Mercaz USA, a branch of Mercaz Olami in the World Zionist Congress, must issue an apology for what the U.S. Area Election Committee, which oversees the American parts of the World Zionist Congress elections, called “uncontested” charges that it improperly sought to influence voters and smeared the reputation of rival slate Eretz Hakodesh, the committee’s chairs Abraham Gafni and David Butler stated on May 16.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, founder and chairman of Eretz Hakodesh, wrote in an appeal to the American Zionist Movement Tribunal three days later that the committee’s decision is “grossly inadequate punishment.”

Amid mounting pressure over the contentious draft law, Rav Nechemia Alter, son of the Gerrer Rebbe, met today with the Slabodka rosh yeshiva, Rav Dov Landau, at his home on Rechov Harav Sher in Bnei Brak. The meeting comes just days before the government’s self-imposed deadline of Shavuos to finalize legislation on the draft deferment for yeshiva students.
The visit follows a previous meeting held months ago between the Gerrer Rebbe himself and Rav Landau, accompanied by Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, during which the gedolim agreed to push for the law’s passage before Shavuos.

Welcome to the party, Fake Jake.
During a recent interview with Piers Morgan, CNN anchor Jake Tapper admitted, when pressed, that the Biden Admin’s cover-up of Joe’s decline may be worse than Watergate.
“‘Joe Biden is not Richard Nixon, and the hiding and cover-up of his deterioration is not Watergate.’ I am not entirely sure I agree, Jake with that conclusion,” Morgan said, quoting the book, during his show, “Piers Morgan Uncensored.

An Arab security guard attacked an elderly man and other people with pepper spray at the Kosel entrance. The security guard was arrested by the police.

In response to the tragic helicopter crash on April 10 that claimed the lives of a Spanish family of five and their pilot, U.S. Reps. Nadler (D-NY), Menendez (D-NJ), and Malliotakis (R-NY) have introduced the bipartisan “Improving Helicopter Safety Act.” The proposed legislation aims to prohibit all non-essential helicopter flights—including those for tourism, recreation, and luxury commuting—within a 20-mile radius of the Statue of Liberty. Essential flights, such as those for emergency services, law enforcement, news coverage, and research, would still be permitted.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer is urging both the U.S. Department of Justice and the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to investigate what he describes as a “coordinated series of governmental actions” targeting the Chasidic Jewish community in Linden, NJ. The letter comes on the heels of Agudath Israel representatives meeting with Justice Department officials earlier this month to discuss the repeated discrimination Chasidic Jews have been subjected to in Linden, as well as the advocacy group’s public slamming of Linden’s discrimination. Gottheimer’s letter cites a range of zoning changes, enforcement policies, and public meeting practices that disproportionately and adversely impact Orthodox Jewish families living in the area.

President Trump made waves Tuesday with a bold claim that Canada might soon join the United States as its 51st state in return for inclusion in the American “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative.
The announcement came not long after King Charles III made subtle remarks during a speech to Canada’s parliament that appeared to push back against Trump’s ambitions to absorb the country into the U.S.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump, 78, wrote on Truth Social.
“They are considering the offer!”

A second cryptocurrency investor surrendered to police Tuesday in the alleged kidnapping of a man who said he was tortured for weeks inside an upscale Manhattan townhouse by captors seeking the password to access his Bitcoin account. William Duplessie, 32, faces charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police. His arrest comes four days after the alleged victim — a 28-year-old Italian national — escaped, bloodied and barefoot, from a lavish townhouse where he said he had been severely beaten, drugged, shocked and threatened with death for nearly three weeks. On Friday evening, hours after the man’s escape, the crypto investor John Woeltz was taken into custody and charged in the alleged kidnapping scheme.