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Behold the power of the humble hot mic. The magnifier of sound, a descendant of 150-year-old technology, on Monday added to its long history of cutting through the most scripted political spectacles when it captured more than two minutes of U.S. President Donald Trump and eight European leaders chit-chatting around a White House news conference on their talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The standout quote came from Trump himself to French President Emmanuel Macron even before anyone sat down. The American president, reflecting his comments after meeting in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand, as crazy as it sounds.” How politics and diplomacy sound when the principals think no one is listening can reveal much about the character, humor and humanity of our leaders — for better and sometimes for worse. As public figures, they’ve long known what the rest of us are increasingly learning in the age of CCTV and social media: In public, no one can realistically expect privacy. “Whenever I hear about a hot mic moment, my first reaction is that this is what they really think, that it’s not gone through the external communications filter,” said Bill McGowan, founder and CEO of Clarity Media Group in New York. “That’s why people love it so much: There is nothing more authentic than what people say on a hot mic.” Always assume the microphone — or camera — is turned on Hot mics, often leavened with video, have bedeviled aspiring and actual leaders long before social media. During a sound check for his weekly radio address in 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously joked about attacking the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. “My fellow Americans,” Reagan quipped, not realizing the practice run was being recorded. “I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” The Soviet Union didn’t find it funny and condemned it given the consequential subject at hand. Putin, too, has fallen prey to the perils of a live mic. In 2006, he was quoted in Russian media joking about Israel’s president, who had been charged with and later was convicted of assault. The Kremlin said Putin was not joking and his meaning had been lost in translation. Sometimes a hot mic moment involves no words at all. Presidential candidate Al Gore was widely parodied for issuing exasperated and very audible sighs during his debate with George W. Bush in 2000. In others, the words uttered for all to hear are profane. Bush was caught telling running mate Dick Cheney that a reporter for The New York Times was a “major-league [expletive].” “This is a big [expletive] deal,” then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden famously said, loudly enough to be picked up on a microphone, as President Barack Obama prepared to sign his signature Affordable Care Act in 2010. Obama was caught on camera in South Korea telling Dmitri Medvedev, then the Russian president, that he’ll have “more flexibility” to resolve sensitive issues — “particularly with missile defense” — after the 2012 presidential election, his last. Republican Mitt Romney, Obama’s rival that year, called the exchange “bowing to the Kremlin.” “Sometimes it’s the unguarded moments that are […]

For the first time in three decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has split from federal vaccine guidelines, choosing to maintain its recommendation for COVID-19 shots in young children despite scaled-back guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Tuesday, the AAP reaffirmed its stance that children between six months and two years old should continue receiving the vaccine, along with older children considered vulnerable to severe illness. The decision represents a significant break from new federal recommendations shaped by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which no longer advise the shots for healthy children.

“This is going to be somewhat confusing,” said Dr. James Campbell, vice chair of the AAP’s infectious diseases committee. “But our opinion is we need to make the right choices for children to protect them.”

The AAP cited data showing that young children face elevated risks of hospitalization and serious complications from COVID-19, stressing the importance of immunization for those under two. The organization also continues to recommend vaccination for older children with chronic conditions such as asthma and other respiratory illnesses. For otherwise healthy older children, however, the group says the decision should remain with parents.

Campbell, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Maryland, emphasized that the recommendation is based on research and decades of pediatric practice rather than political influence.

This move has created one of the largest rifts in vaccine guidance in decades. The AAP’s key positions include:
• A strong recommendation for COVID-19 vaccines for children under two.
• Support for vaccinating older children with underlying medical issues.
• Leaving the decision for healthy older children up to parental discretion, while noting that federal guidelines under Kennedy no longer state healthy children “should” be vaccinated.

Despite the AAP’s firm position, questions remain about what federal policy will ultimately look like and how other medical organizations may respond. Among the uncertainties:
• Kennedy’s newly formed vaccine advisory panel has not yet issued formal COVID-19 shot recommendations.
• It is unclear whether other major health associations will align with the AAP or continue following CDC guidance.

