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Raed Abu Al-Qian, a civilian contractor with the IDF, was killed by a building collapse in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the military announced.

The contractor, a resident of Hura, had been working on engineering projects in Gaza on behalf of the Defense Ministry, the military added.

The IDF noted that the victim’s family has been notified.

On Tuesday, defense officials told Walla that the IDF had achieved operational control over 70% of the Gaza Strip.

A security source noted that the area under Israeli control could grow over the coming months, while “Hamas is allegedly dragging its feet, entrenching itself in the field, recruiting operatives, and preparing for war with Israel.”

The defense officials told Walla that the Southern Command conducts daily assessments across the Gaza Strip, combining IDF and Shin Bet intelligence to coordinate operational responses to emerging threats.

Walla: Israeli firms in talks over Gaza demolitions, rubble removal

Earlier on Wednesday, Walla reported that Israeli companies have begun negotiations regarding the large-scale demolition of Gaza’s structures.

Sources described the negotiations as unprecedented in scope, Walla noted.

“The peace government has a desire to advance the reconstruction process, but it is not meeting reasonable timelines or the scope they want,” a security source told Walla.

“We are talking about enormous amounts of destruction that they want to turn into recycled construction materials, to transport a large part of it, and at the same time to level the area in order to build new homes on it, and all this is happening even before Hamas has been disarmed and the Strip has been demilitarized,” the source added.

Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

The greatest and most dangerous weapon of our enemies is not missiles or drones. It is the division within us.

National resilience during wartime relies first of all on unity. The State of Israel is deep into the third year of a multi-front existential war. Our shared destiny is tested every day in cemeteries and rehabilitation wards. In a week where we bury fighters and cry alongside families whose worlds have been destroyed, we must remember what allows us to live here.

When I returned from the shiva of the late Nave Habshoosh in Geva Binyamin, his father told me a sentence that stuck with me. He demanded that we, the elected officials, stop using politics to tear and divide. He demanded that we know how to respect everyone in our discourse. This respect does not ask us to blur disagreements. Quite the opposite. Disagreement is a natural thing. Debate is a vital tool in a healthy democracy.

I want to see MK Yisrael Eichler and MK Gilad Kariv sit down, discuss matters of religion, and come to an understanding. I believe MK Yitzhak Pindrus and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana can find common ground on shared ways of life. I also expect Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf to sit with me on the draft issue and reach real agreements together. This is possible.

The red line is crossed the moment one side forces its lifestyle on the other. Driving on Shabbat is a personal choice. Blocking the entrance to a street or paralyzing the country’s roads in pirate protests, as we saw this week, led by extremist factions, is a violent strike against freedom of movement.

There is a very fine line between maintaining a lifestyle and coercion. Haredi politics tramples that line over and over.

The aggressive show of force that flooded the country’s roads expresses a complete detachment from Israeli reality. While an entire nation fights for its existence, certain leaders choose to make it clear that the walls of sectarian isolation are more important to them than any national solidarity. The violent attempt to disrupt daily life is an open extortion attempt. The goal is clear: granting absolute immunity to draft dodgers and fortifying political privileges.

This escalation is a direct result of the haredi parties’ failure. They tried to pass the original draft of the exemption law, designed to perpetuate a sweeping sectarian exemption. I strongly opposed it. It was pushed back thanks to the firm stance of a group of Zionist Knesset members from within the coalition. The haredi representatives realized that the direct route to draft evasion had been blocked. In response, they pulled out bypass laws.

We saw the Daycare Law, designed to guarantee government subsidies even for draft refusers. We also saw the Basic Law: Torah Study. These are moves that seek to disconnect the eligibility for benefits from the duty of military and civil service. They grant infuriating excess benefits to those who choose to shirk the state’s defense. This is a cold and cynical attempt to get through the back door what the High Court of Justice and the public completely and justly rejected at the front door.

A danger to Israeli society

The worldview of the current haredi political leadership is dangerous to society, as it is based on exploiting the political system to secure large budgets. Religion has deeply entered politics and has become a financial burden on all Israeli citizens.

The haredi leadership demands we fund a separate lifestyle for one group at the expense of the values and lifestyle of the majority. The burden is divided in a distorted way. Our wonderful reservists are called up again and again to fight. While one sector protests for its right to dodge the draft, the public that actually serves in the military pays unimaginable prices. Families collapse. Businesses close. A combination of demanding that a serving public sacrifice its lives, alongside passing budgets that encourage draft evasion, is a moral distortion.

We are losing our direction. The State of Israel was founded on democratic and Western principles. We are gradually becoming a classic Middle Eastern country where the tribe holds central power. Blind tribal loyalty replaces statesmanship.

This tribalism encourages division, tears society apart, and weakens us from within. Knesset members from both sides of the aisle fall into this trap. They deepen the nation’s tear for narrow political gain.

My vision is different. I want every person, in their own private space, to live their life exactly as they choose. Secular or religious, Jewish or Muslim. One person’s choice will respect another’s living space. Reality forces us to lead a deep structural change.

I say this out of reverence for the Torah and heritage, but with great pain: Israel must promote a separation that disconnects government institutions and public budgets from extortion. Turning religion into a tool of coercion and political wheeling and dealing fuels hatred. Israel must conduct itself as a modern, liberal democracy based on equal rights and an equal share of the burden of national service.

The only way to secure our future is by establishing a broad unity government. A right-wing government, resting on a solid Zionist majority that served in the military. A government free from dependence on extortionist fringe parties from both ends of the political spectrum. This will pave the way for a national leadership that will bring equality and justice. The public that serves in the IDF has proven it is the overwhelming and determined majority of this country. It is time we prove to our enemies that their weapon has failed, and that we choose true unity.

The writer serves as Israel’s deputy foreign minister.

The New York Democratic primaries were a big coming-out for the party’s leftmost flank — and a wake-up call for Jews in the city and beyond.

As a series of congressional candidates backed by progressive anti-Zionist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani notched victories, including over two pro-Israel incumbents, the future for the party’s relationship with Israel has never seemed more in question. With one of those winners, Brad Lander, being Jewish, left-wing Jews are also celebrating a new champion and a boost in electoral power.

At the same time, a new, smaller crop of pro-Israel victors could seek to carry the mantle for the liberal Jewish vote, while Jewish establishment leaders are navigating the changing political landscape.

Here are a few big Jewish takeaways from Tuesday night:

Are Jewish centers of power shifting?

Establishment Jewish figures and their allies were reading the tea leaves of the results Wednesday as voters seemed to shift further away from pro-Israel positions. Some downplayed any broader significance.

“Last night’s primaries indicate that DSA, Mamdani-backed candidates can win in different areas of New York City,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “But I don’t think that those same candidates could win anywhere else.”

Soifer’s pro-Israel group had offered a rare primary endorsement to Rep. Dan Goldman, who was routed by former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. She added, “We know that Jewish voters feel very conflicted about the issue of Israel and the role that it’s now playing in Democratic politics.” 

She demurred on whether her organization could find a pathway to work with Lander, saying he “chose to use Israel as a wedge issue in this election, dividing Jewish voters.” In contrast to Goldman’s clearer support for Israel, Lander has called for ending aid to Israeli defense systems including the Iron Dome, a stance Soifer specifically noted would be a roadblock to collaboration. Lander describes himself as a liberal Zionist.

Other Jewish leaders were sounding notes of alarm Wednesday.

“We are deeply concerned by public leaders who vilify Jews and others who support Israel, including many who also strive for peace, support Palestinian rights, and mourn the suffering of innocent civilians,” Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of Reform Judaism’s Religious Action Center, said in a statement.

“We reject the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian dignity. We will work with leaders across political and ideological lines when they share our values, and we will speak out forcefully when their words or actions undermine Jewish safety, demonize supporters of Israel, or deny Israel’s right to exist and thrive in security.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose own endorsed candidates mostly lost on Tuesday, congratulated Lander in an interview with NY1 and gave a “salute” to Goldman. The Brooklyn lawmaker also congratulated pro-Israel centrist Democrat Cait Conley (whom he did endorse) for her win in a suburban district held by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler that Jeffries hopes to flip.

A spokesperson for Democratic pro-Israel Rep. Ritchie Torres, who’d chased off a would-be pro-Palestinian primary challenger before the race got underway, declined to comment to JTA on what the race’s results mean for Jewish leaders.

“I think we’re in a moment of a lot of uprooting of conventional beliefs and conventional norms,” Goldman told the media following his loss. Contrasting Democrats with “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” he added, “The more internal division and divisiveness, internal fighting that we have, means that they’re going to continue to push forward with their agenda.”

Some Jewish pundits were more explicit about what they saw as the political threat. David Frum, a center-right columnist for The Atlantic, said before results came in that the primaries were a “test of power of Mayor Mamdani’s anti-Jewish messaging.”

Does this leave Jewish progressives in a moment of confusion — or ascension? New York Jewish Agenda, a left-leaning Jewish advocacy group whose previous director was appointed as Mamdani’s antisemitism czar, told JTA the answer might lie somewhere in the middle.

“We’re going to need to stretch in new and interesting ways in order to be effective,” Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, the group’s director, said of NYJA’s coalition-building work. “There’s going to be unexpected bright spots and new areas of alignment in really unlikely places.” Lander and Lasher are former NYJA board members.

Hughes-Robinson acknowledged that, in the wake of wins in other congressional districts, such as that of former encampment organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, Jews “may not receive the same warm invitation” from some of their progressive counterparts going forward. Still, she insisted, Jews should “try to be in the room and get work done.”

The results, she said, also showed that “there’s a diversity of Jewish voices, and I actually think that’s a really good thing.”

IfNotNow, though, was ebullient — and eager to anoint a new standard-bearer for the Jewish community. 

“Brad’s win is a blueprint for the future for both the Jewish community and the Democratic Party,” the pro-Palestinian Jewish group, which heavily boosted Lander, wrote on social media. “He ran a bold, unapologetically Jewish campaign that rejected pro-war lobbies like AIPAC and the endless flow of US weapons to Israel. And his vision won resoundingly.”

Zohran Mamdani’s influence

The anti-Zionist mayor made a big push for political influence in Tuesday’s primaries, and his bets paid off. All three congressional candidates Mamdani stumped for, who hit the campaign trail with fierce criticism of Israel as one of their major commonalities, prevailed in their contests and are virtually assured seats in the House in November given the Democratic makeup of their districts. The victories further cemented Mamdani’s status in the minds of many political analysts as a new center of power for progressive Democrats.

Mamdani-backed victories include state lawmaker Claire Valdez, the democratic socialist who bested Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for the open seat in New York’s 7th Congressional District. The Associated Press called the race for Valdez early, with her pulling 56% of the vote to Reynoso’s 35% as of press time. The district’s retiring representative, Nydia Velázquez, had backed Reynoso.

“I will continue to call for Palestinian liberation,” Valdez said during her victory speech, to cheers. “We will stand up to the genocide. We will refuse to abide by apartheid. And we will use our money to improve lives here instead of destroying them abroad.”

Chevalier, the former Columbia University encampment organizer who had attended a pro-Palestinian rally at which support for Hamas was expressed on Oct. 8, 2023, also shocked the political establishment by squeaking out a win over incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the 13th district. “Free Palestine” chants broke out at her victory celebration, which was also attended by Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. (Chevalier, like Valdez, was backed by the DSA.) 

And in a matchup between two Jews that the Jewish political establishment watched closely, Lander, a frequent Mamdani surrogate, trounced Goldman, the incumbent. 

“The mayor showed that he knows how to pick winners,” Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is Jewish, told JTA on Tuesday night. “I think that’s a big takeaway, and his popularity is transferable. And that’s more power to his coalition; those who doubted his reach should rethink their assessment.”

As the mayor helps push Democrats further to the left on Israel, he has also contributed to a coarsening of political rhetoric for Jews. 

Mamdani, at his rally last week backing his preferred candidates, triggered backlash from Jewish corners for comparing pro-Israel lobbyists AIPAC to “monsters.” Jewish leaders (including, in the primary’s final hours, the Union for Reform Judaism and Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt) criticized his language. 

But none of it seemed to hurt his candidates or his reach.

Who will carry the torch for pro-Israel Jews in Congress?

One notable race in which Mamdani hadn’t intervened was his own congressional district: the 12th, which is also the most Jewish in the country. There, Jewish State Assembly member Micah Lasher won the race to succeed his former boss, progressive Rep. Jerry Nadler, himself a fixture of liberal Jewry. The mayor did not reveal whom he had voted for.

Lasher, who said during the race that he was “exhausted” with how the electorate seemed to be “obsessed with Israel,” will aim to thread the needle for liberal pro-Israel Jews as Nadler once did — but at a much more challenging moment for pro-Israel politics. He has pushed for “Hamas out of Gaza and Netanyahu out of the Knesset,” while also seeking protections for Jewish college students and on other fronts.

Unlike in the other races, though, Lasher’s did not explicitly pivot on Israel — making it hard to draw conclusions about his voters’ tolerance for more critical views. (One of his major sticking points with his leading primary opponent, Alex Bores, was over artificial intelligence.) Lasher’s strong bonds with the local Jewish community will also position him for a potentially crucial interlocutor role for local Jews, some said.

“I think that Micah is going to be a bridge between the Jewish community and the current city administration,” Hoylman-Sigal told JTA. “I think he’s someone who can work with the mayor, but I think he can also represent the community in a way that’s going to make us all proud.”

Conley’s victory in the suburbs, meanwhile, could bring another pro-Israel Jewish torchbearer to Congress as the body becomes a lonelier place for that demographic population. The 17th district has a large pro-Israel Orthodox population, and is currently represented by Lawler, though Democrats are bullish on their prospects in November. Lawler is regarded as one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in the country. 

Although Conley bested a Jewish opponent, Beth Davidson, in the primary, the military veteran ran a staunchly pro-Israel campaign and has said she sees the country as a key US national security ally. How Democrats, and their Jewish leaders, rally behind her in their efforts to flip the seat will serve as a telling sign of whether the party can still sell itself to pro-Israel swing voters.

For all the attention AIPAC attracted in New York City this election cycle, one could be forgiven for assuming the lobbyists were spending on candidates there like crazy.

Mamdani’s now-infamous “monsters” comment preceded a Brooklyn cafe rejecting Goldman’s business on the grounds that his money for a cup of coffee was “probably coming from AIPAC” — which had endorsed Goldman. 

The progressive victors Tuesday night railed against the pro-Israel group in their speeches, but in fact, AIPAC appeared to be less involved than most progressives charged. Following accusations from Valdez that a new super PAC backing her opponent was being secretly funded by AIPAC, the PAC’s own supporters denied the charge. 

In general, the AIPAC lobbyists appear not to have funneled the kinds of primary cash into the New York-area races that they have in other cycles. The exception, a large donation to Chevalier’s opponent Espaillat, backfired with a Chevalier victory.

In its own statement on the race, AIPAC congratulated Jeffries and touted its endorsed candidates who had won elsewhere in New York and other states — many of whom ran with no serious opposition.

“While disappointed that some of our endorsed candidates did not prevail, our community is proud to support pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans who stand for our values, and we are encouraged that voters in races across the country this primary season continue to choose serious, thoughtful leaders who support a strong US-Israel partnership,” the group wrote.

Liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street’s brand fared slightly better. The group congratulated Lander, whom they had endorsed — while also cross-endorsing Goldman — as well as Lasher and Conley. 

In a statement to JTA, J Street director Jeremy Ben-Ami said of Lander, “We look forward to working with him toward a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.”

Are progressives splitting over Israel divisions?

Even among a broader victory for Mamdani’s lane of progressivism, there were some signs of strain. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish, endorsed Lander and Valdez — but not Chevalier (although he spoke at a joint rally for her and the other candidates). In a since-deleted X account, Chevalier years ago had knocked Sanders for his “liberal Zionism,” the New York Post reported. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another progressive superstar with an often rocky relationship with Jewish communities, also did not endorse Chevalier.

Meanwhile, New York’s first lady Rama Duwaji, whose social media activity has long suggested even more strident pro-Palestinian views than her husband, urged her followers to vote for Valdez and Chevalier, the two DSA-backed candidates — but she did not mention Lander, the lone Jewish candidate and most positive toward Israel of the three Mamdani endorsees. 

Lander, despite being Mamdani’s most visible Jewish ally, also showed signs of frustration with the movement during his campaign. He wouldn’t defend the mayor’s AIPAC comments, instead pushing for “a spirit of unity and humanity.” 

In the campaign’s waning hours Lander also spoke out against what he described as “over-the-top toxic” attacks that his opponent, Goldman, faced on the campaign trail, adding, “I’m pleading with people to turn it down.” Though Lander didn’t specify which kinds of attacks, Goldman’s most visible antagonists made no secret of their disdain for his pro-Israel views.

The spectrum between Lander and Chevalier suggests that in addition to support for Israel becoming a liability in the Democratic Party, another fault line could soon emerge over whether to express basic civility toward pro-Israel colleagues.

Joseph Strauss contributed reporting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed his testimony in his criminal trial on Wednesday, after 98 hearing days on the witness stand since December 2024.

The prosecution’s cross-examination began on June 3, 2025, after nearly six months of direct examination, and ended on June 16 after 59 hearing days.

Netanyahu’s final appearances were limited defense re-examination, meant to clarify matters raised in cross-examination rather than reopen the evidence.

The trial will now continue with the remaining defense witnesses. After the evidence phase ends, the parties will submit summaries before the three-judge Jerusalem District Court panel issues a verdict.

The 2020 indictment contains three separate affairs.

Netanyahu is charged with fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000, over gifts from businessmen, principally Arnon Milchan, and in Case 2000, over recorded conversations with Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes.

In Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla affair, he is charged with bribery as well as fraud and breach of trust over the alleged exchange of regulatory benefits for favorable treatment at Walla.

Netanyahu had an answer in every case; cross-examination was about whether those answers could survive contact with the evidence around them: the gifts and official assistance sought by Milchan in Case 1000, the Walla requests and Bezeq decisions in Case 4000, and the recorded Mozes conversations in Case 2000.

One recurring defense

Throughout the testimony, Netanyahu described the conduct as ordinary: friendship with Milchan, a political battle with Mozes, and hostile coverage at Walla that prosecutors had recast as a media-for-regulation deal.

The prosecution argued that the events only looked ordinary when viewed in a single file. Put together, it said, they showed a prime minister whose personal relationships, media interests, and official decisions repeatedly met in the same place.

Memory was another recurring fault line. On the first day of cross-examination, prosecutor Yonatan Tadmor said Netanyahu had answered that he did not remember 1,788 times during police questioning in Cases 1000 and 2000.

Netanyahu replied that he was not trying to evade questions, saying: “Everyone has memory lapses from time to time, even me.”

