Friday, June 13, 2025

06/13 Links Pt1: Zionism Has Been Vindicated; A surgical strike against Islamist tyranny; Israeli woman killed in Iranian missile strike

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: Zionism Has Been Vindicated
Twenty-four years ago, Iran’s president, the Ayatollah Rafsanjani—a supposed “moderate”—spoke these words only months after September 11 made the world aware of the mass-murdering nature of the Islamist threat to the West: “If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists’ strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world.” In other words, damage might be done outside Israel if there were to be a nuclear exchange, but that would be worth it, because Israel would cease to exist.

In 2005, Rafsanjani was succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who began to make even more explicit what Rafsanjani had implied: “Thanks to people’s wishes and God’s will, the trend for the existence of the Zionist regime is downwards….The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon.” For decades, Iranian mullahs and leaders had chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” but this was something different. Iran’s nuclear ambitions were real and the purpose of going nuclear was millenarian and apocalyptic and aimed at the Jews.

In the days, weeks, months, and years to come, we will learn some, if not all, of what Israel determined it needed to do to slow down, halt, and destroy Iran’s apocalyptic ambitions. The nature of the operation, or operations, is likely to dwarf any such military/intelligence effort ever before seen on this earth. And it happened because it had to happen. Because Israel is real. Because Israel is a nation of 9 million and was not going to allow itself to be destroyed.

More important, the execution of this plan followed Israel’s greatest military and intelligence failure—the failure to keep track of Hamas’s evildoing, under the assumption that Israel had had Hamas contained and without the ability to strike catastrophically. Perhaps we can surmise that Israel’s desire to believe it had neutralized the Hamas threat using missile and rocket defenses had something to do with the depth of focus and the amount of energy its leaders were expending to watch and plan and develop weaponry and countermeasures against Iran. Perhaps they just didn’t have (as we say these days) enough “bandwidth” for both.

But the catastrophe of October 7 also revealed just how determined Iran was to put its plan to destroy Israel into action, and thereby triggered Israel’s own ultimate countermeasures—the war in Gaza, the destruction of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the elimination of Iran’s air defenses, and now the determination to rid the world of Iran’s nuclear sites, its ambitions for nuclearization, and perhaps even the destruction of the Iranian regime.

One stands mute at the audacity of the planning and the magnificence (thus far) of the execution. And one wonders, yet again, if what is happening here is once more a sign not just of Israel finding its own salvation in Jewish self-rule–but of God’s providence.
Melanie Phillips: The nightmare scenario arrives
The final chapter in the Iran nuclear crisis may now be upon us.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress that there were “plenty of indications” that Iran was actively moving toward a nuclear weapon.

There have been numerous reports that Israel is preparing to strike Iran’s nuclear sites in the coming days. Washington has withdrawn non-essential staff from its Baghdad embassy and has approved a voluntary evacuation from U.S. embassies and locations throughout the region.

The expectation of imminent attack may or may not be premature. We may be watching another episode of brinkmanship as yet another negotiating ploy.

What does seem certain is that Iran has now reached the nightmare point that has been feared for so long—that it is about to assemble a nuclear weapon.

Israel can’t tolerate that. If President Donald Trump decides that the United States won’t join an attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, then Israel is preparing to go it alone, even though that would restrict it to damaging the nuclear sites rather than totally destroying them.

Since the Hamas-led atrocities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the West has refused to acknowledge that Israel has been subjected to a seven-front war of extermination waged by Iran and its proxies.

This denial goes back decades. Even though the Iranian regime declared war against America and the West from the moment it came to power in 1979, political and media discussion of the Iranian issue has remained wholly inadequate and infested by disinformation spread by the regime through all-too gullible policy elites.

The fact that Iran insists that it won’t abandon its right to uranium enrichment, or that the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has now declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years, will probably make precious little difference to such people.

This is because the narrative upon which the West is fixated holds that Israel is the driver of events in the Middle East, and that its war against the Palestinian Arabs is the principal cause of instability and violence in the region.
Why Israeli Strikes on Iran Make America Safer
Noah Rothman provides a worthwhile reminder of why a nuclear Iran is a threat not just to Israel, but to the United States:
For one, Iran is the foremost state sponsor of terrorism on earth. It exports terrorists and arms throughout the region and beyond, and there are no guarantees that it won’t play a similarly reckless game with nuclear material. At minimum, the terrorist elements in Iran’s orbit would be emboldened by Iran’s new nuclear might. Their numbers would surely grow, as would their willingness to court risk.

Iran maintains the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles in the region. It can certainly deliver a warhead to targets inside the Middle East, and it’s fast-tracking the development of space-launch vehicles that can threaten the U.S. mainland. Even if Tehran were a rational actor that could be reliably deterred, an acknowledged Iranian bomb would kick-start a race toward nuclear proliferation in the region. The Saudis, the Turks, the Egyptians, and others would probably be compelled to seek their own nuclear deterrents, leading to an infinitely more complex security environment.

