Iranian media reports say state television was hijacked, airing protest footage and a speech by the crown prince’s heir.
Monday, January 19, 2026
Shapiro Says Harris Vetting Team Questioned His Loyalty Over Israel Ties....Was Asked Whether He’s An Israeli Double Agent
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro revealed that during Kamala Harris’s rushed 2024 VP vetting process, he was asked whether he had ever been “an agent of the Israeli government” — a question he describes as offensive and deeply revealing.In his upcoming memoir, Shapiro, an observant Jew and self-described Zionist, writes that the question came from a senior member of Harris’s vetting team and reflected the suspicion he faced from parts of the Democratic left over his ties to Israel and his criticism of antisemitic campus protests after October 7.
Sunday, January 18, 2026
SHOCKING: The Sunday Times has obtained a new report from doctors on the ground [in Iran] which says at least 16,500 protesters have died and 330,000 have been injured.
Figures compiled by staff in 8 major eye hospitals and 16 emergency departments across [Iran] reveal that at least 16,500-18,000 people have been killed and 330,000 to 360,000 injured...
One eye hospital in Tehran alone, Noor Clinic, has documented 7,000 eye injuries.
Boom: Senior Iranian UN Diplomat Seeks Asylum in Switzerland
Ali Reza Jirani, a senior Iranian diplomat at the UN office in Geneva, has reportedly requested political asylum in Switzerland, raising questions over whether this marks the first visible crack inside the regime’s diplomatic ranks.
Miami mourns the death of Mordchai Grunberger, 71, Who was tragically killed
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| Mordehay Grunberger, 71,and his wife |
A beloved Florida pastry chef was tragically killed after getting caught in a bread-mixing machine at a grocery store where he worked, according to reports.
Mordehay Grunberger, 71, was found dead at the South Florida Kosher Market in North Miami Beach early Friday morning following a freak accident with an industrial dough mixer, the North Miami Beach Police Department told multiple outlets.
Authorities believe the longtime employee got lodged in the machine and do not suspect foul palay.
“At this time, there are no signs of foul play and we believe the incident was accidental involving an industrial dough mixer,” police said, NBC 6 South Florida reported.
The Kosher grocer shut its doors Friday in the wake of the fatal incident, according to CBS Miami.
Police have not disclosed what led to the deadly accident.
Grunberger identified himself as a head pastry chef on his Facebook page.
His grief-stricken wife, Inna Gastman Moar, shared her devastation on social media Friday.
“Today, my beloved husband Miki, my closest person in my life my best friend, and father of my two beautiful sons, tragically passed away!” she wrote on Facebook.
I lost myself. I love him so much. He’s the love of my life!”
The grieving spouse shared several loving photos of her and her husband, something she often did, as family and friends flooded her page with condolences and memories of Grunberger.
One loved one described him as having a “noble heart.”
“He gave me his hand in the most difficult moments, of my life in the country, simple count on his love and solidarity,” the friend wrote.
Another said: “He was a wonderful person and a great friend and in our hearts of all those that he touched their life in one way or another.”
Police said Grunberger’s death is still under investigation, the outlet reported.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is also investigating the deadly incident.
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Israeli officials Believe that Steve Witkoff is a Danger to Israel
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
Disturbing Phone Call from Daughter of Senior Commander inside Iran
A woman calls into the Persian Manoto News program, saying she is the daughter of a senior commander inside Iran.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 15, 2026
Very disturbing conversation. pic.twitter.com/KmrPy9oLPd
Iran’s leader blasts Trump as a ‘criminal,’ blames him for country’s deadly nationwide unrest
Iran’s supreme leader blasted President Trump as a “criminal” on Saturday and blamed him for the brutal nationwide protests — one day after the president announced he had backed off attacking Tehran.
“We consider the US president a criminal for the casualties, damages, and the slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech, Iran International reported.
“Trump himself intervened in this unrest, made statements, encouraged the rioters, and said we will provide military support.”
His rhetoric comes just a day after Trump revealed that he decided against striking the Islamic Republic this week in part because Tehran said it had called off plans for a mass execution of protesters.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump told reporters Friday that he “convinced himself” after initially vowing publicly to back protesters against the repressive regime.
