Saturday, April 18, 2026

04/18 Links: He dreamed of regime change; Endgame in Sight; Israel is not at war with Lebanon; Fetterman blasts his party for tolerating antisemitism; Melanie Phillips: An unholy silence

From Ian:

Martin Kramer: He dreamed of regime change
The Iran war has entered a new phase, a “double-sided ceasefire.” Eventually, we will learn the backstory, and it won’t look like anything we were led to believe while it was unfolding. Much of what seems true today will turn out to be false, and vice versa. If it weren’t always so, the world wouldn’t need historians like me.

In the meantime, I seek insights in the wisdom of mentors now gone. Bernard Lewis was one; I wrote about Lewis and Iran the other week. This time, I’ll consider Uri Lubrani (1926-2018), an Israeli diplomat and defense official.

Lubrani, who served the state from its founding, had the unusual distinction of being posted, time and again, to the epicenters of crisis. From 1967 to 1971, he served as ambassador to Ethiopia, which positioned him to play a crucial role in the emergency emigration of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1991 (Operation Solomon). It was his greatest achievement.

But he was also known for serving as head of the Israeli mission to Iran (with ambassadorial rank) from 1973 to 1978. His claim to fame: he anticipated the rise of religious extremism and the Shah’s fall before anyone else did.

As early as 1975, he warned a US senator visiting Tehran that “the most serious problem that the Shah had domestically was from the religious elements who were hostile and very difficult for him to deal with.” The US diplomat who accompanied the senator later recalled: “I never heard anyone say that in the American embassy. I never heard any journalists say it or any Iranians say it. This was the first time that I heard that analysis.”

Lubrani remained ahead of the curve. In a June 1978 dispatch, he reported to Jerusalem that the Shah’s position was undergoing an “accelerated process of destabilization… a process from which there is no return and which will ultimately lead to his downfall and a drastic change in the form of government in Iran.” Again, he was alone. The State Department at the time estimated that the Shah had “an excellent chance to rule for a dozen or more years,” and the CIA held that “Iran is not in a revolutionary or even a pre-revolutionary situation.” Lubrani emerged from the Iranian revolution as an acclaimed oracle.

I got to know him in the mid-1980s, when he ran an office for Lebanese affairs at the defense ministry. Israel was occupying much of South Lebanon and rubbing up against Hezbollah, Iran’s Shi‘ite proxy. I was beginning to work on Hezbollah myself, and we had much to discuss. Lubrani was also an old friend of Lewis, and I often found myself at dinner with both of them. I wish I’d taken notes.
Melanie Phillips: An unholy silence
Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has adopted a particularly odious attitude. Having said the Iran conflict was “not our war” and “not in our national interest,” he then tried to cast himself as a peacemaker by flying to Saudi Arabia purportedly to negotiate a ceasefire.

While the United States is bringing Iran economically to its knees by interdicting Iranian maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, thus brilliantly turning the regime’s ostensible trump card against it, Starmer is sending out invitations to a risible summit to “break” Iran’s control of the Strait.

Top of their deliberations will doubtless be what gifts to put into the party bags they’ll give the Iranians to take home with them.

Shockingly, Starmer thinks that Israel has no right to defend itself against Hezbollah in Lebanon. He told the House of Commons this week: “Israel’s strikes are wrong. They’re having devastating humanitarian consequences and pushing Lebanon into a crisis. The bombing should stop now.”

He thus presented Israel totally falsely as a wanton aggressor, ignoring the thousands of rockets that Hezbollah has been firing at Israeli civilians—with all the death and destruction they’ve caused--and that show no sign of stopping.

Starmer thinks diplomacy brings peace. But more than four decades of diplomacy with Iran have resulted in thousands of Jews, Americans and others around the world being murdered, killed and wounded; a terrorized and butchered Iranian people; and the world’s most lethal terrorist state coming to the very brink of arming itself with the nuclear bomb.

Like the pope, Starmer and his fellow European fainthearts make pious incantations of peace while leaving the targets of genocidal war to swing in the wind.

This culture of appeasement reflects the dismal fact that Britain and these European nations are now on a trajectory of cultural collapse, as their countries become steadily Islamized while they refuse to defend a historic identity they no longer respect or even recognize.

Accordingly, the pope’s position should cause the utmost dismay to all who understand the need to prevent Western civilization from disintegrating.

Since religion is the moral scaffolding of a culture, it’s essential for the church to assert itself if the West is to be defended. For decades, the Church of England has tragically been instead at the forefront of civilizational decline. Now the Pope is sanctifying Europe’s surrender to Islam.