In the meantime, Iran would be able to blackmail the West, allowing it occasionally to choke off the trade and energy exports that transit the Persian Gulf and to engage in far more reckless acts of international terrorism.

As for the possible consequences, Rothman observes:
Iranian retaliation might be measured with the understanding that if it’s not properly calibrated, the U.S. and Israel could begin taking out Iranian command-and-control targets next. If the symbols of the regime begin crumbling, the oppressed Iranian people might find the courage to finish the job. If there’s anything the mullahs fear more than the U.S. military, it’s their own citizens.


Brendan O'Neill: A surgical strike against Islamist tyranny
Israel is now accused of ‘escalating’ tensions. Why is it escalation when the Jewish State takes out a general of the Iranian regime but not when that general’s allies kidnap a mother and her two babies for the ‘crime’ of being Jews in the Holy Land? Those who wring their hands harder over the death of General Mohammad Bagheri than they did over the deaths of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas have forfeited the right to be considered morally decent human beings. They’ve taken a side, even if they refuse to acknowledge it: the side of Islamo-fascism against the Jewish nation.

Show me one state on Earth that would tolerate the existence of a nearby regime that had sent its proxies to rape and murder your people and had sworn itself to your annihilation. Israel is right to say the Iranian regime is ‘devoted to the destruction of the State of Israel, not just as an ideal, but as a binding directive’. That is clear from Iran’s statements, its terrorism and its war-making. Those referring to Israel’s op as a ‘regime-change war’, thus slyly likening it to the vain, reckless wars of the Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, are being outright duplicitous. Israel is carefully attacking a regime that attacked it, not violently blundering into a far-off nation in search of that fleeting moral rush of global importance as the postwar order corrodes.

Both sides must now ‘show restraint’, say the leaders of Europe with snivelling conformity. ‘We urge all parties to step back’, says Keir Starmer. Let’s leave to one side the fact that Israel is showing restraint, and is launching precise strikes rather than mimicking the lethally infantile ‘shock and awe’ that Britain and America pursued to such ruinous effect in Iraq. More pointedly, to call on Israel to ‘show restraint’ against the regime that sponsored a fascistic bloodbath against the Jews is, to be blunt, sick-making.

One envisions Starmer and the rest issuing their chickenshit cries at every crisis point in human history. To America after Pearl Harbour, or to the Free French army following the Nazi conquest of France: ‘Show restraint. Step back. Don’t do anything too risky.’ It is moral cowardice in the drag of diplomacy, spinelessness dolled up as peacemaking. It is even worse on the so-called left, which expressly calls on Israel and Israel alone to lay down arms. That these people now shed tears over Israel’s assassination of Islamist tyrants confirms that it was never the tragic death of Palestinian civilians that horrified them about the Gaza war – it was the temerity of the Jewish State in standing up for itself against its foes. Their ‘pacifism’ masks a disgustingly blasé attitude towards the murder of Jews by religious hysterics.

War is awful, and sometimes necessary. Israel’s confrontation with the Islamic republic is being cynically coat-tailed by American war hawks who’ve long dreamt of vengeance for the humiliations the US suffered during the Iranian Revolution. And it is being cynically damned as criminal by leftists who seem to believe that every act of Jewish self-defence is by definition a war crime. The rest of us have a moral duty to rise above all this self-serving noise and answer the following question: are we on the side of a regime that sponsors the mass murder of Jews, the exportation of Islamist terror and the savage repression of women and homosexuals, or are we on the side of Israel? I know my answer.
Iran is everything they accuse Israel of being
What we have seen unfolding in the Middle East over the past 20 months has, in many ways, been the culmination of the Islamic Republic’s long-standing campaign against Israel. This has always been more than a war between Israel and Hamas. It is Israel’s war of survival in the face of an Islamist onslaught led and backed by Iran.

At the same time, the past 20 months have exposed something else, too. Not just the Iranian regime’s shadow war against Israel, but also the Iranian regime’s weakness. The proxy forces Iran has been using against Israel, from Hamas itself to Hezbollah, have been decimated. The Iran-backed Assad regime in Syria has crumbled. And Iran itself has been militarily degraded. Indeed, Israel’s destruction of Iran’s air defences during retaliatory strikes last October seemingly made this week’s air assault possible.

But the Iranian regime’s weakness is not merely military – it’s also political. In the context of a collapsing economy, ever-rising unemployment levels and a repressive, illiberal state, many Iranians are growing restive. We saw large-scale anti-regime protests in 2019, with demonstrators chanting ‘Death to the dictator’ at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and calling for an end to the Islamic Republic. And we’ve also seen repeated displays of courageous resistance on the part of women opposed to the mandatory hijab law, especially after the morality police’s killing of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Most important of all, the Iranian regime’s war against Israel simply doesn’t command huge amounts of public support. Iranians want jobs, investment. They don’t want a theocratic regime supporting anti-Semitic militias with cash that could be used to address chronic domestic problems. Indeed, it has been telling that, over the past 20 months, most Iranians have shown little enthusiasm for the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. There have been a few sparsely populated, stage-managed anti-Israel protests in Tehran since the war began, but they’ve involved at most a few thousand people.