On Jan. 2, he warned hat the US was “locked, loaded and ready to go.”
That decision reportedly came after lobbying by Israel and Saudi Arabia led to Trump’s pivot, according to reports.
More than 3,000 protesters were reportedly slaughtered across Iran this week as demonstrations against Khamenei’s theocratic regime and its failing economy spurned into chaos on the streets of Tehran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Much of the killing occurred during nationwide blackouts that shut down the internet across all of Iran.
Khamenei’s aggressive rhetoric continued the antagonizing tone Tehran has taken with Trump.
Iranian state television aired an image of the 2025 assassination attempt against the president in Butler, Pennsylvania, on a Jan. 14 broadcast with the caption “this time it will not miss the target.”
Moshe Ludmer a student at the Boyan Yeshiva in Modiin Illit, was found dead after being swept away by the Modiin Stream on Tuesday.
The body of Moshe Ludmer, a student at the Boyan Yeshiva in Modiin Illit, was found today (Friday) after he had been missing since Tuesday.
He was swept away in the current of the Modiin Stream, near his yeshiva, while he went to dip in the water with another friend. The friend, who was rescued that same day, reported the incident, and rescue teams have been operating in the area since then.
Ludmer, 16, a resident of Beitar Illit, had recently joined the 'Tiferet Yisrael Rozhin Boyan' Yeshiva in Modiin Illit, where he had started his first year of studies.
Lieutenant Commander Shlomi Harosh, commander of the Benjamin Region of the Israel Fire and Rescue Service, said: "This is a tragic event in which a young man lost his life. This was a complex and challenging search because there was a lot of drift in the stream and in the water crossings under the bridges along the stream, as well as the stormy weather that prevailed during the first days of the search."
The police noted that the search was conducted continuously over four days, with extensive cooperation between security forces, rescue units, and volunteers.
A police spokeswoman said: "On the morning of the fourth day of searches conducted by the Judea and Samaria District police, along with numerous emergency security and rescue personnel, alongside hundreds of volunteers, the body of the missing young man who had been swept away in the Modi'im Stream was located."
Rabbi Kalmanson attacks draft law: 'A danger to Israel; Hashem will not forgive them.'
Rabbi Benny Kalmanson, head of the Otniel Yeshiva and the father of Elhanan Kalmanson, who was killed in battle on October 7, sharply criticized the new draft law and the manner in which the government is advancing it.
In an interview broadcast on Galei Zahal (Friday), Rabbi Kalmanson said that he took part in a protest outside the Knesset and argued that the law endangers the security of the state.
According to him, “In the absence of soldiers and a shortage of combat fighters, we are endangering the country. We are selling the security of the State of Israel in exchange for another two months in power."
He said the issue is not merely avoiding enlistment, but a move that would receive permanent legal backing: “They are going to grant a legal, permanent approval for the exemption of a valued sector. There is no mechanism whatsoever to ensure that these people are actually studying Torah."
Rabbi Kalmanzon, who also lost his nephew, Pediah Mark, during the fighting in Gaza, stressed that he did not come to the protest as a bereaved father, but “as a concerned citizen." Nevertheless, he added, “Bereavement intensifies the message. Torah study is dear to my heart; it is what I have devoted my entire life to."
He added that he has spoken with political figures, including those identified with the religious-Zionist public. “I receive answers saying that it is important to keep the government in place, and that the Left would do the same thing. I have no idea whether the claim that the Left would do the same is correct or not; that interests me less."
Addressing the argument that the government must be preserved, he said: “I think this claim will backfire. This public will be angry at the government and will vote it out. From their perspective, both the Religious Zionism party and Likud are currently committing political suicide - losing their popularity and their relevance - just to hang on for another moment, and in doing so they are endangering the State of Israel. Not a single combat soldier will be drafted through this Bismuth framework. History will judge Bismuth."
“Hashem will not forgive them, and history will not forget this injustice. The State of Israel has not yet finished dealing with its enemies - we need soldiers," he concluded.
Iran Cleric Brands Protesters “Trump’s Soldiers,” Calls for Mass Executions
A hardline cleric leading Friday prayers in Iran’s capital publicly demanded the execution of protesters swept up in the regime’s nationwide crackdown, as Tehran weighs its next steps amid mounting domestic unrest and international pressure.