Trump’s crude and sometimes preposterous pronouncements dismay many. People’s real concern, however, should be for the survival of the civilization that only America’s president and the State of Israel are trying desperately to defend.
Endgame in Sight By Abe Greenwald
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Here's what I think is happening. The U.S. and Israel won the opening military phase of this war. The U.S. is now winning the economic phase. What’s left of the Iranian regime is cracking under the massive economic stress of the blockade. With the U.S. Navy still interdicting Iranian shipping, the regime may yet break altogether.

Iranian leaders are trying simultaneously to get some economic breathing room and save face by linking their actions to the Israel–Lebanon cease-fire. Trump, irked by the anti-Jewish right’s claims that he’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s puppet, is trying to shut them up with a little social media bluster. It would be wise to take the actual words of the cease-fire as the operative framework here. Trump hasn’t traveled this far, with Israel by the U.S.’s side in a successful war against Iran, just to tie the Jewish state’s hands against Iran’s proxy in Lebanon.

Neither the Iranian regime nor Trump wants to resume the fighting. The regime can’t afford to absorb more damage. For another president, that might mean it’s time to start dropping bombs again. But no other president, despite talking about it, has taken this fight nearly so far. He’s the only one that made the bold decision to wage this war, and he’s done so on his terms. Trump always wanted a short war, and, after a month and a half, he can just about taste victory.

I have my doubts about the details and projected timelines, but, hard as it is to imagine, I believe the president when he says the U.S. will get Iran to hand over its enriched uranium (everything that’s transpired since Operation Midnight Hammer in June was once hard to imagine). And that really would be the whole shebang—the clearest, most incontrovertible victory the U.S. has seen in decades.


Brendan O'Neill: Ezra Klein is dangerously wrong about anti-Zionism
The ‘genocide’ lie, which is the first commandment of anti-Zionism, emerged not in response to Israel’s actions but from a pre-existing cesspit of Israelophobic animus. It wasn’t anything Israel did that earned it that slur. It was the anti-Zionists’ long-held bigoted belief that the Jewish state is an inherently genocidal one, ‘uniquely murderous’, a nation given to the joyous letting of blood. This brings us to the second factor that upends Klein’s claim that anti-Zionism is a ‘response to what Israel is doing: the sheer mania of anti-Zionism, its fizzing, overwrought nature. Spend five minutes with a self-defined anti-Zionist and you will know you are in the presence of a bigot in the garb of a peacenik.

Anti-Zionism belongs far more to the realm of irrational dread than judicious analysis. It simmers with hate. It sees Israel not only as a nation that has committed wrongs – as have all nations – but also as a demonic thing that’s dragging us to hell, or at least to forever war. It rehabilitates ancient calumnies in pseudo-political language. Where Jews were accused of killing Christian children, the Jewish State is said to take pleasure in the death of Palestinian children. The old view of the Jews as the puppet-masters of global affairs finds its echo in the new idea that Israel has the West eating from the palm of its hand. Across the internet, anti-Zionists from both left and right accuse the Jewish nation of controlling our media and polluting our nations with porn and ‘Third Worlders’. Honestly, saying anti-Zionism is a response to Israel’s behaviour is like saying the KKK was a response to black people’s behaviour.

Klein is right about one thing – anti-Zionism is no longer a ‘marginal viewpoint’. And that should worry us all. My concern is that the media establishment’s drawing of a line between anti-Zionism and ‘real anti-Semitism’ is giving free rein to this emboldened ideology of loathing that comes dressed as pacifism. We now have the bizarre situation where someone like Klein can cheer Hasan Piker for saying anti-Semitism is ‘gross’ and ‘immoral’, and then just days later, Piker says he would ‘vote for Hamas over Israel every single time’. Hamas – an army of violent bigots that is devoted to vapourising the world’s only Jewish nation. But it’s just anti-Zionism. It’s fine. Relax.


Jake Wallis Simons: Israel is not at war with Lebanon
The joint statement released by Israel and Lebanon on Thursday could not have been clearer. ‘Israel and Lebanon affirm that the two countries are not at war and commit to engaging in good-faith direct negotiations’, it said.

Wait, what? Israel and Lebanon were not at war? What about the endless hours of media coverage showing us the devastation of Lebanon’s southern villages? What about all the Gaza comparisons? What about all the outrage?

Well, their joint statement held further clues. ‘Both countries recognise the significant challenges faced by the Lebanese state from non-state armed groups’, it said. ‘Those groups’ activities must be curtailed.’

To anybody who knows anything about the region, so much was already obvious. Israel’s campaign in Lebanon is targeted at Hezbollah, not the population at large. Even if every single Shia in the country was supportive of the terror group – which is far from the case – that would mean that two-thirds of Lebanese people opposed it.

With good reason: Hezbollah was founded by the Iranian regime, is fanatically committed to Israel’s destruction and has even adopted the Sieg Heil as its salute. Meanwhile, it has infiltrated Lebanese politics and society like a parasite, turning the country into a zombie state designed for the death of its neighbour.

