U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday assailed Russian attempts to sow discord in democracies with misinformation after hinting the Biden administration may soon allow Ukraine to use American-supplied munitions to strike inside Russia. With an increasing number of officials saying Ukraine must be able to defend itself by attacking targets in Russian territory, Blinken joined NATO foreign ministers for a meeting in Prague, where he said Moscow’s use of misinformation and disinformation was a “poison” and signed an agreement with the Czech government to combat it.

Immediately following the Trump guilty verdict, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) appeared on Newsmax TV to criticize the court for its handling of the case, Breitbart reports.
He called it a “grotesque abuse” of the justice system and warned that New York Judge Juan Merchan “diminished the credibility of every judge in the country.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said Friday an “incendiary device” was thrown at the front doors of a synagogue in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a “disgusting act of antisemitism.” Vancouver police said the case was being investigated as an act of arson and possible hate crime. The federation said in a statement the incident occurred at the Schara Tzedeck shul at around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday and that damage was minor and no one was hurt. The federation calls the alleged incident a “deliberate act of hate” and an “attempt to intimidate” the Jewish community. Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt said people were inside the shul after maariv around 9:20 p.m. on Thursday when they heard a “bang” outside.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
In the days of old, when the Jewish people were blessed with leaders who were able to discern and portray the Hand of Hashem in all that transpired, people weren’t as confounded as they are now by the goings-on at home and abroad. In the times of the nevi’im, quite often, the people would be forewarned before a calamity would strike so that they could accept upon themselves teshuvah and prevent the tragedy. And even if they did not do so before, once the catastrophe took place, they were explained that it was the Yad Hashem that had hit them and would engage in whatever was necessary to rectify their ways.