White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday afternoon that President Donald Trump has directly communicated with Hamas, urging the group to release all hostages. She stressed the president’s unwavering determination to bring the ongoing violence to a close.
“The president is moving as quickly as he possibly can and working overtime to end these conflicts in both Israel and Gaza and also the Russia-Ukraine war,” Leavitt stated. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that he wanted to see all hostages released.”
Responding to recent speculation surrounding a Qatari aircraft provided to the United States, Leavitt addressed the confusion by stating, “The aircraft is not a personal donation or gift to President Trump. Anyone who reported otherwise last week should correct their articles. This is a contribution to our nation and the United States Air Force.”
She reiterated that President Trump is tirelessly focused on achieving peace, working around the clock to resolve both the Israel-Gaza conflict and the war in Ukraine.
{Matzav.com}The Supreme Court handed a significant win to the Trump administration on Monday by allowing it to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for around 350,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S.—a status originally granted during Joe Biden’s presidency. The decision aligns with Trump’s ongoing commitment to ramp up deportations and enforce tougher immigration controls.
The high court agreed to a Justice Department request to overturn a prior ruling by Judge Edward Chen of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Chen had blocked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s move to end the TPS designation for Venezuelans. The TPS designation had provided recipients with protection from deportation and the right to work legally in the U.S.
As is customary with emergency rulings, the court issued an unsigned decision. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, publicly disagreeing with the majority’s action.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit brought by several Venezuelan TPS recipients and the National TPS Alliance, who argued that returning to Venezuela would pose serious safety risks due to the country’s ongoing turmoil.
Since taking office in January, Trump has promised a crackdown on illegal immigration, vowing to deport large numbers of undocumented individuals. As part of this agenda, he has moved to revoke protections like TPS that shield certain groups from deportation.
TPS is a legal status granted to nationals from countries experiencing war, natural disasters, or other crises. It permits those already in the U.S. to remain and work legally for a set period. The decision to designate or renew TPS status lies with the Secretary of Homeland Security.
During his time in office, Biden designated Venezuela for TPS twice—in 2021 and again in 2023. In the final days of his presidency, Biden extended the program through 2026. That move was reversed by Noem, who canceled the 2023 designation for a portion of Venezuelans, affecting an estimated 348,202 individuals.
Judge Chen concluded that Noem’s cancellation violated administrative law and was based on prejudiced assumptions. He took issue with the portrayal of Venezuelans as criminals, saying such a view lacked evidence and was steeped in bias.
“Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes,” Chen wrote. He added that Venezuelan TPS holders were statistically more likely to have earned college degrees than the average U.S. citizen and less likely to commit crimes.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined the government’s request to pause Chen’s ruling on April 18, leaving the lower court’s decision in place—until Monday’s Supreme Court intervention.
In their filing to the Supreme Court, Justice Department attorneys accused Judge Chen of exceeding his authority and interfering with the executive branch’s constitutional role in shaping immigration policy.
“The court’s order contravenes fundamental Executive Branch prerogatives and indefinitely delays sensitive policy decisions in an area of immigration policy that Congress recognized must be flexible, fast-paced, and discretionary,” the government’s legal team argued.
Opponents of the administration’s policy warned the justices that approving the government’s request would have dire consequences. “Would strip work authorization from nearly 350,000 people living in the U.S., expose them to deportation to an unsafe country and cost billions in economic losses nationwide,” they wrote.
The U.S. State Department currently advises against travel to Venezuela, citing numerous risks including “wrongful detentions, terrorism, kidnapping, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, [and] poor health infrastructure.”
In a broader push to roll back temporary legal protections, the Trump administration also ended TPS for thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians in April. Those decisions, however, are separate from this case.
{Matzav.com}
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu declared on Monday that the Israeli army would assert full control over the entire Gaza Strip, as military forces intensified their ongoing campaign within the embattled enclave.
Following Israel’s decision to allow a limited quantity of food into Gaza, Netanyahu justified the move by saying it was essential to prevent widespread starvation, particularly to satisfy international concerns.
In Gaza, emergency teams reported that at least 22 people were killed in a new wave of airstrikes. These deaths came shortly after the Israeli army confirmed it had initiated a sweeping ground assault targeting Hamas strongholds.
“The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the strip,” Netanyahu said in a statement released on Telegram.
“We will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped.”
