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Footage from last night shows a Russian suicide drone being shot down over the village of Cześniki, Poland.

Additional footage of the “Block Everything” protest sweeping across France, leading to hundreds of arrests and thousands of officers deployed.

The IDF says it will intensify strikes in Gaza City to target Hamas’s terror infrastructure, disrupt operations, and protect Israeli forces, having already hit over 360 targets—including several high-rise towers—in preparation for a major ground offensive.

NEW: Newly released emails reveal Fauci instructed colleagues to “delete this after you read it,” dating back to 2020.

France is facing widespread protests from the “Bloquons Tout” (“Block Everything”) movement, calling for nationwide shutdowns, boycotts, work stoppages, and infrastructure blockades. Tens of thousands have joined actions in cities including Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Rennes, causing major transport, education, and commerce disruptions. While largely peaceful, clashes with police have led to over 300 arrests, fires, and the deployment of 80,000 officers nationwide.

Dear Matzav Inbox,

There is something deeply disturbing with the way we, as a frum community, enforce “rules.” Everyone knows it. Some are just too afraid to say it out loud. I’m sorry if this letter hurts because it says the straight truth.

We live in a world where every move is scrutinized. Every family, every individual, every institution is judged by the unwritten codes of what’s acceptable. Heaven forbid you should step out of line in hashkafah, chinuch, or social standards. Break one of those “sacred” boundaries and the kannaim and askanim descend like vultures. The whispers start. The meetings are convened. Suddenly, you are an outcast.

And yet, when the topic changes to money—fundraising, tzedakah, business, some new “initiative”—suddenly all those sacred rules that we’re told cannot ever be bent, all the laws of propriety and “communal standards” that are supposedly ironclad, melt away like butter in the sun. What was “assur” yesterday is now “permitted.” What was unthinkable suddenly becomes a “kiddush Hashem.”

We are told constantly that there are red lines we cannot cross. That there are rules meant to “protect us.” Rules that, if broken, bring communal death sentences. But watch what happens when a wealthy man writes a check, or when an organization wants to launch a fundraising drive, or when a tzedakah fund needs to fill its coffers. Magically, the red lines shift. Magically, the rules vanish.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. A boy can be rejected from a yeshiva because of the color of his father’s shirt, because his parents are divorced, or because his parents don’t fit the exact mold. Families are crushed by decisions that come down from on high in the name of “standards.” But when that same institution needs to raise a million dollars in forty-eight hours, suddenly they’ll parade singers, dancers, gimmicks, shtick—anything goes, so long as the money comes in.

We are lectured endlessly about modesty, about humility, about avoiding gaavah and excess. Yet when it’s time for a fundraising event — locally or across the ocean — nothing is too flashy, no display is too extravagant, no indulgence too out-of-place—as long as it “brings in money.” And the people who a week earlier were policing everyone else’s behavior now beam with pride, slap on the title of “kavod haTorah,” and call it holy.

Ask yourself: When did money become the ultimate heter? When did checks become the key that unlocks every locked door? How did we arrive at a place where breaking rules is unforgivable—unless you can pay for the privilege?

It is quite bothersome to watch how easily we excuse what should never be excused. If an individual dared to cross certain communal red lines in any other context, he’d be destroyed. But if he does it for a fundraising campaign, he’s praised as creative, innovative, even heroic. If a person defies accepted norms in daily life, he’s shunned. If an organization does it to raise dollars, it’s applauded.

The message is clear, and it is poisonous: money sanctifies everything. Hakesef yaaneh es hakol. Money cleanses every stain. Money excuses every breach. Rules are for the little people, for those who don’t have the means to buy themselves out of them.

And so, the very “guardians” of our community—the ones who claim to be safeguarding our hashkafah, protecting our standards, defending our values—become the enablers of the worst hypocrisy. They terrorize the weak while winking at the powerful. They police regular families with an iron fist while giving endless leeway to whoever can sign a check.

We like to pretend we are ruled by principle. But the truth is uglier. We are ruled by money. And the fact that so many people know this and still keep silent only deepens the rot.

It should make every thinking person’s stomach turn. Because once the standard becomes “rules don’t matter if the dollars add up,” then what’s left of the rules? What’s left of the integrity? What’s left of the emes?

