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Delta Air Lines is resuming flights to Israel on Monday, becoming the latest carrier to restore service to Tel Aviv following the 12-day war with Iran in June.

The move, which comes six weeks after Delta rival United Airlines renewed service to Israel, highlight the resurgence of the Israeli aviation sector and the reemergence of Tel Aviv as an international travel hub as an ever-increasing number of foreign carriers resume flights to Israel.

The Atlanta-based carrier is restarting daily nonstop service from its hub at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.

Delta will also operate a second daily flight from New York to Tel Aviv during the peak winter holiday season from Nov. 30, 2025, through Jan. 19, 2026, a spokeswoman told JNS this weekend.

In contrast to the two other U.S. legacy carriers, American Airlines has stayed away from Israel entirely since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

The lucrative transatlantic route will now be operated by four companies: El Al, Arkia, United and Delta, bringing down airfares on scarce seats after months when the Israeli carriers held a virtual monopoly on the flights.

Service to Tel Aviv from additional U.S. cities including Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, previously operated by United, along with Boston and Atlanta once run by Delta, has yet to resume.

With fewer flights available and demand strong, airfares to the New York area remain notably higher than before the Gaza war.

Other international carriers planning to restore service to Israel in September include Latvian flag carrier Air Baltic, Dutch low-cost airline Transavia, Swiss and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, while Air Canada, Italy’s ITA Airways, British Airways and Irish budget carrier Ryanair are scheduled to resume operations in October. JNS

{Matzav.com}

An Israeli drone strike targeted a bulldozer in the town of Rab Thalatheen, southern Lebanon.

At the funeral of the former Houthi Prime Minister and 11 ministers, new Houthi PM Mohammed Miftah said he was present during the attack, adding, “The Prime Minister was killed right next to me.”

A Syrian delegation visited Lebanon for the first official time, meeting in Beirut with Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri to discuss border management, anti-smuggling efforts, economic cooperation, and the issue of missing persons and detainees. Both sides agreed to start drafting a border agreement.

Mosab Yusuf, the son of a Hamas founder who defected to Israel, visited Yehuda and Shomron for the first time since fleeing Ramallah two decades ago. Here he is seen in Chevron with heavy security protecting him from terrorists who want him dead.

Heartbreaking scenes at the levaya of Idan Shtivi hy”d, who was murdered during the Oct. 7 massacre and whose body was recently recovered from Gaza by IDF troops

The Daily Caller reports that Trump expressed openness to the idea of reopening mental health institutions as a way to “clean up” America’s streets.

For more than half a century, the Ivy League was filled with Jewish students. Jewish enrollment surged in the 1960s after decades of discriminatory quotas, and by the 1980s and 1990s, Jewish students were often overrepresented by a factor of ten compared to their share of the U.S. population. Harvard Hillel bustled, Columbia was a magnet for elite day school graduates, and Penn could boast of a Jewish student body that rivaled small universities on its own. But since Hamas’s October 7 massacre and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza, America’s most prestigious universities have become the stage for sprawling pro-Palestinian protests, bitter campus politics, and an alarming surge in antisemitic incidents. And the fallout is being measured not just in lawsuits, headlines, or congressional hearings — but also in enrollment numbers. According to new data from Hillel International, the share of Jewish students at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania has dropped between 3 and 5 percentage points since 2023 — nearly 100 fewer Jewish students per incoming class. On paper, those declines might look modest. In practice, they mark one of the sharpest retreats of Jewish presence in the Ivy League since the end of the quota era. At Penn, the trend tells the story. Jewish enrollment was about 20 percent in 2010. By 2016, it had fallen to 13 percent. Now, after years of campus tension and a bruising year of anti-Israel activism, the slide is accelerating at the very institutions that once counted Ronald Lauder, Steven Spielberg, and Michael Bloomberg among their Jewish alumni. This is not just about teenagers making different choices. Hillel says it’s their parents who are steering them elsewhere. In a recent survey of Jewish parents, nearly two-thirds admitted crossing at least one elite university off the application list out of fear of antisemitism. The change is already reshaping pipelines at elite Jewish prep schools. At Ramaz, the storied Manhattan day school whose graduates routinely flood Columbia’s freshman class, not a single senior enrolled there last year. In the school’s history, that had never happened before. The numbers revive a dark history. Harvard President Lawrence Lowell once defended quotas by claiming “antisemitism increases in proportion to the number of Jews.” For decades, those unwritten caps defined Jewish life at the Ivies. By the late 20th century, the barriers had collapsed and Jewish students poured in, helping to set the cultural, academic, and political tempo of campus life. Now, nearly a century later, Jewish students are again absenting themselves from the Ivies — this time voluntarily, driven not by exclusion but by fear. At Harvard, an Israeli-American student was attacked in the wake of October 7. At Columbia, Jewish undergraduates filed federal lawsuits after weeks of harassment. Surveys show self-censorship spiking: in 2023, just 13 percent of Jewish Ivy Leaguers said they held back out of fear; in 2024, that number had shot up to 35 percent. The vacuum is being filled — just not in the Northeast. The South and Southwest are aggressively courting Jewish students, rolling out kosher dining halls, new Hillel buildings, and cultural centers. Vanderbilt in Nashville has seen its Jewish population grow by 20 percent in two years. Tulane in New Orleans now counts 40 percent of its undergraduates as Jewish. The University of Florida boasts the […]

