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Andrew Cuomo is making a return to the public arena, this time behind a radio microphone rather than in elected office.

The former New York governor has secured a weekly Sunday program on 77 WABC, The Post has learned, marking his first sustained media role since leaving office.

The one-hour show, titled “The Pulse of the People,” is scheduled to debut this Sunday at 5 p.m. and will air weekly.

According to a source familiar with the arrangements, Cuomo will not be paid for the role, a decision intended to allow him full freedom of expression while avoiding potential conflicts of interest.

“This is a moment when our country has rarely felt more divided, politics more polarizing and public discourse more toxic,” Cuomo said in a statement to The Post.

“Pulse of the People is about cutting through the noise and the rancor to have real, substantive, fact-based conversations about the issues that actually affect people’s lives. I’ve spent my career focused on making government work and getting results, and that’s the same straight-forward, problem-solving approach I’ll bring to this program.”

The move was welcomed by John Catsimatidis, the owner of WABC, who emphasized the interactive nature of the broadcast.

“The show will focus on listener calls and open discussion about the issues, concerns, and views of New Yorkers. WABC believes in bipartisan conversation and thoughtful discussion of solutions, and we invite listeners to tune in and be part of the discussion,” Catsimatidis said.

Cuomo is expected to begin the program with opening remarks before taking calls from listeners.

The radio show represents Cuomo’s first significant step back into the public spotlight since his unsuccessful attempt to revive his political career last year. He lost the Democratic primary for mayor to Zohran Mamdani and was defeated again in the general election after running on an independent line.

Cuomo served as New York governor from 2011 until 2021, when he resigned amid allegations of misconduct, which he has denied. Earlier in his career, he held the posts of New York state attorney general and U.S. housing secretary during the Clinton administration.

{Matzav.com}

Iran moved Sunday to tamp down fears of an imminent military flashpoint in the Strait of Hormuz, denying reports that it planned live-fire naval exercises in the strategic waterway. On Friday, the U.S. military publicly warned Tehran against actions that could endanger commercial shipping or trigger escalation. An Iranian official told Reuters there were no […]

A brief but highly charged incident unfolded on Sunday in the Ramot Gimmel neighborhood of Yerushalayim, where a talmid from Yeshivas Ohel Yosef was detained in public and later released following swift legal intervention. After his release, it became clear that a key detail reported at the outset of the incident was incorrect.

The episode began in the early afternoon, when a patrol vehicle identified the yeshiva student standing outside his home after returning from a Shabbos break. Officers approached him and detained him in full view of passersby, sparking confusion and alarm in the neighborhood.

As news of the detention spread, the legal department of Chayei Olam immediately became involved. Attorneys Shlomo Haddad and Itay Cohen acted quickly with the relevant authorities, and within a short time, confirmation was received that the student had been released and returned home.

Following his release, additional details emerged that clarified the circumstances of the incident and corrected earlier reports. Contrary to initial claims that the arrest had been carried out by the Military Police inside the neighborhood, it was determined that the bochur had in fact been detained for questioning during a routine check conducted by officers of the Border Police and was then transferred to military authorities.

The earlier reports, which fueled a wave of concern and anger, were the result of confusion at the scene amid the commotion surrounding the detention.

In a statement issued after tensions had subsided, Chayei Olam clarified the sequence of events, saying that “the report that the detention was carried out by the Military Police stemmed from a case of mistaken identification at the time of the incident, and we apologize for the error.”

