Thousands of Satmar Chassidim gathered last Friday to mark the 45th Yahrtzeit of Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l, during which the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, HaRav Aharon Teitelbaum, used the occasion to address a pressing issue facing the kehilla: the skyrocketing housing prices in Kiryas Yoel. In his address, the Rebbe highlighted the severe housing crisis, noting that over the past five years, the cost of housing in Kiryas Yoel has surged dramatically, with the price per square foot shooting up by a staggering increase of 400%. This surge has placed a heavy burden on the kehilla, where large families are struggling to find affordable housing. To combat this crisis, the Rebbe took decisive action by forming a special committee in collaboration with local askanim. Their efforts bore fruit two months ago when a new municipal law was passed, capping the price of apartments in new projects. However, recognizing that the law’s benefits would not be immediate, the Rebbe reached out to Chasidic businessman and Satmar Philanthropist Akiva Hersh Klein, who is currently developing a new neighborhood with 2,000 apartments in Kiryas Yoel. The Rebbe announced that Klein had agreed to his request to substantially lower prices. Klein committed to selling 1,000 apartments at half the prevailing market price ($300 per square foot), a gesture estimated to potentially cost him around $250 million. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
An opinion article by the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board excoriated US President Joe Biden and his administration for placing the blame on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s execution of six hostages. The article also stressed how Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris put immense pressure on Israel, even threatening it with an arms embargo, not to enter Rafah – delaying the operation for months. And of course, that’s exactly where the hostages were found. Hamas probably can’t believe its luck—or the lack of moral seriousness by its enemies. The terrorists murder six Israeli hostages, including one dual-citizen American, and Israel is suddenly under pressure to make concessions—to Hamas. That’s the way it looked Monday, a day after Israel said it recovered the bodies of six hostages. They were executed in a Gaza tunnel only a day or two before Israel reached them, shot multiple times at close range. The hostages are Eden Yerushalmi, age 24; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lobanov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the U.S. citizen, 23. We have met Hersh’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, and were struck by their strength and good courage, willing to do anything and go anywhere to help their son. The crime here is all on Hamas, which took the innocent hostages on Oct. 7 and has refused to release them through multiple rounds of U.S.-brokered negotiations. Yet the reaction from the White House, the British government, the Western press and some parts of Israel is to blame the Israeli government. On Monday, in a one-word answer to a press scrum, Mr. Biden accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to secure a hostage deal. Britain’s new Labour government chose Monday to announce that, after a review, it is suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel. The titular explanation is that there is a “risk” the arms might be used in violation of humanitarian laws against Palestinians. Does the Keir Starmer government mean violations like Hamas shooting innocents in the head? Or does it fear that Jeremy Corbyn, the anti-Israel MP, is forming a group of independent “pro-Gaza” Members? The timing here compounds the bad policy. Like Qaid Farhan Al-Qadi, the Muslim hostage Israel rescued last week, the murdered six were found in Rafah, the city the world worked so hard to prevent Israel from entering. President Biden’s opposition kept Israel out of Rafah for three months. Vice President Kamala Harris claimed a Rafah invasion would doom its civilians. “I have studied the maps. There’s nowhere for those folks to go,” she said. Israel proved her wrong, evacuating a million Gazans in two weeks. Israel has dismantled Hamas’s Rafah brigade with notably low civilian casualties. Aid groups hyped worst-case scenarios for a Rafah invasion. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris withheld weapons to stop Israel from fighting there. Ms. Harris wouldn’t rule out “consequences” if Israel went ahead. Egypt threatened to abrogate its peace treaty with Israel over it. Israel has since found over a dozen tunnels from Rafah into Egypt, which insists that Israel leave the border to let Hamas’s arms smuggling resume. It should be clear now why Israel couldn’t let Hamas rule Rafah. Mr. Biden said Sunday that “Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.” But his next sentence pushed […]
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a press conference on Monday evening and stressed the vital importance of maintaining an Israeli military presence on the Philadelphi Corridor. Netanyahu began by asking forgiveness from the families of the six hostages that “we weren’t able to bring them back alive. We were close but didn’t make it.” Netanyahu continued by saying that the murder of the hostages didn’t happen because Israel decided to maintain a military presence on the Philadelphi Corridor but because “Hamas doesn’t want a deal.” The prime minister, who is known for favoring the use of props during major press conferences, then turned to a map of the Philadelphi Corridor area and explained that “the road to achieving the goals of the war passes through the Philadelphi Corridor. That is Hamas’s pipeline.” “Only when we entered Philadelphia did we feel a change in the war,” he said. “For months after the November deal, Hamas refused to budge in negotiations for a deal. The first crack came after we entered Rafah and took control of Philadelphi and the Rafah crossing. Then suddenly they began talking differently.” He added that following the Disengagement in 2005, Israel left the area, relying on Egypt’s promises that it would prevent smuggling. “It was a strategic error that could not be corrected afterward to international opposition,” he said, adding that at the time, he pushed for Israel to maintain control over the Corridor and reiterated the