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The hostages who were rescued from captivity in Gaza over Shabbos have told medical teams about some of what they endured while in captivity. The hostages reported facing emotional abuse, and that the terrorists forced them to read the Quran and learn Islamic rulings.

According to a Channel 13 News report, Noa Argamani told her family that she was in captivity together with Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, who were died while in Hamas captivity.

The IDF acknowledged that Sharabi was likely killed during an airstrike on a building near the place where he was held, and that Svirsky was murdered by terrorists a few days later. Noa reportedly told her family, “I saw the missile enter the house, I was sure I was going to die. I thought that was it – but I remained alive.”

Noa said that she was moved between multiple locations, and was not held in a tunnel. Any time she was allowed to be outside she was disguised as an Arab woman.

Noa was rescued from an apartment on the first floor in the heart of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, only a few hundred meters away from the building where the three other hostages who were rescued were held: Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Andrey Kozlov.

Noa reported hearing loud knocks on Shabbos morning: “She told me that, out of nowhere, all of a sudden she was told that it was the IDF, ‘we have come to rescue you,'” said Assaf Shahibi, her relative, who met her at Sheba Hospital, where the four rescued hostages were taken.

Sharon Sharabi, the brother of the late Yossi Sharabi who was with Noa in captivity and whose other brother Eli remains in captivity, told Ynet on Saturday night, “I feel enormous joy, I am so excited. This heroic operation lifted the nation, we were all grounded, we went through psychological ups and downs in the last few months.”

{Matzav.com}

Former president Donald Trump’s campaign is taking steps ahead of a rally on Sunday in Las Vegas to prevent sweltering conditions from leading to heat exhaustion or other heat-related injuries like those seen at a recent campaign event in Phoenix.

Rallygoers at Trump events often arrive hours before the former president’s remarks are scheduled to begin, standing in long security lines. The campaign says it will open up for the event at 9 a.m. and the former president’s remarks are scheduled to begin at noon in an outdoor park.

Temperatures in Las Vegas reached 111 degrees on Thursday and the city remained under an excessive heat warning as of Saturday. The heat is expected to slightly ease up on Sunday, but temperatures in Las Vegas are expected to still climb to 104 degrees, according to forecasts. Early-June high temperatures are typically in the upper 90s.

The campaign’s preparation in Las Vegas follows Trump’s remarks at an event in Phoenix on Thursday – the same day the city reached 110 degrees for the first time in 2024. Prospective attendees at the Arizona event waited outside for hours to enter a town hall organized by Turning Point Action and held at a megachurch. Local fire officials have said that 11 people were taken to the hospital due to heat exhaustion.

In preparation for Sunday’s rally, the Trump campaign announced that it will be giving water bottles to attendees waiting in line, setting up misting and cooling stations, ensuring “ample medical staff will be present” and providing “limited tent space with shade and air conditioning” that would be available “on a first come first served basis.”

While security at these types of events can sometimes ban liquids or umbrellas, the campaign said plastic water bottles and small umbrellas would be permitted. The campaign also encouraged attendees to check the weather and wear suitable clothing in anticipation of the heat.

The ongoing heat wave spanning Texas to California is a direct result of a high-pressure heat dome that has scorched Mexico for weeks – resulting in the country’s hottest and driest May on record. It has now expanded north and west into portions of the United States. Such heat domes suppress clouds and compress the air beneath them, causing the air to warm.

The effects of extreme heat on the human body can be deadly. Last year, there were more than 600 heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, Ariz., where Phoenix is located.

– – –

Dan Stillman contributed to this report.

(c) Washington Post

National Unity Chairman Benny Gantz will address the media this evening at 8 p.m., following a last-minute cancellation of a planned news conference last night. The initial announcement was expected to confirm his party’s exit from the government, but was scrapped in light of yesterday’s successful rescue of four Israeli hostages from Gaza. Despite the cancellation, sources indicate that National Unity still intends to leave the coalition due to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s failure to address Gantz’s concerns. In a tweet, Netanyahu urged Gantz to remain in the government, stating that “now is the time for unity, not division.” Gantz responded by acknowledging the hostage rescue, but emphasized the need for responsible leadership and a clear vision for addressing Israel’s challenges. Last month, Gantz issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu, threatening to withdraw from the coalition unless a agreed-upon vision for the Gaza conflict was presented by June 8. National Unity has since submitted legislation to dissolve the Knesset, signaling the likely end of the alliance. However, the government remains stable with 64 seats in the Knesset, even without National Unity’s support. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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The United States provided some intelligence that aided in the rescue over Shabbos of four Israeli hostages, according to several people familiar with the matter.

