Matzav

Rockland County residents headed to the polls in impressive numbers today, reshaping parts of the local political map and reaffirming confidence in familiar faces.

In Spring Valley, Yosef Hersch Gross and Yakov Yosef Kaufman earned decisive victories in the race for Trustee.

The mayoral seat in Spring Valley changed hands as Schenley Vital was elected to lead the village.

Over in District 13, voters placed their confidence in Moshe Hopstein, who captured his legislative seat with a campaign centered on responsiveness to residents’ everyday concerns.

At the town level, Supervisor Michael Specht was re-elected, highlighting voter approval of his tenure and his focus on steady, practical governance. Specht’s win cements his role in continuing to guide the town’s ongoing development and infrastructure improvements.

Meanwhile, County Executive Ed Day secured another term in office, vowing to keep Rockland County on a path of financial stability while safeguarding the public services that residents rely upon.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump reacted Tuesday night to Republican losses in several key elections, attributing the results to his absence from the ballot and lingering effects of the recent government shutdown.

In a post on his Truth Social platform at 10:05 p.m., Trump wrote:

“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” according to Pollsters.

The comment came as early returns showed Democrats making gains in several competitive races across the country. Trump’s statement appeared to reference both the GOP’s lack of a unifying national candidate in off-year contests and voter frustration over the economic and political fallout of the federal shutdown that ended last month.

{Matzav.com}

Lakewood, NJ — Election results from Tuesday’s closely watched races show continued Republican dominance in Lakewood’s local government.

In the Lakewood Township Committee contest, Republican Isaac Akerman easily secured reelection with 16,841 votes, defeating Democrat Harriet Goldberg, who received 1,740.

For the Board of Fire Commissioners, Moshe B. Raitzik led the field with 4,696 votes, followed by Eliyahu Berger with 3,958 and Larry S. Loigman with 2,824.

In the Board of Education elections, Meir Grunhut and Shlomie Stern both won comfortably, with 14,010 and 14,000 votes respectively. Results for the third available Board of Education seat were not yet posted.

{Matzav.com}

Chris Pollak has captured a seat on the Jackson, NJ Township Council in a close and hard-fought election that reflected deep divisions within the community. The victory came after a campaign marked by sharp rhetoric and a stark split in voter support, with most Orthodox Jewish residents backing Pollak’s opponent, Al Couceiro.

Orthodox Jewish voters overwhelmingly supported Al Couceiro, while non-Jewish and “Jackson Strong” voters largely rallied behind Pollak.

Pollak, who has publicly aligned himself with the “Jackson Strong” faction of local politics, has been a vocal critic of what he calls unchecked development and government mismanagement. The “Jackson Strong” group, however, has also drawn criticism for frequently framing Orthodox Jewish population growth as the source of all local challenges.

Before entering politics, Pollak gained attention under the moniker “Dark Guardian,” a self-styled vigilante who patrolled New York City streets years ago to deter crime. His campaign in Jackson focused on reforming local governance, tightening zoning enforcement, and opposing what he described as “corporate takeovers and irresponsible development.”

Among his stated policy goals were promoting what he called “responsible development,” expanding buffer zones to preserve neighborhoods, and raising developer fees to fund infrastructure improvements. Pollak also vowed to “strengthen code enforcement,” target illegal rentals and lawn parking, and bolster local police in enforcing traffic and quality-of-life ordinances.

His platform further called for strict term limits — two terms for both mayor and council members — and an expansion of conflict-of-interest laws. He also advocated for greater transparency in township decision-making and more direct engagement with residents through open town halls.

On zoning issues, Pollak pledged to ensure what he termed “one set of rules for everyone,” opposing special variances and calling for clearer definitions to prevent overcrowding in residential areas. His campaign repeatedly emphasized accountability, public disclosure, and communication as key to “building a government that works.”

{Matzav.com}

Follow live election results here on Matzav.com from across New York and New Jersey as they come in. This stream features real-time vote counts, full candidate speeches and analysis from the Fox, NBC and NY1. Track the NYC mayoral and NJ governor races as the night unfolds, with updates direct from the newsroom and the field.

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Zohran Mamdani is projected to become the next mayor of New York City, following a decisive victory in one of the most closely watched races in the nation. NewsNation and Decision Desk HQ called the contest Tuesday evening in favor of the 34-year-old Muslim socialist Assemblyman, who entered Election Day as the clear frontrunner.

The race drew national attention as three prominent figures vied for the city’s top job: Democratic Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa. The election capped months of political tension that reflected deep ideological divides within the Democratic Party and across New York’s electorate.

