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A celebration of Mexico’s World Cup match victory took a violent turn on Wednesday night after a car rammed through a crowd of fans in the popular tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas, injuring over a dozen people, Los Cabos’ city hall said in a statement.

A total of 17 people received medical treatment, the statement added, including the driver, who was arrested.

Multiple visuals posted on social media, verified by Reuters, show a black car surrounded by a crowd of people wearing Mexico’s national football team shirts. The car then accelerated into the crowd, throwing people into the air before crashing into bollards.

Other videos verified by Reuters show the crowd pulling someone from the car and attacking them while multiple people lie bloody on the ground in unknown condition.

Los Cabos mayor expresses solidarity with car ramming victims

“I would like to express our deepest solidarity with the people affected and their families following the unfortunate events that occurred tonight,” Los Cabos’ Acting Mayor Jose Manuel Larumbe said, promising to keep the public informed regarding authorities’ investigations into the incident.

Located on Mexico‘s Baja California peninsula, Cabo San Lucas is one of Mexico’s top luxury tourist destinations and one of the two principal cities within the Municipality of Los Cabos, which also includes San Jose del Cabo and the resort corridor connecting them.

Celebrations erupted across Mexico on Wednesday evening after Mexico beat the Czech Republic 3-0 in their final game of the World Cup group stage.

Russia has been pressuring its ally Belarus to open a new front against the war with Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Former and current Russian and European officials familiar with the matter told the WSJ that Russia has requested to use Belarusian territory to launch even more drones into Ukraine. The Kremlin has also floated using Belarus, where it notably stores tactical nuclear weapons, in operations against NATO countries in Europe.

In 2022, Russia used Belarusian territory to invade Kyiv quickly. However, after Ukrainian forces pushed back the Russian army, Moscow stopped using Belarus to launch attacks.

While situations along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border are still tense, Minsk has somewhat stayed out of the war since then.

“We have said many times that it is absolutely unacceptable for the war between Ukraine and Russia to spill over into Belarusian territory,” President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier this month, adding that his country is “very vulnerable militarily.”

Will Alexander Lukashenko double down on relations with Russia?

Several US officials have visited Belarus since Trump’s election, and have tried to sway autocratic Lukashenko away from Putin.

The Trump administration lifted some sanctions on Belarus in September, and in exchange, Lukashenko gradually released around 500 political prisoners.

But as the war drags on, Lukashenko appears to be moving back to bolstering relations with his close ally, Putin.

Moscow has been using more ground drone stations in Belarus, where about 2,000 Russian troops are stationed, and Belarus has been selling Russia oil and gas as its fuel crisis deepens, the WSJ reported. 

Moscow still relies on Belarus, which has two large refineries, to process Russian oil and sell gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel back to Russia.

In the first five months of this year, rail shipments of gasoline from Belarusian refineries to Russia surged nearly 13-fold compared to the same period last year, while shipments of Belarusian diesel tripled, according to Reuters sources.

Zelensky warns Lukashenko to take down Russian ground drone stations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had received intelligence that Minsk and Moscow were communicating on potential plans to use Belarusian territory to attack southern Ukraine or northern Baltic states.

He gave Lukashenko a week to take down the Russian drone stations and appeared to warn that he would strike them.

“I think a week will be enough for him to do it. If he doesn’t do it, we will,” Zelesnky said in a press conference earlier this month in Kyiv.

On Wednesday, Zelensky said the stations had stopped working.

“When Lukashenko says he does not want to be involved in the war, he should be honest, at least with his own people,” Zelensky said earlier this month. “It is not only he who could be drawn into the war: his entire country could be dragged into it by Russia.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that French President Emmanuel Macron warned him against taking any further action in the war, according to the report. 

Macron reportedly told Lukashenko that he had intelligence suggesting Belarus was going to take further action in the war, and warned him against it.

An aide to the French president confirmed the call to the WSJ, and said Macron “emphasized the risks Belarus faces if it allows itself to be drawn into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

A former Russian intelligence officer briefed on operations confirmed the WSJ report, and added that Moscow’s ambassador to Minsk, Boris Gryzlov, is threatening to cut off financial lifelines.

The sources who spoke to the WSJ asserted that there are no physical indications that a Russian attack from Belarus is imminent, besides the drone stations, but the possibility is still there.

They told the WSJ that if Belarus were used for a Russian attack, it could be aimed at testing NATO defenses or more attempts at undermining support for Ukraine.

On Thursday, the Kremlin denied the WSJ report.

“Belarus isn’t participating,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Belarusian involvement in the war.

 Also on Thursday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said Minsk perceives a “blatant” attempt to drag it into the war in Ukraine, warning of growing external pressure on the country.

Khrenin did not specify who he believed was behind such efforts, but appeared to point the finger at the West.

“Efforts are underway to prolong, and even expand, the hot conflict unleashed by the West in Ukraine. Today, we are acutely aware of a blatant attempt to drag Belarus into the war,” Khrenin said in comments published by his ministry.

In a ceremony at the White House last week, US President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to retired US Marine Corps Major James Capers Jr for his “extraordinary courage” during his service in the Vietnam War. 

Capers made history as the first living black Marine to be awarded America’s highest military decoration. 

In the spring of 1967, Capers led a 9 person reconnaissance team near Phu Loc, Vietnam. Despite receiving several wounds from gunshots and shrapnel during an enemy ambush, Capers continued directing his team’s movements and coordinating the evacuation.

He refused to board their evacuation helicopter until after all of his Marines were safely extracted. 

“His Medal of Honor recognizes not only extraordinary courage in combat, but a lifetime defined by service to others,” the Museum of the Medal of Honor wrote in its citation of Capers’ service.

Despite growing up under segregation, Capers rose to be the first black Marine to command a reconnaissance company

Major James Capers Jr was born in Bishopville, South Carolina in 1937 during the Jim Crow era and was raised in a family of sharecroppers. 

Capers joined the Marine Corps in 1956 where he became the first black Marine to join Force Reconnaissance, and the first black Marine to receive a battlefield commission in Marine Special Operations. Later in his service Capers became the first black Marine to command a reconnaissance company.

Capers retired from the Marine Corps in 1978, dedicating his time to serving fellow veterans. 

Yonatan Urich, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the primary suspects in the Bild case, will be allowed to maintain his position at the Prime Minister’s Office, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled on Thursday.

The court rejected the prosecution’s requests to extend the restrictive conditions imposed on Urich, as prosecution representatives alleged in court that Urich had tampered with evidence to impede the investigation.

Urich was added to an amended indictment in the Bild leak case earlier this month, alongside former PMO spokesman Eli Feldstein and IDF reservist Ari Rosenfeld.

The case centers on the alleged transfer and use of classified military material connected to Hamas’s position in hostage negotiations, which was later published by the German newspaper Bild in September 2024.

According to the indictment, Rosenfeld contacted Feldstein on June 6, 2024, about the urgent transfer of material from military intelligence to the prime minister. Prosecutors allege that Feldstein immediately updated Urich, who later helped shape the route by which the material could be used after the military censor blocked its publication in Israel.

Urich is alleged to have directed Feldstein to Netanyahu associate Israel (Srulik) Einhorn, whose involvement was part of an effort to place the material with foreign media.

Urich alleged to have helped disseminate classified information around hostage talks

The prosecution alleges that Urich was involved in receiving, using, and helping disseminate the classified information as part of public messaging around the hostage talks. 

The charges include delivering secret information with the intent to harm state security, delivering secret information, possessing secret information, and destroying evidence.

In May 2020, Turkish media reported that Libyan forces had retaken a key airbase and ended “Haftar’s coup plot.” This was a reference to Khalifa Haftar and his eastern Libyan forces, called the Libyan National Army (LNA).

The LNA had been fighting a civil war against the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), headquartered in Tripoli. Libya was divided. Turkey was backing the GNA, sending drones, equipment, and advisors.

This week, Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin met Lt. Gen. Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan National Army, in Benghazi, Libya. The meeting was on June 23.

This represents a huge change from 2020. Six years have caused a major shift. Turkey has shifted from being involved in fueling conflict in Libya and stoking flames of tension in the Eastern Mediterranean to trying to be a broker of some kind of peace.

For critics of Ankara, this will all seem like Turkey’s leadership is merely putting on a mask and continues to retain its regional ambitions. The reality is that both can be true.

Turkish ambitions in Libya, Syria, the Middle East

Turkey has regional ambitions in Libya, but it now sees accommodation and dialogue as more important than weapons. In 2020, Turkey’s leadership, the AKP party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was involved in several conflicts. It had invaded Afrin in Syria and used Syrian rebel proxies to attack Kurds.

It had then invaded Serekaniye in Syria. It had backed Azerbaijan in a conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. It was also threatening Greece.

Turkey had also signed a deal with the GNA in Libya that fed Ankara’s claims of a swath of blue water territory across the Mediterranean, essentially cutting the Mediterranean in half.

With the fall of the Assad regime and Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia, Turkey feels it can shift course a bit. It no longer argues with the Gulf states. It is preparing to host a NATO meeting. It wants to work on stability in Syria. This also dovetails with Egypt and the US approach.

How did we get here? In April 2020, the GNA turned the tide against the LNA. This was made possible in partnership with Turkish drones. The GNA took the al-Watiyah Air Base, a key LNA base.

As the Washington Institute for Near East Policy noted at the time, “since then, fighting has remained intense in southern Tripoli and around Tarhuna, a town that provided the LNA with much of its local support and forces over the past year.”

Anadolu said it even more frankly: “[A] key airbase in Libya was under [the] rule of [a] warlord for some six years until it was freed on Monday. A Libyan official on Monday said the government’s regaining control of the strategically important Al-Watiya airbase was the beginning of freeing the country from forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar.”

Now the Haftars are no longer called warlords or coup plotters in pro-government media in Ankara. Instead, Daily Sabah in Turkey notes that “Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalın met with Lt. Gen. Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the Libyan National Army, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, security sources said on Tuesday.”

Turkey discussing peace, strengthening efforts to unify militaries

The report goes on to add that “according to information obtained from sources, the talks focused on efforts to preserve stability in Libya and advance the country’s political and military unification process.”

Turkey is discussing peace and ways to strengthen “efforts aimed at bringing Libya’s rival eastern and western administrations, as well as their military forces, under a single authority.”

It’s clear that a lot is happening in Libya behind the scenes. Most of the world has not been focused on Libya. However, Libya is important. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, spoke this week about “terror states.” Among the countries mentioned was Libya.

However, Libya is no longer a collapsed state as it was in the past. As Daily Sabah notes, the eastern and western governments of Libya have recently conducted a joint military drill with the US and Turkey in Sirte.

“Kalin and Haftar also reviewed bilateral relations between Türkiye and Libya, discussing opportunities to expand cooperation across various sectors and further strengthen the partnership between the two countries,” Daily Sabah says.

Turkey has trained 23,000 Libyans, the report says. “The talks in Benghazi reflect Ankara’s continued engagement with key actors across Libya as international and regional stakeholders seek progress toward reconciliation and the establishment of unified state institutions.”

This was an important symbolic meeting, and Turkey is clearly angling for a larger role in Libya. As a peacemaker, Turkey may find its role growing, rather than as in the past, when Ankara intervened, which caused tensions with Egypt, Greece, and other countries in the Mediterranean. 

At the end of October, Israelis will vote for a new government. At the beginning of November, Palestinians are expected to do the same. It is rare that both peoples will go to elections, almost at the same time, to choose their leadership and national direction.

This creates a huge opportunity and responsibility, mainly for Israelis and Palestinians, and they can be assisted by the United States, the Arab states, Europe, and the wider international community.

No foreign leader or outside power should choose the leaders of Israel or Palestine. That is the task of Israeli and Palestinian voters. But the international community can make clear what kind of future it is prepared to support. It can tell both peoples that peace is not an empty slogan, that a diplomatic horizon exists, and that leaders who provide hope by choosing courage over fear will not stand alone.

In the interest of peace in the Middle East, US President Donald Trump should embrace this opportunity and make a simple, direct, historic statement:

• The United States supports Israel’s security and full integration into the Middle East.
• The United States supports Palestinian freedom, statehood, democracy, and dignity.
• The United States will work with regional and international partners to advance and implement a two-state solution.
• The United States expects both Israelis and Palestinians to elect leaders capable of making peace.

Such a statement would not be interference. It would be strategic clarity. Delivered now, months before the elections, it could influence the outcome not by telling people whom to vote for but by showing them what kind of future their vote can make possible.

It would tell voters that there is an alternative to war, occupation, siege, terrorism, repression, revenge, and despair. It would make clear that their next leaders will be judged by their ability to secure freedom, security, dignity, and peace.

But Trump’s message alone would not be enough. Its real importance would depend on how Israeli and Palestinian candidates respond.

How Israeli and Palestinian candidates should respond to a call for peace

Israeli candidates seeking to replace the current government should say clearly: Israel’s security is essential, but it cannot be achieved by permanent occupation. Israel must defeat terrorism and insist on strong security arrangements, but it must also offer Palestinians a political horizon and recognize their right to freedom, sovereignty, and dignity. Israel’s future is not as a fortress surrounded by enemies. Its future is as a legitimate, secure, integrated state in the Middle East.

They should say to Israeli voters: The path of recent years has failed. It brought catastrophe, war, isolation, economic damage, internal division, and far too much death and destruction. We cannot manage this conflict forever. We cannot believe that the Palestinian issue can be bypassed through force or normalization with some Arab states. Israel can be accepted into the region but not while millions of Palestinians remain under occupation, without freedom and without a political future.

