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Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Removing Hamas from power a condition for Saudi normalization


Saudi Arabia is insisting that Israel finish the job in Gaza by removing Hamas from power completely in the coastal enclave as a precondition for a normalization agreement with the Jewish State, a Saudi source told i24NEWS.

The source, who is reportedly close to the royal court, told Middle East correspondent Ariel Oseran that, "Without removing Hamas, there will be no peace."

According to the report, the Saudi government hopes the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, will be restored to power in Gaza after the fall of the Hamas government.

The report is the first indication that ending the war now instead of continuing until Hamas is completely defeated may jeopardize efforts to secure normalization accords with Arab and Muslim nations and the Trump Administration's efforts to expand the Abraham Accords.

US President Donald Trump stated today (Tuesday) that he believes a ceasefire could be reached sometime next week. He also reiterated his desire to see all of the remaining Israeli hostages returned.

Trump further stated that he would be "very firm" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of ending the war in Gaza when the two leaders meet in Washington next week.

I am My Brother’s Keeper, not My Brother’s Prosecutor!

 


Why we must join Trump in demanding an end to the witch hunt against Netanyahu in the light of the war against Iran. The height of absurdity was when he was questioned on a Bugs Bunny stuffed animal his son received decades ago


The US-Israel stealth mission to bomb Iran’s ensconced nuclear plants was a stunning achievement in both military might and in painstaking coordination between two world leaders. 

The logistics of this mission posed some of the most challenging conditions that anyone has ever faced in a military operation. Specifically, the US had to fly B-2 bombers with very heavy payloads along with over two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles, and 125 U.S. aircraft to support the attack. And to reach their destination, they had to fly over Syria and Lebanon, and parts of Iraq, without being caught.

Such an operation required months and months of preparation. Certainly, Israel’s steady efforts to degrade the air defenses in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran paid off, and the mission was recognized as an achievement of epic proportions.

US cabinet members who participated in a phone call between Netanyahu and Trump immediately following the successful raid on Iran’s formidable nuclear facilities described the feeling as “cathartic.” For Bibi, it was the result of his 30-year relentless campaign against Iran, alerting the world to Iran’s existential threat to Israel and to neighboring countries.

The morning after the successful US-Israel covert mission to destroy Iran’s major nuclear plants, news reports showed Bibi standing at the Kotel holding a siddur as he expressed gratitude to Hashem for this extraordinary defeat of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Not unlike the Battle of Jericho in the Book of Joshua, where the walls collapsed after the Israelites marched around the city blowing horns for six days, the walls of Fordow were blown apart by the bunker-buster 30,000 pound bombs, leaving the centrifuges and enriched uranium 235 isotopes (the fissile variant used in nuclear reactors and weapons) severely damaged.

Yet, amidst this legendary US-Israel joint strike on Iran’s redoubtable nuclear facilities, the war hero at the center of this mission - the person credited with making the courageous decision to start the Rising Lion operation, miraculously galvanizing President Trump to take an unprecedented military part in Israel’s existential battles - is the target of criminal prosecutions.

Not unlike the Dreyfus Affair, Netanyahu is being railroaded by his political adversaries for crimes he did not commit.

The reason for this is simple. Bogus charges were brought against the prime minister of the Jewish state to tie his hands so that he could not participate in judicial reform by preventing him from naming judges to serve on the bench. That is, to stay in office while these criminal trials were pending, Netanyahu had to sign an agreement that he would not appoint judges to the bench, lest it would appear as a “conflict-of-interest” because he himself was before the courts.

In short, this gambit of false charges were brought against the prime minister to prejudice him so that he would not be able to reign in the freewheeling judiciary enjoying undeserved power for far too many years.

Caught in this imbroglio of a long-standing fight between the judicial branch and the government, Netanyahu became a hapless victim. Even when he tried to replace the head of the Shabak, that, too, was deemed a conflict of interest.

Trump has shared a similar fate of politically-motivated witch hunts against him and recognized the travesty of justice. Even worse, this was being done to Israel’s prime minister while facing an existential fight for the survival of the Jewish state. So, shortly after the successful US-Israel strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump declared on Truth Social (his social media platform) that the US “won’t stand” for Netanyahu remaining on trial. In fact, Trump renewed his exhortation for all charges to be dropped. Preserving the same tone of urgency, he stated in his second social media posting: “LET BIBI GO, HE’S GOT A BIG JOB TO DO!”

In response, the head of the Israel Bar Association, Amit Becher, said - appallingly and with not a shred of evidence - that if Netanyahu had requested the US president to demand that the charges against him be dismissed, it would be a “criminal offense.”