Gaza captivity survivor Tal Shoham told Israel’s Channel 14 on Sunday night that Hamas is deliberately starving the hostages to pressure the Israeli public into backing a ceasefire deal.

“They starved us on purpose, in a sadistic and cruel way,” Shoham told Channel 14‘s “The Patriots” show. According to the former hostage, “it wasn’t about a humanitarian aid shortage. Right beyond the iron door that shut us in, we heard them boasting that they had supplies for the months ahead—supplies they had stolen from their own population.”

“They also admitted that they were starving us so that we would send a message,” Shoham revealed. “They wanted us to come out broken, to shock the Israeli public and pressure the government to reach a deal.”

After the release of emaciated hostages Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, the terrorists tasked with guarding Shoham expressed their frustration over the global criticism Hamas received, he claimed. “They admitted their goal was to pressure and shake Israeli society,” Shoham stated.

Shoham described the 505 days in captivity as a “psychological war,” noting that his captors alternated between optimism about the war’s end and deep frustration, but were unequivocal about starving him.

“Down below, in the tunnels, we hardly received any information from the outside, only small anecdotes,” he said. However, “when they spoke about starvation, they were clear: the goal was to make us suffer, just as they claimed their people are suffering,” he added.

Shoham, a dual Israeli–Austrian citizen, was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, alongside his wife Adi and the couple’s two children. Shoham’s in-laws were among the approximately 1,200 people murdered by terrorists that day.

Adi, daughter Yahel, 3, and son Naveh, 8, were released after 50 days in captivity as part of the first ceasefire agreement with the terrorist group.

Tal was only freed from Gaza 455 days later as part of the most recent hostage deal with Hamas on Feb. 22, alongside fellow hostages Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Omer Shem Tov.

Speaking with the Associated Press in April, Shoham revealed that after his wife was freed, an individual identifying himself as a member of Hamas called to warn her not to talk about what she’d been through.

If she did, the terrorist said, her husband would be murdered, Shoham told the Associated Press, noting there are still details of his captivity he cannot discuss due to fear of endangering the remaining hostages.

Fifty-eight hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after almost 700 days, some 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive. JNS