Historically, the AAP has closely matched its vaccine advice with that of the CDC. While there have been occasional minor discrepancies in the past — such as the AAP recommending HPV vaccinations at age nine while the CDC suggests starting at ages 11 or 12 — experts say this is the first significant split in nearly thirty years.

This divide follows Kennedy’s decision to dissolve the CDC’s long-standing 17-member vaccine advisory committee and replace it with a smaller panel that includes several vaccine skeptics. The AAP and other major medical organizations were excluded from shaping the new recommendations.

Federal officials pushed back strongly against the AAP’s announcement. In a statement, Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon accused the group of “undermining national immunization policymaking with baseless political attacks.”

Nixon also suggested that financial ties may have influenced the AAP’s stance, pointing to contributions made by vaccine manufacturers to the group’s Friends of Children Fund, which supports various health-related initiatives, including equity programs and injury prevention.

Campbell defended the AAP’s approach, saying this outcome was inevitable.
“In 30 years, this is the first time the recommendations have differed in a significant or substantial way,” he said.

As of now, Kennedy’s restructured vaccine panel has not finalized its guidance on COVID-19 shots. However, the panel has voted to continue recommending flu vaccinations, but only single-dose options that exclude thimerosal, a commonly used preservative.

{Matzav.com}

An Alaska man might have walked away as the biggest winner of last week’s high stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. He rode off with a new motorcycle, courtesy of the Russian government. Putin’s delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew’s interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western Siberia, now assembles its bikes in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, and distributes them through a team based in Woodinville, Washington. Warren already owned one Ural motorcycle, purchased from a neighbor. He was out running errands on it a week before the summit when a Russian television crew saw him and asked for an interview. Warren told the crew about his difficulty obtaining parts for the bike because of supply-and-demand issues. “It went viral, it went crazy, and I have no idea why, because I’m really just a super-duper normal guy,” Warren said Tuesday. “They just interviewed some old guy on a Ural, and for some reason they think it’s cool.” On Aug. 13, two days before the Trump-Putin summit to discuss the war in Ukraine, Warren received a call from the Russian journalist, who told him, “They’ve decided to give you a bike.” Warren said a document he received indicated the gift was arranged through the Russian Embassy in the U.S., which did not immediately return a message Tuesday. Warren said he initially thought it might be a scam. But after Putin and Trump departed Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson following their three-hour summit last Friday, he got another call informing him the bike was at the base. He was directed to go to an Anchorage hotel the next day for the handoff. He went with his wife, and there in the parking lot, along with six men he assumed to be Russians, was the olive-green motorcycle, valued at $22,000. “I dropped my jaw,” he said. “I went, ’You’ve got to be joking me.’” All the Russians asked in return was to take his picture and interview him, he said: “If they want something from me, they’re gonna be sorely disappointed.” Two reporters and someone from the consulate jumped on the bike with him, and he drove slowly around the parking lot while a cameraman ran alongside and filmed it. The only reservation he had about taking the Ural is that he might somehow be implicated in some nefarious Russian scheme. Warren said he doesn’t want a “bunch of haters coming after me that I got a Russian motorcycle. … I don’t want this for my family.” When he was signing the paperwork taking ownership of the motorcycle from the Russian embassy, he noticed it was manufactured Aug. 12. “The obvious thing here is that it rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet within probably 24 hours,” he said. (AP)