As the Lebanese academic Makram Rabah pointed out this week on The Brink, a podcast I co-host with Andrew Fox, Hezbollah is inherently anti-Lebanese. It was set up as an Iranian puppet in 1985 to establish a Tehran-style Islamic Republic in Lebanon.

‘As a young kid in the streets of Beirut, I still remember their banners’, Rabah said. ‘They had the same AK-47 on them, but they used to read “Islamic Revolution in Lebanon”.’ Hezbollah, which runs international drug-trafficking networks and has dabbled in prostitution, is widely hated, he said, not least because it plays a large part in the corruption of Lebanon’s political system.

‘They have a kind of Faustian deal with the political elite. The political elite needs them for muscle. The ongoing clientalist system, which has ruined Lebanon over and over again, takes advantage of this sacred alliance of what we call the mafia and the militia.’
Lebanon ceasefire exposes deeper battle against Iran’s regional axis
Trump is understood to be coordinating closely with Netanyahu regarding both the timing and conditions of the ceasefire, ensuring that any diplomatic progress does not compromise Israel’s core security objectives. The coming hours are likely to involve complex deliberations as decision-makers weigh strategic risks against potential opportunities.

Residents of northern Israel remain wary of a ceasefire that could ultimately allow Hezbollah to regroup, potentially leading to renewed evacuations and continued insecurity for border communities such as Metula, Karmiel, Kiryat Shmona and Shlomi.

Even as discussions unfolded, Israeli forces reportedly continued operations aimed at removing terrorist infrastructure from southern Lebanon, including activity in Bint Jbeil, while avoiding renewed strikes in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold whose missiles and drones have repeatedly targeted Israeli civilians.

Lebanon’s internal political constraints remain considerable. Memories of past violence, including the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri using massive explosives, continue to shape perceptions of Hezbollah’s power and the difficulty of confronting an organization deeply embedded within the country’s political and military structures and closely aligned with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Tehran’s reported insistence that Hezbollah continue fighting has served as a critical factor even as the ceasefire takes hold. The American president’s direct engagement with Aoun sends a signal not only to Beirut but also to Tehran regarding Washington’s intentions ahead of broader regional decisions.

In Washington this week, the symbolic display of Lebanese and Israeli flags side by side offered a rare visual expression of potential change. Geography underscores the stakes: Israel and Lebanon share a narrow mountainous border where abandoned communities on both sides could once again thrive if Hezbollah’s presence were removed permanently, potentially supported by temporary Israeli security arrangements designed to prevent renewed escalation.

The United States is now expected to assist Lebanon in confronting Hezbollah’s dominance. Europe, too, faces a significant strategic test. Long shaped by ideological pacifism and reluctance to fully confront Hezbollah’s role, European leaders have often framed Israel’s actions in Lebanon primarily as aggression against the Lebanese state, while insufficiently addressing the influence of the Iranian-backed terrorist organization.

As Israeli Ambassador Yehiel Leiter has noted, Israel and Lebanon ultimately share a common interest in countering Hezbollah. Many Lebanese recognize that Beirut’s government must now find the resolve to act in its own national interest. Europe likewise has an opportunity to reassess its approach in light of shifting regional realities and growing security threats.


Judge dismisses pro-Palestine prosecution of British-Israeli soldier
A judge has thrown out a ‘politically motivated’ attempt to bring a private prosecution against a British-Israeli soldier using Victorian-era law.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) had tried to get the Westminster magistrates’ court to issue a summons to begin a prosecution against the dual British-Israeli national who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The group invoked the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 (FEA), which was enacted in the Victorian era to prevent British nationals from being deployed as mercenaries abroad.

But the court heard that the FEA, as interpreted, does not apply to a dual national serving in the armed forces of his other country.

Successive UK governments have also said the FEA does not apply to British citizens serving in the IDF.

The man broke off a short visit to Britain and returned to Israel to rejoin his army unit as a reservist the day after the Oct 7 attacks, which killed more than 1,200 Jewish people.

Israeli citizens are obliged to do national service or join the IDF for a time and are automatically enrolled in the reserve forces.

Paul Goldspring, the senior district judge, dismissed the attempt to prosecute the soldier, describing the ICJP’s application as “an abuse of the process of the court, driven by an improper motive and facilitated by serious breaches of the duty of candour”.

He said it was also “legally flawed, evidentially deficient and procedurally defective”, with the aim not being justice for a criminal act but “advancement of a political and ideological agenda”.

The judge concluded that ICJP’s “use of the criminal courts as a platform for political posturing” was “an abuse of process”.


Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against Israeli-American tourist in Sri Lanka
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) filed a complaint on Saturday against an Israeli-American tourist in Sri Lanka who served in the IDF and was part of the combat operation in Gaza.

The complaint filed by the Belgium-based Palestinian organization marks the first filed against an American citizen outside the United States.

The anti-Israel group claimed that the Israeli-American tourist was part of an IDF Combat Engineering Battalion and took part in "illegal demolitions of civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."

The group claims to have filed more than 80 complaints against IDF veterans since the begining of 2026, with their goal being to target the ability of Israelis to "move freely." How is behind Hindi Rajab Foundation

HRF is one of the anti-Israel organizations that has recently targeted IDF soldiers with doxxing and legal campaigns, basing its allegations on footage published by the soldiers on their social media accounts.

According to its website, it “focuses on offensive legal action against perpetrators, accomplices, and inciters of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.” It also claims to prioritize “awareness campaigns to challenge Israeli impunity.”

According to NGO Monitor, the foundation, named after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in Gaza City in January of last year, was formed in September.

According to the HRF website, it is a branch of the March 30 Movement, a larger anti-Israel organization, which is committed to the recognition of “genocide in Gaza.”

NGO Monitor also details that the founder of HRF, the Lebanese-born Dyab Abou Jahjah, has a long history of anti-Israel activism. He has backed Hezbollah and claimed in the past to have received “military training” from the terror group.
UK's Kensington Gardens reopens after police find no hazardous material near Israel's embassy
British police said on Saturday they found no hazardous substances in items discovered near London’s Israeli embassy and reopened Kensington Gardens, after investigating an online claim that the site had been targeted by drones.

The pro-Iranian group known as Ashab al-Yamin (fully, Hakarat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam) had posted a video that included footage of drones along with two figures dressed in protective clothing and a message that the Israeli embassy in London was being targeted.

“While the Embassy of Israel was not attacked, we continue to work closely with the Embassy and its security team to keep the site safe and secure," a commander of counter-terrorism policing in London said.

Ashab al-Yamin has also claimed several attacks against London's Jewish community recently, including arson attacks that destroyed four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green, targeted Finchley Reform Synagogue, and a Jewish life center in Hendon.

The group has also claimed attacks against Jewish centers across Western Europe. A police van is parked on the roadside near London's Kensington Gardens and the Israeli embassy as police in protective clothing investigated an incident on April 17, 2026 in the Kensington Gardens area of London, England.
London police investigate possible antisemitic arson
The Metropolitan Police in London is probing an arson attack that took place on Friday night in Hendon against a business that was previously owned by a Jewish charity.

The case is not being treated as a terrorist incident but it is being led by Counter Terrorism Policing London due to the similarity of other recent arson attacks against Jewish-owned property in the British capital, the unit’s Commander Helen Flanagan said in a statement.

Officers from the North West Command Area are supporting the investigation.

The site on Hendon Way still bears signs of the former owner, reading “jewish futures.”

Police officers and the London Fire Brigade were called to the scene at 10:32 p.m. on April 17, the Met Police said.

A man was seen to approach a row of shops with a plastic bag containing what was later found to be three bottles containing fluid. He placed the bag next to the building and lit the items in the bag, according to police. The bottles failed to fully ignite and the man fled the scene.

Minor damage was caused to the shopfront and no injuries were reported.

The incident will “undoubtedly add to the concerns” of the large Jewish community of Hendon, the local member of Parliament, David Pinto-Duschinsky, told Sky News.

In Hendon we are proudly the home of a large Jewish community. We’ve seen the attacks on Hatzola in Golders Green which is just a mile down the road. [Also] the attack on Finchley Reform Synagogue, which is just a few miles away, so obviously this adds to the concerns the community has,” he was cited as saying.

An attack in February set ablaze four ambulances belonging to Hatzola Northwest, a Jewish community emergency service, in Golders Green in north London.

Four Muslim suspects have since been arrested in connection to the case.

The Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya has claimed responsibility for the incident, as well as several attacks since March 9 on Jewish institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands.


Iran reimposes Hormuz closure after US maintains blockade; IRGC gunboats fire at ships
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.

Iran’s joint military command said that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.”

It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

Commercial ships came under fire and threats from Iran’s military as they tried to cross the Strait of Hormuz, security monitors said.

IRGC gunboats fired on a tanker in the strait northeast of Oman, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) said in an online statement, adding the vessel and crew were safe. Vanguard identified the tanker as the India-flagged tanker Sanmar Herald. It cited the captain as saying two IRGC patrol boats approached it with no radio contact and “shots were fired, resulting in damage to the bridge windows.”

Vanguard said separately that the Malta-flagged cruise ship Mein Schiff 4 reported a splash nearby while crossing near Oman, on the far side of the strait from Iran.

