as an accredited representative, and Canadian investigators are expected to assist with efforts to locate and recover the aircraft and other evidence.

The investigation will focus in part on the electrical difficulties reported by the crew, the deterioration in radio communications and the jet’s sudden loss of altitude. Investigators will also examine weather conditions along the aircraft’s route.

No official determination has been made about what caused the crash, and investigators have cautioned against drawing conclusions before the wreckage, flight data and other evidence can be examined.

Former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo said the combination of the aircraft’s steep descent, poor weather and possible instrument problems would be particularly dangerous for a pilot.

“Something bad happened with this big drop, and they flew into this big storm. It’s a terrible place to have a loss of your instruments and be flying blind,” said Schiavo.

“It’s very easy to get disoriented and not know if you’re turning, climbing, descending, etc. Spatial orientation hits pretty quickly.”

The aircraft was manufactured in 1996 and had been registered to Latitude Air Ambulance since 2018. The Gulfstream G100 is a twin-engine business jet that can be configured for long-range medical transportation.

Because the accident occurred in international waters off the Massachusetts coast, the investigation involves authorities from multiple countries. Under international aviation agreements, however, Canada, as the aircraft’s country of registration, will take the lead, with U.S. investigators assisting.

Investigators are expected to seek the recovery of as much wreckage as possible as they attempt to reconstruct the aircraft’s final minutes and determine why a medical flight bound for Boston suddenly lost communications, descended sharply and disappeared into the Atlantic.

{Matzav.com}

An uplifting moment during the Hakafos Shniyos celebration at Yeshivas Mishkenos HaTorah in Bnei Brak became a powerful lesson about success in Torah learning, as the mashgiach, Rav Moshe Dovid Lefkowitz, shared a remarkable story involving his mother and the Chazon Ish.

The central Hakafos Shniyos celebration at the yeshiva, located on Ben Yaakov Street in Bnei Brak, continued late into the night, led by the rosh yeshiva, Rav Ephraim Cohen, together with the rabbeim and hundreds of bochurim, avreichim and alumni who filled the bais medrash.

As he does each year, Rav Moshe Dovid Lefkowitz arrived close to midnight to participate alongside the rosh yeshiva. At the height of the celebration, the mashgiach led the crowd in singing, “Blessed is our G-d Who created us for His glory,” pausing between portions of the song to reflect on and explain the meaning of the words.

When the singing reached the words, “He will open our hearts through His Torah,” Rav Lefkowitz stopped to emphasize what he described as a fundamental point about achieving success in Torah learning: it does not depend primarily upon a person’s natural intellectual abilities.

“Now we are going to begin to daven and ask,” Rav Lefkowitz said. “But we do not ask, ‘He should open our talents.’ Rather, we ask, ‘He should open our hearts.’ What does ‘He will open our hearts through His Torah’ mean? We see that Torah does not depend on talent! It depends on desire… on someone who has a deep desire…”

To illustrate the point, Rav Lefkowitz related an incident involving his mother, Rebbetzin Chava Esther Lefkowitz, the wife of his father, Rav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz.

“I heard that my mother went to the Chazon Ish, of blessed memory, and asked him for a blessing ‘that the children should want to learn and should know how to learn.’ The Chazon Ish then sent back the message that he was amazed by these women who know how to ask… because the essence is the ‘desire.’ And what is desire? It is the heart.”

Rav Lefkowitz then resumed the singing together with the bnei hayeshiva, repeatedly singing the words, “He will open our hearts through His Torah… He will open our hearts through His Torah,” as the spirited singing and hisorerus continued late into the night.

{Matzav.com}

California is moving closer to effectively banning the fabrication of many popular engineered-quartz countertops, as state regulators confront a rapidly worsening epidemic of silicosis that has sickened nearly 600 countertop workers, led to dozens of deaths and forced scores of patients to undergo lung transplants.

The proposed regulation would prohibit workers in California from fabricating or manufacturing engineered-stone countertops and similar products containing more than 1 percent crystalline silica. That would encompass most traditional engineered quartz, which can contain more than 90 percent crystalline silica.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted unanimously in May to begin the process of establishing the prohibition, directing Cal/OSHA to pursue emergency rulemaking. Cal/OSHA has since moved the proposal forward, releasing a draft standard in September and soliciting public comments as regulators work toward a final rule.

The danger is not primarily to homeowners who have quartz countertops installed in their kitchens. Rather, the crisis involves workers who manufacture and fabricate the slabs, particularly those who cut, grind, drill and polish engineered stone. Those activities can release extremely fine particles of crystalline silica into the air, which workers can inhale deep into their lungs.

Repeated exposure can cause silicosis, a progressive and incurable disease in which scar tissue develops in the lungs, eventually making it increasingly difficult for patients to breathe. Severe cases can require lung transplantation and can be fatal.

The scale of California’s outbreak has risen dramatically. Researchers reported in August that California health officials had identified 592 cases of engineered-stone silicosis between January 2019 and June 2026. Of those workers, 65 had undergone lung transplants and 31 had died. Researchers cautioned that the actual number of cases is almost certainly higher because many workers have never been screened or have been misdiagnosed.

The disease has struck workers at unusually young ages. California officials have said that approximately 98 percent of workers diagnosed with industry-related silicosis in the state are Latino men and that the average age of workers who died was under 50.

Engineered stone has become enormously popular because it can offer the appearance of natural stone while being durable, consistent and available in a wide variety of designs. Unlike slabs of natural granite or marble, engineered quartz is generally produced by crushing quartz and combining it with resins and pigments.

That manufacturing process is at the heart of the health concern. Traditional engineered stone can contain extraordinarily high concentrations of crystalline silica, meaning that cutting and grinding it can generate large amounts of dangerous silica dust.

California has already tried imposing stricter workplace rules rather than eliminating the material. An emergency silica standard was adopted in late 2023, followed by permanent requirements in 2025 governing such practices as cutting, grinding, polishing, cleanup, respiratory protection and exposure monitoring.

But state officials concluded that those measures have not been enough. Cal/OSHA and Standards Board staff found that workers fabricating and installing artificial stone continued to face significant exposure risks and that the silicosis crisis was worsening despite existing protections.

California health officials have also warned that even commonly required safeguards, including wet-cutting methods designed to suppress dust, may not always reduce silica exposure sufficiently to prevent disease. The sophisticated equipment and controls needed to maintain extremely low exposure levels can also be difficult and expensive for smaller fabrication shops to implement consistently.

The proposed rule therefore represents a fundamental change in strategy: instead of attempting only to control the dust generated by high-silica engineered stone, California would largely remove the hazardous material itself from fabrication workplaces.

Importantly, the proposal is not a blanket prohibition on every product marketed as quartz or engineered stone. The key threshold is crystalline silica content. Under the draft approach, engineered-stone products containing more than 1 percent crystalline silica would be prohibited from fabrication, pushing manufacturers and contractors toward low- or no-crystalline-silica alternatives.

Manufacturers have already begun developing substitute products using materials such as amorphous silica, which carries a substantially lower silicosis risk than crystalline silica.

California would not be the first jurisdiction to take drastic action. Australia banned the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone beginning in 2024 after its own surge in silicosis among countertop workers. California officials and researchers have repeatedly pointed to the Australian response while considering how to address the growing number of cases in the state.

The California epidemic was barely recognized several years ago. The state identified its first known countertop-fabrication silicosis case in 2019. That worker was diagnosed at just 32 years old and died of respiratory failure at 38. Investigators subsequently discovered additional cases among workers at the same company, helping reveal what has since become a statewide occupational-health crisis.

By November 2025, California had confirmed 432 cases, including at least 25 deaths and 48 lung transplants. By June 2026, those figures had climbed to 592 cases, 31 deaths and 65 transplants — illustrating how rapidly additional victims are being identified.

Enforcement has also intensified. Through its silica enforcement initiative, Cal/OSHA has issued more than 900 citations carrying approximately $1.9 million in proposed penalties and conducted hundreds of workplace consultations reaching more than 27,000 employees.

The proposed ban would directly affect California’s countertop-fabrication industry and could have broader implications for manufacturers, contractors, kitchen remodelers and consumers. High-silica engineered quartz has become one of the most widely used countertop materials in American homes, and California’s enormous construction and remodeling market means a prohibition could accelerate the industry’s shift toward alternative products nationwide.

For now, however, quartz countertops have not simply been “banned” in California. The state is still in the rulemaking process. The Standards Board authorized Cal/OSHA to pursue an emergency prohibition, and regulators released a draft in September targeting fabrication and manufacture of artificial stone containing more than 1 percent crystalline silica.

If the rule takes effect substantially as proposed, California would become the first U.S. state to impose such a sweeping restriction on high-silica engineered stone, transforming a product found in countless kitchens into the target of one of the nation’s most significant occupational-health crackdowns in years.

