All News (Page 113)

American actor Josh Grisetti, who starred on theater stages and appeared in the fifth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, died by suicide on Friday. He was 44.

His death was announced on Instagram on Sunday by his close friend and Something Rotten! co-star, actor Rob McClure.

“It is with a shattered heart that I share that the brilliant Josh Grisetti took his own life on Friday. I’m not ready to even attempt to understand,” McClure wrote. “My heart is with his wife and family as they try to deal with the reality of this. Some of my all-time favorite memories were by this man’s side… Just a cataclysmic loss.”

Grisetti’s agent, Rick Ferrari, said, “I am completely devastated. That’s all I can say.”

Grisetti began career in musical theater

Grisetti was born in Washington in December 1981. He studied drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and later trained in musical theater at the Boston Conservatory.

He began his career in regional productions before appearing in the musicals Diner, It Shoulda Been You, and Something Rotten!. His role in the latter became one of his best-known performances and earned him two Drama Desk Award nominations.

Alongside his theater work, Grisetti also appeared in film and television. In 2007, he appeared in the sitcom The Knights of Prosperity and later acted in the films The Immigrant and The Namesake. His most prominent television role was as Ralph Emerson in the fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which aired in 2023.

Cristo Fernandez, an actor best known for playing a professional soccer player on Ted Lasso, officially took his first stab at the real thing this weekend.

Fernandez, who appeared as recurring character Danny Rojas on the hit streaming series, made his USL debut for El Paso in its USL Cup match against New Mexico United on Saturday night. He subbed into the game in the 79th minute for Locomotive, picking up a yellow card during a 2-0 defeat.

The 35-year-old was an accomplished youth player, competing with Tecos FC in Liga MX, before injuries derailed his career and led him to acting.

He first tried out for the Chicago Fire’s reserve squad earlier this year, which led to another tryout with El Paso and, eventually, a contract.

‘Football is life!’

“Football is life!” was the catchphrase of his Ted Lasso character, and he revisited his most famous words in an ESPN interview in May.

“Football has given me both the best moments, the sad moments,” he said. “I guess that’s why, for me, football is life.”

Palestine might not be playing at the World Cup, but a fellow Arab coach has been carrying the flag. Literally.

After Egypt defeated Australia on July 3, coach Hossam Hassan held the Palestinian flag in front of fans who chanted, “Free, free Palestine.”

“My heart and soul are with them,” Hassan said afterward regarding the “kind and honorable” Palestinians, to whom he dedicated the victory. “May Allah grant them victory. May Allah have mercy on their martyrs.”

Then, after Argentina eliminated Egypt on July 7, Hassan used his press conference to deliver a passionate soliloquy for four-and-a-half minutes.

“Today, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 of them were struck by a single missile and died, while we’re still here,” Hassan said. “It’s not hard to see that the children we see can’t even find food. They’re facing diseases and epidemics that can result from a lack of food, sleep, and basic necessities. So if I don’t feel compassion as a human being, then I have no reason to live – nor does any human being on the face of the earth who is unaware of what’s happening in Palestine.”

The hypocrisy of Hassan, the nation he represents, and FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, is breathtaking. That hypocrisy inflames hostility toward Israel and its supporters.

Hassan speaks compassionately yet probably cares nothing about the victims of Hamas’s attacks on October 7, 2023 – victims who faced far worse than the Palestinians. Hassan revealed his true self when he yelled an obscenity and spat when confronted by an Israeli flag after Argentina’s victory.

Meanwhile, Egypt acts as Palestine’s ally yet views Palestinians as a domestic threat and economic burden. FIFA acts as an alleged apolitical body that disciplines political advocacy but grants the Palestinians and their supporters an exception.

In 2009, Egypt built a fortified wall extending underground along the Gaza border despite opposition from Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah. Nevertheless, jihadists killed 33 Egyptian soldiers in 2014 in two attacks in the Sinai Peninsula. All but three died in one attack just 20 kilometers from Rafah.

Those attacks accelerated the development of stronger countermeasures. From 2013 to 2015, Egyptian authorities expelled about 3,200 families while destroying 3,255 buildings and hundreds of hectares of farmland.

“The Egyptian authorities provided residents with little or no warning of the evictions, no temporary housing, mostly inadequate compensation for their destroyed homes – none at all for their farmland – and no effective way to challenge their eviction, home demolition, or compensation,” Human Rights Watch stated in its report.

The steel-and-concrete wall now reaches 7 meters and includes electronic surveillance and a cleared buffer zone.

FIFA contradicts its own disciplinary code

MEANWHILE, FIFA contradicts its own disciplinary code. Article 13 states that using a match “for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature” constitutes “offensive behavior” and violates “the principles of fair play.” Article 6 outlines punishments such as fines, suspensions, and banishment, but leaves enforcement to FIFA’s judicial bodies.

FIFA previously punished blatant politicking. In 2013, Croatian defender Josip Simunic received a 10-match suspension and missed the 2014 World Cup for using a salute associated with the pro-Nazi Ustaše regime during World War II. After that year’s tournament, Argentina’s soccer federation drew a fine because its players stood behind a banner proclaiming in Spanish that Britain’s Falkland Islands belonged to Argentina.

FIFA allowed the display of Palestinian flags in 2022

But when it comes to Palestine or Arab/Muslim sensibilities, FIFA exhibits far greater latitude.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA allowed the display of Palestinian flags while prohibiting team captains from wearing rainbow armbands to support LGBTQ activism, since Qatar criminalizes homosexuality. Morocco’s team often displayed the Palestinian flag, especially after defeating Spain to reach the quarterfinals. The British group UK Lawyers for Israel called for sanctions, but FIFA took no action.

“Rules only make sense if they are consistently applied,” Deutsche Welle’s Mark Meadows wrote at the time. “Whatever your view on the Middle East and the future of the Palestinian Territories, taking their flag onto a football pitch at the World Cup surely counts as a political statement.”

‘A climate of hostility and anger’

The Moroccans’ behavior reflected Qatar’s antagonism toward Israel.

“Israeli fans and reporters were met with a climate of hostility and anger that forced many of them to return to Israel,” wrote Hussein Aboubakar Mansour. “Those who have been following the story got a rare glimpse of the Israeli reality of living amidst a sea of absolute rejection and hostility.”

Arab fans yelled at Israeli reporters during interviews and said they did not belong in Qatar. “There is no Israel, only Palestine,” one shouted at Moav Vardi, KAN’s foreign affairs reporter. To avoid harassment, Israeli reporters said they came from other countries.

Local businesses also refused to serve Israelis. One restaurant owner not only called security to evict an Israeli diner but took the customer’s phone and deleted pictures of the food. Later, a taxi driver evicted the same patron from his cab in the middle of a street.

FIFA followed suit this year. Egypt’s federation has yet to be sanctioned for its coach’s advocacy. As it did in Qatar, FIFA allows the Palestinian flag while banning Iran’s lion-and-sun flag that flew before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Neither was the Israeli flag welcome. During the match between Iran and New Zealand on June 15, security warned a fan carrying an Israeli flag on his shoulders before confiscating it.

“They told me that the head of FIFA and the staff were actually pointing at me and singled me out in a stadium of 100,000 people,” the fan, named Rony, told Fox News. “Just two seats behind me, there were people with Palestinian flags. When I asked about them, they [security] said the head of FIFA didn’t care about that. They cared only about my flag, in particular. I thought we lived in America in 2026, not Nazi Germany in the 1930s.”

Some Palestinian activists want FIFA to expel Israel. On June 11, the World Cup’s first day, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, also called Masar Badil, issued a statement demanding that fans “raise the Palestinian flag and isolate the Zionist entity from international sport.”

Doha News showed activists covering a FIFA sign June 12 with a banner reading, “Kick Israel out of FIFA.” The video included support from social media.

If FIFA capitulates to such pressure, it will have sacrificed its credibility on the altar of appeasement.

Dozens of suspects have been arrested as law enforcement forces began conducting a broad operation against illegal weapons and drugs across the country, the police announced on Monday morning.

The operation involved hundreds of Israel Police and Border Police officers.

At least 34 suspects were arrested, including 20 significant targets the police were familiar with.

“This is what proactive, aggressive, and determined police looks like,” National Securty Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced about the operation.

“Hundreds of police officers and fighters simultaneously raiding dozens of targets and reaching arms and drug dealers – this is exactly the policy we are leading,” he said.

“Moving from defense to offense, pursuing crime and not allowing it to raise its head. I commend the Police Commissioner, the commander of Lahav, the Lahav 433 police, the Border Police fighters, and the special units for their professional and determined activity. We will continue to give the police the tools and backing to strike crime with all our might.”

Lahav 433 arrests Hariri crime organization leaders

Last Thursday, as part of a targeted operation by Lahav 433’s National Unit for Serious and International Crime Investigations against the Hariri crime organization, two of the organization’s leaders were arrested. A court extended their detention until this coming Tuesday.

The two were arrested on suspicion of possessing weapons and violating an administrative restriction order issued under the Law for the Protection of the Public from Criminal Organizations.

The order imposed several restrictions, including full house arrest, a ban on leaving the country, and a prohibition on contact with members of the crime organization.

New Zealand actor Sam Neill died on Monday in Sydney, Australia, his family said in a statement posted on social media.

“Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” the statement shared on Instagram read. “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.”

The Jurassic Park actor announced in April he was cancer-free after undergoing treatment for stage-three blood cancer.

Neill’s family expressed their gratitude to St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their “incredible” care of the star, and asked for privacy as “they navigate this immeasurable loss.”

Wry, thoughtful, long remembered

“Sam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories, and he earned a special place in Australian hearts,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote on X/Twitter, minutes after the announcement. “Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humor and conviction that gave strength to his every performance.” 

“He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters echoed Albanese’s sentiment, adding that “he was a Kiwi icon through his work in both local and Hollywood films that entertained people around the world over decades.”

The number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to multi-week lows on Sunday, according to shipping data, as renewed strikes between the US and Iran and attacks on ships in the Middle East heightened safety concerns.

Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, the lowest number in five weeks.

Tankers that exited the strait included the Very Large Crude Carrier Humanity, laden with 2 million barrels of Iranian oil, and another tanker, Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, the data showed, while three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil. Most of the tankers switched off their transponders when crossing the strait.

There were no liquefied natural gas tankers that entered the strait over the weekend that were visible on ship-tracking data.

One tanker controlled by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co exited the strait between July 10 and July 12, Kpler data showed. The vessel is heading for Dahej port in India.

US strikes dozens of Iranian targets

US forces completed another wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions, the Central Command said.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic, although Iran declared earlier that it closed the strait after a vessel traveled on an unapproved route and was struck.

Iran’s ​Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that its navy stopped two ships in the Strait of Hormuz last night by shutting down their systems. It did not name the ships involved.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz mobilized state National Guard troops on Sunday to battle wildfires on the state’s northern border with Canada.

The fires have covered more than 800 acres in five days and remain uncontained, according to a Minnesota state website. They are among the latest in a swath of fires that have raged across the United States due to hot, dry conditions driven by an El Niño weather pattern.

“I’ve declared a peacetime emergency and mobilized the National Guard to assist with wildfire response in northern Minnesota,” said Walz, a Democrat. “Minnesotans extend our deepest gratitude to all of the first responders working around the clock to keep their neighbors safe.”

Total of 16 fires burning in Minnesota forest

A total of 16 fires are burning in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, which normally attracts about 150,000 visitors in the summer.

Park rangers have been escorting visitors out of the park over the weekend, according to the Minnesota Natural Resources Department website.

High temperatures over the weekend increased the fire risk, according to the National Weather Service.

The son of a Belgian man who perished in Spanish wildfires disputed authorities’ claims that his father and other victims ignored official advice to shelter in place, saying the emergency services gave them no guidance.

Belgian virologist Thomas-Wolf Verdonckt told Reuters on Saturday that he spoke to his father, 63-year-old businessman Stanislas Verdonckt, by phone just before 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday evening as the fire advanced on the mountain village of Bedar in Spain’s southeastern Almeria province.

Stanislas Verdonckt was among eight victims of the wind-whipped wildfire who were found dead in a valley below the Paraje el Curato area where he lived on the outskirts of Bedar, according to his 33-year-old son. The younger Verdonckt, who lives in Belgium, traveled to Spain after the fire and spoke with surviving neighbors.

No officials told the group that the fire was heading their way or that it would be safer for them to stay at home than flee, Verdonckt said.

“The people who died did not fail to follow any orders because no orders were given. No information was provided,” he said.

“They only started to run when the flames were almost upon them. That was their absolute last resort.”

Gov’t said that local mayors, police went door-to-door, called residents in danger zones

Andalusia’s regional government has said that no text alert was sent to residents, since the advice differed depending on their location in the mountainous, wooded terrain, and on the latest developments in the fast-moving situation.

Instead, local mayors and police went door-to-door or called residents, either indicating a safe evacuation route or instructing them to shelter in place.

In a statement to Reuters on Sunday night, the government disputed Verdonckt’s account, saying that Bedar’s mayor, Angel Collado, had urged the group, including Stanislas Verdonckt, to shelter in place.

“We understand the families’ grief and respect the fact that, in times of immense suffering such as these, anger and a sense of helplessness in the face of tragedy can lead to a different perception of what happened,” the statement said.

Thirteen people, mainly foreigners including Stanislas Verdonckt, along with one Spaniard, died trying to escape the wildfires, which spread to Bedar above the town of Los Gallardos. Their identities have not yet been officially confirmed, and another 10 people have been reported missing. The wildfire, one of Spain’s deadliest, was declared contained by lunchtime on Sunday.

Close enough to touch flames

Verdonckt said a group of neighbors, including his father, first tried to drive away on Thursday night on a paved road, but were beaten back by flames.

“They couldn’t get through via the main road because they were not warned in advance. Nobody told them that the fire was coming from that direction, and when they tried to get out, it was too late,” he said.

The group then tried to flee by car in the other direction on the neighbors’ dead-end dirt lane, which hugs a mountainside. But they could not make it out, abandoned their cars and sought to escape on foot, he said.

“It was not a choice. They drove to the end of the trail, and when even that was in flames, some people chose to run and try to get into the valley,” he said.

A neighbor who survived in his home told Verdonckt that the flames approached close enough to the house to touch, he said.

Verdonckt said his father, a keen hiker and photographer, had a home in the area for many years, knew the terrain well and spoke Spanish.

During their final phone conversation, Verdonckt said his father debated options for protecting himself.

Stanislas Verdonckt was always calm “even in the most desperate situations” and went over his “plan A, B and C,” Verdonckt said.

“My father is one of the smartest people I know. He’s always very analytical and was just checking boxes: ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’,” he said. “At that point, it was just minutes before they were engulfed and they were trapped.”

The Andalusian government said it backed the Bedar mayor’s decision to order citizens to stay in their homes as “the option that offered the greatest guarantees of safety given the conditions of the fire, as, unfortunately, the tragic outcome has made clear.”

The government also provided Reuters with photographs it said showed Stanislas Verdonckt’s home was only lightly damaged by the flames, adding: “It therefore would have been a safe haven.”

A multi-vehicle accident in Mexico caused by a tractor-trailer left nine people dead and some 10 injured, including four US citizens, on a highway in the state of Jalisco, Civil Protection reported on Sunday.

Among the dead are two minors, while the injured include two members of Mexico’s National Guard who are in serious condition and were transferred to the Magdalena Hospital in Guadalajara, the agency report indicated.

Videos on social media from local media showed several vehicles burned on a highway connecting the cities of Guadalajara and Tepic.

The Secretariat of Public Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit said in a Sunday Facebook post that three private vehicles and two trucks were destroyed in a crash. 

US citizens lightly injured

Additionally, three other private vehicles, including one belonging to Mexico’s National Guard, were damaged.

“Four patients in minor condition, all US citizens, were transferred to the Arboledas Hospital in Guadalajara by a private ambulance from the highway,” Jalisco Civil Protection stated.

The driver of the truck was detained by Mexico’s National Guard, local outlet El Financiero reported on Sunday night.

Jews who voted for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani are “idiot[s]” for embracing a candidate who runs “contrary to their own identity,” Jewish Harvard law professor and attorney Alan Dershowitz said on Wednesday during an appearance on former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani’s show. 

“That’s your city! That’s your city, Mayor,” Dershowitz said to Giuliani. “The same city electing Rudy Giuliani and Mamdani to the same office. It is absurd. I mean, Mamdani should be the mayor of Tehran,” said Dershowitz. 

Dershowitz continued, saying, “My people, the idiot Jews, in New York, who live on the Upper West Side, who live in Park Slope, who voted for Mamdani- remind me of the 7,000 Jews who voted for Hitler.”

“Seven thousand Jews formed a party in 1932 and voted for Hitler, thinking he would be good for the economy.” Dershowitz concluded, “Thank God, we have Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, and other Americans who have a lot more sense than many Jewish Americans do.”

Giuliani interjected briefly, saying, “There are a lot of very strong Jews on this issue.” 

Conversation comes after US Supreme Court ruling against Trump

The two agreed that “nothing woke them up in 1932,” referring to Jews who continued to back Nazi-figures as the war began.

“You’d think they’d learn their lesson,” Dershowitz said, “but no, they vote for Brad Lander.” 

Brad Lander, an anti-Israel Jewish-American candidate, is the Mamdani-endorsed nominee for New York’s 10th congressional district, having defeated incumbent Representative Dan Goldman in last month’s primary.

Dershowitz and Giuliani further discussed a wide range of issues, including birthright citizenship, transgender athletes in sports, and campaign finance limits. 

The conversation comes shortly after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s Birthright Citizenship executive order, which attempted to end “birthright citizenship,” instead opting to reaffirm “one of the country’s most enduring constitutional principles: that nearly everyone born on US soil is a US citizen.”

Who are Giuliani, Dershowitz?

Giuliani, a member of the Republican Party who described himself as the tough-on-crime mayor who reshaped New York and led the city’s response to 9/11, has since been permanently disbarred from practicing law for his role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election on Trump’s behalf. 

Dershowitz’s own reputation has similarly faced scrutiny in recent years over his professional ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. 

Dershowitz joined Epstein’s legal team and helped negotiate the 2008 non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to serve a reduced sentence. He was later named in a since-withdrawn defamation claim by Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, who alleged in 2015 that Dershowitz had also abused her; Giuffre dropped those allegations against him in 2022, saying she “may have made a mistake.” 

Dershowitz has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged in connection with the case. 

Israel’s Toto Equals football team won fourth place in the Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup on Saturday after being the first Israeli team to participate in the tournament.

The Toto Equals, which consisted of nine Special Olympics athletes with disabilities and seven Unified partners without disabilities, competed against teams from 11 other nations.

The team’s striker, Tomer Gini, was the tournament’s top scorer, netting 10 goals for the Israeli team and winning the Golden Boot.

The team faced significant challenges as four players, including Gini, were injured throughout the championships but continued to play, winning games against China and the United Arab Emirates.

During the championship’s semi-finals, the Toto Equals lost to the Jamaican and Paraguayan teams, ultimately finishing in fourth place overall.

Israeli team proved ‘heart is greater than any challenge’

The team’s coach, Ofir Haim, stated that he was proud of each player for persevering despite the challenges. 

“This delegation proved that the heart is greater than any challenge,” Haim asserted, adding that the team “represented the State of Israel with great honor and gave their all on the field.”

Special Olympics Israel CEO, Sharon Levy-Blanga, expressed her gratitude for Haim’s dedication and described Israel’s inaugural participation in the tournament as a “historic journey.”

“The players showed the world what perseverance, friendship, and belief in one’s abilities are. We return to Israel not only with champions in football but also with champions in promoting values ​​of tolerance, patience, inclusion, and respect for others,” Levy-Blanga stated.

Survivors of the October 7 Supernova music festival massacre are facing a wave of online abuse from bots, which are suspected to be part of a coordinated campaign by Iran, according to a report by Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA).

According to the report, thousands of bot accounts targeted survivors of the Nova music festival, where 364 people were murdered by Hamas and dozens taken hostage. 

According to the FOA report, social media platforms are failing to act against the bot-posted content, described as a “sustained and multi-layered digital campaign” that hurls abusive comments and shares videos about the survivors.

