By Rabbi Yair Hoffman There certainly may be heated discussions in the shuls of New York where there are multipl

President Donald Trump on Friday re-upped his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating a showdown with the first major college that has defied the administration’s efforts to crack down on campus activism. He’s underscoring that pledge even as federal law prohibits senior members of the executive branch from asking the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or an investigation. The White House has said any IRS actions will be conducted independently of the president. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on President Trump: “It’s important to get engaged immediately…I’m pleased to have the opportunity for quite a comprehensive set of meetings that will take place on Tuesday.”

Frustrated by delays in the production of a new Air Force One, President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly decided to overhaul a jet once operated by the Qatari government as a temporary substitute.
“I’m not happy with Boeing,” Trump said in February about the drawn-out progress on the Air Force One replacements. “We may buy a plane or get a plane, or something.”

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.

BREAKING: According to Axios, Stephen Miller is now the top contender for President Trump’s new National Security Advisor.

In a powerful letter, Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, rov of the Old City of Yerushalayim and noted posek, has issued a public call urging Torah Jews around the world to vote for the Eretz HaKodesh slate in the current WZO elections.
The rov describes Eretz HaKodesh as “a clear and strong voice from the bnei haYeshivos and the Torah-faithful communities who seek to increase holiness in the Land, to spread Torah and prayer, and to reinforce the voice of Torah that resonates throughout the batei midrash in Eretz Yisrael.”

The United States is pulling back from its role in brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, according to a statement Thursday from a senior State Department official.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that the U.S. “will not be the mediators” going forward. Her comments reflect President Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with the stagnant negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian governments.
“We are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings,” Bruce said, emphasizing that while the U.S. still supports a peaceful resolution, it will no longer take the lead.

President Trump introduced his 2026 budget blueprint on Friday, laying out plans to slash $163 billion from a variety of government programs including education, foreign assistance, and environmental initiatives, while ramping up military spending past the $1 trillion threshold.
The proposed reductions to non-defense discretionary funding represent a 22.6% decrease compared to current appropriations, according to documents released by the White House.
At the same time, Trump is requesting a 13% increase in defense allocations, pushing the Department of Defense budget to $1.01 trillion. Additionally, the administration is asking for $175 billion to address border security, aiming to, as the budget puts it, “at long last, finally secure our border.”