Thursday, November 20, 2025
‘My poll numbers just went down’: Trump defends skilled immigration, breaking with MAGA base
Nearly one year since his return to the White House, Trump’s insistence that legal immigration is not only tolerable but an economic necessity continues to roil hardliners on the right, who are at odds with the business and tech interests that Trump has long aligned himself with.
Trump’s break with his base reflects his desire to increase investments in the tech and manufacturing sectors, which the president does not believe would be possible — in the short term — without foreign workers.
The president also has close ties to the tech industry, a top user of the H-1B program. During the last fiscal year, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google relied most on H-1B visas. Those companies have contributed handsomely to Trump efforts including his inaugural fund and the $300 million ballroom that will replace the White House East Wing.
“You saw the list … they’re all on there, and they all want their H-1B workers,” said a person close to the administration, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “So he’s hearing about this from all of those folks.”
Witkoff scraps planned meeting with senior Hamas official — diplomat
There were no known meetings between the US and Hamas before Trump’s second term, when he dispatched an envoy to secretly meet with Hamas officials earlier this year to help secure the release of American-Israeli hostage soldier Edan Alexander.
Sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel at the time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Ron Dermer had fumed upon learning of the secret US-Hamas talks after the fact and leaked them to the press, contributing to their collapse in March. Witkoff and Kushner’s October 9 sit-down with the Hayya-led team was the next in-person meeting between the sides.
While Netanyahu publicly embraced the plan when it was unveiled in September at the White House, neither Israel nor Hamas has actually signed it. Instead, they agreed on October 9 to a different document that focused on the ceasefire, Israel’s initial pullback from Gaza, the hostage-prisoner swap and humanitarian aid provisions.
In a joint interview alongside Kushner last month, Witkoff said he had managed to connect with Hayya over their shared experience of losing sons.
Four children injured following roof collapse in Beit Shemesh
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-873987
Four children were injured following a roof collapse at a kindergarten in Beit Shemesh, Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority stated on Sunday.
Medical officials said several people received treatment at the site and were then evacuated to the hospital with minor injuries.
No life-threatening injuries were reported.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders give haredi factions green light to advance IDF draft bill
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-874434
The Degel HaTorah faction of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) United Torah Judaism Party (UTJ) gave a “green light” on Wednesday from its spiritual leaders to advance the controversial haredi conscription bill.
Advancements on the bill had previously been halted in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC), chaired by MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), since the opening of the winter session in October.
The green light was given after the Lithuanian-haredi Degel HaTorah’s two spiritual leaders, Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, passed on the approval instructions to its MKs.
NY Jewish leaders asked governor to release Hasidic abuser, records show
As the case reemerged, court filings obtained by The Times of Israel showed that last December, an array of Jewish leaders signed a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeking a commutation for Weberman’s immediate release. The previously unreported letter was submitted to the court as a reference for resentencing in June, along with other letters of support from Weberman’s family and supporters.
The letter called Weberman’s sentence “absorbently excessive,” saying he had not incurred any infractions during his 12 years in prison and that his sentence was “much greater by comparison to others held guilty of a similar crime.”
The letter was signed by 13 prominent rabbis representing an array of Hasidic groups in New York City and a representative of Yeshiva University. The university did not reply to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia gained more than the U.S. from MBS’s D.C. visit
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/19/saudi-arabia-mbs-mohammed-bin-salman-trump
President Donald Trump’s lies about our murdered columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, overshadowed the more tangible deliverables handed to Mohammed bin Salman during the Saudi crown prince’s visit this week. On balance, Mohammed gained more from the trip than the United States, though the Trump family’s businesses stand to profit handsomely from private deals with the Saudis.
“MBS,” as Mohammed is called, returns home with permission to purchase 48 advanced F-35 fighter jets that many in the Pentagon, and Israel, do not trust him to have, as well as nearly 300 Abrams tanks. Trump also conferred “major non-NATO ally” status on Saudi Arabia and agreed to provide it with “world-leading” artificial intelligence technology, which hopefully won’t wind up transferred to China.
In exchange, the Saudis committed to invest nearly $1 trillion in the U.S., up from the $600 billion they announced in May. They offered no time horizon for this far-fetched figure, which is roughly the size of their annual economic output. Analysts say it will be even more difficult to achieve given lower oil prices and the kingdom’s growing budget deficit due to wasteful spending on white elephant infrastructure projects. But Trump loves to tout big topline numbers and the Saudis, like other countries, are happy to play along.
