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Thursday, April 23, 2026

04/22 Links Pt1: The Birth of a Great American Ally; Britain’s Jews are quietly preparing to leave the country; A warning from Britain’s Iranian diaspora

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: The Birth of a Great American Ally
In March, the New York Times reported that “U.S. and Israeli military officials are talking as often as 4,000 to 5,000 times a day, divvying up targets across Iran.” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine spoke of his regular contact with his Israeli counterpart, and one source told the Times that the majority of military briefings were being held in English, not Hebrew, because of how closely the forces were cooperating.

But being a good junior partner isn’t just about the fighting. Israel has also been willing to stop at a moment’s notice when President Trump wants to switch gears to the diplomatic track. Last week, this meant agreeing to a cease-fire in Lebanon that Israeli voters didn’t like and that became a cudgel used by the political opposition against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Still, Israel complied. It was reminiscent of the point during last year’s U.S.-Israel joint bombing missions when Trump decided enough had been accomplished and ordered Israeli jets to turn around and go back home mid-flight.

European allies claim they agree with the necessity of stopping Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and diminishing the Islamic Republic’s ability to bomb European bases and territory, but when Trump asked them to put their money where their mouths were, they balked. When the Iranians threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, the Europeans got together and came up with a plan—to be carried out only once the war was over and such a plan was no longer needed.

The structure of U.S. “aid” to Israel also follows this pattern, because it requires Israel to purchase from American manufacturers. Thus U.S. companies get a boost, the manufacturing base has steady income and occasional growth spurts, and the U.S. still gets all the intel once those weapons are battle tested—and without having to deploy the systems themselves or send U.S. troops into harm’s way to carry out real-world trials.

The aid is becoming a political football, and opposition to it has been made a progressive litmus test, so the aid structure will almost certainly be reworked. Doing so will harm American workers and the domestic economy far more than it would punish Israel.

Trump is loving the returns America gets by putting the alliance to fuller use. The Israelis, Trump said, “have proven to be a GREAT Ally of the United States of America. They are Courageous, Bold, Loyal, and Smart, and, unlike others that have shown their true colors in a moment of conflict and stress, Israel fights hard and knows how to WIN!”

That statement began with the words “whether people like Israel or not.” Because the truth is that Israel is a superb ally, and reality is impervious to partisan narratives that suggest otherwise.
IDF chief: Years of war have reshaped Israel’s security
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said “prolonged years of fighting have reshaped Israel’s security and fortified our existence,” speaking at the President’s Outstanding Soldiers Ceremony for Israel’s 78th Independence Day.

The ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, recorded earlier this week and broadcast on Wednesday, honored 120 outstanding soldiers and officers from across the IDF.

President Isaac Herzog presented certificates and pins to the honorees, recognizing excellence, dedication, professionalism and responsibility.

The event was attended by Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, senior military leadership and the families of the recipients.

This marked the third consecutive year the ceremony has taken place during ongoing fighting, with all of the honorees having served in operational roles during the war.

Of the 120 recipients, 69 are men and 51 are women, including 18 officers. Sixty-seven serve in combat roles, two in combat support positions and 51 in rear-echelon roles.

The Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers awarded academic scholarships to the honorees, including financial grants and iPads to assist with studies following their discharge.
Aviva Klompas: The unseen victories of the Iran war
NATO allies have often been described, sometimes fairly, as hesitant and divided.

In contrast, Israel has demonstrated its exceptional ability to meaningfully contribute to shared strategic objectives.

Israeli intelligence penetrated deeply into Iranian systems. Its pilots carried out complex, high-risk missions. Its forces even assisted in recovering a downed American airman.

This is not the profile of a dependent ally; it is the profile of a partner that expands American capacity.

That distinction is not lost on Washington. Nor is it lost on the Middle East.

Iran’s actions during the war have had an unintended effect: pushing its neighbors closer to the United States and Israel. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others, cautious about actions that could upend regional stability, quietly signaled support for continued pressure on Tehran.

They have allowed American and Israeli aircraft to traverse their airspace. They have encouraged a more sustained campaign.

This is a significant shift.

For decades, Iran has sought to position itself as a regional power capable of intimidating its neighbors and reshaping the balance of power. Instead, its aggression has accelerated the very alignment it sought to prevent.

Another audience is watching closely: the Iranian people.

The regime has long projected strength, both internally and externally, but this war has exposed its vulnerabilities. Strikes deep within Iran, disruptions to critical infrastructure and visible failures in defense have undermined the image of control.

In some cases, the regime has resorted to extraordinary measures, such as urging citizens to form human chains around key facilities. It is a striking image: a government relying on its own people not out of loyalty but out of necessity.

That too is a shift.