These posts often call for the survivors’ deaths and question the validity of their experiences on October 7 and its aftermath in an attempt to create false narratives and justify the events of that day, building on conspiracy theories surrounding the massacre.

In their report, the FOA narrowed down the source of the online abuse campaign to the Iranian regime. 

IRGC has a history of leveraging cyber warfare against Islamic regime’s enemies

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has a history of leveraging sophisticated cyber campaigns to attack critical infrastructure and vulnerable individuals, gather intelligence, and impact public opinion through propaganda.

State-sponsored hackers have been known to target organizations and individuals in Israel, the UK, and the US, among other places. From data harvesting to terror recruitment, Tehran has in recent years utilized cyber warfare at varied levels of success.

Propaganda peddled by Iranian bots has slowly made its way into a greater, real-world zeitgeist. Conspiracies revolving around the use of “crisis actors” on October 7, false-flag narratives, outright denialism, and the suggestion that the IDF fired on its own citizens to justify a ground invasion of Gaza have made the rounds.

The FOA pointed out sites like X/Twitter and TikTok as major nodes of harassment toward survivors, as well as general antisemitic memes and videos that “spread hate messages or mock the suffering of civilians.” 

Nova survivors targeted by hate speech, denialism

The report highlighted posts labeling Noa Argamani, a hostage who was held by Hamas for 245 days in Gaza following the October 7 massacre, “a terrorist” and a “whore,” among other things. The same can be said for former hostage Romi Gonen, who has experienced a barrage of hateful posts, according to FOA researchers.

Omri Sassi, a survivor of the Nova massacre, told the Daily Telegraph in an interview that his trauma has been exacerbated by his and other survivors’ encounters with misinformation, denial, and hate speech, to which he responded by staging a London exhibition about the Nova music festival – his attempt to bring truth to those who would deny what happened to the victims of Hamas terrorism. 

The content “explicitly violates terms of service, including calls for violence,” said the FOA. Despite this, posts routinely remain active, untouched by the platforms that host the hate speech. “Survivors are being harmed twice.”

Tomer Aldubi, the founder of FOA, told the Telegraph, “While we are successfully removing extremist content through close cooperation with social media platforms, antisemitism and extreme hatred against Jews, Zionists, and Israelis have spread internationally at a dizzying pace since October 7. We must not give up or be silent.”

Western allies will seek to secure more air-defense commitments for Ukraine when they meet in Paris on Monday, as shortages have left it increasingly exposed to Russian ballistic missiles, despite recent shifts in momentum on the battlefield

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be joined by at least 25 leaders for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, part of broader efforts that include developing a common position to take to Russia and securing guarantees to support any eventual peace deal.

Monday’s meeting comes days after a NATO summit that aimed to show transatlantic unity and long-term support for Ukraine.

Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding dozens more, officials said, as Zelensky called for efforts to provide Kyiv with weapons faster.

Coalition seeks to help Ukraine down ballistic missiles

“The ballistic missiles launched by (Russian President) Vladimir Putin are deliberately targeting civilian zones, and June was one of the most murderous (months) since the start of the war,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with Ouest-France newspaper on Sunday.

Russia says it only attacks targets of military relevance and denies targeting civilians.

Briefing reporters, a French presidential official said the focus would be on anti-ballistic-missile cooperation, ranging from sourcing more US Patriot interceptors and advancing the deployment of the Franco-Italian SAMP-T air defense system to exploring how the European and Ukrainian defense industries can develop alternatives.

One option under consideration was for different European nations to cooperate on a system that would complement SAMP-T and/or Patriot and give Ukraine a significant role in production.

Ukraine is critically low on munitions for its systems and has been largely unable to down ballistic missiles, which travel at several times the speed of sound, over the past month.

It has pleaded with allies for more supplies and has also pushed Europe to work with it on its own anti-ballistic air defense system.

EU to adopt new Russia sanctions package

As Russia’s strikes have increased, Kyiv has also intensified drone attacks inside Russia, targeting oil facilities and weapons production to undermine Moscow’s economic ability to press on with its war.

Leaders will also mull how to crimp Moscow’s sources of revenues, notably the “shadow fleet”, tankers with opaque ownership ⁠structures used to evade oversight to ship Russian oil.

The EU is also set to adopt a 21st package of sanctions on Russia next week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised announcements on Monday, some of them bilateral, potentially concerning joint arms production.

He also said the coalition could announce joint military exercises as it seeks to make the concept of a future multinational force in Ukraine (MNFU) more of a practical reality.

“What must be remembered is that the MNFU consists of land, air, sea and training. All of these pillars are intended to be tested continuously, to varying degrees, with all participants in order to guarantee their credibility,” the official said.

“It’s not a question of conducting exercises in Ukraine.”

The death of Senator Lindsey Graham this weekend has deprived Israel of one of its most reliable and forthright allies in Washington.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Graham understood that “the security of Israel and America are inseparable,” adding: “Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.”

President Isaac Herzog described the South Carolinian Republican as “a beacon of moral clarity and a true leader of the US-Israel partnership,” recalling how he stood beside Israelis during their most difficult moments.

There was more to these tributes than simply the death of a senior statesman. Graham’s friendship with Israel spanned decades and multiple administrations. It was expressed through legislation, military assistance, repeated visits, and a willingness to defend the Jewish state even when doing so became politically uncomfortable.

The archives of The Jerusalem Post offer a record of that public continuity.

Graham rejects the notion Israel can return to pre-’67 lines

During a visit to Israel with a congressional delegation in 2011, Graham rejected the notion that Israel could safely return to the pre-1967 lines. “From my point of view, I can never imagine an agreement that goes back to the ’67 boundaries because, in my view, those boundaries are indefensible,” he told the Post.

He also sought to reassure Israelis that support for their country remained deeply embedded in Congress. “The purpose of this trip is to try and reinforce, from my point of view, the unwavering support that the State of Israel has in Congress,” Graham said. “Quite frankly, Congress has Israel’s back.”

That would come to define much of Graham’s career. Graham himself was prepared to criticize Israeli policy, yet his starting point never changed: Israel was a democratic ally whose security was both morally important and strategically vital to the United States.

His support also translated into practical action. In 2009, Graham joined Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer to promote legislation intended to strengthen American opposition to commercial boycotts of Israel.

Graham was similarly unequivocal about the danger posed by Iran’s nuclear program. During another visit to Jerusalem with senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman in 2010, he supported maintaining military action as an option, should diplomacy and economic pressure fail.

Graham: ‘The Congress has been united in protection of one of our best allies in the world, the State of Israel’

He again emphasized the depth of congressional support for Israel. “Whatever relationship problems we have had in the past, it has never seeped over into Congress,” Graham said. “The Congress has been united in protection of one of our best allies in the world, the State of Israel.”

The senator also supported relocating the US Embassy to Jerusalem, promoted security assistance, opposed attempts to isolate Israel at the United Nations, and backed measures targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

After the October 7 attacks, Graham was among Israel’s most forceful defenders. He visited during wartime and argued that the destruction unleashed by Hamas demonstrated why Israelis could not entrust their survival to promises from hostile actors or an indifferent international community. He was also quick to tie Hamas’s support to Iran. “Without the October 7 massacre happening, I don’t believe Iran would be on the verge of regime collapse,” Graham told the Post’s Amichai Stein in February.

Graham continued to believe that Israel’s long-term future required separation from the Palestinians. In an interview with the Post, he warned that a single state would either cease to be Jewish or leave millions of Palestinians permanently without political rights.

“To be pro-Israel, you need to be honest with Israel,” he said. “Being pro-Israel means telling hard truths.”

That was the deeper value of Graham’s friendship. His commitment was strong enough to withstand disagreement. Israel could trust that criticism came from someone invested in its survival, its democratic character, and its alliance with the United States.

American politics will produce other supporters of Israel. Few will arrive with Graham’s record of service, his personal warmth toward the country, or his instinctive understanding that alliances require attention, defense, and occasional candor.

The US has lost a senator who repeatedly assured Israelis that Congress had their back, and spent more than two decades proving that he meant it. Israel has lost a good friend.

European Union foreign ministers will on Monday explore whether there is enough support for new measures to curb trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, according to diplomats and officials.

The discussion will be based on a confidential paper by the European Commission that floats three different options – an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs, or a ban, a senior EU diplomat and a European official said.

The EU has long struggled to take major decisions on Middle East policy because of deep and longstanding divisions among its 27 member countries, particularly on issues related to Israel.

But pressure from member governments to take action on settlements has grown in recent months because of increasing violence by Israeli settlers and frustration with Prime Minister ​Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which has expanded settlements.

EU issued sanctions against entities, individuals in May 

In May, the EU imposed sanctions on four entities and three individuals over what it described as serious and systematic human rights abuses in the West Bank.

In a July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice claimed that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were illegal and that states should take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that help maintain the situation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar last year described a push by some European governments to implement the advisory opinion as “shameful.”

UN bodies have previously alleged Israel’s settlements in the West Bank were illegal. Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed and saying a Jewish presence has existed there for thousands of ​years.

“I think what you will see on Monday is a discussion on the options, and we will get a bit of a picture of where everybody is,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential internal deliberations.

Formal decision may not be reached on Monday

Diplomats said they did not expect a formal decision on any particular measure on Monday.

Divisions over the issue also extend to how any decision could be taken.

Some diplomats say banning trade with the settlements would require a qualified majority – at least 15 EU states, representing ​65% of the bloc’s population. But the Commission’s paper suggests it believes a ban could require unanimous support, a bar that would make a decision highly unlikely.

European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho has confirmed that a paper has been shared with member countries but declined to comment on its contents. 

US Senator Mitch McConnell said he will not rejoin the Senate when it returns to work on Monday because he is still recovering from a fall and from pneumonia.

“As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time,” McConnell said in a statement on Sunday, his first since he was hospitalized last month. “And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”

MCCONNELL releases a photo – and statement.

“To my fellow Kentuckians –

“When you elected me to a seventh term and made me our Commonwealth’s longest serving Senator, you did so trusting that I’d keep showing up to fight for you every day. And over the past several weeks,… pic.twitter.com/YTzTXDhEgu

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 12, 2026

He said that he suffered a fall in mid-June that left him briefly unconscious. While hospitalized, he developed pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics, according to a separate statement that McConnell’s office attributed to the attending physician. The physician was not identified.

McConnell, 84, said he is now at a rehabilitation center, which he did not name.

He will focus on “physical therapy and strategies to reduce his risk of future falls,” according to the physician’s statement.

Out of public view for nealy a month, hospitalized for undisclosed reasons

The Kentucky Republican and former Senate majority leader, who now chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said he has been working with his legislative staff on current issues and keeping in touch with Senate colleagues.

McConnell has been out of public view since mid-June, when he was taken from his home to a hospital in the Washington area for ​reasons that were not disclosed until the latest statement.

Less than a day earlier, the office of US Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and one of the chamber’s most prominent members, announced that he had died from a heart ailment.

Givat Ze’ev, a settlement in the West Bank, has been officially declared a city in Israel following IDF Central Command Chief Avi Bluth’s signature on Sunday.

Givat Ze’ev, located five kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, was founded in 1977 within the borders of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, but existed as its own municipal entity. Nearly 35,000 people live in the settlement, which has one of the highest rates of population growth in the country.

With the official signing of the decree, the settlement’s status changed from that of a local council to an official municipality recognized by the Israeli government. 

The status upgrade aims to align the municipal framework with planned development, scaling, and residential services. 

Support from MK Smotrich, a controversial development

The Mayor of Givat Ze’ev, Yossi Asraf, said in an announcement, “Thank God, a historic moment for Givat Ze’ev. This is a tremendous boost to the settlements in the Jerusalem envelope. Becoming a city is first and foremost a massive growth engine and truly good news for our residents.”

“Alongside the new status and development momentum, we are stepping up our capabilities, while preserving our warm, rural, and community atmosphere. This is the beating heart of Givat Ze’ev, and it will remain so,” Asraf added.

“I thank the Central Command Chief and all the professional bodies for their comprehensive work. We will continue to act with full vigor to lead our city to new achievements for the quality of life of our residents.”

Britain will spend over £250 million ($335 million) across the next three years to better protect its Jewish communities, the government said on Monday, following a series of recent antisemitic attacks.

The funding will deliver over 500 additional officers across England and Wales, boosting security in Jewish neighborhoods and around schools, synagogues and community centers, the government said.

There has been a string of attacks on Jewish-linked sites in ​the capital, including the torching of four Jewish community ambulances in March. In April, Britain raised its national terrorism ​threat level to “severe” from “substantial” in response to an antisemitic stabbing attack in north London.

The new package, which is on top of a £25 million funding announcement following the stabbings in April, includes around 300 additional officers in London and around 80 in Greater Manchester – where a synagogue was attacked last year – alongside £43 million for forces serving other areas with significant Jewish populations.

Rise in antisemitism tests British values

“The rise in antisemitism we have seen in recent years is a test of our values as a country and tackling it has been central to my leadership from day one,” outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in Monday’s statement.

London’s Metropolitan Police is due to receive £86 million from the new funding, while £59 million was earmarked for counter-terrorism policing.

Police will increase patrols at times of heightened vulnerability, offering visible reassurance and helping to deter hate crime and antisemitic incidents, the government said.

President Isaac Herzog hosted a ceremony commemorating 50 years since Operation Entebbe at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on Sunday, underscoring Israel’s responsibility to protect its citizens in the war with Iran.

He was joined by his wife, First Lady Michal Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir. They sat among Entebbe survivors and their families along with veterans from the Uganda hostage rescue mission in 1976.

“Operation Yonatan [Entebbe] was one of the most extraordinary operations in Israel’s history,” Herzog said at the event. “It was also a moral declaration. On that night, the State of Israel established a principle that still resonates in our generation: there are borders to the state, but there is no limit to our responsibility.”

The president went on to identify the evening as a reminder of Israel’s commitment to protecting and rescuing the “sons and daughters” of the land, no matter where they are in the world. 

Zamir echoed Herzog’s sentiment, contextualizing the Entebbe anniversary against the backdrop of the landscape in Israel since October 7. 

“We march with resolve and a sense of historic responsibility along those same paths, near and far, to secure the safety of our citizens,” he said. “This has been our guiding compass since that night in Entebbe, and all the more so since October 7th, rooted in a deep and clear understanding: we, and we alone, are responsible for the lives and safety of our citizens.”

US-Iran escalations evoke lessons from Entebbe

The July 12 event came in the wake of recent re-escalations in the current war as the US and Iran began trading strikes once again. Netanyahu took the opportunity to discuss the ongoing conflict.

“It taught the world that it is possible, and necessary, to stand firm against bloodthirsty terrorists, to strike them, and to defeat them,” the prime minister said. “That is what we are doing in the current war: we are systematically dismantling the Iranian axis of evil, which sought to advance its plan for Israel’s destruction.”

Netanyahu’s older brother, Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, was the only soldier killed in the Entebbe rescue mission, alongside three Israeli hostages. 102 others were rescued after a plane was hijacked on its way from Tel Aviv to Paris.

“There is not a day that I don’t think of Yoni. There is not a day that I don’t consult with Yoni. I am certain the same is true for others. The spirit of Entebbe continues within us, and it guides the path of our heroic soldiers today as well,” Netanyahu added. 

Operation Entebbe marked its official 50th anniversary on July 3 with a number of events, memorials, and formal addresses.

A fire broke out in a pub in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 27 people overnight between Sunday and Monday.

The fire, which broke out in the bar “Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao,” is one of the deadliest incidents in the tourism hub in recent years,

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who visited the site of the fire in the early hours of Monday, told reporters that based on survivor accounts, the pub rapidly filled with smoke after a fire broke out, forcing many to run to the back of the venue near the bathrooms, but there were no fire escapes.

“We have recovered 27 bodies; others are being sent to the hospital,” said the prime minister.

A Bangkok metropolitan administration official announced that 63 others were injured in the blaze, which reportedly occurred in front of the stage area of the bar.

Bangkok’s governor announced that 22 out of the 63 injured people are in critical condition.

The site is one of the most popular venues in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district, with firefighters needing 35 minutes to bring the flames under control, according to local authorities. By the time rescuers arrived, the fire had mostly burned through the venue, said the official.

Charnvirakul added that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

The Jerusalem Post reached out to the Foreign Ministry to investigate if any Israelis were present.

Mathilda Heller, Jonah Davidov, and Reuters contributed to this report.

Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said that the IDF will only withdraw from Lebanon if Hezbollah is removed from pilot zones in the country’s south, during an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” broadcast on Sunday.

“If Hezbollah is going to stay there, we haven’t accomplished anything, and that’s why they’re called pilot zones,” said Leiter. “If it works, then we continue the withdrawal. If it doesn’t work, then we stay where we are.”

Leiter, one of the lead representatives on the matter in Washington, stressed that the withdrawal plan is not delayed and that the framework hinges on the Lebanese Armed Forces being “receptive” to the pilot zones.

“Hezbollah has no business in Lebanon,” he said. “As a matter of fact, Israel and Lebanon are on the same page. We want Hezbollah out for our security and for their sovereignty. We can withdraw the moment that Hezbollah is dismantled.”

Leiter referred to himself as “leading the negotiations on Israel’s behalf with Lebanon,” saying he knows “a thing or two about the trilateral agreement.”

He emphasized Israel’s refusal to return to a situation where the country is threatened by an Iranian terror proxy on its border firing rockets and planning attacks, “like Hamas did on October 7.”

He added that talks between Israel and Lebanon are set to continue in Rome, noting that his attendance will depend on plans for the funeral of the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, who died on Saturday following health complications.

Iran has ‘no business in Lebanon’

When asked about the relationship between the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Israel’s negotiations with Lebanon, Leiter responded that the Islamic regime has “no business” in the region.

“What the agreement with Lebanon does is completely remove Iran from the paradigm,” said Leiter. “Iran is not to be involved in Lebanon.”

He noted that US President Donald Trump “has been consistent” throughout the war with Iran, saying that Israel will join the Americans in their current campaign against the Islamic Republic if requested to do so.

“We’re a partner, we’re an ally,” he said. “If the United States calls on us to rejoin kinetic activity against Iran, we’re going to be there for the United States.”

No ‘I told you so’ attitude toward US on Iran

Leiter pushed back against claims of an Israeli “I told you so” attitude toward the US following criticism of the MoU, saying that it’s “not the nature of our relationship.”

“We express our opinion,” said Leiter. “We saw flaws, but we also expressed hope that it would work.”

“If we have Iran that’s denuclearized, not building ballistic missiles, not supporting proxies around the region, just not being a menacing, mayhem-spreading regime, then we will have accomplished it without kinetic activity,” he added. “We have doubts about the possibility of that actually working, but all we do is express our opinion.”

Late US senator Lindsey Graham was pushing to get an Israel-Saudi normalization deal done by November, before the next US Congress is sworn in, Axios reported on Sunday, citing conversations held with Graham over the last couple of weeks.

According to Axios, Graham thought Israel-Saudi normalization could be the “big prize” product of the war with Iran, with the crisis at the Strait of Hormuz pushing Arab countries towards a new round of diplomatic arrangements with Israel, similar to the Abraham Accords.

The report mentioned that Graham thought an agreement would be possible if it happened between October, when elections are scheduled in Israel, and November.

Additionally, Graham believed that an agreement would only be possible if the war in Iran was “brought under control,” and he urged, on several occasions, an “overwhelming” military operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy failed.

Finally, the deal would require two key factors: securing enough Democratic votes to reach two-thirds of the US Congress supporting the bill, and the next Israeli government being willing to accept Saudi Arabia’s normalization demands.

Saudi Arabia pushing to leave Israel out of IMEC

While Graham pushed for normalization, sources told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the Saudis were planning a significant change in the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) to sideline Israel from the trade initiative.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, the new proposal aims to reroute the corridor through Syria instead of Israel. The original proposal established that the final connection between the Middle East and Europe would be through the port of Haifa.

Additionally, Samantha Sutton, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and former Director at the US National Security Council, told the Post on the sidelines of an IMEC Initiative workshop hosted on July 1 and 2 by the Maritime Policy and Strategy Center that Israel must not miss the chance to form part of the IMEC initiative.

