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The Torah community in Yerushalayim is mourning the passing of Rebbetzin Chana Rottenberg a”h, wife of Rav Yeshayahu Pinchas Rottenberg, rov of the Gra Bais Medrash in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Yerushalayim and one of the city’s prominent morei horaah. She was approximately 72 years old.

Rebbetzin Rottenberg passed away at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim.

She was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1954, to her father, Reb Shalom Dovid Horowitz z”l, who was among the leaders of Agudas Yisroel.

Upon reaching marriageable age, she married Rav Yeshayahu Pinchas Rottenberg, author of the Minchas Pri seforim. Throughout their decades of marriage, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to enabling her husband to immerse himself in Torah learning and serve the wider community as a posek.

As the daughter of Holocaust survivors, Rebbetzin Rottenberg devoted decades to transmitting the story of Jewish spiritual heroism and unwavering emunah during the Holocaust. She authored the bestselling book “How Did I Not Know?” and delivered numerous lectures through the Nefesh Yehudi organization and other forums. She also accompanied educational trips to Poland, helping participants understand the experiences of European Jewry during the Holocaust and the extraordinary faith displayed during those years.

Those who knew Rebbetzin Rottenberg and her family described her as an exceptional aishes chayil whose life was filled with tzedakah and chesed. She regularly visited the sick in hospitals and was known for greeting everyone warmly and pleasantly.

She is survived by her mother, Mrs. N. Horowitz; her husband, Rav Yeshayahu Pinchas Rottenberg; and a distinguished family of children and sons-in-law who are marbitzei Torah.

Her sons are Rav Yisroel Rottenberg, a rosh mesivta at Yeshivas Daas Moshe in Yerushalayim; Rav Nechemia Meir Rottenberg of Savyon, who also serves as a rov in Vienna; Rav Mordechai Rottenberg, rosh kollel of Kollel Toras Moshe Aharon in Modiin Illit and a rosh mesivta at Yeshivas Tiferes Yisroel in Yerushalayim; and Rav Aharon Simcha Rottenberg, a rosh kollel in Yerushalayim.

Her sons-in-law are Rav Tzvi Boyer; Rav Yosef Schwartz, a rosh mesivta at Yeshivas Nagari in Beit Shemesh; Rav Yitzchok Shuv; and Rav Mordechai Chevroni.

The levayah was held tonight at the Gra Bais Medrash at 49 Hapisga Street in Bayit Vegan, Yerushalayim, proceeding to Har Hamenuchos for kevurah.

The family will be sitting shivah at the Rottenberg home at 82 Uziel Street in Bayit Vegan until Erev Yom Tov.

Yehi zichrah baruch.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli advocacy activist and Amcha Yisrael Knesset candidate Yoseph Haddad received a series of explicit death threats by email on Tuesday, with his party saying the messages appeared to have originated from elements connected to Iran. The threats come after Haddad was included on a list published by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry identifying Israeli individuals with whom Iranians are prohibited from having contact.

Haddad, who holds the No. 2 spot on Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael slate, received several emails containing graphic threats against his life.

“We will cut off your fingers one by one and dismember your bodies together with the Americans. We are men of war. Curse you,” one of the threatening messages stated.

According to Amcha Yisrael, the language and content of the emails led to the assessment that they were sent by individuals connected to the Iranian regime. Independent confirmation of who sent the messages was not immediately available.

The threats follow the Iranian Intelligence Ministry’s recent publication of a list of Israeli figures it considers hostile and with whom Iranian citizens are forbidden to communicate. Haddad appeared prominently on that list, according to Israeli reports.

Haddad, an Arab Israeli advocacy activist who served in the IDF and was wounded during the Second Lebanon War, entered electoral politics this summer when he joined Winter’s newly established Amcha Yisrael party. He was placed second on the party’s Knesset slate.

The latest emails are also not the first threats Haddad has faced since entering politics. Earlier this month, Israel Hayom reported that he had received direct threats against his life and that a campaign sign featuring Haddad and Winter had been vandalized with the words “Haddad traitor.”

Haddad said Tuesday that the latest threats would not deter him from continuing his public activities.

