The victims of the Hezbollah rocket attack in Nahariya on Tuesday evening were Ziv Belfer, 54, H”yd, and Shamoun Najm, H’yd, 52, the Nahariya municipality stated on Tuesday evening. “We send our heartfelt condolences to the families and we will continue to support them at this difficult time,” the municipality stated. Najm was a carpenter who was working in his shop when he and Belfer, who was nearby, were critically wounded earlier on Tuesday when a rocket launched by Hezbollah hit the shop. Paramedics who arrived at the scene pronounced them dead at the scene. Belfer, z’l, was the owner of a cafe in Haifa.

The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel to reach a “diplomatic arrangement” in Lebanon, ignoring the obvious facts that the previous “diplomatic arrangement” was a dismal failure and that UN or international “peacekeepers” have proven to be completely helpless over Hezbollah, which is not only a powerful military organization (thankfully less so today) but is also an influential political movement that is part of the Lebanese government. Additionally, it is well-known that Hezbollah has penetrated the Lebanese army so the assumption that Lebanese soldiers will act against Hezbollah cannot be a given. Nevertheless, recent reports say that following U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump moved to build out his national security team Tuesday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. In a flurry of announcements, Trump said he had chosen former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and his longtime friend Steven Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East. Trump also said he would nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to run the Department of Homeland Security and named Bill McGinley, his Cabinet secretary in his first administration, as his White House counsel.

It’s that time of year again when parents already stretched thin by tuition and groceries face a new financial hurdle: summer camps. If you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, take a look at recent ads in Jewish magazines and newspapers. We haven’t even hit winter, yet parents are being bombarded with camp ads pushing all sorts of “incentives” to draw kids in. But it’s not the timing that’s the problem—it’s what these camps are selling. Gone are the days of fun and relaxation. Today’s camps are promising a luxury experience, designed to pamper kids with every indulgence imaginable. Let’s start with the cost. Camps are charging astronomical fees that most parents simply cannot afford. I recently saw one charging $5,000 for just two weeks—and that’s per child!

President Joe Biden left reporters scratching their heads on Tuesday when he sidestepped a question about negotiating a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Instead of addressing the serious topic directly, Biden responded with an odd comment about avoiding a camera bump. The exchange happened during a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Oval Office. As the two leaders sat together, Israeli reporter Neria Kraus asked Biden, “Do you think that you can get a hostage deal by the end of your term?” Rather than giving any insight, Biden quipped, “Do you think you can keep from getting hit in the head by a camera behind you?” An awkward silence filled the room, as Biden seemed unfazed by the missed opportunity to discuss the high-stakes negotiations.

In what will likely go down as one of the most extravagant failures in American campaign history, Vice President Kamala Harris managed to blow through more than $1 billion in just three months—only to lose to former President Donald Trump. The lavish spending, complete with a parade of A-list concerts and influencer contracts, ended up yielding little more than empty hype as Trump sailed to victory, winning critical battleground states and becoming the first former president since Grover Cleveland to reclaim the White House in a nonconsecutive term. Harris’s fundraising spree brought in unprecedented amounts from wealthy Democratic donors, filling her war chest with cash from Silicon Valley titans like George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. And it sure didn’t take long to spend it.

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a strong pro-Israel voice on the left, has endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio as a “strong choice” for Secretary of State, following reports that President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate Rubio to the cabinet-level position. Fetterman, in a post on social media platform X, acknowledged the political differences between the two but expressed confidence in Rubio’s qualifications. “Unsurprisingly, the other team’s pick will have political differences than my own,” Fetterman wrote. “That being said, my colleague @SenMarcoRubio is a strong choice, and I look forward to voting for his confirmation.” If confirmed, Rubio’s Senate seat would be temporarily filled by an appointee from Florida Gov.

Marn’i Washington, a former FEMA supervisor recently dismissed over allegations she directed workers to skip hurricane-damaged homes displaying Trump campaign signs, claims her directive was in line with a broader FEMA policy of avoiding “politically hostile” residences. Washington argues that the practice isn’t isolated to her team, calling it a “colossal event of avoidance” and saying it has been applied in other regions, including the Carolinas. In a revealing interview with podcaster Roland Martin, Washington, who was terminated last week, insisted she was following a widespread approach that prioritizes worker safety. “FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation. This is not isolated,” she said.

New details about a tense incident that occurred prior to Israel’s execution of the “exploding pagers” operation were reported by Kan News this week. The report said that during one of the operations conducted by an elite unit of the IDF in the months leading up to the ground war in Lebanon, the soldiers seized various materials and equipment from a Hezbollah facility and brought it back to Israel Among the equipment was a pager – which was transferred to the Mossad. When Israel unexpectedly realized that they would have to carry out the pager operation earlier than they planned because Hezbollah had begun to express suspicions about them, one security official remembered that one pager had been brought into Israel.