Matzav

The White House dinner held in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became the backdrop for President Donald Trump’s announcement that the newly formed Board of Peace—tasked with directing Gaza’s administration through 2027—will be populated by an unusually high-profile roster of world leaders.

In welcoming the Crown Prince, Trump expressed his desire for Saudi participation. “I hope your highness will be on the board,” Trump said, adding that “everybody wants to be on the board, and it’ll end up being quite a large board because it’ll be the heads of every major country.”

The Board of Peace had been formally empowered only a day earlier, after the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing the US-led body to supervise Gaza for the next two years as a central component of Trump’s 20-point plan for stabilizing the region.

During the dinner, Trump acknowledged the Crown Prince’s involvement in helping secure last month’s ceasefire. He refrained from detailing the negotiations but voiced optimism about the ongoing efforts. “While it looks a little bit messy… [Gaza] is getting very close to being perfected,” Trump claimed.

He also highlighted the return of hostages since the end of the conflict, though his remarks misstated that Hamas still possesses two bodies of hostages rather than the confirmed total of three. Still, he emphasized the significance of the concessions achieved so far, saying, “A lot of work has been done by Hamas, and a lot of a lot of people said they wouldn’t be doing that.”

Earlier, Trump and the Crown Prince held a separate working meeting at the White House. According to the administration, the session concluded with both sides locking in a broad package of new accords intended to substantially expand and reinforce the strategic relationship between Washington and Riyadh.

{Matzav.com}

We are pleased to inform you that the sugya d’kallah of this year’s Agudas Yisroel Yerushalayim Yarchei Kallah is “אם כסף תלוה :מצות הלוואה – Im Kesef Talveh: Mitzvas Halva’ah.”

The Yarchei Kallah is set to take place be’ezras Hashem in Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh during President’s Week, from Sunday, כ”ח שבט תשפ”ו / February 15, 2026, through Thursday, ב’ אדר תשפ”ו / February 19, 2026.

This year’s limud will explore the many dimensions of this vital mitzvah, including the obligation to lend money, the borrower’s responsibility to repay, the halachic framework of loan collection, the role of the ערב (guarantor), and numerous practical scenarios. Topics will range from gemachim and bankruptcy to halachic discharge, as well as many other timely and challenging issues.

Below are two documents:

1. A memorandum authored by the head of our program, Rav Shlomo Gottesman, which outlines in greater detail the subtopics and methodology of this year’s limud.
2. A tentative schedule of hachanah shiurim, to be delivered by Rav Gottesman along with distinguished dayanim and rabbonim, both live and via Zoom. The schedule is still in formation, but we hope to begin shortly so that participants can be as well-prepared as possible. A preliminary list of mareh mekomos is also attached.

Please note that all Zoom shiurim will include scanned source materials for convenient limud. Everyone is invited to participate in these shiurim, even if one is unsure about attending the Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim, as the hachanah program itself provides a valuable Torah experience.

We also plan to establish a dedicated chat/text group to facilitate communication among the maggidei shiur, participants, and organizers.

If you have not yet registered for the Yarchei Kallah, we encourage you to do so by clicking HERE. Please note that the early bird registration special of $774, instead of $899, expires shortly.

If you would like assistance with purchasing a plane ticket, we can connect you with our recommended travel agent.

Looking forward to providing you with additional updates in the weeks ahead, be’ezras Hashem.

Sugya D’Kallah Overview

One of the defining features of the AIA Yarchei Kallah is its structured program of hachanah. Over the past two decades, we have consistently seen that the more yegiah that participants invest in preparing the sugyos beforehand, the more meaningful and enduring their limud becomes.

Despite the many Torah responsibilities that our participants already carry, a remarkable number devote significant time to advance study, an investment that yields extraordinary dividends. Coming prepared to a shiur from Rav Dovid Cohen, Rav Issamar Garbuz or Rav Nissan Kaplan transforms the entire experience. The geshmak in learning and the clarity achieved through prior preparation are immeasurable.

With the help of Zoom, lomdim have been able to engage in pre-program learning and discussion, building lasting relationships with maggidei shiur and fellow participants. Our goal is to maintain, and further expand, what has effectively become a four-month pre-Yarchei Kallah yeshiva. To date, this initiative has produced thousands of hours of limud b’iyun, and we look forward to continuing this avodas hakodesh in the months ahead.

Overview of the Sugyos

This year’s sugya, “אם כסף תלוה :מצות הלוואה”—the mitzvah of lending—encompasses many complex subtopics. While we will not be able to cover every detail, we have identified several core areas that will provide participants with a deep understanding of both the yesodos and the pratim of the halachos.

1. The Mitzvah to Lend Money

We will explore the yesod of this mitzvah and its sources in Chazal, both Shas and Medrashei halacha. The major shitos of the Rishonim, including the Rambam, Sefer HaChinuch, Sefer Mitzvos Gadol, and Rabbeinu Yonah, will be examined, along with the poskim—the Tur, Shulchan Aruch, and their commentaries.

The Acharonim have written extensively on this subject, particularly the Chofetz Chaim in Sefer Ahavas Chesed, which will serve as a central reference. Among the questions to be studied:

• To whom does the obligation to lend apply (including lending to the wealthy)?
• The relationship between lending and tzedakah and which takes precedence.
• The duty to lend even when it may entail financial loss (chayecha kodmim considerations).
• The heter iska and its place within this mitzvah.
• Related issues such as store credit, non-monetary loans, and gemachim.

While ribbis will not be the main focus, its intersection with halva’ah will be noted.

1. Loans and Collections

We will delve into the issur of “Lo sihyeh lo k’nosheh,” which governs the lender’s behavior toward the borrower, including taking a mashkon, entering the borrower’s home, and avoiding coercive collection tactics.

Additional discussions will include:

• The permissibility of requesting repayment when uncertain of the borrower’s means.
• Whether a lender may require the borrower to work to repay.
• The concept of mesadrin l’baal chov (arranging payment terms).
• The modern definition of assets in halachic terms.
• How these principles interact with priyas baal chov mitzvah.

