Families affiliated with the Tikva Forum convened on Wednesday with Minister Ron Dermer to receive an update on the ongoing efforts to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
Following the discussion, participants voiced alarm over the prospect of a limited agreement that would exclude some of the captives. “We understood once again that the State of Israel is negotiating over a limited number of hostages – and all the rest will be abandoned in Gaza for at least several months,” said Ditza and Yaron Or and Zvika Mor of the Tikva Forum. “This is unacceptable. It is forbidden to select among the hostages. All the hostages must be released together – in one go and on one bus.”

In a groundbreaking move that challenges long-held taboos within the chareidi world, the Toldos Aharon community of Meah Shearim has taken a historic step: dedicating a major feature in its official weekly publication, Anash Blattel, to the topic of children with Down syndrome. This unprecedented 10,000-word article, published in the Pesach edition, seeks to remove the shame often associated with raising a child with special needs and to place the conversation firmly and openly on the table.

TIME Magazine has named Noa Argamani—who endured months in captivity after being kidnapped by Hamas—as one of the 100 most influential people of 2025.
Argamani was seized on October 7, 2023, during the terror attack at the Supernova Music Festival in Re’im, alongside her partner, Avinatan Or. A widely circulated video captured the horrific moment she was taken—her arms raised and pleading for help while sitting on the back of a terrorist’s motorcycle. That footage quickly became an emblem of the massacre.

President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on Harvard University Wednesday morning, declaring the school undeserving of further federal assistance and claiming it no longer qualifies as a respectable academic institution.
In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled the university a “JOKE,” following the announcement from his administration that $2.2 billion in federal funding would be frozen. The move came after Harvard declined to follow directives related to staffing choices, academic content, and its admissions processes.
Trump took particular aim at the university’s recent faculty hires, singling out ex-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot—both Democrats—whom he mocked for their roles as educators.

UTICA, N.Y.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff push could trigger stagflation—higher inflation with slower growth—creating a difficult path for the central bank

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that Miriam Yarimi, 32, of Midwood, Brooklyn, has been arraigned on an indictment charging her with reckless manslaughter and other charges for allegedly speeding through a steady red light before crashing into an Uber that was waiting for a family to finish crossing the street, plowing through the pedestrians as her car rolled over. A 34-year-old mother and her daughters, 5 and 8, died from the impact, and her 4-year-son suffered serious injuries. District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This horrific fatal crash was one of the worst I’ve seen in over 25 years as a prosecutor. It wasn’t an accident. This defendant’s unconscionably dangerous driving wiped out a family.

California Governor Gavin Newsom revealed on Wednesday that he is taking legal action against President Trump in response to the broad tariffs the president has instituted, arguing that the measures are causing serious disruption across California’s economy — the biggest of any state in the nation.
Newsom’s lawsuit contends that Trump’s reliance on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify sweeping tariffs on nations like Mexico, Canada, and China — along with a 10% tax on all foreign goods — is an overreach of executive power.