All News (Page 13)

The Israel Tennis & Education Centers have awarded NIS 200,000 in Anna and Michael Kahan Scholarships to four of Israel’s leading tennis players, marking a decade of one of the most significant scholarship programs in Israeli tennis.

The scholarships were awarded to senior player Maayan Laron, the Israeli national champion who trains at the Israel Tennis & Education Center in Haifa; Amit Vales, the Israeli national runner-up who trains at the Israel Tennis & Education Center in Ramat Hasharon; junior player Bar Shporen, who trains in Haifa; and junior player Re’em Elkayam, who trains at the Israel Tennis & Education Center in Ashkelon.

The funding will help the four recipients gain international experience through participation in tournaments abroad, training programs, professional equipment purchases, and a comprehensive support system that includes mental coaching, fitness training, and additional professional services.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Kahan Scholarship Program, which has been supporting outstanding Israeli tennis players since 2016. The program is widely regarded as one of the largest and most meaningful scholarship initiatives in Israeli tennis, enabling talented athletes to compete internationally, gain valuable experience, and advance along the elite performance pathway.

The scholarships are made possible through the generous legacy of Anna and Michael Kahan. Michael Kahan, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to New York after World War II together with his wife Anna, also a Holocaust survivor, developed a deep love for tennis after his grandchildren began playing at colleges in the United States.

Scholarship brings excellence all around – Israel Tennis CEO

Motivated by a desire to contribute to Israel’s future, he believed Israeli tennis players could serve as ambassadors for the country around the world and established a foundation to support the next generation of Israeli tennis talent. His vision was clear: to promote excellence, create equal opportunities, and help develop future Israeli champions.

The scholarship program provides recipients with a significant opportunity to compete at the highest levels of the sport, gain valuable international experience, and continue their development toward professional careers while benefiting from extensive professional support.

“It is a day of celebration for us,” said Eyal Taoz, Global CEO of the Israel Tennis & Education Centers. “This scholarship is far more than financial assistance – it is a greenhouse for excellence, breaking boundaries, and realizing dreams in Israeli tennis.”

Yoni Erlich, professional director of the Israel Tennis & Education Centers, said the scholarship recipients represent the future of the sport in Israel.

“These are the moments when we meet the next generation of Israeli tennis,” Erlich said. “It gives players the best tools on the long and challenging road of becoming professional athletes.”

Danny Perekalsky, CEO of the Israel Tennis Association, praised the initiative and its impact on the sport.
“Initiatives such as the Kahan Scholarships are a true blessing for the entire tennis community,” he said. “For Israeli players, the road to the top of world tennis is especially challenging, and support like this can make all the difference.”

Speaking on behalf of the scholarship recipients, Amit Vales expressed gratitude for the support.

“On behalf of all the winners, I would like to thank the Kahan family for their generous support,” he said. “Scholarships like these allow us to keep dreaming big and should never be taken for granted. We greatly appreciate the trust placed in us and are committed to continuing to work hard to justify it.”

Michael Tilson Thomas was widely recognized as one of the most influential conductors, pianists, and educators of the contemporary era.

His passing in April warrants a closer look at a musical legacy that encompasses not only his extensive podium career and discography, but also his compositions.

Throughout his life, Tilson Thomas dedicated his rare moments of downtime to composing. Much like historical conductor-composers such as Gustav Mahler, his oeuvre was relatively modest, yet these were the works of a master musician with a distinct, well-defined compositional identity.

As a composer, Thomas revealed himself as a clear descendant of Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, yet his music shed a new and important light on the American canon.

This is largely because Tilson Thomas opened and expanded the range of possibilities in his music, spanning from rigorous modernism and gamelan music to jazz and rock, complete with electric guitars, drums, and saxophones.

He achieved this vast, eclectic mix without compromising the integrity of the piece, demonstrating, as James M. Keller wrote, “A refreshing openness and freedom of style.”

From Yiddish theater to a modern master

As the grandson of Ukrainian immigrants to New York, Tilson Thomas came from a family of artists; the Thomashefskys pioneered Yiddish theater in the city, and it was from his grandmother, Bessie, that he inherited his love for the stage.

However, as Tilson Thomas noted in Where Now Is, the 2020 documentary on his life, his stylistic fluidity was traced back to his father, who frequently improvised on the piano in a wide variety of styles at home, and from whom he inherited his profound love for music.

Tilson Thomas was a child prodigy who demonstrated remarkable musical talents from an early age. As a student, he had the privilege of working with some of the great artists who fled Nazi-occupied Europe for America, including violinist Jascha Heifetz and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

He went on to study composition with the German émigré composer Ingolf Dahl, who was a great influence on him, as well as with such seminal figures as Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, John Cage, and Lou Harrison.

Ultimately, however, his close professional association and personal alignment with Copland and Bernstein proved most definitive to his compositional voice.

In 1988, Tilson Thomas made his official debut as a composer with “Grace,” a piece written for Bernstein’s 70th birthday, setting his own text to capture his impressions of their initial meeting.

Composed in the same year, “Street Song” (scored for brass quintet or symphonic brass) has remained one of his most frequently recorded pieces.

A three-part work, it was deeply influenced by Copland’s ballets, evoking the Great Plains and the endless Western horizon through the open intervals of church-like chorales and a clear emphasis on syncopated rhythms rooted in jazz, Latin music, and folk traditions.

In “Street Song,” Tilson Thomas drew a musical document that captured the multiculturalism and diverse auditory spaces interlaced within American heritage, offering a brilliant contribution not only to brass literature but to the broader American canon.

While much of his oeuvre was deeply indebted to his American identity, several works explicitly engaged with his Jewish heritage.

A seminal example is his compelling 1990 composition, “From the Diary of Anne Frank” for narrator and orchestra.
Dedicated to Audrey Hepburn, who narrated the world premiere, the work received widespread critical acclaim for its integration of verbatim excerpts from Frank’s diary.

Tilson Thomas said that the piece was structurally cast in five variations built entirely on themes derived from traditional Jewish music – most notably the kaddish, the hymn to life and mourning.

The musical narrative develops linearly alongside the tragic circumstances of Frank’s short life, advancing in progression with her growing distress.

As the diary entries chronicle an increasing sense of isolation, the orchestral texture mirrors this psychological shift, becoming desperate and lonely.

For instance, as Anne wrote, “I can’t tell you how oppressive it is… we have to whisper, and tread lightly otherwise someone might hear us,” the orchestration descended into a quiet, menacing atmosphere.

Later, when she asked, “Dear Kitty, I expect you would be interested to hear what it feels like to disappear,” the music dissipated into a fragile, thin texture, pitting a solitary, lonely violin against a threatening brass section.

Yet the work was not merely a somber lament for a clever young life cut short. In key sections, the music surged with immense pride, self-conviction, and force.

It was here that Tilson Thomas effectively injected himself into Frank’s words, using the power of the orchestra to comment on the text and answer her fear with musical courage and strength.

The vocal masterworks: Whitman and Dickinson

Between 1999 and 2002, Tilson Thomas completed two major song cycles for voice and orchestra based on the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.

These art songs demonstrated a sophisticated command of text-setting, characterized by intricate orchestral shading, distinct timbres, rich harmonic language, and an idiomatic understanding of vocal flexibility – qualities realized in premier performances by vocalists Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming.

Tilson Thomas noted that his initial exposure to Whitman’s poetry during his 20s was formative, fundamentally shaping his artistic identity. His song cycle, “Whitman Songs,” composed in the mid-90s, reflected this influence.

The opening movement, “Who Goes There?” (set to text from “Song of Myself”), employed syncopation and jagged melodic contours aligning the music with the distinct American idiom of Whitman’s verse.

The second song, “At Ship’s Helm” (from “Sea Drift”), served as a lyrical interlude in which the orchestration text-paints the movement of the sea.

As the piece concluded on Whitman’s text, “Ship of the body, ship of the soul, voyaging,” the orchestra sustained a static, organum-like texture while solo horn and violin lines attenuated, suggesting a distant horizon.

Parallel to this was “Poems of Emily Dickinson” (completed in 2002), which was inspired by and dedicated to Renée Fleming. The cycle showcased Tilson Thomas’s ability to musically capture Dickinson’s wry humor and sharp cynicism.

In “Fame is a Fickle Food,” where Dickinson remarked that men eat of fame “and die,” the music dramatically halted on the word “die” with a sharp pizzicato in the double basses, punctuated by Fleming’s impassioned performance.

Crafting these pieces with fearless integrity, Tilson Thomas masterfully captured Dickinson’s sardonic, cutting observations through a shimmering orchestral palette.

In “Urban Legend” (2001), Tilson Thomas offered another fascinating composition, written for a unique ensemble of saxophone, strings, percussion, electric bass, and piano.

Here, modern dissonant harmonies and syncopated rhythms are seamlessly intertwined with jazz and Latin music, achieving a high level of artistic merit. His versatility is further apparent in “Island Music” (2003) for four marimbas and percussion.

Written following his travels to Bali, the piece’s musical language was deeply influenced by gamelan music, drifting exotically between the sonic landscapes of the Indonesian islands and the Caribbean.

Tilson Thomas’s unapologetic eclecticism culminated in “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” (2016), a decades-in-the-making spectacle based on a 1920 Carl Sandburg poem.

The piece featured a chamber orchestra that periodically morphed into a raucous bar band, complete with electric guitars, saxophones, synthesizers, and drums.

Exploring an array of 20th-century vernaculars – from 1950s rockabilly to punk and funk – the work served as a high-energy, post-apocalyptic commentary on human vanity and the fall of empires, echoing the grand, defiant scale of Bernstein’s “Mass.”

A final testament

One of his final major compositions, “Meditations on Rilke” (2019) for voice and orchestra, was a deeply personal, introspective work.

In the score’s foreword, Tilson Thomas reflected on his father’s cultural fluidity and versatile musicianship – a stylistic pluralism that directly informed the composition.

For instance, the opening song, “Herbsttag,” began with distinct swing and jazz motifs before shifting into a late post-Romantic idiom, disclosing the clear influence of Gustav Mahler’s late works, such as “Das Lied von der Erde.”

However, the perspective remained undeniably Tilson Thomas’s own, firmly rooted in 20th-century Western traditions.

It was masterfully crafted in terms of both composition and orchestration.

Addressing this later work, Tilson Thomas wrote: “My greatest concern has always been about what remains with the listener when the music ends. It is my hope that these musical reflections of many years may stick with you.”

Indeed, it seems certain that these compositions will endure as a vital pillar of his legacy.

For listeners wishing to explore this side of his artistry, the definitive collection of his creative output is captured in Grace: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas, a comprehensive four-disc box set released by Pentatone.

More information on his compositions can be found at michaeltilsonthomas.com

Hamas will not be permitted to veto the progress the US-backed Board of Peace is seeking to make in Gaza.

The Board of Peace is working on several tracks to advance plans for Gaza. They include plans for security and the economy.

In the near future, developments regarding Gaza are expected, a person familiar with the diplomatic efforts told The Jerusalem Post.

It is not known whether Hamas will cooperate and agree to decommission its weapons, but it will not have veto power over the next steps, the source said.

“Hamas doesn’t call the shots,” the source added, and it controls less of Gaza than it did in the past.

On Thursday, the Board of Peace, which was created in the wake of the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, reported about new progress regarding Gaza.

What is happening with the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire?

Kosovo Ambassador to Israel Ines Demiri visited the Life Support Area Endurance on the Gazan border, which the Board of Peace said would “serve as a vital waypoint for ISF [International Stabilization Force] to refit while supporting restoration and humanitarian efforts.”

