U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to travel to Israel shortly ahead of President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East later this month.
According to Axios, Hegseth is scheduled to land in Israel on May 12, a day before Trump begins his regional tour, which includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
This visit will mark Hegseth’s first time in Israel since taking on the role of defense secretary, and during his stay, he is set to hold meetings with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisroel Katz.
{Matzav.com Israel}

Qatar issued a sharp rebuke late Saturday night following pointed remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu criticizing the Gulf nation.
Netanyahu’s comments came after Qatar condemned Israel during proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In a public statement, Netanyahu said, “Israel is fighting a just war with just means. After the October 7 atrocities, Prime Minister Netanyahu defined the War of Redemption as a war between civilization and barbarism.” He continued, “The time has come for Qatar to stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas barbarism. Israel will win this just war with just means.”

Israel’s Diplomatic-Security Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Sunday evening to finalize a proposal for intensifying military operations in Gaza and to approve a gradual but extensive call-up of reserve troops.
At the same time, tens of thousands of reservists are expected to receive emergency mobilization orders—marking the fifth such wave of call-ups since the war began.
These newly summoned reservists are slated to be deployed in various regions, such as along the northern border and in Judea and Samaria. Their presence in these areas will allow combat units currently stationed there to shift focus and spearhead the next stage of operations in Gaza.

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The fight for Kedushas Eretz Yisroel has reached unprecedented levels.
As of this weekend, the Conservative, Reform and left movements have come out in droves to fight our community’s torah values.To understand what they are trying to implement and accomplish in Artzeinu Hakedosha, you can watch their own video clip below.

Today, the Hamas terror group released a video showing that hostage Maxim Herkin is still alive.
Herkin, 36, who lives in Tirat Hacarmel, was abducted during the Nova music festival in Re’im. Originally from Donetsk, Ukraine, Herkin’s mother is also a Russian citizen.
Back in February, Israel’s Ambassador to Russia, Simona Halperin, stated that Moscow was actively working on securing Herkin’s freedom.
The timing of the video’s release coincided with Israel’s internal discussions about intensifying its military campaign in Gaza. The proposal to escalate operations is scheduled to be brought before the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet on Sunday for approval.

YWN regrets to inform you of the petirah of Rabbi Sholom Lipskar zt”l, the longtime Rav of The Shul of Bal Harbour and founder of the Aleph Institute, who was niftar after decades of transformative avodas hakodesh and recent medical complications. He was approximately 77 years old. Rabbi Lipskar, born in 1946 in Tashkent in the former Soviet Union, was a lifelong servant of Klal Yisrael. As a baby, he was miraculously smuggled across the Soviet border and taken to a Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Germany, before eventually settling with his family in Ontario, Canada. His early life, marked by mesirus nefesh, shaped a neshama that would later inspire countless Jews across the globe.

Brooklyn, N

The Justice Department unit that ensures compliance with voting rights laws will switch its focus to investigating voter fraud and ensuring elections are not marred by “suspicion,” according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. The new mission statement for the voting section makes a passing reference to the historic Voting Rights Act, but no mention of typical enforcement of the provision through protecting people’s right to cast ballots or ensuring that lines for legislative maps do not divide voters by race. Instead, it redefines the unit’s mission around conspiracy theories pushed by Republican President Donald Trump to explain away his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.