Feed aggregator

Shock spread among Vizhnitzer Chassidim across the globe following the discovery of severe vandalism at the historic cemetery in Vizhnitsa, Ukraine, the resting place of generations of the Vizhnitzer Rebbes.

According to reports, antisemitic vandals broke through the cemetery fence under cover of night, trampling and smashing several gravestones in an act of deliberate desecration. The extent of the damage is said to be considerable. The attack took place just one day after the hilula of the Tzemach Tzaddik of Vizhnitz, which had drawn hundreds of Chassidim from around the world to daven at the kever.

Despite the extensive damage to tombstones and the surrounding cemetery grounds, community representatives described a “clear miracle of hashgacha pratis,” noting that the ohel containing the graves of the Vizhnitz Rebbes and the adjacent hachnosas orchim building were left untouched. It is believed the vandals may have been deterred by the presence of security cameras surrounding the area.

Early Thursday morning, representatives of Hagan Hanaah and Hachnosas Orchim arrived at the site and were stunned by the scale of destruction. They immediately filed a complaint with local authorities, who have opened a criminal investigation to identify those responsible.

Rav Moshe Hersh Stern, chairman of the Hachnosas Orchim organization, expressed determination in the face of the desecration: “Though this is a grave and painful incident, we will not be disheartened. The desecration of a cemetery is a heinous act, but we will do everything possible to restore this sacred site and preserve the dignity of the departed.”

He added that repair efforts are expected to begin in the coming days, including rebuilding the fence and restoring the damaged graves, and voiced confidence that “local police will bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Meanwhile, community leaders are already discussing ways to significantly strengthen security measures to ensure such appalling acts of hatred are never repeated.

{Matzav.com}

Russian military planes briefly violated Lithuania’s airspace Thursday evening, the Lithuanian president said, condemning what he called a blatant breach of the territorial integrity of his European Union and NATO-member country. Lithuania’s foreign ministry planned to summon Russian Embassy representatives in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to protest the violation, President Gitanas Nausėda said in a post on the social media platform X. “This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” Nausėda wrote on X. “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.” Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, rejected the Lithuanian claim that Russian fighter jets had intruded into its airspace. It said in a statement that Su-30 fighter jets on Thursday conducted training flights over the Kaliningrad region in strict compliance with the rules. “The aircraft did not deviate from their flight route or violate the borders of other states, as confirmed by objective monitoring means,” the ministry said. Baltic nations already have been on heightened alert over neighboring Russia’s aggression on Ukraine. And in recent weeks, a series of mysterious drone incidents and airspace violations by Russian war planes have fueled concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be testing NATO’s defensive reflexes. Some leaders have accused Putin of waging a hybrid war in Europe. Moscow denies probing NATO’s defenses. The Lithuanian armed forces said in a statement that about 6 p.m. local time on Thursday, two Russian military aircraft flew into Lithuanian airspace for about 700 meters (765 yards), The SU-30 aircraft and IL-78 refueling aircraft flew away after roughly 18 seconds. The Lithuanian armed forces believe the military planes might have been conducting refueling exercises in the neighboring Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Two Spanish fighter jets, which had been doing NATO air policing missions, were scrambled and flew out to the area. Earlier on Thursday, Nausėda attended a summit at the European Council building in Brussels where EU leaders endorsed a plan to ensure that Europe can defend itself against an outside attack by the end of the decade. The plan is dubbed Readiness 2030. (AP)