A Fundraiser

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{Matzav.com}

Protesters blocked roads, lit blazes and were met with volleys of tear gas on Wednesday in Paris and elsewhere in France, heaping pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and making new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ‘s first day in office a baptism of fire. The government’s interior ministry announced 295 arrests in the first hours of what was a planned day of nationwide demonstrations against Macron, budget cuts and other complaints. Although falling short of its self-declared intention to “Block Everything,” the protest movement that started online over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes. In the southwest, fire damage to electrical cables stopped train services on one line and disrupted traffic on another, government transport authorities said. Spreading protests The protests appeared so far to be less intense than previous bouts of unrest that have sporadically rocked Macron in both his first and ongoing second term as president. They included months of nationwide so-called yellow vest demonstrations against economic injustice in 2018-2019. After his reelection in 2022, Macron faced firestorms of anger over unpopular pension reforms and nationwide unrest and rioting in 2023 after the deadly police shooting of a teenager on Paris’ outskirts. Nevertheless, demonstrations and sporadic clashes with riot police in Paris and elsewhere Wednesday added to a sense of crisis that has again gripped France following its latest government collapse on Monday, when Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a parliamentary confidence vote. Macron was installing Lecornu as prime minister on Tuesday, and the protests immediately presented him with a challenge. ‘Another from the right’ Groups of protesters who repeatedly tried to block Paris’ beltway during the morning rush hour were dispersed by police using tear gas. Elsewhere in the capital, protesters piled up trash cans and hurled objects at police officers. Firefighters were called to the downtown Châtelet neighborhood after a fire broke out in a restaurant, threatening to spread to an adjacent building. Parisian police reported 183 arrests by mid-afternoon, with more than 100 other people taken into police custody elsewhere in France, according to the interior ministry count. Road blockades, traffic slowdowns and other protests were widely spread — from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille and Caen in the north, and Nantes and Rennes in the west to Grenoble and Lyon in the southeast. Afternoon gatherings of thousands of people in central Paris were peaceful and good humored, with placards taking aim at Macron and his new prime minister. “Lecornu, you’re not welcome,” read a placard brandished by a group of graphic design students. Another read: “Macron explosion.” “One Prime minister has just been ousted and straight away we get another from the right,” said students Baptiste Sagot, 21. “They’re trying to make working people, young students, retirees, all people in difficulty, bear all the effort instead of taxing wealth.” A weary nation France’s prolonged cycle of political instability, with Macron’s minority governments lurching from crisis to crisis, has fueled widespread discontent that spilled onto the streets Wednesday. Paris protester Aglawen Vega, a nurse and union delegate in a public hospital, said she wanted to defend France’s public services from privatization. “We’re governed by robbers,” she said. “People are suffering, […]

BEAUTIFUL! Singer Beri Weber punched the wrong address into his GPS, fortuitously bringing him to a location where a ger and giyores happened to be getting married just then – and giving him the unexpected opportunity to enhance their simcha.

A 23-year-old chareidi bochur learning in Chut Shel Chesed, the yeshiva headed by Rav Shalom Arush, was taken into custody at Ben Gurion Airport early Wednesday morning.

The young man, who had not reported to the draft office as required, was preparing to fly to Uman for Rosh Hashanah when he was stopped. After the arrest, he was transferred directly to a military prison facility.

MK Meir Porush condemned the move in sharp terms, declaring: “The State of Israel’s ‘Iron Curtain’ against chassidim who wish to travel to visit their rebbe has begun to operate. Under the guidance of the Attorney General, an unprecedented operation has begun today, under which Jews are prevented from celebrating Rosh Hashanah as their custom is every year. It is unimaginable that such a thing happens in a country governed by Jews. This is an international disgrace.”

Just a day earlier, during a Knesset session about airport enforcement, Brigadier General Shai Taib, head of the IDF’s Planning and Manpower Division, explained that enforcement is an ongoing, year-round process.

He remarked, “The volume of flights during the holidays for all sectors has increased, so we are increasing our ability to respond, to allow the fabric of Israeli life, as well as to provide enforcement, and enforcement continues as usual.”

Within the chareidi public, frustration over these arrests is rapidly intensifying, with calls for a major protest. A large rally had been planned for Thursday, though there is talk it could be delayed. The Councils of Torah Sages of Degel HaTorah, Agudas Yisrael, and Shas had prepared a letter of support, but it was pulled from circulation at the last moment.

