Feed aggregator

BEERSHEVA: Rescue teams are seen combing through the building struck by an Iranian missile as they desperately search for survivors beneath the rubble.

Multiple people killed in Israel as Iran violated the ceasefire, and Trump just posted this.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Israel’s military reported a series of missile attacks launched from Iran, carried out in three waves targeting Israeli territory.

The initial salvo was fired just after 5:00 a.m. and was successfully intercepted without any damage or injuries, according to a statement from Magen David Adom (MDA).

A second wave of missiles followed around 5:30 a.m., consisting of four projectiles. One of those struck a residential building—seven stories tall—in the city of Be’er Sheva. Emergency responders from MDA and other rescue units rushed to the site.

Paramedics treated three critically wounded individuals: a man in his 40s, a woman in her 30s, and a young man in his early 20s. Tragically, all three succumbed to their injuries. One person was reported to be moderately hurt, and five others were treated for minor wounds.

A third round of missile fire was detected shortly after 6:10 a.m., triggering air raid sirens across central Israel, as well as the Shfela and Sharon regions.

These missile strikes occurred just hours ahead of a ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump, which he said was set to begin at 7:00 a.m. Israel time on Tuesday.

Posting to Truth Social, Trump explained that the ceasefire plan includes Iran ceasing its attacks six hours before the start time, with Israel set to follow suit six hours after that.

{Matzav.com Israel}

On Monday night, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee reacted with enthusiasm following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran.

“It’s 3:00 a.m. in Israel and awakened by phone instead of ballistic missile, as President Trump gives the world great news of ceasefire soon to be in place! 12 days felt like 12 months!” Huckabee wrote in a post on X.

He added, “Trump didn’t just ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’, he delivered it!”

In an interview with NBC News following the ceasefire announcement, Trump described the development as a milestone moment for global stability. “It’s a wonderful day for the world, in my opinion,” he said.

Trump emphasized the importance of the breakthrough: “It’s a great day for America. It’s a great day for the Middle East. I’m very happy to have been able to get the job done,” he said. “A lot of people were dying, and it was only going to get worse. It would have brought the whole Middle East down.”

When asked about the potential duration of the truce, Trump said confidently, “I think the ceasefire is unlimited. It’s going to go forever.”

Trump had posted earlier that the terms of the ceasefire include an initial 12-hour period, beginning at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, Israel time.

He also explained that Iran would be the first to halt aggression, doing so six hours prior to Israel, which would then follow with a ceasefire of its own six hours later.

While the Israeli government has yet to release a formal response to the announcement, a representative from Iran confirmed to Reuters that Tehran has accepted the ceasefire, which was mediated by Qatar.

{Matzav.com}

A new poll released Monday revealed a dramatic shift in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, with Zohran Mamdani pulling ahead of Andrew Cuomo in a ranked choice scenario—marking a surprising turn in the race.

According to the Emerson College Polling/Pix 11/The Hill survey, Cuomo initially holds a narrow lead in the hypothetical first round, drawing 35% support among likely Democratic voters. Mamdani follows closely at 32%, while city Comptroller Brad Lander garners 13%. Speaker Adrienne Adams comes in at 8%, Scott Stringer at 3%, and another 5% is divided among Zellnor Myrie, Whitney Tilson, Jessica Ramos, and Michael Blake. Four percent of voters remain undecided.

Since no candidate reaches the 50% threshold needed for an outright win, the ranked choice voting system would come into play. Under this method, voters’ subsequent preferences are factored in as lower-polling candidates are eliminated, potentially reshaping the outcome with each round.

In the simulated ranked choice tally, Mamdani overtakes Cuomo in the eighth round, reaching 51.8% to Cuomo’s 48.2%.

“Over five months, Mamdani’s support has surged from 1% to 32%, while Cuomo finishes near where he began,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.

