All News (Page 27)

In the Gulf, the talk is about what comes next after the recent US strikes on Iran. This is because the US-Iran clashes have often resulted in Iran carrying out attacks on the Gulf states.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran was taking too long to agree to a deal and it would have to “pay the price.” This comes after two months of talks towards a deal in the wake of a ceasefire in April. The ceasefire has not been a real one, as there have been continuous clashes every week in the region.

“Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump wrote on social media. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would ⁠have been great for them, now they will ‌have to pay the price!!!”

This comes after Iran was accused of downing a US Apache helicopter, and the US carried out strikes on Iran. Trump has threatened Iran before; however, it is clear that the recent strikes were stronger than before.

This also followed an exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran this week. Iran is trying to project confidence. It has not seemed willing to budge on various issues in talks about a deal. On the contrary, Iran appears willing to lash out in the region.

Some compare Tehran’s ideals to Nasserism

However, in some parts of the region, there is a sense that Iran is not as powerful as it pretends to be. Abdulrahman al-Rashed, a Saudi journalist and intellectual, as well as being former general manager of Al Arabiya news channel and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, wrote about “what remains of Tehran’s empire.”

In his article, which was published in Arab News and Asharq Al-Awsat, he noted, “Today, Iran clings to one thing: preserving some of its geopolitical gains in the Arab region. Will it succeed in negotiations after failing in war?

Iran seeks to control Iraq, preserve Hezbollah, Houthis, after Assad fell in Syria, journalist says

“It seeks to control Iraq and preserve Hezbollah in Lebanon, having lost Syria and being on the verge of losing the Houthis in Yemen. It hopes that negotiations with the US administration will help preserve its extensive realm as much as possible.”

Rashed compared Iran’s attempt to impose its hegemony on the region to other countries that have tried to do the same in the past. For instance, he references the Egyptian leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s and his attempt to export “Nasserism” across the region.

Nasser has a major influence on the crisis in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, as well as influence in Syria and Yemen. As such, Nasserism and the revolutions and coups it inspired had a huge influence on the Middle East.

“Nasserism’s intellectual and military reach swept through various parts of the region, but it failed to plant proxies, establish governments, and control vast geopolitical areas. Cairo’s influence over Syria, in the name of unity, lasted only three years before it was ousted in the first coup.

“Iranian influence, however, has been extensive, long-lasting, and backed by military force, unparalleled in the region since the decline of the British Empire’s presence,” Rashed wrote. “Tehran advanced far in its expansion, reaching the borders of Turkey and the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.”

But Iran has suffered losses and setbacks in recent years.

“The regime weaves around itself an image of an invincible regional power, hoping to achieve through negotiations what it failed to achieve through military force,” he wrote. “Its endurance of losses, its targeting of less-defended areas, and its recent attack on Israel are all theatrical displays.

“What worries everyone is that the US administration might fall into Iran’s trap and grant it more than $24 billion in the negotiations and lift the blockade, in addition to overlooking its ballistic missile system and regional proxies, which would mean that future confrontations with Iran would be almost certain.”

His article is one of several hints in Gulf media that there is an expectation Iran may be on the defensive soon. Arab News also has a piece asking, “How long can Iran’s regime fight on?”

The big question in the Gulf is whether Iran will continue to carry out missile and drone attacks on Gulf countries. This includes threats to all the countries, from Kuwait to Bahrain, to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.

Iran has constantly targeted these countries when tensions grow. Iran also feels impunity in doing so. It continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, creating an economic crisis. However, this has led countries in the region to quickly innovate to move and shift trade in ways that avoid the Strait. This will have long-lasting ramifications.

Countries will diversify trade and invest in new infrastructure and defenses. This is already happening in many countries, and countries that badly need investment, such as Syria, will benefit immensely.

This is likely why, when looking at the big picture, authors in Gulf media see a potential silver lining.

Deputy Attorneys-General Gil Limon and Sharon Afek warned National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that his repeated refusal to advance senior police appointments raises concern of a systematic misuse of his powers that could harm police independence.

In a sharply worded letter to Ben-Gvir on Wednesday, the two senior Justice Ministry officials asked him to urgently explain why he has not approved two additional appointments recommended by Police Commissioner Daniel Levi and the Israel Police senior command staff.

The letter concerns Supt. Reut Rosenberg, an officer in the police legal advisory division, and Ch.-Supt. Itzik Alfasi, whose appointment as spokesman for the Investigations and Intelligence Division was reportedly blocked.

According to Limon and Afek, Rosenberg was recommended in August 2025 for promotion to chief superintendent and for appointment as head of the torts section in the police legal advisory division. The recommendation was later submitted to the Attorney-General’s Office. Despite that, they wrote, some nine months passed without Ben-Gvir approving her promotion or providing a substantive explanation.

Rosenberg has since filed an administrative petition against Ben-Gvir over his failure to advance her promotion.

No legal obstacle to complete appointment, deputy A-Gs argue

After reviewing the recommendation, Limon and Afek wrote that there was not only no legal obstacle to completing the appointment, but that Ben-Gvir was required to do so unless he could present weighty reasons that had not yet been provided.

The second case concerns Alfasi, who was reportedly recommended by the commissioner and senior command staff in August 2025 to serve as spokesman for the Investigations and Intelligence Division. According to the letter, Ben-Gvir refused to sign off on the appointment, and Alfasi was eventually moved to another position in the police spokesperson’s unit.

The deputies said the two cases could not be viewed in isolation.

“These cases once again raise a grave concern that these are not isolated or exceptional incidents, but systematic conduct in which the appointment authority entrusted to you is being misused in relation to sensitive police units that deal with law enforcement,” Limon and Afek wrote.

Even when the appointments are ultimately completed after court intervention, they warned, the damage may already have been done.

“The very fact that police officers in sensitive positions are required to initiate legal proceedings against the national security minister because of unlawful action taken by him creates a chilling effect and may negatively affect the independence of the police,” they wrote.

High Court didn’t order Netanyahu to fire Ben-Gvir

The warning comes against the backdrop of a broader legal battle over Ben-Gvir’s authority over the police and his alleged interference in operational and personnel decisions.

In April, the High Court of Justice stopped short of ordering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Ben-Gvir, but gave binding force to a framework meant to limit the minister’s involvement in police matters. The court also issued an interim order requiring that sensitive senior appointments in law enforcement, from the rank of chief superintendent and above, be advanced only according to the recommendation of the senior police command staff, with prior notice to the attorney-general.

The new letter also points to earlier appointment disputes in the Investigations and Intelligence Division, including the cases of Rinat Saban and Ruti Hauslich.

In Saban’s case, the Jerusalem District Court ordered Ben-Gvir to approve her promotion after finding that his prolonged refusal to do so was unlawful and raised a real concern of extraneous considerations. Saban’s case became one of the central examples cited by the attorney-general in the broader High Court petitions over Ben-Gvir’s conduct toward the police.

Hauslich, a senior officer in the Investigations and Intelligence Division, also petitioned the Jerusalem District Court after Ben-Gvir delayed her promotion. Ben-Gvir later agreed to sign off on the promotion after the court hearing.

The attorney-general’s office has argued in past proceedings that the minister may set general policy for the police, but may not use his authority to intervene in specific investigations, operational policing, protest enforcement, or sensitive appointments in a way that could undermine professional independence.

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly rejected the allegations against him, arguing that he is not a “rubber stamp” for police appointments and that he is entitled to review senior appointments before approving them.

Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel was hit by a missile fragment overnight between Sunday and Monday during the escalation between Israel and Iran, the IDF confirmed to The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

Initial reports in Israeli media and the Post on Tuesday highlighted that the base appeared to have been hit, citing satellite imagery published by Soar Atlas on X/Twitter earlier that day.

The military told the Post that no injuries were caused and that no damage was done to structures that affect flight operations.

However, some minor damage was caused to equipment and other support facilities, possibly damaging a road or pathway within the air base.

Investigations remain underway as to the cause of the incident.

IDF investigating circumstances leading to hit on airbase

These ongoing investigations include determining whether the fragment that hit was a whole missile, a fragment from an interception, or part of a warhead or other explosive munition.

The fact that investigations are ongoing suggests the impact may have been caused by a whole missile hitting the base, unintercepted.

Soar Atlas compared satellite footage from Monday with footage from June 5, appearing to show the impact of an airstrike on a hangar at the IAF base southeast of Haifa, near Migdal Ha’emek.

Ramat David Airbase hosts the Israel Air Force’s 101st Fighter Squadron, consisting of F-16 fighter jets, as well as drone squadrons.

This is not the first time that munitions fired by Iran or Iranian-backed terror groups have been reported to hit the airbase.

Last month, imagery was published of what appeared to be two airstrikes that impacted Ramat David Airbase during Operation Roaring Lion.

The base was reportedly also hit by Hezbollah rockets in 2024, as the Lebanese terror group fired across the border into northern Israel.

Twenty-two countries across North America, Europe, and Australia condemned and demanded an end to Iranian regime attacks against Jewish, Israeli, and Iranian dissident sites and individuals within their territories, in a joint statement on Wednesday, in the wake of a series of attacks by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), allegedly an Iranian front group.

The US, the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden condemned the “lethal plotting” and other “malign actions” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its subsidiary bodies.

“We stand united in our determination to protect our countries and our people against these threats. The Islamic Republic of Iran must halt these actions now,” read the statement. “Attempts to kill, kidnap, harass, intimidate, or otherwise attack people on our soil undermine national sovereignty and international norms. These actions must stop immediately. We commend the work of countries to counter these activities, and we are together resolved to undertake further measures to halt them.”