An American team based in Israel furnished the information, these people said, though it appeared to be secondary to intelligence gathered by the Israelis ahead of the operation. One person said the U.S. material included overhead imagery. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the operation’s sensitivity.

That team, composed of special operations and intelligence personnel working out of the embassy in Yerushalayim, has been in Israel since the war began in October. Since then, it has shared with Israeli counterparts information about hostages’ potential location gleaned from U.S. drone surveillance over Gaza, communications intercepts and other sources, said the people familiar with the matter.

“The United States is supporting all efforts to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas, including American citizens,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. He noted this work includes ongoing negotiations and “other means.”

Axios and the New York Times also reported on U.S. involvement in the rescue operation.

Hamas and other militants took approximately 250 hostages amid their brazen cross-border assault into Israel on Oct. 7, a gruesome attack that left 1,200 dead. At least 112 people have been freed, either as part of a negotiated deal between Israel and Hamas late last year or through coordinated rescue operations.

Of the hostages who remain in Gaza, fewer than 80 are believed to be alive. Eight American citizens are thought to be among those still in captivity, including the remains of three who are dead.

Saturday’s daytime mission was part of a broader Israeli operation in central Gaza that Hamas said left at least 210 Palestinians dead. Israeli officials described the rescue operation as weeks in the making and enabled by “precise intelligence.” Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said two buildings were targeted and that the personnel involved took fire.

Washington maintains what one U.S. official characterized Saturday as a “very deep partnership” with Israel on its hostage-rescue efforts.

Days after the Gaza war began, the Pentagon acknowledged that a “small number” of U.S. military personnel were at the embassy in Yerushalayim to assist the Israeli government through planning and intelligence support.

U.S. intelligence analysts also are helping Israeli officials in some of their work to map out the extensive network of tunnels that Hamas has built beneath Gaza, contributing powerful analytic technologies that fuse fragments of information, according to officials with knowledge of that work.

U.S. defense officials have said that while American military personnel have been advising the Israelis, they have not accompanied Israel’s military on any missions in the Gaza Strip. President Biden has been adamant that he will not put American “boots on the ground” there.

– – –

Shane Harris contributed to this report.

(c) Washington Post

The parents of rescued hostage Andrew Kozlov landed in Israel from Russia on Sunday and reunited with their son at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. Kozlov, 27, immigrated from Russia to Israel by himself only a few months before he was abducted. When President Isaac Herzog called him following his rescue, Kozlov told him that he learned Hebrew during his captivity. “I had plenty of time to practice Hebrew with my friends Shlomi and Almog [his fellow captives],” he said, laughing. On Motzei Shabbos, Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated that the Consul in St. Petersburg, Russia accompanied Kozlov’s parents to the airport. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Call it the story of the Oct. 8 Jew.

This past Sunday at the Yerushalayim Conference in New York, executives of Israel’s government and nonprofit immigration agencies were joined on stage by a high-ranking official from Israel’s Diaspora affairs ministry to dissect a tug-of-war now in American Jewry: Should we stay, or should we go?

“As an Israeli, as a Jew, I personally believe that every Jew belongs in Eretz Israel and should be living there,” Ron Brummer, deputy director general at the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, told attendees. “But ultimately, it’s an individual decision, and as long as Jews choose to live abroad in the Diaspora, it is our obligation to make sure that there is prosperous, secure Jewish life everywhere.”

Brummer said American Jews needed to understand that the Israeli government is working to combat antisemitism—“we are fighting it”—and to make sure that “every Jew, wherever he wants, will be able to have a rich, full Jewish life for him and for his family.”

Zev Gershinsky, executive vice president at Nefesh B’Nefesh, concurred with Brummer’s emphasis on choice. The key, Gershinsky said, is giving Jews the tools to deal with their choices, whatever they may be.

Eric Michaelson, director of aliyah at the Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, said he had toured the Boston area over the weekend, including on college campuses where antisemitism has run rampant since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s military reaction to it.

But having spoken to Israelis there and in New York, Michaelson said he’s under the impression that Jewish communities in America feel strong where they are. “What the government of Israel is trying to say,” Michaelson emphasized to those thinking of immigrating to Israel, “is you’re not running away from something. You’re running to something.

Gershkinsky said that plays out in the numbers. Since Oct. 7, as many as 6,000 North Americans have applied for aliyah.

