It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Weiskopf zt”l, a respected talmid chacham from the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Yerushalayim who was niftar at the age of 48 after an extended illness.
Rav Tzvi was born in Haifa in 1977 to Rav Eliezer and Mrs. Tova Weiskopf. He grew up in the chareidi kehillah of Haifa, where he was educated and nurtured in Torah and yiras Shamayim. As a young man, he learned in Yeshiva LeTze’irim Or Yisrael in Petach Tikvah, where he quickly stood out for his diligence and refined middos.

The chareidi parties in the Knesset are once again threatening to halt their support for coalition-sponsored legislation unless progress is made on a bill that would officially exempt yeshiva students from military service.
According to a report by Channel 12, the boycott would apply specifically to private member bills brought forward by coalition MKs. Though the outlet did not cite specific sources, the move is said to mirror tactics used earlier this year to pressure the government into acting on the long-sought exemptions.

The community of Kiryas Yoel is mourning the sudden petirah of Yona Meisels z”l, a 12-year-old boy from the Bloomingrove community, who passed away over Shabbos.
Yona did not have any known medical conditions. On Shabbos, he began feeling unwell and was rushed to the hospital, where, tragically, his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was niftar shortly thereafter.
Yona was the beloved son of Rav Chaim Yechezkel Meisels, a member of the Satmar kehillah in Bloomingrove.
A talmid at the local Satmar Talmud Torah, Yona was known for his sweet nature and lovable personality.
The levayah was held this morning in Kiryas Yoel.
Yehi zichro baruch.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held his first meeting with families of the hostages still held in Gaza since taking office in January, according to a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The meeting took place in Washington, D.C., on Erev Shabbos.
“The real victory in Gaza will be achieved only when all the hostages return home,” Rubio told the families during the discussion, as reported by the forum.
Rubio also reportedly emphasized that the United States is playing a pivotal role in shaping events in the Middle East, pointing to recent Israeli military gains against Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as setbacks faced by the Iranian regime.

Israeli security services have dismantled a large and dangerous Hamas network that had been active in the Chevron region, with concrete plans to launch attacks on Israelis in the near term.
The extensive operation, coordinated between the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the IDF, and the Judea and Samaria branch of the Israel Police, led to the arrest of more than 60 individuals affiliated with Hamas. A large portion of those detained were previously incarcerated and had since returned to terror-related activity, including gathering intelligence, training with firearms, assembling explosive devices, and crafting bombs for future use.

On Sunday, the Yerushalayim District Court agreed to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s request to delay his court appearances, meaning he will not be required to take the stand this week.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu appeared in court to present his reasons for seeking a postponement, citing regional developments as justification for the delay.
Just two days earlier, the court had turned down Netanyahu’s initial bid to pause his testimony for two weeks. He had argued that pressing matters of national importance, including political and security concerns, made it impossible for him to participate in the hearings as scheduled.

The IDF announced on Sunday the tragic loss of Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, a 20-year-old soldier from Ra’anana, who was killed during a military operation in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Rosenfeld served in the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, which is part of the 401st Armored Brigade.
The deadly incident occurred in Jabaliya shortly after 11:00 a.m., when an explosive device detonated as a team of IDF Armored Corps soldiers approached a structure during a targeted raid.
Thankfully, no other troops were injured in the blast. The military has opened an investigation to determine the precise details surrounding the event.

Popular Israeli actress and children’s entertainer Michal Weizmann, widely known as Michal HaKtanah, made a public commitment to fully observe Shabbos this past weekend, dedicating it as a zechus for the return of the hostages held in Gaza.
“This Shabbos, I chose to stop,” Weizmann wrote on her Instagram account. “A Shabbos of Rosh Chodesh. A Shabbos of new beginnings. A Shabbos I chose to keep in full, turning off my phone, opening my heart, and letting the light in.”

Following the coordinated aerial assault led by Israel and supported by the United States against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is warning that Tehran may be able to restart its uranium enrichment operations within months.
In a conversation with CBS News—excerpts of which were published yesterday ahead of the full interview airing today—Grossi acknowledged that while the strikes caused some damage to Iranian nuclear installations, “some is still standing.”
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi explained, emphasizing the limited timeframe Iran would need to resume its program.

Oded (Dedi) Levinson z”l, a veteran Israeli journalist and longtime media personality, passed away at the age of 64 after battling a serious illness.
Levinson, who served for many years as head of the economic division and a prominent broadcaster on Army Radio (Galei Tzahal), was widely known and respected in the world of Israeli journalism. A lawyer by training, Levinson experienced a profound personal transformation, becoming a baal teshuvah and joining the Amshinov chassidus.