The statement said that it was “deplorable” for the IRGC to use international and local criminal gangs to conduct attacks within their territory, as has been seen in Sweden, Australia, the US, and the UK.

Iran recruited Swedish gang to carry out attacks

Iran has had a close relationship with the Sweden-based transnational criminal organization Foxtrot, which has been involved in various violent crimes, including contract killings.

Last March, the US sanctioned Foxtrot for its cooperation with the IRGC in attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Europe, such as the January 2024 Israeli embassy attack. In May 2024, Sweden announced that the Islamic regime was using criminal networks to attack the targets across Europe.

Foxtrot often entices teenagers to commit violent crimes, a tactic adopted by Iran and exported across the world.

Iran was alleged in August by Australian Security Intelligence Organization to have orchestrated at least two antisemitic attacks in its country since 2024, using criminal gangs: the December 2024 Adass Israel Synagogue arson attack in Melbourne and the October 2024 Lewis’ Continental Kitchen arson attack in Sydney. The incidents resulted in the expulsion of Tehran’s ambassador from Canberra.

According to recent allegations made by the US Department of Justice with the arrest of Kataib Hezbollah commander Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, similar attacks continued in Europe under the banner of HAYI.

HAYI attacks claimed across UK, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany

HAYI has claimed responsibility for at least 18 different attacks in Europe since March, including the London Golders Green ambulance arsons and stabbing attacks; and the April Skopje synagogue firebombing. Other alleged HAYI attacks occurred in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany.

Al-Saadi, who was arrested in May for attempting to orchestrate similar attacks against synagogues in the United States, allegedly claimed to a law enforcement agent that HAYI was responsible for a shooting at a Toronto synagogue and US consulate in March.

“We also condemn the recent campaign of attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists, and US interests, claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya and supported by their intermediaries,” the 22 countries said in the joint statement.

HAYI is alleged by the DoJ of being little more than a mask for operations by the Iranian proxy Kataib Hezbollah.

Similar statement made in 2025, amid spike in attacks

In July, a similar statement was released by 14 countries: the US, the UK, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.

“We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty.

“These Services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organisations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials in Europe and North America. This is unacceptable,” the countries said at the time.

“We consider these types of attacks, regardless of the target, as violations of our sovereignty. We are committed to working together to prevent these actions from happening and we call on the Iranian authorities to immediately put an end to such illegal activities in our respective territories,” they added.

Israel divestment could cost New York City taxpayers more than $37 billion over the next decade, according to a new report released today by the Anti-Defamation League.

Carried out with its affiliate, JLens, the ADL report examines the potential impact on the city’s pension funds of investment policies excluding companies that do business in Israel.

The analysis compares the 10-year historical performance of two hypothetical large-cap US equity portfolios: one is broadly diversified; the second excludes 47 major American companies targeted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, for doing business in Israel, notably Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Further findings show that the BDS-excluded portfolio underperformed by about two percentage points annually, which, when compounded over time, could result in substantial differences in long-term returns.

The report estimates approximately $37.55 billion in potential forgone value over a 10-year period – assuming a similar performance gap – when applied to the NYC pension funds’ estimated large-cap US public equity allocations (assets invested in large US companies).

Pension funds, other portfolios would lose tens of billions of dollars

The full report details projections for each of the five NYC pension funds, which together constitute the fourth-largest public pension system in the US.

If the funds, which collectively manage over $300 billion in assets, were to adopt BDS-aligned divestment strategies from 2025 to 2035, the research estimates the following potential losses:

Teachers’ Retirement System: $15.09 billion

New York City Employees’ Retirement System: $10.91 billion

Police Pension Fund: $7.13 billion

Fire Pension Fund: $3.02 billion

Board of Education Retirement System: $1.41 billion

“While some in New York, including Mayor Mamdani, have publicly supported the BDS movement,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO and national director, said, “this analysis highlights the potentially serious financial consequences of applying BDS-aligned divestment strategies to the city’s pension funds.”

“This research shows that divestment strategies guided by the BDS campaign can be bad fiscal policy, and we believe that they risk contributing to an environment where Jewish New Yorkers are already targeted and marginalized,” he said.

The new ADL report expands on JLens’ 2024 research into university endowments, which found that a BDS-aligned strategy applied to the 100 largest endowments could result in $33 billion in forgone gains over a decade.

“The BDS movement has migrated from college campuses to city halls as universities have become less hospitable to anti-Israel activism. But the investment math doesn’t change with the venue,” Ari Hoffnung, JLens managing director, ADL senior advisor on corporate advocacy, and former NYC deputy comptroller, said.

“Our 2024 research showed that BDS-aligned strategies could cost university endowments $33 billion; this analysis shows that if our assumptions prove true, they could cost NYC pension funds more than $37 billion.

“Whether the target is a university endowment or a public pension fund, the financial consequences will be real – and they will fall on the people these institutions serve: from students and faculty to teachers, police officers, and firefighters.”

The report’s methodology was reviewed by leading legal and financial experts, including Joshua Mitts, the David J. Greenwald Professor of Law at Columbia University.

Mitts: Methodology is standard practice

Mitts said the methodology used is consistent with standard financial practice for evaluating exclusionary strategies.

“For long-horizon investors such as pension funds, understanding the potential financial implications of such constraints is an important component of portfolio analysis,” he explained.

It is worth emphasizing that ADL’s estimate is based on how similar portfolios performed over the previous decade and assumes that a comparable performance gap will persist over the next 10 years.

Iran threatened to halt its matches at the World Cup if unauthorized flags are displayed or slogans targeting the national team are chanted at stadiums, Iranian media reported, citing Sports Minister Ahmad Donyamali, following criticism of the team’s presence at the tournament.

The World Cup begins on Thursday, with Iran opening their Group G campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. They next face Belgium at the same venue on June 21 before taking on Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

“We have informed FIFA that if unofficial flags are brought or slogans against the national team are chanted in the stadiums where Iran plays in the World Cup, the team manager will definitely be responsible for stopping the match,” Donyamali said on Tuesday, according to Iranian media.

“We have been assured that no disruptive incidents will occur in the stadium during the match against Egypt.”

Iran and Egypt’s football associations had previously urged FIFA to prevent any LGBTQ+ Pride-related activities during the Seattle match. The fixture had been designated by local organisers as a “Pride Match” to coincide with Seattle’s Pride weekend.

In April, protesters gathered outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver called for Iran to be banned from the tournament, saying the team represents the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rather than the Iranian people.

Iranian team grapples with organizational and logistical challenges at World Cup

The Iranian team has also faced organisational challenges, with Iran’s football federation saying its ticket allocation was withdrawn days before the tournament, leaving supporters who had already made travel plans unable to attend their team’s matches.

The team, currently training in Tijuana, Mexico, will be able to enter the US the day before each match, the Department of Homeland Security said, amid a conflict that has added a geopolitical dimension to the tournament.

The president of the United States confirmed last week that he cursed at the prime minister of Israel over the phone. On the same podcast, in the same breath, he said: “I really love Bibi and work with him excellently.” 

Pick a headline. Most of the world’s media picked the first one. Axios reported the Beirut call in all its profane glory, including the warning that Israel would soon find itself alone, and the analysts lined up to pronounce the relationship dead.

Some of that was analysis. Some of it was wishful thinking disguised as analysis.

I don’t buy it. We know what Donald Trump sounds like when he genuinely despises someone, because he has shown us this with our very own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

When Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden in November 2020, Trump told journalist Barak Ravid exactly what he thought of him, on tape, in language we can’t print, and then froze him out for years. No anonymous sources needed. The man said it himself and meant every word.

Compare that to now. Anonymous officials describe furious phone calls, and within days, Trump is on camera softening his own leaks. “A little bit perturbed,” he called it. Perturbed is what you are with your family. A president who truly wanted out of this relationship would not spend a week walking his own profanity back toward affection. That’s a tell.

So where is the anger coming from? This is the part that should make those of us here in Israel uncomfortable.

At times, Netanyahu needs Trump to sidestep his own advisors’ counsel

In mid-February, in the White House Situation Room, Netanyahu made the pitch of his life. According to The New York Times account, which we covered in these pages in April, Mossad director David Barnea and senior IDF officials appeared on the screens behind the prime minister, a wartime leader staged with his command arrayed behind him.

The Israelis showed Trump a video of potential post-regime leaders, former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi among them. Iran’s missile program would be destroyed within weeks. The regime would be too weak to close the Strait of Hormuz. Then the uprising, and after the uprising, a new Iran.

Trump’s response, by that account: “Sounds good to me.”

His own people were less impressed. US intelligence assessed the uprising and regime change scenarios as detached from reality. The CIA director called the plan “farcical.” The secretary of state put it more crudely, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs warned the president that in his experience, this was standard Israeli procedure: they oversell.

Four months later, the Strait of Hormuz was closed, and gas prices had become Trump’s biggest domestic headache heading into the midterms. The uprising never came.

So yes, Trump is angry, but he is angry the way a customer is angry. He feels he overpaid for a product that was advertised as transformative, and a president who feels he overpaid is a very different animal from a president who has turned on Israel.

The personal distrust does exist; it just lives one ring away from the Oval Office. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have spent months coordinating with Doha, Cairo, and Ankara, and they have come to see Netanyahu as the obstacle to their regional architecture.

Those who were in the room at Mar-a-Lago in December have told me that Kushner positioned himself as the skeptic in that meeting, pressing Netanyahu with hard questions, shielding the president from another pitch.

Kushner and Witkoff don’t trust Bibi. But they aren’t the president, and Bibi knows it, which is why every meeting becomes an attempt to convince an audience of one over the heads of his advisers.