The ISF is supposed to deploy to Gaza. Kosovo is one of the countries that has contributed to the ISF.

The post by the Board of Peace is another signal that the Gaza plan is slowly moving forward. It has not been in the limelight recently.

Together with Kosovo Security Forces officers from the ISF team, Demiri said she had “visited their base to learn more about their important work. Their service and dedication reflect Kosovo’s steadfast commitment to supporting international peace, security, & stabilization efforts,” she wrote on X/Twitter

Meanwhile, there are potential positive signs from recent Gaza talks, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported. A source from the team of Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov and another from Hamas said there were “positive” signs regarding the ceasefire in Gaza, the report said.

“The two sources spoke separately to Asharq Al-Awsat about the mood around meetings Mladenov held in Cairo with a Hamas delegation and representatives of the mediator states, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye [sic],” it added.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported on a recent meeting with Hamas and the desire to bridge gaps in the road map.

“According to the same source, the Hamas delegation met Mladenov in Cairo on Wednesday afternoon to explain the importance of the amendments made to the road map and try to speed up the movement’s response,” the report said. “The source said the amendments would be discussed with the Palestinian factions before a reply is given.”

Hamas control in Gaza

On June 5, a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for talks about advancing the ceasefire. There are concerns that plans in Gaza could stall if Hamas does not disarm.

Hamas controls about 40% of Gaza. It appears that Gaza’s two million civilians continue to be forced to live under Hamas control, with few options to leave the Hamas-run area.

The goal of the Gaza plan that the Trump administration secured last October and November, however, is that the Gazans will have new options to be free from Hamas.

The issue of Gaza has been relatively quiet lately, as the region has focused on the Iran conflict. The Trump administration pushed hard for a ceasefire and hostage deal in 2025.

THE DEAL came into view in September, and by October, there was a ceasefire, and all the remaining hostages returned to Israel. The US also received UN support for the plan.

The Board of Peace took shape in January and had its inaugural meeting on February 19. The Iran war began on February 28; however, since then, issues in Gaza have largely not been in the spotlight.

Nevertheless, there has been progress. US Central Command helped set up the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat last October.

The ISF is also slowly taking shape. A team of soldiers from Kosovo and Albania conducted an evaluation of their role in the ISF in April. It appears that Morocco and Kazakhstan will also participate. Indonesia has said it is reviewing its role. Four other countries are considering contributing to the ISF.

The coming weeks are expected to have more active discussions. A key issue is how to get the Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) involved in Gaza alongside the ISF and also the training of Palestinian police.

The goal is to create an area where civilians can live free of Hamas. This also means ramping up goods and services to create a better alternative, the source familiar with and involved in the diplomatic efforts told the Post. This will mean enabling people to live free from the oppression of Hamas.

Hamas will need to agree to lay down its arms. The Board of Peace does not want to be stopped by Hamas refusing to disarm.

The new Life Support Area near Kerem Shalom, cited by the board and the Kosovo ambassador, is an example of the progress. Economically, there are also a range of programs being planned, the source said.

There are many questions about what might come next. Could the ISF secure certain pockets in Gaza and enable the NCAG to play a role? Would it be in the areas between the IDF-controlled Yellow Line and the areas Hamas controls.

As the Hamas-run area shrinks, there are areas that are in limbo. These could be seen as orange areas.

It appears that many things are in motion, and plans are in the air. The timeline is still unclear, but it’s plausible that new details will emerge in the coming days and weeks.

US President Donald Trump recently met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7. This is important and could influence progress in Gaza.

In addition, it appears that the White House is preparing to welcome Arab leaders and officials within the next month. This includes US outreach to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and possibly the Palestinian Authority.

With the Iran memorandum of understanding signed and a ceasefire in Lebanon, it could mean Gaza will be in the spotlight in late June and July. This will also mean engagement with Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt.

Challenges remain. How will Hamas disarmament be measured? How many small arms does Hamas have? Hamas will likely try to wriggle out of handing them over. Can certain areas be designated as disarmed initially?

Ultimately, Trump’s 20-point plan, which is backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, is the benchmark, the source said, and Hamas will need to lay down its weapons.

The Board of Peace is not going to wait around while Hamas stalls or sets new conditions for its disarmament. It is working to prepare for governance, stabilization, and reconstruction, the source said.

US President Donald Trump has insisted that the deal he has reached with Iran is superior to the one that president Barack Obama sealed in 2015, while Trump’s critics say at this point he has gotten much less and given up much more to Tehran.

The two agreements are very different.

The “memorandum of understanding” that Trump signed with Iran is not a final agreement but a one-and-a-half-page, 14-point framework negotiated on and off over several weeks.

It has launched a 60-day negotiation period to seek a full settlement of the nearly four-month war, with many hurdles yet to overcome on issues that include Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Oil is flowing. Gas prices are falling. Markets are roaring.

A WIN for America and the world. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5klJgQkPMV

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 18, 2026

Obama’s pact was a finished, detailed document titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that extended to more than 160 pages. It was narrowly focused on restricting Iran’s nuclear activities, with strict benchmarks. Trump, who condemned the Obama-era deal as “horrible”, scrapped it in 2018.

Trump’s approach has been bilateral, between the US and Iran. Obama brought China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and the European Union into negotiations that lasted about two years.

What is the difference between Trump and Obama’s Iran deals?

Both deals involve a written commitment by Iran never to seek a nuclear weapon. Trump – who declared the nuclear threat his main reason for going to war – has insisted, incorrectly, that Tehran had never done so before.

Obama’s deal placed tight limits on Iran’s efforts to produce weapons-grade uranium, aimed at extending the “breakout” time it would need to produce a bomb. The US government said Tehran had complied until Trump withdrew from the JCPOA.

Nuclear issue

Trump’s interim deal outlines only a general path toward curbing Iran’s nuclear activities, with no specific commitments from Tehran other than to discuss nuclear issues in the 60-day window.

It suggests Iran’s willingness to resolve a dispute over its near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile, including the possibility of “down blending” onsite under supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, but leaves that decision for a final deal.

The JCPOA involved extensive international inspection, but the MOU does not call for any future reinstatement of that process.

Iranian economy and sanctions relief

Both deals involve sanctions relief and unfreezing of assets, which Iran is now even more anxious to receive to boost its crippled economy, but in very different ways.

Obama eased some sanctions early on, but only after a comprehensive settlement was signed, and then phased in further relief based on verified steps by Iran.

Trump’s memorandum front-loads initial relief, including immediate US waivers for Iran to export oil, while leaving a final package to be negotiated later.

It also opens the door to releasing billions of dollars in frozen funds, and it is unclear when that might happen.

Another provision calls for the US and Middle Eastern allies to establish a $300 billion fund for Iran’s economic development, but it is vague about the conditions and timetable.

This has drawn criticism from Iran hawks within Trump’s own Republican Party that he is making too many concessions.

Trump has berated Obama for years over the Democratic president’s return to Tehran of $1.7 billion in proceeds from arms sales frozen since 1981.

But Trump, who has made clear his disdain for any comparison between his deal and Obama’s, now stands to provide Iran with many times more funds.

The JCPOA dealt only with nuclear issues, a deliberate choice by the Obama administration, which calculated that bundling in other regional concerns would make a final deal impossible.

The MOU, however, is the diplomatic starting point for permanently ending a war that Trump launched with Israel on February 28, and which has sent shockwaves across the world economy.

As a result, one of its main thrusts is an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil-shipping channel which Iran effectively closed. Iran has insisted it retain a management role over the strait that it lacked pre-war, and that could be a sticking point in negotiations.

Sam Harris is a thoughtful, provocative podcast host. Recognizing the Jihadist threat worldwide, he supports Israel enthusiastically. But he misreads what Zionism is – and should mean to the rest of the world. So, let’s duke it out substantively, respectfully.

About 28 minutes into a recent appearance on Haviv Rettig Gur’s compelling podcast, Ask Haviv Anything, Harris insisted: 

“I think there’s one disaster here that amounts to a kind of own goal that we keep scoring on ourselves that we need not ever score again, which is the use of the term ‘Zionism.’” 

Harris claimed that “Israel is the only country that has a name for an ideology that really is simply its account of why it has a right to exist.”

Zionism, he concluded, becomes “a permission slip that you keep putting in front of the world saying ‘this is what we call our belief that we have a right to exist.’”

 
That word is “never helpful.” It’s a “stumbling block” that sounds “dogmatic… like a form of racism” and “can be spun as some form of colonialism.”

Harris has defined Zionism too narrowly, while allowing antisemitic lies to obscure basic truths. Israel’s right to exist is foundational to Zionism, but limiting its horizons to that definition is suffocating.

Claiming Zionism only justifies Israel’s right to exist is like limiting Judaism just to belief in one God. Both phenomena are so much more multi-dimensional, no matter how reductive enemies and friends might be. 

Even before 1948, Zionism entailed far more than establishing a Jewish state. The many different streams of Zionism I detailed in The Zionist Ideas – Political, Labor, Cultural, Religious, Revisionist, and Diaspora – illustrate the kaleidoscope of visions circulating then. 

Zionists debated the Jewish state’s character, the New Jew’s trajectory, and the Jewish people’s fate in their homeland and abroad.

Since 1948, Zionists have defended the state, including its right to exist, when necessary, but also dream about what kind of state and what kind of people we will become – always. 

Today, Identity Zionism transcends politics and partisanship, offering Jews everywhere touchstones in their homeland and springboards toward individual and communal meaning.

What Zionism really means

Meanwhile, holding Zionism responsible for the global attack on Israel’s existence blames the victim. Abandoning the term – or internalizing the Jihadists’ slurs alleging racism, colonialism, and oppression – gives our enemies victories they don’t deserve.
 
Harris is correct. “We’re all living in Israel; only some of us have realized it.” That’s why we must repudiate anti-Zionists’ libel fest.

Admittedly, some Zionists exacerbate the problem. 

Left-wingers who only define Israel by any governmental missteps and right-wing extremists who squelch any self-criticism unintentionally feed misunderstandings of Zionism. Seeing Israel only through a partisan lens is blinding. 
And the Jewish world’s defensiveness is enervating.

Last year, I was invited to address Jewish indigeneity at a conference. Rather than telegraphing insecurity, as if Israel’s existence needs justifying, I shifted slightly. 

Taking Israel’s deep roots in our homeland as a given, I described how Zionist and Israeli culture flourished as Jews returned home and embraced their indigeneity.

Similarly, in my recent Essential Guide to Zionism, anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and Jew-hatred, published by JPPI, I didn’t act as Israel’s defense attorney. 

I simply mapped out: “Ancient Signs of Jewish Life in Israel Archaeologists Have Uncovered.” The map detailed seven sites in modern Israel where Jews did Jewish two thousand years ago.

It’s shocking that, as America’s 250th anniversary approaches, Harris labeled Israel “the only country that has a name for an ideology that really is simply its account of why it has a right to exist.” 

What about “Americanism?”
True, John Witherspoon coined the term in 1781 to describe a linguistic phenomenon. This signer of the Declaration of Independence tracked the twists Americans imposed on British English.

By the time Theodore Roosevelt celebrated “True Americanism” in 1894, the term had expanded deliciously, like Zionism. For some, “Americanism” did explain America’s right to exist. 

Others defined “Americanizing” as acculturating. Still others meant America’s core ideals, especially “consent of the governed,” and everyone’s “inherent rights.” Americanism, TR wrote, “is a question of spirit, conviction, and purpose, not of creed or birthplace.”

In 1922, the British philosopher GK Chesterton wrote: “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.”
 