Israeli candidates should also speak indirectly, but unmistakably, to Palestinian voters: You are not our enemy as a people. We recognize the historic and religious connection of the Palestinian people to this land. You also want to live, raise your children, build your economy, and control your future.

We are ready to negotiate with Palestinian leaders that you elect: leaders who reject violence, accept mutual recognition, support democracy, and are prepared to build a state alongside Israel, not instead of Israel. Our security and your freedom must be built together.

Palestinian candidates and parties must be equally clear. They should say: The last years have shown the terrible futility of violence. Armed struggle has not liberated Palestine, ended occupation, or brought sovereignty. It has brought suffering, destruction, isolation, and loss.

The Palestinian people need a new path: democracy, nonviolence, institution-building, international legitimacy, and a political strategy that can gain regional and global support. The Palestinian people also recognize the historic and religious connection of the Jewish people to this land – this is even recognized in the Holy Quran.

Palestinian candidates should say: Our goal is freedom and statehood, not revenge. Our goal is ending occupation, not destroying Israel. Our goal is to build Palestine – in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem – as a democratic, accountable, sovereign state living in peace next to Israel. We will demand our rights firmly, but through diplomacy, persuasion, law, popular nonviolent action, international alliances, and negotiations.

Palestinian candidates should also speak indirectly to Israeli voters: We understand that Israelis need security. We understand the trauma and fear Israelis carry. We do not ask Israelis to trust words alone. We are prepared to build institutions, security arrangements, education systems, and political commitments that prove that a Palestinian state will be a partner for peace, not a platform for war. We want our children to live next to your children in dignity and safety.

This indirect dialogue could change the election atmosphere. For years, the central argument against peace has been the same in both societies: “There is no partner on the other side.” Israelis say there is no Palestinian partner. Palestinians say there is no Israeli partner. Each side uses the extremism of the other as proof that peace is impossible. That circle must be broken.

The main challenge is to rebuild confidence that there are partners for peace. That will not happen through secret diplomacy alone. It must happen in public, during the election campaigns themselves.

Israeli parties that support peace should say that Palestinian freedom is part of Israeli security. Palestinian parties that support peace should say that Israeli security is part of Palestinian freedom. These are not concessions. They are the foundation of any realistic future.

Political agreements are not enough. Candidates on both sides must also address other fundamental issues – such as what we teach our children. Education curricula is in the hands of the state and therefore is the truest reflection on the values of the society.

The next generation of Israelis and Palestinians must not inherit only graves, walls, checkpoints, rockets, sirens, hatred, and fear. They must inherit the tools of coexistence: language (Hebrew and Arabic), knowledge, empathy, critical thinking, historical honesty, and the belief that the other people is not destined to be an eternal enemy.

Elections are not only about who holds office. They are about what societies tell themselves is possible. If Israeli candidates run only on fear, they will produce more fear. If Palestinian candidates run only on grievance, they will produce more despair. But if candidates on both sides speak about peace, partnership, democracy, security, freedom, hope, and regional integration, the political environment will begin to change.

There are moments in history when timing matters. The time for action is now – before the end of October and the beginning of November. Israelis and Palestinians will soon be voting almost at the very same time. They should not vote in darkness. They should understand that their vote will affect not only their own future but also the choices made by the other side.

The door to peace will not open by itself; it will open only if leaders on both sides tell their people the truth and voters choose the future over the fear.

The writer is the Middle East director of the International Communities Organization and the co-head of the Alliance for Two States.

Switzerland is moving to accelerate its long‑range air defense capabilities, resuming payments for the US‑made Patriot system while launching negotiations with Israeli, French, and South Korean manufacturers for an additional system, the Federal Council announced on Wednesday.

According to a statement by Switzerland’s Federal Council, the US has shifted delivery priorities for the Patriot system toward Ukraine, creating delays and cost pressures. The decision comes amid what the country described as a worsening global security environment and growing concerns over long‑distance aerial threats.

“Given the deterioration of the geopolitical situation, the Federal Council is convinced that Switzerland must strengthen its air defense capabilities,” it said, adding that “in addition to hybrid threats, long‑distance attacks represent the most likely threat to Switzerland, one against which the country currently has no means of protection.”

Switzerland ordered the Patriot missile system from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in 2022, with an expected delivery in 2026-2028, but due to the war in Ukraine, the timeline has been pushed by at least five years. Nevertheless, Bern said it cannot afford to halt the Patriot acquisition without a replacement ready.

The Swiss Defense Ministry said it would therefore restart payments to the US for the system that had been paused. 

Talks launched with Israel, France, and South Korea

Alongside the resumed payments, Bern is looking for a second long‑range air defense system to ensure rapid operational readiness and reduce dependence on a single supplier.

Switzerland’s Defense Ministry has been authorized to begin contractual negotiations with manufacturers in France, Israel, and South Korea.

Reuters quoted National armaments director Urs Loher as telling a press conference that it ​would not be Israel’s Arrow defense system.

Europe has increasingly turned to Israeli air defense technology over the past decade, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growing demand for rapid, combat‑proven systems. Several Israeli systems, including the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Spyder, have been selected by European governments.

Germany purchased Israel’s Arrow 3 system with a landmark €4 billion agreement to provide exo‑atmospheric interception capability. Finland purchased David’s Sling after joining NATO, signing a deal worth more than €300 million. Central European states have also moved toward Israeli systems, with the Czech Republic receiving the Spyder medium‑range system, Slovakia selecting the Barak MX, and Romania is reportedly in negotiations to acquire the Iron Dome, which would make it the first European country to deploy Israel’s famous short‑range interceptor.

The Baltic states are also deepening their cooperation with Israel. Estonia and Latvia have jointly approved the procurement of David’s Sling as part of a regional effort to strengthen long‑range air defense in response to Russian military pressure.

Preference for European or Swiss production

The Federal Council said the objective is that the second system would offer the same level of protection as the Patriot system, and initial assessments completed by Switzerland’s Defense Ministry in May indicated that systems from these countries meet Swiss military requirements and offer favorable cost‑effectiveness.

A second system, the government said, would strengthen Switzerland’s endurance in a prolonged conflict scenario and diversify supply chains, a priority given the geopolitical climate.

The Federal Council emphasized that the choice of a second system must align with its armaments policy, which favors procurement in Switzerland or Europe whenever possible. Manufacturers will be expected to produce ballistic missiles, command systems, or critical components domestically or within Europe.

Other key criteria include rapid, guaranteed availability, proven effectiveness against long‑range threats, compatibility with Swiss operational needs, and reliable access to munitions and spare parts.

The government will make a final decision once negotiations with the three manufacturers are completed.

US Vice President JD Vance indicated on Wednesday that a review was underway to see how the United States could sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets, given Ankara’s 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.

“Pete and the entire team are reviewing this right now, because there are certain things that we have to certify have happened…in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that,” Vance told reporters.

US President Donald Trump’s administration is also planning to push ahead with the sale of dozens of jet engines to Turkey worth hundreds of millions of dollars despite objections from some members of the US Congress, four sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, an important gesture to Ankara ahead of a NATO summit there next month.

The engines, produced by General Electric, will power Turkey’s first indigenous combat jet KAAN, a major project launched in 2016 as part of NATO member Ankara’s efforts to be more self-sufficient in its defense. One of the sources said the package will be worth more than $700 million.

Turkey and the United States have generally enjoyed warm ties under Trump, who regularly praises Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. However, their relationship has been tested by a long-standing disagreement over Washington’s decision to remove Turkey from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program and impose sanctions after Ankara acquired Russian-made S-400 air defense systems, which the United States says pose a security threat.

Asked on Wednesday about the jet engines, the F-35 program, and his plans for the summit in Ankara, Trump said: “I’m going to probably do something that will make them very happy.”

While the engine sale is likely to be welcomed in Ankara, analysts say it falls well short of Turkey’s broader goal of returning to the F-35 program.

“Acquiring the engines is certainly important for Turkey, but it is also the lowest-hanging fruit for a US administration that has made far more ambitious promises to Ankara, including Turkey’s return to the F-35 program,” said Gonul Tol, director of the Washington-based Middle East Institute’s Turkish program.

“The real test of whether Washington and Ankara can open a new chapter in bilateral relations lies there,” Tol said.

US law does not permit Turkey to operate or possess the S-400 system if it wishes to rejoin the F-35 program. However, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said in December that the warm relationship between Trump and Erdogan helped the two sides hold “the most fruitful conversations we have had on this topic in nearly a decade.”

The Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment for this story.

Turkey will host NATO leaders amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defense spending and US complaints about allies’ role in efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open during the US-Iran war.

US lawmakers unsure over sale of fighter jets to Turkey

Turkey’s 2019 acquisition of the Russian air defense systems hampered congressional support for the US ally, although lawmakers ultimately approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets in 2024.

Some of that sentiment persists. Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, had raised objections during an informal review process and has not given his green light for the package, two of the sources, including a US official, said.

In a statement on Wednesday, Meeks criticized what he described as the administration’s failure to make a “good-faith” effort to brief him on the implications of the sale for bilateral ties as well as Turkey’s possession of the S-400s.

“These items will not be delivered for years, and the administration repeatedly ignored persistent requests for information and clarification on key aspects of US policy,” Meeks said.

Despite his objection, the decision to go ahead with the sale is expected to be finalized in the coming days, followed by a formal notification from the State Department to Congress, the sources said. The congressional review process is designed to allow lawmakers to weigh in on large sales but the objections are not binding if a US administration wishes to press ahead with the sale.

The Trump administration has bypassed, or threatened to bypass, congressional holds on several weapons sales.

“As a matter of general policy, we do not comment on pending arms transfers. Official correspondence with Congress is conducted through official channels,” a State Department official said.

Speaking alongside Trump, Vance said a review was under way to see if Turkey has complied with the US laws so it can receive the F-35 fighter jets.

“Pete and the entire team are reviewing this right now, because there are certain things that we have to certify have happened … in order to comply with American law,” he said, referring to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Frustrated by past hot-cold ties with the West and some arms embargoes, Turkey has developed its own Kaan stealth fighter. Yet officials acknowledge it will take years before it replaces the American-made F-16s that form the backbone of its air force.

The US decision to move forward with the sale comes nearly a year after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan publicly complained about what he described as a hold-up in the process.

Two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on Wednesday, killing at least 164 people and injuring 971 more after dozens of buildings collapsed into piles of shattered concrete and steel in and around the capital, Caracas.

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160 km (100 miles) west of Caracas, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Israel is preparing to send an aid delegation to Venezuela following the earthquakes, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. “The Ministry is conducting a situation assessment with the relevant authorities in Israel and is examining the options for assistance,” the statement said.

The USGS, using predictive modeling to estimate the death toll, said it would most likely run into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000.

There are no reported casualties within the Jewish community in Caracas so far, Miguel Trozman, one of the heads of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela (CAIV), told Walla. “Many members of the Jewish community chose to go through this difficult night together and are now sleeping in the Jewish community center in the city,” he said.

Video footage showed emergency workers scrambling over the pancaked debris of a collapsed building in the capital as night fell, while distraught relatives sought help for loved ones believed to be trapped. Several dazed survivors were taken away, some on stretchers.

“When we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie,” said Maria Alejandra, a resident from a nearby building, who did not give her surname.

“We had to climb over the rubble and everything. The building superintendent with the baby and all the neighbors coming down. But from that building, I only saw that one family got out.”

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said initial casualty figures do not include those from the worst-affected La Guaira state, near Caracas and home to the city’s airport, which had been closed.

“Dozens of buildings have collapsed, and we are currently carrying out very intense rescue efforts to save as many lives as God allows us to save,” she said in an appearance on state television just before 1 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) on Thursday.

“I also want to say that this is a true tragedy. From here, we send our message of solidarity, and to those families who have lost loved ones, we reaffirm our condolences and our support in these difficult hours.”

Many Venezuelans were at home when the quakes struck during the afternoon on a public holiday.

“There was a very loud crash. Things fell in the house, jugs inside the refrigerator. I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Coro Martinez, 56, who lives in eastern Caracas.

Trump offers help after ‘devastating number of deaths’

Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital into the early hours of Thursday.

Rodriguez said the country was focused on rescue efforts, including the arrival in the coming hours of rescue crews from other countries, as she thanked leaders, including US President Donald Trump.

Trump said in a post on social media that the US was ready, willing, and able to help in the disaster.

“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths,” said Trump, who ordered the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a violent raid in January.

Three people were killed in the Baruta district in Caracas after two buildings collapsed, the district mayor said on social media. One person was killed, and four buildings had completely collapsed, Gustavo Duque, the mayor of Chacao district in the capital, told journalists.

“We have buildings, homes, and houses which have collapsed, and we are taking care of things with everything we have available in terms of security, civil assistance,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on state television.

Residents rush into the streets

Wilmer Azuaje, a former Venezuelan lawmaker, captured the moment at Maiquetia Airport as the quake hit, sending masonry and clouds of dust falling.

“Everyone, the situation we’re experiencing here is serious. A high-magnitude earthquake. Look at how everything ended up,” he said while videoing the scene.

A tsunami warning was issued but swiftly canceled after the danger passed.

Residents across Caracas, which was also hit by a deadly magnitude 6.3 earthquake in 1967, rushed to evacuate as buildings shook.

“As soon as it started, we began hearing people screaming,” said Astrid Ramirez, a 41-year-old publicist in western Caracas. “Everyone was running down the stairs.”