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that he believes President Donald Trump is prepared to “crush” Russia’s economy with a new wave of sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming weeks. Graham, who spoke with Trump on Tuesday morning, has pushed the president for months to support his sweeping bipartisan sanctions bill that would impose steep tariffs on countries that are fueling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by buying its oil, gas, uranium, and other exports. The legislation has the backing of 85 senators, but Trump has yet to endorse it. Republican leaders have said they won’t move without him. “If we don’t have this thing moving in the right direction by the time we get back, then I think that plan B needs to kick in,” Graham said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. The Senate, now away from Washington for the August recess, is scheduled to return in September. Graham’s call with Trump came less than 24 hours after high-stakes meetings at the White House with Zelenskyy and several European leaders. Trump and the leaders emerged from those talks sounding optimistic, with the expectation being that a Putin and Zelenskyy sit-down will happen soon. Still, Trump’s comments to Graham, one of his top congressional allies, mark the latest sign that pressure is building — not just on Putin, but on Trump as well. “Trump believes that if Putin doesn’t do his part, that he’s going to have to crush his economy. Because you’ve got to mean what you say,” Graham told reporters in South Carolina on Tuesday. As Congress prepares to return to session in early September, the next few weeks could become a defining test of whether lawmakers and international allies are prepared to act on their own if Trump doesn’t follow through. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the lead Democrat pushing the bill with Graham, says there is a “lot of reason for skepticism and doubt” after the meetings with Trump, especially because Putin has not made any direct promises. He said the Russian leader has an incentive to play “rope-a-dope” with Trump. “The only way to bring Putin to the table is to show strength,” Blumenthal told the AP this week. “What Putin understands is force and pressure.” Still, Republicans have shown little willingness to override Trump in his second term. They abruptly halted work on the sanctions bill before the August recess after Trump said the legislation may not be needed. Asked Tuesday in a phone interview whether the sanctions bill should be brought up even without Trump’s support, Graham said, “the best way to do it is with him.” “There will come a point where if it’s clear that Putin is not going to entertain peace, that President Trump will have to back up what he said he would do,” Graham said. “And the best way to do it is have congressional blessing.” The legislation would impose tariffs of up to 500% on countries such as China and India, which together account for roughly 70% of Russia’s energy trade. The framework has the support of many European leaders. Many of those same European leaders left the White House on Monday with a more hopeful tone. Zelenskyy called the meeting with Trump […]

A heated confrontation erupted between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and United Torah Judaism Chairman Moshe Gafni over expected cuts to the chareidi education budget as part of the government’s plan to increase defense spending amid the ongoing war.

The tension came ahead of today’s cabinet meeting, where the government is expected to approve an additional 31 billion shekels for the 2025 budget, with the majority allocated for defense expenses. Approximately 1.5 billion shekels are also set aside for humanitarian aid to Gaza.

According to a report by Ynet’s Amir Ettinger, Gafni lashed out at Smotrich during internal discussions, accusing him of siding with hostile legal authorities while the chareidi community faces financial hardship. “You are helping the wicked legal establishment when we are in distress,” Gafni reportedly said.

Smotrich responded sharply, firing back over Gafni’s criticism related to the draft law. “I don’t work under threats,” the finance minister said. “Don’t speak to me about being in distress when we are dealing with your foolish statements about the draft, while my community is filling the cemeteries.”

At the center of the dispute is the removal of approximately 800 million shekels originally allocated for the Ofek Chadash (“New Horizon”) education program for chareidi teachers. These funds were never actually transferred due to ongoing legal restrictions, but Prime Minister Netanyahu had previously promised to safeguard them until those restrictions were lifted.

Gafni expressed his outrage publicly on X earlier today: “The government will meet today to approve changes to the 2025 state budget. Among these changes is the reallocation of funds designated for the ‘Ofek Chadash’ program. Contrary to all agreements and commitments, the prime minister and the finance minister are taking budget money meant for thousands of chareidi teachers. While they now claim part of the funding will remain, their conduct clearly signals the government’s true intentions.”

Gafni vowed to continue fighting: “We will continue to struggle with all our strength to protect the rights of chareidi educators. Furthermore, next month, when the defense budget reaches the Knesset and Finance Committee for approval, we will consult with the gedolei haTorah on how to vote in light of recent developments.”

United Torah Judaism Chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf also condemned the move, announcing that UTJ would oppose an increase in the budget for Minister Orit Strock’s department.

