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A 7-year-old boy was murdered and his 4-year-old cousin was critically wounded Monday afternoon in a horrific stabbing in Beit Shemesh, after a neighbor allegedly entered the property and attacked the children during a family birthday celebration.

The two children were in the yard of a home on Emek HaZeitim Street, where the birthday party was taking place. According to details emerging from the initial investigation, a 15-year-old relative who was watching the children witnessed the attack. The father of one of the children subsequently arrived and found the two youngsters wounded near the swimming pool in the yard.

Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah emergency personnel rushed to the scene and provided initial medical treatment. The 7-year-old was listed in critical condition and transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Yerushalayim while undergoing resuscitation efforts. His 4-year-old cousin was also evacuated to the hospital in serious condition.

Despite continued attempts to save the older child, doctors at the hospital were ultimately forced to pronounce the 7-year-old dead.

United Hatzalah EMTs Yaakov Jungreis, Moshe Siroka and Eliya Asulin, who were among the first responders at the scene, said earlier: “We were told at the scene that they were injured as a result of violence. With the assistance of additional EMTs, we provided initial medical treatment at the scene to two victims whose conditions were defined as critical and serious, and they were then evacuated to the hospital for further medical treatment.”

Members of United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit were also dispatched to the scene to provide emotional assistance to relatives and witnesses following the traumatic attack.

Police arrested a neighborhood resident in his 20s shortly after the stabbing on suspicion of attacking the two children. The suspect’s father was questioned at the scene as investigators worked to determine what may have led to the deadly assault.

Authorities are examining several possible motives. Investigators are looking into whether the suspect may have been suffering from an unstable mental state, as well as whether an earlier dispute between the suspect’s family and the children’s family may have played a role. Police stressed that these remain investigative possibilities and that no motive has yet been established.

According to the preliminary investigation, the suspect arrived at the home where the children were gathered and, at some point, allegedly attacked them with a knife. Investigators are collecting testimony from family members and eyewitnesses, including the 15-year-old relative who was present when the attack occurred.

The emergency unfolded shortly after 4:40 p.m., when Magen David Adom’s 101 dispatch center received a report of two injured children on Emek HaZeitim Street. Initial reports from the scene were incomplete and included conflicting information about the children’s ages. The full circumstances and severity of the attack became clear only later.

Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder and the stabbing.

{Matzav.com}

President Trump issued a stark warning to Oman on Monday, threatening devastating US military action if the American ally interferes in the escalating confrontation with Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the [garbage] out of them,” Trump said bluntly in an interview with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, delivering the warning as a tentative ceasefire between the United States and Iran nears its expiration.

Trump’s comments come as the future of the Strait of Hormuz remains at the center of negotiations involving Iran and Oman. Tehran said last week that discussions with Muscat were underway over a potential arrangement to reopen the critical shipping passage, which has repeatedly become a flashpoint since the war began.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced Monday that Iran and Oman had reached an “understanding” while negotiators work to finalize the details of a broader agreement.

“This is a highly complex issue, and for the first time a mechanism is to be established that both safeguards the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the two coastal states (Iran and Oman) and ensures the safe passage of commercial vessels through this waterway,” he added.

A major sticking point remains Iran’s insistence that reopening the Strait of Hormuz be accompanied by the establishment of a new toll system, a demand opposed by the United States.

Oman, despite being a US ally, indicated in late June that it was receptive to an arrangement under which “voluntary” fees could be collected from vessels traveling through the strategic waterway. The proposal was described as being modeled on systems operating in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi has defended the proposed charges, arguing that the money is needed to ensure safe navigation through the strait.

The dispute is not the first time Oman’s position on shipping fees has drawn an extraordinary warning from Trump. In May, after Muscat repeatedly expressed willingness to participate in collecting fees in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump threatened to “blow up” the allied country if it did not “behave.”

The Strait of Hormuz has become one of Iran’s most powerful pressure points during the conflict. Nearly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the narrow waterway, allowing disruptions there to reverberate rapidly through global energy markets and push gasoline prices higher as the November midterm elections draw closer.

Trump escalated his rhetoric over the strategic passage even further on Friday. Speaking at a Long Island rally for Republican candidates, the president said that once the war is over, he intends to declare the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the United States.”

Shas MK Moshe Abutbul is pushing back against growing criticism within the Chareidi community over the draft crisis, arguing that Chareidi lawmakers did take significant action over the past four years but repeatedly encountered obstacles from Israel’s judicial system.