1. The Role of the ערב (Guarantor)

This section will explore the lomdus behind the concept of ערבות, focusing on sugyos in Kiddushin and Bava Basra. We will analyze:

• Whether a kinyan is required and why ערבות is not considered an asmachta.
• Various classifications of ערב and their obligations.
• The shitos of Rishonim and Acharonim regarding acceptance of liability.
• The implications if the lender did not rely on the ערב.
• Potential issues of mazik and shlichus in assuming responsibility.
• Practical applications in modern finance, such as title insurance, corporate guarantees, and mortgage arrangements.

1. Forgiveness and Bankruptcy

We will study the halachic frameworks that dissolve debt, including shemittas kesafim, yei’ush, and mechilah. Each has distinct implications for both lender and borrower.

The modern issue of bankruptcy in halacha will be analyzed through the lens of contemporary poskim, considering how secular financial systems align—or conflict—with Torah law.

While the scope of this sugya is vast, we will, as always, strive to present it in an accessible, organized, and engaging manner, ensuring that every participant gains clarity, lomdus, and simchas haTorah at their own level.

Appendix B — Hachanah Shiur Schedule (Tentative) and Maareh Mekomos

Our goal is to accommodate the widest possible audience. This schedule will be updated as the program develops.

Segment 1: The Mitzvah of Lending Money

Opening Session:
Tuesday, November 18 — 8:00–9:00 PM

Subsequent Sessions:
Thursday, November 20 — 8:00–8:40 PM
Tuesday, November 25 — 8:00–9:00 PM
Thursday, November 27 — Thanksgiving Schedule

Special Live Shiur:
Bais Medrash Chayei Yisroel, Lakewood
Thursday, November 27 — 11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Maggid Shiur: To Be Announced

Continued Schedule:
Thursday, November 27 — 8:00–8:40 PM
Tuesday, December 2 — 8:00–9:00 PM
Thursday, December 4 — 8:00–8:40 PM

The weekly schedule will continue similarly, with additional special live shiurim announced as applicable.

מראי מקומות לימוד מצות הלואה

א. שמות כב, כד – כז, דברים ט”ו, ז-י”א וברש”י.

ב.מכילתא  פ’ משפטים פ’ יט

ג. ב”מ ע”א. “ותני רב יוסף”

ד. ספר המצות להרמב”ם מצוה קצ”ז

ה. ס’ החינוך מצוה ס”ז

ו. סמ”ג מ”ע קס”ב

ז. שערי תשובה (ח”ג אות ס”ז)

רמב”ם ה’ מלוה ולווה פ”א

שו”ע חו”מ ס’ צ”ז סע’ א.

חפץ חיים ספר אהבת חסד – מצות הלואה

{Matzav.com}

A team of Australian scientists has delivered a stark warning to academics leaning on AI to speed up their work: ChatGPT’s newest model, GPT-4o, still produces an alarming number of fake or flawed citations. The Deakin University researchers found that more than half of the references the system generated for mental-health literature reviews were either fabricated outright or riddled with inaccuracies.

In their experiment, the researchers asked GPT-4o to craft six literature reviews across three psychiatric conditions. The chatbot produced 176 citations. Of those, 19.9 percent were entirely made up. And even among the 141 references that actually existed, nearly half—45.4 percent—contained mistakes ranging from incorrect publication years to bogus page numbers and broken digital object identifiers.

Just 77 citations, or 43.8 percent, were both real and correct. The rest—56.2 percent—were unusable for scientific purposes, a finding the authors say should trouble any academic who relies on generative AI to support scholarship. The study, published in JMIR Mental Health, also examined when and why the model was especially prone to errors.

The fake citations frequently appeared legitimate at first glance. GPT-4o provided DOIs for 33 of the 35 fabricated entries, and 64 percent of those links sent users to actual published papers that had nothing to do with the AI-generated claims. Another 36 percent were pure fiction—non-functioning or invalid DOIs that went nowhere. In either case, the references were completely disconnected from the content ChatGPT had written.

Lead researcher Jake Linardon and his team tested how the accuracy shifted depending on topic familiarity and specificity. They chose major depressive disorder, binge eating disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder—conditions with dramatically different public profiles and research volume. Depression is widely studied, with hundreds of clinical trials on digital therapies. Body dysmorphic disorder, by contrast, has far fewer digital-treatment publications.

The differences were striking. When GPT-4o wrote about major depressive disorder, only 6 percent of the citations were fabricated. But when it covered binge eating disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, those numbers shot up to 28 percent and 29 percent. Even among the citations that were real, accuracy varied wildly: 64 percent for depression, 60 percent for binge eating disorder, and a mere 29 percent for body dysmorphic disorder.

The researchers then compared general summaries with narrowly focused reviews. For binge eating disorder, the specificity mattered enormously—fabrication jumped to 46 percent for specialized requests, compared to 17 percent when the AI wrote general overviews. This pattern did not hold uniformly across all disorders, but it demonstrated that precision prompts can dramatically increase the hallucination rate in some areas.

These findings come at a time when AI use in scientific work is exploding. Nearly 70 percent of mental-health researchers report using ChatGPT for tasks like literature summarization and early manuscript writing. Many praise the efficiency boost, but the risk of misleading content remains a serious concern.

The authors warn that citation errors aren’t minor inconveniences—they damage scientific integrity. Citations are the scaffolding of academic discourse, guiding readers to supporting evidence and linking new work to existing knowledge. When references point to unrelated or nonexistent material, the entire chain of scholarship falters.

The study highlighted that DOIs were the most error-prone element of AI-generated references, with a 36.2 percent failure rate. Problems with author lists were least common at 14.9 percent, but publication dates, journals, volume numbers, and page ranges all showed significant error levels.

Linardon’s team stresses that every AI-generated reference requires verification against original sources. They encourage academic journals to adopt more stringent safeguards—such as using plagiarism-detection software to flag citations that don’t match any known database entry. Universities, they add, should create clear rules around AI use in scholarly writing, including training researchers to spot fabricated references and requiring transparency about AI involvement.

