In central Bnei Brak: Israeli flag flown on roof of Ponevezh Yeshiva

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/389928

As per the instructions of Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, legendary Ponevezh Yeshiva dean, the Israeli flag was hung early on Independence Day morning and will remain there until the afternoon.

Since then, in following Rabbi Kahaneman's customs, the flag has been hung on the yeshiva every year on Independence Day, and remains there from eight in the morning until four o'clock in the afternoon.

During Rabbi Kahaneman’s time, students at the yeshiva did not say the daily Tachanun prayer on Independence Day in recognition of its joyous nature, he said. However, after his passing, students resumed saying Tachanun as on other days.

Despite Trump’s claims, Iran war is doing him damage

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5840075-trump-iran-war-gas-prices-midterm-elections/

Trump and key allies like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insist that the U.S. military has already won a great victory in Iran. American and Israeli bombardments have, to be sure, inflicted serious damage on the Islamic Republic, especially its navy and air force.

But the question of strategic victory is a very different one — especially since Iran has displayed an ability to block the vital Strait of Hormuz, sending oil and gas prices to levels far above their prewar range.

But a new poll from NBC News released Sunday found Trump’s approval rating at the lowest point of his second term. Just 37 percent of surveyed adults support his performance in office so far, while 63 percent disapprove. 

The poll found 67 percent of Americans disapprove of how Trump has handled the war in Iran, while just 33 percent approve.

Politically, the war has steepened an already rough climb for Republicans in November’s midterm elections. 

A deal to end the Iran war seemed close. Then Trump started posting on social media

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/20/politics/social-media-posts-trump-iran-deal

As the weekend approached, the US and Iran appeared to be closing in on a deal to end the seven-week war.

Then President Donald Trump did exactly what his staffers have repeatedly said they wouldn’t do: He seemed to try negotiating via the press, posting about ongoing talks on social media and speaking to several reporters by phone Friday morning as Pakistani intermediaries updated him on ongoing talks with Iranian officials in Tehran.

He claimed Iran had agreed to a host of provisions that sources familiar with the talks said have not yet been finalized. He also asserted that Tehran had agreed to many of the most contentious US demands — including that it had agreed to hand over the enriched uranium — and declared an imminent end to the war.

Why military brass kept Trump sidelined during high-stakes Iranian extraction operation

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-893485

Military aides kept Trump out of the Situation Room during the high-stakes Iran rescue mission of a US airman, fearing his temper would derail the mission.

Military advisers intentionally excluded President Donald Trump from the command room during the recent high-stakes extraction of a downed American airman in Iran, fearing his erratic temper would jeopardize the mission, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a senior administration official.

To mitigate the risk of impulsive interference, aides opted to provide the commander in chief with updates only at “meaningful moments,” rather than the minute-by-minute tactical feeds being monitored by the National Security Council.

Despite his bellicose public rhetoric and threats to “destroy Iranian civilization,” the report reveals that Trump remains the primary internal obstacle to a full-scale ground invasion. Military planners have reportedly presented options for the seizure of Kharg Island, the strategic hub for 90% of Iran’s oil exports.

Trump says ceasefire ends Wednesday evening and a further extension is ‘highly unlikely’

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/20/world/live-news/iran-war-us-trump-israel

• Looming deadline: US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran ends “Wednesday evening Washington time,” adding it’s “highly unlikely” he would extend it if a deal is not reached before then.

He spreads hate online — and fans pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/04/20/nick-fuentes-stream-donors-funding/

Fuentes, 27, has been kicked off most mainstream social networks because of his viral provocations and extreme bigotry: He has said that Adolf Hitler is “awesome,” that most Black people should be imprisoned, that “organized Jewry” has corrupted society and that women should be locked in “breeding gulags” and serve only as “mothers, whores or nuns.”

But he has become an increasingly influential and disruptive force in the American conservative movement, thanks to a shadow economy of loyalists who cut and promote viral clips from his hours-long streams in pursuit of their own online clout.

