Iran has shifted to maritime routes to smuggle funds and weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Western security official told Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath on Tuesday. According to the official, Iran’s Quds Force developed a sea transfer method that bypasses Syria. “After the fall of the Assad regime and increased air restrictions, Hezbollah began using the sea to transport weapons,” he said. According to the report, the maritime smuggling operation is possible due to Hezbollah’s control of the Port of Beirut, which was almost completely destroyed in 2020 due to Hezbollah’s large stores of ammonium nitrate at the site which caught on fire, creating a huge explosion that killed hundreds. “Hezbollah operates freely in the port with the help of collaborators in customs and the port’s monitoring authority,” the official said, adding that a senior Hezbollah figure, Wafiq Safa, oversees the smuggling network. “Safa oversees a network of collaborators at the Port of Beirut. These insiders facilitate the smuggling of equipment and weapons without inspection. Attempts to smuggle weapons through the port contributed to the 2020 port disaster.” He warned that Lebanon will pay the price for Hezbollah’s control of the port. “The Port of Beirut is Lebanon’s most important port, and its illegal use endangers Lebanese interests. Hezbollah’s presence at the port threatens foreign investment. Lebanon must act urgently in light of these violations.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday on board a Russian spacecraft. A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 carrying the trio in orbit. They docked at the station just over three hours later. Kim and Russia’s Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to spend about eight months at the space outpost. NASA said Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and dual-designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky are joining NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Kirill Peskov on the space outpost. (AP)
This Pesach, You Can Be the Reason a Family Feels Joy Again https://abcharity.org/campaign.php?id=2472&l_id=LHanYM484vUXNUKpJFsIn the quiet corners of the Beis Yisroel neighborhood in yerushleim Behind the closed doors of worn-down apartments… There are families — ehrliche Yidden — who simply don’t have what they need for Yom Tov. No matzos. No food. No joy. Just worry, silence, and the pain of parents who can’t provide for their children the basic yom tov needs https://abcharity.org/campaign.php?id=2472&l_id=LHanYM484vUXNUKpJFsBut you can change that. The Beis Yisroel Charity Fund is not just another tzedakah. It’s led by true תלמידי חכמים who live and breathe Torah. Every request is treated like a sugya in Shas — with care, depth, and halachic clarity. They know the people. They see the tears. They feel the pain. And they act — every single day. Thousands rely on this fund: • Families who can’t put together a basic Pesach table • Bochurim in Mir and other Yeshivos who have no one else to help them • People struggling with food, health, mental challenges — in silence This is the reality. And as Pesach nears, the need becomes desperate. For $90, you can sponsor a box of matzos — the heart of Yom Tov — for a family who otherwise won’t have any. And your name will be mentioned for bracha by Gedolei Yisroel, including Harav Binyomin Finkel and Harav Yehoshua Dovid Turtsin shlit”a — at the tefillos of Shvii Shel Pesach. Let them sit at the seder with dignity. Let them taste simcha. Let them know someone cares. You can be that someone. Donate now. Bring simchas Yom Tov to their table — and zechus to yours.https://abcharity.org/campaign.php?id=2472&l_id=LHanYM484vUXNUKpJFs
South Korea’s military fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers crossed the rivals’ tense border on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, the first known border intrusion by North Korea in nearly a year. Violent confrontations and bloodshed have occasionally happened at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarized Zone. But Tuesday’s incident won’t likely escalate, as it didn’t cause any casualties on either side and North Korea hasn’t returned fire. About 10 North Korean soldiers — some carrying weapons — violated the military demarcation line at the eastern section of the DMZ at 5 p.m. They returned to North Korea after South Korea broadcast warnings and fired warning shots, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities. It said North Korea didn’t return fire. In June last year, North Korean troops violated the border three times, prompting South Korea to fire warning shots. The incidents occurred when the Koreas were embroiled in Cold War-style campaigns like balloon launches and propaganda broadcasts, but they didn’t develop into a major source of tensions. South Korea’s military assessed at the time that the North Korean soldiers didn’t deliberately commit the border intrusion and the site was a wooded area where military demarcation line signs weren’t clearly visible. Observers said the North Korean soldiers might have accidently crossed the border while adding anti-tank barriers, planting mines or engaging in other works to boost border defenses. The motive for Tuesday’s border crossing by North Korean soldiers wasn’t immediately clear. South Korea’s military said in late March that North Korea was resuming front-line works such as reinforcing barbed wire fences. South Korean media, citing the military, reported that North Korean soldiers might have unintentionally intruded into South Korea’s territory on Tuesday during a patrol mission ahead of unspecified front-line works. In October, North Korea said it would build defense structures at the border to cope with “confrontational hysteria” by South Korean and U.S. forces. That was seen as an effort to beef up its front-line security posture and prevent its soldiers and citizens from defecting to South Korea. The 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ is one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. It’s a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. Animosities between the Koreas are running high now as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his military nuclear capabilities and align with Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Kim is also ignoring calls by Seoul and Washington to resume denuclearization negotiations. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy. North Korea has not responded to Trump’s remarks and says U.S. hostilities against it have deepened since Trump’s inauguration. Experts say Kim could eventually return to talks with Trump, hoping that his advancing nuclear program would help North Korea win greater U.S. concessions. South Korea, meanwhile, is experiencing a leadership vacuum after the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol last week over his ill-fated imposition […]
Secretary Scott Bessent: “I think you’re going to see a couple of big trading partners do deals very quickly.”