Chesterton popularized a colleague’s insight that “America is a nation with the soul of a church.”

I have long argued that, thanks to Zionism’s kinetic ideology, Israel, like America, is one of the few democracies in the world founded on an idea – “to be a free nation in our homeland,” and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

Canada’s formula, for example, is static: “peace, order, and good government.”
Zionism and Americanism make Israel and America dynamic, catalytic countries, yearning, churning, and ever-trying to better their nations by fulfilling their founding ideals – while improving the world too.

Building off Chesterton, Israel parallels America with a Jewish accent. Israel is “a nation with the soul of a shul” – forever squabbling while driven by tradition, values, rituals, ideas, and ideals.

So, no. Using the term “Zionism” isn’t scoring an “own goal” against us. Zionism is a verb, a process, a movement. It involves articulating our own goals individually and communally – in Israel and worldwide. 

Zionism will keep us building the world’s only Jewish democracy, while strengthening the Jewish people, an old-new people who, thanks to Zionism, have been empowered, renewed, stretched, and inspired once again.

The writer is an American presidential historian and a senior fellow in Zionist thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem. Last year he published To Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream and The Essential Guide to Zionism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism and Jew-hatred, available on the JPPI website. Next month, he will publish The Essential Guide to the US-Israel Partnership, the 250th Edition.

The Reservists Party is expected to soon join a political alliance ahead of the upcoming elections, party leader Yoaz Hendel told The Jerusalem Post in a Thursday interview, outlining the party’s plans and direction.

Speaking after the party held internal primaries to determine its Knesset list this week, Hendel said he was engaged in “sensitive talks” regarding a merger.

The Reservists Party currently does not pass the electoral threshold in polls, ahead of elections set to take place no later than October 27.

If the party runs on its own and does not pass the needed threshold, the votes that went toward the party would be effectively discarded.

“My worldview says we must behave in politics with the same seriousness as in military or civilian missions. We cannot take risks. We must come with serious political power. Otherwise, we will get the same result again,” Hendel explained.

Reservists may merge with Blue and White, ally with Chili Tropper

There have been reports about a potential merger between the Reservists and Blue and White leader MK Benny Gantz’s party, or an alliance with MK Chili Tropper, who recently left Gantz’s party.

Hendel said that his party has been in touch with others regarding a merger, but that he could not go into the details of who the alliance would be with yet.

“The Reservists are supposed to be the factor that changes the system. There are enough serious forces we can partner with, but it must be based on ideology and principles, not politics,” he noted.

The party has presented itself as a response to the leadership vacuum following the October 7 massacre, and it advocates for universal conscription. Among its central principles is a refusal to join any government that includes parties whose members do not serve in the IDF.

The Reservists have launched campaigns against the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Arab parties ahead of the elections, calling to bar those who do not serve in the IDF from voting and from running for Knesset.

Hendel will not rule out serving with Netanyahu

When asked about sitting in a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hendel did not rule out the option, though he said that he held the belief that citizens should not vote for the premier. He noted that Netanyahu was responsible for the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023.

Hendel stressed that it was most important not to form a government with the haredi or Arab parties, because, at the moment, they do not serve.

“We want to integrate all groups into Israeli society,” he said. “There is no reason an Arab citizen from Umm al-Amad should not do national service, and no reason a haredi citizen should not serve in the army or in civil service. Whoever chooses not to serve should not be part of [the] government.”

Hendel also explained the complexity of leading the party while consistently returning to combat as part of his reserve duty.

“I have no choice but to go up [to the reserves] – otherwise, the battalion won’t go,” adding that, in parallel, he also needed to lead the party.

“It is a very complex situation personally. But, like me, there are tens of thousands of reservists for whom this is also complicated.”

The party held internal primaries to determine its Knesset list, with candidates including reservists, bereaved family members, and wounded IDF veterans. Six candidates were announced on Wednesday to be on the list.

Thousands of registered members of the Reservists Party voted to determine the list.

Explaining the process of holding the primaries and which parties in Israel are not required to do so, Hendel said that, “unlike the trend in Israeli politics, we deliberately chose to create a full democracy.”

Hendel added that he purposely chose to hold elections for the party chairperson, even though he was the founder of the Reservists. Hendel was then elected to remain the party’s leader.

Notably, only those who had done military or national service could join the party.

“We gave space to the best people in Israel, those who, on October 7, when the state disappeared, stepped up, took responsibility, and took command.”

“We have reservists, civilians who carried out civic emergency actions since October 7, bereaved families, and wounded IDF soldiers,” Hendel said. “There was an incredible contest of excellent people.”

US President Donald Trump expressed some reservations about endorsing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections before he knew who the other candidates were. 

In a Thursday interview with Israeli public broadcaster KAN News, he said he would “most likely endorse” Netanyahu but wanted to learn more about the other candidates. 

“I’ll have to look at who’s running, but I like Bibi very much. I would be most likely to endorse him,” the president told KAN News’s Nathan Guttman. 

“But I need to see who is running. I have a good relationship with Bibi, but he needs to be more rational. I am willing to meet with him. He’s doing a very good job; he’s got to be a little bit more rational.”

Trump says Netanyahu needs ‘softer touch’ in Lebanon

This comes after Trump’s other recent criticisms of Netanyahu. On Wednesday, Trump claimed the pair have a “little dispute” over Lebanon, and added that Netanyahu “gets a little excited sometimes.”

“I say you can do a little softer touch, maybe you don’t need to bring down a building every time a Hezbollah member walks into it.”

In addition, US Vice President JD Vance said that the US would not remove sanctions on Iran if it were still funding a terrorist organization, he said, in a reference to Hezbollah.

He then criticized a “weird panic… in the Israeli system” in regard to Iran. 

“They assume that everything that is contemplated that is good for Iran will happen – but that will happen without the Iranians changing any behavior,” Vance said in an interview with the New York Times. “That’s not how the deal is written.”

“I find this whole freakout in Israel a little bit odd because I think that it comes from a place of mistrust, and I think that America has earned the trust of that region of the world,” Vance said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that Iran will not submit to the “excessive demands” of the United States in future negotiations with the US in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Thursday. 

Khamenei said that he eventually approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) based only on a series of promises from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the negotiating team. 

“I, as a matter of principle, held a different view; however, out of the commitment that the esteemed president—as the head of the Supreme National Security Council—gave to me on his own behalf and on behalf of the other members regarding the safeguarding of the rights of the Iranian nation and the Resistance Front, and his explicit acceptance of that responsibility, I granted my permission.”

Khamenei argued that “it was the American president who, out of desperation, used all kinds of leverage to bring this about.”

The Iranian supreme leader then said that Iran would wait to see the deal’s effects, but that it was evident that in-person negotiations did not constitute acceptance of the American position.

This is a developing story. 

Israel is expecting to find a solution to Hezbollah’s explosive drones in “a matter of weeks, not months,”  Israel Aerospace Industries CEO Boaz Levy said on Wednesday on 103FM.

“The drone issue is at the top of our agenda, under the leadership of MAFAT in the Defense Ministry,” he said.

“There are currently several responses being examined. We divide the whole issue into the stages of detection, identification, and then destruction. At the moment, there are several ideas that have already been implemented, some of which even work, in which we are able to destroy the attacking drone using kinetic and electronic means,” he added.

France bars Israel from Eurosatory weapons exhibition

Levy also criticized France for barring Israel from the Eurosatory weapons exhibition.

“An embargo is something that has accompanied the State of Israel for many years, since the 1960s,” Levy said.  “The French were involved in it then as well, and those who remember the Mirage aircraft that we were embargoed from receiving are the ones who led to the development of Israel’s aeronautical industry.”

“These capabilities are possible thanks to the technological ability that exists in the country. In contrast to the exhibition in Paris, there was an exhibition in Berlin last week where we received a warm welcome,” he added. 

“The French went too far and are behaving in a very strange way, which reflects their business interest more than their political interest. We will continue to be there and do business with all our partners around the world.”

The High Court of Justice ordered the state to explain why it should be allowed to continue holding detainees from Gaza for weeks before bringing them before a judge under wartime amendments passed after the October 7 massacre.

The conditional order, issued on Wednesday by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Justices Dafna Barak-Erez and Ruth Ronnen, gives the state until July 19 to respond.

At the center of the case is the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law, a 2002 law that allows Israel to hold people it defines as unlawful combatants in order to prevent them from returning to hostilities.

Unlike ordinary criminal detention, these detainees are not necessarily held for the purpose of filing an indictment against them.

After the October 7 massacre and the start of the Israel-Hamas War, the Knesset passed temporary wartime amendments expanding the time periods allowed under the law.

The changes were intended to help security authorities handle the large number of detainees taken during the war, but rights organizations argue that the framework now allows people to be held for prolonged periods without basic oversight.

The petition was filed in February 2024 by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Gisha, and Adalah.

It was filed against the Knesset, the government, the prime minister, the defense minister, the IDF, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the attorney-general.

The petitioners argue that the wartime framework severely extends the time before detainees receive a permanent incarceration order, delays their first appearance before a judge, extends the period during which they may be prevented from meeting a lawyer, and allows hearings to be held remotely.

The High Court’s order focuses on the delay before judicial review. Under the current framework, adults held under the law may wait up to 40 days before being brought before a judge, while minors may wait up to 30 days.

The court ordered the state to explain why the provisions allowing those extended delays should not be canceled or amended.

State argues that emergency framework remains necessary 

The order followed a June 2 update from the state, which argued that the emergency framework remains necessary despite some decline in the number of detainees held under the law.

According to the state, as of late April, 1,358 detainees were being held under the law by the IDF and Israel Prison Service, including 26 under temporary incarceration orders and 1,332 under permanent orders. Four minors were also being held under the law.

The state said that between December 22, 2025, and April 23, 2026, approximately 141 new temporary incarceration orders were issued for detainees held in IDF and IPS facilities, while approximately 114 detainees were released.

It clarified that the two groups do not necessarily overlap.

The state also said that an earlier draft of the latest amendment would have shortened some of the timeframes, including reducing the maximum period until first judicial review to 33 days for adults and 25 days for minors.

However, the state said that before the amendment was advanced for final approval, the security situation had worsened.

It cited the war with Iran and renewed intensive IDF ground maneuvering in Lebanon. Because of that, the final version of the amendment left the existing timeframes in place.

The state argued that the number of detainees held under the law remains “exceptional and very significant,” and far higher than it was before the war.

Petitioners claim emergency arrangement has morphed into prolonged detention regime

The petitioners argue that the repeated extensions have turned an emergency arrangement into a prolonged detention regime, under which people, including children, can be held for weeks without seeing a judge.

PCATI said after the order that more than 6,000 detainees, mostly Gazans, had been held under the amended framework since the provisions were enacted and that more than 40% had been released without charges.

The organization also argued that the state’s figures indicate that, as of the end of April, at least 50 detainees held under the law had not yet undergone any judicial review.

Attorney Merav Ben-Zeev, director of PCATI’s legal department, said the High Court’s decision, together with last week’s ruling against the sweeping prevention of Red Cross visits to Palestinian security prisoners and detainees, showed the urgency of canceling the temporary order.

She said the arrangement allows prolonged incarceration without indictment, reasoning, judicial review, or access to counsel and argued that the lack of contact with the outside world and the absence of judicial oversight endanger detainees’ physical and mental well-being.

Tensions between Brussels and Jerusalem have escalated sharply over the past 24 hours. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that he is severing all contact with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas until she issues an apology to Israel, following reports that she referred to Israel as an “apartheid state.” Kallas responded that “dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy.”