demand to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon when he resigned from the government. “What happened when we left, was that there was no obstacle for the flow of arms, weapon-producing materials, and equipment to dig tunnels, all under the auspices of Iran,” he said. “Gaza became an enormous threat to Israel because there was no barrier.” “The Axis of Evil [led by Iran] needs the Philadelphi Axis, ” Netanyahu stressed and “that’s exactly why Israel must permanently control it.” He rapped the claim that Israel could temporarily leave the area as part of a deal and then return, pointing out how the same statements were made when Israel left Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. Former Israeli prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak promised Israelis that IDF forces would immediately return if any attacks were made from the territories. That proved impossible due to international diplomatic factors. “If we leave, we won’t return,” Netanyahu emphasized. “We won’t return,” he repeated, explaining that unrelenting diplomatic pressure on Israel will make it impossible to return. “This corridor is different from all the other places — it is central, it determines all of our future,” he said, adding that if the IDF leaves the area even temporarily, Hamas could smuggle hostages into the Sinai and from there to Iran and Yemen. “We are not leaving. This is a strategic, existential issue for Israel. If we leave now, we won’t return—not in 42 days, not in 42 years. This is Hamas’s lifeline. Are we going to let them rearm and slaughter us again? Anyone who wants us to leave the Philadelphi Corridor undermines the war’s objectives. Did our soldiers fall in vain, only for us to let Hamas rebuild?” Netanyahu questioned the message Israel would convey to Hamas by leaving the Corridor. “After they killed six of our hostages in cold blood? What […]
According to a report from The New York Post, a former aide to both Governors Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul has been arrested for acting as a foreign agent for the CCP.
From
The New York Post:
The 64-page indictment accuses Linda Sun, 41, who was arrested that morning along with her husband, Christopher Hu, 40, of blocking representatives from Taiwan’s governor from visiting the New York governor’s office.
She also skewed public statements by unnamed “executive” officials, who appear to be Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, toward Chinese-friendly positions.
Sun and Hu also laundered kickbacks she received from the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Communist Party to buy a $4.1 million Long Island home that FBI agents later raided, the indictment contends.
“As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP,” said US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement. “The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”
The husband and wife are scheduled to be arraigned in Brooklyn.
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Matzav.com}
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog on Tuesday described the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as “very fragile” following fresh attacks near the site in central Ukraine, and vowed to expand the agency’s inspections to include critical electricity supplies. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was making his 10th visit to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. He was headed to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top energy officials. “I think the situation – I have very often characterized it – as very fragile,” Grossi told reporters in the Ukrainian capital. “The station is again on the verge of being on a blackout. We’ve had eight of those in the past. A blackout (means) no power: no power, no cooling. No cooling, then maybe you have a disaster.” Earlier, Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhia to “help prevent a nuclear accident.” The Zaporizhzhia plant, which came under Russian control in the wake of its full-scale invasion, saw artillery shelling in the area on Monday that damaged the facility’s power access, according to its operator Energoatom, which blamed Russia for the attacks. “Russian shelling damaged one of the two external overhead lines through which … the Zaporizhzhya NPP receives power from the Ukrainian power system,” the operator said in a post on Telegram. “In the event of damage to the second line, an emergency situation will arise,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that technicians couldn’t access the site of the damage because of the “real threat of repeated shelling.” Analysts say an explosion at the Zaporizhzhia plant would produce radiation and likely trigger panic, but the radiation risk beyond the immediate blast area would be relatively low and nothing like the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Also, if the wind is in an easterly direction, radiation could be pushed toward Russia. The Zaporizhzhia region is one of four — along with Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk — in southern and eastern Ukraine that Russia partly, and illegally, annexed in September 2022, seven months after it invaded its neighbor. The Vienna-based IAEA says ongoing attacks in the Zaporizhzhia area, as well as damage to Ukraine’s grid, pose threats to the power supply that’s vital to the country’s nuclear power stations. The watchdog said its staff at Zaporizhzhia recently had to shelter indoors because of reported drone threats in the area. Other than Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine has three active nuclear plants. Grossi, who is traveling with a team of IAEA experts and officials, began a round of meetings in Kyiv with a stop at the Ministry of Energy and talks with the minister, Herman Halushchenko. Grossi said he had accepted a Ukrainian request to expand inspections to include electricity substations providing power to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. He did not give further details but told reporters: “This is a new dimension, an important dimension I hope, of our support here, which we discussed and agreed with President Zelenskyy just now.” (AP)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said higher war spending would be financed through budget cutbacks and increased revenues rather than a wider deficit, the outline of a long-delayed fiscal plan.
