REPORTER: “You said in June of last year that, ‘In my dealings with President Biden I found him to be in command & impressive.’..Were you being straight with the American public?” SCHUMER: “We’re just looking forward.”
Florida Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds visited Lubavitch Educational Center on Monday and met with fifty rabbis, community activists, and representatives of the South Florida Jewish community and its local Jewish schools. The congressman was joined by his wife, Erika Donalds, who works for the US Secretary of Education, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, and community activist Barbara Feingold. “As the largest Jewish school in the US outside New York, Congressman Donalds’s visit here is a powerful affirmation of the shared values that bind our community to his vision for Florida’s future,” said Rabbi Benjy Korf, LEC’s head of school. Donalds, who grew up in Crown Heights and got his start in politics from championing school choice, expressed his commitment to working to give every child access to a quality education that is right for them. He also pledged to continue fighting antisemitism, especially on campus, which he has been doing via his position on the House Oversight Committee. He pointed to his recent visit to the antisemitic protest encampments at George Washington University, which he worked with law enforcement to disperse, and the bill he co-sponsored that reinforced state security funding for Jewish schools. Sheriff Cordero-Stutz also spoke at the event and reiterated her support for the safety of the Jewish community. “Jews should never feel targeted,” she said. About the antisemitic campus protests, she believes it never should have happened to begin with. “You’ve got to nip such behavior in the bud,” she said. After his talk, Donalds visited some classrooms and engaged with the students. The visit was coordinated by Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Trump’s recently-appointed ambassador to combat antisemitism. Photos: Menachem Williams
POTUS: “Some people say ‘oh you shouldn’t accept gifts for the country.’ My attitude is why wouldn’t I accept a gift? We’re giving to everybody else… It’s going to be a couple of years, I think, before the Boeings are finished.”
House Republican tax plan debate kicks off The House Republican debate over President Donald Trump’s tax agenda has kicked off. An early version of the House Ways and Means tax bill would cost about $3.7 trillion over 10 years, according to estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation. With a $4.5 trillion limit, there could be significant changes, including for the cap on the deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT, among other provisions.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will ease sanctions on Syria and move to normalize relations with its new government to give the country “a chance at peace.” Trump made the announcement shortly before he was set to meet Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime insurgent who last year led the overthrow of longtime leader Bashar Assad. Trump said the effort at rapprochement came at the urging of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “There is a new government that will hopefully succeed,” Trump said of Syria, adding, “I say, good luck, Syria. Show us something special.” The developments were a major boost for the Syrian president, who had been imprisoned in Iraq for his role in the insurgency following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the Arab country. Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family. The U.S. has been weighing how to handle al-Sharaa since he took power in December. Gulf leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decadelong civil war. Then-President Joe Biden left the decision to Trump, whose administration has yet to formally recognize the new Syrian government. Sanctions imposed on Damascus under Assad also remain in place. Before Trump spoke, the White House said he had “agreed to say hello” to the Syrian president while in Saudi Arabia. The comments marked a striking change in tone from Trump and put him at odds with longtime U.S. ally Israel, which has been deeply skeptical of al-Sharaa’s extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq. The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida. Al-Sharaa came back to his home country after the conflict began in 2011 and led al-Qaida’s branch that used to be known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links with al-Qaida. He is set to become the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000. Syria has historically had fraught relations with Washington since the days of the Cold War, when Damascus had close links with the Soviet Union and later when Syria became Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world. The removal of the Assad family could change the track. Ibrahim Hamidi, a London-based Syrian analyst, said Trump’s planned meeting with al-Sharaa marks a “strategic shift” for the country. “The Syrian-American meetings in Riyadh open the gate for the two sides to start discussing issues of disagreement between them in a positive atmosphere,” said Hamidi, editor-in-chief of the Arab magazine Al Majalla. “This is important.” (AP)
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, hoped that issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant would cause the West to turn against Israel, a senior Western diplomat with firsthand knowledge of the ICC case told the Jerusalem Post. The diplomat said that in a conversation he had with Khan last year, he said: “You just wait and see. If I apply for warrants against Netanyahu, this would give countries like Germany and Canada the excuse they need to turn against the Israeli government.” “I remember thinking to myself first: How naive can you be?” “But secondly, I thought: That’s not the job. You should be driven by the law and by facts and evidence, not by the thought that Germany might turn on an elected official,” the diplomat said. The diplomat added that Khan issued a statement saying that he visited Washington at the end of March 2024, “at which time he informed senior administration officials that he would be applying for warrants against those persons named in the warrants by the end of April 2024.” “If indeed Khan had made up his mind to apply for warrants in late March, then all of his interactions with both senior Israeli, US, and other officials regarding his visit to Gaza on May 27 would have been under false pretenses,” the diplomat said. That’s because the ICC Prosecutor’s Office sent an official letter to Israel on March 20, requesting information relevant to the investigation on Israel’s alleged “war crimes.” This information was supposed to be evaluated by Khan for the investigation. In April, an Israeli delegation traveled to the ICC to discuss the investigation with Khan’s team. On May 1, Khan told numerous US senators that he was still investigating the alleged war crimes and that no decision has been made yet. “I felt like we had a good conversation, that he was going to go to Israel and hear their side of the story, as I thought the law required. I think every senator on that phone call would be surprised to hear him claiming that he had already made up his mind,” US Sen. Lindsey Graham said. “The way he conducted this was really outrageous. He decided to announce the arrest warrants before he heard Israel’s side of the story,” Graham continued. “The only thing that makes sense to me is that he wanted to change the subject, because if he says that he had already made up his mind [by then], then the entire conversation he had with all of us was a fraud.” Following a damning Wall Street Journal report on Sunday revealing that Khan issued the arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders in order to deflect attention from rape charges brought against him by his female aide, Israel has requested that the ICC withdraw the arrest warrants. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
The IDF releases footage showing the aftermath of its strike on a Hamas subterranean command center below the European Hospital in southern Gaza, a strike that defense sources said targeted Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar.