A tense Senate confirmation hearing erupted Thursday as Sen. Ted Cruz confronted Hamtramck, Michigan Mayor Amer Ghalib, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, over a series of inflammatory past statements about Jews, Saddam Hussein, and the Muslim Brotherhood. Cruz said he would not support Ghalib’s nomination, telling the Democratic mayor that his record “stands in direct contradiction” to the Trump administration’s Middle East policy. “It appears you have a deep-felt and passionate view about the Middle East,” Cruz said. “But it is a view that is in direct conflict with the policy positions of President Trump and this administration.” Throughout the nearly hour-long exchange, Cruz grilled Ghalib on multiple social media posts and public statements that have resurfaced in recent weeks — including one in which he referred to Saddam Hussein as a “martyr,” another praising the Muslim Brotherhood as “inspirational,” and a third in which he appeared to endorse an antisemitic comment describing Jews as “monkeys for their own benefit.” When pressed by Cruz to clarify his view of Saddam Hussein, Ghalib initially said his 2020 comments were made “in a moment of anger” following an Iranian missile strike on U.S. bases in Iraq. “It was the day of January 7, 2020, when our military bases were attacked by Iran,” Ghalib said. “And in a moment of anger because we didn’t respond.” But Cruz continued: “Do you continue to believe Saddam Hussein was a martyr?” “Senator, I don’t think that. No doubt Saddam was a dictator,” Ghalib replied. “If this offended anybody who suffered from Saddam or lost a loved one, I apologize.” Pressed again for a direct answer, Ghalib added, “It wouldn’t matter — he’s in God’s hand. He will get the treatment he deserves.” Cruz then turned to Ghalib’s post lauding the Muslim Brotherhood — a group the Texas senator has sought to designate as a terrorist organization. “How would you be able to serve as an ambassador if President Trump designates the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization?” Cruz asked. “I would trust the president,” Ghalib replied. “If it’s designated, I will be committed to implement President Trump’s policies.” Ghalib defended his past social media activity, attributing some of the controversy to what he described as “bad habits” and “mistranslations” from Arabic. “Before I became mayor, I used to have a bad habit of acknowledging every post, every comment under my post,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I agree with it.” He claimed one of the antisemitic posts Cruz cited had been misinterpreted. “There was a response under that [post] that was not translated, which said, ‘You can say this in your country, but not in this country,’ meaning I didn’t agree with that post,” Ghalib said. “I know it was a bad habit, but let me be clear: I don’t agree with that statement, and I treat everybody with respect in my official capacity.” Ghalib, who became Hamtramck’s first Muslim mayor in 2021, has faced scrutiny for years over comments sympathetic to extremist ideologies. His nomination by President Trump earlier this fall drew bipartisan skepticism, but Thursday’s hearing marked the most direct confrontation to date. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sent a letter on Thursday to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordering him to increase enforcement efforts against bnei yeshivos. She claimed in her letter that the current situation “constitutes a severe violation of equality, which cannot be legally justified.” She did not address the issue of the violation of religious rights being carried out against bnei yeshivos. MK Meir Porush responded, “The Attorney General’s latest letter to the Prime Minister once again reflects her obsession with targeting the Torah world. Never before has any issue received such attention from an attorney general.” “Baharav-Miara is essentially the Attorney General for persecuting the Torah world. The prime minister knows that the more he acts in accordance with her wishes, the more she will demand additional sanctions that will harm Am Yisrael.” A day earlier, following the arrests of several bnei yeshivos, Porush stated, “Once again, the Attorney General sent the Military Police to arrest young men whose only ‘crime’ is limmud Torah.” “Although months of this draconian rampage against the Torah world have failed to achieve the goals she set, she refuses to acknowledge her failure and is trying to drag the Jewish people into a civil war.” Baharav-Miara is also continuing her campaign to invent new sanctions against Chareidim. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Cornell University is facing a storm of outrage after its student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, published a professor’s op-ed accompanied by a shocking illustration — a bloodied Star of David defaced with Nazi “SS” lightning bolts drawn onto the back of a Palestinian person. The image, which appeared alongside an article by Professor Karim-Aly Kassam, ignited immediate backlash from students, faculty, and Jewish advocacy groups who called it a grotesque act of antisemitism and Holocaust inversion. The newspaper quickly took down the graphic and later republished the piece without it, but the controversy has exposed growing concerns about the campus’s cultural climate. “To me, it reflects the normalization of Holocaust inversion, both on the internet and now on Cornell’s campus,” said William Jacobson, a Cornell Law School professor and founder of Legal Insurrection, a conservative website. “This graphic is specifically inside a bloody Jewish star — no reflection of Israel at all. It clearly pursues the idea that Jews are the new Nazis. It’s obviously highly offensive.” The “SS” insignia depicted in the image was the symbol of Adolf Hitler’s secret police, the Schutzstaffel — the organization responsible for mass atrocities during the Holocaust. Kassam’s op-ed, titled “Thousand & One Eyes for An Eye,” accused Israel of seeking revenge in Gaza and equated its rhetoric toward Palestinians to that of Nazi Germany toward European Jews. “It is not unlike what the Nazis said about another peoples living in Europe to justify their genocide,” he wrote. The article was published just days after the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. Backlash poured in on social media, which decried the illustration as antisemitic propaganda. Under mounting pressure, Kassam issued a statement to The New York Post, saying, “I am deeply saddened to learn that this portion of the artwork has been interpreted by some as antisemitic. That was not my intention, and I have learned from this experience.” An editor at The Cornell Daily Sun later defended Kassam in a column, arguing that the professor “did not imply that the state of Israel is equal to Nazi Germany,” but apologized for allowing the graphic to appear in the first place. Jacobson, who has long criticized the campus for what he describes as growing hostility toward Jewish students, said the episode points to a broader issue. “If a professor feels comfortable sharing a graphic like this, and the Daily Sun initially felt comfortable running it, that reflects a very toxic campus culture,” he said. “The lesson here is not to censor people but to understand what’s happened on campus. It shines a light on a profound problem.” The controversy comes as Cornell continues to grapple with allegations of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students. Jacobson’s organization, the Equal Protection Project, is reportedly preparing a civil rights complaint on behalf of Oren Renard, an Israeli student who said he was pushed out of a class because of his national origin. Cornell’s Office of Civil Rights recently issued a finding of discrimination in that case — further evidence of a university struggling to confront deep-seated bias. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic, heavy bombers up to the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, a little over a week after another group of American bombers made a similar journey as part of a training exercise to simulate an attack. The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off of Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S. Adding to the speculation, the U.S. military since early September has been carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs. According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight of B-1s took place in the Caribbean. The B-1 bomber can carry more bombs than any other plane in the U.S. inventory. A similar flight of slower B-52 Stratofortress bombers was conducted in the region last week. The bombers were joined by Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter jets — a squadron is currently based in Puerto Rico — for what the Pentagon called a “bomber attack demo” in photos online. When Trump was asked about Thursday’s B-1 flight and if it was meant to ramp up military pressure on Venezuela, he said, “it’s false, but we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them.” The U.S. force in the Caribbean includes eight warships, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and an F-35 fighter squadron. A submarine has also been confirmed to be operating in the waters off South America. Trump on Wednesday said he has the “legal authority” to carry out the strikes on the alleged drug-carrying boats and suggested similar strikes could be done on land. “We will hit them very hard when they come in by land,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re totally prepared to do that. And we’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the military had conducted its ninth strike, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It followed a strike Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people and brought the overall death toll from the strikes to at least 37. The latest pair of strikes expanded the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America from the waters of the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific. Hegseth has drawn a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown. “Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated al-Qaeda,” Hegseth told reporters on Thursday at the White House. “We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you,” he added. (AP)

HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein published words of chizzuk after several bnei yeshivos were arrested by military police and thrown into prison. HaRav Zilberstein wrote, “We are living in very complex times, as what is stated in Masechtas Kesuvos (112b) has been fulfilled in us. Amar Rebbi Zeira said in the name of Rebbi Yirmiyah bar Abba, ‘In the generation when the son of Dovid comes, there will be accusations against talmidei chachamim.’ When this was told before Shmuel, he said, ‘One affliction after another.’ Rav Yosef taught, ‘Confiscations upon confiscations.'” “And behold, here in Eretz Yisrael—to our great sorrow—it is the only place in the world where lomdei Torah are persecuted, and they seek to imprison them for the ‘crime’ of learning Torah and for wanting to guard their Yahadus and not be corrupted in questionable places, from which no one emerges with the same Yiras Shamayim with which he entered.” “This situation shouldn’t frighten the avreichim and bochurim at all because until now, we learned Torah because we could—but now, we must prove that we don’t learn Torah because it is easy, but because it is the will of the Borei and we are prepared to be mekadeish Shem Shamayim…and to continue learning Torah above all. “I have received as a kabbalah that truth ultimately prevails. We have been in galus for 1,956 years, and many have risen against the Torah and those who uphold it—and none have succeeded. Am Yisrael chai v’kayam and clings to the Torah, and so it shall remain until the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days. “Now that we must learn Torah with mesirus nefesh, we must cling to it all the more. Let us accept upon ourselves the yoke of Torah in the fullest sense, and it will be fulfilled in us as it says in Pirkei Avos: ‘Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and worldly concerns will be removed from him.’ I am confident that whoever takes upon himself the yoke of Torah will not be harmed by the financial decrees! “In earlier generations, in the galus, great Talmidei Chachamim emerged from the yeshivos—because they learned with mesirus nefesh. They had almost no physical comforts. They learned with little food, eating meals at the homes of kind ba’alei batim, often without even a bed to sleep in. They learned with tremendous mesiras nefesh and ahavas Torah. “Today, baruch Hashem, the generation is fortunate—there are vast numbers of lomdei Torah in yeshivos who uphold the world. But what has been lacking is mesirus nefesh for Torah. To truly flourish, there must also be mesirus nefesh and a demonstration of love for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. “In our time, bnei yeshivos—the elite of Am Yisrael—are being persecuted, the ones who sustain the world, in whose zechus we continue to exist here in Eretz Yisrael, surrounded by cruel, bloodthirsty enemies. Everyone understands that we live here only via nissim. There is no natural explanation for our survival other than that Hakadosh Baruch Hu protects us through the zechus of lomdei Torah. “There are now terrible accusations against those who learn Torah, but the lomdim continue with mesirus nefesh, and they are mekadeish shem Shamayim. And in the zechus of this limud with such devotion, Am Yisrael is granted greater […]

