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Béla Guttmann may be the most consequential soccer coach you’ve never heard of. But if it weren’t for Guttmann, you may never have heard of Pelé.

And Brazil may never have become the greatest soccer-playing country on Earth.

That’s because Guttmann changed the shape of modern Brazilian soccer – and changed the sport forever – when he imported the revolutionary 4-2-4 system from Hungary to Sao Paulo in 1957. A year later, Brazil won the first of five World Cups, and the joga bonito was born.

But what Guttmann brought to Brazil isn’t nearly as interesting as how he got it there. That’s just one of the fascinating stories in “The Beautiful Game… The Untold Story,” the exhibit that will open the Holocaust Museum LA on Sunday at the Goldrich Cultural Center, a $70-million expansion that will double the size of the Pan Pacific Park museum’s campus to 70,000 square feet.

The exhibit was unveiled during a private reception on Saturday, followed by a free preview day open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The grand public opening will take place in August.

Exhibit to launch alongside World Cup

The show’s launch coincides with eight local World Cup matches, which kicked off with the United States’ 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday at SoFi Stadium, and it shines a light on the important but largely overlooked relationship between Jewish life and the global game, as well as how Jewish innovators like Guttmann shaped the modern rhythm, style, and culture of the sport.

“It was in the same intellectual level as jazz, as art and everything modern and progressive,” journalist Allon Sander, who helped curate the exhibit, said of Jewish participation in European soccer in the years before World War II.

“The origin of the game and how it intersects with Jews and the Holocaust and the impact that these Jewish footballers and coaches had to shape the game and help popularize the sport is so fascinating,” added Beth Kean, the museum’s CEO. “And it’s an unknown history.”

Much of that story can be told through Guttmann, who was born in Budapest in the final year of the 19th century and developed into one of the sport’s first Jewish stars, representing Hungary in the 1924 Olympics and playing for nine teams in two countries before retiring to become a coach.

But none of that success mattered when the Hungarian government began introducing anti-Jewish laws in 1938, costing Guttmann his job and nearly his life when he was sent to a Nazi forced-labor camp, where he was tortured. Just days before he believed he would be shipped to Auschwitz, which meant certain death, he escaped alongside Erno Erbstein, another Jewish coach.

Erbstein revolutionized soccer in Italy before dying in 1949, along with the entire Torino team, when their plane crashed into a hilltop outside Turin. Four years ago, he was inducted into the Italian soccer hall of fame. Guttmann, meanwhile, who lost much of his family in the Nazi death camps, would go on to coach for 42 years in 14 countries, winning championships in six of them, yet only staying in a single place for more than two years just once.

“He’s running away from his demons,” said Ronen Dorfan, a journalist and sports historian based in Budapest whose research was instrumental in putting the exhibit together. “His father was murdered, his sister was murdered. You never know how you survived in Budapest during the war, so he had guilt feelings.”

The exhibit was designed in three sections: the first devoted to the years before World War II, the second is about the Holocaust, and the third is the postwar years. And while it details Jewish participation in, and influence on, global soccer, it also challenges the cliché that Jews were intellectuals, artists, and laborers but not athletes.

“We are always trying to challenge stereotypes. Stereotypes that we might have about ourselves and even stereotypes that we believe about others,” said Jordanna Gessler, the museum’s vice president of education and exhibits, who helped curate the show. “It’s crucial to help people find their place and their voice and really see the unity, the similarities between people.

“This is a story that was lost in time, and we’re really bringing it out,” Gessler added. “To really have this conversation and encourage people to explore stories that they might not know.”

One thing people might not know is that in the 1920s and ’30s, Europe’s best teams weren’t in England, Germany or France, but in Austria and Hungary, where they were led by Jewish players and coaches such as Hugo Meisl, Jozsef Braun, Arpad Weisz, Marton Bukovi, Gusztav Sebes, and Gyula Mandi. Weisz and Braun were both killed by the Nazis.

The surge of antisemitism and fascism in Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe helped spread the influence of those revolutionary players and coaches around the world.

“With the rise of the Reich and the Holocaust, the coaches ran away,” Dorfan said. “And they ran to every corner of the world, to Brazil, to Argentina, to Portugal [and] provided coaches to Real Madrid, to Barcelona, to Benfica, to Flamengo.

“There isn’t one of these clubs that doesn’t owe its tactical development in the ’40s and ’50s to the Jewish coaches, which came primarily from Hungary.”

The primary tactical development was the shift from the popular but rigid 2-3-5 formation, which required immense physical endurance and tactical discipline, to the fluid 4-2-4, which spread the wingers to the touch line and allowed for improvisation and creativity on the attacking end, a formation pioneered in Budapest in the 1920s.

Guttman brought the 4-2-4 spread formation to the New World

“They developed a more refined game of passing the ball, keeping it on the carpet rather than the English kick and run, and really put thought into tactical thinking,” Dorfan said.

Guttmann, who played or coached for more than two dozen teams in his career – including one in Romania that paid him in vegetables during the postwar period – brought the Hungarian approach to Brazil in 1957, when he coached São Paulo to a championship. After Vicente Feola, the manager Guttmann replaced at Sao Paulo, took over the national team a year later, he brought the formation with him, popularizing many of the tactics still used in modern soccer, such as fluid defensive wingers, overlapping full backs, the use of a withdrawn striker, and an attacking midfield.

“He is the whole exhibition in one man,” Dorfan said of Guttmann.

“Obviously if we wouldn’t have had the Holocaust, those [coaches] wouldn’t be kept out of Europe, Europe would be much stronger, much more developed. [And] then the development of Brazil or the success of Brazil would be coming much later,” Sander said.

Dorfan spent the better part of two years tracking down many of the more than 100 trophies, uniforms, photos, and trinkets that make up “The Beautiful Game” exhibit, a search that required determination, perseverance, and more than a little luck. Many of the items, because of their ties to Jewish athletes and teams, were hidden during the war and presumed lost. Others resurfaced only through detective work that sent Dorfan following leads that spanned decades and crossed more than a dozen borders.

That also costs money. So Alan Rothenberg, the man who, as president of the US Soccer Federation, first brought the World Cup to Los Angeles 32 years ago, stepped up to lead an effort that raised more than $1 million to fund the exhibit.

“The story really needs to be told, particularly with what’s going on right now with respect to antisemitism,” Rothenberg said. “It’s really important for people to realize what can happen. And soccer is a great vehicle to draw them in. The one main thing in the museum is bringing schoolkids in.”

The Nazis and their collaborators failed in their attempt to erase the history of Jewish soccer pioneers; in fact, they inadvertently popularized both the men and women and their ideas. But the sport also helped other Jews survive a dark period, and Kean said that may be the most beautiful and uplifting part of “The Beautiful Game.”

“The main reason we decided to do this exhibition in the first place is because for years so many survivors, when they talk about their life before the war, so many of them talk about soccer. So many of them were passionate and fond of the sport,” she said.

“We knew the exhibit opening was going to coincide with the World Cup. LA is going to be on the world stage. This is a great opportunity for the museum to get these stories out.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have to swallow the bitter pill of the United States’s agreement with Iran in order to say “I told you so” later on, the prime minister’s former communications adviser, Aviv Bushinsky, said in an interview with 103FM on Monday.

Bushinsky explained that despite the current disagreements between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that are visible and out in the open, Netanyahu would not easily give up Trump’s support:

“On the one hand, Netanyahu remembers and bears grudges, but on the other hand, he is very practical,” Bushinsky said. “One of his bitter rivals in Israeli politics, the man who also defeated him in an election, Ehud Barak, who said harsh things about Netanyahu, later served alongside him. He was his defense minister, and they were very close.”

“Netanyahu is much more instrumental in these matters. For example, yesterday the president rushed to congratulate Trump. Netanyahu, despite all the anger and bitterness, also congratulated Trump.”

“I think that, despite all the harsh words and the well-known ‘Trumpism,’ Netanyahu is very instrumental. He needs Trump, and despite these words, I still think there is a strong partnership there,” Bushinsky said.

He later said that the many interests within Trump’s administration, including the “evangelicals and many members of the Republican Party,” would prevent the alliance between Netanyahu and Trump from falling apart.

According to Bushinsky, the question now is whether Trump will provide Netanyahu with something.

“There are elections in another 100 days. Let us assume that nothing happens for another 60 days. So what, will we go to war three months before the elections?” Bushinsky asked. “Maybe that is Netanyahu’s dream, but Trump is somewhere else. He sees the stock markets rising, he sees the price of a barrel of oil falling, why does he need this again?”

Changing dynamics of Trump admin.

Bushinsky also drew attention to the changing dynamics within the US administration under Trump.

“At the beginning, Witkoff was supposed to be the negotiator; he disappeared, and suddenly, the prime minister of Pakistan is conducting the entire event. This has implications within the US administration,” explained Bushinsky.

“JD Vance is more dominant, and he said that Israel would not like this agreement. Beyond the personal issue, I think Netanyahu made something of a mistake in his gamble. Do you remember Paul the Octopus from the World Cup? Maybe he should have asked him.”

Bushinsky also criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war with Iran and the ceasefire negotiations, noting that it is “not a matter of him putting all his chips on Trump and Trump suddenly turning around: Netanyahu should have seen that the agreement was heading in this direction and either embraced Trump and said it was a tremendous agreement, or said it could be marketed, especially regarding nuclear weapons, which is the heart of the matter.”

“He did not go in that direction. He tried, in a creative way, perhaps even to blow up the agreement, with the bombing in Dahiyeh yesterday, in the hope that Iran would respond, and then there would be an escalation. It was the wrong gamble, and now Netanyahu himself has been left bitter.”

Bushinsky further analyzed how this strategic loss could affect Netanyahu ahead of the upcoming elections.

“I have this obsession with looking at past speeches. Netanyahu’s ‘sourpusses speech’ was in 2017. It is very interesting. Netanyahu talks about the ‘industry of gloom’ and says that everyone is upset by the results. What does he say there in that same speech? ‘Well done to Trump for withdrawing from the nuclear agreement.’ I think today’s bitter Netanyahu misses that Netanyahu of 2017,” said Bushinsky.

No news regarding Lebanon

He argued that Netanyahu is currently in an uncomfortable political position, having been “humiliated” with the announcement of the deal, adding that there is no news regarding the situation in Lebanon. 

“Will the IDF begin withdrawing from Lebanon? What achievements do we have against Hezbollah?” he asked. “At the moment, the situation is not good. In this position, Netanyahu does need Trump so that perhaps he can provide him with something on another front.”

“Less realistic is the idea that this whole agreement will collapse, and then Netanyahu will come out looking great,” Bushinsky noted. “He will say, ‘I told you so,’ and that would be right before an election.”

“In my assessment, if [Netanyahu] sees that he is trailing in the polls and that the opposition has a chance of securing a majority, I think he will retire. I think the thing that would embarrass Netanyahu most would be losing to his former aide, Naftali Bennett, or to some pathetic figure like that.”

The Knesset’s House Committee voted in favor on Monday of granting Likud MK Tally Gotliv immunity after she was indicted for disclosing and publishing classified confidential information in violation of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) law.

Eleven lawmakers voted in favor, while three voted against after three days of discussions on the matter that spanned from the early morning into the afternoon.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who filed the indictment, had attended two of the lengthy debates last week. She did not join the Monday panel, sending representatives from her office instead to present its stance. The Knesset plenum is still required to hold a vote on Gotliv’s immunity to finalize the decision.

Baharav-Miara filed the indictment against Gotliv in May for publishing the identity of the partner of protest leader Shikma Bressler, who, according to the indictment, was a Shin Bet employee. 

Under the Knesset Members’ Immunity Law, Gotliv was able to request that the Knesset grant her immunity from criminal prosecution before the case proceeded to court. The attorney-general has argued that Gotliv’s actions do not allow her to qualify for parliamentary immunity.

Gotliv said she revealed classified information knowingly

Last week, Baharav-Miara told the panel that Gotliv created a severe security risk by exposing the personal details of a Shin Bet agent during wartime.

Baharav-Miara presented the committee members with a top-secret document containing a professional opinion issued by the Shin Bet.

MKs who were shown the ultra-classified Shin Bet opinion said it stated that Gotliv endangered the life of an agent, as well as his children and family, according to a Channel 13 report.

The main part of the classified opinion detailed real examples of Shin Bet employees whose names were exposed, putting their lives at real and immediate risk, the report added.

Goltiv’s argument to the panel centered around the claim that sharing the identity was warranted, and she has not denied doing so. 

She told the panel that she did the act knowingly, arguing that it was justified and that she should receive immunity as an MK. Gotliv also focused for multiple hours on renewing claims that treason had taken place during the October 7 attacks and presented various theories on the matter.

Her remarks involved a lengthy personal attack against Baharav-Miara. She also screened a video last week to the panel with clips that she presented as “evidence of betrayal” during the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023. She made accusations of treason that she claimed took place during the attacks, presenting various theories to the panel and sparking outrage from opposition MKs.

The charge listed in the indictment against Gotliv is revealing and publishing confidential information under the Shin Bet law.