The target fiscal gap for 2025 will be reduced to 4% of gross domestic product, requiring budgetary adjustments of at least 35 billion shekels ($9.5 billion), Smotrich said at a press conference in Yerushalayim Tuesday. He declined to elaborate, saying he still needs to present his plans to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and other ministers.
The 2025 budget will be approved in Israel’s parliament by the end of the year, Smotrich said, a deadline technocrats have warned is unrealistic given the structural work still necessary and the lengthy legislation process. Delays have unnerved credit-rating firms and business leaders, who have warned a hiatus will cloud Israel’s economic prospects and elevate the already-high risk premium on its assets.
Smotrich said the fiscal deficit for this year should be 6.6% as planned – unless there are unexpected expenses from the ongoing war with Hamas. The conflict, coming to the end of its 11 month, has put a strain on the economy due to higher defense spending and a hit to GDP growth, mainly in the form of a decline in exports and investments.
“The finance ministry’s annual growth projection for 2024 will likely be lowered soon,” said Smotrich. The estimate is currently 1.9%, though independent institutions see that as too optimistic. Citigroup Inc. analysts are forecasting 1.4%.
Asked whether the government would continue allocating controversial political budgets to be spent at the discretion of coalition party leaders, Smotrich said they should be as low as possible. Those funds, which amounted to some 6 billion shekels this year, have stirred public rage as large portions are spent on Yeshivos and Yishuvim.
Israel’s fiscal policy next year will focus on supporting the hi-tech industry, Smotrich said, alongside streamlining the public sector and battling unreported income. He did not elaborate on how these would be achieved.
“The announcement on a 4% target deficit next year is important on a declarative level and may eventually allow the Bank of Israel to consider lowering interest rates earlier than expected,” said Ronen Menachem, chief markets economist at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. “The announcement constitutes an alignment with the Bank of Israel and credit rating agencies, that were critical of the lack of budget discussions so far.”
The Tel Aviv 35 benchmark stock index reacted mutedly to Smotrich’s statement, extending losses to 0.6% as of 3:19 pm Tel Aviv. The shekel fell a second day, weakening 0.9% to 3.68 per dollar.
(c) Washington Post
As the fall semester commenced at Columbia University on Tuesday, dozens of anti-Israel protesters disrupted the first day of classes, reigniting tensions that plagued the campus during the previous semester. The demonstrators, many carrying signs with slogans like “Resist until victory,” formed a picket line and chanted as they blocked access to the Ivy League school in Morningside Heights, forcing students to wait in long lines to pass through security at the university’s main entrance at Broadway and West 116th Street. The protesters could be heard chanting slogans such as “Over 100,000 dead, Columbia, your hands are red” and “Don’t cross the picket line, we must honor Palestine,” as they banged drums and created a scene reminiscent of the chaotic demonstrations that paralyzed the campus last spring. The protests last semester led to outright antisemitism and prompted Columbia’s then-president, Minouche Shafik, to twice call in the NYPD to dismantle tent encampments set up by protesters. Shafik abruptly resigned shortly after the semester ended, citing the “period of turmoil” on campus. In the wake of Shafik’s departure, interim president Katrina Armstrong pledged to uphold students’ rights to free expression while ensuring a safe learning environment. The university introduced new protest guidelines aimed at minimizing disruptions, and just days ago, a faculty-led task force on antisemitism released a comprehensive 91-page report. The report underscored the “urgent” need for changes to combat rising hate on campus, revealing that the university had done little to address the ostracization, humiliation, and verbal abuse experienced by Jewish and Israeli students following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th. It also criticized some faculty members for downplaying students’ concerns; some of those faculty members recently resigned. Despite these efforts, anti-Israel student organizers remain undeterred and have vowed to escalate their actions, including future encampments. Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and protest organizer, said, “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist. Not only protests and encampments, the limit is the sky.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Recent events have reportedly triggered a major policy shift in Israel’s approach to Yehuda and Shomron. Designated a “secondary arena” since the onset of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, onset, the recent increase in terror attacks in the area have convinced top officials that this stance is no longer tenable. The Israel Defense Forces now considers Yehuda and Shomron as the country’s most critical front after the Gaza Strip.
