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Thursday, May 21, 2026

05/20 Links Pt1: Trump admin recommits to Taylor Force Act; Thomas Massie’s Dead-End Libertarianism; San Diego shooters: Jews are 'universal enemy,'

From Ian:

Karol Markowicz: It's not both sides
I’m no stranger to the antisemitism conversation. I didn’t wake up on October 8th and realize we had a problem. Nothing that is happening right now, on either the left or right, is surprising to me. Nothing.

The liberal Jewish establishment, however, continues to be stunned. So stunned that they take days to process and comment on things that used to be routine pronouncements. The Anti-Defamation League issues an immediate statement after a shooting at a the Islamic Center of San Diego. When a mob marches through a Jewish neighborhood assaulting Jewish children, the ADL waits overnight and into the morning to say anything. If it were red-hatted white supremacists raging outside synagogues, they’d know what to say. But the masked Islamists and their leftist friends present a conundrum to them: aren’t we on the same side?

I wrote in the New York Post a few days ago how Jewish liberals have spent a century aligned with the Democratic party and have one John Fetterman to show for it. I address the “But Tucker Carlson” argument in the piece. The Post article was a companion to this video I did asking Jewish liberals where their friends are when they need them:

But the actual reality the Jewish liberal establishment can’t face is that it’s rarely ever white supremacists raging outside synagogues. The latest ADL report on antisemitism does its best to obscure this.

According to the report, there were 203 assaults on Jews in 2025 in America, including three deaths. All three murders, the shooting deaths of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., the killing of Karen Diamond by Molotov cocktail at a Run for Their Lives event in Colorado, were all perpetrated by leftists or Islamists. There was not a MAGA hat in sight.

The numbers are so skewed, in fact, that the ADL has to present “Antisemitic White Supremacist Propaganda & Events” as a category to get the far right on the board at all, though they do have to note “Antisemitic white supremacist propaganda and event incidents were down 51% in 2025.”

To illustrate the “White Supremacist Propaganda & Events” the ADL presents a poster by the “Patriot Front” group demanding “No Zionist in Government,” another by the “Goyim Defense League” announcing the Holocaust was a lie and finally a photo of a masked man from a group called “White Lives Matter” holding a sign that reads “Juden Out.”

An idiot with a sign is not the same as a violent illegal immigrant throwing Molotov cocktails at elderly Jews. It’s just not. Pamphleteering disgusting lies about Jews is bad. Violence is far worse.
US Jewish groups urge Senate to back $1 billion bipartisan antisemitism bill
Major US Jewish organizations are calling for the quick passage of new bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at protecting Jews and Jewish institutions from antisemitism.

The Jewish American Security Act is sponsored by James Lankford, a Republican from Oregon, and Jacky Rosen, a Jewish Democrat from Nevada. It would require the federal education department to adopt a civil rights strategy to fight antisemitism and would force social media platforms to share more details about how they handle antisemitism online.

The legislation also proposes $1 billion in security funding for houses of worship and other at-risk nonprofits, a key demand in a six-point security proposal that Jewish Federations of North America has been promoting on Capitol Hill.

The legislation was announced on Tuesday as hundreds of Jewish advocates traveled to Washington, DC, on Tuesday to promote the call for the $1 billion allocation, which would triple the amount appropriated by Congress this year for security at houses of worship.

“Jewish Americans are being targeted, attacked, and killed simply because of who they are. This alarming trend demands a comprehensive, bipartisan approach that addresses both the seeds and the impacts of this vile hatred,” Rosen, who is famously a former synagogue president, said in a statement.

The bill follows several other recent attempts to advance antisemitism legislation in Congress.

In December, four progressives in the House of Representatives introduced the Antisemitism Response and Prevention Act, which calls for fully funding the federal Office of Civil Rights while also repudiating the Trump administration’s tactics around antisemitism that progressives say “weaponize” antisemitism in support of a repressive agenda. It has not advanced in the Republican-led House.
DOJ announces Antisemitism Advisory Committee, national tour to combat anti-Jewish hate
The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights and chair of the Department of Justice’s antisemitism task force, will oversee the creation of the DOJ’s Antisemitism Advisory Committee. As part of the role, Terrell will embark on a 15-city nationwide tour to connect with local faith leaders and law enforcement officials about combating antisemitism.

The department described the panel in a press release on Tuesday as “a new advisory body” that will recommend strategies to the attorney general and other department leadership “on coordinated, timely, and effective responses to antisemitism.”