According to Sutton, the IMEC initiative has Haifa as one of its target ports, with plans to improve the port’s infrastructure to make it suitable for commerce among Europe, India, and the Middle East.

Amichai Stein contributed to this report.

For nearly three years, we’ve begged the world to believe us.

Believe Israeli women. Take antisemitism seriously. Stop excusing people who profit from hate. We watched as the world embraced the double standard so many Israelis came to describe with one painful phrase: #MeTooUnlessYoureAJew. 

Which is why this weekend felt like such a punch in the gut.

A controversial online personality with a public record of inflammatory rhetoric and associations with figures including Myron Gaines, Sneako, Andrew Tate, and Nick Fuentes arrived in Israel and was welcomed by several Israeli creators. Photos were taken. Videos were filmed. Invitations were extended. To millions watching online, the message wasn’t nuanced. It looked like Israel was rolling out the red carpet for a known sexual predator.

That should concern every one of us. But this isn’t really about Clavicular. It’s about us.

It’s about a growing culture within parts of Israel’s advocacy and creator community that mistakes influence for integrity. Somewhere along the way, we started believing that if someone has enough followers, we should be grateful they’re willing to talk to us at all — even if they have spent years platforming hatred, extremism, or misogyny.

Frankly, it’s desperate.

And desperation is a terrible strategy.

Before many of these collaborations happened, concerns about Clav’s public record had already been raised. Despite those warnings, some creators moved forward anyway. One publicly invited Israeli women to come party with him and Clav. Others dismissed criticism by insisting that those raising concerns simply “didn’t understand the strategy” or were being emotional.

I don’t buy it.

The outcome speaks for itself.

Instead of creating goodwill for Israel, the conversation became about why Israeli creators were choosing to embrace someone whose online ecosystem has long been associated with antisemitism, misogyny, and extremism.

That isn’t strategic. It’s self-inflicted. Israeli women deserve answers. 

Who funded this trip?

Who organized it?

Who decided this represented Israel well?

How did someone with such a widely documented public record gain this level of access in the first place? If organizations were involved, they owe the public transparency. If private individuals coordinated it, they should explain why they believed this served Israel’s interests.

Because here’s the reality: the internet doesn’t distinguish between a private collaboration and an official welcome. When millions of people see someone touring Israel alongside Israeli creators, they don’t ask who paid for the flight. They conclude that Israel embraced him.

That perception has consequences.

I’ve spent years saying that loving Israel doesn’t mean defending every decision Israelis make. It means believing we’re capable of better. The same applies to our creator community. We don’t have to chase everyone with a platform. We don’t have to abandon our values because someone has millions of followers. We don’t have to confuse attention with legitimacy.

We get to decide who represents us. We get to decide what kind of community we’re building.

I want to be part of a creator community that stands for something. One that understands our values are our greatest asset, not an obstacle to growth. One that knows saying “no” is sometimes the strongest statement we can make.

Because the community we build today is the one we’ll all have to live in tomorrow. So let’s build one rooted in integrity instead of insecurity. One that rewards courage over clout, principles over proximity to power, and character over clicks.

Israel deserves that.

Names, not just a pattern

I’ve spent this piece describing a phenomenon. But phenomena are made of individual choices, made by people I know, and I’m not going to hide behind the abstraction.

Tal, I considered you a friend. I spent time advising you, connecting you with organizations, and welcoming you into this space. We warned you about Clav’s record before you filmed those videos with him. You went ahead anyway, and now you’re denying you knew.

Moshe and Daniel — over the weekend, in group chats and on calls, you told the rest of us there was “a greater strategy that we women don’t see because we’re emotional about sexual assault.” There was no strategy. There was a s***show, and it landed exactly where we said it would. The two of you are the public faces of Let’s Do Something, the organization you built after our friend David Newman was murdered at the Nova festival on October 7th. David would not have wanted his memory attached to a weekend spent partying with a man who was filmed singing along to a Nazi-referencing song alongside Nick Fuentes at a Miami nightclub. That contrast is not something a “strategy” defense survives.

Shira — the death threats you’re receiving are disgusting, and nothing in this piece should be read as an excuse for them. At the same time, you posted #BelieveAllIsraeliWomen after October 7 — and then you spent a weekend generating content with a man who is a known antisemitic predator. Both things are true. Holding you accountable for the second doesn’t require excusing the first. Take down the videos, apologize. 

Thank you to men in this space like Aaron Morali, who made sure Clav was kicked out of Tel Aviv’s Loullie beach club — and shame on Shalvata for welcoming him with open arms.

What this exposes

This weekend wasn’t just a failure of judgment by a handful of creators. It exposed a bigger problem: we need higher standards.

Not every audience is worth winning at any cost. Not every collaboration is strategic simply because it reaches millions of people. Israel should absolutely engage critics. We should have uncomfortable conversations. We should be willing to sit across the table from people who disagree with us. 

But engagement is not endorsement. Trying to change someone’s mind is not the same as handing them legitimacy, and strategy should never become an excuse for abandoning our values. As creators, whether we asked for it or not, we’re ambassadors. Every collaboration, every photo, every video tells the world something about who we are and what we stand for. That comes with an ethical responsibility.

For nearly three years, we’ve asked the world to believe Israeli women. To take antisemitism seriously. To understand that values matter. Those values can’t just be talking points we deploy when it’s convenient. They have to be the standard we hold ourselves to, too.

I’ve always believed that loving Israel doesn’t mean pretending we’re perfect. It means believing we’re capable of better. It means calling each other in, holding each other accountable, and building the kind of community we’d actually be proud to represent. Because at the end of the day, our credibility isn’t built by who takes a selfie with us. It’s built by what we’re willing to say no to.

Let’s build a creator community rooted in integrity instead of insecurity. One that values character over clicks, principles over proximity, and impact over influence.

That’s the community I want to be part of. 

And I know I’m not the only one.

The writer is an activist and content creator. Raised in Jerusalem and living in Tel Aviv, she has become a leading voice on and offline for liberal Zionism. A third-generation IDF veteran with over a decade in Israel advocacy, Hallel has created and executed content for dozens of major organizations. She is an associate at the Tel Aviv Institute.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has essentially been running Venezuela from Washington, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

According to more than a dozen government officials and sources close to both Washington and Caracas, Rubio now controls Venezuela’s finances, government, and natural resources.

He has not visited the South American country since the US captured former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January.

However, Rubio is heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the country. He constantly speaks to interim President Delcy Rodríguez in Spanish on WhatsApp and has reportedly developed a warm working relationship with Maduro’s former right-hand woman.

Sources were careful to note to the NYT that despite the pair’s congenial relationship, Rubio holds immense power over Rodríguez.

Neither Rubio nor the Venezuelan government responded to the NYT’s request for an interview or comment.

Rubio has repeatedly downplayed his role in Venezuela, and usually does not comment on his responsibilities there.

He also has been denying the accusations that the US occupied the country.

“There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country. There are no US troops on the ground,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.

How is the US managing Venezuela?

This comes as Trump has indicated that he is interested in returning to an expansionist foreign policy, and has floated taking over Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and, importantly, Venezuela.

Notably, Rubio’s three-step plan to help reinvigorate Venezuela does involve pivoting the country to a democracy.

Rubio has said that his plan so far is to: recover Venezuela’s economy, stabilize the country, and transition to a democracy.

Before the earthquakes that killed over 4,000 people earlier this month, he claimed he was in the process of stabilizing the country, specifically through a myriad of economic and business measures.

The US Treasury reportedly takes revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports and disburses the funds through the country’s private banks. Rubio and the State Department have direct control over the revenue, and set the conditions on who can spend the money and what the Venezuelan government is allowed to spend it on.

Now, the scheme has allowed Rubio to stop Venezuela’s massive corruption schemes. It’s also allowed the Venezuelan government to receive revenue without being hounded by creditors seeking repayment under the protection of the Treasury.

Thus, Rodríguez depends on Rubio to pay government workers and prop up the country’s economy.

Rubio also oversees the applications of the US’s sanctions on Venezuela, and decides who gets to do business in the country. He has worked to reshape the oil sector and bolstered US businesses’ access to the country, sources told the NYT.

Sources told the NYT that Rubio has taken over efforts to open up Venezuela’s energy sector to foreign investment, over Chris Wright, Trump’s energy secretary.

In return, Rodríguez does mostly everything Rubio says. She runs most high-level government appointments by him, she extradites Venezuelans who have come into trouble with the US Justice Department, and she allows him to dictate foreign policy.

For example, at the onset of the war with Iran, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil released a soft statement condemning the war.

The administration told Rodríguez to have him take the post down, and warned her against publicly supporting an enemy of the US.

Gil deleted the post a few hours later.

In another notable instance, Venezuela took over operations of oil projects it co-owns with Russia’s state-run Rosneft after Rubio warned Rodríguez not to do business with US adversaries. 

In another example of Rodríguez’s deference to the administration, she refused to give some public appearances without Trump’s approval.

Fox News’s Bret Baier had asked Rodríguez for an interview earlier this year. She reportedly told him that Trump himself would have to approve. Sources told the NYT that Trump loved her immediate submission to his power and has repeatedly told the story to others when she comes up in conversation.

How did Rubio become viceroy of Venezuela?

Back in January, shortly after Maduro was captured, Rubio got Rodríguez on the phone. In Spanish, he told her that she had a choice between working with the US government or watching as the US launched a broader attack on Venezuela.

She chose the former.

US President Donald Trump said that Rodríguez told Rubio that she’s “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” 

He later told the NYT that the US could run Venezuela for years.

Since then, Rubio has been dubbed by other officials as “viceroy”, the title for governors in the Spanish colonial empire. Before the earthquakes earlier this month in Venezuela, Rodríguez had asked Rubio for greater financial autonomy and for sanctions on her country to be scrapped to reduce internal pressure.

Then, the earthquakes killed thousands of people and left Venezuela’s economy in shambles

Now, it’s unclear where Rubio is in his plan to assist Venezuela. The natural disaster paused investment deals. The oil sector, which the administration has focused the lion’s share of its deals on, is corrupt and deteriorating.

As for transitioning Venezuela to a democracy, Rodríguez has not given a clear answer on when elections could be held.

Additionally, Maria Corina Machado, the country’s exiled opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner, has repeatedly tried to return since the earthquakes and has been blocked by Rodríguez’s government.

Venezolanos, sobre mi regreso a Venezuela: pic.twitter.com/UhSCsM3ovi

— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) June 29, 2026

In a video address last month, she told Venezuelans that she was “willing to do whatever it takes” to get back and assist relief efforts. 

However, some Trump administration officials called her desire to return “grotesque,” and accused her of “political opportunism.”

“She wants a photo op of her passing out our aid,” one official told Axios. “It’s about her interests.”

“Marco [Rubio] is at wit’s end,” another US official said. “She has to be patient, and she won’t be, and it’s driving him crazy.”

Notably, Rubio used to be a supporter of Machado and co-signed a letter supporting her nomination for the Nobel Prize for her efforts to “bring a democratic peace to Venezuela to benefit her country, as well as the region and the world.”

Since then, the two have grown apart. Sources told the NYT that the administration is unwilling to help her return to Venezuela for fear of provoking political unrest at an already complicated time for the country. Machado also has known enemies in Venezuela’s current leadership, which is partially why the administration chose Rodriguez over her.

For now, as the country recovers from the quakes and gets investment deals back on track, it’s clear that Venezuela has a long way to go before it can begin transitioning to democratic elections.

And further, when elections happen and on what grounds likely will not be Venezuela’s choice; it will be Rubio’s.

US Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was detained by settlers (he made no distinctions between violent settlers and violent Jews living inside the Green Line) armed with US-made rifles during a visit to the West Bank last week, a story that he tweeted out on Saturday.

Khanna, who has served California’s 17th district since 2017, is among Congress’s most vocal critics of the Israeli government and has backed legislation that would block offensive or defensive weapons sales to Israel in order to penalize it over what he characterizes as genocide in Gaza.

The US congressman was in the region last week, meeting with Palestinians while avoiding meeting with Israeli officials, though he visited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in October 2024 as part of a large congressional delegation.

Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles while touring Khirbet Zanuta, whose residents were forcibly displaced by settler raids in December 2024.

The official Israeli account essentially concurs with Khanna’s version of events up until this point.

There are significant discrepancies between Khanna’s narrative and the IDF’s

According to Israeli officials, the incident itself constitutes a grave failure on the Israeli side, both for failing to prevent the harassment and, as of press time, for failing to detain the settlers involved (though officials do bring statistics that Palestinian terror is far worse).

However, moving on to the narrative surrounding the IDF’s conduct during the event, there are significant discrepancies.

The IDF said that its forces dispersed the settlers who were unlawfully detaining and harassing Khanna and his group.

According to military sources who spoke to The Jerusalem Post, the IDF did not detain Khanna in any way, and the US congressman did not communicate with the military before or after his visit.

This was partly how he was able to be accosted, given that he had no escort, and clearly did not want one.

In addition, the IDF and the Israel Police said that no official complaint has been filed that would be a basis for them to seek to arrest those involved.

Rep. Khanna responded to an inquiry from the Post about the incident, saying, “The Israeli government is lying to cover up for four IDF soldiers who aided violent settlers brandishing M4 guns and threatening American lives. I am calling for their arrest and prosecution.”

A spokeswoman for Khanna then referred the Post to Nadav Weiman, who helped run Khanna’s tour of the area.

Weiman is the executive director of Breaking the Silence, a group that say it aims “to expose the public to the daily reality of the occupation and Israeli military rule over the Palestinian civilian population in the territories.”

The groups also say, “we all agree that the occupation cannot be a solution and must be ended, as military rule over a civilian population can never be moral or humane.”

According to Weiman’s account of the incident, there were two primary offenders among the settlers, one man who held an M4 with a silencer and one who had a handgun.

Weiman passed the name of the man holding the handgun to the Post, which then asked the police and the IDF whether they had identified the individual, were pursuing him, and sought to contact him for a response.

During the period of time that two vehicles of settlers were blocking Khanna’s group from leaving the area, about 20 minutes passed, according to Weiman.

Weiman called the Israeli Police while Khanna’s team called the US embassy for assistance

Simultaneously, Weiman and some of the other travelers called the Israel Police for assistance, while Khanna or members of his staff called the US Embassy for assistance.

Interestingly, Weiman said that it was the settlers who called the IDF officials who ended up arriving at the scene after 20 minutes.

Next, he said that the IDF soldiers present, including a contingent of relatively right-wing sounding female soldiers, blocked Khanna from leaving the area for another 40 minutes.

Further, Weiman said that none of the soldiers approached Khanna to discuss the situation or clarify who he was.

Rather, he said that the only interaction they had was when he exited his car and approached the soldiers to ask for help and inform them of Khanna’s status as a prominent US official, to which they responded dismissively.

Moreover, Weiman stated that none of the soldiers came to speak to Khanna or assisted him in any way to leave the area where the settlers had blocked his exit, even after he conveyed to them that the police headquarters had instructed the soldiers to allow Khanna and his entourage to leave.

Weiman recounted that the soldiers said they would not receive instructions from the police headquarters but only from a police officer who would arrive in person on the scene.

About two minutes later, when a police officer finally arrived on the scene, the settlers suddenly rushed back to their cars and raced away, he said.

Police, IDF arrive on the scene

The police officer took two minutes to take the details of Khanna and his entourage and then ordered the IDF to move their vehicles so that the American official could leave the scene.

While Weiman did not know for sure, he estimated that the soldiers had warned the settlers that a policeman was about to arrive so that they would have time to escape.

Asked whether Khanna and his entourage were improperly present in a closed military zone without coordination and clearance, Weiman responded that this was “turning justice upside down.”

He said the area was declared a closed military zone only to prevent violent Jewish extremists from entering after they had harassed the Palestinian village there so severely that its residents abandoned their land.

Accordingly, Weiman said that outsiders visiting the abandoned village to draw scrutiny to the settlers’ violations could not constitute a violation of any kind.

Weiman also promised to send additional video footage of the incident but said he was working through various technical problems to be able to share the footage at press time.

While the police and IDF, as noted above, issued initial responses to Khanna and his entourage’s initial narrative, at press time, neither had provided an updated response to the more detailed account that the Post received on Sunday.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa spoke at the opening of the newly formed People’s Assembly on Sunday, in a historic event for Syria.

Bashar al-Assad‘s regime fell in December 2024.

In 2025, Syria spent the year trying to unite the country and begin its complex process of appointing members of the new parliament. The final members were recently chosen by the president after a vote last year. The voting was done by electors, so the parliament still does not reflect a widespread vote.

Nevertheless, this is a major step for Syria.

New Syrian parliament is more diverse, including many female, minority representatives

Many commentators online noted that, unlike in the Assad era when he would receive a dictator’s round of applause, with sycophants in the rubber-stamp parliament applauding him, now there is no cheering for Sharaa.

Instead, the new Syria has a more diverse parliament, with, for instance, one Kurdish woman representative wearing traditional Kurdish clothes.

The woman in Kurdish clothes was Fasla Yousef, a senior member of the Kurdish National Council (ENKS). She is one of five Kurds who won elections held in Kobane, Hasaka, Qamishli, and Derik, bringing the total number of Kurdish representatives in the interim parliament to at least eight, including three elected in Afrin in October 2025, Rudaw noted. She represents Hasakah along with Ibrahim Mustafa al-Ali and Omar Issa Hais.

Commentators also pointed to the fact that one woman appeared in a full veil and the presence of a Syrian actress who was appointed.

Actress Rozina Lazkani, 36, was selected as one of President Sharaa’s 70 appointees earlier this month. It was not clear who the woman in the full veil was.

Men in the new parliament also come from a variety of backgrounds. There are Alawites, Druze, Kurds, Christians, Sunnis, and others represented in the new parliament. It is believed that there are six Christians, five Alawites, and three Ismailis in the new parliament.

An article at New Lines Magazine by Abdullah al-Ghadhawi, “I went through the resumes of all 210 members, starting with the 140 whose backgrounds show how the parliament was born of the 13-year war, not of party life. The overwhelming majority of members come largely from no declared party and ran on no institutional platform.”

He noted that “instead, they rose through the social and political networks that Syrians built after 2011, including the opposition movement and its local armed factions, Sharia councils and local councils, relief organizations and field hospitals, free professional unions, civil defense groups, reconciliation committees, town notables and Kurdish parties.”

Syrian state media SANA noted that Sharaa “called on members of Syria’s newly formed People’s Assembly to make the legislature a model of responsibility, competence and institutional governance, urging lawmakers to promote dialogue, uphold the rule of law and help build a modern Syrian state.” He spoke at the first session, which had been postponed last week.

“President al-Sharaa said humanity had long sought the best way to govern public affairs, stressing that consultation and consensus remained the most effective means of achieving the common good.” He added, “there is no better path than consultation and consensus,” he said, adding that “mutual acceptance is essential to overcoming division, resolving differences and reaching sound judgment.” Syria is entering a new chapter, he said. Last week he hosted the French president in Damascus and also met US President Donald Trump in Ankara on the sidelines of a NATO summit.

The Syrian People’s Assembly elected Member of Parliament Abdul Hamid Akil al-Awak as the Speaker of the new council. He secured a majority of 99 votes during the parliamentary session, SANA noted. It also noted that Moayad Hayel al-Qablawi and Mohammad Ramez Koraj had sought the position. Awak was born in 1966 and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Aleppo in 1990. Awak is considered a legal expert from Hasakah Governorate.

140 members were chosen through elections to the new parliament

A total of 140 members of the new parliament were elected by a limited number of electors in each area of Syria. The president appointed 70 members of the new parliament.

Only the Sweida area did not participate in the process, as it is governed by a Druze leadership seeking autonomy or independence and does not recognize the new government in Damascus. Nevertheless, a pro-government Druze figure, Laith al-Balous, was appointed to the new parliament.