While this directive is still in its initial stages, with substantial changes on the ground expected to take time, a series of operations across Yehuda and Shomron are imminent. “The Jenin operation is just the beginning,” security officials emphasize.
In late August, the IDF launched “Operation Summer Camps” in northern Shomron, the military’s most extensive operation in the region since “Defensive Shield” in 2002. Two brigade combat teams are currently deployed in the Jenin refugee camp and Tulkarem, with the operation set to continue for the foreseeable future.
The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Yehuda and Shomron underscores the need for comprehensive action across the entire sector. The security establishment faces a particular dilemma in the Chevron area, the origin of two recent attacks. While there’s unanimous agreement on the need to dismantle Hamas in Yehuda and Shomron, officials are wary of unintended consequences.
Palestinian security mechanisms in Chevron, driven by self-interest rather than goodwill toward Israel, have so far been cooperating with Israeli forces, but a heavy-handed operation risks triggering a broader escalation, which Israel seeks to avoid. However, there’s a growing consensus that aggressive action is necessary. As a result, we may see large-scale, intelligence-driven operations, coupled with encirclements of areas of Hebron, a strategy already in play elsewhere in Yehuda and Shomron.
Meanwhile, local authorities are calling for more decisive action, a sentiment echoed by Minister of Settlement Affairs Orit Strock. She has urged the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet to implement emergency measures, including declaring a state of war in Yehuda and Shomron. Strock pointed to a recent incident:
“Two weeks ago, five Hamas leaders in Chevron were released from detention. These individuals were arrested at the war’s outset as part of efforts to prevent an outbreak in Yehuda and Shomron. Merely two weeks after their release, a double bomb attack was carried out in Gush Etzion, with the perpetrators originating from Chevron. We narrowly averted a catastrophe.
“The war’s outbreak triggered a wave of arrests targeting key terrorist operatives in the sector. Their release is part of a series of releases that have occurred or are slated to occur soon, due to legal hurdles and a shortage of detention facilities. Neither of these reasons can justify the looming bloodshed.”
While a full-scale war across extensive areas of Yehuda and Shomron is unlikely, “Operation Summer Camps” is expected to expand in the coming days. The security establishment also advocates for the arrest of inciting elements throughout Yehuda and Shomron, a measure also demanded by Strock.
Meanwhile, the shift in approach is palpable on the ground. A year ago, discussions centered on maintaining the fabric of daily life in JYehuda and Shomron; now, the focus has shifted to the level of aggressive action required. Security officials recommend launching extensive operations, emphasizing the confiscation of terror funds throughout the area, not just in northern Shomron, and dismantling Hamas as a primary objective. One security source described it as “not just mowing the lawn, but uprooting the problem at its source.”
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas leader in Gaza, is reportedly attempting to inflame the situation, presumably under the assumption that ceasefire talks are on the verge of collapse. His strategy appears to be escalating tensions in Yehuda and Shomron to divert attention from Gaza. Iran is also implicated, allegedly funneling millions of shekels into the area. With Palestinian workers unable to enter Israel for employment, terror funding has become a significant source of income in the Palestinian Authority, further fueling unrest.
The prevailing assumption in Israel’s security establishment is that a major attack could be imminent. While last week’s incident occurred in Gush Etzion, security officials warn that future attacks could target Yerushalayim, Beersheva or Tel Aviv.