“It is unacceptable that they repeatedly cut the education budgets for chareidi children in favor of funding that has unclear objectives,” Goldknopf stated.

{Matzav.com Israel}

U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan are telling a commission reviewing decisions on the 20-year conflict that their experience was not only hell, but also confounding, demoralizing and at times humiliating. The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission aims to reflect such veterans’ experiences in a report due to Congress next year, which will analyze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021. The group released its second interim report on Tuesday, drawing no conclusions yet but identifying themes emerging from thousands of pages of government documents; some 160 interviews with cabinet-level officials, military commanders, diplomats, Afghan and Pakistani leaders and others; and forums with veterans like one recently held at a national Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Columbus, Ohio. “What can we learn from the Afghanistan War?” asked an Aug. 12 discussion session with four of the commission’s 16 members. What they got was two straight hours of dozens of veterans’ personal stories — not one glowingly positive, and most saturated in frustration and disappointment. “I think the best way to describe that experience was awful,” said Marine veteran Brittany Dymond, who served in Afghanistan in 2012. Navy veteran Florence Welch said the 2021 withdrawal made her ashamed she ever served there. “It turned us into a Vietnam, a Vietnam that none of us worked for,” she said. Members of Congress, some driven by having served in the war, created the independent commission several months after the withdrawal, after an assessment by the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden faulted the actions of President Donald Trump’s first administration for constraining U.S. options. A Republican review, in turn, blamed Biden. Views of the events remain divided, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered yet another review this spring. The commission wants to understand the bigger picture of a conflict that spanned four presidential administrations and cost more than 2,400 American lives, said Co-Chair Dr. Colin Jackson. “So we’re interested in looking hard at the end of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, but we’re equally interested in understanding the beginning, the middle and the end,” he said in an interview in Columbus. Co-chair Shamila Chaudhary said the panel is also exploring more sweeping questions. “So our work is not just about what the U.S. did in Afghanistan but what the U.S. should be doing in any country where it deems it has a national security interest,” she said. “And not just should it be there, but how it should behave, what values does it guide itself by, and how does it engage with individuals who are very different from themselves.” Jackson said one of the commission’s priorities is making sure the final report, due in August 2026, isn’t “unrecognizable to any veteran of the Afghanistan conflict.” “The nature of the report should be representative of every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine experience,” he said. Dymond told commissioners a big problem was the mission. “You cannot exert a democratic agenda, which is our foreign policy, you cannot do that on a culture of people who are not bought into your ideology,” she said. “What else do we expect the outcome to be? And so we had two decades of service members lost and maimed because we’re trying to change an ideology that they didn’t ask […]

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In response to the recent arrests of yeshiva students and the escalating draft decree, large-scale tefillah rallies are set to take place this Thursday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, in cities throughout Israel.

The gatherings will be held simultaneously nationwide rather than as one central “million-person” assembly.

The initiative comes following a letter issued by Rav Dov Landau and Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, roshei yeshiva of Slabodka.

In their letter, the gedolim called on the chareidi public to “take to the streets and cry out in heartfelt tefillah and pleading” over the draft decree threatening the foundations of Torah study in Eretz Yisroel.

According to the plan, dozens of rallies will be held in cities and towns across the country, uniting communities in tefillah while avoiding a single centralized mass gathering.

The decision follows the historic asifa of gedolim held recently in Ma’ale HaChamisha, where it was resolved that Thursday, Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, would be designated as a nationwide day of tefillah.

The official announcement issued after the meeting stated: “From here we issue the heartfelt call: Am Hashem, pour out your hearts before Him, for the power of Klal Yisroel lies in its tefillah. Therefore, we beseech all who trust in Hashem to dedicate special time to increase their tefillos. On the auspicious day of Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul, there will be a general day of tefillah to annul the harsh decree — through teshuvah, rectifying our deeds, and increasing our heartfelt pleas before the Ribbono Shel Olam. We also declare a full cancellation of work on that day, except for those compelled by employers to remain at their jobs. All who are able, from age fifteen and up, should fast for half the day. Those unable to fast should instead redeem it with tzedakah, until Hashem sees the suffering of His people and hastens His salvation with the nullification of this gezeirah.”