Maria Romero, an 80-year-old pensioner in southern Caracas, said police helped her get out of her home. “This earthquake was horrible, even worse than the one in 1967,” she said.

Another resident, a 41-year-old office worker who declined to be named, said she received an earthquake alert on her phone just before the shaking intensified.

“As I picked it up and started listening to what it was saying, I first felt light shaking. Then, in less than two seconds, everything started moving.”

Leaders from countries including El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil offered support and sympathy, while the US State Department said it was in touch with Venezuelan authorities and mobilizing assistance.

Rodriguez, who has been running the country since the US ouster of Maduro, said she has instructed the foreign ministry to coordinate the aid offers.

The US embassy in Caracas said it was closely monitoring the aftermath of the quake and urged citizens in the country to seek secure shelter.

Venezuela lies in a seismically active zone where the Caribbean Plate meets the South American Plate.

An estimated 30,000 people were killed when a powerful quake caused widespread destruction in the cities of Merida and Caracas in 1812, according to the USGS.

Hospitals brace for the injured

At Caracas’ Hospital de Clinicas, staff were asked to double up on the night shift to help treat the injured, a worker there said. Classes were canceled for the rest of the week as authorities began to take stock of the damage.

Venezuela’s oil infrastructure did not immediately appear to be affected by the tremors. Civil protection authorities in Maracaibo, near the large oil hub of Lake Maracaibo, said there were no injuries reported, and a worker at the El Palito refinery near Morón – the epicenter of the earthquake – said there had been no damage there.

UK oil firm Shell, which is evaluating developing gas fields in Venezuela, said all its employees in the country are accounted for with no injuries.

One source noted that extended loss of power could hit crude output levels until the service is restored. Venezuela’s oil ministry, state-run oil company PDVSA, and its main foreign partner, Chevron, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen has revealed for the first time that Africa was the geographic area where spies from his agency carried out their “dress rehearsal” for the now famous operation in which they broke into Iran’s secret nuclear archives in January 2018.

The operation changed the course of history as it was the impetus for then-first-term US President Donald Trump to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal shortly after the operation’s results were revealed in Spring 2018.

In turn, Trump pulling out of the deal and the failure of the parties involved to reach a new deal are viewed by most as leading to the two wars with Iran in June 2025 and early 2026, and eventually to the new deal between second-term Trump and Iran just signed on June 17.

In the 2023 book “Target Tehran,” a vast majority of the details are revealed regarding the Mossad operation, with Cohen himself adding some new details in his 2025 book, “The Sword of Freedom,” but one of the most critical details had still been left out until now: where the dress rehearsal took place.

While seemingly one of many small details, this one was actually crucial.

Mission impossible: Archives breached, nuclear documents snatched

The ability of dozens of Mossad agents to breach the highly protected Iranian nuclear archives facility without setting off any alarms or alerting Iranian authorities for the 6 hours and 29 minutes they were there and about two hours afterward, made it possible for them to seize whole bookshelves of the original nuclear documents and for every single member of the team to escape unharmed.

This was only possible because they were able to practice on a full life-sized model of the Iranian nuclear archive facility, including huge heavy steel safes which required flamethrowers reaching 3600 degrees to cut through them.

Despite numerous requests by The Jerusalem Post over the years, the identity of the geographic area was always kept under wraps due to various security and diplomatic concerns.

It is unclear what changed that allowed Cohen to disclose this detail now, but part of the change could relate to the intense beating that Iranian security and terror entities took during the recent war.

The report was also carried by Maghreb Online.

Interestingly, Morocco joined the Abraham Accords during Cohen’s term as Mossad chief, and there could have been overlap between the dress rehearsal and during the time that he was negotiating secretly with them about normalization, though the Post has no evidence that Morocco was the country where the dress rehearsal took place, and Israel has quiet relations with many countries viewed as off the radar.

In his interview, Cohen explained that such a large rehearsal in Israel of such a specific site could have drawn too much attention.

Morocco also has very close military relations with Israel and has publicly undertaken joint military drills as well as sent officers to the Jewish state earlier this week to work on developments for an International Stabilization Force in Gaza. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to testify on Thursday in the NIS 500,000 defamation lawsuit he filed against protest activist and lawyer Gonen Ben Itzhak and journalists Uri Misgav and Ben Caspit.

The evidentiary hearing is being held before Ramle Magistrate’s Court President Judge Menahem Mizrahi at the Tel Aviv District Court building, where the case was moved for security reasons.

Thursday’s session continues Netanyahu’s testimony from May, which was cut short after roughly half an hour when the prime minister said he had to leave.

The lawsuit concerns several publications relating to Netanyahu’s health and fitness to serve, as well as an alleged meeting with former IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amiram Levin.

According to the claim, Ben Itzhak wrote on Twitter/X that he had received information that Netanyahu had been treated for pancreatic cancer, while calling on him to disclose his medical condition publicly. Netanyahu has denied that he had pancreatic cancer and argues that the publication was false and defamatory.

Questioning Netanyahus appearance, speech, medical status

The claim also cites posts by Misgav questioning Netanyahu’s appearance, speech, medical treatment, and reported hospital visits. Caspit is sued over a report concerning an alleged meeting between Netanyahu and Levin, after which Levin was said to have left disturbed and to have concluded that Netanyahu was unfit and dangerous to the state.

Netanyahu denies that such a meeting took place.

At the earlier hearing, Netanyahu said his medical condition was “proper” and “excellent,” and said he had not suffered from pancreatic cancer.

He testified that, after years of treatment for an enlarged prostate, examinations toward the end of 2025 found an early-stage cancerous growth in the prostate. Netanyahu said he underwent five radiation treatments in January and February and that subsequent examinations showed the lesion had been removed without metastasis.

The defendants deny that their publications amount to defamation.

Ben Itzhak has filed a NIS 480,000 counterclaim against Netanyahu, alleging that Netanyahu and his son published defamatory material linking him to criminal incidents unrelated to him and exposed personal details about him. He has also argued that Netanyahu’s suit is a silencing lawsuit.

Caspit has argued that his publication did not concern Netanyahu’s medical condition, but rather reported on Levin’s alleged impressions following the claimed meeting. Misgav has argued that questions about the health of an elected official fall within legitimate public criticism and that the suit is intended to silence a critical journalist.

Two IDF sources on Thursday denied reports that Israel has withdrawn from some of the buffer zones in southern Lebanon created during its war with Hezbollah.

Earlier, a US State Department official claimed that IDF had withdrawn from the buffer zones, adding that Lebanon’s armed forces should now step in.

A senior Lebanese security official also said they were unaware of any withdrawal of Israeli troops from the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

“Israel has already taken a concrete step by pulling back from a part of its buffer zone. This is a significant demonstration of good faith toward Lebanon’s legitimate government,” the official said.

“The [Lebanese Armed Forces] should now move in and verifiably clear out terrorist weapons and infrastructure. This model will be repeated across South Lebanon, enabling the safe return of displaced families, reconstruction of the south, and the restoration of full Lebanese sovereignty,” the official added.

Israel planned ‘pilot’ to withdraw from southern Lebanon

During the recent negotiations between Beirut and Jerusalem, Israel and the IDF offered a very modest withdrawal, possibly from places like Tibnin and the Ali Taher Ridge, which the IDF only took over last week.

According to the IDF concept, it would withdraw from some of the newest areas it has taken over to see if the Lebanese army will properly clean out Hezbollah from those areas.

Some Israeli officials are trying to draw a distinction between withdrawing from areas where Hezbollah would have a direct line of sight to fire on Israeli northern villages and areas where there would be no such direct line of sight.

However, the Lebanese government and Hezbollah – while disagreeing on many issues – are both pushing for a faster and wider withdrawal.

There are multiple withdrawal line options.

Until May 26, Israel had not crossed over the Litani River or the Wadi Saluki area, and the IDF could withdraw initially to that prior line.

Next, there are at least three lines of Lebanese villages in southern Lebanon that the IDF has overrun, and it could withdraw backward to any of those lines.

For example, most IDF forces in fall 2024 had only advanced to the first line of villages.

This could involve going backward from 10 kilometers or more into southern Lebanon back to three to five kilometers into the country.

Eventually, the IDF might even withdraw to its five outposts, which were only several hundred meters into southern Lebanon, and which it withdrew to in February 2025.

Yet, given that the IDF took four months to withdraw in that round of fighting, it is expected that any IDF withdrawals will first test Hezbollah’s continued ceasefire compliance as well as the Lebanese army’s willingness to confront and remove Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure from the south of the country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have given the impression that the IDF will remain in parts of southern Lebanon for many months or even years to press Hezbollah to disarm.

Israel is preparing to send an aid delegation to Venezuela following the earthquakes that hit the country, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

“The Ministry is conducting a situation assessment with the relevant authorities in Israel and is examining the options for assistance,” the statement said.

The Health Ministry is also preparing to send a medical aid delegation to Venezuela, including forming medical, logistics, and emergency response teams that will join the effort, pending coordination with and approval from the Foreign Ministry.

The offers of aid come after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit about 160km. (100 miles) west of Caracas on Thursday, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS, using predictive modeling to estimate the death toll, said it would most likely run into the thousands, with a substantial probability of exceeding 10,000.

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) announced on Thursday that it is preparing to provide aid totaling hundreds of thousands of shekels to Venezuela’s Jewish communities.

This includes 500 families who were evacuated from their homes, KKL-JNF said.

KKL-JNF chairman Eyal Ostrinsky spoke with Roberto Mishkin, a senior leader of the Jewish community in Venezuela, and KKL-JNF Venezuela’s CEO, who updated him on the situation.

“KKL is committed to Jewish communities in the diaspora, which are an inseparable part of us both in routine times and in emergencies. Just as we were there during Operation Roaring Lion system in Beit Shemesh, Beersheba, Dimona, and Arad with communities that suffered severe damage and extreme upheaval, so we will be there for our brothers in Venezuela in their time of need,” said Ostrinsky.

There are no reported casualties within the Jewish community in Caracas so far, Miguel Trozman, one of the heads of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela (CAIV), told Walla. “Many members of the Jewish community chose to go through this difficult night together and are now sleeping in the Jewish community center in the city,” he said.

IsraAID, Israel’s largest non-governmental humanitarian aid agency, also confirmed that it is deploying an emergency response team to the South American country.

“IsraAID’s initial team will include emergency response specialists and humanitarian experts from the organization’s ongoing mission in Colombia and its global Emergency Response Team,” the NGO added.

The staff will focus on “mental health and psychological first aid, water, sanitation and hygiene, and rapid needs assessment in affected communities,” said IsraAID.

US, China, Spain, Brazil to assist Venezuela after earthquake

US President Donald Trump said that the two earthquakes that hit Venezuela earlier in the day had “left a devastating number of deaths,” without citing any official casualty figures.

“The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help! I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China will do what it can to assist Venezuela. No Chinese casualties or injuries reported so far, according to the authorities.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered his support to Venezuela, with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares adding that Spain was ready to supply any emergency aid required.

“Spain and myself offer our full support to the Venezuelan people following tonight’s devastating earthquakes,” Sanchez posted on X/Twitter. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva similarly declared the nation’s support for the Venezuelan government’s recovery efforts and directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas to assess how Brazil can help. 

“I reaffirm our determination to support the government of Acting President Delcy Rodríguez in the recovery of affected areas of this sister nation, whose people have given proof of great resilience in the face of adversities,” he posted to his X/Twitter account on Thursday morning. 

An individual reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was disarmed on Wednesday by the Israel Police after locking himself in his Netivot home with a handgun and threatening to commit suicide.

The individual, a security guard who spent an extended period in the reserves during the war, was at home with his wife and children but reportedly posed no threat to anyone but himself.

Advanced-Staff-Sergeant Major Ariel Morzhanov, an operator in the crisis negotiation unit of Yamar who helped save lives by handling negotiations with the terrorists at the Edri family home during the October 7 massacre, arrived at the scene to manage dialogue and de-escalate the situation.

The incident began when police officers, together with the municipal policing unit, arrived following a report of a suicide threat. The Israel Police negotiation team was also deployed, and Morzhanov, an Ofakim resident who serves in the Southern District Central Investigative Unit (YAMAR), was rushed to the scene, while Counterterrorism Unit (Yamam) forces were subsequently on standby as an intervention force.

After discussions with the negotiation team at the scene and personnel from the Ofek unit, the at-risk individual lowered his weapon and was taken for further questioning by the police.

Suffering PTSD, no one harmed due to ‘professional, responsible, sensitive’ action

After some time, the incident ended with no casualties. Police forces left the scene after the situation was brought back under control.

The individual reportedly suffers from PTSD due to his military service.

The municipality stated that the sensitive and complex incident that occurred in the city ended with no loss of life, thanks to the “professional, responsible, and sensitive action of all parties involved.”

Mayor Yehiel Zohar said that the individual is a resident of the city and a security personnel member who served a prolonged period in the reserves, and that the municipality “stands by the resident and his family members, is accompanying them, and will continue to assist as much as required.”

El Al will suspend its Tel Aviv-Moscow flights for the coming days due to developments between Russia and Ukraine and recent aviation incidents in the region, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

The airline will reassess the situation next week and decide whether to resume operations, with passengers to be informed and offered alternatives in accordance with the law.

Ukraine’s military hit an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region and two oil refineries in the Ufa region, 1,500 km from the Ukrainian border, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

Kyiv’s intensified air strikes on Russian energy infrastructure hit targets as far away as Siberia, more than 2,000 kilometers rom the front line, undermining the availability of gasoline and diesel in Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer.