The organization noted that despite the clarification, the public detention of a yeshiva bochur in broad daylight in a chareidi neighborhood remains a serious matter. However, they emphasized that the rapid legal response prevented a prolonged detention and brought the episode to a swift conclusion.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s long-simmering debate over military conscription of Chareidim erupted again this week, after a reported internal summary revealed deep friction between civilian law enforcement and the army over how — and whether — draft laws are being enforced in Chareidi neighborhoods. According to Haaretz, a document presented at a high-level meeting convened by Attorney General […]

Israel is warning Washington that Iran is using nuclear diplomacy as a smokescreen, and that President Donald Trump’s negotiations with the regime would leave Tehran emboldened and closer to a nuclear weapon. According to Israeli officials and reporting by N12 News, senior figures in Israel’s defense establishment are increasingly alarmed that the Trump administration could […]

Former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin is urging Israel’s security establishment to plan for the unexpected, warning that Iran may not behave according to conventional strategic logic if tensions with Washington and Jerusalem escalate further. Speaking on Channel 12, Yadlin said that while “Western logic” would suggest Tehran has little incentive to preempt a […]

A federal judge sentenced a Brooklyn man to 15 years in prison this past Wednesday for his role in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Iranian operatives targeting a prominent dissident-journalist on U.S. soil, underscoring Washington’s broader efforts to counter transnational assassination schemes. Carlisle Rivera, 50, a convicted killer with a long criminal history, pleaded guilty […]

In a push to revive his political fortunes and secure votes, Yoaz Hendel, chairman of the Reservists’ Party, launched his new ten-point plan for internal security — adopting an overtly anti-Chareidi tone and drawing sharp criticism after comparing the Chareidi city of Bnei Brak to the crime-ridden Bedouin city of Rahat. “ In a functioning […]

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has submitted a bill that would formally designate Qatar as an “enemy state,” a move that would impose sweeping economic and criminal restrictions on the Gulf emirate similar to those applied to Iran and Syria.

The legislation is expected to be brought to a vote in the Knesset on Monday. If adopted, all provisions of Israeli law that apply to enemy states would also apply to Qatar, significantly altering the legal and diplomatic framework governing Israel’s relations with the country.

According to the explanatory notes attached to the bill, while Israeli law does not contain a single, comprehensive definition of the term “enemy state,” multiple statutes already address relations with enemies, either directly or indirectly. The proposal cites the Trading with the Enemy Ordinance of 1939—adopted from the British Mandate—which authorizes the finance minister to determine countries with which trade is prohibited, currently including Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. It also references Section 91 of Israel’s Penal Code (1977), which defines an enemy as any entity engaged in hostilities or a state of war against Israel, whether formally declared or not, including terrorist organizations.

Lapid’s bill goes beyond general definitions and spells out specific criminal offenses that would apply to interactions with Qatar, including aiding the enemy during wartime, serving in enemy forces, and transmitting information to the enemy. The proposal further notes that Section 7 of Basic Law: The Knesset prohibits anyone from running for parliament if they support an enemy state or have unlawfully stayed in one during the seven years preceding their candidacy.

The rationale behind the legislation, as outlined in the bill, centers on Qatar’s alleged ongoing activity against Israeli interests. The explanatory text states that Qatar supports and finances terrorist organizations fighting Israel, foremost among them Hamas, and notes that senior Hamas leaders are hosted in Qatar and operate from its territory. The proposal also points to the use of Al Jazeera as what it describes as a propaganda apparatus serving hostile objectives.

If passed, the bill would mark a significant escalation in Israel’s formal stance toward Qatar, with far-reaching legal, economic, and political consequences.

{Matzav.com}

Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’s special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The Republican president immediately distanced himself from the loss in a district he’d won by 17 points […]

Here is your last reminder to send in names for the special tefillah Monday Tu BiShvat by Yad L’Achim.CLICK HERE or visit www.YadLAchim.org or call 1-718-690-2944 On Tu BiShvat, Talmidei Chachamim, messengers of Yad L’Achim will daven for you and your loved ones for SHIDDUCHIM • PARNASSAH • CHILDREN • HEALTH and all requests!(if not for you, then send in […]

In his weekly shiur last night at the Yazdim Shul, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef shared a personal and little-known family story explaining why his father, Chacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l, made a lifelong decision to decline serving as sandek at the bris of twins.

Rav Yosef revealed that the decision stemmed from a traumatic incident many years earlier. According to his account, his father once served as sandek for twin boys. Several weeks later, one of the infants tragically passed away. The event left a profound mark on Rav Ovadia, who feared that serving as sandek for two children in succession might involve ayin hara.