On the very day I wrote this, we published an interview with Oded Eilam, who once headed the Mossad’s counterterrorism division. His complaint? That Trump is the naive one, haggling with Tehran like a tourist in a bazaar.

Sit with that for a moment. Our security establishment thinks Trump doesn’t understand Iran. Trump’s security establishment thinks Israel oversold Iran. Somehow, both are right.

Which brings me to the real cost, and it has nothing to do with birthday greetings or expletives.

Trump will forgive Netanyahu. He forgives people he likes, and he likes winning with Israel. The harder question arrives the next time an Israeli prime minister sits in the Situation Room with the Mossad chief on the screen behind him and asks America to believe an Israeli assessment.

After this war, will the president in that chair believe it?

The relationship will survive. Whether our credibility in that room survives is a separate question, and it’s worth far more than a phone call.

Turkey and Israel appear to be heading towards increasing chances of a confrontation in the region. This confrontation has so far played itself out primarily as a war of words.

For instance, Turkey’s interior minister, Mustafa Ciftci, said he hoped to see the “liberation” of Jerusalem. He compared this to recent conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in Syria, where areas had been liberated from adversaries.

On June 7, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media, “To the Turkish Interior Minister who dreams of administering Jerusalem and hurls threats, I say this: Jerusalem is not Constantinople, and the State of Israel is not a crumbling Crusader Empire. Israel is a strong and resolute state that has proven its capacity to defend itself against any threat.”

Katz went on to note to the Turkish official that “Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years and will remain Israel’s capital forever. You and the Ottoman Empire that Erdogan dreams of, on the other hand, have collapsed and will never return.

“Unfortunately, you have learned nothing from the legacy of Atatürk, who worked to transform Turkey into a modern state; on the contrary, you are working to drag Turkey back into a dark and backward era.”

Ankara has talked about liberating Jerusalem in the past. It has been a theme of some rhetoric going back years, and it has become more common under the multi-decade rule of the AKP in Turkey.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan escalates rhetoric toward Israel and the broader Mediterranean

The AKP party has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam. It is the more conservative and right-wing of the parties in Turkey, compared to the more secular and nationalist Republican People’s Party (CHP), which once dominated Turkish politics.

“Just as we witnessed the liberation of Damascus, Aleppo, and Karabakh, God willing, one day we will also witness the liberation of Jerusalem,” Ciftci said in a speech at an AKP Party conference in the city of Corum.

Now, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has appeared to increase the rhetoric by saying on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, Reuters noted. Turkey’s president condemns Israeli aggression in the region.

Turkey has been increasingly concerned that Israel is becoming a regional superpower. From Turkey’s point of view, the multi-front war after October 7 has led Israel to a much stronger position in the region. This has led to Israeli strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, on Iran, and also Israeli operations in Lebanon and Syria.

What’s interesting about Turkey’s view is that it is partly projecting its own policy on Israel.
 
Turkey, under the AKP, shifted after 2015 to become much more aggressive and seek out military adventures. It sent forces into Syria. It mobilized Syrian rebel groups to fight against the Kurdish YPG in Afrin in 2018. It also backed Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia and Azerbaijan taking over the disputed area of Karabakh.

Ankara came close to clashes with Greece and also sent forces to Libya. In essence, Turkey’s policy from 2015 to 2023 was a series of movements to increase Ankara’s influence across the region and around the world.

It’s logical in any system of states that when there are two strong countries in a region, they may gravitate towards a clash. This is what happened after World War II, when the US-Soviet alliance against the Nazis turned into the Cold War. It is also how the balance of power in Europe functioned for hundreds of years.

For instance, when any one country would grow too powerful, others would often clash with it. This happened during the Napoleonic Wars and also in the lead-up to the World Wars. As such, the Middle East is merely replicating a natural phenomenon.

Recent rhetoric has increased tensions and concern in both Jerusalem and Ankara

Turkey and Israel are among the strongest military powers in the region. Both are allies of the US. Both have strong defense industrial complexes. They also have very different ideologies: one is led by a right-leaning Jewish party with increasingly religious-nationalist elements, and the other is led by a conservative, populist, Islamic-leaning party.

“The ‌attacks ⁠by (Israeli Prime Minister ⁠Benjamin) Netanyahu and his network of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, Reuters said this week.

He also accused Israel of destabilizing African countries, a reference to Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Turkey has forces in Somalia and has backed Somalia for years.

Erdogan also accused Israel of creating “discord” in the Eastern Mediterranean and referenced Israel-Cyprus ties. Turkey backs Northern Cyprus, which it recognizes as a country. Turkey invaded Cyprus in the 1970s to support Turkish Cypriots. This led to the division of the island.

Israel has increasingly warm ties with Cyprus and Greece. This challenges Turkey’s role in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“These ‌small entities, whose ambitions far exceed their size, have boarded Israel’s boat of mischief, taken on the role of Zionist subcontractors, and are pursuing some pipe dreams in the Eastern ‌Mediterranean,” Erdogan said. “Nobody should chase adventures…”

“I want everyone to ⁠know that if ⁠the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots are violated in the Eastern Mediterranean, our response will be very clear and very strong,” he stated.

The comments in recent days have raised eyebrows in Jerusalem and Ankara. 

It is clear that Turkey and Israel, under their current leadership, will have rhetorical clashes. The question is whether this may one day lead to larger tensions in Syria or the Eastern Mediterranean.

Israel should have chosen a different strategy against Iran’s nuclear program during Operation Roaring Lion, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said in an interview with 103FM on Monday.

“We should have gone and brought the enriched uranium by force in a military operation during the campaign. That would have uprooted the nuclear program from Iran,” he said.

“The ability of the US Army together with the Israeli army existed, and that was something that should have been done. It is dangerous and could come at a price, but it is a risk that must be taken for the security of the State of Israel.”

According to Gallant, Israel has entered a precarious situation and must not focus on unattainable goals or miss new strategic opportunities.

“If instead you put the effort into a fantasy plan to change the regime in ways that have no chance, you are wasting the only bullet you have in the magazine,” he said. “You are endangering soldiers and bringing the State of Israel into a reality in which missiles are being fired at it, all in order to achieve a strategic goal. If you did not achieve it, you did nothing.”

Gallant: Israel failed to turn military success into strategic action

Gallant also argued that Israel had failed to turn its military achievements into political gain, saying the country had not been able to translate its military successes into strategic action.

“In Israel’s case, there is only one goal for which you need to go to war against Iran, to stop the nuclear program. That did not happen. The fantasy goal of changing the regime from the air and through all kinds of questionable forces did not happen.”

According to Gallant, responsibility for the situation lies with the political leadership, namely its head, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If the political echelon, meaning the prime minister, approves certain objectives for the army and the army fully meets them, the fact that you have no strategic achievement means you approved the wrong objectives. To boast about the achievements of the Air Force is not the prime minister’s role. His role is to bring about a political achievement.”

Israeli deterrence against Iranian missiles is ‘weak,’ Gallant says

Gallant described what he said was a serious erosion of Israeli deterrence, the acceptance of aggressive fire, the endangerment of civilians, and a loss of control over the scope of the response.

 “We have reached a situation in which we are absorbing dribbles of missile fire of 400 kilos that can kill dozens of civilians, and we are responding with a weak reaction. That is impossible. We were in a situation that was agreed during my time, after we destroyed the missile array, killed Nasrallah, and eliminated the senior Radwan commanders and activated the pagers, in which we could strike anywhere in Lebanon. Hezbollah was on the ropes,” he said.

“From that situation, in which we could strike at any moment with full freedom of action, we reached a situation in which it is forbidden to strike,’ he continued. ‘We actually collapsed the equation concept. They attack, and we respond. When you strike the entire Iranian leadership on February 28, one minute later, you need to attack everything there is in Lebanon. If you do not do that, you are inviting war on two fronts.”

At the end of the interview, Gallant was asked if he would be seen in the upcoming elections, and responded, “No.”

US President Donald Trump said the United States may begin striking Iran’s power plants and bridges due to the Islamic regime “tapping the United States along” in talks, according to an interview with Fox News’s Trey Yingst on Wednesday.

“I may keep going,” Trump told Fox. “They had a chance to sign a deal and survive.”

He added that little progress has been made in negotiations between the two countries.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump implied that he would take action against Iran for taking too long on a peace deal.

“The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!” wrote Trump in a Truth Social post. “They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday that the US launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of a US Army Apache helicopter, targeting Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM described the strikes as “self-defense” and “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

Trump: Rescue of Apache pilots a ‘miracle’

The downed Apache pilots were rescued by a US military unmanned vehicle, with Trump describing the operation as a “miracle.”

Trump told Fox that an Iranian drone had hit the low-flying helicopter without exploding, with the pilots managing to safely bring the aircraft down while the drone was still lodged inside the fuselage.

“It was on fire, it was hot,” Trump said of the conditions the pilots faced during the incident.

Trump added that the US destroyed over half of what Iran has attempted to reconstitute amid the ceasefire. 

Danya Saperstein and Goldie Katz contributed to this report.

Sexual assault victims and survivors of prostitution who appear before National Insurance Institute (NII) medical panels will be able to ask for special accommodations, including being examined by a female doctor, appearing by video, or in some cases having their case reviewed without appearing in person.

The changes were approved this week by the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court, in a decision handed down Tuesday and publicized Wednesday.

The case was brought by four people who had experienced sexual assault or prostitution and were represented by the Justice Ministry’s Legal Aid Department. They argued that the National Insurance Institute’s medical appeals process was not properly adapted for people with sexual trauma.