Ukrainian strikes halt Russian oil sales

In Crimea on Sunday, Ukraine targeted a Russian port and fuel transit terminals in the Kerch Strait. Videos from social media show fiery explosions at a port late at night, with thick smoke surrounding what appear to be oil tanks.

Since then, Ukrainian attacks on maritime logistics and supply roads have sparked a fuel crisis in Russia and areas of Ukraine it controls, leaving it to ban exports of gasoline and jet fuel.

Russia is considering a diesel export ban, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday, while a newspaper reported on possible fuel imports to tackle shortages, especially in Crimea, which tightened restrictions on public services and activities.

Sevastopol, Crimea, restricted the operating hours of public transport, shops, cafes, and streetlights, and also banned mass outdoor activities, in addition to previously announced fuel sales limits.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, home ​to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, announced on Monday evening “enforced temporary measures,” including the closure of public transport at 10 p.m., and of large shops and cafes at 8 p.m. Street lighting was dimmed.

While the country came to a standstill in a traffic jam, Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox again cut a deal: enlistment laws, budgets, and political moves that deepen the rift, while the IDF and the public bear the burden of the war and the national cost.

The giant traffic jams that clogged several of Israel’s main roads on Monday were the result of a serious head-on car accident. An accident between Benjamin Netanyahu and the State of Israel. An accident in which the country’s leaders rise up to destroy it. An autoimmune event. An acquired immune system failure.

The rotten deal Netanyahu is weaving in public with his non-Zionist partners allowed one of their senior figures on Monday to cruise in his luxurious car, equipped with a security siren, in order to block Israel’s roads. All this in the name of a huge sector that is trying to keep milking the state’s dwindling udders, yet insists on contributing nothing to it.

I am, of course, speaking about Yitzhak Goldknopf, the ultimate symbol of the immune-system failure from which we have suffered.

He represents a large Hasidic stream within a huge ultra-Orthodox community, growing at a much faster pace than the rest of the community. That community is drawing enormous resources from the state at an increasing rate. If it were possible to calculate what has been showered on them during the Netanyahu era, and especially recently, we would reach crazy numbers.

Haredim protest draft while IDF implodes

All this is happening while the IDF,  the body that is supposed to protect our existence here, is collapsing inward. When we will soon, to our horror, mark 1,000 IDF fallen since October 7, not including civilian murders, tens of thousands wounded, and tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands suffering from mental injury and post-traumatic stress. In light of all this, one could expect a bit of modesty. Tightening the belt in certain sectors, especially those not taking part in the effort.

What we got was the opposite. An uncontrollable binge. A headlong rush. A mass assault on the public coffers, or what is left of them. All this is being done with authority and permission, in broad daylight, head held high and with pride. If we were living in biblical times, I suppose God would already have brought down a flood on us. In fact, He already did: “Tufan al-Aqsa,” translated as the “Al-Aqsa flood,” the “Jericho Wall” plan.

There were once days when just the details of the stinking deal unfolding before our eyes would bring down governments here. The ultra-Orthodox receive Basic Law: Torah Study, the kashrut law, and a whole host of other benefits, all at our expense. Aryeh Deri will soon be able to appoint another 3,500 kashrut supervisors to the state’s payroll, a move that will also raise prices at restaurants and hotels. What’s the problem? There are suckers paying for all this. We are.

Netanyahu’s coalition remains unashamed after failures on October 7 

What does Netanyahu get? What he needs: the continuation of the anti-democratic legislative spree he needs in order to keep wrecking state institutions and create an option to escape the fear of judgment. Everything, until the last moment: subordinating the Police Internal Investigations Department to the justice minister, for the first time a politician will run investigations here, splitting the attorney-general’s post, the law weakening the media, and a host of additional coup laws.

After October 7, there was a brief period when this gang was ashamed. Yariv Levin fell into depression in cabinet meetings; his legs and hands trembled. The screamers, such as Miri Regev, made an effort not to leave the house too much. Silman, the direct cause of the destruction, was not seen. Smotrich, in a rare burst of honesty, explained that in two days they would be called on to resign, and they would be right. That passed. The appetite returned, and in a big way. And all this under the direction of the ultimate responsible party, Netanyahu.

Yesterday, his testimony on the thousands of files finally ended. That’s it, it’s over. He no longer has to return to court until the verdict. Which makes his pleas for clemency, that is, cancellation of the trial, unnecessary. He is now left alone with his fate.

The problem is that he does not accept his fate. He is trying to change it. He is the first to know that the cases have not collapsed, on the contrary. The question is what else he is capable of in order to escape the fear of judgment. I do not know the answer, and I am afraid to think about it.

The US Senate rejected a measure aiming to limit US President Donald Trump’s war powers, a day after passing a separate resolution that called for the removal of US forces from Iran, late Wednesday evening. 

The measure was proposed by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and failed 50-47-1, though GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted in favor, siding with the Democratic majority. This marks a stark turnaround from Tuesday’s resolution.

Both GOP Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Bill Cassidy voted to limit Trump’s power in Iran on the original motion, but changed their votes on the new measure the next day. Paul voted present, and Cassidy voted against the proposition. This comes after Trump called out Congress for limiting his negotiating power with Iran. 

Though the Trump administration claims that the US is no longer involved in attacks on Iran since the MoU and subsequent ceasefire, Kaine’s motion called for “the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.” The measure would’ve gone to the president’s desk for official approval if it had passed, leaving it unclear whether it would’ve gone into effect.

Trump praised the vote on his Truth Social account, mentioning Sens. Paul and Cassidy for changing their minds and claiming that the measure “puts Iran on notice.” 

Louisiana Sen. Cassidy has historically called out the president for his lack of transparency regarding US involvement in Iran, culminating in a heated interaction between the two at a private GOP Senate lunch on Wednesday. 

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters after the meeting. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

Later that evening, Cassidy was invited to the White House for a more conclusive briefing on the situation from Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. He posted on X thanking the two politicians for “address[ing] many of [his] concerns,” and changed his vote in support of the Trump administration that night. 

Kentucky Republican Paul also posted on X to clarify his position on the issue. He said that though his opinion hasn’t changed, he’s voting present “to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”

Tonight I will vote present on the War Powers resolution.

My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times.

But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his…

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 25, 2026

What did the original measure entail?

The Tuesday resolution heavily reined in Trump’s war powers in Iran, seeking to block US military activity in the region. It was the 10th attempt from the Senate to take such action since the US and Israel launched their attack on February 28, and it passed 50-48. 

The resolution was approved by the House earlier this month and marked a symbolic show of concern from GOP lawmakers regarding US involvement in Iran. Notably, four republican senators voted in favor of the measure – Sens. Cassidy, Paul, Murkowski, and Collins.

The president took to his Truth Social account following the vote, calling the four Republicans “losers [who] voted with the Dumocrats,” claiming that it was “poorly timed and meaningless,” and that it indicated to the “Number One Sponsor of Terror in the World that the United States doesn’t like what [he’s] doing to them.” 

The Senate rebuked its opposition to the president’s war in Iran the next day.

Ruby Sadikman contributed to this report.

Holocaust survivor and reservist Colonel Simcha Applebaum passed away on Tuesday at the age of 99. 

Applebaum served as deputy commander of the 188th Brigade in the Yom Kippur War and was among the founders of Kibbutz Netzer Sereni.

Having moved from the horrors of the Holocaust to dedicating his life to the revival of the Jewish state, his personal experiences are the essence of the story of the Jewish people in the 20th century.

Applebaum was born in 1927 in the town of Malch, in the Pruzhany district (today in Belarus), into a traditional family. 

His father, Yaakov, was a leading Zionist activist who worked on sending young people to agricultural training in preparation for immigration to the Land of Israel. In November 1941, Applebaum, along with his parents, Yaakov and Rachel, and his older sister Ella, was deported to the Pruzhany ghetto.

Deported, escaped twice, sent to Auschwitz, and liberated

In May 1942, Applebaum joined a group of Jewish youth who escaped to the forests in an attempt to unite with Jewish partisans and Soviet soldiers. 

In November of that year, he risked his life and secretly returned to the ghetto with several young people in order to obtain food and clothing. During the operation, several of his friends were hit by German fire, but Applebaum managed to escape and reached his parents’ home.

In January 1943, the Pruzhany ghetto was liquidated. Applebaum and his family were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where his parents and older sister perished. 

Applebaum posed as older than his age in order to avoid the death selection and was sent to forced labor. The number 78524 was tattooed on his arm. He was employed carrying heavy bricks for the construction of crematoria and the establishment of the Gypsy camp.

In April of 1943, he was transferred to Auschwitz, where he worked in construction, laying railway tracks. During his work, he was severely beaten, losing half of his teeth and, oftentimes, his consciousness.

In September 1943, after a series of selections, he was transferred to an SS-run ammunition factory, and in April 1944, he was moved to the Siemens factory in the nearby Bobrek camp.

In January 1945, with the approach of the front, Simcha was sent on a death march toward Gleiwitz and from there was loaded onto an open railway car moving westward. 

Once in the Czech Republic, Applebaum jumped from the moving train and escaped. He hid for five weeks with the help of local farmers, but was eventually captured by the Gestapo, brutally tortured, and sent to the Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen camps.

In April 1945, he was again forced on another death march toward the Baltic Sea under SS guard. In the midst of the grueling journey, Simcha made a vow that if he survived and remained alive, he would immigrate to the Land of Israel, establish a settlement in memory of his parents and family members who were murdered, and join the security forces of the Yishuv to help establish the state. 

On May 3, 1945, the remaining marchers were liberated by the United States Army.

Simcha immediately began fulfilling his vow. Following liberation, he joined the Buchenwald Kibbutz in Germany, and in March 1946, he immigrated to the Land of Israel aboard the immigrant ship Tel Hai. 

In the summer of 1946, Applebaum underwent agricultural training at Kibbutz Afikim and was sent to a squad commanders’ course in the Haganah.

With the outbreak of the War of Independence, Applebaum fought in the Givati and Negev brigades on the southern front.

On June 20, 1948, during the first truce and before Operation Dani, he went up to settle as a commander together with 16 of his comrades from Kibbutz Buchenwald at the Shapira farm near Be’er Ya’acov. This laid the foundation for the establishment of Kibbutz Netzer, known today as Kibbutz Netzer Sereni. In doing so, he fulfilled the first part of his vow.

Later in the war, he attended an officers’ course and, at the end of 1948, was appointed platoon commander in the Negev Brigade. At the end of January 1950, he returned to his kibbutz and held senior positions there, alongside his activity in the Manufacturers Association.

Simcha continued to serve and fought in Israel’s wars. One of his greatest tests came in the Yom Kippur War, when he served as deputy commander within the 188th Armored Brigade. He also played a central role in rebuilding the brigade after it suffered heavy losses in the early days of the war.

Simcha reached the rank of reserve colonel in the armored corps and was among the initiators and founders of the memorial site for the brigade’s soldiers in Latrun.

‘I am fighting… so that what happened to my generation does not happen to yours’

In those difficult days of October 1973, when he was asked to speak to the young soldiers who were about to go into battle, he delivered a chilling monologue that expressed the essence of his life: “Look, boys, I am no longer so young, and this is my fourth war in this country. The worst was in Europe. They took my parents, my entire family, without even being able to defend ourselves, to raise a hand, to make a sound. I have not seen them since. If you ask what a man my age is doing here? Here is your answer: I am fighting! I am fighting like crazy, so that what happened to my generation does not happen to your generation, to your children.”

Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Aharon Bacher described those moments in his article, saying, “Simcha remained on his halftrack, his body even more tense, and only his gaze followed them to the edge of the horizon, until the tanks disappeared into a cloud of dust. His face remained impassive. When he finally turned to his duties and reached for the communications device, I saw that identification numbers from the Auschwitz death camp were tattooed on his arm.”

Even after he left the uniform, Simcha made it his mission to teach youth about the Holocaust.

For decades, he continued to serve as a witness on youth delegations to Poland and to tell his life story in schools and at IDF bases out of a deep sense of mission. Simcha Applebaum is survived by a large family that continues his path: he was married to Naomi, and they had three children and nine grandchildren, all of whom served or are serving in combat units in the IDF.

Lior Simcha, secretary general of the Kibbutz Movement, eulogized Applebaum: “Simcha was a guide in the fullest sense of the word. A Holocaust survivor, partisan fighter, survivor of concentration camps, and hero of the Yom Kippur War. As deputy commander of the 188th Brigade, he took a battered brigade and rebuilt it. He was one of the leaders of the kibbutz industry and among the heads of industrialists in Israel.”

The secretary general of the movement shared that only a few weeks ago, the late Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simhon was buried in Beit Hashita. According to him, the event brought thoughts of Yom Kippur. “In my mind’s eye I saw Simcha standing there, facing the tired tank crews returning from war, putting everyone back into their vehicles, gathering the pieces and leading them from defensive battles to the offensive,” he said.

He also said that Simcha Applebaum was “a man who knew the hardest battles, but also knew how to build.”

He said that “He was among the founders of the state, of settlement and kibbutz life, a leader in industry, and among those who shaped the face of Israeli society. His life story is interwoven with the story of the State of Israel, from the horrors of Europe, through Israel’s wars, to the building of community, society, and economy.”

The secretary general added that Applebaum was among the iron-and-steel generation of the state’s founders. “He built a home and laid strong foundations for the future. May his memory be blessed.”