“After that,” Rav Yitzchak Yosef related, “my father was afraid. He said perhaps it was ayin hara, that one person was sandek for two children one after the other.” From that point on, whenever Rav Ovadia was invited to such a bris, he firmly declined to serve as sandek for both infants, saying, “I will sit for one—bring someone else for the second.” Rav Yosef added that his father carried genuine pain over the episode and consistently refused thereafter.

During the same shiur, Rav Yosef offered practical guidance regarding the laws and customs of bris milah. He emphasized the importance of choosing a sandek who is a talmid chacham, while noting that the primary requirement for the mohel is professional competence. “A sandek, it is important to choose a talmid chochom,” he said. “As for the mohel, what matters most is that he knows how to perform the milah. If he is also a talmid chochom and available, that is preferable, but otherwise one may choose a skilled mohel.”

Rav Yosef also addressed tefillah customs on the day of a bris, stating clearly that when a bris milah takes place on Tu B’Shevat, vidui is not recited. He mentioned having heard a stringent ruling from another rov who suggested that if a bris is held late in the afternoon, vidui should still be said, even proposing a “penalty” for delaying the bris. Rav Yosef rejected that approach.

He concluded with sharp criticism of the practice of postponing a bris milah until the afternoon hours. Citing the ruling of the Or Zarua, he stressed that delaying the milah is considered a ביזוי מצוה, a degradation of the mitzvah. “Why do a bris at two in the afternoon?” he asked pointedly. “A person waits years, davens, perhaps has many daughters and finally merits a son—and then he delays the bris until the afternoon?” He urged parents to perform the bris before midday whenever possible, reiterating that delaying it unnecessarily diminishes the honor of the mitzvah.

{Matzav.com}

After the recent snowstorm in the tristate, many sidewalks and crosswalks in our community remain blocked, narrowed, or completely impassable. This is not just an inconvenience — it is a safety failure that puts pedestrians at risk every sintri-state, When a neighbor is away or simply doesn’t shovel, that does not excuse leaving the sidewalk […]

The White House stands about 70 feet tall. The Lincoln Memorial, roughly 100 feet. The triumphal arch President Donald Trump wants to build would eclipse both if he gets his wish.

Trump has grown attached to the idea of a 250-foot-tall structure overlooking the Potomac River, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his comments, a scale that has alarmed some architectural experts who initially supported the idea of an arch but expected a far smaller one.

The planned Independence Arch is intended to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary. Built to Trump’s specifications, it would transform a small plot of land between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery into a dominant new monument, reshaping the relationship between the two memorials and obstructing pedestrians’ views.

Trump has considered smaller versions of the arch, including 165-foot-high and 123-foot-high designs he shared at a dinner last year. But he has favored the largest option, arguing that its sheer size would impress visitors to Washington, and that “250 for 250” makes the most sense, the people said.

Architectural experts counter that the size of the monument – installed in the center of a traffic circle – would distort the intent of the surrounding memorials.

“I don’t think an arch that large belongs there,” said Catesby Leigh, an art critic who conceived of a more modest, temporary arch in a 2024 essay – an idea that his allies championed and brought to the White House. His allies also passed along Leigh’s recommendation of an architect, Nicolas Leo Charbonneau, who has been retained by the White House to work on the project.

Charbonneau did not respond to requests for comment.

Asked about the arch’s height, the White House on Saturday referred to the president’s previous comments.

“The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And we’re gonna top it by, I think, a lot,” Trump said at a White House Christmas reception in December.

The Arc de Triomphe – already one of the world’s largest triumphal arches – measures 164 feet.

Trump also told Politico in December that he hoped to begin construction of the arch within two months, a timeline that appears unlikely given that White House officials have yet to make the final plans public or submit them to federal review panels. Memorial Circle, the plot of land that the president has eyed, is controlled by the National Park Service.

The White House reiterated the president’s desire to have an iconic monument.

