Saturday, January 24, 2026

01/24 Links: The West’s silence on Iran is the latest warning of Islamists’ growing power; America has thrown the Kurds to the Syrian wolves; Israel’s tech sector soars to $111 billion in 2025 deals

From Ian:

Qanta Ahmed: The West’s silence on Iran is the latest warning of Islamists’ growing power
The fact that the Iranian regime calls itself Islamic is awkward for Western progressives, especially if they are unable (or unwilling) to distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Never mind that the main victims of Tehran’s terror are vulnerable Muslims. The fear of Islamophobia instils a silence that only serves to protect the Ayatollah and his dictatorship.

Western progressives are similarly compromised by critical race theory – indoctrination integral to woke ideology. Palestinian victimhood is lionised above all other struggles, partly because their so-called “oppressors” (Israelis) are erroneously deemed to be white. Thus, Islamist anti-Semitism merges seamlessly with virulent far-Left anti-Semitism under the banner of “anti-Zionist anti-racism”. When Islamists murder Muslims in Iran, Iranians are not accorded such “prestige” victimhood.

There is also the small matter of money. There is a growing body of evidence that many pro-Palestinian protests were not spontaneous outpourings of support for the cause, but systematically organised and richly financed.

Research from data analysts at the Network Contagion Research Institute, affiliated to Rutgers University, found evidence of Chinese links to certain groups, and concluded: “While nominally focused on Israel, the current protests [organised by these groups] can be better understood as a well-funded initiative driving a revolutionary, anti-government, and anti-capitalist agenda, with the leading organisations serving as versatile tools for foreign entities hostile to the US”.

With Iran, the money in the West appears to be on the regime’s side. Extraordinary investigative research by journalist Asra Nomani for the Pearl Project has identified a network of allegedly pro-Iranian groups, encompassing “socialist revolutionaries, Islamist activists, foreign-influenced nonprofits and even political operatives from Democratic groups”, what she has dubbed the “woke army”.

Nomani also describes this as the Red-Green alliance – a merging of socialism, even communism, with Islamism, seeking to pull apart the fabric of American society. She testified to the US Senate judiciary committee on March 5 2025, urging these organisations to be registered as foreign agents because many of them promote the propaganda of foreign regimes. I can’t be alone in thinking that any protest in the US in support of the Ayatollah should automatically be considered suspect.

As the US president continues to weigh the most significant foreign policy decision in a decade, Iranians are forced to endure a double tragedy. The first is that their country, once a shining example of civilisation in the Islamic world, continues to struggle under the yoke of Islamist tyrants bent on exporting their twisted ideology everywhere. The second is that the very people in the West who claim to care most about the oppressed of the world have nothing to say about the brave people of Iran.

We should all hope that the Iranian regime can be brought to its knees. But even then, we will still be left with the hypocrisy and corruption of our own societies.
Alan Baker: Human-rights inversion: Are Israelis not entitled to the same protections?
International human rights discourse has become deeply distorted by disproportionately targeting Israel while ignoring or minimizing severe human rights abuses occurring elsewhere in the world.

Political bias, media narratives, international institutions and activist movements selectively apply charged terms such as genocide, apartheid, starvation and disproportionate force exclusively to Israel.

This approach denies Israelis the same human rights protections afforded to others and transforms universal humanitarian principles into politicized tools.

Accusations leveled against Israel are legally flawed, historically misapplied and dismissive of Israel’s security concerns, democratic character and efforts under international humanitarian law, while overlooking terrorism, hostage-taking and the use of civilians as human shields by armed groups.

The Western ideological and indoctrination machinery appears to be working overtime. Daily, we are witnessing a mass-phenomenon of deliberately one-sided accusations being leveled solely against Israel, alleging human rights violations against Palestinians.

Openly slanted social media platforms, once-reputable international media outlets, politically biased United Nations bodies and human rights committees, politically pressured and influenced national and international leaders and parliamentarians, fomented university students and academic staff, and clearly ignorant show-biz celebrities, all unthinkingly accuse Israel of such crimes as genocide, apartheid, discrimination, cruelty and disproportionate military actions.