In addition, the Badatz of the Eidah Hachareidis issued its own call urging the public to dedicate Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul as a day of tefillah and fasting to “remove the harsh decree” and requesting that those able to do so fast for half the day.

{Matzav.com Israel}

Investigators on Tuesday were trying to determine what caused an explosion aboard a cargo ship laden with coal as it departed Baltimore’s harbor for East Africa. Officials said no one was injured in the blast Monday evening, which prompted a mayday call when it was reported near the site of last year’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. Video of the explosion showed flames shooting high into the air, followed by a large plume of dark smoke billowing over the Patapsco River. The Port of Baltimore’s main shipping channel was closed for several hours Tuesday while crews worked to locate a hatch from the ship that detached during the explosion and fell into the water, officials said. They announced late Tuesday afternoon that the channel had reopened. The 751-foot (229-meter) merchant vessel W-Sapphire was en route from Baltimore to East Africa, according to marine tracking websites. It was expected to arrive in the Port of Mauritius in about a month. Built in 2012, the ship is currently sailing under a Liberian flag. Officials said it was transporting coal. There were 23 crewmembers and two pilots aboard at the time of the explosion, according to Coast Guard officials. The ship is now anchored closer to Annapolis, Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. “Crews are awaiting verification to confirm safe conditions before proceeding with further Coast Guard investigations onboard the vessel,” the agency said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. Baltimore Fire Department spokesperson John Marsh said the agency responded to a fire below deck. There were no reports of property damage beyond the ship, according to the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said his office was closely monitoring the situation. The Coast Guard established a 2,000-yard (1,829-meter) safety zone around the site of the explosion while crews searched for the missing hatch. They used a sonar-equipped survey vessel called Buck to assess the underwater conditions. The channel was closed for months after the deadly bridge collapse in March 2024, which killed six members of a roadwork crew and effectively brought port operations to a standstill. The bridge was destroyed when the container ship Dali lost power and crashed into one of its supporting columns. (AP)

All are asked to daven for Rav Alter Dovid Chaim Stern, who has been hospitalized in critical condition at Laniado Hospital in Netanya.

Rav Stern is a prominent talmid of the famed Ponevezher mashgiach, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt”l, and was among the close confidants of the Chazon Ish zt”l.

In addition to the central gathering in Yerushalayim, gatherings for tefillah and hisorerus are being organized in Bnei Brak and in Jewish communities across Eretz Yisroel.

All are asked to daven for Rav Alter Dovid Chaim ben Chaya Sarah Leviyah.