“Why are you indicting me? Because you do not know what to do with me. I acted under the authority of my immunity. I exposed [anti-judicial reform activist Shikma] Bressler’s partner,” Gotliv told last week’s panel.

Opposition coordinator Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari told the panel that “in all the hours Gotliv spoke, she did not once address the offense she is here for today.

“Not only did she take no responsibility, but she amplified the offense she committed. She provided no testimony or shred of evidence to support her claims,” she added.

Opposition lawmakers repeatedly spoke against committee chairperson Ofir Katz’s (Likud) conduct during the debates and penned a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) about it. They objected to the fact that he continuously kicked out MKs for interrupting Gotliv, while he allowed Gotliv to interrupt the A-G as she presented her stance to the panel.

Lawmakers were not permitted to make interruptions, or they would have been removed from the panel, and the rules stipulated that only MKs who participated in all meetings on the matter would be eligible to vote. Attendance for at least half the duration of a meeting would be considered participation. As a result, some opposition lawmakers were unable to partake in the deciding vote. 

The first debate also took place last week on Monday, despite the renewed conflict with Iran that had begun the evening before and continued throughout the day. This also led to sharp criticism from lawmakers.

Attorney General Baharav-Miara requested that MK Gotliv’s immunity be denied

Ahead of the first Knesset debate on Monday, Baharav-Miara wrote a letter to members of the panel, requesting that Gotliv’s immunity be denied.

She explained that the indictment against Gotliv was filed on the basis of “professional, objective, and good-faith discretion,” and that none of the grounds for parliamentary immunity applied in her case.

The indictment against Gotliv was filed in May, based on her publishing on January 24, 2024, a screenshot from the website Edna Karnaval that included the full name of Bressler’s partner and claims tying him to alleged contacts with then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar before the October 7 massacre.

Karnaval is described by the indictment as having a “critical and blunt” style, especially toward public officials.

The screenshot, according to the indictment, included a headline alleging that Mossad chief David Barnea had received information from the US that they had intercepted calls between Bressler’s partner and Sinwar four days before October 7. The article further claimed that Barnea had summoned Bressler to a meeting, and that the Prime Minister’s Office had later issued a denial of Gotliv’s earlier statements.

The indictment said that the post received in excess of 400,000 views, 1,000 comments, 1,000 likes, and 500 shares. It said that Gotliv’s X/Twitter account had over 65,000 followers at the start of the relevant period, and over 90,000 by the time the indictment was filed.

Prosecutors alleged that Gotliv revealed and published the name of the Shin Bet employee and his relationship with Bressler “knowingly, deliberately, continuously, demonstratively, and repeatedly.”

The indictment said that the post remained available online from the time of publication until the indictment was filed, and that Gotliv did not remove it from her account.

The indictment further said that Gotliv stood by the publication, repeatedly published similar statements in which she again identified Bressler’s partner as a Shin Bet employee, and publicly stated that she had no intention of removing, or apologizing for, what she had written.

The Mossad denied the claim at the time, calling it a “recycled falsehood” and saying Barnea had “never met, spoken to, or invited Shikma Bressler to a meeting.”

Earlier in May, Defense Minister Israel Katz signed a certificate of confidentiality ahead of the indictment filing, clearing a procedural obstacle that had delayed the case.

Gotliv has repeatedly framed the matter as a political and legal fight over her work as an MK. In her post ahead of the indictment, she wrote that the attorney-general had acted after Katz signed the confidentiality certificate, and said she had not yet received the indictment, adding that she expected to read it “soon at one of [Baharav-Miara’s] mouthpieces.”

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report. 

The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – announced on Monday that they would halt voting in favor of coalition legislation after the highly controversial daycare subsidies bill, which would expand state-funded daycare subsidies for draft evaders, was not placed on the plenum’s schedule as planned. 

The daycare bill has been pushed by the haredi parties and aims to change the eligibility criteria for daycare subsidies, basing it solely on a mother’s income, in a move that critics argue will encourage state subsidies for parents of draft evaders even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage.

“We have just informed the coalition chairman that, due to the failure to place the Daycare Bill on the Knesset agenda, we will not vote today in favor of coalition-sponsored legislation in the Knesset plenum,” Shas and United Torah Judaism stated in a joint message. 

The plenum schedule published shortly after the announcement did not include any coalition legislation. 

The haredi parties’ announcement comes as the coalition’s highly controversial bill to establish a political probe into October 7 failures was reportedly expected to be brought for its first reading vote in the plenum this week.

The coalition had reportedly lacked a majority to pass the daycare subsidies bill in its first reading, if the vote were to be held on Monday as planned. A group of lawmakers in the coalition have vowed to vote against the legislation, including MKs from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party.

Shas threatens to halt coalition over Torah Study, Basic Law bill

Last week, Shas also threatened to halt coalition voting if another contentious bill that seeks to enshrine Torah Study in the country’s Basic Law was not advanced. The legislation then passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday, after receiving government backing. 

The Basic Law: Torah Study legislation is part of a proposal pushed by haredi parties that seeks to encourage draft evasion and change the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits.

The move to enshrine Torah study into the country’s Basic Law would have sweeping implications on the status of haredim who evade service in the country and would, effectively, equate IDF soldiers to draft evaders.

Haredi party leaders have continuously pushed for Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, notably after more than two years of war.

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.

There have also been reports of an agreement between Netanyahu and the haredi parties to move the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties have sought. In return, they reportedly would receive advancement of the Basic Law: Torah Study and the haredi daycare subsidies bill.

The tensions come amid the coalition’s last Knesset session to advance its legislation before the upcoming elections, scheduled to take place no later than October 27.

Dozens of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters blocked Gilat Junction near Ofakim on Monday in response to the arrest of a draft dodger by Ofakim police.

Police officers managed to disperse the protests, which blocked Highway 25 and Route 241 after dozens of protesters arrived at the junction and began blocking traffic lanes, according to Israel Police.

“Traffic at the junction has reopened and is operating as normal,” the police said.

“After a police officer called out to the protesters to clear the road and that this was an illegal protest, the protesters began to lie down on the road and next to the wheels of vehicles,” the police added.

Earlier on Monday, 17 haredi men were indicted by the state for breaking into the home of IDF Chief Military Police Officer Brig.-Gen. Yuval Yamin during a protest on April 28 against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Charges of rioting, trespassing, malicious damage

The indictment includes charges of rioting, trespassing, and malicious damage against the defendants, including four minors, who allegedly broke through the locked gate outside Yamin’s Ashkelon home while his wife and two children, one of whom is a minor, were inside the house.

According to the indictment, the Ashkelon protesters carried signs with slogans like “War on the draft law, in actions and not words,” and shouted phrases like “We will die and not enlist” and “Yuval Yamin is a traitor.”

The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court received the indictment, which comes amid increasingly violent protests and riots against the arrest of draft dodgers and haredi enlistment in general.

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.

While the exact terms agreed upon by Washington and Tehran have not been publicly confirmed by the White House, experts speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Monday gave little weight to claims by the Islamic Republic that the US agreed to hand over $12 billion in frozen assets to Iran before the start of negotiations.

The semi-official regime-backed media outlet Mehr News Agency alleged that Washington had agreed to release the assets, along with an additional $12 billion over a 60-day negotiation period, citing a purported 14-point memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

Maj. (res.) Alexander Grinberg, an Iran expert from the Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security (JISS), told the Post that though he gave little weight to the Iranian report, he was somewhat more willing to consider reports that the US conceded more favorable terms to Iran after Israel’s Sunday strike on Beirut.

Israel targeted a Hezbollah command center in the Lebanese capital after a number of aerial attacks were launched by the Iran-backed terror group.

Statements made on Sunday by both US President Donald Trump and Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggested that the strike had threatened negotiations.

Iranian officials told the New York Times that the regime didn’t attack Israel in an apparent response to the Israeli military action after Trump intervened diplomatically.

Timing of asset unfreezing matters – expert

Shany Mor, senior research fellow at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), told the Post that it was also within the Islamic regime’s established pattern of behavior to use Washington’s relative discretion on deal conditions to publish their “wish list,” presenting it as a list of concrete terms agreed upon.

Mor stressed that the only favorable terms the US was likely to give Iran were those that could be quickly retracted should the regime fail in its promises or in negotiating in good faith.

“It’s important if it’s [the terms] entirely separate or comes with sanctions relief, and it’s important at what stage of an agreement it comes. So if the US is, for example, agreeing to unfreeze assets at the beginning of this ceasefire before even concluding a nuclear agreement that’s quite a bit graver than, for example, something that would be a partial unfreezing of assets conditional upon reaching agreements within 60 days,” Mor noted.

He added that Washington had not been subjected to enough pressure to justify agreeing to the terms published by the Iranian regime, having only been lightly touched by the inflation caused by the disruption to the vital Strait of Hormuz. Though Iran was able to inflict some costly damage on US facilities and interests in the region, which likely “changed the American calculation a bit,” the United States was at no great disadvantage – beyond Iran knowing that Washington had no interest in pursuing a long war.

With the regime on the verge of economic collapse, Mor said that Jerusalem would be disheartened to see the Islamic Republic receive a “lifeline.” “One hopes,” he added, “that the benefit of that, in terms of an agreement or anything else related to the nuclear issue, is commensurate.”

It would be “positive” for both the US and Israel if Washington were able to achieve a “decent” nuclear agreement within only 60 days, though Mor stressed that, “If the agreement is not very good, and the Iranians are getting sanctions relief and an unfreezing of assets, then they’re really just being given a great chance to rearm, rebuild, and continue their investment in proxy networks.”

Menahem Merhavi, a fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the Post that, even if the terms were advantageous to Tehran, such a “boost” would only help Iran in the “short run.”

“Knowing how the regime mismanages the country, I see no great relief in the long term,” he commented, adding that Iran had more internal troubles to grapple with, and it was too late to buy legitimacy from the Iranian people.

“I see more frustration ahead. They will have no one to blame for the dire conditions of the economy.”

From a Gulf perspective, Bahraini political analyst Ahmed Alkhuzaie, a managing partner at the Washington-based political consultants form Khuzaie Associates LLC, shared concerns that since the “financial injection offers Tehran short-term economic relief, the absence of strict oversight mechanisms raises the likelihood that renewed resources will be channeled into regional influence operations, sustaining networks of militias and proxies across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen,” which will continue to threaten the region.

Alkhuzaie also noted that the Islamabad Agreement relied on delays rather than real resolutions, “leaving the risk of Iran crossing the nuclear threshold intact, and fueling the prospect of a destabilizing regional arms race.”

Though the Israeli experts were fairly trusting in the Trump administration, Alkhuzaie made clear that the Gulf couldn’t afford to rely on “passive observation of deals struck behind closed doors” and argued that regional powers must push to be involved in ensuring “Iran’s regional conduct and respect for sovereignty” is a priority, “not merely its nuclear program.”

It’s too early to know what will come out of the agreement between the US and Iran, said Avner Vilan, a former senior security official and expert on Iran’s nuclear program, on Monday.

“Will we see tricks and gimmicks?” he asked, “The Iranians have no problem lying.”

“The nuclear issue, let’s see what is included in the final agreement. I think we will be surprised, with an asterisk. For that matter, there is a draft that was published yesterday by the Iranians. The draft says that Iran will completely stop its enrichment.”

“I have not yet seen this draft agreement; there have been many leaks, but we need to see what is written there. If what was published is what they actually signed, then this agreement is basically a general statement of intent in exchange for immediate relief from pressure,” Vilan explained.

What the Iranians are receiving in this deal

“Opening the Strait of Hormuz in both directions, a halt to the fighting, and then there will be a mechanism through which the Iranians will start receiving money, sanctions will be lifted, they will start giving up their nuclear project,” he said.

Vilan then spoke about what the Iranians would receive immediately after signing the agreement: ‘The immediate money they will get is the lifting of sanctions on oil exports. Iran has not exported oil since the start of the war, and that is a significant loss for them. Exports become legal, and sanctions on Iran will be removed.

“What exactly does that mean? The devil is going to be in the details, and those details are being dodged right now,” Vilan warned.

He then explained that certain key and complex issues would need more attention than this draft agreement seemed to provide.

Deal did not handle Iranian nuclear issue, missiles, proxies, or regime change, expert says

“The nuclear issue, they did not deal with it. Regime change, obviously not. Missiles, obviously not. The proxies, obviously not. They are not included in the agreement.”

“I have already said that the devil is in the details. I am not sure that Iran’s fast track right now toward a bomb will go through known sites. There is not a single word in the agreement about supervision,” Vilan explained.

He emphasized that what we currently know of the agreement relies on trusting the Iranian regime to stay true to their word, which they’ve proven time and time again that they won’t do.

“Iran says it is committing not to develop nuclear weapons and not to enrich, but there is no oversight mechanism that can verify that, so the Iranians know how to operate in secret and advance toward weapons without us knowing. The hard work is still ahead of us.”

Vilan summarized his opinions on the agreement with, “We may be surprised, but with the Iranians, you are never pleasantly surprised.”

Retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron told the High Court of Justice that the Knesset vote in which attorney Michael Rabello was elected state comptroller was conducted unlawfully, joining the core arguments raised in petitions seeking to cancel the result.