“The Iranian regime has never been more predictable. I also receive explicit murder threats on social media. It did not scare me in the past and it does not scare me today; on the contrary, it strengthens me. I will continue to act for the State of Israel and for Israeli society. And to the enemies threatening us from Iran to Gaza, I convey the well-known Arabic saying: روحوا بلّطوا البحر ‘Go pave the sea.’”

{Matzav.com}

With 35 days remaining until Israel’s election, a new Channel 12 poll shows Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu moving ahead of Naftali Bennett in a head-to-head question over suitability for prime minister, reversing the result of a similar survey released just one week earlier. Netanyahu also narrowed Gadi Eisenkot’s advantage over him, while Eisenkot’s Yashar party remained the largest party in the Knesset projection.

According to the survey, 41% of respondents said Netanyahu was better suited to serve as prime minister when compared directly with Bennett, while 37% chose Bennett. Another 19% said neither man was suitable, and 3% answered that they did not know.

That marks a shift from Channel 12’s previous poll a week earlier, when Bennett received 40% compared with Netanyahu’s 39%. In the new survey, Netanyahu gained two percentage points while Bennett fell by three.

Netanyahu also improved his numbers in a head-to-head comparison with Eisenkot, although Eisenkot remained ahead in that matchup. The new poll gave Eisenkot 41% and Netanyahu 38%, a three-point difference. A week earlier, Eisenkot held a six-point advantage, 42% to 36%. In the latest survey, 15% selected neither candidate and 6% said they did not know.

The projected Knesset map showed relatively little movement. Yashar, headed by Eisenkot, remained in first place with 23 seats, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud with 20 and Bennett’s Beyachad with 13. Those top-line numbers were unchanged from the previous Channel 12 survey.

Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu gained one seat to reach nine, while Yair Golan’s Democrats dropped from 10 seats to nine.

The chareidi parties remained unchanged, with United Torah Judaism, headed by Yaakov Asher, receiving eight seats and Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, receiving seven. Together, the two parties were projected to hold 15 Knesset seats.

The Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen, fell by one seat to seven. Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit remained at six seats, while the Religious Zionism-Zehut list headed by Bezalel Smotrich held steady at five.

Ra’am, headed by Mansour Abbas, gained one seat to reach five. Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael received four seats, while the joint Reservists-New Economic Party list headed by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha also received four seats, once again clearing the electoral threshold in the poll.

Several parties remained below the threshold. Benny Gantz’s Blue and White received 0.7%, Moti Leitner’s Hatzibur Hachareidi received 0.3%, Avi Maoz’s Noam LeYisrael received 0.1%, and Sharren Haskel’s Yisrael Techila registered 0%.

Despite movement among individual parties, the overall bloc totals were unchanged from the previous Channel 12 poll. Parties opposed to Netanyahu were projected at 66 seats, including 54 seats for Zionist parties and 12 for Arab parties. Parties currently aligned with the coalition received 50 seats, while the Hendel-Zelekha list, categorized by the survey as part of a separate “third bloc,” received four.

The survey also compared Netanyahu with Liberman on suitability for prime minister. Netanyahu received 38% compared with Liberman’s 28%, while another 28% said neither was suitable and 6% answered that they did not know.

The poll was conducted on September 22 by Midgam Consulting and Research, headed by Manu Geva. It surveyed a representative sample of Israeli residents age 18 and older, with 501 respondents participating out of 2,498 people approached. The reported maximum sampling error was 4.4 percentage points.

{Matzav.com}

Spain’s government has allowed a U.S. extradition request against American multimillionaire James “Fergie” Chambers to move forward to the courts, advancing a case in which U.S. authorities accuse the wealthy pro-Palestinian activist of money laundering and other offenses connected to alleged support for Hamas-linked organizations. Chambers denies wrongdoing, while his attorneys contend that the case is politically motivated.

The 41-year-old Chambers has been held in Spain since July, when he was arrested in Ibiza at the request of U.S. authorities. He is currently being held in pretrial detention in Madrid.

The case centers in part on $7.5 million that Chambers transferred from a U.S. bank account to Tunisia, where he previously lived. U.S. authorities allege that the transaction was connected to money laundering and financing organizations linked to Hamas. The full details of the U.S. case have not been made public, and the underlying charges remain sealed.