Gershinsky said only 4.5% mentioned that antisemitism is a reason for wanting to immigrate to Israel.

“The vast majority of the applications we get are saying that the reason is Zionism and wanting to serve in the IDF because of the war. And these are facts,” he said. “We see more and more people that feel solidarity and want to come because of a real connection to the State of Israel.”

‘Ripple effect way past the war’

Michaelson said despite the intentions of Hamas and its violent supporters to decrease the spirit of Zionism, he has seen a new concept of American Jew emerge. He described meeting that very morning with college-age students participating in one of the ministry’s flagship programs to hear their stories.

“Some of the people said pre-Oct. 7, they weren’t even contemplating” moving to Israel. “There’s this new concept called the Oct. 8 Jew,” said Michaelson, describing Diaspora Jews who, under fire at home and in solidarity with their Israeli brothers and sisters, have kindled or rekindled their Jewish identity and connection to their homeland.

That spark, claimed Michaelson, makes for a stronger oleh—new immigrant—and “I think it’s going to be prolific, and there will be a ripple effect to this way past the war.”

Some 19,000 people globally have opened up an immigration application file with the Israeli government since the war’s outbreak, with exponential increases in applications in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to Michaelson.

That has resulted in a special $45 million allocation of funds to accommodate and integrate those who want to come. It is part of an umbrella program called Af Al Pi Chen, which is roughly translated to “in spite of” or “especially now.” The program includes increased rental and tuition assistance; remote pre-immigration Hebrew instruction; and a program to aid with the Israeli licensing of medical professions.

In the end, Michaelson said there is no contradiction or competition between those like him looking to increase immigration to Israel and those such as Brummer who work to strengthen Diaspora communities.

“I don’t even call it Diaspora. I call it global Jewry,” said Michaelson. “The stronger we are over there, the stronger we’re going to be over here—and vice versa.”

Brummer said the Diaspora Ministry’s work includes strengthening Jewish identity and a connection to Israel.“A Jew abroad with a strong Jewish identity and a strong connection to Israel is a great thing for everyone, whether he decides to make aliyah or not,” stated Brummer. “We’re absolutely not competing. We are completing each other.”

{Matzav.com}

A New Jersey school district has hired an outside law firm to investigate how and why a Jewish student group was erased from the high school yearbook, with the members’ names omitted from the page and their photo replaced with a picture of a group of Muslim students. East Brunswick Public Schools said the independent review by Brisman Law began Friday and will seek to determine who was responsible, as well as whether it was malicious or a mistake. East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen condemned the incident as a “blatant Anti-Semitic act.” “Hate has no place in East Brunswick and antisemitism will not be tolerated,” Cohen said. Members of the Jewish Student Union at the school told People magazine that the incident was just the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents which according to Abigail, a junior, “have not been dealt with.” The students said that although they spoke to the administration about their fears, nothing was done to make them feel safe. “It’s a very hostile environment where we’re scared to be ourselves,” says Stephanie, a junior. “The school does not take us seriously when we talk about what we’ve experienced. I want them to care.” “I’m supposed to be a kid, I’m supposed to be having a high school experience and I feel like I’ve grown up to be such an adult,” another junior said. “I’m confident the independent counsel investigation will reveal the truth,” Superintendent Victor Valeski said. “They’ve been given complete authority to investigate whatever they need to investigate.” “Above all, I personally, along with the entire East Brunswick Board of Education, sincerely apologize for the hurt, pain and anguish this event has caused our Jewish students, their families and the impact this continues to have on the entire EB community,” Valeski said. “East Brunswick Public Schools has been a pillar educational organization, thriving on our diversity. We do not tolerate bias and we investigate all reported antisemitism.” The situation came to light Tuesday after about 375 yearbooks were distributed at East Brunswick High. Valeski said a new photo of the Jewish Student Union was taken this week and will be included, along with the members’ names, in corrected versions of the yearbook that will be distributed next week. Discipline could be warranted depending on the outcome of the probe, and a corrective plan will be developed for the yearbook, Valeski said. The New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for a “transparent and fair investigation.” The yearbook incident “has triggered heinous backlash against some Muslim students who had no knowledge on their photo being misused,” spokesperson Aya Elamroussi said in a statement. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)

A lawsuit filed against Columbia University by an unnamed Jewish student in her second year has resulted in an agreement to expand security to students who feel unsafe on campus.

