The United States Geological Survey confirmed the underground disturbance occurred at 10:18 p.m., originating six miles beneath the surface in the Bergen County community located approximately 13 miles from Midtown Manhattan.

Tremors from the Hasbrouck Heights earthquake reached residents in Upper Manhattan neighborhoods including Hell's Kitchen, extended north to Riverdale in the Bronx, and traveled south to Staten Island, The New York Post reported. Officials confirmed no injuries or structural damage occurred immediately following the seismic activity in New York City.

Ground movement persisted for as long as 10 seconds in certain areas of the Garden State, with residents also experiencing shorter duration shaking in Nutley, New Jersey, positioned roughly nine miles south of the earthquake's center, according to The New York Post.

"It sounded like a bang, followed by a shake and it lasted about two seconds," Erica Pirchio, 40, who was present in Nutley during the tremor, explained to The New York Post.

The 40-year-old resident described this particular seismic event as exceptionally intense compared to previous regional earthquakes. "I have experienced two earthquakes in New York and New Jersey and this was the most violent – I never heard an earthquake before that sounded like a thud," Pirchio stated to The New York Post. "I thought one of my parents fell."

Staten Island residents reported detecting an extraordinarily loud sound accompanying the ground movement. "It almost sounded like a car hit the side of the house, the house was swaying," Evan Ferrer, 33, who was viewing a film with his girlfriend at their residence near South Beach when the shaking commenced, told The New York Post.

Ferrer compared Saturday's earthquake to a previous regional seismic event from earlier this year. "The one from 2024 was longer, but didn't have a boom as extreme as this. It was a boom followed by swaying that lasted for a few seconds," the 33-year-old explained to The New York Post.

Regional residents experienced a significantly stronger magnitude 4.8 earthquake in April, which originated near Lebanon, New Jersey, but transmitted shock waves throughout New York City, according to The New York Post. The previous week witnessed six minor earthquakes – measuring between magnitude 0.7 and 2.0 – that affected Morris County, New Jersey, occurring within a single 17-hour period, The New York Post reported.

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In a heart-wrenching incident that has stunned the quiet Ultra-orthodox community of Lakewood, New Jersey, two young girls were found dead inside a home on Tuesday night, according to NBC New York. Law enforcement sources revealed that their mother had been taken into custody in connection with the double homicide.

The gruesome discovery was made at a residence on Shenandoah Drive near Rockbridge Road, where authorities uncovered the bodies of two toddlers –a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. The one-year-old victim was stabbed, and both children had been drowned. Naomi Elkins, 27, who is apparently part of the Haredi community of Lakewood, was charged with two counts of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

#njmornings What appears to be a normal morning in #Lakewood is anything but after the @Lakewood_PD confirms the deaths of two children who lived in this home on Shenandoah Drive. No official word on cause or arrests. Live updates this morning on @News12NJ @OCPONJ pic.twitter.com/mHawj84JIC

— Tony Caputo (@TonyCaputo) June 26, 2024

As the community grapples with the shocking news, a heavy police presence was observed at the scene. More than a dozen officers from both the Ocean County Sheriff's Office and Lakewood Police Department were seen entering and exiting the home, while patrol cars lined the block.

The incident has left neighbors and residents in disbelief. One local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told NBC New York, "This is a quiet neighborhood. We never expected something like this to happen here. It's absolutely devastating." The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has yet to release an official statement regarding the incident.

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In an incredible act of solidarity and kindness, Mayor of Highland Park Elsie Foster hand-delivered the message of the hostages' return to every synagogue in town so that they could share it with their congregations. The news of the hostage rescue in Israel broke on Shabbat, so observant Jews in the New Jersey county were not aware of the update.

This is Elsie Foster, Mayor of Highland Town, New Jersey.

When news of the hostage rescue in Israel broke during Shabbat, she made sure to hand-deliver the message to every synagogue in town so that they could share it with their congregations. pic.twitter.com/eHDLdUTHsx

— Yael Bar tur (@yaelbt) June 9, 2024

 IDF forces conducted a daring raid on Saturday in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip culminating with the successful rescue of hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7. The hostages were Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov, Almog Meir Jan, and Shlomi Ziv. All four were taken hostage during the deadly attack on the Nova Rave on Oct. 7 near Kibbutz Re'im.

The IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said multiple agencies and forces joined the IDF in the operation, including the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police's special counterterrorism unit, Yamam. The operation – at the heart of a civilian population – was in the works for weeks.

