Matzav

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is expected to travel to the United States for an informal visit shortly after the conclusion of Pesach. Representing the Otzma Yehudit party, Ben-Gvir is slated to meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and to engage with members of the American Jewish community. While no formal invitation was extended by the Trump team, the visit has received their stamp of approval.

This visit represents a notable departure from previous American policy. Under President Biden, Ben-Gvir was diplomatically marginalized due to his former ties with the banned Kach organization, which is classified as a terrorist group. In late 2024, the State Department criticized Ben-Gvir for visiting the grave of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the movement’s founder, issuing a harsh statement: “Celebrating the legacy of a terrorist and a terrorist organization is abhorrent. We strongly condemn any attempt to glorify acts of terror.”

The green light from the Trump administration seems to signal an effort to keep communication lines open with top Israeli figures. Observers believe this may be motivated by a desire not to complicate ongoing or future negotiations—whether they involve hostages or diplomatic overtures with countries like Saudi Arabia.

Roughly three years ago, the U.S. officially removed Kach from its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The group, which was led by Meir Kahane until his assassination in 1990, was banned in Israel after Baruch Goldstein, a follower of the movement, carried out a deadly attack at the Me’aras HaMachpelah in 1994. Although Kach has been labeled “dormant” since 2005, a 2019 exposé by Yediot Achronot revealed that former activists—Ben-Gvir among them—continued to operate in various ways.

After Israel’s 2022 election, U.S. officials debated whether Ben-Gvir should be denied entry, particularly if he attempted to visit in his capacity as a cabinet minister. His last trip to the U.S. was in 1988, which he says was a family visit, and he has not applied for a visa since. With a past conviction for incitement to terrorism, any application might have faced serious scrutiny or even a denial. At one point, the Biden administration weighed placing sanctions on Ben-Gvir, though this idea was ultimately shelved.

{Matzav.com Israel}

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the Biden administration must reinstate the Associated Press’ inclusion in the presidential press pool, granting the news organization access once again to exclusive venues such as Air Force One, where only select members of the press are allowed to engage with President Trump.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden of Washington, D.C. — who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2017 — issued a temporary delay on the enforcement of his ruling. This pause, which lasts five days, gives the White House until Sunday to seek a higher court’s intervention.

The Associated Press had been excluded from pool coverage after declining to adopt the term “Gulf of America” in its reporting, a name President Trump had assigned to the Gulf of Mexico.

{Matzav.com}

Another significant win for Trump 2.0…

President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE crew racked up another SCOTUS win on Tuesday as the nation’s highest court blocked a lower court ruling ordering the administration to rehire thousands of federal employees.

The vote was 7 to 2. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have kept the firings paused while the case played out in the lower courts.

From NPR:

The court’s narrow ruling applies only to the nonprofits in Tuesday’s lawsuit, and it did not decide on the case as a whole. Nonetheless, the court’s decision makes it more difficult for groups affected by government layoffs to challenge mass firings systematically.

In that sense, the court’s action is a victory for the Trump administration and its effort to dramatically shrink federal agencies and programs, concentrating executive power in the White House.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called the decision a big win for Trump 2.0.

“Two big SCOTUS wins in two days! The Court just overturned another far-left lower court order, this one an attempt to force the rehiring of 16,000 terminated federal employees. Trump is winning and DOGE is winning,” Kirk said on X.

Watch the clip of CNN reporting the news below:

The Israeli High Court of Justice has issued a temporary order mandating that Ronen Bar remain in his role as head of the Shin Bet for the time being, as the government and the attorney general’s office work toward resolving the legal controversy surrounding his planned removal.

Along with its ruling, the court has formally proposed that both the government and the attorney general try to reach a mutual understanding on the issue and has given them until April 20, the day following the end of Passover, to come to terms.

During the court proceedings, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, along with officials representing the Attorney General’s Office, appeared open to engaging in discussions on how to move forward. This came after Justice Noam Sohlberg put forth the idea of referring the dispute to the advisory committee that oversees senior civil service appointments to obtain its input.

The justices also instructed the government that it must refrain from taking any steps to oust Bar while the interim order remains active. This includes avoiding any announcement of a replacement and ensuring that Bar’s authority as the head of the Shin Bet is not compromised, nor should there be any alterations in how the agency interacts with the government.

