In Lavi Forest near Golani Junction in northern Israel, adjacent to the Sanhedrin Trail, an archaeological excavation is uncovering the remains of DeLavi Inn – an ancient way station that operated during the late Second Temple period, approximately 2,000 years ago, according to a post by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The inn served travelers between Tiberias and Sepphoris and was significant enough to be mentioned in the Talmud, where it appears in two distinct stories. In one account, Rabbi Yirmiyah joined donkey drivers staying at the inn in saying the “zimmun”, an addition to Birkat Hamazon, despite not eating with them – a situation that later became the basis for a halakhic principle. In another instance, cheese found at the inn with unknown ownership and kosher status was deemed permissible to eat, based on the assumption that most visitors to the establishment were observant Jews.
"This is an opportunity to learn about daily life in the Galilee during the late Second Temple period. The excavation allows us to better understand the economic and cultural connections of the era," said Noam Zilberberg, the excavation director from the Israel Antiquities Authority/
The excavation is open to volunteers every Sunday from now until March.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
A Brooklyn lawmaker is quitting the City Council’s Women’s Caucus to protest its “anti-Israel” agenda and “woke” ways.
GOP Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, 40, slammed the 30-member caucus in a nearly 90-second video, first obtained by The Post, for its refusal to condemn Hamas terrorists after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in Israel and for catering to far-left gender ideologues.
“How can I condemn and call out all these women organizations who’ve stayed completely silent [after the massacre] but continue sitting in a body that’s supposed to stand up for women’s rights, that’s supposed to stand against the abuse and rape and captivity of women, but cannot do that when it comes to Jewish women?” Vernikov says in the clip.
The video includes footage of young, terrified Jewish women as they’re released from Hamas captivity by masked men with weapons. In the clip, Vernikov calls the Hamas captors “Jihadis.”
She also pointed to the caucus’ bylaws allowing council members to join who “identify as women” — leaving the door open to transgender biological men joining the group.
The bylaws also say the caucus “seeks to advance” both “women and women-identifying people’s rights.”
“This is a Women’s Caucus that obviously cannot agree on what a woman is,” she says in the video.
“I will not remain on a body that refuses to acknowledge objective truths and that will only stand up for women when it is politically expedient for them. I’m out!” she concludes.
Vernikov formally notified the caucus’ leadership on Friday she’s leaving the group.
The caucus’ co-chairs, Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) and Lynn Schulman (D-Queens), all but accused Vernikov of political grandstanding on Saturday.
“As was explained to Councilmember Vernikov, members decided to put out their own personal statements, given that some of us had actually visited with hostage families in Israel, which we felt was more personal and powerful,” both Jewish pols said.
“It is unfortunate that the council member is seeking to politicize the lives of the hostages.”
Menin, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and Schulman visited with families of hostages during a trip to Israel in 2024 and have issued numerous statements in support of the hostages.
The Council’s Jewish Caucus has also left it up to individual members to release statements on the Israeli hostages rather than issue a joint statement, said its chairperson Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan).
This is not the first time Vernikov has left the Women’s Caucus.
Vernikov and fellow Republicans Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino of Queens stepped down in 2022 over a variety of issues, including that they believed their opinions were being ignored, but they later returned, officials said.
Vernikov’s resignation leaves the caucus with 26 Democrats and just three Republicans.
It’s membership topped out at 31 following an historic 2021 election when women — for the first time — won majority control of the City Council’s 51 seats.
The incident sparked her re-election a month later, some pundits claim, by galvanizing die-hard Israel supporters in her heavily Jewish district, which includes Sheepshead Bay and other parts of southern Brooklyn.
President Trump has ordered security clearances stripped from a new hit list of antagonists.
Just days after revoking Joe Biden’s access to classified information and secure federal buildings — “because I don’t trust him” — Trump said his new top target is ex-Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who orchestrated the “Dirty 51” letter from former intelligence officials on the eve of the 2020 election.
The infamous missive falsely claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop, the contents of which The Post revealed, was Russian disinformation.