Rudaw Kurdish media network noted that the “new parliament will serve a 30-month term and is expected to review previous decrees, pass legislation and begin drafting a new constitution. The assembly’s composition has drawn criticism from some Kurdish politicians, who argue that Kurdish representation falls well below the community’s share of Syria’s population. Only a handful of Kurds are among the presidential appointees, while nine Kurdish lawmakers were elected from northeast Syria, known as Rojava.”

Several Kurdish members from the ENKS or KNC parties were appointed.

Rudaw noted that “senior Kurdish National Council (ENKS) official Sulaiman Oso previously said he hoped Kurdish lawmakers would effectively represent their constituents.” Oso said, “We wish them success, and I hope that they are the voices of our people in the Syrian parliament and obtain Kurdish rights in the new constitution and work to make Kurdish the official language in Kurdish areas,” Rudaw noted.

Turkey’s Special Envoy to Syria Nuh Yilmaz noted, “The Syrian People’s Assembly opens today. I congratulate all the Syrian people. Syria waited for decades to regain its popular sovereignty, gave hundreds of thousands of lives, and hundreds of thousands of people wasted away their lives in prisons. Syria has more than earned this.”

The Syria in Transition magazine noted that a poll of Syrians about the new assembly found that only 14 percent believed it was representative, and only 10 percent felt it would influence decisions.

Many said they didn’t know what would come next. It shows that many Syrians are either skeptical or taking a wait-and-see approach. Having lived under Assad regime rule since the 1970s and then in 13 years of civil war where much of the country was destroyed, and millions had to flee abroad, it is no surprise people are skeptical.

Levant24 noted that Sharaa said, “Since the beginning of humanity, people have searched for the best way to manage their interests. Acceptance and consensus are a means to overcome disagreements.” He also said “we are partners in building responsibility, and the council today is a platform for truth and justice…I call on you to make this council a model of responsibility and competence, and to contribute to strengthening the culture of dialogue, the rule of law and respect for institutions.”

The IDF killed several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday as they planned attacks against Israeli soldiers, the military announced.

The terrorists were inside a Hamas weapons production site at the time of the strike, the existence of which violated the ceasefire agreement, the IDF noted.

According to the IDF, the terrorists were attempting to rehabilitate Hamas’s military capabilities and were planning attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Two Hamas terrorists killed following attempted terror attacks

On Saturday, the IDF killed two Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip in separate strikes following attempted terror attacks on Israeli soldiers in the area of the Yellow Line, the military announced earlier on Sunday.

Hamas terrorist Hassan Mustafa Zahir al-Razina attempted to plant explosives near soldiers before being killed in an IDF strike, the military said.

The second target, Hamas Nukhba terrorist Mohammad Mahmoud Abd al-Mu’ti Fayyoumi, was killed in a separate strike after planning terror attacks against IDF soldiers in Gaza, the military added.

It was a cold, gray morning in Jerusalem in late December 2014, and the Prime Minister’s Office was abuzz. The corridors of diplomacy were busier than usual. Israel was still reeling from months of fighting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

Just months earlier, the framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, obsessively negotiated by US secretary of state John Kerry, had collapsed. As so often happened, much of the international community placed the blame squarely on Israel.

At home, the political landscape was equally unsettled. Earlier that month, the Knesset had dissolved itself, triggering new elections for March 2015.

Yet none of these developments weighed more heavily on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than Iran.

Just weeks before, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China, along with Germany known as the P5+1, had gathered in Vienna and appeared on the verge of finalizing what would become the JCPOA  (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), better known as the Iran nuclear deal. To Kerry’s disappointment, Iran continued to play games, and the negotiations were extended by another seven months.

It was against this backdrop that Sen. Lindsey Graham strode confidently through the glass doors of the Aquarium at the Prime Minister’s Office, greeting everyone with a warm smile and an easy confidence. He always reminded me of football legend Barry Sanders, who famously never celebrated his touchdowns because, as he put it, “It’s not my first time in, and it won’t be my last.” There was the same quiet professionalism about Graham. Crossing the foyer, he extended his hand as Prime Minister Netanyahu greeted him warmly: “Welcome back to Jerusalem.”

It was hardly his first visit.

Lindsey Graham’s steadfast support of Israel

Over decades of public service, Sen. Graham became one of Congress’s most frequent visitors to Israel. Combined with Netanyahu’s countless trips to Washington, the two had forged a longstanding relationship built on mutual respect and trust. At that critical moment, there was no one the prime minister was more eager to see.

Although the discussion touched on the Palestinian issue, the heart of the meeting was Iran and the urgent need to prevent the regime from forcing a deal that would ultimately allow them to acquire nuclear weapons capability. There was no convincing required from our side of the table. Sen. Graham was already fully aligned with our assessment, and understood better than most, the magnitude of the threat Iran posed not only to Israel but to the broader Middle East and beyond.

After an extended private meeting, we walked into the cabinet room to face the cameras. Graham was measured and diplomatic before the press. Behind closed doors, however, he was considerably more colorful in his choice of words. Regardless of the language he used, the message never changed.

Despite the visible tensions between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government, Sen. Graham made it unmistakably clear that he and many of his colleagues in Congress stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel. They understood that Iran and their terror proxies threatening the “Little Satan” would not stop there. Iran’s ambitions ultimately targeted the “Great Satan” as well.

Standing beside the prime minister, Graham pledged, “We will be following your counsel and advice” on Iran. There was no daylight between them.

That meeting was just one of many we had over the years. While Sen. Graham’s public advocacy for Israel is well documented, his quiet diplomacy was, in many ways, even more consequential. Much of his most important work happened far from television cameras and press conferences. Through tireless conversations, persistent lobbying, and unwavering efforts to strengthen Israel’s security, his commitment was perhaps best reflected in his oft-repeated conviction: “If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us.”

While many in the pro-Israel camp will rightly remember his leadership on foreign policy and national security, Senator Graham was equally resolute in confronting antisemitism. He stood apart for his uncompromising opposition to such hatred in all its forms and never hesitated to call it out, regardless of where it came from, even within his own party.

He was not a man easily swayed, nor one who abandoned his friends when circumstances became difficult. His convictions on foreign policy were deeply rooted, and his commitment to Israel was unwavering. Israel was unquestionably safer knowing it had a champion like Lindsey Graham in the United States Senate.

His words still resonate today: “I am with you in every way… I will be with Israel until our dying day. They’re the best ally we could hope for.”

The truth is that Sen. Lindsey Graham was one of the best allies Israel could have hoped for.

Israel is safer because of his steadfast friendship, his moral clarity, and his willingness to stand firm when it mattered most. His passing leaves an enormous void, not only for Israel, but for all who believe that peace is best secured through strength.

The writer is a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the author of the book My Brothers Keeper: Netanyahu, Obama, and the Year of Terror & Conflict that Changed the Middle East Forever.

A memorial service commemorating 85 years since the Jedwabne massacre went ahead despite protests by Polish nationalists who called it “Jewish lies.”

The Jedwabne massacre was the killing of hundreds of Jewish residents of the town of Jedwabne in northeastern Poland on 10 July 1941, shortly after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet-occupied part of Poland during Operation Barbarossa.

Jewish men, women, and children were forced into a barn and burned alive by their Polish neighbors.

Investigations by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance concluded that at least 340 people were murdered; however, the site has not been fully excavated out of respect for Jewish religious law, and the number could be higher.

On Friday, Jewish citizens of Poland, Polish politicians and foreign ambassadors gathered to pay tribute.

‘Jedwabne massacre is an example of the harm that can result from anti-semitism’

“The history of the crime in Jedwabne is an example of the harm that can result from antisemitism and all forms of hatred, ethnic prejudice and xenophobia, fueled by forces that prey on fear and pursue their own interests at the expense of Poland and the Polish people,” said Poland’s Foreign Ministry.

“The circumstances of this atrocity were examined in an investigation conducted by prosecutors from the Institute of National Remembrance, and its findings remain an important part of our understanding of this tragic chapter in Polish-Jewish history.”

Israel’s Ambassador to Poland, Yaakov Finkelstein, who was present at the memorial, said, “The Jewish residents were driven from their homes, gathered in the town square, humiliated and beaten, and then forced into a barn, which was set on fire. They were killed by their Polish neighbors.”

He said that the anniversary of the Jedwabne crime remains one of the most “painful dates in the shared history of Poles and Jews.”

However, Finkelstein stressed that remembering Jedwabne is not about assigning collective guilt to the entire Polish nation, but is about “confronting history, paying tribute to the victims, and opposing all attempts to distort or deny the historical facts.”

He added that the participation of high-ranking representatives of the Polish authorities in today’s commemoration is an “expression of Poland’s responsible stance and its commitment to historical truth and to honoring the victims with dignity.”
US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose said that “Jedwabne was the exception, not the rule in occupied Poland”, and praised the “thousands of righteous Poles who gave their lives during the Nazi occupation for helping their Jewish neighbors.”

AJC was present at the memorial and condemned far-right extremism that denies facts

The American Jewish Committee was also present. It condemned the far-right extremists who have sought to deny “these facts.”

“The movement to deny these crimes is yet another example of why Poland must adopt a national strategy to combat antisemitism,” the AJC said.

“Democratic Poland has already done the difficult work of officially recognizing what happened on July 10, 1941. Now, just as the government confronted this painful chapter of its past, it is imperative that it act against those who deny and distort history and spread antisemitism.”

On the same subject, nationalists, led by controversial politician Grzegorz Braun, gathered outside the memorial.
Braun told his audience, “The communists, the Euro-communists, and the ‘Zydokomuna’ are all digging in their heels. They are digging in their heels both over the lie about Jedwabne and over the lie about the Rzeszow, Krakow, and Kielce pogroms of 1945 and 1946. And in Auschwitz, and in other places of memory, and of non-memory.”

“So there are enough Poles and patriots here for us to have hope that, unless a meteor suddenly falls on this very place, some of us have a good, real chance of living to see the moment when the truth comes out.”

Zydokomuna is a loaded, antisemitic term meaning “Jewish communism.” It specifically refers to a conspiracy theory that Jews were collectively responsible for communism.

Braun also uses the phrase “klamstwo jedwabienskie” (“the Jedwabne lie”), which is an expression used by people who deny or dispute the established historical findings about the 1941 Jedwabne massacre. Calling the antisemitic pogroms in Rzeszow, Krakow, and Kielce pogroms “lies” also reflects Braun’s historical denialism.

American Congressman Jared Moskowitz said he was “deeply troubled to see 85 years later the memorial for this atrocity being turned into a site of revisionism that dishonors the victims.”

“At a time when Holocaust denial continues to rise, we cannot let the truth of what happened get buried.”

Pity poor Rahm Emanuel.

There he went and traveled all the way to Israel last week to gain attention for his nascent presidential campaign by criticizing Israel on Israeli soil, only to be upstaged by Ro Khanna, another Democratic presidential hopeful, who got even more coverage for attacking the Jewish State even more aggressively.

True, Emanuel, as Jonathan Tobin pointed out in a JNS piece on Thursday, understood exactly how to command national media attention. Even before he delivered his speech at Tel Aviv University, The Washington Post devoted three separate articles to previewing it, while The New York Times, CNN, and other major outlets also highlighted his planned remarks. Afterward, they returned with extensive follow-up coverage.

Emanuel, despite barely registering in early Democratic presidential polling, succeeded in making a speech in Israel one of the biggest political stories of the week. How? By signaling in advance that he was coming to Israel to sharply criticize the Israeli government.

If you want national media attention, blast Israel.

But then Khanna went and upped the ante. He came to Israel, did not meet Israelis, reportedly refusing to do so, went to Judea and Samaria, where his van was blocked.

Khanna has his side of the story, the IDF has a significantly different version

Khanna said he was stopped by settlers with “arrogance in their eyes” and then by IDF soldiers who backed the settlers. The IDF version was significantly different.

Ordinarily, one would like to believe a US Congressman, especially one with presidential aspirations.

But when he comes on a visit exclusively to the West Bank, when he says that being in Israel and the West Bank was the first time that he “really was acutely aware of being brown,” when he says Israel is committing genocide and is guilty of apartheid in the West Bank, two blatant lies, then there is no reason to believe him about Israel on anything else.

These incidents, taking place just days before the sudden, tragic death of Lindsey Graham, one of Israel’s greatest champions on Capitol Hill this generation, a champion in the Henry “Scoop” Jackson, Daniel Moynihan, Daniel Inouye, John McCain, Joe Lieberman mold, throw in stark relief how the tide is shifting for Israel in the US. Pro-Israel support is ebbing, while anti-Israel positions and personalities are rising.

Not too long ago, any presidential hopeful, including Graham in 2015, would come to Israel to burnish foreign policy credentials and show support for the Jewish state in an effort to win over both voters and donors.

Before the 2016 campaign, there was a veritable parade of presidential hopefuls, from Elizabeth Warren among Democrats, to Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and, yes, Donald Trump among Republicans.

Now the opposite is the case.

Jews once looked to see whether a candidate passed the “kishka test,” whether he or she had a special place in their heart for Israel, with visits here often serving as one indication. Today, many would settle for a candidate who simply doesn’t harbor hostility toward the Jewish state.

Khanna’s aide Cameron Kasky posted on X/Twitter that the congressman and his delegation “got intercepted and captured by settlers wielding American-made rifles. The IDF showed up to back up the settlers, not the US Congressman.”

Khanna posted a thank you “to all those who reached out asking about my safety.” One of those most concerned was Tucker Carlson, he of the story of his own detention, since debunked both by Israel and the State Department, when he came to the airport in February to interview Mike Huckabee.

Israel can do a better job of challenging narratives

Israel cannot change the direction of Democratic presidential politics. It can, however, do a much better job contesting the narrative.

It is not enough simply to dismiss incidents like this as political theater, though they almost certainly are. If Khanna and his staff’s account is inaccurate, and certainly saying the congressman was “captured” certainly is, then Israel must immediately, comprehensively, and loudly release the facts: why he was stopped, whether the visit had been coordinated, whether he entered a closed military zone, and what instructions security forces had received.

The New York Post reported on Sunday that the trip was paid for by the Khanna campaign. And that’s what it was: a campaign trip and stunt. Asked whether he was going to run for president, he said, “I’m strongly considering it, and I’m more resolved to consider it after this trip.”

Ah, Khanna has now found his cause.

As one Jewish political activist in his district told me, Khanna is “a very astute politician who knows which way the winds are blowing,  and flows in that direction.” If he believes anti-Israel activism is now his path to the Democratic nomination, that should worry anyone who cares about the future of the US-Israel relationship.

US representatives supported Israel because their constituents supported Israel, which polls show has changed

When Israel enjoyed massive bipartisan support in Congress, one question was often asked: Why were representatives from states such as Idaho, South Dakota, and Tennessee – with their small Jewish populations – so supportive of Israel?

And the answer always given was because the representatives, many of whom were not well acquainted with the intricacies of the Middle East, followed the lead of the public. The perception was that the public supported Israel,  at least significant constituencies such as the Jews and the Evangelicals, and as a result, it was good politics to do the same.

The recent polls, including one by AP last week that showed that one in three Americans believes Israel committed genocide in Gaza, show that now the opposite is the case. The perception is that the public does not support Israel – and the reasons for this are manifold.

Yes, some has to do with Israeli actions, with irresponsible statements by government ministers, with Israel’s closeness to US President Donald Trump. Some also has to do with the fact that lies about Israel, such as the genocide libel, have just been allowed to trickle down without sufficient pushback, neither from Israel nor Israel’s supporters abroad.

When The Denver Post, in an editorial ostensibly supportive of Israel following the recent primary victory of Melat Kiros  – who, the paper noted, “has made ending Israel a cornerstone of her campaign,” writes matter-of-factly about “an ongoing genocide in Gaza” and refers to the prime minister as the “mastermind of this genocide,” something is clearly not getting through.

Some people’s minds, for whatever reason, are already made up and cannot be convinced otherwise. But another reason these narratives gain traction is that they often go unanswered.

That vacuum creates opportunities for ambitious politicians. Figures like Khanna, who, incidentally, represents a Bay Area district with a significant Israeli-American and Jewish population, see an issue that energizes progressive donors, excites activists and generates national media attention.

Expect to see more of this as the Democratic presidential race gathers momentum. For an increasing number of candidates, criticizing Israel, not embracing it, is becoming the politically rewarding position.

Which brings us back to Lindsey Graham.

His passing marks more than the loss of one of Israel’s staunchest friends on Capitol Hill. It comes at a time when Democratic presidential hopefuls increasingly see political advantage in attacking Israel rather than embracing it. The juxtaposition is striking.

There is heavy skepticism from the IDF about how effective the Lebanese army will be in keeping the peace versus Hezbollah attempts to rearm and restore its capabilities for threatening Israel, IDF Givati Brigade Chief Col. “E” told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview.

“We are skeptical about their abilities because their power is nothing compared to Hezbollah, but maybe the legitimacy it [allowing the Lebanese army to try peacekeeping] gives us will create some change. We need the Lebanese army to undermine Hezbollah,” said E.

In addition, the IDF Givati Brigade chief said that this legitimacy was critical after October 7.

“We are no longer naive after October 7. We cannot go to sleep. We would prefer to go back to a state of quiet, but we live in the jungle of the Middle East, and we cannot forget this. We need to remember everything that happened to us. We need to be offensive-minded and ready to strike harder and faster in the next round than in this past round,” he said.

IDF Givati Brigade Weapons Commander Lt.-Col. “I” described to the Post watching the Lebanese army move into certain areas where the Givati Brigade was leaving.

According to “I”, higher-level IDF and US officials handled the transition and handover of territory coordination, with I and his forces observing the Lebanese army from a safe distance for a period of minutes.

Curiously, this handover of land occurred some days before the IDF officially acknowledged transferring territory in two key spots in southern Lebanon over to the Lebanese army.

This transfer is being coordinated by US Lt.-Gen. Clearfield, who was the main coordinator with Israel and Lebanon on such issues from fall 2024 until the recent war, with support from around 30 other American military officials.

An official for CENTCOM’s Marine Corps Command (MARCENT), relating to CENTCOM’s Military Coordination Group for Lebanon, declined over the weekend to provide more specific updates about how the transfer of territory was going so far.

Clearfield visited Lebanon amidst regional concern

However, the Post understands that Clearfield met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir on July 1 and secretly visited Lebanon on July 2.

Questioned about what impact the June agreement between the US, Israel, and Lebanon will have on future IDF actions and potential withdrawals from Lebanon, he responded, “the IDF is not part of this. We know our place. There is a democratic state,” where the political echelon makes such decisions, and the IDF carries out orders.

But he noted that, “the IDF proved that there is no task it cannot do, including on multiple fronts at the same time. It can handle any threat. If the state makes the required decision, we will carry it out. We are the best trained force in the Middle East – and after this war, in the world.”

Discussing the Givati Brigade accomplishments, he said, “We are always defeating the enemy, destroying its infrastructure, and pushing the threat it can pose backwards and away from the Israeli border.”

Givati Brigade killed hundreds of terrorists, though suffered IDF losses as well

He said that the Givati Brigade had killed over 200 Hezbollah terrorists.

“We also lost people [soldiers], which was hard. Eight soldiers were killed, including the commander of the 52nd battalion,” and there were some dozens of wounded soldiers, though most of the wounds were light,” he said.

In relative terms, he said this was smaller losses than might have been expected, and there were relatively few major battles, though losing even one soldier is painful.

One theme which the Post had heard from multiple IDF commanders on the ground in Lebanon, including during a Post visit to the Lebanese coastal areas, was that there had been weeks of frustration at the earlier stages of the war, when the IDF General Staff and cabinet held them back from penetrating deeper into Lebanon, including crossing the Litani River.

These same officials had expressed great relief and satisfaction when mid-war, Israel authorized them to advance deeper into southern Lebanon.

Questioned about this experience, E said, “We waited, but we were always ready. So two hours after we got the order that we could advance, we were already on the move. Hezbollah was stunned at how fast we advanced.”

He added, “It is important to give respect to the enemy, but they cannot always perform at the level which we expect of them, and here, we hit them fast. The enemy cannot hold its ground versus a full-force IDF onslaught with supporting heavy firepower.”