{Matzav.com Israel}

The Trump administration is working toward an arrangement with Iran that would let the country keep a civilian nuclear energy program, according to a report by i24NEWS on Tuesday evening. The outlet cited an individual familiar with the negotiations.

“Iran will be able to maintain a civilian nuclear program for electricity production, such as the reactor in Bushehr, even if it has to completely dismantle its nuclear [weapons] program,” the source stated.

According to the same source, “Trump said that Iran will not have nuclear weapons; military nuclear facilities no, but civilian nuclear yes. Therefore, even if the facilities that contain the centrifuges and enable uranium enrichment have to be destroyed, Iran will be able to retain a civilian nuclear program.”

Officials from Israel told i24NEWS that there is little likelihood that Tehran will agree to a deal modeled after the one that led to the disarmament of Libya’s nuclear program.

In a separate development, President Donald Trump announced yesterday that the United States plans to launch direct negotiations with Iran regarding its nuclear weapons ambitions over the coming weekend, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We are having direct talks with Iran. On Saturday we will have a very big meeting and we will see what can happen. I think everybody agrees that a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious, and the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly that anyone here wants to be involved with,” Trump said. He warned of escalating tensions, saying, “The situation is getting to be very dangerous territory. Hopefully, those talks will be successful, and I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are.”

As he wrapped up his trip to Washington, Netanyahu emphasized his shared stance with Trump that Iran must never acquire nuclear arms. “This can be done by agreement, but only if this agreement is Libyan style: They go in, blow up the installations, dismantle all of the equipment, under American supervision and carried out by America – this would be good.”

Netanyahu added, “The second possibility, that will not be, is that they drag out the talks and then there is the military option. Everyone understands this. We spoke about this at length.”

{Matzav.com}

Hamas’ official media outlets have issued statements labeling Jewish religious activities on the Har Habayis as a desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In a message shared via the group’s Telegram channel, Hamas reiterated that Islamic teachings consider the entire area of the Har Habayis to be “an indivisible component of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” As such, “any Jewish presence or religious observance at the site”—particularly korbanos, or offerings—is viewed as a “profound breach of the sanctity of the location.”

The message further pointed to past Jewish religious practices—such as shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah, taking the arba minim during Sukkos, kneeling and bowing, and bringing sacred objects into the site—as “calculated efforts,” in Hamas’ view, “to disrupt the long-standing status quo.”

Hamas went on to assert that even a “symbolic sacrificial act,” like the bringing of a symbolic Korban Pesach, on the Har Habayis would, in their opinion, “symbolically transform Al-Aqsa into a Temple,” thus laying the groundwork for what they described as a broader plan to construct the Third Bais Hamikdosh. The group warned that the first phase of this alleged plan would involve dividing areas of worship at the site—comparable to the current arrangement at the Meoras Hamachpeilah—followed by actual construction.

It should be noted that all leading poskim of this and previous generations have said that it is halachically forbidden to go on to the Har Habayis today.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Donald Trump has made good on his promise to impose “additional 50 percent tariffs” on Chinese imports starting Wednesday. According to a White House announcement, this move pushes the total U.S. tariff rate on Chinese goods to a staggering 104 percent, a level never seen before.

Trump had issued an ultimatum to China, demanding it reverse the 34 percent retaliatory tariff it had slapped on American exports within a 24-hour window. If Beijing didn’t comply, he warned, Chinese imports would face massive penalties. China defied the warning, and by day’s end, Trump followed through with his threat.

Until recently, Chinese goods faced a 10 percent tariff when entering the U.S., a rate Trump claimed had “robbed and ripped off” the American economy of untold billions. That changed when the president unveiled his “reciprocal tariff” strategy — a policy under which the U.S. would impose tariffs that mirrored, or partially mirrored, those of other countries. With China’s new 34 percent levy on U.S. products, Trump matched it with an additional 34 percent on Chinese goods, raising their total tariff burden to 44 percent.

Shortly after the president’s latest move, the White House revealed that the U.S. would also be levying a 10 percent non-reciprocal tariff on all imports from other nations. Officials said the purpose of the broader surcharge was to bolster the U.S. federal reserves. Meanwhile, the total duties applied to Chinese goods jumped to 54 percent.

With the newest hike targeting only China, the tariff rate on its exports to the U.S. now stands at an extraordinary 104 percent — nearly double what it was just days ago. Still, Trump indicated that a diplomatic resolution was not out of the question. On Truth Social, he wrote, “China also wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call.”