Speaking at Tehran’s main weekly prayers, Ahmad Khatam called for the death penalty for detainees accused of involvement in the protests and urged authorities to arrest “anyone who supported the rioters in any way.”
His sermon, broadcast live on Iranian state radio, drew chants from worshippers including, “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”
The remarks come as executions — along with the killing of peaceful protesters — have been identified by Donald Trump as red lines that could trigger U.S. military action, sharply raising the stakes for Iran’s leadership as it seeks to reassert control.
Khatami, who was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and sits on both Iran’s Assembly of Experts and its powerful Guardian Council, framed the unrest as a foreign-backed plot. He described protesters as “butlers” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “soldiers of Trump,” accusing them of seeking to “disintegrate the country.”
“They should wait for hard revenge from the system,” Khatami said, referring to Netanyahu and Trump. “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace.”
Beyond fiery denunciations, the cleric also delivered what appeared to be an official accounting of damage attributed to the protests. According to Khatami, 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy sites were damaged, along with 80 homes belonging to Friday prayer leaders, a key pillar of Iran’s theocratic structure.
He further claimed that unrest had damaged 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles and another 50 emergency response vehicles — figures that could not be independently verified.
As a senior public cleric with close ties to Iran’s ruling institutions, Khatami would likely have access to internal government data. His decision to disclose the figures during Friday prayers suggests the regime is using the pulpit as a proxy for official messaging, amplifying its justification for an uncompromising crackdown while avoiding a direct address from senior political leaders.
Frieda Vizel Takes on Antisemite influencer Tyler Oliveira who "distorted the realities" of Kiryas Yoel
Inside the New York Town Invaded by Welfare-Addicted Jews... pic.twitter.com/Khy3BQ803u
— Tyler Oliveira (@tyleraloevera) January 16, 2026
The Chassidic guy below tells Satmar Chassidim, if you cannot express yourself in English then "Shut the hell up"
A YouTuber who grew up in the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel is pushing back against a viral online video that she says distorts the realities of Hasidic life and relies on provocation to gain attention.
Freide Vizel, a popular content creator and former member of the Satmar Hasidic community, released a response video after YouTuber Tyler Oliveira published a video titled “Inside the New York Town Invaded by Welfare-Addicted Jews,” which has drawn widespread online viewership.
Vizel said the video reinforces harmful stereotypes and presents a misleading picture of the community.
“Absolutely disgusting,” Vizel said, calling the video a shock piece that is “decontextualized” and designed to mislead viewers. She said it exploits residents’ reluctance to share private financial information with outsiders in order to portray Hasidic men as unemployed.
“It uses people’s unwillingness to discuss personal economic details to create a portrait of a bunch of people who don’t work,” Vizel said.
Vizel acknowledged that Kiryas Joel, like many insular communities, has real challenges and legitimate areas for criticism, including scrutiny over its relationship with government welfare programs. But she said portraying the community as broadly dependent on public assistance ignores economic realities on the ground.
According to Vizel, the vast majority of Hasidic men in the community are gainfully employed and work long hours across a wide range of industries. She said she has previously documented the scope of Hasidic-owned businesses by reviewing phone directories and business listings.
Vizel accused Oliveira of leaning into inflammatory language to drive engagement, arguing that shock value has replaced nuance in much viral content about religious and minority communities.
She described her response as a raw, first-reaction video recorded while watching Oliveira’s content in real time, acknowledging its emotional tone. Vizel said her goal was not to portray the community as flawless, but to highlight its complexity.
“This is a complicated and imperfect community,” she said. “It deserves honest criticism, but not caricature.”
Oliveira has not publicly responded to Vizel’s criticism. Vizel said she hopes the debate encourages viewers to approach viral portrayals of insular communities with greater skepticism and care.
Friday, January 16, 2026
The disturbing reason Iran appears to have stopped slaughtering protesters
The ruthless slaughter of anti-government protesters in Iran appears to have stopped — but only because residents are being held hostage in their homes by machine gun-wielding security forces that have flooded the streets, sources told The Post Thursday.