WATCH:

Alaska Airlines said its operations have resumed Friday after it had to ground its planes for hours because of an information technology outage. The airline said in a statement that 229 flights were canceled because of the outage and that more flight disruptions were expected as it worked to “reposition aircraft and crews.” Alaska Airlines said it is working on getting travelers affected by the disruption to their destinations. It asked that passengers check their flight status before heading to the airport. The grounding Thursday affected Alaska Air and Horizon Air flights. Hawaiian Airlines, which was bought by Alaska Air Group last year, said its flights were operating as scheduled. In July, Alaska grounded all of its flights for about three hours after the failure of a critical piece of hardware at a data center. There has been a history of computer problems disrupting flights in the industry, though most of the time the disruptions are only temporary. (AP)

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Bitachon4Life-Shiur-1612-Chikuy-Part-12-Benefit.mp3

​​For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.

 

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Tefila4Life-Shiur-1005-Yid-Halelukah-Ki-Tov-Zamrah.mp3

Trump pardons convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao • President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. • Zhao, who is widely known as CZ, had pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the huge cryptocurrency exchange. • Zhao’s plea was part of a $4.3 billion settlement Binance reached with the DOJ in 2023. • Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, blasted the pardon, calling it an example of “corruption.”

Iraqi mechanic Hussein Dawood transforms vehicle scrap into artistic creations, using discarded parts to promote environmental awareness.

North Korea says it has tested a new hypersonic system designed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent. The tests came just days before U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping are set to meet in South Korea. Seoul’s military said multiple missiles were fired from near Pyongyang, flying about 350 km before landing on land. The tests mark North Korea’s first since South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, took office, pledging peace — an offer Kim Jong Un has so far rejected.

Dramatic audio recordings broadcast on Channel 12 have exposed sharp criticism by senior members of Shas’s Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah aimed at party leader Aryeh Deri and at the idea of re-entering the government during what they described as a fraught period for the world of Torah study.

The tapes capture the Rishon Letzion Rav Yitzchok Yosef condemning moves to return Shas ministers to the coalition and voicing fury at Deri’s intentions. “If my father were alive this wouldn’t be happening; he would bang on the table and tell Deri there will be no government in Israel, there will be elections,” Rav Yosef is heard saying in the recording. “If my father were alive he would shout at him.”

Rav Yosef’s remarks went beyond that rebuke. According to the released audio, he argued that the faction should refuse any compromise and instead prepare for elections, asserting that the chareidi parties — Agudas Yisrael, Degel HaTorah and Shas — together form a bloc of 16–17 Knesset seats that no government could be formed without. He also leveled personal criticism at Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, saying, among other things, that Netanyahu “tries to convince people there is no God” and calling him an “atheist to a degree,” while still acknowledging his political acumen.

Other senior rabbonim recorded on the tapes echoed similar alarm. Rav Shmuel Betzalel, who oversees recruitment matters on the Moetzet, was heard calling the proposed conscription legislation “not a good law” and admitting he prays it will not pass. Rav Moshe Maya — the eldest member of the Moetzet — told interlocutors bluntly that he would resign from the Moetzet immediately if the party rejoined the coalition.

The published recordings were presented by Channel 12 as explaining why the Moetzet felt compelled to demand that Shas withdraw from all coalition roles — even at the cost of dissolving the government and prompting new elections — rather than accept legislation perceived as punitive toward yeshiva students and the world of Torah learning. The Moetzet’s stance, as reflected in the tapes, emphasized protecting Torah learners from what they called “humiliating” sanctions and legal measures.

The leak adds fresh fuel to an already tense debate within the right-religious camp over strategy and principles: whether to remain inside the coalition to influence policy from within, or to stand aside in protest and press the issue in the public sphere. Shas has a long history of close ties between its political leadership and its rabbinic council; the recordings lay bare how sharply those relationships can fracture when high-stakes political moves collide with the council’s red lines.