According to insiders, Yaakov Welcer, secretary of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael, stopped the release after the Gerrer Rebbe and several other rebbes voiced objections. They reportedly felt the statement’s language was too “lukewarm,” failed to represent the entire tzibbur, and inappropriately referred to “courts” rather than “the government.”

Even with these delays, organizers say they are determined to hold the demonstration, which is still expected to take place on Thursday night.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Kamala Harris has delivered a stinging critique of President Joe Biden’s bid for a second term, calling it an act of “recklessness” in her upcoming memoir. She argued that such a decision should never have been “left to an individual’s ego.”

The sharp remarks appear in an excerpt of her book, 107 Days, published by The Atlantic on Wednesday, and represent one of her harshest public assessments of her former running mate.

“Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” Harris writes, reflecting on her choice not to urge Biden to bow out of the 2024 campaign earlier.

“The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”

Harris said her refusal to weigh in “during all those months of growing panic” about Biden’s fitness for office came from her desire to prove she was a “loyal person.”

But she did not hold back from expressing further grievances. Harris attributed her silence partly to what she described as her “delicate status” within the administration and even accused the White House of stoking negative portrayals of her.

When she was “attacked … on everything from my laugh, to my tone of voice, to whom I’d dated in my 20s, or claimed I was a ‘DEI hire,’ the White House rarely pushed back with my actual résumé,” Harris complained.

“They had a huge comms team; they had Karine Jean-Pierre briefing in the pressroom every day. But getting anything positive said about my work or any defense against untrue attacks was almost impossible.

“Worse, I often learned that the president’s staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me,” she added.

Harris suggested jealousy was a factor, pointing to polling that showed her approval numbers creeping closer to Biden’s.

“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well. That given the concerns about his age, my visible success as his vice president was vital,” she wrote.

“It would serve as a testament to his judgment in choosing me and reassurance that if something happened, the country was in good hands. My success was important for him.

“His team didn’t get it.”

Even with her criticisms, Harris insisted she did not push Biden to quit, saying, “the American people had chosen him before in the same matchup,” and she left open the possibility that “It was just possible he was right about this, too.”

“And of all the people in the White House, I was in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out. I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run. He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win.”

“’It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized.”

Harris maintained that she would have intervened had she truly believed Biden was unable to perform his duties.

“Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity. Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president. On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best,” she wrote.

“But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser.”

“I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country,” Harris concluded.

{Matzav.com}

B’Sefer Chayim, a new and fast-growing organization dedicated to raising awareness about the need for parents to obtain life insurance for themselves, has announced a landmark partnership with Brooklyn girls school Masores Bais Yaakov. The initiative seeks to help ensure that families are not left financially destitute in the event of a tragic loss. B’Sefer Chayim does not sell insurance, nor is it affiliated with any agency, broker, or company. Its sole purpose is to raise awareness, offer guided information, and help families protect their children should the unthinkable occur. The effort is the brainchild of Shmulie Hartstein, who launched B’Sefer Chayim after witnessing firsthand how unprepared many young families are for the unthinkable – and the results. Rather than simply urging parents to purchase life insurance, B’Sefer Chayim goes a step further, offering clear, tailored guidance on what policies best protect surviving spouses and children. With the backing of rabbanim and askanim, the organization is bringing this message directly to the institutions that can make a huge difference: the schools. “There’s no financial ask,” Shmulie Hartstein explains. “We aren’t asking for money. We’re asking schools to use their platform for something that could save families from collapse.” Why schools? Because schools are uniquely positioned to reach parents at precisely the right time—when they are still young, insurable, and healthy. The best—and most affordable—life insurance policies are available when people are in their 20s and 30s, yet that is often when the issue is least discussed. Schools, where most parents fall into that age range, are ideal for bringing up this crucial conversation. B’Sefer Chayim provides schools with ready-to-use educational materials, messaging templates, and tailored guidance, without any paperwork or bureaucracy. With just a single click – and without spending a dollar – school deans and administrators can endorse the message and share B’Sefer Chayim’s recommendations with their parent body. If a school chooses not to partner directly, the ask of schools remains: urge your parent body to secure life insurance. The ripple effects of inaction are too devastating to ignore. “Too many parents think they have time,” says Hartstein. “They put it off. Then a health issue arises, or a tragedy strikes—and the window is gone. Schools can change that outcome.” Why is this any different than voting? If schools can ask parents to vote why can’t they ask parents to have life insurance? The newly formed partnership with Masores Bais Yaakov marks the first Brooklyn school to sign on, joining a growing list of schools that includes Yeshiva of Spring Valley in Monsey, Yeshiva Of South Shore in the 5 Towns and Bnos Esther Malka in Lakewood, with additional schools joining  in Brooklyn, Lakewood and the 5 Towns. “How can we get other schools to join this wonderful initiative? ” asked  Reb Yehuda Gelman who has been very helpful and extremely supportive with B’sefer Chayim since it’s inception assisting in many different ways. The importance of the initiative has drawn enthusiastic rabbinic endorsement. The first to sign a letter of support was Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh Yeshiva of Darchei Torah. He was quickly joined by other leading rabbanim including Rav Elya Brudny, Rav Yisroel Reisman, Rav Chaim Schabes, Rabbi David Ozeirey and a growing number of rabbanim across communities and kehillos including the Syrian community. Schools or administrators […]