After weeks of anti-regime protests across Iran left thousands dead, the mass mobilization of security forces has suppressed the demonstrations, with many too afraid to step foot outside now.
“There were tanks out — there’s tanks everywhere,” the source told The Post after speaking to family in Tehran about the current situation.
“There’s trucks that are covered, with 10 people inside with machine guns just aiming them at everyone on the street.”
Another person in Tehran said fear has gripped the capital as police and security forces patrol the roads and conduct stops.
Israeli Banks going digital-only Chardeim Furious!
The Charedi representation in the Knesset is launching a struggle against the Banking Supervision Department’s intention to make bank correspondence digital-only by default.
Under the initiative, account statements, updates, and notices would be sent exclusively through online means-unless the customer explicitly requests to receive them in printed form.
Members of Knesset argue that the move could severely harm the haredi public, as well as the elderly and new immigrants.
According to them, at least a quarter of a million haredim are not connected to the internet or lack regular access to email and therefore rely solely on physical mail to receive information about their bank accounts.
MK Uri Maklev, who initiated an urgent discussion in the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee, said: “It is unacceptable that under the public radar, and under the guise of technological efficiency, a dramatic initiative is taking shape that threatens to disconnect hundreds of thousands of households from the most basic financial information. This is a scandalous decision that would erase critical information for hundreds of thousands of families."
Maklev added that the move could lead to an economic trap: “For many families, the letter that arrives in the mailbox is the only channel through which they receive information about overdrafts, liens, and interest rate changes. Making the digital channel the default will cause important notices to be sent to email inboxes that are not checked, leading to the accumulation of fines and late-payment interest."
MK Yonatan Mashriki joined the criticism, saying: “Placing the responsibility on consumers who, due to their worldview, are not exposed to technology, or on elderly people and immigrants without digital orientation, to chase after the bank in order to receive a physical letter, is an arrogant step that ignores the lifestyle of an entire sector and its basic right to transparency and accessibility."
At the discussion to be held in the Economic Affairs Committee, with the participation of Banking Supervisor Daniel Hahiashvili, representatives of the haredi public are expected to demand that physical mail remain the default option for all customers, and that any transition to digital correspondence be carried out only after the customer’s explicit and active consent.
Mashriki concluded: “It is unacceptable for banks to seek to save a few shekels on printing and mailing when the price could be economic harm to hundreds of thousands of families. Physical correspondence must remain the default for anyone who wishes it."
Iran attack postponed: The dramatic phone call between Netanyahu and Trump
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that US President Donald Trump postpone any military action against Iran, according to a report by The New York Times.
The phone call between the two leaders took place at midnight last night, amid widespread protests across Iran and ongoing American discussions regarding the possibility of an attack.
Netanyahu expressed concerns that Israel is not prepared for an Iranian response in the event of a US strike, and thus asked Trump to delay the attack on Iran.
Trump himself stated that he received information from reliable sources in Iran indicating that the regime had stopped executing and harming protesters, which could signal an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
However, US officials clarified that the military option remains on the table, and the final decision will be made based on developments on the ground.
According to a diplomatic source in the Gulf quoted in the report, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt also sent messages to the US administration requesting that they refrain from attacking Iran, out of concern for regional escalation. These countries also reached out to Tehran, urging it not to respond militarily in the event of an attack.
Iran closed its airspace to civilian flights last night but later reopened it.
According to reports, the Pentagon lowered the level of alert at the US Air Force base in Qatar and began to return troops that had been relocated out of concern for an imminent strike.
Iran demands large payments from families of murdered protesters
After killing thousands of people during protests against the regime, the authorities in Iran are demanding hefty amounts of money from the parents of the victims if they want to retrieve the bodies of their sons or daughters who were killed.
Parents of protesters shot dead during demonstrations against the regime in Tehran told BBC Persian that they received a message from the authorities stating that, if they wanted to get the bodies of their murdered children back, they would have to pay large sums.
One family, from the city of Rasht in northern Iran, reported that the authorities demanded 700 million tomans (approximately $5,500) to return the body of their son, who was killed during the protests. “The body was held at the local hospital, along with at least 70 other bodies," the parents shared.