That issue resurfaced throughout the testimony. Prosecutors treated gaps in Netanyahu’s recollection as part of the credibility problem they were trying to establish, while Netanyahu maintained that he was answering honestly when he could not recall a detail.

Case 1000: When does friendship become a conflict?

Netanyahu did not deny that he and Milchan were friends, but insisted that the gifts were part of a relationship that continued even when he was out of office: “It was not about my position – it was friendship.”

This friendship was not something the prosecution needed to disprove. Tadmor instead focused on the scale of the gifts, Milchan’s access to Netanyahu’s staff, and the assistance sought.

The legal fight centered on whether Netanyahu could treat the gifts as private while being asked to use public power in matters affecting the man who gave them.

Netanyahu insisted he did not provide exceptional treatment, saying during one hearing, “I’m not a dog. I don’t come when people whistle.”

The judges must decide whether the relationship remained private or crossed into a conflict created by public office.

Case 4000: Did the fragments add up?

Case 4000 was the hardest file because neither side could point to one clear exchange.

The prosecution instead asked the judges to connect alleged coverage requests, contacts involving Netanyahu’s advisers, the alleged meeting with former Communications Ministry director-general Shlomo Filber – a former Netanyahu aide who became a state witness – and regulatory decisions involving Bezeq into one alleged arrangement.

Netanyahu’s answer was equally consistent: Walla was “a very hostile website.” He denied directing coverage, knowing of improper intervention, or giving Filber the alleged instruction.

“I did not say anything to Filber,” Netanyahu told the court. “I did not speak to him about this at all.”

In the final re-examination, defense attorney Amit Hadad said the defense had reviewed 315 coverage items with Netanyahu in direct examination, while the prosecution had focused on roughly 14 or 15.

The defense said the prosecution selected a handful of items from a much larger picture of hostile coverage. Prosecutors said those episodes show the “unusual responsiveness” alleged in the indictment.

This is why Case 4000 was the most demanding. The prosecution did not have one recording in which Netanyahu and Shaul Elovitch explicitly traded coverage for regulation.

It rather asked the judges to infer an arrangement from Filber’s account; contacts with the Prime Minister’s Residence; aides’ requests; the conduct of Shaul Elovitch, then Bezeq’s controlling shareholder and Walla’s owner, and his wife, Iris; regulatory decisions affecting Bezeq; and the coverage itself.

Netanyahu’s credibility matters because that chain repeatedly returned to the same question: What did he know, what did he direct, and when?

Case 2000: The recordings are just the beginning

Case 2000 is different because the conversations between Netanyahu and Mozes were recorded.

The dispute was not whether they spoke about Israel Hayom and coverage; it was whether Netanyahu was genuinely negotiating the proposed exchange or merely stringing Mozes along.

According to the indictment, Mozes offered improved coverage of Netanyahu and worse coverage of his political rivals in return for steps that would restrict Israel Hayom.

Prosecutors said Netanyahu discussed a softened Israel Hayom bill to keep Mozes from launching an all-out campaign before the 2015 election.

Netanyahu said he was managing a political and media rival, not negotiating a criminal arrangement. He described the strategy as trying to keep a “cold war” with Mozes from becoming a “hot war.”

Unlike Case 4000, the conversations themselves were not reconstructed from surrounding evidence – they were on tape. That made the dispute narrower, but not simpler: the judges must decide whether Netanyahu’s words show real bargaining or political theater.

Case 2000 also became a way to test the defense in Case 4000. Prosecutors argued that Netanyahu’s willingness to discuss Mozes’s business interests weakened his claim that Elovitch never spoke to him about Bezeq. Netanyahu called that a false comparison.

The calendar became its own story

For much of the year, the cross-examination had a second subject: whether it would take place at all.

War, illness, travel, security and diplomatic demands, government business, official ceremonies, and confidential material all shortened, delayed, or canceled hearings.

Some requests involved security material that the judges reviewed in closed session, while others led to open friction.

The result was a trial heard in fragments, where the court repeatedly had to decide whether the demands of a sitting prime minister outweighed the need to maintain a continuous criminal proceeding.

Netanyahu’s request for a presidential pardon, submitted while Case 4000 cross-examination was underway, added a separate track to the legal process. It did not halt the proceedings, and its timing did not prove what the defense thought about the evidence.

But it made the dual nature of the case impossible to ignore: the court continued testing the indictment, while a parallel public and political discussion considered whether the case should end without a verdict.

The clock now matters

The immediate next stages are remaining defense evidence, summaries, and then judgment.

But Friedman-Feldman is due to retire in March 2028, creating a practical pressure point for the panel as it tries to move the case forward.

What the end of testimony means

Netanyahu’s testimony is now on the record. His lawyers can call witnesses and argue that prosecutors have misunderstood the evidence, but any later argument will be measured against the account he gave from the witness stand.

The judges are left with three versions of the same broader story. Netanyahu says the prosecution criminalized friendship, political self-defense, and ordinary government conduct. The prosecution says those labels obscure the use of public power around him.

The verdict will depend on which description better fits what the court has heard.

Israeli highways reopened Wednesday evening after haredi (ultra-Orthodox) demonstrators blocked highways 1 and 4 in mass nationwide anti-IDF draft protests.

N12 News announced that the protests concluded after thousands of haredim, including MK Yitzhak Goldknopf (United Torah Judaism) and MK Michael Malkieli (Shas), participated in Wednesday’s demonstrations, which lasted over four hours.

ח”כ גולדקנופף מוביל את שיירת המוחים בכביש 1 – עם רכבו הממשלתי כאשר הצ’קלקה דולקת@amit_segal pic.twitter.com/V0VAnkNz1d

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) June 24, 2026

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel Police observed protesters exiting their vehicles at Harel Interchange on Highway 1 and entering traffic lanes on foot. Officers noted that this was contrary to the agreed-upon method of protest with the organizers and have since deemed the protests illegal. 

Heavy traffic was also reported on 28 other major roads, according to Maariv.

Highways 2, 6, 7, 20, 40, 41, 57, 65, 70, 443, 444, and 531 also experienced heavy traffic disruptions related to the protests.

According to organizers, the convoys traveled along major routes, including highways 1, 4, and 6; the Aluf Sadeh Interchange and the Ganot Interchange in the Center; Bar Ilan Street and the Chords Bridge area in Jerusalem; and the Elad Junction.

The convoys departed from Jerusalem, Elad, Ashdod, Tiberias, Betar Illit, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Givat Ze’ev, Haifa, Hatzor Haglilit, Modin’in Illit, Nof Hagalil, Netanya, Arad, Safed, Kiryat Gat, and Rehovot.

Vehicle convoys departed from dozens of locations for the demonstration, which was organized by Agudat Yisrael, part of the UTJ Knesset faction, as other groups within the haredi community, including the Jerusalem Faction (Peleg Yerushalmi), are expected to join the widespread protest on major roads and highways.

Channel 12 also reported that protesters in Ashdod blocked a bus carrying IDF soldiers. 

Violent scuffles break out at ultra-Orthodox anti-draft protests

Footage emerged earlier on Wednesday of several physical altercations between haredi protesters and passersby. In one fight, a passerby attempted to prevent a demonstrator from blocking a road.

In Arad, protesters and local secular citizens scuffled. In one video seen on social media, a secular citizen of Arad can be seen trying to whip draft protesters with what appears to be a phone charger. 

מחאת החרדים: עימותים אלימים ברחבי הארץ עם מפגינים | תיעוד@daniel_grovais pic.twitter.com/1I3xsKJ7sA

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 24, 2026

According to Maariv, Deputy Mayor of Beitar Illit and Chairman of the Hasidic faction, Rabbi Gedaliyahu Eisenstein, was among those attacked at the incident in Arad. 

Arad Mayor Yair Maayan then called on residents to “act with restraint and mutual respect, and to refrain from violent activity among residents.”

In a separate incident, a pregnant woman was seriously injured on Highway 1 after her vehicle hit a protester’s vehicle, Israeli media reported.

In another video, an Israel Police officer physically confronted haredi protesters after they blocked a tunnel, causing major traffic delays.

הפרגוד: שוטר מכוון נשק לעבר חרדי לפני כמה דקות pic.twitter.com/sA4ZwfQELG

— הפרגוד (@moshepargod) June 24, 2026

Additional haredi draft evader protests could break out well into the evening

Police sources do not rule out the possibility that the haredi Jerusalem Faction may also attempt to hold impromptu protests this evening, in light of an unofficial message circulating on social media.

The stated goal of the protest was to bring about the “immediate release of all detainees of the Torah world,” to halt the arrests, and to revoke what they define as “decrees against Torah students and their families,” according to a statement released by the organizing committee. 

“We will not sit idly by while our brothers are behind bars for the crime of studying Torah,” the statement added. 

The convoy organizers called on the haredi public and its supporters to join the protest, which they said was intended to send a sharp message to the government and the defense establishment regarding enlistment policy.

Sources in the defense establishment maintain that this is the enforcement of existing law, as determined by government decisions and court rulings.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) killed a “senior ISIS leader” in a Friday airstrike in northwest Syria, CENTCOM confirmed on Wednesday.

The “leader” was identified by CENTCOM as “Ali Husayn al-‘Ulaywi.”

The Pentagon stated that Ulaywi was killed as part of “ongoing US efforts” to disrupt and kill terrorists who are “seeking to attack Americans abroad or the US homeland.” CENTCOM is working “alongside regional partners” in order to achieve these goals, it said.

“CENTCOM and our partners remain committed to rooting out remaining remnants of ISIS to ensure its enduring defeat,” CENTCOM Chief Adm. Brad Cooper said.

“We will continue to defend the US homeland, our service members, and allies and partners across the region,” Cooper added.

Treasury Department’s OFAC designates Islamic State-linked financial networks, facilitators

Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated three individuals and six entities across Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa for “facilitating financial transactions on behalf of ISIS,” OFAC announced on Monday.

This includes France-based Miloud Abderrahmane, who conducted transactions with known ISIS-affiliates, including in Syria, as well as providing “instructional and manufacturing information on explosives” to ISIS supporters, OFAC stated.

Former Dutch national, Abdelhakim Boukich, was also sanctioned by OFAC. Boukich is based in Syria, and “controls and directs Bitcoin Xchange,” which OFAC describes as a “Syria-based money service business” that is used to transfer money from various Western countries, including the US and the Netherlands, to ISIS terrorists, OFAC said.

Additionally, the Treasury Department sanctioned Nigeria-based Islamic State terrorist Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, who facilitated money transfers on behalf of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Pro-Israel candidate Adrian Boafo won Maryland’s Democratic primary to fill longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer’s seat on Tuesday, after waging a campaign supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at a time when other members of his party are disavowing the pro-Israel lobbying group.

Boafo, 32, is a state delegate who entered the contest with low name recognition. Hoyer hand-picked his former staffer, who managed some of Hoyer’s recent campaigns. 

The octogenarian worked hard to get his protege past the finish line in Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, garnering the support of much of the state’s Democratic establishment and appearing in an ad for him. Hoyer, who was for decades the number two Democratic leader in the House, is a staunch Israel advocate and AIPAC ally who will retire this January after 45 years.

Boafo won with 32% of the vote in the crowded Democratic field, with 68% of votes counted on Wednesday morning. AIPAC poured $5.7 million into his campaign through its super PAC, United Democracy Project.

As Mamdani’s three New York candidates sweep, Boafo’s victory offers hope for pro-Israel Democrats 

Boafo thanked his supporters and Hoyer late Tuesday night and said that he was Hoyer’s natural successor. “At first glance it might not seem obvious, but our stories are actually very similar,” he said. “Steny and I are both the sons of immigrants. We grew up believing in an America that drew our parents from across the sea.” Boafo’s parents are Ghanaian and Hoyer’s father was Danish.

His victory offered a glimmer of hope to the party’s pro-Israel wing, coming on the same night that three progressives who ran hard against AIPAC and the war in Gaza swept New York’s primaries, toppling powerful pro-Israel Democrats. Boafo sent a message that AIPAC still has the power to buoy Democratic candidates even as criticism of Israel surges in the progressive wing of the party and the Democratic electorate. The lobby, once seen as a necessary bipartisan stamp of approval, has become a stand-in for Israel’s influence on U.S. politics.

Boafo pledged during the campaign to “strengthen the US-Israel alliance” and “mobilize humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians,” as well as to “ensure Israel has the security assistance it needs.” Military aid packages to Israel have increasingly divided Democrats amid the deeply unpopular wars fought by Israel in Gaza and Iran.

AIPAC celebrated Boafo’s victory on Tuesday night. “Boafo has made clear his vision to carry forward the strong pro-Israel legacy of Congressman Steny Hoyer, one of Congress’s most steadfast champions of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” the group said on X, adding that it was proud to “help ensure this seat remains represented by pro-Israel leadership.”

Boafo also benefited from crypto money. Protect Progress, a super PAC affiliated with the crypto industry, spent $5.5 million on the race largely to boost Boafo, who previously worked as a federal lobbyist for the technology firm Oracle.

Some Democrats have taken a stand against AIPAC spending 

The deluge of outside spending sparked a rebuke from Boafo’s opponents during the race. Candidates Harry Dunn, Quincy Bareebe and Rushern Baker teamed up to denounce the outlays last week, with Baker saying on a press call, “Special interests don’t spend money out of civic goodwill. They spend the kind of money that we see because they expect someone to work for them.”

Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen also criticized the spending this month and accused the pro-Israel and crypto groups of attempting to “buy this congressional seat.” 

“Voters need to understand that these groups are not investing in this race out of charity,” Van Hollen said in a press conference this month. “They are spending because they believe the beneficiary of their spending — in this case, one candidate, Adrian Boafo — will be a dependable vote in support of their special interests.”

Boafo will face small business owner Chris Chaffee, the winner of the Republican primary, in November’s general election. Boafo is all but assured to win the deep-blue district.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the United Arab Emirates on June 23. During his visit, he made an important statement about the role of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. The statement was posted by the Department of State and other accounts linked to the US administration. By calling out Iraq, he is sending an important message. The United States wants Iraq to rein in the militias.

“You can’t have the end of hostilities and conflict in the region as long as Iranian proxies are launching missiles and drones from Iraq and are participating in terrorism… It is an issue that will be gotten to at the appropriate time in these negotiations,” Rubio said. Kurdish media in the Kurdistan autonomous region of northern Iraq also noted the comments.

The US has been increasing pressure on the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. Washington has used a combination of sanctions, terrorist designations, and rewards for information on militia leaders.

The campaign has targeted some of the most powerful armed groups within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces as the US seeks to deter attacks on American personnel and facilities. The PMF has dozens of militias within it. Many are linked to Iran, and they are composed of Shi’ite fighters. They received more support when the PMF became an official Iraqi paramilitary group in 2018.

The militias were also boosted in 2014, during the war against ISIS. Some of them are historic, such as the Badr Organization. Some were founded more recently.

US previously sanctioned PMF-related commanders, placed bounties in the millions of dollars

In April 2026, the US Treasury sanctioned commanders linked to Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. The sanctions followed months of militia attacks in Iraq. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would not allow Iran-backed militias to threaten American lives or interests.

Meanwhile, the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program unveiled a series of bounties. Rewards of up to $10 million were offered for information on Kataib Hezbollah leader Ahmad al-Hamidawi, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada leader Abu Ala al-Walai, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya leader Haydar al-Saidi, and Harakat al-Nujaba leader Akram al-Kabi.

Rubio calling out Iraq and Iranian proxies there is important. These groups have threatened the Kurdistan Region, attacked Americans, and kidnapped a US journalist and a Princeton researcher; they have attacked Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as Israel, Jordan, and Syria. In January 2024, for instance, Kataib Hezbollah attacked Jordan and killed three American service members. 

A little more than a year ago, thousands showed up for the annual Paul Feig z”l Tikkun Leil Shavuot at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, an all-night bonanza of eclectic Jewish learning. The program featured dozens of rabbis, scholars, journalists and artists. Yet the unquestioned star of the night was Ritchie Torres, the congressman from the Bronx who has become a beloved figure in the pro-Israel community.

Hundreds packed the gym to hear from Torres, with many others turned away at the door. Eventually the discussion turned to the upcoming mayoral primary that was just weeks away. Many in the crowd were alarmed by the surging popularity of Zohran Mamdani, but still skeptical that a staunchly anti-Israel lawmaker could be elected in the city with the world’s largest Jewish community outside of Israel.

Instead of reassurance, Torres, who was backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral primary, issued a warning: If Mamdani pulled off his improbable upset, it would quickly become open season on pro-Israel Democrats like himself.

As it turned out, Torres didn’t have to worry. He won his primary race Tuesday night in a landslide, securing around 70% of the vote in New York’s 15th Congressional District against an anti-Israel challenger. But his prediction was still spot on: The primaries were a Mamdani wave, with all three of the mayor’s endorsed congressional candidates winning their primaries – and knocking off two solidly pro-Israel incumbents, Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, in the process.

Many districts are staunchly pro-Israel, but backing the Jewish state as a politician is no longer easy

In November, Mamdani’s ascension to City Hall felt like a political earthquake, putting an exclamation point on the reality that being staunchly anti-Israel was no longer a road block to success in Democratic politics. Yet Tuesday’s results feel more seismic – this is the first time that incumbent congressmen have lost their seats in campaigns in which they were repeatedly attacked for being too supportive of Israel.

Whatever other issues were at play in the individual races, the success of candidates with an outsized focus on criticizing the Jewish state and groups that support it – in particular, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – sends the message that their approach is a winning strategy.

There are still plenty of districts where Democrats can win with pro-Israel positions and pro-Israel support, for example the congressional seat being vacated in Maryland by pro-Israel stalwart Steny Hoyer. Hoyer’s pick to succeed him, Adrian Boafo, won Tuesday in a crowded 24-candidate primary with major backing from AIPAC.

But suddenly, for a widening swath of the Democratic congressional caucus, backing Israel has gone from being the politically safe move to a potential career-ender.

Goldman, who won his first reelection primary with about 65% of the vote in 2024, ended up on the wrong side of a similar landslide this time around in his race against former City Comptroller Brad Lander. Espaillat, who has served in Congress for nearly a decade and is chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, lost to Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District, which includes Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

Following Mamdani’s lead, Lander and Avila Chevalier both sought to turn their opponent’s support for Israel into a defining moral failure and painted backing from AIPAC as the dictionary definition of being in the pocket of special interests.

Lander kicked off his campaign by making clear he wouldn’t be “doing AIPAC’s bidding” and made Goldman’s support from the pro-Israel lobby group a central issue throughout the campaign. Though Lander describes himself as a liberal Zionist, he repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and promised to oppose US weapons sales to Israel.

Just last year, Cuomo and then-Mayor Eric Adams thought Mamdani’s stance on the Jewish state was a major political liability, so they did all they could to play up his anti-Israel bona fides in their race against him.