Curiously, all these “paragons of international virtue” appear to be selectively blind as to the human rights of everyone in the world except Palestinians. They ignore:
The plight of millions of Iranian citizens being arbitrarily subjected, in real time, to daily brutal subjugation and the wholesale murder of thousands of them.
The systematic butchering of tens of thousands of civilians from non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur and El Fasher in Sudan in 2025.
The extremely high 2025 civilian death toll and injuries in the Ukraine-Russia war.
Systematic violence and state repression in Myanmar against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.
Mass atrocities in Nigeria in attacks by the Boko Haram and other extremist groups.
Massacres of Christians in churches and hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The intentional civilian targeting and extra-judicial killings in Tanzania by security forces during election-related unrest.

This hypocrisy and double standards by those claiming to protect universal human rights is glaring. They audaciously and undisguisedly ignore, and even deny, Israel’s human rights and protections and those of its citizens, those same rights that they so insistently and emotionally claim for Palestinians.
Andrew Fox: America has thrown the Kurds to the Syrian wolves
The Kurds are familiar with this pattern. They have been betrayed by the West many times before. First, by allowing Turkey to breach the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which created Kurdistan, then by looking the other way when Saddam Hussein carried out the ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s. Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah once warned them not to ‘bet on the Americans’ because Washington would ‘sell you out’ when it suited. He was right.

Turkey, meanwhile, is the obvious winner. Sharaa has emerged as a close ally of Ankara, whose overriding goal has always been to crush Kurdish autonomy on its border.

America’s indifference to the fate of Syria’s Kurds is not just a betrayal – it is also a profound strategic mistake. The threat of ISIS has not vanished. If anything, with jihadists firmly in control in Damascus, it has increased.

As Kurdish control and ability to guard the ISIS prisoner camps collapses, the US military has begun transferring ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq, starting with 150 men and with warnings that up to 7,000 could be moved. There are already problems. Sources report that approximately 1,500 Islamic State detainees escaped from Shaddadi prison – abandoned by Kurdish forces in the teeth of the Syrian army. US officials have provided much lower estimates of around 200, with many reportedly recaptured. The precise number is less important than the fact that no one can guarantee this will not happen again on a larger scale.

Then there is al-Hol, which Syrian government forces also took control of this week. It holds around 40,000 people of various nationalities, mostly relatives and suspected affiliates of ISIS fighters, in conditions long described as a breeding ground for extremism.

All of this is unfolding under a Syrian president whose past should worry the West. Sharaa is a former jihadist commander who once led al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front.

Damascus refers to decrees about Kurdish rights and recognition, including steps towards citizenship and cultural protections, but paper promises are worthless if Kurdish self-rule is crushed. Pro-government voices are already spreading the claim that the Kurds are merely recent ‘arrivals’ with no distinct claims to nationhood.

This is the strategic cost of Trump’s approach. By prioritising short-term gains over long-term moral principles, Washington continues to reinforce the same lesson: you can be useful, brave and pro-Western, yet still be discarded as soon as you become inconvenient. This does not bring stability to the region. Instead, it fuels radicalisation. From the Kurds to the Ukrainians to European members of NATO, the message is the same: the US is not a reliable ally. This has tremendous security implications for us all.

If the West wants to stop the next ISIS wave, it needs to stop treating the Kurds as expendable. That means enforceable guarantees for Kurdish-majority areas, and a recognition of the right to statehood they deserve.

Abandoning the people who fought jihadism on the ground is not ‘stability’. What we are seeing from the US in its relations with Syrian jihadists is a down payment on the next catastrophe.


Re-liberating Jerusalem: Why Israel must assert sovereignty over its capital, now
Three news items of the past week serve as reminders that the security and sovereignty situations in Jerusalem require urgent government action.

