Friday, September 18, 2026
Rep Gregory Meeks refuses to clear $2.8 billion bomb sale to Israel
While individual congressional committee members do not have unilateral power to prevent an arms sale, they are able to place a “hold” on a transaction in order to acquire more information.
By Sharon Udasin, JTA
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, is obstructing a Trump administration proposal for a $2.8 billion bomb sale to Israel.
Meeks, a longtime supporter of Israel from New York, said he would not clear the transaction due to concerns that these 2,000-pound munitions would not be used in accordance with U.S. and international law.
Despite his concerns, Meeks said in a statement that he remains “firmly committed to Israel’s security and its ability to defend itself against serious regional threats.”
The 15-term congressman, known for his pragmatic and moderate stances, voiced concern about the potential sale of 40,000 of these bombs, which he described as “some of the most destructive munitions in our arsenal.”
The proposal, he added, raised questions “about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.”
Israel has said its use of American munitions is always in compliance with U.S. and other relevant laws.
If Democrats are able to retake the House majority in November, Meeks would then become the chairman of the committee in January.
More than two years ago, in April 2024, Meeks announced that he would block the sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel if he did not receive “assurances” as to the intended purposes of these jets.
At the time, he told CNN that he had “enough of the indiscriminate bombing” and wanted to prevent Israel from utilizing weapons to create more deaths.
Meeks has longstanding ties to the pro-Israel community.
In 2020, when he was one of three Democrats on the committee seeking its chairmanship, he met with pro-Israel groups to get what was then their critical endorsement.
The U.S.-Israel relationship has soured in recent years, especially over Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, and more recently Meeks has criticized the country’s leadership.
In February, Meeks slammed the decisions of Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet to expand Israel’s control over Judaea and Samaria.
“These actions deliberately and potentially irreversibly erode the possibility of a negotiated two-state solution,” he said in a statement, referring to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
While individual congressional committee members do not have unilateral power to prevent an arms sale, they are able to place a “hold” on a transaction in order to acquire more information.
“The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with U.S. law and with appropriate protections for civilians,” Meeks said on Wednesday.
This decision, he explained, does not weaken Congressional backing “for Israel’s legitimate defense needs.”
“It reflects Congress’s responsibility to ensure that U.S.-funded weapons are used lawfully, responsibly, and with meaningful safeguards for human life,” Meeks added.
Like your drink piping hot? New study warns of cancer risk
A new study indicates that waiting a few minutes for your coffee or tea to cool could significantly impact your cancer risk.
Researchers at the University of Oxford examined the hot-drink habits of more than one million people and found that those who regularly consumed coffee or tea at very high temperatures faced an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer.
The researchers also found an increased risk among people who consumed six hot drinks per day.
The Oxford University study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, classified drinks served at temperatures of 65°C (149°F) or higher as "very hot." It is the largest study to date examining the relationship between hot beverage consumption and the risk of esophageal cancer.
According to the findings, participants who drank beverages at temperatures above 65°C faced approximately three times the risk of developing esophageal cancer compared with those who did not. The researchers therefore recommend allowing hot drinks to cool to 65°C or below before consuming them.
Lead researcher Dr. Keren Papier noted that previous research conducted in South America had produced similar findings, pointing to an association between very hot drinks and esophageal cancer.
"More research is now needed to identify the exact drink temperatures linked to this increased risk," Papier told the British newspaper Independent.
100,000 Gather At The Kosel For Thursday Night Selichos
Approximately 100,000 people gathered overnight at the Kosel for a massive central Selichos gathering, joined by rabbanim, government ministers, public officials and tens of thousands of mispallelim.
Thousands more participated from Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where the tefillos were broadcast live from the Kosel. The gathering there included released hostages Bar Kuperstein, Matan Angrest, Rom Braslavski, Moran Stella Yanai, Agam Berger, Omer Wenkert, Nimrod Cohen and Eliya Cohen.
Family members of hostages who were murdered in Hamas captivity in Gaza also participated, including relatives of Yonatan Samerano, Guy Iluz, Tamir Adar, Omer Neutra and Eliya Toledano Hy”d.
Mordechai “Soli” Eliav, director general of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, opened the gathering by speaking about the connection forged between the Kosel and Hostages Square throughout the hostage crisis. He noted that approximately 1.5 million mispallelim had joined in tefillah for the hostages during the period of their captivity, particularly during last year’s Selichos gatherings.
Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rav of the Kosel and Holy Sites, delivered a special tefillas hoda’ah for the return of the hostages.
“Tonight, from the Kosel and Hostages Square, I want to say to You, Ribbono Shel Olam: Look down from Heaven and see how, during the most difficult time, we stood together,” Rav Rabinowitz said. “We did not always agree on the path, but we were all partners in concern, prayer and hope.”
“For such a long period, all of our hearts were held captive — until the final hostage returned,” he continued. “In the merit of this Kiddush Hashem, the brotherhood and courage of the hostages, who sanctified the Name of Heaven in the darkest places and continue to do so now — open for us the gates of Heaven and send us a good and blessed year.”
Rabbanim also led tefillos for IDF soldiers and security forces, for the recovery of the wounded, and for peace, security and achdus among Klal Yisroel.
The enormous turnout forced organizers to accommodate thousands who could not enter the Kosel plaza. Giant screens were erected along the walls of the Old City and at Sha’ar Yaffo, allowing additional crowds to participate in the Selichos from outside the packed plaza.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said preparations have now been completed for the final central Selichos gathering of the year, scheduled for Motzei Shabbos. The gathering will begin at midnight with Hataras Nedarim and the annulment of curses.