In a sign of how quickly the political winds have shifted in New York, Goldman this spring sought to minimize his differences with Lander on Israel, noting that they both received endorsements from J Street, the dovish group that advocates for more US pressure on Israel to achieve a two-state solution. Goldman, in the final debate, even offered his own criticism of AIPAC, saying the pro-Israel group “has some real problems and is harmful in many ways.”

In contrast, Espaillat took aim at Avila Chevalier on Israel. “She went to celebrate the death of innocent people in Israel right after the attack,” Espaillat said during a recent televised debate, referencing her participation in an anti-Israel rally, which the Democratic Socialists of America had promoted, the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Like Mamdani, Avila Chevalier’s early anti-Israel activism was a key aspect of her political biography: She was part of the Students for Justice in Palestine group during her years as an undergraduate at Columbia University and later helped organize the school’s pro-Palestinian encampment as an alumna in 2024. During the campaign, she criticized Espaillat for his response to the detainment of Columbia University encampment leader Mahmoud Khalil, whose arrest last year became a rallying point for pro-Palestinian activists.

Anti-Zionism seems to be sticking with voters, this years’ elections show

What should really alarm the pro-Israel community, however, is that this progressive playbook contributed to victories in two very different races. In the case of Lander versus Goldman, you had two Jewish self-described Zionists running in a very Jewish district. Avila Chevalier, on the other hand, was a non-Jewish anti-Israel challenger taking on a non-Jewish incumbent with strong pro-Israel credentials in a district with relatively few Jews (at least by New York’s standards).

As Mamdani’s handpicked squad heads to Washington, the pressure on other congressional Democrats to speak out strongly against Israel and back measures such as end to US arms sales will only intensify. That was clear from the election night victory speeches.

During Avila Chevalier’s speech, the crowd erupted into cheers of “Free Palestine.” She couched her victory as a rejection of funding from AIPAC, crypto and other corporate interests.

Lander promised in his victory speech to be “one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up loud for Palestinian human rights.”

“We cannot keep paying for Netanyahu’s wars with our tax dollars,” he added. “Democratic voters across the country are saying this loud and clear.”

It’s possible that Lander’s wrong and that Mamdani’s rise and coattails are an only-in-New York thing. But based on several other results this election cycle and polling in upcoming races, that hope increasingly feels like betting against the Knicks.

For the pro-Israel community, there’s at least one bright spot: At least for now, they still have Ritchie Torres.

Israel needs a government that doesn’t serve the interests of the ultra-Orthodox leaders, opposition party heads stated as thousands took to the streets to block roads in protest of the haredi draft on Wednesday.

“Israel needs a new agreement, a fair agreement between the government and its citizens – an agreement that says we are all building this country together,” Opposition head Yair Lapid said, slamming Netanyahu for his refusal to cease funding those who do not serve in the IDF.

ההפגנה נגד גיוס לצה״ל היא של השותפים של נתניהו. במקום להגיד להם – מי שלא מתגייס לא יקבל שקל מהמדינה, בזמן שחיילים נהרגים כל יום בלבנון הוא נותן להם עוד ועוד מהכסף של הציבור העובד והמשרת כדי שהם לא יתגייסו לצה”ל.

ישראל חייבת הסכם חדש, הסכם הוגן בין הממשלה לאזרחים ההסכם שאומר…

— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) June 24, 2026

“While soldiers are being killed every day in Lebanon, he keeps giving them more and more of the working and serving public’s money so that they will not enlist in the IDF.”

Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot stated Netanyahu’s legacy would be allowing the non-working and non-serving public to paralyze the country, shutting down the working and serving sector at the end of the workday.

“The next government will act according to the national interests of the State of Israel, not according to the interests of Deri, Gafni, and Goldknopf,” he said.

Other opposition leaders also slammed the protests

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett criticized the protesters while stuck in traffic on the way to celebrate his daughter finishing preparatory school.

“I have been in traffic for two and a half hours. I am here because of a group of evading privileged people, I and every taxpayer are funding them because they decided to bury the country,” he told Kan Reshet Bet.

“The operatives of Shas and United Torah Judaism are holding the Haredi public hostage. They are turning the broader public against them,” Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman stated.

“Those responsible for the traffic jams and road blockages during rush hour are the same leaders who are concerned with securing power, prestige, and money for themselves. Once again, the price is being paid by those who serve, work, and pay taxes.”

Leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan called to “block every shekel that finances draft evasion,” as well as blocking institutions that incite against service, and rabbis, activists, and elected officials who encourage haredim against joining the IDF.

“In the world they have built here, there is no equality before the law. There is no obligation to serve. There is no education that gives children the tools they need for life. There is no basic Israeli solidarity. There is a wall. They built a wall,” he wrote, noting how the haredi youth is denied core studies from a young age, and are raised in a system of “poverty, ignorance, dependence, and the denial of professional opportunities.”

“They are blocking roads now; tomorrow, we will block the money, the political deals, and send the Haredi power brokers into the opposition to do some deep soul-searching. That is a promise.”

Israeli officials assess that even if US pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw from the areas held by the IDF in southern Lebanon may intensify at this stage, a full withdrawal is almost impossible for him politically.

“Such a withdrawal would be political suicide for Netanyahu,” said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

According to them, the prime minister is facing heavy electoral constraints, and after presenting the hold on the security zone as a strategic achievement, he cannot afford to be seen as folding under American-Iranian pressure. In this context, they also point to a familiar Netanyahu pattern: when he knows he will have to concede on one front, he hardens his positions on another.

In their assessment, after refraining from launching a broad offensive war in Lebanon and effectively agreeing to conduct the campaign at a more limited level of intensity, he is now insisting even more strongly on maintaining the security zone. The estimate is therefore that Netanyahu may agree to limited tactical steps, local adjustments, point-specific transfers, or changes in deployment, but not to a full withdrawal.

Officials reject that IDF deployment in Lebanon serves no purpose

Officials also reject the claim that the IDF presence in southern Lebanon serves no purpose. Security sources say the IDF continues to clear infrastructure, destroy facilities, and hold areas of strategic value to Hezbollah.

They also say there is, according to estimates, a large underground Hezbollah compound in the area, one of strategic importance to the organization, and that Israel is operating around it cautiously and gradually. “Every additional day there is worth security,” officials explained.

Americans aim for regional calm

Behind the American insistence, Israeli officials assess, lies a broader interest of the administration: regional calm, stability, quick diplomatic gains, and the opening of the door to economic projects. Senior American officials have already invested significant political capital in the move toward Iran, and according to the sources, it is hard to see them backing away from it quickly or returning to a full confrontation policy.

Still, Israeli officials understand that the diplomatic clock is ticking. The international community will not accept a prolonged Israeli presence on Lebanese soil, Hezbollah will not accept it either, and in Lebanon itself, there are already claims that Iran is effectively speaking on behalf of Lebanon and weakening the Lebanese state’s standing.

Israeli officials assess that if a full withdrawal does take place, it may come only later, perhaps after the elections, and not as a result of Netanyahu making an immediate concession under pressure.

From Israel’s perspective, the issue has already gone far beyond a nuclear deal or a ceasefire. The concern in Israel is about a deeper shift in US policy: Iran, which until recently was presented as a threat that had to be contained, is now becoming a party that is being dealt with in connection with Lebanon.

Seattle’s LGBTQ community members say they hope that this Friday’s World Cup “Pride Match” between Egypt and Iran, two countries where homosexuality is criminalized, can be an opportunity to change minds.

Seattle revels in its reputation as a welcoming place and Pride flags are visible all over the city, all year round. Its June Pride weekend is one of the biggest in the United States.

So, ahead of December’s World Cup draw, it was only natural that local organizers designated the June 26 match to be held in the city as a “Pride Match.”

Then the draw happened — and the two teams scheduled to play the game were Egypt and Iran.

Egypt’s Football Association urged global soccer governing body FIFA to prevent any Pride-related activities, arguing such events clashed with the Muslim-majority country’s cultural and religious values. The governing body in Iran, where same-sex relations can carry the death penalty, filed an objection with FIFA.

Some in Seattle have doubts over the teams in the ‘Pride Match’

But in Seattle, there is no question that the Pride Match will go ahead as planned.

“The World Cup is going to come and go in three weeks,” Hedda McLendon, from Seattle’s local World Cup organizing committee, told Reuters. “The Pride celebration … has happened on this weekend for 50-plus years.

“It is going to happen this weekend, it is going to happen long after the World Cup.”

Some in the city’s LGBTQ community had mixed feelings given the participants, said Jon Cairns, 49, manager of local LGBTQ+ club Kremwerk.

Cairns, however, said his own view was that it provided a platform to promote acceptance that only the world’s biggest sporting event could offer.

“My reaction is let’s have them,” he told Reuters. “International sports is one of the biggest brokers historically of social change and individual rights and freedoms worldwide, including in the U.S.”

He cited black U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised-fist protest in 1968 as moments where “only international sports could reach that big of an audience.”

“They’re not going to turn off the World Cup on state television in Iran or Egypt to block out a Pride flag in the audience,” Cairns said.

The Pride Match is “a host city initiative” and separate of FIFA, a spokesperson for soccer’s governing body told Reuters.

Seattle’s LGBTQ community sees an opportunity 

Egypt and Iran’s involvement in the Pride Match is not the first time the World Cup has grappled with stark differences in attitudes between hosts and visitors.

In 2022 World Cup host Qatar, the emir said visitors should “respect our culture” when asked about gay people attending the tournament.

FIFA threatened yellow cards for captains wearing the “OneLove” armband, citing its rules against political slogans. Teams including England and the Netherlands that had been planning to wear the armbands to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships abandoned the plan.

For Ryan Webster, a 40-year-old lifestyle manager who was at Kremwerk the weekend before Pride, Seattle’s “Pride Match” was an opportunity to show solidarity with people in countries where their sexuality was outlawed.

“I’m choosing to believe that this is our moment to allow the members of the LGBTQ community that come from those countries to have the opportunity to celebrate themselves in totality that they might not have otherwise,” he said outside the club, which will host a watch party for Friday’s game.

Inside, ‘Venus Fengz’ lip-synced to Cher’s “Believe” before introducing fellow drag performers to the stage, clapped and cheered by a raucous crowd.

Fengz, who only wanted to provide their stage name, said Pride coinciding with the World Cup would bring increased visibility, anticipating perhaps some new audience members.

“I think it’s always great for us to be able to share space and share places with people who don’t have the same experiences as us,” they told Reuters.

“Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and show grace where you can and know that everyone is a human learning (from) different experiences, but also it can get hard — because you’re on the shorter end of the stick, always trying to have to explain yourself around people who don’t grow up with the same worldview.”

Israel might not be able to push for Iran or Hamas’s collapse in Gaza, due to the fanaticism that keeps the group in power, Dr. Col. (res.) Michael Milstein, a senior researcher at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and a former head of the Palestinian arena in Military Intelligence, said in a 103FM interview on Wednesday.

“Has the enemy been beaten on all fronts, and especially Hezbollah? That is completely clear. But have we broken its personal motivation and ideology? I think we do not always decipher the enemy’s logic or its basic thinking. There is nothing to be done,” he explained.

“These are groups that, even after taking terrible blows, still remain very fanatical. That is why, although we desperately wanted to see the collapse of a regime or the collapse of Hamas in Gaza, it did not really happen. I am not sure it is possible. I think that if there is any change, it will happen only because of an Arab Spring in those countries. I do not see how Israel, with the tools it has, can engineer the consciousness of the other side,” Milstein added.

Dangers of agreement between US, Iran

He later discussed the agreement signed in Switzerland, warning about its implications for the northern border and Hezbollah’s strategic reading of the situation.

“You read the news about another round of talks, and you begin to understand that this is cosmetic, a supposedly attractive shell that is meant to be the real event. The real event is what kind of arrangement there will be between Israel and Hezbollah, not between the Lebanese government,” he said.

“I look at Hezbollah in the last 48 hours, mainly at what happened in Switzerland yesterday, that crisis solution that was formulated without Israel, and when they see the worried voices in Israel and Vance’s stammering, Naim Qassem said two days ago: ‘I continue to emphasize two things. How am I being told that there is an Israeli withdrawal, not tactical, from Beaufort or certain pockets? And second, he talks about a return to the October 2023 equation.’

“In other words, it will not be a situation in which Israel can attack whenever it wants, but a situation in which there is no more Israeli activity against Hezbollah. All these discussions will continue until Thursday. I assume Trump will want some kind of framework so he can say, ‘Here, I brought you an agreement.'”

Hezbollah understands it has no room to start softening

“Hezbollah is an organization that reads us all the time. It does not always assess things accurately, but it reads us all the time.

“Even from the broadcasts from today or from last night, it sees the frustration among the heads of the local authorities in the North, the frustration in the IDF, it sees the stammering in the US, and when it sees that, it understands that there is no room to start softening. You can see that they are insisting,” Milstein said, regarding the conduct of the negotiations.

Milstein also mentioned Qatar’s involvement.

“One of the things Hezbollah is very proud and happy about is that a new card has been added to the deck, and it is called Qatar. The country that drove us crazy in the Gaza arena is apparently returning here too, to the Lebanese arena, also here as a mediator, also here as a factor that the Americans thank for the work it is doing.”

The biggest casualty of the US-Iran deal may not be Israel’s Iran strategy, but the political brand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent decades constructing as the Israeli leader who could uniquely bend Washington to his will on Iran, analysts, former US officials, and diplomats say.

Netanyahu built his political identity on an audacious assertion: that he alone could keep the US and Israel in strategic lockstep on Iran. Cultivating Republican support, he cast himself as the only Israeli leader capable of influencing successive US presidents and insisted that only sustained military pressure could contain Tehran.

At the height of his power, he was described by diplomats as the “American whisperer” – the Israeli leader who could pick up the phone and ensure Washington’s strategic calculus aligned with that of Israel. No other Israeli prime minister, they note, addressed Congress as often or built such enduring political capital across the American political system.

But analysts say Washington and Tehran’s interim pact to end the war that the US and Israel launched in February shows how that narrative has been reversed. Rather than shaping Washington’s Iran policy, Netanyahu is now forced to accept it, as US President Donald Trump pursues a settlement that increasingly treats Israeli objections as constraints.

At home, the reckoning is equally stark, said former US official Dennis Ross. Netanyahu is increasingly boxed in between a US president intent on ending the conflict and a domestic base resistant to concessions, particularly in Lebanon, he said. Withdrawal risks political backlash, while escalation risks confrontation with Washington.

The war Netanyahu hoped would cement his legacy as the leader who confronted Iran may instead be remembered as the conflict that dismantled a central source of his power. Isolated abroad, constrained by his closest ally and vulnerable ahead of an autumn election, he now finds the political asset on which he built his career has become his greatest liability.

At the outset of the war with Iran, Netanyahu promised ultimate victory. He delivered neither the collapse of Iran’s ruling system, nor the defeat of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, nor a safe return for residents of northern Israel.

“The US-Iran deal is a decisive blow to Netanyahu,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a former Netanyahu adviser. “Not only did he lose the war with Iran, he has also lost Trump as a friend. He is now isolated not only internationally, but locked in a major dispute with Trump,” he said.

Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment. In a press conference this month, the Israeli premier described his relationship with Trump as one between partners who “agree many times and sometimes disagree.” There had been a systematic campaign to diminish Israel’s “huge achievements” against Iran and its proxies, he said.

A White House official said Trump and Netanyahu had a strong relationship and that Israel’s military forces had been “incredible partners” in a war that had “decimated the Iranian regime’s military capabilities.”

US-Israel rift spreads beyond personal ties

The disagreement between the US and Israeli leaders, analysts say, extends beyond personal ties to a growing divergence in goals: Trump seeks to disengage from another Middle East war, while Netanyahu views continued pressure on Iran and its ally Hezbollah as essential to Israel’s security.

Washington has negotiated directly with Tehran, folded Lebanon’s conflict between Israel and Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah into a broader framework, and created mechanisms to manage ceasefire disputes – moves that, according to three regional diplomatic sources, have increasingly sidelined Israel from key decisions.

The country that once viewed Netanyahu as an indispensable interlocutor is now, the regional sources say, treating him as an obstacle to an agreement it is determined to protect.

Trump has publicly rebuked Israel’s military conduct in Lebanon, while US Vice President JD Vance has underscored the conditional nature of the relationship, warning Israeli critics of the deal against “attacking the only powerful ally they have left in the world.”

Two Israeli officials familiar with Netanyahu’s thinking said he was not concerned that public remarks by Trump and Vance would translate into meaningful shifts in US policy toward Israel, such as delays in arms deliveries, even if Israel continues military operations in Lebanon.

Trump has signaled that he is prepared to override Israeli priorities in pursuit of US interests. In a TV interview this month, he said that if he tells Netanyahu “to do something, he does it.”

Israel losing Republican support safety net

Iran will seek to widen the emerging gap between the US and Israel by portraying any Israeli military action in Lebanon as an attempt to sabotage Trump’s diplomacy, forcing the White House to choose between backing its ally or preserving the deal, said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.

What makes Netanyahu’s position so precarious, US analysts say, is the loss of his safety net.

For years, he cultivated Republican backing, using it as a counterweight to offset tensions with Democratic administrations, and openly denouncing former president Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal from a congressional podium. But Republicans will not break with Trump for Netanyahu, they said.

Against this backdrop, the implications of the US-Iran deal also extend to Netanyahu’s core strategic bets. He staked his political future on two objectives: weakening, if not toppling, Iran’s theocratic leadership and securing normalized relations with Saudi Arabia by expanding the Abraham Accords.

Neither has materialized. Iranian leaders have emerged

from the conflict entrenched, while the Saudi handshake remains out of reach.

Across the region, a recalibration is already visible. Countries Netanyahu once hoped to draw closer – with Saudi Arabia as the crown jewel – are now hedging, slowing normalization with Israel while cautiously reopening channels with Tehran.

According to Gulf sources, the logic that underpinned the Abraham Accords has been eroded by the Gaza war, the unresolved question of West Bank annexation, and a growing perception that Netanyahu’s Israel may be more of a liability than an asset in any emerging regional order.

An Iranian official said Netanyahu’s push to expand the Abraham Accords has been blunted, with several countries now seeking a place in an emerging Iran-aligned framework.

“This is not just a victory for Iran. It’s a failure for Netanyahu,” the official said. The Islamic Republic has not just survived – it has emerged as a more influential regional player.

US Vice President JD Vance is leading US talks with Iran. He is also drawn into discussions about Lebanon, in part because Iran has tried to salvage Hezbollah’s role there. Vance has taken a keen interest in Christians in Lebanon. To understand why Vance’s outreach matters, it’s worth looking at history.

