With Election Day just around the corner, Vice President Kamala Harris is positioned within striking distance of victory, yet tensions and finger-pointing have already started to ripple through Democratic ranks in anticipation of a potential loss to former President Donald Trump, The Hill reports. While some Democrats express optimism about Harris’s prospects, others voice growing frustration over messaging missteps, particularly around the economy, that have dogged her campaign from the start. Blame is being directed not only at Harris and her team but also at President Biden, with some insiders suggesting he waited too long to step aside, leaving Harris little time to define her campaign identity fully.

HaRav Kalman Ber has been elected as Israel’s next Ashkenazi chief rabbi, set to serve a 10-year term. He secured the position after winning a second-round vote, defeating Rabbi Micha Halevi by a margin of 77-58. The initial election earlier in the month ended in a tie between the two candidates. Previously, HaRav Ber held the role of Ashkenazi chief rabbi in the city of Netanya. Though he has roots in the Bnei Akiva and religious Zionist movements, Ber received strong support from Degel HaTorah. Joining Ber for the next decade as Sephardic chief rabbi is Hagaon HaRav David Yosef, who was elected earlier in the month. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A rocket attack this afternoon near Kiryat Ata, just outside Haifa, claimed the lives of two people and injured a third, according to Magen David Adom (MDA). The incident occurred at 3:27 PM local time in an olive grove near the Gil’am Junction, where MDA’s 101 emergency call center received an alert reporting casualties. Large MDA forces, including ambulances, mobile intensive care units, and medicycle responders, were quickly dispatched to the scene. Paramedics found a woman in her 60s and a man in his 30s and immediately began resuscitation efforts. Despite their efforts, both were pronounced dead on the scene. A third individual, a man in his 70s, sustained mild injuries.

A rocket attack from Lebanon struck an agricultural area near the northern Israeli town of Metula, killing five people and leaving one person seriously injured. Among the victims, one was an Israeli citizen, while the other four were foreign nationals. The rockets landed in an orchard, tragically ending the lives of a local farmer and four foreign workers who were in the area at the time. A sixth person sustained severe shrapnel injuries across his body and was rushed to the hospital for emergency care.

With less than a week before Election Day, the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is incredibly close in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state with 19 electoral votes at stake. According to three new polls, both candidates are locked in a virtual tie as they campaign intensively in a state that played a decisive role in recent elections. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted from October 24-28 shows Trump holding a narrow one-point lead over Harris, with 47% support compared to her 46%. A CNN poll indicates an exact tie, with each candidate at 48% support among likely voters.

UTJ MK Moshe Roth commented on Wednesday in a radio interview on Kol B’Rama about a Chareidi recruitment law and the daycare law, criticizing Minister Ofir Sofer, and saying that “a coalition agreement was signed, and agreements must be respected.” Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer (Religious Zionist party) said in an interview earlier on Wednesday that the daycare bill proposed by MK Yisrael Eichler, which is being promoted by the UTJ party, will not be advanced until there’s progress on the recruitment law. “We’ve been spat in the face of the Chareidi leadership during the recruitment process,” Sofer claimed. “People here are bleeding to death, Bnei Torah and non-Bnei Torah.

A draft agreement for a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah envisions a 60-day implementation period during which the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would take control of southern Lebanon and work to disarm Hezbollah along the border, according to a report from Kan News. The proposal is part of a broader plan aimed at reducing hostilities and establishing lasting stability along the Israel-Lebanon border. Under the proposed terms, the IDF would withdraw from Lebanon within seven days after hostilities cease, paving the way for the LAF to establish a significant presence in the area. The transition would be facilitated by UN peacekeepers, allowing the LAF to ultimately position approximately 10,000 troops along the border with Israel.

In a spectacularly cheeky move, a garbage truck decked out with American flags and a massive “TRUMP” sign pulled up beside Trump Force One in Green Bay, Wisconsin, delivering a clear, humor-filled response to President Biden’s comment on Tuesday night labeling Trump supporters as “garbage.” The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Former President Trump, spotting the truck, grinned and pointed it out to the crowd with a laugh: “How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden!”

Donald Trump has reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he hopes Israel will have resolved the ongoing conflict in Gaza by the time he might return to office, according to two sources who spoke to The Times of Israel this week. The message, sources say, was initially conveyed during a July meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. While Trump has openly urged Netanyahu to aim for a swift resolution in Gaza, this is the first report indicating that he attached a loose timeline, seeking an end to the war before a potential return to the White House. A former Trump administration official noted, however, that Trump’s request was not highly specific and would likely permit “residual” IDF activity in Gaza, provided Israel has formally concluded the war.

Two bereaved fathers whose children were killed in battle against Hamas published a letter on Wednesday morning calling on their friends in the National Religious sector to stop their attacks on the Chareidi sector. The letter comes against the backdrop of the recent debate surrounding the Chareidi politicians’ attempt to condition their support of the state budget on the passing of a Charedi draft law, an initiative they ultimately dropped due to the low likelihood of its approval. The letter states: “Recently, we’ve been hearing and experiencing increasingly loud voices against the Chareidi sector and its non-participation in military efforts.