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With the start of the Elul zeman at Yeshivas Toras Shlomo in Petach Tikvah, headed by Rav Zevulun Kahana, Chevroner rosh yeshiva Rav Dovid Cohen delivered a penetrating and inspiring shmuess that set the tone for the new zeman.

The yeshiva, which has earned a reputation as one of the flagship institutions in the city, began the new zman with over one hundred talmidim.

In his opening remarks, Rav Cohen praised the yeshiva and its impact. “We are fortunate to see Petach Tikvah becoming a true makom Torah, a place of tremendous growth and importance,” he said. “On my way here, I met parents who all shared the same joy and satisfaction: they see their sons rising and advancing. That is the greatest praise possible for a yeshiva—that it nurtures bochurim to grow, to develop, and to blossom in Torah and yiras Shomayim.”

The Meaning of Elul

Rav Cohen explained that Elul has dual meaning—one that applies to every Jew, and one that specifically belongs to a ben Torah. “Elul is about preparation for the Yom HaDin. Rabbeinu Yonah writes that from the start of Elul a person must stand in awe and trembling as he prepares for judgment. But for a ben Torah, Elul carries an even deeper message: yeshiva is a beit hayotzer, a place where one is formed and elevated. Success in yeshiva is measured by growth, not by standing still. A bochur who does not grow is in danger of slipping backward, for man cannot remain in one place.”

Citing the Vilna Gaon, Rav Cohen explained that avoiding spiritual descent requires constant ascent. “If one is not climbing higher, he is, by definition, sliding lower. The entire avodah is to grow and elevate.”

The Sound of the Shofar

Rav Cohen turned to the meaning of the daily shofar during Elul. Quoting Rav Yisroel Salanter, he said: “The purpose of the shofar is to awaken a person from his slumber, to shake him from the distractions of worldly trivialities and bring him to examine his ways.” Drawing from the Rambam’s words on the shofar of Rosh Hashanah, he emphasized that even one who is outwardly awake may in truth be asleep—if he is not striving to rise and improve.

Growth Through Torah

The rosh yeshiva stressed that the foundation of teshuvah and of Elul is accepting the ol Torah. Quoting the Gra, he explained that the first step in returning to Hashem is “hashiveinu Avinu l’sorasecha.” Without commitment to Torah, there can be no true teshuvah. Accepting the yoke of Torah means constant connection—yomam valaylah. It does not mean never resting, but it does mean never disconnecting from Torah.

“A bochur may need to refresh himself at times,” Rav Cohen said, “but if nighttime becomes a time of frivolity, mockery, or detachment from Torah, he severs his connection. The essence of being a ben Torah is that Torah is one’s constant anchor.”

The Song of the Ben Torah

In a moving section of his address, Rav Cohen shared words from Rav Nochum Partzovitz zt”l, who once wrote that all of creation sings—trees, grass, the sun and moon. The crown of creation is man, and within man, the true crown is the ben Torah. But, Rav Nochum noted, sometimes a ben Torah sings not a song of joy but a song of sorrow. Why? Because growth has stopped. A tree that does not blossom withers; a ben Torah who disconnects from Torah ceases to sing.

“The happiest, most fulfilled human being,” Rav Cohen declared, “is the one who is growing, learning, and blossoming in Torah. That is the true song of a ben Torah. When he rises and develops, he sings with genuine joy.”

Entering the Days of Awe

Rav Cohen concluded by reminding the talmidim of the awesome opportunity of Elul: “It is the time of ‘Ani l’dodi v’dodi li,’ a time of closeness to Hashem. With determination and effort, each of you can use this zman as a springboard to become greater, to strengthen your attachment to Torah, and to prepare properly for Rosh Hashanah and the new year.”