None of this suggests that Iran is no longer a threat. It has demonstrated its ability to disrupt global commerce, particularly through mines and drones in the Strait of Hormuz.


Jonathan Sacerdoti: Britain’s Jews are quietly preparing to leave the country
I sat in the synagogue where I grew up last night, waiting to interview Colonel Richard Kemp, the retired senior officer of the British Army who served for nearly three decades across Northern Ireland, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. Our conversation would end a service marking the transition between Israel’s Memorial Day for its fallen and its Independence Day. A British Jew and a British Colonel, in a room full of emotion, pride, and more than a little apprehension, after a week in which multiple arson attacks on Jewish-linked sites have taken place in London. There was an uncomfortable sense of the fall of Rome in the air.

That place feels like home to me. I have sat on its wooden pews for as long as I can remember, under the light of the stained glass windows, surrounded by its decorative wrought iron railings – all distinctly Victorian British features, shaped by a church-like grandeur of domes and arches layered with Moorish and Romanesque ornaments. Its blended architecture embodies the cultural fusion of my own British life and many of those in the congregation.

Layers of identity sit comfortably together: Jewish, British, Sephardi, Mizrahi. They work together as notes in a symphony, textures in a painting, interlocking bricks in a tower of strength. The congregation is Britain’s oldest Jewish one, founded by the first Jews to resettle here after Oliver Cromwell permitted our return in the 17th century.

As we waited during the service, I found myself acutely aware of where we were sitting: Colonel Kemp was in the seat of the late Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy OBE, my godfather and the community’s former spiritual leader. This was just in front of the seat where my own late father, an Italian Holocaust survivor who built the majority of his adult life in Britain, once sat. He chose this country deliberately, to raise his children as British Jews. That choice has shaped everything that followed. Yet something felt different this year.

At the dinner afterwards, intended to celebrate Israel’s independence, the tone across the room was not celebratory in any simple sense. The conversations were sober, even heavy. People spoke to me openly about decline, about Britain, about the condition of Jewish life here. And, strikingly, they spoke about contingency plans. Where they might go. When they might leave. What threshold would trigger that decision.

What was most unsettling was not necessarily the content of these discussions, but their assumption. They spoke as if departure were not hypothetical, but eventually necessary.

For Jews, this carries a particular historical resonance. The memory of those who remained in Germany too long casts a long shadow over us. For decades, that memory functioned as a warning in the abstract. But last night, it felt closer to a practical lesson – one many believe they have already internalised. I would be dishonest if I claimed I had not thought along similar lines. I, too, have options in mind. And yet, that is not the whole story.

Marking Yom HaAtzmaut in Britain brought something else into focus. There is no inherent contradiction between being British, being Jewish, and feeling pride in Israel. The idea of ‘dual loyalty’ misunderstands the reality. What we in that room felt was not divided allegiance but layered attachment. We remain here, and that fact matters.

I could have built a life in Israel. I can see it clearly enough to know it would have been a good life. Many British Jews share that sense: Israel is not merely a refuge of last resort, an ‘insurance policy’ against catastrophe. Over its decades of existence, it has become something far more substantial. It is a functioning, dynamic country with its own culture, strengths, and tensions. It is a real alternative life, not just a theoretical escape from danger.
A warning from Britain’s Iranian diaspora
The Iranian cause could have hardly been more legible. Freedom from theocratic tyranny, freedom for women and minorities, and that special freedom – not to be gunned down by your own government in the thousands. A generation or so ago, their plight would have been so obvious to us.

And if we did not know the response they’d actually received was in large part the result of Europe’s oldest pathology, we might be tempted to read their lack of popular appeal as the inevitable fate of darker-skinned people telling an uncomfortable story in contemporary Britain. They are, after all, from a Muslim-majority country and refusing the script assigned to them. They should, by the logic of the culture around them, be the recipients of progressive solidarity – not its critics. But they are supposed to be talking about Islamophobia and not Islamism. And they should be on the Gaza march, not outside Downing Street demanding the proscription of the IRGC. Their inconvenience is layered: they carry the wrong flag, the wrong narrative and are in the wrong skin.

What has changed is not the Iranians. It is us. The solidarity that should have been extended to them was always conditional on accepting certain articles of faith that Western progressivism now implicitly requires. When the Iranian diaspora naturally and proudly aligned with Israel, they found themselves irreconcilably at odds with this worldview, one cultivated by activists and institutions over many years – and one in which the word genocide now travels freely, stripped of its meaning and singularly indicting one people, and one state, alone.