The committee “will consist of citizen leaders dedicated to combatting antisemitism” and individuals nominated to serve will be “subject to approval by the president,” the release said. (The task force, by contrast, is solely composed of DOJ officials.)

“Members will come from a wide range of backgrounds but share a common goal of developing innovative solutions to address antisemitism across the country,” the department said of the “forthcoming launch” of the panel.

Terrell told Jewish Insider in an interview late Tuesday that he had submitted a list of nominees to President Donald Trump after receiving the green light from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to launch both initiatives and was awaiting approval from the White House.


Seth Mandel: On ‘Jewish Money’ in American Politics
In today’s politics, left-wing progressives and an increasing number of right-wing populists deny the legitimacy of everyone’s money except their own. So it should not be shocking that, given the same cohorts’ rising anti-Zionism, they would like “Jewish money” to be solely a term of abuse.

But in fact the money that Americans earn from their work is not illegitimate. The money they use to put food on the table for their families is food. The money with which they build a roof over their heads is shelter. The money with which they send their children to school is education.

Nor is the work they do to make that money illegitimate. Since the attacks of October 7, 2023, and the explosion of societal anti-Semitism that came with it, we have been talking a great deal about the way anti-Semites are trying to drive Jews from public life and the public square. That includes the way the country’s elite universities have increased their discrimination against Jewish students, as have law schools and medical schools and other graduate programs galore. The idea is to unofficially but materially bar the Jew from a whole assortment of mainstream professions.

In this atmosphere, we take Jabotinsky’s words to heart: “Jewish money” is the result of Jews being forced to swim against cultural currents. It is the result of overcoming odds—not, perhaps, odds quite as stark as Jews have faced in other places and at other times, but undeniable odds nonetheless. The meaning of every dollar earned is the overcoming of whatever roadblocks were put in front of the earner. The money itself is just paper, a symbol.

I’d like to quote what Jabotinsky said next, to widen the scope a bit:
“The principle of national contribution has no relation to the question whether it is possible or impossible to ‘build the country by donations’. I, for example, personally think that it is impossible, to which all or most people concur. But what is the connection between the two? Indeed, a country is primarily developed with the assistance of private capital. However, there are a number of spheres within the developmental process which cannot be achieved by private means without a national fund. And if someone finds this gratifying by calling it ‘donating’, let it be so.”

Jabotinsky is talking about building the institutions of a Jewish state. But he might as well also be talking about America. Should Jews be ashamed of all that has been built with “Jewish money?” If not, then neither should they be ashamed of the free political speech it funds. “Money” and “democracy” aren’t dirty words.
Thomas Massie’s Dead-End Libertarianism
As for foreign policy, by antagonizing pro-Israel voters as well as Trump, Massie forfeited the opportunity to help shape his party’s stances on war and peace. There’s more to foreign policy than Israel and Iran, after all, even at a time when the country is embroiled in a Middle East conflict. Trump is changing America’s posture to the world in historic ways. Liberty Republicans could have been part of that process, helping to make peace through strength a reality. Some libertarian-leaning Republicans in the administration are doing that. The representatives who should have been MAGA’s peace wing in Congress chose to treat this moment like 2003 instead.

To change government, including foreign policy, requires more than a single US senator or a couple of House members. It requires a party, led by a president. Anything else is just a protest movement. Libertarian-leaning Republicans like Massie had a golden opportunity to make their case to the party base in the 2010s, and having failed to expand beyond the numbers Ron Paul reached in 2008 and 2012, they had a second chance to be part of a coalition that actually had a mandate to remake the party, thanks to Trump. Instead of being targets for MAGA, they could have played a part in picking MAGA’s targets. Rand Paul and Thomas Massie chose not to. Fair enough: Massie made his choice and has received his judgement from the voters. Rand Paul goes before them in 2028. But how is losing a primary meant to advance the cause of liberty, or restraint in foreign policy? If they couldn’t capitalize on the “libertarian moment,” what do they expect to achieve by themselves in an era of MAGA dominance?

The Republican Party of the future may become less supportive of Israel, if present trends among younger voters continue. But anti-Zionism already has a home in Democratic primaries, where it fits perfectly with the anti-colonialist, anti-Western principles of the left. Although it troubles many friends as well as foes of Israel to say so, Israel itself is part of a much larger question about peoples, homelands, and historical justice in the globalized conditions of the twenty-first century. Americans have to take a side on that question, which has the greatest bearing on domestic as well as foreign policy. MAGA knows where it stands, as does the left. Full-on open-borders libertarians and neoliberal globalists know where they stand, too. The likes of Massie are a lot less certain. The young right, its views on Israel notwithstanding, doesn’t seem to be in much doubt, unless its anti-Zionism overrides its anti-globalism.