Pressed to address the challenge of Hezbollah’s FPV drones which caused a rolling list of IDF casualties for several weeks leading into the end of the war, E responded, “Over the course of any war, both sides have surprises which you know [something] about or do not know about at all. Very rapidly you adapt to it and continue.”

Drone attacks are ‘not a huge thing’

He stated that the first-person view (FPV) drone attacks “got lots of headlines. But it is [just] drones. It is not a huge thing. We were struck by it, but then we also met it head on, and already now we are barely ever hearing about it because we got better” at combating the threat.

“The enemy was excited with its strategic success in the media [about the drones], but the success of the drones went down even before the ceasefire,” he declared.

In addition, he said that Israel “will develop [new] technologies” in the future to better combat the drones, though he said to his troops, “we have to deal with new threats even until that technology is ready.”

Returning to “I”, the Givati weapons officer told the Post, “we fought for three years in every part of Gaza and…then during the current war in Lebanon in a few places, including El-Khiam, Bint Jbail, and the Beaufort Castle ridge area. We joined up with the 36th Division to cross over the Litani and to take over various ridges.”

He said that Givati took away Hezbollah’s assets both above and below ground, eliminating their ability to invade or fire anti-tank missiles on Israeli villages.

According to “I”, the combination of the Givati ground forces supported by air power, artillery, tanks, and vast intelligence resources working in perfect synergy led to defeating Hezbollah at every point of contact.

Addressing the FPV threat, I stated, “We learn all the time from what happens in battles, and we are even better now than we were a couple of months ago. We always have new tactics, including for identifying the drones. We are in a different place now. It remains a challenge, but we have responses.”

If needed, he said, “we will return to beat them again. They can pick whatever strategy they want; we are the IDF and Givati. The spirit of the brigade is not something I can explain in words. But there is nowhere we cannot get to.”

If the US President Donald Trump ultimately sells F-35 aircraft to Turkey, Israeli defense officials believe that Ankara’s top minds could work around American limits placed on the aircraft, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

When the UAE and the Saudis dropped their interest in purchasing the dominant F-35 fifth-generation aircraft from Washington, part of this was because the US was going to impose limits on the aircraft it would sell them to ensure they were not misused.

Whereas the UAE and the Saudis may have dropped their pursuit of these aircraft due to those technical limits, the Post understands that Israeli defense officials worry that Turkey’s military technology capacities and experience with aircraft could allow it to overcome those limits.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has phrased Israeli objections to Turkey acquiring the aircraft in general terms of upsetting the balance of power in the region.

But Israeli defense officials and other experts are more specific.

F-35 sale could limit Israel’s ability to pre-emptively strike regional dangers

While to date, Turkey has not taken direct military action against Israel, and such a scenario is still unlikely, the widely publicized fact is that no country has successfully detected the F-35 aircraft. If Ankara did decide to attack Israel, it could theoretically do so, including against strategic political or military targets, with no warning and no clear Israeli defense (and the same for any other country, for that matter, according to long-standing reports).   

In another nightmare scenario, Turkey could provide Syria, or even Iran, with the capacity to track F-35s, ending or severely limiting Israel’s ability to launch pre-emptive strikes against rising dangers, such as ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons.

Iran might be a stretch, as Ankara and Tehran can also be rivals, but it is not impossible if Turkey views Israel as too ascendant in air supremacy in the region, and sharing with Syria would seem to be an obvious move, given that Turkey helped put the new Syrian ruler since late 2024, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in power.

What is stopping Trump from selling the F-35s to Turkey, if anything?

Israeli, Greek, and Cypriot objections, while not irrelevant, certainly would not be enough to stop it on their own.

But there is a real block.

US legislation does not allow the government to sell the F-35s to a country that operates Russian air defense platforms, such as the S-400 system, which Turkey possesses, in order to avoid them learning how to beat the F-35 up close.

In other words, if Turkey could fly its own F-35s while its own Russian S-400 system learned to track them, Ankara could pass this information not only regionally in a way that would harm Israel, but also to Russia, which could harm America’s ability to project power.

Until now, the assumption has been that the S-400 can shoot down American F-15s and F-16s, but not the F-35. All of this could change if Turkey had both systems.

Israeli defense officials worry that Turkey can circumvent US legislation by placing the S-400 systems in storage and arguing that they are not operational.

This may not be enough to convince the US Congress in an absolute sense, but it could help Trump squeak the deal through using a loophole and the veil of not violating the law on the books.

Turkey could send the Russian S-400 systems to Syria

A key question Israeli defense officials are now asking is how hard the American Congress can fight Trump on such a national security issue, which is mostly within the US president’s purview given his dominance of foreign affairs? This is especially true regarding legislation which he himself pushed through under different circumstances and in a different time in his first term, but about which he has now soured.

In addition, Turkey could also send the S-400 anti-aircraft defense systems to Syria.

This could be the worst of both worlds for Israel, because technically Turkey would not be violating US law, but Syria could track the F-35s, which would harm Israeli freedom of action in Syria, and Damascus could also share the information with Turkey.

Yet another scenario is that Russia could take the S-400 systems back entirely, which would temporarily alleviate the issue, but the systems could always be sent back later, and Turkey could not be forced to return the aircraft necessarily.

This is part of what concerns Israeli defense officials in the sense that once the F-35 is given over to Turkey, eventually the unpredictable future could take the issue in currently unforeseen negative directions.

These are the most extreme scenarios, though there are less extreme approaches to the issue.

Some Israeli defense officials are beginning to analyze the issue in a less nightmare-focused way, asking the opening question: Why is Turkey interesting, and what about it could eventually constitute a threat?

They note that there is always a general conflict over the balance of power in the Middle East between Arabs and non-Arabs.

Since October 7, Israel has brought the power of the Shiite axis lower, such that they ask: Who will enter the former position of the Shiites?

Next, they say there are three candidate countries for filling that vacuum: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – with these countries having the capabilities and the motivation.

These Israeli defense officials, without jumping to conclusions, recommend that the Americans need to look at what Turkey will look like in a broader strategic sense long-term, and not just the current financial value of the military deals.

It is complicated for the US to think this way, they acknowledge, because Turkey is historically a member of NATO, such that the US on a bipartisan basis does not view Turkey as a threat.

But these officials also stress that it would not take too much for Turkey to start posing a threat to Israel in Syria, and also potentially in Gaza.

This would mean that giving them the F-35 could influence a wide array of calculations anytime Israel and Turkey might have a confrontation over a seemingly smaller issue in Syria or Gaza.

Lastly, it has been widely reported that, to date, the US has never let Israel into the F-22 fighter program and has excluded Jerusalem from the latest sixth-generation F-47 fighter program, which may be tested in 2028 and become fully operational in 2030.

If the US were to allow Israel to join the F-47 fighter program, this could take some significant stress out of any F-35 deal with Turkey.

However, to date, the Post understands that Israeli sources remain less than optimistic about this happening, even as discussion of selling the F-35 to Turkey has reached a critical point.

Around 300 people were evacuated on Saturday from a neighborhood in Sarcelles, north of Paris, after a suspicious vehicle containing a military-grade weapon was discovered in the vicinity of a synagogue.

On Saturday evening, at around 9:30 p.m., the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) was called by the intelligence services to inspect the abandoned vehicle on Rue Henri Dunant in Sarcelles, BFMTV learned from a police source. 

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV on Sunday that it was “found not in the immediate vicinity, but in the vicinity” of the Great Synagogue of Sarcelles, as well as a cinema and several restaurants.  

“A number of measures have been taken,” he said, adding that “the competent prosecutors are investigating.”

He confirmed that authorities found “a long firearm, a military-grade weapon.”

No clear motive, no suspects yet

A judicial investigation has been opened, but so far no motive has been established, and no individuals have been identified.

Asked whether there was an imminent threat, Nuñez told BFMTV: “We simply don’t know.”

The Jerusalem Post reached out to the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Internal Security, PNAT, and the synagogue for comment.

Pro-Palestine activists staged a protest in central Stockholm on Saturday featuring a mock Auschwitz gate with ‘Gaza’ instead of ‘Arbeit Macht Frei.’

The protest was organized by the group Palestina Demonstration Stockholm in response to what they say is the wrongful detention of Palestinian pediatrician and hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya by Israeli authorities. 

The activists gathered to demand Abu Safiya’s immediate release, as well as “respect for international humanitarian law and protection for all healthcare workers in war and conflict.”

The case of Abu Safiya – who has been held in Israeli detention since September 2024 – has gained significant international attention. While Amnesty International, for example, refers to him as an “arbitrarily detained Palestinian health worker,” Israel maintains that he is actually a Hamas colonel.

The Stockholm protest therefore called for his release, as well as the release of Marwan Barghouti, and the protection of Gazan health workers.

Protest showed Netanyahu covered in blood under mock Auschwitz gates

The protest involved a performance depicting Gazan mothers and babies being persecuted by a blood-covered Benjamin Netanyahu under a sign designed to look like the entrance gate of Auschwitz. The Netanyahu figure then waves a wad of cash.

“Doctors are not targets; stop killing our doctors,” read many posters.

The Auschwitz gate garnered significant criticism.

“To trivialize the Holocaust in the way that occurred at yesterday’s demonstration in Stockholm is incredibly distasteful and abhorrent,” said Aaron Verstandig, lawyer and Chair of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish communities.

“As with other similar incidents, no one intervened, which is why the boundaries of what is considered acceptable continue to be pushed further and further,” he added.

Swedish Jewish academic Dr. Daniel Schatz also commented on the protest.

“The demonstration is led by a person dressed as Netanyahu with a bloody head, an Israeli flag, and a depiction that brings to mind Nazi symbolism,” he said.

He added that, according to the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism, which Sweden has adopted, this relativization and trivialization of the Holocaust constitutes a clear example of antisemitism.

“Particularly noteworthy is that this is happening openly on Swedish streets, in full view of the police, without any visible objections. How long will these insanities be normalized before the responsible authorities and politicians pull the emergency brake?”

Iran tripled its drone production capacity during the war, acting Iranian Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Majid Ibn al Reza claimed on Saturday.

“At a joint meeting with the Parliament’s National Security Commission, I emphasized: The recent war demonstrated that Iranian elites and investment in advanced technologies constitute the most important pillar of the country’s defense might,” he wrote on X/Twitter. “At the height of the war, not only did defense production continue uninterrupted, but our drone production capacity also increased threefold,” the general stated.

During the meeting, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Reza said the recent war had served as a catalyst for Iran to increase investment in defense capabilities and drone production, particularly as drones had allowed Tehran to “identify the enemy’s weak points.”

Iran used low-flying drones during the conflict to target radar systems without being detected. These radars are used to alert US allies of incoming attacks and help coordinate missile interceptions. During the war, Tehran targeted a number of THAAD batteries and radar systems, degrading defensive capabilities and reducing response times.

Former US national security adviser H.R. McMaster told CBS News last week that Iran had recovered around 50% of the missile stockpiles it held before the war.

Intelligence sources already began alerting international media sites like CNN in May that Iran was rebuilding its arsenal at a speed far exceeding initial expectations, replacing missile sites, launchers and production capacity. At the time of the report, 50% of Iran’s drone capabilities were understood to still exist.

Reza’s statement also came as Iran resumed attacks on its Gulf neighbors and vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, prompting renewed US military strikes against Iranian targets.

CBS: Some Iranian officials wish to avoid all-out war with US

Though the kinetic actions have heated up and Reza has indicated continued investment in war-related materials, the Institute for the Study of War theorized that some of the country’s decision-makers were still trying to avoid a return to full-scale war with the US, according to a Friday report by CBS News.

Senior US officials told the site that the renewed attacks by Iran had been ordered by an “errant” sect of hardliners seeking to undermine negotiations. American officials also told Axios on Friday that Iran’s negotiating team had requested renewed talks.

Deepening divisions within regime

Reports of fractures within the regime have circulated for months, with those divisions appearing to deepen after Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Washington.

Although the agreement was widely viewed as favorable to Tehran, it proved unpopular among Iranian hardliners, many of whom wanted the war against Israel and the United States to continue despite the heavy losses Iran had already sustained.

The sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham leaves a profound void in international diplomacy and a heavy sense of loss across the State of Israel. As one of Israel’s best friends on Capitol Hill, he worked tirelessly to strengthen relations with our nation. Graham understood that the strategic partnership between Israel and the US is built on shared values. He expressed this through the consistent actions of a true friend.

Graham’s devotion was not long-distance; it was deeply personal. He visited Israel dozens of times throughout his career, always eager to stand on the ground, meet with leaders and citizens, and assess our shared security challenges firsthand. 

In the foreign policy arena, Lindsey Graham was a man of fierce conviction. This was on full display in March when, amid heavy global pressure, he looked directly into the camera during an interview and declared with clear resolve: “I will be with Israel until our dying day.”

What Lindsey Graham did for the US and Israel

This was much more than rhetoric; it was the central ethos of his career. He consistently translated his moral clarity into historic legislative action that fundamentally strengthened our shared security interests. By authoring the historic Taylor Force Act, he forced financial accountability on the Palestinian Authority, ensuring US aid would stop as long as they continued to reward terrorists. 

Graham was a towering, unwavering voice against the Iranian regime and its regional ambitions. He clearly recognized Tehran as the head of the snake, fiercely calling out Iran’s funding of global terror and its systematic destabilization of the Middle East. He was an aggressive champion of crippling sanctions, leading the charge in Congress to isolate the regime and protect America, Israel and shared allies from the Iranian threat. 

His commitment also ran deep in the diplomatic arena. He was one of the first and most prominent voices in Congress pushing to enforce the Jerusalem Embassy Act, laying the critical political groundwork for moving the US Embassy to Israel’s eternal capital. More recently, as biased campaigns targeted Israel on the world stage, he fiercely advanced US sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other institutions. He drew a clear line against the weaponization of international bodies against Israeli leaders and soldiers.

He also recognized that a strong Israel is the key to regional stability. Graham was a driving force in advancing normalization initiatives between Israel and other countries in the region. He envisioned a new reality of peace and cooperation, built on a foundation of collective strength against shared adversaries.

He saw American support for Israel as much more than an act of charity, promoting it instead as a vital, mutual partnership. He often compared our joint defense initiatives to a “21st-century Manhattan Project” – a critical venture to develop the technologies needed to keep both Americans and Israelis safe from shared threats.

Above all, he always put America first through the lens of an absolute moral clarity – a clarity that allowed him to instantly distinguish right from wrong, aggressor from defender, and ally from enemy. This unwavering conviction is precisely why he championed the freedom-seeking Iranian people, and fiercely defended Israel. He understood completely that the true way to project American strength was to fortify its allies and decisively defeat the forces of destruction that stand against the fundamental values of America.

Washington lost a legislative giant. Israel lost a genuine friend, a massive supporter, and a true partner. We will honor his immense legacy by continuing to strengthen the steadfast US-Israel alliance – an alliance he dedicated his entire life to building.

We in Israel, alongside the people of our region, owe Sen. Lindsey Graham immense gratitude for a dedication to our alliance that was rooted in his mission to protect America. By working to strengthen the United States, his tireless efforts ultimately brought greater peace, security, and stability to our entire region. May his memory be a blessing.

The author serves as Israel’s deputy foreign minister.

Israel Police arrested six individuals over their suspected involvement in the murder of a 19-year-old in Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood over the weekend, police said on Sunday morning.

All six have been transferred for further investigation and will be brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Sunday, as the police have requested an extension of their detention.

The 19-year-old was stabbed during a fight on Saturday. 

A Magen David Adom paramedic described his experience upon arriving at the scene, saying he saw the victim “lying on the floor with penetrating injuries, without a pulse and not breathing.”

“We provided him with initial medical treatment, including prolonged CPR,” said the paramedic.

He was initially evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center before being pronounced dead, according to United Hatzalah.

Attorney Omri Stern, a public defender representing the suspect, described his client as having been in a “long and violent relationship” with the victim, having previously filed several complaints about him.

Suspect denies involvement

“This is a soldier with no criminal record,” said Stern. “The suspect denies any involvement in causing the deceased’s death – she did not want him to die and was not at the scene at the time of the tragic event.

“She is fully cooperating with the investigators, and we expect the police to examine her version as soon as possible and bring about her release,” he added.

The suspect’s detention has been extended until July 16, according to the Public Defender’s Office, with a stay of execution in place on the publication of her name until 2:00 p.m. on Monday.

The Beaufort Castle, built by the Crusaders sometime around 1140, commands vital high ground close to the Litani River in southern Lebanon.

From its summit, one can see Metula and other Israeli border communities to the south, and the Lebanese town of Nabatiya to the north. The Crusader knight Reynold of Sidon lost the castle to Saladin in 1189. Since then, it has changed hands regularly between the many conquerors who have passed through this hypnotic, green landscape.

Lebanese sovereignty collapsed into civil war in 1975, leading to the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s capture of the castle the following year.

In 1982, as part of Operation Peace for Galilee, the Golani Brigade Reconnaissance Unit fought a hard but ultimately successful battle to take the castle, in the course of which its commander, Maj. Guni Harnik, was killed.

Following Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000, the Beaufort passed into the hands of Hezbollah.

IDF reclaims Beaufort Castle, May, 2026

Then, on May 31, 2026, in the framework of the IDF 36th Division’s ground maneuver toward Nabatiya, the castle was once more taken by the Golani Brigade, whose banners now fly from its highest point.

In a visit to the castle last week, The Jerusalem Post spoke to senior and mid-level commanders of the 36th Division, and viewed a large, Iranian-built Hezbollah tunnel in the area of Yohmor al-Shaqif, which adjoins the Beaufort to its east, along the Litani River gorge.

When we traveled to Beaufort from the Israeli border, evidence of the depopulation of the Shia villages in the vicinity was immediately apparent. We passed through Taybeh, once a staunch stronghold of Hezbollah and a major source of fighters for the organization. The area now appears entirely in ruins.

Since Hezbollah’s decision to rejoin Iran’s war against Israel on March 1, Jerusalem has pursued a policy of seeking to empty Israeli-held areas in southern Lebanon of the Shia population.

The rationale is obvious: The Chinese leader Mao Zedong compared guerrilla fighters to fish, and the supportive civilian population to the water in which they swim. In southern Lebanon, the IDF appears to be reverse-engineering the principle: no water, no fish.

Speaking to reporters in the castle, the 36th Division’s commander, Brig.-Gen. Yiftach Norkin, described the division’s progress, step-by-step, from the border to the Beaufort Ridge and across the Litani, in the course of May and June this year.

He cited the roles played by various elements under his command in the course of the maneuver: “Golani took the Beaufort, the Givati Brigade was the first to cross the Litani, the 7th Brigade secured the western area and the Saluki.”

 The ceasefire came before the IDF could clear the entire Iranian-built tunnel system 

Forces of the Commando Brigade were then responsible for clearing out the Iranian-built tunnel system of Hezbollah fighters, while fighters of the Yahalom Unit, the combat engineers’ elite force, took on the destruction of the extensive underground structures built in the previous years between the Litani and the Ali al-Taher ridge before Nabatiya. The fighting took the IDF to the outskirts of Nabatiya.

The ceasefire came before the conquest of the entire tunnel system.

For now, the two sides remain close up against one another. According to unofficial figures, Hezbollah lost around 3,500 fighters at the hands of the IDF’s Northern Command in the recent battles, with 600 killed by the 36th Division alone. In now-deserted Taybeh, in April 2025, the funerals of 32 Hezbollah men took place on the same day.

In the tunnel at Yohmor al-Shaqif, a masked lieutenant-colonel of the Yahalom Unit showed the assembled reporters an array of Hezbollah ordnance and equipment captured during the fighting. The weaponry and equipment are testimony to the organization’s de facto status as a wing of a state army: anti-tank systems, an anti-aircraft gun for use against helicopters, a fully equipped unit for surgery, and, of course, rifles, helmets, uniforms, ammunition.

The tunnel is about a kilometer long, high, and wide enough for a grown adult to easily walk within it. There are fully equipped bathrooms and shower units, and kitchen areas at regular intervals along it.

The atmosphere, as one goes deeper into the tunnel, becomes fetid and close.

The construction of these tunnels, hewn out of solid rock in difficult terrain, was nevertheless a considerable feat of engineering.