In the hours before the latest escalation, Beijing had pushed back against Trump’s demand that it abandon its retaliatory tariffs, calling the move a form of coercion.

“The US threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, which once again exposes the US’s blackmailing nature,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement, adding that “If the US insists on having its way, China will fight to the end.”

As the trade conflict between the two economic superpowers intensifies, global markets are caught in the crossfire. With neither side showing signs of backing down, investors are witnessing the most significant market downturn since the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.

{17}

The organization StopAntisemitism has urged New York Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch an investigation into a popular YouTube personality who has come under fire for allegedly promoting narratives aligned with Hamas, according to the New York Post.

Rachel Griffin Accurso, widely known as Ms. Rachel, has gained massive popularity through her children’s content series, Songs for Littles, and has even drawn comparisons to Mr. Rogers. In recent months, however, she has made several social media posts referencing supposed child casualties in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

According to StopAntisemitism, Ms. Rachel has echoed casualty figures and other information originating from Hamas sources—claims which, the organization asserts, have been either disproven or questioned by Israeli officials. The group is calling for Bondi to determine whether the content creator received compensation in exchange for sharing “Hamas-like propagated images and stories.”

In a formal appeal to the attorney general, Liora Rez, director of StopAntisemitism, wrote, “Given the vast sums of foreign funds that have been directed toward propagandizing our young people on college campuses, we suspect there is a similar dynamic in the online influencer space.”

Rez further emphasized, “We urge you and your office to investigate whether or not Ms. Rachel is being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers, as this may violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”

The group also pointed out that while Ms. Rachel has repeatedly highlighted the suffering of Palestinian children, she has remained silent on the trauma endured by Israeli children. They specifically mentioned the Kfir brothers, who were kidnapped from their home—one just nine months old—and were later murdered by their abductors.

Following backlash to her commentary after the October 7 attacks, Ms. Rachel issued a statement saying, “I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US – Muslim, Jewish, Christian children – all children, in every country. Not one is excluded.”

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu wrapped up his official trip to Washington and delivered a statement just before boarding his return flight to Israel.

Reflecting on his time in the U.S. capital and his meeting with President Donald Trump, Netanyahu described the encounter as “very warm” and highlighted the key matters addressed during their discussions.

He stated, “I am now completing my second visit to the US in two months. This was a very warm visit with my friend President Donald Trump. You could feel the great closeness and friendship between us and it was expressed in the topics we discussed.”

Iran dominated the agenda, according to Netanyahu. He explained, “We agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. This can be done by agreement, but only if that agreement is a Libyan-style agreement. When you come in, you blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under US supervision and with US implementation – that’s good. The second possibility is that it won’t be. Let them just drag out the talks, and then the option is military. Everyone understands this. We discussed this at length.”

Turning to Gaza, Netanyahu emphasized Israel’s dual goals there. “We are determined to eliminate Hamas, and at the same time we are determined to bring all our hostages back home. The President looked at me and said to the reporters there: ‘This man is working all the time to free the hostages.’ I hope that by doing so, he has shattered the lie that is being frequently spread in the news that I don’t do what I need to do for them, that I don’t care. I care, and I’m doing it, and we’ll succeed as well.”

He also touched on behind-the-scenes discussions regarding the future of Gaza. “We talked about President Trump’s vision, because we are currently in contact with countries that are talking about the possibility of accepting many Gazans. It’s important, because in the end, that’s what it should be.”

The subject of Turkish involvement in Syria also came up. Netanyahu remarked, “Turkey wants to establish military bases in Syria and that is a danger to Israel. We oppose it, we are working against it. I told President Trump, who is a friend of mine, and also a friend of Erdoğan: ‘If we need your help, we’ll talk to you about it.'”

On the matter of commerce between Israel and the U.S., Netanyahu noted President Trump’s stance and Israel’s willingness to act. “President Trump asked the countries to reduce their trade deficit with the US to zero. I told him: ‘It’s not that hard for us. We’ll do it.’ That is the least we can do for the US and the President who has done so much for us.”

Netanyahu ended his statement with a positive assessment of the trip: “It was a very good visit, a very warm visit, and there are other things you will hear about later.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Israeli special forces apprehended Mahmoud al-Bana, a high-priority target in Judea and Samaria, during an operation in Shechem on Tuesday.

