Yisrael Porush Trying Hard to Remain Relevant Says "“No One Will Fly”: Threatens Mass Protest at Ben Gurion After AG Blocks Uman Travel Plan for Draft-Age Yeshivaleit

 

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Friday struck down a government initiative that would have allowed bochurim and yungeleit who did not serve in the army to travel freely to Uman for Rosh Hashanah without fear of arrest at airports or border crossings.

In a sharply worded ruling, Baharav-Miara declared that the arrangement was “contrary to the law” and undermined what she called the state’s obligation to enforce the draft equally. She insisted that the government and its ministers “have no authority” to instruct security agencies to look the other way.

Her announcement sparked fierce criticism from chareidi leaders and askanim. One senior political figure accused the attorney general of “seeking to sow division and chaos.” Rabbi Natan Ben Nun, head of Ichud Breslov in Uman, said the decision unfairly tramples on the religious obligations of those who travel to the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov for Rosh Hashanah. “We hope a solution is found quickly so that talmidei hayeshivos can travel without fear,” he said.

The plan, championed by Shas leader Aryeh Deri, had been linked to a funding package of 10 million shekels from several ministries to bolster infrastructure and security in Moldova, the transit point for most travelers to Uman. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu personally raised the matter with the Moldovan prime minister, officials said.

But opposition figures pounced. Yair Lapid urged Baharav-Miara to block the plan, calling it “illegal,” and warned he would petition the High Court if the government attempted to move forward. Secular advocacy groups also demanded its cancellation.

On the chareidi side, fears of mass arrests have fueled talk of protests. Former Elad mayor Yisrael Porush, head of the advocacy group Magen U’Moshia, warned that if talmidei hayeshivos are barred from flying, “no one will fly.” He said as many as 20,000 could gather at Ben Gurion Airport if the government does not find a solution. Transportation officials condemned the comments as “dangerous rhetoric.”

Even within the coalition, not all ministers support the plan. Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer of the Religious Zionist Party said he was troubled that the government was prioritizing funding for travel to Uman “in complete detachment from the difficult situation the nation is facing.”

For now, with Rosh Hashanah just weeks away, the fate of thousands of Breslov chassidim hoping to spend Yom Tov in Uman remains in limbo — caught between legal rulings, political fights, and their yearning to be mispallel at the tziyun of Rav Nachman.

Targeting Iran’s Leaders, Israel Found a Weak Link: Their Bodyguards

 

A banner in Tehran showing pictures of Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists killed by Israeli strikes. Israel used its technological and intelligence capabilities to track and target key figures in Iran during the 12-day war in June.

The meeting was so secret that only the attendees, a handful of top Iranian government officials and military commanders, knew the time and location.

It was June 16, the fourth day of Iran’s war with Israel, and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council gathered for an emergency meeting in a bunker 100 feet below a mountain slope in the western part of Tehran. For days, a relentless Israeli bombing campaign had destroyed military, government and nuclear sites around Iran, and had decimated the top echelon of Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists.

The officials, who included President Masoud Pezeshkian, the heads of the judiciary and the intelligence ministry and senior military commanders, arrived in separate cars. None of them carried mobile phones, knowing that Israeli intelligence could track them.

Despite all the precautions, Israeli jets dropped six bombs on top of the bunker soon after the meeting began, targeting the two entrance and exit doors. Remarkably, nobody in the bunker was killed. When the leaders later made their way out of the bunker, they found the bodies of a few guards, killed by the blasts.

The attack threw Iran’s intelligence apparatus into a tailspin, and soon enough Iranian officials discovered a devastating security lapse: The Israelis had been led to the meeting by hacking the phones of bodyguards who had accompanied the Iranian leaders to the site and waited outside.

Israel’s tracking of the guards has not been previously reported. It was one part of a larger effort to penetrate the most tightly guarded circles of Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus that has had officials in Tehran chasing shadows for two months.

Warning - sensitive content... Netanyahu Releases Never Released Video of Oct 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, last night (Thursday, 28 August 2025), met with Sabine Taasa, who lost her husband and son in the 7 October massacre.

Taasa updated Mrs. Netanyahu on the status of her children, who were at home and were also wounded, and on the rehabilitation process that she and her children are undergoing.

