In a notable political development, the Palestine Liberation Organization on Thursday introduced a new leadership position beneath its aging leader Mahmoud Abbas, who at 89 has yet to name an heir.
The PLO Central Council approved the creation of a vice president role, a move seen as part of Abbas’s effort to maintain influence and carve out a leadership stake in future governance of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority has been largely excluded from current developments as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.

In a major win for Israel, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court on Thursday unanimously ruled to reconsider an Israeli challenge against the court’s jurisdiction to try Israeli citizens for war crimes. The judges wrote in their decision that the pretrial panel “committed an error of law by failing to sufficiently address Israel’s argument that it was entitled to make a jurisdictional challenge” under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

The mayor of Amsterdam apologized Thursday for the role the Dutch capital played in the persecution of its Jewish citizens during World War II, saying the government at the time “let its Jewish residents down terribly.” Speaking at an event marking Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Mayor Femke Halsema said that civil servants in Amsterdam played an active role in the murder of some thousands of Jewish citizens of the city. Three-quarters of Dutch Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, a much higher percentage than in other Western European countries such as Belgium and France. Of the estimated 80,000 Jews who lived in Amsterdam at the outbreak of World War II, only some 20,000 survived, the highest number of victims in Western Europe.

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Klal Yisroel is requested to recite Tehillim for the complete and speedy recovery of HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, who is currently undergoing surgery following a fall at his home. As reported by YWN on Thursday morning, the Gadol HaDor, aged 95, suffered severe pain after the incident and was unable to attend Shacharis at the yeshiva. He was promptly taken to the hospital, where tests and an X-ray were conducted. It was then learned, that the Rosh Yeshiva suffered a fractured hip. Based on the medical team’s recommendation, Rav Landau is now undergoing a surgical procedure led by Dr. Itai Holzer, head of the Orthopedic Department at the Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital. The name for tefillah is Efraim Dov ben Devorah b’soch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.

HY’D: Master Sergeant (Res.) Asaf Cafri, aged 26, from Beit Hashmonai, a tank driver in the 79th Battalion, ‘Machatz’ Brigade (14th), fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip.

President Donald Trump voiced his belief on Thursday that he deserves global acclaim for playing a central role in the establishment of the Abraham Accords—historic agreements that opened diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab nations.
“Maybe for the Abraham Accords,” Trump remarked when questioned about a potential Nobel Peace Prize nomination. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself in this one.”
His remarks came during a meeting at the White House with a visiting Norwegian delegation, which included Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

What began as a high-profile visit by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has descended into chaos, as hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters converged outside the iconic Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway this evening, triggering confrontations, shouting matches, and reports of physical altercations with Lubavitcher bochurim. The unrest follows a whirlwind 24 hours for Ben-Gvir, a polarizing figure in Israeli politics known for his hardline views, whose presence has ignited fierce backlash across multiple New York City stops. On Wednesday night, Ben-Gvir was met with loud protests and jeering at Yale University, where demonstrators interrupted his address with chants and disruptions.