Al-Bana, who was once a prominent figure in the “Lions’ Den” terror group, had previously turned himself over to the Palestinian Authority, which later released him from custody.

As reported by Galai Tzahal (IDF Radio), Israeli security officials stated that when troops attempted to detain al-Bana, he made an effort to flee. In response, the soldiers shot at his legs, injuring him and allowing for his immediate capture.

Footage shared on Arab social media platforms shows that the mission was executed by undercover operatives posing as Palestinian civilians. The team used a vehicle marked as belonging to the Palestinian Authority, enabling them to take al-Bana by surprise and swiftly detain him.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Apple is scrambling to increase its iPhone output from India as it tries to blunt the financial blow from President Trump’s newly implemented tariffs on Chinese imports — tariffs that could send the price of an iPhone soaring past $2,000, according to analysts.

The strategy is expected to serve as a stopgap while the company seeks a waiver from the stiff import taxes, similar to the exemption it secured during Trump’s previous term, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

As part of the administration’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, goods from China now face a steep 54% tax, while products imported from India are subject to a lesser but still significant 26% rate.

Adding fuel to the fire, Trump warned Monday that China could face an additional 50% levy if it doesn’t roll back its own 34% retaliatory tariffs on American goods by Tuesday.

Experts estimate that the existing 54% tariff alone could tack on more than $1,000 to the cost of Apple’s flagship smartphone — potentially pushing the newest iPhones to a jaw-dropping price of around $2,300.

Apple is projected to manufacture roughly 25 million iPhones in India this year, an increase of about 10 million units compared to prior years, according to Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan, speaking to the WSJ.

If Apple decides to reroute all of those India-made units to U.S. customers, it would be able to fulfill about half of this year’s American demand, Mohan noted.

President Trump has described the “Liberation Day” tariffs as a bold step toward economic sovereignty.

The goal, he said, was to compel companies to invest more heavily in American production infrastructure.

Critics, however, warn that such a shift could send consumer prices skyrocketing.

“If consumers want a $3,500 iPhone we should make them in New Jersey or Texas or another state,” research firm Wedbush said in a recent memo.

Though much of the iPhone’s supply chain is still rooted in China, Apple has steadily moved more assembly operations to India, enabling it to designate those units as Indian-made.

Even so, most of the intricate manufacturing remains tied to China, particularly through long-standing partners like Foxconn.

At the same time, Apple has been scaling up production of other products—such as iPads, AirPods, and Apple Watches—in Vietnam, a country now hit with a 46% tariff.

In response to the tariff upheaval, Apple has committed to pouring $500 billion into the U.S. economy.

CEO Tim Cook said the company plans to add 20,000 jobs and build a new manufacturing plant in Houston that will produce AI servers used to support artificial intelligence features on devices like the iPhone.

{Matzav.com}

Elon Musk intensified his criticism of White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday, taking to social media to mock him with harsh language, referring to Navarro as a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk’s latest remarks came in response to Navarro’s appearance on CNBC the previous day, during which he questioned Musk’s credentials in the auto industry, suggesting the Tesla CEO was “not a car manufacturer” but merely “a car assembler.”

“Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false,” Musk wrote on X. He followed up with another jab: “Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”

Musk went further, defending Tesla’s operations and accusing Navarro of spreading misinformation.

“By any definition whatsoever, Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America with the highest percentage of US content.” Musk continued. “Navarro should ask the fake expert he invented, Ron Vara.”

The feud had already been simmering over the weekend, when Musk began publicly criticizing Navarro in the wake of a new wave of tariffs rolled out by the Trump administration — a plan Navarro helped develop.

Musk fired an early shot this past weekend, mocking Navarro’s academic background by saying his Harvard education “is a bad thing, not a good thing,” a comment that drew a sharp rebuke from the trade adviser, who accused Musk of being motivated by self-interest.

{Matzav.com}

A leading economist expressed disbelief upon discovering that the Trump administration had cited his academic research to validate its steep new tariffs—saying officials severely misinterpreted his work and drastically overstated the proper tariff rates for each country.

Brent Neiman, a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times that if his study had been correctly applied, the Trump administration’s tariffs would have been approximately a quarter of their current size.

Neiman, who collaborated with three other prominent economists on the paper, said he was immediately puzzled by how the administration arrived at such aggressive tariff levels.

“How on earth did it calculate such huge rates?” was the first question that came to his mind, he recalled.