Historically the majority community, Christians in Lebanon have suffered setbacks in the last century. For instance, they lost out in the Lebanese civil war and after the Taif Accords they saw their traditional role running the presidency slightly weakened in favor of a Sunni-held prime minister’s office.

In recent years the Christian community has been split between some who supported Hezbollah and some who oppose Hezbollah. Former President Michel Aoun allied with Hezbollah in the early 2000s. He led his Free Patriotic Movement into this relationship for a variety of reasons.

One was that he may have believed Hezbollah could better protect Lebanon from extremists, such as jihadists during the era of Al Qaeda and ISIS. However, this also led to the Christian political camp being divided. Other Christian smaller groups such as the Frangieh bloc and its Marada movement also worked with Hezbollah.

Lebanese Christians suffer under Hezbollah repression – Geagea

Historic Christian parties such as Kataeb movement and its Lebanese Forces, mostly backed by Maronite Christians, did not back Hezbollah. Samir Geagea has been a key figure in this movement for decades. A key figure in the Lebanese civil war he became a politicians in the 1990s but was imprisoned under accusations from the civil war.

He spent 11 years in prison, most of it in solitary confinement, only to finally be released after the Syrian regime was forced out of Lebanon in 2005. Since then he has risen again to leadership.

L’Orient Today noted this week that “the unprecedented comments made on Saturday by U.S. Vice President JD Vance regarding Christians in Lebanon sparked reactions from both ends of the political spectrum in the country. The leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF), Samir Geagea, sent a letter Monday to the US official, thanking him for his statements and urging him to completely separate the Lebanese issue from negotiations with Iran.”

The report goes on to note that “on Saturday, during an interview on American television, JD Vance addressed Lebanese Christians, assuring them they have ‘many friends in the American government who want to bring peace.’” Vance noted that Hezbollah had hid among Christians in Lebanon.

Geagea noted in his post about Vance that “Lebanese Christians have, throughout modern Lebanese history, and will continue to constitute, an element of stability, openness, moderation, and cultural and civilizational prosperity in this East. Lebanon has distinguished itself, thanks to its pluralism, public freedoms, open system, and cultural and economic role, with a unique status that has made it a space of radiance in a turbulent environment.”

He went on to note that “it is true that the past four decades have been among the most difficult stages experienced by the Lebanese in general, and Christians in particular, as a result of the establishment of ‘Hezbollah,’ as a military and security organization, which has usurped national decision-making, weakened legitimate institutions, prevented the establishment of an effective and capable state, and furthermore, embroiled Lebanon in conflicts and wars linked to Iranian agendas that do not represent the interests or aspirations of the Lebanese.”

“This has had a negative impact on the Lebanese economy, reduced job opportunities, and driven large numbers of Lebanese, including a significant proportion of Christians, to emigrate in search of safety, stability, and opportunities for a dignified life.”

He concluded that “on my behalf and on behalf of a broad segment of the Lebanese people in general, and Christians in particular, who aspire to the establishment of an effective and capable state in their homeland, my deepest thanks and appreciation for the friendship and concern you have shown toward the Christians of Lebanon, hoping that the United States of America will remain a key partner in helping Lebanon reclaim its natural role as a model of freedom, pluralism, and peace in the Middle East.”

This dialogue is important and it shows that Vance is also listening to Lebanese Christians. What comes next may hinge on this. 

Oman and Iran have agreed to pursue discussions on the potential future administration of the Strait of Hormuz, asserting their “sovereignty and sovereign rights over their territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz,” the two countries said in a joint statement following talks on Tuesday.

The statement marks a notable shift for Oman, which has largely remained silent amid a stream of declarations by Iranian officials regarding Tehran’s claims over the waterway and proposals for shared administration with Muscat.

The two countries emphasize “their sovereignty and sovereign rights over their territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz” and “agreed to maintain their dialogue on this issue through a joint working group between the two foreign ministries in order to reach agreement on the future administration of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them in accordance with international standards.”

Unlike Tehran, which has demanded navigational fees and other payments throughout the conflict, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said the countries were committed to “toll-free safe passage” in Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran told the United States that no tolls were being sought from ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

As previously reported by The Jerusalem Post, experts like military historian Dr. Lynette Nusbacher have claimed that Iran’s attempts to push for a navigational fee for the safe crossing of Hormuz are simply a legal cover for the regime to charge a toll.

Under Articles 38 and 44 of UNCLOS, bordering Iran and Oman cannot suspend, impede, or charge tolls for vessels passing through the Strait, even though Iran is not a signatory to the convention, though the convention permits countries to charge fees for services provided.

Despite this, Trump claimed on Wednesday that “Iran has informed the US that, despite troublemaking Fake News reporting to the contrary, there are ‘NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ… If this is false information, negotiations would end immediately!”

Iran’s rules and regulations for Strait of Hormuz

In conflict with Trump’s statements are the current terms published in Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority ‘PGSA Passage Rules and Regulations,’ which ship owners are expected to agree to before being given permission to cross the strait, according to Iranian demands.

Viewed by the Post, the regulations insist that Iran “reserves the right to enforce penalties, revoke permissions or take further legal action” if ships fail to comply with PGSA orders, and that the “PGSA reserves the right to introduce insurance fees in the future.”

Prof. Michael Clarke, a prominent British defense analyst, academic, and former director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, told the Post earlier this week that such plans would be illegal under international law.

Speaking to the Post on Wednesday, Emma Salisbury, a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s National Security Program and an associate fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Center, said that the talks between Oman and Iran do not mean that the countries have reached a legally settled framework.

“As the two coastal states bordering the Strait of Hormuz, Iran and Oman do have a recognized role in managing navigation services, but the strait is subject to right of passage under UNCLOS and under customary international law binding on all states. Any arrangement that imposes conditions, fees, or selective access requirements on shipping would face a serious legal challenge,” she asserted.

Notably, the PGSA has previously stated it would prohibit ships with ties to Israel, which may in itself be a violation of UNCLOS.

Operations in Strait of Hormuz will change

Outside of the financial benefits that administering Hormuz could provide Iran, should it pursue tolls, navigational fees, or private insurance from vessels, Salisbury told the Post that Iran could be handed “a legitimate institutional basis for requiring advance notification, identification, and routing compliance from commercial shipping, data that would be operationally significant in any future confrontation.”

She noted that during the recent conflict, Iran exploited its “positional awareness to target and board vessels selectively.”

“Embedding that capability within a governance framework rather than exercising it through naked coercion would make it far harder to contest legally or diplomatically, and would also complicate US naval operations in a conflict scenario by blurring the line between civilian maritime administration and military-intelligence activity,” she warned.

Though Iran’s constant insistence on Oman’s involvement in the administration of the strait has been documented, Salisbury said it could also be “genuinely stabilizing” for a region currently fearful that the Islamic Republic would close Hormuz as a pressure tactic as frequently as it may like.

“Oman has a material and strategic interest in keeping the strait open, it has historically maintained working relationships with both Iran and Western powers, and its participation creates at least some external constraint on Iran’s freedom of manoeuvre,” she explained, but warned that “Oman cannot compel Iranian behaviour, and Tehran will retain the physical and military capacity to close or coerce the strait regardless of any administrative arrangement.”

Ahead of the 2026 Maccabiah Games, an event often called the “Jewish Olympics” and the largest Jewish sporting competition in the world, which are set to begin next week, social media influencer, dancer, and singer, Montana Tucker expressed her excitement to be hosting the delegation parade at the event and said that the games were taking place at a critical point for the global Jewish community.

“Israel has gone through a lot, Israelis have gone through a lot, Jews have gone through a lot around the world,” Tucker told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. “What’s going on is not just happening in Israel; it’s really happening all around the world with our Jewish community. So, an event like the Maccabiah Games is showing the world that we are strong, we are united, and we don’t give up, and we keep fighting.”

According to Maccabiah, the games bring together more than 10,000 athletes from at least 80 countries in Israel every four years to compete in over 45 sports. The Maccabi World Union says the games are the second-largest sporting event in the world after the Olympics.

The 2026 Maccabiah Games, the 22nd of their kind, were initially scheduled for last year but were postponed due to the security situation involving Iran and its regional proxies. 

“This was supposed to happen last year, and about a month away, we had to cancel it due to the war,” Tucker recalled. “And so I am so grateful that it is happening this year, because we truly do need this now more than ever.”

She also said she was excited to debut her new song “We’re Not Strangers” at the event.

“It’s all about unity and building bridges and bringing people together. And some of the lyrics say ‘we may pray to different saviors, but we’re not strangers,’” she told the Post. “Our world is so divided right now. I think that we really just need to come together and have more unity and compassion and understanding of one another. And if we really talk to people who look differently than us, act differently than us, have a different religion than us, we’ll realize we’re actually more similar than we think.”

Montana Tucker: Sport ‘truly unites the world’

Sports, she said, was an ideal method to build these bridges, adding she viewed it as something that “truly unites the world.”

The Maccabiah Games this year, though, will be the first since the Hamas-led massacres in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The attacks sparked a regional eruption with Israel fighting wars against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Islamic regime in Iran.

“We always have to talk about what happened on October 7,” Tucker said. “We should never stop talking about it. And I think it is so important that Maccabiah is utilizing this platform to talk about it. I know they actually have a former hostage, Daniella Gilboa, who’s going to be performing, which is so powerful.”

Tucker also highlighted the value of the games, saying they were a powerful tool to dispel disinformation about the Jewish state.

“What’s shown on the news nowadays is just all the negativity. Most of it is just propaganda and lies about what Israel is, and I think the Maccabiah just debunks every possible propaganda and lie about Israel,” she said. “When people say the word ‘Israel,’ it comes with so many different connotations, and I think we can show them this. This is Israel. This is what being Jewish means.”

A key element in showing the world what Israel and being Jewish mean, she reiterated, meant showcasing Jewish unity at a time when, in the wake of the October 7, the global Jewish community has faced a worldwide rise in antisemitism.

The games themselves are being held under the slogan, “More Than Ever,” according to Maccabiah, to emphasize “the importance of strengthening the bond between [Jewish] communities worldwide and the State of Israel.”

The European Union’s diplomatic service has proposed a three-year military and civilian mission to advise and train Lebanese forces, including in border and maritime security, according to a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The proposal stems from the EU studying ways to strengthen Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces to help free up the Lebanese army to focus on disarming the terrorist group Hezbollah.

Discussion over a possible EU mission comes as the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon is set to expire at the end of 2026, when it is expected to begin a year-long drawdown and withdrawal.

The EU is not considering replacing UNIFIL, but rather strengthening Lebanese forces. Any such mission would require approval from the EU’s 27 member countries.

Mission to focus on strengthening border regiments, maritime security

In a document dated June 17 and circulated to EU member countries, the European External Action Service said a potential mission would “have an initial mandate duration of three years” and “would support the Lebanese authorities in reinforcing territorial control and border security through strengthening the capacities of the LAF and the ISF,” referring to the armed forces and security forces.

“To this end, the Mission would focus on strengthening land border regiments; Mobile Force and Regional Gendarmerie Units; enhancing Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities; and reinforcing maritime security capacities, including border and port security governance,” it added.

The proposal is complicated by the presence of Israeli forces, which have seized a swathe of southern Lebanon land after Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran.

A ceasefire has largely ​held since Sunday, but Israeli forces are still deployed deep inside southern Lebanon, ⁠citing the need to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah assaults.

Negotiations have begun with Israeli companies regarding the large-scale demolition of structures in the Gaza Strip, Walla reported on Wednesday, with sources describing them as unprecedented in scope.

“The peace government has a desire to advance the reconstruction process, but it is not meeting reasonable timelines or the scope they want,” a security source said.

“We are talking about enormous amounts of destruction that they want to turn into recycled construction materials, to transport a large part of it, and at the same time to level the area in order to build new homes on it, and all this is happening even before Hamas has been disarmed and the Strip has been demilitarized,” the source continued.

Sources said the plan envisions vast quantities of rubble being converted into recycled construction materials, with significant portions transported elsewhere.

At the same time, areas of the Strip would be leveled in preparation for future housing development, even before Hamas is disarmed and Gaza is demilitarized.

Security official warns of broader consequences

A security official warned that the pace and scope of developments could carry broader consequences.

“At this rate, there will be no choice but to resume fighting in order to disarm it and cut off its underground infrastructure, where it is hiding, managing its preparations for war with Israel, operating a production line of weapons, and hiding weapons depots,” said the official.

The official added that if the current trajectory continues, there would be no alternative but to renew fighting in order to dismantle Hamas’s underground infrastructure, which the source described as a network used for concealment, weapons production, operational planning, and storage of arms.

Israel must close down the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a first step toward restoring its long-term security visa vise Judea and Samaria, new Bithonistim Chairman and Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez Wiener told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Tuesday.

Wiener took over the right-leaning security NGO from Brig. Gen. Air Avivi on June 1 and is already throwing himself into the new role to try to impact Israeli policy and facts on the ground wherever possible.

With around 26 years in the IDF, as a former senior IDF southern command planning commander during the Israel-Hamas War, and as a former top aide to former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi, Wiener has been in the room when many of the most crucial war decisions were made.

He also admittedly has concluded his reserve duty in the IDF, at least in part over differences with the IDF high command, which he viewed as not taking an aggressive enough approach to Hamas in Gaza (there were also some controversies related to the handling of certain privileged military information.)

Going in depth into his argument regarding the PA, he said, “It is a negative. It educates children toward terror. It arms our enemies.”

Pressed that the PA never entered the 2023-2026 wars against Israel in any serious way, ” he responded, “Even if it has not been attacking recently or at this moment, if we do not protect them, Hamas will throw them off the rooftops. Abu Mazen says he will hold an election – let’s see.”

“The battle over who will succeed him will be very large. So the PA is a burden. The time has come to say Oslo failed. The IDF needs to retake Areas A and B and to take apart the PA. It can remain in a civilian capacity, which was the original plan.”

It was unclear whether he was in favor or opposed to PA police carrying small handgun style weapons, since in that area he said the key question was whether, collectively, whatever weapons the PA police would have could lead to them constituting a broader threat to Israel as opposed to just keeping the peace among local Palestinians.

“But an even better plan would be like the UAE, to keep the peace using tribal gangs, which is also like Israel is doing in parts of Gaza. We brought in the PA as an ‘alien’ entity of sorts,” Wiener urged. 

Next, Wiener was questioned about the clear US (and almost the whole world) opposition to dismantling the PA.

According to Wiener, “If the IDF chief says the PA is a threat and the Shin Bet says this also, this could change the public view and then help convince the Americans. This is the agenda.”

“We cannot fight with everyone on all fronts all of the time, but we are putting facts on the table. I am not naïve. There are going to be elections, and officials worry about their electability, but Bithonistim will declare the correct security policies and statements,” he said in terms of how realistic it is for his recommendations regarding the PA to be taken up in the near future. 

‘We fail at public relations:’ Wiener says attitude is at fault for some issues

What about if Israel changing its messaging does not convince Washington, and someone like US President Donald Trump, who holds grudges and can radically turn on a dime against a former ally, would be ready to completely freeze weapons transfers to the Jewish state.

Wiener stated, “Israel needs to define what is best for it. Regarding the PA, Israel never said clearly what is right. It is clear to most of the political spectrum that a Palestinian state is a threat to Israel, so what do we do?” 

“We fail at public relations. Take the violence by Jewish settlers. I wrote a long article on this with [Col. (res.)] Professor [Gabi] Siboni. We proved the numbers. There is violence by about 300 offenders and we need to deal with them. But [Shin Bet Director David] Zini was asked about dealing with them, and he said, ‘this is a police problem, not a terror problem.'”

He continued, “There are also hundreds of illegal migrants in Tel Aviv. And there is a big problem with polygamy in the Negev. We have lots of sovereignty problems. Some of the offenders need to be arrested and some need to be handled as social welfare cases. They have also rebelled against their parents and teachers, but it all starts with public relations messaging.”

Moreover, even if the PA is not directly involved in violence against Israelis, he said, “Palestinians violence [from the West Bank] is very substantial and is almost constant, with incitement also all the time.”

Further, he warned about “terror financing. Trump did understand this at the start when he stopped giving funds to the Palestinian Authority. We can do something, but it has to start with us.”

Ripple effect dangers from Bedouin, Arab theft, weapons smuggling

Moving on to another issue which Bithonistim wants to highlight, he said, “There are too many illegal stolen and smuggled weapons in the South from Israeli-Bedouins or Israeli-Arabs. Some weapons also get smuggled to Gaza and to the Palestinian Authority” in the West Bank.

He cautioned that this could lead to “70,000 armed fighters from the PA who could march over from Tulkarem and other places into Kfar Saba, Netanya, and other places in Israel and just take over. It can all happen. The IDF fights terror [on a case by case basis], but no one looks at [the broader] phenomenon in terms of the danger of a larger dangerous event.”

In addition, he stated, “We have a substantial project to help strengthen voluntary local security terms for villages in Judea and Samaria. But we need a more complete security response,” to be ready in the event of an invasion.

Mixed Jewish-Arab cities’ gangs pose a danger

Wiener also expressed concern about security in certain rougher mixed Jewish-Arab cities like Lod and Ramle saying, “[Islamic Movement Northern Branch leader] Raed Salah recently announced that he had performed a ‘Sulha’ [truce] for all the Israeli-Arab and Israeli Bedouin crime families after a string of murders. But if he accomplished a Sulha with them, we need to be very worried that he might also be able to activate them to carry out a wave of terror.”

“True, for three years we did not see much active terror against the State from this sector. But there has still been lots of violence. When my son try to go running in Lod, they throw rocks at him,” he continued.

Next, Wiener stated, “There was no rerun of [the] 2021 [Israeli-Arab gang riots] because the State undertook the issue as a major project, and this war was so horrible that if they [the gangs] had made a problem, we would have opened the gates of hell on them. So nothing big happened. I hope this will continue, but none of that means we can ignore it and not deal with it.”

“90% of the violence in Israel comes from the stolen weapons problem. This could, god forbid also get to the rest of the country,” beyond the Israeli-Arab sector, he warned.

Security challenges in Lebanon

Addressing security challenges in Lebanon, Wiener said, “The Lebanese government cannot handle Hezbollah alone. If Israel weakens Hezbollah, then the government of Lebanon could take control. But the way things are today, this could not happen. We need to push for this, even if it has not happened yet.” 

He noted that in March, mid-war, Bithonistim issued a position paper on Lebanon, recommending that, “We need a wider buffer zone, and not just a mere security strip, to provide peace to the northern residents. It needs to extend to the Litani River and the Nabatieh area [10 kilometers into Lebanon]. This is the area where the headquarters are for the Azizi ,Nasr, and Badr units – the three main southern Lebanon divisions of Hezbollah, which need to be taken apart.”