Ilan Segev, a former Shin Bet official, spoke on Tuesday about the release of Eden Alexander and Israel’s goal of returning the 58 remaining hostages. “Edan has returned home, and that’s important, but the road to returning all 58 hostages who remain in Gaza is still long,” he said in an interview with Kan Moreshet. Segev emphasized that while every release of a hostage is significant, it’s important to understand the complexity of the situation in Gaza. “To locate the hostages, we need to understand the tunnel infrastructure in Gaza. This is not a matter of days, but of years. There is an entire ‘city’ underground in these tunnels, which makes any military action very difficult.” He explained that the tunnels were built in a highly sophisticated manner, underneath civilian infrastructure and covered with greenhouses and rooftops, which shrouds the underground military activity and makes it undetectable to normal military reconnaissance means. Segev added that conquering territories in Gaza will not advance the return of the hostages. “The occupation of the Strip and the entry of tanks is not the solution. This will not lead to the return of all the hostages. We have been in this situation for over a year and have not succeeded in achieving our goals.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Following rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip at the Sderot and Ashkelon a short time ago, the IDF has issued a final evacuation warning for Palestinians area.
A short time ago, three rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip. Two of the projectiles were intercepted by air defenses, while the third hit an open area, the IDF adds.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and hostage envoy Adam Boehler met on Tuesday with family members of the hostages in Tel Aviv, a day after the release of US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander. During the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, they emphasized their personal commitment to returning the remaining 58 hostages. Wittekoff also revealed that he and Bohler intend to fly to Doha to continue talks with Hamas to bring back the rest of the hostages. “We are committed to returning all the hostages – the living and the fallen. We will not accept anything less than the return of everyone. That is the president’s mission,” Witkoff said. “We would all like to see a diplomatic solution. The fact is that most of the survivors came out through a diplomatic solution. If Adam and I didn’t believe there was a chance of progress in the negotiations, we wouldn’t be going to Doha.” I24NEWS reported that during his remarks, he also referred to the Israeli divide, saying: “When you fight among yourselves and break apart as a society, you know who’s watching this? Hamas. That’s why you must unite as a society. I’ve seen intelligence that shows that when you’re not united as a society, it’s harmful.” He also commented on the constant criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying, “Netanyahu was ready to carry out tactical things in Gaza that others refused to do.’ “Edan is home because of Israeli and American cooperation. Despite what people say, he cares.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has launched a new initiative in which tzitzis are distributed to interested prison guards, in cooperation with the Technology and Logistics Division and the Chief Rabbanut of the IPS. The tzizis will be available for order through the Technology and Logistics Division, and are intended to foster connection to values, identity, and emunah—out of personal choice. The initiative is also in line with the policy of Israel Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi, who views strengthening the spiritual, ethical, and national resilience of prison guards as an integral part of the organization’s operational and managerial activities. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Imad Hirbawi, who risked his life to save dozens of students at the Ohr Chaya seminary when a fire broke out in their Jerusalem dorm in December 2024, received Israeli citizenship earlier this week at the Interior Ministry. Hirwabi, a 35-year-old Arab from East Jerusalem, had just arrived at the building that morning for his construction job on the upper floors, which were being renovated, when the fire broke out. “I heard an explosion,” Hirbawi told Yisrael Hayom. “I understood something happened. I went down to the lower floors and saw the building on fire. I ran down to help in any way I could. The fire was in the hallway and not in the rooms themselves. I opened the doors, I shouted ‘Get out, there’s a fire.'” “I think I saw about 40 girls go down,” he added. “At first I was able to see them and enter the rooms, but minutes later, I couldn’t see anything because of the smoke, which I also inhaled and made me feel sick.” Meanwhile, police officers and a volunteer policeman arrived at the scene and also acted with great resourcefulness, sawing through bars, opening escape routes, and using a ladder to lower the trapped girls out through the windows. Four YASAM police officers required medical treatment for smoke inhalation. Hirwabi, who was in the burning building for half an hour, also required emergency medical treatment for smoke inhalation. And his need for medical treatment continued afterward as he developed pneumonia from the smoke inhalation and severe pain in his back and shoulders from lifting the girls. But to his dismay, he was refused continued medical treatment because of a large debt he had accumulated at Meuchedet because he lacked health insurance due to his complex legal status of living in east Jerusalem under the “family reunification” law and lacking Israeli citizenship. Now, he is an Israeli citizen, and he will receive all the rights he is entitled to. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