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, had surged to prominence over the summer after defeating Cuomo in the Democratic primary. His campaign promised to shake up City Hall with an ambitious progressive agenda aimed at addressing what he called “a city that works for the wealthy but fails its workers.”

He vowed to freeze rents on stabilized apartments and provide free, universal child care. He also wants to create city-owned grocery stores to rein in food costs and hike taxes on the wealthiest 1%.

The progressive lawmaker, who represents Queens in the state legislature, ran on a cost-of-living platform that resonated with voters struggling under high housing prices and inflation. His message of economic justice, however, alarmed business leaders and moderates who warned his policies could drive companies and jobs out of the city.

Critics cast Mamdani as an idealistic and inexperienced agitator — someone unlikely to deliver on his most ambitious promises and ill-equipped to oversee the nation’s largest police force and public school system. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman warned Mamdani’s policies would “kill NYC jobs” and “cause companies to flee.” Mamdani also faced scrutiny for earlier calls to defund the police — a position he has since walked back.

As Mamdani’s movement gained traction, Andrew Cuomo attempted a political comeback. Running as an independent, Cuomo campaigned as a centrist with a message focused on safety, stability, and competence. His pitch: that experience, not ideology, should guide the city forward.

Cuomo made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign, pledging to add 5,000 new police officers to the force and boost patrols across the city’s subway system. He pushed for a collaborative, rather than combative, relationship with the city’s business community and opposed Mamdani’s proposed tax increases.

But Cuomo’s long public record — including his tenure as governor from 2011 to 2021 and the sexual misconduct allegations that led to his resignation — proved difficult to overcome. Many voters viewed him as emblematic of the Democratic establishment that Mamdani’s movement sought to replace.

The outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, who had been elected in 2021 as a law-and-order Democrat, dropped out of the race in September after losing support among key constituencies. Adams later endorsed Cuomo, underscoring the deep fractures within the party. The contest came to symbolize the struggle of Democrats to define their post-Trump identity, following President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.

Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder and perennial Republican candidate, ran on a platform centered around public safety and opposition to progressive policies. In a city dominated by Democrats, Sliwa’s campaign faced long odds, but some analysts believed his candidacy could siphon votes away from Cuomo and inadvertently clear the path for Mamdani’s victory.

Sliwa was undeterred, even as Trump reportedly advised him that the numbers weren’t in his favor. Despite his uphill battle, Sliwa continued to draw attention for his outspoken criticism of Mamdani’s agenda and his pledge to “restore sanity” to New York City governance.

Mamdani’s victory was fueled by a wave of endorsements from prominent progressive leaders, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Cuomo, meanwhile, garnered support from figures tied to the city’s traditional power structure, among them former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Rep. Tom Suozzi, and former Governor David Paterson.

Sliwa’s campaign drew backing from Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik and ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, though their endorsements were not enough to alter the city’s deeply blue political landscape.

Avi Schnall secured another term in the New Jersey General Assembly on Tuesday night, buoyed by overwhelming support from Lakewood-area residents whose turnout at the polls surpassed expectations.

Long lines formed outside polling sites throughout the day, with voters arriving steadily up to the 8 p.m. closing time. The impressive turnout followed record early voting numbers in Lakewood, ensuring Schnall a clear and decisive victory in the 30th Legislative District.

Schnall first entered office in 2024 and quickly made his mark, directing funding toward projects that tangibly improved life in his district. His legislative accomplishments include securing $6 million in additional state aid for Lakewood Township, $8 million for infertility treatment programs, $1 million for Kupas Yom Tov, and $400,000 to fund a new Hatzolah ambulance.

Beyond funding wins, Schnall has built a strong presence in Trenton through his committee work. He currently serves on the Assembly Education Committee, the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, and the State and Local Government Committee, positions that enable him to influence policy on schooling, fiscal management, and public services.

Born on July 3, 1984, Schnall brings to the legislature a background steeped in both scholarship and communal leadership. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Talmudic Law from the Talmudic Yeshiva of Philadelphia and a Master’s Degree in Talmudic Law from Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood. He has served as the Director of Federal Education Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, working to represent the interests of private and faith-based schools at the national level.

{Matzav.com}

An emotional tefillah gathering was held Tuesday in the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok court in Meah Shearim on behalf of the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe, Rav Shmuel Yaakov ben Yenta, who remains hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem in serious but improving condition. The event was marked by fervent tefillos for the Rebbe’s recovery.

At the request of the Rebbe himself, renowned mashpia Rav Elimelech Biderman addressed the gathering, delivering stirring words of chizuk on the power of tefillah.