During the current war, he stated, “The IDF moved too slowly at first, and then moved in recent weeks toward Nabatieh, a little bit too late. See what we found at the big headquarters! See what Hezbollah built with Iran and North Korean help over the years.”

“We need to destroy terror infrastructure like the model in Gaza. We will not stay there forever and can leave if Hezbollah disarms, but otherwise may need to hold it for years,” he said.

Pressed that many of his ideas in the Lebanon arena also go against clear US policy, he responded that Israel must be ready to fight for its interests, adding that during the Gaza war, he was present when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on IDF concerns about shaking up relations with the US.

According to Wiener, Netanyahu responded, “worrying about the US is for me and not for you. We will also be ready to disagree with America,” with Wiener adding, “Trump is not Biden, and he is a friend, and he did a lot for us,” but fundamental Israeli interests come first. 

How did Wiener come to replace Amir Avivi who has run Bithonistim since its founding?

He said Avivi approached him to replace him, wanting himself to retire from the group, with expectations that he will be entering politics.

Wiener said Bithonistim’s mission is also to identify the metaphorical threat of “October 8,” meaning the threat that Israel has not yet prepared for.

With its 55,000 members, including many former senior defense officials, he said the group will continue to, “run programs at pre-IDF academies and for the police. We need more of this and even better programs. Rani Gvili is helping to campaign to get more funds for this. We also do education in high schools. All of these programs need to be expanded.”

The Jerusalem Film Festival has announced the international program for its 43rd edition, which runs from July 9-19, and which features some of the most talked-about films of the past year.

These will include the winners of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, as well as top prize winners from other major festivals, including San Sebastián, Toronto, Tallinn, SXSW, Tribeca, and Rotterdam.

The international lineup, which includes feature films, documentaries, animated films, and experimental works, will be screened in the four auditoriums of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and at Lev Smadar. The full program will be available on the festival website, and ticket sales will open on June 26.

More than three-quarters of the international films on the program will be shown exclusively at the Jerusalem Film Festival, meaning they do not yet have Israeli distributors and may not be shown again in Israeli theaters.

The festival will also host more than 20 international guests, including directors, producers, and actors from around the world.

Among the highlights of the international program is Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu, the Romanian filmmaker who made 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The film, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, stars Oscar nominees Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, who also appears in Sentimental Value, currently playing in theaters across Israel.

Other Cannes prizewinners include Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, which was one of the winners of the Best Director Award, and La Bola Negra, an epic drama produced by Pedro Almodóvar, which was the co-winner of the directing award for Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo.

Other Cannes award winners include The Dreamed Adventure, which won the jury prize, and A Man of His Time, a drama about the Vichy regime during World War II, which won the screenplay award, are Cannes award winners.

The lineup will also feature Paper Tiger, the new film by Jewish-American director James Gray, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, which was in the official competition at Cannes, and The Samurai and the Prisoner, the latest film by Japanese master Kiyoshi Kurosawa, which was also an official selection at Cannes.

The Golden Bear winner from Berlin, Yellow Letters, directed by Ilker Çatak, whose 2023 film, The Teachers’ Lounge, was nominated for an Oscar, will be screened, as will A New Dawn, an anime film from the Berlin competition.

Other titles will include Falling Hercules, which won both the debut film award and the international critics’ prize (FIPRESCI) at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and which stars Dar Salim of Game of Thrones.

Barrio Triste, the debut feature by Stillz, best known as the music video director for Bad Bunny, from the Orizzonti program at Venice, and Skateboarding Is Not for Girls, which won the Nora Ephron Award at the Tribeca Festival, will also be shown.

Israeli musician Noga Erez will be the subject of Noga, a documentary that was also shown at the Tribeca Festival.

Documentary highlights include Robert Richardson: The White Devil, about the legendary cinematographer of Kill Bill, Platoon, and Shutter Island; Silent Flood, winner of the cinematography award at IDFA; and No Mercy, a documentary examining films made by women directors over the years, featuring Céline Sciamma, Catherine Breillat, Ana Lily Amirpour, Alice Diop, and others.

Classics to be screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival

The Classics section will include a tribute to Roberto Rossellini, the legendary neorealist director who made Open City, which will feature the new documentary Roberto Rossellini: Living Without a Script, winner of the Donatello Award, alongside four of his films: India: Matri Bhumi, Germany Year Zero, Fear, and Journey to Italy, which starred Ingrid Bergman.

The section will also feature new restorations of the classic 1957 Western 3:10 to Yuma, based on a novel by Elmore Leonard and starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin; Andrzej Wajda’s Oscar-nominated The Promised Land, and the lost Soviet cult film Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel.

The festival will open on July 9 at the Sultan’s Pool amphitheater, in front of an audience of about 6,000 spectators, with a screening of Moshe Rosenthal’s new film, Tell Me Everything, which had its world premiere at Sundance.

As always, the Jerusalem Film Festival will offer audiences a first look at many of the year’s most important Israeli movies, alongside its extensive international lineup. The festival was founded by Israel Prize laureate Lia van Leer, who also founded the Jerusalem Cinematheque, and it is considered Israel’s leading film festival.

It is expected to attract about 70,000 moviegoers and guests from Israel and abroad. The festival director is Roni Mahadav-Levin, who is also the CEO of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, and the artistic director is Orr Sigoli.

For more details, go to the festival website at https://jff.org.il/en

Diplomats running the International Criminal Court’s oversight body have decided that prosecutor Karim Khan had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior staff member and should be fired, two copies of its decision showed.

It is the first time details of the decision on accusations of misconduct brought by a female lawyer in 2024 against Khan, a 56-year-old British barrister, have been reported, including the recommendation that he be dismissed.

The decision by the executive bureau of the ICC’s governing body will inform a vote on his fate by the ICC’s 125-member Assembly of States Parties in New York on July 24. It is unclear which way the vote will go.

Khan has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. “The decision is unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence,” his lawyers said in comments sent to Reuters on Tuesday. They cited a review by judges that found the evidence was insufficient to prove the allegations “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Majority vote at ICC required for dismissal

The bureau set aside the advisory opinion by the three external judges and concluded that it did have enough evidence to make a decision, citing the report of a specialized yearlong UN investigation commissioned by the court.

“The evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecutor (…) engaged in a sexual relationship with (the victim),” a copy of the June 8 decision reviewed by Reuters said. The relationship started in March 2023 and “escalated over time and that, in the context of that power imbalance, a sexual relationship could never be appropriate.”

The 27-page document, shown to Reuters by two independent sources, said Khan committed a serious breach of duty and serious misconduct.

“His behavior escalated over time resulting in him engaging in non-consensual sexual contact with her in his office, at his private residence and whilst on mission,” the document quoted the UN report as having found.

The bureau recommended “removal from office of the elected official, prosecutor Karim Khan,” the document said.

At least 63 of the 125 member states of the world’s criminal court of last resort are required to pass his dismissal.

Dismissal would not impact warrants

A former defense attorney who took up the top job at the court five years ago, Khan has been suspended by the ICC and by Britain’s independent regulator for court lawyers, which will consider his future in coming weeks.

A spokesperson for the ICC declined to comment. The bureau, a core group of 21 member states tasked with reviewing the case, did not respond to a request for comment.

The allegations against Khan and the findings of the court body have deepened the prolonged crisis at the war crimes court, which is also under US sanctions over investigations into the United States and Israel.

Khan’s supporters have suggested that he has become a political target for seeking arrest warrants in 2024 ​for Israeli officials over Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza.

The US has imposed sanctions on 11 ICC judges and prosecutors, including Khan, citing the ICC’s ​arrest warrants against Prime ​Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ⁠and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and for a past probe into US troops in Afghanistan.

The warrants will remain even if Khan were to be dismissed because they were confirmed by ICC judges. Khan’s deputies have run the prosecutor’s office since he went on voluntary leave last May.

The IDF announced on Wednesday that IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir had held a meeting the day before with a variety of unnamed leading rabbis from leading religious zionist Hesder Yeshivot to address the ongoing controversy over a pilot program to integrate women into the IDF Tank Corps.

While several prominent Hesder Yeshivot rabbis were present, The Jerusalem Post has learned that rabbis from one-third of Hesder Yeshivot who have announced a boycott of the move were not present.

It was unclear whether opposition rabbis were absent because they were not invited or because they declined the invitation.

In general, Zamir and the IDF have sought to engage in dialogue with the opposition rabbis, but to date, these rabbis have made cutting off contact on the issue part of their strategy and a sign of their resolve to resist the change. 

Regarding the rabbis present, Zamir told them about the IDF’s desperate need for additional soldiers from any sector of society, noting that women are a critical part of the pool of soldiers in Israeli society.

The IDF chief emphasized that it was his strategy and goal to ensure that women, religious zionists, haredim, and other sectors could all serve in the IDF, even if some special pathways of service have been and will continue to have to be developed to enable the military to accommodate the special needs of certain sectors.

According to the IDF statement, the rabbis present praised Zamir for his efforts to walk the complex tightrope required to make the IDF accommodating of different groups.

They also presented anecdotes and systemic issues that their yeshiva student graduates have encountered during  IDF service and which they requested Zamir help address.

Also present at the meeting was IDF Deputy Chief Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, IDF Military Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Itay Offir, IDF Chief Rabbi, Brig. Gen. Rabbi Eyal Karim, senior IDF Human Resources Command official, Brig. Gen. Shai Tayev, and others.

Unusually, the Post has learned that IDF Human Resources Command Chief Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, who is primarily responsible for many special sector issues, was absent due to an unexplained personal matter.

IDF’s pilot program for women to serve in tank units

On June 17, Zamir announced that the pilot program to try out women serving in tank units will begin in November as scheduled, despite opposition from around one-third of the Hesder Yeshivot, which provide significant numbers of religious zionist combat soldiers.

Zamir said that at most, the female tank pilot will lead to a company of tanks run by women, a relatively small number out of the multiple brigades of tanks, each of which is made up of multiple battalions, each of which is made up of multiple companies.

He also warned that the female tank soldiers must live up to the general physical standards for serving in the unit, and also that past pilot programs in other areas had seen an unusual number of injured women during training processes, which he said should be avoided.

On June 11, 25 Hesder Yeshivot said they would ban their orthodox religious zionist male students from joining the tank corps in protest of the pilot program.

According to the IDF, the program is only a pilot program, and it is unclear whether it will lead to placing women permanently in the tank corps.

Further, the pilot program involves establishing women-only tank units, such that neither secular nor religious men would be serving with women within the same tank or unit, the primary concern of the religious zionist institutions that are protesting.

From their perspective, it is improper modesty and could lead to problematic mingling between men and women in such a small, secluded space if men and women were to serve in the same tank or tank units.

Traditionally, religious zionist hesder graduates serve in male-only units, and usually in units that are overwhelmingly only hesder students or at least men from orthodox backgrounds.

IDF must offer equal opportunities to men and women

The IDF appreciates the hesder program because virtually all of the program’s students, though they serve less time than other Israeli societal sectors, serve in combat units, and many go on to become mid and high-level officers.

But the IDF was ordered by the High Court of Justice on April 13 that it was under a legal duty to implement, as far as possible, equal opportunity for women and men in access to combat roles, including beginning its long-delayed pilot integration of women into the tank corps by the November 2026 draft cycle.

Moreover, given that the government has failed to integrate haredim into the IDF both before and since October 7, 2023, and the IDF has lost up to around 25,000 soldiers to physical or emotional harm in recent years, leaving a massive gap in human resources, the IDF has been pushing hard to fill combat roles with women.

One woman was even recently accepted to the elite Sayeret Matkal special forces, and women have taken on relatively new ground combat command roles as brigade and battalion commanders, and even a missile boat commander.

Despite the IDF putting out a public response earlier in June, noting the various ways it is still protecting hesder students from serving with women in tank units, the number of institutions barring their students nearly doubled on June 11 from an original 13.

That said, two-thirds of the hesder yeshivot have not yet pulled out, and Tuesday’s meeting showed that Zamir is working hard to maintain their support. 

Some may be waiting to see how the pilot program pans out and whether the IDF keeps its promise to maintain separate tank units for women, whereas artillery and infantry units now have mixed male and female units.

Women in IDF slam rabbis’ protest of tank unit pilot

Meanwhile, hundreds of female officers wrote to Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday, demanding that they halt the intervention of religious Zionist rabbis about women’s participation in the Tank Corps.

Presumably, all or most of the objections were directed at the rabbis who opposed women’s integration into tank units, rather than at the rabbis who met with Zamir in a supportive manner on Tuesday. The officers, including six brigadier generals and 35 colonels and lieutenant colonels, warned that the current dynamic could encourage insubordination.

They said that the IDF could be viewed as surrendering to outside pressure, which could lead to the idea of “the people’s army” imploding from within. The officers wrote, “Female soldiers are not a matter for debate or a problem to be stopped, but a set operational fact and a strategic asset.”

The initiator of the letter, Moren Zer Katzenstein, a former officer and a candidate in the Democrats party primary, said the command of the IDF must remain in the hands of commanders alone. 

Amir Bohbot contributed to this report.

At the premiere of his new movie, Tuner, in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, Fauda star Lior Raz said, “We are simply not afraid,” when asked about being an Israeli actor in Hollywood these days.

Raz has a key supporting role in the movie as an Israeli gangster in New York who enlists Niki (Leo Woodall), a piano tuner and prodigy with perfect pitch, to join his crime gang as a safecracker. Niki works with an older musician and tuner, Harry, played by Dustin Hoffman.

Raz’s character is ruthless and clever, and much of the comedy in the movie comes from his dark sense of humor, and the interplay between him and his other Israeli partners. The movie opens in theaters throughout Israel on Thursday.

Raz, who has starred in a number of international movies and series following his success in Fauda, the popular counterterrorism drama series, said he met the director of Tuner, Daniel Roher, in Los Angeles. Roher won an Oscar in 2023 for the documentary, Navalny, and offered Raz the role, without asking him to audition. 

‘Of course you say yes’ when offered a role, Raz says

“So, when someone offers you a part in a film like this, of course you say yes. I really believe in this film. It has comedy, drama, and music, and New York is amazing in it. It was really fun to work on this movie,” Raz said. “And besides me, there are two other Israeli actors in the film who appear with me — Gil Cohen and Nisan Sakira. They are wonderful actors.”

Asked about working with two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, one of the world’s leading actors, Raz mentioned that Hoffman’s son, director Jake Hoffman, is married to an Israeli woman and has visited Israel a number of times.

He went on to say, “Dustin really has a good soul, and you can see that in his acting. We learned a lot just from watching him, from seeing how he works. In the end, he works from a place of complete quiet. He really is a very special person. I think his humility comes through in his acting.”

While he noted he did not have scenes with Hoffman, he said he stayed on set and watched while Hoffman acted and spent time talking to him on the set. “He is simply enjoyable and fun… No matter how famous or great actors are, when they are in the room acting opposite another person, it does not matter who you are. Once the scene starts, none of that matters.”

Speaking about what it is like to be an Israeli actor in Hollywood these days, he said, “I think that right now, in the world, it is not simple. But in the end, if someone loves you, they love you. You keep moving forward. We are simply not afraid. We are not afraid to be who we are, and we are not afraid to say who we are.”

Finally, when he was asked to give advice to young actors in the audience, he said, “I can say about myself that I did not succeed for many, many years as an actor. I think that the moment I started initiating things, things started happening. As an actor, you cannot just sit and wait. You have to act, to give of yourself, and to recognize opportunities.”

The fifth season of Fauda, which he co-created with Avi Issacharoff, covers the October 7 massacre by Hamas and its aftermath, and is currently showing on Yes Action and Yes VOD in Israel. It is set to be released around the world on Netflix in a few months. 

Larry the cat has officially outlasted a sixth UK prime minister with the resignation of Keir Starmer, adding to his list, which consists of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

Larry, the nearly 20-year-old chief mouser to the Cabinet Office, has spent the past 15 years catching mice at Number 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister’s official residence.

Larry is a tabby cat who was adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in February 2011 by then-prime minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha.

The chief mouser has charmed the hearts of the British and international public, and the internet has taken great delight in the first feline being the only constant in the revolving door of 10 Downing Street.

“Larry the cat should be the next UK prime minister,” one user wrote on X/Twitter, with commenters noting that he has more experience in the political realm than many career politicians.

“The only stable thing about the UK government is Larry the cat. We had 6 prime ministers in the last 7 years, it’s embarrassing,” another wrote.

Cats have held position in UK government since 16th Century

The earliest record of a cat residing with English leadership was during King Henry VIII’s reign, when Cardinal Thomas Wolsey allowed his cat to serve alongside him as lord chancellor.

Larry is currently the second-longest serving chief mouser, just behind Peter III, who served from 1947 – 1964 under Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Alec Douglas-Home.

Larry’s tenure began after multiple rat sightings on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street in early 2011, causing a “pro-cat faction” within Downing Street to lobby for an expert to be brought in to handle the issue.

Larry is currently nearly 100 in human years but shows no sign of slowing down, and will continue to carry out his duties as Starmer begins transitioning out of Number 10 Downing Street.

Authorities earlier this month confirmed the final resting place of a US military submarine that has been lost since WWII.

The final resting place of the USS Herring was officially confirmed by the United States’ Naval History and Heritage Command’s (NHHC) Underwater Archaeology Branch, 82 years after being lost.

“The wreck represents the final resting place of sailors who gave their lives in defense of the nation and should be respected by all parties as a war grave,” according to NHHC’s statement in early June.

Herring was launched on January 15, 1942, at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and commissioned five months later, on May 4 of that year.

During WWII, Herring completed eight war patrols across the Atlantic and Pacific theaters and is credited with sinking seven enemy ships throughout her service.

She was one of five submarines sent to the Mediterranean ahead of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa during World War II. Stationed off Casablanca, on November 8, she succeeded in sinking the Vichy French cargo ship Ville du Havre.

Afterward, Herring returned to Scotland before departing for her second war patrol on December 16, 1942. While she did not sink anything during this patrol, her third patrol saw her sinking a Nazi U-163.

During her fourth and fifth war patrols, she did not achieve any more kills. However, Herring’s sixth war patrol was set to change this. 

On November 15, 1943, following months of training at Pearl Harbor, Herring joined the effort to decimate Japanese shipping and the nation’s economy in the Pacific arena. There, she succeeded in sinking the Japanese cargo ships Hakozaki Maru and Nagoya Maru. 

Herring’s success failed on her seventh patrol, when she stalked an aircraft carrier but was detected and forced to flee before managing to attack. 

Herring goes missing on June 1

She was last seen by submarine USS Barb on May 31, 1944, off of the Kuril Islands, when the two submarines met to divide patrol areas. 

On June 1, Herring came upon two Japanese merchant ships, the Hiburi Maru and Iwaki Maru, which were anchored off Matsuwa Island, attacking and sinking them both. 