As part of the global public diplomacy effort, a joint statement by the Prime Minister and Sabine Taasa is being distributed abroad today, in which a section of the atrocities video, that is very difficult to watch, and which was filmed by the security cameras in the Taasa family home in the moshav of Netiv Ha'asara, will be shown.

Warning - sensitive content:

 

Sen. Graham warns Norway over Caterpillar ban

 

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere contacted US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday in an effort to defuse tensions surrounding Norway’s sovereign wealth fund’s decision to divest from American construction giant Caterpillar, Reuters reported.

The $2 trillion fund, the largest of its kind globally, announced Monday that it had sold all its shares in Caterpillar over ethical concerns related to the company’s supply of bulldozers used by Israel in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. The divestment followed a recommendation from the fund’s Council on Ethics, a public body established by Norway’s Ministry of Finance to ensure companies meet ethical standards set by parliament.

Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump and a staunch supporter of Israel, responded sharply to the move, warning that Norway could face U.S. trade tariffs or visa restrictions on fund managers.

“Your decision to punish Caterpillar, an American company, because Israel uses their product is beyond offensive,” Graham wrote on X, adding, “I would urge you to reconsider your shortsighted decision.”

According to State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner, the Prime Minister informed Graham via text message that the fund operates independently from the government and that decisions to exclude companies are made by the board of Norges Bank under an established framework. “This is not a political decision,” Thoner emphasized.

Graham confirmed receipt of the message, though his office did not immediately respond to further inquiries.

The Norwegian fund had previously announced on August 18 that it would divest from six companies as part of an ongoing ethics review related to the Gaza war and developments in Judea and Samaria. At the time, the fund declined to name the companies until the stakes were sold. The Council on Ethics had initially been scrutinizing Israeli banks for underwriting Israeli settlers' housebuilding commitments in the region.

The August 18 announcement came just a week after the fund sold stakes in 11 other Israeli firms.

The divestment campaign is gaining momentum in Norway ahead of the September 8th elections, with some political parties openly advocating for a full-blown boycott of all Israeli companies.

Despite calls from some parliamentarians, Norway’s legislature voted in June against a proposal to divest from all companies operating in what it refers to as “occupied Palestinian territories.”

The fund has already blacklisted 11 companies for assisting Israel's "occupation," most recently Israeli petrol station chain Paz and Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq.

Houti Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi eliminated

The Houthi rebel group on Saturday announced that their leader, Prime Minister Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi, was eliminated earlier this week, along with a list of other senior officials.

According to the reports, among the Houthi officials killed were the Foreign Minister, Justice Minister, Welfare and Labor Minister, Youth and Sports Minister, government secretary, Deputy Interior Minister, and two of al-Rahawi's aides.

It is not yet clear if the Houthi's Chief of Staff, Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari, and Houthi Defense Minister Mohammad Nasser al-Atifi were also eliminated, as Israel expects.

In a statement, the Houthis said: “The Israeli enemy attacked the Prime Minister and the ministers during a routine situation assessment meeting. Several of the ministers were moderately and severely injured and are receiving intensive care. We wish to reassure the Yemeni people, and to promise to them that the government, with Allah’s help, will continue its work as usual and that the institutions will continue to provide services to the Yemeni people. The government will not be affected by any deaths, no matter how many.”

On Thursday, Israel struck in Sana'a, Yemen. An Israeli source confirmed that the target was the Houthi military's top brass, including the Houthi Chief of Staff, who survived a June assassination attempt.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said afterwards, "Just as we warned the Houthis in Yemen - after the Plague of Darkness comes the Plague of the Firstborn. Whoever raises a hand against Israel will have his hand cut off."

 

Belzer Rebbe hospitalized

 Concern is spreading among the Belz hasidim following reports that their Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, was admitted to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem due to a broken leg.

One of the Rebbe’s attendants issued an official notice to the community stating that the Rebbe underwent a series of tests, which confirmed the fracture to his leg.

The Rebbe spent Shabbat (Sabbath) in the hospital, together with his close aides, and is expected to undergo surgery early next week.

Meanwhile, the Gerrer Rebbe fell about two weeks ago while in the Jerusalem-area community of Ora, and is suffering from a broken arm. According to reports within the community, he remains weak and has not yet resumed receiving visitors ahead of the High Holidays.