A visit by American Rabbi David Saperstein to Damascus has drawn attention to work to preserve Syria’s Jewish sites and rebuild ties with members of the Syrian Jewish diaspora after decades of emigration, conflict, and official restrictions.

Saperstein, who served as US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom during the Obama administration, arrived in the Syrian capital as part of an American delegation that toured historic Jewish sites and met with religious and civic figures.

The visit comes as some Jews of Syrian origin living abroad have begun returning to the country for short visits, property inquiries, and work to document and protect communal landmarks following the fall of the Assad government.

The delegation visited some of Damascus’ most prominent Jewish landmarks, including the historic Jobar Synagogue, considered one of the oldest synagogues in the region, as well as the Al-Franj Synagogue and the city’s Jewish cemetery.

Delegates were briefed on the condition of the sites, including damage sustained during years of war. They also received presentations on the history of Jewish life in Syria and the role the community played in the country’s economic, social, and cultural development.

Meetings with Syrian figures, interfaith, cultural dialogue

The visit included meetings with Syrian figures and representatives of organizations involved in interfaith and cultural dialogue. Talks focused on preserving the religious and historical legacy of Syria’s various communities and promoting understanding among different faiths and cultures at a time when the country is undergoing major political and social changes.

Syrian-Australian journalist Johnny Abo told The Media Line that the visit carried particular significance because of the participants and the meetings held with Syrian officials and religious leaders.

“The meetings were positive, productive, and focused on Syria’s rich religious and cultural diversity,” Abo said. “The delegation received a warm welcome from religious authorities, including Christian patriarchs and clergy, who engaged in open discussions with the rabbi and other members of the group.”

According to Abo, participants emphasized the historical presence of the Jewish community in Syria and its place within the country’s social fabric. They also discussed the preservation of Jewish religious and cultural sites, including historic synagogues and communal properties.

“Syria has historically been a land of civilizations, diversity, and coexistence,” he said. “The Jewish community was once an active part of public life, including parliamentary representation and a prominent role in commerce and trade.”

While describing the visit as primarily religious and cultural, Abo said it also carried broader symbolic messages. He said the participation of a rabbi with previous diplomatic experience reflected an effort to foster dialogue among Syrians, members of the Syrian Jewish diaspora, and American circles interested in Syria’s future.

“The visit ultimately conveys a message of coexistence and peace,” Abo said. “For centuries, the peoples of this region lived side by side despite their differences, and that legacy remains an important foundation for building a more stable future.”

Joseph Jajati, a Syrian American Jewish activist originally from Damascus, played a key role in organizing the visit. Jajati has been involved in several initiatives aimed at strengthening ties between Syrians inside the country and those living abroad.

Speaking to The Media Line, Jajati said the visit carries significance beyond its religious dimension, reflecting a growing desire to open new channels of communication with Syrian communities worldwide and to rebuild trust after years of separation.

“The delegation received full cooperation throughout its visit to Damascus,” Jajati said. “Members were able to access Jewish religious and historical sites, observe their condition firsthand, and meet with individuals from different backgrounds.”

Jajati said the visit gave participants a firsthand view of conditions in Damascus and of changes underway in Syria. He said the level of cooperation reflected what he saw as a commitment to preserving the country’s religious and cultural legacy.

“The most important message of this visit,” he said, “is that Syria is more than a geographic space or political borders. It is a long history of coexistence and diversity among the communities that have lived here and contributed to its civilization.”

Jajati added that many members of the Syrian Jewish diaspora in the United States and elsewhere maintain strong emotional and cultural ties to their country of origin and that visits such as this can help reconnect younger generations with their Syrian roots.

The focus on historic Jewish sites also reflects a broader attempt to recognize Syria’s pluralistic past and the contributions of communities that helped shape the country’s identity. Syria’s Jewish community, once concentrated mainly in Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishli, declined sharply over the second half of the 20th century.

Unofficial estimates place Syria’s Jewish population in the 1950s at between 30,000 and 35,000 people. Waves of emigration later followed, driven by rising Arab nationalism, growing insecurity, and clandestine networks that helped Syrian Jews leave for the United States, Latin America, and Israel.

Jajati was born in Damascus and is the grandson of Yusuf Jajati, who headed Syria’s Jewish community during the presidency of Hafez Assad. He left Syria with his family for the United States after restrictions on Jewish travel were lifted in April 1992, following the launch of the Madrid Peace Conference.

Approximately 4,000 Jews left Syria during that period, leaving only a small community behind. Following the outbreak of the Syrian uprising and the escalation of violence, most of the remaining community departed. Today, only a handful of elderly Jews are believed to remain in Damascus.

Saperstein is a prominent Jewish religious leader in the United States. In addition to serving as US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom from 2015 to 2017, he has long been active in interfaith dialogue, religious freedom advocacy, and minority rights initiatives.

Over several decades, he has participated in international efforts to promote understanding among religious communities and has become a respected figure in Jewish, academic, and interfaith circles.

Jewish-American delegations visit Syria since Assad’s fall

Since the fall of the Assad government, Jajati has organized several visits by American delegations, including Jewish groups, to Syria. He has also worked to secure licensing for the Syrian Mosaic Foundation, an organization that promotes Syria’s multicultural history, interfaith engagement, and cultural diplomacy, and coordinated with the management of Damascus’ Semiramis Hotel to open what is currently the country’s only kosher restaurant.

Under Syria’s new authorities, some Jews of Syrian origin living abroad have been able to visit the country and return to former neighborhoods, homes, and places of worship. Some have begun pursuing claims to recover property or launch investment projects, particularly in the textile and garment sectors.

Others continue to face legal and administrative challenges related to properties belonging to Syrian Jews who emigrated abroad, including cases handled through Syria’s Office of Absentee Jewish Property.

Researchers and community activists say preserving Jewish sites in Syria is not only a matter for one religious group, but part of the country’s broader historical memory after years in which war, authoritarian rule, official restrictions, and emigration nearly erased one of the Middle East’s oldest Jewish communities.

Ms. Susan Al-Akhras, one of the organizers of the visit, said that the visit reflected openness and cooperation by the Syrian authorities toward efforts to preserve Syrian Jewish heritage and strengthen communication with members of the Syrian Jewish community abroad.

She explained in an interview with The Media Line that the visit was conducted in an official and organized manner, with the delegation receiving facilitation that enabled it to access several Jewish religious and historical sites in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and to assess their condition firsthand.

The delegation also held meetings with religious and civil figures, as well as representatives of institutions concerned with dialogue and cultural diversity.

She added that during the tour, the delegation visited several prominent Jewish historical landmarks, including the Jobar Synagogue, the Franj Synagogue, and the Jewish cemetery in Damascus.

The visit showed that these sites are an important part of Syria’s historical memory, although some still require restoration, maintenance, and protection after many years of war and neglect.

Participants stressed that preserving these landmarks is not merely a Jewish matter but rather part of broader efforts to safeguard Syria’s national heritage across its religious and cultural components.

Members of the delegation and representatives of the Syrian Jewish community abroad also expressed their willingness to support projects to document, maintain, and restore Jewish historical sites, in coordination with the relevant Syrian authorities, to preserve this heritage for future generations. 

They also emphasized the importance of reconnecting younger generations of Syrian Jews with their cultural and historical roots in Syria and encouraging more visits to help build bridges of trust and communication.

At the same time, Bikhor Shemtov, a representative of the Jewish community in Syria, told The Media Line that the visit reflected a positive atmosphere of welcome and engagement among many Syrians, who viewed it as a step that reflects Syria’s history of diversity and coexistence among its various communities.

Participants affirmed that the country’s future should be based on respect for religious and cultural pluralism and on the preservation of the heritage of all communities that have contributed to the building of Syrian civilization throughout the centuries.

US President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained out of the Iran war at his request, despite having the motivation to aid Iran during the conflict.

“He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran, maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. 

However, Trump said that after he had asked Erdogan, whom he described as a friend, to stay out of the war, he did so. 

“Everything I’ve ever asked him for, he’s done,” Trump added. He also said that he was going to be attending the Ankara Summit in two weeks at Erdogan’s request. 

When asked if he would provide fighter jets and jet engines to Turkey, Trump stated that he would “probably do something” that would make Turkey ”very happy.”

US Vice President JD Vance indicated that a review was underway to see how the United States could sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets, given Ankara’s 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.

“[US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] and the entire team are reviewing this right now, because there are certain things that we have to certify have happened … in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that,” Vance told reporters.

Trump ‘disappointed’ with Europe for not helping during Iran war

Trump told Rutte that he was disappointed in the level of NATO participation in the Iran war, while the NATO secretary defended European countries’ contributions.  

“Generally speaking, your European allies have been there with you,” Rutte said.

Rutte stated that while he understood Trump’s disappointment with NATO, countries had still made significant contributions to the US war effort, including Romania, which had closed its airport to all commercial traffic when the US needed to send a tanker aircraft into the air, one of 4,000 to 5,000 planes that took off from European air bases during the war. 

“It would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States,” Rutte said. 

However, Trump reiterated his stance that NATO countries had not done enough. 

“We’re disappointed with most of them,” Trump said. 

Trump doesn’t think the US struck girls school in Minab

Trump also addressed the investigation into the deadly strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, during the start of the war with Iran, stating that the fault may never truly be determined. 

“I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it, because there were missiles flying all over the place,” Trump said, adding that he did not believe the missile that struck the school was from the US. 

Trump said he had not yet seen the report into the attack, and was waiting for it to be complete. 

Hegseth stated that the investigation was being taken “very seriously” but did not share any other details. 

Judea and Samaria Police rescued an IDF soldier from the West Bank town of Tarqumiyah on Wednesday night, following a report from Palestinian Authority security forces of a person in military uniform handcuffed in the center of the town. 

The soldier, a resident of southern Israel serving in the IDF, was taken to the Hebron police station.

A preliminary investigation found that the soldier was unarmed.

The incident is believed to be criminal in nature rather than nationalistic or terror-motivated.

The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is now investigating the case.

It is expected that the case will be transferred to the National Crime Unit – Lahav 433 for further investigation.

Recurring instances of Israelis entering West Bank Area A towns, villages

The incident follows similar reports over recent months of Israelis entering Area A of the West Bank before being rescued.

On Saturday, the IDF’s Civil Administration received a report of an Israeli civilian entering Ramallah.

In February, authorities rescued an Israeli near Kalkilya.

Avi Ashkenazi and Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.

A new survey found that 48% of American voters think the United States is “too supportive” of Israel, the highest since the pollster started asking the question in 2017. 

The survey published Wednesday by Quinnipiac University also found that 60% of respondents reported that military intervention in Iran was “not worth it,” as opposed to 34% of voters who said it was “worth it.”

The number of respondents who think the US support of Israel is about right is 38%, while just 7% think the US is not supportive enough of Israel, the poll found. 

Broken down by party, 66% of Democrats think the US is too supportive of Israel, while 9% think it is not supportive enough, and 18% think US support for Israel is about right.

Among Republicans, 20% think the US is too supportive of Israel, 69% think American support for Israel is “about right,” and 6% think the US is not supportive enough.

48% say US too supportive of Israel, anti-Israel Democrats sweep NY primary races

Among independent voters, 55% think the US is too supportive of Israel, 34% think US support for Israel is about right, and 7% think the US is not supportive enough.

The poll data were released one day after three Democrats critical of Israel swept their House primary races in New York City, and in races around the country, even some reliably pro-Israel Democratic candidates distanced themselves from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.

A survey last year by Gallup found dwindling support for Israel among Democrats,  as well as waning support among Republicans.

Still, the party divide was also in sharp evidence in the latest poll. In responses to the question about whether the Iran war was “worth it”, Democrats disfavored military action in Iran at 93% and independents at 66%, while 75% of Republicans surveyed thought it was “worth it.”

Given a list of 10 issues and asked which, if any, they considered priorities in their decision-making process in the election for the US House of Representatives, 41% of voters cited the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, above AI data centers (38%) and Donald Trump (38%). The high cost of living (70%) and health care (59%) topped the list.

The Quinnipiac poll was conducted from June 18 to 22, and includes responses from 1,165 self-identified registered voters. 

The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.

Among those surveyed, 48% said they had an unfavorable view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Twenty percent said they had a favorable opinion, and 30% “haven’t heard enough” about him. 

“Netanyahu gets poor marks from American voters as their appetite for supporting Israel wanes, with the share of voters who think the US is too supportive of Israel hitting a new high,” Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy wrote in the report.

Voters were also asked about their views on the June 17 memorandum of understanding with Iran, which begins a 60-day negotiation period that does not outline an end to Iran’s nuclear program.

“After months of diplomatic fits and starts, global economic repercussions and a broad loss of life in the region, a majority of voters make their feelings clear: the Iran war was a bad idea,” Malloy wrote.

Voters who are either not confident or “not so confident” that the deal will succeed numbered 59%, and 61% think it is either likely or very likely that Iran will develop nuclear weapons.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated the victories of the progressive candidates he endorsed in New York’s Democratic primaries, describing their success as a “shift in the balance of power.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the morning after the primaries, Mamdani touted the triumphs as a shift in the balance of power between “working people” and “special interests.”

Mamdani-endorsed candidates Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Claire Valdez won Democratic nominations for Congress. During the press conference, the mayor repeatedly highlighted their calls to restrict US military aid to Israel and redirect federal funding to domestic priorities.

Following Mamdani’s election night sweep in New York, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!”