{Matzav.com Israel}

A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming over Bulgaria in a suspected Russian operation, a spokesperson said Monday. The plane landed safely at Plovdiv airport and von der Leyen will continue her planned tour of European Union’s nations in the east, said commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà. “We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming,” said Podestà. “We have received information from the Bulgarian authority that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia.” The incident with von der Leyen’s plane is the latest in a series involving suspected Russian electronic interference with GPS satellite navigation. For months, countries bordering Russia — including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — have warned of increased electronic activity interfering with flights, ships and drones. Russian authorities did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, is on a four-day tour of much of the EU’s eastern flank, visiting Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. “This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the president is carrying out in the front-line member states,” Podestà said. She said that von der Leyen has seen “firsthand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies.” “And, of course, the EU will continue to invest into defense spending and in Europe’s readiness even more after this incident,” she said. Bulgaria issued a statement saying that during the flight from Warsaw, Poland to Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, of a private jet chartered by the European Commission, “the satellite signal used for the aircraft’s GPS navigation was disrupted.” “As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost,” the statement said. It said that Bulgaria’s Civil Aviation Authority instructed the pilots to use backup navigation aids to land the plane. The Associated Press has plotted almost 80 incidents on a map tracking a campaign of disruption across Europe blamed on Russia, which Western officials have described as staggeringly “reckless.” Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents, ranging from vandalism to arson and attempted assassination. The interference from Russia includes jamming and spoofing. Jamming means a strong radio signal overwhelms communications, whereas spoofing misleads a receiver into thinking it is in a different location or in a past or future time period. In August, Latvia’s Electronic Communications Office said it had identified at least three hot spots for jamming along borders with Russia. In April 2024, a Finnish airline temporarily suspended flights to the Estonian city of Tartu following jamming, while in March that year, a plane carrying the British defense secretary had its satellite signal jammed as it flew near Russian territory. The office said that although Russia maintains the jamming is defensive, the frequency has increased as interference extends further from Russia’s borders. Pilots and air traffic controllers from Sweden to Bulgaria are “are reinventing the old-school methods of navigating because they cannot rely on GPS anymore,” said Eric Shouten, an intelligence analyst and CEO of Dyami Security Intelligence based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. He said it is unlikely that Russia specifically targeted von der Leyen. “Russia knew […]

President Donald Trump on Monday urged pharmaceutical companies to provide clear explanations for the effectiveness of their COVID-19 treatments.

He stated that there is ongoing debate about whether these medications were truly responsible for saving lives.

“With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I have been shown information from Pfizer, and others, that is extraordinary, but they never seem to show those results to the public.”

{Matzav.com}

The IDF and Shin Bet on Sunday evening confirmed the elimination of Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida in an IDF strike last week. “Hudayfa al-Kahlout, ‘Abu Obeida,’ was one of the last senior figures in Hamas’s military wing from before October 7,” the joint statement said. “Over the past decade, he oversaw Hamas propaganda, oversaw the spokesperson units at the brigade and battalion levels, coordinated between the political propaganda bodies and the military wing, and served as the senior figure in shaping propaganda policy.” “The Hamas propaganda wing under Kahlout’s command was responsible for disseminating the atrocities of the October 7 massacre by distributing footage recorded by Hamas terrorists. He was also responsible for disseminating incitement videos in the Arab world and among the Palestinian public, encouraging similar acts of terror.” “During the war, he and his team were behind the release of psychological terror videos featuring abducted civilians and soldiers held in Gaza.”   Yediot Achranot military commentator Yossi Yehoshua told Kol Chai Radio on Sunday evening that he believes that Abu Obeida’s elimination “is the most significant after [Hamas leader Mohammed] Deif and Sinwar.” According to Yehoshua, Abu Obeida played a part in instigating left-wing protests in Israel. “He would watch the news broadcasts and knew how to play on Israeli emotions. If he managed to release a video of a hostage and bring tens of thousands to the Hostages Square and put pressure on Israel, then it’s worth several times more.” Yehoshua noted that Abu Obeida was also “responsible for the starvation campaign.” Tzvi Yechezkeli, the prominent Arab affairs commentator for I24NEWS, also believes that Abu Obeida’s elimination is a major blow for Hamas. “Residents of Gaza and Arabs who watched Al Jazeera saw Abu Obeida as the face of the war and of the October 7 massacre,” he said. “He spoke to the population and to the Arab world. They admired him and even dressed up like him.” “They also saw him as someone with ‘seven lives,’ because there were multiple reports that he had been killed, only for him to reappear. And even after the IDF exposed his face during the war, it didn’t matter—he continued to gain popularity.” “His elimination is significant in terms of the psychological and narrative front, and that’s very important, because after all the campaigns about civilians and journalists (claims that Israel killed journalists at Nasser Hospital), this is a success in an arena where we usually don’t succeed, and we need to leverage it.” “What do I mean? Don’t be surprised if, in a few weeks, you see another ‘Abu Obeida’ with a red or black keffiyeh, carried along by this persona’s success. Hamas won’t neglect this arena, but they took a hit. This shows that even symbolic and moral figures have an impact.” “Think about it—Gazans now have no one to speak to them, no one to guide them or lift their spirits. Abu Obeida would appear daily on the screens near Shifa, and people would applaud him.” “Now, there’s no one to raise their morale, especially now, as evacuations continue from northern Gaza, with the IDF’s military operation looming in the background. This shows that Israel is on the ground, intelligence is accessible, and hostages and bodies can be recovered. Israel was able to strike Abu Obeida, raise […]