For many, medical panels are a necessary step in receiving disability benefits or other social rights. But for survivors of sexual assault, the process can be especially difficult. It may require them to speak about intimate trauma, undergo questioning by doctors, or attend a formal hearing in a setting that can feel intimidating or triggering.

The appeal argued that while some accommodations existed at the first stage of such medical panels, they were not properly available later in the process, when people appealed decisions and appeared before higher-level medical committees.

Following the case, the NII, the Health Ministry and other state bodies agreed to changes meant to make the process more sensitive to survivors of sexual trauma.

New system will better accommodate survivors 

Under the new system, when NII knows that a person appearing before a medical committee has experienced sexual assault, that information will be marked in the internal system so the case can be handled more carefully.

If the person asks for a female doctor to be part of the panel, NII will try to grant the request, depending on whether a female doctor is available in the relevant medical field and location.

In suitable cases, the committee will also be able to consider holding the hearing by video, or deciding the case based on medical documents alone, without requiring the person to come in physically.

The changes will apply to medical appeals committees dealing with general disability, work injuries, victims of hostile acts and disabled children.

The case also led to changes in the training of doctors who serve on NII medical committees. A professional committee set up through the Israel Medical Association recommended adding training on sexual trauma and other types of trauma. Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov adopted the recommendations, and the new material is expected to be added to the training program for medical panel doctors beginning in the next academic year.

The training is expected to include how to identify trauma, how to ask sensitive questions, how to conduct physical examinations in a trauma-aware way, and how to communicate respectfully with applicants.

Judge Rachel Barag-Hirshberg approved the agreements and made them binding. She noted that the people who brought the case had endured sexual assault and prostitution, and still gathered the strength to seek recognition of their social rights through NII.

Before closing the case, the judge wrote that the bodies involved had shown an understanding of the need for a more tailored response for survivors of sexual trauma, so that they could better access basic social rights.

Legal Aid Department head Nochi Politis said the ruling showed the importance of public authorities working together to create systems that place crime victims at the center.

“The development of dedicated responses promotes more proper proceedings and better decisions for victims,” she said, adding that the department represents sexual assault victims at no cost and without an income test from the stage of filing a complaint.

Attorney Yael Kasten-Rabsky, who heads the NII field at the Legal Aid Department, said the decision advanced “a more accessible, sensitive and adapted system” for survivors of sexual trauma.

Attorney Anat Rubio-Kimmelman, who represented the survivors together with attorney Nava Eilon, said that allowing a survivor to be examined by a woman could make a significant difference.

In many cases, she said, survivors were unable or unwilling to speak freely with a male examiner because of their post-trauma, but were not given a real choice.

That difficulty became even sharper after the October 7 attacks, she said, which exposed professionals to especially severe cases. With the new training and accommodations, she said, survivors should have a fairer chance to make their case and receive the rights they are entitled to.

Four people were killed, including one pregnant woman, in Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv and Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials reported.

The overnight missile and drone attacks injured an additional six people and damaged residential buildings and shops, the regional prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Telegram.

The latest strikes follow a series of large attacks from Russia this month, while Ukraine has increased its drone strikes on Russian oil facilities in Crimea, leading to Russian fuel shortages.

Overnight in Sevastopol, Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet claimed it repelled a Ukrainian drone attack, according to a statement from Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev. 

Zelensky speaks with Kushner, Witkoff on direct peace talks with Russia

Notably, on Monday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that he had a “very positive conversation” with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. 

“I am grateful for the readiness to work as actively as possible already in the weeks to come to give a boost to diplomacy for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he wrote. 

The talks with the US envoys followed Zelensky’s trip to London, where he met with British, French, and German leaders about finding an end to Ukraine’s war with Russia. Zelensky described the talks as “substantive” and added he was preparing for the upcoming G7 summit in France.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, along with Ukrainian officials, have been in discussions to meet in Kyiv, according to Reuters. It would mark the first official visit to Ukraine by the two envoys who previously traveled to Moscow for talks with Russia in January.

The US led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled since the US has been occupied with finding a solution to its war with Iran.

Zelensky’s proposition for in-person talks with Putin

Zelensky’s office also published an open letter last week to Russian President Vladimir Putin proposing in-person talks to end the over-four-year war. Putin quickly rebuffed his proposal.

“There ⁠are different people around Putin. Half of them want to continue this war and the other half want to stop it,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Guardian.

“Businessmen understand that the Russian economy is in a terrible situation.”

Putin, at an annual business forum in St. Petersburg, assured attendees that although Ukrainian strikes had caused damage, there was no real threat to Russia’s economy.

Zelensky’s open letter to Putin, meeting with Abramovich

Zelensky told Sky News that he met with Jewish Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in Kyiv, where Abramovich offered to deliver a message to the Kremlin on the prospects of peace talks.

“[Abramovich] wanted to give me the message that they [Russia] are ready to, that they want to understand what we are ready to do”, Zelensky said. The former Chelsea FC owner then offered Zelensky to take a reply “and give it to Putin.”

“I said the question is not about us. You are fighting against us on our territory,” he added. “I said to him about Donbas, it was the key message, I said we will not leave, and we will not go out of our territory. No, we will not give you a victory [in] such [a] way, and you will not get it.”

A Ukrainian official told Reuters that Zelensky published his open letter to Putin after he received no response to the message sent via Abramovich.

President Isaac Herzog called for Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to free the nation from the influence of Hezbollah and Iran in a video message on Wednesday.

“I’ve seen the interview of the president of Lebanon on CNN, and it was quite an interesting interview. But I must say, the situation is very clear. We in Israel seek peace with Lebanon,” Herzog said in a video statement published in both English and Arabic.

“The people of Israel support peace with Lebanon. Peace with Lebanon is feasible. I always say, my dream is to take a car and drive all the way to Beirut. It’s feasible. But for that, the government of Lebanon, the leadership of Lebanon, and the people of Lebanon have to stand up against Iran and against Hezbollah, and make it clear that they want peace, not terror,” he continued.

“It was Hezbollah who violated the Security Council resolution of 2006. It was Hezbollah who violated the ceasefire agreement of 2024. And Israelis and Israel cannot accept any attacks on our citizens, any attacks crossing our borders, any attacks of terror,” he added.

“We have the full right to defend ourselves. And so long as there is no clear, clear arrangement that protects our nations, it will be impossible to move forward, so it’s in your hands,” he concluded.

Aoun rejects Hezbollah, Iran, says people are ‘fed up’ with war

Aoun slammed Hezbollah and Iran in an interview with CNN on Friday, saying that his country’s people “are not [Hezbollah leader] Naim Qassem’s people.”

Aoun told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he spoke to a diverse number of Lebanese civilians, who have told him that they are “fed up” with the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“They deserve not seeing their homes destroyed every five to 10 years,” Aoun said, describing the war as “futile.”

Regarding Iran, Aoun accused the Islamic Republic of using Lebanon “for the sake of your [Iran’s] own interest.”

“You are not trying to help us,” said Aoun. “The people of Lebanon are paying the price.” 

Iran has entered an aggressive phase of friction-testing and learning boundaries with Israel, the US, and countries in the region, geopolitics and technology expert Yonatan Adiri warned during a 103FM interview on Monday.

According to Adiri, the recent confrontations with Iran are shaping a new reality in the Middle East and forcing Israel to reexamine the limits of the campaign.

“You can think of today’s Iran like Israel on October 8,” Adiri explained. “[Iran] understands that it needs to rub against others, go out and rediscover the boundaries again, vis-a-vis its neighbors, vis-a-vis Israel, and of course also vis-a-vis the Americans.”

According to him, Tehran is currently in the midst of an aggressive learning competition with regional states and is willing to raise the level of friction to test the limits of power and the response to it. 

“Iran is prepared for very significant friction. The Iranian attack on the nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates is a dramatic event with enormous economic implications,” he said.

Broader risks in the Middle East

Adiri added that the significance of the events is not limited to the military or diplomatic arena, but also relates to broader risks in the region. “The International Atomic Energy Agency warned about the danger of an explosive event with nuclear damage in the region. The Iranians are playing this game also with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait. In a few months, Iran will not be the same country we knew.”

He then addressed the effect of the tensions on global markets, arguing that the world economy has learned to absorb the reality that has emerged. “Iran is in a situation where there is a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.

“Oil prices have remained more or less at the level to which the global economy has adjusted. As long as there is no agreement, Iran does not receive sanctions relief or the $24 billion that became a prerequisite. It is convenient for the global economy to live with this.” 

Adiri also said that the US is preparing in advance and working to secure control of the Strait of Malacca, which lies between Singapore and Indonesia, to prevent further deterioration.

Adiri addressed how Israel should act in the new campaign

According to Adiri, Israel should continue testing the boundaries of action, including with Washington. 

“It was right that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu showed that Israel is prepared to rub against the Americans as well in order to keep learning the limits of the campaign. It would have been right to strike from the outset with a significant opening blow and not work in increments, because the windows of legitimacy are smaller than before,” he said.

Adiri warned that Israel cannot afford to fear friction when facing an adversary willing to take risks. “We have an adversary who understands that he is in a learning competition with the best and is willing to take aggressive risks. Israel must not be afraid of this friction and must not recoil now.”

The US-Iranian negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program saw progress on several key issues in the days before this week’s flare-up of strikes, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

According to US officials, the major elements being negotiated in a nuclear agreement could include a 15-year suspension of Iranian uranium enrichment.

Negotiations, US officials told NYT, have moved well beyond deliberations on the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, as diplomats have begun narrowing down on four key issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

In addition to a hiatus on nuclear enrichment, the US is pushing for dilution of Iran’s already enriched uranium, the dismantlement of nuclear facilities, and the expansion of international inspections.

