Mayor Eric Adams, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell and other officials joined with community leaders for a High Holidays Security Briefing at NYPD Headquarters on Wednesday September 22, 2022. Mayor Eric Adams spoke about public safety and the strong relationship between the NYPD and the Jewish community. Commissioner Sewell pledged to increase police presence to synagogues and other places of importance. Commissioner Sewell acknowledged the recent loss of Rabbi Yankie (Jack) Meyer, calling him “an exceptional person, respected and held to the highest regards by all who knew him.” (Mayor Adams also tweeted on the loss of Rabbi Yankie Mayer. Today I join our Jewish community in mourning the tragic passing of R’ Yanky “Jack” Meyer.

Former President Donald Trump sat for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, and the spectacle didn’t disappoint. Hannity asked Trump what declassification process he went through to declassify documents the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago in their August 8 raid. “There doesn’t have to he a process, as I understand it,” Trump said. “If you’re the president of the United States you can declassify just by saying ‘it’s declassified’ – even by just thinking about it.” He also suggested that the raid wasn’t about him having classified documents, but because the FBI was perhaps looking for Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails or evidence of a conspiracy to nail him on the “Russia, Russia, Russia” investigation.

In an interview with Fox News, Senator Marco Rubio blasted a lawsuit filed by some of the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The class action lawsuit alleges that the migrants were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses and lured onto the planes with fake promises that violated their 4th and 14th Amendment rights. “Think about this, okay? People came into this country illegally, okay,” Rubio began when asked for comment. “And the first thing they do is get lawyers, and use our laws to sue an elected governor, to sue a state. Think about that! They just got here!

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan walked out of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday afternoon as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi began his speech. He walked out holding a photo of his two grandmothers who survived Auschwitz and lost close family members to the Nazi killing machine. Erdan’s move follows an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi aired on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday in which he refused to acknowledge the truth of the Holocaust, saying it needs “to be investigated and researched” whether it actually happened. “Today the UN has descended to a new moral low,” Erdan said.

The global travel reservation site Booking.com plans to issue warnings against listings in Yehudah and Shomron beginning on Thursday, Channel 13 News reported. A statement will be placed next to listings in Israeli communities in Yehudah and Shomron saying: “A visit to this area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety, human rights, and other risks to guests and the local community.” A similar story occurred in 2018 when Airbnb delisted homes in Yehudah and Shomron. The company quickly changed its mind after it was hit by a lawsuit by 18 Jewish US citizens. However, unlike Airbnb, which boycotted only homes in Israel, the Dutch-based Booking.com is also planning on issuing warning statements “in other conflict zones in the world,” the company told Ynet.

The Shas party, which has always appealed to Sephardi Israelis’ deep connection to their heritage, utilized the inherent ruchniyus of Elul and the days of Selichos to publish a Selichos-themed campaign video. The late Gedolim HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef, z’tl and HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, z’tl are featured in the video as well as the Kosel, the winding alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem, the shofar, and images of tefillah. “The most successful campaigns for Shas are those that fall during the days of Selichos,” wrote Chareidi reporter Aryeh Erlich.

Iranian security forces killed five protesters who took to the streets of the capital on Monday to protest the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country’s conservative dress code. Security forces fired on protesters in Iran’s Kurdish region, according to a report by the Hengaw Human Rights Organization. Five were killed, 75 were wounded, and at least 250 people were arrested. The semiofficial Fars news agency said students in many Tehran universities gathered in protest, demanding an investigation into the death of Mahsa Amini and the dismantling of the morality police, who were holding her when she died. Video of the Iranian people attacking their oppressors, the police, in Tehran today.

Speaking to CBS News’ 60 Minutes program on Thursday for an interview that aired Sunday night, President Joe Biden attempted to downplay the rate of inflation, which was shown to have risen to 8.3% last month. “Mr. President, as you know, last Tuesday the annual inflation rate came in at 8.3 percent. The stock market nose-dived. People are shocked by their grocery bills. What can you do better and faster?” host Scott Pelley asked. “Well, first let’s put this in perspective,” Biden said, attempting to conjure up a legitimate defense. “Inflation rate month-to-month was up… just an inch, hardly at all.” “You’re not arguing that 8.3 is good news,” an incredulous Pelley interjected. “No, I’m not saying it is good news,” Biden conceded. “But it was 8.2… before.

CBS’ 60 Minutes aired an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday in which he refused to acknowledge the truth of the Holocaust, saying it needs “to be investigated and researched” whether it actually happened. He also denied Israel’s right to exist, calling it a “false regime,” and said that the Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel are “accomplices to their crimes.” CBS journalist Lesley Stahl interviewed Raisi last Tuesday at the presidential compound in Tehran – his first interview with a Western interviewer. Stahl wrote afterward: “I was told how to dress, not to sit before he did, and not to interrupt him. We were given one hour for the interview.

On a visit to Williamsburg on Sunday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin slammed New York City and the state for its lackadaisical approach to dealing with rising antisemitic crime, and staunchly defended yeshivas in the wake of the Board of Regents’ vote on substantial equivalency standards. On antisemitic attacks Zeldin said: “This isn’t happening once a month or even once a week. We’re getting tired of seeing this day after day after day. It’s important for all of us to have religious freedom protected, for us to be able to walked these streets, to ride a subway, without fear of being attacked.” “It’s not just on our streets,” he continued, “but also in our schools where we are being targeted with antisemitism and raw, violent hate. The State Education Dept.