Through his superchats, Fuentes has funneled that attention into a lucrative financial engine fueled by the handouts of hardcore fans. He said he also makes money selling swastika-imprinted T-shirts and $100-a-month subscriptions to a private chatroom, where he talks with devotees.

In the years since he began streaming from his parents’ basement, Fuentes has emerged as one of the far right’s most contentious agitators, most notably for his scathing criticism of President Donald Trump. Though he dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2022, Fuentes now argues that the president “betrayed MAGA” by supporting Israel in a war with Iran and “blew it” by not working more aggressively to deport people of color.

The heart of Fuentes’s message was that young men in the United States have gotten a rotten deal. In his telling, a nation of entitled baby boomers, like those leading the Republican Party, had poisoned American society with bad jobs, unbearable women and a racially diverse population intent on depriving White people of what they’re owed.

Fuentes, however, was practically swimming in superchat funds. In 228 videos since Trump took office in January 2025, donors initiated more than 26,000 superchats totaling more than $896,000, The Post’s analysis found. Ryan called The Post’s findings “awesome” and said that he hoped Fuentes “can put that [money] to something good.”

Death of Tzadik Atones

 Torah Temima (Vayikra 16:1.1): The Yerushalmi states that just as Yom Kippur atones for the Jewish people so does the death of tzadikim. This gemora does not explain the significance or the reason why the death of tzadikim atones for the Jewish people. It appears that an answer can be found in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 17) concerning the death of Shaul. In Shmuel it mentioned that the bones of Shaul were buried. This indicates that when G d saw how they cried and mourned for Shaul that this aroused the attribute of Mercy. We see then that it is not the death per se of the tzadik that brings about atonement but rather the honor and mourning for the tzadik, because the honor of the tzadik is in fact the honor of G d.

Shela (Tanis Aseres HaDibros, Torah Ohr 4:44) This that it says in Moed Koton (28a) that just as Yom Kippur atones so does the death of tzadikim atone. In other words just as Yom Kippur does not atone without repentance so too the death of a tzadik only atones for those who repent. But  possibly it is teaching that both Yom Kippur and the death of a tzadik atone with and without repentance  but that is not so as we learned  from previously regarding the bones of Shaul. Thus we learn here that only with repentance does the death of a tzadik and Yom Kippur atone. This is reinforced by the statement : Why is the death of Miriam adjacent to the section of the Red Heifer in the Torah? Just as the red Heifer atones so does the death of tzadikim and that is only for those who repented. 

 Bamidbar Rabbah (19:08) A certain idolater asked Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakai: ‘These actions that you perform seem to be a type of sorcery. You bring a heifer, burn it, crush it, and take its ashes. One of you becomes impure from a corpse, one sprinkles upon him two or three drops, and you say to him: You are purified.’ He said to him: ‘Has a spirit of insanity never entered you?’ He said to him: ‘No.’ ‘Have you seen a person into whom a spirit of insanity has entered?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘And what do you do to him?’ He said to him: ‘We bring roots, smoke them beneath him, and sprinkle water on it, and it flees.’ He said to him: ‘Let your ears hear what you express from your mouth. The same is true of this spirit, this spirit of impurity, as it is written: “I will remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land” (Zechariah 13:2). We sprinkle upon it the water of sprinkling, and it flees.’After he left, his students said to him: ‘You rebuffed this one with a reed. What do you say to us?’ He said to them: ‘As you live, it is not the corpse that impurifies, and it is not the water that purifies. Rather, the Holy One blessed be He said: I instituted a statute, issued a decree; you are not permitted to violate My decree, as it is written: “This is the statute of the Torah.”’

Moed Koton (28a) Wherefore is the account of Miriam's death placed next to the laws of the red heifer? To inform you that even as the red heifer afforded atonement by the ritual use of its ashes, so does the death of tie righteous afford atonement for the living they have left behind.

Moed Koton (28a) Wherefore is the account of Aaron's death closely followed by the account of the disposal of the priestly vestments? To inform you that just as the priest's vestments were means to effect atonement so is the death of the righteousconducive to procuring atonement.

