Tze’ela Gez, a resident of Bruchin and nine-month-pregnant mother of three, was identified as the victim killed in a terrorist shooting attack on a vehicle between Bruchin and Peduel Junction in the Shomron on Wednesday night. Her husband sustained minor injuries. The couple was on the way to the hospital to deliver the baby when the attack occured. Doctors at Beilinson Hospital managed to deliver her baby, who is now reported to he in stable condition. A security source said that, according to an initial investigation, the terrorist opened fire on three vehicles but only hit one of them. It was also reported that the terrorist pointed lasers at the vehicles before opening fire. IDF forces are still pursuing the terrorist who carried out the heinous act.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani expressed a bleak outlook on the prospects of achieving a Gaza ceasefire anytime soon, sharing his concerns in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
He leveled sharp criticism at Israel, accusing it of acting in bad faith by continuing military operations in Gaza even while participating in negotiations. Al-Thani said the simultaneous actions undermined the credibility of Israel’s involvement in talks held in Doha, calling it a “bad signal.”

MK Avi Maoz, who heads the Noam party, issued a scathing condemnation of the current coalition on Wednesday, blasting its rejection of legislation introduced by opposition lawmaker MK Yulia Malinovsky of Yisrael Beytenu. The proposed law aimed to bar terrorists from receiving specialized medical care in Israel’s public hospitals.
Taking to his X account, Maoz brought attention to past instances in which terrorists were granted advanced medical procedures, pointing to Yahya Sinwar as a glaring example of what he called a deeply flawed system.

Republicans and Democrats alike on Wednesday questioned the deep staffing cuts, research funding freezes and drastic policy changes that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made in a few short months at the helm of the nation’s health department. Kennedy, who was to sit before the Senate’s health committee later in the day, appeared at a House appropriations hearing to defend the White House’s requested budget for his agency. The request includes a $500 million boost for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative to promote nutrition and healthier lifestyles while making deep cuts to infectious disease prevention, medical research maternal health, low-income heat assistance and preschool programs.

As Lag Ba’omer approaches and crowds begin to ascend to Meron for the annual hilula of Rav Shimon bar Yochai, Hilula Project Coordinator Yossi Deutsch gave an in-depth interview in Hebrew to Kikar HaShabbat, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the intense preparations, major upgrades, and the unique challenges facing this year’s event, particularly the shortened time window due to it falling on Erev Shabbos. Matzav.com provides some highlights of the interview.

TEHRAN – A top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader says Tehran is open to reaching a nuclear agreement with the United States, provided that all economic sanctions are removed — a development that could mark a significant

As concerns grow over reports that the IDF is preparing to arrest yeshiva students who failed to report to draft offices, the Rishon L’Tzion, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, issued a powerful warning: if such a crackdown is carried out, the chareidi public will have no choice but to leave Eretz Yisrael.
Speaking at an event in Bnei Brak, Rav Yosef said, “If they force us to go to the army—if they come into yeshivos and arrest bochurim—we have no right to remain here. We will all leave for abroad. We will not stay here.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a sharp response to remarks made by US President Donald Trump during his recent visit to the Gulf region, declaring that Tehran will stand firm and not be intimidated.
Speaking in a televised address carried live on Iranian state television, Pezeshkian rebuked Trump’s approach, stating, “He (Trump) thinks he can come here, chant slogans and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed. You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully.”
The Iranian leader’s defiant tone comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to simmer, with Pezeshkian emphasizing that threats and rhetoric would not shake Iran’s resolve.
{Matzav.com}

I write with disbelief regarding a policy recently introduced in a local frum school: a “Free Pass” initiative that exempts students from a final exam if they raise or donate $550 to a designated organization. Encouraging chesed and tzedakah among our children is admirable. But linking a mitzvah to an academic incentive is, at best, misguided and, at worst, a distortion of the very values we claim to uphold. Tzedakah is not a bargaining chip. It is not a ticket to privilege or a means to bypass accountability. It is one of the foundational mitzvos of a Torah life, meant to be done lishmah, out of a pure desire to help Klal Yisrael—not in exchange for skipping an exam. This policy does more than blur the lines between ruchniyus and reward—it erases them.