As one analyst notes, the genuinely popular recent protests within Iran feature the revealing chant, ‘Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran!’. Iranians are calling for a better life, not ‘Death to America’ and hijab laws. Arguably, there are far more Hamas supporters on Western university campuses than in the nation state that actually funds those genocidal lunatics.

No doubt, Israel’s attack on the Islamic Republic will mobilise more Iranians in support of their nation, if not the regime itself. But this remains an increasingly unpopular theocracy.

This could make the war now unfolding even more dangerous. An embattled Islamic Republic, attacked and militarily humiliated by the ‘Zionist entity’, has to respond. That could involve a missile and drone barrage against Israel that dwarves last year’s salvo. Or something even more drastic. It is also crucial that the war hawks of the West, who have been spoiling for direct conflict with Iran for decades, do not get their wish. If this awful regime is to fall, it should be toppled from within, by the people.

Either way, we should shed no tears for the wretched theocrats at the head of the Islamic Republic. They have squatted in the home of this great civilisation for far too long. The sooner the Islamic Republic is gone, and the Iranians are freed, the better.
Israel Takes Out Iran’s Main Nuclear Facility and Military Chiefs, Blocks Retaliation
Israel struck Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz and killed several top Iranian military officials and senior nuclear scientists in an ongoing military operation that also neutralized a retaliatory drone attack, according to Israeli officials.

In the surprise assault, which began overnight, more than 200 Israeli aircraft carried out five waves of airstrikes on dozens of high-value targets across Iran with support from covert ground operations inside the country, officials said. The strikes marked the first phase of Operation Rising Lion, a "historic preemptive strike" aimed at eliminating an existential nuclear threat, a military official said in a briefing on Friday.

"We struck the Iranians. We struck their nuclear plant, and we struck military targets before they had the ability to strike us with nuclear weapons," the official said, noting Iran’s oft-stated commitment to the destruction of Israel and leading role in a more than 20-month regional war against the Jewish state.

"We launched this operation now because this is the most appropriate time in light of this concrete threat. The Iranian regime is rapidly advancing towards obtaining a nuclear weapon. … They have been operating to achieve this since [their terrorist affiliate Hamas attacked Israel on] Oct. 7 on a larger scale, but even before, for years, they have been operating to achieve this goal."

Shortly after the start of the attack, Iran launched more than 100 drones toward Israel from multiple locations. None reached Israeli territory, according to the military, which said air defenses intercepted the barrage over a wide area.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu deemed the opening strike "very successful."

"We struck the senior command, we struck senior scientists that advance development of nuclear weapons, we struck nuclear installations," he said in a video message. "We are racking up achievements, but I know, and you know, there are no easy wars."

Netanyahu warned Israelis that they may need to spend "far longer periods in shelters than we were accustomed to until now." Indeed, by Friday night, Iran had launched a barrage of roughly 200 ballistic missiles, forcing Israelis to stay in shelters for an extended period of time. A small proportion of the missiles broke through, including in Tel Aviv, and while the strikes caused some injuries, Israel largely emerged unscathed.

President Donald Trump, who confirmed U.S. awareness of the operation in advance, praised the Israeli attack as "excellent."

"We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it," Trump told ABC News, referring to ongoing U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. "They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. A lot more."

In posts to Truth Social, Trump noted, "Today is day 61" of a 60-day ultimatum he had previously given Tehran. "Now they have, perhaps, a second chance," he said.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told the Washington Free Beacon that the Trump administration likely assisted Israel with regional intelligence sharing and air defense coordination and helped surprise Iran.

"The Americans knew about it, and probably some of their declarations were part of the deception process," he said.
How Israel's Spy Agency Rocked Iran With a Covert Drone Operation
Mossad’s stealth sabotage campaign reportedly "took out Iran's air defenses and gave Israeli planes air supremacy and freedom of action" to launch hundreds of strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites, its senior military commanders, and scientists, the Times of Israel reported. "A third covert effort involved Mossad commandos deploying precision missiles near anti-aircraft sites in central Iran."

Israeli spies also successfully surveilled senior Iranian military commanders, security officials, and scientists tied to its nuclear weapons program, allowing the Israel Defense Forces to assassinate them en masse, according to Israeli press reports.

Mossad commandos deployed "operational systems of precision-guided weapons, in open areas near the location of Iranian surface-to-air missile systems (SAM)" immediately before Israel launched its air campaign, an Israeli security source told the country’s N12 News. As Israeli planes began to attack inside Iran on Thursday evening, these stealth systems were activated, training precision guided missiles at targets Tehran would have used in an attempt to thwart Israel’s operation.