Importantly, the study found no sign that more advanced AI models have solved the hallucination problem. While direct comparisons across versions are difficult, citation fabrication remained prevalent across every test condition, despite expectations that GPT-4o would perform more reliably.

The authors argue that topic maturity and public familiarity heavily shape citation reliability. AI may be safer for well-established subjects but becomes increasingly unreliable when handling niche or newly emerging research fields. Accuracy, in other words, is not random—it is tightly linked to the strength of the underlying training data.

For now, the researchers say ChatGPT should function only as a starting tool, one that can help outline ideas or generate draft material, but never as a source of dependable citations. Human oversight remains essential, and verification cannot be outsourced.

The study also raises broader questions about how generative AI systems should be designed for academic use. If topic-based predictability can indicate when hallucinations are more likely, AI platforms might incorporate built-in alerts or verification prompts for specialized or sparse research areas.

As journals and funding agencies increasingly require explicit AI-use disclosures, the findings underscore why these policies matter. Without strong editorial safeguards, fabricated references could pass through peer review, seep into published work, distort future research, and create long-term damage across scientific disciplines.

The researchers caution that the challenge isn’t merely individual—it’s systemic. Once false citations enter the academic ecosystem, they can spread through citation networks like contaminants. Preventing that outcome requires institutional policies, editorial vigilance, and a clear understanding that while AI can accelerate research tasks, it cannot yet be trusted to anchor the scientific record.

The Education Department said Tuesday that it will move several of its offices to other federal departments, a unilateral effort aimed at dismantling an agency created by Congress to ensure equal access to educational opportunity but long derided by conservatives as ineffective.

The department has signed interagency agreements to outsource six offices to other agencies, including those that administer $28 billion in grants to K-12 schools and $3.1 billion for programs that help students finish college.

There was considerable speculation that the $15 billion program to support students with disabilities would be included in the announcement, but it was not. Other major functions of the Education Department, including its Office for Civil Rights and the federal student aid program, also were not affected by Tuesday’s changes, but a senior department official told reporters that officials are still exploring options for moving those programs elsewhere in the government.

President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to shut down the agency, created in 1979, and in March, he signed an executive order seeking its elimination. He asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon to work with Congress to do so, but lawmakers have not acted or seriously considered Trump’s request.

That is at least in part because to clear the Senate, any legislation would require Democratic support, which appears highly unlikely.

McMahon and her backers advocate a shake-up of the federal education role, saying that falling test scores show the agency is not delivering and arguing that Americans are tired of government bureaucracy.

Supporters of the Education Department counter that administering education programs under one roof helps coordinate policy and better serves schools and students. The agency, they say, helps ensure that priorities important to students, parents and schools are high on the federal agenda. And they say it is illegal for the Trump administration to break up the department without congressional approval.

McMahon has acknowledged that only Congress can eliminate the department, but she has vowed to work to dismantle it from within. She has said the agency’s functions can easily be carried out elsewhere in the government, perhaps more effectively. This fall, she took a first step and moved career and technical education programs, including adult education and family literacy initiatives, to the Labor Department.

“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” McMahon said in a statement Tuesday. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.”

Shifting offices to other parts of the government will not by itself remove red tape or alter the power that Washington exerts over states and school districts. States and school boards already control most education decisions, but the Education Department enforces rules that are embedded in federal programs, such as requirements for grant funding.

Asked how moving offices to other departments will return education to the states, the senior official said states will have to work with fewer federal agencies. She argued that education’s purpose is to prepare students for the workforce.

“Nowhere is that better housed than the Department of Labor,” she said.

But most K-12 schools do not typically work with the Labor Department now. The K-12 grant programs that Labor stands to take on address a plethora of subjects not directly related to the workforce, such as support for children in poverty, after-school programs and aid for rural education. Critics noted that under this arrangement, states and school districts will be required to engage with more – not fewer – federal agencies.

“It is difficult to see how transferring cornerstone programs … out of the department will result in streamlined operations, especially for the nation’s small, rural and low-capacity districts,” said David R. Schuler, executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) noted that federal law requires an act of Congress to close the department. She said in a statement that the administration is pretending that the constitutional separation of powers is “a mere suggestion.”

“This is an outright illegal effort to continue dismantling the Department of Education,” Murray said. “And it is students and families who will suffer the consequences as key programs that help students learn to read or that strengthen ties between schools and families are spun off to agencies with little to no relevant expertise.”

Under the new agreements, the Labor Department will inherit the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, including 27 K-12 grant programs, and the Office of Postsecondary Education, which administers 14 programs to help students enroll in and complete college. The Education Department will move the Indian education program to the Interior Department; child care access and foreign medical education to the Department of Health and Human Services; and foreign-language education to the State Department.

Some of these are lower-profile offices without large constituencies that might vocally oppose the moves. By contrast, there was an outpouring of concern among disability advocates amid rumors that special-education programs would be moved.

The senior department official said Tuesday that the interagency agreements will ensure that experts from the Education Department still manage the day-to-day operations of the programs.

Federal law requires that many of the programs be housed in the Education Department. The interagency agreements amount to a work-around under which policy decisions will remain with the Education Department but the programs will be administered elsewhere. Staffers who work on the programs are expected to move to the new agencies.

The senior official said these types of arrangements have been used many times before. But in this case, officials are hoping that the transfers will lay the groundwork for eventually closing the agency altogether.

The announcement was welcomed by House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Michigan), who has noted that there is not enough support in the Senate to pass legislation to eliminate the department.

On Tuesday, he praised the actions as a much-needed break from the status quo at the Education Department, where, he contended, bureaucracy and liberal ideology have wasted taxpayer dollars and failed students.

“The Trump administration is making good on its promise to fix the nation’s broken system by right-sizing the Department of Education to improve student outcomes,” he said. “It’s time to get our nation’s students back on track.”

But public education advocates were furious.

“This administration is taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement.

McMahon has made the case for eliminating the Education Department in appearances across the country. Last month, department spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said the agency was exploring the move of special-education services to another agency.

“Secretary McMahon has been very clear that her goal is to put herself out of a job by shutting down the Department of Education and returning education to the states,” Biedermann said in October.

