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Israeli authorities are increasingly alarmed by what they describe as a growing Iranian effort to recruit members of the chareidi community for espionage and sabotage missions, prompting an unusual response: enlisting prominent rabbanim and influential chareidi public figures to warn their communities about the threat, according to a report published by The New York Times.

The report says Israel’s police, prosecutors, and security agencies—including the Shin Bet—have launched a targeted public awareness campaign aimed at preventing additional recruitment attempts. Rather than relying solely on law enforcement, officials have turned to respected rabbanim and community leaders to deliver direct warnings to their followers about the dangers of contact with Iranian operatives.

According to the report, Israeli authorities have filed more than 60 indictments against Israeli citizens accused of spying for Iran or assisting the Islamic Republic. Those charged come from across Israeli society, including active-duty soldiers, civilians, Jews and Arabs, secular and religious Israelis, chareidim, and even recent immigrants. The assignments allegedly ranged from photographing military installations and spray-painting graffiti to carrying out far more serious operations, including planning assassinations of senior officials.

One particularly striking statistic highlighted in the report is that nine of those espionage cases involved members of the chareidi community. According to investigators, Iranian intelligence casts a wide net through social media, searching for individuals in financial distress regardless of their religious background. Operatives allegedly pose as businesspeople, journalists, or other seemingly innocent contacts before attempting to recruit targets.

The newspaper reports that to combat the trend, Israel’s police, prosecution, and security agencies “decided to take the unusual step of recruiting rabbis and influential Haredi public figures to directly warn their followers and audiences.”

Rav Yigal Cohen, a member of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Council and head of the Yabia Omer institutions, was described by the newspaper as having “enormous influence on social media.” In a video message cited by the report, Rav Cohen pleaded emotionally with his followers, saying, “I beg you, there is no greater chilul Hashem than to see a Torah-observant Jew betray his people.” He warned that any involvement with Iranian agents would destroy their lives.

The report also quotes Kol Barama radio commentator Yisrael Cohen, whom the newspaper described as a leading chareidi analyst and influencer. He told the Times that the chareidi public “was initially in complete shock when it learned that members of its own community had cooperated with Iran, but very quickly understood the necessity of the warnings and is working to stop the spread of the phenomenon.” According to the report, Cohen also helped connect security officials with rabbanim and other influential figures within the chareidi community.

The awareness campaign has even extended to specific languages spoken within the community. The report notes that Yiddish-language warning videos have been produced by chareidi journalists and influencers, including Mendel Ungar, in an effort to reach more conservative and insulated audiences.

Police and Shin Bet investigators quoted in the report said that ideology is rarely the driving force behind these cases. Instead, Iranian operatives typically exploit financial hardship, debt, or a desire for quick money, offering payment for assignments that initially appear harmless but gradually evolve into increasingly sensitive security-related missions.

According to The New York Times, Israeli officials now view the campaign as a coordinated effort to halt what they describe as an epidemic of Iranian recruitment attempts by leveraging the moral authority and influence of trusted rabbanim within the chareidi community.

{Matzav.com}

Belgian soldiers stationed in Antwerp’s Jewish neighborhood intervened on Friday night to prevent what appeared to be an attack on Chassidim leaving Kabbalas Shabbos, arresting a 28-year-old man who allegedly threatened pedestrians with an emergency hammer and behaved violently in the area.

According to sources, the incident occurred at approximately 8:20 p.m. on Lamorinièrestraat, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. The suspect allegedly confronted several Chassidim as they exited shul, threatening one man with an emergency hammer. He also knocked another person’s hat to the ground, shoved a passerby, and threw traffic signs onto the street.

Belgian soldiers deployed in the neighborhood quickly intervened and detained the suspect before anyone was injured.

Local police spokesman Wouter Bruyns confirmed that the man was arrested at the scene and will be questioned by investigators. “The suspect is known to police, among other things for public nuisance offenses and drug-related crimes,” the spokesman said.

Boruch Hashem, no injuries were reported.

The incident is the latest in a series of troubling episodes targeting Jewish communities across Europe in recent months, as many communities continue to contend with increasing harassment and antisemitic intimidation.

Antwerp is home to one of Europe’s largest and most vibrant chareidi communities, with thousands of Chassidim and bnei Torah.

{Matzav.com}

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz forcefully rejected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s suggestion that Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu could be arrested during an expected visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, calling the proposal nothing more than “pure political theater.”

Responding to Mamdani’s comments in a post on social media, Waltz wrote, “Mayor Mamdani: here’s why your threat to arrest PM Netanyahu in NYC during UNGA is not going to happen.”

Waltz then laid out what he said were four legal reasons the mayor’s plan could not be carried out, writing: “1. The US is not a party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC, 2. The UN Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government, 3. head-of-state immunity applies, & 4. federal authority trumps any local mayor’s wishes.”