He ended with a call to hold fast to the privilege of being yoshvei beis hamedrash: “Fortunate are we that our portion is to sit in the beis medrash, to be connected to Torah. With that connection, our lives become lives of true song—the song of Torah.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

French President Emmanuel Macron’s effort to convene a high-profile meeting with American Jewish leaders during the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York has collapsed, with groups rejecting the invitation and citing deep discontent over France’s policies toward Israel and antisemitism. The meeting, first reported by i24NEWS, was set to take place on the eve of the General Assembly—coinciding with Rosh Hashanah. Officially, the cancellation was attributed to the schedule. But sources directly involved in the discussions said the real reason was strong opposition within the Jewish community to Macron’s outreach. “I think most organizations wouldn’t have participated at all,” one source said. Major groups reportedly considered for the gathering included AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee. The source added bluntly: “The guy has 15% popularity in France. It’s not our job to save him.” According to insiders, Jewish leaders were prepared to confront Macron over multiple grievances: France’s announced plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September; Paris’s weak response to rising antisemitism at home; and the French president’s positioning on Israel more broadly. “A photo-op with the French President would have allowed him to say, ‘Look, I met with American Jewish leaders,’ regardless of the meeting’s content,” the source said, adding that if the session had gone forward it would have been “highly contentious.” In the end, enough groups signaled they would refuse to attend that the initiative collapsed. “Even without a formal decision, enough pressure was applied to reach a broad consensus to decline the invitation,” one source explained. “Rosh Hashanah gave us the perfect excuse. G-d saves us every time.” The setback comes as Macron faces mounting criticism from Israel over his diplomatic moves. According to i24NEWS, the French president had also explored visiting Israel ahead of the General Assembly but was told by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office that the timing was not appropriate. Israeli officials are also reportedly weighing new measures against France, including the possible closure of the French Consulate in Jerusalem, which primarily serves Palestinians in Yehuda and the Shomron. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of carrying out a ruthless war not only against his country but against Christianity itself, saying that Moscow has destroyed churches and persecuted clergy in what he called both a physical and spiritual assault.

Speaking on “The Rosenberg Report,” during an interview filmed inside his presidential offices in Kyiv and broadcast on the TBN network, Zelenskyy rejected claims from some Western voices that Ukraine mistreats Christians. He argued that such accusations are misleading and ignore the reality of Russia’s devastation.

“Those claims … are false and manipulative,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine provides broader religious freedoms than any other nation that once belonged to the Soviet Union, including Russia. He noted that more than 70% of Ukrainians identify as Christian and the country is home to over a million Protestants.

According to Zelenskyy, Russia’s strikes have not spared holy places. Kyiv’s main cathedral was reduced to rubble, while Odesa’s central cathedral was heavily damaged by a missile.

He added that countless clergy members — pastors, priests, and other religious leaders — have been killed, abducted, or have gone missing during the war.

Russian forces, he said, have demolished more than 600 churches across denominations — Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and others — all of them historic testaments to Ukraine’s religious life.

Despite the ongoing war, Zelenskyy said his government has worked to safeguard religious liberty. He explained that Ukraine has secured the release of believers — Orthodox, Catholic, and Baptist alike — even arranging to swap them in prisoner exchanges for captured soldiers.

Addressing charges that Kyiv targets clergy, Zelenskyy insisted that the only cases involve those who aided Russia.

“Our law simply states that no religious organization can maintain legal ties with an aggressor state … That is not persecution. It is national security,” he said.

He also pointed to national efforts to strengthen religious unity, highlighting Ukraine’s largest prayer breakfast as an example of perseverance. Faith, he said, is not only symbolic but also a vital source of strength in enduring catastrophic loss.

Zelenskyy described the conflict as Europe’s bloodiest since World War II. Since the invasion began in February 2022, he said, more than 400,000 Ukrainians have been killed or grievously wounded, many of them civilians. He accused Russia of intentionally attacking homes and essential civilian infrastructure in addition to military sites.

Yet even amid the destruction, Zelenskyy voiced optimism that peace can be achieved.

He emphasized that President Donald Trump is uniquely positioned to pressure Moscow, saying his approach differs from other Western leaders. In Zelenskyy’s view, only uncompromising strength will compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war.

“Russia doesn’t respect the United States, and it is not news; but they are afraid, very afraid, very much,” he said. “They respect power, what [the] United States has.”

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced intense questioning in Congress on Thursday regarding the accuracy of statistics tied to COVID-19 vaccines. In response, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya told Newsmax that the Biden administration “made the data corrupt in a way that’s hard to disentangle.”