In the middle of his address, as the crowd recited selichos with great intensity, the Rebbe’s sons approached Rav Biderman with unexpected news: they had just received a phone call from the hospital reporting a notable improvement in the Rebbe’s condition. According to the doctors, there was hope that the Rebbe might be able to return home for Shabbos.

Rav Biderman immediately shared the uplifting news with the packed audience, which erupted in song and gratitude, breaking into a heartfelt rendition of Mizmor LeTodah.

He added that he had spoken with the rebbe the previous day, who had requested that the tzibbur take on a kabbalah tovah — a personal spiritual commitment — specifically in the areas of tznius and shemiras einayim, as a merit for his recovery.

Rav Biderman urged everyone present to accept upon themselves a practical improvement in these areas, saying it would serve as a powerful zechus for the Rebbe’s continued refuah sheleimah.

{Matzav.com}

Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch convened a high-level meeting Tuesday night with senior Degel HaTorah representatives to deliberate a historic crossroads: whether to support the Israeli government’s proposed draft law or head toward new elections.

The meeting, held at Rav Hirsch’s home on Rechov Harav Sher in Bnei Brak, was attended by MKs Moshe Gafni, Uri Maklev, Yaakov Asher, and former MK Yitzchok Pindrus.

During the discussion, the delegation presented the details of the Bismuth draft framework, reviewing each clause of the proposal.

When asked what message to convey to Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu, Rav Hirsch replied, “Tell him that I have heard the proposal and will give my answer later.”

The Rosh Yeshiva emphasized the need for unwavering protection of every bochur in the yeshivos, saying that “not a single hair on the head of any yeshiva student should be harmed,” and stressed that the safeguard must extend to both Sephardic institutions and yeshivos for weaker students.

Political observers described the meeting as a pivotal juncture. If Rav Hirsch ultimately grants his backing to the draft law, the government is expected to pass it within weeks—with Shas’s Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah likely to follow suit once Rav Hirsch approves the wording. Should he oppose it, however, analysts predict the coalition could collapse swiftly.

“Everything now runs through Bnei Brak,” a senior Likud official said. “This is no longer a legal or security matter—it’s a halachic and political question that will determine the government’s future.”

The street outside Rav Hirsch’s modest home was filled with journalists and television crews broadcasting live updates from Rechov Harav Sher 17, where—behind closed doors—the fate of the government may soon be decided: a new draft law, or new elections.

{Matzav.com}

The nation awoke to somber news early Wednesday as the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that the body of abducted IDF soldier Sergeant Itay Chen had been returned to Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization.

“Following the completion of the identification process by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, in coordination with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, IDF representatives informed the family of the abducted fallen soldier, Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and positively identified,” the statement read.

The announcement expressed the state’s profound grief and its continuing mission to recover every soldier who has not yet been brought home. “The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Chen family and of all the families of the abducted fallen. The government and the entire security and intelligence apparatus of the State of Israel are determined, committed, and working tirelessly to bring all our abducted fallen back for proper burial in their homeland.”

Military officials said that Chen lost his life while fighting bravely in a tank battle near Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of October 7, 2023, before being taken by Hamas militants.

Only 19 years old at the time of his death, Itay’s passing was formally confirmed on March 10, 2024. He leaves behind his parents, Ruby and Hagit, and two brothers. Chen was also the final hostage in Gaza who held American citizenship.

Israel believes Hamas is still holding the remains of seven other hostages murdered in captivity.

Earlier in the day, the IDF had confirmed that a coffin containing the remains of a hostage had been handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross, which then transferred it to Israeli authorities.

Upon its arrival, the coffin was received in a solemn military ceremony led by an IDF rabbi before being taken to the Health Ministry’s National Center of Forensic Medicine for identification.

“Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages,” the IDF stated.

In a groundbreaking victory, Shmuel “Sam” Ellenbogen of Toms River, NJ has been elected to the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, marking the first time an Orthodox Jew will hold a countywide office in Ocean County’s history.

The win places him on the powerful five-member board that manages the county’s infrastructure, public safety, and social services for nearly 650,000 residents.

Ellenbogen’s election caps years of steady public involvement and bridge-building. A familiar name in local civic circles, he co-founded the Toms River Jewish Community Council (TRJCC) in 2018, creating a platform to strengthen understanding between the rapidly growing Orthodox community and their non-Jewish neighbors. The council’s work—ranging from public safety education to interfaith dialogue and community relations—earned him widespread respect across the political and religious spectrum.

His first official government appointment came in 2021 when he joined the Ocean County Utilities Authority, where he eventually became treasurer. In that role, Ellenbogen helped oversee large-scale infrastructure expansion to meet the region’s explosive population growth, particularly in areas like Toms River, Lakewood, and Jackson.