Many friends of mine are die-hard Massie supporters. I understand where they’re coming from, but not where they think they’re going. Some appear content to live forever in 2003 or 2013, refighting the battles they lost ten or twenty years ago. They would do more for their cause if they tried to make the best of MAGA. Trump has turned the GOP into a real party again for the first time in decades. That party has a chance to change things—for better or worse. Which it will be depends on who is in the mix. That is true for the country, too, and is the point of self-government. It’s hard work.
Money Well Spent: 'Moron' Thomas Massie Joins Marjorie Taylor Greene on Ash Heap of History
President Donald Trump, his allies, and the United States of America prevailed on Tuesday as Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) lost his primary race to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and fifth-generation dairy farmer. The Associated Press called the race for Gallrein roughly an hour after polls closed, with Massie poised to lose by double digits.

"I'm going to win," Massie told CBS News on Monday. Instead, he'll join disgraced former Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), and Cori Bush (D., Mo.) as the latest fringe agitator and antisemite to endure an involuntary early retirement. As gracious as ever in defeat, Massie apologized to supporters for letting them down. Just kidding, he blamed the Jews. "I would've come out sooner," he said, "but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv."

An acolyte of the irrelevant Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.)—who we're pretty sure is no longer serving (but couldn't be bothered to check)—Massie had invited the challenge with his increasingly obnoxious behavior. In addition to voting against Trump's top priorities, Massie stoked the delusions of right-wing (and left-wing) cranks by posing as a righteous crusader against Jewish-backed deep state conspiracies. He also invited them to his house for good measure, and looked on as a PAC supporting his campaign ran one of the most bizarre and blatantly antisemitic ads in recent memory featuring what the legacy media described as an "unexplained" rainbow Star of David. We're pretty sure we can explain it.

These fans of the soon-to-be-former congressman (and other lunatics) will now be tasked with determining which supernatural force bears more blame for Massie's defeat—Donald Trump or the Jews? A rhetorical question, of course. As the antisemites have certainly realized by now, even someone as handsome and powerful as Trump is not impervious to Jewish influence. The real question is whether they will ultimately grasp the futility of waging a lame crusade against an omnipotent cult that controls the weather, the space lasers, and the White House.
White House pans Tucker Carlson for telling Israeli TV Netanyahu dragged US into war
The White House on Wednesday accused Tucker Carlson of spreading “fake news” a day after the controversial right-wing podcaster told an Israeli news station that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dragged the US into the war with Iran.

In a statement to Channel 13, the White House said Carlson “is a low-IQ person who spreads fake news for cheap publicity,” repeating a slur US President Donald Trump has used himself to describe the podcaster.

“Long before he was elected, President Trump has been consistent in his belief that Iran can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon,” the statement said. “Israel has always been a great ally to the United States, especially through Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury that obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities and destroyed their defense industrial base. President Trump took bold, decisive action to protect the American people — something presidents have talked about for 47 years, but only this President has had the courage to address.”

Trump has vociferously denied that Netanyahu talked him into the war.

On Tuesday night, Channel 13 aired an interview with Carlson, in which he was asked about his shift on Trump, whom he formerly supported. Carlson asserted that Netanyahu, Israel supporters in the media, and donors pushed Trump into the war. He also accused Israel of murdering thousands of children in Gaza and entertained the possibility that Israel would try to harm him for his views, while also insisting he has “always liked Israel” and is not an antisemite.


Jews are 'universal enemy,' San Diego shooters wrote in neo-Nazi antisemitic manifesto
The two teenage gunmen who killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego, California, on Monday blamed all the world's issues on the Jews.

The Jerusalem Post obtained a copy of the 75-page manifesto found in the possession of the two teens, both found dead, apparently from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, after the attack. The shooters were identified as Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18, and Cain Lee Clark, 17.

While the targets of the shooting were Muslims, the manifesto indicates a deep and pervasive neo-Nazi antisemitism.

The rambling manifesto repeatedly espouses antisemitic views, especially those that derive from white replacement theory. The white replacement theory (also known as the Great Replacement) is a far-right conspiracy theory that claims that there is a deliberate plot to actively cause the extinction or genocide of the white race. This plot is often 'traced' to Jews.