Speaking in an interview as Israel moves closer to elections, Abutbul acknowledged that Shas and United Torah Judaism face difficult questions from Chareidi voters over what they accomplished to protect the status of bnei yeshivos.

Abutbul said he recently participated in panels with bnei Torah and baalei batim, where he encountered people demanding answers about the actions of their elected representatives.

“There are very pointed questions there,” Abutbul said, adding that once the sequence of events is explained, the picture becomes considerably more complicated. “The public is very, very thirsty for answers.”

According to Abutbul, much of what Chareidi representatives actually did over the past several years was never adequately communicated to the public.

One of the central questions facing Shas and UTJ as elections approach is what they accomplished during the past four years toward resolving the status of bnei yeshivos. Abutbul argued that the war dramatically altered the political and public environment in which the issue was being addressed.

“During a war, it is not exactly the time when you can talk about an exemption from military service or anything else, when an Israeli mother is sending several sons to the battlefield,” he said.

Abutbul said the government’s effort to overhaul the judicial system was also intended, in part, to create a legal framework that could withstand a future High Court challenge to legislation governing the status of bnei yeshivos.

He maintained that the fundamental obstacle is not necessarily a lack of political votes in the Knesset, but the judiciary’s ability to overturn or obstruct legislation passed by elected lawmakers.

As an example, Abutbul pointed to legislation concerning arrests that was advanced by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri. He said that despite securing sufficient political support for the measure, it ultimately encountered a legal barrier.

“This is not only a political problem; it is a fundamental legal problem that must be addressed at its root,” Abutbul said.

Without fundamental change, he argued, legislative achievements can ultimately prove meaningless.

“It is like a person who comes and fills a bag with something, but at the bottom you have a very large hole,” he said.

Abutbul therefore identified the judicial system as one of the central issues Chareidi parties must address in the coming election and the next government.

“We must change and reshape the face of the High Court, so that it will be a body that does not interfere in things that are legislated,” he said.

Asked why changes that were not completed during the outgoing government should be expected to succeed during the next term, Abutbul said the war made far-reaching reforms considerably more difficult and argued that voters now understand what is at stake.

“Everyone knows that 90 percent of this issue is fundamentally addressing the judicial system,” he said.

Abutbul added that steps have already been taken in areas involving the powers of legal advisers, the Police Internal Investigations Department and other components of the legal system.

During the second part of the interview, Abutbul turned from politics to the olam haTorah, describing a major Torah project he has initiated involving the study of Shas.

The project is intended to compile, alongside each masechta, relevant sugyos appearing elsewhere throughout the Talmud, allowing a person learning a particular subject to easily access related discussions found in other masechtos.

According to Abutbul, approximately 200 avreichim have worked on the undertaking and have already identified nearly 8,000 references and connections between different sugyos throughout Shas.

The plan calls for approximately 100 to 150 supplementary pages to accompany each masechta. The existing text of the Gemara will remain unchanged, while the additional material will present parallel and related sugyos from elsewhere in Shas.

Abutbul said the Otzar HaChochma project has assisted in making the material available to the public, enabling lomdim to review the work, submit comments and suggest additions as the project moves toward completion.

He added that the initiative has received endorsements from leading gedolei Torah, including the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah.

Abutbul concluded by saying that despite the political and legal battles facing the Chareidi community, he believes its most fundamental response remains strengthening Torah learning.

“Our remedy against all these blows, truly, truly, is, with Hashem’s help, to learn Torah, to add Torah, to add batei medrash, to add batei knesses.”

{Matzav.com}

Plans for the historic bar mitzvah of the oldest grandson of the Rachmastrivka Rebbe have undergone a last-minute change, with the originally scheduled venue at the large Karlin-Stolin Bais Medrash in Givat Ze’ev canceled following pressure from extremist elements.

The major simcha is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 11 Elul, during the week of Parshas Ki Savo. The bar mitzvah boy is the oldest grandson of the Rachmastrivka Rebbe and a son of the Rebbe’s son-in-law, Rav Shmuel Abba Twersky.

The occasion is particularly significant for Rachmastrivka, as it will mark the first bar mitzvah among the Rebbe’s descendants. The Rebbe has two daughters, who are married to Rav Shmuel Abba Twersky and Rav Dovid Yitzchok Yaakov Biderman, and this will be the first time that one of his grandchildren reaches the age of bar mitzvah.

With thousands of chassidim and admirers expected to arrive from across Eretz Yisroel and abroad, Rachmastrivka askanim had been searching for a large venue capable of accommodating the anticipated crowds.