 I raise the question, “Is this a threat?” 

Or is it a harbinger of a whole new set of charges to be brought against Netanyahu for alleged interference with a prosecution/obstruction of justice? 

If so, then Israel’s attorney general will need to subpoena Trump as a witness to verify whether or not Netanyahu cajoled, co-opted, or suborned the US president to come to his aid?

Didn’t we learn our lesson in history? 

We suffered the destruction of the Holy Temple because of sinat chinam (baseless hatred of one Jew for another). We are now placing the security of the Jewish state at risk by demoralizing our truest war hero and military strategist, who has devoted himself tirelessly to strengthening the Jewish state on all its borders. And he has proven to be successful in degrading and weakening Iran’s defenses - destroying missile launches and eliminating entire teams of nuclear scientists and commandoes - and its major terror proxies.

We are a few weeks away from the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz, Shiv’ah Asar B’Tammuz, beginning the period of mourning for the Temples. We must course-correct so that we do not repeat a dismal history of destruction. The first step is to recognize “I am my brother’s keeper.” What that means is that I am not my brother’s prosecutor.

Netanyahu must be freed from the sinister, endless and ridiculous trials that have no merit or purpose other than to feed the self-serving agenda of those agitating vociferously against judicial reform and his government.

It’s time to remove the shackles from one of the greatest war-time leaders of the Jewish state. We owe that to Trump and, even more so, to ourselves.

Amy Neustein, Ph.D(sociologist) is the author/editor of 16 academic books. Her most recent book, From Madness to Mutiny: Why Mothers are Running from the Family Courts -And What Can be Done about It, 2nd Edition, will be published by Oxford University Press in August.

Duty-free cigarette tax exemption to be fully canceled in Israel

 



The Knesset Finance Committee on Monday approved today Amendment No. 9 to the Customs and Exemptions Tariff Order, under which the tax exemption on importing tobacco products into Israel will be gradually phased out until its complete removal in June 2028.

The exemption had previously applied to the import of tobacco, cigarettes, and e-cigarette liquids from abroad.

According to estimates by the Israel Tax Authority, the order is expected to generate approximately NIS 50 million in 2027, NIS 70 million in 2028, and around NIS 100 million annually thereafter, once fully implemented.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health’s latest annual smoking report revealed that one in five Israeli adults smokes — a rate 30% higher than the global average — while efforts to quit lag significantly, with cessation rates 50% lower than the OECD average.

A separate Ministry of Health survey found that 53% of teens experimenting with tobacco products first try electronic cigarettes. Use of flavored smoking products is widespread: 88% of teens use flavored shisha, 82% flavored e-cigarettes, and 45% flavored cigarettes or rolling tobacco.

Among haredi youth, a new survey found that 54% of students in ultra-Orthodox high schools, and 80% of youth in dropout programs aged 12-17, have tried smoking products.

Despite laws requiring municipalities to enforce bans on smoking in public spaces, compliance remains low. While 82 local authorities reported activities under the smoking prevention law in 2024, more than 65% did not submit required reports, and enforcement remains inconsistent even among those who did.

Israeli Mayor Bans the Israeli Nazi Paper Haaretz


Arad Mayor Yair Maayan announced on Friday that he would ban the left-wing daily Haaretz from his city over what he said was a “false blood libel” in a feature article accusing the Israeli Defense Forces of “deliberately” firing on Gazans near aid distribution sites.

“The municipality will not allow false incitement against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel, certainly in times of war. The municipality will act to prevent the entry of the inciting newspaper into the city in accordance with the Prevention of Incitement Law,” Maayan told JNS.

The mayor wouldn’t say if the ban would include door-to-door deliveries of Haaretz to subscribers, although that number is likely negligible given the newspaper’s relatively small Hebrew print distribution.

The Haaretz article, by Nir Hasson, Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg, titled, “‘It’s a Killing Field’: IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid,” cites anonymous Israeli soldiers and officers who accuse the IDF of firing on Gazans using tanks, artillery and snipers to prevent them from approaching areas where they weren’t permitted.

The IDF rejected the accusations, saying its directives “prohibit” intentional attacks on noncombatants. “The IDF did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centers,” the IDF Spokesman’s Office said in a statement.


 

Non-Jewish Fox News anchor says she ‘100%’ questions faith of Jewish lawmakers who endorse NYC’s Mamdani

 

Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner said she “100 percent” questioned Jewish politicians’ “commitment to Judaism” if they endorsed progressive New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, all while her co-host Emily Compagno accused Mamdani of not condemning the Holocaust or speaking out on antisemitism.