“In the ranked-choice simulation, Mamdani gains 18 points compared to Cuomo’s 12, putting him ahead in the final round for the first time in an Emerson poll.”

In Emerson’s previous poll last month, Cuomo had a 12-point advantage in the first round and held onto a lead of 8 percentage points—54% to 46%—in the tenth and final round.

Mamdani’s rise appears closely tied to Lander’s voter base, who overwhelmingly favored the Queens assemblyman once Lander was eliminated.

At round seven of the ranking process, Cuomo still leads slightly—40.5% to 39.4%—when Lander exits the race with 20% of the vote. But many of Lander’s supporters then shift to Mamdani, giving him a 3.6-point edge in the following round.

Lander, who has publicly backed Mamdani as his alternate choice, has helped consolidate progressive support. The Working Families Party also urged its voters not to rank Cuomo at all.

Additional polling, including a survey conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion last week, still shows Cuomo in front—but Mamdani gaining steadily.

Emerson also asked voters whether they had already voted early or planned to vote on primary day.

Among early voters, Mamdani holds a solid 41% to 31% lead over Cuomo.

Among those waiting until Tuesday, Cuomo leads 36% to 31%.

Voter preferences diverge significantly across demographics.

Mamdani holds a two-to-one advantage among Democrats under 50. On the other hand, Cuomo wins handily among voters aged 50 to 59 with a 63% to 37% split, and he carries the over-60 demographic by a margin of 56% to 44%.

Black voters favor Cuomo 62% to 38%, while Hispanic voters prefer him 60% to 40%.

White voters, however, back Mamdani 61% to 39%, and Asian voters support him by an overwhelming margin of 79% to 21%. Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, is of Indian-American and South Asian heritage.

When sorted by education, Cuomo leads among those without a four-year college degree, 61% to 39%. In contrast, Mamdani leads among voters with college degrees, 62% to 38%.

Men favor Mamdani by a margin of 56% to 44%, while women lean slightly toward Cuomo, 52% to 48%.

The poll, which surveyed 729 likely Democratic voters, has a margin of error of ±3.6%, indicating the race could still go either way.

Emerson College conducted the poll using a combination of SMS text messages, landline robocalls, and an online voter panel.

In the final Emerson poll before the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary, Eric Adams was shown narrowly ahead of Kathryn Garcia—52% to 48%. Adams ultimately won that contest by less than one percentage point.

Cuomo’s campaign swiftly dismissed the new Emerson numbers.

“This is an outlier: Every other credible poll in this election — including two released last week — has shown Governor Cuomo with a double digit lead, which is exactly where this election will end tomorrow,” said Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi.

“Between now and then we will continue to fight for every vote like he will fight for every New Yorker as Mayor.”

In parallel, Fix The City, a pro-Cuomo Super PAC, released its own poll showing a completely different result. That survey had Cuomo defeating Mamdani handily in the seventh round of ranked choice voting—winning 52% of the vote, with Mamdani and Adrienne Adams earning 28% and 20%, respectively.

{Matzav.com}

Richard Hirschhaut, the Los Angeles regional director of the American Jewish Committee, told JNS on Monday that the AJC group “welcomes” an apology from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, after the department issued a statement referring to the “victims” of the strikes on Iran.

The department, under Robert Luna, the sheriff of Los Angeles County, “has been unwavering in its support and protection of the Jewish community and other vulnerable populations across Los Angeles County,” Hirschhaut said.

“While a mistake was made, it was quickly acknowledged and corrected, with a pledge to review internal protocols to prevent any future recurrence,” he told JNS. “The events of recent weeks demand that we all move forward with a focus upon keeping our communities safe and free from fear and intimidation.”

On Sunday, the day after Washington bombed key Iranian nuclear facilities, the sheriff’s department stated that “our hearts go out to the victims and families impacted by the recent bombings in Iran.”

“While this tragic event occurred overseas, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is closely monitoring the situation alongside our local, state and federal partners,” it said in the since-deleted post.