Elron’s position was filed as part of his preliminary response to the petitions challenging the June 3 vote. He did not argue that he should be declared the rightful state comptroller instead of Rabello, nor did he ask the court to install him in the role. Rather, Elron responded as a respondent in the case and said he joined the petitioners’ arguments “insofar as they relate to the illegality of the second vote” held in the Knesset.

He also joined the remedies requested by the petitioners, including canceling the election.

The filing is brief, but significant. Elron, who lost to Rabello in the second round of voting, is now formally telling the court that the process by which his opponent was elected was not merely politically improper, but illegal.

Opposition claims secret ballot undermined by coalition’s ask to film votes

Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal attorney, was elected state comptroller after a dramatic and disputed vote in the Knesset plenum. In the first round, Elron received 60 votes and Rabello received 57, leaving both candidates short of the 61 votes required for election.

A second round was then held, but was interrupted after opposition MKs alleged that coalition lawmakers were being instructed to document their votes behind the curtain, despite the fact that the state comptroller is elected by secret ballot.

After the vote was restarted, Rabello won 61 votes to Elron’s 57.

The controversy has since become one of the sharpest legal-political clashes around the appointment of a gatekeeper, because the state comptroller is tasked with auditing the government, public administration, and public bodies. The role is especially sensitive in the current period, as the next comptroller is expected to deal with the institutional fallout from the October 7 failures and the war.

The petitions argue that the secrecy of the vote was not a technical formality, but a central legal protection meant to allow MKs to vote freely, without political pressure, threats, rewards, or factional enforcement.

According to the petitions, the alleged filming turned the secret ballot into a loyalty test. Some petitioners argued that the documentation gave the vote transactional value and undermined the integrity of the entire election.

Speaker Ohana: Any instruction to photograph vote illegal, invalid, MKs chose to independently

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said during the plenum that any instruction to photograph the vote would be illegal and invalid, but also said MKs could choose to photograph themselves. After consultations, the second round was restarted.

The petitioners argue that this did not cure the defect, because the alleged pressure and the documentation continued to contaminate the vote.

The Knesset and Rabello have opposed the petitions, arguing in part that the petitioners rushed to court before exhausting other procedures and that the factual picture presented to the court was incomplete and misleading.

The High Court set a hearing for June 18. The petitions also seek interim relief that would prevent Rabello from pledging allegiance before the Knesset and taking office before the court rules. State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman is set to finish his term at the start of July.

The court will now have to decide whether the alleged breach of secrecy was serious enough to cancel one of the Knesset’s most sensitive appointments.

As Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage Sunday at Stanford’s commencement, scores of graduates stood, booed and walked out, turning a celebration for nearly 6,000 degree recipients into a protest over the tech giant’s work with Israel.

Pichai, a Stanford alumnus leading one of the world’s most powerful companies, appeared unfazed. His speech largely avoided the artificial intelligence debate that has shadowed other tech-heavy commencement addresses this season, instead offering graduates a familiar message about optimism, hard choices and pursuing work that excites them.

Sunday morning began as a typical Stanford celebration, with thousands of onlookers braving the late spring sun beneath a cloudless sky. Graduates walked in riding inflatable horses, wearing cardboard mock-ups of Lightning McQueen and Caltrain or, in the case of a few male graduates, only Stanford-red briefs and sunglasses beneath their graduation gowns.
It was all part of Wacky Walk, the decades-long Stanford tradition in which graduates wear costumes on their way to their commencement seats.

But the ceremony became a site of protest as Pichai prepared to take the stage.

“Sundar himself has modeled thoughtfulness, humility and determination in leadership and in making decisions of consequence to Google into the world,” Stanford President Jonathan Levin said as he introduced him.
Pichai earned a master’s degree in materials science and engineering from Stanford in 1995 before joining Google in 2004, where he played a key role in the development of Google Chrome. He later became CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet.

Even as Levin welcomed the CEO of “one of the most innovative companies in the world,” many students responded by booing. When Pichai took the stage, scores of students stood and walked out of the stadium, some chanting or booing as they left. The vast majority of students remained seated.

“What I see in front of me is how graduation should be,” Pichai said toward the beginning of his speech, even as students chanted “free, free Palestine” while they marched out. “Graduates celebrating together with the people you love who have supported you on your journey.”

Why did the students walk out on their own graduation?

The protest centered in part on Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract involving Google, Amazon and the Israeli government that has drawn criticism from students, activists and tech workers opposed to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The moment also came after a string of commencement speeches by tech leaders and AI boosters who have used graduation stages to promote AI, often drawing pushback from students. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was met with boos when he began talking about the rise of AI at the University of Arizona.

Pichai acknowledged the AI controversy while mostly sidestepping it.

“People have been giving me a lot of advice … about what not to say,” Pichai said, hinting that it was the “last two letters of my last name.”

But, he added, “the most timeless advice I’ve learned is technology agnostic.”

The speech itself offered the kind of hopeful, broad advice common to graduation ceremonies: every decision will not be life-changing, but some choices matter and graduates should recognize them when they come.

“You’re going to face a lot of moments in your life, only a few of them are really important, and you need to get them right,” Pichai said.

Drawing from his own life and career, Pichai told graduates that making the right choices could be distilled into three ideas: “choosing optimism,” “when you have the choice to work on something hard, say yes” and “when all else is equal, do what excites you.”

Anti-Israel activism on campus

Elsewhere on campus, many of those who walked out gathered for a “People’s Commencement” held in protest. They assembled around a small stage under the shade of oak trees, surrounded by banners declaring “PALESTINE WILL BE FREE” as speakers played Marvin Gaye and Nina Simone.

“The people here have worked so hard to achieve this, and we want to celebrate the radical possibility of education … rather than listen to an advertisement by Stanford and its corporate benefactors,” said Eva Jones, who had just graduated with a master’s degree and helped with the event.

The protest followed more than a year of campus activism around the war in Gaza and demands that Stanford divest from entities supporting Israel’s military action there.

In 2024, 13 people were arrested during a sit-in at the university’s administrative offices, and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen filed felony vandalism charges against 12. The case ended with a deadlocked jury, and a judge later disqualified Rosen from retrying it.

Last year, more than a dozen students and faculty members participated in a hunger strike for divestment. Stanford also became one of 60 universities under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for antisemitic discrimination and harassment following the protests.

A French-Israeli businessperson has bought eight apartments in the RAYK Borochov project in Kiryat Yovel in Jerusalem for NIS 24 million. The average price per apartment was NIS 3 million and the average price per square meter was NIS 34,000. All the apartments were purchased for investment.

The apartments purchased include four three-room apartments, each about 74 square meters in size, plus 9 square meters of balconies, parking and storage, at an average price of NIS 2.75 million per apartment, and four four-room apartments, each 96 square meters in size, plus a 12 square meter balcony, parking and storage, at an average price of NIS 3.33 million per apartment. The apartments are on floors 2-12 out of the tower’s 27 floors.

In recent years, prices for foreign residents have increased considerably due to the strengthening of the shekel. In the last three years, the shekel has strengthened by 20% against the dollar, and by 15% against the euro.

RAYK Borochov is at 49-53 Borochov Street in Kiryat Yovel and is being developed by Aspen Group unit Rayk Real Estate Group. As part of the project, four buildings will be demolished and replaced by 9 and 27 floor buildings with 190 units, a commercial frontage and underground car park..

The mix of apartments includes two to six-room apartments, and the project will also include shared facilities for tenants. The current deal is part of a broader marketing effort that has seen the company sell 25 apartments over the past two months.

According to the developers, the deals were signed at an average price of NIS 34,000 per square meter, which reflects a discount of about 3.5% on marketing prices. The buyer received benefits, including a credit of NIS 10,000 per apartment for upgrades, exemption from inflation-linked indexation, and exemption from lawyer’s fees.

Overall the deals carried out are 7%-8% lower than average prices in the market in the immediate area. The company makes savings in marketing and sales costs.

According to the Yad2 website, rental prices for new 3-room apartments in the neighborhood are around NIS 7,000 per month and rental prices for 4-room apartments are around NIS 8,500 per month, which is a potential annual return of 3%, which is significantly higher than the average return in the city, which is around 2%. These returns will only be realized when the project is occupied in about three years.

Investing early in the area 

RAYK Real Estate CEO Yossi Rayk says, “The current deal reflects a broader phenomenon that we have identified in recent months, which is the increased entry of private capital (local and international) into the Jerusalem residential market, with the understanding that the city currently presents high resilience and real improvement potential.

“Investors are looking for properties that embody an ‘accessibility premium’ with proximity to the light rail lines, and an urban specification that guarantees a competitive advantage in the future rental market.

“Kiryat Yoval is at a turning point where the old housing supply is being replaced by modern buildings, which create price arbitrage in favor of buyers in the early stages. The rental market in the neighborhood is changing architecturally and demographically, and demand from a high-quality, student clientele creates exceptional cash flow stability compared with alternatives in the center of the country.

“The centers of renewal in Jerusalem are now a clear target for those looking for value for their money.”

Real estate appraiser Kobi Bir says, “Exemption from linkage and a discount in the form of exemption from lawyer’s fees, about NIS 5,000 per apartment, have been given for a long time by many contractors in Israel, due to the halt in sales because of the war, and now also because of the weakening of the dollar, which prevents foreign residents, mainly from the US, from purchasing apartments.”

“A price of NIS 34,000 per square meter is at the lower end of apartment prices in renewal projects in the area, and the location of the apartments on the lower floors can actually explain this. If we add to this price the aforementioned discount of 3.5%, we get a value of about NIS 35,200 per square meter, which is what a buyer of an apartment in the project without a discount should pay. Not a high price, but not a bottom price either. It certainly sounds reasonable, but on the low side.”

State prosecutors filed an indictment Monday against 17 ultra-Orthodox (haredi) men, including four minors, over a violent anti-draft protest in which demonstrators allegedly broke through the locked gate of the chief military police officer’s home in Ashkelon while his family was inside.

The indictment, filed to the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court, charges the defendants with rioting, trespassing to commit an offense, and malicious damage.

According to the indictment, the incident took place on the evening of April 28, when dozens of haredi protesters gathered outside the home of Brig.-Gen. Yuval Yamin, the IDF’s chief military police officer, to protest the enlistment of yeshiva students.

The protest came as Israel’s haredi draft crisis has moved from the Knesset and the High Court of Justice into the streets, with increasingly aggressive demonstrations against enforcement measures targeting draft evaders. The dispute has intensified since the High Court ruled that the state no longer has legal authority to grant sweeping exemptions to haredi yeshiva students, as soldiers and reservists continue to serve under the burden of the ongoing war.

The indictment says protesters carried signs reading, “War on the draft law, in actions and not words,” and shouted slogans including “We will die and not enlist” and “Yuval Yamin is a traitor.”

Shortly after the protest began, at around 8 p.m., some of the protesters allegedly broke open the locked entrance gate and entered the yard. Yamin was not described in the indictment as being inside the home at the time, but his wife and two of his children were there, including one minor.

The protesters caused thousands of shekels in damages

Dozens of protesters, including the defendants, allegedly spread through the yard, porch, and entrance stairs. Some sat or stood while holding hands, while others sang protest songs, waved signs, and shouted against Yamin and the IDF, according to the indictment.

The family, prosecutors said, was effectively trapped inside the house, unable to leave safely, while more protesters crowded the entrance from the street.

As a result, Yamin’s family members felt they were in danger and feared physical harm, the indictment says. They closed the shutters, locked the front door, and called the police. Neighbors also reported the incident, and police forces who arrived at the scene ended the riot and arrested the defendants.

Prosecutors said the incident caused thousands of shekels in damage, including to the gate’s locking mechanism, parts of the wall, porch tiles, and nearby plants.

The state also filed a request to set conditions for the defendants’ release, including measures meant to ensure that they appear for future court proceedings. The case was investigated by the Ashkelon police station. Prosecutors also notified the court that if the defendants are convicted, the state may ask that they receive actual prison time.

The indictment follows a broader escalation in extremist haredi anti-draft protests. Earlier this month, dozens of haredi protesters rioted outside the home of Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg in Alon Shvut, damaging his home and car, as part of protests against enforcement of draft orders. More than 60 suspects were detained in that incident, and prosecutors have since filed indictments against four men from Beit Shemesh.

That incident was viewed as especially severe because it targeted a sitting Supreme Court justice at his private home. The Courts Administration said at the time that attempts to intimidate judges would not affect their work.

Shippers said confidence in resuming transit through the Strait of Hormuz could take weeks to rebuild, and navigation will only restart once safety is assured, after US and Iran officials said they had agreed on a framework deal to reopen the waterway.

The US and Iran are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding to end their war, halt the US blockade of Iran, and reopen the Strait on Friday. Global oil prices fell about 4% on Monday in response.

Shippers have welcomed the news of the deal but are still waiting for more details, including mine clearance in the strait.

“The market is clearly pricing in a return to business as usual, but after months of disruption, (ship) owners and charterers alike will likely remain cautious until ships are consistently moving freely through Hormuz once again,” analysts at Sentosa Ship Brokers said in a note.

The US-Israeli war with Iran that began on February 28 has largely stopped shipping through the strait, the transit route for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply, along with vital products such as aluminum and urea.