A parallel operation saw Mossad agents planting "sophisticated attack systems and technologies on vehicles" in the lead up to Israel’s attack. Once the operations had started, "the weapons were launched and completely destroyed the targets of the attack - the Iranian defense systems," according to Israeli reporter Amit Segal.

Mossad established a "base of explosive drones" inside the country "long before the attack" commenced without Iran noticing, Segal reported. As Israeli planes entered Iranian air space, "the explosive drones were activated," destroying a cache of surface-to-surface missile launchers stored at the Asfaqabad military base near Tehran.

The pre-attack intelligence gathering laid the groundwork for Israel to systematically assassinate several senior Iranian commanders, including the head of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami. Hours before his death, Salami claimed he was "fully ready for any scenario."

Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei addressed his nation on Friday, vowing that Tehran’s "armed forces will make the scoundrel Zionist regime miserable." In a separate written statement, Khamenei confirmed that "a number of military commanders [and] nuclear scientists" were "martyred" during Israel’s opening strike. Reports indicate that Israel eliminated at least 20 senior Iranian commanders, along with six nuclear scientists.

"Their successors and colleagues will immediately carry on their duties, God willing," Khamenei wrote. "With this crime, the Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself—and it will undoubtedly receive it."

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said he gave Iran fair warning that an attack was imminent, but that Tehran would not back down from its hardline negotiating position in diplomatic talks over a revamped nuclear deal.

"I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen," he said. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"
Israel Preemptively Attacks Iran, What Options Does Iran Have Left in the Bank?
This looks like it’s not going to be a one-night operation. Israel’s aim are to degrade not just symbolic targets but operational capabilities — missile stockpiles, drone factories, nuclear infrastructure, command nodes and IRGC leaders. The more Israel destroys, the greater the pressure on Iran to show that it’s still in the fight.

But Iran’s options are very constrained. Direct military confrontation with Israel is unlikely and risks escalation they can’t afford. The Gulf states don’t want it. Hezbollah is already stretched. Iran’s air defenses have proven inadequate and largely destroyed in past operations. And so Tehran will reach for what it’s always relied on: asymmetric warfare.

And that’s where this has the risk of getting global. “Globalize the Intifada.”

Iran’s playbook has always involved taking the fight outside the immediate battlefield. Jewish targets abroad, Israeli embassies, soft targets, tourists, synagogues, cultural centers — we’ve seen this movie before in Buenos Aires (1992, 1994), in Bulgaria (2012), and numerous foiled plots since.

What makes this moment particularly dangerous is that Iran’s network of operatives, cutouts, and proxies in Canada, Australia, UK, Europe, the U.S., South America, and Africa is already in place. What’s missing is the green light.

And that’s the real danger here: While the world’s eyes are fixed on missiles over Tehran or drones over Natanz, the next reprisal could be a bomb in Berlin, a shooting in Paris, or an attack in Buenos Aires, Sydney, Toronto or D.C.

Western intelligence agencies know this, but no system is perfect, and Iran has learned from past mistakes. Iranian foreign operations cells are already active. Iran’s IRGC has ties to criminal networks and can also subcontract attacks to maintain plausible deniability.

We are entering the next phase of this long shadow war. Tonight was the loud phase. What comes next might be quieter — until it’s not.

Iran’s decision will depend on the damage sustained in the coming days. If Israel can cripple key Iranian military infrastructure, expect Tehran to compensate with global asymmetric attacks, designed to restore the “honor” they lost tonight.

Israel had no choice. It eventually went at it alone. Israel doesn’t seek war, but for years, the world has watched Iran inch closer to nuclear weapons capability while flooding the region with missiles, drones, and terror proxies, always Israel paying the price. Diplomacy failed. Even Trump, back on April 11, gave the Islamic Republic 60 days to reach a deal — that clock ran out. If Israel hadn’t acted, the price of inaction would have been far greater. In the long run, a degraded Iranian military and nuclear program means a safer Middle East and, by extension, a safer world. Deterrence had to be restored — not just for Israel, but for every nation threatened by Iran’s expansionist ambitions.

This is not just an Israeli problem. This is a global warning.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Says Strike on Iranian Nukes Is Great Moment in Jewish History: ‘What Happened Last Night Is up There With the Splitting of the Red Sea’
Israel’s surprise attack on Iran ranks among the Jewish people’s greatest feats, alongside Moses’ parting of the Red Sea, former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said Friday.

"I would say in the 3,500-year history of the Jewish people, what happened last night is up there with the splitting of the Red Sea, the Six-Day War, and the raid on Entebbe. I mean, it’s that significant and will go down as one of the great events that will hopefully protect the Jewish people … for another 100 years," Friedman told Fox News. "The people of Israel right now are feeling a lot better, and I would say people in America woke up this morning a lot safer than they were yesterday because this was a threat that impacts America as well."

Israel’s surprise attack on Iran involved over 200 Israeli aircraft carrying out five waves of airstrikes on dozens of high-value targets with support from covert ground operations. The offensive killed several top Iranian military officials and senior nuclear scientists and took out Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz.