{Matzav.com}

A senior IDF official has acknowledged that young Military Police soldiers are effectively incapable of carrying out arrests of chareidi yeshiva bochurim when confronted by hundreds of protesters, following the dramatic collapse of an attempted arrest in Modi’in that ended with the bochur being released.

“We are dealing with enormous protest operations. Young soldiers in the Military Police have absolutely no chance against an event like this,” the senior military official said. “We need much more significant police assistance, with much larger forces.”

The admission followed the chaotic events in Modi’in, where Military Police arrived to arrest Yairi Lieberman, a student at Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim who is approximately 20 days away from his wedding.

When Military Police arrived at the building, the “Black Color” alert system was activated, rapidly bringing hundreds of protesters to the scene. Demonstrators arrived from Modi’in as well as Modi’in Illit, Yerushalayim and Beit Shemesh, eventually making their way all the way to the apartment on the 11th floor.

“Suddenly, at around midnight, I heard knocking at the door, and they told me, ‘Go in, go into the room — it’s the Military Police,’” Lieberman recalled. “While they gave me time to get ready, I managed to call ‘Black Color.’”

Within a short period, hundreds of people had converged on the building. The Military Police ultimately departed without taking Lieberman into custody.

The episode has now triggered a bitter dispute between Israel Police and the IDF, with each side presenting a sharply different account of how the arrest unraveled — and, in particular, who made the decision to release Lieberman.

An internal Israel Police review placed responsibility squarely on the Military Police, saying that a small military force had operated in direct violation of established procedures.

According to the police account, the Military Police arrived to arrest the draft evader but, instead of immediately removing him from the location once the arrest had been carried out, allowed him an extended and unreasonable amount of time to prepare to leave.

That delay gave protesters time to surround the building in large numbers, eventually leaving the military force itself in serious difficulty. Israel Police said its officers were then summoned on an emergency basis to rescue the Military Police personnel and restore order.

Police also emphatically rejected any suggestion that their officers had ordered Lieberman’s release.

“The decision to release the draft evader and provide him with an order to regulate his status was made by IDF officials and not by Israel Police,” police said.

The IDF, however, presented the opposite version of events, maintaining that the decision to release Lieberman was effectively made by Israel Police.

The failed arrest comes amid mounting pressure from the attorney general for authorities to significantly increase enforcement against chareidi draft evaders.

During a discussion on the issue Tuesday, it was revealed that 64 draft evaders had managed to leave Israel without being apprehended and were arrested only when they subsequently returned to the country.

A document presented during the proceedings stated that proactive enforcement operations have effectively been absent for some time and called for action by the Military Police and military prosecutors. IDF officials said proactive enforcement will resume during October, with operations coordinated between the Military Police and local Israel Police stations.

A senior official in one of the chareidi parties said the developing situation had vindicated the position taken for years by the Peleg Yerushalmi regarding the draft issue.

“The situation we find ourselves in now, and throughout the recent period, in which there is no draft law and there are efforts by the legal authorities to push the IDF and police to resume the arrests, which will clearly lead to riots and demonstrations, proves to us first and foremost that the ‘Peleg Yerushalmi’ was right throughout the years in all of its arguments regarding the draft issue.”

The Modi’in confrontation follows several other recent cases in which attempts to arrest yeshiva bochurim were disrupted by rapidly mobilized protesters.

On the night of Hoshana Rabbah, authorities attempted to arrest a yeshiva bochur at the Paz-Hayarkon gas station on Namir Road in Tel Aviv and transfer him to the Military Police.

Within minutes, hundreds of yeshiva bochurim arrived at the scene and succeeded in removing him from the area. The protesters subsequently blocked Namir Road, with hundreds dancing and singing in the roadway.

At the same time, two other bnei yeshivos were arrested in Eilat and transferred to the Military Police.

Yakir Ralbag, formerly a student at Yeshivas Chevron-Knesses Yisrael and currently learning at Rav Sosovsky’s yeshiva in Beit Meir, was arrested in Eilat and immediately handed over to the Military Police.

His arrest followed that of a Yerushalmi kollel yungerman who had reportedly been listed as absent from military service for more than 450 days. The avreich, who married only about three months ago, was apprehended while on a family vacation in Eilat.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

by Rabbi Eliezer Sandler

The concept of the Yissachar-Zevulun Torah Learning Pact goes back well over 3,500 years, to the time of Yaakov Avinu and his sons. It is named for the Torah pact between two of his sons – Yissachar the scholar and Zevulun the merchant. Not only was it an equal pact but, Chazal explained, the deed of Zevulun/the Sponsor is considered even greater than that of Yissachar, because without the support of Zevulun, Yissachar would not have had the wherewithal to study Torah undisturbed.”

It is well-known that when it comes to learning Torah, people who sponsor the learning, often do so, not just as a donation. By financially supporting specific Torah scholars, they enter into a binding, written, signed and sealed learning partnership pact whereby the Sponsor (the Zevulun) is deemed by Halacha as if he personally studied the Torah completed by the Scholar (the Yissachar). (See below.) 

Thus, those who support the Talmidei Chachomim at Shas Yiden via a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact merit a portion in every daf of the entire Talmud Bavli and associated texts that they study, and complete the entire cycle in the space of ONE year. Some of the Sponsors opt to continue sponsoring repeat cycles of Shas which accrue to them.

Sar Hatorah, Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden, emphasized: The most mehudar Yissachar-Zevulun pact to support in our times is that offered by Shas Yiden – it comprises the entire Shas, Rashi and Tosfos – all in just one year!

Rav Chaim explained why this pact with Shas Yiden is the most mehudar. Chazal say that the highest level of learning is when one understands what he is learning b’iyun u’ve’amkus. However, even higher than that is when one remembers b’al peh all what he has learned. I have farhered the Shas Yiden avreichim geonim many times and can attest ZEI KENNEN SHAS (they know Shas)!

YES! YOU CAN MAKE
your OWN SIYUM on the ENTIRE
Shas, Rashi & Tosfos
IN JUST ONE YEAR!

 

The Yissachar-Zevulun Pact in Halacha

The Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh De’ah Chapter 246 regarding the efficacy of the Yissachar-Zevulun Sponsorship Pact for the Zevulun (the Sponsor) states clearly:  It is deemed as if he (the one sponsoring the learning) himself learned all the Torah studied under the pact. 

All the learning under the Shas Yiden Yissachar-Zevulun Pact is yours בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in both This World and the World to Come)! Concerning this, the Netziv of Volozhin comments that in Olam Habah, the Zevulun sponsor will sit together with the Gedolei Torah of the past and merit to participate in their discussions and pilpulim on all the Torah learned.

Achieve Almost 7 million Mitzvos in One Year

The Vilna Gaon in Shnos Eliyahu Pe’ah 41 states that one should hold precious every word of Torah that he learns because each word is considered a mitzvah of its own. 

Thus, since in Talmud Bavli, Rashi and Tosfos there are 6,608,891 words, that translates into almost 7 million mitzvos accruing through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden. 

Official Shtar from Shas Yiden

Each Yissachar-Zevulun pact is confirmed by an official contract (shtar) from Shas Yiden specifying the learning of the entire Shas, and is witnessed by talmidei chachomim.

All who wish to enter into a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact for the entire Shas during ONE year should contact Shas Yiden to make arrangements: 718-702-1528.

The opportunity to complete the entire Shas has been a cherished way to honor family members and others as a prized achievement. It has also proven to be a source of comfort for mourners to obtain such a zechus for their dear ones during the year of mourning – a siyum of the entire Shas can be completed on the yahrzeit!

Yissachar-Zevulun Pact – Beyond the Grave

The legendary visionary and “Father of Yeshivos”, Reb Chaim of Volozhin, was the founder of the famous yeshiva in the town of Volozhin and the beloved talmid of the Vilna Gaon. 

Reb Chaim had an ongoing Yissachar-Zevulun pact with a local shoemaker – a man who was not learned but who dearly valued Torah learning. They had a ‘deal’ whereby the shoemaker would pay the monthly financial support needed for Reb Chaim and his family. For this financial support, the shoemaker would have an equal share in all Reb Chaim’s daily Torah study – both in the mitzvah of Torah study בעוה”ז and that the knowledge of the Torah learned would continue to be his בעוה”ב (in the World to Come).

One day the shoemaker passed away suddenly. During the shiva period, Reb Chaim was facing a perplexing halachic question and researched high and low for a solution. That night the shoemaker appeared to him in a dream and gave him the full solution that he sought. Reb Chaim was amazed and commented, “Azoi gich, Azoi Gich – So quickly, so quickly has he acquired the zchus and knowledge of the Torah that I have studied!”

In the words of Gedolei Torah:

Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden:

“In just ONE year, through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden, you can be zoche to the entire Shas forever – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in olam hazeh and olam habah).