While traffic along the Strait of Hormuz remains limited, India’s Petronet sent the LNG tanker Disha through the strait on Monday, the only visible shipment so far, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.

The tanker picked up its cargo at Qatar’s Ras Laffan on March 1-2 and had been west of the strait since, with the Dahej terminal in India its eventual destination, according to the data.

Petronet did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Over 100 tankers still stuck inside gulf

An estimated 155 tankers, carrying oil and chemicals, were in the Mideast Gulf area as of June 15, shiptracking data from Kpler showed, down from 201 tankers at the end of May.

Oil Brokerage’s estimate stood at 215 tankers.

“We expect free passages will have to be built over the weeks for the wider shipping community to gain confidence,” said Anoop Singh, Oil Brokerage’s global head of shipping research.

“Till such time, physical freight rates will likely remain elevated, and trading will remain slow.”

However, under unrestricted navigation, the traffic pile-up on either side can be resolved within 8-10 days, according to OB’s calculations, Singh said.

“Furthermore, ship owners have positioned nearly 60 more VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) than usual within a few days of sailing to the ports West of Hormuz, in anticipation.”

Concrete information awaited 

A spokesperson for the Japanese Shipowners’ Association said on Monday that while the group welcomed the peace agreement, it wanted to “wait a little longer for more concrete information” when the US-Iran pact is signed on June 19.

There had been news reports that mines had been laid in the area, the spokesperson said, adding: “Given the situation, we cannot simply say, ‘Right then, let’s go’ based on news of the agreement alone.”

Nippon Yusen, the country’s biggest shipper, said it hoped operations would return to normal as soon as possible, but a spokesperson added it was too early to comment on the schedules of Japan-linked vessels stranded in the Gulf.

He declined to say how many of the company’s ships remain in the Gulf.

A Mitsui Lines spokesperson said: “While we are aware of signs of progress towards a ceasefire, our policy remains unchanged; we will only resume navigation once safety has been fully confirmed.”

Some 55% of the public in Israel defines polarization and internal conflict as the most dangerous threat to the state’s continued existence, according to a new annual report on the state of Israeli society for 2026 published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).

According to the report, which is based on the institute’s surveys and analyses over the past year, Israelis are most worried about internal polarization and the danger of civil war.

The study revealed that the majority of the public in Israel sees internal polarization and disagreement as the most dangerous threat to the country’s continued existence, surpassing by a huge margin the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb, at 23%, or the conflict with the Palestinians, at 18%.

Six in 10 Israelis, 60%, agree that there is currently a real danger of bloodshed and physical violence inside the country, meaning civil war.

Additionally, about half of Israel’s secular Jews, which is the largest group among Israeli Jews, say they are no longer convinced that Israel is the right and safest place for their children and grandchildren to live.

Haredi Jews more apart than ever from Israeli society

While 80% of the public supports drafting the haredim (ultra-Orthodox), haredi resistance remains firm, with 79% of haredim opposing enlistment, even when offered special, separate frameworks tailored to their way of life.

In the closeness index, which measures the feelings of different groups in society toward other groups, the haredi sector received the lowest average closeness score among all population groups, 3.79, with no group on the ideological or religious scale, apart from haredim themselves, giving them a high score.

In a group-by-group breakdown, the secular public rates its closeness to haredim at a particularly low 1.81 out of 10.

Trust in IDF is on the rise, following Iran war

The move to a direct regional campaign, Operation Rising Lion, and the change in IDF chiefs of staff boosted public trust in the senior IDF command to a record 82%. At the same time, the public is skeptical about the achievements in Gaza, more so than about the conduct of the campaign in Iran and Lebanon.

Most Israelis now estimate that Hamas rule in Gaza will continue in one form or another, and express disappointment that Trump’s plan for Gaza has so far not led to Hamas being disarmed or to significant reconstruction, despite the completion of the ceasefire and the return of the hostages.

The war has pushed the Jewish public to the right. The share of those identifying as “deep right” rose from 11% before the war to 19% today, and nearly half, 49%, of young people who defined themselves as “left close to center” before the war said they had moved to the right.

Most people in the public view the state budget as a political document skewed toward coalition needs, and demand sharp cuts to government ministries, coalition funds, and sectoral budgets directed to the haredi sector.

The eruption of antisemitism around the world is troubling Israelis. For example, at the height of the protest wave on US campuses, 87% of survey participants said they were worried about it.

Half of the public says they recognize that global antisemitism operates as a pincer movement, coming with similar force from both ends of the political spectrum, from the far left and the far right.

The public in Israel believes the solution for world Jewry is aliyah to Israel. Sixty-six percent of Jews in Israel recommend moving to Israel, and 71% of right-wing supporters and 49% of the overall Jewish public in the country would recommend that Diaspora Jews make aliyah under any existential circumstance.

Hope, closeness, agreement in Israeli society

The annual report weighs public attitudes using three permanent deep-measure indices: hope, closeness, and agreement, on a scale of 1 to 10.

The hope index, calculated at 7.13 and the highest of the three, rose from 6.48 the year before, indicating that 60% of Israelis are optimistic about the country’s future.

Seventy-five percent of Israelis assume their family and friends will continue living in Israel, and about two-thirds believe Israel is the right place for their children and grandchildren.

However, the average masks an ideological abyss. While supporters of the political right show a particularly high hope score of 9.05, among supporters of the left, the index plunges to just 3.67, an unprecedented gap that indicates polarized worldviews regarding the same existential space.

The closeness index, calculated at 5.51, showed a worrying decline from the previous year’s 5.95, indicating a deepening of polarization between parts of society.

The report states clearly that the main factor currently preventing Israelis from feeling close to one another is not nationality, ethnicity, or origin, but belonging to an opposing political camp, right versus left.

Political polarization breaks everything: Left-wing supporters rate their closeness to right-wing supporters at just 1.25, while right-wing supporters rate their closeness to the left at 3.48.

The agreement index had a score of 3.71, indicating a slight increase compared with 2024, when it stood at 2.88. The Israeli public does show relative agreement on basic democratic issues, with 59% agreeing that democracy is a combination of majority rule and the protection of human rights.

But the findings show that among Jews, there has been a decline in agreement with the idea that democracy means both elements together, compared with three years ago, 63% this year versus 80% three years ago.

Seventy-eight percent of Israelis agree with the Declaration of Independence’s statement on the need for complete social and political equality of rights for all citizens of Israel, regardless of religion, race, or sex.

However, on issues touching on the state’s identity, the Jewish character of the state, and the solution to the Palestinian conflict, national agreement falls to just 31%. For example, 36% of Jews think Israel is not Jewish enough, while 42% of secular Israelis think it is too Jewish. In other words, only a minority thinks the state’s level of Jewishness is just right.

As for the conflict with the Palestinians, a record 49% of Jews support strengthening control in the territories and expanding settlements, while 66% of Arabs support a two-state solution.

JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern said, “Israeli society does indeed show resilience, determination, and optimism, with the hope index rising, but at the same time it operates as a fractured, polarized society suffering from deep existential anxiety about structural collapse, with the agreement index falling sharply.”

“While supporters of the coalition, many of whom belong to the religious and haredi groups, feel that Israel is strong and has a bright future, a high share of Israelis from the secular public, the largest group among Jews, are struggling with the future and with the place of the next generation. To such an extent that about half of the secular public is not convinced that Israel is the right place for their children and grandchildren to live,” he added.

He also explained how this anxiety is in line with another hard statistic: the Israeli public sees the internal rift as its main and most dangerous enemy. “Our disagreements are mainly emotional, identity-based, and camp-based. These are deep foundations that require a long-term action plan to neutralize the social explosive material. It is possible to cultivate a space of agreement in Israeli society, but it requires a practical action plan aimed at that, and not at defeating the identity-based rival,” he said.

“Public leaders must act by every means possible to place social cohesion in Israel at the top of the national agenda. This is the main issue that should occupy whoever is elected to lead the coalition after the coming elections. That is how he or she will be judged. To that end, efforts should be made to form the broadest possible coalition after the elections, and to push it to set rules of the game for managing disputes through a ‘thin constitution’ that will not seek to decide ideological issues, but rather to establish fairly and efficiently the boundaries of what is allowed and what is forbidden in the political game. Once the rules of the game for managing the Israeli dispute are set and anchored, the collapsing closeness index will change direction toward healing and recovery,” he concluded.

The report is based on analyses of the institute’s monthly Israeli Society Index surveys, as well as additional surveys and analyses conducted to examine specific issues mentioned in the report. The team behind the Israeli Society Index includes the institute’s fellows Shmuel Rosner, Nakh Salpekov, and Yael Levinovsky. Statistical advice was provided by Prof. David Steinberg of Tel Aviv University.

Elon Musk said on Sunday that his rocket company, SpaceX, could bring in $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, making the statement two days after the company went public, valuing it at over $2 trillion.

“And I would be surprised if revenue is not greater than $1T in 2031,” he wrote on his social media platform X, replying to journalist and financial commentator Jon Erlichman.

I think SpaceX might be able to reach approximately $1T revenue in 2030

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 14, 2026

SpaceX became the sixth-largest US firm on Friday, cementing Musk’s status as the world’s first trillionaire.

However, the company still makes far less money than similarly valued tech giants like Broadcom and Amazon.com.

In 2025, SpaceX’s revenue jumped to $18.67 billion from $14.02 billion a year earlier, but the company swung to a net loss of $4.94 billion from a profit of $791 million.

Some Wall Street analysts are cautious about the company’s growth.

Goldman had estimated that SpaceX’s revenue would exceed $470 billion in 2030, while Morgan Stanley projected it would reach nearly $330 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report from earlier this month.

Musk’s road to the trillion dollars

SpaceX opened on Monday with a stock valuation of $160, following the Friday Initial Public Offering (IPO), which valued the company at over the $2 trillion.

While Musk became the world’s first trillionaire only after the IPO, there is a key point in his career that can be marked as the moment when he started aiming towards the trillion: Buying X/Twitter.

Musk bought the social media platform in 2022 for $44 billion, rebranded the company, and eventually launched Grok, an artificial intelligence model that used the platform as its training ground.

To develop Grok, Musk then launched xAI, the AI company that eventually became X’s main company in a merger that valued the combined company at approximately $113 billion.

The subsequent merger with SpaceX valued the company at $250 billion, representing a net gain of $206 billion in valuation relative to the initial $44 billion required to buy Twitter.

Israel will not withdraw from southern Lebanon as part of the newly agreed to US-Iran deal despite Iranian demands, an Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

An IDF source also confirmed that if Hezbollah respects the ceasefire, there will not be attacks anywhere in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to address the US-Iran deal or the issue of Lebanon, which, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement, is included in the deal.

“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Sharif stated.

Israel struck in Beirut hours before US-Iran deal reached

Hours before the US-Iran deal was finalized on Sunday, Netanyahu and  Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to target the Dahiyeh district of Beirut in response to Hezbollah fire toward Israeli territory.

“Israel will not tolerate fire directed at its territory,” the two said in a joint statement.

According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, the IDF notified CENTCOM shortly before conducting the strike.

US President Donald Trump spoke to Netanyahu after the strikes, and publicly denounced them on social media.

“This morning’s attacks should not have happened, particularly on a special day when we are so close to a Peace Deal with Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added that, while Israel has the right to “defend itself against threats,” the threat it was defending itself against was “very small and meaningless.”

Shir Perets and Maya Zanger-Nadis contributed to this report.

The legislation being advanced by the coalition that would expand state-funded daycare subsidies for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft evaders amounts to “backstabbing” Israelis serving in the military during wartime, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, ahead of the legislation’s expected advancement this week.

“It is absolutely morally wrong. It will reduce Israelis’ motivation to continue serving. It’s really backstabbing them,” Haskel explained.

“You cannot have that. And I will do whatever I can in order to continue to guard the back of those who are serving our country the most,” she told the Post.

The legislation aims to change the eligibility criteria for daycare subsidies, basing it solely on a mother’s income, in a move that critics argue will encourage state subsidies for parents of draft evaders even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage.

The bill recently passed its preliminary reading and is expected to be brought for its first reading vote in the Knesset Plenum on Monday. Haskel had voted against it in the preliminary vote despite support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, of which she is a member.

Haskel was also one of the four coalition lawmakers who voted last week against the preliminary reading of a separate bill that seeks to enshrine Torah study in the country’s Basic Law, and has vowed to continue fighting the legislation’s advancement.  

Haredi proposal seeks to encourage draft evasion

The Basic Law: Torah Study legislation was part of a proposal pushed by haredi parties that seeks to encourage draft evasion and change the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits.

The move to enshrine Torah study into the country’s Basic Law would still have sweeping implications on the status of haredim who evade service in the country and would, effectively, equate IDF soldiers to draft evaders.

Explaining why she has voted against the legislation, Haskel said in her interview with the Post that, “we are at war, and when we have a pyramid of priorities, security always has to be on the top priority, and it is a top priority for me.”

“When I sit in a [Knesset] committee, and I hear the representatives of the army saying they are missing almost 17,000 combat soldiers… I understand we have a serious problem,” she added.