Iran retaliated by launching 100 drones, but none reached Israeli territory. Tehran later fired off dozens of ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities, injuring at least 15 as of Friday afternoon.

Israel "intercepted 100 out of 100 drones last night," Friedman said before Iran’s missile strikes. "There is also well reason to be concerned. There is also reason to feel that the Israeli Defense Forces are up to the challenge."
Iran Fires Barrage of Ballistic Missiles at Israeli Cities
Air raid sirens blared across Israel Friday afternoon as Iran launched roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities in response to the Jewish state's surprise strike on Tehran's contested nuclear sites. At least one woman has been killed with dozens reportedly injured, though the numbers could rise as the situation unfolds.

Explosions could be heard in downtown Tel Aviv, and footage posted in real time on social media showed smoke columns rising from the ground. Axios reported that several missiles evaded Israel's air defense systems and landed in Tel Aviv.

Tehran also targeted Jerusalem in its strikes against Israel, while the Iron Dome missile defense system destroyed at least a portion of the rockets aimed at the holy city. Iran launched a second "barrage of dozens of missiles" at Israel shortly after the initial attack, according to the New York Times.

"Another volley of dozens of missiles was launched towards" Israel, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a subsequent statement. American forces are reportedly helping Israel deter the attack.

Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Iran's attack on heavily populated civilian areas "crossed a red line," warning that "the Ayatollah regime would pay a very heavy price."

Several of those injured during the attack were hit with "shrapnel," according to Israeli emergency services.

In an earlier message, shortly after Iran launched the first wave of missiles, the IDF instructed the Israeli public "to enter a protected space and remain there until further notice. Leaving the protected space is only permitted following an explicit directive. Continue to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command."


Trump on Whether Israel Gave a 'Heads-Up' Ahead of Attack: 'Heads-Up? It Wasn't a Heads-Up. It Was, We Know What's Going On.'
President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that the United States was fully aware of Israel's plans to launch airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites and top officials, dismissing the suggestion that Israel had only given him a "heads-up."

"Heads-up? It wasn't a heads-up. It was, we know what's going on," Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview, adding that he talked with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and will speak with Netanyahu again on Friday. Trump administration officials said the United States was not directly involved in the Israeli offensive.

Early Friday morning, around 200 Israeli jets struck dozens of military and nuclear targets across Iran. The Israel Defense Forces described the attack as a "preemptive, precise, combined offensive," citing "high-quality intelligence" and the Islamic Republic's "ongoing aggression against Israel."

Israeli officials said the IDF eliminated multiple senior Iranian generals, including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander in chief Hossein Salami and Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri. The operation also killed six top nuclear scientists and more than a dozen senior commanders tied to Iran's ballistic missile and drone programs, according to Israeli officials.

Trump, who has repeatedly urged Tehran to return to the negotiating table, said the "very successful" attack came 61 days after he warned Iranian leaders to make a deal within 60 days or face consequences. "They should have made a deal and they still can make a deal while they have something left—they still can," Trump told the Journal.
Trump to Tehran: I Tried To Warn You, but You Didn’t Listen
Donald Trump sent a message to Iran following Israel's successful strikes on the Islamic Republic's military chiefs and main nuclear facility: I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen.

In a Friday morning Truth Social post, Trump said he "gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal" and "told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it.'" Iran "just couldn't get it done," Trump continued—but not for lack of warning on what would happen if a deal was not reached.

"I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it," Trump wrote.

"Certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely, but they didn't know what was about to happen," the president added. "They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"

Shortly after issuing the post, Trump spoke to CNN's Dana Bash. He called the strikes "a very successful attack."

"We of course support Israel, obviously, and supported it like nobody has ever supported it," Trump said. "Iran should have listened to me when I said—you know, I gave them—I don't know if you know, but I gave them a 60-day warning, and today is day 61."

Trump went on to say that Iran "should now come to the table to make a deal before it's too late" but may have trouble doing so.

"You know the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners," he said. When Bash asked whether they died in the Israeli attack, Trump responded, "They didn't die of the flu, they didn't die of COVID."


School of War: Ep 205: Mark Dubowitz on Israel’s Unfolding Campaign in Iran
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to breakdown last night’s spectacular Israeli strikes against the Iranian Regime and its nuclear program, and what comes next. Times
• 02:00 Deception
• 06:00 Targets
• 09:00 The Scientists
• 11:00 Complacency
• 14:00 Israeli goals
• 19:00 Regime change
• 23:00 Strikes and talks
• 29:00 Drones
• 31:00 Counterpunch?


BONUS EPISODE: “Operation Rising Lion”, Israel attacks Iran with devastating results
A people that rises like a lioness and raises itself like a lion. More than 200 fighter jets from the Israel Air Force, guided by Israeli Intelligence, struck over 100 targets across Iran, including hideouts of senior operatives in the Iran’s military leadership. The strikes eliminated the three most senior military commanders of the Iranian regime: Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Iranian regime, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami and Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya (Emergency Command.