“Moreover, whoever supports Shas Yiden is zocheh to fulfill both Yissachar-Zevulun and support of aniyei (the poor of) Eretz Yisroel in the fullest sense of the word.

“Those who support Shas Yiden will be saved from chevlei (the travails of) Moshiach – spiritually and materially, and will be zoche to have ehrlicher bonim u’vanos yir’eishomayim ”

                                                   

 

Maran Hagaon Harav Dov Lando, shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva, Slabodka:

“Who compares to the Shas Yiden? Incredible talmidei chachomim geonim who raised the bar in limud Hashas b’iyun u’v’amkus. Blessed are those who enter a Yissachar-Zevulun pact with them.”

                                                                                                                                                          

Hamashpia Hagadol Reb Meilech Biederman, shlit”a:

 “Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden – best possible deal, and in just 1 year! 100% partnership! 100% Shas x 5 times! 100% Shisha Sidrei Mishna – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב”

                                                  

Sanzer Rebbe, shlit”a:

“A first in 2000 years of Jewish history! Until Shas Yiden, never a Torah institution where ALL the avreichim metzuyonim v’geonim know the entire Shas by heart”

                       

Maran Hagaon Harav Yaakov Hillel, shlit”a:

“Therefore, the great mitzvah to support the efforts [of the Talmidei Chachomim] with generous donations in order that they should continue diligently with their studies to enhance the greatness of the Torah and its glory. 

ShasYiden.com

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri has issued an unequivocal commitment that his party will neither join nor enable the formation of any future government unless legislation regulating the draft status of yeshiva bochurim is passed first.

Deri said the position was adopted on the instructions of Shas’s Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah and former Rishon LeTzion Rav Yitzchak Yosef, making passage of the legislation a prerequisite to any coalition negotiations following the election.

“As we have said, in the sense of ‘know what to answer’ — there is also a clear answer,” Deri said. “The Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah instructed us, and we announced it explicitly. Maran the Rishon LeTzion Rav Yitzchak Yosef also announced at the opening conference of Shas’s election campaign: Shas will not enter a government and will not allow a government to be formed without first passing the law regulating the status of those who learn Torah.”

Deri’s declaration means that, according to the party’s stated position, Shas will demand that the draft issue be resolved legislatively before discussing cabinet positions, budgets or other elements of a coalition agreement.

Shas officials said there would be no flexibility on the sequence of events.

“Deri left no room for maneuver,” party officials said. “We have made it clear to all potential partners — anyone who wants Shas in the government will have to understand that the issue at the heart of the chareidi community is not something to be bargained over. First they will pass the law and regulate the status of the yeshiva students, and only afterward will we talk about positions and budgets.”

The pledge comes as the confrontation over the draft has intensified, with the absence of legislation regulating the status of bnei yeshivos leaving thousands exposed to enforcement action for failing to report for military service.

The tensions erupted again earlier this week in Modi’in, where an attempt to arrest a yeshiva bochur led to a large protest and ultimately ended with his release. Police subsequently conducted a review of the incident that placed responsibility for what occurred on the Military Police.

At the same time, the attorney general has been pressing for the urgent resumption of arrests of draft evaders, while the IDF has announced that proactive enforcement operations will resume during October.

Two additional bnei yeshivos were arrested in Eilat in recent days — a student at Yeshivas Chevron and a married Yerushalmi kollel yungerman who wed approximately three months ago.

{Matzav.com}

Elkana Federman, who served as the security chief of the Nova music festival and was wounded while fighting terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre, has filed a 2.5 million shekel lawsuit against former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, accusing him of negligence in the hours before the Hamas invasion and alleging that intelligence in Bar’s possession could have led authorities to evacuate the festival hours before the attack.

The damages lawsuit, filed in Yerushalayim Magistrate’s Court, alleges that Bar failed to fully relay intelligence to officials who could have taken action before the Hamas assault began.

According to the lawsuit, the Shin Bet received several unusual indications during the night before the massacre. Among them was the activation of dozens or possibly hundreds of Israeli SIM cards that had allegedly been prepared for use by Hamas terrorists, unusual movements involving senior Hamas figures, and changes in the terror organization’s communications patterns.

The suit further alleges that a human intelligence source reported Hamas operatives gathering at mosques and other meeting points, and that this information ultimately reached Bar.

Federman claims that this particular piece of intelligence was not presented during a situation assessment held at Southern Command at approximately 3 a.m. The lawsuit describes the information as a potential “game changer” that could have caused officials to interpret the other warning signs very differently.

Federman also points to Bar’s decision to dispatch the Shin Bet’s elite Tequila unit to southern Israel during the night, arguing that the move itself demonstrates that the Shin Bet chief was preparing for the possibility of terrorists infiltrating Israeli territory.

According to the lawsuit, Bar “did not provide a complete report to Southern Command,” and Federman argues that had the full intelligence picture been conveyed, the IDF would have prepared differently and the Nova festival would have received different treatment from security officials.

The lawsuit further alleges that Bar should have directly warned the police responsible for securing the festival about the possibility of an infiltration or kidnapping attempt, but that “through his negligence, he did not lift a finger to protect the festival participants, including the plaintiff.”

The filing also recounts Federman’s actions as the Hamas attack unfolded on the morning of Oct. 7.

When the rocket barrage began, Federman and the security personnel under his command began helping thousands of festivalgoers evacuate the site. According to the lawsuit, the security team operated according to the principle that “we do not leave the event until the last participant has left.”

When Hamas terrorists reached the area near the festival exit and began shooting fleeing participants, Federman and several other security personnel drove ATVs toward the gunfire and began bringing wounded victims back toward the festival grounds.

At one point, a damaged tank arrived carrying two soldiers, including Ofir Testa, who was critically wounded and later died. According to the lawsuit, after Testa climbed out of the tank, Federman asked him for his weapon and then joined police officer Andrey Pushibay, who was later killed, in fighting the terrorists.

Federman continued firing at the attackers until his magazine was empty. After Pushibay was shot and killed, Federman took the officer’s handgun, which had six bullets remaining, and continued advancing toward the terrorists.

It was during that confrontation that Federman was shot.

Despite being wounded and still under fire, Federman managed to run several hundred meters toward the Gerar Stream area, where he concealed himself inside a bush for hours.

The lawsuit describes him lying there with “one hand pointing the handgun in his possession upward in case the murderers reached him, and the other hand on the wound trying to stop the bleeding.”

Federman was eventually discovered by other people who had escaped the festival together with soldiers. He was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center and later transferred to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he underwent two surgeries.

At the heart of Federman’s lawsuit is his contention that none of this would have happened to him had the intelligence warnings been properly communicated before the attack.

He argues that with an appropriate warning, “the party would have been stopped and the compound would have been evacuated hours before the rocket fire and the infiltration began,” thereby preventing him from being wounded.

{Matzav.com}

President Trump says the troubled renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is finally nearing completion, predicting that the iconic Washington landmark will be refilled with water this week following months of repairs, repeated drainage and controversy over what caused its new lining to fail.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, Trump said work on the pool itself was essentially finished and that crews had also replaced aging pipes as part of the project.

“I think they’re going to fill it up this week,” Trump said.

“The Reflecting Pool is totally complete, and we changed the old pipes we wanted to get open for July 4,” he said, later adding that “I think it’s almost complete, from what I understand.”

Trump also said restoration work was nearly finished on the grounds between the Reflecting Pool and the National World War II Memorial, where new grass had previously been installed as part of his broader effort to renovate and beautify Washington’s monumental core.

That lawn was damaged in June when enormous numbers reading “86 47” appeared in the grass. The numbers were widely interpreted as an anti-Trump message — “47” referring to Trump as the 47th president — while the White House argued that “86 47” amounted to a threat of political violence against him.

Trump referred to that episode Tuesday while discussing the restoration work.

The new grass, he said, had been “destroyed with the letters, the famous letters.”

“And that’s been just about completed,” Trump added.

The president also continued to attribute at least some of the problems at the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, despite court filings and evidence that have raised serious questions about whether the most significant damage was instead caused by faulty installation during the rushed renovation.

“Well, we had vandalism there and we have it about as vandal-proof as you can get. But only sick people do that, and we have their pictures.”

The Reflecting Pool has become an unexpectedly contentious issue in Washington since Trump ordered a major renovation of the landmark earlier this year ahead of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.

The more than 2,000-foot-long pool, which stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and World War II Memorial, underwent an extensive makeover that included coating its bottom in a dark shade Trump called “American flag blue.” The work was performed under no-bid contracting arrangements that later became a focus of scrutiny.

The project was intended to dramatically improve the appearance of a landmark that had long suffered from algae, leaks and maintenance problems. The pool had previously undergone a major reconstruction costing approximately $34 million between 2010 and 2012.

But trouble emerged almost immediately after the newly renovated pool was filled. Algae proliferated in the water, turning portions of the pool green, while pieces of the newly installed coating began separating from the bottom and floating to the surface.