Barb’s crew at the time recorded the sound of depth charges exploding in the distance, attributed to an attack associated with the Herring.

Later, Japanese shore batteries reported sighting and firing at a grounded submarine near the site of the two sunken merchant ships. Records of the strikes show that the submarine suffered two direct hits to its conning tower before managing to escape. 

Herring and her 83 crew were presumed lost after failing to report to Midway on July 13, 1944.

She was stricken from the Navy Register four months later, on November 13, and her fate remained unknown for decades.

Wreckage suspected to be Herring found by Russian expedition

In 2017, a joint expedition led by the Russian Geographic Society (RGS) and the Russian Military led to the discovery of a submarine wreckage in the area. It was reported as the Herring based on its location and its appearance.

Five years later, in 2022, a subsequent expedition returned to the wreck to extensively document the wreckage and honor the crew lost when she sunk.

Now, using data collected and provided by the Russian Geographic Society (RGS), and analyzed by two US volunteer researchers and a third Japanese researcher, the suspected wreckage has been officially confirmed to have belonged to Herring. 

Her wreckage sits upright on its keep at a depth of over 300 feet, maintaining a “high degree of integrity,” NHHC said in its statement. 

Evidence of both her grounding and the hits taken to the submarine’s conning tower are visible on the Herring’s surviving wreckage. 

For her service, she was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two battle stars, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three battle stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.

“Herring’s discovery is a powerful reminder that we have an obligation to the sailors and Marines who gave their lives in service to our nation,” NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox said in a statement to Military.com’s Ryan Thomas LaBee. “It is also a testament to the value of international collaboration in uncovering and preserving the truth of our shared history.”

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned on Wednesday that Israel has not properly prepared for several economic risks that affect everyday life: whether the country will have enough gas to produce electricity, whether homebuyers are taking on mortgages they can afford, and whether government money is being spent under proper oversight.

In a package of 12 economic audits, Englman found a repeated pattern: government ministries and regulators had made decisions, announced reforms, or received previous warnings, but had not completed the practical work needed to make those policies function.

The most serious finding concerned natural gas, which provides about 70% of Israel’s electricity.

Government must decide where to allocate natural gas

Israel currently produces gas from three offshore fields, and nearly half of the gas extracted in 2024 was exported to Egypt and Jordan. Exporting gas brings revenue and can strengthen regional ties. But it also means the government must decide how much gas to keep for Israeli homes, businesses, and power stations in the coming decades.

According to the audit, the government has not yet finalized that policy.

A committee examining the issue recommended reserving 440 billion cubic meters of gas for Israel’s domestic needs. But the comptroller found that this was 75 BCM below the committee’s own forecast of how much Israel may need through 2048.

The gap could widen because the forecast did not fully account for higher electricity use by data centers or more extreme weather, both of which can increase power demand. Under those conditions, the amount recommended for domestic use could last only about 20 years, the report said.

The problem is not only how much gas Israel has, but whether it has a backup plan.

Israel has no facility to store natural gas for emergencies. That means that if supply from an offshore field is interrupted, the country has no domestic reserve that can simply be drawn on while the problem is resolved.

The Energy Ministry has also not adopted a long-term plan explaining what Israel will do when its gas reserves decline or run out, the comptroller found. That plan would need to address whether Israel will import gas, rely more heavily on renewable energy, or use other fuel sources.

“There is a need already now to prepare and examine the steps required to ready the energy economy for the day when Israel no longer has natural-gas resources,” Englman said.

He called on the Energy Ministry and the interministerial committee to complete their work, decide how much gas should remain available for Israelis, and advance plans for storage, imports, and future energy sources.

Another audit examined mortgages, the largest financial commitment for many Israeli households.

Total mortgage debt in Israel reached about NIS 630 billion in 2025. The average mortgage rose from about NIS 779,000 in 2020 to around NIS 1 million in 2025, while the average monthly repayment on new mortgages increased from NIS 4,200 in 2019 to NIS 5,776 in 2025.

The comptroller found that a growing share of mortgages fell into the Bank of Israel’s higher-risk category. These are loans in which buyers borrow a large part of the home’s value or in which repayments take up a relatively large share of their income.

That share rose from 20% in early 2022 to 31% in mid-2025.

The report also warned about contractor promotions that allow buyers to pay only a small amount when signing for an apartment and delay most of the payment until later. Such offers can make a purchase appear more affordable at first, but buyers may face a much larger problem when they eventually need to secure a full mortgage.

Englman also found that many borrowers were not comparing enough mortgage offers before signing, despite reforms meant to make bank proposals easier to understand. Mortgage advisers, meanwhile, are not regulated by law, leaving clients exposed to aggressive sales methods, excessive fees, or advice that may not be fully independent.

“A mortgage is not merely a banking product,” Englman said. “It is a foundation for the financial stability of Israeli households.”

He called on the Bank of Israel and the Capital Market Authority to improve oversight, encourage more competition between lenders, and regulate mortgage advisers.

The audit on government budgeting focused on what happens at the end of the year, when ministries often ask to move money from one part of the budget to another or to add funding for new needs.

These changes are meant to be reviewed by the Knesset Finance Committee. But Englman found that in December 2024, the committee approved 77 budget-transfer requests worth NIS 30.4 billion. Thirty-one additional requests, worth NIS 4.6b., were submitted before the end of the year but were not discussed or approved in time.

The comptroller said this left ministries unable to plan properly and, in some cases, resulted in money being spent without an approved budget.

“These findings raise concern about circumventing the law,” Englman said.

He urged the Finance Ministry to submit budget changes earlier in the year, reduce their number and scale, and give the Knesset enough time to meaningfully review them before money is spent.

Israel’s truck fleet is continuing to age

The report also found that Israel’s transition to cleaner transport remains incomplete. Air pollution from vehicles caused an estimated NIS 10.9b. in damage in 2024, including harm to health, the environment, infrastructure, and agriculture.

The comptroller said Israel’s truck fleet is continuing to age, no new clean-air zones have been created since those established in Haifa and Jerusalem, and electric-car infrastructure has not kept pace with the number of vehicles on the road.

Public charging points could serve only about four-point-nine-percent of Israel’s electric vehicles at the end of 2024, the report found. Rules governing chargers in apartment buildings and the recycling of large electric-car batteries have also not been completed.

Englman called on the relevant ministries to remove those barriers, expand clean-air zones, and turn existing plans into measurable action.

The first high-level US-Iran talks in Switzerland did not produce a final agreement, but they did mark a step in transforming a fragile memorandum of understanding (MoU) into a structured diplomatic process. 

Meeting at Bürgenstock, overlooking Lake Lucerne, American and Iranian delegations agreed to continue technical negotiations under the framework of the Islamabad MoU, with Qatar and Pakistan acting as mediators.

The talks brought together US Vice President JD Vance and other senior American envoys, while Iran was represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other high-level officials. Qatar and Pakistan helped shape the process, issued the joint statement, and positioned themselves as mediators in a broader effort to shift the crisis from military escalation to managed de-escalation.

According to the joint statement issued by Qatar and Pakistan on June 22, the talks produced a high-level committee to provide political oversight and working groups focused on nuclear issues, sanctions, monitoring, and dispute resolution, and a roadmap toward a final deal within 60 days.

The United States and Iran also agreed to establish a direct communication channel to prevent incidents and misunderstandings in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a de-confliction mechanism involving Lebanon, the two parties, and the mediators to help support the cessation of military operations in Lebanon.

Meeting in Switzerland marks shift within US foreign policy

The Swiss meeting was more than a bilateral negotiation between Washington and Tehran.

It reflects a wider regional recalibration in which the United States appears to be relying not only on its traditional coordination with Israel, but also on a broader network of partners, including Gulf states and Pakistan, to manage the political and security consequences of the crisis.

For Washington, the challenge is now twofold. It must test whether Iran is prepared to accept meaningful nuclear monitoring and further technical arrangements, while also preventing the regional issues linked to the crisis, Lebanon, maritime security, sanctions relief, and frozen assets, from derailing the process.

For Tehran, the Swiss talks offer a chance to preserve leverage while obtaining economic and political concessions, but also require it to enter a more formalized process of implementation and verification.

The return of international nuclear inspectors is one of the most sensitive elements under discussion. Vance said Iran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country, framing this as a first step toward addressing Washington’s concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.

But Tehran has been careful to avoid presenting this as a unilateral concession, insisting that any final arrangement will depend on implementation, sanctions relief, and decisions by Iran’s senior political and security institutions.

Contrasting information is coming from Washington and Tehran

The sanctions issue is equally delicate. Iranian officials have suggested that oil and petrochemical export restrictions have been waived, that the blockade has been lifted, and that some frozen assets have been released.

US officials have been more cautious in their phrasing, emphasizing mechanisms, waivers, and restrictions on how any unfrozen funds may be used. This gap between political messaging and enforceable implementation is likely to define the next stage of the talks.

For Gulf countries, however, the immediate question is less about the optics of victory and more about whether the agreement can reduce regional risk.

The crisis had placed maritime routes, energy markets, Lebanon, and Gulf security under pressure. For Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and other regional capitals, the test is not whether Washington or Tehran can claim success, but whether escalation can be contained.

Broader concerns in the Gulf around the impacts of a return to conflict with Iran

Abdulaziz Alshaabani, a Saudi political analyst, said the agreement is being viewed with measured hope in Saudi Arabia.

“From a Saudi perspective, the US-Iran agreement is viewed with cautious optimism, as it reduces the risk of military escalation and gives the region an opportunity to move away from a period of heightened tensions and uncertainty,” Alshaabani told The Media Line.

“For Gulf countries, the key issue is not who won or lost, but whether the agreement can contribute to regional stability, secure maritime routes, and create a more favorable environment for economic development and investment,” he said.

His assessment reflects a broader Gulf concern that the region cannot afford another cycle of escalation around Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and the Strait of Hormuz.

The Gulf economies depend on stability, investment confidence, maritime security, and energy flows. Even a partial disruption to the Strait of Hormuz can produce international consequences far beyond the immediate conflict zone.

Alshaabani said the competing narratives around the agreement remain important, but they are not the decisive factor.

“Some observers argue that Iran has managed to preserve important strategic leverage, while the United States demonstrated its military capabilities without fully translating them into decisive political outcomes,” he said. “However, the more significant point is that both sides ultimately chose negotiations over open confrontation.”

That point is central to understanding the Swiss talks. The agreement neither erases the imbalance of trust between Washington and Tehran, nor resolves the disputes over Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions, Lebanon, or Israel’s security concerns. However, it does create a mechanism through which those disputes can be managed before they trigger another direct confrontation.

“In my view, the real measure of success will not be the signing of the agreement itself, but its ability to produce lasting de-escalation, strengthen Gulf security, and prevent future crises that could threaten regional stability and the global economy,” Alshaabani said.

“For this reason, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are likely to focus less on the political narratives of victory and defeat, and more on the practical implementation and long-term outcomes of the agreement.”

Pakistan’s role in the process is significant. Islamabad has long offered itself as a possible channel between Washington and Tehran, but the Swiss talks suggest a more active diplomatic function.

Pakistan is not simply offering symbolic “good offices,” it is helping facilitate communication, lower misperceptions, and support mechanisms aimed at preventing escalation.

Pakistan’s involvement in the diplomatic process is a sign of increased credibility

Mohammad Ali Zafar, a political risk consultant, told The Media Line that Pakistan’s recent diplomatic activism in US-Iran mediation can be understood as part of a broader chain reaction that elevated Islamabad’s credibility in Washington.

“Analysts have noted that Pakistan’s cooperation with the United States in facilitating the handover of the alleged Abbey Gate attack mastermind, Sharifullah, was widely interpreted as a signal of renewed counterterrorism alignment,” he said, adding that this was followed by Pakistan’s calibrated but firm military response to India, which drew renewed American attention to Pakistan.

The Sharifullah case remains legally complex. US authorities charged Mohammad Sharifullah over alleged ISIS-K support linked to the 2021 Abbey Gate attack, but a later jury verdict did not establish direct responsibility for the deaths at Kabul airport. Still, in diplomatic terms, the case was widely interpreted as a moment of renewed counterterrorism contact between Islamabad and Washington.

Zafar said Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran channel represents a shift in posture “from merely offering ‘good offices’ to playing a more active role in de-escalation.”

In his view, Pakistan has positioned itself as a middle power willing to assume greater responsibility “by helping reduce misperceptions, facilitating communication, and supporting mechanisms aimed at lowering tensions,” adding that “this emerging role, while still evolving, has contributed to the broader international effort to prevent escalation and promote a pathway toward lasting peace.”

Pakistan’s role is also shaped by its relations with key regional powers. Islamabad has strong ties with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, maintains links with Iran, and has an interest in avoiding a regional conflict that could spill across South Asia and the Gulf.

The role of middle powers in conflict management in the Middle East

Its participation alongside Qatar also reflects a broader trend, that middle powers are increasingly central to conflict management in the Middle East.

Qatar’s role is more established. Doha has spent years positioning itself as a mediator in sensitive regional and international files, from Gaza to Afghanistan and the US-Iran channels.

Its involvement in the Swiss talks fits that pattern. But the joint Qatar-Pakistan mediation format is notable because it combines Doha’s established diplomatic brokerage with Islamabad’s strategic geography, military weight, and renewed relevance in Washington.

Zafar said Pakistan’s regional coordination matters, but he cautioned against interpreting the mediation as bloc politics. “Pakistan enjoys strong and historic relations with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and it has increasingly coordinated its diplomacy with these regional partners,” he said.

“However, the current US-Iran mediation effort is focused primarily on achieving lasting peace between Washington and Tehran, two states that have been in confrontation for decades. Pakistan’s role here is not about bloc politics but about acting as a responsible middle power capable of lowering tensions and preventing wider regional instability.”

This distinction is important. The Swiss talks do not mean Pakistan is entering an anti-Israel, anti-US, or pro-Iran bloc. Nor do they mean Gulf states are aligning with Tehran.

Rather, the talks show that the US is being pushed by the crisis to diversify its regional diplomatic architecture. Israel remains central to American security calculations, but Washington is also relying on Qatar, Pakistan, and Gulf coordination to manage issues that Israel alone cannot resolve.

Significance of the involvement of Lebanon in cessation of hostility with Iran

Lebanon is the clearest example. The creation of a de-confliction cell shows how the US-Iran talks have expanded beyond the nuclear issue. Iran sees Lebanon and Hezbollah as central to its regional leverage, while Israel views Hezbollah as a direct security threat. Gulf states, meanwhile, want to avoid a broader regional war that could destabilize markets and maritime routes.

The result is an agreement that seeks to integrate nuclear diplomacy, sanctions relief, Lebanon, and the Strait of Hormuz into a single de-escalation framework.

That approach may create opportunities, but it also carries risks. The more issues are attached to the US-Iran process, the more vulnerable the process becomes to spoilers.

A new Israeli strike in Lebanon, a Hezbollah attack, a maritime incident in Hormuz, or a disagreement over frozen Iranian assets could all test the durability of the Swiss framework before technical negotiators reach a final deal.

For Pakistan, the mediation also raises questions about whether diplomatic credibility gained in one arena could later affect other regional disputes, including Kashmir. “On the question of Kashmir, Pakistan has consistently welcomed any constructive role the United States may play,” Zafar said.

“Linking the present US-Iran talks directly to Kashmir would be premature. … Yet, once the US-Iran issue stabilizes, new diplomatic openings could emerge. In international politics, goodwill and credibility earned in one arena can sometimes translate into influence in another. 

“Diplomacy is ultimately the art of the possible, and Pakistan remains committed to pursuing a peaceful, lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute, one that reflects the aspirations and concerns of the Kashmiri people,” he said. 

The memorandum of understanding has given a timeline, not a final agreement

For now, the immediate test remains the US-Iran track itself. The Swiss talks created a process, not a settlement. They gave negotiators a timetable, not a guarantee.

They showed that Qatar and Pakistan can help convene and facilitate, but they cannot, by themselves, force implementation. They also showed that the United States is adjusting to a regional environment in which military power alone does not determine political outcomes.

This is where the agreement’s deeper significance lies. Iran appears to have preserved some strategic leverage. The United States demonstrated military capability and diplomatic reach, but still has to negotiate through regional mediators.

Gulf states are focused on stability, maritime security, and economic continuity. Pakistan is attempting to convert crisis diplomacy into international credibility. Qatar is reinforcing its role as a key diplomatic broker. 

The Swiss track, therefore, marks not only a potential opening in US-Iran relations but also a shift in the regional balance of mediation.

The coming weeks will show whether that shift can produce enforceable de-escalation, or whether the same unresolved conflicts that brought the parties to Switzerland will pull them back toward confrontation.

The word “proxy” has done heavy duty lately. We use it to describe Hamas and Hezbollah as instruments of Iran, and the label fits. Their ideology, their strategy, and their ultimate aim are indistinguishable from Tehran’s: the destruction of Israel, pursued without regard for the cost to their own people.
 
They take direction from the patron that funds and shelters them, and they execute it faithfully. That is what defines a proxy – not an ally with shared interests, but an actor whose agency has been surrendered to someone else’s ends.

By that definition, we should be alarmed at what Israel is becoming.

Reassured for years that America is committed above all else to the safety of the Jewish state, Israel has allowed its own strategy to be quietly subordinated to Washington’s priorities. Our decisions increasingly serve American financial and geopolitical interests – the price of oil, control of global energy routes, the architecture of the Abraham Accords – more than they serve Israeli security. And when those interests collide with our survival, it is our survival that gives way.

The collision is no longer theoretical. On June 14, after Hezbollah fired on northern Israel and the IDF struck a Hezbollah command center in Beirut, US President Donald Trump did not stand with the country he claimed to protect. 

He faulted Israel publicly, calling the attack it had answered “very small and meaningless,” insisting “nobody was hurt, injured, or killed,” and warning that Israel’s response “should not disrupt this important process.” The process he had in mind was his emerging deal with Iran. The targeting of Israeli civilians and the killing of Israeli soldiers did not register. The deal did.

Asked soon afterward whether he could keep Israel from striking Lebanon at all, the president was unguarded: “They have a lot of respect for me, and they do as I say.” It is hard to describe a patron-and-proxy relationship more plainly – except that here, the president of the United States described it about us.

From ally to proxy?

For more than two years, the north has been left to fend for itself: communities emptied, families living without any sense of security, soldiers killed almost daily – and we have been urged to absorb it quietly, so as not to disturb an American negotiation.

That negotiation has now produced the Islamabad Memorandum between the United States and Iran. Read it closely. It says nothing about Iran’s ballistic missiles – the very arsenal Washington once vowed to neutralize – and nothing about Tehran’s network of terror proxies. 