Blinken’s security clearances will be revoked, following the same presidential directive aimed at Biden and the 51 ex-spooks last week, Trump told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“Bad guy. Take away his passes,” he said of Blinken.
“This is to take away every right they have [revoking security clearances] including they can’t go into [federal] buildings.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg join the new group of eight Democrat foes Trump plans to punish by revoking any access to classified information and barring their entry to federal facilities.
In the renewed vigor of the Oval Office, President Trump doesn’t take meetings in the traditional sense, where one guest leaves before another departs.
Instead, in gregarious fashion, the president rolls one meeting into another and introduces the principals to each other, creating a burst of high-energy chemistry and humor that has transformed the White House from a mausoleum into a symphony of personal interaction.
He has shaken so many hands that the back of his right hand is almost permanently adorned with a large skin-colored Band-Aid to cover bruises and scratches from enthusiastic well-wishers.
His days start at 6 a,m, and often end close to midnight over small convivial dinners in the White House with assorted dignitaries.
He is more lively at 78 than most people 40 years younger.
When he wakes up, the first thing that goes through his mind, he says, is “business. Everything’s business.
Shocking scenes from the hostage release today in which 3 Israeli hostages were transferred over to Israel after 16 months in captivity.
All of them were visibly starved and almost unable to walk on their own, being paraded across the stage by Hamas
President Trump is set to strip security clearances from New York AG Letitia James, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Trump just posted this. Is Letitia James about to go down hard?
President Trump revokes security clearances for Antony Blinken, Andrew Weissman, Alvin Bragg, and Letitia James!
Trumps Envoy Morgan Ortagus Wears "Star of David" Ring While Shaking Hands with Pres of Lebanon!
Trump responds to Democrats staging an insurrection at the Department of Education today:
“I see Maxine Waters, a low-life, I see all these people, they don't love our Country.”
Wife Lianne, teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel were murdered in safe room at Kibbutz Be’eri home; brother Yossi was killed in Gaza captivity, which Hamas announced as Eli was released
Released hostage Eli Sharabi’s first request when he was back in Israel was to see his family, because he was unaware that his wife and two daughters were murdered in the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, Hebrew media reported.
Yossi has since been confirmed dead, and Hamas is holding his body.
According to Channel 12 news, Sharabi was notified of his wife and daughters’ deaths after his return from the Gaza Strip. He was initially reunited with his mother Hannah and sister Osnat, and subsequently with other members of his family, including his brother Sharon. His family was reportedly given advice on how to break the terrible news.
He was already aware that Yossi had been killed.
Hamas announced the death, to great applause, as masked terrorists paraded Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah before handing the emaciated hostages to the Red Cross on Saturday morning.
At the handover ceremony, Sharabi had been asked in Hebrew how he was feeling by the masked Hamas gunman running the show, and said into the microphone, “I feel very, very happy today to return to my family and friends, to my wife and my daughters.”
He reportedly told IDF soldiers on the journey out of Gaza that he anticipated seeing his wife and children.
Like Sharabi, Levy also returned to tragedy. His wife Eynav Elkayam Levy was murdered in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, where Or Levy was abducted.
This was only definitively confirmed to Levy on his return from captivity on Saturday.
He spoke with their 3-year-old son Almog in a video call after being released. “Dad, it took you a long time to come back,” Almog told his father.
Sharabi and Ben Ami are longtime friends from Kibbutz Be’eri, which was ravaged in the Hamas onslaught. The community said in a statement that Sharabi “is coming back from one impossible reality in captivity, to a most terrible reality in Israel.”
“We embrace him, and we’ll continue offering the best support possible,” the kibbutz said.
Sharabi, Ben Ami and Levy returned Saturday in the fifth release of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal’s first phase. They were held captive for 491 days.
All three were transferred to hospitals in Israel: Sharabi and Levy to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, Ramat Gan, and Ben Ami to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.
The Hamas terrorist who orchestrated a 2001 terror attack in Jerusalem that killed an American teen and 14 others has been living like “a rock star” in Jordan — and the girl’s grieving dad hopes President Trump will help bring the “monster” to justice when he meets King Abdullah II in the White House Tuesday.