By the time of the Islamic Republic’s massacres in January, the flag of that state was no longer seeable, its name, Israel, no longer sayable. The blue and white Star of David had become the purest kind of trigger – loaded with a presumed and totalising injustice and the weight of everything the culture had learned, or remembered, to deplore. By hoisting Israel’s colours the Iranians found themselves utterly immiscible with the reigning narrative and so, in a very real way, genuinely invisible, too.

There is a profound difference between not knowing and refusing to know. The Iranian diaspora arrived in this country with a cause that should have felt unmistakably just and historically grounded. But they chose truth over indulging one of the West’s oldest and most persistent prejudices, and truth also over the lie of diversity at any cost. That is their distinction. It is also, for now, the cause of their continued invisibility.

The question this poses is not really about Iran. It is about what kind of society cannot recognise, in the people standing directly in front of it, the values it still claims to hold.
Jewish-owned shop targeted in ‘religiously aggravated’ arson attack in UK
A fire door of a Jewish-owned shop in the United Kingdom was set alight in an act of vandalism in what Hertfordshire Police are calling a “religiously aggravated” arson attack.

The incident took place on Sunday afternoon in the county in eastern England.

The police said it appears to be an isolated incident and not tied to other arson attacks against the Jewish community in London.

“Firstly, I would like to make it clear that we do not tolerate hate crimes in our communities in Hertfordshire. I am keen to hear from any witnesses or anyone with information,” Det. Superintendent Mark Clawson said, according to the BBC.

“In particular, I am especially keen to trace a group of young males who were seen in the area around the time of the incident,” he said. “If you were one of these people or think you know who they may be, please get in touch.”

The force also requested anyone with relevant mobile phone, dashcam or doorbell footage to come forward.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism, a volunteer-based charity established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community, posted to X: “Another arson attack on a Jewish space. The recent spate of arson attacks on Jewish spaces in this country is, worryingly, growing. Last month, four ambulances belonging to Hatzola—the Jewish-run volunteer service—were set on fire.”

It noted that “this is the fourth report of an arson attack on a Jewish space in the past week alone. This is simply untenable. Arson attacks on the Jewish community appear to happen at a daily rate. Who, or what, will be burnt next? We are running out of time to find out, and swift action is urgently needed.”
Stephen Pollard: Sadiq Khan's crocodile tears over the wave of antisemitic attacks are pure hypocrisy
Since the wave of arson attacks on synagogues and buildings used by Jews, the Mayor of London has been busy posting on social media.

This morning, for example, Sir Sadiq has told us this: “Antisemitic attacks targeting London’s Jewish communities are shameful and have no place in our city. We’re working closely with the Met, @CST_UK and faith organisations to bring those responsible to justice. London will always be a city that stands together against hate.”

I’ve written ad nauseam about that idiotic, meaningless phrase that antisemitism has “no place” on the streets, in the city, blah blah blah that Khan and other politicians always come out with as a ritual whenever something happens that shows how meaningless the phrase is, because the event they are responding to has just demonstrated the very large place that antisemitism has.

They come out with it because they will do nothing to deal with the actual reasons behind the acceleration in Jew hate - because they have taken the conscious decision not to act, in Labour politicians’ case, because they are scared witless of the rise in sectarian Muslim voting.

Khan uses the words every time the latest synagogue is attacked, proving the very large place London has for Jew hate.

He’s also taken to using a variation on the last sentence in his post today, “London will always be a city that stands together against hate.” Thing is, it’s a straightforward lie. Not just because there are many Jew haters in London, as elsewhere, but specifically because Khan is the very last person who should be mouthing platitudes about standing together against hate.


What a Green takeover would mean for the Jewish residents of Hackney and Haringey
One local Labour councillor travelled to the north-west England constituency of Gorton and Denton to help campaign in February’s by-election before the seat was lost to Green candidate Hannah Spencer.

There, in a constituency with a sizeable Muslim population, the councillor recalled: “We might see one or two Palestine flags in a street.

“But in parts of Haringey you might get seven in a road.”

Why does the Middle East loom so large in a local election?

“When I asked one person why they were voting Green they said, ‘Palestine.’ I said, ‘You know these are local elections?’ And she just replied, ‘Yeah but Palestine.’

“There was another guy and when I asked how he was voting he pointed to a Palestine sticker on his door. I said, ‘OK what does that mean?’ He said ‘Green’. When I reminded him these were local elections, he said, ‘I don’t really use local services.’’’

This Labour councillor worries over being forced into a coalition with the Greens, who have no idea of how to run local government. “I still have mild PTSD from our brutal fight with the hard left in our own party. These are the same people.”

The issues were crystallised at a hustings at Muswell Hill Synagogue last week. Green candidate Jo Kuper insisted she would “always call out antisemitism wherever I saw it”, while also stating she believed Israel was an “apartheid state”, saying: “I have every right to have my opinion as a Jew on what is happening in Israel.”