It defers every meaningful question about Iran’s nuclear program to a later round of talks that may never conclude. What it does do is commit its signatories to ending the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon.” Iran has seized on that clause to demand an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as a precondition – before it will concede anything real on the nuclear file. 

Israel, which never signed the document, is nonetheless expected to be bound by it. We have been reduced to a pawn on a board where we are not even seated as a player.

Which brings us to the question now consuming our politics: who serves, and why. The fight over drafting Haredi yeshiva students fills the headlines daily, but the deeper question is owed to every Israeli family, religious and secular alike. We ask our sons and daughters to place their lives in the hands of the state. That is a sacred contract, and it runs in both directions. 

The nation may demand sacrifice only if it is genuinely prepared to defend those who make it – to secure the borders, to finish the job, to put Israeli security first and answer to no one else for it.

Can we honestly say that it does? If our strategy is dictated in Washington and our deterrence is bargained away to serve someone else’s deal, then we owe our children an answer before we send them to the front. A sovereign nation asks its young to risk everything for its own survival. A proxy asks them to risk everything for someone else’s.

Israel cannot be a proxy.

The writer is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned investment professional specializing in disruptive technologies and financial analysis. He is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).

A new round of Israel-Lebanon talks began in Washington on June 23. The talks look to be taking place in a complex environment.

This is because Iran is trying to salvage its Hezbollah proxy. Iran has tied the conflict in Lebanon to the Iran talks in Switzerland. As such, the US had pressured Israel to adhere to a real ceasefire with Hezbollah. In the past, the ceasefires were only in name, and Israel continued strikes on Hezbollah, and Hezbollah continued attacks on the IDF in Lebanon.

When the talks began on June 23, there appeared to be considerable pessimism on the Israeli side. However, there is now a chance that something good can come from the pessimism.

One thing that might happen is that Lebanon could be pressured to ensure that its army can administer areas from which the IDF withdraws.

This kind of “pilot” project has been under discussion for a month or more. In addition, the US has discussed possibly supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces by vetting certain units to improve them.

Lebanese Army proves incapable of disarming weakened, cut-off Hezbollah

So far, it’s just talk.

The Lebanese Army proved incapable of disarming Hezbollah in 2025. In 2025, it had a real opportunity, its biggest chance in decades, to actually do something.

Hezbollah was weakened and cut off from Iran. Iran suffered blows from Israel and the US in June 2025. Hezbollah could have been disarmed, possibly in some areas.

The Lebanese Army preferred to claim it was doing things, but not actually do anything. It squandered a huge opportunity.

Now there is a chance to try again. Arab News noted on June 24 that “talks between Israel and Lebanon include discussion of a US-backed proposal for Israeli forces to hand over some of the territory they have invaded during the war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese military, according to Israeli and Lebanese officials.”

The report said that “the Israeli officials said the Lebanese troops involved would undergo US training and vetting to ensure they are not linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah, while Israel would maintain a military presence in a buffer zone along the ‌border.”

This is a big deal. The concept of the pilot project would be a revolution for Lebanon. It is now supposed to be discussed in the coming days.

Consolidation of ceasefire underway, nitty-gritty discussed

“Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed that determination of the model areas remains under discussion ‘pending approval from the Israeli side,'” Arab News noted.

“Work is underway to consolidate the ceasefire in the south, to be followed by the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the deployment of the Lebanese army, the return of the residents, the release of prisoners, and the start of the reconstruction process,” the Lebanese Presidency said.

Now the nitty-gritty has to be discussed. “Asked about the Israeli officials’ comments, a senior Lebanese security official said discussions were ongoing in Washington ⁠and that Wednesday would see specific military-to-military discussions, ‌including on the pilot zones,” Arab News noted.

“The ‌Lebanese official said the discussions would focus on a timeline ‌for withdrawal and that any plan would emerge only after ‌the final day of talks on Thursday. The official did not respond to a request for comment on the Israeli officials’ account of US vetting of Lebanese troops.”

Al-Ain news in the UAE, Reuters, and others have reported essentially the same information. It remains to be seen if this will actually happen. 

Rabbis and public leaders from the religious community have approached MK Yuli Edelstein and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked to discuss creating a new political framework, sources familiar with the matter told Walla on Tuesday.

The new framework would be geared towards mainstream Right-wing voters who are disappointed by the current coalition, as well as modern Orthodox Israelis who do not align themselves with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party.

According to the sources cited by Walla, the initiative would explore establishing a new party that would unite different constituencies on the Right and center-right ahead of the next election.

When asked if Israelis could expect to vote for her in the upcoming election, Shaked told The Jerusalem Post, “You’ll have to wait.”

Edelstein did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

Right-wing voters search for a new party to support

Earlier this month, Yoaz Hendel told the Post that his Reservist Party is expected to join a political alliance ahead of the upcoming elections, as the party is not expected to pass the electoral threshold on its own.

Hendel describes himself as a right-wing, liberal nationalist and is generally considered center-right.

Additionally, former Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan stated last month that he intends to establish a new right-wing party to contend against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

In an interview with Army Radio, he said he’d work to create a party that “would not rely on extremists.” 

With elections to be held in October, there is still no clear picture of what the running parties will look like.

Iran stands with Hamas against Israel, and is raising the issue of Israeli aggression in Gaza with the US during talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told senior Hamas official Basem Naim on Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported.

Araghchi said the Iranian negotiation team, of which he is a senior member, will “raise the issue of the occupiers’ ongoing aggression against Gaza,” with Washington, the report noted.

Naim praised Iran’s steadfast support for the Palestinian people “against the Israeli regime,” in a phone call with Araghchi.

He also thanked Iran for its “consistent and firm position regarding the Palestinian cause,” Iranian state media, Press TV, reported.

Press TV reported that Araghchi also thanked Hamas for supporting the IRGC, and reaffirmed the country’s support for an international political movement of support for the Palestinian people.

The Islamic Republic of Iran stressed that the recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran stresses the cessation of aggression on all fronts.

The US-Iran memorandum of understanding

On June 17, US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed an MoU, beginning a 60-day negotiation period.

The immediately relevant points in the MoU are an end to hostilities on all related fronts, including in Lebanon, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and access to Iran’s frozen assets.

The MoU also allows for further discussions regarding Iran’s nuclear program and commitments to neither develop nor acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran funds and influences international anti-Israel protests and attacks

A wave of antisemitic attacks in the UK was claimed by an alleged Iranian front group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. After the stabbing in Golders Green in April, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government required “stronger power to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran, because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews.”

In December 2025, after the shooting at the Bondi Beach Chanukah celebration, Israel launched an investigation into Iranian involvement in the attack. 

Four months before the Bondi Beach attack, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that the IRGC was behind at least two major antisemitic arson attacks in Australia, leading to the Iranian Ambassador being kicked out of Australia.

Iranian regime actors are engaging in influence campaigns to stoke and fund anti-Israel protests in the United States of America, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned in July 2024.

Haines said that many of the American citizens who participated in the anti-Israel protests were expressing their views on the Israel-Hamas war in good faith, but it was important to warn of foreign actors seeking to exploit domestic political debates for malicious purposes.

“Americans who are being targeted by this Iranian campaign may not be aware that they are interacting with or receiving support from a foreign government,” said Haines. “We urge all Americans to remain vigilant as they engage online with accounts and actors they do not personally know.”

The British Medical Association has passed a motion calling for an investigation into the use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism within the NHS, arguing that it may restrict free expression by healthcare workers.

The BMA’s annual representative meeting brings together representatives from the BMA’s constituent bodies to debate motions on medical ethics, health, and NHS structure. The NHS is the UK’s free medical service.

This year’s conference, which began on Monday, featured just one Israel-related motion on Agenda 1 (the motions prioritized for debate), unlike last year’s conference, which had five. There are ten anti-Israel motions on Agenda 2.

On Tuesday, the BMA passed Motion 55 in its entirety.

The motion expresses “grave concern” about the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in the NHS “without proper consultation or risk assessment.”

Call upon BMA to investigate IHRA definition’s impact, chilling effect on speech

It calls upon the BMA to immediately investigate the impact of IHRA definition adoption on NHS staff, particularly regarding the “chilling effect on legitimate political speech and professional expression of ethical concerns about Israel’s actions in Palestine.”

It also requires NHS England and all NHS organizations to conduct comprehensive risk assessments before implementing any speech-related policies, ensuring compliance with Article 10 ECHR (freedom of expression) and Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (public authorities must act compatibly with Convention rights).

The motion also – and perhaps most controversially – asks the BMA to provide urgent support to members who face disciplinary action or professional detriment for expressing their views about Palestine/Israel.

It also asks the BMA to lobby the government and NHS England to revoke the mandatory adoption of the IHRA definition across the NHS until “proper safeguards, consultation processes, and clarity on implementation are established” and urges the BMA to work with other healthcare unions and professional bodies to “challenge any attempts to use the IHRA definition to suppress legitimate debate about human rights violations, war crimes, or colonial practices in international conflicts.”

The core argument of the motion is essentially that the IHRA definition, as applied in the NHS, may be used to restrict legitimate criticism of Israel and discussion of Palestine, and therefore requires closer scrutiny and stronger protections for free expression.

Opponents of this view typically argue that the IHRA definition is intended to help identify antisemitism and protect Jewish staff and patients from discrimination, rather than suppress legitimate political debate.

Jewish people in NHS experience routine ostracism, antisemitism

This comes less than a month after the publication of the UK government advisor on antisemitism, Lord John Mann’s review of antisemitism in the NHS.

As part of the review, Mann heard that Jewish people in the NHS experience “routine ostracism”, with Jewish staff being the only religious group in the latest NHS Staff Survey for whom discrimination from colleagues is rising rather than falling, resulting in some considering leaving the NHS.

He found that antisemitism extends to patients, too, as some Jewish patients reported they did not wish to present for treatment or put off receiving important care.

“It is well-evidenced that racism is persistent in the NHS,” Mann said, adding that “the case for taking action to combat antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS is clear.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his comittment to phase out American military assistance to Israel during a meeting with reservists at a combat officers’ course in Gush Etzion last Thursday, the Government Press Office (GPO) announced on Tuesday.

“Right now, we are standing against Iran and its proxies. We have dealt them blows. It is not over yet, but it depends on our strength. Where we will be 30 years from now depends on our strength. Therefore, what we are doing right now is building great strength,” said Netanyahu.

“I want armaments independence. I deeply appreciate the support we have received, and which I have also brought over the years, from our American friends. Today I say: We need our own independent armaments network. We must manufacture our own armaments,” he added.

The prime minister continued, “To break free from dependency, to build more and more power, to integrate more and more technology, and to train more and more generations of commanders like you, because that is what will ultimately determine where we will be. With God’s help and with your help, we will be in a good place.”

The comments come after a proposal was filed in Congress by Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana), introducing a resolution calling for negotiations on a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the United States and Israel that would phase out an annual $3.8b. of military assistance to Israel, aiming to replace it with a new framework of cooperative defense and trade.

Israel must stand on its ‘own two feet,’ US-Israel relationship one of mutual interest, independence

Stutzman said that Netanyahu expressed support for the proposal in a letter following a meeting between the two last month.

“The time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner,” the prime minister said in the letter.

According to Stutzman, Netanyahu argued that “it was important to them that they stand on their own two feet and that the relationship between the United States be of mutual interest, independent countries standing together.”

The congressman stressed that ending direct military assistance would not weaken the alliance but instead redefine it around shared strategic interests.

“One of the things that we want to, first of all, acknowledge is that the relationship between the United States and Israel is strong,” he said, adding that the future partnership would be built around “mutual defense projects and joint economic investments and projects.”

The measure has already begun attracting support among congressional Republicans, according to its sponsors, and Stutzman argued that the proposal appeals to both fiscal conservatives and traditional supporters of Israel.

Amichai Stein contributed to this report.

In the basement of a dilapidated building in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, Nasser Sharhan, 46, sits under the dim light of a candle.

A former government employee whose salary was cut off years ago, he now lives on the brink of starvation, unable to afford even a sack of flour for his five children.

Just a few kilometers from Nasser’s cold bedding, internet servers operated by the Houthis are humming with activity, mining and channeling millions of digital dollars through cyberspace, directing them entirely toward the war effort and the interests of senior Houthi figures.

Traditional sanctions are no longer sufficient to curb this financial machine. The UN Panel of Experts’ latest report on Yemen, submitted to the Security Council in October 2025, said financial sanctions had only limited effectiveness.

This was largely due to the Houthis’ growing reliance on alternative channels and sophisticated smuggling networks, coupled with their complete control over Yemen’s telecommunications sector, which generates substantial revenues that are directed straight into financing the war.

Global trading loopholes allow the Houthis to run a crypto network

This virtual financial system would not have expanded without significant loopholes in global trading platforms.

Investigative reports published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune in late 2025 revealed internal documents indicating that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, facilitated large financial flows benefiting entities linked to Iran because of compliance gaps.

Documents obtained by these media outlets showed that Hexa Whale, a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency trading firm, transferred approximately $500 million in Tether to a network connected to Iran, while total transfers from two Binance-linked accounts exceeded $1.7 billion.

Part of these funds reportedly reached digital wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Houthis.

Amin Jameel, a digital analysis and networks engineer, told The Media Line that the Houthis do not operate randomly in cyberspace. Instead, they rely on carefully designed financial architecture centered on the TRON network and the stablecoin Tether or USDT.

According to Jameel, the choice of this network and currency is driven by two main factors. The first is the low transaction costs and high processing speed compared with the Bitcoin network. The second is that Tether is pegged to the US dollar, protecting Houthis funds from the extreme volatility of cryptocurrency markets and providing flexibility similar to cash dollars, but within a virtual environment beyond the oversight of international banking systems.

Jameel added that the laundering and liquidation cycle of these funds comprises three technical stages.

The process begins by receiving transfers via temporary digital addresses that are regularly created and rotated to avoid detection and tracking. The funds are then routed through exchanges operating under limited regulatory oversight or platforms that do not require strict identity verification procedures.

The third and final stage is “cashing out on the ground,” where local and international exchange networks serve as a critical link, converting digital tokens into cash in local or foreign currencies and distributing them directly to support frontlines, purchase weapons, or acquire real estate and foreign citizenships for Houthis abroad.

To understand how this network operates in practice, a technical officer at YemenNet, the public telecommunications company in Sanaa, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the Houthis directly exploit the company’s infrastructure and servers by directing computing power and large volumes of data traffic toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining operations for the benefit of influential figures and Houthi entities.

Wider impact of this digital money laundering network on Yemen

This intensive and unlawful use of network resources has further strained an already fragile infrastructure. According to the officer, it is the real reason behind the continued deterioration of internet quality and the cripplingly slow connection speeds experienced by Yemenis.

It has also diverted electricity originally allocated to telecommunications infrastructure to power the mining facilities attached to it.

It is worth noting that technical teams from the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei are present in Yemen to maintain and upgrade telecommunications networks under commercial contracts.

The officer alleged that this technical cover may, in some cases, be used to equip servers capable of handling the massive data loads required for mining operations without attracting suspicion. However, these specific allegations could not be independently verified as of the publication of this report.

The Houthis digital activities are not limited to external financial support. Their financial machine has extended into international shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Reports from international media, including Germany’s Deutsche Welle public news broadcaster, suggest that the Houthis have imposed what it describes as “safety fees” on certain cargo vessels, shipping agents, and insurance companies in exchange for guarantees that they will not be targeted by drones or missiles.

The significance of this scheme lies in the requirement that payments be transferred directly to temporary digital wallets, providing the group with immediate liquidity that is difficult to trace or freeze through the conventional SWIFT banking system.

The Houthis employ extortion and blackmail to maintain the network

Faheem Hassan, a local cryptocurrency broker and trader in Sanaa, told The Media Line that the Houthis have imposed strict oversight on the digital wallets of businesspeople and local traders operating in areas under their control.

According to Faheem, they are regularly subjected to extortion, forced to pay levies, and to surrender portions of their profits under threat of asset confiscation or arrest.

Hassan added that the Houthis now possess extensive information about local traders in the cryptocurrency market and did not rule out the possibility that some may be recruited for future operations.

At a time when the United Nations classifies Yemen as the location of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, invisible blockchain networks have been sustaining a parallel reality, one in which hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency flow through digital channels to finance drone manufacturing and purchase weapons.

It is perhaps the starkest paradox of Yemen’s war: a population living below the poverty line while a de facto authority accumulates transnational wealth at the click of a button and directs it toward the war effort.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped down from the witness stand on Wednesday after taking the stand on 98 hearing days since his testimony began in December 2024.

Throughout that period, Netanyahu regularly moved between the courthouse, security briefings on the ever-changing local and regional developments, and the Knesset, including amid efforts to stabilize his frayed coalition.

The prosecution completed its cross-examination last week, after 59 hearing days. Netanyahu’s final appearances were part of the defense’s limited re-examination stage, intended to clarify issues that arose during cross-examination rather than to reopen the evidence more broadly.

At the start of Wednesday’s hearing, Netanyahu’s attorney Amit Hadad again complained about the limits the court had placed on his questioning. He argued that the restrictions had prevented the defense from fully addressing what it saw as discrepancies between Netanyahu’s testimony and that of other witnesses.

Presiding Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman responded that the defense’s argument had been recorded throughout the proceedings and had not disappeared from the case. Judge Moshe Bar-Am added that no improper impression had been created because the material remained before the court.

Netanyahu testimony now complete, defense continues presenting witnesses

Hadad then returned to Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla affair. He noted that the defense had reviewed 315 coverage items with Netanyahu during his direct testimony, while the prosecution had focused on roughly 14 or 15 items during cross-examination.

Prosecutor Yehudit Tirosh objected, saying Netanyahu’s answers had already been clear. The judges allowed him to respond.

Netanyahu said Walla had been “a very hostile website” and argued that the few items cited by the prosecution did not establish favorable coverage or the “unusual responsiveness” alleged in the indictment. He said the prosecution had omitted what he described as thousands of negative articles about him.

With Netanyahu’s own testimony now complete, the defense will continue presenting its remaining witnesses. Those hearings will take place at the Jerusalem District Court; Netanyahu’s testimony alone was moved to a Tel Aviv District Court venue for security reasons.

That will be followed by the summary stage, in which the defense and prosecution will submit their closing arguments before the court eventually issues a verdict. No timetable has been set, and the remaining proceedings could still take years.

Netanyahu’s trial concerns three separate cases; he was indicted in 2020.

In Case 1000, known as the gifts affair, he is accused of fraud and breach of trust over expensive cigars, champagne, and other gifts he received from wealthy friends, including businessman Arnon Milchan. Netanyahu has said the gifts were part of longstanding personal friendships and that he did not advance Milchan’s interests.