Regarding the daycare subsidies bill, Haskel said that it was “unacceptable” to give priority to the ultra-Orthodox community over communities that serve the country and “who are paying a huge price, a huge cost, in defending the people of Israel and in our country.”

“The ones who need to be rewarded in those daycares with those grants are first of all our reservists and the people who are serving, not anyone else,” Haskel added.

The daycare subsidy bill proposes that only the mother’s employment or educational status be considered when determining a daycare center’s subsidy eligibility, without taking the father’s employment status into account. This could further allow children of haredi men who do not serve in the IDF and are unemployed to receive daycare subsidies.

Moving forward with the legislation comes as the High Court of Justice ordered in April that the state take concrete steps to revoke key financial benefits from draft evaders and to move toward criminal enforcement against haredi men who evade military service.

Haredi party leaders have continuously pushed for Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, notably after more than two years of war.

There have also been reports of an agreement between Netanyahu and the haredi parties to push the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties have sought. In return, they reportedly would receive advancement of the Basic Law: Torah Study and the haredi daycare subsidies bill.

The IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.

“As much as it depends on me, I will not let them close political deals on the back of our soldiers, the ones who are serving our country the most and are paying the biggest price,” Haskel said, vowing to do what she could in her power to stop the contentious legislation from passing.

When asked if she thought the legislation being advanced would harm polling for Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party in the upcoming elections, Haskel responded that she did not think it would. “I think that, unfortunately, the case is very clear right now in Israel because politics have made such a huge division among the people, and most of the people vote based on one thing.”

She said that past elections became a matter of either “yes” to Netanyahu or “no” to Netanyahu.

“It’s based on personality, not policy, not security, not anything. It’s based on a person,” Haskel added.

“I personally believe that it has to be set aside. We have to talk about policy. We have to talk about security, and I’ll do anything in my power to make sure that that happens.

“During the times of war and after everything that we’ve been through, we have to talk about the economy. We have to talk about the security. We will not be able to survive if we do not speak about the most important issues.”

Haskel is unwilling to join Likud, unlike Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who has announced that he will do so and currently leads the New Hope-United Right party, of which she is a member.

She described herself as “politically homeless” after being one of the only politicians who has refused to return to the Likud.

Amid reports of a new party emerging on the Right, Haskel told the Post that she would certainly do everything in her power to make sure that she has a “political home on the Right side of the map” ahead of the elections.

“I know my philosophy and the path that I want to take Israel, and it is very much on the right-wing side of the map from a security point of view, from an economic point of view.

“And right now, there’s no one to vote for on the right side of the map,” she added.

“I will either build it or – and I can promise you this – I will be in a party on the right-wing side of the map that can represent exactly my people, the hardworking people, the serving people, the contributing people, to give that option to people like me,” Haskel said.

US President Donald Trump announced that a US-Iran peace deal has been confirmed in a post on Truth Social on Sunday. 

“The deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump stated, adding his “congratulations to all.”

“I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” Trump continued.

Trump told the New York Times in an interview after the agreement was announced that if Iran failed to reach a final agreement on nuclear issues, the US would restart attacks against Tehran.

There are five twists that will determine whether Trump’s nuclear deal will be seen in five months and five years as good or bad for Israel.

1. 60% enriched uranium AND 20% enriched uranium:

The framework deal signed on Sunday-Monday starts a 60-day negotiation period to resolve nuclear and sanctions issues. If the 60% enriched uranium is removed from Iran or diluted under US supervision, the last piece of Iran’s nuclear program, which could have presented a danger in the next year or two, will be gone (most of the near-term danger was removed by the June 2025 war)

If the 60% uranium is not dealt with, Iran will retain a nuclear threat that could be weaponized within one to two years. The heavy presumption is that this will be properly dealt with because it is the only major item Trump is receiving in the deal and was a key reason he said he went to war in early 2026.

Keep an eye, though, also on the 20% enriched uranium. This is not as dangerous as the 60%, and so has been in the news less. But getting from 3.67% to 5% to 20% is a significant achievement. Removing ot diluting this uranium is also critical to prevent Iran from ever having a running start toward a nuclear weapon.

Patience will be critical. It will probably take weeks or months, even after the 60-day final deal is signed in mid-August to get the 60% uranium as it is under huge volumes of rubble from when the facilities holding it were bombed by Israel and the uS in June 2025.

2. Uranium enrichment freeze:

It has been widely leaked that Iran will agree to a 15-20 year uranium enrichment freeze. However, Trump said overnight that he had agreed to some low level of enrichment for Iran.

Being that Trump is rarely strong or accurate at nailing down nuances, this is an important one. If he was saying that even after 15-20 years, Iran will still be limited to low-level enrichment, then that is a big win.

If he is saying that Iran will get to enrich at a low level at some earlier date, then it depends on what the level is and how many centrifuges would be spinning. One of the largest problems with the 2015 Obama Iran deal was that around 5,000 centrifuges kept spinning, and another 15,000 or so were in storage and could be reactivated quickly.

The Jerusalem Post understands that all or nearly all of these were destroyed in June 2025. It is critical that Iran not be allowed to rebuild this fleet under the guise of being within some low level of enrichment. As long as it lacks this fleet, it cannot weaponize uranium.

3. Lebanon withdrawal:

Trump and Iran have raised an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israel does not need to remain in southern Lebanon, and that was never part of the grand plan.

It does want to be able to use a full or partial withdrawal from southern Lebanon in order to achieve an end to Hezbollah’s presence in southern Lebanon, and possibly some level of broader disarmament, such as a commitment not to smuggle in new long-range precision weapons.

There is also a possibility of maintaining the five small outposts which Israel maintained after the 2023-2024 war, as a small security strip to prevent future Hezbollah attempted invasions.

It would be wise for Israel not to withdraw from those outposts until there is a much more complete end to the Hezbollah threat, something which is not on the horizon. Withdrawals from Lebanon could also help achieve normalization with the Lebanese government to further isolate Hezbollah.

4. Return to MABAM:

If there is a new nuclear deal, it would be wise for Israel to hold its fire against Hezbollah, certainly up until the 60% enriched uranium issue is dealt with.

However, once that issue is dealt with, if Hezbollah does try to rearm, especially with long-range precision missiles, Israel should be clear that, even if covertly and without press releases, it will return to the MABAM (war between wars) where it carried out quiet and targeted airstrikes against weapons smuggling convoys in Lebanon and Syria.

Stopping minor attacks on minor Hezbollah rearming efforts is one thing. Stopping the attack on strategic weapons smuggling should not happen, at least not once the uranium is removed or diluted.

5. Unwritten Israel threat on Iran ballistic missiles:

Israel cannot allow Iran to cross a line of volume in ballistic missiles that could overwhelm its missile shield.

While it is unclear whether that number is 4,000 or 6,000, and Israel has tolerated 3,000 such missiles, so it is not that low, Jerusalem must deliver a clear message to Tehran about this red line.

The Jewish state has already lived with Iran having a couple of thousand missiles since the 1990s. But it cannot tolerate the possibility of an arsenal that becomes too large to defend against. 

The Indian Army has selected Meprolight’s MEPRO X6 telescopic sight as the dedicated daytime optic for its Negev light machine guns (LMG), concluding a multi‑year evaluation process aimed at boosting long‑range engagement capability across frontline units.

The selection marks a significant win for Israel‑based Meprolight, a long‑time supplier of electro‑optical systems to militaries worldwide.

Meprolight Ltd., a member of the SK Group, released the Mepro 6x day scope in 2018. The scope will be integrated into at least 10,000 Negev LMGs that will be delivered to the Indian Army in the coming year.

In March, it was announced that the first 2,000 LMGs were delivered as part of a much larger 41,000‑unit order signed in August 2024. An additional 4,000 are scheduled to be delivered later this year.

The Negev 7, a modernized variant of IWI’s combat‑proven light machine gun family, is being produced in India under the government’s Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. 

Golan Kalimi, senior vice president at Meprolight, told Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post that it was the “first time that any army in the world is placing optics in submachine guns in such a big quantity as part of the weapons systems.”

The decision follows extensive user trials and environmental testing, during which the 6× fixed‑magnification sight was assessed for durability, accuracy, and ease of use under harsh operational conditions. 

According to Kalimi, the accuracy was the toughest part of the testing: “Hitting a target of 800 meters is very tough. All the other tests were hard, but we were familiar with them. But hitting a weapon almost a kilometer away with a light submachine gun is very different. It’s very hard.”

Meprolight is an Israeli manufacturer of electro-optical systems, thermal and night vision equipment, self-illuminated sights, as well as Laser Range Finder systems for military, law enforcement, and civil applications.

As part of the contract, the Indian Army sought an advanced optic that could extend effective engagement ranges while improving target identification. The MEPRO X6, designed for assault rifles and light machine guns, offers a wide field of view, ruggedized construction, and high‑clarity optics suited for demanding environments. 

The Mepro 6x is a compact and lightweight x6 telescopic day sight with a range of up to 1000 meters. The sight has enhanced optics and operates with a single standard battery with an option for extended operation. 

According to Kalimi, the IDF doesn’t have the same optics, as they don’t place magnifying sights on their LMGs. He told D&T that these sights were “custom-made for the Indian army.”  

The sights will be delivered through Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which secured the tender with a solution based on the MEPRO X6. To meet India’s localization requirements, Meprolight has signed a Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreement with RRP Defense. 

Under the arrangement, RRP Defense will manufacture the sights domestically and supply them to BEL, the program’s prime contractor.

“The future of military capability will be defined not only by platforms and weapons, but by the quality of the information available to the soldier at the moment of decision,” he said. 

“The selection of the MEPRO X6 by the Indian Army is a significant milestone, and through our technology transfer partnership, we are proud to contribute not only advanced capability but also to the long‑term growth of India’s defense and manufacturing ecosystem,” he added.

Local production under ‘Make in India’

The partnership aligns with India’s broader Make in India initiative, which aims to expand domestic defense manufacturing capacity and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.

The partnership between India and Israel has grown steadily since the 1990s, evolving from a discreet supplier‑client relationship into a strategic collaboration spanning missiles and missile defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic warfare, and small‑arms production. 

Meprolight is part of Israel’s SK Group, a defense and industrial conglomerate that includes Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), Camero‑Tech, Israel Shipyards, and other firms specializing in precision‑engineered military systems.

The company’s products, ranging from magnified optics and red‑dot sights to thermal and night‑vision systems, are used by the IDF and security forces in more than 60 countries.

Iran’s soccer team arrived in the United States for the first time at this World Cup on Sunday, landing at Los Angeles International Airport and holding a press conference on the same day that a peace deal between the two nations was announced.

The Iran squad arrived after a short flight from Tijuana, Mexico, where they left their base camp earlier to a rousing sendoff ahead of their opening game against New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday.

“I am very happy to be representing the great, proud and strong nation of Iran,” Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said through a translator in a press conference at the stadium.

“I hope that football will bring about joy and enjoyment, and bring closer the cultures and countries.”

The squad’s Group G fixture against New Zealand will be played against the backdrop of the US war with Iran and the newly-announced peace deal, adding a charged atmosphere to ​a contest between two nations who have never met at a World Cup.

Iran moved their World Cup base camp from a sports complex in Arizona to Mexico late last month after the US and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iran ​beginning in late February.

Iran will now have to make the trip from Mexico to the US for each of their three group matches and Ghalenoei said the travel and the denial of visas into the US for some members of their soccer federation had negatively affected the squad.

The US-Iran deal to end the war will be signed during an official ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, US President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on social media on Sunday.

‘Bring an end to this regime’

While the squad flew to LA, a group of protesters calling for democracy in Iran and denouncing its government rallied near Los Angeles Stadium.

“No Shah, No Mullah in Iran, Regime Change by Iranians,” said placards. Pictures and posters of athletes who protesters said had died after being arrested by the Iranian government lined a busy street corner in Inglewood.

The January crackdown on protests in Iran, which rights groups and activists say killed thousands – and possibly tens of thousands – was a particular outrage to Mojgan Ramezani, 56, an Iranian American at the rally.

“They’re holding hostage their own people,” said Ramezani.

Hassan Haddadi, 70, said he was frustrated that most of the world’s governments had done little to support change in Iran.

“We’re hoping to bring awareness to the western world, to somehow do something beyond just condemning, to bring an end to this regime,” said Haddadi.

Ghalenoei said the squad’s players and coaches were “not political people.”

“We are here to play football and represent the respectful people of Iran, be it the Iranians inside Iran or the Iranian diaspora.”

‘Mexico stands with you’

Earlier in Tijuana, supporters lining five-deep on a packed sidewalk outside Iran’s hotel chanted “Team Melli,” Persian for “national team,” as the Iranian players emerged from the hotel and walked towards the waiting bus.

Many of the players waved and smiled at those who had gathered while some members of the delegation took video of the scene with their phones.

One supporter held a yellow sign with black lettering reading: “Iran, you will never walk alone. Mexico stands with you.”

A young boy perched on someone’s shoulders clutched the official Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 sticker album, open to the Iran squad page.

At one point, the crowd sang in Spanish, “Iran, brother, you are Mexican now.”