Trump and Interior Department officials initially blamed vandals for deliberately damaging the pool. The president said people had cut or pulled up sections of the new surface, and several individuals were investigated or arrested.

Trump continued making that allegation as recently as late August, when he predicted that the landmark would soon reopen.

The pool would “be opening in a few weeks. Will be a beauty. NO VANDALS PLEASE.”

At other points, however, Trump acknowledged that construction problems contributed to the damage. Earlier in August, he referred to “some contractor error” and described the resulting damage as “relatively inconsequential.”

The government’s own criminal case against former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn ultimately produced evidence sharply undermining the original vandalism explanation.

Hearn, who represented the United States in canoe slalom at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, was arrested after being accused of pulling at a detached section of the Reflecting Pool liner. He was subsequently indicted on a felony charge of destruction of government property, exposing him to the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence.

But documents obtained after the indictment showed that problems with the pool’s surface existed before Hearn’s encounter with it. Investigators ultimately found widespread defects, including damage in areas of the pool where prosecutors concluded a vandal would have been unlikely to reach or attempt to peel away the lining.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office eventually moved to dismiss the case after receiving additional information from the Interior Department showing that the damage resulted from problems with the installation and the rush to finish the project before the July 4 celebrations.

In the government’s own filing, prosecutors said the damage was caused by the contractor’s “botched” installation “and not vandalism as initially represented” by the Interior Department.

Pirro’s filing also stated that the Interior Department had provided “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro wrote.

The filing further said that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”

The reversal was particularly notable because Pirro had previously described the prosecution as supported by “tremendous evidence.”

Last week, D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman went further, permanently dismissing the case with prejudice. The ruling prevents prosecutors from bringing the same charge against Hearn again.

“The Court respects the authority of the Office of the United States Attorney to decide which cases to prosecute and which to dismiss,” Edelman wrote. “However, in the exceptional circumstances posed by this case, the government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn’s expense.”

The controversy is continuing even as repairs to the pool near completion. Hearn’s attorneys on Tuesday called on the inspectors general of both the Justice and Interior departments to investigate the renovation and the criminal case brought against him.

His lawyers contend that government officials rushed a defective renovation, failed to disclose evidence showing that the pool was already deteriorating, wrongly portrayed Hearn as a vandal and pursued a criminal prosecution despite evidence pointing toward construction problems.

They are asking for separate investigations into both the Interior Department’s management of the renovation and the Justice Department’s handling of Hearn’s prosecution.

The Interior Department has continued to maintain that Hearn interfered with the pool’s lining, while his attorneys dispute the government’s characterization of what he did.

The controversy surrounding Hearn is separate from the “86 47” markings cut into the nearby National Mall lawn. Those markings were real and were documented in photographs in June, although authorities did not initially identify who created them or precisely how they were made.

Trump has repeatedly linked both episodes to what he describes as vandalism targeting his effort to restore Washington’s monuments and public spaces. The evidence that emerged in Hearn’s case, however, indicates that the widespread failure of the Reflecting Pool’s new surface cannot be attributed to vandalism.

{Matzav.com}

Russia is offering to send specialists, laboratory equipment and medical resources to help the United States battle infectious diseases, an unusual proposal that comes as Moscow faces intense scrutiny over the mysterious death of a young scientist at a Siberian anti-plague laboratory and persistent, though still unconfirmed, reports that she contracted pneumonic plague.

Russia’s consumer health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, announced the offer Tuesday, pointing to measles outbreaks in several American states as well as recent U.S. cases of other infectious diseases.

“The Russian Federation is ready to assist the United States in combating outbreaks of infectious diseases,” Rospotrebnadzor said.

The agency cited outbreaks of measles, typhoid fever and legionellosis in the United States. It also made a pointed reference to an unrelated American plague death, saying, “The first fatal case of plague in 2026 was reported in New Mexico.”

That New Mexico case has no established connection to the unfolding situation in Siberia. Plague occurs naturally in parts of the western United States, including New Mexico, where the bacterium can circulate among rodents and fleas. More importantly, Russian authorities have yet to establish publicly that plague caused the death now at the center of the Irkutsk controversy.

The Russian offer comes as international attention remains focused on the death of Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Shipilova died Oct. 2 after developing severe pneumonia of unexplained origin.

The institute where Shipilova worked specializes in plague and other highly dangerous infectious diseases. Her employment there, coupled with the unusual precautions taken after she became ill, rapidly fueled fears that her death could have resulted from occupational exposure to a dangerous pathogen.

Russian officials maintain that there is no confirmed plague outbreak and say investigators have found no evidence tying Shipilova’s illness to the organisms she handled professionally. The World Health Organization has likewise said that, based on the information currently available, there are no confirmed plague cases in Irkutsk and that the risk to the broader population appears very low.

Rumors surrounding Shipilova’s death, however, have been widespread. One unverified account alleges that she accidentally dropped and shattered a test tube containing plague bacteria while working at the institute. Another suggests she may have been exposed during field work or travel in Buryatia, an area where plague can occur naturally among wild animals.

Neither scenario has been substantiated by Russian authorities, and there is currently no verified evidence supporting more dramatic speculation that Shipilova was exposed to an artificially enhanced or weaponized strain of plague.

What is confirmed is that Russian authorities mounted an extensive epidemiological response after Shipilova became ill. Nearly 200 people who had contact with her were initially placed under medical observation, and the hospital where she was treated imposed infection-control measures while officials conducted testing and contact tracing.

Rospotrebnadzor says testing of those contacts has produced no additional plague cases. Several people developed illnesses, but the agency said those infections were attributable to common respiratory viruses rather than plague.

“Laboratory tests have confirmed two Covid-19 and two rhinovirus infection cases,” the agency said.

Russian authorities have continued to describe Shipilova’s fatal illness as a “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” while rejecting reports that a dangerous pathogen escaped from the institute. Rospotrebnadzor insists that “no emergency or security breach occurred” at the laboratory.

The lack of a definitive public explanation for the 28-year-old scientist’s death has nevertheless fueled skepticism inside and outside Russia. Conflicting statements from regional officials and the disappearance or revision of some early reports about a possible plague infection have contributed to suspicions that Moscow has not disclosed the complete picture.

The precautions being taken elsewhere in Irkutsk have added to those questions. The Irkutsk City Perinatal Center began screening pregnant patients for possible plague exposure and instituted strict visitor restrictions following Shipilova’s death.

Patients arriving at the maternity facility were reportedly given a “Checklist for Suspected Plague” asking about symptoms, contact with ill people and recent travel. Staff also conducted temperature checks and required masks.

The center temporarily barred virtually everyone other than pregnant patients from entering, meaning husbands and other partners were unable to attend births. Staff reportedly attributed the measures to concerns surrounding an unidentified infection.

Russian officials have emphasized that such precautions do not establish that plague is circulating in the city. Health authorities say the measures were preventative and that the epidemiological situation remains stable.

The World Health Organization said Russian authorities had traced and tested Shipilova’s contacts and reported no confirmed additional plague infections. The WHO has requested further information concerning her death while assessing the international public-health risk as very low.

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which naturally circulates among certain rodents and their fleas. Bubonic plague generally infects the lymphatic system, while pneumonic plague affects the lungs and can spread between people through respiratory droplets during close contact. Modern antibiotics are highly effective when treatment begins promptly.

Rospotrebnadzor, meanwhile, used its offer to Washington to emphasize Russia’s own expertise in dealing with dangerous infectious diseases.

“Russia has extensive practical and scientific experience in ensuring epidemiological well-being both at home and abroad,” the Rospotrebnadzor statement on Tuesday insisted.

“To help prevent and control outbreaks of infections, Russia is ready to provide the US side with specialists, laboratory equipment, and highly effective diagnostic and preventive tools,” the statement said, “which can help resume joint work between Russia and the United States in protecting public health from infectious threats.”

The offer followed comments from President Trump a day earlier saying that the United States was prepared to assist Russia if necessary as American officials monitor the Irkutsk situation.

“We are looking at it very strongly. We just heard about it,” Trump said.

Trump said the United States would be prepared to provide assistance to any country confronting a dangerous infectious-disease problem.

“Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always willing to help,” the president said.

“It’s a disease we used to be able to control,” Trump said. “Even with great advancement, the germs have really become relatively stronger than they were, and things that used to work on pneumonia don’t work anymore … anyone that has that kind of problem, we will help.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also urged vigilance without suggesting that Americans should panic over the reports emerging from Siberia.

“I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it,” Rubio said.

American officials have called on Moscow to provide timely and accurate information about the case, while several countries neighboring Russia have increased health precautions in response to the reports.

President Trump said Tuesday that he expects to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation, as U.S. intelligence and health officials continue trying to determine exactly what occurred in Irkutsk.