Meanwhile, the remarks from Faulkner – who herself is not Jewish, though her husband is – sparked pushback from liberal Fox News pundit Marie Harf, prompting the daytime anchor to double down on policing the religious devotion of Jewish Democrats.

“The same way I would question Chuck Schumer, who works against the interests of his own people at times for the politics,” she exclaimed, adding: “And that’s what they’re doing here.”

Since his upset victory in the Democratic primary last week, Mamdani – a 33-year-old democratic socialist who energized young voters with his campaign focused on affordability – has been the target of Islamophobic attacks from conservatives due to his Muslim faith.

President Donald Trump has suggested that he would defund New York City if Mamdani is elected, all while claiming “New York City has fallen” and falsely labeling him a “communist.”


Monday, June 30, 2025

Listen to Jen Airley the Mother of a Fallen Soldier... What Emuna! What Bitachon!

 

Trump Tweets That He Is Not Talking to the Iranians and not Offering them Anything!


 

"An interactive map showing the IDF's progress in Gaza during Operation ‘Gideon's Chariot.'"

 



AI video shows Netanyahu, exiled Iranian prince united in Tehran

 

Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology Gila Gamliel (Likud) published an AI-generated video on social media titled "Next Year in a Free Tehran."

The clip opens with establishing shots of Teran. It then quickly jumps to showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, walking arm-in-arm down a street in the Iranian capital.

The video also shows shots of Minister Gamliel and her husband, as well as exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and his wife walking in a similar setting.

It concludes with Israeli and Iranian imperial flags side-by-side.

In 2023, Gamliel hosted Crown Prince Reza in Israel, where he met with officials and participated in the official opening ceremony to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Welcoming him upon his arrival, Gamliel stated: "Together, through a common vision, we will take the first step in building bridges and collaborations between the two peoples."

These are Syria's conditions for Israeli accord


 Lebanon’s LBCI channel reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with developments in Syria, about Syria’s conditions for a peace agreement with Israel.

According to the report, the conditions include Israeli recognition of the regime of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, withdrawal from territories captured by Israel since last December and from the buffer zone in the Golan, a halt to Israeli airstrikes in Syria, and security arrangements in southern Syria — particularly along the border and the tri-border area with Jordan.

Most importantly, according to the report, Syria is demanding US guarantees for the agreements and American support for the Syrian regime.

In return, Syria would recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Axios reported earlier this month that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed interest in launching US-mediated negotiations with the new Syrian government.

According to the report, Netanyahu conveyed his interest during a recent meeting with US Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack. The Prime Minister is aiming to reach a revised security agreement with Damascus, ultimately leading to a full peace accord. This would mark the first direct diplomatic engagement between Israel and Syria since 2011.

The Israeli approach follows a shift in regional dynamics after al-Sharaa replaced the Assad regime. According to the Axios report, while Israeli officials initially voiced concerns over al-Sharaa's Turkish ties and urged Washington to proceed cautiously, President Donald Trump's recent meeting with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, followed by the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, prompted Jerusalem to reassess its stance.

On Sunday, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an American rabbi who recently met in Damascus with al-Sharaa, said he believes a meeting between al-Sharaa and Netanyahu is not out of the question - as long as it is initiated by Trump.

In an interview with Kan News, Rabbi Cooper shared his impressions of al-Sharaa and said, “It’s true he’s an Islamist, but al-Sharaa speaks of a vision for his country that includes a united Syria with one army and equal rights. If he can achieve that, it would be a game-changer.”

Addressing potential relations with Israel, Cooper outlined two possible paths: short-term de-escalation and a political meeting brokered by Trump. “The only quick path would be if someone named Donald Trump invited both leaders — Israel’s Prime Minister and Syria’s President — to Washington to sit together for a few hours. That could change everything.”

According to Cooper, Syria’s president told him that resolving the conflict with Israel was a priority. “We intend to continue advancing this,” Cooper said, adding that al-Sharaa had expressed genuine interest in peace.

A doozy of an anti-Netanyahu/Trump two-fer

 

 You can’t make this stuff up. Yet Nir Hefetz—a state witness in the ongoing bogus trial of his former boss, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu—just gave it the old college try.

In an interview with Channel 12’s current-events program “Duach Matzav” (“situation report”), Hefetz made as assertion worthy of the same network’s left-wing satire program “Eretz Nehederet.”

