On Motzei Shabbos the Binyamin Regional Council announced that Avraham Ben Pinchas, a resident of Harasha, fell in battle in Gaza.
Ben Pinchas, age 23, is survived by his parents and nine siblings.  He was a career soldier and commander in the Armored forces.
The IDF stated: “Captain Avraham Ben Pinchas, aged 24, from Harasha, a Platoon commander in the 46th Battalion, 401st Brigade, fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip.”
Ben Pinchas’s sister, Efrat Brenner, was killed nearly four years ago, in a traffic accident.  Earlier in the was, Ben Pinchas suffered a serious head injury in battle, but returned to Gaza upon his recovery.

On Friday, Donald Trump issued a clear and strong statement backing his choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, following several damaging stories about the Fox News personality’s purported conduct.
“Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social.
“He was a great student—Princeton/Harvard educated—with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!”
This message came after Hegseth spent Thursday meeting with senators whose votes are crucial for his confirmation as the next Secretary of Defense.

A Jewish family’s home in Charlotte, N.C., was recently graffitied with swastikas, in addition to racist and homophobic slurs.
“It’s crazy because you just don’t think that people do these kinds of things anymore,” said Deborah McCullough, one of the residents of the vandalized home.
“You hear about things, but something changes when it becomes personal, and it’s in your living space,” she told WCNC Charlotte. “All of a sudden, you don’t feel safe where you live. I’ve always felt safe here.”

The Israel Defense Forces has decided to provide all female field observers (“tazpaniot”) with weapons and move their bases back from the borders in the north and the south, the military said on Thursday.
The decision by the army’s Ground Forces branch comes 14 months after dozens of field lookouts were killed and many others were taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault on southern Israel.
As part of the lessons learned following the cross-border attack, soldiers assigned to monitor movements on the borders will be given X95 Tavor assault rifles in the coming six weeks.

Technology entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy held initial talks with key Republicans in Congress on Thursday about the “Department of Government Efficiency,” the group they are heading up at the direction of President-elect Donald Trump, honing plans to shrink federal employment rolls and challenge the constitutional limits of Trump’s ability to control spending.
Musk, with his young son seated nearby, offered a stern warning to Republicans who stood in the way of the “DOGE.”
“They made it clear that if you’re not going to get on board with some of this, then we have no problem telling the public who’s an obstacle,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Missouri) told The Washington Post after a private meeting for lawmakers.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Friday slammed the torching of a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, and suggested that the antisemitic act was inextricably linked to the Labor government in Canberra’s “extreme anti-Israelism.”
“The burning of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne is an abhorrent act of antisemitism. I expect the state authorities to use their full weight to prevent such antisemitic acts in the future,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.

A jury has sent a message stating that it is unable to reach a unanimous decision regarding the manslaughter charge in the trial of Daniel Penny, a former Marine accused of fatally choking subway performer Jordan Neely in May 2023. This update emerged as deliberations entered their fourth day on Friday. The jury is unable to proceed with considering the second charge of criminally negligent homicide until a unanimous verdict on the manslaughter charge is achieved.
The judge has instructed the jury to make another attempt at reaching a consensus. The defense sought a mistrial, but the request was denied. However, the judge did suggest that if no agreement is reached on the more serious charge, a new trial might be necessary for the lesser charge.

A Boston city councilor with a history of anti-Semitic remarks, who previously referred to the October 7th massacre as a “military operation,” was apprehended on Friday by federal authorities. She faces fraud charges for allegedly diverting part of an inflated bonus payment intended for a staffer—who was a relative—into her own hands during a meeting at a City Hall restroom, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Tania Fernandes Anderson, the councilor in question, was taken into custody outside her residence on five charges of wire fraud and one charge of theft involving a program funded by federal resources. U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy confirmed the arrest during a press briefing.

Police detained five residents of Arad, a city located west of the Dead Sea, on Wednesday after Israel Defense Forces soldiers caught them crossing into Southern Lebanon, the Israel Police said on Thursday.
“This morning, we received a report from the regional division about five civilians from Arad who crossed the fence,” Kiryat Shmona police head Ch. Supt. Arik Berkovitch said in a statement cited by Ynet.
“The civilians were on a trip to the north and continued it into Lebanon. This is extremely dangerous. Lebanon is a clear enemy state, and these civilians could have been harmed from two sides,” Berkovitch added.
The local police chief noted that the group was unarmed and claimed during questioning to have wandered into the warzone by accident.

The Israel Air Force on Wednesday struck and eliminated several terrorists who were in the humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis, with the help and direction of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).
Among the terrorists killed was Osama Ghanim, a senior member of Hamas’s Internal Security Force. He was involved in activity to suppress the residents of Gaza and was responsible for the terrorist group’s violence within the Gaza Strip, the IDF said in a statement.
Ghanim played a key role in implementing the brutal methods of Hamas, which included conducting harsh interrogations of civilian while violating human rights, suppressing residents suspected of opposing Hamas, and persecuting civilians from the LGBTQ+ community.