[COMMUNICATED]

Every chassan should feel like a king.
Unfortunately, not every chassan does.

When families are drowning in wedding-related expenses, the sense of royalty is hijacked by a deep sense of distress.

Suddenly:

• Gifts for the kallah become a pressure — “Do we really need to spend on this right now?”

• A  new hat for the chassan becomes a guilt-ridden quest — “I really can’t ask my parents to pay another dollar.”

• The chassan’s wardrobe becomes the breaking point — “We’re way over our heads. How will we cover all this? How???”

That’s why these three leading Lakewood shadchanim founded Zichron Mattel: so every chassan can feel like a king, no matter what financial hardship their family is going through.

R’ Meir Levi, R’ Shlomo Lewenstein, and R’ Tzodek Katz

Donate to the only organization restoring dignity to struggling chassanim in Lakewood

For the past 10+ years, R’ Meir Levi, R’ Shlomo Lewenstein, and R’ Tzodek Katz have thrown themselves into this mission.

And right now, it’s YOUR time to restore royalty to a chassan.

With your help, every qualifying chassan’s family receives $6000 in purchasing power, so they can shop at participating local stores for:

• The chassan’s wardrobe

• Yichud room jewelry for the kallah

• A beautiful leichter for the kallah

• Leather siddur, tehillim & machzorim for the kallah

Help Chassanim Now

Giving to Zichron Mattel is handing the crown of dignity back to a chassan and his parents — letting them walk into stores, browse, and shop for purchases like any other person can.

You can make this happen.

Give the joy of royalty back to a chassan and his family today

Transitioning from seminary to a fulfilling career can be complex. For women seeking to navigate the job market with confidence, the PCS Career Seminar offers a vital starting point.  The PCS Career Seminar, tailored for women and seminary graduates, brings together leading experts to provide practical guidance and insights into high-growth professions. Featuring acclaimed career coach Shaina Keren, the seminar, titled “Choosing a Career Today with the Future in Mind: The Secrets to High Growth,” will uncover the strategies for identifying and pursuing careers with long-term potential.  Attendees will al receive guidance from frum professionals in in-demand fields and learn what jobs that are trending. Faigy Ort, Placement Director at PCS, will highlight in-demand fields, offering a clear picture of where the opportunities are.  Beyond the group presentations, career counselor Deena Nahari will be available to answer questions on a one-on-one basis, for tailored advice. Event Details: Date: Wednesday, September 3 Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Location: PCS, 1771 Madison Ave, Lakewood, Executive Suites Admission: Free Refreshments: Sushi & Salad Bar Mothers and daughters welcome! Can’t make it in person?  Register Here to Join remotely! For info: 732-905-9700 ext. 610 or email nj@nj.pcsjobs.org

Israel on Monday morning inaugurated the first kindergarten in the northern Samaria Jewish community of Chomesh, 20 years after its residents were forcefully evicted during the 2005 disengagement.

The festive ceremony was attended by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, deputy council head Davidi Ben Zion, Chomesh Yeshivah head Rabbi Elishama Cohen, Education Ministry representatives, parents, children, and former and current kindergarten teachers.