One audience member shouted out: “Shame on you!”, to which Kuper responded: “I also believe it’s antisemitic to chase down people who have different views to you.”

Labour council leader Peray Ahmet, meanwhile, defended her social media posts that have been critical of Israel while still upholding “the Jewish state has the right to exist”. She said: “My views are quite open: I also believe a Palestinian state has a right to exist as well. I believe in a two-state solution.”

There is little doubt that Jewish voters in both areas face some tough choices. Haringey resident and veteran activist against antisemitism Jonathan Glass said he believed Jews needed to recognise the Greens are a bigger threat than Labour, despite the Corbyn legacy.

He said: “During the ghastly period when Haringey Labour was taken over by nasty, antisemitic Corbynistas, the Jewish community rallied around at the local election and we helped the Liberal Democrats to take eight previously held Labour seats, when Labour was expecting a clean sweep.

“We need to step up again to fight the Greens, who are a significant threat to the Jewish community here and around the country.”
Polanski: do UK Jews have ‘perception of unsafety or actual unsafety’
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has sparked fury after wondering whether there is a “perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety” among the Jewish community, following a wave of antisemitic attacks in the UK.

Speaking to an Israeli journalist, Polanski did express concern over rising antisemitism, including the recent arson attacks on Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green.

However, he then added: “Now, there’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s a perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety, but neither are acceptable.

“As a politician, as a leader of a political party, it’s really important that we do everything we can to make sure people are both physically safe and have a perception of safety. And it’s unacceptable for anyone in this country to be feeling unsafe if they’re just going about their daily business.”

In further comments to journalist Hagar Shezaf, who writes for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Polanski also claimed Labour had “weaponised” antisemitism claims against some Green Party local election candidates. He argued that Labour waited until after candidate names were announced to “start accusing candidates of being antisemitic.”

Later in the same interview, he appeared to suggest that, as a Jewish politician, he had a responsibility to speak out against what he claimed was the “genocide” being committed by Israel in Gaza.

He said this was to ensure that, “my Jewish identity is not weaponised by other people in the community who claim that all Jewish people support the Israeli government, or all Jewish people support the genocide, because that’s absolutely not true.”

Spectator journalist Noa Hoffman responded to online video footage of the interview, saying: “This is quite incredible… Zack Polanski here tells a journalist there is a ‘conversation to be had’ about whether fears in the Jewish community amid an onslaught of firebomb attacks on community buildings are just imaginary and are actually unfounded.”

When pressed by the journalist about the Green Party’s response to antisemitism, given the recent wave of attacks, Polanski said: “I am concerned about the rising antisemitic attacks. We saw arson attacks on ambulances for instance, and we know that increasingly Jewish communities are feeling unsafe.

“Now, there’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s a perception of unsafety or whether it’s actual unsafety, but neither are acceptable. As a politician, as a leader of a political party, it’s really important that we do everything we can to make sure people are both physically safe and have a perception of safety. And it’s unacceptable for anyone in this country to be feeling unsafe if they’re just going about their daily business.”


Iranian regime’s deceptive negotiation strategy: No surprises
Gold’s thesis is unambiguous: A durable arrangement cannot be negotiated with an apocalyptic regime. The term “apocalyptic” is descriptive rather than rhetorical. The Islamic Republic’s governing ideology is structured around an end-times theology in which the survival of the regime and the acquisition of decisive weapons are understood as religious obligations, not as policy preferences. Ordinary diplomacy presumes that both parties ultimately seek a stable outcome they can accept. The regime in Tehran operates on different premises.

The specific maneuver of the past weeks merits plain description. Iran sought to use the Islamabad talks to compel Trump to restrain Israel on the Hezbollah front. That was the operational purpose of including an Israeli ceasefire in the Iranian negotiating package. Following the degradation of Hamas and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the Hezbollah terrorist organization remains Iran’s most valuable surviving asset in the Levant. Tehran required Washington to restrain Jerusalem, and calculated that an American president seeking a visible diplomatic achievement might trade Israeli operational freedom for the appearance of a deal.

That trade did not materialize. When the nuclear file remained unresolved, the blockade was ordered. Iran’s response, announcing Hormuz as open while its foreign ministry almost immediately contested the terms, is the regime’s characteristic move: concede in public, renegotiate in private and reserve the right to deny tomorrow what was stated today. Taqiyya, in this context, is not a metaphor. It is the governing logic.

The regime in Tehran does not honor agreements. It exploits them. Every concession offered at the table is interpreted as weakness and priced into the next round of pressure. Every pause is time purchased for enrichment, for proxy reconstitution, and for the next phase of horizontal and vertical escalation. The only language the regime has historically respected is the language of force, which must be credible, continuous and overwhelming pressure: economic, diplomatic, and, where required, kinetic.