The ship “confirmed VHF (radio) traffic from IRGC units stating ‘we are carrying out operation, we will fire and destroy you,'” but no damage was reported, Vanguard said.

In a third incident, the UKMTO said that it also received a report of a container ship in the same area “being hit by an unknown projectile which caused damage to some of the containers” but no fire.

Hours earlier, speaking to reporters, US President Donald Trump had cited “some pretty good news” about Iran, declining to elaborate. But he also said fighting might resume without a peace deal by Wednesday, when a two-week ceasefire expires. On Friday evening, he had posted on Truth Social that “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again.”

Iran’s announcement came after Trump said Friday that even though Tehran announced the strait’s reopening, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear program.
Trump: Iran ‘got a little cute’ by blocking Hormuz again, but talks going ‘really well’
US President Donald Trump said Saturday Iran “got a little cute” by reimposing its closure on the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day, but insisted that the White House is in touch with Tehran and that the dialogue is “working out really well.”

Israel, however, is preparing for the possibility that the talks will collapse and the situation in the strait will escalate, a source told the Kan public broadcaster. In addition, US forces are preparing to begin boarding and seizing Iran-linked ships in international waters across the globe, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Iran said Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces,” as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect. Iran’s security council further said that the strait will remain in Iranian control until “the war fully ends and lasting peace is achieved in the region.”

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it had been presented with new American proposals during a recent visit by Pakistan’s army chief, who is serving as an intermediary with Washington. The council did not reveal what was in the proposals, but said that they were still under review.

Further talks would require the US to abandon “excessive demands and adjust its requests to the realities on the ground,” it added.

Iran also fired on at least three tankers attempting to pass the waterway on Saturday, only a day after it announced that it was opening the strait in accordance with the ceasefire deal with the US.

Confusion over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence that a new deal was within reach. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.


US envoy argues Israeli policy on Syria and Turkey strategically counter-productive
US President Donald Trump’s point man for Syria and Turkey appeared to knock Israel’s strategy in dealing with those countries on Friday, arguing that Jerusalem’s view of Damascus and Ankara as adversaries, rather than potential partners, was a strategic mistake.

Barrack, who serves as both US special envoy on Syria and as US ambassador to Turkey, claimed that Syria is interested in normalizing ties with Israel, and that Turkey can play a constructive role in the postwar rehabilitation of Gaza. He also appeared to question the depth of Israel’s ties to Druze communities in Syria, and to say that concern about global antisemitism is overstated.

During an onstage interview at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, the US diplomat said that Syria’s new government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, hasn’t fired a shot at Israel since Sharaa’s forces ousted longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

Sharaa “has said time and time again that there are no issues with Israel. ‘We don’t want an adversarial issue with Israel. We don’t want to be at war with Israel. We want to work towards a non-aggression agreement and a normalization,'” Barrack said.

Israel has held several rounds of negotiations with Sharaa’s government, and the Syrian leader indicated this week at the Antalya Forum that the door to talks is still open, though he also accused Israel of acting with “brutality” and insisted on Syria’s claim to the Golan Heights.

He has given mixed signals as to whether he’s open to a normalization deal, saying at one point that “Syria is different” from Gulf states that normalized ties with Israel in 2020, because Israel and Syria are neighbors and Israeli troops have invaded his country.

Sharaa is an Islamist leader who was formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda, and Israel has viewed his rule skeptically. Israeli troops entered southern Syria following Assad’s ouster, and established a buffer zone in which it has stationed soldiers at several locations near the border. It has defended the move as necessary to protect its population from rogue militant actors.
Thirteen US troops killed, nearly 400 wounded in Iran war, CENTCOM says
Nearly 400 US troops have been wounded in the conflict with Iran, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported.

At least 399 American service members were injured, according to CENTCOM spokesman Tim Hawkins, the Associated Press reported.

Hawkins said 354 of those wounded have since returned to duty, while 13 US service members were killed in combat.

Diplomatic efforts have yet to produce a breakthrough. Representatives from Washington and Tehran met in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11 for several rounds of talks, but both sides said they failed to reach a long-term agreement.

The Associated Press reported that another round of discussions may take place on April 16.


IDF reservist killed by Hezbollah explosive in Lebanon amid truce, 3 troops hurt
An IDF reservist was killed and three other soldiers were wounded on Friday after an explosive device detonated by them in southern Lebanon, hours after the ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, the military announced Saturday.

The slain soldier was named as Warrant Officer (res.) Barak Kalfon, 48, of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 7056th Battalion, from Adi in northern Israel. He worked as an engineer at Rafael, the state-owned defense firm, and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

His death occurred on Friday after a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect at midnight. The reservists were scanning a building in the southern Lebanon village of Jebbayn for weapons.

