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Chareidi askanim have warned that they may launch a widespread consumer boycott against the Israeli airline Israir if it continues to operate flights on Shabbos, according to a report aired Tuesday by N12 News.

Israir CEO Uri Sirkis acknowledged the mounting pressure, confirming that he had been called to Yerushalayim to meet with leading chareidi figures in an effort to address the growing dispute.

“It is important that public discourse be conducted with respect, while avoiding exclusion, ostracism, or boycotts,” Sirkis told investors, concluding with the Leviticus phrase, “You shall love your neighbor as thyself.”

Among Israel’s four main airlines, only El Al refrains from operating on Shabbos. Israir, Arkia, and Air Haifa all continue to run flights during the day of rest, serving a sizable portion of secular travelers and tourists.

Since Air Haifa primarily serves northern routes with limited destinations, a shift in Israir’s Shabbos policy would effectively leave Arkia as the sole airline offering Shabbos flights to most locations.

The potential boycott could extend well beyond air travel. Israir is owned by businessman Rami Levy, who also controls a large supermarket chain that carries his name.

{Matzav.com}

A serious incident during Lag BaOmer celebrations in Elad sparked outrage Tuesday night after a police officer allegedly assaulted a community rov in full view of children. The municipality issued a sharp condemnation, calling it a “serious incident that will not pass quietly.”

The confrontation occurred during the central bonfire of the Chaim Sha’al kehillah, led by Rav Shai Ovad. The kehillah, which includes many baalei batim and baalei teshuvah, holds its annual hadlakah at a designated area in the city’s amphitheater park.

This year, due to the intensity of the flames, sparks began spreading outward, raising safety concerns. A municipal truck arrived, and two workers began spraying water on the fire. However, the effort created a thick cloud of smoke that drifted toward the area where people were dancing, eating, and where children were gathered. Dozens of participants, including both adults and children, began coughing and choking.

As the smoke spread, police officers arrived to oversee the situation. A dispute broke out between residents and officers regarding the firefighting efforts, and amid the crowding, one officer attempted to detain a participant. Rav Shai Ovad, who stepped in to calm the situation and separate those involved, was allegedly attacked. According to witnesses, the officer “lunged at the rov, choked him with his hands, kneed him, and forced him to the ground.” Eyewitnesses also reported that tear gas was deployed at the scene.

Videos circulated within the community show the rov lying on the ground. Three avreichim were arrested in front of children, further escalating tensions at the scene.

Rav Ovad is known to be close to Mayor Yehuda Butbul, who was called to the location and worked to calm the situation.

Following the incident, the Elad municipality released a strongly worded statement: “A serious incident by law enforcement authorities. A severe and shocking harm to one of the most important community rabbonim in the city.” The statement added that “the incident will not pass quietly and will be dealt with to the fullest extent,” and emphasized that the city “strongly protests the harm to the honor of Torah and will act to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump said Wednesday morning that direct, face-to-face negotiations between the United States and Iran are not imminent, even as reports have suggested the two sides may be nearing an understanding that could bring their 67-day conflict to a close.

In remarks to The New York Post, Trump dismissed the idea that another round of in-person discussions was on the horizon. When asked whether the outlet should send a correspondent back to Pakistan for renewed talks—following reports from sources in Islamabad that a tentative agreement was within reach—Trump replied, “I don’t think so.”

“I think we’ll do it — it’s too far,” he added. “No, it’s too much.”

Earlier that day, Trump addressed the situation on Truth Social, outlining the stakes of the ongoing negotiations. “[a]ssuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran. If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”

Trump has previously indicated he would consider traveling to Pakistan to finalize a formal agreement, citing respect for the efforts of Pakistan’s defense chief, Asim Munir, who has been involved in mediating between Washington and Tehran.

The president cut short his phone conversation with The Post on Wednesday, saying he needed to attend a meeting with “the generals.”

His cautious tone follows a report by Axios stating that White House officials believe they are nearing agreement with Iran on a brief framework document that could serve as the basis for a comprehensive peace deal.

According to that report, the proposal includes “Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the US agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions” on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Still, sources familiar with the negotiations told The Post that several versions of the proposal remain under consideration, and no final terms have been settled.

“Which one is going to be approved, no one knows,” said a Pakistani source familiar with mediation efforts.

Trump has made clear in prior conversations that he is reluctant to accept a temporary halt to Iran’s nuclear activity, instead favoring a permanent end to its ability to enrich uranium.

