After an ugly anti-Semitic rant by Curtis Sliwa went viral, the Republican nominee for NYC Mayor made a video claiming he was not an anti-Semite. In his 2018 address to a Hudson Valley meeting for the Reform Party, Mr. Sliwa berated Hassidim, hurling age-old misrepresentations and distortions that those who hate Jews have used for centuries at contemporary Jewish residents of Hudson Valley counties, several of which have seen influxes of identifiable Orthodox Jews over recent years. Among much other ugliness, he expressed disdain for Jews who donate to political candidates.

Kll Yisroel has once again risen to the occasion, showing an outpouring of support for those affected by the condo collapse on Collins Avenue in Surfside, Florida. Despite the bleakness and everyone bracing for the worst, thousands of people have been donating all types of clothing, food, and other items for the hundreds of people displaced by the collapse. The Bal Harbour Shul has been turned into a command center of relief and Chesed. The attached video (posted below) speaks for itself, and doesn’t even show a small percentage of what is really going on. Meanwhile, a staggering $671,000 has so far been raised (as of Friday afternoon) through the Chesed Fund, to be distributed to the families of the victims and those needing emergency funds.

Agudath Israel of America, like all New Yorkers of good will, is outraged at current mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa’s recently publicized rant against Hassidic Jews. Our outrage is accompanied by great surprise, considering how Mr. Sliwa and the Guardian Angels group he founded have shown great concern for the safety of Jews. In his 2018 address to a Hudson Valley meeting for the Reform Party, Mr. Sliwa berated Hassidim, hurling age-old misrepresentations and distortions that those who hate Jews have used for centuries at contemporary Jewish residents of Hudson Valley counties, several of which have seen influxes of identifiable Orthodox Jews over recent years. Among much other ugliness, he expressed disdain for Jews who donate to political candidates.

A 13-second video from Rosie Santana shows a motion-sensor camera set up inside her family’s two-bedroom condo on the 7th floor of the building, Unit 711. Santana told CNN, “That’s our apartment, my family apartment. I actually left for the weekend yesterday and I always set up a camera when I leave, so that was the footage I got. It only records when it detects movement so… it detected movement, it recorded that piece, and then it lost connection.” Santana said that their apartment “was one of the ones that collapsed, like… it’s just dust, there’s no hope for it basically.” Santana added that “It’s basically a vacation home that we use, but I’ve been there for the past 3 weeks and I just happened to leave yesterday.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

UPDATE FROM MIAMI FIRE RESCUE: Approximately 55 apartment units collapsed – First responders rescued 35 occupants trapped inside building – Search and rescue efforts still ongoing Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks on partial building collapse in Surfside, FL: “The first responders were able to save a lot of people. They are going to be going through more. It’s a really, really tragic situation. We are bracing for some bad news given the destruction we are seeing” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says it was a 12-story building with more than 130 units; “about half of those have collapsed.”. Charles Burkett, mayor of Surfside, Florida, says “it looks like a bomb went off…. “This is a catastrophic failure of that building.”

A massive search and rescue effort was underway following the collapse of a 12-story condominium building in Surfside early Thursday. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said more than 80 units responded to the collapse at the condominium building near 88th Street and Collins Avenue just north of Miami Beach around 1:30AM. Hatzalah of South Florida was dispatched to the scene, and has been working closely with Miami Dade Rescue Fire Recue Command. Highly credible sources tell YWN that people are missing – including 8-9 Jewish people who are unaccounted for. Horrific footage from the scene showed a large section of the building collapsed into a pile of rubble. It was unknown how many people had been in the building and there was no word on how many people could be injured.

A fire destroyed a home in Spring Valley, Wednesday afternoon. The fire department responded to reports of a Working structure fire in a private home at 6 Nancy Lane at around 2:30PM. Firefighters found heavy fire coming through the roof. Numerous fire departments were dispatched to assist in extinguishing the blaze. Sources tell YWN that all occupants safely evacuated the home as the fire began. Rockland Chaveirim were on the scene assisting authorities. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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On Tuesday, two MKs from the Religious Zionist party, Betzalel Smotritch and Orit Strook went to visit a Jewish family who lives in the Sheikh Jarrah/Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of Jerusalem, when they and their bodyguards were accosted by angry Arab residents. While they were on their way to make the visit, a number of Arabs noticed who they were and attempted to force them to leave the area. The Arabs cursed them and swore at them, and Strook’s guard was assaulted. One of the Arabs rushed MK Smotritch in an effort to physically force him to leave. “You are garbage. Leave here. Why are you here? You’re a tiny little cockroach. Get out of here fast!” the Arab cursed at the party leader. This isn’t the first time that Smotritch was forced to rely on his bodyguards.

A tight race for the City Council seat for the 48th district to replace Chaim Deutsch is brewing with 85% of first choice ballots counted. Former teacher Steven Saperstein is in first place with about 32% of the vote, while Mariya Markh is in a close second with about 31% of the vote. Thus far, the biggest takeaway from this race is the lack of votes that stardom-seeker Heshy Tischler has received. Tischler, who had spent thousands of dollars on advertising in the run-up to election day has only managed to convince less than 220 votes (thus far) that he’s the right person to hold public office. In a video message Tischler says he heard that he lost, but says “really I believe I won.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israel’s Defense Ministry said Monday it has successfully tested an airborne high-power laser that can shoot down drones, technology it hopes to deploy on a larger scale in the coming years. “For the first time ever, Israel’s Defense Ministry, Elbit Systems and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have successfully completed a series of interception tests employing an airborne, high-power Laser system,” a Defense Ministry statement said. “Israel is among the first countries in the world to demonstrate such capabilities.” “During the test, a high power laser system was installed on an aircraft and tested in a number of scenarios.