During the scans, a Hezbollah explosive device detonated, killing Kalfon and wounding three other troops, two moderately and one lightly.

According to an initial IDF probe, the bomb was not remotely detonated and was likely automatically triggered.

Kalfon was severely injured in the explosion and evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. He underwent emergency surgery and other life-saving measures, but his death was confirmed hours after arrival.

“Next week you would have celebrated number 49,” said Kalfon’s cousin, Sapir Kalfon, according to Ynet. “What did you achieve? A great deal. Lots. And you didn’t even need to be in uniform anymore. But even so, you insisted on volunteering for reserve duty. That’s who you were. Always with a bright face, always smiling, always embracing and including. Calm, with a heart bursting with goodness.”


Macron, UNIFIL blame Hezbollah for killing of French peacekeeper in Lebanon
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said Hezbollah was responsible for the death of a French soldier in an attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, while the UN Interim Force in Lebanon blamed “non-state actors,” code for the Iran-backed terror group.

“Everything points to Hezbollah being responsible for this attack,” Macron said on X, urging Lebanese authorities to arrest the perpetrators.

“This morning, a UNIFIL patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghanduriyah to re-establish links with isolated UNIFIL positions came under small-arms fire from non-state actors. Tragically, one peacekeeper succumbed to his injuries and three others were injured, two of them seriously,” the observer force said in a statement.

UNIFIL said it “condemns this deliberate attack on peacekeepers engaged in their mandated tasks. The work of explosive ordnance disposal teams is vital in the mission’s area of operations, especially in the wake of the recent hostilities.”

The observer force said it had launched an investigation “to determine the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.”

It added that an “initial assessment indicates the fire came from non-state actors.”

Hezbollah denied any involvement, calling for “caution in issuing judgments and responsibilities regarding the incident” while expressing “surprise at the [parties] that rushed to throw accusations arbitrarily.”

Macron’s office said he held calls with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to urge them to “guarantee the security of UNIFIL soldiers.”

Aoun vowed to prosecute those who targeted the peacekeepers, while Salam said he had ordered an investigation.


IDF slays terrorist in southern Gaza
Combat team personnel from the Israel Defense Forces’ Negev Reserve Infantry Brigade killed a Gazan terrorist in the southern Strip on Friday who crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to the troops, the military said.

“IDF forces under Southern Command are deployed in the area in accordance with the [truce] agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the army added.

The Yellow Line runs through the Gaza Strip, delineating Israeli and Hamas areas of control. The IDF holds roughly 54% of the Strip.

Jerusalem says that Hamas must lay its weapons if Israeli forces are to withdraw from the area.
Palestinian terrorist who infiltrated Judea community shot dead
Security personnel killed a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist who infiltrated the Jewish community of Negohot in Judea early on Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said.

No other injuries were reported.

The suspect was shot dead while charging at a member of the local security team.

Following the incident, IDF soldiers, directed by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), operated in the Khirbet Fuqeiqah area, adjacent to the Negohot community in the South Hebron Hills, where the terrorist resided, the army said.

The soldiers conducted a targeted raid of the terrorist’s residence and located an improvised weapon and military equipment.

In light of the findings, the terrorist’s brother was detained and transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning, the IDF added.

The Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency identified the terrorist as Muhammad Ahmad Abu Ghaliyeh al-Suwaiti, 25, from Khirbet Salama west of Dura in the Hebron Governorate.
He’s back! Haviv joined Hugh for a long discussion of Iran, Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon

Good deal? Bad deal? Blockade? Ceasefire? Eli Lake joined Hugh with first reactions

Fetterman blasts his party for tolerating antisemitism within its ranks
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said on Friday that the Democratic Party “absolutely” has an issue with rising antisemitism, calling out the party’s embrace of candidates including Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan while criticizing the recent progressive push to cut off defensive aid to Israel.

The Pennsylvania senator made the comments after being asked on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” if he believed the Democratic Party has a problem with antisemitism. Fetterman argued that the growing support for both candidates in their respective primaries was indicative of a tolerance for antisemitism within the party.

He pointed to Platner surviving the controversy surrounding his Nazi tattoo and Jewish Insider’s reporting in recent days that the first-time candidate repeatedly praised Hamas’ tactics in a 2014 Reddit forum that shared video of the terrorist group killing several Israeli soldiers.

“I mean, the guy that’s going to win the primary in Maine has a Nazi tattoo on his chest and now that’s no problem for a lot of voters,” Fetterman said. “I don’t know why. That’s crazy. And now, I mean, we know he knows, he knew what that was. I mean, if you’re back over 12, 13 years, cheering about the death of Israeli soldiers, I mean, you clearly have a serious issue, and the left has a serious issue with antisemitism.”

“It was just released that he was praising and celebrating a video online where Hamas was beating and torturing Israeli soldiers to death,” Fetterman said, referring to Platner.