“The European Union’s position has always been that a two-state solution remains the only viable path to achieving lasting peace in the Middle East,” EU Ambassador to Israel Michael Mann told The Jerusalem Post when asked about the reported “apartheid” remark.

Asked whether the comments signaled a shift in Brussels’ approach, Mann was clear.

“I’m not really going to comment on an unofficial quote from an anonymous official who said that this was said. I simply cannot comment on that,” Mann said, before reiterating the EU’s official position: “It is not the official policy of the European Union that Israel is an apartheid state. I want to make that absolutely clear.”

The EU ambassador’s office in Israel is rarely quiet, and Mann’s tenure, which began in September 2025, comes during one of the most turbulent periods in EU-Israel relations.

“The starting point is that Israel and the European Union are very close partners,” Mann stressed. “Historically, we have an extremely close relationship. Israel is deeply integrated with the EU. It participates in the Horizon research cooperation program. So, at its core, the relationship is very deep.”

EU-Israel relationship going through ‘tough times’

However, he quickly acknowledged current strains.

“I would be lying if I said the relationship is not going through a more difficult period right now,” he admitted.

Some Israeli officials argue that the European Union is disproportionately focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while ignoring worse human rights violations elsewhere. Mann rejected that claim as “a complete misrepresentation.”

“There are problems all over the world, and it would be completely misleading to imagine that we make harsher comments about Israel than about any other country,” he said.

To illustrate his point, Mann cited Europe’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Look at the situation with Russia. Just this week, we adopted our 21st sanctions package against Russia.”

He added that perceptions of bias are often shaped by media framing.

“Through the lens of the Israeli media, it may appear that we are treating Israel with particular unfairness, but we base our policies on how we assess developments on the ground,” he said. 

During the interview, Mann was also asked about a recent incident that raised questions in Israel about EU policy. The EU criticized Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla and the detention of foreign nationals aboard. However, when footage later emerged in Spain showing police allegedly beating some of those activists, the EU did not publicly respond.

“There was a decision by the Israeli authorities to intercept the flotilla in international waters and to process the people quickly and deport them back to their home countries, and that was why there was criticism. There was also this incident in Spain, and no one is condoning that either,” Mann said. “So, let’s be accurate about these things.”

Europe concerned over West Bank settler violence 

One issue that has united even pro-Israel EU member states in criticism of the current Israeli government is violence by extremist Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank.

“We are very concerned,” Mann said. “There have been multiple cases of violent extremists entering Palestinian communities, setting fire to cars and property, uprooting trees, and stealing livestock.”

He expressed frustration at the difficulty in addressing the issue.

“For you, this should not be such a major problem,” Mann said. “Israel’s civilian authorities and police are highly efficient. It is somewhat difficult for us to understand why it is so hard to tackle this issue more effectively.”

The issue has also led some EU member states to consider sanctions against Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Mann confirmed that discussions are ongoing but remain legally and politically complex.

“The issue was discussed again by foreign ministers this week in Luxembourg,” he said. “There is currently no consensus, because such a decision requires unanimity among all 27 member states. At this stage, there is no agreement.”

Asked what could justify sanctions against a democratically elected minister in a friendly country, Mann pointed to core EU principles.

“If we were to impose sanctions on individuals, it would be because of actions that we believe violate basic human rights and democratic principles,” he said.

He also referenced Ben-Gvir’s conduct during a recent flotilla incident.

“What we saw from Minister Ben-Gvir—going to be photographed with those detained from the flotilla, and in a video he released one individual appeared to be beaten—was, for many people in Europe, unacceptable. He was clearly there to provoke people, and that is why there was criticism.”

Economically, the EU remains Israel’s largest trading partner, a fact Mann highlighted as evidence of deep interdependence.

Still, political tensions are spilling into trade discussions. Several EU member states have proposed tariffs on—or even bans of—products originating from Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

“Some member states have recently put forward proposals to impose tariffs on such products or prohibit them altogether,” Mann said. “This is currently being discussed in Brussels.”

He cautioned that it is too early to know what will happen.

“At this stage, it is impossible to say whether a concrete proposal will be put forward, or how member states would respond and whether they would vote in favor.”

Reflecting on the war in Gaza, Mann said conditions have improved, but concerns remain over its conduct.

“There was a period when humanitarian aid deliveries were completely blocked from entering Gaza. That was problematic for us. We felt that the number of civilian casualties toward the later stages of the war was unnecessarily high.”

He also pointed to political rhetoric in Israel as a complicating factor.

“It does not help that there is quite a lot of rather heated rhetoric coming from Israeli authorities at times,” he said. “I understand that this is an election period, but I think it would be helpful if the rhetoric could be toned down so that we can have a somewhat calmer discussion.”

Despite ongoing disputes, Mann emphasized a pragmatic outlook for EU-Israel relations.

“I think it is clear that we need Israel, and Israel needs us,” Mann concluded. “We have a very deep historical relationship. We need each other. There are so many areas in which we can benefit from one another. There is so much potential and so many opportunities.”
 

Azerbaijani-language social media posts have circulated in recent weeks questioning the legacy of Albert Agarunov, a Jewish National Hero of Azerbaijan, as Iranian and pro-Iranian accounts renewed claims that Azerbaijan is being used for Israeli operations against Iran.

The posts used phrases such as “the Albert Agarunov lie has collapsed” and described his story as a “forgery.” Some appeared alongside hashtags and language associated with pro-Iranian or Resistance-linked accounts, including references to Iran, Tabriz, Islam and “Müqavimət,” the Azerbaijani word for “Resistance.”

Some of the accounts present themselves as opposition voices, while using language associated with pro-Iranian and Resistance-linked networks. Their timing, wording and use of certain language mirror broader pro-Iranian narratives that have targeted Azerbaijan over its ties with Israel.

Agarunov, a Mountain Jew from Baku, volunteered during the First Karabakh War, served as a tank commander and was killed on May 8, 1992, during the battle for Shusha. He was later awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan and is buried in Baku’s Alley of Martyrs beneath the flags of Azerbaijan and Israel. A school has been named after him, and a monument was erected in one of Baku’s districts in his honor.

Agarunov is remembered not only for his battlefield role, but also as a Jewish Azerbaijani figure whose identity has remained part of his public commemoration in Azerbaijan. The recent posts about him were noted by Azerbaijani commentators and Jewish-Azerbaijani community sources as part of a broader attempt to discredit his image.

The posts also drew pushback from ordinary Azerbaijani users, many of whom continued to describe Agarunov as a national hero. Israel has long been viewed in Baku as an important defense partner, particularly during and after the Karabakh wars.

The online activity followed a CNN report on June 5, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter claiming that IDF commandos, intelligence personnel and Mossad operatives had operated from locations in southern Azerbaijan during the Iran war. The report said the Israeli presence was linked to intelligence gathering, drone activity and possible rescue operations near Iran’s northern border.

Azerbaijan denied the report. Officials in Baku said the claims were baseless and that Azerbaijan does not allow its territory to be used for military operations, intelligence activity or hostile actions against a third state.

Iranian state outlets continue campaign targeting Baku-Jerusalem ties

Iranian state-linked outlets, including Tasnim and Fars News Agency, both widely described as affiliated with the IRGC, have repeatedly alleged that Israel maintains military or intelligence infrastructure in Azerbaijan, near Iran’s northern border. Azerbaijan has consistently denied hosting foreign military bases or allowing attacks against Iran from its territory.

A similar narrative appeared in 2012, when Foreign Policy reported that Israel had gained access to Azerbaijani airfields. Azerbaijan and Israeli officials rejected the claims at the time.

The targeting of Agarunov comes amid broader Azerbaijani concern about Iran-linked disinformation. Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis Commission on Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats has previously reported coordinated disinformation involving hundreds of Iran-linked profiles across major platforms.

Baku has repeatedly denied that its territory is used against Iran. The recent posts targeting Agarunov appeared as Iranian and pro-Iranian outlets continued to promote that claim.

Azerbaijani-language social media posts have circulated in recent weeks questioning the legacy of Albert Agarunov, a Jewish National Hero of Azerbaijan, as Iranian and pro-Iranian accounts renewed claims that Azerbaijan is being used for Israeli operations against Iran.

The posts used phrases such as “the Albert Agarunov lie has collapsed” and described his story as a “forgery.” Some appeared alongside hashtags and language associated with pro-Iranian or Resistance-linked accounts, including references to Iran, Tabriz, Islam and “Müqavimət,” the Azerbaijani word for “Resistance.”

Some of the accounts present themselves as opposition voices, while using language associated with pro-Iranian and Resistance-linked networks. Their timing, wording and use of certain language mirror broader pro-Iranian narratives that have targeted Azerbaijan over its ties with Israel.

Agarunov, a Mountain Jew from Baku, volunteered during the First Karabakh War, served as a tank commander and was killed on May 8, 1992, during the battle for Shusha. He was later awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan and is buried in Baku’s Alley of Martyrs beneath the flags of Azerbaijan and Israel. A school has been named after him, and a monument was erected in one of Baku’s districts in his honor.

Agarunov is remembered not only for his battlefield role, but also as a Jewish Azerbaijani figure whose identity has remained part of his public commemoration in Azerbaijan. The recent posts about him were noted by Azerbaijani commentators and Jewish-Azerbaijani community sources as part of a broader attempt to discredit his image.

The posts also drew pushback from ordinary Azerbaijani users, many of whom continued to describe Agarunov as a national hero. Israel has long been viewed in Baku as an important defense partner, particularly during and after the Karabakh wars.

The online activity followed a CNN report on June 5, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter claiming that IDF commandos, intelligence personnel and Mossad operatives had operated from locations in southern Azerbaijan during the Iran war. The report said the Israeli presence was linked to intelligence gathering, drone activity and possible rescue operations near Iran’s northern border.

Azerbaijan denied the report. Officials in Baku said the claims were baseless and that Azerbaijan does not allow its territory to be used for military operations, intelligence activity or hostile actions against a third state.

Iranian state outlets continue campaign targeting Baku-Jerusalem ties

Iranian state-linked outlets, including Tasnim and Fars News Agency, both widely described as affiliated with the IRGC, have repeatedly alleged that Israel maintains military or intelligence infrastructure in Azerbaijan, near Iran’s northern border. Azerbaijan has consistently denied hosting foreign military bases or allowing attacks against Iran from its territory.

A similar narrative appeared in 2012, when Foreign Policy reported that Israel had gained access to Azerbaijani airfields. Azerbaijan and Israeli officials rejected the claims at the time.

The targeting of Agarunov comes amid broader Azerbaijani concern about Iran-linked disinformation. Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis Commission on Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats has previously reported coordinated disinformation involving hundreds of Iran-linked profiles across major platforms.

Baku has repeatedly denied that its territory is used against Iran. The recent posts targeting Agarunov appeared as Iranian and pro-Iranian outlets continued to promote that claim.

The IDF will not withdraw from Israel’s security strip in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, as tensions escalated between Jerusalem and Washington over a US-Iran agreement that calls for an end to hostilities in Lebanon and a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

Speaking during a ceremony for the re-inauguration of Route 60 in Israel’s North, the prime minister vowed that Israel “will restore security to the north,” adding that “this requires maintaining the security strip in southern Lebanon, and that requires that we not withdraw as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”

Netanyahu’s statements came after IDF Arabic Spokesperson Col. (res.) Avichay Adraee published an infographic map of the security zone in southern Lebanon, within 10 km. of the Lebanese border on X/Twitter.

The IDF is deployed in the Security Zone, around 10 km inside Lebanese territory, for operational reasons. The military stated that the ceasefire does not mean that it will fully withdraw from its security zone in southern Lebanon. 