Chambers’ attorneys reject those allegations. They maintain that his money went toward humanitarian and other projects and say the $7.5 million transfer was connected to Club Africain, a Tunisian soccer club. His defense team argues that Washington’s extradition effort is driven by Chambers’ political activism and outspoken support for the Palestinian cause.

Chambers comes from the Cox family, whose business holdings include the privately owned Cox Enterprises media and communications empire. He broke financially with his family several years ago, receiving approximately $250 million after selling his stake back to the family in 2023, according to his representatives.

In recent years, Chambers has embraced radical left-wing politics, describing himself as a communist and anti-imperialist. He has provided financial support to numerous left-wing and pro-Palestinian causes, including humanitarian projects connected to Gaza and legal expenses involving activists associated with Palestine Action.

His public statements following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack have also drawn controversy. Chambers publicly defended what he termed Palestinian resistance and has made statements rejecting the legitimacy of Israel. The New York Times recently reported that Chambers had championed Hamas following the October 7 attack.

Those statements have become part of the broader debate surrounding his case, although his attorneys maintain that Chambers’ political views do not establish that he illegally financed Hamas or any other terrorist organization.

Chambers’ wife, actress and activist Stella Schnabel, has publicly defended him and says documentation exists showing where his money was sent. She has also lobbied Spanish lawmakers against approving the extradition. Chambers’ legal team, led by former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, has additionally applied for asylum in Spain.

The case has generated significant political opposition inside Spain. Members of Sumar, the junior partner in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s coalition government, as well as Podemos politicians, have urged the government to block the extradition. Supporters of Chambers have also organized demonstrations, while public figures including Richard Gere and Greta Thunberg have joined calls opposing his transfer to the United States.

Tuesday’s decision by the Spanish government does not mean Chambers will automatically be extradited. Government spokeswoman Elma Saiz described the action as “purely procedural,” explaining that Spain’s National Court must now examine the U.S. request and Chambers’ legal arguments before a final determination is made.

If the court determines that the legal requirements for extradition have been met, the matter will return to the Spanish government for a final decision. Spanish law also allows extradition to be denied when authorities determine that a request is politically motivated, an argument Chambers’ attorneys are expected to press as the proceedings continue.

Gulf Arab leaders were preparing to press President Donald Trump to avoid a new escalation with Iran during talks in New York on Tuesday, hours after Trump used his UN General Assembly address to warn that he could “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if efforts to reach an agreement fail. Reuters confirmed that Trump was scheduled to meet representatives of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states following his speech.

Officials representing the GCC — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — coordinated their positions before meeting Trump on the sidelines of the UN gathering, according to Bloomberg.

The New York Post likewise reported that Gulf officials intended to make the case for diplomacy and caution Trump against expanding the conflict.

Their meeting came shortly after Trump delivered a stark warning to Tehran from the UN podium, framing the next stage of the conflict as a choice between an agreement and further military action. Reuters reported that Trump simultaneously predicted that Washington and Tehran would ultimately reach an agreement.

“But I have a big decision to make,” Trump said. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic, and do it quickly?”

Trump used his address to defend the U.S. military campaign against Iran and argue that it had helped prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He warned that the Islamic Republic could face further devastating action if negotiations fail.

At the same time, Trump said he expected the two countries eventually to reach an agreement, suggesting that a settlement could come after the November 3 midterm elections.

The six Gulf nations have been directly exposed to the repercussions of the nearly seven-month conflict. Attacks in the region, threats to Gulf territory and interruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have created security and economic concerns for the GCC states. Reuters reported Tuesday that the continuing tensions have also weighed on Gulf financial markets and energy flows.

Bloomberg reported that Gulf governments had warned Trump before the war against military action, arguing that a broader confrontation with Iran risked destabilizing the region.

After hostilities began and Iran retaliated, some Gulf governments took tougher positions toward Tehran, according to Bloomberg. As the conflict dragged on and Iran retained the ability to target neighboring states, however, those governments increasingly returned their focus to finding a diplomatic way out.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani described the conflict Sunday as an “earthquake” for the region and said lasting security could not be built through “repeated cycles of escalation and retaliation,” Bloomberg reported.

CNN reported that the Gulf leaders entered their meeting with Trump facing concerns in both directions: they want to avoid becoming further entangled in the war, while also seeking clarity about the level of U.S. security support they could expect if Washington eventually reduces its military presence in the region.