(JNS)
As Iran threatens to retaliate against Israel over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the accuracy of the Islamic Republic’s long-vaunted missile program has been called into question. A new report by experts shared exclusively with The Associated Press suggests one of the advanced missiles Tehran would use in any future attack against Israel is far less accurate than previously thought. The finding comes months after a U.S.-led coalition shot down many drones and missiles launched by Iran in an April attack on Israel. Other projectiles apparently failed at launch or crashed while in flight. Here are some takeaways about Iran’s ballistic missile threat: Iranian missile had poor accuracy Analysts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies examined the Iranian strike on the Nevatim Air Base some 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Jerusalem in the Negev Desert. They believe Iran used its Emad missile, a variant of the country’s Shahab-3 missile built from a North Korean design. Assuming Iran targeted Israeli F-35I fighter jet hangars, the James Martin analysts measured the distance between the hangars and the impact zones of the missiles. That gave an average of about 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) for the “circular error probable” — a measurement used by experts to determine a weapon’s accuracy based on the radius of a circle that encompasses 50% of where the missiles landed. That’s far worse than a 500-meter (1,640-foot) error circle first estimated by experts for the Emad. Iran separately advertised the Emad to potential international buyers as having a 50-meter (164-foot) circle. Many projectiles were shot down in attack The U.S., the United Kingdom, France and Jordan all shot down incoming fire. The Americans claimed to have downed 80 bomb-carrying drones and at least six ballistic missiles. Israeli missile defenses were also activated, though their initial claim of intercepting 99% of the projectiles appeared to be an exaggeration. U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told the AP they assessed that 50% of the Iranian missiles failed at launch or crashed before reaching their target. That raises further doubts about the abilities of Iran’s missile arsenal. Questions about any future strike by Iran Iran shares no border with Israel, and the two countries are some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) apart at the shortest distance. That makes Iran’s missile program vital in any direct military attack. The longer the distances, the greater any slight errors in the missile’s guidance system become, along with the effects of wind and other weather. Iran could also enlist help from allied militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to overwhelm Israel’s defenses. Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire on Aug. 25. However, Iran’s poor performance in April and yearslong sabotage campaigns targeting its ballistic missile program raise questions about whether Tehran would be able to accurately strike targets at that distance. Meanwhile, Iran continues to make threats about its ability to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Pressure over its inability to deter Israel could see it weaponize a program it has long insisted is peaceful. (AP)
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The U.S. Department of Justice announced terrorism charges against senior leaders of Hamas for carrying out the Oct. 7 massacre.
Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, announced the charges this evening in a recorded message. He said that Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders oversaw “a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States.”
“On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civilians,” Garland said. “This weekend, we learned that Hamas murdered an additional six people they had kidnapped and held captive for nearly a year, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old Israeli American.”
Garland said the federal government is investigating Goldberg-Polin’s murder, and that “each and every one of Hamas’s brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism.”
“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations,” Garland said. “These actions will not be our last.”
The newly unsealed complaint charges Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal and Ali Baraka with seven counts each related to the Oct. 7 attacks. Those include conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals and to use weapons of mass destruction resulting in death.
Haniyeh, Deif and Issa are reportedly dead. Meshaal and Baraka are based in Qatar and Lebanon, respectively, while Sinwar is believed to be in the Gaza Strip.
“The Justice Department has a long memory,” Garland said in the recorded message. “We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans, and those who illegally provide them with material support, for the rest of their lives.”
Dated Feb. 1, the complaint notes that on Oct. 7, more than 2,000 Hamas fighters massacred more than 1,000 people and kidnapped more than 200 others. It adds that the terrorists “weaponized sexual violence against Israeli women, including rape and genital mutilation.”
“As of the date of this complaint, at least 43 American citizens were among those murdered, and at least 10 American citizens were taken hostage or remain unaccounted for,” per the complaint.
The document also describes the “instrumental” role that Iran and Hezbollah played in supporting Hamas and enabling it to carry out the Oct. 7 attacks.
The department added that the FBI is continuing to investigate the case.