Iranian soccer federation President Mehdi Taj stood outside the hotel as the players left with many of the supporters following the bus down the street as it drove away.

The Iranian community in Tijuana is tiny, around 20 people, and much smaller than that of Los Angeles, which is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran.

Tens of thousands of Iranian Americans live in Los Angeles, where a distinct diaspora often referred to as “Tehrangeles” has taken root.

This is the first ‌World Cup ⁠since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation has received a country it is at war with.

Iranians who oppose the regime are “shocked” by the emerging details of an agreement between the US and Iran, an Iranian source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

The source, who is in touch with Iranians inside Iran and is knowledgeable about the situation on the ground nationwide, discussed how the emerging agreement is being received in Iran.

The source said that friends say “everything was going on organically to the advantage of the Iranian people and the world since the first war in June 2025 started against the Islamic Republic.”

The source discussed the 12-day war and how that conflict, which began with Israeli strikes on Iran, was successful.

However, the source said that dissidents in Iran have been surprised by the outcome of the Trump administration’s involvement. “He came to harvest what Israelis had planted while the tree was still a sapling, and he ruined the seeding.”

The source said that one surprising comment among opponents of the regime is talk about how hardliners could stage a military coup inside Iran. This is because there is opposition to an emerging deal within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“There’s numbers [sic] of hardliners in the regime body yet,” the source said, then claimed that “reformists in the IRGC” have been doing “a purge in recent months. They isolated the hardliners.”

Worry that Iran’s regime ‘fooled’ US

The concern is that within Iran, the regime perceives an emerging deal, apparently mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, as a win for Tehran.

“On Iranian state TV, they described it as the victory of the axis of resistance against the US,” the source notes. “We are all shocked. I was talking with a friend in Iran a few hours ago. They can’t believe they made the deal.”

The concern among those who oppose the regime in Iran is that the US has been convinced to make this deal.

The source is critical of the Trump administration’s team and says they have been fooled by the regime. “We were thinking that hardliners in Iran won’t allow the moderates and reformists to do a deal with the US.”

Iranian hardliners could ‘sabotage deal, weaken regime’

This has led some to believe that it may be preferable for the “hardliners in Iran to gain more temporary power, so they can stop this agreement from being finalized.” In a sense, the hardliners could sabotage the deal, thereby weakening the regime in the long run.

“The moderates within the IRGC, and those working with them, understand the language of Western diplomacy. They know how to mislead Western governments, how to switch to the role of the ‘victim’, and how to shape international public opinion so that it looks as if the Islamic Republic has been treated unfairly,” the source added.

There is now a concern that the regime and its proxies, such as the Houthis and Hezbollah, have won. There is a sense that the Iranian people deserved better than what has happened to them.

They suffered a massacre in protests in January, and then the February war did not bring the toppling of the regime. Instead, the regime may feel empowered. 

US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost derailed a peace deal between the US and Iran in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, following announcements that the agreement had been reached. 

Trump called Netanyahu “a very difficult guy” and asserted that he “should be very thankful” to the US for negotiating the agreement, “because if Iran had a nuclear weapon, Israel wouldn’t be around for two hours.”

The memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington was announced on Sunday and will be signed on Friday in Switzerland. 

According to Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, the signing of the agreement will kickstart 60 days of further negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and other issues.

Trump told the NYT that if no final nuclear agreement is reached with Tehran, the US would restart attacks on Iran and become “the guardian of the Middle East.”

Trump, Pakistan PM announce deal on social media

The deal’s agreement was announced on Sunday night by both Trump in a Truth Social post and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on X/Twitter.

“The deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump stated in his post, adding his “congratulations to all.”

“I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.”

In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump clarified that the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened to allow the transit of commercial vessels on Friday after the agreement is signed.

In his own post, Sharif said that “both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”

Sharif added that, now that the memorandum of understanding has been agreed upon, mediators will facilitate a series of “pre-implementation discussions” this week to continue technical talks.

Sharif thanked both the US and Iran for their “commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” and extended his appreciation to Qatar for their support in facilitating negotiations.

The Iranian semi-official news outlet Tasnim reported that Gharibabadi said the full text of the agreement will be released after the official signing ceremony.

Gharibabadi also stated that after the deal is signed by both countries, a 60-day period of further talks will begin. The talks will cover topics including the termination of sanctions against Iran, Iran’s nuclear program, and the establishment of a mechanism to monitor the implementation of the deal’s terms.

Two Israeli strikes over the past year have influenced a rapid American push toward ceasefire agreements.

On September 9, 2025, during Operation Summit of Fire in Qatar, an Israeli strike targeting senior Hamas leaders in Doha led to a ceasefire in the Gaza war several weeks later and the release of all Israeli hostages.

Following the operation, US President Donald Trump concluded that an agreement was needed. He applied pressure on Israel, as well as on Turkey and Qatar, which in turn conveyed a clear message to Hamas: it was time to bring the conflict to an end.

Less than a year later, an Israeli strike on Sunday in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district targeting a Hezbollah headquarters accelerated the American effort to persuade Iran to sign an agreement.

Tehran threatened retaliation against Israel, and the US president understood that an Israeli response to an Iranian retaliation could jeopardize negotiations over a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington. As a result, he increased pressure on Iran, together with Qatar and Pakistan, to reach a deal.

In exchange, an agreement was reached providing for the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, rather than the gradual reopening originally envisioned, as well as restrictions on Israeli operations in Lebanon.

It remains unclear whether Israel will be permitted to act only in response to Iranian attacks or also against Hezbollah’s military buildup. Most significantly, Iran obtained something it did not have before the war: a temporary lifting of sanctions on the sale of oil and petrochemical products.

For now, Trump has not abandoned his demand that Iran forgo nuclear weapons. However, a key question remains: if the American president was unwilling to risk a war 90 days before the US midterm elections, will he be willing to do so 30 days before them?

As for Israel, preparations were underway last Thursday for a significant American strike against Iran, as well as for the possibility that Iran would resume attacks against Israel.

Trump announces US-Iran ceasefire

Then, in the middle of a security consultation convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a small group of ministers and senior defense officials, Trump’s announcement arrived: “An agreement has been reached.”

Netanyahu sought to reassure the public, stating that Trump had made clear that no agreement would be finalized without addressing Iran’s nuclear program, its regional proxy network, and its ballistic missile arsenal.

However, judging by the victory statements issued by the US administration in recent hours, Washington appears to believe that the most difficult phase is already behind it.

In its view, a dramatic peace agreement has been achieved, and negotiations on the remaining issues can now begin, with the understanding that Iran will not obtain nuclear weapons. The major achievement, from the administration’s perspective, has already been secured.

Israeli officials also recognize that as long as negotiations between the United States and Iran continue, and especially if a formal agreement is reached, Israel’s freedom of action against Iran, including regarding its ballistic missile program, will be significantly constrained.

Consequently, the current focus has shifted to Lebanon: will the IDF be allowed to act only in response to Hezbollah attacks, or also against efforts by the organization to rebuild and strengthen its military capabilities?

This morning, senior Israeli officials are left feeling frustrated. There is deep criticism of the American administration and growing concern that a war which began with the stated goal of toppling the Iranian regime may end, at least for now, with that regime intact, stable, and once again benefiting from a flow of financial resources.

“Help is on the way,” Netanyahu and Trump told the Iranian people at the outset of the conflict. Yet for the moment, the Iranian public remains on the sidelines. The Ayatollah regime emerges from the war alive, breathing, and still firmly in power.

Sydney’s Coogee Beach reopened on Monday under the watchful eyes of lifeguards and jet ski patrols, after a shark attack over the weekend left a woman critically injured and prompted a safety review at Australia’s popular shorelines.

The 35-year-old victim was swimming about 30 meters from the shore on Saturday morning when she was bitten by a three-to-four-meter-long shark, sustaining serious injuries to her arms and lower left leg. She remains in the hospital in stable condition.

Local authorities urged swimmers to be cautious.

“Our Lifeguards will continue JetSki patrols throughout the day, and Surf Life Saving NSW is operating a shark-spotting drone at Coogee Beach,” Randwick City Council said in a statement.

The council will host a community gathering on the incident on Saturday.

Coogee, south of iconic Bondi Beach, is symbolic of Sydney’s coastal lifestyle. The beaches, which lie east of the city, are famous for their golden sands and dramatic coastal cliffs, drawing millions of tourists from around the world every year, making water safety a high-stakes priority for the authorities.

Saturday’s attack was the latest in a series of shark encounters off Australian beaches. The week before, a man died after being attacked by a shark while fishing off ​the coast of Western Australia.

Last month, a 39-year-old man died after being attacked while ​fishing on ⁠Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. Ten days before that, a ​38-year-old was fatally mauled on an ​island near ⁠Perth in Western Australia.

Dozens of beaches along Australia’s east coast, including in Sydney, were closed in January ⁠after ​four shark attacks in two days. Those followed heavy rain that created murky water, attracting sharks and reducing their ​visibility.

While shark encounters remain statistically rare, a Reuters analysis of data from the Australian Shark Incident Database shows a gradual rise, with the country averaging nearly 29 incidents per year over the last decade, up from roughly 16 per year in the 2000s.

Shark cull

The attack has forced a regulatory review of aerial surveillance. While emergency drones were deployed on Monday, Coogee normally faces strict flight restrictions because it lies directly beneath Sydney Airport’s flight path.

New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said on Monday that it had been a really tough summer for shark activity, and nothing was off the table as the state considered safety measures. However, she said any action would prioritize technology, such as the drones.

Some experts have said Saturday’s attack was by a white shark, classified as a vulnerable species and protected under environmental laws that make it illegal to target, capture, or kill the animal without approval.

However, the attack has again led some to suggest a cull, a highly contentious issue.

“It’s so wrong that we don’t cull sharks after attacks,” former conservative prime minister Tony Abbott said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations meet at a French lakeside resort on Monday shortly after the US and Iran said they had reached a preliminary deal to end their war.

Discussing next steps on Iran will be one of several issues the global leaders will wrestle with during the June 15-17 summit, which will also seek common ground on the war in Ukraine, tackle global economic imbalances, and source critical minerals outside the dominant supplier, China.

US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Evian-les-Bains on Monday for the gathering at a time when global leaders are increasingly wary of the United States, although French officials were glad to have secured his presence after he left last year’s G7 summit in Canada early.

Many G7 leaders have been directly affected by Trump’s volatile moves on the global stage, which have upended the Middle East, global trade, and diplomacy. His actions have raised broader questions about the US commitment to the post-war global order it helped establish.

Trump is due to meet with Middle Eastern leaders and attend a working session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the summit.

The Zelensky meeting on Tuesday comes at a time when Russian advances in Ukraine have slowed, and Ukraine seeks more military funding from its allies.

Zelensky’s hand has improved since Trump famously told him in the Oval Office last year: “You don’t have the cards.”

But he may find greater US support elusive, as Trump prioritizes drawing a line under the Iran conflict, which has dented his domestic support.

US-Iran ceasefire deal

G7 leaders will be keen to learn the details of the US-Iran deal. A memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland, but the precise terms are not yet known.

Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route for global oil and gas supplies that Iran has effectively shut down for months, would open on Friday, and that he had ordered the end of the US blockade of Iranian ports.

In a statement, the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, would end permanently starting on Monday night.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said a more expansive agreement would be negotiated during a 60-day ceasefire period, including sanctions relief for Iran. Iran’s nuclear program will be addressed in those later talks, sources had previously told Reuters.

The United Arab Emirates, directly harmed by the war, and key mediators Qatar and Egypt will also attend the G7.

Macron’s moment

Trump will be greeted on Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron, for whom this summit serves as a diplomatic capstone for his second and final term in office, which draws to a close next year.

Macron is increasingly seen as a lame duck domestically, but he still has pull on the global stage, and was able to get Trump to agree to a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday.

Macron has sought to use France’s presidency of the G7 to push for action on global macroeconomic imbalances, a longstanding US ⁠concern, before Washington ​takes the chair of the G20 this year and the G7 next. France has framed the issue as a shared responsibility ​in that China overproduces, the United States overconsumes, and Europe underinvests.

Brazil, India, Kenya, and South Korea have been invited to the G7 to join the discussion, while Macron has urged China to boost its own consumption.

Four people were killed while the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a symbol of Ukrainian spiritual and cultural history, caught fire, in the heaviest Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital in two weeks, authorities said on Monday, urging residents to take shelter.

The fresh strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump and discussed efforts to end the more than four-year conflict, ahead of a G7 meeting in France this week.

The central Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051, was seriously damaged in a direct attack, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said in a Telegram post.

“This is a UNESCO world heritage site, which is the equivalent, for us in France, as if Notre Dame or Saint Denis had been bombed, which is totally unacceptable,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, as he arrived for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.

“A brutal assault on our people and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia’s Orthodox values,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.

As towering flames rose over the monastery, residents took shelter underground in the worst Russian attack on Ukraine since early June, when drones and missiles killed more than 20 people and left more than 100 wounded.

Drones and missiles struck several high-rise apartment buildings and damaged electricity lines, leaving some 140,000 residents without power, according to Kyiv authorities.

Four people were killed and 23 were injured, Tkachenko said.