The arch will become “one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,” spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement sent to The Washington Post after this article’s publication. “President Trump’s bold vision will be imprinted upon the fabric of America and be felt by generations to come.”

Washington does not have a triumphal arch, making it unusual among major cities that have built arches to commemorate wars and celebrate milestones, and some historians and civic leaders have long argued that such a monument is needed.

Rodney Mims Cook Jr., an Atlanta-based developer and president of the National Monuments Foundation, proposed a peace arch to Washington leaders in 2000 before the plans were withdrawn in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Cook later built a monumental arch in Atlanta, the Millennium Gate Museum, intended to celebrate Georgia’s history.

Trump this month appointed Cook to the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal panel that would be set to review and approve the design of new monuments in Washington – including the president’s potential arch.

Trump on Jan. 23 also posted images on his Truth Social platform with no comment that depict three versions of a large triumphal arch, including one option with gold gilding – a hallmark of Trump’s construction projects. Asked about the president’s post, White House officials said that the arch design continues to be refined. The White House also said the plan to put a large Lady Liberty statue atop the arch, which was included in previous concepts presented by Trump and Charbonneau but not in the president’s Truth Social post, has not been abandoned.

City planners have eyed the land around what is now Memorial Circle for more than a century. A 1901-1902 report overseen by the Senate Park Commission, which laid the groundwork to construct the National Mall and beautify much of the city’s core, appears to envision some sort of structure in the circle, drawings show. Architect William Kendall in 1928 also presented plans to the Commission of Fine Arts to construct a memorial there.

Local historians and architectural experts have said that a large arch could change the relationship between several historic sites, including Arlington Memorial Bridge itself, which was intended as a bridge between North and South in the wake of the Civil War, and memorials for Lincoln and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

“It’s a very somber corridor,” said John Haigh, the chair of Benedictine College’s architecture program, who visited Memorial Circle with his students last year to consider the arch project. “We discussed the gravity of putting an arch there,” particularly one intended to be triumphal.

The structure as planned could obstruct views of Arlington House, the former Lee estate that sits on a hillside in Arlington National Cemetery.

“I would be very concerned about the scale,” said Calder Loth, a retired senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, warning that a 250-foot-high arch could alter pedestrians’ views as they approach Arlington National Cemetery from Washington. “It would make Arlington House just look like a dollhouse – or you couldn’t see it all, with the arch blocking the view.”

They also cautioned that, barring major changes to the circle, it could be difficult for pedestrians to visit a potential monument there, given the busy motor traffic.

Loth also invoked the vantage point from Arlington National Cemetery, where visitors often look across the river toward the Lincoln Memorial and the capital beyond – a view he said the proposed arch would reshape.

“How does it impact the panorama of Washington?” Loth said, invoking a question that he said should guide designers of monuments. “What is supposed to be doing the speaking?”

Leigh initially proposed a 60-foot arch that could pop up as a temporary structure to mark America’s 250th. Trump instead wants a permanent arch, more than four times larger, funded with leftover private donations to his White House ballroom project, which he has said could cost about $400 million. Publicly identified donors to the ballroom project, such as Amazon, Google and Lockheed Martin, collectively have billions of dollars in contracts before the administration.

Any construction plan for the arch would probably need to go through several review panels and potentially require the sign-off of Congress, given laws around constructing monuments in Washington.

Trump’s interest in enlarging the arch mirrors his desire to expand the White House ballroom, which last year sparked clashes with James McCrery II, the architect initially tapped for the project. Shalom Baranes, the architect now leading that work, told federal review panels this month that White House officials have halted plans to make the ballroom even larger.

Leigh suggested a compromise location that could allow Trump his large monument without imposing on other structures.

“If you’re going to build an arch that big, you should build it in another part of town and one possible site that comes to mind is Barney Circle,” Leigh said, referencing a site in Southeast Washington next to Congressional Cemetery, overlooking the Anacostia River. “There’s nothing around it competing with it.”