{Matzav.com Israel}

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday confirmed the U.S. government is vying for a 10% stake in Silicon Valley pioneer Intel in an unusual deal that would deepen the Trump administration’s financial ties with major computer chip manufacturers and punctuate a dramatic about-face from the president’s recent push to oust the company’s CEO. The ambitions that Lutnick confirmed in a televised interview with CNBC came the day after various news outlets reported on the negotiations between the Trump administration and Intel. The investment would be made by converting federal government grants previously pledged under President Joe Biden’s administration into a bushel of Intel stock that would turn the U.S. government into one of the company’s largest shareholders. “We think America should get the benefit of the bargain,” Lutnick told CNBC as he explained why President Donald Trump is pushing for the deal. “It’s obvious that it’s the right move to make.” Intel declined to comment on the negotiations with the Trump administration. The notion of the U.S. government holding a huge stake in Intel would have seemed inconceivable back in the company’s heyday when its processors were powering a personal computer boom that began in the mid-1970s. But Intel has been mired in tough times after missing mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone’s 2007 debut. Intel has fall even farther behind in recent years during an artificial intelligence craze that has been a boon for two of its once-smaller rivals, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. The Trump administration is hitching a ride on their success by imposing a 15% commission on their sales of their chip sales in China in exchange for their export licenses. Those fees are expected to translate into billions of dollars in additional government revenue. The U.S. government’s negotiations to become a major Intel shareholder are coming on a heels of a $2 billion investment Japanese technology giant SoftBank Group disclosed late Monday that it plans to make in the Santa Clara, California, company. Softbank is accumulating its 2% stake in Intel at $23 per share — a slight discount from the stock’s price when its investment was announced. Intel’s shares surged nearly 7% to $25.32 in Tuesday’s early afternoon trading on the news of Softbank’s big bet on Intel, coupled with Trump’s designs on the company. SoftBank invests in an array of companies that it sees as holding long-term potential. It has been stepping up investments in the United States since Trump returned to the White House. In February, its chairman Masayoshi Son joined Trump, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle in announcing a major investment of up to $500 billion in a project to develop artificial intelligence called Stargate. “Semiconductors are the foundation of every industry, Son said in a statement. ”This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.” Trump’s interest in Intel is also being driven by his desire to boost chip production in the U.S., which has been a focal point of the trade war that he has been waging throughout the world since he returned to the White House earlier this year for his second term in office. “We want Intel to be successful in American,” Lutnick said during […]

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the cancellation of 37 security clearances for current and former government officials accused of “abusing public trust by politicizing and manipulating” intelligence. Among those affected are several individuals who played a role in the controversial intelligence assessment, ordered by Barack Obama, regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.

According to an ODNI memo released Monday, the officials lost their clearances due to allegations of either politicizing or weaponizing intelligence, mishandling classified materials, or failing to adhere to standard tradecraft procedures. The list includes a former senior aide to Obama-era DNI James Clapper.

“The President has directed that, effective immediately, the security clearances of the following 37 individuals are revoked,” the memo declared.

The directive further instructed, “Their access to classified systems, facilities, materials, and information is to be terminated forthwith. Any contracts or employment with the U.S. Government by these 37 individuals is hereby terminated. Any credentials held by these individuals must be surrendered to the appropriate security officers.”

Among those named is Vinh Nguyen, who worked closely with Clapper on the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which has since faced widespread criticism for its findings suggesting that Russia favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.

“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Gabbard stated. “Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold.”

Gabbard emphasized that the intelligence community must adhere to its highest obligations, saying, “Our Intelligence Community must be committed to upholding the values and principles enshrined in the US Constitution, and maintain a laser-like focus on our mission of ensuring the safety, security and freedom of the American people.”

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration has ordered the revocation of the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials, including some who worked on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it by name. A memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was seen by The Associated Press, accuses the targeted individuals of having engaged in the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” to advance personal or partisan gain. It’s the latest action of retribution by the Trump administration against national security officials he perceives as having been against him. It comes as his government has launched a sweeping effort to cast doubt on the legitimacy of intelligence community findings that Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election. (AP)

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A Facebook post by Tiveriah Deputy Mayor Dudi “Dudik” Azulai has ignited a storm of controversy after he made sharp comments against the city’s growing chareidi population. The statement came in response to a pashkevil published by the Badatz opposing a planned concert by singer Yaakov Shwekey in the city.

In his post, Azulai warned that demographic trends indicate a significant shift in the city’s character:
“לצערי הרב ולפי המדדים שאני רואה – העיר בדרך להתחרדות, אלא אם כן יתקבלו החלטות קשות שיכולות לשנות את המגמה וזה אפשרי”
(“Unfortunately, according to the data I’m seeing, the city is on its way to becoming predominantly chareidi, unless difficult decisions are made that could reverse the trend, and that is possible.”)

The remarks drew heavy criticism from across the spectrum, with both chareidi and secular residents expressing outrage over his statements.