{Matzav.com}

A new controversy has erupted between a Knesset member from Otzma Yehudit and the rov of the Kosel following a personal exchange over the sensitive issue of ascending Har Habayis.

MK Yitzchok Kroizer, from Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, has announced plans to advance legislation redefining the official title and responsibilities of Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rov of the Kosel and the Mekomos Kedoshim, after receiving a sharply worded letter from the rov urging him not to ascend Har Habayis or engage in any form of hishtachavayah there.

According to sources, Rav Rabinowitz wrote to Kroizer requesting that he refrain from going up to Har Habayis, a request rooted in the long-standing psak of the Gedolei Yisroel forbidding entry to the Makom HaMikdash in our times.

In response, Kroizer—who has often described Har Habayis as “the very heart of Jewish sovereignty”—announced that he would work to “update the formal definition of the position of the rov in accordance with the spirit of the time and the current reality.”

Kroizer revealed that he intends to submit a bill changing the official title from “Rav of the Kosel HaMa’aravi and the Mekomos HaKedoshim” to “Rav of Har Habayis, the Beis HaMikdash, and the Mekomos HaKedoshim.” He explained that such a change would “reflect the return and renewed vitality of the Jewish nation in the heart of Yerushalayim.”

“The Har Habayis,” Kroizer stated, “is the core of the sovereignty and national identity of Am Yisroel in Yerushalayim and throughout Eretz Yisroel.” He pointed to what he called “a blessed and meaningful shift” in recent years, as increasing numbers of Jews ascend Har Habayis “b’kedushah u’vetaharah,” engage in tefillah, and learn Torah there—developments he said strengthen the bond between Klal Yisroel and its holiest site.

He described this process as “a return to the Makom HaMikdash,” expressing that it represents both the renewal of Jewish sovereignty and “a kiddush Sheim Yisroel and kiddush Sheim Shamayim.” Kroizer reaffirmed Otzma Yehudit’s commitment to strengthening Jewish control over Har Habayis and to securing freedom of prayer for Jews at the site.

In closing, Kroizer wrote: “The path to the hashra’as haShechinah and the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash in the near future runs through the national and practical responsibility of Am Yisroel for the Makom HaMikdash.”

{Matzav.com}

The U.S. national debt just hit $38 trillion — the highest in history — as the federal government remains shut down. It’s the fastest climb of a trillion dollars in debt outside the pandemic, rising from $37 trillion in just two months, according to new Treasury data. Economists warn that ballooning debt means higher borrowing costs, lower wages, and rising prices that erode Americans’ purchasing power over time.

Candace Owens delivered one of her strangest on-air performances yet, launching into a chaotic rant about Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel — whom she bizarrely labeled “hybrid droids” responsible for bringing about “demonic AI.”

At one point, Owens veered into the surreal, saying, “I’m not saying I’m going to stab Elon, but I’m not sure he would bleed if I did.” The comment sent social media into a frenzy, with many accusing her of crossing into full-blown conspiracy territory.

During her monologue, Owens suggested that these tech figures weren’t entirely human, hinting that they might be “artificial or hybrid entities” working as part of a larger, dark alliance between technology, money, and what she called “soul-selling.” She tied this to her broader rejection of modern science — even calling the moon landing “fake and demonic” — and accused Musk and others of leading humanity to worship the dollar as “the demon’s god.”

The internet erupted after the episode aired, with clips circulating under captions like “Candace’s latest UNHINGED RANT.” Critics mocked her for mixing religious extremism with sci-fi paranoia, while others expressed concern over her increasingly erratic statements.

Owens’s latest claims follow a growing pattern of unsubstantiated theories linking major world events to what she portrays as sinister forces, often invoking Israel, the CIA, or “betrayals of faith.” There is no evidence for any of her allegations about Musk or others, and even many of her supporters appeared confused by the outburst.

Elon Musk has not commented publicly on Owens’s statements, which have only added to the online spectacle surrounding her descent into ever stranger territory.

{Matzav.com}

Gambling dens hidden behind closed doors in New York City saw a staggering $7 million siphoned from unsuspecting high-rollers through a blend of modern gadgets and old-school mob methods, prosecutors revealed in a dramatic indictment Thursday.

The scheme reportedly relied on “advanced wireless technologies,” according to the charges, supported by a network of operators who watched games remotely and coordinated with planted insiders at the tables—all working in tandem to exploit their unsuspecting victims.