The first is the passing of the heroic Jerusalem archaeologist Gabi Barkay, who led protests against Wakf's destruction of Temple Mount antiquities and founded the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which for the past 20 years has sought to recover and research the ruined, residual antiquities, with important results. Barkay played a major role in pushing back against Palestinian ideological violence in Jerusalem and in reclaiming Jewish historical rights.

The second is the notable change in police policy on the Temple Mount, allowing Jewish/Israeli visitors to bring pages with prayer texts onto the Mount. This is one more blessed step forward toward full-scale and regular Jewish prayer at the site – the holiest place on Earth according to Jewish tradition – with all necessary accoutrements (Torah scrolls, prayer books, tallit and tefillin, and more) in a permanent location.

Aside from being essential from a religious perspective, this is long overdue pushback against the Islamic denialism of Jewish history in Zion and the Palestinian attempt to turn the Temple Mount into ground zero for warfare against Israel.

Third is the razing of the large UNRWA compound in Maalot Dafna (Sheikh Jarrah) in Jerusalem, the necessary and uber-justified result of new laws passed in the Knesset outlawing UNRWA operations in Israel.

This, too, is a long-overdue pushback against the Palestinian refugee-martyrdom narrative, perpetuated by UNRWA’s support for the so-called Palestinian “right of return,” and it is punishment for the involvement of UNRWA personnel and administrators in Hamas operations against Israel in Gaza.
How Antisemitism Hides Online: Identifying Coded Jew Hatred
Seeking Solutions: What Can We Do in the Face of Online Antisemitism?

These sorts of cryptic antisemitic signals can be hard for online algorithms and content moderators to detect. Yet it’s important that we call them to account whenever we see them.

1. Don’t engage with these users.
Online users who employ the types of coded language described above aren’t going to argue with you in good faith. Engaging with them could be dangerous. Resist the temptation to jump into political conversations with extremists online.

2. Screenshot the offending posts.
Screenshot posts that use this type of antisemitic language so that you have proof of what you saw.

3. Report offensive language to social media platforms.
Social media platforms have broad policies against hate on their sites. Reporting offensive material can aid them in taking it down and even blocking offensive users.

4. Report antisemitic posts to local organizations.
Send your screenshots to organizations that document and fight antisemitism online such as the Anti-Defamation League in the USA to the FBI, in Britain to the Community Security Trust, or to local law enforcement.

5. Discuss online slurs with your social network.
You are the best advocate for fighting antisemitism in your own social network. Speak up about offensive content with your friends and colleagues. Let other people know why coded antisemitic slurs are problematic, and teach those around you to identify them too.
Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire and first principles for peace
The first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration reminds us of a central truth: No other American president could have achieved what he has accomplished in Gaza and across the region.

Working directly with all parties—without appeasement, duplicity or compromising Israel’s or America’s safety and security—President Trump succeeded where others failed. Unlike administrations that attempted to “play both sides,” his leadership delivered results.

Under his watch, over 70 living American hostages were freed. History will record that this outcome was not the product of phone calls, symbolic diplomacy or economic compromise, but of strength, clarity and unwavering resolve.

Among the Trump administration’s most consequential foreign policy achievements is the Israel–Gaza ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025 that secured the release of all remaining living Israeli hostages. During his visit to Israel for the signing, President Trump addressed the Knesset, declaring, “This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

On Jan. 15, 2026, he announced the creation of the Board of Peace, anchored by a “comprehensive demilitarization agreement with Hamas.” This was not a hollow slogan—as has too often characterized previous Middle East engagements—but a strategy that produced measurable outcomes benefiting both Israel and the United States.

The president was right—history was made. Yet as we move into Phase 2 of the Gaza peace plan, we cannot forget about finishing Phase 1. The Hamas threat extends beyond its existing military infrastructure and must be the focus if we are serious about giving lasting peace a chance.
US 2026 defense strategy calls Israel ‘model ally’
The Pentagon published its National Defense Strategy for 2026 on Friday, outlining a return to the "peace through strength" doctrine, recognizing Israel as a "model ally" in the Middle East, prioritizing the defense of the American homeland, and placing an unprecedented demand on allies to bear the burden of security.

