An IDF investigation has determined that six hostages abducted by Hamas were likely executed by their captors amid an airstrike on a Hamas tunnel in Khan Younis, Gaza. As YWN reported at the time, the bodies of the hostages were recovered on August 20, over three months after their deaths. YWN had reported at the time that they had been executed as their bodies were found riddled with bullets, and the IDF is releasing confirmed details now. The victims, identified as Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78, were taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

New Jersey interim Sen. George Helmy, a Democrat appointed when Bob Menendez resigned after a federal corruption conviction, is stepping down this weekend so Sen.-elect Andy Kim can be sworn in early. The move was expected and confirmed what Helmy and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his appointment this summer — that Helmy would resign early so the winner of November’s election could get into office before the start of the new session of Congress next month. Murphy explained the arrangement, saying he wanted the “democratically chosen winner” of this year’s election to have a smooth transition into office. Kim defeated Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw on Election Day. He’ll become the first Korean-American in the Senate when he is sworn in on Monday.

South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it. Yoon didn’t make any immediate public response to the opposition’s demand. But his office said senior presidential advisers and secretaries for Yoon offered to resign collectively and the president also put off his official Wednesday morning schedule. In the capital, tourists and residents walked around, traffic and construction were heard, and other than crowds of police holding shields, it seemed like a normal sunny, cold December morning.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, spent a second day Tuesday on Capitol Hill, meeting privately with Republican senators amid rising questions about his ability to effectively lead the Pentagon. Hegseth told reporters he was planning to sit down with senators, even with those potentially skeptical of his nomination. “We’re going to meet with every senator that wants to meet with us, across the board,” Hegseth as he went from office to office Tuesday.

Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, was recently informed by the bureau that he had been targeted in a cyberattack by Iranian hackers, according to a report by CNN on Tuesday that also said the hackers may have gained access to some of Patel’s communications during the breach. The incident is part of a broader pattern of Iranian hacking efforts aimed at Trump associates. In September, the Justice Department charged three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for a series of cyberattacks targeting Trump campaign staffers during the 2020 presidential election.

Chad Chronister, Donald Trump’s pick to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Tuesday he was withdrawing his name from consideration, becoming the second person selected by the president-elect to bow out quickly after being nominated for a position requiring Senate confirmation. Sheriff Chronister, the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, said in a post on X that he was backing away from the opportunity, which he called “the honor of a lifetime.” “Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,” Chronister wrote. He did not elaborate, and Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing that continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that anything short of immediate dismissal would undermine the transition of power, as well as the “overwhelming national mandate” granted to Trump by voters last month. They also cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges. “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’” Trump’s legal team wrote.

The IDF announced on Wednesday that the graduation ceremony for the pilot technician course for 26 Chareidi soldiers took place on Tuesday at the Air Force base in Haifa. The soldiers were certified as Level A technicians for F-16 aircraft and will serve at the Ramat Dovid Air Base in northern Israel. “This is the first training course for Class A technicians from the Chareidi sector,” the IDF spokesperson said.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman Beginning tonight, Wednesday evening, December 4th, 2024, we begin reciting the phrase “V’sain Tal Umatar” (And give dew and rain for a blessing) in the Shmoneh Esrei prayer of the Maariv (evening) service. What if I Forgot to Say V’sain Tal Umatar? If a person said “V’sain Bracha” (And give a blessing) instead of “V’sain Tal Umatar Livracha”, and realized the error after finishing the Shmoneh Esrei, the entire Shmoneh Esrei must be repeated. If the error was caught while in the middle of Shmoneh Esrei, corrective action can be taken by inserting the phrase “V’sain Tal Umatar Livracha” in the Shema Koleinu blessing, before the words “Ki Ata Shomeiya”.

A New York City mayoral staffer has been indefinitely suspended without pay following the release of a video showing her tearing down a poster meant to raise awareness for hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel. The staffer, 25-year-old Nallah Sutherland, serves as a coordinator in the Mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events, a role ironically aimed at bridging cultural divides and promoting New York City’s diversity. The incident occurred on November 2 at the corner of York Avenue and East 84th Street, where Sutherland was filmed ripping down the poster and striking the phone of the person recording the video.