Senior Hamas political leaders based in Qatar have been instructed to relinquish their personal weapons, according to a report by the UK’s The Times on Wednesday. The move reportedly comes in response to increased U.S. pressure aimed at securing a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Those affected include Khalil al-Hayya, who heads the Hamas delegation conducting ceasefire talks; Zaher Jabarin, responsible for the group’s financial operations; and Muhammad Ismail Darwish, head of the Hamas religious council and a key representative in diplomatic visits to countries such as Turkey and Iran. According to sources cited by Ynet, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz recently named al-Hayya as next on Israel’s list of targets for elimination.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
After parshiyos that discussed the tragic accounts of the meraglim and Korach, this week’s parsha begins with an elevated vision of life steeped in Torah. Zos chukas haTorah, adam ki yomus ba’ohel.This is the way of Torah: spiritual living demands sacrifice. Those who seek to bind themselves to Torah shed the layers of material life, dedicating themselves to growth, meaning, and eternity. Their lives revolve around Torah, and they steer away from pursuits that distract from their spiritual ascent.

Ongoing friction between justices on Israel’s Supreme Court has exposed deep ideological divides and is creating mounting pressure for reform within the court’s ranks. The growing tension, particularly over how cases with high public profiles are handled, has placed conservative Justice Noam Sohlberg at odds with Supreme Court President Yitzchak Amit, who is known for his judicial activism.
Recent rulings and hearings have drawn criticism from both legal experts and the media, with many alleging that the court is projecting a one-sided tone and failing to maintain the objectivity and balance expected in major legal decisions.

Astronomers are monitoring an object headed our way that may have wandered over from another star system. Scientists have discovered what might be only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The harmless object is currently near Jupiter hundreds of millions of miles (kilometers) away and moving toward Mars, but it should get no closer to the sun than that, according to scientists. It’s too soon to know whether the object, designated for now as A11pl3Z, is a rocky asteroid or a icy comet, or how big and what shape it is. More observations are needed to confirm its origins. NASA said it is monitoring the situation.

The families of the hostages Maxim Herkin, 37, and Bar Kupershtein, 23, gave permission for a clip of a Hamas propaganda video to be published on Thursday. The clip is from a longer video which is intended to voice the families’ cry against the possibility of a partial hostage release deal that would include “cruel selections” and “separation between blood and blood.” The clip was taken from a video published by Hamas in April, but at that time, the Herkin and Kupershtein families did not approve its publication. Maxim Herkin, the father of a three-year-old girl, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. His mother has Russian citizenship. Bar Kupershtein’s abduction was the second major blow in the family in recent years.

A military veteran was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate law enforcement officers in retaliation for his arrest on charges that he was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court records show. Edward Kelley was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol. Nearly two years later, Kelley made plans with another man to attack the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, using improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones, according to prosecutors. Last November, a jury convicted Kelley of conspiring to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing federal officials by threat. Kelley received a pardon from President Donald Trump for his Jan.

By Rabbi Moshe Dov Heber
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when I received a phone call from a mother who had just returned from the Waterbury Sunday Baseball League.
“Rabbi Heber,” she said, her voice full of emotion, “I have to share something with you.”
She described a middle school boys’ baseball game she had just watched. Ezzy, a strong hitter known for his power, was up at bat. On the mound stood Yehuda, pitching one impressive throw after another. Ezzy struck out—a rare sight.
But what happened next is what stayed with her.
Instead of reacting with frustration—no bat throwing, no helmet slamming—Ezzy turned to Yehuda and said two simple words:
“Great pitch.”
That was it.

New details were published on Wednesday evening on Kan News regarding the Puma APC disaster in Khan Younis, in which seven soldiers were killed by the explosion of a bomb thrown by a terrorist into the IDF vehicle. According to chilling details revealed in the IDF’s internal investigation, the APC’s exit hatch was broken. The soldiers tied it with a rope, leaving it open, and the terrorist threw the bomb into the vehicle through the opening. In addition, the cameras on the APC had not been working for a long period. Soldiers testified that the commanders knew about the malfunctions, but no action was taken to improve the situation. A father of a soldier in the battalion said last week that the soldiers were using outdated equipment without perimeter cameras due to budgetary concerns.

The State Attorney’s Office has filed an indictment in the Nazareth District Court against Yoni Segal, 18, and Nehorai Mizrahi, 20, both from Tiveria, on charges including contact with a foreign agent, providing information to the enemy, and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, the defendants initiated contact with Iranian operatives via Telegram in mid-May. Initially, the Iranian contacts posed as “Kaplanist leftists” and tasked the pair with symbolic acts such as writing “Bibi Dictator” on a note and burning it, offering cryptocurrency in return. As contact progressed, the Iranians instructed the defendants to purchase secure “operational phones” to conceal their identities and engage in more advanced espionage tasks.

In this episode, Rabbi Reinman describes how Achav’s daughter Assaliah killed her grandchildren and took the crown of Yehudah for herself.
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Chapter Thirty-three: One Kingdom Survives
The previous chapter traced the decline and fall of Malchus Yisrael until the deportation of the people to distant places in the Assyrian Empire. This chapter traces the parallel fate of Malchus Yehudah. The paths of the two kingdoms diverged after the death of Shlomo and the division of his kingdom. The respective paths of the two kingdoms converged again when Asa, its king, gave his support to Omri’s claims to the throne of Israel and sealed it by taking Omri’s daughter as a wife for his son Yehoshaphat.

Hope is rising on Thursday morning in Israel regarding the chances of reaching a hostage release/ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip. If Hamas responds positively to the deal, an Israeli team will leave for negotiations in Qatar as early as the end of next week. According to Israeli media reports on Wednesday evening, Israel is making major efforts to reach a deal ahead of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House next week. Israeli sources say that Hamas is showing “flexibility” to a revised US-brokered proposal. According to the proposal on the table, Israel will halt the war for two months but will agree to extend the ceasefire even after the two months to try and reach an agreement that will end the war.

President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, once again demanding his resignation. Trump made the statement in a late-day post on Truth Social, declaring, “Too Late” should resign immediately!!! He attached a link to a Bloomberg article titled, “Fed Chair Should Be Investigated by Congress, FHSA Head Says.”
Although Powell was originally selected by Trump to lead the central bank during his presidency, he was reappointed to a second term by President Joe Biden. Powell’s current term is expected to conclude in May 2026.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exposes Zohran Mamdani’s radical record and touts the layout of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ on ‘Hannity.’
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Jack Lew, who led the Treasury Department under President Obama, sharply criticized Zohran Mamdani’s platform, calling the mayoral candidate’s ideas for New York City misguided and damaging. Mamdani, who emerged victorious in the Democratic primary, has pledged to implement a slew of progressive reforms, including fare-free public transit, no-cost childcare, and a halt on rent increases.
“The policies that he’s outlined are not policies that are good for New York. He’s running for mayor of New York, and I worry deeply having spent most of my life in New York about a city that I call home,” Lew said during a segment on CNBC on Wednesday.

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