But he and his hosts, well-known Bibi-bashers Yaron Avraham and Einav Galili, discussed the claim in earnest.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Listen to Danielle Renov Relate What Mothers went through During this Latest Iran/Israel War

 

Danielle Renov—best known as the creative force behind “Peas, Love & Carrots”—joins the Meaningful People Podcast not to share recipes, but to open up about something far more raw and real: living through war in Israel as a mother. In this emotionally charged episode, Danielle shares what life is like in Yerushalayim under missile fire, separated from her husband and holding down the home with extraordinary resilience. She opens up about fear, faith, and motherhood in a war zone—describing what it means to remain strong for her children while the world around her is shaking, quite literally. From her roots in the Five Towns to raising a family in Israel, Danielle speaks about the deeper spiritual mission of living in Eretz Yisrael, the complicated emotions surrounding Aliyah, and why she refuses to leave even in the most dangerous moments. This conversation is not just about war—it's about the strength of Jewish mothers, the reality of daily life in Israel, and the unshakable emunah that guides Danielle through it all. Hear how one of the Jewish world’s most beloved influencers was navigating some of the most difficult days of her life—with raw honesty, deep faith, and surprising humor.

DIN:
Danielle relates that the boys that she had as Shabbos Guests couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in Israel! 

I have related in the past that I had and have Seminary girls for Shabbos and not one of them has any love for Israel! And I believe that the fault lies in the School system. 

The American R"Y are really by and large meraglim and so are the Rebbitzins in the seminaries, they are basically Lady Meraglim, they hate Israel, which is very interesting, because the Kli Yakar writes in Parshas Shlach that the RBS"O really wanted to send women as Meraglim! Women in general love Israel, but today, the lady mechanchim refuse to instill into their students a love for Israel! 

How Israel-Aligned Hackers Hobbled Iran’s Financial System




While Israel and the U.S. were bombing Iran’s nuclear sites, another battlefield emerged behind the scenes: the financial infrastructure that keeps Tehran connected to the world.

Israeli authorities, and a pro-Israeli hacking group called Predatory Sparrow, targeted financial organizations that Iranians use to move money and sidestep the U.S.-led economic blockade, according to Israeli officials and other people familiar with the efforts. U.S. sanctions, imposed off-and-on for decades due to Tehran’s nuclear program and support for Islamist groups, have aimed to cut Iran off from the international financial system.

Predatory Sparrow, which operates anonymously and posts updates of its activities on X, said this past week that it crippled Iran’s state-owned Bank Sepah, which services Iran’s armed forces and helps them pay suppliers abroad, knocking out its online banking services and cash machines. Iranian state media acknowledged the damage.

The group also breached Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, popular with locals for transferring money overseas. The hackers extracted about $100 million in funds and forced the platform to shut down, according to the exchange.

Iran’s government pulled the plug on much of the country’s online activities to prevent further attacks and keep a lid on dissent. Non-Iranian websites were blocked. Citizens were warned against using foreign phones or messaging platforms that it claimed could collect audio and location data for Israeli spies. Government officials were banned from using laptops and smartwatches.

Predatory Sparrow said the two hacks were directed against the “financial lifelines” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the most powerful faction of Iran’s military that also controls swaths of the economy. “Noble people of Iran! Withdraw your funds before it is too late,” it tweeted.

Both targeted companies remain hobbled. Nobitex said it faced serious challenges in restoring services and was aiming to relaunch trading this coming week. Some Bank Sepah users say online they still aren’t receiving deposits.

The group didn’t say if it was acting on behalf of Israeli authorities. “The group’s sophistication, target selection and geopolitical messaging fit the profile of an Israel-aligned, state-sponsored cyber actor,” said Deddy Lavid, chief executive of Cyvers, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity firm.

Predatory Sparrow didn’t respond to requests for comment sent to the administrator of its Telegram group.

The cyberattacks hit an economy already battered by U.S. sanctions that bar the purchase of Iran’s oil or interactions with its banks. Iran’s economy is highly dependent on a select few trading partners, notably China. Annual inflation runs above 40%, according to the World Bank. A constant flight of skilled workers has also throttled Iran’s economic growth.

Israel confirmed a cease-fire with Iran on Tuesday. But cybersecurity experts and Israeli officials expect the cyberwarfare to continue. “Israel will likely keep launching precision cyberstrikes against the regime’s power centers,” said Lavid.

Officials at Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing said they didn’t have information on links between Predatory Sparrow and Israeli authorities. They said Israel was broadly targeting the economic infrastructure that allowed Iran to finance its military and proxies, imposing sanctions earlier this month on its central bank and other banks used by the IRGC.

The NBCTF, which is overseen by the defense ministry, plans to issue orders to exchanges outside Iran to help it seize more of Nobitex’s crypto holdings. It has identified a further $150 million in funds held by Nobitex, the officials said.