The Trump administration laid the groundwork for this change earlier this year when it signed an agreement to move career, technical and adult education grants out of the Education Department to the Labor Department. Under the arrangement, Education retains oversight and leadership while managing the programs alongside Labor, a way of sidestepping the federal statute.

“We believe that other department functions would benefit from similar collaborations,” McMahon wrote in an op-ed essay published Sunday in USA Today.

More broadly, McMahon argued that the recently ended government shutdown showed how unnecessary her agency is.

“Students kept going to class. Teachers continued to get paid. There were no disruptions in sports seasons or bus routes,” she wrote. “The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states.”

The agency has taken other steps to shrink itself, including reducing its staff, which stood at 4,133 at the start of Trump’s term. That number was cut by about half earlier this year through layoffs and incentives to resign or retire.

The administration also tried to lay off an additional 465 people during the shutdown, a move that was blocked by a court and then reversed in the legislation signed to reopen the government.

After the government reopened, the Education Department mocked itself as irrelevant.

On social media, it posted a fake out-of-office message that it jokingly suggested its workers use: “We might be away from our desks … creating more red tape, and doing nothing to improve student outcomes.” It was signed, “Bureaucratically Yours.” In another post, the agency asked, “Let’s be honest: did you really miss us at all?”

(c) 2025 , The Washington Post · Laura Meckler, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel 

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, dismissed the idea of U.S. military action on Mexican soil after Donald Trump suggested he might authorize strikes against drug traffickers south of the border. Speaking at a press conference, she brushed aside the proposal entirely. “It’s not going to happen,” she said, responding directly to Trump’s vow to do “whatever we have to do,” including potential operations inside Mexico.

Trump had raised the possibility during remarks in the Oval Office, insisting fentanyl trafficking warranted extreme measures. “Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? It’s OK with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs,” he said. He then added, “I didn’t say I’m doing it, but I’d be proud to do it. Because we’re going to save millions of lives by doing it.”

His comments came as Washington continues a sweeping show of force in the Caribbean. Since September, the U.S. military has deployed the largest regional presence since the Cold War and carried out dozens of lethal air attacks on boats it claims were transporting narcotics. At least 83 individuals have been killed in those strikes, though U.S. officials have not released evidence proving the targets were involved in drug smuggling.

The escalating posture isn’t limited to maritime operations. Trump also signaled he would not eliminate the possibility of sending troops into Venezuela. Pressed on whether a ground invasion was off the table, he responded, “No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything.” He also said, “At a certain period of time, I’ll be talking to [Maduro],” while arguing that the Venezuelan ruler “has not been good to the United States.” Emphasizing the scale of migration from Venezuela, Trump said, “We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons.”

Shortly afterward, Nicolas Maduro responded on his weekly broadcast, announcing his willingness to engage directly with Washington. He said he was prepared to meet “face to face” with anyone in the United States “who wants to talk to Venezuela.”

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine contingent is training in Trinidad and Tobago—the second round of joint drills there in under a month. The island nation, less than ten miles from Venezuela at its closest point, has emphasized that it will not be used for offensive military operations. Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a close ally of Trump, rejected any speculation that her country might serve as a staging ground. “The US has NEVER requested use of our territory to launch any attacks against the people of Venezuela,” she said. She added that “Trinidad and Tobago will not participate in any act that could harm the Venezuelan people,” and insisted disputes between Washington and Caracas must be resolved through dialogue.

Venezuela’s government, for its part, accuses the U.S. of trying to topple Maduro by amassing warships, stealth aircraft, and other assets near its shores. Washington counters by alleging that Maduro presides over a “terrorist” drug-trafficking operation—an accusation the Venezuelan leader firmly denies.

{Matzav.com}

WhatsApp’s effortless contact discovery—the feature that lets anyone plug in a phone number and instantly see if it belongs to a user—has long been touted as part of its appeal. But, Wired.com reports, the same mechanism that makes onboarding simple also created an enormous privacy gap: cycling through every possible number worldwide allowed researchers to gather the phone numbers of nearly every WhatsApp user on the planet, along with profile photos and public text for many of them.

A team from Austria demonstrated that by repeatedly querying WhatsApp’s contact system through the web interface, they were able to retrieve 3.5 billion phone numbers tied to WhatsApp accounts. For 57 percent of those numbers, the researchers could also view profile photos; for 29 percent, they could read public “about” text. They accomplished this because Meta had imposed no practical limit on how many lookups they could perform, allowing them to sweep through roughly 100 million numbers per hour.

The scale of the exposure stunned the researchers, who wrote that the trove of information would have constituted “the largest data leak in history, had it not been collated as part of a responsibly conducted research study.” One of the authors, Aljosha Judmayer, noted, “To the best of our knowledge, this marks the most extensive exposure of phone numbers and related user data ever documented.”

Meta was notified in April, and the researchers deleted all 3.5 billion numbers they had collected. By October, WhatsApp had implemented new rate limits to prevent such mass scraping from recurring. But until the fix was put in place, the researchers warn, anyone else could have performed the same type of data sweep. As Max Günther put it, “If this could be retrieved by us super easily, others could have also done the same.”

In a statement to WIRED, Meta thanked the researchers and emphasized that users who had set their privacy options to restrict their profiles remained protected. “We had already been working on industry-leading anti-scraping systems, and this study was instrumental in stress-testing and confirming the immediate efficacy of these new defenses,” wrote WhatsApp engineering vice president Nitin Gupta. He added, “We have found no evidence of malicious actors abusing this vector. As a reminder, user messages remained private and secure thanks to WhatsApp’s default end-to-end encryption, and no non-public data was accessible to the researchers.”

The researchers, however, say that they never encountered the “defenses” Meta referenced—pointing out that this isn’t the first time WhatsApp has been warned. In 2017, Dutch researcher Loran Kloeze demonstrated that the same enumeration technique could reveal numbers, profile pictures, and online status. At the time, Meta (then Facebook) argued the platform was functioning as designed and told him he did not qualify for a bug bounty.

