“It’s Lt. Col. Vindman.” With that, the Iraq War veteran, his chest flush with ribbons and commendations, tersely reminded Republican lawmakers questioning his judgment and loyalty just whom they were trying to discredit as the impeachment drive against President Donald Trump veered into the personal.

Naftali Bennett, who began serving as Defense Minister last Tuesday, opened his first General Staff meeting with a tefillah.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who had held the position of Defense Minister since Avigdor Liberman resigned the position in November 2018 in protest of a ceasefire with Hamas, offered the position to Bennett a week and a half ago.

The Taliban on Tuesday freed an American and an Australian held hostage since 2016 in exchange for three top Taliban figures — a move that the insurgent group asserted could help rekindle talks to end Afghanistan’s 18-year war.
Read more on Yeshiva World News

The police officer who shot Ethiopian Solomon Tekah to death in Haifa in June will be charged with negligent homicide subject to a trial, the police officer’s attorney announced on Tuesday.

Two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged Tuesday with falsifying prison records to conceal they were sleeping and browsing the internet during the hours they were supposed to be keeping a close watch on prisoners.

Israel attacked dozens of Iranian and Syrian military targets in Syria on Wednesday in what it said was retaliation for rockets fired toward Israel the day before, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Avichay Adraee said.

The former special envoy to Ukraine testified Tuesday he should have realized — as many of his colleagues did — that President Donald Trump was holding up military aid to pressure the country to investigate political rival Joe Biden.
Read more on Yeshiva World News

The U.S. research vessel Sikuliaq can break through ice as thick as 2.5 feet (0.76 meters). In the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska this month, which should be brimming with floes, its limits likely won’t be tested.
Read more on Yeshiva World News

A close-knit Hmong community was in shock after gunmen burst into a California backyard gathering and shot 10 men, killing four.
“We are right now just trying to figure out what to do, what are the next steps.
Read more on Yeshiva World News

There were attacks on the credibility of a witness in uniform and hand-wringing by another witness on all that he knows now that he says he didn’t know then. Vice President Mike Pence was name-dropped during testimony, and expressions of concern about the July phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s leader.