Vayikra Rabbah (20:12) Rabbi Abba bar Avina said: Why is the death of Miriam juxtaposed to the ashes of the heifer? It teaches that just as the ashes of the heifer atone, so the death of the righteous atones. Rabbi Yudan said: Why is the death of Aaron juxtaposed to the breaking of the tablets? It teaches that Aaron’s death was as difficult before the Holy One blessed be He as the breaking of the tablets. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: On the first of Nisan, Aaron’s sons died. Why, then, does it mention their death on Yom Kippur? It teaches that just as Yom Kippur atones, so, too, the death of the righteous atones. From where is it derived that Yom Kippur atones? As it is stated: “For on this day he shall atone for you, to purify you”. From where is it derived that the death of the righteous atones? As it is written: “They buried the bones of Saul”, and it is written: “and God acceded to the entreaty of the land thereafter”. 

Berachos (62b) And He said to the Angel that destroyed the people, It is enough. R. Eleazar said: G-d said to the Angel: Take a great man among them, through whose death many sins can be expiated for them. At that time there died Abishai son of Zeruiah, who was singly equal in worth to the greater part of the Sanhedrin.

Haredim and Religious Zionists - A Simplistic and Naive Viewpoint

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/425767

Question:

What is the difference in worldview between the Haredim and the Religious Zionists that results in their differing halakhic rulings regarding the mitzvot of settling the Land today and having a Medinah before Mashiach comes?

Answer:

The Yeshiva World focuses on one thing: Torah learning. Following the terrible destruction of European Torah world, today’s Haredim are making a monumental effort to build the world of Torah anew. To whatever extent they do collaborate with the State of Israel, it is for the purpose of advancing that goal.

The controversy between the Haredi approach and the Religious Zionists is about the means, not the goal. There is no essential difference regarding the goal. Everyone wants the entire Jewish People to settle in Eretz Yisrael. Everyone wants there to be a Jewish State and a Jewish army. Everyone wants the State to be holy, and everyone wants the Nation that dwells in Zion to act in a holy fashion. There is no argument over these points. The difference is only over the pathway that will take us there, the means to achieving the ends. Should we first move to Israel or should we first repent in the Diaspora and only then move to Israel? Should we collaborate with the re-establishment of the Jewish State or not? Should we presently serve in the army, or not

Death of Tzadik Atones for Jewish People

Torah Temima (Vayikra 16:1.1): The Yerushalmi states that just as Yom Kippur atones for the Jewish people so does the death of tzadikim. This gemora does not explain the significance or the reason why the death of tzadikim atones for the Jewish people. It appears that an answer can be found in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 17) concerning the death of Shaul. In Shmuel it mentioned that the bones of Shaul were buried. This indicates that when G d saw how they cried and mourned for Shaul that this aroused the attribute of Mercy. We see then that it is not the death per se of the tzadik that brings about atonement but rather the honor and mourning for the tzadik, because the honor of the tzadik is in fact the honor of G d.

Moed Koton (28a) Wherefore is the account of Miriam's death placed next to the laws of the red heifer? To inform you that even as the red heifer afforded atonement by the ritual use of its ashes, so does the death of tie righteous afford atonement for the living they have left behind.

Moed Koton (28a) Wherefore is the account of Aaron's death closely followed by the account of the disposal of the priestly vestments? To inform you that just as the priest's vestments were means to effect atonement so is the death of the righteousconducive to procuring atonement.

Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement

 https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/ben-shapiro-is-waging-battle-inside-the-maga-movement#:~:text=The%20conservative%20commentator%20on%20the,corrupt%20yet%20sticks%20with%20him.&text=Listen%20and%20subscribe%3A%20Apple%20%7C

The conservative commentator on the antisemitism in MAGA media and why he condemns President Trump as corrupt yet sticks with him.