The 34-page document, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, constituted a strategic message to Israel, solidifying its position as the United States' close partner in the Middle East and officially confirmed the results of the campaign against Iran.

Unlike previous strategies that sought to balance relationships in the region, the new document placed Israel at the center of American strategic thinking. The strategy defined Israel as a “model ally,” a country that does not ask the United States to fight on its behalf, but demonstrates both the willingness and the ability to defend itself independently, and is therefore deserving of unequivocal support.

The document sharply criticized the Biden administration, which, according to the report’s authors, “tied [Israel’s] hands” rather than empowering it after the October 7 attack. In a notable policy shift, the United States committed to removing bureaucratic and political obstacles in order to ensure Israel’s military superiority, based on the understanding that Israeli strength is a key pillar of regional stability.

The strategy also formally and explicitly echoed the success of “Operation Midnight Hammer,” stating that Iran’s nuclear program has been “obliterated,” a wording characteristic of US President Donald Trump.


Hamas operative who broke under investigation, Palestinian carried the body to IDF under fire
Shaul, a Golani Brigade soldier, was killed in combat during the night of July 19–20, 2014, in the Gaza war. The armored personnel carrier he was riding in was heading toward the Shijaiyah neighborhood but became stuck in the Daraj Tuffah area, where it was hit by Hamas fire. Since then, Hamas referred to him by the code name “the Daraj soldier.”

The first intelligence signals pointing to the possible location of Shaul’s body emerged on the second day of Rosh Hashanah in 2024. During an IDF raid, forces seized a computer containing correspondence between a Hamas operative and senior Hamas military commander in Gaza Izz al-Din Haddad. In the exchange, the operative warned Haddad that among detainees taken from Shifa Hospital was someone who knew where “the Daraj soldier” was being held.

At the time of the 2014 war, Haddad held no formal post, having been sidelined amid internal power struggles within Hamas.

After reviewing detainees from Shifa, Israeli intelligence focused on one suspect. He initially denied any connection, but under intensive interrogation said he had met two Palestinians in the Hamad neighborhood of Khan Younis. According to his account, the two said that Israel had recently detained a Palestinian who had transferred Shaul’s body to a Gazan named Ibrahim Hilo, who had been holding it.

Intelligence checks showed that Hilo had been a Hamas platoon commander in 2014 but was later working as a merchant and living in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. According to the detainee, whose reliability was uncertain, Hilo kept Shaul’s body in a freezer beneath his home, in one of three shops on the ground floor. IDF checks revealed that Israeli forces had previously been in the building but had not inspected the freezer.

Officials quickly concluded that a loud military raid on the house was not an option, due to the risk that living hostages might be held nearby. With no certainty the information was accurate, the decision was made that Hilo would need to be abducted covertly, without alerting his surroundings, to prevent the body from being moved.

Preparations then shifted to deception. Intelligence officials learned that Hilo had relocated to a displaced persons camp in Deir al-Balah. Israeli security services made covert contact with him, drawing him into what he believed was a commercial arrangement. Without realizing it, Hilo became an unwitting asset. He rented a warehouse near the Salah al-Din route and was conditioned to arrive there at both regular and unusual hours to receive goods.


IDF says strike targeted 2 Gazans who crossed Yellow Line, planted bombs near troops
The Israeli Air Force struck and killed several Palestinian terror operatives who crossed the ceasefire line and planted explosives near troops in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, the military said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the operatives were identified crossing the Yellow Line, planting a bomb in the ground, and approaching troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade “in a way that posed an immediate threat.”

The IAF then struck and “eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat,” the military said.

Palestinian media reported that two boys were killed in a drone strike in the Strip’s north around noon Saturday. They were identified as Mohammad and Suleiman al-Zawar’a, ages 15 and 14, respectively.

According to the reports, they were killed while collecting firewood near the now-defunct Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is situated on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent ceasefire violations.