Dagan recited a Shehecheyanu, saying: “The disengagement is dead. The people of Israel live.”

“This is a moment of sweet victory for the Jewish people and Zionism,” the Samaria leader declared. “There will be many more kindergartens, here in Chomesh and in the other communities that were uprooted.”

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch said the opening signified “new roots of education and future” in Chomesh. “This is not only an educational act but a Zionist one, of building and settlement,” he stated, pledging support for schools throughout the Land of Israel.

Ayala Levy, who taught at the kindergarten in the community until 2005, said she never imagined returning to Chomesh after the disengagement. “It’s very emotional,” she said. “I began with five children and ended with 25 before the evacuation. I pray this will only be the beginning.”

Atara Rubin, who will be in charge of the new kindergarten in the town, told INN on Monday morning: “For years, we have been coming here with the children in tents, on holidays and on Shabbat. To now open a kindergarten run by the Ministry of Education is a great privilege.”

The Israeli government’s unilateral disengagement in 2005 entailed the destruction of four Jewish communities in northern Samaria: Chomesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim, in addition to 21 towns in the Gaza Strip.

In March 2023, the Knesset voted 31-18 to repeal parts of a 2005 law banning Israeli civilians from entering and residing in the villages.

It took several more months for the Israel Defense Forces to green-light the return.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Security Cabinet in May approved 22 new Judea and Samaria villages, including the re-establishment of Chomesh and Sa-Nur.

Monday morning’s ceremony in Chomesh coincided with the first day of the new school year in the Jewish state, as more than 2.5 million children returned to classrooms and kindergartens nationwide. JNS

{Matzav.com}

The financial toll of Iran’s missile strikes on Israel earlier this year has reached record levels, with damages now estimated at more than 4 billion shekels ($1.1 billion) in just the first wave of claims, the Israel Tax Authority said. Officials warned that the final cost, once indirect losses are included, will run into the “several billions more.” In only 12 days of fighting, Israelis filed 53,599 claims for direct damage — the highest ever recorded. Nearly 42,000 property claims were submitted, including 36,928 from private homeowners, making housing the single hardest-hit sector. Hundreds of homes were completely destroyed and will need to be rebuilt from scratch, leaving families displaced for months or years. The state will be forced to fund temporary housing for those left without shelter. Critical national institutions were not spared. The Weizmann Institute of Science and Soroka Medical Center sustained heavy damage, while prolonged shutdowns of businesses across the country added to the devastation. Businesses filed 5,108 claims for losses, with hundreds of shops and offices deemed beyond repair. Vehicle damage also reached historic highs, with at least 5,400 cars destroyed or heavily damaged in the missile fire. To date, the Property Tax Compensation Fund has paid out roughly 1.6 billion shekels ($430 million) in direct compensation. But indirect claims — covering lost business, wages, and production — are already dwarfing direct damages. In less than two weeks of war, 98,569 indirect claims were filed, almost double the direct figure. Nearly 60,000 have already been processed, with an additional 1 billion shekels ($270 million) paid out in partial compensation. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

UPDATE: Following the Levaya of the Viznitzer Rebbitzien of Kiamesha in Gibbers, the Mita will travel to Boro Park for a Levaya in front of the home of the Rachmistrivka Rebbetzin (the Nifteres’ mother) on 45th Street. It will then proceed to Monsey, with a Levaya at 4:30PM at the Viznitzer Shul on Phyllis Terrace, followed by Kevura at the Viznitzer Beis HaChaim on Route 306. Besoros Tovos!

Delta has agreed to pay $78.75 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2020 incident in which Flight 89 dumped 15,000 gallons of fuel at just 2,000 feet, dousing homes, schools, and playgrounds in Los Angeles and Orange County. Sixty-seven people, including 20 children, were treated for skin and eye irritation, though the FAA later ruled the pilots had acted properly.

At the SCO summit, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the creation of a multilateral currency fund, less dependence on the dollar, greater use of national currencies, and shared digital systems to enable secure central bank digital currency transactions.