A 70-year-old Jewish man was viciously assaulted on Wednesday night in the quiet French town of Anduze, near Alès. According to a report by Entrevue, the victim—wearing a kippah and tzitzis—was feeding stray cats in the street when a drunken man approached him and demanded money. When the elderly man refused, he attacked. Eyewitnesses say the attacker, a 45-year-old man known to local police for previous theft-related offenses, launched into a brutal assault—punching and kicking the defenseless victim while shouting antisemitic slurs, including “dirty Jew.” Local authorities arrested the suspect on Thursday morning.

The Zionist Organization elections have entered their final phase, with the “Eretz Hakodesh” faction expressing significant concern about a possible defeat. Campaign officials report a substantial increase in voting among Reform and Conservative supporters in recent days, threatening to shift the balance of power. While the Eretz Hakodesh faction enjoyed strong initial support across diverse constituencies, the situation has changed dramatically in the final stretch. The AID faction, which maintains close ties with the Israeli left and the “Brothers in Arms” movement, has launched an extensive online campaign successfully mobilizing voters for parties within the liberal-reform bloc.

The IDF announced that approximately 400 chareidim have been drafted into the military this week. The new recruits include 196 combat soldiers and 167 soldiers assigned to combat support roles. Another 23 are still awaiting placement. Among the combat troops, 105 have joined the Netzach Yehuda Battalion of the Kfir Brigade—an IDF unit composed of religious soldiers. Others have been assigned to the Chashmonean Brigade (48), the Tomer Company in Givati’s Rotem Battalion (19), the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers’ 202nd Battalion (20), and four to the ground defense unit at Nevatim Airbase. In addition to the newly drafted soldiers, 26 older charedi men joined the reserves after completing the Shlav Bet (“Stage B”) track—an expedited training process for older recruits.

China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that Beijing is evaluating multiple approaches by the Trump administration for trade talks, but steep tariffs imposed by Washington must go. A ministry statement reiterated China’s stance that is open to talks, but also that Beijing is determined to fight if it must. It said one-sided tariffs of up to 145% remain an obstacle, undermining trust. “The tariff and trade wars were unilaterally initiated by the U.S., if the U.S. side wants to talk, it should show its sincerity, and be ready to take action on issues such as correcting wrong practices and canceling the unilateral imposition of tariffs,” it said. An unnamed ministry spokesperson was cited as saying that Beijing had taken note of various statements by senior U.S.

President Donald Trump’s nuclear negotiations with Iran bear striking resemblance to the very deal he famously tore up in 2018, Reuters reports. The rapid commencement of talks last month has stunned regional allies, most notably Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had arrived in Washington expecting a green light for military action against Iran — only to learn hours before a joint appearance that the U.S. was heading back to the negotiating table. Since then, three rounds of high-level U.S.–Iranian talks have taken place with a fourth expected soon in Rome.

Organizers of the Gaza “freedom flotilla”, who intended to “break the Israeli siege” on the Gaza Strip, claimed that it was attacked by drones off the coast of Malta in international waters, CNN reported on Friday. “There is a hole in the vessel right now and the ship is sinking,” Yasemin Acar, the spokesperson for the terror flotilla, told CNN. Vidoes posted on the X by the “coalition” show a fire burning on a ship, which, according to marine websites, is the Palau-flagged “Conscience” ship that departed from Tunisia. The organizers of the flotilla, who accuse Israel of “genocide” on their social media pages, wrote about the incident on social media: “At 00:23 Maltese time, the Freedom Flotilla vessel was subjected to a drone attack.

by Shira Miller In a significant recognition

The IDF successfully intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen at northern Israel early Friday morning, triggering sirens in the Upper and Lower Galil, Haifa and its suburbs, Binyamina, and the Jezreel Valley. The missile was successfully intercepted before it entered Israel. However, shrapnel from an interceptor missile hit a kindergarten in Mishmar HaEmek, penetrating the roof of the building and falling into the kindergarten. B’Chasdei Hashem, no one was injured as the kindergarten has not yet opened for the day. Shai Regev, the head of education at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, was quoted by Ynet as saying. “It’s a huge neis. The children could have been injured if this had happened while the kindergarten was open.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman A Towering Yet Hidden Influence Perhaps no other Torah personality embodies such a stark contrast between profound impact and relative obscurity.