Malki Roth was a flute-playing, pizza-loving 15-year-old savoring summer vacation when she and a close friend darted to their favorite Sbarro’s in the heart of a bustling Jerusalem on Aug. 9, 2001.
But a suicide bomber standing next to the girls at the counter suddenly peeled open his guitar case and detonated his cocktail of explosives, nails, nuts and bolts in an attack that left 130 injured and 15 dead, including Malki and two other Americans.
The architect of the bombing, Ahlam Tamimi, confessed and was sentenced in 2003 in Israel to 16 life sentences, only to be unexpectedly sprung in 2011 as part of a prisoner swap with the terror group.
The US Justice Department disclosed terrorism charges against Tamimi, now 44, in March 2017 and formally notified Jordan of its request that she be extradited to face trial in Washington.
Despite being on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Tamimi becamea television host and public speakerwho lives as a celebrity in Jordan, Malki’s dad Arnold told The Post.
“President Trump, help us get long-delayed justice for our murdered child,” he pleaded. “I see this as a moment which we haven’t had up until now, to say, ‘President Trump, help make justice happen.’ “
Roth is beseeching US officials and the president to enforce the 1995 extradition treaty between the US and Jordan to finally bring Tamimi to justice.
“It really has been a nightmare for years — parts of it are unbearable,” Roth told The Post from his home in Jerusalem. “I’m still trembling.”
Jordan has put Hamas on notice to take in Tamimi, lest the Hashemite Kingdom be forced to extradite her to the US, according to a report.
“She’s been dancing on my daughter’s grave all these years,” said Roth, noting how Tamimi has bragged about the death toll from the Sbarro attack, which the then-20-year-old mastermind devised in order to maximize carnage with tourists and children. “She’s completely unrepentant.”
Malki, who was raised in Jerusalem to an American mom from Queens, loved visiting New York.
Roth sees the upcoming visit by the King of Jordan as a historic opportunity.
“We’ve been trying for years to bring our daughter’s murderer to court – she belongs in an American prison as soon as possible,” said Roth, whose IDF reservist son-in-law was killed by Hamas in December 2023, the second family loss at the hands of the terror group.
The case may finally “be ripe to be high on the radar” for the new administration, including AG Pam Bondi, and incoming FBI director, Kash Patel, “who’s very in tune with counterterrorism issues and victims of terror from the US and seeking extradition on those who have perpetrated such crimes against American citizens, like Tamimi,” said Richard Goldberg, senior advisor for The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a DC think tank.
On the heels of Trump calling on Egypt and Jordan to absorb refugees from Gaza, which the president called a “demoliiton site” after the nearly 16 months of war following the Oct. 7 attacks, “Jordan is being not such a good partner,” said Goldberg, a former White House staffer at the National Security Council.
Jordan’s public and unequivocal refusal of Trump’s ask gives the US “an opportunity” to crack down on the country, which “has been giving a pass on Tamimi for years.”
The US can flex its muscle to say, “We’re not going to give you a pass anymore. We’re going to demand the extradition now,” said Goldberg.
“The United States continues to impress upon the Government of Jordan that Tamimi is a brutal murderer who should be brought to justice,” the State Department said in a statement to The Post.
Roth, who hopes to send videos of Malki playing flute and passages from her precious diary to the president, believes Trump is “ready to mess with anyone if they get in his way.
“We’re not interested in vengeance – it’s only about justice.”
The Hamas' terror group's cruel "release ceremony" at Deir al-Balah has horrified people around the world, sparking condemnation from international figures.
Footage from the ceremony showed the returning hostages, Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben-Ami, and Or Levy, gaunt, weak, and pale, in condition similar to that of the Jews imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert tweeted: "Almost unbearable to see the emaciated hostages forced to give interviews to some Hamas 'reporter.' Parading them like that is yet another terrible crime by the terrorists."
Simon Walters, British Ambassador to Israel, wrote on X, "While I am relieved to see Eli, Or and Ohad back in Israel today, I am repelled by the grotesque spectacle organized by Hamas. The condition of the hostages is very worrying. We must get all the hostages out as soon as possible."