(c) 2026, The Washington Post 

{Matzav.com}

U.S. charge d’affaires Laura Dogu arrived in Caracas on Saturday to reopen the American diplomatic mission in Venezuela after seven years of severed ties. The move comes almost one month after a military action ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump removed the South American country’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro from office. “My team and I are […]

✈️ Orlando International Airport was forced to ground all flights Sunday afternoon after “extreme cold” sparked an emergency at the air traffic control tower. The FAA initially issued a ground stop due to a “possible fire,” but the order was lifted at 4:15 p.m. once the cause was identified. In the end, officials confirmed that […]

Anger is mounting across New York City as residents confront growing piles of trash lining sidewalks more than a week after a major winter storm buried the city under over a foot of snow, with garbage collection still lagging behind, according to the NY Post.

The scope of the problem was on full display overnight, when a Post reporter encountered stacks of garbage bags and flattened cardboard boxes clogging sidewalks in multiple neighborhoods, the result of sanitation crews struggling to keep up after the storm.

On the Upper East Side, one resident complained that a trash pile near his home has grown “higher than a car.”

“It’s very dirty,” Frederick Radie, 55, told The NY Post, saying garbage has gone untouched “since the first snowfall last weekend.”

The longtime resident, who has lived in the area for 35 years, said the situation has become awkward with guests in town. “Actually, we have people visiting, and it’s a little embarrassing,” he said, while his partner, Mirys Rosa, blasted Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s calls for patience.

“This was like two weeks ago,” the 61-year-old said angrily, describing the trash-filled streets as “so gross, it’s disgusting.”

City sanitation officials said Wednesday that limited garbage collection had resumed and instructed residents to place trash curbside as normal, though recycling should be held back. Officials cautioned that delays would continue as snow removal efforts remain ongoing.

By Saturday, the Department of Sanitation acknowledged to The Post that operations were still running behind schedule, citing only “slight delays.”

“We are prioritizing trash and composting (the stuff that gets gross), but New Yorkers can follow their regular schedule,” a department spokesperson said.

“We are running hundreds of collection trucks each day in addition to ongoing snow operations. We just ask for patience as we catch up.”

For many residents, however, that patience is quickly evaporating.

“It’s very concerning,” said Chris Kendal, 38.

“They usually pick the recycle up on a Monday, so it’s Saturday, so it’s almost been a week. I don’t know why they can’t pick it up. I mean, buses are still running, and the city is still operating. So I’m not sure why they’re not able to reduce some of the garbage on the streets.”

Not everyone was critical. Another Upper East Side resident said that while the trash buildup is an “eyesore,” sanitation workers have been overwhelmed for much of the month.

In the Bronx, conditions were no better. Garbage bags were scattered along the Grand Concourse, just a block from where Mamdani appeared at a public event Saturday afternoon.

A 51-year-old resident of the 5.2-mile historic boulevard said trash has been accumulating for nearly three days and warned that the problem is escalating as homeless individuals rip open bags searching for usable items.

“Every time it snows, it gets worse,” said the Local 157 union member.

“Right now, the people in the neighborhood, they cleaned up as much as we could, but the city hasn’t really been doing much, like down the block by the courthouse, they clean that up. The garbage attracts more rats and it makes the neighborhood look bad.”

Similar complaints surfaced on the Upper West Side, where recycling bags have crowded streets. Doorman Angel Martinez said nothing has been removed since Jan. 19, close to two weeks ago.

“Once in a while that happens where there is a big storm,” he said.

“Hopefully they’ll come soon.”

{Matzav.com}

In a lengthy profile published by The New York Times, the paper took an in-depth look at Mr. Jacob Kornbluh, the chassidic journalist who has earned a prominent place among reporters covering New York City’s new mayor. The article explored the tension between Kornbluh’s professional role—working closely with Mayor Zohran Mamdani—and his life within the chassidic community of Boro Park, as well as how he defines his own identity: a chassidic journalist or a journalist who is chassidic.

Kornbluh, 44, a resident of Boro Park, serves as the senior political reporter for The Forward. He has established himself as the most visible chassidic journalist following Mamdani’s rise in city politics, particularly amid tensions between the mayor and New York’s Jewish community over Mamdani’s anti-Israel positions.