The army did not present a timetable for withdrawal or clear conditions for ending its presence in the territory.

The IDF is deployed in the Security Zone, ~10 km inside Lebanese territory, due to operational requirements.

IDF soldiers will continue to remove threats and strengthen the defense of Israel’s northern residents. pic.twitter.com/jQQPCSAeIe

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 18, 2026

The military also noted that the maritime security zone is a continuation of the land-based buffer, extending into the sea along a 280-degree course, in accordance with a political-level decision. According to Channel 12, the expansion of the maritime zone shows that Israel is committed to preventing threats and smuggling efforts along the coast.

The IDF is acting to remove threats and improve the defense for citizens of northern Israel, Adraee added. 

Trump says Netanyahu ‘a little too enthusiastic’, says Syria should handle Hezbollah

This comes after an Israeli source said that Jerusalem is “conducting stubborn negotiations” with the US on the issue of continuing its deployment of troops in southern Lebanon, a senior official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters.

Israel has no intention of backing down on its positions, the official said.

Earlier this week, the US president indicated that he did not like Israel’s policy in Lebanon. 

“I say it’s possible to act a little more moderately. Maybe you don’t need to bring down a building every time a Hezbollah member walks into it,” he said.

Trump also called Netanyahu “a good man” who sometimes “gets a little too enthusiastic.”

He also suggested that Syria should fight Hezbollah instead of Israel.

“Israel’s fighting Hezbollah for too long, and too many people are being killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody because there’s a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you,” he said. 

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah because, to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it. If Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, it’ll do the job. Syria will do the job.”

American humorist Will Rogers famously said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never met an American president he didn’t piss off.

The Israeli leader is a bipartisan offender, not an asset for a leader and a country bleeding friends right and left and doing little to stanch the flow.

Netanyahu has based much of his political career on his ability to effectively manage US-Israel relations, but that has since turned into a bad joke as he hitched the nation’s security along with his own political future to a volatile, angry, and woefully ignorant president.

Wrath directed at the prime minister has been fed by a perception of indifference toward the enormous civilian death toll in the Israel-Hamas War and the reports that the IDF and security forces are not only enablers of settler pogroms against West Bank Palestinians but sometimes even participants.

Netanyahu has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, which has intensified in the four months since they partnered to wage war against Iran.

Trump isn’t the first president to find the overbearing Bibi unbearable. Former US president Joe Biden has called him “a f***ing liar” and “son of a bitch,” according to journalist Bob Woodward.

After Bibi lectured Bill Clinton about history, aides present said the president grumbled, “Who the f*** does he think he is? Who’s the f***ing superpower here?”

During the presidency of George HW Bush, Bibi was banned from the State Department for saying US foreign policy was “based on lies and distortions.”

In 2015, he blindsided former US president Barack Obama by partnering with House Republicans and American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in their failed campaign to block Obama’s signature Iran nuclear deal. 

Trump later tore up the deal and then went to war, resulting in what may be an even weaker outcome.

A long history of clashing with US presidents

Trump not only curses Bibi in private, but he calls reporters to repeat it for publication.

As negotiations progressed last week, Israel bombed Beirut, angering the Iranians and the US president. 

“Why did Bibi have to do a f***ing attack? I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no f***ing judgment. I let him know that,” he told Axios’s Barak Ravid.

On another occasion, he told Ravid that he’d yelled at Bibi, “You’re f***ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

Israelis and their country’s American friends should be alarmed by Trump saying, “If there wasn’t me, there would be no Israel.”

Bibi has put Israel in a weak position with little choice but to follow Trump’s lead.

He has squandered Israel’s powerful bipartisan congressional base that could stand up to presidents. AIPAC has become a pariah in many Capitol Hill offices, particularly on the Democratic side.

Netanyahu can moan and groan about the deal and try to test the limits of US and Iranian tolerance, but the price could be prohibitive. He doesn’t have the cards he once held.

The prime minister, aged 76, is running for a seventh term this year. 

The war is popular in Israel and so is Trump, and Bibi must tread a fine line between the two. One lesson of this war has been that with Trump’s administration, when Israel thinks it is an equal partner, it can get slapped down, sometimes very publicly.

And when the fighting stops, and Congress and voters begin asking what went wrong, you know which direction White House fingers will point. 

The United States and Israel launched this war on February 28 by decapitating Iran’s leadership. 

Their proclaimed lofty but shifting goals included regime change, unconditional surrender, liberation of the Iranian people, destruction of the ballistic missile threat, removal of the entire nuclear program, destruction of the Iranian navy and air force, and ending support for Tehran’s terror proxies.

It didn’t take long for cracks to appear. Bibi was dead serious about his goals; Trump was flexible. On Sunday he admitted, “I never cared about regime change.” 

He was just hoping for another quickie like Venezuela so he could fly off to Stockholm for his long-overdue Nobel Peace Prize. Neither expected Iran to outsmart them by closing the Strait of Hormuz and retaliating against America’s allies in the Gulf.

The war may have been popular in Israel, but in the United States, it was turning into a political and economic crisis for Republicans who feared it could cost them control of Congress in November.

The Iranians don’t have to face voters. They could absorb more costs – material and political – than Trump, whose goal quickly became finding a way out that would let him declare victory and go home.

Trump made it clear his Israeli partner was junior, at best.

“If I tell him to do something, he does it,” he boasted to the BBC. Bibi “won’t have any choice” in negotiations because “I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots,” he told the Financial Times.

Iran has said that although Israel is not part of the deal, it expects Washington to make it halt its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, setting up another test for Washington-Jerusalem relations.

Trump was so anxious for a deal that barely a day went by that he didn’t announce one was imminent. 

He’d threaten massive bombing only to back down at the last minute, saying talks were promising, even when they weren’t. That strategy defined his nickname, TACO: Trump always chickens out.

In a conversation with The New York Times, Trump praised Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia for their help. He called Bibi “a very difficult guy” who “should be very thankful” to him because “if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours.”

Trump’s biggest boast, that he won the regime’s written assurance that it has no intention to build or acquire a nuclear weapon, is old news. Fifty-six years old, to be exact.

Iran ratified the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 1970, which included that pledge.

Then in 2003, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa forbidding the production of nuclear weapons. And Iran put it in writing again in 2015 when it signed the Obama nuclear agreement, which Trump tore up three years later. 

Now he has one of his own and wants us to think he just invented the wheel.

Trump’s Iran deal includes doing what he bitterly attacked Obama for: lifting some sanctions and releasing billions of frozen Iranian funds to bolster its failing economy. 

Trump will use the same rationale of helping post-war reconstruction, economic revival, and humanitarian interests.

The Memorandum of Understanding, expected to be signed on Friday in Switzerland, is not a peace deal; it is just an agreement to start talking about Iran’s nuclear program while they return to the pre-war status quo. Israel won’t be in the room.

In the face of last year’s brutal crackdown by Tehran, Trump called on millions of Iranians to “keep protesting” and declared the “hour of your freedom is at hand.” Promises made, promises broken.

The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The following is a letter I received from Rabbi Netanel Kaszovitz, rabbi of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation in New Zealand:

 “Shalom, Sivan. You recently published a story about a small Jewish village that consisted of ten families. Every morning, there was a minyan in the village because a man from each family felt responsible to ensure that there would be a minyan that day. But then another family moved to the village – family #11 – and the next morning, there was no minyan. Everyone felt less responsibility towards the community.

“This past Pesach, we experienced in our community the very opposite situation. Even though we have a small community, there is a minyan, thank God, every Shabbat. But on the last day of Pesach, there was a huge rainstorm. I was worried that there wouldn’t be a minyan that day. 

“Arnold is a 101-year-old member of our community. In just a few weeks, we will be celebrating his 102nd birthday. On the last day of Pesach, he woke up, noticed the weather outside, and said to his wife: “I’m worried that there won’t be a minyan today because of the weather.”  So, he walked in the rain to join our minyan. 

“When he arrived at shul, he told me why he had come that morning, and I was amazed and moved. Over the course of the prayer service, more and more people kept coming. Apparently, many had been worried about the weather, so they had decided to come – specifically that day – to ensure that there would be a minyan. 

“My wish is that each one of us should always feel as if he or she is the ‘tenth person for the minyan’ – important, precious, and special!’ 

Have you heard about these ceremonies? 

These days, in Kibbutz Be’eri, the homes damaged on October 7 are being torn down. But these demolitions are not only acts of clearing away ruins. They have become ceremonies of memory, grief, faith, and rebuilding.

Take Eli Sharabi. He came to see the place where his wife, Lianne, and his daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were murdered.

“It was important for me to be here,” he said as the demolition began. “We are the Jewish people. We have a very special DNA – the DNA of rebuilding. I think that precisely in order to honor those who fell, I must move forward and build a life of action and meaning.”

Not far away, the home of Rachel Fricker was also demolished.

“A million emotions are mixed together,” she said as she watched the walls come down. “For twelve and a half hours, the terrorists were inside this house with me.”

Rachel arrived with rabbis and friends. “I recited Birkat Hagomel, the blessing said after surviving danger. I said Mizmor Letodah, a psalm of thanksgiving, and we raised a glass – to the home that was, and to the home that will yet be built.”

She shared another striking story. Not long ago, a rabbi asked to take ashes from her house for his son’s wedding, in keeping with the custom of placing ashes on the groom’s head as a remembrance of destruction. When he entered the house, he saw a fox. For those familiar with the story, it immediately called to mind Rabbi Akiva, who saw a fox emerging from the ruins of the Temple and understood it as a sign that the place would one day be rebuilt.

“It was a sign for me, too,” Rachel said.

After the ceremony, she returned to her caravilla in Hatzerim “with a feeling of peace, of closure.” Rachel, who also manages the Be’eri synagogue, added that a new, large synagogue is soon to be built in the center of the kibbutz.

Then there is Avida Bachar, who managed Be’eri’s agriculture. On that morning, he lost his wife, Dana, his son, Carmel, and his leg.

“This was a home of life,” he said, standing opposite the tractor that had come to demolish his house. “You meet a woman, build a family, build a life – and in one second, everything is destroyed. But when you look at things from above, you say to yourself: We must build life and family again.”

Since October 7, Avida has carried with him everywhere what he calls his “crying towel.” He used it often at the ceremony, especially when his friends stood beside him and sang Shir LaMa’alot, A Song of Ascents, moments before the demolition began.

He also wanted to convey two messages: a firm security message to the outside – “I woke up. Gaza must cease to exist” – and a message of unity within: “For the first time, I got to know my people, and I am awed by their strength.”

Eli, Rachel, Avida – thank you for these words. They, too, are part of the rebuilding.

Parashat Korach: The root of the dispute

Outside of Israel, the portion of Korach is read this week. Korach became synonymous with dispute. He rebels against the leadership of Moshe and Aharon and seeks to replace them. What happened to him? And what sometimes happens to us as well?

Our sages explain: There is a “dispute for the sake of Heaven,” one that is important to navigate. But there is also a “dispute that is not for the sake of Heaven,” such as the one initiated by Korach, which is rooted in ego, a grasping for honor, and other ulterior motives.  

In essence, Korach’s dispute was based on a quarrel he had with himself. He felt discouraged and detached, and consequently failed to discover his own unique place and mission in life. The commentators explain that his wife was likewise frustrated with her situation, and she kept filling Korach’s mind with poisonous thoughts: You deserve more; you should be like Moshe and Aharon; you aren’t appreciated enough. 

I encourage you to examine your interpersonal relationships, at home and at work, to determine whether you aren’t stirring up controversy in your surroundings because, at the root of it all, you are dissatisfied with yourself.