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On June 4, when about 375 yearbooks were distributed at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, it was discovered that the section for the Jewish Student Union had been completely removed, the names of its members were erased, and their group photo was replaced with a picture of Muslim students who had no connection to the union.

The East Brunswick High School (NJ) 2024 yearbook replaced the photos and names of every student in the Jewish Student Union club with faces and names of Muslim students. @EBPublicSchools must investigate and hold accountable whoever is responsible. @News12NJ @JTAnews pic.twitter.com/RQcfE2xpUH

— ShipofTheseus (@JewishSpaceLazr) June 5, 2024

As news of the photo swap gained traction online and sparked outrage within the Jewish community, the Mayor of East Brunswick Brad Cohen described the photo replacement as a "blatant antisemitic act." Victor Valeski, the superintendent of the East Brunswick school district apologized to both the Jewish and Muslim students, who he said also faced an unpleasant attack following the eruption of the case, and called on the community not to jump to conclusions.

"I sent a message to the community today and said we are investigating the case, and I ask that people give us time to investigate and not rush to judgment," he said in an interview with NBC4 news site, adding that it could be an innocent mistake and not an intentional act driven by antisemitic motives. "I'm waiting to see what the investigation reveals because this could be a legitimate mistake," he added. "I don't want to call it antisemitism yet."

However, Mayor Brad Cohen said there is no reasonable explanation. "It has raised a lot of anger in the community because it's hard for most people to understand how this happened 'by mistake,'" he said, wondering if the incident warrants being treated as a hate crime. "I think the community, both the Jewish community and the general community, deserve a prompt answer," he said. "It's just disturbing and upsetting not to call it what it is: an antisemitic act. Hatred has no place in East Brunswick, and antisemitism will not be tolerated," he declared.

"We are aware of the error in the yearbook," Valeski added in an email on Tuesday. "We are working with the publisher to correct the yearbook, and we are also investigating how the error occurred and will address it accordingly upon completion of the investigation. We deeply apologize for the error and the disappointment it has caused. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work expeditiously to rectify the situation."

East Brunswick High School https://t.co/p29JOcgJNU pic.twitter.com/1a7Mhq6mwR

— Brett Gursky (@BrettGursky) June 5, 2024

 As soon as the yearbook issue was discovered, members of the Jewish Student Union reconvened to take a new group photo to be included along with their names in corrected versions of the book to be distributed to students. Meanwhile, the school district has also hired an outside law firm to investigate the matter.

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At a rally in New Jersey on Saturday that attracted a crowd of 100,000, former President Donald Trump voiced his support for "Israel's right to win its war on terror." He claimed the October 7 attack would not have occurred under his watch. Addressing pro-Palestine protests on American college campuses, Trump stated, "When I'm president, we will not allow colleges to be taken over by violent radicals. If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism, anti-Americanism, or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you, you'll be out of that school."

Trump also called on President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to "return the donations of all antisemites, America haters, and financiers of chaos who have funded the chaos on our campuses." He criticized Biden's decision to "withhold shipping weapons to Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza," asserting, "I support Israel's right to win its war on terror. Is that okay? I don't know if that's good or bad politically. I don't care. Gotta do what's right."

"You could take the 10 worst presidents in the history of our country, and add them up ... and they haven't done the damage to our country that this total moron has done," Trump said to a cheering crowd. "The gloves are off. He's a bad guy … he's the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him, he's a fool," continued Trump.

While New Jersey is not often a focal point in presidential elections, Trump held a rally on a South Jersey beach near Pennsylvania, likely attracting attendees from the crucial Keystone State. "As you can see, today, we're expanding the electoral maps because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey. We're going to win the state of New Jersey," Trump told the crowd. "Millions of people in so-called blue states are joining our movement based on love, intelligence, and a thing called common sense."

However, national outlets like the Cook Political Report rate New Jersey as "solid Democratic," and the state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. Trump lost New Jersey by double digits in both of his presidential campaigns.

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In meetings between foreign investors, Israelis, long-time and budding entrepreneurs, and innovators in the last few weeks in the US, one could often hear the following sentence: "The protest against the Israeli justice system reform is interesting and we are following what is happening in Israel, but business is business."

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It is very difficult for Israelis who arrived on the east coast of the "Land of Opportunity" to detach themselves from what has been going on in the last months in Israel; however, when it comes to doing business, political opinions are usually left outside the door.