Pro-Iran cyber groups have hit back, targeting Israeli government websites with denial-of-service attacks, in which hackers aim to overwhelm computers that route internet traffic with a flood of requests, and sending phishing messages to Israelis in a bid to compromise their phones. The Israel National Cyber Directorate said Iran’s cyberattacks hadn’t caused damage in recent weeks.

Paranoia swept through the Iranian population as the attacks, both physical and cyber, mounted. “It’s better to cut [the internet] off. Israel can see everything,” said Mohammad Ghorbaniyan, a Tehran-based money changer whom the U.S. sanctioned several years ago for allegedly aiding Iranian hackers, an accusation he denies.

The Bank Sepah hack last Tuesday halted payments, including salaries owed to military retirees, according to Fars News Agency, which is controlled by the IRGC. Many of its cash machines stopped working. The U.S. Treasury Department said last year that Bank Sepah, which has branches on Iranian military bases, helps Iran’s defense ministry pay foreign suppliers via a sprawling shadow-banking network.

Nobitex went offline the next day. The Tehran-based crypto exchange has processed transactions in excess of about $22 billion for users since its 2017 launch, according to blockchain research firms and the officials from Israel’s NBCTF.

“This attack had political motives to create emotional distress and damage the Iranian people’s property,” Nobitex’s chief executive, Amir Rad, said in a video posted on its Telegram channel.

As in Russia and other countries cut off from international finance, cryptocurrencies, in particular dollar-pegged stablecoins such as tether, have emerged as a vital workaround in Iran, providing a medium through which users can shift money between local and foreign banks.

Nobitex’s 11 million customers use the platform to swap Iranian rials for tether, which they can convert into other traditional currencies abroad. Rad has said on his LinkedIn account that Nobitex’s goal is to allow Iranians to trade crypto despite “the shadow of sanctions.”

“Nobitex has been the main option for the Iranians to skip the sanctions,” said Amit Levin, a former Israeli prosecutor and ex-investigator at the Binance crypto exchange who now advises companies on financial-crime compliance.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had also turned to Nobitex for international payments, according to the Israeli officials and blockchain researchers. Crypto analytics firm Elliptic has found that two IRGC operatives, whom the U.S. accused of conducting ransomware attacks on American companies, used Nobitex to make transfers.

Rad said he didn’t believe that the IRGC was moving money through Nobitex because he operated a transparent platform that was closely monitored.

Predatory Sparrow has been wreaking havoc on Iran since at least 2021. In earlier hacks, the group disabled gas-station payment systems across the country and triggered a fire at an Iranian steel plant.

For their operation against Nobitex, the hackers managed to obtain the keys for the exchange’s cryptocurrency wallets, which were held by key personnel within the company, said Rad.

Predatory Sparrow then “burned” the stolen $100 million by sending the tokens to other digital wallets the group itself couldn’t access. These wallets’ addresses, which are made up of long strings of numbers and letters, contained profane phrases like “F—IRGCterrorists.”

Nobitex’s initial investigation into the breach indicated that Israel’s government had likely supported it, Rad said, though he declined to provide proof of his claim. He said Nobitex was a private, independent company with no affiliation to the Iranian state, including the IRGC.

Meah Shearim Rabbanim Hire Chilonim to Tear off Posters Of Their Opposing Rabbanim

 

Watch Chilonie Father curl his Chareidie Son's Peyos

 

Iranian media report a major revelation "Israel knows exactly who enters and leaves Iran."

 

Iranian media report a major revelation — most of the Indian software used in sensitive sectors across Iran is actually Israeli-made, secretly transmitting real-time data back to Israel.

Leaked data includes:
• Civil registry records
• Passport and ID details
• Airport security and logistics systems

Sources say:
 "Israel knows exactly who enters and leaves Iran."

The 31st yahrtzeit of The Rebbe

 

Thirty one years after the Rebbe's passing, his impact and influence remain stronger than ever. 

His teachings continue to inspire and guide us, and his insights are as novel and relevant as if they were given today.

 Each of us is a beneficiary of the Rebbe's inspiration somehow, and his visionary leadership has transformed the Jewish world as we know it today.

Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, universally known as "the Rebbe," is considered the most influential rabbi in modern history. Under his visionary leadership, Chabad became a global Jewish organization, with thousands of Shluchim (emissaries) and centers.

A revolutionary Torah scholar, his teachings emphasized love for all, outreach, education, and good deeds to prepare the world for an era of peace and tranquility.

The Rebbe's published works include hundreds of volumes of essays, discourses, talks, and letters. Renowned for his boundless compassion, the Rebbe inspired millions, including U.S. presidents and Israeli elected officials. Decades after his passing, the Rebbe's impact continues.