Kennedy expressed skepticism about studies claiming that vaccines prevented widespread deaths during the pandemic. At the hearing, he raised doubts about both the official tallies of COVID-related fatalities and projections of lives saved, numbers that were released by the very agencies under his authority.

“Secretary Kennedy is right. I don’t really know the actual number because it’s just a lot of data issues,” Bhattacharya remarked during his interview on “America Right Now.”

“But I’ll just give you one that’s, like, really concrete. If in order to be diagnosed with COVID it was possible to have a prior test that that happened — maybe even before you enter the hospital — and you were you enter the hospital for something else, … you were still counted as a COVID case,” he explained.

“And you’re absolutely right also that we paid hospitals tens of thousands of dollars per COVID patient. So they had very strong incentives to diagnose and find COVID, even if the COVID was just incidental,” Bhattacharya added.

“We don’t know the exact numbers. And it’s going to be very difficult, if impossible, to get them, because the data systems that the Biden administration set up and the incentives that they created, made the data corrupt in a way that it’s hard to disentangle,” he concluded.

{Matzav.com}

Talks between Israel and Moldova regarding a temporary terminal for Uman-bound travelers have broken down, forcing Israel to seek alternative routes, with Romania now being considered as the primary option.

According to a News 12 report by Eli Hirschman, Israel had agreed to finance and establish a temporary terminal in Chisinau, Moldova, to accommodate the large influx of passengers traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah. The plan was meant to handle approximately 50 incoming and 50 outgoing flights. Moldova, however, introduced a new demand requiring that all equipment purchased by Israel for the project remain in Moldova permanently, without any commitment to reuse it for future years.

Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, direct travel to Uman is not possible, making neighboring countries the only viable options. Following a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office with former minister Meir Porush, Israel initially agreed to fund the terminal, which was to be set up in a parking lot adjacent to Chisinau’s airport. Moldova’s original conditions included an estimated cost of 8 million shekels to prepare the site, the presence of 90 Israeli aviation security officers, 24 Israeli police officers, and 50 translators, along with a comprehensive supply of equipment such as tents, signage systems, luggage handling tools, surveillance cameras, communication and power networks, fire safety equipment, air conditioning units, and portable restrooms.

The unexpected demand to keep all the Israeli-purchased equipment, coupled with Moldova’s refusal to guarantee future use for Uman pilgrims, led to the collapse of the agreement.

With the Moldova plan shelved, Israel is now weighing Romania as a practical alternative. Unlike Moldova, Romanian authorities have not insisted on constructing a temporary terminal or acquiring special equipment. Their sole condition is the presence of translators to assist the thousands of Israeli travelers.

Nonetheless, this route presents challenges. Travelers would face lengthy overland journeys after landing in Romania, and in order to reach Uman they would still need to cross through Moldova before entering Ukraine—raising concerns that Moldovan authorities could create further complications.

{Matzav.com Israel}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rabbi Dr. Zechariah HaKohen Glazman zt”l, a renowned dentist and longtime resident of Elkana in the Shomron, who passed away at the age of 87. He merited to be a mechutan and close confidant of Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi zt”l, rosh yeshiva of Ateres Yisroel, with whom he shared a deep friendship for decades.

Rav Glazman was among the founders of the yishuv of Elkana and throughout his life was a loyal supporter of his mechutan’s yeshiva and other Torah institutions. He also maintained a close relationship with the Amshinover Rebbe, frequently consulting with him for guidance.

Professionally, he was a well-known dentist with practices in Yerushalayim and Bnei Brak, where he not only treated countless patients but also shared in their burdens and extended warmth and care to all who came through his door. His kind heart and shining countenance left a lasting impression, drawing people closer to Hashem.

Several years ago, Rav Glazman was predeceased by his wife, Mrs. Miriam Mindel a”h.

He leaves behind children and grandchildren who continue in his path of Torah and avodas Hashem. Among them are his son, Rav Chanoch Chen Glazman, a respected figure in the field of Torah-based guidance and counseling, and his son, Rav Yeshayahu Hadar Glazman, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Ketana in Achisamach and a maggid shiur at Yeshivas Ateres Yisroel.