Democrat Mikie Sherrill has won the New Jersey gubernatorial race, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli, according to projections from Decision Desk HQ.

The victory marks a major milestone for the Garden State, with Sherrill set to become New Jersey’s second woman — and the first Democratic woman — to hold the governor’s office.

A former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, Sherrill first gained national attention in 2018 when she flipped a Republican seat in northern New Jersey during President Donald Trump’s first term. Her campaign this year emphasized economic relief, affordability, and restoring stability, while her opponent, Ciattarelli, a three-time GOP gubernatorial contender and former state assemblyman, leaned heavily on his close alliance with Trump.

Polls showed a close race between the two candidates, with Sherrill holding a single-digit lead over Ciattarelli in the final stretch of the race. That narrow margin reflected the tense mood in New Jersey, where cost-of-living concerns and the national political climate fueled a heated contest to the finish line.

The election was widely viewed as an indicator of the country’s broader sentiment less than a year into Trump’s second term. Once considered a reliably Democratic stronghold, New Jersey saw a pronounced shift toward Republicans in recent years, driven by working-class voters and non-White communities drawn to Trump’s populist message. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within three percentage points of unseating Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who was unable to seek re-election due to term limits.

Sherrill’s path to political prominence began long before her entry into public office. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994, she became part of the first generation of women permitted to fly combat missions. She served nine years in the Navy before earning a law degree from Georgetown University, later joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, where she worked as a prosecutor before turning to politics.

Her early congressional career placed her among a cohort of moderate Democrats with military and intelligence backgrounds. That group included figures such as Elissa Slotkin, who won a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, and Abigail Spanberger, now running for governor in Virginia. Like her peers, Sherrill has built a reputation as a pragmatic lawmaker with a focus on security, bipartisanship, and middle-class issues.

The first woman governor of New Jersey was Republican Christine Todd Whitman, who served from 1994 to 2001. With her victory, Sherrill joins Whitman in breaking barriers — this time from the opposite side of the political spectrum — as she prepares to lead a deeply divided state at a pivotal moment in national politics.

{Matzav.com}

Fresh revelations about the lie-detector test that exposed Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s role in the Sde Teiman affair have shed light on what investigators describe as a deliberate and coordinated effort within the upper ranks of the IDF’s legal division.

The chain of events began when a high-ranking officer underwent a standard Shin Bet polygraph exam as part of her candidacy for promotion. When asked, “Did you commit a crime?” she unexpectedly confessed that she had leaked a video allegedly showing abuse of a captured terrorist — and said she did so under direct instructions from the MAG.

The Shin Bet relayed her confession to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and to the police, who promptly launched a criminal probe into the matter.

Last Tuesday, investigators employed a deceptive tactic to gather additional information. Pretending to be someone from another office, one officer called and asked the woman to come to a different location at the Kirya Base. When she showed up, she was promptly detained and transported to police headquarters on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv for questioning.

During her first interrogation, the officer offered only limited cooperation. Authorities confiscated her phone, released her, and barred her from contacting anyone connected to the investigation.

Two days later, she reached out to police voluntarily, requesting another interrogation. This time, she provided a full account of what had transpired.

According to her statement, she was part of a WhatsApp group that included seven senior officers from the Military Advocate General’s Corps — among them Tomer-Yerushalmi herself. After the Sde Teiman controversy erupted, one participant wrote, “I hope this storm blows over.” Another member lashed out at IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and military spokesman Daniel Hagari, complaining, “They aren’t defending us here.”

Members of the group debated two potential strategies — holding a discreet press briefing without sharing case files, or selectively leaking the material. Tomer-Yerushalmi dismissed the first option, arguing that “a briefing would not have the same effect,” and declared, “Now we take this into our own hands.”

Once the footage was released, the group felt their move had achieved its intended impact. But when a petition later reached the Supreme Court, the MAG ordered an internal probe to identify the source of the leak — and ironically assigned the very deputy who had helped orchestrate it to lead the investigation.

{Matzav.com}

By Jonathan S. Tobin

Recent events have been an object lesson in the basic truth of the “horseshoe theory” of politics. The theory argues that the far left and the far right are almost always closer to each other in their ideas and even their tactics than either is to the political center and the people who are presumably on the same side of the great issues of the day. Rather than a linear continuum, the political alignment is, in effect, a horseshoe-shaped diagram.

Nothing better illustrates this than the way antisemites on the left and the right have been working from the same playbook. Both Democratic Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson share a hatred for Israel and its Jewish supporters. Each not only taps into anti-Jewish sentiments latent in society. They also speak to growing constituencies within the Democratic and Republican parties that share this point of view and such prejudices.