After considerable effort, arrangements were finalized to hold the simcha in the expansive main bais medrash of Karlin-Stolin in Givat Ze’ev.

The decision generated considerable attention in the chassidishe community, particularly because of opposition from extremist groups to holding the event at the Givat Ze’ev location. In the past, the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe held two weddings for his descendants at the same venue despite significant pressure from those elements.

Now, however, the pressure has apparently succeeded. Organizers were forced to cancel plans to use the Karlin-Stolin complex and are working urgently to secure an alternative location ahead of the major event.

According to current plans, the historic bar mitzvah will likely be held in a massive tent to be erected near the Slonim Bais Medrash in Yerushalayim.

{Matzav.com}

Veteran Likud activist Chilik Attias pushed back against efforts to make the Chareidi draft controversy a central election issue, while also sharply criticizing divisions on the political right and expressing opposition to reserved slots on the Likud slate ahead of the party’s upcoming primaries.

Speaking with Avi Mimran on Kol Chai’s main news program ahead of the Likud primaries, Attias discussed the internal battles within the party, defections from the right-wing bloc, the draft issue, judicial reform and the balance between party activists and Likud members in determining the party’s electoral slate.

Attias began by criticizing the media’s focus on rumors and internal political battles surrounding the primaries.

“We are currently a party holding primaries, democratic primaries, a celebration of democracy, something that truly does not exist in any other party,” he said.

Asked about reports surrounding Nir Barkat, Attias said that “anything is possible,” but argued that attention should be focused primarily on the democratic process itself rather than the political confrontations surrounding it.

Attias was particularly critical of figures who have left Likud or are reportedly considering doing so, including Yuli Edelstein and Gilad Erdan, comparing their moves to Gideon Sa’ar’s earlier departure from the party.

“They are making a mistake. Instead of seeing what happened to Gideon Sa’ar, they are now making the same mistake,” Attias said.

He argued that even serious ideological disagreements should be fought from within Likud rather than by abandoning the party.

“They could have fought within Likud for the things they believe they are right about,” he said.

Turning to Erdan, Attias added: “He was with us all along… and today he is doing exactly the same thing. For what? To weaken the right-wing camp?”

The conversation also turned to the Chareidi draft issue and political efforts to capitalize on opposition to the Chareidi community. Attias dismissed the strategy outright.

“It’s nonsense, this Chareidi issue,” he said.

“The Chareidim need to sit down and see — those who are not enlisting should enlist. Those who learn Torah and are capable of learning should do so in an organized manner,” Attias said.

He predicted that even political figures currently positioning themselves against the Chareidi parties will ultimately seek their support when coalition-building begins.

“Even Eisenkot will come to the Chareidim and offer everything,” Attias said.

On the judicial system, Attias struck a more cautious tone than some other figures on the Israeli right, saying he does not favor the terminology that has dominated the debate in recent years.

“The word ‘reform,’ in my opinion, is a somewhat harsh word,” he said, suggesting instead that the discussion focus on “corrections” and “changes regarding the judiciary.”

Nevertheless, Attias said significant changes are necessary, including to Israel’s judicial seniority system.

“It cannot be that seniority transfers a kingdom from one person to another,” he said.

At the same time, he cautioned against attempting to overhaul the system all at once.

“It needs to be done carefully, intelligently, with agreements, gradually… You cannot turn everything upside down in one day,” Attias said.

Attias reserved some of his strongest criticism for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s use of reserved slots on the Likud electoral slate. He said the original understanding was that the impact of those slots would be offset by opening district positions to sitting ministers and Knesset members.

“What happened in practice? They didn’t get the districts… and they also got the reserved slots. They both ate the stinking fish and were thrown out of the city,” Attias said.

He argued that the number of reserved positions should have been reduced or that the original agreement should have been honored.

When Mimran raised the argument that Netanyahu needs new political “stars” to strengthen Likud’s candidate list, Attias defended the right of registered party members to determine who represents them.

Referring in part to reports involving Likud MK Tally Gotliv, Attias said: “Either you trust the party members, 160,000 party members, or create an appointments committee.”

If Likud is going to hold genuine primaries, he argued, its members should be permitted to make their choices without excessive interference from outside political or media forces.

Attias concluded by expressing hope for a strong turnout in the primaries and fewer backroom arrangements among candidates and party power brokers.

“I just hope that tomorrow, with Hashem’s help, a very large number of party members will actually come out, and they will make the decision about whom to choose,” he said.

“I hope that this time there will be no deals, and there will be nothing under the table and all kinds of things, and that they will truly vote for the best Knesset members.”