Israeli troops captured Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as it campaigns against Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the seizure of the hilltop Crusader fortress as “a dramatic stage and dramatic change in our policy.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared pictures of the Israeli flag being raised above the 900-year-old fortress, which was constructed on a cliffside high above the Litani River.
The position gives Israeli troops a commanding lookout post over much of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
Violent clashes broke out early Monday morning near the Beit Shemesh police station following the attempted arrest of a young haredi man suspected of evading military service.
According to a police statement, the unrest began after Military Police removed the suspect from the scene. In response, dozens of extremist haredi demonstrators gathered outside the city's police station. Some attempted to breach the station's perimeter and set fire to nearby vegetation, which was extinguished before spreading to adjacent buildings.
Jerusalem District Police forces and Border Police officers were deployed to the scene. They used batons and stun grenades to disperse the rioters, successfully restoring order and regaining control of the station complex.
No injuries have been reported.
תיעוד: כ-50 מפגינים חרדים פרצו לתחנת משטרה בבית שמש, לאחר שקיבלו הודעה על מעצר עריק חרדי במקום@GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/GjqCLlwY3Q
— מרדכי הלפרין (@MHlpryn) May 31, 2026
The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi just released a statement on Har HaBayis that contradicts an entire polemic that he gave himself in the span of just a few days.
On the one hand, he delivers a whole halachic discourse on how one should bow on Har HaBayis — the angles, the posture, the kavanos — and then, in just a few days he issues a sweeping prohibition against going up at all.
Everyone understands what’s going on here.
The Chief Rabbinate has, for decades, taken its cues from the political establishment. It was built as an arm of the secular government, and its positions on Har HaBayis have always reflected that reality. This latest psak isn’t about halachah — it’s about maintaining the traditional political line.
And instead of thinking independently, instead of addressing the real halachic discussions happening across the Torah world, he simply defaulted to the old script.
But the Torah world has moved on.
In the video below, you can see respected chareidi rabbanim — serious poskim, not fringe voices — who permit ascending Har HaBayis lechatchilah, with clear halachic guidelines, based on Chazal, Rishonim, and the Rambam’s own descriptions of the Mikdash boundaries.
So when a talmid asks the obvious question — “How can you write a whole treatise on how to bow on Har HaBayis and then prohibit going up?” — he’s not being disrespectful. He’s being honest.
Because the contradiction is real. And the political pressure behind it is real. And the growing number of Torah authorities who reject that pressure is also very real.
The Chief Rabbinate can keep issuing statements that try to satisfy the government, but the Torah world is no longer pretending not to notice the gap between halachic reality and political convenience.
If the Chief Rabbinate wants to forbid Har HaBayis, fine — but writing a whole guide on how to bow there before prohibiting it is the kind of contradiction that only happens when politics holds the pen.
אי אפשר להורות שאסור לעלות - בלי להתעלם מגדולי ישראל שמחזקים את העלייה
The train bound for Auschwitz. 1942.
Seeing this footage in color makes the unimaginable feel real. These are not distant figures from a history book. They are mothers, fathers, children, grandparents. People dressed in their Sunday best, carrying bags, holding loved ones close, unaware of the horror awaiting them.
For many, this journey ended at the gas chambers.
Six million Jews were murdered in just four years.
The Holocaust was not ancient history. It happened within living memory to ordinary people whose lives, dreams, and futures were stolen.
Never Again is not a slogan.
Moshe Gafni, had an interview with Haaretz 2017, and made the following outrageous comment.
“I am not on the right, on policy issues I stand closer to the Left’s position,” and declared that “the Palestinians were here before us and we displaced them."
What a sick perverted piece of slime! "Palestinians were here before us?" Mamash what Hamas says and is an outrageous lie!