Asked by WIRED what protections were implemented in the years that followed, Meta asserted that evolving measures—including rate-limiting and machine-learning systems to detect scrapers—had been deployed. Yet the University of Vienna researchers not only reproduced Kloeze’s discovery, they expanded it dramatically by enumerating all 3.5 billion global accounts. They also analyzed how many users publicly exposed personal information, with 44 percent of the 137 million identifiable American numbers showing profile photos and 33 percent including visible “about” text.

In countries where WhatsApp permeates daily life, even higher percentages left profile photos open. The researchers collected nearly 750 million Indian numbers, 62 percent with photos visible, and 206 million Brazilian numbers, 61 percent displaying profile images publicly.

Their discovery came accidentally last year when they were studying other aspects of WhatsApp’s metadata. They noticed the absence of rate limits and tried enumerating US phone numbers. Within 30 minutes, they had gathered 30 million. “So we were kind of surprised. And then we just kept going,” recalls researcher Gabriel Gegenhuber.

Such a dataset would be invaluable to spammers, scammers, and criminal operations. But the implications extend beyond nuisance calls. The researchers identified millions of WhatsApp accounts registered in countries where the platform is banned—2.3 million numbers in China and 1.6 million in Myanmar. Governments hostile to WhatsApp could have used the same enumeration technique to identify and potentially target citizens using the app illegally. Reports have suggested that in China, some Muslims have been detained simply for having WhatsApp installed.

The Vienna team also examined the cryptographic keys associated with each account—keys used in WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. They found an unexpected problem: many accounts shared identical keys. In some cases, hundreds of users were tied to the same key, and 20 US numbers even had an all-zero encryption key. The researchers suspect that these anomalies point to unauthorized or modified WhatsApp clients, possibly used by scam networks whose tools break standard encryption behavior.

At the heart of the issue, the researchers argue, is the flawed assumption that phone numbers make suitable identity tokens for a platform used by billions. Phone numbers simply do not contain enough randomness to serve as secure, secret identifiers—especially when the entire number space can be scanned. If WhatsApp insists on linking accounts to phone numbers for effortless discovery, they say, then no anti-scraping solution will ever feel airtight. WhatsApp is now testing usernames in beta, which could offer a more privacy-preserving alternative.

“Phone numbers were not designed to be used as secret identifiers for accounts, but that’s how they’re used in practice,” Judmayer says. “If you have a big service that’s used by more than a third of the world population, and this is the discovery mechanism, that’s a problem.”

A sweeping federal review has uncovered a massive breakdown in how Commercial Driver’s Licenses are being granted nationwide. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a Fox Business interview that roughly 200,000 foreign nationals have been granted CDLs, and investigators believe that about 194,000 of those licenses may have been issued unlawfully under federal rules.

Duffy stressed that the issue goes beyond paperwork errors, noting that individuals are receiving CDLs despite failing to meet the English-language proficiency required by the Department of Transportation. “People can’t understand the English language, they can’t read signs, and they don’t know the rules of our road. That’s a problem,” Duffy said. “Americans aren’t safe.”

He warned that the problem has been compounded by the rise of “CDL mills,” operations that fast-track foreign applicants through the licensing process with minimal training. According to Duffy, these outfits are pushing through drivers who have barely any grasp of American road regulations.

“We also see that there are CDL mills … people aren’t being properly trained, they’re being pushed through and getting licenses and driving across the country,” Duffy said. He added that the economic fallout has been substantial as well. “It’s driving American truckers out of business. And American trucking companies, driving the wages down,” he continued. “That’s not why we’re taking this action, but that’s a real consequence of having all of those foreigners come in. What we’re going to see is those wages rise.”

The emerging details show just how widespread the problem has become. DOT officials recently disclosed that California’s Department of Motor Vehicles acknowledged improperly granting 17,000 CDLs to foreign truck drivers.

The safety concerns deepened further this week when ICE agents arrested an illegal alien in Kansas — an individual accused of terrorism ties in Uzbekistan — who had been issued a Pennsylvania CDL after being released into the country by the Biden administration.

{Matzav.com}

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A wave of citizens have reported receiving alarming emails that appear to come from the Israel Police, but officials are warning that the messages are fraudulent and part of a cyber-scam attempt.

According to the National Cyber Directorate, numerous reports have come in about emails impersonating the police, often with subject lines such as “Suspicious activity detected on your account” and an attached file labeled as “official.” Police released images of the spoofed messages and emphasized that they are entirely fake.

Both the Israel Police and the National Cyber Directorate issued a joint warning on Tuesday, stressing that the emails are not authentic and urging the public to stay alert.

Authorities highlighted several key points:

– The police do not send emails with files for recipients to open.
– Opening the attached file may allow attackers to gain access to the victim’s computer and personal information.

Officials also outlined what the public should do when receiving such a message:

1. Do not open any attachments or click on any links.

2. Report the email to the National Cyber Directorate’s hotline at 119.

“If it looks too urgent or too important to be real, that’s probably exactly the point,” the Police Spokesperson’s Unit and the Cyber Directorate said in their advisory.

{Matzav.com}

The Satmar Rebbe, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum, currently visiting Eretz Yisroel, intensified his ongoing battle against the draft law and against any dela being advanced in the Knesset. Speaking today to residents of Yerushalayim, the Rebbe delivered an impassioned address, warning that anyone who supports a compromise “hands over tens of thousands of Jewish souls to shmad with full intent.”

The address took place Tuesday afternoon during the Rebbe’s visit to the Kesav Sofer beis medrash in the Geulah neighborhood of Yerushalayim, where people welcomed him with singing and great emotion.

Inside the beis medrash—where Satmar Rebbes of earlier generations also spoke—the Rebbe addressed the crowd wrapped in a tallis, in accordance with local custom. His remarks focused on affirming the community’s steadfast position on religious matters and rejecting any concessions tied to the draft issue.