{Matzav.com}

THREE YEARS OF WAR: IDF Says 100,000 Targets Struck Across Middle East, 970 Soldiers Fallen Since Oct. 7
Three years after the Oct. 7 massacre triggered a multi-front war that transformed Israel’s security landscape, the IDF has released an extensive accounting of the fighting, reporting approximately 100,000 targets struck across the region, the elimination of much of Hamas’s senior command structure, tens of thousands of enemy projectiles fired at Israel, and 970 Israeli soldiers killed under operational circumstances.

The military also detailed sweeping changes implemented as a result of the failures exposed on Oct. 7, including a massive rebuilding of the Gaza border defenses and a dramatic increase in the number of Israeli Air Force personnel and aircraft maintained at immediate readiness for a surprise attack.

According to the IDF, the campaign against Hamas has eliminated four commanders who headed major branches of the terror organization, 17 brigade commanders, approximately 60 battalion commanders and roughly 300 company commanders. The operations were conducted through combined efforts by the Air Force, Military Intelligence Directorate and Operations Directorate.

Many of the Hamas terrorists who personally participated in the Oct. 7 massacre have also been located and eliminated during the three years of fighting.

One of the IDF’s most significant lessons from Oct. 7 has involved the defense of Israeli communities near Gaza. The military says it has fundamentally redesigned the security system protecting those communities following the catastrophic failure that allowed thousands of terrorists to penetrate the border and overrun communities and military positions.

Security infrastructure throughout the Gaza border region has been upgraded, including fences, security roads, fortified positions, gates, lighting, radar systems and surveillance equipment. Local civilian security teams and community security coordinators have also received additional weapons, protective equipment, communications systems and drones.

The IDF has additionally introduced the “Netz” application, designed to allow information to be shared and communications maintained among the different forces and security elements responsible for protecting the communities.

The border barrier itself has undergone a major reconstruction. After investigating how Hamas breached the previous system on Oct. 7, the IDF built a far more substantial physical obstacle incorporating advanced technological capabilities both above and below ground, intended to make another mass infiltration significantly more difficult.

Inside Gaza, improved intelligence and a far more detailed understanding of the terrain have enabled Israeli forces to locate and destroy hundreds of terrorist positions, rocket-launching sites, weapons depots and other Hamas infrastructure.

The military has also refined its systematic drilling method for locating underground terrorist infrastructure. Since the ceasefire last October, more than 4,000 such drillings have been carried out in the search for tunnels and subterranean facilities.

Extensive underground infrastructure has been destroyed along the Yellow Line, including tunnel systems in the Beit Hanoun area and other major subterranean routes discovered and mapped by Israeli forces.

The Air Force has likewise undergone significant changes following its examination of the failures of Oct. 7. The military says it has substantially increased its readiness for a large-scale surprise war on any front, with particular attention given to scenarios involving sudden attacks on Israel’s borders.

New operational orders have been drawn up, greater authority has been delegated to commanders in the field, intelligence-collection procedures have been modified, and the Air Force has changed the way it positions its defensive and offensive capabilities during routine periods.

The number of forces kept at a high level of readiness has increased by as much as four times compared with the eve of the war, according to the IDF. In certain Air Force units, the increase has reached sixfold.

The Air Force has also expanded its command-and-control posture and strengthened systems used to build a real-time operational picture, with the goal of allowing an immediate defensive and offensive response to an unexpected attack. Surprise-war readiness is now tested regularly through exercises involving both operational headquarters and forces in the field.

The scale of Israeli offensive operations over the past three years has been enormous. The IDF says approximately 100,000 targets have been attacked across the various theaters since the war began.

Gaza accounted for the overwhelming majority, with approximately 65,000 targets struck in the Strip. Another 28,000 targets were attacked in Lebanon and Syria, approximately 4,500 in Iran and roughly 80 in Yemen.

At the same time, Israel has faced an extraordinary volume of incoming fire from multiple fronts.

Approximately 10,200 projectiles have been launched toward Israel from Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the IDF. Around 20,000 were fired from Lebanon, making the northern front the source of the largest number of launches.

Iran has launched approximately 1,200 projectiles toward Israel, while around 90 have been fired from Yemen and approximately 50 from Syria.

The human toll on the IDF has been severe. The military says 970 soldiers have been killed under operational circumstances during the three years of war.

Thousands more have been wounded, although the IDF highlighted what it described as a significant rehabilitation achievement: more than 70% of soldiers wounded during the war have subsequently returned to military service.

The military also released extensive figures from its counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria. Israeli forces have located and confiscated more than 3,800 weapons during the war.

Approximately 45,000 wanted individuals have been arrested or detained for questioning. They include weapons dealers and illegal weapons holders, suspects believed to have been planning imminent terrorist attacks, operatives involved in terrorism, stone and firebomb throwers and individuals accused of assisting terrorist organizations.

Israeli forces have also seized more than 46 million shekels that authorities say had been designated to finance terrorism.

The release of the IDF figures coincided with commemorations across southern Israel marking three years since the Oct. 7 massacre. In the Eshkol Regional Council, residents gathered for the council’s central memorial ceremony honoring 259 people from the region who were murdered.

Residents from communities throughout Eshkol attended the ceremony, including people from communities whose residents have still not fully returned home. Bereaved families and former hostages were also among those present.

Three years after the devastation, reconstruction across the region remains unfinished. At the same time, the council pointed to one striking indication of renewed life: more than 750 babies have been born in Eshkol since Oct. 7.

Eshkol Regional Council head Michal Uziyahu said the region remains deeply scarred by the massacre even as its communities rebuild and grow.

“Three years later, all of our hostages have returned home and our communities continue on the road back, but there are no shortcuts. It seems that sometimes, דווקא now, the pain is greater, and only now are we beginning to process another layer of what happened to us. Two hundred fifty-nine of our loved ones were murdered, 119 were kidnapped, and young people from across the country were murdered while dancing here. But look at us three years later. The communities have returned and are undergoing significant growth — new homes are being built in Mivtahim, a neighborhood for young people was inaugurated in Nirim, Be’eri residents will return next year and, in the meantime, seventh-grade students have begun studying here. There isn’t an available home in Nir Oz, and even the first wedding since Oct. 7 was held there. There are 800 young people in Eshkol participating in service-year programs and pre-military academies, and families from across the country are joining our communities. The Eshkol Regional Council is a community. We will continue this journey together, demanding accountability and the establishment of a commission of inquiry, ensuring that we create a different reality with meaningful security and not merely a feeling of security. In memory of, and inspired by, those who were murdered and those who fell, we will do everything to be worthy of them.”

פעילות חיל היםצילום: דובר צה”ל

פעילות חיל היםצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות חיל היםצילום: דובר צה”ל

פעילות חיל היםצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות חיל האווירצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות חיל האווירצילום: דובר צה”ל

“לא התאים לי לגדל את הילדים בצפיפות כמו שאני גדלתי”

תוכן מקודם

06:03

טרגדיה בפתח תקווה: הרב יצחק לוי ז”ל נפטר, והוא רק בגיל 53

בשיתוף קופת העיר

02:13

כשהמלון הוא רק תירוץ, אבל אתם לוקחים ממנו את המהדרין

תוכן מקודם

16:03

פעילות חיל האווירצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”ל בסוריהצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”ל בסוריהצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”ל בסוריהצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל פעילות כוחות צה”לצילום: דובר צה”ל

The White House is pushing back forcefully against claims that President Trump suggested Iran should attack Los Angeles or San Diego, saying his controversial remarks at a Nebraska campaign rally were being stripped of their broader context and that Trump was actually arguing that the war had prevented a nuclear-armed Iran from gaining the ability to destroy an American city.

The controversy erupted after Trump addressed supporters Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska, while defending the ongoing war with Iran and acknowledging the economic pain Americans have experienced, particularly from higher fuel prices. The president argued that those costs were comparatively minor if the conflict prevents Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and threatening the United States.

“We want to see a tremendous victory. You want to see a tremendous victory because it verifies all the things we did. And again, remember, with the war, it’s just artificial. It’s a little bit high. It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe.”

Trump then delivered the comments that quickly ignited a political firestorm.

“They can take out a city. Let them take — let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon. It’s essentially almost over with, and they might keep going a little long,” he continued.

“You know, they always say they have a big threshold for pain. They need it. Let me tell you, they need it. But it’s going to end very soon, and it’ll end one way or the other,” Trump added.

The wording immediately drew condemnation from California officials, who interpreted the remarks literally as Trump saying the destruction of Los Angeles or San Diego would constitute an acceptable price for the war.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump of effectively inviting an enemy nation to attack two major American cities.

“After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” Newsom claimed. “He is deranged and dangerous.”

Newsom subsequently announced that he was “directing the State Threat Assessment Center to actively monitor the situation in the event that foreign actors interpret the President’s remarks as an invitation to target California,” while suggesting that Trump’s comments could potentially be “treasonous.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass similarly condemned the president, arguing that his language could have real-world security consequences.