The victories offered an early demonstration of Mamdani’s political influence beyond City Hall, as several Democratic Socialist candidates he backed, including Chevalier, defeated established Democratic incumbents in their districts.

Trump: ‘America the beautiful will never be a communist country’

“The working person is struggling in our city to afford basic needs,” Mamdani said, adding that Avila Chevalier’s oft-repeated slogan of investing in “Babies not Bombs,” is “the kind of conscience, the kind of clarity, the kind of conviction that has been missing in our politics for far too long.”

Mamdani responded to the president’s post on Wednesday, telling a reporter who asked whether his goal is to make America a “socialist” country that his “goal is to make America a place that every American can afford.”

When asked about federal policies that could be affected by Mamdani’s endorsed candidates, the mayor cited Valdez’s support for “foreign policy that understands human rights for all” and Lander’s commitment to co-sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, which prohibits the sale of certain US-made offensive weapons to Israel.

Mamdani also dismissed a question about whether he was concerned about how the victories would play out in November as Democrats try to win back the House.

Chevalier’s slogan: ‘Babies not Bombs’

“Every time the fight for working people takes a step forward, you will hear Republicans say that this is actually going to jeopardize the existence of that very fight,” he said.

When asked whether the election of Chevalier, who has faced scrutiny for past social media posts attacking Democrats and her appearance at an Oct. 8, 2023, pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square, could “complicate campaigns for Democrats as a whole,” Mamdani replied, “No.”

“[Chevalier] often speaks about a politics of life. She speaks about ‘Babies not bombs,’” Mamdani continued.

“What could be a better example of what the people of the district want to see versus what the people of the district have been forced to experience, which is tens of billions of dollars being spent at a national level to bomb children overseas, while children in our own districts are struggling.”

Baby rats were discovered in a service cart on an Arkia flight from Greece to Israel, according to footage circulated on social media. 

The incident sparked widespread reactions online and led to an exchange of accusations between the airline and the catering company that serviced the flight. 

According to Arkia, the cart in which the baby rats were discovered came from the dry-goods storage facilities of the catering company TMM and did not contain food intended for passenger service. 

The company emphasized that, upon discovery, the cart was immediately taken out of service and that there was no contact between it and any food served during the flight.

TMM should conduct a ‘comprehensive and thorough investigation,’ says Arkia

“Arkia views the incident seriously, demands that TMM conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the case, and expects to receive full explanations along with corrective steps to ensure that an incident of this kind does not recur in the future,” the airline said. 

TMM rejected Arkia’s claims and clarified that the cart, which was inspected and approved before the flight’s departure, only contained soft drinks. 

TMM added that it is the airline’s responsibility to check the cart before it is utilized. 

TMM threatens court

The catering company stated that “any attempt to cast doubt on the TMM facility, which supplies hundreds of thousands of meals per month and operates under the strictest food safety standards, is unacceptable and will, if necessary, be addressed in court.”

“The trolley in question, which contained soft drinks only, was inspected as on every flight by an Arkia crew member and a representative of the catering facility, who confirmed that the trolley was fully compliant when it was loaded. The incident was discovered later, while the aircraft was parked in Greece,” it added. 

TMM urged Akia to “conduct an urgent and in-depth investigation to determine how such a serious incident occurred on its aircraft.”

The incident is currently under review. 

Israel must deepen its alliance with the United States while making clear that responsibility for Israeli security rests with Jerusalem alone.

The US-Israel relationship is one of the most important strategic partnerships in modern history. American support has helped Israel militarily, diplomatically, technologically, and economically. It has strengthened deterrence, improved defenses, and given the Jewish state backing in hostile forums.

That alliance should be protected.

At the same time, Israel cannot confuse friendship with a security guarantee. The US is Israel’s closest ally, but American presidents are elected to serve American interests. Israeli prime ministers are elected to serve Israeli interests. Often, those interests overlap. Sometimes they diverge.

This matters now because Washington pursues regional diplomacy that affects Israel’s security. Israel should listen, coordinate, argue when necessary, and preserve the alliance. It should also remember that no foreign capital, however friendly, can be expected to carry the burden of Israel’s survival.

Israel’s policy since 1948

Israel’s founding generation understood this.

David Ben-Gurion spent years confronting the limits of international sympathy. He knew declarations of support could disappear when hard decisions arrived. He believed Israel’s fate would depend on its own strength, moral clarity, and willingness to act. His view was shaped by Jewish history and by the bitter lesson that Jews who depend on others for protection may be abandoned at the decisive hour.

That thinking became part of Israel’s national security doctrine.

Israel would seek allies, welcome support, and build friendships. It would also preserve the ability to act alone when survival was at stake.

Menachem Begin gave that doctrine its clearest expression in 1981, when he ordered the destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor despite international opposition. The principle that followed became known as the Begin Doctrine: Israel would not allow an enemy committed to its destruction to acquire the means to carry it out.

The same logic guided Israel’s 2007 strike on Syria’s al-Kibar facility, which Israel later acknowledged and which the International Atomic Energy Agency assessed was very likely a nuclear reactor.

In both cases, Israeli leaders understood that outside approval was valuable, but national survival could not wait for consensus.

That lesson is urgent again.

The challenge facing Israel is larger than any single agreement or diplomatic track. Iran remains the central regional threat. Its proxies continue to surround Israel. Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other Iranian-backed forces have shown that declarations, understandings, and ceasefires do not erase hostile intent.

Persue diplomacy when it serves national interests

Diplomacy can buy time. It can reduce pressure. It can create openings. It cannot replace Israeli power.

Israel should pursue diplomacy where it serves national interests. Peace with Egypt and Jordan changed Israel’s strategic environment. The Abraham Accords opened new regional possibilities. Close coordination with Washington has served both countries.

The question is how Israel enters that coordination.

Israel is strongest when it comes to Washington as a capable partner with independent options. It is weaker when it appears unable to act without American approval, resupply, or political cover.

Israel should be honest about its current dependence. Its air force relies heavily on American platforms. Its missile-defense systems benefit from American funding and cooperation. Its wartime munitions and supply chains remain tied to US decisions. That dependence has real consequences.

Reducing it should become a national priority.

Israel needs greater domestic production of munitions, stronger stockpiles, deeper air-defense capacity, wider cyber and intelligence capabilities, and a defense industry able to sustain long wars. It also needs economic resilience and diplomatic reach, because military independence cannot exist without national resilience.

This is an argument for seriousness inside Israel.

Every Israeli government should ask what happens when Washington is distracted, hesitant, divided, or pursuing a deal that Jerusalem sees as dangerous. Every defense budget should be tested against that question. Every procurement decision should consider whether it increases Israeli freedom of action or narrows it.

The US will remain Israel’s most important ally. That relationship must continue to flourish. Israel should work with Washington, consult with Washington, and strengthen every channel of cooperation.

But the lesson, from Ben-Gurion to Begin, remains clear: Allies are essential, and responsibility for Israel’s security belongs to Israel alone.

That principle should guide doctrine, budgets, procurement, diplomacy, and national debate. It is the price of sovereignty.

The organ from a six-and-a-half-year-old girl from Kafr Qasim, an Arab-Israeli city east of Tel Aviv, saved the life of a three-and-a-half-year-old boy from Jerusalem with a long-awaited heart transplant this week. 

Rafael had been in Clalit-Schneider Children’s Medical Center for nine months before receiving the heart that saved his life. 

Rafael was born with a complex congenital heart defect. At just three and a half months old, he underwent his first heart surgery, followed by countless hospitalizations and treatments. Despite the efforts of his physicians, his heart continued to weaken.

Dr. Amichay Rotstein, the senior pediatric cardiologist who had been caring for Rafael since he was one year old, recalled having to tell his family about Rafael’s failing heart. 

“We went through many hardships,” he said. “I had to tell the family that we were not moving in the right direction, that his heart was failing, and that he would most likely need a transplant.”

Rafael’s recovery

Doctors placed Rafael on ECMO after his heart collapsed during surgery. He was later connected to a Berlin Heart ventricular assist device. 

“Suddenly, we saw a different child,” recalled Dr. Rotstein. “A child who had barely been functioning began eating again, gaining weight, and smiling.” 

“There is something remarkable about children,” he continued. “They adapt to this reality. Rafael learned to live with the device and to protect the tubes as though they were part of him.”

Rafael’s mother said that her son was aware that it was the machine keeping him alive. 

“Whenever the machine beeped, he would immediately check that the tubes weren’t bent. At night, he would remind me to connect it. He embraced the device with love because he knew it gave him strength,” she explained. 

After nine months on the machine, doctors decided Rafael would travel to the US, where waiting times for heart transplants are shorter.

Meanwhile, six-and-a-half-year-old Saba, the youngest of four sisters, had traveled to Eilat to accompany her father, Mahren Badir, and her sister on a work trip and short vacation. 

The day before her death, Saba spent time with her family at the beach. “She laughed and enjoyed herself. We had plans for the next day,” her father recalled. But on Friday morning, everything changed. “I woke her up, but she didn’t respond. I tried again and again, but she wouldn’t wake up.”

Saba was first taken to Yoseftal Medical Center in Eilat and then airlifted to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center. Physicians discovered that a congenital weakness in a vein in her brain had ruptured, causing a large bleed. 

Two days later, she was declared dead. When they asked us about organ donation, her father said, “We immediately said yes, without hesitation.”

“My daughter is gone,” he said in a broken voice. “What am I going to do with her heart? What am I going to do with her kidneys? The body is buried, but the organs can give life. At least let them save other children.”

Preparations for NYC flight were complete

Rafael’s father had already flown to New York to prepare for his son’s arrival. Two physicians, a nurse, a technician in charge of the ventricular assist device, and his mother were two hours away from leaving for the airport when they received a call that a heart had been found. 

“When I entered the room, there were far more doctors than usual,” Rafael’s mother recalls. “I thought they were coming to talk about the flight. Then the doctor told me, ‘We’ve found a heart for Rafael.’ I almost fainted. I was in complete shock.”

At that very moment, Rafael’s trip to the United States was canceled.

At Soroka Medical Center, medical teams began the process of recovering Saba’s organs. Meanwhile, doctors began prepping Rafael for the heart’s arrival. 

Director of Neonatal Cardiac Surgery Service at Clalit-Schneider Dr. Gabriel Amir and his team disconnected Rafael from the Berlin Heart device that had kept him alive.

“Everything is timed down to the minute,” said Dr. Amir. “The goal is to have the child ready at the exact moment the donor heart arrives. The shorter the waiting time, the better the chances for the new heart.”

‘Beginning of a new life’

Saba’s heart was transported from Soroka to Schneider, and a complex operation began. “The heart started beating,” recalled Dr. Rotstein. “It was the beginning of a new life. It was everything we had hoped for.”

For Dr. Rotstein, the moment carried another meaning. He had lost his son last year while in combat in Gaza. 

“There are mornings when all you want to do is stay under the blanket,” he said. “Then you receive the news that there is a heart for a child waiting for a transplant, and you throw off the blanket and get up. This work sustains me. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning and continue living.”

Weeks after the transplant, Rafael is beginning to discover a new life. “He’s not even sure where home is anymore,” his doctors said with a smile, as the hospital had become like a second home to him.

His first wish after the transplant was to feed a giraffe at the zoo, and he has already fulfilled that dream. 

Looking at photographs of Rafael, Saba’s father said, “My daughter’s heart is alive. It is a gift from God. Thank you.”

“She was the spirit of our home,” he said. “The most playful one. Daddy’s girl. Whenever she heard my truck coming home, she would run to greet me.”

“It is not something we take for granted that we reached this moment,” reflected Dr. Rotstein. “There were times when hope seemed to be fading. But organ donation gives life, literally. Whoever saves one life, saves an entire world.”

While US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that “almost 90%” of the 400 injured US service members were only minorly injured and returned to duty in March,” wounded soldiers have since said that their injuries were more severe than their designations implied, CBS News reported on Wednesday. 

One such soldier, Chief Warrant Officer Rodney Bearman, was hit with shrapnel during an Iranian drone strike on a US base in Kuwait on March 1, and medical records later showed that he suffered a concussion, hearing and vision loss, and damage to his lungs, according to CBS. 

Bearman had been classified as “not seriously injured.”

Sergeant First Class Cory Hicks was also one of the dozens hurt in the strike in Kuwait that killed six soldiers. He suffered severe shrapnel wounds and underwent emergency surgeries in Kuwait. A US Army official had told his wife that his injuries were “minor,” he told CBS.

CBS cited Hicks as saying that he “absolutely” believed that the Pentagon has tried to downplay the incident. 

Army disputes claims

The US military has strongly disputed this claim, telling CBS that military designations, including “not seriously injured” and “combat casualty,” have specific definitions that have been misconstrued.

“The care and well-being of our soldiers is of the highest priority,” CBS cited an army spokesperson as writing. “Any assertion that the army seeks to downplay a soldier’s injuries is simply not true.”

 A spokesperson explained that “seriously injured” and “very seriously injured” are used only for individuals at risk of dying from their wounds within 72 hours. 

The attack on Kuwait has previously come under scrutiny after multiple service members who survived the strike told CBS in March that the military had ignored previous requests for medical supplies weeks before, as well as concerns that the base was ill-prepared for a drone attack. 

One survivor, Major Stephen Ramsbottom, said that he believed one of the fallen soldiers, Master Seargant Nicole Amor, could have survived if there had been more medical personnel and supplies at the post, according to CBS.  