“The next day it got personal. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its methodology and cited an academic paper produced by four economists, including me, seemingly in support of its numbers,” he wrote.

“But it got it wrong. Very wrong,” he said.

“I disagree fundamentally with the government’s trade policy and approach. But even taking it at face value, our findings suggest the calculated tariffs should be dramatically smaller — perhaps one-fourth as large.”

Neiman, who also previously held a position at the U.S. Treasury during the Biden administration, argued that the Trump team appeared to use an incorrect figure—25%—in their tariff calculation formula.

“Where does 25% come from? Is it related to our work? I don’t know,” he wrote.

“Had the trade office instead used a value closer to the 95 percent number from our work, as I believe it should have done, the computed tariffs would have been as little as one-fourth of what they are.”

He went on to argue that the administration’s gravest error was using his team’s research to set reciprocal tariffs aimed at wiping out America’s trade deficits with individual countries.

“The office said it calculated its reciprocal tariffs at a level that would theoretically eliminate trade deficits with ‘each of our trading partners,’ one by one. Is that a reasonable goal?” he wrote.

“It is not. Trade imbalances between two countries can emerge for many reasons that have nothing to do with protectionism. Americans spend more on clothing made in Sri Lanka than Sri Lankans spend on American pharmaceuticals and gas turbines. So what? That pattern reflects differences in natural resources, comparative advantage and development levels.”

“The deficit numbers don’t suggest, let alone prove, unfair competition,” he added.

Neiman’s critique followed Trump’s announcement last week of a sweeping 10% baseline tariff on all imports, alongside elevated tariffs targeting specific nations and industries—ranging from luxury Italian coffee to Japanese whisky and sports gear manufactured in Asia.

Trump has defended the broad tariffs by framing them as a direct response to what he views as unjust foreign duties and regulatory hurdles placed on American exports.

He’s also maintained that the policy will help rejuvenate domestic manufacturing and bring more jobs back to the United States.

{Matzav.com}

Many of those listed as war fatalities in Gaza actually died of natural causes or did not die at all, a Palestinian health official working for Hamas admitted, following an analysis that showed massive discrepancies in casualty tallies.

The head of the statistics team at Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, Zaher al-Wahidi, made the admission to Sky News after an analysis by the HonestReporting nonprofit last week found that some 3,400 individuals listed as war casualties in earlier tallies had been dropped from the ministry’s latest update.

Comparing the October and August tallies to the March one, HonestReporting researcher Salo Aizenberg found “around 3,400 names missing” from the latest one, “including over 1,000 minors,” he told JNS.

“We realized that a lot of people died a natural death,” Wahidi told Sky News regarding the October tally. “Maybe they were near an explosion and they had a heart attack, or houses caused them pneumonia or hypothermia. All these cases we don’t [attribute to] the war,” he said.

According to Sky News, 1,852 people appearing in October’s official list of war fatalities were removed from the March one after it was found that some had died of natural causes or were alive but had been imprisoned. In total, 3,952 names have been removed in several corrections from Gaza’s reported death toll since the war began, according to the outlet.

Whereas the Gaza Health Ministry had previously admitted error that it attributed to reporting mechanism issues, it had not conceded that natural deaths were counted along with war casualties.

The March statistics changed the age distribution of reported fatalities in Gaza: Of all deaths recorded by Hamas between the ages of 13 to 55, which is the general combat age for Hamas fighters, 72% were male, according to the HonestReporting analysis.

Sky News in its analysis said that 44% of remaining deaths were “working-age men,” meaning men aged 18-60, while in the previous tally they comprised 41%. The percentage of women dropped from 19% in the November tally to 17% in the corrected March tally, according to Sky News. The list of deaths provided by the Hamas-run ministry stood at 50,609 on Saturday following the removals.

The Israel Defense Forces has said some 17,000 terrorists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when approximately 6,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting another 251. Israel launched an ongoing military campaign to dismantle Hamas and retrieve its hostages.

The admission that natural deaths had been included in the war casualty lists is “a major issue,” said Aizenberg. Before his work for HonestReporting, which focuses on exposing anti-Israel bias in the media, Aizenberg participated in the writing of a report on Gaza death statistics for the London-based Henry Jackson Society security think tank. That report from December indicated that the latest casualty figure at the time included the approximately 5,000 people who die of natural causes each year in the Gaza Strip.