Israeli woman killed in Iranian missile strike, Magen David Adom says
A woman died from her injuries in the Iranian regime’s missile attacks on Israeli cities on Friday, Uri Shacham, chief of staff of Magen David Adom, told JNS.

The Islamic Republic fired about 100 missiles at Israel at about 9 p.m. local time, and a few evaded Israel’s defense systems and struck two areas in central Israel, according to Shacham. About 40 were injured at the time, including two who were in the category of sever-to-critical condition. One of the two succumbed to her injuries.

Some others are in moderate condition and the rest had minor injuries, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service.

At about 2 a.m. on Saturday, Magen David Adom stated that one of its mobile intensive care units was hit by shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area.

“Two crew members, who were wearing protective gear, sustained minor injuries from glass shards,” it stated. “They were treated on scene.”

After the third wave of Iranian missile strikes on Israel, at about 1 a.m. local time, Magen David Adom “received numerous reports of buildings that were hit in the center of Israel,” Shacham told JNS. He said that there were three minor injuries.

Prior to the third wave, at least two buildings were hit and there was also damage to surrounding buildings, according to Shacham.

“We rushed dozens of ambulances, EMTs and paramedics to the scene, and we were able to evacuate them very rapidly into the hospitals,” he told JNS.


Gulf nations quietly applauding Israel, but fear Iran strikes could destabilize region
Gulf countries on Friday unanimously condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran in public, fearing an escalation that could threaten economic interests and security, but analysts said that many were quietly applauding the Israeli attacks.

“Gulf states are very much caught between a rock and a hard place,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Chatham House think tank’s Middle East and North Africa Program, told AFP.

While “they are quietly applauding the further weakening of Iran, they face real risks and have to play their cards carefully,” she said.

Their close ties to Israel’s main ally, Washington, which maintains military bases in the region, and their proximity to Iran and its missiles, pose risks.

Vakil said that “Saudi diplomats are distancing themselves from Israel and condemning the strikes as a means to stay out of this conflict.”

The unfolding situation is playing out against a recent diplomatic rapprochement Riyadh has been building with Tehran ever since China in 2023 brokered an agreement aiming to restore ties.

“This is a notable difference with the situation that prevailed in the region 10 years ago, when Saudi Arabia was sort of inciting the United States to strike Iran, calling it the ‘head of the snake,'” said Karim Bitar, a lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Paris’s Sciences Po university.


Commentary Podcast: The Attack 20 Years in the Making
Israel hits Iran. That's it. That's the podcast.


Episode 19: Iran faces a humbler, more dangerous Israel
The astonishing Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program was the inevitable result of October 7, a day that convinced Israelis they do not actually understand their Islamist foes, cannot deter these foes and therefore cannot allow them to develop the capacity to destroy the Jewish state, no matter the cost.

Israel woke up on October 7. Its enemies had been telling it they plan to destroy it for generations; on October 8 it finally started to listen. And the Middle East will never be the same.

This episode was sponsored by Brenda Yablon in honor of the brave men and women of the IDF, without whose courage and selflessness Israel would not exist.


Facing Down Evil in Iran | Haviv Rettig Gur and Eli Lake
The world woke up today to a changed Middle East. Israel struck key nuclear and military facilities throughout Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed retaliation. And Donald Trump urged Iran to agree to a nuclear deal.

As the dust settles in Tehran, we’re left with many questions. Can Iran mount a major counterattack? Did Israel’s strikes secure its safety? Does this spell the end of the Iranian regime? What actually happened on the ground in Iran? And what role will the U.S. play in the unfolding war?

Eli Lake and Haviv Rettig Gur, one of today’s most insightful Middle East analysts, make sense of all of it—and discuss what could come next.


Israel Strikes Iran. What Happens Now?
Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program. What happens now?

Michael Oren joins Bari Weiss to discuss all sides of the issue—from why Israel attacked to the expected length of the campaign to whether the U.S. will get involved.




travelingisrael.com: The Israeli-Iranian War Has Begun (Day 1)
In a daring preemptive strike, Israel has hit Iran’s military leadership and infrastructure to stop a nuclear nightmare before it begins. But this war is about far more than bombs and missiles—it's about two worldviews colliding.

Why did Israel attack now?
What does the Iranian regime really want?
And what did my 7-year-old daughter ask me this morning that shook me to the core?

In this video, I break down the context no one in the mainstream will tell you—about Iran, about Israel, and about the West’s dangerous illusions.

This is not just another conflict. It’s a moment of truth. Watch. Share. And understand what’s really at stake.


Iran will ‘inevitably’ strike back at Israel following rockets fired
Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky says the population in Israel is “very cautious” following the attacks Israel has launched on Iran.

“The Home Front Command system here in Israel … has advised residents to not veer too far,” Mr Ostrovsky told Sky News host Steve Price.

Mr Ostrovsky says it is “inevitable that Iran will strike back at some point”.