Seth Frantzman: Weapons smuggling via drones poses a threatening new reality for Israel
Meanwhile, gun violence is at an all-time high in Arab communities in Israel. This indicates that some of the guns are reaching Arab communities. They may also be fueling threats in the West Bank.

“Israeli security officials have voiced growing concern over what they describe as a surge in weapons smuggling into the country using drones from the borders with Jordan and Egypt,” Xinhua reported.

“Shin Bet domestic security agency chief David Zini called it an ‘ongoing catastrophe’ and a ‘strategic threat to Israel’ earlier this month,” the report said.

The same report quoted a KAN News report as saying there have been “tens of thousands” of drone incursions.

Last November, it was reported that the IDF’s 80th Division had intercepted drone smuggling from Egypt. The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF had stopped 130 drones last October.

The drone incidents appear to be rising, and the loads the drones can carry may also be increasing. There is no doubt that Israel takes this threat seriously.

It is also clear that more needs to be done in Jordan and Egypt to crack down on this problem. As these countries seek to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, perhaps they could help stop the drone gun-smuggling threat.

Israel has invested heavily in fences and more security along the Jordanian and Egyptian border in recent years. The drone threat, however, shows how one is always destined to plan for the “last war.”

The last threat was land invasions or land smuggling. Now, drones are taking over the air space and leading to a new type of threat.

Israel has the technology to track and identify the drones and take them down. There are many ways to bring them down, including jamming, shooting them, or even using lasers.

Israel’s borders with Egypt and Jordan are long, however, and the smugglers clearly know this and want to exploit this problem.

Drone threats increase exponentially. They are also always changing in their complexity and the ease that various enemies have to acquire this technology. As such, the threat is growing in unique ways.


German police arrest Lebanese Hamas terror suspect linked with planning attacks on Jews, Israelis
Police officers at Berlin Brandenburg Airport arrested a 36-year-old Lebanese citizen linked with Hamas terror arms supplies, who was landing from a flight that departed Beirut on Friday morning.

The terror suspect, identified by Der Spiegel as Mohammed S., was on the wanted list of the Federal Criminal Police Office, the German outlet learned.

The German Federal Prosecutor's Office has accused the suspect of being a member of the terror group and belonging to a team of "foreign operatives" who worked to procure firearms and ammunition for the terrorists to attack Jewish and Israeli institutions across Europe, the outlet noted.

He is alleged to have procured approximately 300 rounds of ammunition for potential terror attacks. The BBC added that this procurement occurred in August 2025.

The suspect is due to be brought before a judge who will decide on a pretrial detention, BBC reported.
I Asked An Israeli Arab “Israel or Palestine?”… He Didn’t Hold Back

Anti-Israel Leftist Picked the WRONG Israeli to Argue With

Cameron Kasky's one-sided anti-Israel activism is not moral courage
Kasky’s low popularity in the campaign – some reports show he was polling at just 6% – is the most probable reason he recently announced that he was quitting his run for Congress. He claimed, however, that it wasn’t the low poll numbers that convinced him to drop his campaign and abandon his supporters: Rather, he said his trip to Judea and Samaria last month compelled his pivot from politics to activism.

“I returned from Palestine with one concern,” he said. “What can we do to stop the settler violence in the West Bank?” Kasky said he is quitting the race to “focus on human rights in the West Bank.”

The former candidate’s slander of Israel continued when he made a video – later posted by Iranian state TV – where he falsely claimed that, “The settlers who move into the West Bank, they don’t just kill Palestinians with impunity… they taunt and humiliate and terrorize these people. They shoot holes in their water tanks. They cut the power, the little power that they do have in their villages. They are committing acts of violence that are so horrifying. The feeling of impending doom at the barrel of some assault weapon – that is the entire lives of people who I met, human beings.”

It is unclear who paid for Kasky’s trip to Israel and who will be funding his future activism against Israelis in Judea and Samaria, but he is just one more good-hearted, naïve activist tricked into thinking that spreading Palestinian talking points “as a Jew” to demonize Israel is a moral position.