According to CNN, Gulf leaders have previously urged Trump to pull back from a major escalation, arguing that negotiations with Tehran could still produce an agreement.

The meeting also took place amid fresh signs that both Washington and Tehran may be willing to explore another diplomatic track. Trump said later Tuesday that there was “a lot of momentum” toward an agreement after U.S. envoys held talks involving Iranian officials and regional mediators.

A senior Iranian official separately told Reuters that Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington reduced military pressure and ended its blockade of Iranian ports. The official said Iran’s delegation in New York had authority to pursue renewed diplomacy and described the UN gathering as an opportunity to restart negotiations.

With the war approaching the seven-month mark, the Gulf leaders were expected to use their meeting with Trump to emphasize the regional dangers of another military escalation while the administration considers whether to pursue renewed negotiations or further action against Iran.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu’s office sharply rebuked French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday after Macron declared at the United Nations that Hamas “has never been very active” in Judea and Samaria, pointing to the murder two days earlier of Netanel Shakron, a father of six, in a shooting attack near Neve Tzuf. Israeli reports identified the suspected gunman as a Hamas operative.

Macron made the assertion while addressing developments in Judea and Samaria during his speech at the UN General Assembly, drawing a furious response from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering. On Sunday, the eve of Yom Kippur, just two days ago, Netanel Shakron – a FRENCH CITIZEN and father of six – was murdered in his car by a Hamas terrorist in Judea and Samaria. With his final breath, he told his son to run,” the statement said.

Shakron had gone with his eldest son to a spring near Neve Tzuf ahead of Yom Kippur when the shooting took place. He was critically wounded and later died at Beilinson Hospital. His son was unharmed.

Netanyahu’s office continued its attack on Macron’s characterization of Hamas activity in the region.

“Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost every day. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria. Ignorance is NO EXCUSE for erasing their blood,” it added.

Macron’s disputed remarks came as he criticized Israeli policy and activity in Judea and Samaria from the podium of the General Assembly.

“Look, just look at what is happening in the West Bank. Day after day, we are seeing violations,” Macron said, referring to Israeli government policies and activity on the hilltops in the area.

He then argued that Hamas activity could not justify those policies.

“And in the name of what? Hamas has never been very active in the West Bank. What we need is respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, their legitimate right to exist.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also responded forcefully, citing Shakron’s killing as evidence against Macron’s assertion and accusing the French president of giving a false account of Hamas’s involvement in Judea and Samaria.

“President Macron is lying. This week, on Sunday, a despicable terrorist from the Hamas terrorist organization murdered Netanel Shakron, may God avenge his blood, who was bathing with his sons in a spring ahead of Yom Kippur. This is just one attack out of hundreds of attacks led by the Hamas terrorist organization. The terrorist organization fuels Arab terrorism in Judea and Samaria and is a significant part of it and its activities.”

Smotrich went on to frame Israel’s expansion and strengthening of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as part of its response to terrorism. He also turned to domestic Israeli politics, warning that a future government led by opposition figures could reverse those policies.

He added: “Against this terrorism, we stand as a fortified wall, fortifying and strengthening the communities and building the State of Israel’s security belt. And I warn: An Eisenkot-Liberman-Golan government will evacuate the communities we established and establish a terrorist state in the heart of the State of Israel. Macron is waiting for this, the European Union is waiting for this, and we must not allow it to happen – and only a strong Religious Zionist party will prevent it from happening.”

{Matzav.com}

Weeks before the October 7 massacre, Israeli security officials received an unusual message attributed to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar warning that “An earthquake is expected in the prisons because of the prisoner issue.” The warning triggered discussions inside Israel’s security establishment, but officials at the time connected it to the captivity of Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in Iraq rather than viewing it as a possible signal connected to an impending Hamas attack.

Channel 12 News reported Tuesday evening on new details surrounding the intelligence assessment and the circumstances that led officials to interpret Sinwar’s message through the lens of the Tsurkov case.

According to the report, Israeli intelligence had learned at roughly the same time of a development involving Tsurkov, who had been abducted in Iraq. A senior Iranian official had reportedly approached Hamas with a proposal that the terror group take responsibility for negotiations aimed at securing her release, while the pro-Iranian Iraqi group holding Tsurkov had agreed to the arrangement.