JNS
U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday to their worst day since an early August sell-off, as a week full of updates on the economy got off to a discouragingly weak start. The S&P 500 sank 2.1% to give back a chunk of the gains from a three-week winning streak that had carried it to the cusp of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 626 points, or 1.5%, from its own record set on Friday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks led the way lower. Treasury yields also stumbled in the bond market after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, sputtering under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing has been contracting for most of the past two years, and its performance for August was worse than economists expected. “Demand remains subdued, as companies show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to current federal monetary policy and election uncertainty,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee. Stocks of oil and gas companies were some of the market’s biggest losers after the price of crude oil fell roughly 4% on concerns about how much fuel a fragile global economy will burn. A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil is almost back to $70 and down for the year after climbing above $85 in April. Exxon Mobil lost 2.1%, and ConocoPhillips dropped 3.5%. Similar worries about a slowing U.S. economy and a possible recession had helped send stocks on a scary summertime swoon in early August. It briefly knocked the S&P 500 nearly 10% below its record set in July, but financial markets quickly rebounded on hopes that the Federal Reserve could pull off a perfect landing for the economy. The Fed appears set to lower interest rates later this month in hopes of easing conditions for the economy and avoiding a recession after earlier jacking its main interest rate to a two-decade high to beat high inflation. Other reports due later this week could show how much help the economy needs, including updates on the number of job openings U.S. employers were advertising at the end of July and how strong U.S. services businesses grew last month. The week’s highlight will likely arrive on Friday, when a report will show how many jobs U.S. employers created during August. The jobs report has once again become the main event for the stock market each month, taking over from updates on inflation, according to analysts at Bank of America. Many traders are anticipating the Fed will deliver a full percentage point of cuts to interest rates this year, which is a “recession-sized” amount, Gonzalo Asis and other economists and strategists wrote in a BofA Global Research report. The strength of this jobs report, or lack thereof, will likely determine the size of the Fed’s upcoming cut, according to Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle. If Friday’s data shows an improvement in hiring over July’s disappointing report, it could keep the Fed on course for a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point. But if Friday’s report is weaker, it could drive the Fed to deliver an outsized cut of half a percentage point from the federal funds rate’s current […]
The International March of the Living held a joint March of Remembrance and March of the Living last week to mark 80 years since the liquidation of Lodz Ghetto, the second largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe after Warsaw.
The event gathered 500 participants, including Polish officials and ambassadors from 12 countries, to honor the memory of those who suffered and perished during one of the darkest chapters of history.
The central ceremony was held at the historic Radegast train station, where the last transport from the ghetto departed 80 years ago, on Aug. 29, 1944. This transport marked the final phase of the ghetto’s liquidation, during which thousands of Jews were deported to extermination camps, including Auschwitz and Chelmno.
“We gather to remember those who suffered in the Łódź Ghetto and to share some lesser-known stories of resilience, courage and strength. Our aim at the March of the Living is to educate the young generation to learn from the tragic past of the Holocaust, in order to build a better future. We must ensure that what happened during the Holocaust is never forgotten,” said Michel Gourary, director of the European March of the Living.
Participants of the march walked the historic route that once bore witness to the suffering of the ghetto’s inhabitants. At the Radegast station, wreaths were laid and prayers offered in memory of the victims. The ceremony was followed by a march to the Monument to the Martyrdom of Children, the Monument to Poles Saving Jews in the Survivors’ Park and the Roma Forge, ending at the Monument to the Decalogue in Lodz.
A number of aging Holocaust survivors attended, including 98-year-old Leon Weintraub, who survived the ghetto, four concentration camps and a death march, and Marian Turski, who insisted on joining the ceremony and marching together with those assembled.
Ghetto Lodz, established in February 1940, was one of the most significant sites of Jewish suffering and resistance during the Holocaust. At its peak, it housed over 160,000 Jews, who were forced into labor under brutal conditions. Despite the deprivation, the community maintained cultural and educational activities, a testament to their determination to preserve their humanity.
By the time the ghetto was liquidated in 1944, more than 200,000 Jews had passed through it, the vast majority of whom were sent to their deaths. The destruction of Polish Jewry was nearly complete by the end of the war, with over 90% of Poland’s pre-war Jewish population of 3.3 million perishing in the Holocaust.
The march took place as part of March of the Living’s regular memorial events throughout Europe on the local and national Holocaust memorial days where Jews lived and perished. The organization’s flagship program is a seven-day educational journey in Poland which culminates in a symbolic march on the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day between Auschwitz and Birkenau.
(JNS)
Hundreds of people packed the Kosel plaza on Monday evening to participate in a special Tefillah service for Achdus of the nation and the safe return of the remaining hostages.