It is customary to think of Israeli exports in terms of goods and services. The excellent defense industries that have given Israel a world-class name in air defense systems, missiles, protective measures, and the like have been presented to the world in recent weeks at the Paris Air Show. However, Israel is also a considerable exporter of high-tech, mainly to the huge American market. The export of high-tech from Israel to the US constitutes a main pillar of the total export of goods and business services to the US.

As of 2021, high-tech accounted for approximately 63% of Israel's total exports to the US. According to this data, high-tech exports from Israel to the United States experienced double-digit growth of 33% in 2021 and reached a volume of approximately $23 billion.

Video: Moshe Ben Simhon / Israeli high-tech workers protest

The connection between the Israeli companies, both new and well-established, was created thanks to the extensive activities of the Israel Export Institute and the Foreign Trade Administration. The institute is a non-profit association whose goal is to support and assist Israelis and those interested in exporting by building capabilities in developing business relationships, collaborations, and strategic partnerships with foreign entities.

Since its establishment in 1958, the institute has been a home for thousands of Israeli exporters and every year provides them with a variety of services and tools for international success. Establishing business relationships, information and consulting services, participation in international exhibitions and a variety of activities are just some of the assistance tools provided by the organization to Israeli companies.

Anat Katz serves as the Israeli economic minister to North America and is in close contact with the institute in Israel. One might imagine that the American dream for Israeli entrepreneurs is only in the Big Apple – or perhaps also Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, or Miami; however, one of the biggest hubs for Israeli companies in the US is actually New Jersey. With a large Israeli community and families who moved here alongside those who are already second-generation New Jersey residents –the largest hub of Israeli businesses is maintained in front of the touristy and glittering Manhattan.

One of the reasons for this is the recognition of the potential of the state of New Jersey. The state has created a unique representative whose role is to handle and promote business and economic relations with only one foreign country - Israel.

Andrew Gross, executive director of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, explained in an interview with Israel Hayom, together with Mark S. Levenson, the co-chair of the New York-New Jersey Israel Commission (and a well-established figure in the New Jersey-Israel ties), about the special relationship that as of lately has been bearing fruits.

"Many Israeli families come here not only because of the cost of living but actually mainly because of the community created in New Jersey", Gross explains the reasons Israelis choose to go to New Jersey instead of New York. "We are not coming to Israel to take any business or company, but here they get a framework that gives them the option to do business with North America and the East Coast." Minister of the Economy Nir Barkat held a host of meetings in New York with the CEO of the investment bank Goldman Sachs; the chief economist of the largest bank in the US and the world in terms of market value, JP Morgan; the Amazon AI team; Nasdaq President and CEO Adena T. Friedman; and with the president of Jefferies investment bank, Brian Friedman, and the bank's executives, in New York.

The minister presented the Israeli investment trends and talked with them about possible future forecasts for the Israeli economy.

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New Jersey has joined the growing list of US states looking into whether ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry's and its parent company, Unilever, are in violation of state law against boycotts of Israel.

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"The Division of Investment is aware of the situation and is working to determine whether any actions must be taken to ensure continued compliance with the state's anti-BDS law," Jennifer Sciortino, director of communications for the state Treasury, said in an email on Friday, according to USA Today.

Press Secretary Alyana Alfaro Post said in a separate statement on Thursday that New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy "was disappointed in the decision by Ben and Jerry's," and that "the governor believes we must continue working toward the shared goal of peace and mutual respect."

The law, passed by New Jersey and 34 other states, prohibits state agencies from investing in pension and annuity funds of companies or individuals that support any boycott of Israel and its settlements in the West Bank. New Jersey's state legislature passed the law in 2016 with near-unanimous support.

Unilever's North American headquarters are located in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and employ 1,600 people.

Meanwhile, John A. Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Gristedes grocery store chain, announced on Sunday that he authorized his stores, which mostly operate in New York, "to cut Ben & Jerry's space by 30% & not advertise until further notice."

"It's a tragedy that Ben & Jerry's has politicized ice cream," he added.

Catsimatidis also voiced his support for Häagen-Dazs, which he wrote is a "better" brand "created by a South Bronx family who is pro-Israel."

In what appeared to be a decision aimed at singling out Israeli settlements, the US-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's announced earlier this month its products would not be sold beyond the Green Line after 2022.  The move drew immediate condemnations from Israelis and a call to boycott the company's products.

On its website, it said, "We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)," referring to the official UN terminology for Judea and Samaria. "We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners," it said.

According to the company, "We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year."

The company added that it would continue to operate in Israel "through a different arrangement."