Speaking later in an interview with Radio Kol Rega, Azulai attempted to clarify his position, saying:
“אני אומר לחרדים אתם חרדים ואני חרד לשינוי צביונה של העיר. אנחנו צריכים לחיות אחד עם השני בעיר והפוסט הזה נכתב מדאגה לעיר ולתושבים. אני עוקב אחרי המגמה של הזרימה של כל מיני קהילות שמגיעות מחוץ לעיר ומתמקמות בטבריה. חלקן מתקבלות בצורה יפה חלקן כמו הסאטמרים לא רצויים”
(“I tell the chareidim — you are chareidim, and I am worried about the changes to the city’s character. We need to live together in this city, and this post was written out of concern for the city and its residents. I am monitoring the flow of various communities moving into Tiveriah. Some are welcomed nicely, but others, like the Satmar community, are not wanted.”)

Azulai went on to call for a serious public discussion about the city’s future:
“אני חושב שיש מה לעשות – צריך לקיים דיון נוקב לאן פניה של העיר מועדות. יכול להיות שבעוד 10 שנים כמות החרדים בטבריה תגיע ל-50 אחוז וצריך להכין את העיר לקראת זה, אולי יהיה צורך לחלק את טבריה ל-2, לחרדית וחילונית. כל ראש עיר שירצה להיבחר בעתיד יצטרך את החרדים אבל זה לא אומר שצריך לפרוש שטיח אדום”
(“I believe action can be taken. We need to have a deep discussion about where the city is headed. It’s possible that within 10 years, chareidim will make up 50% of Tiveriah, and the city must prepare for that. Perhaps it will even be necessary to divide Tiveriah into two, one chareidi and one secular. Any future mayor who wants to be elected will need the chareidim, but that doesn’t mean we should roll out a red carpet.”)

{Matzav.com Israel}

President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. “Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding,” Martin wrote. “I would take this as an act of good faith.” Then last Friday, Martin turned up outside James’ Brooklyn townhouse in a “Columbo”-esque trench coat, accompanied by an aide and New York Post journalists. He didn’t meet with James or go inside the building. A Post writer saw him tell a neighbor: “I’m just looking at houses, interesting houses. It’s an important house.” James’ lawyer Abbe Lowell shot back on Monday, telling Martin in a letter his blunt request for James’ resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics. The Justice Department “has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,” Lowell wrote. “This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.” “Let me be clear: that will not happen here,” Lowell added. Lowell also blasted Martin’s visit to James’ home as a “truly bizarre, made-for-media stunt” and said it was “outside the bounds” of Justice Department rules. He included an image from security camera footage showing Martin, in his trench coat, posing for a photo in front of James’ townhouse. He said Martin looked as if he were on a “visit to a tourist attraction.” The Associated Press obtained copies of both letters on Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left for Martin’s spokesperson. James’ office declined to comment. The letters were the latest salvos in a monthslong drama involving Trump’s retribution campaign against James and others who’ve battled him in court and fought his policies. James has sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and last year won a $454 million judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied about the value of his assets on financial statements given to banks. An appeals court has yet to rule on Trump’s bid to overturn that verdict. Earlier this month, the AP reported, the Justice Department subpoenaed James for records related to the civil fraud lawsuit and a lawsuit she filed against the National Rifle Association. Martin’s investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had “falsified bank documents and property records.” Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited “media reports” claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a […]

A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that another large-scale conflict involving Israel or the United States could erupt at any moment.

“We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation or agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel,” said Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in comments to Iranian media.

“I think another war may happen, and after that, there may be no more wars,” he added, according to a translation by Iran International.

Safavi claimed that the U.S. and Israel rely on force to impose their policies, saying, “The Americans and the Zionists say they create peace through power; therefore, Iran must also become strong, because in the system of nature, the weak are trampled.”

He stressed the need to bolster Iran’s military and strategic capabilities, stating, “We must strengthen our diplomatic, media, missile, drone and cyber offensive strategy. We, the military, do scenario-planning, we see the worst case, and we prepare a plan for it.”

This latest statement comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened in late July to respond to any future attacks from Israel or the United States in a “more decisive manner.”