The manifesto outright states that all issues in the world "can be traced back to or be caused by one group, the Jews." People arrive to take part in an early morning call to prayer at the Islamic Center of San Diego as it opens for the first time following a shooting, in San Diego, California, US, May 20, 2026.

In the section called the 'the universal enemy,' the shooters wrote that "The Jews across all of time have been behind an extremely disproportionate amount of the world's problems, whether that be from war, famine, exploitation of children, rise in degeneracy, infighting of peoples, political killings, the separation of family, the departure from the Church, the White race’s replacement, mass immigration, central banking systems, and so on."

They go on to accuse Jews of infiltrating systems of government, gaining a monopoly control on banking, causing plagues and famine, and "acting out their satanic barbaric rituals often on the native [white] people."

Shooters call the Holocaust a 'complete fabrication'
Later on, the shooters describe the Holocaust as a "complete fabrication."

"Now for the very famous and supposedly very tragic historical event known as the Holocaust, where, as this fact will constantly be pushed down everyone's throat, a poor, innocent six million Jews were brutally and systematically killed. This fact, which we have all practically been forced to believe, is nothing short of a complete fabrication."


Inside Turkey's World Decolonization Forum: Convicted Terrorist, Columbia Professor, and Erdoğan's Daughter
The World Decolonization Forum 2026, held May 11–12 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Cultural Center, was marketed as a sober academic gathering on “decolonizing knowledge production and circulation.” But a Jewish Onliner review of the forum’s official agenda, booklet, partner list — combined with English, Turkish, and Arabic-language coverage — reveals a different picture: a state-aligned event that placed Sami Al-Arian, a former Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader convicted in U.S. federal court of aiding terrorism, on the same plenary stage as Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad, among other controversial figures.

The opening keynote was delivered by Esra Albayrak, the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who called for new “centres of wisdom” in “Istanbul, Jakarta, Addis Ababa, Rabat, Cairo and Gaza.” The forum was promoted by state broadcaster TRT World and co-organized with institutions tied to Turkey’s religious directorate, making it perhaps the most ambitious effort yet to translate Erdoğan’s pro-Hamas posture into the language of global academia.

The forum was hosted by Enstitü Sosyal (“Institute Social”) together with the NÛN Foundation for Education and Culture — chaired by Esra Albayrak, who is the daughter of President Erdoğan and the wife of former Treasury Minister Berat Albayrak. Albayrak delivered the forum’s opening address, arguing that the international system “has reached the limits of knowledge produced in cities such as Paris, London, New York and Amsterdam” and listing Gaza alongside Istanbul as a future capital of global wisdom.

The forum’s institutional partners included the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and the Centre for Islamic Studies (İSAM) — a body housed under Turkey’s state-linked Diyanet Foundation, the religious authority that oversees more than 90,000 mosques across Turkey.

A Columbia Professor on Stage with a Convicted Terrorist
The forum’s marquee Palestine roundtable, “Settler Colonialism and the Ruse of Independence,” seated Columbia University professor Joseph Massad alongside Sami Al-Arian — who was deported from the United States after pleading guilty to funneling funds to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

Since arriving in Turkey, Al-Arian has been installed as founding director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, an institution founded by the İlim Yayma Foundation, whose board of trustees is chaired by Erdoğan's son Bilal. In October 2024, CIGA convened a conference whose opening remarks were delivered by U.S.-designated Hamas terrorist Usama Hamdan, who praised “unapologetic jihad.” Al-Arian himself has publicly celebrated the October 7 attack as a moment when “Israel was hit in its own territory” and called for “confrontations with Zionists in every corner of the world.”


Trump admin recommits to Taylor Force Act, penalizing Palestinian Authority for pay-for-slay, after Biden admin set it aside
The U.S. State Department reached a settlement on Tuesday, committing to enforce the Taylor Force Act, an anti-terrorism law barring U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as it continues to subsidize terrorists and their families.

Congress passed the measure in 2018, and U.S. President Donald Trump signed it into law. The Biden administration opted not to enforce it.

The new settlement is to remain in effect for 10 years.

“Today is a good day,” stated Stuart Force, father of Taylor Force, 28, a U.S. Army veteran and graduate-school student, who was killed in a stabbing attack in Jaffa in 2016.