Israel's strikes on Iran was an ‘act born of necessity’
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin discusses the latest strikes on Iran by Israel.

“This was an act born of necessity,” Mr Ryvchin told Sky News host Steve Price.

“Iran is getting closer and closer to a nuclear breakout … Iran had violated the terms of its non-proliferation.”


‘Unacceptable threats’: Iran’s nuclear advances drove Israel to act
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma examines Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and the recent increase in tension exhibited by both Iran and Israel.

“I'd make the point that yes, this is an escalation in tensions and activity, but a war has effectively been underway between Israel and Iran, an open war for the last eighteen months to two years,” Mr Sharma told Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus.

“Israel has clearly reached the decision where it’s decided that the advances made in Iran’s nuclear program … posed unacceptable threats to its continued survival.

“So, it’s decided to act now.”


Trump attempts to AVOID APOCALYPSE w/Iran (will it work?) | Our Middle East
Are things about to get ugly with Iran or is President Trump bluffing?
Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) President Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh, senior fellow at JCFA and the Gatestone Institute, deliver a high-level, no-holds-barred analysis of the shifting balance of power in Gaza, Iran and beyond.

Drawing on first-hand briefings in Washington, the hosts explore whether the Trump administration is greenlighting Israeli action against Iran—and why the Islamic Republic may have misjudged President Trump's intentions as weakness. The episode dissects the breakdown of Iran-U.S. negotiations, Tehran’s regional meddling and what could be the final unraveling of Hamas's command structure.

Diker and Abu Toameh also discuss Israel's controversial cooperation with tribal militias like the Abu Shabab clan in Gaza, weighing tactical gains against strategic fallout—especially in the wake of leaks by Israeli officials that may have endangered allies on the ground. The conversation covers the power of perception warfare, the psychological chessboard of Middle East politics and the critical need for a clear and visible replacement government in Gaza to hasten Hamas's downfall.

They also confront the double standards of Iran’s human rights rhetoric, and explore whether President Trump’s recent Gulf trip signals a return of American assertiveness in the region. Could Trump emerge as the “new sheriff” in the Middle East?

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Multicultural Middle East
01:04 Tensions with Iran and U.S. Involvement
02:47 Negotiations and Psychological Warfare
04:38 Iran's Human Rights Violations and Regional Meddling
06:12 The Palestinian Authority and Internal Conflicts
08:34 The Role of Local Militias in Gaza
12:03 Humanitarian Aid and Its Impact on Hamas
14:34 The Future of Hamas and Gaza's Leadership
18:49 Perception Warfare and Strategic Influence
24:57 Trump's Influence in the Middle East
30:51 Conclusion and Future Prospects


Finish the job! Israel must go GLOVES OFF in Gaza | Think Twice
As environmentalist extremist turned pro-Hamas activist Greta Thunberg’s refusal to watch the film of the atrocities committed by the Palestinians on Oct. 7, 2023 indicated, the Jewish state’s foes may not be interested in listening to the truth about the war in Gaza. But according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, it is still imperative for pro-Israel advocates to continue to speak out and highlight the facts of the conflict.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by legal expert Thane Rosenbaum, author of the new book, “Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.” Rosenbaum argues that the attempt to smear Israel as having committed war crimes or a genocide in Gaza is not only an outrageous lie. He sees the attempt to shape the narrative of the war in this manner as “the intersection between antisemitism and international law.”

He maintains that not only is Israel’s war just and that its actions in Gaza are entirely legal under international law, but that the common assertion that too many innocent civilians are being harmed by the conflict is wrong. While the deaths of any individuals in this or any war is a tragedy, the vast majority of Gazans are, Rosenbaum argues, morally complicit for the crimes being committed in their name and with their active cooperation. Hamas may be essentially staging the deaths of civilians because of how they fight the war and their refusal to keep them out of harm’s way. But the population in Gaza has gone along with their being sacrificed in the same way as they did with the barbaric atrocities committed on Oct. 7.

Israel has, Rosenbaum says, a moral obligation to “take the gloves off” and finish the job of eradicating Hamas. A failure to do so, even if it facilitates hostage release/cease fire deals, would simply guarantee more Oct. 7-style tragedies and more bloodshed in the long run.

Chapters
00:00 The Justification of Israel's Actions
05:06 The Role of Media and Public Perception
10:07 Understanding Anti-Semitism in Modern Context
15:03 The Historical Context of the Conflict
20:05 Proportionality and Just War Theory
25:06 The Complicity of Civilians in Conflict
30:04 Legal and Moral Obligations in Warfare
35:52 The Credibility of Casualty Numbers
41:43 Civilians in Conflict: A Complex Reality
46:35 The Ethics of War: Civilian Lives vs. Military Necessity
52:51 Historical Context: Lessons from Past Wars
01:04:09 The Justification of Israel's Military Response


Call me Back Podcast: Emergency Episode: ISRAEL AT WAR WITH IRAN - With Ronen Bergman
Today’s episode:
Around 3AM in Israel, a nation-wide siren awoke Israelis to the news that the Israeli Air Force was conducting extensive strikes on the Islamic Republic of Iran. As far as we know so far, the strikes have targeted nuclear enrichment sites, military sites, the IRGC leadership, including Hussein Salammi, the head of the IRGC, the Army Chief of Staff, and leading nuclear scientists.