The public is asked to pray for both hasidic leaders: Rabbi Yissachar Dov, the son of Miriam; and Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh, the son of Yuta Hena.

US Revokes Visas of Palestinian Officials Ahead of UN General Assembly

 

In a move aimed at confronting Palestinian support for terror, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States will deny entry to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The Trump administration has suspended the visas of Abbas and top PA officials, underscoring its demand that Palestinian leadership abandon policies that glorify violence and undermine peace.

“In compliance with the laws and national security interests of the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA),” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

Pigott made clear that U.S. policy will not reward the PA’s ongoing campaigns against Israel. “Before they can be taken seriously as partners for peace, the PA and PLO must repudiate terrorism, lawfare campaigns at the ICC and ICJ, and the pursuit of unilateral recognition of statehood,” he added.

The only exception will be waivers for the PA’s UN mission, in line with U.S. obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement.

While often portrayed as a “moderate” counterweight to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority continues to fund and encourage violence against Israelis. Central to this policy is the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund, which pays stipends to families of terrorists killed, jailed, or injured while carrying out attacks. Critics argue that this so-called “pay-for-slay” program serves as a direct incentive for terror.

By blocking Abbas’s trip to New York, the administration is signaling that business as usual is over. U.S. officials emphasized that re-engagement is possible — but only if the PA takes verifiable steps to end its financial and political backing of terrorism.

Zera Shimshon Parshat Shofetim

 

Florida cracked down on ‘billboard lawyers’ — and is reaping the rewards

 

For decades, “billboard lawyers” were untouchable as they plastered highways with promises of easy money, weaponized emotion and turned lawsuits into a profit machine.

As personal-injury law firms flourished, industries and governments cowered, insurance premiums soared, and ordinary Americans — playing by the rules — paid the price.

But Florida decided enough was enough, and the results are impossible to ignore.

Two years ago, lawmakers in the Sunshine State rolled out a series of reforms targeting the very engine of the scam: runaway attorney fees, exploitative claims practices and a court system primed to reward volume lawsuits.

Florida Republicans’ tort-reform efforts in 2023 cut off the special fee system that allowed personal-injury attorneys to cash in endlessly, shut down an auto-glass provision that turned courts into casinos, and set deadlines so cases would not drag on for years, jacking up lawyers’ take.

Rav Yitzchak Yosef And Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein Cave and Approve IDF Enlistment For Non-Yeshiva Students

 

After all the ill will created by the previous pronouncements of these three individuals, they are now backtracking – notwithstanding their claim that these are only “clarifications”. 

However, there’s already been tremendous damage done to the standing of Torah and Rabbanim amongst the Israeli population due to the extreme positions previously expressed by these individuals and their fellow leaders of the Chareidi community – the Chilul Hashem is staggering, and they were ultimately forced to back down anyway. “Eizehu Chacham? Haro’eh es Hanolad.” There were some major blind spots here…

I only hope that the Mesirus Nefesh shown by other groups of Shomrei Torah uMitzvos in the defense of Klal Yisrael will help mitigate the damage.

In the last few days, three leading charedi rabbis have clarified their positions regarding enlisting in the IDF. All three qualified previous statements which implied that they were opposed to IDF enlistment even for those who are not studying in yeshiva and are working full time.

Rabbi Moshe Maya initially signed a letter which prohibited all forms of enlistment in the IDF even for those who are not currently studying. However in recent days he stressed that if the IDF order enables a charedi to maintain his religious lifestyle in the army, he would not oppose enlistment for charedim.

Former Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, who has been one of the strongest opponents of attempts by the IDF to conscript yeshiva students, and even stressed that those who are not learning should tear up their draft notices, qualified his statement and said that he was only talking of those who are going through a difficult period in their enthusiasm for study but are still connected to yeshivos, but those who are working as waiters in restaurants can definitely be conscripted into the IDF.

Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, the rabbi of Ramat Elchanan and a son-in-law of Rabbi Elyashiv zt’sl, also qualified a statement attributed to him, claiming that a person can desecrate Shabbat rather than serve in the IDF if it will lead him to abandon his religious lifestyle. Rav Zilberstein stressed that the frameworks approved by Rabbi Steinman (Nahal Charedi, and apparently the new Chashmonaim brigade) would be good options for those who are not studying in yeshiva, and are the preferred option if they are wasting their time otherwise.