Although it was unclear if this was part of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign waged against Israel among some leftwing circles in the US, it appears to fall in line with the goals pushed by progressive radicals on the Left in the US and beyond, which have accused the company of being part of Israel's alleged discriminatory practices against Palestinians.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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The unknown name of the business is located near Lakewood, NJ reported The Lakewood Scoop.

Lakewood has a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish population.

Surveillance footage showed a woman exiting her vehicle and walking behind a trailer on the business property, which was later vandalized, according to the Scoop.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Seals was killed by two attackers early on Tuesday afternoon at the Bay View Cemetery in Jersey City. The suspects, a man and a woman, then drove approximately one mile to the JC Kosher Supermarket in the city's Greenville section, home to a significant population of religious Jews.

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The two stormed the store and fired round after round of bullets as they engaged police during an hours-long standoff. When police entered the market officers discovered the bodies of Leah Mindel Ferencz, 33, who owned the store with her husband, Moshe Dovid Ferencz; Moshe Deutsch, 24, of the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY; and Miguel Douglas, 49, who worked at the store. Ferencz's husband had left the store just moments before the attack to attend afternoon prayer services at a synagogue next door.

"There is an extremely massive outpouring of grief and outrage at the attack that occurred in Jersey City," said Jewish community leader Chaskel Bennett, a co-founder of the civic and political group Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition (FJCC), who spearheaded the campaign with fellow Flatbush community leaders Leon Goldenberg and Moshe Wulliger. "Obviously, when an event of this magnitude happens and we see the victims that are identifiably Orthodox Jews, automatically it hits home a little bit harder."

"Orthodox Jews care deeply about the people who stand on the front lines protecting us," added Bennett.

In situations like this, he continued, "We as a community need to take a moment and recognize the sacrifices that law enforcement professionals are making all across the country to secure our shuls, our synagogues, our JCCs, our yeshivas, our day schools. … These are human beings with families; and in this case, Detective Seals has a wife and five children."

The response to the fundraising campaign was swift. More than 1,400 donations were raised; the campaign is now closed. Gifts ranged from just $2 to $200, with many less than $50. A number of those who contributed also left messages on the campaign web page.

"RIP, thank you for all you have done. May God bless your family and all the men in blue."

"We can never repay you for all the lives you saved, RIP. Strength to your wife and kids and loved ones."

Donating to the Seals family, said Bennett, shows that "Orthodox Jews care deeply about the people who stand on the front lines protecting us," adding that this "small act" allows the "community to take our anguish and transform it into tangible action."‎

The response also shows that "the anguish is real," he added.

"The fear Jews now feel didn't begin with this terrible incident. The anti-Semitic attacks against our community have been escalating for a while now, and we have been sounding the alarm," explained Bennett.

However, "the response by people to donate more than $48,000 in 18 hours speaks to the overwhelming desire for people to be part of something positive in the midst of such pain. From the depths of our sorrow, the very best of our people shines through," he said.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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"This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills," Tlaib posted to her personal Twitter account on Thursday, two days after a Jersey City shootout claimed the lives of a police officer and three members of the local Jewish community.

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After being informed that the shooters, identified as David Anderson, 47, and his girlfriend, 50-year-old Francine Graham, were, in fact, African Americans, Tlaib removed the message from her social media feed.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American US Representative ever elected, later posted a tweet to her official congressional account expressing her condolences over the incident, saying it "It was beyond heartbreaking to learn of what appears to be another anti-Semitic act of violence."

It was beyond heartbreaking to learn of what appears to be another anti-Semitic act of violence. The hate growing in our country is toxic. https://t.co/UuRANNA9ZZ

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) December 11, 2019

But the initial tweet left some members of the American Jewish community reeling.

"It's telling, and frankly sick, that Tlaib tweeted out sympathies for the Jews that were murdered blaming it on white supremacists," journalist Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll said of Tlaib's original message.

"Didn't care enough to find out what happened. Just enough to use dead Jews for her political agenda," she added.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Anderson had a history of publishing anti-Semitic and anti-police posts online, citing an official with knowledge on the situation.

The Black Hebrew Israelites are an African American religious movement claiming heritage from the ancient Israelites. It has no links with mainstream Judaism and is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The latest reports confirm the attack was specifically aimed at the JC Kosher Supermarket, with authorities saying that footage from surveillance cameras helped construct their assessment.

"Based on our initial investigation [which is ongoing] we now believe the active shooters targeted the location they attacked," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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