The department first amended the post by deleting the sentences referencing the “victims” and the “tragic event.” It then removed the whole post and apologized “formally” on Sunday for what it said was an “offensive and inappropriate social media post,” which it said was “unacceptable, made in error and does not reflect the views of Sheriff Robert G. Luna or the department.”

The department added that “as a law enforcement agency, we do not comment on foreign policy or military matters” and that it is launching an “internal review to determine how it was created and published.”

“Steps are being taken to strengthen our social media oversight protocols and ensure that any future communications align with our department’s standards of professionalism, respect and accountability,” it stated.

Jay Town, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote to the department on social media asking, “How exactly was Operation Midnight Hammer a ‘tragic event’ exactly?”

“Also, why did you delete this tweet after you edited it?” he wrote. “Finally, when did you decide to become an embarrassment to the badge?”

Alex Villanueva, former Los Angeles County sheriff, wrote that Luna, the current sheriff, needed to apologize and resign.

StopAntisemitism stated that the department “deleted their outrageous post mourning ‘victims’ of the U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.”

“There were zero casualties. This was not an attack on civilians but a precision strike on the world’s top state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” it said. “We hope the investigation yields accountability for this careless and misleading post.” JNS

{Matzav.com}

A monumental and emotional event took place in Cleveland, Ohio, last night as Yeshivas Telz celebrated 150 years since its founding.

The historic maamad, was marked by grandeur and reverence, honoring a century and a half of Torah greatness.

The Munkatcher Rebbe made a rare and historic visit from New York to return to the yeshivah where he once learned in his youth. His arrival was greeted with great excitement and emotion by the roshei yeshivah, talmidim, and alumni present.

The event drew prominent rabbanim, roshei yeshivah, distinguished alumni, and members of the Cleveland Jewish community, all coming together in celebration of Telz’s contribution to the OLam HaTorah.

PHOTOS:

President Trump’s first-term ambassador to Israel demonstrates how he has achieved things that everyone said was impossible.

Senior Advisor to President Trump Stephen Miller: “Everyone said, who was a critic of this action, that it would lead to World War III, and instead, we have a ceasefire and instead, we have the beginnings of a new era of stability and peace and security in the Middle East.”

The largest digital camera ever built released its first shots of the universe Monday — including colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years. The observatory’s first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster were also captured, including two bright blue spirals. The observatory hopes to image 20 billion galaxies and discover new asteroids and other celestial objects. The effort is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious force called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the observatory’s discerning camera may yield clues about this elusive entity along with another called dark energy. (AP)

With great sadness, Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Nochum Pavlov zt”l at the age of 78.

A distinguished talmid chochom and devoted marbitz Torah, Rav Pavlov dedicated his life to building Torah and spreading Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisroel.

Originally from Iowa, Rav Pavlov’s early years were marked by dedication to limud haTorah. In the 1960s, he learned in Skokie Yeshiva, where he developed into a serious ben Torah and laid the foundation for a life of avodas hakodesh.

He would eventually relocate to Eretz Yisroel, where he became a respected rov in the city of Ashkelon. There, he threw himself into kiruv rechokim and harbotzas haTorah. With warmth and dedication, Rav Pavlov impacted numerous people.

Tragically, while visiting America on behalf of his yeshiva, Rav Pavlov became ill and was niftar during his stay.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

The Dushinsky Chassidus in the United States is mourning the sudden petirah of Reb Shlomo Chaim Felsenstein z”l, a devoted chassid known for his boundless acts of tzedakah and chesed, and for his extraordinary archival work capturing decades of Jewish life through his lens. He passed away suddenly from cardiac arrest at the age of 56.

Born in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Yerushalayim, Reb Shlomo Chaim was widely admired for his warm personality, generosity, and deep dedication to the tzibbur. He was a man of conversation, heart, and depth, who left a lasting impression on everyone he met.