The Trump administration has previously demanded a 20-year halt on the enrichment process, but US officials expect a settlement for 15 years.

As for the other points of contention, the US is demanding that the Islamic Republic shut down its three remaining nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan, and that the diluting of enriched uranium be overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the implementation of surprise inspections anywhere in Iran, the NYT reported.

Recent US-Iran strikes not impeding negotiations, Americans say

US President Donald Trump said that he believes the US and Iran will still reach a “very good” deal after the US struck Iran, in a phone call with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl just before US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the strikes Tuesday evening.  

CENTCOM wrote in their announcement that the strikes were “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” in reference to the downing of a US Army Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. 

Multiple other US officials echoed the sentiment that the strikes would not impede negotiations to different news outlets.

The Likud Court unanimously rejected petitions to expel former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from the party, while attaching sharp criticism of his conduct around “Gallant Night,” the judicial reform, the IDF crisis, and the draft law.

In the ruling, issued on Sunday, Court President Michael Kleiner and members Yitzhak Bam and Yair Lachen determined that there was no legal basis to terminate Gallant’s membership in Likud. “We found no cause to terminate Mr. Yoav Gallant’s membership in Likud,” Bam wrote at the opening of the decision.

The petitions were submitted by Likud members, who claimed that Gallant acted contrary to the party’s values, blocked judicial reform, effectively aided the opposition, violated coalition discipline, and undermined members’ trust.

The party’s auditor and legal advisor supported his expulsion: the auditor argued that Gallant’s positions on Gaza – his opposition to Israeli military rule and support for a non-hostile Palestinian entity – contradicted Likud’s principles regarding the Land of Israel. The legal advisor contended that Gallant breached his duty of loyalty to the party and assisted the opposition.

Gallant, on the other hand, argued that the petitions were sweeping and lacked an evidentiary basis, asserting that he acted as defense minister out of “deep concern for Israel’s security.”

Gallant claims judicial reform advanced too quickly

He emphasized that he continues to support recalibrating the balance of powers in favor of the Knesset and the government, but believed the reform was advanced too quickly and without regard for security consequences.

During the hearings, he claimed he acted against draft refusal, but in a measured way to prevent a broader collapse in reserve forces. According to him, the outcome test was that on October 7, and during the war, forces mobilized “150%,” including air crews.

Bam and Lachen were particularly critical of the press conference Gallant held before “Gallant Night.” Bam wrote that it constituted “a surrender to the terror” of reservists who threatened not to report for duty, calling it “threat-based extortion of Israeli democracy.” However, he noted that the court has no means to determine whether Gallant assisted the opposition or acted from a genuine conception of state interest. “What are we, what is our power, and what is our courage to decide in this dispute?” he wrote.

Another key ruling concerned the tension between loyalty to a party and loyalty to the state. According to the court, a minister or Knesset member’s duty of loyalty to the State of Israel takes precedence over loyalty to the party. “A duty of loyalty to the party cannot override the duty of loyalty to the State of Israel,” the ruling stated. The court warned that too broad an application of “breach of party loyalty” could become a tool to eliminate political rivals within Likud: “A broad and vague cause for expulsion is an invitation to arbitrariness.”

Court rejects claim Gallant violated coalition discipline

Claims of violating coalition discipline were also rejected. The court found that no clear protocols or faction decisions were presented, and that Gallant resigned from the Knesset once he understood he could not support the draft law. Bam wrote that under these circumstances, “claims of violating faction discipline as grounds for expulsion were better left unclaimed.”

Lachen joined the rejection, but noted that “the deep sense of hurt” among Likud members should not be dismissed. According to him, Gallant’s press conference “effectively exacerbated the public and political crisis” and gave “momentum to the protest opposing the Likud government.” Nevertheless, he ruled: “A political mistake – even a serious one – is not necessarily equivalent to a constitutional ground for expulsion.”

Kleiner determined that Gallant’s resignation from the Knesset was sufficient to dismiss the petition, adding a principled remark: the petitioners are asking the court to enter areas that Likud itself believes courts should avoid. Kleiner also recommended that Likud’s Constitution Committee reconsider the rationale behind the new Section 21, which allows direct court petitions to expel members.

Gallant himself argued that the petitioners sought to impose the view of “20 people over 140,000 members.” The court effectively accepted this defense: Gallant left the process with sharp political criticism, even ideological reprimand, but no sanctions. The judges ruled that the ultimate judgment about him would be made politically, by Likud members at the ballot box.

Iran’s proxy and Israel’s foe is at the center of the conflict roiling the Middle East and threatening to boil over any minute.

On Tuesday, tensions were running high after a day of battle between Israel and Iran ended through American coercion, hoisting the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorist organization as a major regional player.

US President Donald Trump was quick to pressure Israel and Iran to stop attacking each other. Media reports said a tense conversation between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also included a threat by the American leader not to help Israel in case it continued to strike the Islamic Republic.

“The Trump administration has created a totally new and very bad reality,” Amatzia Baram, a professor emeritus at the University of Haifa and an expert in Middle Eastern politics, told The Media Line. “To appease Iran, they are willing to limit Israel in Lebanon. Washington wants this even more than the Lebanese government itself. This is a grave mistake.”

Israeli strikes against Hezbollah over the weekend triggered retaliation from its sponsor, Iran, cementing a new equation. For decades, Israel defined Hezbollah as its most formidable enemy. Israel then thought it had nearly defeated Hezbollah at the end of 2024, only to be stuck with it as Iran uses the group as a deterrent, not by its force but by threatening to attack Israel if it attacks its most-prized proxy.

Hezbollah rocket and drone fire into northern Israel, ceasefire violations

The few hours in which Israel and Iran traded blows on Monday ended with an Iranian warning that it will strike harder if Israel resumes its attacks in Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing at Israel two days after the joint American-Israeli attack against Iran began in March, ending in a ceasefire a month later. Since then, Israel has continued to attack Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, further cementing its presence in the area, which Hezbollah claims is a violation of an original ceasefire reached in November 2024. 

Hezbollah has responded by continuing rocket and drone fire into northern Israel. Both sides are essentially violating the ceasefire while trying to control the levels of violence and limiting the scope of the attacks to northern Israel and southern Lebanon, leaving the Hezbollah stronghold of the Dahieh neighborhood in Beirut off limits for Israel.

For less than 24 hours, the ceasefire spiraled out of control when Israel struck Hezbollah terrorists in the Dahieh, deep within Lebanon. Iran threatened to retaliate for such an attack and did so.

In Israel, there were no casualties from the Iranian missile barrage. Reports from Iran also did not indicate casualties.

“The Iranian attack appears to be an attempt to save face and not an effort to exact a price on Israel,” Dr. Menahem Merhavy, a research fellow and expert on Iran at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told The Media Line. “The attack extracted Iran from a trap.”

“Iran has been unsuccessful in leveraging what it believes was victory over the US and Israel,” Merhavy continued. “Iran is on the verge of catastrophe, and losing Hezbollah is a major source of stress for it.”

Iran has been pulling the strings behind the scenes in the Middle East through several terrorist organizations it has backed, supported, and trained for years, creating a “ring of fire” surrounding Israel.

“The ‘ring of fire’ is currently stuttering,” said Merhavy. “But Iran won’t give up the idea and will not abandon Hezbollah.”

“Hezbollah has been weakened to about half of its previous abilities,” Baram said. “But still, they have significant ability to fight. Hezbollah is busy rebuilding itself, and despite Iran being in a difficult position, it is still helping Hezbollah—financially, militarily, and strategically by positioning itself as its defender and savior.”

“Hezbollah was meant to help Iran, not the opposite,” Baram continued. “The US bears responsibility for this.”

The war of October 2023 began with a surprise attack by the Gaza-based Hamas organization against Israel and quickly evolved into a regional conflict involving all of Iran’s proxies. Israel’s response has systemically degraded that web, leaving Iran weakened even before its first direct confrontation with Israel in April 2024.

“Iran’s latest attack and its quick signal that it finished retaliating, signals its unwillingness to enter another prolonged conflict because they cannot afford it,” said Merhavy.

Speaking on Monday after both Iran and Israel held their fire, Netanyahu said “our struggle with them has not ended yet,” referring to both Iran and Hezbollah.

Attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been small, insignificant

“They are weaker than ever,” he added in an attempt to convince the public that Israel had the upper hand.

“Israel didn’t attack Hezbollah between 2006 to 2023 for one reason – it was afraid that the massive missile and rocket arsenal would cause major damage to Israel,” Baram said. “Now, Israel isn’t afraid of attacking Hezbollah because of its potential to cause damage, but rather Israel is concerned that Iran will get involved and the US will not support Israel if it chooses to respond to this.”

On Tuesday, the Israeli military was believed to be behind a strike against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not confirm.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hezbollah, after the group joined Gaza-based Hamas’ war against Israel in October 2023. Despite several wars and repeated rounds of fighting, Israel has not been able to conclusively end Hezbollah’s threat. Its fire is aimed mostly at northern Israel, severely disrupting life there and creating a major source of frustration.

“Attacks against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon are small, tactical, and have little significance to Hezbollah’s standing in Lebanon,” said Baram.

“Attacks against command headquarters, weapons depots, and assembly factories in Beirut and north of Beirut are at an almost strategic level that can weaken Hezbollah, and that needs to be Israel’s target for the future.”

According to Merhavy, the new equation could be very temporary. But in the meantime, Hezbollah is significantly exposed to Israeli attacks.

