Iran has claimed that it managed to bring down an Israeli warplane amid ongoing hostilities that began three days ago. Since early June 13, Israeli forces have been carrying out airstrikes across Tehran, targeting military installations, nuclear infrastructure, and petroleum assets.
Shortly after the conflict escalated, Iranian officials claimed they had downed an Israeli aircraft and taken a pilot into custody. Israel promptly dismissed the report, categorizing it as fabricated. Later, Iranian sources doubled down, releasing a follow-up statement alleging that a jet had indeed been shot down—and that video evidence existed. A clip began circulating online, purporting to show a fighter jet being struck by anti-aircraft fire.

Against the backdrop of the war between Israel and Iran and escalating tensions across the Middle East, the Jewish community in Moldova has reported a series of troubling events over the weekend in the capital, Chisinau. Over Shabbos, members of the community discovered that dozens of kivrei Yisroel in the Chisinau Jewish cemetery had been vandalized in what appears to be a deliberate and malicious act. This incident is part of a broader uptick in antisemitic incidents across the country in recent days. Among the deeply troubling occurrences: verbal harassment and threats directed at Yidden in public, antisemitic graffiti defacing the outer wall of a shul, and the inclusion of distorted and revisionist Holocaust content in a newly published state-sanctioned history textbook.

A kosher grocery store in Brookline, Massachusetts, was the target of an antisemitic attack early Sunday morning, after a brick scrawled with the words “Free Palestine” was thrown through its front window. The incident occurred shortly after midnight at The Butcherie, a long-established Jewish-owned business located at 428 Harvard Street. According to Brookline police, at least two masked individuals approached the store from nearby Coolidge Street before launching the brick into the storefront and fleeing the scene. Surveillance footage captured the suspects in motion—one clearly holding a brick—both as they approached the building and as they fled. Investigators say no other businesses in the area were targeted, and the motive appears to be focused specifically on The Butcherie.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that Israel’s recent air assault on Iran, carried out under Operation Rising Lion, was launched to prevent what he described as a looming nuclear catastrophe.
According to Netanyahu, Israel’s decision to act was based on intelligence indicating that Iran was only a few months away from building its first nuclear weapon.
“We had to act,” Netanyahu declared. “It was the 12th hour, and we did act. To save ourselves but also … to protect the world from this incendiary regime.”

In an unexpected development, the mashgiach, Rav Don Segal, has departed for the United States to join a critical fundraising mission on behalf of Keren Olam HaTorah.
The mashgiach will be joining forces with Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and Rav Dovid Cohen, to raise vital support for the Torah world during this time of unprecedented need.
The Mashgiach’s arrival is all the more remarkable given his recent stay in Switzerland, where he has been recuperating. His decision to embark on this journey underscores the urgency of the cause and his unwavering dedication to the needs of the Olam HaTorah.

BREAKING: Reports state that IDF jets have begun bombing Iran’s nuclear plant in Fordow, which is buried deep beneath a mountain and considered extremely difficult to destroy.

According to Iran International, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved to a secure underground facility in northeastern Tehran just hours after Israel launched airstrikes on Friday.
The report, which cites two well-placed sources within Iran, states that Khamenei is currently accompanied by his entire family in a shelter located in the Lavizan district.
The same bunker had reportedly been used by Khamenei during earlier crises, including Iran’s missile attacks on Israel in April and October of 2024.

Iran’s Police Chief, Sardar Radan, was reportedly assassinated in an Israeli operation.

Iranians are continuing to flee the capital of Tehran tonight, as Israel intensifies its strike campaign against government, military, and infrastructure targets throughout the city, with footage showing major traffic jams on the Babayi Expressway to the northeast of Tehran.