Mainstreaming antisemitism

At this point, there are two questions to ask about both sides.

One is whether their ideas, which might have been dismissed as inherently marginal only a few years ago, have been mainstreamed in public discourse. The other is whether or not, once that has been accomplished, their toxic views about Israel and the Jews will come to dominate America’s two main political parties, and thus eventually be transformed from ideological obsessions to policy.

With respect to the Democrats, the answer to both questions appears to be “yes.”

When it comes to the Republicans, the answer is far from conclusive. President Donald Trump and most conservatives, as well as members of the GOP, are pro-Israel and philo-semitic. But as we saw last week with the shocking decision of the Heritage Foundation, a highly influential think tank in Washington, D.C., to come to the defense of Carlson after he aired a podcast when he gave a friendly platform to neo-Nazi hatemonger Nick Fuentes, it’s now indisputable that the right has its own very serious antisemitism problem.

Still, unlike the acquiescence and support that Mamdani’s candidacy has generated from within his party, the pushback against Heritage president Kevin Roberts among Republicans has been as loud as it was encouraging. Indeed, most of the conservative ecosphere seemed to react with outrage against Roberts’ shocking video in which he cast those opposed to Carlson’s stands as a “venomous coalition” as well as seemed to indicate that there was something sinister about supporters of Israel, both Jewish and evangelical Christians, who believed the podcaster and his prejudiced views had no place in the GOP mainstream. The outrage among employees and donors at Heritage, which has devoted considerable resources to support for Israel and targeting antisemitism via its “Project Esther,” was also considerable.

As Commentary magazine executive editor Abe Greenwald aptly noted: “The right responded to half a dozen Jew-hating podcasters and one think tank president with overwhelming and immediate condemnation. The left encouraged two years of abject pro-jihad support and terrorism to thrive without ever putting its foot down.”

Is JD Vance Trump’s successor?

The key to the future of the GOP, however, may lie with someone who was conspicuously silent about the controversies over the Carlson-Fuentes podcast and the situation at Heritage. By that, I don’t refer to Trump but to the person who is the current favorite to succeed him as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee: Vice President JD Vance.

Though three years is a lifetime in politics, Vance has not only been anointed by Trump, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as the only viable GOP candidates in 2028, but his rapid rise to popularity on the right should not be underestimated. His embrace of populist national conservative positions on a host of issues has earned him the special contempt of the liberal media, but it has further endeared him to his party’s voters, as the very early 2028 polls have indicated.

And that is why Vance’s continued embrace of Carlson is deeply troubling. It raises questions about his political judgment and his moral compass.

Vance and Carlson have been friends for years. Carlson actively promoted Vance’s successful run for the Senate in 2022, especially in a difficult multi-candidate GOP primary, which he wound up winning easily, though with less than a third of all votes cast, on his prime-time Fox News show. In 2024, he played an active and reportedly decisive role in persuading Trump to tap Vance for the vice presidential nomination.

So, aside from any feelings of friendship, Vance owes Carlson. That’s part of the reason why he refused to disassociate himself from him even after Carlson hosted a Holocaust denier on his podcast in September 2024 and continued to make joint appearances with him during the campaign.

And when given the honor of hosting Charlie Kirk’s podcast on the first episode after the activist’s assassination in September, Vance invited Carlson to join him, among other prominent guests, in a program broadcast from the White House.

That’s astonishing when you consider that Carlson has smeared Christian supporters of Israel like Kirk as guilty of “heresy” and suffering from a “brain virus” in his friendly interview with the antisemitic “groyper” Fuentes.

It also stands in strong contrast to Vance’s strongly articulated views about the importance of the U.S.-Israel alliance. But, as Vance made clear in a disturbing exchange with a student voicing antisemitic smears of Israel at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi, he also is acting as if he is concerned about keeping Carlson-style Israel-haters or even Fuentes’ groypers inside the GOP tent.

In comments that brought to mind then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ response to a left-wing student who voiced blood libels against Israel, Vance chose not to chide or even disagree with his questioner, but instead to signal his solidarity with their concerns that Israel is manipulating Washington.

All of which raises the question as to whether Vance really thinks the path to winning the presidency or even a successful rest of Trump’s term lies in retaining the support of the small but vocal far-right extremist wing of the GOP.

Democrats’ costly tilt to the left

If so, he may be making the same sort of mistaken calculation that many Democrats have made.

