Israel and Iran seemed to honor the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace. Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he was not particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack. “We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump said.

Following the unprecedented remarks of US President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday evening called for the corruption cases against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to be dropped, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar published a scathing post on Thursday morning in which he attacked the judicial system and deemed the cases against Netanyahu as a perversion of justice against him and the entire country.

When the ceasefire between Israel and Iran went into effect on Tuesday morning, HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein spoke briefly after serving as the sandak at the bris milah of his great-grandson. Among other things, he said, “Today is a day of transformation. What nissim Hakadosh Baruch Hu did for us! It’s indescribable. All the nations of the world are against us, and Am Yisrael rises like a lion— doesn’t ask any questions—and defies everyone, like a lion that asks no questions.” “This is a very great day. A transformation has occurred—we’re returning to the yeshivos, returning to avodas hakodesh, returning to complete security. Baruch Hashem, we’re on top. They killed all those who needed to be killed, all the reshaim.

Local immigration police raided a slaughterhouse in the Mirigama area of Sri Lanka on Monday and arrested five shochtim and Rabbanim who were carrying out shechita for the local Jewish community, Kikar H’Shabbat reported. The Rabbanim, from Israel, Australia, and Italy, arrived in the area in recent weeks to help the kehilla perform shechita. According to the police, they were charged with the violation of immigration laws by performing work and religious activity while in the country on a visitor visa only. After their arrest, they were deported from the country. The Jewish kehilla in the island country, which numbers several hundred people, was shocked by the arrests.

Kan News Arab affairs commentator Roi Kais wrote on X on Wednesday that shortly before the outbreak of the war with Iran, a young Chassidish man from New York visited Jewish kehillos in Iran. Kais wrote, “He documented the visit and left the country before the war broke out.” “The young American, who in the meantime does not want to reveal his identity due to the tensions between the two countries, visited markets in Tehran and other cities while traveling with a local ‘guide’ assigned to him by the regime.” “He videoed himself traveling by train with the ‘guide’ while the songs ‘Mi Shebeirach’ for IDF soldiers and HaTikvah were playing in the background.” The Chassid has visited almost 50 countries throughout the world and documents his adventures on Instagram, Arutz Sheva reported.

In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s stunning first-place finish in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, President Donald Trump unleashed a scathing and deeply personal tirade against the 33-year-old socialist lawmaker — warning that his rise marks a dangerous new chapter for the Democratic Party and the country at large. “Democrats have crossed the line by elevating a 100% Communist Lunatic,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, reacting to Mamdani’s upset victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who conceded the race late Tuesday after trailing by roughly 70,000 votes. Trump, never one to hold back, turned his fire not just on Mamdani’s politics but his appearance, intelligence, and supporters.

Dear Editor, I was thrilled to hear about the new initiative endorsed by the Gedolim and Rabbanim Shlit”a: encouraging girls returning from seminary to wait until Shavuos to begin dating, and asking boys to return earlier from Eretz Yisroel to start shidduchim sooner. Why am I so excited? Because I speak from painful experience. Six years ago, my oldest daughter entered the shidduch parsha. Like many other well-meaning, naïve parents, I assumed the traditional Litvish system was still working — that a good girl and a good boy would be redt to each other, go out, and build a bayis ne’eman b’Yisroel. We reached out to shadchanim. We waited. One year passed. Nothing. Two years passed. Still nothing. Can you imagine that pain?

President Donald Trump launched a fiery intervention into Israeli domestic affairs Wednesday, publicly demanding that the Israeli justice system cancel the ongoing corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — calling it a “travesty of justice” and a politically driven witch hunt. In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump slammed the legal proceedings as “ridiculous,” accusing prosecutors of targeting a leader he hailed as “a Great Hero” in the aftermath of Israel’s military campaign against Iran. “I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!” Trump wrote.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed Wednesday that recent U.S. and Israeli strikes caused severe damage to Iran’s nuclear program. In a statement posted to X, Ratcliffe said the CIA has credible intelligence—including from a trusted source—that key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and will take years to rebuild. “CIA can confirm that a body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,” he wrote. Ratcliffe added that the agency is still gathering intelligence and will keep officials and, when possible, the public informed. The statement directly contradicts leaked reports that suggested the strikes had limited impact.

By Shira Miller After decades of decay, demolition, and dashed dreams, the legendary Grossinger’s resort property, in Liberty, NY, has found new life—and deep pockets.  Grossinger’s was