As part of a June 4 settlement, Columbia agreed to hire a “safe passage liaison” to manage a safety escort program available 24 hours a day to coordinate security to walk with students. The program will run at least through Dec. 31 and provide a “designated point of contact” for those interested in the service.

The school will also address other points from the lawsuit, such as providing a process for students to pick up items when they cannot safely enter campus and an appeals process for those whose academic performance is negatively impacted by the antisemitic environment.

The changes satisfied the complainant, who agreed to withdraw the suit.

A university spokesperson wrote in a statement to the student-run daily paper, Columbia Spectator, that the school was “pleased we’ve been able to come to a resolution and remain committed to our No. 1 priority: the safety of our campus so that all of our students can successfully pursue their academic goals.”

{Matzav.com}

Pictures of President Joe Biden’s son with drug paraphernalia and bare-chested in a bubble bath. Text messages between Hunter Biden and drug dealers. Testimony from Hunter’s exes about relationships destroyed by his drug use. Hunter Biden’s trial on gun charges brought by his father’s Justice Department has put on full display tawdry and embarrassing details about the president’s son, all while first lady Jill Biden watches from the courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware. Prosecutors on Friday rested their case accusing Hunter Biden of lying when he swore that he was not a drug user on a federal form to buy a gun in October 2018. The defense could call at least one more witness when the trial resumes on Monday before lawyers make their closing arguments. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and has accused the Justice Department of bending to political pressure from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans to bring the case and separate tax charges after a deal with prosecutors fell apart last year. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019. Here are some key takeaways from the first week of the trial: BIDEN FAMILY TURNS OUT IN COURT Jill Biden sat through the proceedings at the federal courthouse almost every day since the trial began June 3. She missed Thursday’s testimony because she was in France attending D-Day anniversary events with the president. She flew back to be in court on Friday. She sat quietly in the first row of the courtroom behind Hunter Biden and listened intently without showing emotion as prosecutors painted him as deceptive and driven by addiction. During breaks in testimony, Jill Biden occasionally spoke briefly with Hunter, leaning over a railing in the courtroom to hug and kiss him on the cheek. Other family members who showed up throughout the week to show support included Hunter Biden’s sister Ashley, the president’s sister Valerie Biden and Jill Biden’s sister Bonny Jacobs. HUNTER’S OWN WORDS Hunter Biden hasn’t taken the witness stand and it is not clear whether he will. Jurors have already heard his own words about the depths of his drug and alcohol addiction after his brother, Beau, died in 2015. A central piece of the prosecution’s case is Hunter Biden’s memoir “Beautiful Things,” in which the president’s son opened up about his crack cocaine addiction, stints in rehab and struggles to get sober. Jurors have heard Hunter Biden detail at length seeking out crack in different places and learning how to smoke it. In one long excerpt played in the courtroom, he described driving to a treatment center and seeing an enormous barn owl, which may have been a hallucination, swoop over his windshield. In another excerpt played in court, Hunter Biden described at one point accidently leaving in a rental car his wallet, which contained his late brother’s Delaware attorney general badge and a Secret Service business card. A rental car employee found that, along with paraphernalia and white-powder residue on the armrest. A manager called police, who called the Secret Service, who called Joe Biden, Hunter wrote. No charges were brought over that. In his book, Hunter Biden wrote: “Despite the speculation in the right-wing media to the contrary, the cops weren’t strong-armed into dropping the case.” THREE EXES Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and two other […]