At the heart of the scam were card-shuffling machines that had been tampered with. According to the indictment, members of four of New York’s Five Families rigged the machines with card readers and computerized analyzers that relayed the strongest hands to an outside operator.

“At the Rigged Games, the members of the Cheating Teams … used card shuffling machines that were purportedly randomly shuffling the playing cards to ensure fairness,” the indictment read. “However, the Rigged Shuffling Machines were secretly altered to use concealed technology.”

Following that, an operator would dispatch a text or call to a teammate at the poker table, who would employ “secret signaling” to guide their co-conspirators on how to play and how to bet, effectively steering the target into losing.

At times, even the poker table itself played a role: the players allegedly used tables fitted with X-ray cameras capable of reading cards face-down on the felt.

Prosecutors also described the deployment of “decoy cellular telephones” that could read and analyze cards—another means to tilt the game unfairly against the mark.

One of the most audacious features of the racket: the physical playing cards were sometimes marked in a way imperceptible to ordinary players but visible to participants wearing special glasses or contact lenses—allowing the cheaters to dominate the game while victims remained completely unaware, prosecutors say.

As troubling as the illicit tech may sound, much of it is reportedly easy to find online, with websites peddling cheating devices for a few hundred thousand dollars.

Still, the tech was only part of the setup—the con began well before the cards were dealt, and grew darker as the game progressed.

The mobsters lured their “fish”—the high-roller targets—by using former NBA players placed as “face cards” in the scheme. Among the names cited in the indictment: Hall of Famer and head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups. These players allegedly helped attract targets and received a portion of the ill-gotten gains.

In some games, every participant—save the mark—was in on the scam, winning and losing hands strategically to encourage the target to keep betting more and more until the losses piled up.

After one particularly egregious summer 2023 game, a single victim reportedly lost $1.8 million in one series. Once the chips were down, the mobsters allegedly enforced payment by wielding “threats and intimidation.”

“Through the Rigged Poker Scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators defrauded Victims of millions of dollars,” the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.

“Victims of the Rigger Poker Scheme believed they were participating in ‘straight’ illegal poker games and that they were gambling against other participants on equal footing,” it added. “In reality, however, the defendants and their co-conspirators, who constituted the remaining participants purportedly playing in the poker games, worked together on cheating teams.”

Prosecutors allege the scheme dates back to at least 2019, with the illicit games taking place not only in Manhattan but also in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, and Miami, and involving the Lucchese crime family, Genovese crime family, Gambino crime family and Bonanno crime family.

More than 30 people have been charged in connection with this elaborate poker ring, according to the indictment.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich launched a fierce attack on Shas and its leader Aryeh Deri on Thursday, blasting their decision to quit the coalition while continuing to influence government ministries “from afar.” His remarks came just hours after Shas announced it would withdraw from all coalition roles, following weeks of escalating tension over the government’s handling of yeshiva students’ draft status.

Speaking in an interview with Kalman Liebskind at the Makor Rishon and Tzomet Institute conference, Smotrich expressed open frustration with the chareidi factions’ tactics. “I lost patience for these games a long time ago,” he said. “I think we can still complete this coalition’s term, but there’s no such thing as being both in the coalition and not in it. The coalition has to function and pass laws. The country needs to be governed. You can’t keep running ministries by remote control through your associates while pretending to be outside.”

The finance minister revealed that he had discussed the crisis with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, urging him to go to elections if no immediate solution could be reached. “I told the prime minister: either we fix the draft issue with a real law and end this absurd situation where the chareidim don’t participate in army service or we go to elections. This story has to end quickly,” Smotrich declared.

Earlier in the day, Shas officially announced its resignation from all coalition posts, citing the government’s failure to meet the deadline set by the Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah to pass legislation regulating the draft status of yeshiva students. “In accordance with the directive of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah from Tammuz 5785… Shas hereby announces its resignation from coalition roles in the Knesset,” the statement read.

The party confirmed that MK Yossi Taieb, chairman of the Education Committee, and MK Yoni Mashriki, chairman of the Health Committee, had submitted their resignation letters to the Knesset speaker. Shas vowed to “continue working with all its strength to secure the status of yeshiva students and Torah learners, who are the spiritual and historical foundation of the Jewish people,” and to “lead the fight against the political and cruel persecution campaign being waged against them.”

According to the statement, Shas will return to the coalition “once the status of yeshiva students is properly established.” Until then, the party said, it will coordinate closely with the other chareidi factions and consult regularly with the Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah on all Knesset votes.

{Matzav.com}