Sources in the mayor’s circle told the Times that they view Kornbluh as a key channel for communicating with Jewish voters. Mamdani himself praised the journalist, saying he is “a thoughtful and enterprising reporter who doesn’t just cover the conversation across the five boroughs, but helps drive it.”

The Times profile noted that despite the administration’s outreach, Kornbluh maintains a critical stance. During a press conference at the mayor’s residence, Kornbluh quipped as he invited himself to dine there, saying, “Since you won’t be serving pork, I’d be honored to eat in your kitchen.” He then pressed Mamdani with a pointed question about the delayed condemnation of demonstrations that included pro-Hamas chants, asking, “Do you think it’s fair to criticize the timing?”

Kornbluh’s professional visibility has also created ongoing friction within the chassidic community in Boro Park. He told the Times that he is often met with taunts in shul. “People say, ‘Oh, go back to covering Zohran,’” Kornbluh recounted. “They needle me as if I’m the one enabling him.”

He said that the contrast between his work in secular political circles and his communal life raises eyebrows among those around him. “In our community, if you’re Orthodox, you stay in your Orthodox circle—with the clothing, with the same people,” he explained.

Kornbluh added that he has faced harsh reactions over photos of himself with women and similar issues. “I’ve gotten nasty comments about pictures with women and all that stuff. ‘Hey, I’m a professional journalist.’ ‘What’s a professional journalist? We don’t need that,’” he recalled.

His path into journalism was anything but conventional. Kornbluh grew up in London in a Belzer chassidishe family and studied in yeshivos in Israel, where he began developing an interest in politics. “The next day, I’d go to yeshiva and relay all that news to my classmates. I was kind of a reporter,” he said.

After immigrating to New York, he spent years working at food stands and in a pizzeria in Boro Park, while running a political blog and using digital tools to improve his writing. “My English was terrible,” he admitted about his early days.

In recent years, Kornbluh has become a regular presence at political events, from election coverage to celebrations in the Jewish community.

Hanging above his desk in the newsroom is a photograph of himself reporting from Israel after the events of October 7. Pointing to it with a smile, he said, “That’s my Zionist photo. Sorry, Zohran.”

Despite the complexity of his position, Kornbluh insists he sees no contradiction between his way of life and his profession. At home in Boro Park, as he prepares for Shabbos while listening to updates from the mayor’s office, he sums up his professional identity: “I’m a member of the community, and I have a profession. I’m not this ‘chassidic journalist.’ I’m a journalist who is chassidic.”

{Matzav.com}

Egged has agreed to compensate a passenger with NIS 40,000 after one of its drivers ordered him to get off a bus on the grounds that it was a “girls-only” route. The passenger sued the company, alleging unlawful discrimination and a violation of his right to dignity and equality. Egged said the driver acted contrary to company procedures and that disciplinary measures were taken against him, while the Ministry of Transportation announced that a criminal investigation has been opened.

The incident involved Egged and occurred about a year ago on Line 91 in Haifa, according to a report by N12. The plaintiff, Saar Koren, a 27-year-old Technion student who lives in the city, said he was stunned when he was told to leave the bus.

“It was Friday afternoon and I had a few errands to run. I wanted to get to the Ziv Center in the city. On my phone I saw that the first bus going there was 91, a line I hadn’t used before. The bus was full of chareidi girls returning from school, around age 9,” Koren recalled.

He said that during the ride, “the girls shouted at me to get off, because ‘this is a girls-only bus.’ They went over to the driver after realizing I didn’t intend to get off. In the meantime, at one of the stops a chareidi passerby boarded and also asked me to get off. At some point the driver intervened and told me he was sorry, that he hadn’t known, but that he was asking me to get off because I ‘need to respect that this is a girls-only bus,’ and that he wasn’t prepared to continue driving until I got off.”

According to Koren, he argued with the driver for several minutes over whether removing a passenger in this manner was lawful, until he eventually got off the bus feeling “humiliated and shaken.”