The levayah took place at his home in Matisyahu, where he had recently been living near his son, and continued to Elkana, where he was buried.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration announced on Friday that it is looking into whether the federal government could assume oversight of the 9/11 memorial and museum in New York City.

Located in lower Manhattan at the site where the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001, the memorial consists of two large reflecting pools bordered by waterfalls and etched names of victims, along with a museum beneath the plaza.

Since it opened to visitors in 2014, the memorial and museum have been managed by a nonprofit foundation chaired by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime critic of Trump.

The White House acknowledged that “preliminary exploratory discussions” had taken place about the possibility, but offered no further details. Officials noted that during his presidential campaign, Trump had promised to designate the site as a national monument, ensuring federal protection and support.

Leadership at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum countered that federal law does not currently allow Washington to simply take over the property, which belongs to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Beth Hillman, the organization’s CEO, argued that the move would run contrary to Trump’s agenda of shrinking government, saying that having the federal government assume responsibility for the memorial “makes no sense.”

“We’re proud that our exhibitions tell stories of bravery and patriotism and are confident that our current operating model has served the public honorably and effectively,” Hillman said, pointing out that the institution has raised $750 million privately and has welcomed about 90 million people since opening.

According to its latest filings, the museum brought in more than $93 million in revenue last year, while operating costs were approximately $84 million. After accounting for depreciation, the institution reported close to a $9 million surplus.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also expressed unease with the prospect of federal involvement, pointing to what she described as recent attempts by Trump’s administration to shape narratives of U.S. history at national museums and monuments, including those under the Smithsonian’s umbrella.

The consideration of a takeover comes not long after the administration temporarily cut, then reinstated, staff in a federal program that provides medical assistance to individuals suffering from conditions connected to toxic debris from the World Trade Center.

“The 9/11 Memorial belongs to New Yorkers — the families, survivors, and first responders who have carried this legacy for more than two decades and ensured we never forget,” Hochul said. “Before he meddles with this sacred site, the President should start by honoring survivors and supporting the families of victims.”

Anthoula Katsimatides, a member of the museum’s board who lost her brother, John, in the attack, said she saw no reason for a shift in control.

“They do an incredible job telling the story of that day without sugarcoating it,” she said. “It’s being run so well, I don’t see why there has to be a change. I don’t see what benefit there would be.”

Still, some members of the broader 9/11 families’ community have voiced dissatisfaction over time, taking issue with ticket costs or suggesting that elements of the museum’s exhibits should be revised.

Representatives for Trump chose not to comment on the matter.

Nearly 3,000 lives were lost on September 11, 2001, when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. More than 2,700 of those deaths occurred in New York during the catastrophic collapse of the twin towers.