“This settlement agreement with the State Department reinvigorates the Taylor Force Act after the Biden administration ignored the law,” Stuart Force stated.

“This settlement reaffirms a basic principle, which is that American law cannot tolerate taxpayer dollars flowing to a system that rewards terrorism,” Mark Goldfeder, CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, told JNS.

In Jackson et al. v. Trump et al.—initially, Jackson v. Biden when filed in 2022—America First Legal sued the Biden administration on behalf of Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) and the parents of Taylor Force for “unlawfully financing a foreign government that continues to incentivize terrorism,” in violation of the Taylor Force Act.

Under the agreement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the State Department commits to comply with the Taylor Force Act and to establish stricter internal review procedures.

The suit also includes terror-victim advocate Sarri Singer, now in her 50s, who was injured in a suicide bus-bombing in Jerusalem in 2003 that killed 17 people.
Ignoring ‘pay-for-slay’ reform, Ramallah court tells PA to reinstate money for prisoner
A Ramallah court has ordered the Palestinian Authority to resume stipend payments to the family of a man held in an Israeli prison, in a seemingly precedent-setting ruling that could cast a shadow on efforts to answer international calls for the payout scheme to be scrapped.

In a verdict handed down May 4, the administrative court found in favor of the father of Firas Hassan, an 18-year-old Bethlehem resident who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2024. According to Ahmad Hassan, the family stopped receiving monthly stipends from the PA Finance Ministry in May, though no reason was given.

Though the potential impact of the ruling, which can still be appealed, is unclear, it may constitute a significant knock against PA reforms over the past year aimed at changing the structure of stipends paid to Palestinians arrested for terror offenses, a domestically popular program that has long been the subject of condemnation for allegedly incentivizing violence.

Tempering any possible effect from the verdict, though, is the likelihood that the cash-strapped PA will simply ignore the ruling, as well as the fact that the reforms had already been derided by the US State Department as insufficiently robust, with money continuing to flow to terrorists’ families.

Hassan was one of some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners who stopped receiving stipends in May 2025, though the PA did not officially announce the move or explain why the money was being cut off.

Months before, PA President Mahmoud Abbas had signed a decree scrapping payouts to Palestinian detainees based on the length of a prison sentence.

Under the new rules, only inmates who met certain welfare criteria would be eligible for the stipends, which would be disbursed by a revived fund called the Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment. According to the State Department, this resulted in many security prisoners and slain attackers continuing to receive their payouts.


10 soldiers, including brigade commander, hurt in separate Hezbollah drone attacks
Ten IDF soldiers were wounded, including two seriously, in two separate explosive drone attacks launched by Hezbollah on troops operating in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as limited fighting with the Iran-backed terror group persisted despite a ceasefire.

In one of the incidents, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Meir Biderman, 41, was seriously wounded by an explosive drone, the IDF said.

The military said that Col. (res.) H., who currently serves as the brigade’s chief of staff, will temporarily fill his position.

A reserve lieutenant colonel serving in the 162nd Division was moderately wounded in the same incident, while an additional reservist sustained light injuries, according to the IDF.

In another Hezbollah drone blast, a female soldier was seriously wounded, a combat officer and two additional soldiers sustained moderate injuries, and two more were lightly wounded, the army said.

All of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and their families were notified.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF published footage of a strike it carried out earlier in the week on a Hezbollah weapons production site in the Tyre area of southern Lebanon that had been established inside a building previously used as a civilian clinic and located meters away from a mosque.

The IDF said secondary explosions were identified following the strike, indicating the presence of weapons inside the building.

The military echoed accusations it made earlier on Wednesday, when the IDF announced a separate strike on a civilian building allegedly housing Hezbollah surveillance equipment in southern Lebanon, with the military again accusing the terror group of using civilian infrastructure in operations against Israel.


IDF dismantles Hamas weapons site, rocket shaft in Gaza
Israeli forces dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility and a rocket launch shaft in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday.

The site contained dozens of weapons, including more than 20 mortar shells, launchers, explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and other combat equipment, according to the IDF.

The army said the weapons and launch shaft were intended for attacks on Israeli troops operating near the security perimeter known as the ceasefire-designated Yellow Line, as well as on Israeli civilians, and were destroyed to eliminate the threat.