The event took place as thousands lined the streets of the capital to attend the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of six Israeli hostages executed last week by Hamas in Gaza which left Israelis grief-stricken and angry.
The Tefillah, which was led and organized by Tzfas Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and included the father of a fallen soldier, as well as family members of the hostages, had been planned in advance but took on added significance due to the weekend’s news of their deaths.
“We have been at war for nearly 11 months, and we need to cry out to the heavens,” said Rabbi Eliyahu. “Yet it is not only the heavens that need [to hear] our prayers, but our soldiers.”
Gil Yogev of Neriya, whose 19-year-old son, Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Boaz Menashe Yogev, was killed on Oct. 7 during the Hamas massacre in southern Israel, said: “We are here to pray for the nation of Israel. This is the most important demonstration.”
The hour-long Tefillah included the recital of Tehillim, as well as special Tefillos usually reserved for the Yamim Noraim, and the blowing of a bronze trumpet in keeping with the Pasuk in Bamidbar (10:9): “When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets.”
The tension within the country over an elusive hostage deal that has been the subject of on-again-off-again negotiations for months was also foremost on the minds of many in the crowd, which was a mix of young and old, with some even accompanied by their young children.
“Our country is torn and divided,” said Gavriel Hausman, 72, of Yerushalayim, who came for the Tefillah. “We have many challenges and we need a lot of miracles, and for that we need prayer so that we may each find the holy component within our spirit.”
Meir Strauss, a 24-year-old yeshiva student from Beit El, said: “We need to pray for the unity of the nation. We are not united, and there is a lot of hate on the streets even though we are brothers.”
“There is a lot to pray for,” noted Zeev Itzkovits, a 20-year-old yeshivah student from the Old City of Yerushalayim, who was handing out leaflets at the Kosel plaza detailing the Tefilla.
David Eisenberg, 21, of Ramat Gan, who attended the service along with his wife, said, “In the midst of all the turmoil, we understand that the best thing to do is pray.”
As the sun set on the Kosel, the ancient stones shimmering in gold, the service concluded with the reciting of “Our Father Our King” and the iconic Jewish prayer “Shema Yisrael,” followed by a song calling for heavenly mercy.
“We pray and we fight,” said Tzvika Mor, 48, of Kiryat Arba, whose 24-year-old son, Eitan, is still being held hostage in Gaza. “The army is fighting and we are praying.”
Reflecting on the burial across town and the prayer service, Mor said: “Everything together—this is our life. We bury, and we continue life and pray. The nation of Israel is strong in spirit.”
(JNS)
A boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel as they attempted to reach Britain from northern France on Tuesday, plunging dozens into the treacherous waterway and leaving 12 dead, authorities said. Many didn’t have life preservers in what one official called the deadliest migrant accident in the channel this year. “Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid post was set up to treat victims. “If people don’t know how to swim in the agitated waters … it can go very quickly.” The mayor said 12 died after initially giving a toll of 13. Lt. Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French maritime prefecture that oversees that stretch of sea, said rescuers pulled a total of 65 people from the waters in a search operation that lasted more than four hours. Doctors confirmed 12 did not survive, he said. Baggio called it the deadliest migrant boat tragedy in the English Channel this year. Many of those aboard didn’t have life vests, he said. It was not immediately clear how the boat ripped open or what kind of boat it was. Some attempt the crossing in rubber dinghies. The maritime prefecture said the boat got into difficulty off Gris-Nez point between Boulogne-sur-Mer and the port of Calais further north. Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C, or about 68 F. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said he was heading to the scene of what he described as the “terrible shipwreck.” Last week, the leaders of France and Britain agreed to deepen cooperation on illegal migration in the channel. Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rule s, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing them north. At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing while trying to cross to the U.K. this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. That figure doesn’t include the latest deaths. At least 2,109 migrants have tried to cross the English Channel on small boats in the past seven days, according to U.K. Home Office data updated Tuesday. The data includes people found in the channel or on arrival. (AP)
Thousands of anti-Israel protesters, including some waving terrorist flags, marched through New York City on Monday, lighting flares and setting off smoke bombs, The New York Post reported.
The demonstrators, who police said numbered up to 7,000 at one point, stormed through Manhattan on Labor Day, a week before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, starting in the afternoon at Union Square and making their way to Washington Square Park.
Video showed NYPD officers shoved aside while attempting to stop the march. Four were arrested in clashes with police.