Officials are urging the tens of thousands expected to attend to arrive early and follow instructions from police and event organizers.
Vance Privately Sought To Help Clinton Defeat Trump In 2016
Vice President J.D. Vance privately sought to help Hillary Clinton defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, despite publicly opposing both candidates, according to a new Vanity Fair report detailing Vance’s political evolution.
Vance, then a recent Yale Law School graduate and outspoken Trump critic, voted for independent candidate Evan McMullin in 2016. But according to Vanity Fair, Vance also tried to connect with Clinton’s campaign through an intermediary.
Vance told the intermediary that he disliked Clinton but considered Trump a greater threat, according to the report. He also offered advice on how Clinton could improve her campaign in key Midwestern states.
Vance later communicated directly with Jake Sullivan, one of Clinton’s senior campaign advisers, Vanity Fair reported. Vance urged the campaign to focus more heavily on the industrial Midwest and criticized Clinton’s handling of her comments about Trump supporters.
The account, reported by journalist Chris Whipple in a Vanity Fair profile of Vance’s years at Yale, offers new details about the future vice president’s opposition to Trump before his dramatic political realignment.
Vance had been sharply critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign, at one point describing him in extremely negative terms. His position changed in the years that followed. By the time Vance launched his 2022 Senate campaign in Ohio, he had become a Trump supporter and received Trump’s endorsement.
Trump selected Vance as his running mate in 2024, and Vance became vice president after Trump returned to the White House.
The newly reported Clinton contacts highlight the extent of Vance’s political transformation from a Trump opponent who sought to prevent his election to one of the president’s closest political allies.
The Vanity Fair report does not establish a formal Clinton-Vance political alliance or conspiracy. It describes Vance’s private efforts to influence Clinton’s campaign while he was simultaneously publicly rejecting both major-party candidates.
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Ironic!!! HouthisTell U.S. Officials They’ll Spare American and Israeli Ships, But Saudi Vessels Remain Targets
Houthis Reportedly Tell U.S. Officials They’ll Spare American and Israeli Ships, But Saudi Vessels Remain Targets
Representatives of the Iran-backed group reportedly met American officials at the U.S. Embassy in Oman. One source said Israeli and other commercial ships would be spared, except Saudi vessels. The reported assurance concerns shipping, not a broader ceasefire with Israel.
Watch Beautiful Selichos by Dati-Leumi Bochrum
There are readers here that really believe that the Dati-Leumi community are basically "goyim"
They are convinced that it is only their derech that is the authentic Yiddishkeit.
Shas freaking out, worried about losing voters to Ben Gvir!
Is Shas worried about losing voters to Ben Gvir?
Shas is in fact worried about losing voters to Ben Gvir running around like a poisoned mouse to stop the fallout after Rav Yitzchak Yosef said the following
“According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to vote for someone who has no fear of God and who ascends the Temple Mount.”
So they publicly invited him to a Shas Council of Torah Sages meeting, hoping to stop the bleeding, and showed a video clip of Rabbi Elbaz hugging and kissing Ben-Gvir.
Charedim now training the girls to be "Schnorrers"
I really don't remember a more humiliating, cynical, and exploitative event than the current fundraising campaign of the Olam HaTorah Foundation for the seminary girls.
In the past day, we've received calls: 5 from my building,. 10 from nearby buildings Each call more embarrassing than the last, but they have no choice—they were given a target of 4,200₪ per girl, the social pressure is unreasonable, and nothing will stop them.
What about tznius? Is having a teenage girl call random men, ok?
Are they so desperate that they have to recruit high school girls, who come from large families and are busy helping in their homes, to force them to start schnorring?
What is going on?
The tweet below translated
Forgive me, but I haven't calmed down from this event yesterday. There's something particularly cruel about this event.
Thousands of seminary girls are gathered in a hall to prepare them for a fundraising operation for the World of Torah Fund. They are now required to go out and make up from the public's pockets the money that the yeshivas lost as a result of the recruitment crisis.
And they know very well why they're turning specifically to the girls.
These are girls who were raised from a young age that the holiest and most important thing is Torah study and supporting Torah scholars. The entire life path offered to them is built around this idea: learn a profession, go out to work, support a household, and allow the husband to sit and learn. Now, they're taking that same indoctrination and applying it to turn them into fundraisers too.
In my eyes, this is cult-like behavior.
This is a system that stops seeing the people living within it as ends in themselves and sees them as resources for its own preservation. The boys need to study. The women need to work so that the men can study. The voters need to vote as they're told. And now the seminary girls also need to go out and raise money when the model runs into a crisis.
There's not even an attempt here to ask what's fair to demand from these girls. They're the most available resource, the most disciplined, and the one most filled with ideological motivation, so they're being used too.
This is one of the ugliest outcomes of a society that has spent years indoctrinating its children around one supreme goal: at the moment of truth, they can be mobilized for almost anything in the name of that goal
סלחו לי, אבל לא נרגעתי מהאירוע הזה אתמול. יש משהו אכזרי במיוחד באירוע הזה.
— חרדים אקספרס (@haredimex) September 16, 2026
אלפי בנות סמינרים מכונסות באולם כדי להכין אותן למבצע גיוס כספים עבור קרן עולם התורה. הן נדרשות עכשיו לצאת ולהשלים מכיסי הציבור את הכסף שהישיבות איבדו בעקבות משבר הגיוס.
והם יודעים מצוין למה הם פונים… https://t.co/QjWi6GniMI
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