Kasky is just another young Jewish American with little knowledge of the region, brought on a short “fact-finding” trip to the West Bank and given a one-sided, tear-jerking tour of Palestinian villages. These trips present a biased view with no context and a victimhood-laden tale of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These activists are rarely curious or intellectually honest enough to research the Israeli story. Activists like Kasky, who have little experience with foreign affairs and other cultures, are gullible and believe the narrative fed to them.

If he were honest, or simply intellectually curious, he’d return to the region on his own dime, visit Israeli towns and cities in Judea and Samaria, and listen with an open mind. He would hear the Jewish claim to the heartland of their historic homeland, hear about violent Palestinian terrorism in the region, and learn the truth about “settler violence.” He could then make an accurate assessment about who has rights to land, whether Palestinians are victims or perpetrators of violence and terrorism in the region, and whether settler violence is being correctly reported or exaggerated by biased agitators with an agenda to spread a false narrative about Jewish settlers.

One thing is certain to those of us who live in the region: activists who naively swallow a one-sided narrative are furthering Palestinian victimhood and never encourage Palestinian growth. For decades, these activists have perpetuated Palestinian regression and have never helped Palestinians advance and develop. It would be a shame if Kasky, like so many before him, throws away a life of potential leadership out of naïveté. I hope he engages intellectual honesty in a search for the truth.


UChicago Student Groups Promote “Week of Action” for Leader of U.S.-Designated Terror Group PFLP
The University of Chicago’s student organizations UChicago United for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Chicago are actively promoting an International Week of Action aimed at securing the release of Ahmad Sa’adat, the imprisoned general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Sa’adat himself organized the August 2001 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi, an operation carried out by the PFLP’s military wing.

The student groups are disseminating promotional materials produced by Samidoun, designated as a terrorist entity by the United States and Israel for functioning as a “sham charity” and international fundraising apparatus for the PFLP. Sa’adat has been imprisoned since 2002 and is currently serving a 30-year sentence.

Terror Organization’s Campus Influence Deepens
The involvement of UChicago’s student organizations in promoting Samidoun material exemplifies a broader pattern of terrorist-aligned organizations leveraging American college campuses as organizing platforms. According to research from NGO Monitor, the PFLP and Samidoun have maintained substantial presence at university encampments and demonstrations across the country, with students documented displaying PFLP flags and distributing propaganda.

The PFLP itself publicly endorsed American campus activist movements in April 2024, declaring solidarity with Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at Columbia, Rutgers, Yale, and Stanford.
Woke NYC high school teacher ‘brainwashing’ kids with gender ideology, anti-Israel agenda
Part of the course’s lessons on colonialism include movies and books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all from the Palestinian perspective, with zero pro-Israeli works offered on the syllabus, parents said.

Students must watch the film “No Other Land,” an Oscar-winning documentary about the Israeli Defense Forces clearing out homes in the Palestinian Masafer Yatta settlements in order to build a new military training ground.

Jewish parents worry the one-sided narrative will radicalize students against Israel and Jews and could put a target on their kids’ backs.

Parents have raised the issue to the school’s principal and vice principal, but they say their concerns have been dismissed.

“As public educators, we are sensitive to the fact that there are many different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences in our classes, and we are all aware that we as educators cannot share our personal political stances with our students,” Brooklyn Tech Assistant Principal Jess Rhoades Bonilla wrote in an October email to parents.

After The Post reached out for comment, Bonilla told parents this week the movie would “most likely not be screened,” a source said.


US bulks military presence in Mideast as CENTCOM chief heads to Israel
The U.S. military continued bolster its forces in the Middle East throughout the weekend, with assessments that their deployment will be completed in the coming days ahead of a possible strike on Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Friday aboard the Air Force One that “We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case … and we’ll see what happens. We have a big force going toward Iran; I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”

He reiterated that his threats prevented the execution of 837 people whom Iranian authorities arrested during the nationwide protests that shook the Islamic Republic earlier in January.