Against that backdrop, Israeli intelligence officials believed Sinwar’s reference to prisoners fit with the information they were already receiving about Tsurkov.

“Sinwar’s message fit the new intelligence picture like a glove,” officials who participated in the discussions told Channel 12 News.

The message led the Shin Bet to request a special situation assessment. According to the report, those taking part in the discussion did not offer an alternative explanation for Sinwar’s words, and the prevailing assessment remained that his warning was connected to the developing Tsurkov negotiations.

Channel 12 reported that the assessment proved incorrect. In retrospect, according to the network, Sinwar’s message was part of an effort to secure additional concessions from Israel while delaying and concealing the attack Hamas was preparing. The network reported that the message had been conveyed in September 2023 through Sufian Abu Zaida, a senior Fatah figure associated with Mohammed Dahlan, before reaching Israeli intelligence officials.

The report also revisited recent claims involving a warning from the United Arab Emirates ahead of October 7. Channel 12 reported that Emirati intelligence had warned the Shin Bet in September 2023 that Hamas could carry out a violent action, and that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed subsequently contacted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that the information had reached him. Netanyahu has denied that such a conversation took place.

A senior Israeli security official cited in the report said that such a warning, had it reached Netanyahu as described, might have prompted officials to reconsider the reassuring intelligence assessments that were prevailing at the time.

“If a message indeed subsequently reached the Prime Minister himself from Mohammed bin Zayed, it could have been the missing piece that would have prompted us to take additional, more in-depth steps,” the senior official said. “Something was needed that would outweigh the reassuring signs that we had presented to ourselves. It is possible that this could have been that sign.”

Chris Christie is openly considering another run for the White House in 2028, with the former New Jersey governor acknowledging Tuesday that the possibility of a third presidential campaign remains very much on his mind.

Christie, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and again in 2024, discussed his political future while appearing at the Granite State Summit on Responsible Gambling in Manchester, New Hampshire. The event listed Christie as its keynote speaker.

The onetime Trump ally, who later became a prominent Republican critic of President Donald Trump and challenged him for the GOP nomination in 2024, said the results of this November’s midterm elections could influence how Republicans think about the party’s direction heading toward the next presidential race.

Christie suggested that significant Republican losses could prompt questions within the party about whether its current approach, and what he called its “dominant wing,” should change.

“So, am I looking at it? Look, anybody who comes up here, anybody who comes up here and has ever run for president and not one and told you they’re not looking at it again is lying. …,” Christie said, according to footage of his appearance shared by WMUR political director Adam Sexton.

Christie said that once someone has gone through the process of seriously envisioning himself in the Oval Office, the idea does not simply disappear after an unsuccessful campaign.

“Once you go through the thought process of convincing yourself that you can be president, and then the next step that you should be president, that doesn’t leave your brain.”

But Christie indicated that merely wanting to run again would not be enough. Any third campaign, he said, would have to be based on a credible rationale that he could explain to his wife, Mary Pat.

“So, the way I look at this is, if I’m going to go back home to my wife and say, ‘I know you may not believe this, but third time is the charm,’ like, I better have a real theory,” Christie continued. “And what she has said to me is, ‘Chris, I want to see the path.’”

Christie’s comments come six weeks before the 2026 midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake. Public polling and outside election forecasts are continuing to shift as voters prepare for November, making the eventual results a potentially significant factor in how both parties approach the 2028 presidential campaign.

Although the next presidential election remains more than two years away, prospective candidates from both parties have already been making appearances in early-primary states. New Hampshire, where Christie spoke Tuesday, is required under state law to hold its presidential primary before any similar contest, despite continuing disputes over the Democratic Party’s nominating calendar.

Within the Republican Party, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the prominent figures who have drawn public discussion about 2028. Neither point, however, changes Christie’s calculation: he has repeatedly declined to close the door on another campaign and has indicated that the political landscape following the 2026 elections will play a role in his decision.

For Christie, who ended his 2024 campaign shortly before the New Hampshire primary, the latest comments represent one of his clearest acknowledgments yet that his presidential ambitions may not have ended with his second attempt at the Republican nomination.

{Matzav.com}