Over the past decade, the Democratic Party’s intersectional left-wing has become a dominant factor in its politics as it went from skepticism about the U.S.-Israel alliance to one of hostility, and now, apparent comfort with open antisemitism. That was made obvious during the 2024 presidential campaign when President Joe Biden and Harris demonstrated that they were far more fearful of losing the votes of the anti-Israel left than they were of fending them off.

Any doubt about the direction of Democratic Party discourse has been removed by the current New York City mayoral campaign in which Mamdani has been largely embraced by the Democratic establishment, despite his vocal antisemitic stands, not to mention his Marxist economic program. While some Jewish Democrats have sounded the alarm about him, they are clearly in the minority. Party leaders have either reluctantly made their peace with him or, like former President Barack Obama, have become his enthusiastic backers and mentors.

The liberal media, including its leading outlets like The New York Times, has gone down a similar path. That’s hardly surprising given the fact that publications like the Times have mainstreamed anti-Zionist views that negate Jewish rights, while published Hamas propaganda and blood libels against Israel and the Jews. In such an environment, Mamdani’s extremist views are made to appear legitimate, if not reasonable.

The notion that a “no-enemies-on-the-left” policy—in which the anti-Israel and Jew-hating faction of the Democrats is embraced, rather than expelled—is politically wise ignores everything we know about American politics, both historically and in the present day.

Democrats lost in 2024 for a number of reasons, not the least of which was their denial of Biden’s mental incapacity until it was late in the campaign, and then his replacement by an incompetent and unpopular candidate in Harris. A more important explanation for their troubles was a matter of the broad center of the electorate’s dislike for the way Democrats had embraced the concerns of woke progressives and credentialed elites. Their obsessions with race via the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) woke catechism, gender ideology, open borders, restricting gun rights and climate change doomed them with the working-class voters of all races who cared far more about stopping illegal immigration, crime and the opioid epidemic.

In the same way, the Democrats’ more hostile attitude toward Israel and their failure to take a strong stand against pro-Hamas mobs on college campuses, at the very least, didn’t help and may well have contributed to their problems.

That’s the context for the choice that rests before Republicans, and most particularly, Vance, as they ponder the same question about how to deal with their own extremists.

Some might argue that the broad turn against Israel in American public opinion since the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab attacks on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, should lead Republicans to do as the Democrats have done. In stark contrast to their opponents, Republicans remain overwhelmingly supportive of Israel. The margin on this issue, however, is far smaller when it comes to younger GOP voters, who, like their counterparts on the left, also get much of their information about the world from TikTok and other dubious sources.

Extremists are political poison

Still, Vance and any other Republican who might think there are more votes to be gotten by clinging to Carlson than by behaving responsibly, and having nothing to do with him and his even more extreme and hateful friends and podcast guests, is likely wrong. A “no-enemies-on-the-right” strategy would be a blunder.

U.S. elections are largely won by candidates who show that they are not beholden to crackpots, let alone willing to embrace vile hate-mongers like those that Carlson thinks deserve a platform. That was the lesson learned by Biden and Harris, whose inability to distance themselves from woke progressives with extreme views was out of touch with most Americans. The way the media has published Hamas propaganda about “genocide” and “famine” as facts rather than fiction has hurt Israel’s image and bolstered an international backlash against Jews and Israel. Still, the notion that the kind of Jew-hatred Carlson is enabling and promoting is popular remains detached from reality.

Many Americans, and especially Jews, are alarmed about the prospect of Mamdani using his power to harm Israel and its supporters, as well as to negatively impact the lives of Jewish New Yorkers. A great many national Republicans, however, have appeared gleeful about the prospect of Mamdani becoming the poster child for a left-leaning Democratic Party. Should the Democrats continue their drift to the left, with perhaps fellow Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) running for president in 2028, the expectation among political observers is that this is a prescription for a colossal defeat. Extremism has always been political poison, and there’s no reason to think that’s changing.

With that in mind, if Vance wants to claim the political center and succeed Trump in the White House, he’d do well to keep his distance from Carlson and his groyper pals in the next three years. Despite the way primary and base politics exerts a centrifugal pull of leaders to the margins where left and right-wing extremists have so much in common, that’s also the way to lose touch with ordinary voters, as both Democrats and Republicans should have learned by now.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump issued a strong appeal on Election Day to Orthodox Jewish voters in New Jersey, praising their turnout and urging even greater participation in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he had been informed that “32,000 Orthodox Jews around Lakewood and Jackson, New Jersey, have showed up BIG for Jack Ciattarelli.” He called the community “my friends in this Great Community” and thanked them for recognizing “how important this Election is to New Jersey, and to our Country.”