“They would have been dead, every one of them would’ve been hung. This is like from a thousand years ago. … Mostly young men were going to be hung on Thursday, and I said if you hang those people you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts,” the president said in reference to the U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June.

Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has moved into an underground shelter in Tehran, Iran International, an opposition-affiliated outlet, reported on Saturday.

It cited two sources close to the government as saying that the underground facility is a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”

Khamenei’s third son, Masoud Khamenei, has assumed the roles of the supreme leader’s office, they added.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying destroyers are on their way to Iran in the Indian Ocean.

The carrier strike group is expected to join three littoral combat ships, which ported in Bahrain on Friday, The Independent reported.
KLM, Air France suspend Israel flights as US-Iran tensions escalate
As tensions ramp up between Iran and the United States, airlines have been rerouting and canceling flights across the Middle East, with N12 reporting on Friday that Dutch airline KLM and Air France had suspended flights to Israel.

These cancellations come after US President Donald Trump said on Thursday the US had an "armada" heading towards Iran.

A senior Iranian official said on Friday that Iran will treat any attack "as an all-out war against us", ahead of the arrival of a US military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East in the coming days.

The European Union's aviation regulator recommended on January 16 that its airlines stay out of Iran's airspace as tensions flared over Tehran's deadly crackdown on protests and US threats of intervention.
Emory University sacks daughter of Iran’s top security official Larijani
Emory University has dismissed Fatemeh Ardeshir Larijani, the daughter of the US-sanctioned security chief of the Islamic Republic, the university confirmed to Iran International on Saturday, following growing calls for her removal.

"A physician who is the daughter of a senior Iranian government official is no longer an employee of Emory," the university’s Winship Cancer Institute, where Larijani worked, said in response to Iran International’s inquiry.

"Because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to provide additional information," the university said.

The US Treasury last week sanctioned Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, for “coordinating” the Islamic Republic's response to nationwide protests on behalf of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and for publicly calling on security forces to use force to repress peaceful demonstrators.

It sanctioned him alongside other alleged "architects" of the deadliest crackdown on protests in Iran's history earlier this month.

Emory University did not specify whether her dismissal was related to the US sanctions, but said its "employees are hired in full compliance with state and federal laws and other applicable requirements."

Ardeshir-Larijani was an assistant professor in the department of hematology and medical oncology at Emory medical school, whose official website described her research as focusing on "new target discovery and defining an immune resistance mechanism in lung cancer."

Her biography page at the university's website is no longer available following the Saturday dismissal.


Restricted Video Leaked footage from Iran shows how bad it really is.
Very GRAPHIC ⚠️




Israel’s tech sector soars to $111 billion in 2025 deals
Israel’s tech industry generated more than $111 billion in capital deals in 2025, nearly quadruple the previous year’s total and surpassing 2021’s previous record levels, according to Startup Nation Central’s annual report released on Thursday.

The surge—propelled by mergers, acquisitions and public offerings—underscored renewed global confidence in Israel’s innovation sector, even amid regional challenges. Growth in 2025 was led by productivity and AI-driven efficiency, not workforce expansion, the report said.

High-tech exports climbed to 56% of Israel’s total exports, while GDP contribution per employee rose 1.4% despite a slight decline in high-tech employment. AI integration reshaped company structures, compressing development cycles and boosting output.

Private funding hit $16.7 billion across 801 rounds, with investors favoring larger, conviction-based deals. Meanwhile, M&A value totaled $82.3 billion, signaling a maturing ecosystem built on stability and integration.

Regional engagement under the Abraham Accords also deepened, with $186 million in MENA-linked deals, the highest since 2021, led by cooperation with the United Arab Emirates in agri-tech, defense and cybersecurity.
Rafael subsidiary strikes deal with four NATO countries for Trophy APS
EuroTrophy GmbH, the German subsidiary of Israel’s defense group Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, announced that it had signed a €330 million contract with KNDS Deutschland to supply its Trophy active protection system (APS) for the Leopard 2 A8 main battle tank programs of Lithuania, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Croatia.