The answer to the question posed in this essay is obvious. No serious observer should be surprised by the Iranian regime’s deception. The regime has identified itself openly, in Arabic, in Persian and in the documents its own hands preserved in a Tehran warehouse. The remaining question is whether Washington will at last choose to believe what it has been shown.
Seth Mandel: Targeting Iran’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ to Hurt China
Depending on which news sources you consume, President Trump is either giving Iran all the time in the world to respond to U.S. negotiators because he’s in no hurry to resume strikes, or he’s giving them a limited window of a few days before he’s out of patience.

Either way, the president seems to be in no particular rush.

Perhaps that’s a feint by the president designed to retain the element of surprise. Or, and this might be wishful thinking, it’s because he isn’t thinking about Iran as much as he’s thinking about China at the moment.

On Tuesday, the U.S. interdicted the “stateless” Tifani, a ship with a reputation for helping Iran evade sanctions. A comment by a shipping expert to the Wall Street Journal stands out: “It’s like you’ve been driving the same road every day and you see one person in the HOV lane over and over and over, and finally you see one that gets pulled over,” said Stanford University’s Raymond Powell.

The Tifani, the Journal reports, is one of over 500 ships in a so-called shadow fleet critical to China’s ability to import Iranian oil—an economic lifeline for Tehran but nearly as important to Beijing, since the energy-guzzling Chinese economy gets Iranian oil at a discount.

The important point about the Tifani, however, is that it was in the Indian Ocean, far from the Hormuz choke point and the area to which the U.S. has applied its blockade. “If the U.S. continues to target this floating supply,” the Journal says, “it could cut into an important source of income for the Iranian regime. Without that financial cushion, Tehran would find it much harder to sustain the war and drag out talks to end it.”

That would explain why Trump might think time is on his side. Iran believes it can wait out the U.S., leveraging the relentless Western media campaign against the war and the low public approval of the president. If all the regime in Tehran needs to do is survive, it has an advantage over the U.S., which obviously wants more out of this than to merely survive. Iran thinks lowering its expectations will raise the stakes on Trump, and it very well might. If Trump is committed to targeting the shadow fleet, however, the stakes are raised for Iran as well.

And for China. The country is Iran’s top oil customer, so a U.S. blockade of Hormuz also hurts Beijing. But there’s a weakness to this strategy: Iran already has 140 million barrels of oil sitting on ships outside the blockaded zone. As long as all that oil can be delivered, Iran and China have less urgency to end the Hormuz blockade.

And if China wants Iran to end the war, it will. China is the most important source of cash and missile-supply replenishments for Iran. Putting pressure on China by definition puts pressure on Iran.
Israel cannot settle for another ceasefire with Lebanon, Alma Center head says
Israeli officials are still debating what comes next in southern Lebanon, including whether to pursue a more permanent ceasefire. For Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of the Alma Research and Education Center, the real question is not the pause itself but whether it produces a lasting change in the security reality along Israel’s northern border.

For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org

Zehavi said the current debate cannot be understood without revisiting what she sees as the central failure of the past two decades. “Between May 2000 and until actually the end of the previous war in 2023, there was no Israeli presence in Lebanon and there was no buffer zone in Lebanon,” she told The Media Line. The area south of the Litani River, she noted, was supposed to be free of “any illegitimate weapon,” but “it never happened, and nobody enforced that.”

In her account, the problem did not begin with the current campaign. After Israel’s maneuver in 2024, the army remained on only five hills overlooking Israeli communities, a posture she said quickly proved inadequate. Hezbollah’s Radwan forces were still able to maneuver near the border, she said, while rockets could be launched from both north and south of the Litani.

That, she said, is why the prime minister ordered the IDF to push as far as the river itself. The Litani zone was meant to be disarmed, she argued, but in practice never was. “We are going to do that. We are going to control there, and we are going to make sure that Hezbollah is not there and it’s not capable of coming back there, because that’s the key issue.”

Zehavi rejected the language of occupation, saying it distorts Israel’s objective. “I don’t accept the word occupation, because we have no interest in keeping lands of Lebanon,” she said. “We want to make peace with Lebanon.” But, she stressed, peace and a ceasefire are not the same thing. “We are not interested in just another ceasefire,” she said. “It will not only fail to solve the problem but… will enable Hezbollah to rebuild and to threaten us again.”