“Hezbollah can be pounded all over Lebanon, but Beirut and Iran can do absolutely nothing about it,” he said. “Israel has been able to act freely in Lebanon for months.”

Beyond its military capabilities, Hezbollah has built a vast financial and social network that is deeply embedded in Lebanese society, mainly within the country’s Shiite community.

Through charities, schools, healthcare services, reconstruction projects, and direct financial assistance, the group has created a parallel support system that many Lebanese families depend on, especially in areas where the state has struggled to provide basic services.

This deeply rooted social and economic role has made it difficult for both the Lebanese government and Israel to significantly weaken Hezbollah’s influence.

“There is a lot of frustration with both Hezbollah and Iran amongst the Shiite community in Lebanon,” Merhavy said. “Iran has yet to provide funds to rebuild homes that were destroyed by the Israeli military in the past two years. Hezbollah terrorists are also unable to move freely in Lebanon for constant fear of being targeted by Israel.”

The situation is complicated by the divergence of interests between Israel and the US.

Netanyahu has been under major pressure from US President Donald Trump to curb attacks against Hezbollah, fearing they would derail the talks to reach a permanent deal between the US and the Iranian regime. Israel has also been in direct negotiations with the Lebanese government for several weeks.

Mediated by the US, there is a hope that the government in Beirut will be able to force Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon, thus removing a major direct threat against Israel. Tehran has reportedly threatened the Lebanese government for negotiating with Israel.

“It should be an American interest that Israel weakens Hezbollah,” said Baram. “Israel has no choice but to continue to engage in dialogue with the US. But because it is now extremely limited in conducting military strikes against Hezbollah, Israel must work with the US to target Hezbollah’s financial network and also cooperate with Syria against Hezbollah.”

In late 2024, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria dealt a major blow to Hezbollah’s regional position by disrupting key supply routes used to transfer Iranian weapons through Syria into Lebanon. Israel has sought to capitalize on the changing reality in Syria, striking at targets in the country and limiting Hezbollah’s ability to rebuild its military capabilities along Israel’s northern border.

The new equation has enabled all sides to claim victory while imposing new limitations. Israel can strike Hezbollah at risk of confrontation with Iran and friction with Washington.

Iran can threaten escalation, but appears reluctant to enter another wider direct conflict. Hezbollah, once the centerpiece of Tehran’s regional deterrence strategy, is increasingly busy preserving its own survival.

The stakes are high. Whether this new equation holds or collapses in another round of fighting, the outcome will be decisive for the balance of power across the Middle East.

An agreement between the United States and Iran that addresses Iran’s nuclear program “for the long term” is nearing fruition, US Vice President JD Vance told CBS News, adding that it could come in the coming weeks or months.

“Right now, I feel that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program, not just now, not just while Donald Trump is president, but for the long term, to where my kids can say when they’re adults, ‘Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon,'” Vance said.

“That’s the goal of the policy. And I think we’re very close to achieving that goal. But we still got some wood to chop. We’re going to keep doing it,” he added.

Iran-US deal could come before November midterms, Vance says

The deal could come before the midterm elections in November, Vance claimed.

During the interview, Vance also stated that he didn’t believe the Iranian negotiation party was intentionally stringing along the US President, and that their system “takes a long time to reach consensus.”

“I always hear people ask me, ‘Do you trust the Iranians?’ And what the president has said is: ‘I don’t trust anybody. I don’t trust anybody. What I do trust is my own ability to negotiate. I trust our administration’s ability to negotiate, and I trust the enforcement provisions that we’re going to get in place,” he said. 

For the first time ever, a US Navy Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) rescued two US Army helicopter crew members after their Apache helicopter was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.

In a statement provided by US Central Command to Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post, US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, US Central Command Spokesperson said that “the surface drone that assisted in Monday night’s rescue of the Apache crew off the coast of Oman was a US Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by US 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59.”

A Saronic Technologies spokesperson confirmed to D&T that “the US military has acknowledged that a Saronic Corsair autonomous surface vessel was used in the recent rescue operation following the downing of a US Army helicopter.”

US Central Command  said that “the soldiers were safely rescued within approximately two hours and are in stable condition.” The ASV took the two to another location on the water where they were picked up by a helicopter that took them to shore.

Saronic’s Corsair was under the operational lead of the US Naval Force Central Command (NAVCENT) and the 82nd Airborne Division with Task Force 59. Task Force 59 is NAVCENT’s Unmanned Systems Unit, and it is the Navy’s primary hub for integrating drones and AI‑enabled maritime platforms.

Unmanned Surface Vehicles have long been deployed in sea mine clearance missions to minimize risk to sailors. But the rescue by the Corsair marks the first time that troops have been saved during combat.

The ASV was first unveiled in October 2024, and the company has since built over 300 platforms.

The platforms are 24 feet long and capable of carrying 1,000 pounds with an endurance of over 1,000 nautical miles and a top speed of 35 knots. The platforms are designed to operate independently or in networked swarms with a human operator in the loop via datalink. According to the company, the vessel has logged over 100,000 nautical miles, including multi-day missions. 

While it is unclear how many Corsairs have been delivered to the Navy, Task Force 59 began fielding them in late March after the Navy signed a deal worth $392 million with Saronic in December 2024.

Just days before the rescue, Saronic held a demonstration of Corsair with US military officials overseeing strategic port operations and deployment logistics. 

Lt.-Col. Lauren Cabral, commander of the 834th Transportation Battalion, was quoted as saying that “there is an opportunity for us to be able to utilize this equipment and this piece of technology here that would help us in protecting that restricted area along the waterside. It’s another phenomenal opportunity for the Coast Guard to be able to use this type of equipment, as well as most of the authorities sort of lie under their portfolio to be able to exercise that.”

More drone boats 

The Pentagon has been investing in autonomous unmanned surface vehicles as a cost-effective way to expand the Navy’s reach and capabilities in complex maritime environments. Reuters said that the Navy plans to deploy potentially thousands of Corsairs.

In July, the Pentagon announced that it was looking for USVs capable of carrying large payloads, including missiles, thousands of miles at sea. According to a solicitation by the Navy, the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) program will see a high-endurance USV to meet the need for a fast, high-capacity, embarked payloads platform. 

“MASC seeks to leverage cutting-edge technologies and modular design principles to create adaptable and resilient solutions that can effectively counter evolving threats,” the solicitation read.

MASC is also looking for platforms that can operate at high speeds in rough sea conditions, are interoperable with existing US Navy systems, and are capable of autonomous maneuvering with and without radio frequency (RF) missions, and with open architecture software, as well as software that allows for multiple USVs to be controlled simultaneously. 

The Knesset passed in its preliminary reading on Wednesday a bill that seeks to enshrine Torah study in Basic Law, as part of a proposal pushed by haredi (ultra-Orthodox) 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 legislation passed with 56 lawmakers in favor and 43 against. It was sponsored by Degel Hatroah leader MK Moshe Gafni and had received government backing ahead of the vote.

A separate bill under the same name that is sponsored by the haredi Sephardic Shas Party is also expected to be advanced and will most likely be merged with Gafni’s bill. 

Shas’s proposal had contained contentious wording calling for equality of rights between IDF soldiers who serve and haredim who evade military service, which sparked outrage from both coalition and opposition lawmakers on Monday. 

Leader of the Shas Party, Arye Deri, has demanded that legislation be advanced, and said on Monday that its passage was a condition for party lawmakers to join coalition votes.

The far-right Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said on Tuesday that it would not support a bill that calls for equality of rights between IDF soldiers who serve and haredim who evade military service.

The contentious wording was subsequently removed, but 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.

Who voted against the Torah Study bill?

While some Religious Zionist Party MKs voted in favor of the bill during the vote, MK Moshe Solomon voted against.

MK Dan Illouz and MK Yuli Edelestein, members of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, also voted against the legislation.

Gafni’s bill states that it seeks to enshrine into the Basic Law the status of Torah study as “a fundamental value in the heritage of the Jewish people.”

It proposes that the State of Israel “recognize those who commit themselves to long-term dedication to Torah study as performing significant service to the state and the Jewish people.”

The existing wording, enshrined in the country’s  Basic Law, would ease the ability to grant benefits and rights to haredi men who evade 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.

What is the status of the Haredi draft in Israel?

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.

Moving forward with the legislation also 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.

The advancement of Basic Law: Torah Study legislation is also reportedly part of an emerging deal between Netanyahu and the haredi parties, ahead of the upcoming Knesset dissolution vote in its second and third readings.

The agreement between Netanyahu and the parties is to push the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties have sought. In return, they would receive advancement on the Basic Law: Torah Study, haredi daycare subsidies law, and the kashrut law, according to a Channel 12 report.

Lawmakers from Shas and UTJ told the Knesset House Committee last week that they wanted to move up the election date to September, before the High Holy Days. Numerous reports have stated that the haredi parties have pushed for this to improve turnout among their voters.

Reportedly, Netanyahu has opposed the move and instead seeks to hold elections in late October, allowing the coalition more time to advance legislation during the Knesset’s final session and potentially achieve military goals.

Discussions over the future of the Gaza Strip have been eclipsed by the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

Yet keen observers believe that Trump’s Gaza Plan is doomed. No international stabilization force is ready to step in, while the planned technocrat interim government has been intimidated out of entering the Strip by Hamas.

Moreover, Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for the Board of Peace for Gaza, reported to the UN Security Council that establishing an effective transitional civilian authority in Gaza is not possible without first overcoming Hamas’s resistance to disarming.

The war against Iran may end soon, as neither the US nor Iran appears eager to continue it. Subsequently, attention will move to other arenas. Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has been weakened but remains well-armed and holds veto power over the Lebanese government’s decisions.