“The President of the United States suggested that a foreign government attack Los Angeles. His statements against our city are dangerous and could potentially compromise our safety.”

“The role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives,” she added. “In the face of irresponsible threats, as Angelenos, we know how to stand together and protect our city.”

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria also joined the criticism, declaring that his city could never be treated as expendable in a military conflict.

“San Diego is not collateral damage,” Gloria said. “We are not expendable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay.’ Keep our city out of your reckless war talk.”

The White House, however, says that interpretation badly misrepresents Trump’s point. Administration officials said the president was discussing the potential consequences of allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and was arguing that the temporary economic costs associated with preventing that outcome are a small price compared with the destruction that a nuclear Iran could eventually inflict.

The White House’s Rapid Response account issued an unusually blunt response after a Los Angeles Times headline characterized Trump as suggesting that Iran be allowed to attack the California cities.

“No, he didn’t, you buffoons,” Rapid Response said.

“He was saying the U.S. is fighting to STOP Iran from having the ability to take out LA and San Diego with a nuclear weapon — which they would if they had the chance,” it continued.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung offered the same explanation, saying the uproar surrounding the remarks is “not rooted in reality”.

“He was clearly stating US cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped,” Cheung said. “America is safer because of the President. Iran has no nuclear, no navy, no air force, and no money”.

A review of Trump’s broader comments during the Nebraska appearance shows that the remarks came during an extended discussion of the economic consequences of the Iran war, particularly gasoline prices, and his contention that Americans were paying a relatively modest price to eliminate a far greater potential threat.

Trump had made that argument more explicitly earlier, telling a Nebraska news outlet that the higher cost of fuel would subside once the conflict ended and directly linking the economic sacrifice to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We’re going to get [the cost of fuel] down,” Trump said. “But it’s all going to come pouring down as soon as the war’s over, which will be very soon. And we will not have Iran having a nuclear weapon. And that’s going to be — and I say it and I say it proudly — a relatively small price to pay for keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of a lunatic nation.”

Trump has repeatedly argued that Iran’s nuclear ambitions ultimately posed a threat beyond Israel and the Middle East. In his February State of the Union address, shortly before the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran began, Trump warned that Tehran was “working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

Iran, however, is not currently known to possess a nuclear weapon or an operational ballistic missile capable of striking the continental United States directly from Iranian territory. Its longest-range operational ballistic missiles fall far short of the distance required to reach California, although U.S. officials have long warned that technologies developed through Iran’s space-launch program could contribute to a future intercontinental ballistic missile capability.

That distinction has become part of the broader argument over Trump’s remarks. Critics contend that regardless of his intended point, a president should not use language that can be heard as suggesting an enemy could be permitted to destroy American cities. The White House counters that Trump’s meaning becomes apparent when the comments are viewed alongside his repeated warnings about what Iran could eventually do if permitted to acquire nuclear weapons and long-range delivery systems.

{Matzav.com}

New satellite imagery indicates that Iran has resumed substantial activity at Minzadayi, a secret nuclear weapons development compound northeast of Tehran that was heavily bombed by Israel in March, raising concerns that Tehran may be attempting to rebuild capabilities destroyed during Operation Roaring Lion.

High-resolution images taken by VANTOR Technologies during September and early October show renewed vehicle traffic throughout the compound, extensive cleanup work and fresh earthmoving at an area struck during the Israeli attack, according to an analysis released this week by the Institute for Science and International Security.

The institute warned that the activity could represent considerably more than an effort to clean up the damage left by Israeli airstrikes, saying the work may signal an attempt to restore the site’s previous capabilities.

“Given what is known about this compound, this activity may be indicative of an effort by Iran to reestablish a nuclear weapons development capability and to reconstitute what was lost in the attack on the compound,” the institute said.

Israel attacked Minzadayi on March 3, after identifying the heavily secured facility as a clandestine nuclear weapons development center. The strike destroyed several above-ground buildings and apparently damaged underground portions of the complex as well.

At the time of the attack, the IDF said the previously undisclosed compound was a secret “nuclear headquarters” where Iranian scientists had been working covertly on the development of a critical component for a nuclear weapon.

The site is situated off Sohanak Road northeast of Tehran in an area containing parkland and recreational facilities. Analysts who examined the location described a heavily protected compound surrounded by a high wall and guard towers, with two clusters of buildings above ground and additional structures built into the surrounding hillside.

Satellite photographs taken immediately after the March attack showed extensive destruction inside the compound. Multiple buildings had been demolished, while craters and other evidence suggested that Israel had also targeted areas believed to conceal underground facilities.

In the months that followed, Iran launched an extensive cleanup operation at Minzadayi. Rubble and other debris were hauled away, while damage to the hillside caused by the Israeli strikes was repaired.

The latest imagery, however, shows that activity has continued beyond the initial removal of debris. A substantial number of vehicles were visible across the facility during September and early October, suggesting that regular access to the compound has resumed.

Analysts also identified continuing earthmoving in an area that was directly struck in March. The work is taking place at what appears from above to be a courtyard, but side-view imagery indicates that the area contains an underground section. Numerous impact craters had been visible there following the Israeli attack.

The renewed work at Minzadayi is particularly significant because the compound has been linked to Iranian research involving nuclear warhead development rather than merely the civilian components of Tehran’s nuclear program.

The facility was among a series of sensitive nuclear and weapons-related locations attacked during Operation Roaring Lion as Israel sought to cripple Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon and destroy infrastructure that could allow Tehran to rebuild the program.

Minzadayi is not the only nuclear-related facility where Iran has recently undertaken significant reconstruction. Satellite imagery released in September showed Tehran rapidly rebuilding the Taleghan 2 facility at the Parchin military complex, approximately 20 miles southeast of Tehran.

Taleghan 2 has long been associated with research relevant to nuclear weapons. Western intelligence assessments have linked the site to experiments conducted more than two decades ago involving explosives and technologies that could be used in the development of a nuclear warhead.

Recent imagery showed heavy construction equipment at Taleghan 2, including bulldozers, dump trucks, cranes, concrete mixers and concrete pumping vehicles. Iran also erected a large tarp over the destroyed hardened structure, obstructing satellite and aerial observation of some of the reconstruction underneath.

Iran has additionally reinforced parts of Taleghan 2 with new concrete intended to provide greater protection against future aerial attacks. Repair work there began in June, including the placement of concrete caps over penetration holes created by bunker-busting weapons.

“What is clear is that Iran remains committed to rebuilding this facility, a deeply concerning development considering the long history of nuclear weapons research and development activities that occurred there,” the institute said in its assessment of the Taleghan 2 reconstruction.

Iran has also taken steps to protect other sensitive nuclear locations. At Natanz and the facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, satellite imagery has shown new measures intended to restrict or harden access to underground areas containing potentially valuable nuclear equipment or material.

President Trump has publicly warned Tehran that the United States is closely watching Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried facility that has drawn growing attention over concerns about Iran’s nuclear activities.

“We have eyes on it and Pickaxe mountain is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right in the front door…We’re watching Pickaxe Mountain very closely. We don’t see any activity there.”

Trump subsequently issued an even more explicit warning: “We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ​ready.”

Iran has demonstrated a broader ability to repair military infrastructure damaged during the war faster than some Western analysts initially expected. By May, reports indicated that Iranian crews had already reopened 50 of 69 entrances to underground missile facilities that had been blocked during the fighting.

Satellite imagery from that period also showed reconstruction underway at ballistic missile production facilities, reinforcing concerns that Tehran was working rapidly to restore strategic capabilities degraded by the Israeli and American air campaign.

During Operation Roaring Lion, Israel carried out more than 10,800 strikes across Iran, dropping over 18,000 munitions. Approximately 4,000 targets and more than 6,700 individual components were struck during the campaign.

By the time the ceasefire took effect, the IDF assessed that nearly every facility identified before the campaign as a “vital and strategic” target had been rendered inoperable.

{Matzav.com}

Vice President JD Vance says the United States will not agree to end its seven-month war with Iran unless Tehran takes concrete action to significantly reduce its uranium-enrichment capabilities, insisting that Washington will accept neither promises nor vague commitments in place of actual nuclear concessions.

Vance laid out the administration’s position in an interview following a campaign trip to Alaska, where he said any agreement with Tehran would have to include a meaningful reduction in Iran’s ability to produce highly enriched uranium.

“If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel? And if you want to show commitment to not building a nuclear ⁠weapon, don’t build highly enriched fuel. That’s a very basic threshold issue,” Vance said.

“I think if they want to show a commitment to not building a nuclear weapon, they would do something meaningful on their enrichment capacity.”