APS systems such as Trophy are designed to detect and intercept any anti-tank threats before hitting the platform, including anti-tank guided missiles, RPGs, drones, and more. Developed as a result of cooperation between the IDF and Rafael, the company describes it as “the world’s only combat-proven active protection system.”

According to the statement, the contract includes the delivery of Trophy APS systems, spare parts, training packages, and comprehensive logistical support to the four NATO European nations. Integrated into the Leopard 2 A8’s standard configuration, the systems are meant to “enabl[e] interoperability and commonality across the participating NATO forces,” the statement said.

Zvi Marmor, senior vice president and head of Rafael’s Land and Naval Systems Division, said that Trophy is “the only active protection system in the world that has proven itself hundreds of times on the battlefield. Trophy provides comprehensive survivability against advanced anti-tank threats while simultaneously improving situational awareness, joint operational capability, and freedom of maneuver – both in main battle tank fleets and in light armored platforms.”


Getting Jewy with the LEGEND Howie Mandel - Jewish Pride, Fighting Hate & the Meaning of “Tzedakah”
This week on Being Jewish with Jonah Platt, Jonah sits down with comedy and television icon Howie Mandel (America’s Got Talent, Deal or No Deal, Gremlins, St. Elsewhere) for a conversation that moves effortlessly between laughter and reflection. From his early days as a stand-up comic to becoming one of the most recognizable faces in television, Howie reflects on a career that has spanned more than four decades, and the values that have grounded him throughout it.

With trademark honesty and humor, Howie opens up about his Jewish upbringing, family life, and how Jewish values have shaped his worldview both onstage and off. The conversation also takes a more serious turn as Howie speaks candidly about the resurgence of antisemitism, the aftermath of October 7th, and what it has felt like to navigate Jewish identity in an increasingly hostile global climate. Thoughtful, funny, and unexpectedly moving, this episode offers a rare glimpse into how one of comedy’s most familiar figures navigates faith, fear, and responsibility to show up when it matters most.

00:00 - Howie Mandel and Hebrew School Memories
02:31 - Jewish Identity and Observance
05:40 - Howie Saying Kaddish on Tour Stories
09:05 - Chosen People and Charity
13:17 - Legacy and Making Impact Now
16:50 - Understanding Hatred and October 7th
22:10 - Israel's PR Problem
25:39 - Pro-Palestine vs Anti-Israel
28:01 - Antisemitism and Visibility
33:22 - Canadian Jewish Community Struggles
35:17 - Hollywood and Jewish Representation
42:52 - Jewish Guilt and Cultural Pride
45:25 - Howie Mandel Does Jewish Stuff Game




HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ pays homage to 2018 Tree of Life shooting
In the latest episode of “The Pitt,” the HBO drama starring Noah Wyle as a Jewish doctor working at a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the show references the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in the city.

In episode 3 of season 2, Wyle’s character, Dr. Robby Robinavitch, treats a Jewish woman named Yana Kovalenko, played by Irina Dubovna, who suffered burns after dropping a samovar.

While treating her wounds, Kovalenko tells Dr. Robinavitch that she belongs to the Tree of Life synagogue, and he responds that he heard it is being rebuilt.

“Yes, something new, ‘Remember, Rebuild, Renew,’ that’s their slogan,” she says, referencing the actual name of Tree of Life’s campaign to rebuild the temple.

When Robinavitch mentions that Kovalenko dropped the samovar after being startled by fireworks on the Fourth of July, she reveals that she was traumatized by the shooting.

“I was on my way inside, October 27th, 2018. To the synagogue, when the shooting started,” she says. “There’s nothing I could do. I went in after the police arrived. I felt I had to. I’m better now, but New Year’s Eve, Fourth of July, when kids have their fireworks and firecrackers…”

“There is no clock on how long it takes,” Robinavitch responds.

In another scene in the episode, Kovalenko thanks Perlah, a hijab-wearing nurse, for the Muslim community’s support in helping fund the funerals after the shooting.




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