While the 36th Division’s commanders and spokespeople refer to them as “Iranian,” it’s interesting to note that North Korean engineers brought their expertise to this area. In 2014, Hezbollah, under Iranian tutelage, signed an agreement with KOMID, the North Korean arms and infrastructure concern, to supervise the building of the tunnel complex. These Hezbollah tunnels rival and resemble the DMZ in Korea. They enabled the organization’s fighters to live, move, and fight underground.

It didn’t help them, of course, when Norkin’s 36th Armored Division came across here in May and June. In what the commander and several of his officers described with pride as “one of the most complicated ground maneuvers conducted in recent decades by the IDF,” the 36th decisively put an end to Iran’s and Hezbollah’s pretensions to challenge the IDF on the conventional battlefield.

The fight is not over, Hezbollah is rebuilding and rearming

Still, no one among the division’s commanders is under the impression that the last word has been said. Hezbollah is rebuilding and rearming just beyond the division’s positions outside Nabatiya.

With the IDF dug in at Beaufort and beyond, the next tactical challenge is how to protect the force from efforts by Iran-backed fighters to revert to the guerrilla and irregular roots that once brought them success against the IDF across this very terrain in 1985-2000.

No one among the commanders we met appeared to have any faith in the projected deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces to replace Hezbollah in the upcoming period.

As D. a company commander from Golani’s 13th Battalion, told us, “To be here isn’t an option. It’s an obligation. Between any citizen and a terrorist, there needs to stand a fighter of the IDF.”

For now, there is planning and watchfulness. The next round, in whatever form it takes, will be engaged across the ruined villages and across this verdant landscape, probably before too long.

“I think there is no reason to have an open conflict,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told The National on Friday, only a week after making far more critical comments on CNN Türk, decried by Israeli politicians as genocidal.

Complaining of the alleged anti-Ankara rhetoric coming from Jerusalem, Fidan directed criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and select members of the opposition, but asserted that “there are still very sane and good people with wisdom and strategic minds in Israel.”

“Not all of them are like Netanyahu and some people, but Netanyahu and some people, as they get closer to the elections, they need an enemy. They were at war with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and now they need another enemy,” Fidan told the Emirati site, adding that he believed Ankara was being shifted into that role.

The comments were far more moderate than the ones made on CNN, where he complained: “These people (in reference to Israel) have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear.”

“No matter which framework you use, there is no parameter under which these people can be sustained,” Fidan said in the earlier interview.

Gallia Lindenstrauss, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies specializing in Turkish foreign policy, told The Jerusalem Post that the interview with The National was Fidan’s way of clarifying his previous remarks and “distancing his criticism from Israel as a whole to the actions of the current Israeli government.”

“His statement that there are ‘reasonable’ people was especially reassuring that should Israel have another government, things might look different between Israel and Turkey,” she assessed.

That same interpretation was offered to the Post by Istanbul-based geopolitical analyst Burak Can Çelik, who said that the current abrasiveness of Ankara’s comments on Israel doesn’t suggest “a permanent and irreversible strategic break” from the Jewish state. Rather, in Fidan’s approach, “security, balance of power and changing regional conditions are as decisive as ideological discourse.”

“Today, the two countries are in a controlled competition. However, while discourses and dynamics change rapidly in the Middle East, geography and common interests are permanent,” he noted. “Before October 7, relations between Turkey and Israel had always been at a good level, with joint collaborations in terms of trade, technology, culture and tourism, so these discourses may be a signal of controlled softness.”

Israel, Turkey clash over F-35 sale

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned Fidan’s earlier comments, alleging that they amounted to a “clear call for genocide” and said his words would not go unchallenged, marking yet another confrontation between Israeli and Turkish officials over public statements made. The sudden shift has been interpreted by some as tied to Ankara’s wider goals, specifically the acquisition of F-35 fighter jets.

Ankara recently hosted US President Donald Trump for a NATO summit, and the president expressed a clear willingness to remove the sanctions blocking Ankara’s path to the fighter jet.

“Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal. … It’s a great plane, it’s the best, currently the best plane by far. And it’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said, announcing that Washington would be dropping sanctions against Ankara originally placed over Turkey’s possession of Russian S-400s.

The issue of Turkey’s rhetoric has already been raised by a group of bipartisan American lawmakers, who penned a letter to Trump complaining that the potential F-35 sales were concerning given statements by the officials, and Ankara’s relationship with Iran.

Israel, a major ally of Washington, has also been vocal in its opposition to the NATO country receiving the F-35s, Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkey expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, noted to the Post. He argued that Fidan is trying to quell Israeli fears about the acquisition of the fighter jets.

“Unless these statements are accompanied by tangible confidence-building measures, such as ending unilateral sanctions against Israel, halting the systematic delegitimization campaign against it, and restoring people-to-people ties by resuming direct flights between Istanbul and Tel Aviv, they should be regarded as lip service,” Yanarocak argued.

Iran carried out numerous attacks in the Middle East over the last several days as it seeks to continue its tit-for-tat conflict with the US. In the recent round of attacks, Iran lashed out at Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE, and Jordan.

This is around 3,000km. of front line stretching from Amman to the Strait of Hormuz. It is a huge battlefield, and Iran’s goal is to spread the conflict as wide as possible. This makes it harder to stop Iran because Iran is a large country and it can base missiles and drones in many places to strike.

Iran’s goal now is multi-layered. One layer is to make it seem like Tehran doesn’t centralize decision-making in Tehran. This presents some Iranian attacks as being by “rogue” elements or some “hardline” part of the IRGC.

The theory is that Iran can then “good cop-bad cop” the region. Iran’s government will try to de-escalate, and the IRGC will escalate. This is a method Iran has used in dealmaking with the West for decades. Now it is using it in wartime.

Another aspect of Iran’s policy is to try to put forward a proposal to manage Hormuz. It is trying to pretend that if other countries will come to the table, then some kind of agreement can be reached where Iran manages Hormuz.

Iran would bargain to receive fees for ships to transit through the Strait which the US would oppose

The proposal is for Iran and others to receive a fee for ships that transit, essentially meaning they are in control. The US will not likely accept this. US policy for more than 100 years supported freedom of navigation.

What we know about the recent strikes is that the US carried out a number of new strikes. This has been happening for several days now. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it “completed a third round of strikes this week against Iran, July 11, holding Iranian forces accountable for attacking another commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz.”

It said that US forces “hit approximately 140 Iranian military targets with precision munitions launched by land- and sea-based fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels. Targets included Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, communication networks, and coastal surveillance locations.” In previous rounds, the US had struck around 80 targets.

CENTCOM went on to say that “during three nights of strikes this week, CENTCOM has struck more than 300 targets at the direction of the Commander in Chief to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait. Commercial vessel transits through the vital international maritime corridor continue.”

UAE, Oman, Qatar, targeted in Iranian retaliatory attacks

On July 12, the UAE confirmed that attacks overnight targeting the UAE had ended. Oman condemned attacks by Iranian drones.

Arab News in Saudi Arabia provided some more context on the attacks. “Qatar’s military said in a statement it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in neighboring United Arab Emirates.

Three people, including a child, were wounded as a result of falling shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar’s Interior Ministry said.” The report also noted there were alerts in Bahrain. Kuwait also intercepted attacks.

“The United Arab Emirates said its defense systems engaged missiles and drones from Iran. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said the missile threats detected this morning were outside the country’s borders,” Arab News added.

“An Omani security source reported that drones have targeted sites in the Musandam Governorate. The sultanate condemned the attacks and vowed to take all measures that safeguard the country’s security and residents.”

Iran’s 3,000km. front line is how it seeks to spread chaos in the region. It has created so many front lines in so many places that it will be hard for the US to confront this kind of Iranian Pandora’s box. How to put the lid back on the box is unclear, and it appears Iran is ready to keep doing this for the foreseeable future. 

The Tel Aviv District Court convicted former Value Base senior analyst Shay Lipman on Sunday of insider trading, securities fraud, and fraud and breach of trust in a corporation after he admitted to using his position to profit from trades in public real estate companies.

Under a plea agreement, the prosecution and defense jointly asked the court to sentence Lipman to 18 months in prison and impose financial sanctions totaling NIS 275,000. Judge Dana Amir set a sentencing hearing for September 6.

Lipman worked as a real estate analyst at the investment bank Value Base between 2016 and 2021. His role included analyzing public real estate companies, publishing reports on them, and advising on or accompanying some corporate transactions.

That position gave him access to sensitive and, at times, confidential information about public companies and planned business moves before they reached the market, according to the amended indictment.

In three cases, Lipman traded in shares of public real estate companies while holding inside information obtained through his work and professional ties.

The indictment describes trades tied to three corporate developments: Rani Zim Shopping Centers’ acquisition of control in Midas, the battle for control of Gav-Yam, and the planned sale of a controlling stake in the Sarfati construction company.

In each case, prosecutors said, Lipman bought shares before the relevant information became public, then sold them or stood to benefit after the share price rose.

Eleven additional cases

In 11 additional cases, Lipman bought shares shortly before publishing favorable analyses of the same companies.

An analyst’s recommendation can affect investor demand and a company’s share price, particularly when it is published by a recognized financial institution.

According to the indictment, Lipman bought the shares with the intention of selling them if his positive analysis pushed the price upward.

He did not disclose in the reports that he personally held shares in the companies or that he planned to sell them if their value rose. Those reports concerned several publicly traded real estate companies.

Lipman carried out the trades through his parents’ bank account, concealing his activity from Value Base and violating company procedures governing employees’ personal securities trading.

His illegal activity generated approximately NIS 225,000 in profit, according to the prosecution.

Repeat offenses over several years

The amended indictment said Lipman acted repeatedly over several years, using both confidential information obtained through his position and the expected market impact of his own published analyses.

Prosecutors said Lipman had systematically exploited his role and the trust placed in him at Value Base for personal gain, in direct violation of the investment bank’s internal rules.

They argued that punishment for securities offenses, particularly insider trading, must be severe enough to deter others and protect investors’ confidence in the capital market.

The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved on Sunday the advancement of the contentious bill that seeks to temporarily freeze the arrests of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft evaders, ahead of its final required plenum readings to become law.

The approval came after the Knesset’s legal advisory team issued severe warnings about advancing the legislation pushed by the haredi parties.

The legal advisory warned in its opinion on Sunday that the legislation lacks balance and could effectively exempt haredim from IDF service, failing to advance “equality in sharing the burden.”

It added that the legislation “practically exempts” haredim from the IDF.

The Knesset’s legal advisor, Sagit Afik, also warned the panel ahead of the vote that the legislative process undertaken to advance the bill was improper.

The bill advanced in the committee by a vote of 8 lawmakers in favor and 7 against, and its approval is subject to a request for revision. 

The bill stipulates that from the decided date of commencement until the end of 90 days, no arrest, investigation, or enforcement proceedings will be taken for failure to serve.

One of several haredi-backed bills

The bill is part of a series of haredi-backed bills being advanced, amid numerous reports of agreements between the haredi parties and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The coalition has been pushing a legislative blitz in the Knesset’s final week before its expected dissolution to advance as much legislation as possible before the upcoming elections.

The haredi parties boycotted coalition voting last month – stalling coalition bills – arguing that their legislation was not being advanced quickly enough.

Critics argue that the bill has undergone significant changes since the version that passed its first reading years ago, following dozens of committee discussions in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that reshaped its original framework.

The Knesset legal advisor told the panel that in her view, the bill was part of “an improper legislative process.”

“Out of this long and complex legislative process, one small section was taken, and everything else was deleted. In my view, this raises a claim far more serious than merely a ‘new subject,’” she said.

Afik added that even though she was told that there was a time constraint to pass the bill before the Knesset dissolution, “a lack of time cannot justify an improper legislative process.”

“If the committee considers adding sanctions and other elements from the original legislative process, this could be interpreted as maintaining a connection with the original bill,” she said.

The government has stated that arresting yeshiva students who evade military service has undermined efforts to encourage broader enlistment among haredi men; therefore, a freeze on arrests would be beneficial.

Opponents and Afik have argued that the bill is unbalanced largely because it only calls for halting the arrests of draft evaders and includes no sanctions on them.

Dr. Gilad Malach, research Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program, told The Jerusalem Post last month that the proposal to freeze arrests of draft evaders suffers from significant flaws and lacks balance.

Malach: Addresses issue ‘in a problematic way’

“Although it is meant to address a real issue [of haredi conscription], it does so in a problematic way,” Malach said.

“First, it does not include the broader enforcement tools and instead focuses only on easing measures [of arrests], without an overall framework [of sanctions].”

Malach also argued that the proposal is not a true temporary measure, despite its stated 90-day duration.

“Any law passed right before elections that is set to expire during the election period automatically receives an extension of roughly four months, since the Knesset is not functioning normally,” he said.

“So the 90 days can effectively become six or seven months. It is a technical issue, but clearly political parties exploit it.”

“Ultimately, the goal of the haredi parties in this context is a political achievement ahead of elections,” Malach explained.

“They want to be able to say: we achieved something, we prevented arrests, we delayed the issue.

The advancement of a bill to freeze the arrests of draft evaders comes after the contentious Basic Law: Torah Study bill, which seeks to enshrine Torah Study as a fundamental value in the country’s Basic Law, advanced last week in the Knesset’s House Committee.

It is also expected to be brought to the plenum for its final second and third readings this week before the expected Knesset dissolution.

The Torah study bill is part of a proposal that critics argue encourages draft evasion and changes the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits, even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage. Netanyahu arrived at the plenum last month to vote in favor of the bill as it passed its first reading. 

The haredi parties have encouraged the coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment.

The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage after more than two years of war.

In April, the High Court of Justice ordered that the state take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and to move toward criminal enforcement against haredi men who evade military service.

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if no solution was found for the manpower shortage.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana has reduced the Knesset’s budget by an additional NIS 50 million for the purpose of supporting the country’s economy, the Knesset announced on Sunday.

Ohana said he had informed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about his budget reduction initiative, and the funds are expected to go to the treasury.

This means the total amount cut from the Knesset’s budget since the 25th Knesset began stands at NIS 376 million.

The latest NIS 50 million cut to the Knesset’s 2026 budget follows three previous reductions approved by Ohana: 

The latest move, which will be submitted for approval by the Joint Committee on the Knesset Budget, will not affect the Knesset’s essential day-to-day operations.

Ohana has reduced the Knesset’s budget three times since the 25th Knesset began

“From my first day in office, my policy has been to reduce the use of public funds while ensuring the maximum implementation of the work plans required for the operation and development of the Knesset,” Ohana said.

“Even in this final stretch, the Knesset, as a public institution, treats taxpayers’ money with the utmost care and is returning it to the state treasury so it can be used for the benefit of the citizens of Israel.”

Ohana has reduced the Knesset’s budget three times since the 25th Knesset began, with NIS 80 million in November 2023, NIS 121 million in January 2024, and NIS 125 million in October 2025 in support of the war effort.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Shas Party, criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening, saying he “won’t repent,” while appearing to back the premier’s political rival, Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot.

The rare remarks suggested that Shas could potentially be open to joining a government led by Eisenkot following the upcoming elections, raising questions over the longstanding haredi alliance with Netanyahu’s bloc.

“We are in a secular country… There are those whom I don’t believe will repent,” Yosef said in a filmed speech.

“There’s no chance [Netanyahu] will repent. Eisenkot might repent,” he added.

Shas has been a partner in Netanyahu’s bloc for decades, with the prime minister’s ruling Likud party relying on the haredi parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – as key coalition partners.

הרב יצחק יוסף, מנהיגה הרוחני של ש”ס: “אין סיכוי שנתניהו יחזור בתשובה – איזנקוט אולי כן”@MHlpryn pic.twitter.com/fx7voScO9x

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) July 11, 2026

Recently, Eisenkot’s Yashar Party has become the largest party in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in polls ahead of elections set to take place no later than October 27. 

Yosef’s office denied claims, despite report that he prefers Eisenkot for PM

On Sunday, Yosef had reportedly also said behind closed doors that he was leaning toward breaking up the Netanyahu bloc, together with the United Torah Judaism Party, and that Eisenkot was the preferred candidate for prime minister, according to a Sunday Army Radio report.

“It is possible that we will go with Eisenkot in the upcoming election; I hope United Torah Judaism joins this move,” the report quoted the party’s spiritual leader as saying.

The report added that Yosef said: “Eisenkot is a good man, a warm-hearted Jew. He loves Torah scholars. His grandmother voted for Shas and wanted him to become a rabbi. That did not happen, but he is someone we can rely on.”

“Netanyahu deceived us over the draft law and on other matters. You cannot rely on him; he is a liar.”

In May, the spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism faction Degel Hatorah, Rabbi Dov Lando, made similar remarks regarding the premier, in which he stated that “We no longer have any trust in Netanyahu,” sparking a coalition crisis. 

Yosef’s reported statements come amid recent tensions with Netanyahu and his coalition over stalled advancements with legislation the haredi parties have been pushing for, which critics argue encourage draft evasion even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage. 

There have also been numerous reports of deals between the haredi parties and Netanyahu ahead of the Knesset’s upcoming dissolution at the end of this week, while the coalition has been pushing ahead with its legislative blitz. 

In response to the report, Eisenkot said that he would “not compromise on the draft law, even if it means going to another election,” while speaking to Army Radio on Sunday. 

Yosef’s office denied to The Jerusalem Post that he made the remarks behind closed doors.

“The content of this morning’s report regarding any kind of support [for a particular candidate or political move] is completely denied,” Yosef’s office stated.

Eisenkot could see Shas as a partner

The report also comes after Eisenkot had expressed support for Shas last week in a Thursday interview with the haredi Kikar Hashabbat news outlet, noting that he could see them as a partner.

“First, a large part of Shas voters serve in the army, and I saw them as chief of staff. Because of that, I make a distinction. I also see Shas as a party that serves, that is integrated, and that is supposed to bring a message to life in the State of Israel,” Eisenkot said.

“I see Shas as a partner, under certain conditions,” he added, noting that he had three core principles.

“Shas is a party that is supposed to bring a message, and I say this as the son of a mother who voted Shas for 30 years.”

“I know Shas voters, I meet them, and I grew up with some of them,” he added.

Eisenkot has spoken in the past on a more lenient approach to drafting haredim, which has received criticism from party leaders in the opposition bloc.

His plan includes granting exemptions to 3% of each annual haredi cohort to study Torah, similar to exemptions given to outstanding musicians and athletes. 

Other party leaders in the opposition bloc have vowed not to sit in a government with the haredi parties or to allow any exemptions for haredi draft evaders.

The Trump administration allegedly violated US law by giving Iran confidential information about Iranian asylum applicants it planned to deport, according to a lawsuit filed last week by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF).

The IALDF filed the complaint on Tuesday jointly with Public Citizen Litigation Group in US District Court in Washington, DC, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) David Venturella, along with their respective organizations, as defendants.

The plaintiffs claim that the US government violated federal confidentiality regulations, thereby exposing pro-democracy protesters, members of the LGBTQ community, and religious minorities to Tehran and endangering both the family members of the applicants who remain in Iran and the deportees upon their return.  

ICE has rejected these claims, saying in a statement, “These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are false.”

IALDF alleges that in a March 2025 meeting, a senior official from the Iranian Interests Section of the Embassy of Pakistan requested a list from the State Department of detained Iranian nationals whom the US wanted to deport. In response, federal officials provided a list of roughly 150 names.

The two sides further agreed to hold monthly meetings between ICE and the Iranian government to regularly exchange files and information. Communication between the two parties has continued despite hostilities between the two nations, including military strikes in June 2025 and the war that broke out on February 28, 2026, according to the complaint.

Since the Trump administration returned to office in January 2025, almost 600 Iranians have been detained across the country, half of whom were taken into custody during the June 2025 conflict. Additionally, over 100 Iranians have been deported across three separate flights to Iran. These actions are part of a broader crackdown by the government on immigration that has led to an increase in detentions and deportations.

Plaintiff counsel: US more interested in deportation than human lives 

“Despite the US’s ongoing war with Iran, the administration seems more committed to mass deportation than protecting human lives,” said Michael Kirkpatrick, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, in a statement.