Trump stressed that there was still time to vote, issuing a passionate call to action: “I am asking ALL PATRIOTIC CITIZENS OF THE GREAT STATE OF NEW JERSEY, including all Kollel and Yeshiva students who haven’t voted yet, to please GET OUT AND VOTE FOR JACK CIATTARELLI.”

Emphasizing the potential impact of the Orthodox community’s vote, Trump declared, “You can win this Election for Jack! VOTE FOR JACK, WHO HAS MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT.”

He reminded voters that polls close at 8 p.m. and underscored that anyone already in line by then must be allowed to cast their ballot: “IF YOU ARE IN LINE BY 8 P.M., STAY IN LINE, AND THEY MUST LET YOU VOTE!”

The message appeared just hours before polls closed in a race expected to be closely watched as a bellwether for upcoming national elections. Trump’s post was widely shared among Orthodox community networks, particularly in Lakewood and Jackson, where voter turnout has been exceptionally strong throughout the day.

{Matzav.com}

Billionaire hedge fund manager Cliff Asness tore into New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani’s rent-freeze proposal, warning it would devastate the city’s housing market. The outspoken financier didn’t mince words when describing the impact of Mamdani’s plan to prohibit rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments.

“Rent control is one of the few issues almost all economists agree destroys the city. So let’s triple down. Genius,” Asness told The New York Post on Tuesday, his sarcasm highlighting his belief that the policy would cripple the market.

He went on to draw a grim comparison to past housing restrictions. “A rent freeze is the hydrogen bomb to the atomic bomb of regular rent controls,” he said, describing the plan as an extreme escalation of already damaging regulation.

Asness, 59, who is Jewish and has been an outspoken critic of Mamdani’s far-left views, also ridiculed the assemblyman’s failure to condemn Hamas and his embrace of the slogan “globalize the intifada.” “Come for the communism, stay for the globalizing of the intifada. Shrewd, New York City,” Asness quipped. “I wish I lived in NYC so I could join those moving out to Texas or Florida if he wins.”

The AQR Capital Management founder has a long record of pushing back against antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric. After the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, Asness condemned Mamdani’s comments on Israel, and in 2023, he halted donations to the University of Pennsylvania after it hosted what he called an “antisemitic Burning Man fest.”

Asness, who launched his quantitative hedge fund in Manhattan in 1998 before relocating to Greenwich, Connecticut in 2004, now oversees $165 billion in assets. His remarks echoed those of other major figures in finance who view Mamdani’s economic ideas as reckless.

Fortress Investment Group co-CEO Drew McKnight previously warned that Mamdani’s housing platform would devastate New York’s property market. “You’ll just make it impossible to have new supply. Unfortunately, it could do damage to the people he’s trying to help,” McKnight told The Post in an earlier interview.

The warnings come as the mayoral race tightens. A new poll released Monday showed Mamdani barely ahead, holding 43.9% support to independent Andrew Cuomo’s 39.4%, with Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa far behind at 15.5%.

Critics note that Mamdani himself personally benefits from rent stabilization. Despite earning $143,000 a year as a state legislator, he lives with his wife in a rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, paying just $2,300 per month.

The city’s rent stabilization system governs about one million apartments, limiting annual rent increases as determined by a mayor-appointed board. While designed to help low- and middle-income tenants, many wealthier residents also occupy the below-market units.

Wall Street insiders have been increasingly uneasy about Mamdani’s economic agenda, fearing his victory could trigger major disruption to New York’s financial ecosystem. Several firms have reportedly discussed moving operations to Dallas to avoid potential new taxes championed by left-wing policymakers.

Back in July, a meeting between Mamdani and top finance executives arranged by business leader Kathryn Wylde fell apart when several CEOs, including JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, refused to attend — a sign of the growing rift between New York’s financial establishment and its possible next mayor.

Independent mayoral contender Andrew Cuomo made an impassioned appeal to New Yorkers on Election Day, calling the vote the defining moment for both the city and the Democratic Party. Despite losing the June primary to Zohran Mamdani, Cuomo pressed forward as an independent, insisting that the stakes were too high to sit this one out.

“I’m not a kid, but this is the most important election of my lifetime,” Cuomo said shortly before noon as he cast his ballot at the High School of Art and Design on 56th Street in Manhattan.

The onetime governor warned that the outcome would shape not only New York’s trajectory but the future of his own party, blasting Mamdani’s progressive platform as dangerous and divisive. “This is going to determine the future of the city of New York. It may also determine the future of the Democratic Party,” he said, accusing his rival of pushing a “democratic socialist agenda” out of touch with everyday New Yorkers.