The Defense Intelligence Agency recently warned in a report that China might be able to access F-35 technology if the U.S. goes ahead with the sale because Riyadh has a security partnership with Beijing. Israeli defense leaders separately balked that the deal would jeopardize its air superiority in the Middle East. Trump acknowledged that, but concluded both countries deserve the “top of the line” planes. Fortunately, Trump and MBS did not reach a deal for the U.S. to share civil nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, which is awash in cheap energy, though they agreed to keep talking about it.
US school pays 100K for expelling Jews who faced antisemitism
https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/11/19/virginia-school-pays-jewish-students-antisemitism
The private Nysmith School in Northern Virginia will pay approximately $100,000 to a Jewish family whose three children were expelled. As previously reported, the school expelled three Jewish siblings last July who faced severe antisemitic harassment following the October 7 massacre, during a period when students at the school drew Hitler as a "strong leader."
Vindman demands release of Trump-Mohammed bin Salman call after Khashoggi murder: ‘You will be shocked’
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5613961-vindman-trump-saudi-call-transcript-khashoggi
Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who served on the National Security Council (NSC) in the first Trump administration, called on President Trump to release the transcript of a “shocking” phone call that took place with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the aftermath of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination.
Vindman — who played a key role in exposing details of Trump’s infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 — said a second phone call exists with the Saudi crown prince that rivals the first as “the most problematic.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
DOJ admits full grand jury never reviewed final Comey indictment, further imperiling case
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5612407-comeys-challenge-trump-prosecution/
The Justice Department on Wednesday admitted that the operative indictment against former FBI Director James Comey was never presented to the full grand jury — a procedural error defense attorneys say should bar the prosecution.
Instead of presenting a new indictment to the full panel after it rejected one of the counts, interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan gave the grand jury’s foreperson an updated version — not seen by the other grand jurors — to sign.
Trump defends Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/18/saudi-prince-trump-visit-white-house
Mohammed arrived to a grand welcome from Trump at the White House on Tuesday, greeted at the South Portico with an Army honor guard of black horses and herald trumpeters, a remarkable turnaround for the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia who had been branded a pariah in 2018 after the CIA concluded that he had approved the killing of Khashoggi.
Trump’s embrace of the crown prince despite U.S. intelligence warnings of his complicity in Khashoggi’s murder recalled a similar moment in Trump’s first term, when he said he took Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vow over a U.S. intelligence assessment that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 elections.
Mohammed’s arrival was filled with more pomp than for any world leader thus far in Trump’s second term. Trump treated Mohammed to a flyover of six F-15 and F-35 fighter jets that streaked across the Washington sky, as large American and Saudi flags fluttered from the black horses of an Army honor guard that walked across the South Lawn in procession. Trump escorted the crown prince into the White House, where the two leaders met in the Oval Office before a working lunch and then a grand dinner.
Khashoggi’s widow responds to Trump calling him ‘extremely controversial’
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5611401-khashoggi-widow-slams-trump/?tbref=hp
When asked about Khashoggi’s death, the president defended Crown Prince Mohammed, telling reporters that the leader “knew nothing about that” and alleging “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman.”
He also slammed a journalist from ABC News who pressed the crown prince for an answer on the subject.
“Your Royal Highness, the U.S. Intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist, 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office,” White House correspondent Mary Bruce asked. “Why should Americans trust you? And the same to you, Mr President.”
Gaza today is repeat of 1982 Beirut: Washington is legitimizing Hamas just like the PLO
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-874281
The story about a few hundred Hamas fighters trapped in the tunnels of Rafah is not much different. They could just surrender and then be repatriated to some Arab or Muslim countries. But the story is developing along the line of Beirut.
The American administration has been applying constant pressure on Israel to allow the trapped terrorists a victorious march, perhaps even with their weapons, out of the tunnels to freedom. As the result of the “deadlock” around this issue, Mr. Witkoff is about to directly meet Hamas representatives again to discuss possible solutions. Why he needs to meet with the heads of a terror organization directly and not through the “trusted” channels of Turkey and Qatar is explained as the penchant of the president for direct diplomacy.
It is also clear that the legitimization of Hamas, as a serious and recognized negotiating partner, is underway and perhaps has already been completed. That may explain why the president of the United States would personally guarantee the safety of Hamas leadership in Qatar. Those guarantees go beyond what president Reagan offered Yasser Arafat back in 1982. Then, Israel had no direct commitments to the United States and did strike at the PLO in Tunisia later when the situation demanded action.