Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell defended the central bank’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday in a Princeton University speech in which he also praised government employees and U.S. universities, both of which have been targeted by the Trump administration. Powell and the central bank have been subject to extensive criticism in recent weeks by President Donald Trump and a potential successor, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh. Speaking at a baccalaureate service ahead of Tuesday’s commencement, Powell, who noted he graduated from Princeton 50 years ago, specifically defended the central bank’s decision to cut its key interest rate to nearly zero in response to the pandemic.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc. That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the U.S. president’s retelling. “I told anybody that would listen, they have to do that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.comreports the petirah of Rav Shimon Shatin-Shapira zt”l, a longtime yungerman at the Breslover kollel. He was 61 and had endured many years of intense physical and emotional suffering.
Rav Shimon, who became known as “Rav Shimon Ba’al HaYissurim” for the tremendous pain he bore with ahavas Hashem, was a fixture in the Breslov community. Despite frequent hospitalizations, he never allowed illness to separate him from his deep bond with Torah. Those who knew him often found him immersed in learning at all hours, even within hospital corridors.

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rebbetzin Rus Devora Avidan (Zemel) a”h, widow of the renowned gaon Rav Avraham Moshe Avidan (Zemel) zt”l. She was 87 years old.
Rebbetzin Avidan was born in Yerushalayim to her illustrious father, Rav Yirmiyahu, and her mother, Mrs. Yocheved. She came from a storied Yerushalmi family that produced generations of talmidei chachomim.

IDF special forces and Border Police officer entered the Old City of Shechem on Sunday morning to carry out an arrest operation of a senior Lion’s Den terrorist, based on precise Shin Bet intelligence. The suspect was involved in recent terror attacks and was planning additional attacks. A video published on Arab networks shows the special forces disembarking from the civilian pickup truck in which they arrived at the area and running down the narrow streets of the Old City. The terrorist attempted to flee the area, and the forces fired at his lower body, neutralizing him. Afterward, he was detained and transferred for interrogation.   (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted on Sunday to greenlight a proposed law aimed at creating a designated criminal tribunal to handle the prosecution of individuals involved in the October 7 atrocities.
This legislation, co-sponsored by MK Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party and MK Yulia Malinovsky from Yisrael Beytenu, outlines a plan to establish a specialized judicial body tailored to address the horrific crimes perpetrated by Hamas during the deadly attack.

The Foreign Ministry’s Director-General announced on Sunday that Ambassador to the US, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, will be summoned for a hearing regarding the criticism he voiced against the opposition in a media interview in the US. Director General Eden Bar Tal stated that the hearing will be held “in accordance with the instructions of the Senior Director of the Disciplinary Division in the Civil Service Commission.” Leiter attacked the Israeli left in an interview with the conservative US podcast PragerU. Responding to the left’s constant accusations that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s only goal in prolonging the war in Gaza is for “political reasons,” he said that the claim is a blood libel and defamation.

Channel 12 reported on Sunday that Liri Albag, a survivor of Hamas captivity, was stopped and questioned at JFK Airport in New York City this past Thursday.
Albag had flown to New York with friends for a much-needed vacation when she was unexpectedly pulled aside by U.S. passport control officers. The agents informed her that, according to their system, she was still marked as being held hostage and suspected that someone might be impersonating her.
She was held for about an hour, during which officials from the Israeli Consulate in New York got involved to clarify her identity and resolve the confusion. After their intervention, she was cleared and allowed to proceed.

ISA director candidate David Zini, who currently leads the IDF Training and Drill Command and serves on the General Staff, gave a brutally honest appraisal of the military’s breakdown during the October 7 Hamas onslaught. In a striking admission, he described the events as “a crazy failure, greater than the Yom Kippur War.”
Zini was addressing residents of the Gaza border region, many of whom he joined in combat on the day of the attack. He laid bare the strategic and operational flaws that, in his view, were at the heart of the catastrophe.