At the close of his speech, the Rebbe spoke directly about the draft legislation being shaped in the Knesset, issuing a harsh condemnation of all compromise proposals:

“The army is like ‘kol bo’eha lo yashuvun.’ One who enlists in the IDF emerges from there a complete goy, rachmana litzlan. This is a grave violation of religion. Anyone who supports any form of compromise is abandoning thousands of souls to shmad, and it is an injustice for which he will never be able to atone.”

The Rebbe also pushed back against those who advocate partial concessions in an effort to preserve as many bnei Torah as possible, arguing that the comparison to “ten li Yavneh vechachameha” is being twisted.

“Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai did not hand over the rest of the Jewish people to the Romans. He sought to save the sages of Yavneh without taking destructive action. But here—anyone who votes for such a law is actively delivering Jewish souls to shmad. He is raising a hand against the Torah of Moshe!”

He concluded with a fervent call for worldwide outcry: “We must cry out the cry of yahadus chareidis throughout Eretz Yisroel—and throughout the Diaspora as well! May the Ribbono shel Olam have mercy on His people and remove the rule of wickedness from the land. Then the decree will be nullified, and we will merit the arrival of the Goel Tzedek speedily in our days—Amen!”

As reported earlier, during the reception at the Badatz office of the Eida HaChareidis, the Rebbe said he had traveled from the United States specifically to stand with those “waging Hashem’s battles” against what he described as the terrible decree facing the Torah community in Eretz Yisroel.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took part Tuesday evening in a Torah dedication ceremony held in memory of Dr. Moshe Yedidya Leitner, a reservist major and platoon commander in the elite Shaldag unit. Dr. Leitner, the son of Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leitner, was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip.

Family members, friends, and community participants gathered for the writing of the final letters in the Sefer Torah. Netanyahu was invited to write one of the last letters in honor of the fallen officer.

He spoke about the profound grief surrounding Dr. Leitner’s passing. “This is a very emotional moment. I remember visiting you during the shiva. It was heartbreaking. When I learned of Moshe’s death, it shook me to my core. He was a symbol and example of an Israeli, a Jew, who fought for our existence and sacrificed his life for the eternity of Israel, and he also worked tirelessly through the ‘Kudkod’ program to ensure that all of us would join this sacred mission,” he told the family.

The prime minister praised the family’s resilience. “I witnessed the strength of spirit in your home — in the mother, the father, and the siblings. And in you, Yechiel, who now carries the responsibility of representing Israel on one of the world’s most important diplomatic stages, where you present the justice of our cause, our right to this land, our heritage, and our belief in our ultimate victory.”

Reflecting on the broader national struggle, Netanyahu continued: “Over the past two years, we have done much to secure our existence in this land. We confronted Iran’s terror network on all fronts, and we are not finished. Today we faced yet another Palestinian terror attack, and we remain determined to complete the war on every front, including dismantling Hamas’s weaponry and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip so it never again poses a greater threat.”

He stressed that Israel’s most notable triumph is its spirit. “But I believe the greatest victory — the one that surprised the entire world — is the victory of spirit. That spirit is expressed so powerfully in the story of Moshe Leitner’s sacrifice and character, which stands as an example to all of Israel and, I can tell you, to many of Israel’s friends around the world.”

Netanyahu concluded with thanks for being included. “It is a tremendous privilege to be here at this Torah dedication in his name, and I want to bless each and every one of you who is involved in this sacred work of honoring his memory and continuing his mission. May you be blessed.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

During his packed trip to Israel, outgoing New York Mayor Eric Adams sat down with Arutz Sheva–Israel National News and delivered a forceful message about why he felt compelled to come. He said his presence carried a purpose: “It’s so important to be here, to send a very loud and clear message that Israel is still very much an ally of America and an ally of New York City. And as the outgoing mayor, I wanted to come here and send that clear message. We believe that Israel’s tech startups have helped the lives of New Yorkers—not only by making life easier in cities, but also through major health discoveries that have actually saved lives. We want that partnership to continue, and that’s the conversation I’m going to have with the governmental leaders.”

Adams noted that the rhetoric coming from the incoming administration deeply troubled him. He pointed to proposals calling for “divestments in Israel, not taking Israel investment into our pension funds,” a move he said ran counter to reality. “Mind you, those investments are doing very well for our pension funds,” he emphasized.

He voiced further alarm over efforts being floated to weaken the city’s tools to fight hatred. “It’s troubling to hear about the dismantling of the IHRA definition of antisemitism,” Adams said, noting he was also disturbed by “the thoughts of removing our office to combat antisemitism, all of the things we put in place to go after the steady increase in antisemitism in our city. We started to see and notice a decline because of what we have done. So to dismantle those initiatives is moving us in the wrong direction.”

Turning to incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani, Adams criticized statements signaling hostility toward Israel. “I think that when you talk about not doing business with Israel, not willing to acknowledge that you’re going to march in an Israel Day Parade, not being willing to state you’re going to come and visit Israel and other countries—it sends a wrong message.”

He tied that message to the extreme elements of the city’s political fringe. “I know those who are part of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA),” Adams said. “And those who marched in our streets saying horrific things; that is a clear sign of antisemitism to me. When you look at some of the signs, some of the Nazi stickers, when you talk about ‘from the river to the sea,’ these are all code words and buzzwords that are indicators of antisemitism. And we have to be honest about what’s in front of us.”

Adams said his stance was consistent across all communities. “I stood up against racism. I stood up against hate against our Chinese community and Asian violence, and I’m going to continue to stand up for the people of the city of New York.”

Responding to growing anxiety among Jews in the city, Adams urged them to remain rooted. “I don’t think they should. I think that we should stand our ground and fight for our right to exist. New York City has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and they have contributed so much to the city in arts and science and public protection and innovation. They should remain, but they should have situational awareness.”

He added that the sheer volume of hatred in public discourse requires vigilance: “There are far too many people out there who are spewing hate, and they have actually contributed to the antisemitic sentiment that’s out there. There are far too many, and they should have situational awareness, as I would tell anyone if I believe that there’s a high level of hate pointed toward them.”