A federal court has ruled that embattled Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her. The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed, which sets short-term interest rates to achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment. Congress has also sought to insulate the Fed from day-to-day politics. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb late Tuesday granted Cook’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking her firing while the dispute makes its way through the courts. Cobb ruled that Cook would likely prevail in the lawsuit she filed late last month to overturn her firing. Trump, a Republican, said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying the properties were “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property. The White House insisted Trump had the right to fire Cook. “President Trump lawfully removed Lisa Cook for cause due to credible allegations of mortgage fraud from her highly sensitive position overseeing financial institutions on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday in a statement. “This ruling will not be the last say on the matter, and the Trump Administration will continue to work to restore accountability and confidence in the Fed.” But Cobb ruled that the allegations likely weren’t sufficient legal cause to fire Cook. Under the law governing the Fed, governors can only be removed “for cause,” which Cobb said was limited to actions taken during a governor’s time in office. The “removal of a Federal Reserve Governor extends only to concerns about the Board member’s ability to effectively and faithfully execute their statutory duties, in light of events that have occurred while they are in office,” Cobb wrote. Cobb was appointed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat. “President Trump has not stated a legally permissible cause for Cook’s removal,” the ruling added. The decision means Cook will be able to participate in the Fed’s meeting Sept. 16-17, when it is expected to reduce its key short-term rate by a quarter-point to between 4% and 4.25%. Federal Reserve governors aren’t like cabinet secretaries and the law doesn’t allow a president to fire them over policy disagreements or because he simply wants to replace them. Congress sought to insulate the Fed from political pressure, the court noted, by giving Fed governors long, staggered terms that make it unlikely a president can appoint a majority of the board in a single term. “Allowing the President to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law,” Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a written statement. “Governor Cook will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed Board Governor.” The court also directed the Fed’s board of governors and its chair, Jerome Powell, “to allow Cook to continue to operate […]

The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday carried out long-range strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, escalating its confrontation with the Iran-backed group after weeks of missile and drone fire aimed at Israeli territory — including a direct hit on Ramon Airport in the south last week. According to the IDF, the operation marked the longest flight by Israeli fighter jets since the war began, with aircraft flying more than 2,350 kilometers (1,460 miles) to hit their targets in Sanaa and al-Jawf province. The strike involved over 10 fighter jets dropping 30 munitions on 15 separate targets, supported by aerial refuelings both en route and on the return leg. The IDF said its forces struck military camps where Houthi operatives were gathered, operations and intelligence command centers, a fuel depot, and the Houthis’ propaganda headquarters. That media division has served as a hub for “incitement and psychological terror,” broadcasting speeches by group leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and spokesman Yahya Saree. “We promised more strikes, and today we dealt another painful blow to the Houthi terror organization in Yemen,” Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said. “The long arm of the State of Israel will reach and strike terrorism wherever it exists and from wherever a threat is posed to our citizens.” The Houthis claimed their air defenses confronted “the Zionist aggression,” forcing some aircraft to retreat and “foiling the majority of the assault.” Yet verified footage from Sanaa showed multiple strikes landing on key sites, suggesting the Israeli operation achieved at least partial success. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Tuesday that job creation in the United States was overstated by nearly one million positions in the year ending March 2025, according to early benchmark revisions. This adjustment, the largest ever recorded, indicates that hiring during that period was happening at about half the pace originally reported.