{Matzav.com}

Jewish teachers are demanding action after a full-sized Palestinian flag has hung for months in the hallway of a Brooklyn high school — with repeated complaints to city education officials going unanswered, the NY Post reported. The banner has been on display at Leaders High School in Gravesend, part of the Lafayette Educational Complex, since at least April, according to Moshe Spern, president of the 250-member United Jewish Teachers group. “It’s a blatant political statement, and it has no place in a public school,” Spern told The Post. “For five months, this flag has been a constant, political presence in this school’s hallways, and it’s impossible to ignore the message it’s sending to the school’s staff and children.” Spern said he first gave the benefit of the doubt, assuming the display might be tied to a cultural observance. But after the flag remained long after the school year ended, he formally contacted Principal Thomas Mullen, citing Department of Education rules prohibiting political displays on school property. In emails shared with The Post, Spern wrote that Jewish staff, parents, and students were “very concerned” about the display and urged school leaders to restore neutrality. “The flag is clearly a political statement, and you’re making Jewish stakeholders really uncomfortable,” Spern wrote in a follow-up message after receiving no response. To date, neither Mullen nor the Department of Education has responded to the complaints. Mullen declined to comment when reached. “This is a matter of trust,” Spern said. “When we alerted school and district leadership to a clear violation of political neutrality regulations, they chose to ignore us. That’s simply unacceptable. They had every chance to correct this before students even walked through the door for the new school year, but they left it up. How can we trust that similar violations in other schools are not going unchecked?” Spern called on both the DOE and the United Federation of Teachers to step in. “Every stakeholder has the right to attend a school without feeling intimidated or scared,” he said. The DOE has yet to issue a statement on the controversy. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Saudi Arabia has quietly given the United Arab Emirates a green light to pull back from its normalization deal with Israel if Jerusalem moves ahead with annexation in the West Bank, according to a report by Israel’s Kan news outlet. The development, cited by a source close to the Saudi royal family, comes after a closed-door meeting last week in Riyadh between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed. The official Saudi Press Agency acknowledged the meeting, saying the leaders discussed “the latest developments in Palestine,” though it made no mention of annexation. Kan quoted the source as saying both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi agreed that rolling back participation in the Abraham Accords would be a “realistic” response to Israeli annexation moves. The source added that such a step would also bring ongoing Saudi-Israeli normalization talks to a standstill. The warning underscores the fragility of the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 when the UAE normalized ties with Israel in return for then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shelving annexation plans. That breakthrough was widely believed to have Saudi Arabia’s tacit blessing. In recent weeks, Abu Dhabi has issued a series of increasingly sharp warnings to Israel against renewed annexation efforts. These included an on-the-record interview with The Times of Israel, an official UAE government statement, and private messages relayed through backchannels. The Washington Post reported that the warnings were serious enough to push Netanyahu’s government to remove annexation from the agenda of a scheduled cabinet meeting Thursday night. The Saudi intervention comes as Riyadh has ramped up its criticism of Israel over the war in Gaza. Earlier, the kingdom accused Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians in a strongly worded statement. While that communiqué did not reference annexation, Kan’s reporting suggests the issue is very much at the center of high-level Saudi-Emirati coordination. Any Emirati withdrawal from the Abraham Accords would mark the first unraveling of the landmark U.S.-brokered agreements and could trigger a wider diplomatic crisis across the region. For Netanyahu, already under intense domestic and international pressure, the warning from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi presents yet another red line he is now forced to navigate. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

“The United States has never asked Israel not to apply sovereignty” in Judea and Samaria, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told broadcaster Channel 14 on Friday.

Huckabee’s statement came on the backdrop of Hebrew-language reports claiming that Washington asked Jerusalem not to advance policies that could cause harm the stability of the Palestinian Authority.

“I have repeatedly said that the United States respects Israel as a sovereign state and will not tell Israel what to do. That’s also what Secretary of State Rubio said just last week,” Channel 14 quoted the American envoy as saying in response to these reports.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “abruptly” canceled a Cabinet discussion on a plan to annex part of Judea and Samaria, Channel 14 reported.

The report provided several reasons for the cancelation, including American pressure not to press forward with this agenda.

An unnamed Israeli official reportedly said that the meeting was only postposed due to schedule congestion.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that an “unusual message” delivered by the United Arab Emirates had prompted Netanyahu and several senior ministers to remove the annexation plan from the Cabinet’s agenda.

“Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution,” Special Envoy of the Emirati Foreign Ministry Lana Nusseibeh told Hebrew and international media on Tuesday.

It was reportedly the first time an Emirati official has publicly put under question the Abraham Accords, which the UAE and Bahrain were the first Arab countries to sign onto on Sept. 15, 2020.

The public message followed several warnings in diplomatic back-channels, which were met with silence by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, according to the Post.

Asked by reporters on Thursday in Ecuador to comment on this development, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “What you’re seeing with [Judea and Samaria] and the annexation, that’s not a final thing—that’s something being discussed among some elements of Israeli politics. I’m not going to opine on that today.”

He went on to say that Washington had harsh words for world leaders, who have said that they plan to recognize an independent Palestinian state.

“We told all these countries, ‘If you guys do this recognition stuff—it’s all fake, it’s not even real,” Rubio told reporters during the diplomatic visit to Quito, Ecuador. “If you do it, you’re going to create really big problems.”

Rubio is expected to visit Israel on Sept. 14. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Kan 11 News reported Friday that in May 2024, the IDF and then-Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi tried to convince Israel’s political leadership to adopt an agreement that would secure the release of all hostages. The proposal, they argued, would remove operational restrictions and allow the military to deliver a decisive blow to Hamas in Gaza.