Stephanie Hallett, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, wrote, "Another three hostages returned home to Israel today after 491 days in Hamas captivity. Their survival is a testament to their will and courage. We won’t rest until all the hostages come home."
Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben-Ami, and Or Levy were released Shabbat morning from Hamas captivity. The three looked gaunt and are in poor physical health, but were forced to thank their captors for "treating" them.
Eli Sharabi, who turns 53 next week, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri on the morning of October 7th. He lost his entire immediate family in the massacre: His wife Leanne and two daughters Yahel and Noya were murdered by Hamas terrorists. His brother, Yossi Sharabi, was also kidnapped on October 7th, and was declared dead during his time in captivity, after he was accidentally killed when the IDF struck the building he was being held in. His body is still held in Gaza.
Eli's brother Sharon Sharabi told Kan News: "Eli is returning to a difficult reality. It's like a horror movie. Maybe he heard what happened to his family and had time to digest it. And if he did not hear, then he should hear it when he is in supportive and professional hands."
Eli was raised in Tel Aviv, one of five siblings. At a young age, he fell in love with Kibbutz Be'eri, and built his home there, drawing his brother Yossi after him. His family has not heard any information on his fate since he was kidnapped.
"I am sure that Eli's embrace will be the embrace of a whole nation, which has done everything to bring him home. We hope that we will be able to heal his soul and help him believe that new life can dawn."
Ohad Ben-Ami, 56, was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be'eri. He was shot and lightly injured as he closed the blinds in his home as Hamas terrorists neared it. His wife Raz, who was hiding in the bomb shelter, was witness to his capture, and afterwards was also kidnapped to Gazas. She was released in a November 2023 prisoner swap deal. In footage published by Hamas terrorist on Telegram, Ohad can be seen being kidnapped in a short shirt and boxers.
Ohad is an accountant and his family and friends say that he is a good cook. Ohad and Raz are parents to three daughters, Yulie, Ella, and Natalie, who fought together with their mother for their father's release.
"When you come back, you will not believe what lionesses they have turned into, they are fighting for you every day," Raz said.
Or Levy was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on the morning of the October 7th massacre. He arrived at the party with his wife, Einav, a short time before the attack began. They hid together in the "bomb shelter of death," where Einav was murdered and Or was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. Footage of the kidnapping shows Or together with Eliya Cohen and Hirsh Goldberg-Polin on a vehicle traveling towards Gaza.
Or and Einav lived in Givatayaim, and Or was employed as a programmer. Their son, Almog, was two years old when his father was kidnapped and his mother murdered. Or's family showed him photos of his father and said, "Abba (Daddy) got lost and wants to come back as quickly as possible."
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters responded to the release, saying: "1945 Is Now! The horrifying images of Ohad, Eli, and Or reveal the devastating toll of 491 days in Hamas captivity. These are men who have endured hell itself. This is a crime against humanity."
"These disturbing images show the entire world the desperate reality facing every hostage still held in Gaza. These images evoke the horrifying pictures from the liberation of the camps in 1945, the darkest chapter of our history. We have to get ALL OF THE HOSTAGES out of hell.
"There can be no more delays - a second stage of the hostage deal must be implemented immediately!"
Natalie Ben-Ami, daughter of Ohad, responded: "Finally, my heart will be whole." Kibbutz Be'eri responded: "With the return of Ohad and Eli, we breathe deeply, but our breath will not return to normal until all of the hostages are returned safely to heal in the embrace of their families, and all of those killed are returned for burial."
Natalie and her sisters, Yulie and Ella, spoke with him by phone and are waiting to meet him at Ichilov Hospital. They shared: "Our father has emerged from the horror, and you can see the trauma he endured written on his face. But we are staying strong for him here, just as he stays strong for us, and soon we'll be able to embrace him. We got our father back. Now we must not stop until the last hostage is returned."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the issue of normalization with Saudi Arabia and the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying such a state would be a “giant reward for terrorism,” in a Feb. 6 interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
Saudi Arabia has made the creation of a Palestinian state a precondition for normalization of relations with Israel. Most recently on Feb. 5, the Saudis swiftly contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday that the Saudis were not demanding a Palestinian homeland in exchange for ties with Israel.