Following months in the north, the Golani Brigade is back in Gaza, currently deployed in Rafah to dismantle terrorist infrastructure.
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent on the morale boost among agents: “Border Patrol agents sign up to do Border Patrol work, and the fact that they’re actually getting out there and patrolling… I think that makes a lot of folks in our organization very, very happy.”
*State Department Spoke Person Tammy Bruce:* “The hostages have to be released. Hamas cannot continue to have any role or exist in Gaza … The goals have not changed.”
PAM BONDI: “These are enemies of our state, of our country, and they should be deported … I’d start self-deporting if I were you because we’re going to find you.”
Last week, the IDF dismantled a reservist platoon and dismissed several officers after they vandalized Palestinian property, graffitied slogans on buildings, and damaged equipment during a counter-terror operation in the Deheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem, exceeding the procedures and commands given prior to the raid.
Multiple injuries reported after an Egged bus flipped in Rishon Letzion. MDA paramedics and medics provided medical treatment and transported 22 injured individuals to Wolfson and Shamir-Assaf Harofeh hospitals, including: a woman approximately 35 years old in moderate condition with limb injuries, and 21 others in light condition.
Secretary Bessent: President Trump has maximum negotiating leverage right here, right now. I think it would be a mistake to think otherwise. Many of our trading partners have not escalated, and they will get priority in the queue. I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation.
With most programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development cut and the agency’s remaining staff told their jobs will end by September, the reality of the Trump administration’s sudden halt to more than 60 years of international development work has sunk in. Billionaire presidential advisor Elon Musk, who led the charge to dismantle USAID, has called the agency criminal and corrupt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said many programs did not advance American interests. The administration continues to cancel programs, including humanitarian and food aid, and has said it will roll any remaining programs into the State Department. Two months into the cuts, some workers and organizations, who once carried out those programs, are developing a variety of initiatives to stand in the breach left by the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid. Direct cash to laid off workers Laura Meissner had worked as a contractor for USAID since 2010 and specialized in humanitarian assistance, specifically programs that give cash directly to people in need. In early February, a friend approached her to help start a fundraiser to benefit other USAID workers who, like her, had lost their jobs. USAID employed 10,550 people in Washington and at offices around the world, with about half coming from other countries. Meissner along with a small group of organizers eventually set up The Solidarity Fund with the Greater Washington Community Foundation, which will actually make grants directly to former workers. The grants will start at $650 and increase depending on the size of the household. “We want to make it a meaningful enough sum that it’ll make a real difference in their ability to buy groceries, pay medical bills, pay the rent or mortgage, or keep the lights on,” Meissner said. So far, the fund has raised about $16,000 from 140 donors and has already recommend 10 applicants to receive funds. “It’s so easy to feel like nothing that you do matters because there’s so many big problems and it feels like they’re happening all at once. But everything does matter, even if it’s just to somebody,” she said. Research to help foundations and funders with more money Even for people who study international development, it’s been hard to understand all the ways U.S. cuts have impacted the field. The think tank Rethink Priorities, which prioritizes cost-effectiveness in charitable interventions, studied the gaps created by the cuts to help donors respond. They provide a chart showing how big of a share U.S. funding was in any given area and encourage funders to consider how urgently the impacts of the cuts will be felt. They also suggest donors consider if others might fill the gap. Tom Vargas, a senior researcher at the think tank, said he hopes the research helps to, “spread the money around in a way that makes sense. We’re funding things that other people will not fund.” They hope their research influences donors, big and small, while also recommending giving to emergency funds. Bridge funds to get money to programs that could still operate Within a month of the pause on USAID programs, a number of nonprofits started emergency funds to get money to life-saving programs or to stabilize organizations that would otherwise close. Even the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that responds to conflicts and famines, has started a fundraiser, hoping to bring in $25 million from U.S. donors. So far, emergency funds have raised between […]
For many older Bachurim, the path of learning becomes more challenging as the years pass. Too old for standard Yeshivas, yet not aligned with Kollel, they often feel caught between two worlds. 🎥 📖 Yeshivas Chaim Shel Torah, under the leadership of Reb Dovid Soloveitchik, has changed that reality! With over 50 Israeli bachurim ages 24+ shteiging in Reb Dovid’s Beis Midrash, a new era has begun for unmarried bachurim in Yerushalayim. No longer outsiders in younger Yeshivas or Kollelim full of married Yungeleit, these bachurim now have their own place to grow, learn, and thrive—supported by friends who understand their journey. Do you know someone still awaiting their Zivug? This Pesach, Split the Sea for a Single You Know Give a single you care about a powerful Zechus by sponsoring an older Bachur in learning. Your support will uplift them both on their journey. ➡ Show your support here ✨ Double the zechus! According to Harav Ahron Kotler zt”l, Hallel of Leil HaSeder is an auspicious time for shidduchim. Submit a name (at no extra costs) for a single you care about and have our bachurim daven for them this Leil Haseder. 🔗 Show your support and submit a name here* *names can be submitted until April 10th | י’’ב ניסן
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