From a young age, he was drawn to photography, becoming one of the most passionate and prolific documentarians of the chareidi world. With great love and reverence, he photographed gedolei Yisroel, rabbanim, admorim, and significant historical moments. His rare and expansive photo collection — particularly of Yerushalayim and its religious life over the generations — became a treasured reservoir of nostalgia for countless Jews around the world.

Reb Shlomo Chaim was among the founding members of the “Nostalgia 100 Sha’arim” group, where he generously shared hundreds of his personal photos from his private archive.

Chareidi photographer Shlomi Trachter paid tribute to him with emotion: “Shlomo Chaim was the one who pushed me to begin, who gave me the first encouragement to take up a camera. He believed in me. I can’t process this. It’s just unreal.”

The levayah will take place tomorrow.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

Iran’s foreign minister says that, as of now, there is no official agreement on the cessation of violence between them and Israel, but Iran will stop its aggression if Israel does first.

A plane flying over the Hudson River near New York City on Monday pulled a banner with a message of thanks for President Donald Trump. The banner included two Israeli flags, and in between, a message that read, “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP.”

IDIOT ALERT: Sen. Schumer, as Pres. Trump was announcing PEACE DEAL between Israel & Iran: “No President should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into war.”

Maria Weston Kuhn had one lingering question about the car crash that forced her to have emergency surgery during a vacation in Ireland: Why did she and her mother sustain serious injuries while her father and brother, who sat in the front, emerge unscathed? “It was a head-on crash and they were closest to the point of contact,” said Kuhn, now 25, who missed a semester of college to recover from the 2019 collision that caused her seat belt to slide off her hips and rupture her intestines by pinning them against her spine. “That was an early clue that something else was going on.” When Kuhn returned home to Maine, she found an article her grandma had clipped from Consumer Reports and left on her bed. Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a frontal crash, she learned, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dates back to the 1970s and is still modeled almost entirely off the body of a man. A survivor becomes an activist Kuhn, who is starting law school at New York University this fall, took action and founded the nonprofit Drive US Forward. Its aim was to raise public awareness and eventually encourage members of Congress to sign onto a bill that would require NHTSA to incorporate a more advanced female dummy into its testing. The agency has the final word on whether cars get pulled from the market, and the kind of dummy used in its safety tests could impact which ones receive coveted five-star ratings. “It seems like we have an easy solution here where we can have crash test dummies that reflect an average woman as well as a man,” Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who has introduced the legislation the past two sessions, told The Associated Press. Senators from both parties have signed onto Fischer’s “She Drives Act,” and the transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for updating the rules. But for various reasons, the push for new safety requirements has been moving at a sluggish pace. That’s particularly true in the U.S., where much of the research is happening and where around 40,000 people are killed each year in car crashes. Evolution of a crash test dummy The crash test dummy currently used in NHTSA five-star testing is called the Hybrid III, which was developed in 1978 and modeled after a 5-foot-9, 171-pound man (the average size in the 1970s but about 29 pounds lighter than today’s average). What’s known as the female dummy is essentially a much smaller version of the male model with a rubber jacket. It’s routinely tested in the passenger seat or the back seat but seldom in the driver’s seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women. “What they didn’t do is design a crash test dummy that has all the sensors in the areas where a woman would be injured differently than a man,” said Christopher O’Connor, president and CEO of the Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Humanetics Group, which has spent more than a decade developing and refining one. A female dummy from Humanetics equipped with all of the available sensors costs around $1 million, about twice the cost of the Hybrid used now. But, O’Connor says, the more expensive dummy far more […]

WATCH:

Following its June 13 military strikes on Iranian targets, Israel initiated a covert psychological warfare campaign aimed at destabilizing Iran’s leadership, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the operation.

According to the report, the operation’s intent was to instill fear and uncertainty at the highest levels of the Iranian regime. Senior figures were directly threatened as part of the strategy to fracture the cohesion of Tehran’s ruling elite.