The group representing White House journalists said Monday it was disturbed that the Trump administration barred any wire service news reporters from traveling with the president on Air Force One to the Middle East. No reporters from The Associated Press, Bloomberg or Reuters were on the plane, where presidents often take questions from traveling members of the press. “Their reports are distributed quickly to thousands of news outlets and millions of readers throughout the world every day, so all have equal access to coverage of the presidency,” the White House Correspondents’ Association said in a statement. “This change is a disservice to every American who deserves to know what their highest elected leader is up to, as quickly as possible.” The White House has been fighting in court with the AP, after the news service was blocked from covering smaller “pool” events when it decided not to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, as Trump had called for in an executive order. In response to a ruling in that case, the White House instituted a new media policy that lumped the wire services in with print reporters in a rotation for space on Air Force One or Oval Office events. A Reuters reporter accompanied the president when he traveled to Pope Francis’ funeral. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not return messages seeking comment. (AP)
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: “A $400 million flying palace is an unconstitutional gift to this president or any president if it is not explicitly approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
In a significant speech delivered in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump urged the kingdom’s leadership to formally recognize Israel, stating, “you’ll be greatly honoring me” by taking this step toward peace. Addressing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was seated prominently in the front row, Trump repeatedly referenced the prince by name, emphasizing his call for stronger ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel. “With the historic Abraham Accords that we’re so proud of, all the momentum was aimed at peace, aimed very successfully,” Trump declared, highlighting the groundbreaking agreements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations. He expressed his vision for broader regional harmony, saying, “It’s been an amazing thing, the Abraham Accords, and it’s my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia — a place I have such respect for, especially over the last fairly short period of time, what you’ve been able to do — but will soon be joining the Abraham Accords.” Trump underscored the potential impact of Saudi Arabia’s participation, noting, “I think it’ll be a tremendous tribute to your country, and it will be something that’s really going to be very important for the future of the future of the Middle East. I took a risk in doing them, and they’ve been an absolute bonanza for the countries that have joined the Biden administration did nothing for four years.” In the same address, Trump turned his attention to Iran, issuing a stern warning about its nuclear ambitions. He vowed to impose “massive maximum pressure” and “drive Iranian oil exports to zero” if Tehran fails to agree to a new nuclear deal. “The time is right now for them to choose is right now — we don’t have a lot of time,” Trump emphasized, pressing Iran to act swiftly to avoid escalated consequences. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization on Tuesday found Russia responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives more than a decade ago, in a ruling that raises the prospect of victims’ families being paid compensation. A Dutch-led international investigation concluded in 2016 that the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur airliner was shot down on July 17, 2014, from Ukrainian territory held by separatist rebels using a Buk missile system delivered from Russia. Moscow denies any involvement in the MH17 tragedy. The Netherlands and Australian governments brought the case against Moscow before the Montreal-based global aviation agency in 2022, and on Tuesday welcomed the verdict. The International Court of Justice wasn’t an option, because Russia doesn’t recognize The Hague, Netherlands-based court’s jurisdiction. Council finds that Russia violated the Chicago Convention The council found that Russia had violated the Convention on International Civil Aviation, known as the Chicago Convention, which requires that states “refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.” It’s the first time that the council, which represents 193 member states, has decided a dispute between governments. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said that the council would consider the question of reparations within weeks. “In that context, the Netherlands and Australia are requesting that the ICAO Council order the Russian Federation to enter into negotiations with the Netherlands and Australia, and that the Council facilitate this process,” Veldkamp said in a statement. “The latter is important in order to ensure that the negotiations are conducted in good faith and according to specific timelines, and that they will yield actual results,” he added. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged the council to move swiftly to “determine remedies.” “We call on Russia to finally face up to its responsibility for its horrific act of violence and make reparations for its egregious conduct, as required under international law,” Wong said in a statement. Russian Embassy doesn’t respond The Russian Embassy in Australia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Australian National University international law expert Don Rothwell said that the council had yet to publish the reasons for its decisions. “One of the consequences for this process will be that the council will probably make some recommendations that Russia pay what are called reparations, which is an international term for damages, as a result of its violation of international law,” Rothwell said. “So we have to wait and see exactly what the council finds on that particular point,” Rothwell added. (AP)