Cuomo portrayed himself as the antidote to extremism, saying, “This is frightening stuff and I think that’s why you’re seeing New Yorkers react and New Yorkers turn out. I’m offering the exact opposite.”

His comments came just hours after President Trump unexpectedly threw his support behind him, praising Cuomo in a Truth Social post that sent political shockwaves through both parties. “I would much rather see a Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE,” Trump wrote.

Cuomo, careful to distance himself from the endorsement, told reporters, “The president doesn’t support me. The president opposes Mamdani.” Still, he acknowledged that Trump’s move had strategic reasoning behind it.

Pressed by reporters as he made his way to his car, Cuomo described Trump as “pragmatic,” suggesting the endorsement was less about him and more about blocking Mamdani’s rise. “The president is nothing if not pragmatic,” Cuomo said beside his white Ford Bronco.

“There is no chance for Sliwa to win, and in effect, a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani and I agree with him there,” he added, referring to GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa.

{Matzav.com}

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir issued a stark warning to Israel’s leadership regarding the terrorists still entrenched in Rafah, declaring, “No militant may be allowed to leave alive-unless the body of Hadar Goldin, of blessed memory, is returned.”

His pointed message came as reports surfaced that Israel was considering an arrangement that would permit militants to cross into Hamas-controlled areas in exchange for surrendering their weapons. The proposal met intense backlash from right-wing circles, ultimately leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject any such move.

Over the past several days, Zamir has repeatedly emphasized his stance to senior officials, insisting that no Rafah militants should be granted passage or release until the remains of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin—who fell in Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and whose body remains held by Hamas—are brought home.

Following Zamir’s declaration, Minister Bezalel Smotrich took to X to voice his support, writing, “Hamas must be destroyed and all our fallen must be buried in the Land of Israel.”

{Matzav.com}

Elon Musk unleashed harsh criticism on Tuesday against New York City’s mayoral ballot, calling it a “scam” and accusing election officials of stacking the deck. The tech mogul took issue with the way candidates were listed, particularly the placement of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.

The ballot features both Mamdani and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa twice, while Eric Adams remains on the list even though he withdrew from the race. As a result, Cuomo — who entered as an independent and recently won Musk’s endorsement — was pushed to the second line alongside Jim Walden and Joseph Hernandez.

Under New York’s fusion voting system, candidates can appear more than once if backed by multiple parties. Mamdani is listed on both the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, while Sliwa appears under the Republican and Protect Animals parties. That arrangement forces Cuomo’s name to the bottom right corner, beside a dropout and a little-known candidate.

“The New York City ballot form is a scam! No ID is required. Other mayoral candidates appear twice. Cuomo’s name is last in bottom right,” Musk fumed in a post on X.

Musk added another jab at Mamdani, writing, “Given that he’s on the ballot twice, maybe he can win twice too.”

Both Musk and President Donald Trump have warned that votes for Sliwa would only help Mamdani. They’ve urged conservatives and independents to consolidate behind Cuomo instead.

“Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. VOTE CUOMO!” Musk posted Monday.

Trump echoed the same message on Truth Social: “A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani. Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

More than eighteen months after disturbing footage from Meron shocked the public, the Border Police reservists who were seen violently clashing with mispa­llelim at the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai will not face any form of punishment, neither criminal nor disciplinary.

According to a report by i24, the disciplinary charges were canceled due to a procedural blunder in the scheduling process by the police’s own disciplinary department.

Videos from that tragic Lag BaOmer pilgrimage captured scenes that left many Yidden deeply pained: officers were seen pushing Rabbi Avraham Kreuzer to the ground, one officer punched a chareidi man and even drew his weapon, firing into the air when there was no clear threat to his life. Another clip showed a female officer striking an elderly woman. All those involved were serving in the reserves at the time.

Although the Police Internal Investigations Department recommended disciplinary proceedings after deciding not to pursue criminal charges, the follow-up collapsed when the disciplinary unit failed to file the indictment within the legally mandated time frame. By law, a reservist can only be brought to a disciplinary hearing within ninety days of the completion of his reserve duty.

The prosecution tried to argue that the ninety-day clock continues to run so long as the individual remains subject to reserve duty. However, the court sided with the defense, ruling that the countdown ends with the conclusion of that specific reserve service during which the alleged offense took place.

In its ruling, the court added that the prosecution’s stance could discourage reservists from volunteering for service in the Border Police. The ruling effectively shuts the case entirely—no criminal record, no disciplinary action, and no further proceedings.

At the time of the incident, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir contacted Border Police Commander Inspector General Yitzchak Brick, and together they agreed that the three officers involved would be suspended until the investigation reached its conclusion.

{Matzav.com}