The complaint also alleges that ICE forced the detained asylum applicants to meet with officials from the Iranian Interests Section without the applicants’ consent. According to the lawsuit, these non-consensual meetings “solidified the detainees’ belief that they had been identified to the very same repressive government that they had fled.”

The US State Department, in past human rights reports, has acknowledged that the Iranian government persecutes various minority groups and engages in human rights abuses, including torture and unlawful killing.

Senators express concern to Rubio

In February 2026, 12 senators jointly sent a letter to Rubio expressing their concern over the deportation of the asylum seekers back to Iran.

“Given Iran’s horrific human rights record, we are deeply concerned that the Trump administration is returning people to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured, in violation of US and international law,” the letter stated.

According to Ali Rahnama, interim executive director of the IALDF, the organization “is asking the court to stop these disclosures immediately, order a full accounting of every record shared, and ensure no asylum seeker’s file ever again reaches the hands of their persecutors.”

Tzohar asked the High Court of Justice on Thursday to reject the state’s attempt to invalidate its newly issued license to operate as an official kashrut-certifying body, arguing that the state’s central claim is contradicted by both the facts and the court’s own previous rulings.

The response was filed after the state argued earlier last week that the license was issued through a fundamentally flawed process because the Chief Rabbinate Council had not been consulted before the authorization was granted, as legally required.

A hearing in the case has been scheduled for November 2.

The dispute centers on the license granted to Tzohar on July 1 by the official responsible for implementing Israel’s kashrut reform, despite the Chief Rabbinate’s legal adviser later claiming that the statutory consultation process with the Chief Rabbinate Council had not taken place.

In its response, Tzohar argued that the state was attempting to transform a petition that had already resulted in the issuance of the license into a new legal challenge against the validity of the license itself.

“The petition cannot become a proceeding about the validity of a license that has already been lawfully granted,” the organization argued.

‘Chief Rabbinate Council never got to express its position, ‘ the State argues

The state’s main argument is that the Chief Rabbinate Council never had an opportunity to express its position before the license was issued.

Tzohar rejected that claim as “factually untrue,” advancing several arguments.

First, it pointed to a July 7 letter written by Chief Rabbinate director-general Yehuda Cohen, who signed the license, stating that throughout the earlier court proceedings, every submission prepared by the Rabbinate’s legal department had been drafted “in close cooperation” with the president of the Chief Rabbinate Council.

According to Cohen’s letter, the council was itself a respondent in previous petitions regarding Tzohar’s licensing request, and the council never objected to granting the license on kashrut grounds.

Tzohar argued that this directly contradicts the state’s position that the matter had never reached the council.

Tzohar also argued that the High Court’s November 2025 ruling had explicitly instructed the Chief Rabbinate Council to decide whether Tzohar was entitled to receive a license under the existing legal criteria.

That ruling, it said, made it impossible for the council to argue that it had been unaware of the issue or was never asked to consider it.

The organization further noted that both of its earlier petitions named the council as a respondent and attached the licensing request itself, meaning the council had formally received the relevant material.

Beyond disputing the factual basis of the state’s position, Tzohar argued that the law provides a separate statutory mechanism for suspending or revoking a license once it has been issued.

Such action, it said, requires due process, including a hearing.

“What is happening here is the violation of every norm we have and every sense of decency,” reads the response.

The organization also argued that, under the relevant statutory provision, the Chief Rabbinate Council’s role is limited to objecting on kashrut grounds within the prescribed period. If no such objection is made, the law treats the council as having agreed to the license, it said.

Even if an administrative defect had occurred, Tzohar argued, the doctrine of relative nullity should prevent the license from being retroactively invalidated because the organization and businesses had already relied on it.

The filing states that Tzohar has already issued certification documents, begun operating under the license, and entered commercial negotiations with businesses, while hundreds of food establishments could be affected if the authorization were revoked.

The organization also accused the state of delaying the licensing process for months before attempting to invalidate the license only after it had finally been granted, arguing that the move was driven by parallel legislative efforts to repeal the kashrut reform rather than by genuine administrative concerns.

Israel is set to assume the one-year rotating chairmanship of the International Commission (IC) of the Arolsen Archives in June 2027, one of the largest archives on all things WWII.

The IC, which governs the International Tracing Service (ITS) behind the Arolsen Archives, comprises 11 states: Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Each country holds the chairmanship for one year before passing it to the next in rotation.

The Arolsen Archives trace back to 1943, when the British Red Cross set up a tracing office to help locate people scattered by Nazi persecution and forced labor across occupied Europe.

As WWII came to an end, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) took over the responsibility for this work, before the operation relocated to Bad Arolsen, Germany, in 1946.

Israel’s relationship with the archives

Israel has been a member of the IC since the post-WWII period. Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, has held copies of ITS documents since the 1950s.

In 2025, the Arolsen Archives partnered with Israel’s Central Zionist Archive to digitize over 1300 child tracing files, records originally created for unaccompanied Jewish children after the war, many of whom emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine and whose case files traveled with them.

When UNRRA ceased operations in June 1947, the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) took over the Central Tracing Bureau, which was formally named the International Tracing Service (ITS), in 1948. The ITS was then run by the IRO until 1951. 

Under the Bonn Agreements in 1951, the Federal Republic of Germany funded the ITS, with daily management being under the control of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 

The ICRC managed the ITS for over half a century until 2012, when it withdrew, and the German Federal Archives took over as institutional partner.

The ITS remained closed to the public for nearly 25 years after its founding, until it opened in November 2007, following public criticism from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum over the ITS and the ICRC’s lack of cooperation in opening the records.

Alleged misconduct by Arlosen’s management

In 2019, it was renamed the Arolsen Archives, International Center on Nazi Persecution. Today it holds roughly 30 million documents on about 17.5 million victims and survivors of Nazi persecution and is listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.

In 2023, IC members and Germany’s Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media received an anonymous letter alleging misconduct by Arolsen’s management.

The IC commissioned an independent investigation by the Göhmann law firm. The resulting report exonerated management, finding no violations of labor or criminal law, though it noted a need to rebuild trust between staff and leadership.

Both the IC and Arolsen’s directorate issued statements affirming confidence in the institution moving forward.

Never been a problem for a four-letter word to fly out of my mouth. When the adrenaline runs high, or frustration crests, or despair or exuberance bubble over, a four-letter word packaging the emotion of the moment often escapes my lips, its spontaneity inevitably mollifying whatever precipitated the eruption. 

English is not my mother tongue, so for me any expletives of the four-letter variety lack the significance attributed by others; they are merely acquired reflexive reactions without censorial associations. 

Intriguingly, over recent years, I’ve become obsessed with one particular four-letter word. It peppers my speech and writing, embodies volumes within its symmetrical brevity, and remains elusively undefinable – which chafes strongly against my need for precision and literal accuracy. 

“Good,” is the four-letter word on increasingly high rotation in my vocabulary. 

It might be characterized as a kind of vague and lazy word, like “nice.” What do such words mean exactly, when they can be shorthand for a multitude of meanings, or barely any meaning at all? Like asking your kid how school was, and getting the expected monosyllabic response: “Good,” which tells you nothing beyond that it wasn’t bad, where “bad” is equally non-specific. 

Which reminds me how perplexed I used to be when my friend, who was always just that much ahead of me in increasing religious observance, would answer my “How are you” question with “Baruch Hashem (Thank God),” frustratingly providing absolutely no detail, color, or insight about what was going on in her life. Until gradually I began to comprehend that in an important way, her response conveyed all that needed to be said (and as a separate realization, I understood that asking how a person is, is often not a considered or even welcome probing into their welfare).

Good is such a hazy, sweeping word. Why would you use it, for example, to describe a child when you might mean a well-mannered one; or to qualify an act when you mean a generous one; or to express approval when permissible would be more pointed? It simply avoids having to think deeper to find the best descriptor – be it worthy, wise, sensible, skillful… 

After all, the Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 600,000 word forms – many times greater than in the Hebrew language – which enable virtually limitless richness, subtlety, and nuance in expression. It’s a joy to find the right English word that precisely imparts what is sought to be communicated.

So what is the place of “good” in all this? 

My fascination with and attachment to the word probably started before my husband, Joe, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2019, but that is the time to which I more easily trace an increasing preoccupation with this misleadingly simple adjective. 

The roller-coaster of serious illness reveals many new truths, and reminds us of some forgotten ones. For example, that everything is relative – as the shock of diagnosis makes way for the hope of “just having that cancer” and that the lethal cells have not metastasized.

I learned, too, that it’s often hard to know what to wish for, as what seemed desirable one day was inferior the next, and what appeared to be a backward step turned out later to be exactly right. Good took on a whole new meaning, as when the finding on a scan of a brain tumor was followed by “good news”: it’s single, discrete, operable. 

As the cancer eventually advanced, instead of prayers for refuah shlemah (full healing), I asked God for His loving kindness. And as the illness confused and confounded, I ceased knowing what specifically to plead for and adopted the broad brushstroke of prayers “for good,” finding comfort in leaving it to Him to know what good might be. 

I am awed by many of the current generation of young adults’ ready embrace and appreciation of good. In the ’70s, when at age 21 in my psychology honors year at Melbourne University I had difficulty finding a research study topic, I gave short shrift to the lecturer’s suggestion of working on available data connected to Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy of reverence for life, for which he had been awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

I did not then even consider the place of concepts and values such as good in Schweitzer’s humanitarian and moral framework, and in the end abandoned the honors year, which couldn’t compete with my focus on recently found love and wedding plans. 

The quiet power of doing good

In stark contrast, especially in the wake of Oct. 7, I’ve been struck by the deep thinking and commitment to a purposeful life of an increasingly visible number of our IDF soldiers and reservists. In the months after that black day, memorial stickers started appearing on bus shelters, walls, cars, and any and every surface, with photos of soldiers smiling before they had given their lives for the sake of our people and land, accompanied by a value-based message that soldier had espoused or according to his family represented.

There were many key words of action and aspiration, such as optimism, courage, helping others. But it was the prevalence of good (or the Hebrew equivalent, tov) that my eye settled on, both in media stories about fallen soldiers and in those stickers that have since been digitally collected.

Here is a selection: “Always seek only the good” (St.-Sgt. Regev Amar, who fell on Oct. 7); “…be good people in your own way” (St.-Sgt. Shachar Fridman, who fell November 19, 2023); “Continue to add light and goodness” (St.-Sgt. Zamir Burke, who fell November 29, 2024); “Do good, receive good” (Sgt. Daniel Gersho, who fell June 6, 2024). 

We can identify with such and many other examples of the intrinsic value of goodness folded into those young lives. Beyond the fundamental principles of a moral life, which apply in all places and at all times – such as do not murder, do not steal – while good may defy ready definition, it is a pillar of an instinctive, intuitive, universal language that speaks to us all in ordinary everyday moments, which surely must be the point.

Good builds on and echoes all we have learned and experienced in life to guide our thoughts and actions according to inherent signposts, which we are sometimes able to articulate and at other times we simply sense and “know.”

Mind and perception self-focus remarkably, so that any word that happens to be on frequent replay in our thinking starts appearing – or rather, being noticed – all around us. That is the case with good, which endlessly jumps at me from printed pages, digital screens, conversations.

It did so in the surge of volunteerism post-Oct. 7, when so many worked selflessly toward a larger purpose to do good together, in support of thousands of called-up reservists and their families. 

It does so on dozens of pages of the siddur, beseeching the establishment of goodness and blessing; it does so in the plea at Rosh Hashanah that we be inscribed for a good life. 

It does so in the classic song by Naomi Shemer, which I was humming long before aliyah: “Anashim Tovim” (Good People), expressing the optimism of finding kind strangers along life’s journey.

And that’s who many of us hope to meet as we walk along the way, and who we aspire to be on our chosen path – the person who reaches out and cares, who makes a positive difference to another in small and bigger ways, who makes good be part of his life. Who seeks to think and act and live it.

The writer was a lawyer in Melbourne, Australia, before making aliyah with her husband, Joe, in 2015 to join their children. She is blessed to call Jerusalem home, and writes and reads for purpose, pleasure, and emotional sustenance.

The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Amit Almog to 25 years in prison on Sunday for the murder of his girlfriend, Maya Vishniak, bringing to a close a case that has gripped Israel since the 22-year-old’s killing in 2020 and a legal battle that lasted more than six years.

The three-judge panel, headed by President Judge Gilad Neuthall, also imposed suspended prison sentences and ordered Almog to pay NIS 258,000 in compensation to Vishniak’s family, to be divided equally among her parents and three siblings.

The sentence largely adopted the prosecution’s position under a plea agreement reached late last year, in which prosecutors sought 26 years’ imprisonment while the defense remained free to argue for a lighter sentence.

As part of the agreement, Almog admitted to murder with intent and withdrew his longstanding claims that he had killed Vishniak while legally insane or under diminished criminal responsibility. The agreement nevertheless gave limited weight to his mental condition and his cannabis use at the time of the killing, without reducing his criminal responsibility for intentionally causing her death.

According to the amended indictment, Vishniak arrived at Almog’s family home in Ramat Gan on May 16, 2020, after the two had arranged to meet the previous day. After Almog’s sister left the apartment, the court found that he decided to kill her. He asked Vishniak to lie on her side before strangling her and covering her mouth as she struggled, then continued pressing on her neck until she died of asphyxiation.

The judges also noted that immediately afterward, Almog filmed Vishniak’s body and himself singing while scattering banknotes over her body before sending the footage to a friend via WhatsApp.

‘The murder gravely violated the sanctity of life,’ the court said

In determining the sentence, the court said the murder gravely violated the sanctity of life and emphasized that Almog had abused the trust inherent in the couple’s romantic relationship. It also pointed to the devastating and continuing impact on Vishniak’s family, whose victim impact statements were heard behind closed doors and remain under a publication ban.

The judges set the appropriate sentencing range at 25 years to life imprisonment before imposing the minimum sentence within that range, citing the plea agreement alongside mitigating factors including Almog’s eventual admission of guilt, lack of prior criminal convictions, age, mental condition and the fact that he has been in custody since his arrest in May 2020.

Following the ruling, relatives shouted toward Almog, “May you die in prison,” according to reports. 

Maya’s father, Ariel Vishniak, said the court had imposed the harshest sentence it legally could.

“The court gave the maximum it could give,” he said. “We will carry this for the rest of our lives. This is not something that disappears; it will never disappear.”

Her brother, Ron, said that the court, in its sentencing, “expressed its revulsion toward the act as an important message against the murder of women and against violence in general. It won’t bring our Maya back, but at least we know her murderer will remain in prison for many years.”

Her sister, Shira, said the family was now entering “a difficult chapter of our lives.”

“Maya was supposed to be 28. Her whole life was ahead of her,” she said. “We finished one chapter of six years, and now we begin the hard chapter of our lives – living without Maya, mourning her, missing her, and continuing to live alongside her absence.”

Prosecutor Oren Paz said the sentence largely reflected the prosecution’s position and expressed hope that it would offer the family “some measure of relief and comfort” after years of proceedings.

“The family accompanied the legal process throughout, enduring difficult hearings and listening to Almog’s attempts to persuade the court that he committed the murder while insane and should therefore be acquitted,” Paz said. “Now, after admitting that he intentionally murdered Maya, he will never again be able to claim otherwise.”

Paz added that the family’s quiet presence throughout the proceedings had ensured that “Maya’s voice was heard powerfully” and reiterated that the prosecution would continue pursuing cases of intimate partner violence “out of commitment to the fight against violence against women and to securing justice for victims and their families.”

Iraq’s prime minister will visit Washington on Monday to deepen strategic ties with the United States, with oil and gas deals expected to be signed as part of a broader push for economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Iraq has been seeking to balance its ties with neighboring Iran and the US as military escalation between the two rivals continues.

“The agreements to be signed will include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector as Iraq prepares to bring in various US companies that will provide momentum to increase oil production capacity,” government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said.

Alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq’s exposure to disruptions 

Iraq’s state news agency, citing al-Aboudi, said the planned oil and gas agreements would also seek to create alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq’s exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq, like other Gulf oil producers, has suffered a drop in oil revenue due to the effective closure of the vital shipping route during the US-Iran war.

Al-Aboudi said strengthening Iraq’s armed forces would also be among the issues discussed in Washington.

Relations between Iraq and the US have at times been strained over the presence of US troops in Iraq, Baghdad’s ties with Iran, and US pressure on Iraq to curb the influence of Iran-backed armed groups.

However, after being nominated for the premiership in April, Ali al-Zaidi received congratulations from US President ​Donald Trump, who said he hoped for closer ​cooperation between ⁠Baghdad and Washington.

With Jerusalem at the center of global attention, the book The Names of Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian and Islamic Traditions offers a perspective on how language itself shapes the identity, and holiness of Jerusalem. By tracing the linguistic and historical development of the city’s names in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, the work highlights the shared heritage and enduring differences in these traditions.

This book is a composite of essays written by Aaron Demsky, Christophe Rico, and Iraj Sheidaee. Demsky is a retired professor of Jewish history at Bar-Ilan University and founding director of the Project for the Study of Jewish Names. Rico is professor of Greek philology at the École Biblique of Jerusalem and dean of Polis – The Jerusalem Institute of Languages and Humanities, and Sheidaee is a distinguished linguist and historian whose specialty is the early contact between Christianity and Islam.

The authors approach the subject of Jerusalem’s sanctity through the many distinctive names attributed to the city in the three monotheistic faiths. They do so by analyzing etymology and linguistic and historical developments, as well as the symbolic meaning of the city’s names in these respective traditions.

The book presents many sources in their original languages, notably Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic, each with its English translation. The volume is designed to be accessible to both specialists and a broad readership interested in the cultural and religious significance of Jerusalem. The following names studied in this book reflect over 4,000 years of the city’s history: Salem, Jerusalem, Hierosoluma, Moriah, Zion, Ilia, Medinat Bayt al-Maqdis, and Al-Quds.

The basic assumption is that names, and especially place names of a religious nature, are not neutral labels. Instead, they encode theological claims and collective memory. 

When geography becomes theology

One of the main types of place names, especially in the biblical world, is those of a religious character associated with a divinity. For example, the book proposes that Beit El and Beit Shemesh are abodes of gods with those names. A name can also simply be reduced to an alternate form of a divine name, such as Jericho (meaning “moon god”) or Anatot (“goddess Anat”).

Some place names, the book tells us, like personal names, make a statement with a divine subject and generally a verb in the third-person imperfect. For example, Yavniel means “‘El’ creates or builds.”

Demsky explains that the Canaanite name “Yerushalem” is such a sentence name where the subject is the divinity Shalem (a Canaanite god) and the verb yeru is from the Hebrew yarah, which means “to set the foundation stone of the world (Job 38, 4-6).” This verb implies that Jerusalem is the place where the world was created. This ancient belief reappears in Jewish tradition in the form of the even ha-shetiyah on the Temple Mount. 

Islam adapted this belief and concretized it with the Dome of the Rock. What makes Jerusalem holy? An attribute, the authors say, that is already found in the later books of the Bible. In rabbinic literature, different degrees of spatial holiness are defined regarding the Holy Land, the holy city, and at the pinnacle, the Temple Mount. It is here where we find the “numinous indwelling,” namely the Shechinah: “The Lord dwells in Zion” (Joel 4:21).

Historic events have influenced the name of the city. After putting down the Bar Kochba revolt in 135 CE, the Roman emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina. Aelia was his family name, and Capitolina was the pagan temple to Jupiter placed on the Mount. 

Under the Byzantine Empire, Christianity became the official religion in the early fourth century, and Jerusalem regained its sacred status as illustrated in the sixth-century Madaba map where the centerpiece is called “The Holy City of Jerusalem.”
Other seminal attributes were fundamental in defining Jerusalem’s holiness, the book tells us.

During the Second Temple period, the biblical idea of a connected heavenly and earthly Jerusalem was enhanced. This duality might have been supported by the supposed dual ending (-ayim) of the Hebrew name. Later, this belief is echoed in Christianity and in Islam in the resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem and in Mohammed’s miraculous night flight over the Temple Mount.