We write the headlines

What is this morning’s main headline? That depends on us.

In the parashah that is read this week in Israel, Chukat, we are told of the passing of Miriam the Prophetess. In his book, Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl recalls one moment from Miriam’s life: the entire nation waited for her for a full week, until she recovered from tzara’at. And here is his explanation:

“Many years earlier, when Moshe Rabbeinu was in the basket on the Nile, his sister Miriam waited for him for a short time and watched over him. In that merit, she later merited that the entire nation would wait for her for a whole week. Every minute of kindness counts, and so does every second of a good deed. 

“We must understand this enormous power. We must understand who we are. Every small action of ours can change the world. We do not see it, but up Above, it is reported with excitement, every small gesture of warmth, every smile, every expression of interest in a new neighbor – it all counts. It all matters.

“If we acquire for ourselves the clear, absolute, and unequivocal knowledge that every good deed we do becomes a main headline in Heaven, it will help us to truly take control of the way we live.”

Translated by Yehoshua Siskin and Janine Muller Sherr

Want to read more by Sivan Rahav Meir? Google The Daily Thought or visit sivanrahavmeir.com

The Israel Police opened an investigation into allegedly tainted Prinok baby food in May, but were not asked by the Health Ministry to test a suspicious jar of the fruit puree, according to a KAN News report on Thursday.

According to the KAN report, in early May, two young girls were hospitalized after consuming the food. The children’s mother gave the tainted jar to the hospital at the time and requested that it be tested, but it was not tested until this week, after four additional children were hospitalized after consuming the puree.

The jar was passed on to the police, who opened an investigation and interviewed the children’s parents. Police allege that they alerted the Health Ministry, the body responsible for food safety, of the May incident and were not given further instructions regarding how to handle the potentially tainted product. 

“At the time, despite the investigation that was opened, the investigators were not required by the Health Ministry to submit the product for testing, and it was kept as evidence by the police,” police told KAN.

The jar from the May incident was tested this week, and it was found to have been laced with sedatives after another investigation into the tainted baby food was opened.

The Jerusalem Post reached out to Israel Police for confirmation on the matter and has not yet received a response.

Four young children hospitalized after consuming tainted Prinok baby food

On Thursday, two one-year-olds and two three-year-olds were hospitalized after consuming the sedative-spiked fruit puree.  Results from blood tests done on the children found traces of benzodiazepines, a sedative medication, in their systems.

On Wednesday, KAN reported that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) had joined the investigation, as law enforcement probes the possibility that the sedatives were intentionally added to the baby food.

The managers of two branches of the Zol Begadol discount grocery store in Jerusalem, the stores where the tainted baby food was purchased, were called in for questioning, according to KAN.

The Health Ministry also ordered that the two supermarkets remain closed pending the investigation.

Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow on Thursday, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for the second time this week in what Kyiv cast as a response to an attack that damaged a nearly 1,000-year-old monastery in the city.

“We don’t want this war, we never did, and everyone knows it, and our partners know it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a voice message sent to reporters on a WhatsApp group. “But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.”

Last night, our long-range sanctions once again reached the Moscow region – for the second time this week, the Moscow oil refinery was hit. Targets were also struck in the Rostov region and in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This is a fully justified response to… pic.twitter.com/NhFl4FlT9L

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 18, 2026

Russia, for its part, fired missiles into Kyiv, also for the second time this week, following the attack that damaged the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery and drew international condemnation. Russia denied striking it.

In Moscow, Reuters saw flames and plumes of smoke over the densely populated southeastern district of Kapotnya, where the refinery supplying the capital is located.

According to the Kyiv Post, the facility supplies nearly 40% of the Moscow region’s petrol and 50% of its diesel fuel.

Russia’s Lavrov says Moscow will stage ‘massive, regular’ strikes on Ukraine

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said several drones reached the refinery, adding that a shopping center also sustained minor damage.

Russia’s defense ministry said 555 drones were shot down across the country. Sobyanin said 180 were shot down around Moscow alone. State news agency TASS said the attack on Moscow was one of the biggest this year.

pic.twitter.com/CARe4Da9v2

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 18, 2026

Zelensky confirmed the attack on the refinery. Ukraine’s military said that Ukrainian forces also hit an oil depot in Russia’s southern Rostov region and another two bridges as Kyiv intensifies its campaign to hamper Russia’s logistics.

In response to the attacks, Russia will carry out “massive coordinated strikes on a regular basis” against Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

More than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has increasingly been targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure with long-range drone strikes, while Russia has continued firing missiles at Ukrainian cities.

Zelensky pushes for face-to-face talks with Putin

After years when Russian forces made slow but relentless gains on the battlefield, Kyiv says its improved drone capabilities are shifting the war’s momentum in its favor, providing new impetus for Moscow to agree a peace deal.

Zelensky has launched a diplomatic push to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate an end to the war.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’ I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted on X.

Moscow, which says Ukraine is losing, has demanded Kyiv cede its territory before it will discuss peace.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that Ukraine’s latest attacks on Russia are delaying the prospect of direct contact between President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky, Interfax reported.

Zelensky called the attacks on Russia a “totally fair response to Russian strikes on our cities and communities and another important result of the work of our soldiers on facilities that provide support for the Russian war machine.”

A drone strike on Tuesday on Moscow’s refinery had already halted operations there, sources said, adding to widespread damage to Russian energy facilities.

Russia, the world’s third-biggest oil producer and a major oil and fuel exporter, is set to import fuel by sea this month as it seeks to manage a gasoline shortage following Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries, according to industry sources.

What happened in Ukraine’s attack on Russia?

In the surrounding Moscow region, a high-rise residential building, an industrial facility, and a number of private houses were damaged in the drone attack, which also injured 16 people, the regional governor said.

Flights were suspended at all Moscow airports, and traffic was shut down on the highway around the capital near the refinery. Sheremetyevo airport, Moscow’s busiest, said it had been evacuated.

Elsewhere in Russia, officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a man in his car in the Belgorod border region, and a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and caused a fire at two commercial facilities in the Rostov region.

Meanwhile, explosions rang out in Kyiv, and airstrike alerts were issued for most of Ukraine’s territory.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said Russia was attacking the capital with ballistic missiles. There were no further reports from the authorities on damage or casualties in the city.

Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said one person was killed in a drone attack overnight, while a man was killed and a further 11 people were injured in a Russian attack on the southeastern city of Dnipro early on Thursday, the regional governor said.

Antisemitic incidents hit an all-time high in Germany since monitoring began in 2025 with 8,725 recorded offenses, according to the new annual report by RIAS. 

RIAS is Germany’s independent antisemitism monitoring network, which tracks both criminal and non-criminal antisemitic incidents.

In 2025, RIAS recorded 8,725 antisemitic incidents, equating to roughly 24 cases per day.

Across the year, RIAS documented 178 physical attacks and 257 threats. For example, in the city of Kehl, four members of a Jewish community were insulted and spat on outside a Jewish prayer room. In the state of Hesse, a rabbi was shoved in a supermarket in front of his children and had his phone snatched. 

In addition, there were four cases of extreme violence, including a terrorist attack at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. 

Nearly 43% of all documented threats occurred online, including death threats. For example, a Jewish woman repeatedly received threats on Facebook, including an image of a canister of Zyklon B accompanied by the comment: “Still in stock.”

Far-right antisemitic incidents were higher than ever

Interestingly, far-right antisemitic incidents were higher than ever; RIAS recorded 807 far-right antisemitic incidents in 2025, the highest figure since nationwide monitoring began in 2020. In For example, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a far-right group shouted on a bus, “Jews to the wall,” mocked the Holocaust, and threatened refugees as well as passengers who attempted to intervene.

RIAS noted that, recently, far-right antisemitism has not only become more frequent, but has also appeared in increasingly open and violent forms.

Benjamin Steinitz, Executive Director of RIAS, said “the continuing normalization of antisemitism threatens democratic culture as a whole.”

“What is needed is not only decisive action by the state, the justice system, and public administration, but also a resilient civil society. Germany’s federal and state governments must ensure permanent funding for civil society reporting and counseling centers.”

Most frequently documented form of antisemitism in 2025 was Israel-related antisemitism

Bianca Loy, co-author and research advisor at RIAS, highlighted the fact that the most frequently documented form of antisemitism in 2025 was Israel-related antisemitism. Israel-related antisemitism was documented in two-thirds (68%) of all incidents.

“Although the war in the Middle East played a central role, individual developments in the conflict, such as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, had little impact on the case numbers,” she said. “these developments are concerning. There is a risk that antisemitic positions will increasingly become socially acceptable.”

“The annual report by RIAS shows that antisemitism in Germany appears to be advancing unchecked,” said Dr. Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism. “Antisemitism does not only threaten Jewish people. It threatens our democracy, our freedom, and the moral core of our republic.”

Karin Prien, Federal Minister for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth said that the continued high numbers of Israel-related antisemitism as well as the sharp increase in far-right motivated incidents are “particularly alarming.”

“Antisemitic incidents mean fear, insecurity, and restrictions in everyday life for Jewish people. When people hide their identity, do not openly wear religious symbols, or avoid certain places, this affects our entire society and our ability to live together,” she said. 

The High Court of Justice on Thursday asked the Knesset to consider voting for a third time for attorney Michael Rabello’s appointment to state comptroller after the first two votes were disputed.

“There is apparently an undesirable cloud; some of the votes are problematic on their face. MKs acted contrary to the Knesset legal adviser’s instructions when creating a new rule allowing filming,” said Deputy Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. 

“We are proposing a procedural remedy, that you do it again, only in a clean and proper process. That is our proposal. We will wait until Sunday for your responses on this matter.”

Earlier, the High Court pressed petitioners, the Knesset, and attorneys for the Likud and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over whether the disputed vote that elected attorney Michael Rabello as state comptroller was tainted by a violation of the legally required secret ballot.

The hearing, which was still ongoing Thursday afternoon, was held before Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg and Justices Gila Canfy-Steinitz and Ruth Ronnen, who are hearing seven petitions seeking to cancel Rabello’s election and order a new vote.

Rabello, Netanyahu’s longtime personal attorney, was elected on June 3 after a dramatic two-round Knesset vote. In the first round, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron received 60 votes, and Rabello received 57, leaving both short of the 61 votes required to be elected state comptroller. A second round was then held, during which opposition MKs alleged that coalition lawmakers had been instructed to document their vote behind the curtain, despite the legal requirement that the state comptroller be elected by secret ballot.

After the second round was restarted, Rabello defeated Elron 61-57.

The petitions argue that the vote was not merely politically controversial but legally defective because the documentation of ballots undermined the secrecy intended to allow MKs to vote freely and according to conscience. Some of the petitions also argue that Rabello cannot serve as state comptroller because of his years-long professional ties to Netanyahu, the Likud, the Prime Minister’s Office, and ministers whose conduct the comptroller may be required to audit.

Elron, who lost to Rabello in the second round, filed a short position joining the petitioners’ arguments regarding the alleged illegality of the second vote. He did not ask the court to declare him state comptroller or install him in the role, but joined the requested remedy of canceling the election.

Rabello state comptroller election faces High Court legal challenge

Sohlberg made clear at the start of the hearing that the central issue before the court was the secrecy of the Knesset vote and whether any breach of that secrecy affected the result. He also addressed the unusual fact that Elron, a recently retired Supreme Court justice, is a respondent in the case, saying the justices naturally had friendly relations with him and had worked with him, but that where all the justices could be seen as conflicted, “someone needs to hear” the case.

