Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley sharply criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence during her Wednesday SiriusXM program, Nikki Haley Live. Haley questioned Gabbard’s suitability for the role, citing her foreign policy stances and accusing her of sympathizing with adversaries such as Russia, Iran, Syria, and China. “The director of national intelligence is a job for an honest broker without any pronounced policy biases,” Haley said. “Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.” Haley’s remarks centered on Gabbard’s foreign policy positions during her time in Congress and her 2020 Democratic presidential campaign.

A new poll by Puck News/Echelon Insights reveals that Vice President Kamala Harris remains the favored choice for the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee, despite her recent loss to President-elect Donald Trump. The survey found that 41% of likely Democratic voters support Harris leading the ticket in the next presidential election. California Governor Gavin Newsom ranked a distant second with 8% support, followed by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro with 7%. Shapiro had been considered to be Harris’s running mate in the 2024 election. Harris’s 2024 running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, tied with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 6%.

A mysterious by-product of a chemical used to disinfect the tap water of about one-third of Americans has finally been identified, and the international research team behind the discovery is advocating rapid assessment of its potential toxicity.
The research, reported Thursday in the journal Science, does not claim that tap water containing the by-product is unsafe to drink or that the finding represents any kind of emergency. All water, including bottled water, contains contaminants.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi launched an investigation on Thursday following the severe incident in which 71-year-old Ze’ev Erlich, H’YD, was killed by terrorists in southern Lebanon on Wednesday. A 20-year-old soldier was killed in the incident and two officers were wounded, one seriously and one moderately. The encounter with the terrorists occurred in an area under IDF control since earlier operations, an area 5-6 kilometers from the border, overlooking Tyre. Erlich, z’l was armed and wearing protective gear but according to the IDF, he was classified as a civilian and his presence there violated military orders. The two fallen soldiers began to survey an ancient fortress near a mosque at a high point on a ridge, unaware that two terrorists were hiding there.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
I thought I had seen it all, but this past Shabbos opened my eyes to an epidemic that is quietly taking root in our communities. I was a guest at a Bar Mitzvah, and what I witnessed at the Kiddush after davening—though for some, it began during the leining—was beyond shocking.
The spread was extravagant and excessive: lavish meat boards, two types of cholent, three types of kugel, and more varieties of herring than I could count. And then there was the Schnapps—a veritable sea of expensive bottles, freely passed around and sampled by men of all ages.

[COMMUNICATED]

“Help my daughter live”
I am Esti, Lali’s mother.

Our Lali is a child we longed for and waited for five years. She is all the light and joy of our home, and all I want is for her to stay here with us.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in October, the first annual gain in more than three years, with home shoppers encouraged by easing rates and a pickup in properties on the market. Existing home sales rose 3.4% last month, from September, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.96 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That matches the annual pace set in July. Sales rose 2.9% compared with October last year, representing the first year-over-year gain since July 2021. The latest home sales topped the 3.93 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 16th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 4% from a year earlier, to $407,200.