To date, the Hamas-run ministry has not published a list of natural deaths since Oct. 7, 2023. The latest admission “means that every list that they’ve ever issued is a mix of war deaths and natural deaths,” said Aizenberg.

The Health Ministry figures also do not distinguish between combatants and noncombatants. JNS

{Matzav.com Israel}

U.S. stocks soared Tuesday morning after days of steep losses, driven by optimism that global leaders were scrambling to strike trade deals with President Trump to ease the impact of his sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,238 points, or 3.2%, clawing back some of the ground it lost after plunging more than 3,500 points since last Wednesday. The dramatic slide came amid investor fears surrounding Trump’s newly-imposed “Liberation Day” tariffs, which many economists have warned could reignite inflation and potentially usher in a recession.

Markets rebounded across the board, with the S&P 500 climbing 3.3% and the Nasdaq 100 up 3.6%. Investor sentiment was buoyed by reports that several countries had entered discussions with the U.S. and might be willing to make trade concessions.

The dramatic market swings followed Trump’s announcement of his most far-reaching tariff package yet — including a flat 10% duty on all imported goods that went into effect over the weekend, and steeper rates aimed at certain nations set to begin Wednesday.

Economists voiced concerns that the tariffs could stoke inflation, as importers would likely pass increased costs onto American consumers.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs revised their economic forecasts, raising the likelihood of a recession to 60% and 45%, respectively, after markets posted their sharpest declines since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Markets were hammered on Monday after Trump signaled that the tariffs were here to stay for the foreseeable future. But on Tuesday, renewed hopes emerged that the levies might be reduced through diplomatic negotiations with trade partners.

In a post on Truth Social Monday afternoon, Trump said he had spoken with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba earlier that day.

Later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Trump had instructed him and the U.S. Trade Representative to “open negotiations” with Ishiba and his team. Bessent confirmed he would lead the talks with Japan, which is currently facing a 24% “Liberation Day” import tax.

“Japan remains among America’s closest allies, and I look forward to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies,” Bessent said in a message posted to X.

Indonesia, also facing a steep 32% tariff beginning Wednesday, signaled a strong desire to negotiate. The country announced plans to send a senior delegation to Washington next week to work out a potential agreement and preemptively offered multiple concessions.

The Indonesian government said it would increase its purchases of American goods, including liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, and soybeans, according to chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto during a strategy meeting on the tariffs.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati added that Indonesia would reduce import duties on various U.S. goods such as steel, mining equipment, and medical supplies. She also noted planned tax reductions on electronics, mobile phones, and laptops from all countries.

She hinted that Indonesia is aiming to position itself as a viable alternative to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Thailand, and China as a major supplier of exports to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Vietnam sweetened its offer after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro rejected its earlier proposal to eliminate tariffs as insufficient.

“When they [Vietnam] come to us and say ‘We’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the non-tariff cheating that matters,” Navarro told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Still, investors found a glimmer of optimism after Vietnam, facing a possible 46% tariff, pledged Monday evening to significantly increase its imports from the U.S., including defense-related products, in hopes of staving off the new duties.

Vietnam will “approach and negotiate with the US to reach a bilateral agreement, moving towards a sustainable trade balance,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said in a statement.

He added that Vietnam would “continue to buy more US products that are strong and Vietnam has demand for, including products related to security and defense; promote early delivery of aircraft trade contracts.”

The Vietnamese government has formally asked the Trump administration to postpone the new tariffs for at least 45 days.

{Matzav.com}

During an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside” Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stated that Congress has the legal authority to intervene and halt what she described as President Donald Trump’s “tariff catastrophe.”

Host Jen Psaki asked, “Tell me if I’m correct here, that Congress already has the authority to stop him. So what does that mean and what could happen in order to stop this?”

Warren responded, “We’ll do a little constitutional law. It’s Congress that actually has to approve tariffs. We gave this emergency power to Donald Trump but Congress has the power under just a resolution simple majority to say it’s not an emergency fellow. And that takes away his power to put all of these tariffs in place. Last Wednesday, we advanced in the United States senate this motion to say, hey, we’re not in an emergency situation with Canada. and four Republicans, right then crossed over, voted with the Democrats and it passed. And the importance of this just to be wonky for a minute.”

Psaki interjected with enthusiasm, “We love wonky.”