The report stated that in the months before the entry into Rafah, Halevi pushed for a single-stage plan that aimed to both bring home the hostages and conclude the war.

A team from the Operations and Strategic Divisions reportedly prepared multiple scenarios to demonstrate how Hamas could be defeated following such a deal. The thinking was that once every hostage was safely back, the army would have far greater freedom to destroy Hamas. However, the political leaders rejected the idea outright.

The report added that during a small cabinet discussion where Halevi presented the plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it, allegedly describing it as a “defeat.” According to those with knowledge of the meeting, the initiative was blocked so quickly that it was never even passed on to the negotiation team for review.

Instead, the plan that was approved in May 2024 followed a phased model. It stipulated that both the return of all hostages and the conclusion of the war would only occur once the full process was carried out. While this was the framework accepted, Netanyahu’s choice to halt the second phase meant the stage that was supposed to guarantee the release of all remaining hostages never went forward.

Netanyahu has since reiterated that the government’s approach is to seek only a complete agreement with Hamas, rejecting any partial deals.

“We will agree to a deal in which all hostages are released in one go and in accordance with our terms for ending the war,” the Prime Minister’s office said last month.

The outlined requirements include: the dismantling of Hamas’ weapons stockpiles, full demilitarization of Gaza, Israel retaining security control of the border area, and the creation of a new governing body in Gaza that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority and that will maintain peaceful relations with Israel.

This week, as the IDF prepared to launch a campaign to capture Gaza City, Hamas announced it was ready to consider a broad agreement involving both the release of all hostages and the end of fighting. Yet the group repeated its earlier preconditions, which Israel has made clear it cannot accept.

Defense Minister Israel Katz rejected Hamas’ claim. “Hamas continues to close its eyes and utter empty words, but it will soon realize that it must choose between two options: accept Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and disarmament, or Gaza will become equivalent to Rafah and Beit Hanoun.”

“The IDF is preparing at full strength,” Katz added.

The Prime Minister’s Office also responded: “Unfortunately, this is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new.

The war could end immediately on the conditions set by the Security Cabinet:

1. All hostages are released.

2. Hamas is disarmed.

3. The Strip is demilitarized.

4. Israel has security control in the Strip.

5. An alternative civil administration is established that does not educate for terrorism, dispatch terrorists or threaten Israel.

Only these conditions will prevent Hamas from rearming and returning to the massacre of October 7 again and again as it has promised.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Hamas’ internal security division has issued new directives to its fighters, warning them to be cautious about how Israel is able to pinpoint their whereabouts.

In its statement, the terror group admitted that Israeli intelligence has been effective in identifying and tracking operatives in Gaza, in part by observing seemingly ordinary details such as clothing drying on laundry lines.

The advisory also explained that Israel gathers intelligence by watching patterns of light and electricity use, examining leftover food and the volume of garbage discarded, and keeping tabs on who visits a location and the type of relationship they have with the resident.

In a separate announcement, Hamas’ security wing cautioned journalists not to reveal information about Israeli strikes on senior members of the group, stressing that only Hamas itself and its official military media channels are permitted to release such details.

{Matzav.com}

A Saudi royal family insider revealed to Kan News that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the President of the United Arab Emirates recently agreed on a joint course of action should Israel move forward with annexing Judea and Samaria.

The source explained that if Israel extends sovereignty over the territories, the UAE would weigh pulling out of the Abraham Accords entirely.

The same source cautioned that Saudi Arabia has made it clear such a move by Israel would likely shut the door permanently on any chance of future normalization between the kingdom and Israel.

The Abraham Accords, first signed in 2020, brought Israel into formal diplomatic relations with the UAE and Bahrain, with Morocco and Sudan later joining the pact.

Although the Biden administration has publicly supported the agreement, it has so far failed in its attempts to expand the circle of countries, including its ongoing but unsuccessful push to bring Saudi Arabia into the accords.

{Matzav.com}

Mahmoud Afana, the Hamas terrorist who openly bragged about slaughtering 10 Israelis during the October 7 massacre, was reportedly eliminated in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday in Deir al-Balah.

The disturbing conversation in which Afana repeatedly boasted about his killings became public two and a half weeks after the massacre, when it was presented during a United Nations Security Council session.