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


Ask Haviv Anything: 117: The Palestinian insider who thinks Hamas is losing, with Samer Sinijlawi
Longtime Fatah activist Samer Sinijlawi spent five years in prison during the First Intifada and then rose up the Fatah ranks. He eventually came to lead Palestinian outreach to Israelis. Sinijlawi was one of the rare Palestinian activists to explicitly condemn the October 7 massacre. He even visited Israeli victims. In the wake of the Gaza war, he now calls for a new and deep dialogue with Israelis — and is convinced Palestinian society can move on from the regimes of Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas. For example, in recent local elections -- including in Gaza -- opposition and technocratic lists that Sinijlawi helped advance sidelined both radical Islamist forces and Abbas's faction within Fatah. Is a new Palestinian political reality taking shape in the wake of the Gaza war?

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Samir Sinjelawi
02:52 Samir's Early Life and Political Awakening
09:40 The Importance of Dialogue Between Israelis and Palestinians
10:41 The New Birth of the Palestinian People
14:42 Understanding Hamas and Palestinian Politics
22:43 Hamas's Control and the Future of Gaza
30:13 The Role of Palestinian Authority in Gaza
40:33 Rebuilding Gaza and the Path Forward
48:27 The Need for New Palestinian Leadership


EylON the Record: The Iran Deal Problem No One Wants to Admit | Mark Dubowitz
A U.S.-Iran deal may reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It does not necessarily remove the threat — it may simply shift the burden back onto Israel.

In this episode of EylON the Record, Eylon Levy speaks with Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, about the future of the Iranian threat, the risks of a suboptimal U.S.-Iran deal, and whether the Islamic Republic can be contained without regime change. They discuss the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s nuclear program, the limits of diplomacy, Israel’s shadow war, and the broader strategic question facing the West: whether democratic allies are prepared to weaken their enemies before those enemies recover.

In this episode, we discuss:
Why reopening the Strait of Hormuz without confronting Iran’s core threats could create a dangerous precedent
Whether Iran’s nuclear program has been seriously set back — or merely driven deeper underground
How a U.S.-Iran deal could leave Israel with more responsibility and less diplomatic cover
Why Dubowitz argues Israel must focus on weakening the Islamic Republic before it rebuilds

This conversation moves beyond the immediate headlines over diplomacy and ceasefires. The deeper question is whether the West is prepared to confront the Islamic Republic as a strategic enemy, or whether it will settle for temporary arrangements that leave Israel facing the same threat again — only stronger, richer, and harder to stop.

🎯 Key moment: “Israel has two and a half years under President Trump to bring down the Islamic Republic of Iran.”




Flotilla activists detained at Ashdod Port after Israeli Navy intercepts Gaza-bound vessels
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian flotilla activists were brought to Ashdod Port after the Israeli Navy intercepted Gaza-bound vessels attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said Wednesday.

According to Adalah, attorneys from the organization, alongside volunteer lawyers, were allowed into Ashdod Port to hold legal consultations with the detained participants, who had been aboard vessels affiliated with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Global Sumud Flotilla.

The group said the activists included international solidarity activists, human rights defenders, and medical volunteers who had set sail toward Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid and challenge the blockade.

Adalah accused Israel of unlawfully intercepting civilian vessels in international waters and taking the participants into Israeli territory against their will.

Later in the day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir humiliated the activists being held by Israeli authorities.

In videos put out by his office, he was seen waving a massive Israeli flag and telling the room of activists, blindfolded and bent over, “Welcome to Israel, we are in charge here.” A later snippet shows the activists all lying on the ground as Hatikvah plays on loudspeakers.

When one activist could be heard shouting, “Please!” Ben-Gvir said, “Their cries are nothing to be excited about,” per the video.

“They came with such pride; look at them now, not brave at all,” said the national security minister.


Ben Gvir posts video of himself taunting bound and detained Gaza flotilla activists, sparks global outcry
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on Wednesday in which he is seen taunting activists from a Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel, immediately sparking an international outcry.

Dozens of activists can be seen in the clip forced to kneel on the ground, with their hands tied, at an Ashdod port facility where they were being processed ahead of their likely deportation.

Those aboard the flotilla intercepted by Israel earlier this week included Italian and Spanish nationals, whose governments said they would summon the respective Israeli ambassadors in their countries for a reprimand over Ben Gvir’s behavior. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare rebuke of the far-right cabinet member he appointed, insisting that the national security minister’s conduct was not in line with Israel’s values.

The video begins with a female activist shouting “Free Palestine,” before being grabbed by the head and shoved to the ground by officers who drag her out of Ben Gvir’s way, as he tours the facility.