Reflecting on his administration, Adams highlighted the groundwork he believes must not be undone. “Because of the implementation of some of the things that we have done around the IRA definition, around combating antisemitism, putting the first Jewish advisory council in place, and just visiting synagogues and interacting with our Jewish brothers and sisters and others, in our ‘Breaking Bread, Building Bonds’ initiative, we were proactive and reactive. We also sent a loud message to the police department that we will investigate every act of hate in general, but specifically antisemitism. You saw that we started to see the numbers move in the right direction, seeing a decrease in antisemitism. We need to continue that. That’s why it’s important as we hand off the baton to the next administration. They must be as aggressive as we have been around this topic.”

Even so, he acknowledged the fear gripping the community. “We’re seeing what’s playing out across the globe, and if Jews don’t feel safe in Israel and don’t feel safe in a city with the largest Jewish population, then how could we state that they don’t have a concern of being fearful? And I understand their fear. I would have that same fear.”

Still, his visit left him energized about what lies ahead. “I’m really excited about being here and seeing what innovations we could continue to share with New Yorkers. We saw some amazing innovations yesterday as we visited several companies, and I’m going to encourage the next administration to look at some of these innovations and to encourage them to partner with the tech startups. I started that at the beginning of my administration. It has been a successful collaboration. We need to continue to do so, and we must allow Israel to continue to invest our pension funds because that helps working-class people.”

As he prepares to leave office, Adams said he is looking forward to pursuing long-delayed personal goals. “I’m excited. You know, many people know I want to write my book. I want to also go back to school to get my PhD, and I have a few business interests that I’m going to be announcing in the upcoming weeks.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

A man from Grand Rapids who happens to share the same name as Vice President JD Vance has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting he issued violent threats toward the vice president, President Trump, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump Jr.

Prosecutors said that James Donald “JD” Vance Jr., 67, used the alias “Diaperjdv” while posting a series of alarming messages on the BlueSky platform. The US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan said he acknowledged in court that his posts targeted national leaders with explicit threats.

Investigators highlighted a message he posted on April 1, one that prompted immediate federal attention. “If tRump, Vance, or Musk ever come to my city again, they will leave it in a body bag,” he allegedly wrote. The same post included his fatalistic comment: “I will either be shot by a secret service sniper or spend the rest of my life in prison. I’ve only got about 10 years of life left anyway so I don’t … care either way.”

Authorities said his threats were not limited to those figures. On March 7, he posted about Donald Trump Jr. in response to an article titled “Donald Trump Jr. Considering a Run for President in 2028.” In that message, Vance declared, “I will murder that stupid f—ker before he gets secret service protection,” according to federal agents.

The Michigan resident ultimately pleaded guilty to two felony charges: threatening to kill or harm the president and vice president, and transmitting interstate threats. Officials said those admissions left no doubt about the seriousness of the case.

United States Attorney Timothy VerHey condemned Vance’s conduct, noting that online threats of this nature strike at the core of democratic safety. VerHey said such behavior creates “fear and damages our democratic ideals.” In his statement, he added, “When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished.”

Authorities clarified that the defendant has no connection to the actual vice president. The VP was born as James Donald Bowman before legally changing his name to James David Vance.

The Secret Service’s Grand Rapids office has been dealing with a surge of similar cases. Officials noted this was the second such federal prosecution in recent weeks.

Just last month, prosecutors secured an 18-month prison sentence for Richard James Spring of Comstock Park. Court documents show Spring threatened online to sexually assault a woman in front of President Trump and then kill him. Investigators said he also posted menacing messages on TikTok, including, “You’re going to watch your god DIE.”

Secret Service officials said the agency treats these threats with maximum seriousness. William Shink, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office, issued a pointed warning: “Threats against our nation’s leaders and their families will not be tolerated.” He continued, “Individuals who threaten the President, Vice President or any U.S. Secret Service protectee will be investigated and held accountable for their actions.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman take questions from reporters as they work to negotiate terms for the Abraham Accords, F-35 fighter jets and more.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

Speaking at an event in Toronto, Rav Yaakov Bender, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, NY, delivered a sharp warning about the growing culture of alcohol consumption in frum communities, singling out Friday afternoon toameha gatherings as a dangerous and destructive trend.

Rav Bender opened his remarks with a stark assessment. “The drinking is a shrecklich problem. It’s a terrible, terrible problem. I blame the parents for that. I really do. Very heavily.”

He then shared a tragic example to underscore the consequences. “There was a boy that, I’ll explain to you, a boy was in a car accident, Rachmana litzlan, and he killed somebody, in one of our prominent communities, and he’s looking at jail time of a very, very, very long time. You know where he got it from?”

According to Rav Bender, the boy’s first exposure to drinking came through a toameha group. “He went to a Toameha, I think, in a very chashuva city. Toameha should be stopped.”

Rav Bender then described the gatherings bluntly. “Those who don’t know, Toameha means you get together, seven, eight men get together, and they drink, they buy very fancy— not the women, they’re wonderful. Erev Shabbos, when a wife should be going home to his wife, helping her out, unless the wife doesn’t want you home, you know— helping her out and doing what you got to do, they go to a party, AND they call it Toameha.”

With biting irony, he added: “It’s a mitzva d’oraisa. And they eat kugel and they fress cakes and zachen, and they drink to their hearts content.”

Rav Bender said the fallout reaches the home. “I have mothers who have told me, again, not many, but [some] have told me that the husband comes drunk to the Friday night, to the Friday night Shabbos table. And Toameha is a mitzva? You got to ban it.”

He urged communities to take action. “If you find out that there’s a Toameha in your neighborhood, go and protest against the family. Put up signs. The kids are going to kill a kid afterwards.”

Parents, he said, often complain about their children drinking, without acknowledging the source. “They come to me complaining about, my kid is drinking. I said, Daddy, do you drink? And Daddy says — that means you’re drinking.”

Rav Bender broadened the critique to communal norms. “We have a society, why do we have Kiddush clubs? Kiddush clubs is bad because in the middle of davening. Why should we serve anything at a Kiddush on Shabbos? Why? You want to give beer by a Shalom Zachar? …We have made a society where drinking is chashuv.”