Chaim Ramon, former justice minister, published a post on Thursday that belied the current narrative that the IDF is desperately in need of Chareidi soldiers. Ramon wrote. “About two months ago, the Knesset’s Research and Information Center published a document with data on recruitment rates according to population groups.” “Of all the fascinating data, there was one in particular that made my jaw drop.” “In the five months after October 7th, about 4,000 Chareidi youth submitted applications to the IDF on their own initiative. Want to know what the IDF, who constantly talk about the ‘urgent’ need for manpower after October 7th, did with them?” “3,120 Chareidi youth were found ‘unfit,’ mostly due to medical incompetence. Has the IDF stopped recruiting low-profile soldiers for combat support units, intelligence, training, computers, and the Home Front Command? And that’s not even the worst thing.” “Out of 880 Chareidim who were found eligible, only 540 were recruited. In other words, out of the 4,000 Chareidim who asked to enlist, the IDF recruited only 13.5%, and even out of the Chareidim determined to be fit for service, only 61% were recruited.” “These numbers strengthen the claim that the IDF is not prepared to recruit masses of Chareidim and in fact, does not want to do so.” Channel 14 journalist Shimon Riklin responded to the report by stating: “The IDF never wanted to draft Chareidim. There is not one senior IDF official in the past or present who doesn’t say this in personal conversations. But senior IDF officials will not interfere with the campaign of the left/Supreme Court to topple the right-wing government using this argument. The moment a left-wing government would arise, no one would say a word about recruiting Chareidim.” Chareidi journalist Sari Roth wrote that after the Attorney-General and Supreme Court ruled that Chareidim must be enlisted and yeshivah budgets revoked, a Chareidi avreich called the enlistment center and asked what he should do since he no longer has an exemption to the army. The soldier who answered the phone said he shouldn’t do anything and should just wait until he receives an order to enlist. The avreich responded: “I shouldn’t come now to enlist?” The soldier responded that that’s not possible and he has to wait until he’s called in to be evaluated. Meanwhile, despite the fact that he’s hasn’t received any order and no order seems imminent, he hasn’t received a kollel stipend in two months. And this is not an isolated story. Right now there are about 66,000 avreichim and yeshivah bochurim who no longer have army exemptions but haven’t received any orders from the IDF. Despite this, their stipends have been halted. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Israeli media reports revealed on Sunday that rescued hostage Noa Argamani may have been held in the home of Palestinian journalist Abdallah Aljamal. His father, a doctor, also lived in the home, located in the Nuseirat “refugee camp.” In fact, it was the EuroMedHR group, an NGO that ‘monitors’ freedom in Europe and the Middle East, that revealed the story, complaining! that IDF forces stormed the home and killed the family members. [The facts have not been confirmed by the IDF.] Aljamal wrote for Al Jazeera in the past and was most recently writing for the Palestine Chronicle, which is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the US. Only 24 hours before his death, Aljamal wrote an article about the supposed Israeli “massacre” in a UNWRA school, where at least 17 Hamas terrorists were killed. Due to his strict ethical standards at work and home, YWN readers can feel confident that Abdallah’s article was unbiased, completely factual and adhered to the highest journalistic standards. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The weeklong heat wave that baked most of the U.S. Southwest in temperatures well into triple digits is on its last legs, but forecasters are still urging people to be cautious as there will be little relief from the warm weather until monsoon thunderstorms begin to kick in, likely in July. A slight easing of temperatures is expected through the weekend, with Phoenix and Las Vegas falling short of besting any new records. Still, an excessive heat warning continues through Saturday in Las Vegas, where it’s never been hotter this time of year. It was a record-high 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) in Las Vegas on Friday, 113 F (45 C) in Phoenix and 100 F (37.8 C) in Albuquerque. Even in Florida, forecasters with the National Weather Service on Saturday warned that heat indices would be well into the triple digits for Miami and other areas. That measurement reflects what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. Record high temperatures also were expected through the weekend for central Florida, where many communities just wrapped up their warmest May on record as temperatures for the month were between 3 and 4 degrees above normal. Forecasters also issued heat advisories in far West Texas and along the U.S.-Mexico border, but they noted that the highs would be a bit cooler than the past couple days. The heat arrived weeks earlier than usual even in places at higher elevations — areas typically a dozen degrees cooler. That includes Reno, Nevada, where the normal high of 81 F (27 C) for this time of year soared to a record 98 F (37 C) on Thursday and hit 98 F again Friday — but was short of the daily record 100 F (37.7 C). John Adair, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas, said it’s not unusual for parts of the Southwest to heat up pretty quickly, especially in the second half of June. “So this is a hot time of year before we start to get some moisture and cloud cover from the monsoon thunderstorms that come around,” he said. “Even for next weekend, we’re forecast to hover around 105, 106, which is just slightly above normal at that point.” In the Southwest, monsoon thunderstorms typically ramp up during the first week in July. There have been no reports of any heat-related deaths or serious injuries in the region, but a 68-year-old man was hospitalized in stable condition in Phoenix on Friday after he was overcome with heat exhaustion while hiking on a mountain trail and rescued by fire crews. In Nevada, the Clark County Fire Department reported Friday that it logged 20 calls classified as heat exposure over a three-day period, with 12 of those resulting in trips to local hospitals. Eight of the calls came on Friday. Cooling centers, including community centers and libraries, remained open Saturday for people looking for relief from the heat, the fire department said. With heat records already being broken in May and June, this year could end up being more deadly than last when it comes to heat-related deaths. The death certificates of more than 2,300 people who died in the United States last summer mention the effects of excessive heat, […]

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