Continuing her explanation, Warren said, “It’s a privileged motion, which means it has to be brought to the Floor to be voted on. So right now we’ve got every Democrat lined up saying we are ready to declare we are not in an emergency. We are not at war with France, with Canada, with Italy, can we just go through the whole list with Japan, with South Korea, we are not. And if a handful of Republicans will join us, we have the power to put a stop to this tariff catastrophe that Donald Trump is putting in place and pulling our economy into a ditch.”

WATCH:

Statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu following their White House meeting on Monday revealed that Netanyahu’s rapid trip to Washington was driven by the initiation of talks with Iran — not by concerns over trade tariffs, as had been speculated.

Trump had summoned Netanyahu for a private discussion about the developing diplomatic channel with Iran. His intent was to give Israel a heads-up and minimize the risk of interference or preemptive military action by Israel that could derail the talks.

Netanyahu’s attempt to address the issue of tariffs during his visit met with disappointment. Having traveled straight from a diplomatic stop in Hungary, he returned to Israel without any concessions on the matter. The tariffs will remain unchanged.

The announcement of direct talks between the U.S. and Iran likely came as a blow to Netanyahu. While Tehran publicly maintains that it does not trust Trump and refuses to talk with Washington directly, it seems the president’s warnings prompted them to reconsider.

Netanyahu was more receptive to Trump’s comments that any failure in the negotiations would spell trouble for Iran. The president’s remarks hinted at military consequences — a sharp departure from the more restrained approach of previous administrations — and Netanyahu appeared to approve.

Still, the Israeli leader left with little to show for his efforts. The tariff issue was unresolved, and Trump even brought up the $4 billion in annual military assistance Israel receives. However, he did applaud Netanyahu for easing restrictions on U.S. imports to Israel, suggesting that other nations should follow suit. The only concrete outcome was a vague pledge to continue discussing tariffs.

The summit also yielded no breakthroughs regarding the hostages being held in Gaza. While Trump condemned the brutal treatment the captives have endured at the hands of Hamas, he did not propose any actionable steps toward securing their freedom.

Trump once again floated the idea of relocating some of Gaza’s residents. According to the report, Netanyahu told the president there are countries that would accept Palestinians who opt to leave. Trump also expressed bewilderment at Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza, saying he didn’t understand why Israel had given up what he described as an “incredible piece of real estate.” He speculated that it might have been for peace, but added, “we all saw how that worked out.”

As for Turkey’s expanding role in Syria, Trump remarked positively about President Erdogan and offered to assist if Israel encountered difficulties with the Turkish leader. This indicated that Washington would be willing to step in to help prevent a clash between the two regional powers.

At a summit held in Cairo on Monday, leaders from France, Egypt, and Jordan delivered a shared message urging that the Palestinian Authority be placed in charge of governing Gaza after the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas concludes, according to AFP.

In a joint declaration, they stated, “Governance, law and order, and security in Gaza, as well as in all Palestinian territories, must be the sole responsibility of a strengthened Palestinian Authority.”

While appearing with President Sisi in Cairo, French President Emmanuel Macron voiced strong support for a regional plan to rebuild Gaza and insisted that the local population should not be forcibly displaced. He referred to an Arab League initiative as a starting point for creating new leadership for the Palestinians in the area.

“Our government has done crucial work on this plan, which offers a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and should also pave the way for new Palestinian governance,” Macron said.

He made it clear that there is no place for Hamas in the future leadership of Gaza, declaring, “Hamas must have no role in this governance (of Gaza), and must no longer constitute a threat to Israel.”

Although Hamas has suggested it might be willing to let independent experts handle civil matters in Gaza, the group has not consented to give up arms or step aside entirely.

The meeting also featured a collective demand to reinstate a ceasefire in Gaza. A previous truce, arranged in January by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, fell apart after Hamas declined to release additional hostages or approve a proposal presented by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

Macron’s participation in the summit emphasized France’s support for Egypt and Jordan, both of which have rejected a plan floated by U.S. President Donald Trump that involved the United States managing Gaza post-war and relocating its residents to nearby countries.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed that real peace cannot come without fulfilling the Palestinian Arab demand for self-determination. “There will not be lasting peace and permanent stability in the Middle East without a just solution,” he said.

King Abdullah of Jordan reinforced the call for peace through mutual recognition, pushing for a two-state outcome. He urged the pursuit of “a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution,” and voiced support for a Palestinian state existing beside Israel.