Well, I mean, the only way to lose my faith and support and vote forever would be for there to be an alternative that I find superior to him. This is the problem when you’re making voting decisions. Would I want Donald Trump marrying into my family? Probably not. The problem is that once you say that the candidate is “disqualified,” then you either have to sit out the election—which I did in 2016. And then whatever damage President Trump had, I thought, done by being elected in 2016, he did a bunch of things I liked between 2016 and 2020, and then I did not like what he did with regard to the election of 2020, and the falsehoods that he told about winning that election. And then I didn’t support him in the primaries, and then he ended up winning the nomination. He was running against Kamala Harris. So I can either sit out the election again, which doesn’t really achieve the—

Did the degree of antisemitism on the right take you by surprise?

Yes. The rise of it over the course of the last couple of years has certainly taken me by surprise. The willingness to aid and abet and promote antisemitic conspiracy theories has been shocking.

To understand what’s happening, I think we first have to understand what antisemitism actually is, because when people mischaracterize the definition, that allows their particular side to escape. So people tend to define antisemitism in a way that excuses their side, and that throws all of the blame on the other side. What they will say is “Well, I’m just anti-Israel, I’m not antisemitic,” or “I’m not personally antisemitic, I’m just against Jewish control of the media.”

The definition of antisemitism—antisemitism at its root—is a conspiracy theory about the power of Jews as a group in the world. And that can be channelled into an anti-Zionism that says that Israel is controlling American foreign policy, and that Israel has befuddled the world, and it’s all about the Benjamins—which is the kind of thing that Ilhan Omar says—or it can be channelled into: Jews in America are too powerful in the media and they’re cliquish and they are controlling the circumstances of my life.

So this is why I’m trying to be more precise about the definition. Being critical of Israeli policy is not the same thing as saying, for example, that Israel’s government designed and implemented a genocide, which is a lie, and that is a lie that can be chalked up to a nefarious view of what Jews are doing in the world, because it is also part and parcel of a broader lie, which is that the Jews have then sold the idea that they’re capable of doing whatever they want under the guise of America’s banner, and they’ve done so because of their inordinate power. It’s part of a broader conspiracy theory.

This is why I’m trying to be particularistic in my definition about what antisemitism is. I think the broad definition of antisemitism as sort of a subset of racism is wrong. I think that that definition is both overbroad and under-inclusive. What you end up with is the emptying out of antisemitism as a worthwhile category that actually bears weight in American life. Much the same way that the right said, for a long time, “You keep calling everybody racist, therefore nobody’s a racist,” which is untrue, right? There are actual racists out there.

But the idea is that if you over-apply a category, then it starts losing its power and its effectiveness, and that actually opens the door to the thing. I think the same thing has happened with antisemitism. And so what I’ve said before is: instead of talking in categories of antisemitism, or Jew hatred, or the rest of it, why don’t we talk about what’s true and what’s false and what’s moral and what’s not moral, because that’s easier for people to get their head around.

Why Antisemites Love Israel, and Vice Versa

 https://www.leftvoice.org/why-antisemites-love-israel-and-vice-versa/#:~:text=One%20might%20assume%20that%20the,them%20to%20be%20far%20away.

 If we look around the world today, some of the strongest supporters of Israel are unvarnished Jew haters. As a CNN investigation showed, the hooligans who attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA were not in their majority Jewish or Israeli — they were Trump supporters whose social media profiles were full of antisemitic memes about the Rothschilds controlling the world. 

Let’s look at some examples: 

Just a week after Donald Trump received a prize from the Zionist Organization of America for his steadfast support of Israel, he dined with the antisemite Kanye West and the Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s party National Rally (RN) was founded by former Nazi collaborators — fascists who rounded up French Jews for genocide. But Le Pen supports Israel more than any other French politician does.

In Germany, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) also has Nazi roots — their lead candidate in the European elections defended the SS, the organization that ran the extermination camps. The AfD is Germany’s most pro-Israel party.

In Italy, Giorga Meloni’s government supports Israel, while members of her party’s youth organization give fascist salutes and use antisemitic slurs.

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who didn’t want his kids going to school with Jews, has called MAGA “the most pro-Israel group” in the country, while MAGA supporters commit mass murder in synagogues.