The justices appeared skeptical at times of the sweeping remedy requested by the petitioners, particularly the argument that any photographing of a ballot should automatically lead to cancellation of the election. Ronnen asked whether such a rule could give people a tool to sabotage elections by filming themselves voting and then demanding the ballot be voided.

At the same time, the bench also pressed the Knesset and the respondents on whether the events in the second round could have chilled MKs who may have wanted to break ranks.

Canfy-Steinitz said that if the Knesset speaker created a “new rule” by saying MKs could document their vote, the court needed to examine whether that may have affected the result, “in the sense that it could chill the position of MKs who maybe wanted to deviate from the line.”

She also said the issue was not only what happened behind the curtain, noting that envelopes used in the vote are meant to be sealed. In a case where MKs showed their vote outside the curtain, she said, “We are effectively dealing here with the removal of the curtain,” calling it “much more basic” than the question of self-documentation.

Attorneys for the petitioners argued that the filming turned the second round into a loyalty test.

Attorney Eliram Bakal, representing Yesh Atid, argued that MKs changed their vote between the first and second rounds and that there was no explanation for the “burst of self-documentation” in the second round if the documentation was truly spontaneous. Ronnen responded that the very existence of a second round assumes that some MKs may change their vote.

Attorney Eliad Shraga, representing the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, argued that “aggressive pressure” led to the loss of support for Elron and that the documentation created an improper “test of loyalty” to the prime minister. He compared MKs agreeing to photograph their vote to MKs agreeing that it is permissible to run a red light.

The Knesset’s legal position, represented in court by attorney Yitzhak Bart, was that the petitions should be dismissed because there was no evidence that MKs had been ordered to document their votes. Bart said a request or instruction from someone able to pressure an MK to document a secret vote would be illegal and invalid, but argued that no such instruction had been proven.

He said the gap between the first and second rounds did not prove that an instruction had been given, and that the Knesset had contacted relevant figures, who denied the allegations. Ronnen pressed him on why seven MKs documented their vote only in the second round, asking whether that could indicate that something had been said to them.

Attorney Ilan Bombach, representing Netanyahu and the Likud, also argued that there was no evidence of an instruction to document the vote or of improper pressure that changed the result. Asked by Sohlberg why four MKs changed their vote in the second round, Bombach said, “These things can happen.”

On the conflict-of-interest arguments, the justices seemed more hesitant to accept the claim that Rabello’s professional ties to Netanyahu require automatic disqualification before a conflict-of-interest arrangement is even finalized.

Attorney Amit Mor, one of the petitioners’ attorneys, argued that Rabello had represented Netanyahu in 55 matters, including both civil proceedings and High Court petitions, and had also represented the Likud, the Prime Minister’s Office, and several ministers. He argued that a conflict-of-interest arrangement would not be sufficient.

Canfy-Steinitz responded that perhaps the court should first wait to see the arrangement, saying the prevailing view is that conflicts of interest can be addressed through such arrangements and that no person has been disqualified from office solely because of a conflict of interest, however broad.

Ronnen similarly asked why Rabello should be disqualified from the entire role if he could be barred from handling specific issues.

Thursday’s hearing also included repeated interruptions by Likud MK Tally Gotliv, who was warned by Sohlberg before being removed from the courtroom after another outburst. Rabello has argued in his preliminary response that there is no legal basis to cancel the election, that his professional background was known to MKs before the vote, and that any conflict of interest can be handled through a standard arrangement once he takes office.

The Knesset, Netanyahu, Likud, and Rabello have all asked the court to reject the petitions.

The case places the court at the center of one of the most sensitive institutional appointments in Israel: the selection of the state comptroller, who is tasked with auditing the government, public bodies, and public administration. The role is especially significant as the next comptroller is expected to handle questions relating to the failures surrounding October 7 and the war, as well as the continuing legal clash over the outgoing comptroller’s attempts to audit those failures.

US President Donald Trump arrived at the Group of Seven summit in France this week with a new US-Iran agreement to sell, a restless Israeli ally to discipline, and a familiar message for the world: He alone had done what others would not.

The result was a diplomatic week that sounded less like a standard summit communiqué and more like a rolling Trump production – part peace announcement, part grievance session, part loyalty test.

The sharpest remarks were aimed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose latest strikes in Lebanon angered Washington just as Trump was trying to lock down an agreement with Tehran. Speaking in Évian-les-Bains, Trump said Netanyahu “has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” calling the Beirut strike “vicious” and “too much.”

Then came the line built for headlines.

“Without us, without the United States, there would be no Israel,” Trump said, according to CBS News. “Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did.”

Trump calls Netanyahu ‘very difficult’

It was not the only sweeping claim. In an interview reported by The New York Times and quoted by Israeli media, Trump described Netanyahu as “a very difficult guy” and said the Israeli leader should be grateful for the Iran agreement. “Because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours,” he said.

That remark captured the new tension in the relationship. Trump continues to frame himself as Israel’s indispensable protector, but he is also increasingly willing to speak about Netanyahu as a problem to be managed rather than a partner to be praised.

The irritation has been building. Axios reported earlier this month that  Trump erupted at Netanyahu in a profanity-laced call over Israeli escalation in Lebanon, accusing him of endangering the US-led Iran talks. CBS News reported that Trump later told Fox News he had asked Netanyahu, “What the f*** are you doing?” after the Beirut strikes.

Israel divided on Trump deal 

Israel’s political class, meanwhile, has been divided not over whether Iran remains a threat, but over whether Trump’s deal restrains Tehran or rewards it. Netanyahu has avoided a full public rupture, saying the decision belongs to Trump while insisting that Israel must protect its own security interests. Far-right ministers were less restrained. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said, “Trump’s agreement does not bind us,” while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the deal bad for Israel and “the entire free world.”

The discomfort was not confined to Jerusalem. At the G7, French President Emmanuel Macron was caught on a hot mic telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had had a “difficult discussion” with Trump. The moment offered a small but revealing glimpse of how other leaders now work around the American president: carefully, quietly, and with the microphone ideally off.

Trump, for his part, presented the Iran deal as proof of leverage, not compromise. He said the memorandum of understanding clearly states that Iran will not obtain a nuclear weapon and that he was open to sending the agreement to Congress for review. He also warned that “all hell will rain down” if Tehran tries to build a bomb.

For Israel, the week exposed an uncomfortable reality. Trump remains popular, powerful, and rhetorically committed to Israel’s survival. But his support now comes with public scolding, transactional accounting, and an unmistakable demand that Netanyahu not interfere with the deal Trump wants to call his own.

Now that Iran appears to have signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States, the clock will be ticking towards what comes next. There are concerns in the region that conflict could return. The nuclear file, Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s frozen assets, and other issues remain to be solved.

At the center of what comes next will be Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. His father, the former Supreme Leader, was killed at the outset of the conflict. However, there are questions about how the new Khamenei actually holds onto power.

“For the Supreme Leader, surviving the war may be the easiest part, and the hardest struggle, which is transforming the title of Iranian Supreme Leader into real leadership, began as soon as it ended,” Al-Ain media in the UAE noted this week. Al-Ain is a publication with unique sources and access in some areas of the region, and it also reflects thinking in the UAE. As such, it is worth listening to what it has to say.

IRGC reaches unprecedented level of power, report warns

The report, which is partly based on a separate report from The Telegraph in the UK, noted that “the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its generals have never before reached this level of power, especially given their claims that they saved the regime from collapse, which will put Khamenei’s son at risk if he does not maintain the loyalty of these generals.” It is worth noting that Mojtaba has not appeared in public and is assumed to have been wounded in the February 28 attacks.

The new Iranian regime is considered to be more “militarized” than the former one. It’s worth noting that a month and a half before the attack by the US and Israel, Iran’s IRGC had massacred tens of thousands of protesters. The IRGC is thus considered stronger in Iran today.

“In theory, Khamenei Jr. has the final say; the constitution makes him the supreme commander of the armed forces, and no important decision becomes binding until he approves it. But this authority is worthless if the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard, whose position is still unclear, do not submit to it,” the report stated.

Iranian president could be ‘fall guy’ for Islamic regime

An Iranian official told the Telegraph that Iran has seen a shift in the balance of power. In fact, a separate source told The Jerusalem Post earlier this week that some believed hardliners in the IRGC might stage a coup to prevent a deal. Iran’s president, who is considered a moderate, has been the public face of the deal recently. He could become the fall guy.

The Al-Ain report added that “Khamenei’s style of governance and the extent of his authority have yet to be tested, and another official described the situation as being like a ‘closed watermelon’ that cannot be judged until it is opened.” The report noted that “in order for Mojtaba to effectively govern, he must dismantle the networks built by his father, marginalize the generals, outmaneuver rivals, and place his loyalists in power, and he has already begun to do so, according to The Telegraph.”

The Supreme Leader has a parallel intelligence structure that includes the Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence arm. The report argues that the younger Khamenei will follow what his father did in 1989 when he assumed power.  “There is a possibility of getting rid of Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary,” the report added. “Loyalists like Ahmad Vahidi, the Revolutionary Guard commander who is considered close to Mojtaba, may also be eliminated in the end despite their seniority.”

Al-Ain goes on to note that “Mojtaba is in a much weaker position than his father, who had years ahead of him to consolidate his power and had the blessing of the founder of the revolution, and his status as a first-generation revolutionary who spent time in the Shah’s prisons.” The uncertainty could lead to policy innovation or internal conflicts. 

Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman MK Simcha Rothman said Wednesday that work had begun on the planned court complex in Atarot where hundreds of terrorists suspected of taking part in the October 7 massacre are expected to stand trial in a proceeding expected to pose extraordinary legal, logistical, and security challenges.

Rothman, who co-sponsored the law with Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, toured the designated site in the Atarot industrial zone in northern Jerusalem, near the Kalandiya crossing, where he said preparations had begun for the court complex.

Rothman said the tour was joined by Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yair Barkat, who was appointed by the IDF chief of staff as project manager for implementing the law, as well as representatives from the IDF Planning Directorate, the Israel Prison Service, and Central Command, who are handling the security and logistical challenges of transporting and trying high-risk defendants.

The start of work at the site, as Rothman described, would mark the transition from legislation to implementation. The Knesset passed the law last month by a 93-0 vote, creating a special framework for prosecuting terrorists involved in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and authorizing the tribunal to impose the death penalty.

The law was designed to deal with a legal challenge almost without precedent in Israeli history: how to prosecute hundreds of suspects allegedly involved in a mass terrorist attack that included murder, abduction, sexual violence, looting, and other crimes alleged to have been committed during the attack, while also preserving evidence, protecting witnesses, securing the proceedings, and allowing the public record of the massacre to be documented.

The framework of the law is meant to handle cases involving Hamas terrorists and others involved in the massacre, including Nukhba terrorists captured inside Israel. Possible charges are expected to range from terrorism and murder to sexual violence and genocide-related offenses.

The law also creates special procedural arrangements for the trials, including dedicated security provisions, audiovisual documentation, preservation of trial recordings, and periodic reporting to the Knesset.

The government, earlier this month, approved a budget of more than NIS 1 billion for the years 2026-2029 to implement the law, including construction of the court complex, prosecution offices, an IDF headquarters facility, secure transport systems, manpower, broadcasting infrastructure, communications, medical services, and other operational needs.

Bulldozers have already begun preparing ground, MK says

Rothman said Wednesday that bulldozers had begun preparing the ground at Atarot following approval of the special budgetary framework. He also said the process of recruiting designated judges was in its final stages, with the legal system preparing for the first indictments in the near future.