US intelligence warned as early as January that the post would be an Iranian target, CBS cited several sources as saying, and several soldiers began to ask leadership for more drone defense.

Hegseth described the drone as a “squirter” the day after the attack, explaining that it had squirted through the defenses of a protected unit.

CBS cited the army spokesperson as saying that the investigation into “the facts and circumstances of the attack” has been completed, but the findings will not be released until the next of kin have been briefed.

More than five decades after Israel’s only World Cup appearance, the Israel Football Association says it has no intention of trying to leave Europe for the Asian regional qualifying system that once took the country to the tournament, before Arab-led boycotts helped force it out.

The launch this month of the tournament hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada has renewed attention to Israel’s absence from the World Cup. Despite a thriving local soccer scene and success in competition abroad, the only time the country appeared in the tournament was in Mexico in 1970.

That’s because Israel seeks to qualify through the Union of European Football Associations, whose ranks are so strong that even a solid campaign can become a long shot for the World Cup. Even titans like four-time World Cup winner Italy failed to qualify this year.

Israel is the only non-European country trying to reach the tournament through UEFA, while most of its neighbors seek places through the Asian Football Confederation. Israel was ousted from the Asian soccer body in 1974. It bounced around the qualifying zones for a few years — it played in the Oceania qualifiers ahead of the 1986 and 1990 World Cups — before settling in the European grouping in 1991.

Return to Asia not on the table

Shlomi Barzel, head of communications for the Israel Football Association, said a return to Asia is not on the table, both because Israel does not want to leave European soccer, where it has built a standing, and because he does not believe the Asian confederation would accept it back.

The only upside to such a move, he joked, would be if Israel’s opponents boycotted matches against it: “Israel would automatically qualify.”

A boycott of Israel did affect the team’s path to the 1970 World Cup. North Korea was ejected from the Asian qualifying tournament after refusing to play in Israel. As a result, Israel advanced to the final round after winning only two games against New Zealand. In the finals, Israel faced an Australian team already exhausted after fending off South Korea, Japan, and Rhodesia (itself in the Asian tournament after being banned in Africa over its white governing regime).

In the tournament in Mexico, Israel’s all-amateur team defied expectations, losing 0-2 to Uruguay but notching draws against Sweden and Italy before being eliminated.

Israel ejected from Asian Football Confederation

Four years later, Israel was effectively ejected from the Asian Football Confederation following a resolution introduced by Kuwait that passed 17 to 13, with six abstentions. The vote came a day before a high-profile Israel-Iran game in Tehran that Iran won 1-0 on an Israeli own goal.

Today, Barzel rejects the premise that rejoining the AFC would guarantee Israel a place in the World Cup going forward.

“It would be a little patronizing and arrogant for me to say that,” he said, adding that he was not sure Israel would beat teams such as Jordan or Qatar.

Barzel also cited Israel’s place inside UEFA’s institutions as a benefit for sticking with the current arrangement. Current IFA chairman Moshe “Shino” Zuaretz was elected to UEFA’s Executive Committee in April 2025, despite the war in Gaza and growing calls to sanction Israeli soccer, while former IFA chairman Avi Luzon previously served in a senior role on the same body.

Institutional backing has extended beyond Europe, Barzel said, pointing to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Israeli fans were allowed to attend despite the absence of diplomatic ties. He also cited the global soccer body FIFA’s decision to move the 2023 under-20s World Cup from Indonesia to Argentina after Indonesia objected to hosting Israel’s team. Israel went on to finish third.

Still, Israel’s formal place in international soccer has done little to shield its teams and supporters from hostility. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were attacked in Amsterdam after a match against Ajax in November 2024, and the club’s supporters were later barred from attending an Aston Villa match in a decision that became a political and policing scandal in Britain.

Despite its absence from the World Cup, Israel has remained a political flashpoint around the event, which U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to make “an unprecedented success.” Speculation that Trump’s hopes for a World Cup untainted by war spurred his push for a ceasefire with Iran prompted a denial from the  top White House official dealing with the World Cup.

That didn’t keep the conflict from seeping into the events.

In Boston on June 19, kilt-clad Scotland fans waiting in blocks-long lines to board shuttles to the stadium where their team would face Morocco accepted Palestinian flags from activists lining the route.

Hours before Canada’s opening match on June 12, activists draped a “Kick Israel out of FIFA” banner over a World Cup logo near one of Toronto’s busiest highways.

Days later, a viral video from Iran’s match against New Zealand in Los Angeles showed security guards confiscating an Israeli flag from a fan — who was told they were acting on orders from their superiors — while other spectators behind him held Palestinian flags.

Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships, Paolo Zampolli, told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster he was “very disturbed” by the incident in Los Angeles, adding that there was “no place for antisemitism or double standards in sports.” Zampolli, who had previously urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the World Cup, called on the soccer body to treat the episode seriously.

Barzel drew a distinction between the flag incident, which he said was likely a poor decision by stadium staff, and any official FIFA policy against Israel, noting that Israel’s flag is displayed alongside those of other member associations at official FIFA and UEFA events. FIFA generally discourages flags of teams not playing in a given match, he said, and added that Israeli teams have grown used to seeing Palestinian flags in soccer stadiums.

“Personally, I don’t get worked up by flags — they don’t scare me,” he said.

Yoav Borowitz, head of sports at Kan, said FIFA appeared wary of flags being used as protest symbols, pointing to the Iranian lion-and-sun flag, the country’s flag before the 1979 revolution, which installed the current theocratic regime, which some fans waved at the same match. FIFA’s failure to clarify whether Israeli flags were allowed in stadiums in the days after the incident, he said, “shows where Israel stands at the moment.”

“There were official FIFA stewards there,” he said, “and if the fan was effectively forced to remove the flag, then I would have expected FIFA to have issued a response by now and said that Israeli flags are allowed into stadiums, just as Palestinian flags are allowed into stadiums, just as the flag of any country is allowed into stadiums.”

Any limits placed on Israel’s soccer association have been imposed solely on security grounds, Barzel said, though in October, UEFA came close to holding an emergency vote on whether to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza.

At FIFA’s congress in Vancouver in April, when Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub refused to shake hands with Israel FA Vice President Basim Sheikh Suliman despite repeated appeals from FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who called on the sides to “give hope to the children.”

Despite such gestures, Israel continues to compete as usual — almost. It has been unable to host matches at home for close to three years because of war and has had to play its home World Cup qualifiers in neutral third countries. It is hosting several contests this fall in Moldova, which last year gained an Israeli embassy and direct El Al routes for the first time. (Russia, by contrast, has had its national teams and clubs suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions since its invasion of Ukraine.)

Despite the controversies, FIFA has kept pressing ahead with its vision of soccer as “a force for unity, peace and hope,” including reported discussions about opening a new under-15’s tournament in the United States in September with a symbolic match between Israeli and Palestinian youth teams.

US President Donald Trump is set to meet munitions makers at the White House on Wednesday as his administration pushes to expand weapons production after military operations in Iran and other conflicts drew down US stockpiles.

The United States has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations, raising concerns about inventories of key air-defense and precision-guided weapons and increasing pressure on contractors to boost output.

The meeting would mark the second White House gathering with chief executives of major defense firms focused on ramping up weapons production. A March meeting included the CEOs and other officials from BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX Corp, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, and L3Harris Technologies, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Pentagon on Wednesday awarded Lockheed Martin an undefinitized contract worth up to $35 billion to ramp up production of THAAD interceptors, part of a push to replenish missile defense stockpiles and boost output.

Defense contractors pressed to move faster

Trump’s meeting comes as Pentagon negotiators press contractors to move much faster, with tentative production agreements struck earlier this year at the center of those efforts.

The agreements include a deal with Lockheed Martin to triple production of Patriot interceptors and quadruple output of THAAD interceptors, which are used to shoot down ballistic missiles. Separate multiyear deals with RTX aim to boost production of Tomahawk cruise missiles and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. The deals, announced as “framework agreements,” have yet to be converted into contracts.

Five defense industry executives, speaking on condition of anonymity, welcomed the agreements, but said Congress must first appropriate funding before companies can invest more heavily in components and production capacity. Investing before receiving government payments under the agreements would weigh on free cash flow and could hurt second-half earnings, they said.

The administration has steadily increased pressure on defense contractors to prioritize production over shareholder payouts. Trump signed an executive order in January to identify contractors deemed to be underperforming on government contracts while continuing to distribute profits to shareholders.

GM Defense, the automaker’s defense ‌business unit, and Lockheed have said the US Department of Defense helped facilitate a partnership between the two companies because of growing demand for additional production capacity.

The Senate Armed Services Committee this month approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, backing total defense spending of $1.15 trillion and providing multi-year procurement authority for several types of munitions and weapons. The bill is not expected to become law until autumn, although separate appropriations or supplemental funding could come sooner.

Demand for air defense systems has surged among the United States and its allies amid heightened geopolitical tensions and the conflict in Iran.

Mamdani-backed Israel critics swept the primaries, marking a seismic backlash against pro-Israel incumbent Democrats and solidifying the left-wing mayor’s status as a power broker in New York. Tuesday night ended with victories for three congressional candidates, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier. Eli Northrup, who was endorsed by Mamdani for the State Assembly’s District 69, also trounced Stephanie Ruskay.

President Donald Trump called Mamdani’s winning candidates “communists.” In one of several social media posts following the elections on Tuesday night, the former New York voter said, “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!” Trump painted Mamdani as an extremist during his mayoral race, but the two have since developed a rapport.

Some pro-Israel Democrats held on. Rep. Ritchie Torres handily defeated former Assembly member Michael Blake, who sharply criticized Israel and Torres’ support from AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby. Mamdani stayed out of that race.

Micah Lasher’s victory for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler’s seat marked an enclave of continuity. Lasher, a onetime aide to Nadler who described himself as a “neurotic Jew” on election day, was Nadler’s preferred heir in the country’s most Jewish district. His race differed from others in New York, with none of the leading candidates accusing Israel of genocide or supporting blocking military aid to the country.

A looming showdown in the Hudson Valley could help flip the House. Cait Conley, a military veteran and pro-Israel Democrat, won her primary and will face off with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in November. Lawler’s seat in a deep-purple district is considered to be one of the most vulnerable in the midterms, and Lawler sought to undermine Conley’s campaign, appearing to boost her opponent, Beth Davidson.

What else is new? 

The Al Jazeera journalist whose death was recently mourned by Mamdani also worked as a Hamas sniper and active combatant, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The conservative outlet cited the IDF and shared a video that allegedly showed Ahmed Washah firing a rifle. Mamdani referenced Washah’s death on Monday while defending his use of the word “monsters” to describe AIPAC.

The National Jewish Advocacy Center, a Jewish nonprofit, has urged the Trump administration to investigate Mamdani for alleged “discriminatory failure to protect Jewish residents from antisemitic hate,” reported The New York Post.

Maccabi Tel Aviv captured its 58th Israeli league championship late Tuesday night with a 83-79 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv to close out the final series 3-1.

Iffe Lundberg earned Most Valuable Player honors in what was a back-and-forth game that saw the yellow-and-blue come out on top after Maccabi’s Roman Sorkin hit a backbreaking 3-pointer as time wound down and then put down an alley-oop dunk to close out the Game 4 victory.

John DiBartolomeo got busy early while Yam Madar kept Hapoel close, but seven straight points from Jimmy Clark helped Maccabi hold a slim 22-20 lead after the opening period. Dan Oturu and Tai Odiase scored at will in the paint for the Reds, however Jaylen Hoard and Lundberg started to find the bottom of the basket. Still, it was Hapoel which took a narrow 43-42 advantage into halftime.

Hoard and Lundberg began the second half with points for Maccabi while Madar and Ginat for Hapoel responded at the other end to keep the Reds ahead 64-62 after 30 minutes of action.

Clark put in a layup to get the final frame underway, Madar went from deep, Lundberg hit a step-back to keep the drama to a maximum. Then Madar hit a jumper, but Lundberg dropped a layup to give Oded Katash’s team the lead. Clark fed Oshae Brissett for a dunk, Oturu put in points, and Brissett and Odiase traded layups as Madar dropped in a bucket.

‘We really deserved it:’ Oded Katash praises players, coaches

However, Sorkin drilled home a corner 3-ball with half-a-minute remaining and then added a dunk off a fast break to seal the win and send the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans into ecstasy.

Lundberg scored 21 points, Hoard added 14 points while Brissett and Clark each scored 13 points for Oded Katash’s team, while Madar scored 26 points and Tomer Ginat and Tai Odiase each added 13 points for Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad.
Katash reflected on Maccabi winning the championship.

“This was one of the biggest league titles and we really deserved it. We were exhausted but we wanted it so badly, so we beared down and were able to finish strong. I’m proud of the players and the entire staff. We came into this game with the last ounce of energy we had and I’m so happy that we were able to do it. We fought and battled and ended the season with a double.”

Itoudis spoke about the series as a whole

“It was another street fight like the last few games, unlike Game 1 where it wasn’t. We tried to contain Maccabi, but they were able to go downhill and score points. We hopefully will be together and compete for more titles going forward. There were questionable moments over the course of the season, but the smart thing to do is to learn from the mistakes and if we do that we will come back stronger next season.”

Hapoel big man Ish Wainright summed up the series from the Reds’ perspective.

“It was an amazing season and we didn’t finish the way we wanted to finish and I wish it would have been a better outcome. We had to rebound better and knock down shots in order to win. I’m not looking back at the last two seasons, rather I’m looking forward to the one coming up and our goal is to win. We deserve to win.”