Similarly, Hamas in Gaza has resisted pressure to disarm and remains the de facto ruler of the territory it controls – over 30% of the Strip.

Unsurprisingly, terror armies such as Hezbollah and Hamas cannot be eliminated when their ideology commands broad support among the populations in which they operate and when they continue to receive military aid from abroad. Iran has enabled its proxies to survive.

‘Total victory’ against Hamas is unrealistic

In Israel, the IDF has presented plans to renew its assault on Hamas in order to achieve disarmament and deliver the “total victory” demanded by politicians.

Yet this goal is entirely unrealistic. Notably, Israel has not succeeded in eliminating or disarming Hamas in the West Bank, a territory that has been under IDF military control since 1967.

Meanwhile, polls consistently show that Hamas remains popular among Palestinians despite the immense suffering brought on by the October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. Furthermore, Hamas has rebuilt its weapons-smuggling networks to recover from the blows dealt by the IDF, and is actively recruiting and training new fighters in preparation for an Israeli offensive.

While the IDF could take over the entirety of the Gaza Strip – and the prospect of a “decisive” victory is tempting – the wisdom of “finishing the job” is questionable for several reasons.

A conquest of the entire Gaza Strip would make its impoverished population of approximately two million people Israel’s direct responsibility.

Preserving the status quo – a divided Gaza – spares Israel this burden, which has already become a challenge for the international community following the adoption of the Trump Plan for Gaza by the UN Security Council.

Such a conquest would also transform the IDF, which currently operates in the roughly 60% of Gaza it controls – areas largely empty of civilian population – into an occupation army functioning among civilians who have been educated for years by Hamas to hate Israelis.

This kind of population provides fertile ground for Hamas to wage guerrilla warfare against Israeli forces. A “hearts and minds” strategy is not a realistic option for Israel, and any ambitious deradicalization project faces slim prospects of success, requiring a multi-generational timeframe. Israeli energies would be better directed elsewhere.

The multi-front war since October 7, 2023 has been the longest military engagement in Israel’s history. While Israeli society has displayed remarkable resilience and its economy has demonstrated considerable strength, Israel would welcome a respite.

The current deployment in Gaza – defending border communities that were in close proximity to Hamas – requires relatively few troops. Reigniting the Gaza front would necessitate a significant reserve mobilization and would be costly in both lives and resources.

The case for a full takeover of Gaza is not compelling enough at a time when Israelis are longing for some degree of normalcy.

A divided Gaza – one that leaves Hamas in control of a portion of the territory – also preserves the schism within the Palestinian national movement, Israel’s principal long-term adversary, which shows little sign of moderating its deep hostility toward the Jewish state.

This approach reflects Israel’s Gaza strategy following Hamas’s expulsion of the Palestinian Authority from the territory in June 2007.

That separation policy weakened the Palestinian national movement and its push for statehood, which is currently opposed by a large majority of Israelis who are not convinced that the Palestinians can become a reliable neighbor in the foreseeable future.

October 7, 2023, did not represent a failure of the separation policy per se. The failure lay in the IDF intelligence branch’s complacency and, more broadly, in Israel’s policy of restraint and containment.

The separation strategy wrongly embraced a “quiet for quiet” approach, tolerating recurrent missile attacks on its civilian population while allowing Hamas to substantially expand its military capabilities.

Israel failed to act aggressively enough to prevent that buildup. In a protracted and intractable conflict, “mowing the grass” – using military force periodically to degrade enemy capabilities, restore temporary deterrence, and extend the intervals between violent confrontations – is the only viable approach to adversaries, whether hostile states, terrorist organizations, or terrorist armies.

This concept offers no definitive endpoint and no decisive victory. It requires ongoing vigilance and periodic action, while acknowledging that the threat may always reemerge. In Gaza, Israel neglected this imperative.

A Hamas-controlled enclave in Gaza is therefore a bearable outcome – provided Israel remembers to “mow the grass” frequently enough. It also frees the IDF from occupation duties, which carry their own costs and complications.

Finally, restraint in Gaza may spare Israel the reflexive international criticism that so often greets its use of force, criticism that frequently rests on a fundamental misreading of the situation

The writer is the founder of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) and currently a Senior Researcher there. He also serves as Chair of the Program for Strategy, Diplomacy and Security at the Shalem Academic Center.

The Zionist NGO Regavim will be taking legal action against Canada and the EU following the imposition of sanctions, Naomi Kahn, director of the International Division at Regavim, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway, France, New Zealand, and Australia announced new sanctions against several individuals and organizations in the West Bank, whom they accuse of violence against Palestinians. As part of the announcement, Canada also imposed sanctions on the Regavim Movement.

Regavim is a Zionist NGO dedicated to protecting Israel’s national lands and resources. It mainly acts to prevent illegal seizure of Israeli state land, and to protect the rule of law in matters pertaining to land-use policy in the State of Israel.

Unlike some of the other individuals and entities sanctioned yesterday, Regavim has never been accused of violence against Palestinians. Ironically, in fact, it is known for publishing a report debunking the very concept of settler violence.

“Sanctioning civil society organizations who have absolutely no connection to actual violence or were never accused of violence, have never been accused of any illegal activity whatsoever, is an attack on the State of Israel as a whole, and particularly in our case, it’s an attack on Israel’s judicial system,” Kahn told the Post.

Regavim sanctioned for lobbying for destruction of Palestinian property

The EU and Canada both said they sanctioned Regavim for “lobbying for the demolition of Palestinian property and an EU-funded Palestinian primary school at the Jabbet al Dhib village, near Bethlehem, in the West Bank.”

Kahn disputes this, saying the school was an “illegal structure that was built by the European Union on Israeli state land in Area C, the area under Israeli jurisdiction, and the court found grounds to demolish that structure.”

“Now, that just means that they don’t like the court’s judgment, and that means that they’re sending a message, not very subtle, to Israel’s judges: ‘If you vote against the European Union’s activities, even though they’re illegal and everyone knows it, we will sanction you next, and we will sanction the entire state of Israel anytime they do something that we don’t like, even when it’s against the law.'”

“It’s not a question of whether Regavim is or isn’t violent.  Of course it isn’t. We are a research think tank and policy and lobbying group.”

Kahn told the Post that Regavim sees it as important to push back against this “entire affront to Israel’s integrity as a democracy with a functioning judicial system,” and against Israel’s sovereignty over territory over which, under international law, it is sovereign.

“This is an attack on Israel’s sovereignty, on its judiciary and on its legitimacy,” Kahn added.

Thus, as mentioned, they will be taking immediate action to file an appeal and a counterclaim.

“First of all, there’s a bureaucratic process with all of these sanctions in which you can appeal the decision to sanction you, so we’re going to do that, but it essentially has very little chance of succeeding. But in addition to that, we intend to file counter suits because this is a defamation.”

“They are somehow including us in a list of people that they’re accusing of violence where there’s absolutely no proof, no hint, no involvement whatsoever in anything [we do] that could be construed as violent. They simply don’t like our political stance. So we’re going to be filing counter suits against this.”

In addition, Regavim will call on the government of the state of Israel to push back against sanctions on the diplomatic playing field.

EU sanctions are attempt to clear path for Palestinian state, NGO says

Kahn believes that the sanctions are an attempt to clear the way for the creation of a Palestinian state.

“And it is clear that Israeli voters, Israelis who actually live here and will have to pay the price of that sort of thing, do not support the creation of a Palestinian state. Certainly not now, when the Palestinian Authority has been proven to support terrorism, continues to pay terrorists, continues to encourage the eradication of the state of Israel. So there’s no peace partner. And by the European Union simply forcing this situation, they are endangering our lives.”

“Let’s just hypothetically propose that every single Jew decided to leave Judea and Samaria. Will that be enough? No, because that’s not really what they want; what they want really is to create a state of Palestine there.”

“Israelis know what the results of that will be. We saw it on October 7th. We know that a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria will be the end of the state of Israel,” she concluded.

Few Americans, including just 21% of Republicans, think President Donald Trump’s administration has helped deliver justice in cases connected to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The results of the six-day poll, which closed on Monday, come as congressional investigators continue to probe the alleged crimes of Epstein, who served time in prison after pleading guilty in 2008 on prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl.

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

Just 10% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said the Trump administration had helped efforts to hold people connected to Epstein accountable. Only one in five respondents said the alleged clients of Epstein have been held accountable.

Some of Epstein’s victims have claimed that rich and powerful people have been protected in official investigations.

Epstein files a political headache for Trump, nation believes truth is hidden

The Trump administration fanned speculation with the release in January of millions of Justice Department investigation files that named or featured photographs of dozens of powerful people in business and government, including Trump himself.

Several corporate executives have stepped down this year after appearing in the files, but none have been charged with crimes.

Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, was one of those individuals and is scheduled to sit for a closed-door interview with congressional investigators on Wednesday.

The files released this year indicated that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly after Epstein pleaded guilty to the prostitution charges to discuss expanding Gates’ philanthropic efforts. A spokesperson for Gates’ philanthropy said in February that the billionaire “took responsibility for his actions” regarding his ties to Epstein during a town hall meeting with employees.

The Epstein scandal has proven a persistent political headache for Trump, who long fanned the flames of suspicions around Epstein and has been dogged by criticism that his administration was failing to fully disclose all that the US government knew about the case.

Some 84% of respondents in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll – including similar shares of Republicans, Democrats, and independents – said the Epstein files showed that powerful people in America are rarely held accountable.

Three-quarters of the country thinks the federal government was probably still hiding information about Epstein’s alleged clients.