“The work to establish the complex where the Nukhba terrorists will be tried for the crimes they committed against our people and our state has already begun,” Rothman said.

Rothman said the lawmakers who initiated the law would continue to follow its implementation through oversight hearings, ongoing work with relevant authorities, and site visits.

“The goal is clear: to ensure that the preparations for the modern Eichmann trials are carried out efficiently and without unnecessary delays,” he said.

Malinovsky said the process had “started moving,” adding that the sponsors of the law would continue to oversee implementation through follow-up hearings, daily contact with officials, and additional site visits “to make sure the preparations for the trials are carried out efficiently and quickly.”

The site, Rothman said, is expected to be heavily fortified and secured to allow the regular transport of hundreds of Nukhba terrorists from prison facilities to the courtrooms under heavy guard.

Rothman’s announcement came on the same day that the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute expressed concern over the law establishing the special military tribunal, saying that accountability for the October 7 attacks must be pursued through proceedings that meet international fair-trial standards.

The organization pointed to several aspects of the law that it said required scrutiny, including the composition of the tribunal, judicial appointments, possible deviations from ordinary evidentiary and procedural rules, multiple-defendant indictments, proceedings held in absentia in certain cases, and the tribunal’s authority to impose the death penalty by a simple majority of judges.

The IBAHRI also raised concerns about the use of military tribunals for civilians in capital cases, saying that proceedings involving the death penalty require strict adherence to fair-trial guarantees.

October 7 trials sparks major debate for lawmakers

Those concerns are part of a broader debate that has accompanied the law since its advancement. The Court Administration warned lawmakers in December that any model chosen for prosecuting October 7 perpetrators would require sweeping legislative changes, major budget allocations, secure facilities, protected witness arrangements, dedicated judges, orderly evidence rules, and careful preservation of fair-trial guarantees.

Supporters of the law have argued that ordinary criminal proceedings cannot properly handle the scale, gravity, and historical significance of the October 7 cases, and that the trials must allow victims, families, and the public to see the perpetrators held accountable.

Critics, including human-rights groups and some legal scholars, have warned that the combination of military-court proceedings, altered procedural rules, mass prosecutions, and the possibility of capital punishment could expose Israel to international legal criticism and future court challenges.

The first indictments have not yet been filed, but the announcement marked one of the clearest signs so far that the special tribunal framework is moving from legislation into implementation.

Keshet Neev contributed to this report.

Thirty-seven years ago, a slightly skinnier version of myself entered the Israeli Security Zone in South Lebanon with my Givati platoon. We were all geared up with state-of-the-art tactical battle equipment of the day. 

Being the platoon’s combat medic, in addition to my weapon, helmet, flak jacket, heavy tactical vest, ammunition, and grenades, I had a lot of medical equipment, anti-mine shoes, and a portable stretcher on my back. 

Before we set out on our daily patrols and nightly anti-terrorist ambushes on the other side of the international border, whatever our mission briefing was, it always ended with the same mantra: “Our mission is to defend the northern settlements (from Hezbollah terrorists).”

My 20-year-old self would have been incredulous to learn that, almost four decades later, I am in the same place, with the same mission statement. Despite the intervening years, nothing seems to have changed. It is a depressing situation. 

I see young men and women in my PALMAR medical extraction unit who are not much older than I was the first time I was in Lebanon. The thought that they will be there in another four decades is a grim one.

I would also not have thought when I fought to reenlist in the IDF after the October 7 massacre – thus becoming the oldest combat medic in the IDF – that I would still be serving on an emergency call-up almost three years later, with Hamas still in power in an albeit reduced area in Gaza and Hezbollah – despite being weakened – still calling the shots in Lebanon.

I distinctly remember the feeling of waiting on an ambush in Lebanon. It felt like a game of Russian roulette. 

Many thoughts went on in our heads as we lay for hours in enemy territory protecting our northern border, chief of which was “Will it be our turn tonight to fight the Hezbollah terrorists attempting to infiltrate our homeland to leave a trail of murder and destruction?”

In today’s Lebanon, the troops have a similar feeling when wondering if they will encounter the still unsolved problem of fiber-optic first-person view (FPV) explosive drones.

I attended my first funeral during this time. I remember the sea of purple berets and the bereaved siblings, parents, and grandparents as if it were yesterday. Psychologists refer to this as a “reverse-order death.” In a normal world, children are supposed to bury their parents, not the other way round. 

Nothing seems to have changed, as every week we are still losing our best. As Billy Joel observed, “only the good die young.” This is not even factoring in the many wounded soldiers who my unit treats on an almost daily basis, whose lives will never be the same again. For what?

We never seem to be able to win a war. As Matti Friedman observed, a war needs to have a clear strategic goal to succeed. We are still fighting Hezbollah, which is still entrenched in every element of Lebanese society. We don’t know what victory looks like.

The North has been largely abandoned since October 7. Tens of thousands of residents are still unable, or do not want, to return home. We face the grim reality that this war of attrition seems to be never-ending. 

Israel is the only country that is not allowed, by its “allies,” to win a war. What is it all for, if we are not allowed to win this war?

The writer, currently stationed in Lebanon, is the oldest combat medic in the IDF. His latest book, Heroes of Palmar, How One IDF Unit Revolutionized Combat Medicine in Gaza, is available on Amazon and from Gefen Publishers.

A global conspiracy of “Jewish supremacists” is preventing a Los Angeles man from attending the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, according to a lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Concord.

The plaintiff filed his lawsuit under the John Doe pseudonym to protect himself from the supposedly deadly conspirators. But that could change. On Friday, Judge Stephen McAuliffe ruled that there is no compelling legal reason to allow the lawsuit to proceed anonymously.

“Doe does assert that his physical safety will be threatened if he is not allowed to proceed pseudonymously because ‘Jews commonly harm or murder their opposers.’ But, those allegations, unsupported by any particularized evidentiary showing, are, to put it charitably, not credible,” McAuliffe wrote.

Doe’s original complaint against Dartmouth claims he was rejected from the business school despite having good grades. He is, of course, representing himself.

“Plaintiff applied with a GMAT test score higher than 99% of test-takers and higher than approximately 95% of 2024’s entering class. Plaintiff applied with an undergraduate GPA within the normal range of admitted students and a long career of impressive and unique accomplishments. Despite Plaintiff’s outstanding qualifications, Dartmouth notified Plaintiff on May 2, 2024, that his application for admission was denied,” Doe states.

Doe claims he was rejected for being white

The obvious reason for the rejection, according to Doe, is that he is a White gentile.

“Nearly all ‘White’ students at Dartmouth, including the business school, are Jews. Non-Jewish Whites are nearly completely excluded from admission unless they meet a few criteria that are not required of Jews or non-Whites: they must be female, they must be queer, or they must be veterans of the US armed forces,” Doe claims.

Doe’s complaint against Dartmouth is rife with antisemitic, unfounded claims: Jews oppressed and enslaved the ancient Egyptians; the Holocaust is fictional; Jews committed genocide against Germans during World War II; and Jews murdered President John F. Kennedy.

Notably, Doe is suing other prestigious business schools that rejected him. Doe has a lawsuit against Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. All of Doe’s complaints blame “Jewish supremacists” for his failure to get into an MBA program.

Dartmouth declined to respond to a request for comment.

Does claims ‘HR Jews’ would impede future job search

As in his lawsuit against Dartmouth, judges in the other cases have ruled he cannot pursue his lawsuits and remain anonymous, which Doe claims puts his career and life in danger due to the number of powerful Jews around the world.

He wrote that “HR Jews” would make sure he was never hired at a traditional job, and that “Venture Capital Jews” would make sure he could never get investment funding for any business. Doe argues that if his name were known, he would be called a “Nazi,” which would be a difficult problem for his social life. But the most dire claim is that Jewish agents would target him for assassination. Doe claims to know this firsthand. Possibly.

“Plaintiff may have already survived an assassination attempt by Jewish agents. Through a series of unlikely events, seemingly contrived by apparently conspiring Jews, Plaintiff was enticed by an attractive, busty Jewess and wet his mouth with a drink of partially unknown provenance. Hours later, Plaintiff experienced overwhelming fatigue and ‘twilight consciousness’ for hours – an event never experienced by Plaintiff prior or since. Plaintiff suspects he was poisoned by Jews,” he wrote.

None of this convinced McAuliffe or the other judges.

“Doe fails to plausibly allege with any degree of specificity a legitimate threat to his physical safety,” McAuliffe wrote.

Doe has until next week to appeal McAuliffe’s ruling or file his case under his actual name.

A rabbi in Ocean County is being sued by a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her when she came to him for financial help, then defamed her on a website and in fliers he posted near her children’s school.

Avraham Appel, of Jackson, abused his position as a trusted community leader to sexually assault and exploit the woman, an Israeli immigrant who came to him as a single mother struggling to pay bills, according to the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of Ocean County.

Appel is a prominent rabbi and Rosh Kollel, or head of a Jewish institute for advanced Talmudic study, who is based in Lakewood and Jackson, according to court papers filed January 5.

Appel did not respond to calls to his home and cellphone seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The woman claims she confided in one of her children’s schoolteachers in early 2020 that she was in significant financial distress and having trouble paying for daycare.

The teacher suggested she contact Appel, according to the suit.

In February 2020, Appel arranged to meet with the woman at a local Starbucks.

“During that meeting, Appel presented himself to (the woman) as a rabbi, mentor, advisor, and friend whom (the woman) could trust, confide in, and depend on,” the lawsuit states.

Appel, who had experience in real estate, allegedly offered the woman an opportunity to solicit investments on his behalf and to “draw,” or advance, money against future commissions.

Rabbi issues payments to woman after alleged sexual assault

In June and July 2022, Appel issued six payments to the woman, totaling $20,000 and characterized as advances or loans. He also provided the woman with “financial assistance” so she could buy groceries and pay medical expenses and water bills, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims most of the money was meant to buy the woman’s silence after he attacked her on June 1, 2022.

The suit alleges Appel visited the woman while she was alone at home and sexually assaulted her as she pleaded for him to stop.

“Appel was abusive and unrelenting. The more (the woman) pled for mercy, the more aggressive Appel became,” the suit alleges.

Before leaving her home, he allegedly ordered her to delete Ring camera footage that showed him arriving.

In the months after the assault, Appel “forced himself upon” the woman and took sexual advantage of her on other occasions, the suit claims.

Appel also allegedly bombarded the woman with demands for sexual acts and sent her a barrage of text and WhatsApp messages containing crude and graphic sexual content.

“I want to squeeze your breasts,” one text allegedly said. In another, he sent the woman a photo of his penis, the suit alleges.

In July 2024, the woman met with another rabbi and shared evidence of the sexual assault and “other incidents involving Appel,” the suit claims.

Woman offered $50,000 for therapy after sexual assault

Appel later contacted his attorney and the two offered the woman $50,000 to cover her future therapy expenses.

The money would be available only if the woman signed a release of any claims related to the assault and agreed to keep all incidents between them confidential, according to the suit.

The woman refused to accept the money or sign the agreement, the suit says.

Appel then launched a campaign to destroy the woman “personally and professionally,” according to the lawsuit.

On December 15, 2025, the woman became aware of a website with her photos that claimed she was “a danger to all Jews,” and warned the public to stay away from her, according to the complaint.

The website disclosed the woman’s address, claimed she stole money, and characterized her as a “thief.”

Moreover, Appel and possibly others posted signs smearing the woman. The signs were posted at public locations throughout the community, including the school her two children attended, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit claims sexual assault, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, and conspiracy.

The complaint also alleges Appel breached his duty as a rabbi to conduct himself with loyalty and in good faith.