At the time, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen released an audio recording of Afana speaking to his parents. “I’m talking to you from a Jewish woman’s phone. I killed her and her husband; with my own hands, I killed 10,” Afana told his father. He had made the call using one of his victims’ phones, whose body was later discovered in the Gaza envelope.

In the same recording, Afana continued: “Dad, 10 with my own hands. I’m inside Mefalsim, Dad, I killed 10. Their blood is on my hands. Give me Mom.” His mother answered: “Oh my son, may God protect you.” Afana insisted: “I swear, 10 with my own hands, I killed 10 with my own hands.” His mother responded: “May God bring you back safely.” Afana added: “Dad, get back on WhatsApp, I want to do a live broadcast for you from Mefalsim.”

His mother expressed her pride and urged him on: “I wish I were with you.” Afana told her: “Mom, your son is a hero.” His brother then entered the discussion, asking: “You killed 10?” Afana affirmed: “Yes, I killed 10, I swear.”

When his brother asked if he was in Zikim, Afana clarified: “I’m in Mefalsim, not in Zikim. I’m the first to enter, under the protection and with help of Allah. Raise up your head, Dad.”

His brother pressed him to come back to Gaza, but Afana refused. “Return? There’s no return. It’s either death or victory. How can I return? Open WhatsApp, see how many are dead. How I killed them with my own hands.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

The wealthy heiress who recently handed over $250,000 to a super PAC boosting socialist Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign is also behind a nationwide drive to push “woke math” into classrooms — a movement critics warn is designed to mold students into socialist radicals, The NY Post was told.

Liz Simons, the daughter of late hedge fund billionaire Jim Simons, runs a foundation worth nearly a billion dollars that denounces traditional, race-neutral math and replaces it with race-centered, progressive instruction that infuses social justice into standard lessons.

This model, which has been promoted in California but blocked in Florida, alters basic subjects by injecting racial discussions into otherwise straightforward math exercises.

For example, a class on interpreting graphs could morph into a broader conversation about economic inequality between white Americans and minority groups.

Mamdani’s education agenda includes stopping the expansion of charter schools, broadening access to universal pre-K, and removing competitive admissions criteria for middle schools in order to integrate classrooms more fully.

While “woke math” hasn’t yet been a centerpiece of the mayoral contest, critics worry Simons’ backing of Mamdani points to him supporting such ideas.

Yiatin Chu, who leads Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum & Education as well as the Asian Wave Alliance, said she was alarmed at the possibility and found Simons’ influence “troubling.”

“Woke math lowers the bar without helping black students. While test results show gains among black and Hispanic students, the gap with Asian and white students hasn’t closed. We hope Mamdani doesn’t undo progress.”

“This megadonor may impact his chancellor choice or NYC’s math curriculum,” she added.

Jean Hahn, a Queens public-school mother, argued that woke math lessons focus more on political training than academic skills.

“I’m already concerned as a parent that Mamdani has stated he will resume” many of former far-left Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “diversity initiatives, which were racially toxic,” Hahn said.

Simons inherited an immense fortune after her father — a mathematician turned hedge fund titan — died in May 2024 with a net worth exceeding $31 billion, and she has been spending his fortune aggressively.

She and her husband, philanthropist Mark Heising, co-founded the Heising-Simons Foundation, which has invested heavily in woke math programs. That includes $1.7 million since 2023 for the Racial Justice in Early Mathematics Project (RJEM) at Chicago’s Erikson Institute.

In Chicago, where fewer than 20 percent of public school students are proficient in math, the foundation funneled $800,000 this March into RJEM to develop seminars, teaching guides, and resources for educators incorporating “racial justice” into math lessons. Two years earlier, it distributed $900,000 for $7,000 teacher mini-grants promoting the same cause.

Between 2022 and 2023, Heising-Simons also poured at least $4 million into other woke math organizations, tax filings show. That included $630,825 to San Francisco’s Tandem Partners in Early Learning and $665,000 to Arizona-based Illustrative Mathematics.

The foundation further funded a math program in Alexandria, Virginia, that instructed young children to count storybook characters by skin color and create racial breakdown charts — even noting books with very few white characters.

