President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment.

Ben & Jerry’s has filed yet another lawsuit against its parent company, Unilever, accusing it of blocking the ice cream brand’s attempts to publicly support Palestinians in Gaza. The lawsuit, filed in the United States, claims Unilever threatened to dismantle Ben & Jerry’s board and take legal action against its members if they continued pushing their controversial political views, according to Reuters. This legal move is the latest in a string of confrontations between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, reflecting an ongoing internal struggle fueled by Ben & Jerry’s insistence on prioritizing activism over business stability.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday the revival of a modified congestion pricing plan for Manhattan, proposing a $9 daily toll for most vehicles entering below 60th Street. The updated proposal, which comes months after Hochul paused the original $15 toll plan. “I’m proud to announce we have found a path to support the MTA, reduce congestion, and save our commuters money,” Hochul said. “Under this plan, the MTA will implement congestion pricing with a $9 toll starting in January. That’s a 40% reduction from the original $15 toll, saving daily commuters nearly $1,500 annually.” Hochul had initially paused the congestion pricing rollout, citing the economic strain it would place on middle- and working-class commuters.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told President-elect Donald Trump and Jared Kushner this week that Israel is “rushing” to advance a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing three current and former Israeli officials briefed on the meeting. According to the report, the aim is to “deliver an early foreign policy win to Trump.” As YWN reported on Tuesday, Dermer, one of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants, met with Trump and Kushner on Sunday to clarify the president-elect’s stance on Middle East issues before flying to Washington to meet with Biden administration officials.

President Joe Biden raised the issue of American hostages held in Gaza during an Oval Office meeting with President-elect Donald Trump earlier today, according to U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. In a press briefing, Sullivan said that the Biden administration has sent a clear “signal” to the Trump transition team, expressing its willingness to collaborate on efforts to secure the release of the hostages. Sullivan noted that families of the American hostages, with whom he met yesterday, strongly advocated for such bipartisan cooperation. “My answer to them was an emphatic yes,” Sullivan said, stressing that the Biden administration is committed to using every day left in its term to bring the hostages home. When asked if Israel has remained responsive to U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has hinted that annexation of the West Bank, which he refers to as “Judea and Samaria,” could be a possibility during Trump’s upcoming term. In an interview with Army Radio, Huckabee underscored his support for Israel’s sovereignty over the territory, rejecting the term “West Bank” in favor of its Biblical name. “There is no such thing as the West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee stated. “I have been a frequent visitor to Judea and Samaria and believe it is part of sovereign Israel,” he added, reiterating his long-standing belief that the area belongs to Israel.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign quietly funneled half a million dollars to Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) just weeks before her softball interview with the antisemite on MSNBC. Federal Election Commission records reveal that Harris’s campaign made two payments of $250,000 to NAN on Sept. 5 and Oct. 1, just days before her Oct. 20 sit-down with Sharpton on PoliticsNation. During the interview, Sharpton lavished Harris with praise, at one point comparing her to trailblazing politician Shirley Chisholm.

Residents in Southfield, Michigan, woke up Wednesday morning to find antisemitic flyers littered across lawns in largely Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. The disturbing incident has prompted an investigation by local police, who are working to identify those responsible for distributing the hateful material. The flyers, enclosed in plastic bags weighed down with sand, contained offensive messages and imagery rooted in classic antisemitic tropes. Among the materials were references to “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” a widely debunked and virulently antisemitic text that falsely claims a Jewish plot to control the world.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara on Tuesday evening ordered the IDF to send the 7,000 draft orders that former defense minister Yoav Gallant signed a day before he was fired from his position by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Baharav-Miara issued a statement saying that the orders must be sent out beginning on Sunday and continued over the next few months. She also demanded that 4,500 draft notices must be sent to bnei yeshivos without differentiation – and not according to criteria that the IDF previously used, such as sending orders to those in yeshiva high-schools or those working part-time.

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.