“If there are concerns about the possible diversion of our nuclear program into non-peaceful purposes, the ‘military option’ proved incapable — but a negotiated solution may work,” Araghchi said at the time.

Following Israel’s declaration of victory in July, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu warned Tehran against advancing its nuclear program, saying, “if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild [the nuclear program], we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt.”

The most recent confrontation between Israel and Iran lasted 12 days, beginning on June 13 when Israel launched a surprise offensive.

According to Israeli officials, the operation targeted senior Iranian military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment facilities, and ballistic missile sites in an effort to block what they described as Iran’s efforts to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels beyond any civilian use, limited access for international inspectors at nuclear sites, and rapidly expanded its ballistic missile program. Israeli officials maintain that recent intelligence shows Iran had taken steps toward weaponization.

{Matzav.com}

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police officials in Washington, D.C., have falsified data to make crime rates appear lower than they are, according to two people familiar with the probe who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss an open investigation. The investigation comes amid an escalating — and political — showdown between the Trump administration and the city over control of the police department. It wasn’t immediately clear what federal laws could have been violated by the possible manipulation of crime data. President Donald Trump claimed that violent crime in Washington is getting worse as he ordered a federal takeover of the city’s police department, flooding the streets with hundreds of National Guard members. But he exaggerated or misstated many facts about public safety in Washington, where crime rates have fallen in recent years. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment on the investigation. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro’s office in Washington didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. The New York Times was first to report on the investigation. Earlier this year, a Metropolitan Police Department commander suspected of manipulating crime data was placed on paid administrative leave, NBC Washington reported. Bowser told the television station last Tuesday that the city’s police chief “had concerns about one commander, investigated all seven districts and verified that the concern was with one person.” “So, we are completing that investigation and we don’t believe it implicates many cases,” the mayor added. Former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who was Pirro’s predecessor and Trump’s first pick to lead the office, said Washington’s violent crime had decreased in the first 100 days since Trump returned to the White House in January. In an April 28 news release, Martin’s office said MPD data showed that violent crime had dropped by 25 percent since the start of 2025. “We are proving that strong enforcement and smart policies can make our communities safer,” Martin said in the release. (AP)

Qatar’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza, which Hamas has agreed to, is “almost identical” to an earlier plan presented by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

On Monday, Hamas informed Egyptian and Qatari mediators of its acceptance of the newest hostage-ceasefire framework, according to a source familiar with the negotiations who spoke to The Jerusalem Post.

Israel received the proposal later that evening. An Israeli official told the Post that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would review Hamas’s offer, even though it represents only a partial deal and does not include the release of all the hostages. However, sources emphasized that Israel’s stance — which demands the release of all captives and includes additional terms for ending the war — has not changed.

Under the proposed arrangement, Hamas would free 10 living Israeli hostages in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 150 terrorists currently serving life sentences. According to an Egyptian official speaking with Reuters, the plan would also require Israel to pause its military activity in Gaza for 60 days and could potentially serve as a stepping stone toward a broader agreement to end the conflict entirely.

Axios reported that Hamas’s acceptance “aligns 98%” with the proposal previously put forward by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff — a plan that Israel had already approved in principle. Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu echoed this in a Sunday interview with Al Jazeera, clarifying that there is “no clause in the proposal we agreed on related to Hamas’s weapons.”

Meanwhile, Al-Araby TV reported on Monday that a high-level meeting in Cairo involving Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Palestinian factions, Egypt’s intelligence minister, and Hamas representatives “was positive.”

According to Al-Araby TV, the talks also “demonstrated a heightened sense of responsibility and determination to end the war.”

Sources told The Jerusalem Post that Qatar’s prime minister traveled to Egypt on Monday to meet with mediators and review options for a potential hostage agreement. During that session, Egypt and Qatar presented Hamas with an updated ceasefire proposal in a meeting that also included representatives from multiple Palestinian factions, Al-Araby TV reported.

{Matzav.com}