The Supreme Court will hear a vaping case on Monday, weighing federal regulators’ decisions blocking sweet vaping products after e-cigarette use spiked among kids. The high court is taking up an appeal from the Food and Drug Administration, which has denied more than a million applications to sell candy- or fruit-flavored products that appeal to kids. Those decisions are part of a crackdown that anti-tobacco advocates say helped drive down youth vaping to a decade low after an “epidemic level” peak in 2019. But vaping companies pushed back in court, arguing that agency unfairly disregarded arguments that their sweet e-liquid products aren’t a big draw for kids but would help adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has confirmed plans to enforce restrictions on mosques using loudspeakers to broadcast the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer. The measure, first reported by Channel 12, grants police the authority to enter mosques, seize loudspeaker equipment, and issue fines for violations. Ben Gvir defended the policy in a post on X, stating he is “proud” of the initiative, which he claims will eliminate “unreasonable noise from mosques, which have become a hazard for the residents of Israel.” The decision has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) could emerge as a formidable contender in the 2028 presidential race, according to Monica Crowley, a former Trump administration official, who highlighted the congresswoman’s media savvy and grassroots appeal during a Friday appearance on Fox News. Speaking with guest host Lisa Boothe on The Ingraham Angle, Crowley analyzed Ocasio-Cortez’s outreach efforts, including her use of Instagram to connect with voters. “She’s an early adopter of social media, and it’s allowed her to connect directly to voters,” Crowley said, noting that Ocasio-Cortez’s accessibility and engagement mirror tactics employed by Donald Trump.

Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant excoriated former Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon for claiming that Israel is carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in the northern Gaza Strip. “Ya’alon’s words are lies that aid our enemies and harm Israel,” Gallant stated on Sunday. “I saw the IDF soldiers and commanders up close when I led the difficult war against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. The IDF operated according to the highest standards applicable in the complex and difficult war forced on us. Orders and directives were always given in accordance with the law and the spirit of the IDF.” “I suggest to Ya’alon not to disgrace his security past, learn the facts, retract his statements, and apologize to the IDF soldiers,” Gallant concluded.

The IDF on Monday morning announced that Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra, H’yd, 21, a lone soldier from New York,  was murdered on October 7 and his body is being held hostage in Gaza. Omer, z’l, served as a tank platoon commander in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade. One of the most disturbing images from October 7 shows Nukhba terrorists brutally pulling IDF soldiers from a tent they set on fire. Omer was the commander of that tank and was abducted along with his tank crew. Omer was thought to have been abducted alive but after new intelligence information recently came to light, the Military Rabbanut declared his death. Omer, H’yd, is survived by his parents, Ronen and Orna, and his brother Daniel. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Former Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Chabad World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway on Sunday night, as the annual Kinus Hashluchim concluded. “I come here to Brooklyn, to 770, for the first time since the difficult war forced upon us,” Gallant said. “And I want to say to you that this war brought us to unprecedented achievements in the zechus of two things – the zechus of the IDF soldiers and the zechus of the neis of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” “This is not something to be taken for granted. We began this war on Simchas Torah, one of the hardest days that Am Yisrael endured since the Holocaust. Our enemies thought they would defeat us. We saw this in the documents we found on their computers in Gaza.

A senior Syrian rebel official has revealed that last week’s surprise offensive against Syria’s military coincided with the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the timing, according to the rebel leader—identified by Israel’s Channel 12 only as “Y”—was calculated to counter the anticipated movement of Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters fleeing from Lebanon into Syria. The rebel official said that the renewed offensive against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces aims to prevent Hezbollah from establishing a permanent presence in the region. “We will not allow Iran’s proxies to entrench themselves in our liberated areas,” he said, referring to territories under rebel control in provinces like Idlib and Aleppo.

MSNBC commentators erupted over Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director, making dramatic comparisons to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and controversial FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover, and painting Patel as a figure willing to disregard constitutional constraints. “Kash Patel as FBI director would be like crossing Alex Jones with J. Edgar Hoover,” MSNBC contributor Hayes Brown claimed, dismissing Patel as a conspiracy theorist eager to weaponize the FBI for partisan purposes. “With all of the conspiracy theorizing and his eagerness to fan the flames of Trump’s worst instincts, this nomination defies precedent and logic.” April Ryan of The Grio took aim at Patel’s revisionist take on the January 6 Capitol riot, criticizing his alignment with Donald Trump’s narratives.

The White House is actively working on a potential ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza, though no deal has been finalized yet, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC. The announcement comes amid ongoing violence and high-level regional discussions about the crisis. “We are working actively to try to make it happen. We are engaged deeply with the key players in the region, and there is activity even today,” Sullivan said, according to an NBC transcript. “There will be further conversations and consultations, and our hope is that we can generate a ceasefire and hostage deal, but we’re not there yet,” he added. Sullivan emphasized President Joe Biden’s close coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the matter.

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman The breathtaking complexity and intellectual rigor of the field of Kashrus often goes unappreciated, even by those well-versed in Jewish law. Deep within this vast ocean of knowledge lies an absolutely riveting debate that captures the essence of how nuanced this field truly is: Does a particular ligament count among the crucial 16 tendons that render a chicken treif? This fascinating controversy pits two towering giants of halachic scholarship against each other – the brilliant Rav Shmuel Vosner zt”l (pictured on the right) and the masterful Rav Meir Brandsdorfer zt”l (on the left). What follows is nothing short of a intellectual feast – a careful translation of their remarkable responsa, each one a masterpiece of logical reasoning and deep analysis.