Officials at the BLS said payroll totals are expected to be revised downward by 911,000 jobs, or 0.6 percent. That means total employment growth over those 12 months will be closer to 850,000, rather than the 1.8 million previously published. On a seasonally adjusted basis, monthly job gains drop from roughly 147,000 to just over 70,000.

The shortfall spans nearly every sector and most states. Wholesale and retail trade saw the largest downward adjustment, followed by leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, and manufacturing. In percentage terms, the most dramatic cut was in information services, where employment was revised down by more than 2 percent.

This recalculation changes the view of the economic landscape as President Donald Trump began his second term. Instead of taking charge of a red-hot labor market, Trump entered office with an economy that was already much weaker than thought. What had been hailed as one of the strongest job markets in history now looks far less impressive.

In mid-2024, White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein told the New York Times that “it’s beyond question that this is one of the strongest labor markets that we’ve ever seen.” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell echoed that sentiment in December, saying “the U.S. economy has just been remarkable… performing very, very well.” Both assessments were based on payroll data that has now been substantially revised lower.

At the time, many analysts suggested voters were overlooking strong employment numbers because of high inflation. The new figures imply instead that voters were accurately sensing economic weakness that was hidden by overly optimistic reports.

The revisions also raise questions about the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions in late 2024. The Fed cut interest rates three times between September and December, then paused once Trump took office. With the labor market already weaker than believed, the central bank may have underestimated the slowdown. Now, with unemployment climbing to 4.3 percent in August — the highest in nearly four years — pressure for further rate cuts is building.

This is the second year in a row that the BLS has issued a strikingly large revision. Back in February, the agency reduced its estimate of job growth through March 2024 by almost 600,000. The latest update, which will be finalized in February 2026, suggests that last year’s overstatement was not a one-off mistake but part of a broader trend. Economists caution, however, that the final revisions may not be as steep as the initial estimate, similar to the pattern from last year when the preliminary cut was later softened.

The repeated miscalculations have also put the Bureau of Labor Statistics under sharper scrutiny. President Trump last month removed the agency’s commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, who had been confirmed by the Senate, citing the string of massive revisions. He has nominated economist E.J. Antoni, a vocal critic of the bureau’s methodology, to succeed her.

Although the revision only applies through March 2025, when combined with recent weak reports — such as the 22,000 jobs added in August — it points to a labor market deteriorating more quickly, and from a lower baseline, than most experts previously believed.

{Matzav.com}

A train carrying gas exploded in Lithuania, with eight cars catching fire and forcing evacuations within a one-kilometer radius.

The IDF confirms targeting Houthi positions in Yemen, striking military camps, the terror group’s propaganda headquarters, and a fuel depot in Sanaa and al-Jawf, north of the capital.

Additional footage of the Israeli air strikes on the Houthis in Sana’a.

Luis Bou, an EMT with Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue, has been fired and permanently banned from the department after allegedly blaring sirens, blocking a funeral motorcade, and unleashing antisemitic slurs at grieving families during a levaya procession in Inwood on Tuesday. Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue announced Bou’s termination Wednesday evening, calling his alleged conduct “appalling and outrageous” and stressing that it “in no way reflects who we are as an organization or the values we stand for.” “Immediately upon learning of this incident, he was permanently banned from any involvement with our department & our facilities,” the department said in a statement. “There is zero tolerance for hate within Atlantic Beach Rescue.” The shocking incident unfolded Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of Burnside Avenue and Nassau Expressway. Witnesses say Bou, in a department-marked vehicle, suddenly cut into the funeral motorcade. Instead of yielding to the procession, he allegedly flipped on his sirens, blocked traffic, and then turned his vehicle’s PA system on the mourners. Eyewitnesses reported him shouting, “[expletive] the Jews,” “Jews need to die,” and “free Palestine” as families watched in disbelief. Bou, identified by sources as an Inwood resident living across from a local shul, left mourners stunned and shaken. Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue extended “deepest sympathies to the grieving families & the Jewish community,” pledged full cooperation with law enforcement, and vowed to continue enforcing “the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and respect” among its members. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

BREAKING: Following a YWN story yesterday where a vicious anti-semite with EMT license plates used lights and sirens and verbally attacked Jews in a Levaya procession in NY, the Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue has terminated this hater’smembership and thrown him out.

WATCH: Footage shows the moment Israeli air strikes struck Houthi targets in central Sana’a.