These developments follow Trump’s announcement Tuesday night that “Project Freedom” would be temporarily halted. The initiative had involved U.S. military escorts for commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to officials, the pause came after appeals from Pakistan and “other countries,” including Saudi Arabia, which argued that such a move could help advance efforts toward ending the conflict.

{Matzav.com}

Ted Turner, a mercurial tycoon and gadfly visionary whose “superstation” TBS was a cornerstone of cable TV’s early success, whose 24-hour news channel CNN revolutionized TV journalism, and whose sprawling legacy encompassed conservation, philanthropy and professional sports, died Wednesday at his home near Tallahassee. He was 87.

His death was confirmed by Phillip Evans, a spokesman for Turner Enterprises. Mr. Turner revealed in 2018 that he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.

A serial entrepreneur known as “the Mouth of the South” for his bellicosity and bravado, Mr. Turner took over his family’s Georgia-based billboard company at 24, after his father’s suicide, and transformed the business into a media juggernaut that would forever alter broadcasting.

“CNN really heralds the world of Twitter and social networks and interactivity,” said Ken Auletta, a Turner biographer and media writer for the New Yorker. “During the Persian Gulf War, you had a live war for the first time, without commercial breaks. You’d see bombs dropping and people screaming and fire engines roaring. Everything is immediate. It’s the world we live in today. He’s the father of that world.”

Mr. Turner’s achievements transcended journalism and business, and his much-publicized personality made him one of the most captivating public figures of his generation.

The billionaire Mr. Turner championed a world free of conflict but was on friendly terms with dictators and despots, including Saddam Hussein and Vladi­mir Putin. A Goldwater Republican turned unabashed liberal, he had friends running the political gamut – from former president Jimmy Carter to Sen. Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), from televangelist Jerry Falwell to communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who became a duck-hunting companion.

CNN was initially laughed off as the “Chicken Noodle Network,” in part because of its conspicuously low-budget look and its headquarters in the distinctly non-media capital of Atlanta. In CNN’s first five years, it hemorrhaged tens of millions of dollars.

Gradually, CNN upended the way news was consumed, riveting audiences by covering historic events and dramatic human-interest stories as they unfolded: the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986; the 58-hour rescue of a toddler from a well in Midland, Texas, in 1987; the Chinese government’s massacre of pro-democracy student demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in spring 1989; and the demolition of the Berlin Wall – amid the dissolution of the Soviet bloc – in fall 1989.

CNN and its Headline News sister station, which launched in 1982, paved the way for cable ventures by CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox and served, in the view of CNN admirers, as a constant visual watchdog.

“The idea of 24-hour news and global news is his creation,” Christiane Amanpour, who became the network’s chief international correspondent, told the New Yorker. “That’s changed the world. It’s changed people’s relations with their governments. It’s meant that governments can no longer crack down with impunity on protests.”

Mr. Turner, who was treated for bipolar disorder, was powered by hasty enthusiasms and a tolerance for high-wire risk.

After CNN’s distinguished Persian Gulf War coverage in 1990-1991 and its high ratings during the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial, Mr. Turner seemed to be at his career apogee when he sold Turner Broadcasting System to Time Warner in 1996 for nearly $7.5 billion.

Biographers observed that, in work or in play, Mr. Turner strove to disprove his father’s dim view of him when he was a young man. The elder Turner was said to have disparaged his son, then a sailing-obsessed college dropout, as a wastrel and an unworthy heir to the family business.

In 1984, having landed on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest people in America, Mr. Turner was speaking to Georgetown University undergraduates when he held aloft a copy of Success magazine with his picture on the cover.

His voice, according to biographer Porter Bibb, trailed off into an eerie whisper, and his eyes searched somewhere above the crowd. “Is this enough?” he asked. “Is this enough for you, Dad?”

Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Laura and Teddy; three children from his second marriage, Rhett, Beau and Jennie; 14 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

(c) 2026, The Washington Post · Adam Bernstein 

A dramatic incident unfolded Tuesday evening during the Lag BaOmer hilulah near Tzfas, when a 64-year-old woman and her four children, ages 10 to 15, who had gone missing on their way to Har Meron, were located stranded on a steep cliff.

The initial emergency call was received by United Hatzalah at 6:43 p.m., after the family reported that they had lost their way in the mountainous terrain and were unable to find a route out.

Following the report, national search and rescue units were dispatched to the scene and began operations in a challenging, mountainous area under limited visibility. At the same time, an aerial search was launched to locate the family using advanced equipment.

During the search, a United Hatzalah drone identified the mother and her children standing on a steep cliff, unable to descend or move forward. The drone operators immediately relayed the precise location to rescue teams on the ground, who confirmed that the identification significantly accelerated the rescue effort.

