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Israel’s governing coalition has set an aggressive deadline to pass the long-delayed conscription law within two weeks, as the chareidi parties race against time to finalize the bill’s wording amid mounting political and legal pressure. The coming days are expected to determine not only the fate of the legislation, but also the stability of the government and the passage of the state budget.

Leaders of the chareidi parties acknowledge that every day without an approved conscription law weakens their position. As a result, coalition partners have decided to dramatically accelerate the process. According to a first report, the coalition’s goal is to complete the bill’s third and final reading in the Knesset within just fourteen days, in an effort to end a prolonged saga that has become a direct threat to the government’s survival.

Within the chareidi factions, the end of the current week has been marked as a critical milestone. Lawmakers are hoping that by then, the final version of the bill will be ready. Drafting the legislation remains the most complex hurdle, as significant disagreements between the various sides have yet to be fully resolved despite heavy coalition pressure and stated goodwill.

Attention is now focused on the legal adviser to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Miri Frenkel-Shor, who is tasked with translating political understandings into binding legal language that can withstand scrutiny.

The coalition’s plan calls for a rapid legislative “blitz.” Once the draft is completed, a comprehensive discussion on the revised text is expected to take place as early as Sunday. If that stage proceeds smoothly, committee votes to advance the bill are scheduled to begin the following Tuesday. The coalition’s ultimate objective is to bring the law to a decisive vote in the Knesset plenum the following Monday, formally closing the issue.

However, the ambitious timetable hinges on a single decisive factor: whether the version prepared by Frenkel-Shor by the end of the week will be acceptable to the Gedolei Yisroel. The days ahead are expected to be especially tense, with far-reaching implications not only for the future of the conscription framework, but for the coalition as a whole and for the approval of the state budget waiting in the wings.

{Matzav.com}

Elon Musk is joining his space exploration and artificial intelligence ventures into a single company before what’s expected to be a massive initial public offering for the business later this year. His rocket venture, SpaceX, announced on Monday that it had bought xAI in an effort to help the world’s richest man dominate the rocket […]

President Donald Trump said Monday night that his administration is pursuing a $1 billion damages claim against Harvard University, intensifying a long-running dispute over federal funding and campus policies.

“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The announcement comes as the administration continues to challenge a December court ruling that found it acted unlawfully when it cut off more than $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, barring further attempts to halt the university’s research funding.

Harvard has been at the center of a broader effort by the Trump administration to use federal dollars as leverage to compel changes at colleges and universities nationwide, which Trump has argued are dominated by antisemitic sentiment and “radical left” thinking.

Trump previously said the White House had been nearing an agreement with Harvard that would have required the university to pay $500 million, following extended negotiations focused on institutional policies.

Administration officials have repeatedly accused Harvard and other elite schools of advancing what they describe as “woke” ideology while failing to adequately safeguard Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations, backing those claims with legal filings and demands for substantial financial settlements.

Earlier Monday, The New York Times reported that Trump had withdrawn a demand for a $200 million settlement payment from Harvard after lengthy talks between the sides.

Speaking to reporters last September, Trump said discussions were approaching a $500 million settlement, which would have included provisions for opening trade schools as part of the agreement.

“They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” Trump said in his post late Monday evening.

“It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,” he added, without identifying which laws he believes the university violated.

“This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event,” he added, without detailing the legal grounds for criminal charges or the specific actions he contends would justify them.

{Matzav.com}

Antisemitic hate crimes surged across New York City in January, accounting for the majority of all reported bias incidents, even as the NYPD touted historic declines in gun violence. According to NYPD data, antisemitic incidents jumped 182 percent in January 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier. The department recorded 31 anti-Jewish hate […]

President Trump will meet privately with Colombia’s Gustavo Petro to talk drug trafficking and expanding trade between the two countries.

A massive fire has broken out at Jannat Bazaar, one of Tehran’s busiest shopping complexes. Casualty details and the cause of the fire are still unknown.

TRUMP: Why hasn’t the fake news New York Times adjusted It’s phony article on the corruption and antisemitism which has taken place at Harvard. They never call for facts or factchecks, because the Times’ is a corrupt, unprincipled, and pathetic vehicle of the left. I look forward to watching their rapidly falling circulation, force them […]

The New and Updated SAVE Act: •⁠ ⁠Voter ID •⁠ ⁠Requires proof of US citizenship to register to vote •⁠ ⁠Mandates states to verify citizenship of voters •⁠ ⁠Requires removal of non-citizens from voter rolls •⁠ ⁠Requires states to use available federal and state databases (such as those from DHS, SSA, or others) to verify […]

The House aims to end the partial shutdown today as President Trump says a deal is near.

TODAY: Tyler Robinson, accused of killing Charlie Kirk, is due in court for a hearing on whether prosecutors should be disqualified.

The Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel dancing Mitzvah Tantz at the Chasunah of his great-grandchild last night.