In her view, restoring security for northern Israel cannot be achieved by Israeli military action alone because Hezbollah has become deeply embedded in Lebanese society and state institutions. “Providing security to the citizens of northern Israel is not just an Israeli effort, unfortunately, because Hezbollah became entrenched into the Lebanese society and into the Lebanese administration and government,” she said, adding that any serious effort would require Israel, the Lebanese government, and the international community to act in tandem.
Report: Hezbollah Operates Vast European Laundering Scheme Generating 30% of Budget
A study by Lina Khatib for Austria’s Documentation Centre Political Islam says Hezbollah’s annual budget exceeds $1 billion, with $700 million coming from Iran and roughly 30% generated through illicit activities globally. The report also documents Hezbollah-linked financing networks in Europe involving money laundering, luxury goods, art, and cryptocurrency.



The organization’s Business Affairs Component (BAC) has laundered roughly €1 million per week through Germany, Belgium, and France while offering money laundering services to Latin American drug cartels. The report identifies operations in at least 15 European countries and documents how Hezbollah exploits fragmented terrorism designations and minimal port inspections to move illicit funds through legitimate trade channels.



The report reveals how Hezbollah’s financial networks utilize a trade-based money laundering scheme known as Black Market Peso Exchange. The Cedar Network, exposed through Project Cassandra investigations, purchased luxury cars and watches in Europe using drug proceeds from South American cocaine cartels. These goods were then shipped to West Africa where they were sold to generate clean funds transferred to Lebanon. The network operated through a Beirut office in the Stock Exchange and a car dealership in Germany managed by Hassan Trabulsi. Credit: United States Government Accountability Office report on Trade-Based Money Laundering

The report documents a 2021 Austrian case where authorities intercepted a network preparing to smuggle 30 tons of Captagon through a pizza restaurant shell company in Bürmoos. The Lebanon-manufactured drugs were hidden inside pizza ovens and sent by sea to Belgium, then trucked to Austria before heading to Saudi Arabia via Italian ports. The European route was specifically chosen because Saudi Arabia applies less stringent inspection procedures to goods arriving from Europe than those sent directly from Lebanon.
Senate rejects Iran war powers resolution for the fifth time
For the fifth time, the Senate rejected an effort by Democrats to force the administration to end the war in Iran, with the partisan battle lines on the issue remaining firmly unchanged from previous iterations of the vote.

“Democrats will continue to force votes on war powers resolutions every week until Republicans decide to put the American people over Donald Trump and end this war,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said ahead of the vote.

The vote failed 51-46, with Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and David McCormick (R-PA) not voting, and Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) voting with the opposing party.

Democrats have already introduced eight other similar resolutions that will be eligible for votes in the coming days and weeks, giving them plenty of runway to continue such efforts for the foreseeable future.

In the House, Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) also introduced new war powers resolutions on Iran, after previous efforts narrowly failed. The Congressional Progressive Caucus reportedly plans to force votes on such resolutions frequently next month.

Though they haven’t broken openly with the president, dynamics for at least some Senate Republicans could begin to shift toward the end of the month; under the War Powers Act, the administration can only carry on military operations without congressional approval for 60 days, with an additional 30-day drawdown period.

Though some Republicans have said Congress and the administration should disregard that deadline, others say that some form of action will be necessary at that point, and some hope that the war will be over before then.
Iran will not execute eight women protesters, Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that Iran will not go ahead with its planned execution of eight women protesters.

“Very good news,” Trump wrote. “I have just been informed that the eight women protesters who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed.”

“Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison,” he stated.

Trump thanked Iranian leadership for respecting his April 21 request, in which he wrote, “I would greatly appreciate the release of these women. I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so. Please do them no harm. Would be a great start to our negotiations.”

The eight women are identified as Panah Movahedi, Bita Hemmati, Mahboubeh Shabani, Ensieh Nejati, Ghazal Ghalandari, Diana Taherabadi, Golnaz Naraghi, and Venus Hosseinnejad, according to the New York Post.

The news comes amid ongoing negotiations with Iran, as the president extended a ceasefire in anticipation of an Iranian proposal.


Adam Schiff, Mark Kelly say future votes on Israel arms sales will be case-by-case
Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who both voted for the first time last week in favor of blocking some U.S. arms sales to Israel, said that their future positions on such votes would be made on a case-by-case basis, determined by the specific sales in question and the circumstances surrounding the votes.

The two were somewhat surprising votes in favor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) effort to block U.S. arms sales, having generally maintained pro-Israel records while in Congress.

“I was, and am, strongly opposed to the war in Iran, and I couldn’t justify voting against our own supplemental funding bills, which I plan to, and supporting funding for the same war in a JRD,” Schiff told Jewish Insider, referring to the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block specific arms sales to Israel. “I’ll evaluate each circumstance as they come.”

