Feed aggregator

Agudath Israel of America celebrates the Senate’s inclusion of a permanent and unlimited scholarship tax credit. Earlier today, the United States Senate voted to include a permanent scholarship tax credit in the budget reconciliation bill. The groundbreaking federal school choice proposal survived two attempts to eliminate it and had to be revised in order to comply with the ruling of the Senate parliamentarian. “On Friday, news reports proclaimed that the school choice provision in the reconciliation bill was dead,” said Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America’s National Director of Government Affairs. “Thanks to Senator Ted Cruz and Senate champions, the report of its demise was greatly exaggerated. The Senate saved school choice for American families.” The bill provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to donors who contribute to a nonprofit scholarship granting organization (SGO). The SGOs then take the pooled funds and distribute scholarships to eligible students for qualified educational expenses. The beneficiaries can include most families as the income threshold is above $300,000 in many areas (see chart). The revised version allows every taxpayer to receive a credit of up to $1700 and removed the annual cap on donations among other changes. Agudah expects that this will help generate hundreds of millions of dollars in K-12 scholarships for those wishing to attend Jewish schools. The revised bill must now pass the House before being sent to the President for his signature

Zohran Mamdani is the Muslim socialist who doesn’t believe billionaires should exist, who just won a stunning victory in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City – and already some of his policies are raising eyebrows.

Joining to debate all this is former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani – who has some choice words to say about Mamdani – plus The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur, NewsNation’s Geraldo Rivera and former DNC fundraiser Lindy Li.

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

In a shocking incident on Sunday night, singer Pini Einhorn said that he had his iPhone stolen while performing at a chareidi wedding at Keter HaRimon Hall in Bnei Brak.

The wedding was that of the son of Rav Yosef Niddam, rosh mosdos of Mishkenos Yosef, and brother of Baruch Niddam, head of ZAKA Tel Aviv’s International Division, as well as singer and baal tefillah Rav Shmuel Niddam.

Einhorn took to social media to share his frustration and disbelief: “It’s been 24 hours that I’ve been cut off from the world,” he said in a video message. “Yesterday at the event, my iPhone just vanished—disappeared like the earth swallowed it up.”

Footage from the wedding shows Einhorn energetically singing while riding a ZAKA motorcycle into the hall, an unusual and lively entrance to what turned into an unfortunate evening for the singer.

Currently using a temporary phone, Einhorn explained the difficulty of working without his device. “Right now I’m using a replacement phone,” he said. “It’s basically like singing with a toy microphone. I really hope the old one finds its way back. It holds materials that are worth gold. My whole life is in there.”

Einhorn reflected on the experience with perspective: “Over the past day, I’ve realized just how addicted I am to my phone. But everything is from Hashem.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

President Donald Trump took aim at Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic contender for New York City Mayor, slamming him as a hardline leftist and warning that electing him would be disastrous for the city.

“I think he’s terrible. He’s a communist. The last thing we need is a communist,” Trump told reporters gathered outside the White House. “I think I’m going to have a lot of fun watching him because he has to come right through this building to get his money.”

Trump didn’t hold back in his criticism, going further by saying, “Frankly, I heard he’s a total nutjob. I think the people of New York are crazy, if they go this route, I think they’re crazy.”

The President also took issue with Mamdani’s policy proposals, particularly those related to government control of commerce. “We will have a communist, for the first time, a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the grocery stores. What about the people who are there? I think it’s crazy,” the President stated.

{Matzav.com}

BREAKING: President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill passes in the Senate 51-50 after VP JD Vance breaks the tie.

TRUMP: “I’ve gotten to know the Border Patrol and ICE very well — unlike Kamala. She was the border czar but she never saw the border … She would’ve been some president. Probably would’ve been slightly better than Biden, though.”

BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani wins the NYC Democratic primary with 56% of the vote.

The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday in a scheme by North Korea to fund its weapons program through the salaries of remote information technology workers employed unwittingly by U.S. companies. The charges arose from what law enforcement officials described as a nationwide operation that also resulted in the seizure of financial accounts, websites and laptops that were used to carry out the fraud. Separate cases in Georgia and Massachusetts represent the latest Justice Department effort to confront a persistent threat that officials say generates enormous revenue for the North Korean government and in some cases affords workers access to sensitive and proprietary data from the American corporations that hire them. The scheme involved thousands of workers who, armed with stolen or fake identities, were dispatched by the North Korean government to find work as remote IT employees at American companies, including Fortune 500 corporations. The companies were duped into believing that the workers they hired were based in the U.S. when many were actually stationed in North Korea or China, and the wages the victimized companies paid were transferred into accounts controlled by co-conspirators affiliated with North Korea, prosecutors say. “These schemes target and steal from U.S. companies and are designed to evade sanctions and fund the North Korean regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons programs,” Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement. In one case exposed on Monday in federal court in Massachusetts, the Justice Department said it had arrested one U.S. national and charged more than a half dozen Chinese and Taiwanese citizens for their alleged roles in an elaborate fraud that prosecutors say produced several millions of dollars in revenue and affected scores of companies. The conspiracy, court papers say, involved the registration of financial accounts to receive the proceeds and the creation of shell companies and fake websites to make it look like the remote workers were associated with legitimate businesses. Enablers inside the United States facilitated the workers’ remote computer access, tricking companies into believing the workers were logging in from U.S. locations. The Justice Department did not identify the companies that were duped, but said that some of the fraudulent workers were able to gain access to and steal information related to sensitive military technology. The case filed in Georgia charges four North Korean IT workers with stealing virtual currency worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from their employers. The defendants remain at large. The Justice Department has filed similar prosecutions in recent years, as well as created an initiative aimed at disrupting the threat. (AP)

REPORTER: “How firm are you going to be with Netanyahu about ending the war in Gaza?” POTUS: “Very firm… He wants to end it too… I think we’ll have a deal next week.”

Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, opened up in a new interview about the intense pressure and fear that led him to leave Israel and spend an extended period in Miami. Speaking on the TOV channel’s Standpoint program, hosted by Gabe Groisman, Netanyahu described the turning point that made him realize he needed to step away.

Yair, who returned to Israel ahead of his younger brother Avner’s planned wedding—a wedding that was later postponed due to the launch of Operation KeLavi—said he had no intention of coming back otherwise. “What broke me,” he recounted, “was the night of the Gallant incident. I was home alone, and I was sure the protesters were going to break in.”

He described the chaos and fear of that night: “They were on the fences with torches, trying to climb into the house. That’s a clear fascist symbol, especially as they were shouting that they were going to kill me. And I saw that the police weren’t doing anything, that there were instructions from the top to let the protesters have a free hand. That’s when I understood I was in real danger and couldn’t stay here.”

Asked why he chose to live in Miami, Netanyahu said, “I felt hunted, me and my family. I truly felt that my life was in danger.” Yet even in Miami, he claims, he wasn’t left alone. “They launched a surveillance operation on me with private investigators that cost millions of dollars. They didn’t give me any peace.”

Discussing the broader political atmosphere, Yair launched into a sharp critique of Israel’s governance. “The current system here isn’t a real democracy. The citizens’ votes at the ballot box barely matter,” he said. “It’s important to understand that the deep state in Israel is just a branch of the American deep state. It doesn’t operate independently. What we experienced here was a color revolution—the same kind the U.S. carries out in many third-world countries to topple governments it doesn’t like.”

He also spoke about his father’s decades-long battle against the Iranian nuclear threat. “The Iranian nuclear program has been my father’s life mission for 30 years. He’s been fighting the entire world on this, including eight years against Obama’s nuclear deal, which was designed to keep the ayatollahs happy.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

President Trump arrives at Alligator Alcatraz detention facility in the Florida Everglades.

The Houthis have released a new video depicting their fighters riding motorcycles, with one standing on the back, firing at targets adorned with Israeli and U.S. flags.

REPORTER: Are you concerned that Republicans are gonna be swayed by Musk and his money? TRUMP: I think what’s gonna happen is DOGE is gonna look at Musk, and if DOGE looks at Musk, we’re gonna save a fortune. I don’t think he should be playing that game with me.

NOW – Trump will have a “very quick celebration” with Netanyahu next Monday.

President Trump shuts down fake news claims that the One Big, Beautiful Bill cuts Medicaid and Medicare.

President Trump on the One Big Beautiful Bill: “It’s going to be the greatest bill ever passed … It’s going to keep the border secure. We have it secure now, but we need to build more wall.”

Trump at Florida’s new at Alligator Alcatraz: “The job they’ve done is fantastic. This is what you need. Gov. Ron DeSantis worked beautifully with Homeland Security Secretary Noem and all of the people at Homeland Security.”

Israel’s chief rabbinate has requested a halt to construction on a development site as they send inspectors to investigate claims that bodies are buried at the site.

Hershey is set to remove all synthetic dyes from it’s products by the end of 2027.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signaled he is willing to consider deporting Elon Musk, escalating an extraordinary public clash with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO over federal spending and government subsidies. Speaking to reporters before departing for Florida, Trump was asked directly whether he would move to deport Musk, a South African native. “We’ll have to take a look,” Trump replied. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon! Wouldn’t that be terrible?” The remarks mark a new peak in the renewed hostilities between Trump and Musk after months of relative calm. The confrontation reignited after Musk sharply criticized the Trump-backed “Big, Beautiful” budget bill on Monday, warning it would add a historic $5 trillion to the national debt and calling for the formation of a new political party to challenge what he labeled the “Porky Pig Party.” “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill… that we live in a one-party country,” Musk wrote on X, adding, “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.” Trump fired back Monday night on Truth Social, blasting Musk for his reliance on federal support and threatening to investigate or cut off future subsidies. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote. “No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production, and our country would save a fortune.” On Tuesday, Trump doubled down, suggesting again that Musk could face further consequences if he continues his public opposition. “He’s upset that he’s losing his EV mandate, and he’s very upset about things,” Trump said. “But you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Hey, Elon can lose a lot more than that!” On Monday, Musk vowed to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which he has criticized because it would increase the country’s deficit by $3.3tn. “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote on his social media platform, X. A few hours later he added that if the “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day”. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)