A fringe group of Har Habayis activists, led by members of the “Returning to the Mount” movement, sparked renewed outrage this Shavuos after attempting to carry out a symbolic reenactment of the Korban Shtei HaLechem on Har HaBayis. The provocative act was immediately halted by Israeli police and Waqf officials. Dressed in imitation bigdei kehunah, several activists — who self-identified as kohanim — rushed to what they believe is the site of the Mizbeiach and attempted to raise two loaves of chametz – which can only be performed in a rebuilt Beis Hamikdash. The group was reportedly acting under the direction of Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, founder of the Temple Institute and a longtime advocate for resuming korbanos on Har Habayis.

Three IDF soldiers were killed and two soldiers were moderately wounded in battle in northern Gaza on Monday evening, the IDF announced early Tuesday morning. The five soldiers were carrying out a military operation in Jabaliya when their Humvee sustained a direct hit by a bomb. The slain soldiers were identified as Staff Sgt. Ofek Barhana, H’yd, 20, from Yavne and Staff Sgt. Lior Steinberg, H’yd, 20, from Petach Tikva, both combat medics, and Staff Sgt. Omer Van Gelder, H’yd, 22, from Maale Adumim, who served as a squad commander. Hashem Yikom Damam. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated on Isru Chag in Israel.)

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee slammed France’s recent efforts to promote unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, calling the move “revolting” and ill-timed amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas. In an interview with Fox News, Huckabee said the push for Palestinian statehood is out of touch with the current Israeli sentiment following the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre that triggered the war in Gaza. “It’s incredibly inappropriate in the midst of a war that Israel is dealing with to go out and present something that I think increasingly Israelis are steadfast against,” Huckabee said.

In a damning new report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that Iran conducted secret nuclear activities using undeclared material at three long-suspected sites — confirming fears that Tehran was operating a clandestine nuclear weapons program. The confidential report, obtained by Reuters, was requested by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors and outlines decades of nuclear violations. It concludes that Iran operated a covert and structured nuclear weapons initiative until the early 2000s, and stored nuclear material and contaminated equipment at a fourth site, Turquzabad, between 2009 and 2018 — the same facility publicly exposed by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the United Nations in 2018.

Seven weeks into nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, Israel is voicing escalating concerns that President Donald Trump’s administration may accept a deal that fails to eliminate Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, potentially leaving Israel vulnerable to a nuclear-armed adversary. Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia has privately urged Iran to engage seriously with the U.S. proposal, warning that failure to do so could risk a military confrontation with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly cautioned that a “bad deal is worse than no deal,” emphasizing that any agreement permitting Iran to retain enrichment capabilities would be unacceptable.

Hamas has rejected a U.S.-proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal, which Israel had accepted, further complicating efforts to end the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The proposal, mediated by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in coordination with Egypt and Qatar, offered a 60-day truce, the release of 10 living Israeli hostages in two phases, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Hamas’s refusal, citing demands for a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, has drawn criticism from Israeli officials who note that it prioritizes the group’s political survival over peace. The deal, discussed in Doha, included the release of 10 living hostages, starting with five on the first day and five on the seventh, alongside the remains of 16 deceased hostages.

High-tech entrepreneur Nir Zuk, the founder and CTO of cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks, slammed the high-tech industry’s pre-October 7 protests against the government, saying that it was their empty threats about the “crushing of democracy” that drove investors away, rather than the actual political situation in Israel. Speaking on Tuesday at TheMarker conference in Haifa, Zuk said. “High-tech workers should shut their mouths. They enjoy the wealth that exists here. The high-tech workers’ protest is perceived as privileged by the people who don’t benefit from high-tech.” “At the beginning of the judicial revolution, there were people who went out to the world and said that it would be terrible, and that they should stop investing here,” he continued.

A military construction project in northern Poland has ignited a storm of criticism from Jewish heritage organizations and historians, who accuse the Polish government of trampling over the remnants of a Jewish cemetery, in a move they call part of a broader, troubling trend of cultural erasure. The Polish Army began renovations earlier this spring on a building in Bydgoszcz that was constructed after World War II on the grounds of the city’s “new” Jewish cemetery. The work commenced without formal permits or archaeological oversight, prompting an outcry from local and international preservationists concerned that human remains may be disturbed or permanently lost.

Virulently anti-Israel New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has catapulted into serious contention against former Governor Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic nomination for NYC mayor, slicing Cuomo’s once-commanding lead to single digits, according to a new PIX11/Emerson College poll. The ranked-choice voting simulation shows Cuomo narrowly edging out Mamdani 54.4% to 45.6% after ten rounds of vote redistribution. The result marks a dramatic shift from March, when Cuomo held a 28-point lead over Mamdani in the same pollster’s survey. “With four weeks to go, the question is whether Cuomo can run out the clock, or if he needs to win over second-choice voters to hold off Mamdani’s momentum,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.

A delegation of Gedolei Eretz Yisroel will be traveling to the United States two weeks after Shavuos in support of Keren Olam Hatorah, the fundraising initiative established to sustain yeshivos and kollelim across Eretz Yisroel amid deep and painful funding cuts by the Israeli government.