Sorkin talked about winning the championship and hitting the huge shots at the end of both halves, especially his late triple.

“The game still wasn’t over and we had to calm down, but it was a big 3-pointer and I owed it to the team. I played a game-and-a-half that was under par. This was a very long season and it was a tough year in general for the country.

Hapoel was a great team and winning it was even sweeter the way we did it. We really enjoy playing together.”

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

What do the ultra-wealthy owe the rest of us? It may be the defining argument of our second Gilded Age.

While Elon Musk insists that his businesses “are philanthropy,” and America’s richest people gave away on average less than 5% of their total wealth in 2025, an actual Gilded Age titan offers a different example.

Nathan Straus, who helped build Macy’s into a retail empire in the 1890s, gave away his money the old-fashioned way, creating milk depots for sick babies in the slums of New York City and malaria treatments for all those living in British Mandatory Palestine.

With a strong Jewish upbringing, and a life haunted by tragedy, Straus (1848-1931) pioneered, along with other public health programs, a milk pasteurization program in New York City in the 1890s that he duplicated around the country and in Palestine. A Jew with power and a big heart, he was hailed by Jewish leaders of his generation, including Rabbi Stephen Wise and Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah.

His story is told comprehensively by Andrew Fisher in Nathan Straus: From Macy’s Magnate to International Humanitarian, the first full-length biographical treatment of his life.

Straus was raised with a culture of generosity

“As a person who had substantial rather than titanic wealth,” recounted Fisher in a conversation with JTA, Straus “had been able to affect the health of whole populations in America and [the British Mandate of] Palestine. He had an order of magnitude less wealth than John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie but was able to pull off really unusual philanthropic achievements.” 

Fisher was drawn to the story not only because of Straus’ successful business career, but because of the businessman’s devotion to doing good, and his unbridled initiative in conceiving and developing previously unrealized social and health programs for which he had no specialized expertise.

Unlike Rockefeller or Carnegie, Nathan Straus began to give his money away early on and was devoted to several significant philanthropic initiatives as he continued to build his two major retail businesses.

Raised in a German Jewish family in Georgia in the mid-19th century, Straus strongly identified as a Jew, and found his own religious expression in philanthropic endeavors that emerged from a generous family background. Taking a cue from his parents, said Fisher, “Nathan thought that it was incumbent upon the rich, by the laws of God and conscience, to give back. That was their duty.” 

Nathan’s parents also believed in cultural outreach. As Fisher notes, “Nathan’s father was fluent in Hebrew and brought Protestant ministers in the home to talk about sections of the Torah over the family dinner table. Nathan was instilled with that.” 

This world impulse enabled Nathan to stretch beyond the borders of his father’s small family business, to merge with R.H. Macy’s in the 1880s to form Macy’s Department Stores, and with Wechsler & Abraham to form Abraham & Straus in the 1890s.

“Nathan had a nonstop bubbling of new ideas and gave rocket fuel to the innovations in his family business,” said Fisher. And he carried this creativity and drive into his philanthropic endeavors as well. 

After tragedy struck, Straus distributed safe, low-cost milk

But some of his philanthropic drive was also spurred on by tragedy. Between 1878 and 1893, Nathan and his beloved wife Lina lost three children to disease, at least one of whom was thought to have been infected by contaminated milk. 

This prompted Straus to initiate a program to distribute pasteurized milk at low cost to poor families in New York City. At the time, tainted milk contributed to an unimaginable 25 percent mortality rate among infants under age one. Although the benefits of using mild heat to remove harmful bacteria was known in the West as early as 1864, the dairy industry and public health authorities were slow to make it a regular practice. 

Straus’ first pasteurization plants and milk depots were established in 1893 and operated until 1919, by which time Straus pasteurization plants had been established in cities across the United States and in Europe.

Devoted to the Zionist cause in the 1920s when other German Jews were cool to the idea, Straus held the strong belief “that there absolutely had to be a safe refuge for Jews from throughout the world, who wanted to escape, autocratic and often antisemitic regimes, including those in Eastern Europe and Russia,” said Fisher. Straus extended his health initiatives to Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s, where malaria was a constant threat among both Jews and Arabs. 

Working with Szold, Straus established a health center in Jerusalem and was involved in funding soup kitchens and workrooms to employ unemployed Jews and Arabs.  He also led an effort to bring electrification to Palestine. 

Major Jewish figures of the early 20th century knew Straus well and applauded his generosity. Wise noted “his elemental passion to love, to help, to serve.” Szold applauded Straus’ watchwords “to have faith, and the rest will follow.”

When Straus died in New York in January 1931 at age 82, he was mourned by the British Mandatory Palestine’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook. “With wounded soul and aching heart I express regret and sorrow at the departure of a knight among the benefactors of Israel and humanity, a treasure-store of mercy and kindness in whose name and tremendous deeds we find consolation,” Kook said in a message sent to the JTA.

Certainly, Straus’ faith in what was good, and what was possible, enabled him to innovate and to give in unexpected ways. 

Straus’ example teaches us, said Fisher, that people of considerable wealth can find enormous meaning in helping the poor and the disenfranchised. Straus’ estimable talents at building Macy’s and Abraham & Straus demonstrated his great power for initiative and expansion.

His public health and social programs demonstrated what, for Straus, was a far more important quality than accumulating wealth: attention to what good could be done in the world and the vision and dedication to pull it off.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel will be the first country in the world to solve the global issue of explosive drones during a speech at the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel Conference on Wednesday. 

Touting Israel’s military success thus far against Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, which often launches explosive drones towards Israeli territory and IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon, Netanyahu stated that Israeli efforts against the terrorist group have been “unbelievable.”

“Today, there is a security zone there that prevents Hezbollah and its remnants from invading the Galilee, because that was the plan. We are destroying all of this underground infrastructure,” Netanyahu stated.

Israeli progress against hostile actors comes despite global pressure to stand down

He continued to describe that much of Israel’s progress against hostile actors in the region has come despite global pressure to halt military operations.

“If we had followed the suggestion to stop at Rafah, we would have gotten nada, zero, nothing. That is not who we are.”

Netanyahu continued to describe that Israel has accomplished “what no one believed we would do,” especially regarding operations against Iran.

“I have dedicated most of my adult life to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said. “They told us: ‘A military operation in Iran? You are forbidden from doing that.’ ‘Eliminating the leadership of Iran? No, no, not that,’ so I did not listen to them.”

Israel has no choice but to fight, Netanyahu says

Netanyahu asserted that Israel has no choice but to fight, even if it means losing global support. 

He claimed that prior to launching Operation Roaring Lion against Iran, he informed US President Donald Trump of his plans but did not ask for permission.

Netanyahu stated that he told Trump, “We are going into Iran, because I am not waiting for these oppressors who declare openly that they want to destroy us… I will not let that happen.”

Netanyahu acknowledged that while there is more to be done in Lebanon against Hezbollah, in Gaza against Hamas, and against the threat posed by Iran, progress has been made.

“When you are tested on the ground, just as our commanders are tested on the ground, then the only thing that speaks is the result. And the result is monumental,” he continued.

Netanyahu concluded by vowing that as long as he is the prime minister of Israel, he will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and will ensure the security of northern Israel by maintaining a security zone to protect against Hezbollah. 

Following a Lebanese report that contacts are underway to bring back the remains of Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who was captured in Lebanon in 1986, his friend Ronen Meir told 103FM on Wednesday that listeners should keep the matter in perspective: “We are overwhelmed with attempts and disappointments.”

Meir, a friend of Arad who graduated with him from the flight course during their time in the IDF, spoke on 103FM with Prof. Aryeh Eldad and Ron Kaufman about the report.

In light of the report from Al Jadeed, according to which the political negotiations between Lebanon and Israel are expected to include the possibility of a deal in which Arad’s remains would be exchanged for Lebanese prisoners, Meir dampened expectations.

“That sounds to me somewhat absurd, if not delusional,” he said. “We are saturated with previous attempts of this kind. From my familiarity with our enemies and neighbors, this tune always plays, and we are saturated with disappointments on this matter.”

“Let’s assume that the Lebanese do indeed have information about Ron and want to bargain with it. The best and simplest thing they could do is send a sample so we can see whether there is someone to talk to. To refute it through a journalist does not seem to me like a serious channel for anyone who wants to deal with such a complicated issue.”

Meir referred to Israel’s past and present efforts: “It is worth noting that only a few weeks ago, the Israeli government sent a commando force with four Yas’ur helicopters into Lebanon in an attempt to recover Ron’s body, and we almost left a great many dead there. With all the pain and my personal desire to solve the mystery of my friend, we need to be careful about fantasies and fleeing into unrealistic areas.”

“The ethos of not abandoning a soldier should not go back to Ron. One can look two and a half years back and see what happened to that ethos when we had living civilians and soldiers in captivity, and some of them returned in body bags. The question is what price we are prepared to pay for that ethos. It is legitimate to use judgment,” he continued.

To conclude, Meir recalled the family’s position over the years: “In Ron’s case, his mother Batia Arad gave her testament while she was still alive and said she did not want any soldier to risk his life if it is known that Ron is no longer alive.”

“Tami Arad, my friend, said immediately that same night of the commando operation that ‘we said from the outset that for Ron’s body, not even one soldier should be put at risk.’ If there were really anything to the reports, the first thing they would do is give a sample. How many samples have we already received that we have discovered were donkey bones? It simply does not seem serious to me.”

Former Mossad, Shin Bet officer says negotiations help to find Arad

Eyal Tzur Cohen, a former head of the Mossad’s Tevel Division and a former senior Shin Bet official, said on 103FM on Monday that reported negotiations with Lebanon include a demand for the return of the remains of navigator Ron Arad, and that any future arrangement could significantly improve the chances of finding him.

The former official, who was responsible for prisoners and missing persons, addressed the reports that talks with Lebanon include a demand to return the remains of Arad, the navigator who was taken captive in Lebanon four decades ago. “The Ron Arad issue was one of the heaviest matters we dealt with over the years,” he said. “Unimaginable efforts were made in terms of investing resources and risking Mossad assets and the security establishment, in order to try to trace what happened to him. There is a dominant hypothesis about what happened to him, but the difficulty was always reaching searches on the ground in places where we assessed there was a good chance of locating his remains.”

He expressed hope that Arad could be located as part of a future arrangement. “If there is some kind of arrangement with the Lebanese Army and access becomes possible to areas populated mainly by Shiites, that raises the chance of finding him. I very much hope that happens.”

Tzur Cohen later addressed contacts between Washington and Tehran over the nuclear program. “This is not a game of understandings, but of misunderstandings,” he said. “The further we move forward, the more gaps in interpretation each side gives, making it harder to reach an agreement. Both sides want to set the mutual siege aside and enter a new round of reorganization. The Iranians are weakened now, without a conventional army and with mainly asymmetric capabilities, and they are seeking understandings that will allow them to recover economically and politically.”

Regarding the International Atomic Energy Agency’s demand for access to nuclear facilities, he said: “This is a basic and essential issue. So far, no scientific or professional damage assessment has been carried out for the enrichment facilities. I am clear that the Iranians will squeeze the Americans until they allow them to take such a step. Trump understands that there are essential issues he has to put at the top, and the Iranians understand this is the last thing they want to compromise on.”

The ballistic threat: ‘Between the Americans and us, there is a disagreement about this threat’

Tzur Cohen also discussed the ballistic missile threat and the gaps with the United States on the issue. “Between the Americans and us, there has been a disagreement for more than a decade about this threat,” he explained.

“The Americans are concerned about missiles that reach ranges of about 700 kilometers, because most of their assets are within that range. We add another 1,000 kilometers to that, because Iran’s targets in Israel are at a range of 1,700 kilometers,” he added

“They understand that the chance of preventing a sovereign state from having short- and medium-range missiles is not reasonable, because that would effectively strip it of the ability to defend itself,” he concluded.

An official FIFA and LEGO collaboration will bring a World Cup-themed interactive fan experience to northern Israel for three days this summer, offering free admission to children and families at Sha’ar HaTzafon Mall in Kiryat Ata.

The event, billed as part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, combines sports challenges, LEGO building, and digital competitions. Organizers announced the Kiryat Ata venue will be the only location in northern Israel to host the official FIFA-LEGO collaboration this summer.

Upon entering, participants will receive a “Player Card” and complete a series of stations designed to simulate elements of a World Cup-style tournament, according to the announcement from the organizers.

The first station challenges children to build a miniature version of the FIFA World Cup trophy using LEGO bricks. Participants will be allowed to keep the model and receive a stamp on their player card.

Children can create their own jerseys, inspired by real teams

A second station features a reaction-time and agility challenge using the “Blazepod” light system, a training platform used by professional athletes. Children aged six and older will compete to record the fastest times and highest scores.

According to organizers, daily winners will receive a LEGO “Highlights” set and be featured on social media.

The third stage includes an official FIFA-themed photo booth centered around a large-scale LEGO replica of the World Cup trophy and a stadium backdrop. Children who complete all stages and collect the required stamps will be eligible to receive an official FIFA poster at the LEGO Store.

In addition to the structured activities, the event will feature a free-build area where children can create jersey designs inspired by national teams expected to compete in the 2026 World Cup. An exhibition of LEGO models will also be displayed throughout the venue.

Organizers are also offering event-specific promotions, including discounted Build A Minifigure sports-themed figures and a FIFA LEGO magazine for customers purchasing qualifying FIFA-themed LEGO products, while supplies last.