Rescue forces quickly initiated a complex extraction operation, using guidance from the drone to safely reach the family. Officials noted that the terrain posed significant challenges, but coordination between the units allowed for swift and accurate progress.

At this stage, rescue operations remain ongoing as teams work to bring all members of the family down to safety. United Hatzalah emphasized that the drone played a critical role in the rapid location of the missing family, saving valuable time.

{Matzav.com}

MK Michael Malchieli of Shas addressed the controversy surrounding the cancellation of the mass Lag Ba’omer pilgrimage to Har Meron, offering cautious support for the decision by security officials while voicing measured criticism over how such decisions impact the chareidi public.

In an interview with the main news broadcast on Radio Kol Chai, Malchieli said that while it is easy to judge the move in hindsight, it becomes far more complicated when all security bodies—including the Defense Ministry, the police, and Home Front Command—present a clear and credible threat assessment.

He explained, “If we had seen missiles in the last 24 hours heading toward Meron, everyone would have said how wise it was to close.” He added that although many in the chareidi community feel that restrictions are imposed more quickly on their events, in this case it is difficult to ignore the security evaluations and Meron’s proximity to the northern border.

At the same time, Malchieli acknowledged that the reaction within the chareidi public is not simple, particularly given that other large gatherings across the country have continued to take place. “I have a lot of criticism when the chareidi public is harmed by such decisions,” he said, “but in the end, when a clear threat picture is presented to you, there is not much room to maneuver.”

Later in the interview, Malchieli turned to a central political issue for the chareidi parties—the effort to advance legislation regulating the status of yeshiva students. He described it as the most critical issue currently facing the chareidi public, but noted that there is still no agreed-upon draft that has received rabbinic approval. “If you had asked me a year ago whether we would reach Lag Ba’omer without a law, I would have said it’s impossible. And yet, here we are,” he said.

Malchieli revealed that despite extended discussions in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, full agreements have not yet been reached with legal and political stakeholders. He said representatives of the chareidi parties have been instructed to remain engaged in negotiations rather than withdraw, in the hope that a finalized version can be presented when the summer session opens.

Addressing the ongoing tensions between the government and the attorney general, Malchieli sharply criticized the judicial system, arguing that there is a “small but powerful group” that he claims directly limits the government’s ability to govern. He said ministers and Knesset members repeatedly encounter rulings, delays, and interventions that interfere with government decisions.

{Matzav.com}

In an interview on Kol Chai’s main radio broadcast, Mishpacha editor Aryeh Ehrlich sharply criticized the handling of this year’s Meron framework, calling it a collapse of leadership and a retreat by authorities. He argued that the near-total cancellation of access to the mountain—limiting participation to just 200 people—amounted to an abdication of responsibility, masking the state’s inability to enforce control and maintain sovereignty at the site.

Despite police efforts to project an image of calm, Ehrlich described troubling accounts of police violence directed at those attempting to reach Meron through alternate routes and access roads. He pointed in particular to a disturbing incident in which an officer was filmed violently choking an older, respected man, Yeshayahu Gotfarb, saying it reflects a degrading attitude toward the chareidi public.

“Chareidi blood is not hefker,” Ehrlich declared, comparing the shutdown at Meron to large-scale sporting events in the north that have continued under similar security threats. In his view, the state should have implemented a structured “capsule” system to allow for safe and controlled access, rather than leaving tens of thousands to attempt reaching the site on their own under risky conditions.

Amid what he described as organizational chaos, a significant bright spot emerged in Yerushalayim, where a massive gathering took place led by the mashpia Rav Meilech Biderman. The event drew approximately 70,000 participants and was carefully organized by Minister Meir Porush and his team to provide a spiritual alternative, discouraging large crowds from attempting to reach Meron under dangerous conditions. Ehrlich praised the initiative as an important lesson learned, noting that dispersing the crowds to multiple locations is essential given the rapid growth of the chareidi population, which no longer allows for hundreds of thousands to be safely concentrated in one place at one time.

The conversation then shifted to the political landscape. Ehrlich argued that the early alliance between Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid proved to be a strategic misstep that weakened their standing in the polls, while Gadi Eisenkot has been acting with greater political discipline. He said Bennett has been accused of “intoxication with power” and of issuing threats toward senior police officials even before being elected, while Eisenkot has managed to position himself as a more consistent and credible governing alternative. Ehrlich added that the Bennett-Lapid partnership also contributed to the weakening of Benny Gantz’s party, which is paying a political price for its emphasis on statesmanship.

{Matzav.com}