In Tehran, the family of a Kurdish construction worker who was murdered during the protests said that when they arrived at the hospital to collect his body, they were shocked when the authorities demanded a sum of 1 billion tomans (about $8,000) to release their son's body.
The parents stated, "We couldn’t afford to pay that amount, so we left the hospital without our son’s body."
Some parents mentioned that hospitals are filled with security forces ensuring that the bodies of the murdered individuals will not be released without payment.
Some of them also reported receiving phone calls from hospital administrators urging them to come quickly to collect the bodies of their children "before the security forces arrive and demand payment for their release."
Trump Commutes Sentence of Yaacov Deutsch in $50 Million Mortgage Fraud Case
President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of Jacob Deutsch of Williamsburg, leading to his release after nearly 22 months behind bars for his role in a wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme involving apartment buildings in Hartford.
The decision followed sustained advocacy by the Tzedek Association, which argued that Deutsch’s punishment far exceeded what the facts of the case warranted. Supporters said the case involved no violence, no financial loss to lenders and no restitution owed, yet Deutsch received a sentence that was nearly three times longer than what prosecutors had sought.
“This was a profound miscarriage of justice,” advocates said in a statement thanking the White House and Justice Department officials for what they called a rare act of corrective mercy.
Deutsch had been sentenced in 2024 to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud affecting financial institutions. Trump’s commutation removes the remainder of his sentence but leaves the conviction intact.
Deutsch and a co-defendant, Aron Deutsch of Monsey, admitted to participating in a scheme that prosecutors said relied on false rent rolls, leases and financial records to secure nearly $50 million in loans tied to multifamily properties in Hartford.
Federal authorities said the defendants worked at B H Property Management, which oversaw numerous buildings, and inflated property values by staging vacant apartments and fabricating tenants to make units appear fully occupied and profitable. The false information, prosecutors said, led lenders — as well as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — to back or insure loans they otherwise would not have approved.
Aron Deutsch was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $1 million. Jacob Deutsch received a 62-month prison term, a fine and supervised release, though he ultimately served about 22 months before the commutation.
In a statement, the Tzedek Association said Trump’s action “restored fairness, reunited a family and reaffirmed mercy as a cornerstone of American justice.”
Francesca Albanese is back at her favorite pastime: dehumanizing Israelis, now using soldiers’ suicides to push her own agenda.
After implying that Israelis eat human flesh, UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese is back at her favorite pastime: dehumanizing Israelis, now using soldiers’ suicides to push her own agenda.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) January 15, 2026
Francesca didn’t give the names of the young men who took their lives. She didn’t tell… pic.twitter.com/fJ6CQ2zWBq
UTJ Eichler Pulls a fast one so that he doesn't look like the traitor that he is
The fake phony Eichler, who pretends that he is against the conscription bill saw the handwriting on the wall, that the law will pass with or without him so not to look stupid he pressured Netanyahu to appoint him to a phony useless job, "Deputy Communications Minister" and this has to be a joke as his constituents don't use "communication" their Torah leaders forbid the internet! This was done so that he can save face and can temporarily leave the Knesset and be replaced by Pindrus from Degel that will vote for the law!
This is the tactic of today's Torah leaders to pull the wool over the eyes of their naive followers! זו תורה וזו שכרה
UTJ’s Eichler Appointed Deputy Communications Minister to Influence Draft Vote
United Torah Judaism (UTJ) MK Yisrael Eichler is set to be appointed Deputy Communications Minister in a strategic move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that will remove him from the Knesset and prevent him from voting against the government’s contentious conscription bill for yeshiva bachurim.
The appointment, expected to be approved by ministers, comes under Israel’s “Norwegian law,” under which a ministerial appointment requires Eichler to resign his parliamentary seat. This change allows former UTJ MK Yitzhak Pindrus, who supports the draft measure, to reenter the Knesset and bolster its passage.
Eichler, a member of Agudas Yisrael within UTJ, has opposed the current form of the draft regulation bill, while Pindrus from Degel Hatorah supports it. The reshuffle is aimed at ensuring a majority for the law that has divided Israeli politics and society over the issue of military exemptions for yeshiva bachurim.
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