Koren filed suit against Egged on the grounds of “unlawful discrimination and harm to the right to dignity and equality.” The parties ultimately reached a settlement under which Egged agreed to pay him NIS 40,000, and now the Magistrate’s Court in Rishon LeZion gave the settlement the force of a court judgment.

In a response, Egged said, “The driver acted in complete contradiction to company instructions and procedures, and disciplinary steps were taken against him. The company regrets the incident and emphasizes that it will continue to act to ensure equal and respectful service for the entire public.”

The Ministry of Transportation said in a statement: “The Ministry of Transportation, together with the National Public Transportation Authority, treats any claim of exclusion or discrimination in public transportation with severity. This is a public route open to all passengers, and any deviation from this is contrary to the ministry’s guidelines and the law. Following the complainant’s approach to the Ministry of Transportation, he was summoned and gave testimony on the matter. The case was examined and a criminal investigation was opened, which was conducted in full by investigators from the National Public Transportation Authority.

“The Ministry of Transportation and the National Public Transportation Authority will continue to act decisively to ensure that public transportation services are provided in an equal, respectful manner and without any discrimination, in accordance with the law and official guidelines.”

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, sent a sharply worded letter on Sunday addressing the implementation of the High Court ruling on the enlistment of yeshiva students, asserting that draft evasion within the chareidi sector has sharply intensified and raising the striking claim that the police do not approve requests by the Military Police to operate in chareidi neighborhoods.

The letter was submitted in response to petitions filed with the High Court of Justice and focused on what Baharav-Miara described as failures in enforcement. She wrote that the number of chareidi draft dodgers, as termed in the letter, had surged within a short period, describing “an increase of hundreds of percent in a very brief time.”

According to the data cited, as of January 2026 there are 15,085 draft dodgers from the chareidi community, compared with just 2,257 in July 2025. The figures further indicate that out of approximately 71,000 draft dodgers nationwide, “about 80 percent belong to the chareidi public.”

Despite the sharp rise, military officials reported what they described as a “certain trend of improvement and increase,” with an estimated 1,100 chareidi recruits expected during the current draft period.

During discussions on the matter, the attorney general said the situation on the ground reflects what she termed “selective enforcement.” Military officials told the meeting that, as a rule, Israel Police do not grant approval for Military Police to carry out enforcement actions inside chareidi neighborhoods.

It was also revealed that chareidi draft dodgers who are detained in what were described as random police arrests are, in practice, released and merely issued a summons to report to a Military Police facility. Responding to police claims of severe manpower shortages, Baharav-Miara stressed that “the need for resources cannot, in and of itself, justify an actual avoidance of enforcing the law.”

In response to the situation, the Israel Defense Forces announced a significant tightening of measures against draft dodgers. The Military Prosecution has decided to lower the threshold for criminal prosecution for draft evasion from 540 days of absence to 365 days. In addition, disciplinary regulations were amended to allow judicial officers to impose up to 35 days of detention, instead of the previous 30. It was further determined that a draft dodger absent for more than six months who undergoes disciplinary proceedings and continues to remain absent “will face criminal proceedings” and will no longer be eligible for repeated lenient disciplinary handling.

On the economic front, professional officials said that “personal sanctions that directly affect the individual” and economic enforcement measures have a particularly significant impact on increasing enlistment.

At the same time, officials at the Ministry of Finance warned that expectations within the chareidi sector that legislation will be passed exempting its members from service “create a negative incentive for enlistment.” To increase pressure, the attorney general instructed officials to examine a requirement for “accounting separation” within yeshivos, aimed at preventing “indirect funding of yeshiva students who are obligated to enlist.”

The letter was written ahead of a High Court hearing scheduled for March 1, 2026, on petitions seeking findings of contempt of court. Baharav-Miara concluded that “all state authorities must intensify enforcement efforts, both criminal and civil-economic,” particularly in light of what she described as “the clear security need and the severe harm to equality.”

{Matzav.com}