Protesters were documented waving Hamas flags, as well as Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian and Hezbollah banners. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated foreign terrorist organizations by the United States since Oct. 8, 1997.
One flag included images of Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah. Islamic Jihad has also been a designated foreign terrorist organization since Oct. 8, 1997.
The protesters participated in violent chants of “Free Palestine!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.”
Counter-protesters were documented at Union Square, with one counter-protester seen with a combined Israeli and American flag.
The White House condemned the flying of Hamas flags at the demonstration, which came days after the terrorist group murdered six hostages in Gaza, including a U.S. citizen.
“As President Biden and Vice President Harris have said, there is absolutely no place in America for the poison of antisemitism—none,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
“They and the entire Biden-Harris Administration condemn any individual associating with the repugnant terrorist organization Hamas,” the statement continued.
“It is especially heinous to express support for Hamas on the same day as the funeral for an innocent American hostage who they brutally murdered,” Bates added, referring to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose body was among the six recovered from Gaza by Israeli forces over the weekend.
“This is a moment for all Americans to come together and stand against antisemitism and against the sickening hate and evil that Hamas represents,” Bates concluded.
In Times Square in late July, anti-Israel protesters held up large photos of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr, both assassinated on July 31, as well as flags of Hamas, Hezbollah and Hamas’s “military wing,” Izz ad-Din al-Qassam. They also made an inverted-triangle hand signal identified by the Anti-Defamation League as a symbol of support for Hamas.
In June, pro-Palestinian activists raised the flag of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group during a rally outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan.
(JNS)
On Monday, a large crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters, estimated to be around 7,000, marched through Manhattan, causing disruptions and clashing with police. The demonstration, which began at Union Square and ended at Washington Square Park, featured protesters waving flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated foreign terrorist organizations by the US. The protesters, who lit flares and set off smoke bombs, chanted “Free Palestine!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.” Four arrests were made during the march, with NYPD officers shoved aside while attempting to stop the protest. The White House condemned the flying of Hamas flags, citing the recent murder of six hostages in Gaza, including a US citizen. “There is absolutely no place in America for the poison of antisemitism,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. This incident follows previous pro-Palestinian protests in New York City, including a July demonstration in Times Square featuring photos of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and a June rally outside the Israeli consulate where the Hezbollah flag was raised. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A group of 11 independent United Nations human rights experts has expressed deep concern over a significant increase in executions in Iran, with at least 81 people put to death in August alone. This brings the total number of executions in the country to over 400 since the start of 2024, including 15 women. The experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, noted that 41 of the executions in August were for drug offenses, which they say violates international standards. They also highlighted a substantial rise in drug-related executions in Iran since 2021, with over 400 such executions carried out last year. Iran has the second-highest number of executions per year, after China, according to rights groups like Amnesty International. The UN experts, including the special rapporteurs on the rights situation in Iran and on extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions, urged action to address this alarming trend. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Tuesday against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other terrorists in connection with the Oct. 7, 2023, rampage in Israel. The criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death. “The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’ operations,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a video statement. “These actions will not be our last.” Sinwar was appointed the overall head of Hamas after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and sits atop Israel’s most-wanted list. He is believed to have spent most of the past 10 months living in tunnels under Gaza, and it is unclear how much contact he has with the outside world. Other Hamas leaders charged include Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza who helped plan last year’s attack; Khaled Mashaal, another Haniyeh deputy and a former leader of the group; Mohammed al-Masri and Ali Baraka. (AP)
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ordered flags at half-staff “in memory and honor of Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” the Republican’s office stated on Sunday.
A spokesman for the governor told JNS that the order applies to all flags in the state on Tuesday.
“After 330 agonizing days since the brutal terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,200 dead and hundreds more held hostage, Johnathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg woke up to unimaginable news that no parent should ever receive,” Youngkin stated on Sunday.
“Suzanne and I are angered and heartbroken by the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a senseless murder at the hands of terrorists,” he added. “Today, Virginians, Americans, and the world join the Goldberg-Polin family and the Keneseth Beth Israel Shul in prayer.”
Beth Israel is an Orthodox Shul in Richmond which traces its origins back to 1856, per its website. Goldberg-Polin lived in Richmond and had “strong” ties to the city, the governor said.
(JNS)
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