He expressed astonishment at the luxury liquor culture that has become common. “I don’t believe it. I haven’t gone into a liquor store maybe 30, 40 years. I haven’t ever went in also. There’s bottles today that sell for five to ten thousand dollars, and people are buying it.”

He described the status culture surrounding these bottles as hollow. “The gadlus by a Toameha club is the guy who knows he could tell the difference between a $10,000 bottle and a $5,000 bottle. I don’t believe him for a second. He thinks he can tell the difference. And we glorify these things.”

Rav Bender then made a bold proposal. “There should be no kiddushim in shuls, I’m sorry. You’re very quiet. I liked it better when we talked about the kids. So I’m telling you the kids are seeing this.”

He insisted the drinking problem among teenagers is learned behavior. “I’m telling you right now, the kids by us in yeshiva who drink, let’s say on a Friday night sometimes, there are a few, right? On a Friday night or during the Shabbos and they put them together, they’re getting it from home. They’re seeing it by their parents.”

The problem then spreads socially. “Then other kids do it, other kids see it, they also become, yeah, it spreads from kid to kid. I blame the parents.”

Rav Bender emphasized that his criticism was not directed at the host community. “I’m not talking about this shul right now. I think you don’t know, you don’t know me, you do know what you have over here. You have a posek acharon. You have someone I hope should become the posek acharon in this town for all yeshivas. He should be that. Don’t let him get away with it. He should be doing it.”

He then added, “We glorify drinking. I blame it on the parents, I’m sorry.”

Rav Bender described the calls he receives. “Am I wrong? The kids who drink, I have parents who call me, my kid is drinking.”

Often, he said, the problem begins at home. “The mother calls me and her husband gets shikker every week. I can’t tell it to the wife, you know why? I’m causing shalom bayis problems. I’m sure the wife is already screaming at the husband already. That’s why he’s drinking, because she’s screaming at him.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

The Agudah National Action Summit: Turning Ideas into Action

Join us for two days of meaningful dialogue, collaboration, and impact. Professionals and leaders come together to learn, connect, and take action on Klal Yisroel’s most pressing challenges.

Featuring a slate of distinct professional and communal specialized tracks, the Summit ensures that every participant can gain relevant insights tailored to their area of influence. Tracks will include:

• Rabbanim & Morei Derech
• Emerging Communities
• Special Needs Professionals
• Mental Health Professionals
• Shadchanim
• Kallah Teachers
• Legal Professionals
• Women in Leadership

Click here or see below to view the speaker lineup.

December 1-2

Marriott, Newark Airport

Register at https://www.agudahaction.com/

For more information email actionsummit@agudah.org, or call 212-363-8941.

Otzma Yehudit set off intense debate on Tuesday after sharing the outline of its proposed death penalty legislation for terrorists in the National Security Committee’s WhatsApp group. The circulated draft lays out the party’s vision in stark, uncompromising terms.

The document explains that the penalty would be applied solely in cases where a Jew is murdered because they are Jewish. It mandates that a simple majority be sufficient to impose the sentence, that no appeal be permitted, and that lethal injection be the method of execution. The responsibility for carrying out the penalty would fall to the Prison Service, and the execution would have to occur within 90 days.

Interestingly, the plan has not only gained traction among coalition partners but has also found backing from Yisrael Beiteinu, broadening its political reach.

According to the draft, the measure is framed as a deterrent “that looks to the future based on past (negative) experience,” insisting that such a law must be practical and fully enforceable, not merely a declarative statement.

As written, anyone who murders a Jew for being Jewish — whether by orchestrating, attempting, or committing the act — would automatically be sentenced to death. The legislation would remove judicial discretion entirely, prohibit appeals regarding the nature of the punishment, and bar plea agreements or pardons, consistent with existing legal limitations. To eliminate procedural delays, the proposal requires that executions take place within 90 days of a verdict becoming final. Lethal injection would be codified as the official method, with statutory adjustments to accommodate it.

Nonetheless, legal analysts warn that the bill, if advanced in its current structure, would likely encounter serious constitutional and procedural hurdles in the High Court, raising doubts about its ultimate viability.

{Matzav.com}

No GOP senator stepped in to derail a procedural move that would have forced an immediate vote on compelling the release of Jeffrey Epstein–related files.

Within hours of the House’s overwhelming approval of the resolution, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., followed through on his promise to push it forward, bringing the matter to the Senate floor.

Schumer insisted there was no reason for the chamber to stall, declaring that the Senate “should pass this bill as soon as possible, as written and without a hint of delay.”

He warned Republicans not to meddle with the language, saying, “Republicans must not try to change this bill or bury it in committee, or slow walk it in any way. Any amendment to this bill would force it back to the House and risk further delay. Who knows what would happen over there?”

Once the House formally sends the measure across the Capitol, it will head directly to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The resolution, authored by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., mandates that the Department of Justice publish every unclassified file, memo, communication, and investigatory document connected to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of enactment, making them “publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format.”

Unlike the House — where the push for disclosure upended schedules and even triggered a temporary recess earlier this year under House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — the Senate has been far less volatile as the issue has moved forward.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., noted that Republicans were already evaluating the bill through the hotline process, the internal mechanism for vetting legislation before it reaches the floor. If it passed that stage, he said, the expectation was to bring it forward before lawmakers adjourn for the Thanksgiving break.

“We’ll see what the Democrats have to say,” Thune remarked. “But it’s the kind of thing, probably, that could perhaps move by unanimous consent.”

In the end, the measure advanced without needing a roll-call vote.

The landscape shifted considerably once President Donald Trump — who had spent months blasting efforts to force open the Epstein archives — unexpectedly embraced the Massie-Khanna proposal over the weekend.

He condemned the push as a “Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”

He added on Truth Social, “Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory.”

Many Senate Republicans have long said they are open to making more information public but stress that victims must not be exposed in the process. House Speaker Johnson has urged lawmakers to add protections ensuring that identifying details remain shielded.

But Senate leadership signaled that such revisions are unlikely.

“I think when a bill comes out of the House 427 to one, and the president said he’d sign it, I’m not sure that amending it is in the cards,” Thune said.