As Rico shows, the idea of the “Heavenly Jerusalem” is basic to Christian thinking. The Book of Revelation (ch. 21) – the last book in the Christian Bible – describes “New Jerusalem” as a bride in all her glory who will descend to Earth. Finally, the medieval St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes that the “true” Jerusalem is found in spiritual devotion and inner peace rather than just physical travel.

Rico expands on how Christians found symbolic and theological richness through Jerusalem’s various biblical names. In Christian tradition, those names transcend its historical reality to become an allegorical mystery interpreted through the four senses: the literal (history), the allegorical (faith), the moral (the soul), and the anagogical (heavenly hope).

Iliya – the shortened form of Aelia Capitolina – was the first Arabic name used by Muslims for the city, according to Sheidaee, who presents a strong case that the Latin name Aelia passed into Arabic through local linguistic contact that occurred much earlier than had once been assumed.

Not knowing its pagan source and influenced by Jewish tradition, Muslims assumed “Iliya” referred to the prophet Elijah, who went up to heaven alive, as, according to their belief, did Mohammed. Ironically, the name that was supposed to obliterate the Jewish connection to Jerusalem became a religious tie in Islam to biblical tradition.

Sheidaee’s chapter presents a detailed and thorough philological-historical study of the names used in Arabic for Jerusalem from the time of the Islamic conquest of the city in 638 CE until the present day.

Historically, three Arabic names have enjoyed official status within the Islamic polities that have ruled the city and wider colloquial acceptance by Arabic speakers and Muslims. In addition to Iliya, they appear as Medinat Bayt al-Maqdis (derived from the Hebrew Beit HaMiqdash (“House of the Holy/Sanctuary”) and Al-Quds (“the Holy/Sanctuary”).

In calling the city Al-Quds, Muslims endorsed and assimilated, albeit selectively, in conformity with their own emerging doctrine, the city’s sacred biblical and Judeo-Christian history and tradition, adding their own Islamic stamp. ■

THE NAMES OF JERUSALEM: JEWISH, CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC TRADITIONS
By Aaron Demsky, Christophe Rico and Iraj Sheidaee
Polis Institute Press
130 pages; $33

Egypt is rarely short of big ideas. From Nasser’s steel mills to Sadat’s desert cities to Mubarak’s “second Nile valley,” presidents have promised transformation on a grand scale, only for many of the schemes to languish and ordinary Egyptians to be left wondering what difference they made to their lives.

A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power tells a very different kind of story. It describes in detail how the US government brought a venture capital initiative into being, how it was developed, and how it has finally achieved a truly remarkable success.

Three authors are listed on the cover: James A. Harmon, Cornelius Queen, and Mark Warren. Yet the book is not a committee product; it is a first-person journey. From the opening pages it is clear that the narrative belongs to Harmon. The co-authors are present in the clarity of the prose and the structure of the narrative, but the experiences, doubts, and satisfactions are recognizably Harmon’s own. 

“I received the call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of Egypt’s 2011 revolution,” he writes. Egypt was reeling after the overthrow of its president, Hosni Mubarak. Would Harmon consider leading an effort to stabilize the Egyptian economy?

Harmon was an investment banker who had previously served as chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Now Clinton wanted to avoid the political and economic collapse of Egypt. She believed the best way to achieve stability would be through American partnership and investment.

“And so,” writes Harmon, “under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the bipartisan blessing of Congress, we created the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund: a $300 million commitment from the American people to help build a resilient, inclusive Egyptian private sector that could deliver jobs, growth and stability.”

USAID, established by president John F. Kennedy in 1961, was the primary US federal government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and international development. 

The enterprise has been outstandingly successful. Today the fund’s assets are valued at roughly twice the original congressional appropriation, with investments in 148 companies supporting some 60,000 jobs. In addition, Egypt has attracted an estimated $1.7 billion in foreign investment. 

Running through the book is a clear sense of what is at stake for both sides. For Egyptians, it is the hope that foreign involvement might bring steady jobs and a chance for small firms to grow. On the American side, it is the issue of what sort of presence to have in a country that is strategically important, politically awkward, and often openly suspicious of Washington. Harmon’s answer is pragmatic: invest fairly, share risks, and let the record of what has been achieved speak for itself.

The narrative does not pretend that an enterprise fund can remake a political system or wipe away decades of distrust. The argument is not that capital solves everything, but that it can do more than it often has been tried to do, if deployed patiently and with a degree of humility.

Set against this are the ghosts of past ambitions by Egypt’s presidents – vast and costly ventures largely driven by ego and symbolism. Unlike them, the enterprise fund Harmon describes works from the bottom up, one firm and one partnership at a time.

Inside the investment story

The heart of the book lies in those partnerships. Harmon takes the reader through the life of an investment: how potential companies were identified, how their books were examined, how management was judged, and how negotiations unfolded. There is nothing dry about these passages. 

At every stage, personalities intrude – the founder who cannot quite let go, the local banker who mistrusts foreign equity, the American lawyer who insists on protections that look alien in an Egyptian context. The appeal of the narrative is that none of this is airbrushed. Success, when it comes, feels earned.

The theme of “soft power” runs through the book. Harmon sees the enterprise as “a model of what America can be at its best: pragmatic, generous, principled.”

What will strike many readers is how contemporary the book feels. In an age when “foreign intervention” is often a term of abuse, and when large segments of American opinion question the value of engagement abroad at all, “A Daring Enterprise” is an account of how one carefully designed tool of policy actually worked, and what was learned in the process.

Very early on in his narrative, Harmon reflects that “this idea – that American capital, guided by American values, can create peace through prosperity – is not out of date. It is more vital than ever.” In what follows, the reader is given ample reason to see this as more than a slogan. Harmon’s account shows how that idea played out in offices, workshops, and homes across Egypt. 

For anyone who wants to understand what a constructive American role in the Middle East might look like beyond the language of bases and bombs, this book offers an engaging, human, and ultimately hopeful way forward.

Follow the writer at: www.a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com■

A DARING ENTERPRISE: A US-EGYPTIAN PARTNERSHIP AND THE CASE FOR SOFT POWER
By James A. Harmon, Cornelius Queen and Mark Warren
240 pages; $32

Israel’s representative for the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria will be selected through the television talent show The Next Star for Eurovision, KAN and Keshet 12 announced.

The program, known in Hebrew as Hakokhav Haba L’Eurovision, will air on Keshet 12 this fall.

Representatives from KAN, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, will take part in selecting the winner during the semifinal and final stages of the program.

The renewed partnership between KAN and Keshet, as well as Tedy Productions, follows a series of strong Israeli performances at Eurovision.

Israel’s past Eurovision contestants

Noam Bettan finished second with “Michelle” at the 2026 contest in Vienna, which was won by Bulgaria’s DARA with “Bangaranga.” Bulgaria’s victory means that it will host Eurovision 2027, although the host city and dates have not yet been announced.

Bettan’s result marked Israel’s second consecutive runner-up finish. Yuval Raphael came in second with “New Day Will Rise” at Eurovision 2025 in Basel and placed first in the public vote.

Eden Golan finished fifth overall with ” Hurricane ” and came in second in the public vote at the 2024 contest in Malmö, Sweden.

Israel last won Eurovision in 2018, when Netta Barzilai performed “Toy” in Lisbon, Portugal. Her victory brought the contest to Tel Aviv in 2019.

KAN said that continuing its partnership with Keshet, which will assume a significant portion of the costs associated with Israel’s Eurovision performance, would substantially reduce the public broadcaster’s expenses.

Who will represent Israel in 2027?

The song that will represent Israel in 2027 will be chosen according to procedures introduced ahead of Eurovision 2026. KAN said the system was designed to give all songwriters who meet the contest’s requirements an equal opportunity while enabling the committee to choose the best possible song.

Under the rules, recordings submitted to KAN’s selection committee may not feature the voice of any of the songwriters or anyone else whose voice could allow committee members to identify the creators. Songwriters will be permitted to use artificial-intelligence technology to produce the recording, allowing the entries to be evaluated anonymously.

The committee will listen to all eligible submissions and select up to approximately 40 songs during the first stage. Those entries will then be considered by a final committee composed of KAN professionals and a Keshet representative.

The Eurovision 2026 final, broadcast on KAN 11 in May, drew more than one million television viewers and received a 32.7% rating, according to the broadcaster. More than three million people watched through KAN’s digital platforms. Viewing peaked during Bettan’s performance, when KAN 11 recorded a 53.7% rating, the broadcaster said.

“I am delighted that the partnership between KAN, Keshet, and Tedy Productions is continuing, demonstrating the power of working together,” said Zivit Davidovitch, KAN’s acting vice president of television. “This partnership has produced excellent results for everyone involved and brought great pride to the State of Israel.”

Ilanit Siman Tov-Hirsch, Keshet 12’s vice president of entertainment, reality, and development, said The Next Star for Eurovision was “much more than a television program.”

‘It is a platform that makes dreams come true’

“It is a platform that makes dreams come true and connects the audience to the Israeli representative’s journey to Eurovision,” she said. “We are pleased to continue the successful partnership with KAN and Tedy Productions, and we believe that this year, too, we will bring viewers an exciting, high-quality season, at the end of which the most deserving representative will be selected to represent Israel.”

Yoav Tzafir, the program’s chief editor, said the production was proud to continue the process that had made The Next Star for Eurovision the home of Israel’s Eurovision representatives in recent years.

“Every season, we encounter extraordinary talents, and the combination of a professional process, Israeli creativity, and our excellent cooperation with KAN enables us to select the artist who will represent Israel on the world’s biggest stage,” Tzafir said. “We are already looking forward to meeting the next generation of stars.”

The dates of the 2027 semifinals and final have not yet been announced. The shows will be broadcast live in Israel on KAN 11, KAN BOX, KAN’s app, and the corporation’s radio stations.

A youth counselor discovered a severed head while scouting ahead of an activity in the Holot area in Rishon Lezion, near Highway 431, between the Rishonim Mall and the gas station.

She immediately called the police, triggering a large response from the Central District police, who quickly arrived at the scene.

At first, police suspected the event to be criminal in nature. However, upon further investigation, it later became clear that it was a tragic event.

Sources familiar with the details told Walla that the body of a 22-year-old man, a resident of Rishon Lezion, who is known to the health system as a mental health patient, was found at the scene.

Investigation remains ongoing

A letter the 22-year-old left for his family was also found at the scene.

The investigation is ongoing and still in its early stages.

Police officers at the scene continue to collect evidence and conduct extensive searches of the area to locate additional evidence that may help clarify the circumstances of the incident.

Israel’s popularity in the United States is waning, including among the next generation of Republican leaders, due in large part to US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to communicate the objectives of the current war with Iran to the public, congressional hopeful John Deaton told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

Deaton is a moderate in the Republican camp. He has accused Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of being more critical of Israel than of the Islamic Republic and its terrorist proxies. At the same time, he has called for greater scrutiny of US aid to Israel and Ukraine, arguing that Washington should more carefully assess both the scale of its assistance and the benefits it receives in return. He has also accused Netanyahu of weaponizing accusations of antisemitism to shield himself and Israel from legitimate criticism, even while acknowledging the unacceptable state of antisemitism in the US.

For Deaton, maintaining the trust of American voters is paramount. He said he would refuse campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), arguing that doing so would reassure voters that his support for Israel stems from his convictions rather than financial influence. He offered the comments to The Post after being questioned while attending July 4 parades about his stance on Israel and the origins of his campaign funding, questions he said were notably absent when he attended the same parades in 2024.

The basis of trust is communication, and that personal conviction is likely where his criticism of Netanyahu and Trump’s handling of the Iran threat has stemmed.

“I do blame a lot of this, the Iran war situation, on a failure of communication by the Trump administration. For example, how did we obliterate Iran? We can all agree, and I certainly agree, that every president – whether it’s President Clinton, President George W. Bush, the first President Bush, President Obama, or President Trump – has said Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Period. We know they will use it,” he said. “But how did we obliterate them in June 2025 and set them back decades? Was it bad intelligence when you said that, President Trump? Was that just bad intelligence? And did you not decimate them? If that’s true, fine, because bad intelligence sometimes is faulty.”

Mixed messages about Iran’s progress

There are mixed messages about Iran’s progress in achieving a nuclear weapons arsenal. Tulsi Gabbard, a Trump ally and former director of national intelligence, said in March that there were no signs that Iran was rebuilding their enrichment capabilities after the 12 Day War, though Trump deemed that the renewed kinetic action was necessary because Tehran posed an imminent threat.

Without communicating the reasons for the renewed action, whether that be because June was less successful than previously celebrated or because of a new threat posed by the regime, the unpopularity of the war and rising costs associated with the closure of Hormuz has led many to point blame at Israel, Deaton noted, claiming that the “trust me bro” approach being adopted now has only deepened the crisis.

“I blame the current administration for what I believe is an abysmal lack of communication. I know this sounds silly, but it’s almost like a ‘trust me, bro’ kind of approach. Americans are rejecting that because of the cost of living, and they need more information. If you ask the average American about the significance of the Strait of Hormuz, they don’t know that it is the world’s most important chokepoint for global oil trade, or that it can impact up to 25% or more of global oil trade. They have no idea how that affects their daily lives,” he explained. “In fact, you hear these inconsistent comments. President Trump, on one hand, will say, ‘We don’t need the Strait of Hormuz. We’re independent, and we only get less than 2% of our oil from that region.’ To the everyday American, that sounds like we shouldn’t be involved in Iran.”

Trump’s own reported comments to Netanyahu in June, that “Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” were a sign that Trump was blaming Netanyahu for the failed operation, Deaton hinted.

What likely fueled Trump’s decision to go to war in February, Deaton argued, was the momentum from the success of the Venezuela operation, a swift mission to arrest Nicolás Maduro carried out without casualties. He said Trump may have believed that achieving a free Iran under similar conditions would be celebrated as the greatest military achievement in US history.

“I think both Trump and Bibi need to answer for a colossal failure of intelligence. Did they not believe the Strait of Hormuz would be closed? Was the intelligence that they would be able to prevent Iran from controlling the Strait of Hormuz? I don’t know if they ever played that out,” he continued. “It’s almost as if you had a couple of egomaniacs in a back room saying, ‘Listen, if this goes our way, this is going to be the greatest thing to ever happen in the last half century, and we’ll be heroes,’ and then made a decision based on that. That’s how many people perceive it. It’s how I perceive it… And now you have, in my opinion, a less secure Israel and a less secure world.”

Having served seven years in the US Marines, Deaton assessed that the war with Iran has only left the regime in a stronger position and that Washington now has limited options moving forward. He argued that the potential $100 billion in annual revenue Iran could generate by charging vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, alongside Tehran’s push for sovereignty over the waterway, would likely not have materialized had the war not begun.

The war has revealed the American mindset to Tehran

More pressing is that Tehran now understands the American psyche, which involves little patience and a desire for immediate results.

“Iran figured out that Americans’ patience gets exhausted quickly. These forever wars — we want Iran to be done and over with. Americans are sick of it. Like the parades I was telling you about, people were blaming me because I’m a Republican. They were saying, ‘Your war, John. Your war.’ And even if I didn’t originally think it was justified, I don’t think they explained why we needed to do it,” he commented.

Deaton said he had little doubt about the US’s ability to seize Kharg Island and establish control over the Strait of Hormuz, but how long Washington would be willing to maintain such a position was a separate question entirely.

For the American public to accept the deployment of military personnel on the ground, Trump would need to explain why it was in US interests to station troops within range of Iranian missiles, with limited time to respond, for a prolonged period.

Though the rift is undoubtedly widening, Deaton said Israel could regain some international trust if Netanyahu were no longer in a position of power.

“I’m assuming it doesn’t surprise you if you have elected American leaders who describe Bibi as a terrorist…What I’m getting at is that perception becomes reality, even if it’s not reality. If you have leaders – if you have people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are very significant figures – saying that Bibi is a terrorist and that he is committing genocide, and those views gain influence, that filters down to the electorate and to everyday people. Then, five years later, you end up asking, ‘Why are we even allies with Israel?’” he commented, noting that as bad as public perceptions are now, the true crisis hasn’t yet hit.

“I just honestly think it’s indisputable right now that Iran is in a stronger position, and that’s something I think Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump need to answer for,” he concluded. 

An LGBTQ+ cruise ship was blocked from both its planned port in Turkish waters last week and additionally refused entry into Egypt this past Thursday due to what authorities referred to as ‘a misalignment of moral values,’ according to a report from The Guardian.

The Scarlet Lady’s cruise, organized and chartered by Atlantis Events, was carrying some 2,000 passengers on its planned route from Athens to Venice when the first route disruption took place.

According to a CNN report, Turkey blocked the cruise from docking in the Turkish port town of Kuşadası after authorities published a statement online saying the cruise was chartered “by groups known for behaviors that do not align with the structure of our society and our moral values”. 

The cruise was rerouted to its planned substitute port in Alexandria, Egypt, when passengers reportedly woke on Thursday morning to find a note under their cabin doors informing them that the ship was once again urgently seeking alternative ports, The Guardian reported.

“Early this morning, we were informed that Scarlet Lady has been denied entry into Egyptian waters, and, as a result, will no longer be able to call in Alexandria today,” Rich Campbell, the CEO of Atlantis Events, wrote to passengers. 

‘Surprised by this unfortunate decision,’ said Atlantis CEO

“I know how much this visit meant to so many of you. We successfully sailed a similar itinerary last year without issue. So we were surprised by this unfortunate decision,” he wrote.

“This news came as a surprise to all of us, and we’re just as disappointed as you are,” the note concluded.

No official reason was given for the Egyptian government’s decision, according to The Guardian. 

“It’s pretty stunning, to be honest. I mean, and the reasoning behind it is that it’s a gay group,” Campbell told CNN.

“It’s very concerning to me when a country decides they can pick and choose which tourists are allowed in and which are not,” he added. 

Although same-sex relations are technically legal in Turkey and Egypt, LGBT people have increasingly faced discrimination and increased criminalization under local law.

He was a true friend of Israel and a proud American patriot. Those few words capture Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away at the age of 71. He belonged to a generation that has almost disappeared from American politics.

“I’ll stand with Israel until the day I die. It is our greatest ally,” he told me in an interview just a few months ago. His support for Israel was unwavering. When I asked him about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s proposal to end US military aid to Israel, Graham called it “a serious mistake” – at a time when nearly everyone around him, including many of his fellow Republicans, supported the idea.

Graham was a hawk on Iran. He repeatedly called for the regime’s overthrow and described its leaders as “Nazis.” He was among those urging US President Donald Trump to go all the way and was the first to propose, before Operation Rising Lion, giving the Iranian regime a 60-day ultimatum to dismantle its nuclear program. Trump adopted the idea – and Israel launched its operation on the 61st day.

During Israel’s war against Hamas, Graham never minced his words. “There needs to be a surrender like Japan’s and Germany’s in World War II. An unconditional surrender,” he told me in another interview.

He believed that when Israel goes to war, it must see the fight through to the end against the forces of evil – but at the same time, it should do everything possible to advance regional normalization. For years, he shuttled between Riyadh and Jerusalem in an effort to broker peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Even after October 7, and despite all the obstacles, he never gave up on the belief that a normalization agreement was still achievable.

‘I’m asking Israel to be open-minded about ending the conflict’

At the same time, he never hid what he believed Israel needed to do to make that happen.

“Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is not going to recognize Israel until he gets a better outcome for the Palestinians, or he’ll get killed. That’s the truth. There won’t be normalization if the Palestinians are thrown under the bus,” he told me during the Jerusalem Post Conference.

“I’m not asking Israel to reward terrorism. I’m asking Israel to be open-minded about ending the conflict in a way that guarantees Israel’s security and allows MBS to move his region forward.”

Graham was a true friend – someone Israel could always rely on to raise his voice in its defense. Even when he criticized Israel or believed it should take a different course, he always did so out of genuine friendship and concern.

At a time when many voices were calling on the United States to retreat from the Middle East, Graham remained steadfast in arguing that the forces of evil must be confronted, not ignored.

It was a clear, principled voice – one that has now fallen silent at precisely the moment we need it most.