“What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace come to an end?” Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said on X.

Neighboring Poland, an EU and NATO member, scrambled fighter jets on Monday against a possible airspace incursion, before recalling the alert and saying no sky violation had been recorded, its Armed Forces said in a post on X.

Ukraine would be “urgently initiating” procedures within UNESCO and other international mechanisms to ensure “immediate and adequate responses to this state barbarism,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X in reference to the monastery attack, with Estonian foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, also condemning the Russian strikes.

Attacks on Ukraine’s regions, central Russia

Most of Ukraine’s territory was under air raid warnings in the early hours of Monday and Ukrainian drones were being repelled over Russia as both countries continued to exchange strikes.

Five emergency service rescuers were killed and at least another five injured after a second Russian strike hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram, with three people, including a child, wounded in Sumy, according to social media posts by local authorities.

Russia and Ukraine both deny deliberately attacking civilians. Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Ukraine has recently intensified attacks on Russian industrial and energy facilities, as it tries to deprive Moscow of revenues and hasten an end to the war.

On Monday, three people were killed and another three, including a one-year-old child, were injured in a drone attack on the Russian city of Tula, an industrial cluster south of Moscow, the regional governor said in a Telegram post.

Ukraine-Russia peace deal slowed by Middle East conflict

Ukraine also moved overnight to cut off the Black Sea Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 and already grappling with a fuel crisis, from further supplies by hitting two bridges connecting it to the Russia-controlled areas.

Before his conversation with Trump, Zelenskiy had proposed direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire solution involving the US and Europe – something Britain, Germany and France supported but Putin rebuffed.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that Trump told the Russian leader that ending the conflict in Ukraine was vital and he was ready to help.

Progress towards a peace agreement in Ukraine has been slow, with US officials and mediators concentrating on the conflict in the Middle East. US and Iranian officials said on Sunday they had agreed on a peace framework to end their war, with the pact expected to be officially signed on Friday in Switzerland.

The stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon has been found guilty of two counts of rape and other crimes and is sentenced to four years in prison, an Oslo court ruled on Monday.

Marius Borg Hoiby, 29, who joined the royal family when his mother Mette-Marit married Haakon in 2001, pleaded not guilty to the most severe accusations against him, including those of rape, while admitting to some lesser charges. He can appeal the verdict.

The seven-week trial has gripped the country, detailing Hoiby’s drug addiction, self-made videos of sexual encounters and more than 800 electronic messages entered into evidence. One rape took place in the basement of the crown prince’s family home, the court heard.

Case has dented the popularity of the royals

Interest in the case was boosted by the contrast between the picture-perfect royal family and Hoiby’s alleged actions as heard in court, said Ketil Raknes, an associate professor in political communication at the Kristiania University of Applied Sciences.

The case, alongside other crises, has contributed to a decline in the popularity of the royal family.

It coincided with Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s apology for “poor judgment” in maintaining contact with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted in 2008.

A Norstat survey out on February 21 – during the trial – showed a fall in the number of Norwegians favouring keeping the monarchy to a record low of 60%, from 70% in January, and a rise to 27% from 19% in those wanting a different system of governance.

In May, the royal family recovered somewhat in popularity, with 64% polled by Norstat supporting the monarchy and 23% wanting a different system of governance.

“It was … a perfect crisis for the royal family because they had two crises at the same time. And they had a lot of (criticism) for the way they handled the Epstein files,” Raknes said.

Mother’s health deteriorated throughout the trial

The verdict will be delivered amid difficult personal circumstances for Mette-Marit, Hoiby’s mother, who this month was placed on the national lung transplant list as her health has severely deteriorated.

She suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that makes it increasingly difficult to breathe. Without a transplant, she has around a year left to live, her doctors have said.

That is somewhat changing people’s perceptions ahead of the verdict, Raknes said.

“The coverage is much more sober,” he said. “People are seeing: ‘OK, this is a family who’s really struggling and this is not the time for … playing … the moral card as high as we maybe have done earlier in this case’.”

US President Donald Trump hosted mixed martial arts fights on the White House lawn on Sunday, an unprecedented spectacle highlighting his willingness to blend the pageantry of his office with his brutal brand of politics and his family’s business interests.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) seven bouts are the first professional sporting event to be hosted at the White House in the organization’s history. It is part of the Trump administration’s celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and is a centerpiece in the president’s summer of sport.

The event, held on Trump’s 80th birthday, began hours after Trump and Iranian officials announced they have a peace agreement to end the four-month-old war between their countries, which has pushed consumer prices to a three-year high, unnerving voters. It also coincides with his efforts to counter perceptions that he is becoming a lame-duck president.

Within minutes of strolling to his seat ringside, while the Marine Corps band blasted a live rendition of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” Trump was posting details about the Iran deal on social media and speaking by phone with journalists.

Inside the eight-sided, chain-link cage, sponsorships from major US corporations and some of Trump’s political allies – including video-streaming platform Rumble, shipping tech firm EasyPost, and conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA – lined the canvas.

Some of the victorious fighters greeted Trump after their bouts. American fighter Bo Nickal followed his knockout victory by climbing over the cage fence to shake Trump’s hand. The president clasped the pugilist’s red gloves and slapped his sweaty shoulder in congratulations.

“This is unbelievable,” Nickal said afterward, gesturing toward Trump in a post-match interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, UFC’s longtime TV commentator. “It takes such a special person to be able to have the balls to do something like this.”

Another victorious fighter, heavyweight Josh Hokit, gave Trump an item that he hung around the president’s neck before delivering an expletive-ridden speech that included praise for Trump and concluded with a misogynistic jab at former first lady Michelle Obama.

The temporary venue, nicknamed “The Claw,” 20 rows deep on all sides and featuring supports rising higher than the White House roof, provided an intimate setting for Sunday’s bouts compared to the arenas normally used by UFC.

Fighters warmed up in a space at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door and walked out to their fights from within the White House itself. Noise from the sound system caromed off the facade of the White House’s Truman Balcony, shaking the executive mansion’s walls.

Punching, economic power

Seventeen months into his second term in office, Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of the presidency to command attention and project strength.

In March, Trump reported the purchase of up to $50,000 in shares of TKO Group Holdings, UFC’s publicly traded parent company. The fighting circuit said it would spend $60 million to bear the cost of the event, but neither the company nor the White House has provided details of the financial arrangements.

“The vast majority of Americans are not celebrating 250 years of America by watching a UFC fight,” said Dan Rayburn, an independent streaming analyst. “This is really a private event.”

Closed captioning for the event, streamed on Paramount+, was sponsored by Trump Coin, the gold and silver tokens bearing the president’s profile that are sold by the Trump family. World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by two of the president’s sons and the son of his chief diplomatic negotiator, contributed to the pool of bonus money doled out to fighters who impress UFC officials.

Tickets were not sold publicly. The White House recruited military personnel to fill some of the 4,000 seats in the arena. Other tickets were controlled by the Trump administration. UFC offered others to guests paying more than $1 million, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The White House has rejected allegations of a conflict of interest and said the Trump family manages the president’s business affairs.

Few Americans approve of White House bouts

Trump asserted broad executive authority to host a private company’s event on federal grounds, a departure from norms that prompted a legal challenge and raised concerns about the event’s cost and potential ethical conflicts.

In a Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 4,531 US adults conducted June 3-8, just 16% said ​it was appropriate for Trump to hold the event. A judge declined on Friday to block the event in a legal challenge by plaintiffs who had argued that his administration exceeded its authority in staging it.

Trump, whose occasional involvement with mixed martial arts goes back decades, is close with UFC Chief Executive Dana White and the Ellison family, whose Paramount has a $7.7 billion deal to air UFC fights until 2033.

Trump has made sports a recurring feature of his presidency, weighing in on issues including transgender athletes and pay for college football players, and has attended a range of major sporting events, including several UFC shows.

France delayed the Group of Seven summit, which starts on Monday, to accommodate Trump’s attendance at Sunday’s UFC event.

About a fifth of Americans call themselves MMA fans. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, fight fans do not have a particularly high opinion of Trump’s overall job performance.

Documents seized by Israel in the Gaza Strip show that Hamas leaders discussed efforts to derail Saudi-Israeli normalization before the October 7 massacre, KAN News reported on Sunday, citing material processed and analyzed by the Amit Institute for Terrorism and Intelligence Research.

According to the report, the documents include internal protocols from Hamas leadership meetings in which the group described normalization between Jerusalem and Riyadh as a strategic threat to Hamas and to the Palestinian issue.

One document from 2022 said Hamas had decided to establish a dedicated body to lead its campaign against normalization, according to KAN.

The body was tasked with shaping Hamas’s strategy, policy, and operational plan for opposing regional normalization efforts, the report said.

In one document cited by KAN, Hamas called for efforts to “increase escalation on the ground, in the West Bank and Jerusalem, in order to disrupt the Saudi kingdom’s normalization process.”

The Jerusalem Post has previously reported, citing documents published by the Wall Street Journal, that Hamas leaders believed a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal was advancing before October 7 and feared it could open the door for other Arab and Muslim countries to follow. 

Sinwar singled out Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Two weeks before October 7, then-Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar presented a document focused on Saudi-Israeli normalization and sharply criticized Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the protocols reported by KAN.

“Saudi Arabia has a special status at the Arab and Islamic level and great influence, and this is a regrettable, troubling, condemnable, and puzzling step,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.

Sinwar also said that bin Salman was seeking to establish himself as the region’s leader, adding that his “growing ambitions” had consequences for the Palestinian issue and the region.

Before October 7, the United States had been working to advance a possible Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement, a move widely seen as a potential expansion of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020 and later included Morocco and Sudan. 

Final meeting before October 7

According to KAN, Sinwar assessed that Hamas might not be able to stop normalization entirely, but could disrupt it and strip it of legitimacy.

At the final Hamas leadership meeting before the October 7 attack, held on October 2, 2023, Sinwar described Saudi-Israeli normalization as a regional threat, the report said.

“There is no escape from an extraordinary action by the movement and the forces of the resistance axis in order to create a major shift or strategic turning point,” Sinwar was quoted as saying.

Saudi normalization remains distant

Saudi Arabia has continued to link any normalization with Israel to progress on Palestinian rights and statehood, the Post reported in May 2026, noting that Riyadh has long supported the Arab Peace Initiative. 

The issue remains diplomatically sensitive after the Gaza war, with Gulf states wary of outside pressure to join the Abraham Accords, according to recent reporting in the Post. 

The documents do not alone establish that Saudi-Israeli normalization was the sole reason for the October 7 massacre, but they provide a rare look into Hamas’s internal discussions in the period before the attack.

A 9-year-old Australian girl was killed, and two family members were wounded in Chakwal, Pakistan, after Crime Control Department personnel allegedly opened fire on their vehicle in a case officials described as mistaken identity during the response to an armed robbery.

Hania Ahmed, a Pakistani Australian child from Perth, was traveling with her family in Punjab province when police allegedly mistook their rented car for a vehicle used by robbery suspects. Chakwal is located about 62 miles southwest of Islamabad.

According to information received by The Media Line, Hania’s family had arrived in Pakistan only days earlier after performing Hajj. Her father, Adeel Ahmed, 39, is originally from Dhudial, a town in Chakwal district, and moved to Australia about two decades ago. He studied there, earned a degree in civil engineering, and settled in Australia with his wife, Dr. Sidra Khan, and their children, Affan Ahmed and Hania Ahmed.

Hania was traveling with her father and brother to visit her maternal grandfather when the shooting occurred. Her grandfather is reportedly a retired colonel in the Pakistan Army.

Family robbed at gunpoint before fatal shooting

Initial accounts indicate that the family had just been robbed at gunpoint by two armed men who took jewelry from them. As the family tried to leave in the rented vehicle, Crime Control Department personnel allegedly confused their car with that of the fleeing suspects and opened fire.

Hania was fatally wounded. Her father and younger brother were seriously injured and underwent surgery. Khan was not in the vehicle at the time and was unharmed.

Police have arrested the official accused of opening fire and registered a murder case against him. Authorities have also formed a Joint Investigation Team to examine the circumstances of the shooting. Police later said the two men allegedly involved in the robbery were killed during an encounter.

Shooting sparks anger across Pakistan, Australia

The killing has caused public anger in Pakistan and Australia, where the family lived. Senior police officials in Pakistan have described the incident as a tragic case of mistaken identity and said the family would receive justice through a transparent investigation.

The case has also drawn attention to Pakistan’s police practices, including the use of force during criminal pursuits and the accountability mechanisms applied after civilian deaths. Rights groups in Pakistan have long raised concerns about police shootings, custodial abuse, and encounter killings, while authorities have repeatedly said reforms are needed to improve training and public trust.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was assisting the family.

“We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,” a department spokesperson said.

The department said it was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian national who was killed and to two Australians injured in the incident.

In October, delegates to the World Medical Association (WMA) Congress will gather in Rotterdam to consider a petition that, if approved, would establish a dangerous precedent for violating medical ethics.

The petition, published by The Lancet and backed by several health advocacy groups, seeks to punish the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) over its “failure to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians.” The petition’s supporters argue that medical professionals have a moral obligation to condemn violations of international law and attacks on healthcare workers.