In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has organized campaigns against the Jewish billionaire George Soros employing classic antisemitic tropes: “We are fighting an enemy that is different from us. Not open, but hiding; not straightforward but crafty; not honest but base; not national but international; does not believe in working but speculates with money; does not have its own homeland but feels it owns the whole world.” Orbán’s government is Israel’s closest ally in the European Council. 

In his diaries, Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, noted that “the anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.” This was not an abstract thought: In mid-1903, Herzl went to St. Petersburg to meet with the Tsar’s minister Vyacheslav von Plehve, who was responsible for terrible pogroms against Jews. The two men agreed to encourage the emigration of Jews from Russia, as a way to keep Jews away from the revolutionary movements threatening the Tsar.

While it’s often argued that opponents of Israel are antisemitic, scientific research points in the opposite direction. As Peter Beinart notes in Jewish Currents, studies show that people who support Israel are actually more likely to agree with antisemitic statements such as: “Jews have too much influence in this country.” Pro-Israel countries tend to be anti-Jewish, and vice versa. It sounds contradictory, but it has a certain logic: Just like in the past, people who don’t like Jews are happy for them to be far away.

‘Whether people like Israel or not’: What six words in a Trump post reveal

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-893539

Israel has just fought shoulder to shoulder with the US, yet Trump's choice of words suggests that Israel has shifted from a broadly accepted ally to a debated one.

Just days before Independence Day, US President Donald Trump on Sunday posted a message on his social media platform praising Israel and extolling it as an exemplary ally.

“Whether people like Israel or not, they have proven to be a GREAT Ally of the United States of America. They are Courageous, Bold, Loyal, and Smart, and, unlike others that have shown their true colors in a moment of conflict and stress, Israel fights hard and knows how to WIN!”

Those words should put a smile on the lips of every Israeli. They should, but it is the opening six words that linger: “Whether people like Israel or not.”

The emphasis is not on what Israel represents or how that aligns with American values, but rather on what it delivers. This is a subtle yet significant shift – a more transactional framing: Israel moving from a natural partner to a useful one. This framing reflects a broader and troubling reality: Israel has become a dividing line within American politics, part of the culture-war terrain rather than, as it once was, a rare point of consensus.

Trump says talks to take place Tuesday, as Iran says it has ‘no plans’ to attend

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-us-iran-talks-to-take-place-tuesday-threatens-no-more-mr-nice-guy/

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that talks with Iran on extending the ceasefire would resume on Tuesday, while the Islamic Republic indicated it was not planning to send a delegation and was pessimistic about the prospects of the talks.

Trump told Fox News that White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff would be heading to the Pakistani capital Islamabad for the negotiations, and if Tehran does not agree to a deal, the whole of Iran would be “blown up.”

He told the outlet that bridges and power plants in Iran would be targeted, repeating his threat to target civilian infrastructure — plans that appeared to have been halted after the ceasefire was reached nearly two weeks ago. The break in the fighting is set to expire on Wednesday if an extension is not agreed upon.

Antisemites supporting Israel is weird. Jewish support of them is even weirder

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/27/jewish-antisemitism-support-israel-gaza-zionism

Perhaps the most bizarre spectacle of the past month has been watching some of the world’s most wretched antisemites lining up to give their unalloyed support to Israel. Even more jarring has been their embrace by those who are supposed to advocate for Jewish safety.

In the US, there is Donald Trump, whose election was heralded by antisemites’ biggest public rally in the US in a generation, the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yet because Trump was also demonstrably pro-Israel in his foreign policy stances, notably moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, he receives ongoing support and endorsements from many pro-Israel pressure groups. Some of them were nervous when he criticised Israel’s lack of military preparedness for the Hamas attacks, but he’s now back in the fold, adding “#IStandWithBibi”to his Truth Social posts.

The rationale behind these reactions is twisted and wrong: Israel is supposed to be a homeland for Jews from the horrors of the pogroms, the Holocaust and antisemitism. Yet we are now reaching an illogical conclusion where organisations supposed to protect Jewish rights turn a blind eye to antipathy towards Jews as long as proponents support Israel.