U.S. prosecutors are accusing two senior Syrian officials of overseeing a notorious prison that tortured peaceful protesters and other political prisoners, including a 26-year-old American woman who was later believed to have been executed. The indictment was unsealed Monday, two days after a shock rebel offensive overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.S., U.N. and others accuse him of widespread human rights abuses in a 13-year battle to crush opposition forces seeking his removal from power. The war, which began as a largely nonviolent popular uprising in 2011, has killed half a million people. The indictment, filed Nov. 18 in federal court in Chicago, is believed to be the U.S.

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law Monday to prohibit public and school libraries from banning books in the state and to enshrine protections against civil and criminal charges for librarians who comply with the law. New Jersey becomes the latest Democrat-led state to enact a ban on book bans, joining Illinois and Minnesota. Murphy signed the bill at Princeton’s public library, a short walk from Princeton University’s ivy-draped campus and cast the legislation in the context of Republican-leaning states that have prohibited certain books in recent years. “It’s the antithesis of all these book banning states that you see,” he said.

In a brazen display of hate, Columbia University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) distributed a publication titled The Columbia Intifada, openly supporting violence and terrorism against Israel. The four-page newspaper, named after the intifadas responsible for countless Israeli civilian deaths, included inflammatory articles like “Zionist Peace Means Palestinian Blood” and “The Myth of the Two-State Solution.” The publication provided instructions for “wheatpasting” (attaching to walls) anti-Israel propaganda in public spaces, furthering its campaign of incitement. 1,000 copies were printed and distributed on campus. The backlash has been swift. Rep.

A 28-year-old Israeli-American man, Roy Gross, was seriously injured in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime after a confrontation in Laguna Beach, California, escalated into violence. The incident occurred when Gross and three friends were leaving a night out and encountered two men who identified themselves as Palestinian-Iranian. According to a police report cited by Hebrew News, the groups engaged in a heated argument. Witnesses reported that the men hurled anti-Israel slurs and obstructed Gross and his friends from getting into a taxi. The situation turned violent when one of the men allegedly got into his car and drove toward the group, striking Gross and leaving him with a compound fracture in his leg. Gross, who moved to the U.S.

Adam Schiff, the freshman Democratic senator from California, is making headlines for his choice of sefer during his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, taking the oath of office on a rare 1490 edition of the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. In a statement released before the ceremony, Schiff described the sefer, printed in the duchy of Milan (modern-day northern Italy), as “a monumental legal code and one of the most organized, comprehensive, and influential works of Jewish law.” The volume was published by Gershom ben Mosheh ish Sontsino, a member of the renowned Soncino family, who were early trailblazers in Jewish printing.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday morning arrived at the Tel Aviv District Court, where the trial was moved from Jerusalem for security reasons, to testify at his corruption trial, the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister testified at his own trial. At a press conference on Monday evening, Netanyahu addressed claims that he wants to evade a trial. “Do I want to evade a trial? Nonsense. I have been waiting for this day for 8 years, to blow up the baseless accusations. There was no offense, so they searched for an offense.” He repeated the same sentiment on Tuesday morning, saying: “I waited 8 years for this moment, to tell the truth. The truth as I remember it. which is also important for justice.

The IDF carried out about 300 airstrikes in Syria in the early hours of Tuesday morning, mainly in the Damascus area and in southern Syria, targeting air defense systems and missile storage sites, as well as the Defense Research Institute in Aleppo and a “scientific research center” related to chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus. Two Syrian sources told Reuters on Monday evening that IAF jets attacked at least three major Syrian Air Bases, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets. The IDF also destroyed hundreds of launchers for various types of surface-to-surface missiles. Reuters also reported that IAF jets sunk several Syrian military vessels in their home port.

The Al-Mayadeen media network, which is tied to Hezbollah, reported early Tuesday morning that Israeli tanks are now located only about 20 kilometers from the Syrian capital of Damascus. According to the report, IDF forces have taken control of nine villages in the southern suburbs of Damascus, near the border with Lebanon. In the meantime, Air Force forces overnight continued to carry out extensive airstrikes in the Damascus area, as Israel continues with its mission to destroy all of the Assad regime’s dangerous weapons out of concern they will fall into the hands of extremist rebel groups.

Germany and several other European countries said Monday they are suspending decisions on asylum claims by Syrian nationals because of the unclear situation in their homeland following the fall of Bashar Assad. Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said Monday that more than 47,000 applications are currently pending. It said it would reassess the situation and resume decisions once things in Syria have stabilized. Interior Ministry spokesperson Sonja Kock noted that asylum decisions take account of the circumstances of each case, which involves assessing the situation in the applicant’s country. She said the migration authority has the option of prioritizing cases from other places if a situation is unclear, as it currently is in Syria.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Hawaii’s gun-licensing law on Monday, though three justices expressed a willingness to hear arguments over the issue later. The majority did not explain their reasoning in a brief order declining to take the case. But Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote that he would vote to hear a case to “reaffirm that the Second Amendment warrants the same respect as any other constitutional right.” In a separate statement, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the court could later revisit the case of Christopher L. Wilson, who argues his Second Amendment rights were violated when he was charged with carrying a gun without a license.