In the first instance, expelling Israel’s doctors from one of the world’s most important professional medical bodies would only create new injustices in a thinly veiled attempt to rectify others.

Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the WMA came into being precisely because medicine should transcend politics at all costs. The organization’s intent is to ensure physicians uphold universal ethical principles for all patients, regardless of nationality, religion, or political circumstance.

Any decision to suspend the IMA would move the organization in the opposite direction. It would establish a precedent that national medical associations can be expelled not for violating medical ethics themselves, but for perceived failures to oppose the policies of their governments. Once that line is crossed, the WMA risks contaminating medicine with the politics it must avoid.

IMA complicit through silence?

Furthermore, the portrayal of the IMA as complicit through silence in what was described as atrocities committed by Israeli forces in Gaza is both inaccurate and shortsighted. This perfectly illustrates the line between criticism of Israeli government policy and the demand, made by some health organizations, for Israelis to join the choir of blood libels against their nation as part of an ethical “litmus test.”

Notably, in July last year, IMA chairman Prof. Zion Hagay penned an open letter warning Defense Minister Israel Katz of the risk of widespread famine in Gaza and including a public call to “ensure medical equipment and basic humanitarian conditions” for the Gaza Strip’s civilian population.

There is also an unavoidable question of consistency.

Critics of Israel are entitled to their views, but many have noted that no comparable campaign has been mounted against medical associations representing countries whose governments have imprisoned physicians, denied healthcare to political dissidents, or committed grave human rights abuses.

The National Medical Chamber of Russia is still a member despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, and the Medical Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a member despite the regime’s routine killing of protesters.

Suspending the IMA would not punish the Israeli political echelon whose actions are being protested by the health groups behind the petition.

Even the WMA itself has rightly warned against such an approach, as reported by The Jerusalem Post’s Mathilda Heller.

The WMA said in a published response that it stands against the exclusion of any of its members for the actions of their governments, as “doing so diminishes our ability to call out injustices, and threatens shrinking the dialogue among physicians at this critical time when consensus in support of our medical ethics is so needed,” while also pointing out that the IMA is one of the founding members of the WMA and a “strong advocate for WMA ethics and policies.”

Israel – a world leader of medical innovation

In addition to being a founding member, Israel is also one of the world’s leading centers of medical innovation, and Israeli researchers and physicians have helped develop technologies that are used daily in hospitals across the globe. The beneficiaries of those innovations are not only in Israel – they are in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and across the Middle East.

Would physicians in support of the petition refuse treatment based on an Israeli-developed diagnostic tool? Would they reject an Israeli medical breakthrough if it could save a patient’s life?

Of course not – because medicine’s value lies in its universality.

Medical organizations should remain places where doctors cooperate across borders, share research, establish ethical standards, and improve patient care. They should not become instruments of political boycotts.

Therefore, the World Medical Association Congress must resist the temptation to turn medicine into a political front and reaffirm a principle that has guided medicine for generations: Doctors save all of humanity.

A senior Turkish pro-Palestinian flotilla activist said Saturday in Istanbul that preparations had begun for a new Global Sumud Flotilla mission toward the Gaza Strip, according to remarks delivered at the Turkish branch’s “Council of Ideas.”

Behesti Ismail Songur, president of the Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association and a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla leadership, said the mission would seek to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.

Songur said the new effort was expected to depart “in the coming months,” with organizers promising more vessels and broader international participation than in the flotillas launched earlier this spring. The Istanbul event included Palestinian flags, participants wearing keffiyehs, and support from Turkish media and political figures.

“The Global Sumud Flotilla is setting out on a new mission toward Gaza, with the aim of breaking the blockade and highlighting the humanitarian situation in the Strip,” Songur said at the event.

The Global Sumud Flotilla has previously pledged to continue sending vessels to Gaza, but the announcement from Turkey is the most concrete signal so far of a renewed maritime effort. It did not include a specific date for departure.

Israel intercepted previous flotillas

The announcement came weeks after Israeli naval forces intercepted the organization’s spring 2026 flotillas in international waters. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli forces intercepted most of 54 vessels carrying about 500 activists west of Cyprus, while the Foreign Ministry later said all flotilla activists had been deported from Israel.

Dozens of vessels, including a large Turkish group that had departed from Marmaris, were stopped, and hundreds of activists were taken to Israel before being detained and deported. Many returned to Turkey.

Despite the operational failure, organizers, including Turkish groups such as IHH and the Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association, have described the flotillas as a media success and vowed to continue maritime pressure on Israel with a larger force.

IHH describes itself as a nongovernmental humanitarian aid organization and has held special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. In Israel, however, the group is best known for its role in the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla, when Israeli commandos boarded the vessel as it attempted to breach the Gaza naval blockade, leading to violent clashes in which 10 Turkish activists were killed.

Israel has pointed to alleged links between IHH activists and Hamas or other Islamist groups. IHH has rejected such allegations and says its work is humanitarian.

Israel expected to monitor preparations

Israel views the flotillas as provocations and public relations efforts aimed at generating international confrontation and undermining the legitimacy of Israel’s Gaza naval blockade. Israeli officials have said they will not allow any breach of what they describe as a lawful security blockade.

The defense establishment and Foreign Ministry are expected to continue monitoring the preparations and public statements surrounding any new flotilla. Israel is expected to prepare accordingly, as it did in previous attempts.

In a parallel development, 10 international activists from the Global Sumud land convoy remain detained in Benghazi, Libya, after being arrested in late May by forces affiliated with Khalifa Haftar, according to the organization and human rights groups.

The land convoy had sought to coordinate with the maritime flotilla and move toward Gaza via Egypt. The Post reported that the activists were detained near Sirte after attempting to negotiate passage through eastern Libya, and that the convoy later dissolved after being denied entry into the eastern part of the country.

Global Sumud and Amnesty International have called for the detainees’ immediate release.

The Israeli Basketball League finals are set after both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv completed semifinal sweeps to book a highly anticipated best-of-five derby championship series beginning Tuesday at Yad Eliyahu.

Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised past Hapoel Holon 89-61 to complete a 3-0 series sweep, using a dominant second half to pull away after leading by just seven points at the break.

Jaylen Hoard led the way with 18 points, while Jimmy Clark, returning from injury, and Zach Hankins each added 14. Roman Sorkin chipped in 13 points. Jordan Wright scored 14 points, and Adama Sanogo added 12 for Holon.

“I’m happy and proud of how we advanced to the final,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash said. “We continued to improve from game to game despite injuries and other challenges. The players deserve a lot of credit.”

Katash highlighted rebounding and defensive intensity as keys to the sweep but acknowledged concerns over injuries heading into the finals, noting that Gur Lavy and TJ Leaf will miss the series while Tamir Blatt is expected to return at some point.

Hapoel Tel Aviv completes the sweep

Holon coach Predrag Krunic praised his players despite the defeat.

“We came to play and win, but Maccabi played really well in the second half on both sides of the floor,” Krunic said. “Our players did the best they could, and we achieved our goal of qualifying for the Basketball Champions League.”

Clark, who returned to action after an injury layoff, said he is excited for the championship matchup.

“It feels great to be back with this group,” he said. “We believe it will be a good matchup. We’ve played them four times this season, but those games don’t matter now. We’re looking forward to it.”

Meanwhile, Hapoel Tel Aviv completed its own sweep with an 89-81 victory over Hapoel Jerusalem. Yam Madar and Vasilije Micic starred as Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad pulled away in the fourth quarter after a tightly contested game through three periods.

Micic scored 26 points, and Madar added 22, while Nimrod Levi paced Jerusalem with 22 points and Jared Harper chipped in 16.

“We were the better team in this series,” Hapoel Tel Aviv coach Dimitrios Itoudis said. “We won the battle on the boards, controlled the 50-50 balls, and limited their transition game. Ultimately, we wanted it more.”

Hapoel Jerusalem’s season comes to a bittersweet end

Jerusalem coach Yonatan Alon lamented the end of a difficult season.

“You can never be happy after a loss,” Alon said. “This was a tough season and a tough way to finish, but credit to them. They made big plays when it mattered.”

Madar emphasized the significance of reaching the finals.

“I’m really happy. There was pressure on us, but we got the job done,” he said. “We’re ready for the final and want to do something special.”

The best-of-five championship series will mark the latest chapter in the fierce Tel Aviv rivalry, with both clubs now three wins away from claiming the Israeli league title.

See more Israeli sports coverage at www.sportsrabbi.com/en

Representatives of Argentina’s delegation to the 2026 Maccabiah Games met with Javier Milei at the Casa Rosada ahead of their departure for Israel to compete in the world’s largest Jewish sporting event.

The delegation, organized by Federación Argentina de Centros Comunitarios Macabeos (FACCMA), met with Milei and Argentine Chancellor Pablo Quirno to discuss the upcoming Games and Argentina’s participation.

According to FACCMA, Milei reaffirmed his support for Israel and democracy in the Middle East while expressing interest in the various sports in which Argentine athletes will compete.

During the visit, delegation members presented the president with the team’s official jersey bearing his name and the delegation jacket. He also received a copy of My Glorious Brothers by Howard Fast, which recounts the story of the Maccabees.

The delegation was led by FACCMA President Esteban Bluvol and included senior officials, athletes, coaches, and delegates, among them flag bearer Leonel Zolotow.

Deepening global connections through sports

Argentina’s athletes will represent both their country and its Jewish community at the 2026 Maccabiah Games, continuing a longstanding connection between Argentina, the global Jewish community, and the State of Israel.

For some Jewish fans of the New York Knicks, the most salient number related to the team’s NBA championship win on Saturday was not 94, the team’s final score, or 53, the number of years since the last title. It was 613.

The number is meaningful in Jewish tradition because it signifies the number of commandments, or mitzvot, outlined in the Torah.

For years, the number has hung from the rafters at Madison Square Garden, a reference to the number of lifetime wins notched by Red Holzman, the Jewish coach who led the Knicks during their previous championship runs, in 1970 and 1973.

On Saturday, it also became the date that the Knicks’ championship dry spell was broken: June 13, or 6/13.

For some Jews watching, the confluence of 613’s was evidence of divine intervention in the Knicks’ title win.

Faith, History, Legacy,

“Today is 6/13. There are 613 commandments in the Torah. Tonight, the Knicks are the champions. 🧡🩵,” tweeted Simone Weichselbaum, a native New Yorker. “I rest my case. 🏆”

Yossi Farro, who has made a name online by posting pictures of himself helping Jewish celebrities, including athletes, apply prayer phylacteries, tweeted an image showcasing the 613s in Knicks lore. “Faith. History. Legacy,” he wrote. “Amazing how sometimes everything comes full circle.”

Some online Jewish commentators found even more to read into the date. Moshe Spern, a New York City educator and activist, noted that not only is 613 significant in Jewish tradition, but 26, the rest of the date, also resonated. “And 26 is the gematria of Hashems name,” he tweeted, using a Hebrew name for God and referring to the kabbalistic practice of assigning numerical value to letters and their combinations. He concluded, “Today is a miracle!!”

Jewish Knicks diehards were talking about the 613 tie-in well before the date breaking the championship dry streak was revealed.

The Manhattan psychologist to the stars, Ike Hershkopf, who would later be accused of abusing his power in a 2019 podcast, told the New York Jewish Week in 1998 that he had informed Holzman about how meaningful his lifetime achievement was.

“I wrote a letter telling him that 613 is the single most special number in the Jewish religion, signifying the number of commandments that an observant Jew observes,” Herschkopf said. “I told him the highest praise that one could give to a Jew is to say he is a 613 man. … Subsequently, he told me that he was so taken with this that he not only framed the letter but sent out copies to his friends.”

Coincidence? Or divine intervention?

Last week, Rabbi Justin Pines, the chief executive officer of the Jewish Broadcasting Service, noted the Holzman banner in a broadcast. “Coincidence?” he asked. “Or a divine reminder hanging right over the court?” (The championship win unfolded in Texas at the home arena of the San Antonio spurs.)

Even those who satirize Jews online got in on the action on Saturday night.

“The Knicks won on 6/13. 613 is the number of Jewish commandments,” tweeted a parody account ostensibly attributed to a fake rabbi that often goads antisemites online. “And you’re telling me the Mossad didn’t have to do with Jew York winning the finals??”

For OG Anunoby, the Knicks’ forward who scored the game-winning putback in game four, the date of the victory had its own significance: It was the seventh anniversary of his first NBA title, with the Toronto Raptors.

“It’s a great day — what’s it, June 13th?” he said during a postgame press conference. “Yeah, June 13th is an amazing day.”

Not everyone appreciated the numerical reading between the lines, saying that there was more to marvel at in the Knicks’ win. In the leadup to the championship, and under siege in New York City.

“Guys stop giving divrei Torah about the date being 613 and the Knicks winning. There’s no connection between the number of mitzvot, today’s English date and a basketball team. Y’all are far-fetched,” tweeted a New York woman who goes by the Jewish Meme Queen online.

“You know what’s actually inspiring?” she continued. “The Knicks working their butts off to win. The sacrifices their families made for this moment. NYC coming together despite our differences.”