Asked whether the contradictory statements of Trump and the Saudis could be bridged, Netanyahu said simply, “I will not make any agreement that endangers the State of Israel. I will not do it.”
The prime minister said this applied “especially” if that meant creating a Palestinian state. “After the seventh of October [2023], do you know what that is? There was a Palestinian state. It was called Gaza. Look what we received. The biggest massacre since the Holocaust.
“To establish a Palestinian state after October 7 is a huge prize not only for Hamas [but] for Iran,” Netanyahu added.
The Saudis view the attrition and near-destruction of Hamas as a positive development and have aligned themselves with the Palestinian Authority, which controls Arab-populated areas in Judea and Samaria, advocating for that entity to take over the Gaza Strip.
“The Palestinian Authority is capable, with the support of the international community, of controlling the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud at last year’s Munich Security Conference.
Netanyahu has emphasized that he would not support a P.A. takeover of the Strip. “I will not allow us to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan,” he said during a nationally broadcast press conference on Dec. 17, 2023, referring to Fatah, the controlling party in the Palestinian Authority.
“I will not allow the State of Israel to repeat the fateful mistake of Oslo, which brought to the heart of our country and to Gaza the most extreme elements in the Arab world, which are committed to the destruction of the State of Israel and who educate their children to this end,” he said.
Despite the gap between the parties, Netanyahu told Channel 14 that normalization with Saudi Arabia was on the table. “We will have not only a normalization agreement, perhaps a peace agreement, with Saudi Arabia, but also with many other countries.”
The “hateful bigot” who was caught on camera accosting a Jewish man and going on an antisemitic rant inside of a Midtown office building has been hit with a hate crime, police said.
Noora Shalash, of Lexington, Kentucky, has been charged with aggravated harassment, a second-degree hate crime, for the ugly incident at 950 Third Ave., during which she yelled profanity-laced, antisemitic remarks at a Jewish man – and even hit him several times, according to cops and video.
She is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday.
Shalash, 39, first got into the “personal space” of a Hasidic man as he was walking through the lobby of the building, according to victim Seth Bell, 46, who filmed the Thursday afternoon incident.
“As I got closer, I heard the word ‘Jew’ being thrown around, and ‘genocide’ and ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine,’ and I just knew immediately,” Bell previously told The Post.
“She was equating some random Jewish guy with what was going on in the Middle East, which is classic antisemitism,” said Bell, a Jewish dad of three.
When Bell asked Shalash if she was “just an antisemite,” she flew into hate-fueled another rage.
“F–k the Jews, I love Jesus…I demand Jihad! I want ISIS to kill all of you! I am conspiring with Hamas, Palestinian Jihad and with ISIS, I am conspiring with them!” Shalash says in the clip, while swatting at Bell’s phone in his hand.
Shalash allegedly also struck Bell’s head and kicked at him, according to the video and cops.
At another point in the footage, Shalash is seen getting into an elevator, plunking herself down and refusing to leave.
An exasperated Bell said, “You messed with the wrong Jew today, Noora,” and, “This is what Jews in New York City have to deal with.”
Building security called the cops on Shalash, who was dressed in a long skirt, heels and a purple sweater with “PINK” across it.
Shalash was initially taken to Bellevue Hospital for a psychological evaluation, police said.
"There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings."
Biden cut Trump off from intelligence reports shortly after taking office in 2021. The decision came a month after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Biden said Trump's "erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection" warranted the move. The intelligence information traditionally is provided to former presidents.
“There is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said at the time. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
Trump said in a social media post Friday that Biden "set this precedent in 2021" and jabbed at him, saying that Biden "even in his 'prime,' could not be trusted with sensitive information."
Trump also has revoked the security clearances of former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter stating emails from Hunter Biden's computer bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation." And he ended security details from John Bolton and Anthony Fauci, high-profile figures in his first administration he has clashed with.