The remarks provide one of the clearest indications yet of what the Trump administration would require from Iran as part of an agreement to halt the fighting. Vance, who has long expressed skepticism about prolonged American involvement in overseas wars, has emerged as a major figure in the administration’s efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Vance previously helped broker a provisional peace agreement in September, but the arrangement quickly collapsed. Washington and Tehran have continued exchanging proposals in recent weeks as mediators seek a formula that could end the war and normalize commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal, which included demands connected to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief, access to blocked ports and the release of frozen Iranian assets. Iranian officials subsequently said Tehran had received an official American response to its proposal, while Qatar and Pakistan have continued mediation efforts between the two sides.

Vance made clear that Washington remains prepared to negotiate, but said Tehran will have to demonstrate through its conduct that it is prepared to move away from the possibility of developing a nuclear weapon.

“We’re not going to trade words for actions,” Vance said.

The vice president’s comments come as the Trump administration continues to insist that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains a central American objective, even as the conflict has expanded far beyond Iran’s nuclear facilities and caused major disruptions to global energy markets and shipping.

Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 60% purity has long been a central concern for Washington and Israel. That level is far beyond what is ordinarily required for civilian nuclear power and represents a relatively short technical step from weapons-grade material, although Iran has repeatedly denied that it intends to build a nuclear weapon.

Another major obstacle facing American negotiators, Vance said, is uncertainty over who actually has the authority to make binding decisions inside Iran following the upheaval caused by the war.

Washington has been negotiating with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, but Vance said American officials remain uncertain about how much authority the two men possess within Iran’s fractured wartime power structure.

“One of the things we picked up on is it’s not totally clear how their country makes decisions,” Vance said.

The question has become particularly acute since joint U.S.-Israeli strikes at the beginning of the war killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leaving Washington attempting to determine where ultimate decision-making authority now rests inside the Islamic Republic.

Iran has pushed back against that characterization. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said American officials know precisely who their Iranian counterparts are and understand Tehran’s decision-making structure.

“The problem is actually the opposite: it lies in the contradictory positions and mixed messaging from US officials,” Baghaei said.

President Trump raised the same concern Tuesday during an appearance in Maryland, saying the uncertainty surrounding Iran’s leadership has become one of the biggest obstacles to resolving the conflict.

Trump said his “biggest problem” is that no one knows who is running Iran.

At the same event, Trump suggested that the war could be approaching its conclusion but warned that Tehran’s decisions will determine whether it ends through negotiations or through additional American military action.

“We’re doing extremely well in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Very well. The whole place is shot. They were the bully of the Middle East. They’re not so much the bully anymore. But we have to finish up, and it’s only a question of which way we want to do it: the nice way or the not-so-nice way. And pretty soon you’ll find out,” Trump said.

Vance, meanwhile, said he has personally spoken with American field commanders to obtain a direct assessment of battlefield conditions. He dismissed concerns that the United States is running dangerously short of critical munitions as a result of the prolonged conflict.

The vice president also said Iranian forces remain capable of periodically attacking commercial vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz but have largely failed to prevent energy shipments from moving through the strategically vital waterway.

Oil exports through the strait have recovered significantly from earlier wartime disruptions, although shipping costs, insurance rates and damage to regional energy infrastructure have continued to keep pressure on global energy prices. The economic consequences of the conflict have increasingly become a domestic political issue in the United States ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The war is costing the United States approximately $3 billion per month, while higher fuel and energy costs have provided Democrats with an issue to use against Trump and Republican candidates in closely contested races that could determine control of Congress.

Vance has been campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates and has urged voters not to allow dissatisfaction over the war to drive them away from the GOP. His Alaska trip included a rally for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is facing a competitive reelection challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola.

Vance spent much of his appearance in Alaska discussing affordability and energy costs, particularly significant issues in a state where geographic isolation raises consumer prices and oil and gas production remain major components of the economy.

During the rally, Sullivan nearly introduced Vance as president rather than vice president, drawing cheers from the crowd. Vance is widely viewed as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2028, although he said he has made no decision about seeking the White House.

“I’m inherently a procrastinator,” he said. “I really haven’t thought about it much.”

Trump has separately argued that Iran is already close to capitulating under the combined pressure of American military operations, economic isolation and severe damage to its military capabilities.

Last week, Trump described Iran as “ready to fold up” and predicted that the United States could secure victory shortly after the November midterm elections — or potentially even before Election Day.

Speaking in Texas, Trump said, “We have a war going on with a country that will never have a nuclear weapon and is ready to fold up. We’ll win very easily right now. I believe right after the election we’ll win, but maybe before the election.”

Trump has repeatedly maintained that Iran was on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon when hostilities began in late February, arguing that military action was necessary to prevent Tehran from crossing that threshold.

According to Trump, Iran was “three to four weeks away, maybe sooner” from obtaining a nuclear weapon when the war began.

“And if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole game is over..” he said.

The president has warned that Tehran now faces a stark choice as negotiations continue, saying the conflict will end “one way or the other…either they’ll do something very proper and smart or they won’t be around very long, which is, you know, frankly, I hate to see that, but they won’t be around very long.”

{Matzav.com}

Lt. Col. Aryeh Amidror, the Gaza Division’s intelligence officer at the time of the Oct. 7 massacre, is denying that he bears professional or command responsibility for the failure to warn of Hamas’s impending invasion, arguing in newly released court documents that providing strategic warning of war was not the responsibility of divisional intelligence.

Amidror’s defense comes amid a bitter battle over the IDF’s decision to end his military career following investigations into the catastrophic intelligence and command failures preceding Oct. 7. His identity was kept from the public for nearly three years before Israel’s Supreme Court ruled last week that his name could be published.

The newly disclosed documents stem from a petition Amidror filed in March 2026 challenging the process to terminate his career service. The proceedings initially remained confidential, and even after his arguments were rejected, the filings continued to be covered by a gag order. Their release now provides the fullest picture yet of Amidror’s effort to contest the conclusions reached by the military about his conduct.

Amidror, the son of Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser, served as the Gaza Division intelligence officer during the period leading up to the Hamas invasion and on the morning of Oct. 7 itself. He had also previously served as head of the division’s targets branch, giving him years of experience with Gaza and its intelligence picture.

One of the central issues in the case concerns the warnings of a female noncommissioned officer in the IDF’s elite Unit 8200, identified publicly only as “Vav,” who studied Hamas training exercises in the months before the massacre and warned that they could reflect preparations for an actual invasion.

Amidror argues that far from ignoring the issue, it was he who directed that Hamas’s exercises be studied in the first place.

“Upon assuming my position as Gaza Division intelligence officer, I instructed a certain body within Unit 8200 to find Hamas training exercises in order to assess the enemy’s tactical capabilities,” the documents state. According to Amidror, “following an instruction given by the petitioner and at the direction of her commanders, the NCO found the exercise.”

The court papers include correspondence between Amidror and the NCO as their disagreement over the meaning of the Hamas exercises developed.

“To be clear, the purpose of my email was not to bring the assessment down but to raise it. In any event, I don’t think this is a point of ‘absolute and unequivocal disagreement,’ because clearly, as more material is distributed, the area of agreement will grow. We are at the beginning of the process.”

Amidror points to that correspondence as evidence that he did not simply dismiss the NCO’s work. He also says he initiated a discussion “with the aim of challenging the prevailing concept and examining the division’s underlying assumptions regarding the possibility that Hamas had the capability and intention to carry out a single or large-scale raid.”

According to Amidror, a summary of that discussion was circulated as high as the office of the IDF chief of staff, showing that he was actively attempting “to undermine and challenge the underlying assumptions.” He contends that those efforts were not properly considered when military leaders decided to remove him from service.

Other evidence presented in the investigations, however, has painted a sharply different picture of his handling of the warnings. Amidror has previously been reported to have dismissed the Hamas mass-invasion scenario contained in the so-called “Jericho Wall” plan as a “completely imaginary scenario,” despite warnings from Unit 8200 and Gaza border observers.

The Jericho Wall document described with remarkable detail a Hamas assault involving rocket fire, drones, the breaching of Israel’s border defenses and large numbers of terrorists pouring into Israeli communities and military bases — elements that would ultimately materialize on the morning of Oct. 7.

The newly released court material also exposes what the IDF views as significant weaknesses in Amidror’s argument that he meaningfully challenged the prevailing conception. The Unit 8200 NCO whose work was at the center of the issue was not invited to the discussion and was not given the opportunity to personally present her assessment.

The Gaza Division commander was also not immediately briefed about the intelligence developments, while the discussion on the issue was scheduled for after the holidays. Amidror himself acknowledges the timing in his petition, and the delay has become a key point in the dispute over whether his actions amounted to a meaningful real-time challenge to the prevailing assessment of Hamas’s intentions.

The most consequential argument in Amidror’s filing goes considerably further. He rejects the IDF’s contention that the failure to provide adequate warning falls within his professional responsibility at all.