Kelly disputed the notion that his vote had flipped, saying, “I make these decisions based on what is the current situation, and what is the vote on — I don’t make these [decisions] in a vacuum.”

“This isn’t ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in any given moment, I’m always going to be looking out for Israel,” Kelly said. “And I think Israel is weaker, and the Israeli people are at further risk because of the current prime minister of Israel. He’s made a lot of mistakes, and he’s not operating in accordance with our values — but nor is our president. So I’ll look at every one of these [votes] based on what it is and what the current situation is.”


Trump: Iran is losing $500 million daily due to Hormuz blockade
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran is losing approximately $500 million per day due to restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the Islamic Republic is seeking to reopen the strategic waterway as financial pressure mounts.

“Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.

“Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open so they can make $500 Million Dollars a day,” Trump wrote in an earlier post, adding that Tehran is “starving for cash” and facing internal strain. “They only say they want it closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to “save face.” People approached me four days ago, saying, ‘Sir, Iran wants to open up the Strait, immediately.’ But if we do that, there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!”

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, through which a significant portion of global oil shipments pass, meaning disruptions can significantly affect global energy markets.

Trump announced an extension of the ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday.

“Based on the fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump stated.
US intercepts Iran oil tankers in Asian waters as demining of Hormuz expected to take months
The US military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday.

Washington has imposed a blockade on Iran’s trade by sea while Iran has fired on ships to prevent them sailing through the Strait of Hormuz waterway at the entrance to the Middle East Gulf. Nearly two months after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran to begin the war, there is little sign of peace talks resuming during an uneasy ceasefire.

The closure of the strait has disrupted supply of a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies, and caused a global energy crisis. US forces have seized an Iranian cargo ship and an oil tanker in recent days. Iran said it had captured two container ships seeking to exit the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after firing on them and another vessel, its first seizures since the war began.

The US has diverted at least three more Iranian-flagged oil tankers in recent days, according to two US and Indian shipping sources and two separate Western maritime security source who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.

The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interceptions.

One of the vessels was the Iranian-flagged Deep Sea supertanker, which was part loaded with crude and last seen on its public tracking transponder off Malaysia’s coast a week ago, according to the sources and ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform.
CENTCOM denies reports of ships breaking Hormuz blockade
US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied media reports that claimed several commercial ships had evaded the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, calling the reports "inaccurate" in a post on X/Twitter on Wednesday.

The US has directed 29 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the blockade, CENTCOM reported.

CENTCOM named three ships that media reports had alleged had broken the blockade - M/V Hero II, M/V Hedy, and M/V Dorena - as examples.

"Hero II and Hedy did not sail past the blockade as part of a flotilla that 'ferried' millions of barrels of oil to the market," CENTCOM wrote.

"In fact, the Iranian-flagged tankers are anchored in Chah Bahar, Iran, after being intercepted by US forces earlier this week," CENTCOM added.

"Dorena has been under the escort of a US Navy destroyer in the Indian Ocean after previously attempting to violate the blockade," CENTCOM stated.

"The US military has global reach," CENTCOM claimed.


Iran seizes pair of container ships, in first since start of war with US and Israel
Iranian forces targeted three container ships on Wednesday, seizing two, global security monitors and the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, the latest incidents to threaten a crucial trade route in the Middle East war.

British maritime security agency UKMTO said an Iranian gunboat fired at a container ship off the coast of Oman on Wednesday, while a ship off Iran was also fired upon.

The IRGC said separately that its naval forces stopped two ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz and directed them to Iranian waters.

It accused them of breaching its blockade of the route and marked the first time Iran has seized ships since the start of the Middle East war that erupted on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes.

“The master of a container ship reported that the vessel was approached by one IRGC gunboat… that then fired upon the vessel, which has caused heavy damage to the bridge. No fires or environmental impact reported,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) said.

It added that the incident took place 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman and all the crew were safe.

According to British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech, the vessel was sailing under a Liberian flag and “had been informed it had permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iranian news agency Tasnim said the ship had “ignored warnings from Iran’s armed forces.”

Iran taking control of two ships didn’t violate truce terms because “these were not US or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel.


Second French soldier dies of wounds sustained in Hezbollah attack on UN peacekeepers
A second French soldier has died of wounds suffered in a weekend ambush against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon blamed on Hezbollah, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday.

“Corporal Anicet Girardin… brought home yesterday from Lebanon, where he was badly wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning of the consequences of his wounds,” Macron posted on X.

Another French soldier, Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, was killed in the attack on April 18, which occurred when the UNIFIL peacekeepers were clearing unexploded ordnance in a village in southern Lebanon.

Three other troops, including Girardin, were wounded in the incident, with one more described as being in serious condition.