Fetterman also made note of El-Sayed’s lead in one recent primary poll despite his decision to campaign alongside antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.

“The guy in Michigan, he’s leading now in that race, as my party becomes more and more hostile to Israel,” Fetterman said. “They’re just palling around someone like Hasan Piker, you know the guy that, absolutely, I mean, he absolutely is proud to cheer for Hamas, loves Hamas.”

“The Democrats are proud to stand with him and campaign with him,” he added. “Go ahead, try to win Pennsylvania and campaign around Hasan Piker, or saying, ‘Yeah, America deserved 9/11’ or ‘Hamas is 1,000% better than Israel’ or ‘I don’t care about the rapes and for all this other things.’ We have a serious problem with my party.”


Why Does the European Commission Support the Muslim Brotherhood?
"European institutions demonstrate a continued record of engagement with and support for Muslim Brotherhood-related organisations. The most visible examples occur in the form of direct funding." — Paul Stott and Tommaso Virgili, in the report "The Muslim Brotherhood in Europe," October 2021.

According to a report published by the ECR Group in December 2025, "Unmasking the Muslim Brotherhood. Brotherism, Islamophobia and the EU," written by Tommaso Virgili and Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, the European Commission is still funding Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations that "exploit EU funding and institutions to advance their agenda."

A bit hard for the EU, therefore, to feign ignorance.

"They [these Muslim Brotherhood organizations] get funding and legitimacy that other totalitarian groups would never dream of getting.... these organizations play a clever game of dominoes, leveraging legitimacy in one member state to gain credibility in another or at the European level, then using that to charm more grant-making bodies. This creates a vicious cycle of ever-growing legitimacy and funding from multiple sources..." — Charlie Wiemers, Swedish Member of European Parliament, in "Unmasking the Muslim Brotherhood."

"If an organization claims to uphold European values, authorities take it at face value. Denying funding for failing to align with those values requires ironclad evidence, but monitoring isn't built to scrutinize content. A few missteps are brushed off as one-offs, and any official who dares push back risks accusations of racism or 'Islamophobia'—a chilling effect that will prevent most officials from acting unless they are extraordinarily principled and courageous." — Charlie Wiemers, in "Unmasking the Muslim Brotherhood."
Women living under Hamas rule in Gaza describe to the Mail how they are sexually abused by the terror group's fighters and forced to have sex in return for food aid
The world has heard harrowing accounts of Israeli men and women sexually brutalised in Hamas captivity — but now chilling new testimony is emerging from inside Gaza itself.

Gazans living under Hamas rule are beginning to break their silence, describing sexual abuse by multiple men, sexual blackmail for aid or money and abuse by people in positions of power.

It comes as concerns grow that the group is re-establishing control, while global attention shifts to the conflict in Iran.

Human rights organisations in Gaza have told the Daily Mail that up to 60,000 women are vulnerable, with reports also indicating a rise in child marriages and pregnancies.

The Daily Mail has obtained rare video testimony, filmed by Jusoor News from inside the Strip, where speaking out carries severe risk.

In one account told by a male Gazan, whose identity has to remain anonymous for his safety, he described how he found a widow displaced in the war being molested inside a tent by 'a bunch of' Hamas members and was warned to stay silent.

'We were contacted by the wife of a friend. She had asked a Qassam Brigades commander to help her, but he took advantage of her,' he said.

'His behaviour is disgraceful. We investigated the matter and found her in a tent in the Gharabli area where a bunch of Qassam members were taking advantage of her.

'We informed the leadership but we were told we had to keep silent about it.'

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military arm of Hamas.

Another Gazan man confirmed that a similar episode had happened with one of his female neighbours, who was blackmailed by 'one of Hamas’s charity organisations… they wanted her to wh*** herself in exchange for a food parcel, or an aid voucher, or 100 shekels'.

Another man, who identified as being in the Qassam Brigades, confirmed this was the case with widows.

He said he had told the leadership that some Qassam members were taking advantage of the 'wives of Martyrs' in a tent in the Gharabli area, which is in Deir al-Balah.

He was ordered to keep it quiet. 'We told them it was an insult to our honour and dignity,' he said, and tore down the tent in anger.

The testimonies come amid wider allegations of sexual violence in the conflict, including accounts made by many Israeli hostages including Arbel Yehoud, who told the Daily Mail she was raped every day during captivity while held in tents after being kidnapped from her kibbutz on October 7, 2023.


Jake Donnelly: Rachel Corrie's 2003 Darwin Award: The Ultimate Slow-Moving Train Wreck
This was entirely avoidable and entirely predictable.