The impact of this effort remains unclear.

Still, Virginia placed dead last in the nation — 51st out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. — for math recovery between 2019 and 2024, while Alexandria students fell more than a grade level behind in reading compared to pre-pandemic, according to federal testing released in January.

Simons’ foundation also joined with the Gates Foundation to give $553,750 to TODOS Mathematics for All, an Arizona-based nonprofit pushing DEI and “anti-racist activism” in math teaching, according to RealClearInvestigations.

That same investigation reported “no credible research” proving that woke math raises achievement.

Despite Mamdani’s prior claim that billionaires “shouldn’t exist,” Simons stunned political observers when she dropped $250,000 last month into New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a PAC created to back his mayoral run.

{Matzav.com}

President Trump issued a fierce warning to criminals in Chicago on Saturday, vowing to send in the recently rebranded Department of War. The declaration came in a fiery post on Truth Social.

“Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the president declared, referencing the executive order he signed on Friday restoring the Pentagon’s original name.

The post was paired with an AI-generated image showing Trump against the backdrop of the Chicago skyline, helicopters in the air, and flames surrounding him, dressed as Robert Duvall’s character from Apocalypse Now.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” the caption on the photo read, along with the phrase “Chipocalypse Now.”

This was not the first time Trump raised the prospect of deploying National Guard forces to Chicago. He has long argued that the city’s crime and illegal immigration problems require such action, even as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back against the idea.

“We’re going in,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

“I didn’t say when.”

The White House has avoided specifying a timeline, though reports suggest troops could arrive within days.

Pritzker hit back at Trump’s latest post, blasting him as a “scared man.”

“The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,” he wrote on X.

“This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also condemned Trump’s threats. “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution.”

“We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump,” Johnson added on X.

Initially, Trump said he would prefer Pritzker to formally request troops, but during his remarks in the Oval Office he made it clear that his patience had worn thin.

“If the governor of Illinois would call up, call me up, I would love to do it,” Trump said.

“Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it.”

The president also went after Pritzker online, branding him “weak and pathetic” after the governor accused him of “attempting to manufacture a crisis.”

“Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Over the Labor Day holiday, the city endured even worse violence, with seven killed and 54 shot. Pritzker nevertheless continued to resist Trump’s plans.

The governor argued that the president’s real motivation was political.

“He has other aims, other than fighting crime,” Pritzker said Sunday during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation.

“The other aims are that he’d like to stop the elections 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections,” he claimed.

“He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control.”

In response, Mayor Johnson directed Chicago’s police force not to cooperate with federal troops or National Guard members should they be deployed.

He also urged citizens to resist Trump’s plans. “Stand up against this tyranny,” Johnson said on Saturday.

Gov. Pritzker added his own warning: “We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government. It is unclear at this time what that will look like exactly.”

Trump has also mentioned targeting other cities with Guard units and federal law enforcement, citing New York and New Orleans, though Chicago has been his primary focus. He has labeled it the “murder capital of the world.”

The city recorded 573 homicides in 2024, far more than New York City’s 377 or Los Angeles’s 268. Chicago’s murder rate stood at 21.7 per 100,000 residents, compared to New York’s 4.7.

Trump already dispatched National Guard troops to Washington, DC, in August to address crime there.

In that deployment, the Guard did not make arrests but provided support for security operations, while the FBI and local police arrested nearly 2,000 people since the August 7 order.

Sending troops into Chicago would pose additional legal hurdles. In Washington, DC, the Guard answers directly to the president. In contrast, state Guards fall under the authority of their governors.

Earlier this year, Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests against ICE, ignoring objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom sued, claiming the action was unlawful.

This past Tuesday, a federal judge agreed with Newsom, ruling that the administration had broken the 19th-century Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces in domestic law enforcement.

{Matzav.com}

[COMMUNICATED]

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President Trump on the Department of War: “We won World War I, World War II, everything in between, and everything in front of it. It was called Department of War — and then we went WOKE.”

POTUS: “When you look at Chicago, we have a governor that says that things are ok with crime… These people are sick. There’s something wrong with them… I watched Portland, Oregon last night burning… These are professional paid agitators… and we’re going to stop them.”