“The petitioner denies the claim that he failed professionally or bears command or professional responsibility for the failure to provide a warning of war,” the filing states.

It then declares: “The mission of providing a warning of war is not the responsibility of division intelligence.”

The IDF emphatically rejects that interpretation of the job Amidror held.

In its response to his petition, the military describes the Gaza Division intelligence officer’s responsibilities in broad terms: “The Gaza Division intelligence officer leads all intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination efforts in the sector – management of the intelligence picture, warning, collection and research, and command advisory.”

The IDF’s assessment of Amidror’s performance is severe. Military investigators concluded that the failures were not limited to a single judgment made in the hours immediately before the massacre, but included his handling of intelligence during the period leading up to the attack.

The military states that it identified “a series of professional errors and failures in the petitioner’s conduct on the night preceding October 7, as well as beforehand, in assessing the security risk posed by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

The IDF further rejected Amidror’s attempt to separate his personal conduct from his command responsibility for the intelligence apparatus operating beneath him.

“The petitioner bears personal responsibility for the failures identified in his conduct – in the manner in which he exercised his judgment, the degree of oversight he maintained, and the level of professionalism he demonstrated in his position. Command responsibility means the commander’s responsibility for what occurs in the unit under his authority.”

The disciplinary process against Amidror followed a broader examination of the IDF’s internal Oct. 7 investigations by an expert team headed by Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman. The review concluded, among other things, that the Gaza Division had failed to sufficiently engage with the Jericho Wall invasion plan from both an intelligence and operational standpoint.

On Nov. 23, 2025, the IDF chief of staff determined that a series of senior commanders bore command responsibility for failures connected to Oct. 7 and ordered command measures against several officers, including Amidror. A subsequent recommendation from the deputy chief of staff called for ending Amidror’s career-service commitment.

Amidror challenged that process in court, describing his treatment as discriminatory, selective and arbitrary. The administrative court ultimately rejected his petition and allowed the IDF process to proceed. In September, the military formally announced that his career service would be terminated.

The IDF also argued that Amidror’s legal theory could have ramifications far beyond his individual case. Military commanders, it said, must retain the ability to impose command consequences even when an officer’s actions do not necessarily amount to individual legal wrongdoing.

If courts were to restrict command sanctions solely to questions of individual legal liability, the IDF warned, it could severely constrain the chief of staff’s authority to hold commanders accountable for failures occurring under their leadership.

“This result must not be permitted,” the military wrote.

Amidror, meanwhile, maintains that he has been singled out to bear consequences for a failure that extended throughout Israel’s intelligence and military leadership.

“The petitioner is the only commander in the IDF who is paying a real price, in the form of the loss of his rights, for the failures of the military and the state concerning intelligence and warnings about the intentions of the Hamas terrorist organization,” he argued.

His filing points to senior figures who held key positions on Oct. 7, including commanders in Southern Command, the Operations Directorate, the Gaza Division and Unit 8200. Amidror argues that those officers were able to complete their service and leave the IDF while preserving their pension and other benefits, while the termination of his career service leaves him facing a different financial and professional outcome.

Amidror also fought to keep his identity from being made public, but that battle ended last week when the Supreme Court lifted the publication restriction. The court cited the absence of a security reason to continue concealing his name, the fact that his identity had already circulated publicly and the strong public interest in identifying a senior intelligence officer whom the IDF had held responsible for failures connected to Oct. 7.

With the gag order lifted, Amidror’s defense is now playing out publicly for the first time, exposing a fundamental clash over one of the central questions left by the Oct. 7 catastrophe: where responsibility for recognizing Hamas’s intentions and providing a warning ultimately rested — and who should personally pay the price for failing to do so.

{Matzav.com}

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The Omani co-pilot accused of launching a jihadist attack aboard an Israel-bound Flydubai flight received professional aviation training in Britain and New Zealand before beginning his commercial flying career, according to a new report revealing additional details about the background of the man who allegedly tried to bring down the passenger jet.

Hamam al-Hammami, 29, is being held in Abu Dhabi following the dramatic Sept. 30 attack aboard Flydubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv. Authorities say Hammami attacked the captain inside the cockpit with a crash axe in what has been described as an attempted terrorist hijacking.

Hammami has reportedly admitted that the attack was motivated by the war in Gaza and that he intended to die during the assault.

“I did it as revenge for Gaza. I wanted to die as a shahid,” al-Hammami told investigators.

New information about Hammami’s background indicates that years before the attack, he received flight training through L3 Airline Academy, then one of Britain’s largest professional pilot-training organizations. He reportedly trained with the academy between 2018 and 2019.

L3 operated several major aviation-training facilities in England, including centers in Southampton and Bournemouth and a simulator facility near Gatwick Airport. The company has since become part of Acron Aviation.

There has been no allegation that L3 Airline Academy, Acron Aviation or any related company had knowledge of extremist views on Hammami’s part or engaged in wrongdoing connected to the attack. Acron has said it is prepared to cooperate with authorities investigating the incident.

Hammami’s training was not limited to Britain. Authorities in New Zealand confirmed that he received a six-month student visa for aviation training there from November 2018 until May 2019 “for a UK-based company no longer operating in New Zealand”.

At the time, L3 operated an international pilot-training program that allowed cadets to divide their studies between Britain and New Zealand. Trainees could complete classroom and theoretical instruction in Southampton before traveling to Hamilton, New Zealand, for practical flight training and then returning to Britain for more advanced instruction.

Hammami subsequently worked for Oman Air, where he remained employed until February 2025. L3 also had ties to the Omani carrier, which had previously included the aviation school among five internationally recognized institutions whose graduates were eligible for consideration in its pilot recruitment program.

Acron Aviation has declined to say publicly whether Hammami was one of its students, citing its policy of not identifying present or past trainees.

“We were saddened to hear of this incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. As a matter of policy, we do not publicly comment on whether any individual is or has been a student with us.”

“We will, of course, assist the relevant authorities, if necessary, in any way we can as they investigate this incident.”

Hammami eventually joined Flydubai as a relatively new pilot before being assigned to the carrier’s route to Israel. Reports since the attack have raised questions about his behavior and views before the incident and whether any warning signs were missed before he was permitted to operate flights to Tel Aviv.

The attack unfolded after Flight FZ1073 departed Dubai for Tel Aviv with approximately 160 people aboard. Investigators believe Hammami waited until the aircraft was airborne before attacking the captain inside the cockpit with a crash axe.

Despite suffering serious injuries, the captain managed to resist Hammami and open the cockpit door, allowing others aboard the aircraft to intervene. Hammami was overpowered, and the damaged flight was diverted away from Israel before landing safely in Saudi Arabia.

The episode triggered an extraordinary security response in Israel. With authorities initially uncertain about what was occurring aboard the aircraft or whether the attack was part of a larger terrorist operation, Israeli defense officials prepared for the possibility that the plane itself could be used as a weapon.

Two Israeli officials subsequently said that Israel was prepared to shoot down the Flydubai aircraft if it continued toward Israeli airspace after Hammami attacked the captain. Fighter jets were prepared to intercept the aircraft if necessary as officials monitored its movements.

The United Arab Emirates also provided Israeli authorities with information about the flight crew as officials in both countries worked to establish what had happened and determine whether Hammami had acted alone.

The investigation has since expanded beyond the immediate circumstances aboard the aircraft. Israeli authorities are attempting to determine whether Hammami independently decided to carry out the attack because of the Gaza war or whether another individual, organization or foreign actor played a role in planning or encouraging it.

The Shin Bet is participating in the investigation, a fact that was cleared for publication this week by Israel’s military censor. Israeli investigators are examining Hammami’s background, contacts and activities in an effort to determine whether there was any connection to a terrorist organization or outside handler.

So far, no conclusive evidence has been publicly disclosed establishing that Hammami acted on instructions from another party. His reported statement to investigators points to Gaza as his stated motivation, but Israeli officials have not ruled out other possibilities as the investigation continues.

The attack has also prompted broader scrutiny of airline security procedures involving pilots and other crew members flying to Israel. Reports have revealed that approximately 1,200 crew members from countries whose citizens are generally barred from entering Israel had nevertheless entered the country as airline personnel, raising questions about the security screening applied to foreign flight crews.

Israeli authorities have been reviewing those procedures in the aftermath of the Flydubai attack, including the process by which pilots and crew members assigned to Israel-bound flights are vetted.

The six people credited with helping prevent the attack from ending in catastrophe are also set to receive recognition from Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Their intervention, together with the wounded captain’s actions, prevented Hammami from gaining control of the aircraft and allowed the plane to land safely.

The revelation that Hammami received professional aviation training in Britain and New Zealand now adds another element to the international investigation into his background, as authorities seek to reconstruct the path that took him from flight schools in the West to the cockpit of an Israel-bound passenger jet — and ultimately to an alleged attempt to turn that aircraft into the instrument of a jihadist attack.

{Matzav.com}