The two Sydney nurses who threatened to kill Israeli patients in a video that went viral last year pleaded not guilty in a court hearing on Monday. Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 27, and Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 28, nurses at Bankstown Hospital, told Israeli influencer Maz Veifer last February that they had harmed Israeli patients and would […]

“Humanitarian” Aid? IDF forces of the 7th Brigade, under the command of the Gaza Division, continue to operate in the southern Gaza Strip, east of the Yellow Line, in order to clear the area of terror infrastructure and weapons. During the searches, the forces located approximately 110 mortar shells, several rockets, and additional combat equipment, […]

Maj. Ella Waweya, known in the Arab world as “Captain Ella,” has been appointed as the IDF’s spokesperson in Arabic. She will be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and will replace Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, who is retiring from the IDF after 20 years of service. She currently serves as Adraee’s deputy.

Nikki Haley criticized renewed diplomatic engagement with Iran on Monday, voicing opposition as Washington and Tehran move toward talks focused on Iran’s nuclear program.

In a message posted on social media, the former US ambassador to the United Nations argued that negotiations with Tehran are fundamentally flawed. “You can’t make a deal with a regime that lies about its nuclear production, oppresses its people, and spreads terror around the world. Iran can’t be trusted,” Haley wrote.

Her remarks came after reports indicated that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are scheduled to meet Friday in Istanbul to explore the possibility of a nuclear agreement.

President Donald Trump has publicly urged Iran to come to terms with the United States over its nuclear activities, while also making clear that military action remains an option if diplomacy fails.

Addressing reporters on Monday, Trump spoke about the ongoing discussions and the US posture toward Iran, saying, “We have big ships heading to Iran right now. The biggest and the best. We have talks going on with Iran, we will see how it all works out.”

He added further comments emphasizing uncertainty about the administration’s next steps. “I can’t tell you what I’m going to do, because right now we have a tremendous force going there, just like we did in Venezuela – even bigger. And they’ll be there soon,” continued Trump.

Trump went on to express a preference for a diplomatic resolution while warning of consequences if negotiations collapse. “I’d like to see a deal negotiated. I don’t know that that’s going to happen. But if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. I’d be very foolish if I were to tell you. But right now we’re talking to them. We’re talking to Iran. And if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things will happen.”

Haley’s position echoed comments made a day earlier by Senator Lindsey Graham, who also rejected the idea of striking a deal with Iran and suggested that lasting stability in the region would require the collapse of the current Iranian leadership.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Graham argued that removing Iran’s rulers would have a transformative effect on the region. “The biggest thing you could possibly do to the Middle East is take this regime down, and they’re as weak as they’ve ever been since 1979,” he said.

Graham concluded by directly urging presidential action, adding, “Mr. President, you can do it, I hope you will do it,” he added.

{Matzav.com}

Speaker Mike Johnson’s ability to carry out President Donald Trump’s “play call” for funding the government will be put to the test Tuesday as the House holds a procedural vote on a bill to end the partial shutdown. Johnson will need near-unanimous support from his Republican conference to proceed. He can afford to lose only one […]

Even as China’s expansion of solar and wind power raced ahead in 2025, the Asian giant opened many more coal power plants than it had in recent years — raising concern about whether the world’s largest emitter will reduce carbon emissions enough to limit climate change. More than 50 large coal units — individual boiler and turbine […]

Channel 12 News chief political analyst Amit Segal weighed in on a letter sent by families of Israeli hostages to Gal Hirsch, in which they called for his resignation and accused him of intimidating them while advancing the Prime Minister’s political agenda.

In his remarks, Segal referred to Hirsch’s assertion that the families’ messaging and that of Hamas had effectively aligned. “Gal Hirsch says they and Hamas essentially spoke in the same voice. We all know the videos Hamas released every Saturday included messages that were almost identical to what was said at the protests – for example, that Netanyahu is delaying a deal, that now is the time to stop the war, and that military pressure endangers the hostages’ lives. Those who later returned told us what they were instructed to say and what the objective was,” Segal said.

Segal went on to explain that such overlap in messaging raises difficult questions in the political arena. “There’s a rule in politics – when two enemies run the same campaign, one of them is wrong. I can accept the claim that we and Hamas said the same thing, but that we were right – because morally, Israel benefits from returning all the hostages. But don’t gaslight us and say it didn’t happen. Say that it was important on a moral level. Don’t say Hamas said one thing and we said the opposite – because that’s not what happened.”

He further stressed that his criticism was not directed at the act of protesting itself, noting the emotional impact those demonstrations had on captives. “There’s a claim often made in interviews with returning hostages, who said the protests warmed their hearts – and that is absolutely true. The point was never to say that protests are bad,” Segal clarified.

However, Segal argued that the broader narrative promoted at the time was counterproductive. “But the narrative that claimed there is only one way to bring the hostages back – by surrendering, withdrawing, ending the war, all of them now and at any price – that was a serious mistake. It did not help the effort to bring the hostages home,” he concluded.

{Matzav.com}