On March 16, 2003, in Rafah, Gaza, 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie deliberately positioned herself in front of a 60-ton armored Israeli Caterpillar D9 bulldozer during a military operation in an active combat zone. The official Israeli investigation and the 2012 Haifa District Court ruling (upheld on appeal) were unambiguous: the driver did not see her.

The machine’s reinforced cab, narrow bulletproof windows, and the massive mound of earth being pushed by the blade created major blind spots. The court called it a tragic accident, noting that Corrie had “consciously put herself in danger” instead of stepping aside “as any thinking person would have done.”

The death of Rachel Corrie is the ultimate slow moving train wreck that perfectly resembles the eerily similar scene in Austin Powers. All Rachel had to do was move, but she believed so much in her own propaganda that she never considered what was obvious to everyone; if you put yourself in dangerous positions, danger can—and will—befall you.

It's the reality that everyone in the Israel-Palestinian conflict ignores for the sake of propaganda; war is dangerous. If you don't want people to die, it's best to be avoided. Rachel Corrie didn't heed that advice. Instead, she chose the exact opposite approach and--shocker--something truly awful happened to her.

Hate Makes You Stupid; Stupid is Dangerous
Bad things happen when you allow hatred to consume you and your entire diet consists of propaganda. Rachel Corrie--as allowed by her parents--was deep with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that specialized in sending young Western volunteers into high-risk areas like the Philadelphi Corridor to play “human shield” and stage confrontations with IDF forces for propaganda value. They fed her the narrative, hyped the heroism, and put her right in front of that bulldozer.

And while the parents want to blame the IDF, it is they who are to blame as much as Corrie herself and the propagandists who convinced her to stand in front of that bulldozer. Craig and Cindy Corrie watched their daughter radicalize and walk straight into obvious danger. They had every chance to tell her this was reckless insanity. They didn’t.

As the parent of a 10-month old daughter, I cannot imagine being that reckless with the life of my daughter. My job as a father is to protect her. Yes, to protect her from others when the situation calls for it, but to protect her from herself when she doesn't realize she is calling for it.

Rachel Corrie failed herself, but her parents failed her even more. From a parent's perspective, that is the ultimate in inexcusable negligence. And to this day, they still blame the IDF instead of the monsters in the mirror.


Tucker Carlson's son leaves JD Vance spox. role to start political consulting firm
Buckley Carlson, son of far Right political commentator Tucker Carlson, has left his position working as a deputy press secretary for Vice President JD Vance, Politico reported, citing two sources familiar with the plan.

Buckley Carlson intends to launch his own political consulting firm, Politico said.

According to one source, a Vance official, he had informed the vice president of his intention to leave in December, but the plan had been put off by several months "to ensure a smooth transition."

Laura Loomer, a far Right Jewish activist, said that Buckley Carlson's departure was "a big positive for JD Vance and his 2028 Presidential campaign," mentioning recent clashes between Tucker Carlson and US President Donald Trump.

Trump has insulted Tucker Carlson several times in recent posts on Truth Social, including saying he has a low IQ, calling him a "Hand Flailing Fool," and describing him as a "broken person" who should "see a good psychiatrist."

Loomer also claimed to have heard from sources within the White House that Trump had called Tucker Carlson an "antisemite," adding that "He’s not wrong."


How the Negev desert became Israel's unlikely global tech powerhouse
A dozen years ago Avishay Braverman, then-president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, announced his visionary plan to create a hi-tech campus in Beersheba. The idea was derided as yet another bombastic statement that would never come to fruition.

However, anyone who hasn’t visited Beersheba in the last decade would be astounded to see that the city, and the Negev desert that surrounds it, has emerged as Israel’s national cyber center, fostering collaboration among academia, multinational companies, and the IDF.

Israel’s South has long been the source of pioneering arid lands technologies. In recent years, the number of internationally recognized innovative desert-related projects has also skyrocketed.

There are, of course, many strategic partners to these extraordinary ongoing developments: the Israel Innovation Authority; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Elbit Systems; Dell Technologies; Soroka Medical Center; and Mor Research Applications, to name just a few of the principal institutions and consortia. Pioneering spirit

One of the most influential organizations focusing specifically on the development of the Negev is the Merage Foundation Israel, a private philanthropy founded by David and Laura Merage in 1998.

The foundation, “based on the pioneering spirit, entrepreneurship, and innovation of Israel,” has dedicated much of its resources to Negev development, fostering projects and start-ups in climate technologies and R&D-based innovations in robotics and cyber security, to attract companies to the South.

The familiar statistic is still true: The southern Negev region constitutes 60% of Israel’s land but has less than 10% of its population.

“We knew from day one of the creation of this state that we needed to thrive in desert environments. And we have all this know-how that we should commercialize,” Merage Foundation CEO Nicole Hod Stroh told The Jerusalem Report.




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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.

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