Case 2000 centers on recorded conversations between Netanyahu and Yediot Aharonot publisher Arnon “Noni” Mozes. Prosecutors allege that Mozes offered Netanyahu more favorable coverage in Yediot and Ynet in exchange for steps that could restrict the rival free daily Israel Hayom. Netanyahu is charged with fraud and breach of trust, while Mozes is charged with offering a bribe. Netanyahu has argued that he never intended to act on any proposed arrangement.

Case 4000 concerns allegations that Netanyahu advanced regulatory decisions benefiting Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch while seeking favorable coverage and editorial intervention at the Elovitch-owned Walla news site. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and has rejected the prosecution’s claim that there was an improper exchange between regulatory decisions and media coverage.

‘They did not look for a crime, they looked for a person’

At the close of his testimony on Wednesday, Netanyahu delivered a broad denunciation of the investigations and prosecution, saying law enforcement authorities had spent a decade trying to build a case against him rather than examining evidence objectively.

“They did not look for a crime; they looked for a person,” Netanyahu told the judges. “They wanted Netanyahu’s head.”

He said investigators had pursued leads in countries including the Philippines, Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Australia, at what he described as a cost of hundreds of millions of shekels, but had “found nothing, because nothing happened.”

Netanyahu alleged that the investigations had also harmed his associates and their families, accusing authorities of using improper methods to pressure witnesses and locate evidence against him.

“Because they did not find regulatory favors, they invented an offense,” he said, referring to the prosecution’s allegations in Case 4000.

Turning to Case 2000, Netanyahu said he still did not understand the basis of the allegation against him. He argued that he had acted against Mozes’s interests rather than advancing them and said he had been willing to risk his government in opposing legislation that he believed would benefit Mozes.

“To this day, I do not understand what I am charged with in Case 2000,” Netanyahu said. “I understand the fictitious construction in Case 4000, but with Noni Mozes, I do not even understand the construction.”

On Case 1000, Netanyahu reiterated his position that the gifts he received from Milchan were exchanged within a longstanding friendship and did not constitute a conflict of interest. He said he had acted against Milchan’s economic interests and accused prosecutors of trying to turn personal gifts into a criminal breach of trust.

“A breach of trust is extorting witnesses, threatening them,” Netanyahu said. “We are not a police state.”

“After 10 years of hell,” Netanyahu said, “the only thing that can be restored is the truth.”

Hadad then thanked the judges for their patience in conducting the proceedings.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Russia remained committed to understandings reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last August and was not willing to take any other interim decisions or bend to ultimatums.

Russian officials regularly refer to the so-called “Spirit of Anchorage,” shorthand, say analysts, for what Moscow interpreted as a possible agreement that would see Ukraine’s forces withdrawing from the remainder of Donbas they do not control in return for Moscow freezing the battle lines elsewhere. Kyiv has repeatedly made clear it will not hand over any of its territory to Russia without a fight.

“In August last year, the leaders of Russia and the United States reached a number of understandings regarding political ways out of the Ukrainian crisis. We remain committed to those understandings,” said Lavrov.

Russia expects negotiations with US over Ukraine to resume when Iran deal finalized

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were busy with other issues, but that it expected contacts with them over Ukraine would resume once they became available.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comment when asked if other envoys could be brought in for discussions on Ukraine while the pair were otherwise engaged. Witkoff and Kushner are part of the US team negotiating a peace deal with Iran.

“We understand that contacts will continue,” Peskov said. “Naturally, they are occupied with other matters right now, but at some point they will become available, and we are counting on further work.”

He said Russia was grateful to the envoys for their efforts on Ukraine, which he described as “highly constructive. They are willing to listen to all sides, that is especially valuable right now.”

The positive comments followed accusations from senior Russian officials earlier this week that the United States was failing to follow through on “understandings” reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last August.

Nearly 1,500 journalists from at least 65 countries have received emergency support from Reporters Without Borders after being forced into exile since 2021, according to data released June 19 ahead of World Refugee Day. Afghanistan accounted for almost half the cases.

Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, said it supported 1,468 journalists between 2021 and 2025 who fled threats, imprisonment, or threats to their lives. Over the same period, the number of countries from which journalists fled rose from 19 to 40. In 20 of those countries, at least 10 journalists were forced to leave.

Afghanistan was the largest source country, with 677 journalists supported by RSF since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Russia was next, with 160 journalists supported by RSF, while 101 Burmese journalists supported by RSF fled Myanmar after the military seized power in 2021.

RSF said the trend has also expanded across Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the Sahel and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in parts of Latin America, where political violence and organized crime have made independent reporting increasingly dangerous.

The organization warned that the forced exile of journalists weakens access to reliable information and creates openings for disinformation, including in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Vianney Loriquet, data journalist and head of the World Press Freedom Index at RSF, said the figures show a growing global pattern of repression.

“The exile journeys of journalists supported by RSF paint a global picture of repression year after year,” he said. Referring to the number of reporters forced to flee over the past five years, he said, “This is a staggering figure, yet it represents only a fraction of a much larger phenomenon.”

Loriquet said the dangers often continue after journalists leave their home countries, citing risks including extortion, deportation, and administrative abuse. He urged governments to strengthen protections for exiled journalists through emergency visas, residence permits, resettlement pathways, and safeguards against refoulement, the forcible return of people to countries where they may face persecution.

Victoria Lavenue, head of RSF’s Assistance Office, also warned that exile does not guarantee safety.

“When a journalist is forced to flee his or her country, exile does not put an end to the threats,” she said. “Precarious living conditions, isolation and transnational repression often compound administrative and linguistic difficulties in host countries.”

She said protecting exiled journalists is necessary to safeguard access to reliable information and democratic debate, and called on states to provide stronger reception and integration measures. RSF has recommended that host countries improve legal protections, offer financial assistance, and help exiled journalists continue their work.

Celia Mercier, head of RSF’s South Asia Desk, told The Media Line that Afghan journalists have fled the country since the Taliban takeover because of severe press freedom restrictions, censorship, arrests, detention, torture, and persecution.

Exile does not ensure journalists’ safety

She said exile has not ensured their safety, with many journalists facing insecurity, legal uncertainty, harassment, financial hardship, and transnational repression. Around 200 Afghan journalists in Pakistan are at risk of arrest, extortion, and forced deportation, she said.

Mercier said the forced exile of journalists represents a global threat to democracy and the right to information because it deprives societies of independent reporting on corruption, conflict, and human rights abuses.

RSF supports exiled journalists through emergency relocation grants, administrative assistance, advocacy against forced returns, and limited financial and capacity-building support for media outlets continuing their work abroad, Mercier said.

Iqbal Khattak, RSF’s representative in Pakistan, told The Media Line that the crisis facing exiled journalists is approaching a critical point.

“If this trend continues, it will have disastrous consequences for journalists and citizens who will be deprived of independent and reliable information,” he warned.

Khattak said criticism of ruling elites is increasingly being criminalized in some countries, while restrictions on public access to information deny citizens basic rights. He said Pakistan must sharply improve conditions for journalists so they can work independently and professionally.

He attributed the global rise in journalist exile to state pressure, authoritarian practices, and conflict, and called for collective international action and stronger support systems for at-risk media workers.

“RSF is doing its part by highlighting unsafe countries and supporting those in exile. We advocate for safe relocation with governments and provide training to help them continue their journalism from abroad,” Khattak said, adding that strong political will is essential to sustain independent journalism.

For Afghan journalists, the dangers are particularly acute. Azita Nazimi, a veteran Afghan journalist and former television presenter for TOLOnews and other prominent outlets, was among the women journalists who challenged Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid after the group seized power in 2021.

“That interview exposed the group’s true mentality,” Nazimi told The Media Line. “I saw first-hand that they were systematically oppressive toward women’s inclusion in society.”

“As the regime cracked down, female journalists became primary targets. My home was raided multiple times, but I managed to escape,” Nazimi recalled. “Because I was a recognizable face on television, concealing my identity was impossible. Fear and absolute uncertainty forced me to flee to Pakistan.”

Nazimi said exiled Afghan journalists in Pakistan and Iran face severe security risks, including persistent threats of deportation. “They remain deeply vulnerable, knowing the Taliban commands significant local support in both host countries,” she said.

She said the logistical challenges of exile are compounded by the psychological toll of being separated from home and family.

Abdul Haq Hamidi, a former Afghan journalist now based in Nice, France, previously served as editor-in-chief of the Gardish-e-Etilaat news agency and worked with several media outlets in Kabul. He told The Media Line that after the Taliban takeover, conditions in Afghanistan made his work increasingly dangerous.

Safety does not erase the trauma of exile

In January 2024, he said, he was detained for three days, beaten, tortured, and humiliated. The experience left him fearful and helpless, he said, while continued surveillance and pressure further threatened his professional freedom and personal safety.

“The threats ultimately forced me to leave Afghanistan to protect my life and family. I sought refuge in Pakistan, where I lived for nearly two years in uncertain and exhausting conditions under fear of deportation,” he explained, adding that with RSF’s support and financial assistance, he was able to relocate to France in February 2026.

Hamidi said reaching safety in France has not erased the trauma of exile. “It is not easy,” he said, “to escape the shadow of fear, memories of torture, psychological pressure, and the sorrow of losing one’s homeland.”

He said exiled journalists often carry the daily burden of professional displacement, instability, and the loss of a life built over many years. Even in safer countries, he said, many do not feel fully secure.

Selsela, an exiled Afghan female journalist identified only by her first name for security reasons, said she was targeted by Taliban officials over her critical reporting. After evading multiple arrest attempts, she fled Afghanistan, only to face the threat of deportation in her host country.

“In exile, we face multiple hardships, including uncertain legal status, the threat of deportation, economic difficulties, limited employment opportunities, and the psychological burden of separation from family and an uncertain future,” Selsela said.

Anxiety among exiled Afghan journalists has grown following the recent deportation of a senior Afghan journalist from Turkey.

“For journalists in limbo, safety requires more than surviving the initial escape. True security exists when a person has legal residency, the ability to continue their professional work, and confidence that they will not be sent back to a place where their life may be at risk,” she said.

Countries are accelerating efforts to build sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities as governments move to secure the data centers, chips, and energy supplies needed to operate advanced artificial intelligence systems. 

According to Ezra Gardner, co-founder of Varana Capital and who has worked extensively in global technology infrastructure, the shift reflects a growing recognition that AI capacity is now inseparable from national security.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Gardner said the emerging Pax Silica Initiative shows how governments are reorganizing around the demands of AI. 

The Pax Silica coalition is led by the United States and joined by partners including Japan, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, as well as several EU member states. Membership is expected to reach 24 countries, with Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, and Panama also set to join. 

The coalition aims to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals, semiconductor manufacturing, and high‑density data centers, all of which are required to support large‑scale AI models.

According to Gardner, “The map is being redrawn as to who our allies are,” noting that access to chips and the infrastructure that powers them has become a strategic priority. 

He described data centers as “the new backbone of national resilience,” with governments increasingly viewing them as essential to defense planning, intelligence operations, and economic stability.

The push for sovereign AI has intensified over the past year as nations seek to reduce reliance on foreign technology providers. Governments in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have announced plans to build domestic AI clouds, secure long‑term chip supplies, and expand energy‑intensive data‑center capacity. 

The concentration of advanced chip manufacturing in a small number of countries, combined with rising geopolitical tensions, has pushed governments to diversify production and invest heavily in domestic infrastructure.

The European Commission recently presented a tech sovereignty package to boost homegrown technologies and reduce dependency on American and Chinese companies. Currently, Europe imports most of its tech services from companies like Google or Amazon, and the package places a significant focus on sovereign cloud infrastructure, AI services, open source, and chips.

The Netherlands’ entry into Pax Silica places ASML, the world’s most important chip‑manufacturing equipment supplier, at the center of new AI supply‑chain coordination. This move comes amid ongoing tensions over export controls on ASML’s advanced lithography tools to China, Gardner explained.

“We live in a world where geopolitics and technology are inseparable. Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this,” European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen was quoted by Euronews as saying.

Energy: The new strategic bottleneck

Gardner argues that the energy crisis behind AI is becoming just as strategically important. Training frontier‑level models requires vast amounts of electricity; the physical grid is struggling to keep up, and the global AI boom is now colliding with a hard physical limit: energy. 

Data centers are also overwhelming regional grids. For example, reliance on more than 10,500 diesel generators in Virginia has triggered environmental and regulatory pushback that threatens to slow new AI infrastructure. Energy resilience has become a core pillar of sovereign AI planning.

At the Datacloud Global Congress in Cannes, Israeli firm Phinergy introduced an aluminum‑air backup system positioned as a zero‑emission replacement for diesel. The technology delivers instant response, 48 hours of continuous power, and multi‑day operation through hot‑swappable aluminum plates. Google and Microsoft shared the stage with Phinergy’s CEO, signaling that clean backup power is becoming a strategic priority for the cloud industry.

Phinergy’s system is now being validated by the Net Zero Innovation Hub, led by Google and Microsoft, through a 500 kW, 10 MWh deployment. Global operators such as Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) have highlighted aluminum‑air systems for long‑duration storage, with the backup‑power market projected to hit $150 billion to– $200b. within five years. The technology has already proven itself in crisis conditions, reinforcing clean, resilient energy infrastructure as a new requirement for national AI sovereignty.

National AI strategies

Israel, the UAE, and South Korea have each launched national AI strategies that include dedicated sovereign compute clusters designed to ensure that sensitive data and critical models remain under domestic control. 

The Pax Silica framework, announced by participating governments as a long‑term economic and security partnership, seeks to coordinate investment across the entire AI ecosystem – from critical minerals to fabrication plants to the data centers that host AI models. Officials involved in the initiative have said the goal is to ensure that allied nations can build and deploy advanced AI systems without disruption.

Speaking to the Post in January,  US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said that “we want to focus on the arteries of the supply chain with logistics. We want to focus on the muscle on industrial capacity and the fuel – energy and capital – that will ultimately be propellent for everything else.”

Gardner noted that the scale of infrastructure required for modern AI is driving unprecedented levels of investment. Training frontier‑level models demands vast amounts of electricity, specialized chips, and secure facilities capable of handling sensitive data.

Quantum tech a priority

Quantum is also a matter of national security, he said, adding that “America and China have already stolen each other’s data. They just can’t crack the code to read it yet.”

Quantum computers have the potential to solve computational problems at breakneck speeds, making the technology a priority for countries.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders for the US to maintain a strategic technological advantage in this field. The executive orders give the American government six months to update the country’s National Quantum Strategy and establish a more cohesive approach to the commercialization and deployment of quantum technology.  It also aims to work to mitigate future cyber threats that could come from these computers.

As countries continue to expand their AI capabilities, Gardner said the competition will increasingly center on who can build and protect the infrastructure that makes AI possible. He described the current moment as a global realignment, with governments moving quickly to secure the physical foundations of their technological future.

For Gardner, the next 12 months will see a “rapid sequence of events” for quantum, AI, and energy infrastructure. 

“If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen this year,” he said. “Stay tuned; this is just the preview.”

“Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch,” Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday, in his second speech delivered in recent days.

“We will cooperate with the Lebanese Army to the utmost extent, just as we cooperated previously, and Israel has no right to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs,” the terror chief said, seemingly ignoring recent accusations from more than 400 Lebanese officials in recent days insisting that Iran cease its interference. “The political authority in Lebanon has a mere guarantee named the Resistance.”

“We exercised patience for 15 months; this patience was part of our strategy. Don’t mistake it for retreat. When we saw that the opportune moment arrived on March 2nd, we seized this opportunity and fought this battle,” he said, referencing the day Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a renewed conflict with Israel in response to the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ceasefire in Lebanon is a key condition in the Memorandum of Understanding

While Beirut discussed a ceasefire and security measures in a Washington-brokered agreement, Iran has pursued a ceasefire in Lebanon as a key condition in its Memorandum of Understanding with the United States. “A Call to Save Lebanon,” endorsed by political and religious leaders in Lebanon, has asserted that such an agreement must be pursued by the legitimate state, not Iran.

The renewed conflict left 20% of Lebanon’s population displaced, and researchers have assessed, based on the growing attempts to establish political Shi’ite alternatives to Hezbollah, its dwindling numbers at rallies and public opinions expressed in Lebanese media that the war has severely damaged support for the group.

Qassem’s statement came as Israel and Lebanon shared another round of talks on a potential pilot solution, according to international reports.

While the Hezbollah official insisted that Israel would withdraw from the country according to an established “timeline,” Israeli officials have demanded the continued presence of a buffer zone along the border and the training and vetting of Lebanese troops to monitor Hezbollah’s adherence to a ceasefire agreement.

Hezbollah has frequently decried the diplomatic talks with Israel, even seemingly threatening to return the country to a state of civil war in May.

A senior Lebanese security official told Reuters that Wednesday’s discussions would focus on specific military-to-military issues, including on the pilot zones. He affirmed that a timeline for Israel’s withdrawal would be decided, but added that it would only emerge after the talks conclude on Thursday.

Amid growing concerns over a potential kidnapping attempt in southern Lebanon, Israeli security officials said Tuesday that senior officials reviewed the situation involving dozens of Hezbollah terrorists trapped in the village of Tebnit.

The IDF recently succeeded in cornering dozens of Hezbollah terrorists in an underground complex in Tebnit. Shortly thereafter, troops managed to seal off the entrances to the underground system, and messages were subsequently relayed to Israel through various mediating parties in an effort to secure the safe exit of those inside.

According to a security source, “Israel’s response to all mediating parties was clear: surrender or be killed inside the underground system.”

Additional sources involved in the details of the negotiations told Walla that under the current ceasefire framework, the militants have the option to surrender to the IDF, but at this stage, they are choosing to remain inside the underground system

“Things can change in an instant, but until then, it is important to understand that Israel sees significance in an effective model that will enable the demilitarization of the area from militants and Hezbollah terror infrastructure. Therefore, the focus is on a pilot program,” a source familiar with the details told Walla.

The source added that a similar scenario previously unfolded with Hamas operatives who were trapped in Rafah, and who ultimately were forced to emerge and either fight or surrender.

Concern that Hezbollah will take IDF soldiers hostage to negotiate for their trapped comrades

Meanwhile, concern is rising among Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon that Radwan Force operatives in the area, who are currently avoiding direct confrontations and close-range engagements with Israeli troops, may attempt to identify an operational opportunity on the ground and carry out a kidnapping attack against IDF soldiers in order to facilitate negotiations.

Troops on the ground have been briefed and instructed to move in pairs or groups of three at all times, and to ensure rapid coordination between air and ground forces in the event of an attempted attack or assault on a tank, armored vehicle, jeep, or building.

A military source told Walla that “Some of Hezbollah’s underground systems in southern Lebanon could be intended to facilitate a kidnapping attack during an assault on IDF soldiers and assist in escape or holding captives.” The source emphasized that most of the entrances to the underground systems are camouflaged and difficult to locate.