Liheyot Ye’udi, an educational program inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, has completed its second year after reaching 70,000 students across Israel, organizers said this week.

The initiative, run by The Rabbi Sacks Legacy and coordinated by Sulamot, works with students in Israel’s state and state-religious school systems. It aims to help young Israelis see themselves as leaders, moral voices, and people capable of responding to the country’s social challenges with responsibility and action.

The year-end event brought together students, educators, public figures, and Israeli content creators who have been involved in the program. It included appearances by Itay and Omri Rozenblit, former contestants on “The Amazing Race Israel.”

Omri Rozenblit, who was wounded while fighting in Gaza and lost a leg, told the students that identity is shaped by values rather than by physical condition.

“You are who you define yourselves to be. You are the size of your values,” he said. “I was wounded in the war and lost a leg. Perhaps I am defined as disabled, but as far as I am concerned, I am not disabled. I remind myself that this is only body and flesh. I am my ideals. I am Israeli, Jewish, a fighter.”

Dylen Dror: Doing good begins with a small decision

Digital influencer Dylen Dror, who has helped create content for Liheyot Ye’udi over the past two years, said the program changed the way he thinks about doing good.

“The most meaningful thing I learned is that doing good does not begin only with a big project,” Dror said. “It begins with a small decision: to notice, to listen, to help, to choose, and to see the other. Rabbi Sacks said that every person has a unique voice and a role in the world, and that idea spoke to me as well.”

The day concluded with a tribute at the President’s Residence, where President Isaac Herzog praised the initiative and the students participating in it.

“We live in a world filled with worry and anxiety,” Herzog said. “And what can the solution be? When we read Rabbi Sacks, we feel calmer. There is something deeply logical there, something that explains where you are and where you are going. I commend this initiative to spread the teachings of Rabbi Sacks.”

Turning to the students, Herzog added: “Continue to spread Rabbi Sacks’ teachings. They are important, and they will accompany you always.”

Rabbi Sacks’ teachings as an answer to polarization

Nadiva Koschitzky Sheer, representing the Koschitzky family, which supports the project, said Rabbi Sacks’ teachings were especially relevant at a time of polarization in Israeli society.

“Rabbi Sacks taught us that disagreement is not a threat to our unity, but the foundation of Judaism, of a strong democracy, and of a healthy society,” she said. “You, the young participants in this program, are the best antidote to the polarization and division in Israel.”

Daniel Taub, chair of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy in Israel and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, said the project was part of a broader effort to bring Rabbi Sacks’ ideas into Israeli homes and classrooms.

“A year ago, when we met with the President, he set us a challenge: that Rabbi Sacks should be in every home in Israel,” Taub said. “This year, too, the Liheyot Ye’udi program reached 70,000 students across Israel, in both the state and state-religious school systems.”

Rabbi Sacks, who served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, became one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of his generation, writing widely on morality, identity, responsibility, and Jewish leadership. Since his death in 2020, his family and students have worked to expand access to his teachings in Israel and around the Jewish world.

Liheyot Ye’udi has become one of the main Israeli educational frameworks carrying that legacy into classrooms, with students using Rabbi Sacks’ writings as a basis for discussion, personal reflection, and social action.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, adding Israel’s “aggression” posed a threat to the whole world and must be stopped.

NATO member Turkey has been one of the fiercest critics of Israel’s assaults on Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon, saying Israel was the biggest obstacle to regional peace. It has halted all trade with Israel and called for measures against it at international courts.

“The attacks by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his network of murder on Lebanon and Syria have brought the issue to a point where it also threatens Turkey,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament, and added that Ankara’s security was tied to that of these two countries.

Erdogan also said Israel was leading a “sneaky effort” to destabilize African countries and the Mediterranean by igniting “the fire of discord” on the ethnically split island of Cyprus.

“These small entities, whose ambitions far exceed their size, have boarded Israel’s boat of mischief, taken on the role of Zionist subcontractors, and are pursuing some pipe dreams in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said, without elaborating.

Turkey blames Israeli provocations for starting US-Iran war

“Nobody should chase adventures… I want everyone to know that if the rights of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots are violated in the Eastern Mediterranean, our response will be very clear and very strong.”

Turkey, Iran’s neighbor, has blamed Israel’s “provocations” for starting the US-Iran war.

Erdogan on Wednesday urged world powers to take a clearer stance against Israel, saying it was emboldened by the “silence of the international community.”

“Pulling Israel back to within the bounds of the rule of law has become a shared duty not just for certain countries, but for all of humanity,” he said.

Netanyahu hits back at ‘antisemitic’ Erdogan, ‘oppressor,’ genocide against Kurds

In an X/Twitter post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at Erdogan, saying, “The antisemitic dictator Erdoğan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds, backing the Hamas terrorist organization, oppressing his own people, and imprisoning his political rivals, is the last person who should be lecturing the State of Israel.”

הרודן האנטישמי ארדואן שמבצע רצח עם בכורדים, תומך בארגון הטרור חמאס, מדכא את בני עמו ושם בכלא יריבים פוליטיים הוא האחרון שיכול להטיף מוסר למדינת ישראל.

מדינת ישראל וצה”ל, הצבא המוסרי ביותר בעולם, ימשיכו לפעול בעוצמה נגד איראן ושלוחותיה שמאיימות על המזרח התיכון ועל העולם כולו.

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 10, 2026

“The State of Israel and the IDF, the most moral military in the world, will continue to act decisively against Iran and its proxies, which threaten the Middle East and the entire world,” he added.

Two sperm whales were documented off the coast of Ashdod for the first time since 2022 during a deep-sea survey on Monday, which also coincided with International Ocean Day.

Just before the University of Haifa’s Morris Kahn Marine Research Station team was set to return to shore, the two sperm whales, one of the Mediterranean’s rarest species, were spotted.

“We received an exciting glimpse of their presence here, and also a reminder of the importance of protecting them,” said project leader Yali Mevorach.

The team was originally slated to perform surveys over the course of six days, but instead were called to shore after one day due to Iranian missile strikes.

“Just moments before we lifted the hydrophone (an acoustic system used to locate dolphins and whales) from the water, about 35 km west of Ashdod, at a depth of 700 meters, we suddenly heard familiar clicks,” said Dr. Aviad Scheinin, principal investigator of the project and head of the Apex Predators Division at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station.

Fifth time sperm whales have been spotted with hydrophone

In addition to being the second time researchers have seen the whales since 2022, this is only the fifth time the species has been spotted via the hydrophone.

The Mediterranean Sea is estimated to be home to a few hundred sperm whales, which are considered an endangered species. Israelis are only lucky to spot the whales a few times each year, as evidence from ongoing research conducted by the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station shows that the whales spend a large portion of the year in Israel’s deep waters.

In February, a sperm whale was found dead on the beach in Zikim, which highlighted just how vulnerable the Mediterranean sperm whale population is.

“The Israeli Mediterranean suffers from many human impacts, limited food availability, and a complex climate, making it difficult for species like these to survive in our region,” Mevorach said.

“We have been researching them for several years, with sightings remaining relatively rare. Today, we received such an exciting glimpse of their presence here – healthy, beautiful, and actively hunting. It is proof that we have Israeli sperm whales that need us to study them and protect them.”

US President Donald Trump treats negotiations with Iran “like a bazaar,” former head of the Mossad’s counterterrorism division Oded Ailam said during an interview with 103FM on Monday morning.

“It’s hard to summarize, we are only in a pause. We have not finished anything, just as we have not finished anything in any arena, and we need to admit the truth. There are extraordinary military achievements in all arenas that are not really being translated into diplomatic achievements,” he said.

“One of the main reasons is a capricious president named Trump, who is negotiating in the Iranian bazaar. More or less, he comes in the morning to his stall, puts up a sign that says, ‘By the end of the day, I need to sell all the merchandise,’ and expects prices to go down.

“He does not understand the terminology of the Middle East, not the dialectic, and the Iranians are teaching him a lesson in that regard.”

Ailam also called on Israel to look at events taking place elsewhere in the world, noting his talk of a wall funded by Mexico, his plans to conquer Greenland, and the deadlines he has given for those issues.

“We owe this man an enormous debt, no matter what. He brought the Abraham Accords; he was the most dominant factor in the hostage deal. This man did what seven presidents before him did not do, and he attacked Iran, which absorbed heavy blows. However, we are talking here with a president who sometimes acts against his own interests and could write a glorious chapter in Barbara Tuchman’s book The March of Folly.”

Former Mossad counterterror head says Trump limited Israel’s Iran strikes 

Ailam then described Israel as a limited player on the regional stage and argued that its standing is deteriorating in the face of its enemies. 

“Let’s take an analogy from the World Cup: they bring up the striker Ousmane Dembélé, and the coach tells him, ‘You only shoot with your right foot and only pass backward.’ We need to get the maximum out of this. We have no say.

“I think that in the end it is right that Trump, as usual, put the brakes on the planes that were on their way. That is a metaphor.”

“Israel must sever the equation in which the Iranian lawyer tells the Lebanese client, ‘I represent you, and I don’t care what you say.’ The importance of this move was that Israel did not accept it. Israel is sending a very clear message that the key in Beirut will hang on the wall in Tehran. In that sense, the message was very sharp and clear.”

He added more about the developments taking place in Lebanon, stating that Israel’s territorial control is what has harmed Iran and Hezbollah the most.

“What worries the Iranians most is that they are seeing a process of internal disintegration begin inside Lebanon, including within the Shiite community, where people are starting to ask questions. I speak with Lebanese and follow what is happening there. We have never seen such serious doubts from all parts of the spectrum,” he said.