Israeli intelligence agents, fluent in Farsi, reportedly reached out to more than 20 Iranian officials on their private mobile phones. The purpose of the calls was clear: issue an ultimatum to abandon their allegiance to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or face the threat of assassination.

The Washington Post reviewed both a transcript and an audio file of a call placed on June 13. In the message, an Israeli operative warned a high-ranking Iranian general, “I can advise you now, you have 12 hours to escape with your wife and child. Otherwise, you’re on our list right now.”

The agent added a chilling message underscoring Israel’s reach: “We’re closer to you than your own neck vein. Put this in your head. May God protect you.”

The general in question, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was instructed to film himself renouncing ties to the regime and submit the video via Telegram within 12 hours. While it remains unknown whether he complied, the broader aim was clear: instill fear and uncertainty within Iran’s power structure.

This psychological operation was designed to work in tandem with Israel’s physical strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Israeli officials confirmed that the effort was executed using intelligence operatives embedded within Iranian territory and resources positioned in advance.

The June 13 airstrikes themselves eliminated top Iranian officials, among them IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, armed forces chief Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, and nuclear scientist Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani. The operative heard in the recorded call reminded the targeted general of those losses, stating, “I’m calling from a country that two hours ago sent Bagheri, Salami, Shamkhani, one by one, to hell.”

The intimidation tactics reportedly extended to mid-level Iranian leadership who were either overlooked in the initial attacks or managed to survive. These follow-up threats were intended to deepen panic within the regime and impede its ability to function.

One source familiar with the details of the campaign explained, “The second-tier leadership that is supposed to inherit the positions and now fill in the places of those who have been eliminated, they are terrified.” The source further noted that this fear has made it “serious[ly] difficult” for Khamenei to appoint replacements, with some candidates declining to step into vacated roles.

{Matzav.com}

HaRav Moshe Chaim Schneider, a close talmid of HaTzaddik HaRav Dov Kook, went to his home in Tiveria on Sunday and showed him a photocopy from the ancient sefer ‘Kli Paz’ written by the Mekubal HaRav Shmuel Shmuel Laniado, z’tl, who lived about 500 years ago and was known as ‘Baal HaKeilim’—after his seferim: ‘Kli Paz,’ ‘Kli Chemdah,’ ‘Kli Yakar,’ and others. HaRav Shmuel Laniado, who lived in Aram Tzova—Aleppo, Syria, wrote a comprehensive commentary on Sefer Yeshayahu. The original manuscript was printed after his passing, about 400 years ago, and became known as ‘Kli Paz.’ The passage presented to HaRav Kook aroused tremendous excitement, as it remarkably predicts events currently splashed across international headlines. HaRav Laniado wrote in his commentary on the passuk ‘כִּי זֶבַח לַיהוָה בְּבָצְרָהְ -‘For Hashem has a sacrifice in Botzrah’ (Yeshayahu 34:6). “There is a country far from Bavel whose name is Botzrah, and it is between the border of Assyria and Persia and between the border of the land of Edom—’Hormuz’—and it is today under the rule of the Yishamelim, and who knows the truth of these things—perhaps the war will be there at the end of days.” These words are chilling in light of the current geopolitical situation, as Iran has threatened to retaliate against the US by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil passageway. About a third of the world’s seaborne oil traffic passes through the strait from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Bahrain, as well as liquefied natural gas from Qatar. The Strait of Hormuz is between Oman and Iran, which has a fleet of attack boats and thousands of missiles and naval mines, which it could use to threaten any ships that pass through. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday warned Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz. “I can assure you, the administration is actively and closely monitoring the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian regime would be foolish to make that decision,” she said. HaRav Kook was very moved upon seeing the passage, and he said to his talmid, “Ashrecha that you were zocheh to such a revelation that may awaken thousands of Jews to teshuvah. It is a great zechus to publish it.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)