He ended his response by declaring, “This is pure political theater.”

Earlier Saturday, Mamdani referred to Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and said his administration was exploring whether the Israeli leader could be arrested if he travels to New York.

Speaking with The New York Times, Mamdani said, “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”

The mayor added that he is engaged in “active conversation” with New York City’s legal officials regarding the extent of his authority over the matter. “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” he said.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, sharply condemned Mamdani’s remarks, accusing the mayor of neglecting his responsibilities at home.

“Mamdani is failing to govern New York. Instead of focusing on his responsibilities as mayor and confronting the rising wave of antisemitism in his city, he has chosen to incite hostility and generate headlines by attacking the State of Israel,” Danon said.

He added, “It will not change a thing. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens.”

Danon concluded with a jab at the mayor, saying, “And if anyone should be arrested, it is NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.”

Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis also dismissed Mamdani’s comments, arguing that the mayor has no legal authority to detain a foreign head of government.

“The mayor of New York City has no authority to order the arrest of the Prime Minister of Israel. Instead of dealing with matters over which he has no authority, he should start running New York City and only New York City,” Akunis said.

{Matzav.com}

Pesident Donald Trump brushed aside Iran’s declaration that it no longer considers itself bound by its memorandum of understanding with the United States, responding bluntly when asked about the move by NewsNation: “I couldn’t care less.”

Speaking during the interview, Trump also addressed the deaths of two American service members in Jordan, calling the loss “a very sad thing.”

He honored the fallen troops, saying they died “in service of our country,” while emphasizing that the United States remains committed to one overriding goal: “never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump’s remarks came after Iranian state television aired comments attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who announced that Tehran would no longer comply with the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding. Khamenei also dismissed the agreement by declaring that Trump’s signature is “worthless and invalid.”

Iran’s announcement followed a seventh consecutive night of U.S. military strikes against Iranian targets. The attacks come as Iran continues violating the ceasefire agreement with the United States while carrying out assaults on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite the ongoing military campaign, Trump has continued to express confidence that Iran ultimately wants to negotiate with his administration. At the same time, he has warned that American strikes will intensify and expand to additional critical infrastructure if Tehran refuses to enter meaningful negotiations.

Meanwhile, Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a fresh warning on Friday, threatening a dramatic escalation if U.S. operations continue.

In an interview with Iran’s state-run IRIB television, Rezaei said that if American attacks persist for another two or three days, Iran will move into an “offensive and destructive” phase.

Rezaei also declared that Iran has abandoned its previous strategy of “both war and negotiation.”

He further warned that continued U.S. military action would prompt Iran to expand its response beyond limited retaliation, threatening that American military bases and personnel would no longer be secure anywhere within established political borders.

{Matzav.com}

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun left Beirut yesterday for Washington, where he is expected to hold key meetings with President Donald Trump and other senior U.S. officials in an effort to bolster the ceasefire with Israel and advance negotiations over Israel’s military presence in southern Lebanon.

The visit follows a fresh round of diplomatic discussions involving Israeli and Lebanese representatives in Italy and marks the first trip by a Lebanese president to the White House since Michel Sleiman met with then-President Barack Obama in 2009.

Officials from Lebanon’s presidency said Aoun’s meetings in Washington will focus on talks “with several American officials on the situation in Lebanon and ways to strengthen the ceasefire,” while also seeking “the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies”.

After arriving in the United States, the Lebanese presidency announced that Aoun is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday before sitting down with Trump on Tuesday.

The diplomatic effort comes as the United States continues to broker indirect negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, which do not maintain formal diplomatic relations. The talks, launched in April, are aimed at reaching a lasting resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization.

On June 26, negotiators meeting in Washington reached a preliminary framework that calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon, after which the Lebanese military would deploy in the area, beginning with two designated pilot zones.

Implementation of the agreement, however, remains dependent on the disarmament of Hezbollah. The terrorist group has flatly rejected both the proposed framework and the negotiations surrounding it.

A U.S. official said that during follow-up meetings held this week in Rome, Israeli and Lebanese negotiators “agreed on the structure and guidelines” needed to move forward with establishing the pilot zones.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese military official told AFP that the Lebanese army has already begun increasing troop deployments and patrols in villages near areas where Israeli forces are still operating, including the village of Froun in the Bint Jbeil district, in preparation for a possible transition.

At the same time, Hezbollah organized a public rally yesterday in the coastal city of Tyre to demonstrate its continued opposition to the diplomatic process.

Although Aoun has agreed to pursue indirect negotiations with Israel, he has repeatedly rejected the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, an idea that has been floated by Trump.

The Lebanese president has insisted that ending the fighting must take precedence over any direct political engagement between the two countries.

Earlier this month, Aoun again dismissed the possibility of meeting Netanyahu, declaring, “If we were to find ourselves in the same room, I would immediately leave.”

{Matzav.com}