Israel continues to face growing pressure from the global community, including from its top ally, the United States, urging it to end the full blockade it imposed on Gaza over two months ago.
“We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons,” Netanyahu stated, cautioning that even Israel’s staunchest allies would not accept “images of mass starvation.”
A recent analysis published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a coalition of United Nations agencies and humanitarian organizations, warned that Gaza stands on the brink of famine. According to the report, 22% of the territory’s population is facing an immediate and devastating humanitarian crisis.
{Matzav.com}
Zohran Mamdani, a candidate in the New York City mayoral race, chose not to add his name to a New York State Assembly resolution last week that marked Israel’s 77th Independence Day. This move follows his earlier refusal to support a resolution denouncing the Holocaust — decisions likely to ignite controversy in a primary where he trails only Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic field.
Mamdani is facing sharp pushback from critics who argue his voting record reflects a consistent pattern. “He condemned Israel the day after October 7th, regularly gives interviews on unapologetic antisemitic platforms, and just proudly accepted an endorsement from a disgraced former fire-alarm pulling Congressman who denied October 7th rapes before walking that back,” said Assemblymember Sam Berger, referring to Mamdani’s recent endorsement from Jamaal Bowman. “His plan to ‘combat’ antisemitism is tossing more money at the Jews. At what point do we acknowledge that if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and quacks like a duck — it’s a duck?”
Resolutions acknowledging Israel’s founding and remembering the Holocaust are typically passed with little dissent in Albany. This year, Mamdani was among just five of 150 Assembly members who refused to sign on to at least one of the two measures.
Campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein defended Mamdani, stating that the candidate “absolutely supports the Holocaust Memorial Day resolution.” Epstein pointed out that Mamdani has often spoken publicly about Holocaust Remembrance Day and has issued strong condemnations of the Holocaust on social media platforms.
“He had to narrow down the capacity,” Epstein said, citing Mamdani’s dual responsibilities as a sitting legislator and an active mayoral candidate. “He’s a very careful legislator,” he continued, “so he has not put his name on any resolutions” during this session.
Epstein was unable to explain why Mamdani had also abstained from supporting a similar Holocaust resolution earlier in 2024, a decision that came months before Mamdani launched his mayoral campaign.
Mamdani has previously co-sponsored numerous ceremonial resolutions over the years, including those for Juneteenth, Neurodiversity Pride Day, Women’s History Month, and Korean American Day. However, Epstein clarified that the eight resolutions his name has appeared on in 2025 were ones he was added to automatically.
The campaign made clear that Mamdani’s objection to the Israel resolution stemmed from a particular phrase stating that Israel “continues to strive for peace with security and dignity for itself, its neighbors and throughout the world in order to fulfill the prophecy of becoming a light unto the nations.”
“I think that is belied by the conduct of the right-wing government over the past 18 months,” Epstein said.
That stance was not shared by other Democratic lawmakers. “At a time when Democrats should be coming together to fight the very real threat from the Trump Administration and Republicans in Washington, some candidates seem more inclined to try and divide our party,” said Assemblymember Nily Rozic, who sponsored both resolutions and is the first Israeli-born legislator in the state Assembly.
“Supporting Israel’s right to exist is a fundamental American value — one that goes back more than 77 years and that an overwhelming majority of Jewish New Yorkers support. This is not something Democrats should be relitigating now when our resources and energies are greatly needed elsewhere.”
With nearly 1 million Jews living in New York City, it represents the second largest Jewish population in the world after Tel Aviv. Cuomo has made the rise of antisemitism a centerpiece of his campaign, calling it “the most important issue” in the race. Mayor Eric Adams, who bypassed the Democratic primary to pursue re-election as an independent, has also prioritized the fight against antisemitism. Last week, Adams unveiled a plan to prohibit the use of masks during campus protests in response to escalating tensions related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Both Cuomo and Adams have taken aim at Mamdani for what they consider troubling positions on Jewish issues.
Mamdani was notably absent from the Assembly chamber on Wednesday when the Israel resolution passed with broad support.
Instead, he spent part of the day in Co-op City, where his campaign received a high-profile endorsement from Jamaal Bowman. Bowman, who lost his seat in Congress last year after voicing harsh critiques of Israel in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attacks, backed Mamdani’s campaign for City Hall — a move sure to further inflame an already heated race.
{Matzav.com}