Girardin, a member of a specialist dog-handling unit, was part of a mission “to clear a route booby-trapped with an improvised explosive device,” Armies Minister Catherine Vautrin posted on X.

“Coming under sustained fire from concealed Hezbollah fighters at very close range, he moved to aid his section leader who had just fallen, only to be seriously hit in turn,” she added.


Body of journalist for pro-Hezbollah paper pulled from rubble of building hit in IDF strike
The body of a Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Wednesday has been pulled from under the rubble hours after the attack.

The pro-Hezbollah daily Al-Akhbar newspaper confirms that its reporter, Amal Khalil, was killed in the strike on the southern village of al-Tiri.

Information Minister Paul Morcos also confirms Khalil’s death.

Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near al-Tiri when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike, Lebanon’s health ministry, a senior Lebanese military official and press advocates say.

Lebanese rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had suffered a head wound, according to Elsy Moufarrej, who runs the Union of Journalists in Lebanon.

There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on Khalil’s death. The IDF said earlier in a statement that it ​received reports two journalists were injured in a strike.

According to the IDF, the incident began when troops identified two vehicles setting out from a building known to be used by Hezbollah. After “the terrorists crossed the forward defense line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the military said the air force struck one of the vehicles and then the building “to which the terrorists fled.”


IDF kills Oct. 7 terrorist in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that its troops a day earlier killed a terrorist in the Gaza Strip who had infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Khamis Muhammad Khamis Qassas was operating near the Yellow Line in southern Gaza and approached IDF troops in a manner that posed an imminent threat, according to the military.

The statement added that Qassas had recently led other Palestinian terrorists to carry out attacks against Israeli forces and had been involved in additional assaults on IDF troops and Israeli civilians throughout the war.

“IDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,” the military said.


MirYam Institute: Israel Changed the Rules of War — Iran Is Paying the Price
In this urgent conversation, MirYam CEO, Benjamin Anthony, speaks with urban warfare expert John Spencer to answer one of the most important questions right now:

👉 Is Israel actually safer today than before October 7?

Their answer may surprise you.

From the collapse of the old “containment” strategy to the destruction of Iran’s proxy network, this discussion breaks down how Israel has shifted from reactive defense to decisive, pre-emptive power.

⚠️ The key takeaway:
Israel is no longer playing “ping pong” with its enemies — the rules of war have changed.

This analysis covers:
Iran’s degraded military capabilities after sustained strikes
Hezbollah’s weakening grip in Lebanon
Hamas’ isolation and reduced operational capacity
The end of “rocket diplomacy” and what replaces it
Why Israel now has greater freedom of action than before

At a time of ceasefire uncertainty and rising tensions, this is essential viewing to understand what comes next.

Chapters:
00:00 – Israel at a Turning Point
01:26 – The Big Question: Is Israel Safer Today?
03:59 – Old Strategy: “Rocket Diplomacy”
05:25 – “Bowling Ball, Not Ping Pong” Explained
10:39 – How Enemies Exploited Israel’s Restraint
13:02 – Threats Greater Under Old Strategy
16:06 – Iran: What Has Been Achieved
22:28 – Israel & U.S. Military Coordination
24:47 – Hamas: Degraded but Not Defeated
30:06 – Hezbollah: Weaker but Still Dangerous
37:20 – Manpower, Domestics & Mowing the Lawn


spiked: 'Iran Is STILL a nuclear threat' | Trump adviser Mark Dubowitz explains why
Mark Dubowitz – CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adviser on Iran to Obama, Biden and Trump – is the latest guest on The Brendan O’Neill Show. Mark and Brendan discuss Iran’s path to nuclear weapons, how Obama surrendered to the ayatollahs, and why opposing the Islamic Republic is a moral imperative.

00:00 Iran's three ticking clocks
01:05 Introduction to Mark Dubowitz
02:15 How the war is going
04:00 The Battle of Hormuz explained
06:00 Trump's blockade and the $500 million a day cost
08:00 Iran at the negotiating table
10:00 The nuclear clock and breakout timeline
15:00 Obama's fatal enrichment surrender
20:00 Trump's red lines on Iran
25:00 Iran's missile programme and the 11,000 missile threat
29:06 What does Trump's victory look like
30:07 No enrichment: Trump's core demand
34:27 Western elites and the BBC's defeatism
35:39 The moral failing of the West
38:59 Closing thoughts


Commentary: Strait Shooters
Today we discuss the frustrating uncertainty in the Iran war - who is negotiating on Iran's behalf, what will happen when the extended ceasefire ends, and who is in control of the Strait of Hormuz? Plus, the Virginia redistricting vote and Trump's deficiencies in securing republican victories in congress, and Christine recommends This Vast Enterprise.






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