{Matzav.com Israel}

On Monday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Iran and the United States would engage in indirect negotiations regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities, contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertion that the talks would be face-to-face.

Posting on the social platform X, Araqchi announced, “Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.”

He also commented, “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test” and emphasized, “The ball is in America’s court.”

Earlier that same day, while standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu at the White House, President Trump had given a different account: “We are having direct talks with Iran. On Saturday we will have a very big meeting and we will see what can happen. I think everybody agrees that a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious, and the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly that anyone here wants to be involved with.”

Trump warned that the matter was entering a volatile phase, saying it’s “getting to be very dangerous territory. Hopefully, those talks will be successful, and I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are.”

When questioned by a journalist about the possibility of military action against Iran, Trump replied, “I think if the talks are not successful with Iran, Iran is going to be in great danger. If the talks are not successful, I actually think that will be a very bad day for Iran,” Trump said.

Later that day, three Iranian officials familiar with preparations for the discussions told The New York Times that their understanding differed from what President Trump had described during his White House remarks.

According to these Iranian sources, the meetings set for Saturday in Oman would be indirect, with Iranian and American envoys stationed in separate rooms while Omani intermediaries relayed messages between them.

The officials also told The New York Times that Tehran might be willing to consider face-to-face discussions with Washington if the initial indirect engagement proved fruitful.

Not long ago, Iran had declined a proposal for direct negotiations from Trump. That proposal had been conveyed in a letter sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After the rejection, Trump issued a stern warning, saying that “bad things” would befall Iran if it refused to reach a nuclear agreement.

He later escalated his rhetoric, cautioning that “if they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing — and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

In response, Ayatollah Khamenei declared that any aggression from the U.S. would be met with a “strong blow.”

Just three days afterward, Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, said he was confident that Iran wanted direct talks with the United States about its nuclear program.

{Matzav.com}

A German court announced on Monday the death of Irmgard Furchner, a 99-year-old who had served as a secretary at a Nazi concentration camp and was found guilty in 2022 for her role in Holocaust crimes.

Furchner stood out as one of the final individuals likely to be held legally accountable in Germany for involvement in the atrocities of the Nazi regime during World War II.

She was handed a two-year suspended prison term after being convicted of assisting in the killing of more than 10,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp, which was located in Nazi-occupied Poland. Although she challenged the verdict, her appeal was denied in 2024.

Her defense attorneys claimed that she worked at the camp merely as a civilian clerk with no knowledge of the mass killings, and they argued that she should be exonerated.

The court in Itzehoe, which oversaw her trial, officially confirmed her death. The case gained significant attention as she became the first woman in many years to be tried in Germany over Nazi-related offenses.

Despite the passage of nearly 80 years since the Holocaust, German authorities have continued to pursue justice against former members of the Nazi infrastructure. Still, numerous investigations in recent years have ended prematurely due to the advanced age or death of the accused.

From June 1943 through April 1945, Furchner was employed at Stutthof as the personal secretary to commandant Paul Werner Hoppe. Her duties included taking dictation and managing his correspondence. Her husband also worked at the camp as part of the SS.

Stutthof, which was situated near modern-day Gdansk, Poland, was the site of approximately 65,000 deaths, many of them Jews who had been deported there.

Just before her trial was scheduled to begin in September 2021, Furchner fled the senior home where she was living. She remained at large for several hours until she was apprehended in Hamburg.

Because she was under 21 when the crimes occurred, she was prosecuted under juvenile law.

Germany’s renewed pursuit of Nazi collaborators was largely reinvigorated by the 2011 trial in Munich of John Demjanjuk, who was convicted for complicity in the deaths of 28,060 people at the Sobibor death camp. He received a five-year sentence and died the following year in 2012.

In 2020, a Hamburg court convicted 93-year-old Bruno Dey, a former Stutthof guard, of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder — the same number as the estimated victims killed at the camp during his time there in 1944 and 1945.

Then in 2021, prosecutors in Germany charged a man who was 100 years old at the time, accusing him of working as a guard at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp where over 100,000 individuals were killed.

In several instances, those who were found guilty of Nazi-era crimes died before they could be imprisoned and thus never served time.

Some investigations have also been terminated when the accused passed away or were deemed medically unfit for trial.

For instance, in June 2024, a court in Hanau ruled that a 99-year-old suspected former guard from Sachsenhausen was not healthy enough to face legal proceedings.

{Matzav.com}