Shortly after the blitz began, the IDF Home Front Command announced immediate changes to its guidelines, prohibiting all gatherings for educational, social, and workplace purposes. Israelis have been instructed to remain near bomb shelters as they await the Iranian response.

It is an extremely tense moment for Israelis and Jews around the world. For years we’ve discussed the danger of Iran inching closer and closer to a nuclear weapon. The IDF said in a statement that in recent months it had accumulated evidence that Iran’s nuclear program was “approaching the point of no return.”

Joining us to unpack the ongoing events that are reshaping the Middle East in real time is Ronen Bergman. Ronen is a staff writer for The New York Times and Senior Correspondent for Military and Intelligence Affairs at Yedhiot Ahronot. Ronen is the recipient of a Pulitzer price for his reporting on the Israel-Hamas war.
Call me Back Podcast: What’s a Win? - with Dr. Tal Becker
Since the beginning of the war, 20 months ago, politicians and public figures have referred to ‘total victory’ and a complete defeat of Hamas to define the war’s objectives. But what exactly does that mean? And at what cost to Israeli society?

Today’s guest, Dr. Tal Becker, has been exploring what it means to actually “win” the war. What does it look like? How to measure it?

Tal recently served as the Legal Advisor of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and currently serves as Vice President of the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is a veteran member of successive Israeli peace negotiation teams and played an instrumental role in negotiating and drafting the historic Abraham Accords. Tal earned his doctorate from Columbia University in New York, and is the recipient of numerous scholarly awards, including the Guggenheim Prize for best international law book for his book "Terrorism and the State".

00:00 Introduction
03:45 What is victory?
10:21 Approach to the war
20:58 Perception vs reality
25:33 Operating in good faith
30:51 Bias in media coverage
41:00 Closing


Exclusive: Leader of Anti-Hamas Militia Speaks Out
In a dusty corner of southern Gaza, a new anti-Hamas militia has taken control of a small patch of land in eastern Rafah.

They call themselves the Popular Forces, and in a video released last week, they pledged to protect civilians, guard humanitarian convoys, and resist what they describe as “terrorism and looting” by Hamas.

The group’s leader, 34-year-old Yasser Abu Shabab, hails from a large Bedouin clan, straddling Gaza and Egypt, that has helped the Egyptian army fight ISIS in the Sinai. Depending on who you ask, he’s either an opportunistic warlord—or the unlikely face of the first serious attempt at a post-Hamas civil authority.

Western media and think tanks have largely portrayed Abu Shabab as a traitor and a gangster with alleged links to ISIS and a history of looting humanitarian aid—while also acknowledging his group’s “growing role” in Gaza as Hamas’s control over the Strip weakens.

Abu Shabab, for his part, is inviting tens of thousands of displaced Gazans to live in his enclave and form the beginnings of a civil service. If he succeeds, he will pose the most serious political challenge to Hamas domination of the Strip in a generation.

Earlier this week, in partnership with the Center for Peace Communications (CPC), The Free Press reached Abu Shabab via phone to ask him directly about his alleged ties to ISIS, his relationship with Israel, and the political future he envisions for Gaza.


Sadanand Dhume on Israeli Arms and the India-Pakistan Conflict: How two democracies found common cause
On April 22, 2025, Islamist terrorists struck Indian civilians in Kashmir. Twenty-six people were killed, most of them Hindu tourists. This attack would trigger what analysts now call the “88-Hour War”—a brief but intense conflict between India and Pakistan that ended only after American diplomatic intervention. This four-day war revealed a shift in the strategic landscape that only decades ago would have been unthinkable. When Indian forces engaged Pakistani positions, they deployed Israeli-made drones. When diplomatic support mattered, Israel stood unambiguously with India. Meanwhile, Pakistan relied heavily on Chinese weapons and Turkish diplomatic backing. The conflicts of the Middle East were being played out on the Indian subcontinent.

On this week’s podcast, Jonathan Silver is joined by Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and the author of a June 4 article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Mideast Power Plays in India and Pakistan.” In it, Dhume explains that India—once among Israel’s harshest critics and a reflexive supporter of the Palestinian cause—has become Israel’s largest arms customer, accounting for 34 percent of Israeli weapons exports. That story about arms exports then opens up onto a larger story about how two democracies, each seeing themselves as ancient civilizations facing modern terrorist threats, have found common cause. Silver and Dhume discuss the transformation of Israel-India relations from cold-war hostility to strategic partnership, by focusing on the arms trade between them.






Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 



AddToAny

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Search2

Hasbys!

Hasbys!

2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Show All

Blog Archive

Copyright © Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News | Powered by Blogger
Blogger Templates