The treatment of the detainees appeared akin to security forces’ handling of the most severe terrorists in the prisons overseen by Ben Gvir’s office, which has also prompted allegations of abuse.

With dozens of bound activists kneeling on the ground, Ben Gvir is seen waving a large Israeli flag and shouting in Hebrew, “Welcome to Israel! We are in charge here!”


‘Disgraceful’ Ben Gvir widely condemned in Israel over flotilla activist video
Other politicians were far more forthright in their condemnation. Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, said: “You knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display – and not for the first time. You have undone tremendous, professional, and successful efforts made by so many people – from IDF soldiers to Foreign Ministry staff and many others. No, you are not the face of Israel.”

Benny Gantz, former IDF Chief of Staff, as well as a former Minister of Defence, described Ben Gvir as “an embarrassing horror show of a failed, extremist and irresponsible minister, whose only interest is likes on TikTok, instead of caring for the national interest.

“In these elections we will do everything so that afterwards a broad, responsible Zionist unity government will arise here. One that will return the extremists to the margins and sanity to the lives of Israeli citizens.

Yair Golan, a former IDF General and the leader of Israel’s Democrats party, said: “Ben Gvir is a criminal and a strategic liability to the State of Israel. While Israel is fighting for its security and its standing in the world, Ben Gvir is producing another election video, another provocation, another embarrassment – and tearing Israel apart from within.

“This coalition knows its end is near. The pressure is mounting, the panic is growing, and the citizens of Israel are paying the price in security, in the economy, and in diplomatic isolation. Soon we will replace them. We will restore a democratic, liberal, and Zionist backbone to the next government.”

Other sounded an even grimmer note. Former IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis said: “No matter how much money our country invests in advocacy, and no matter how much work is done on the national advocacy apparatus. The most failed minister in Israel’s history will come and destroy everything.”

And Deborah Lipstadt, one of the world’s foremost authorities on antisemitism, said: “Ben Gvir is far more than an embarrassment. He is a gift to the antizionists, antisemites, and Jew haters. He is true threat to Israeli democracy and fundamental values.”

In the UK, the Jewish Leadership Council said: “This is a disgusting video posted by Minister Ben Gvir showing him manhandling a handcuffed detainee. The rule of law is vital in any democracy. This means robust actions to uphold security but also due process.

“Minister Sa’ar’s condemnation is welcome, however Ben Gvir’s continued use of racist rhetoric and his abuse of power are a stain on the Israeli government in which he continues to serve.”


Israel’s Washington envoy rebukes Ben-Gvir over flotilla detainee treatment
Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, criticized Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir following the circulation of a video showing detainees described as Hamas supporters, a case that has drawn domestic and international backlash.

Leiter said he aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who both distanced themselves from Ben-Gvir’s conduct.

“Itamar Ben-Gvir’s reckless grandstanding is not representative of government policy,” Leiter wrote.

The video, disseminated by Ben-Gvir, showed a holding area for detainees linked by Israeli officials to the Global Sumud Flotilla, which attempted to breach Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza. Israeli authorities said the flotilla carried no humanitarian aid, and the U.S. government on Tuesday imposed sanctions on organizers of the flotilla over alleged ties to designated terrorist groups, including Hamas.

Footage showed Ben-Gvir confronting detainees and accusing them of supporting terrorism while they were seated with their hands bound.

“I am Israel’s top diplomat in the U.S., at the heart of our most important alliance,” Leiter wrote. “Ben-Gvir’s antics take a sledgehammer to our diplomatic efforts while Israel’s enemies gleefully jump on every unfortunate nonsense to discredit and demonize.”

The White House and State Department did not release immediate statements regarding the video, though several governments protested, including in Italy, France, Canada, Spain, South Korea and Ireland. Multiple governments said the local Israeli ambassador would be summoned.

“The provocateurs of the flotilla charade were properly detained in accordance with international law and will be deported to their home countries. End of story,” Leiter said.


US pressures Palestinian UN envoy to drop General Assembly VP bid, threatens visa revocation
US President Donald Trump's administration threatened to revoke the visas of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations if the Palestinian ambassador refuses to end his candidacy for the vice presidency of the UN General Assembly, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.

In a cable dated Wednesday, US diplomats in its embassy in Jerusalem are instructed to deliver the message that Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour's general assembly bid "fuels tensions," risks undermining Trump's Gaza peace plan, and would therefore face consequences from Washington if it went ahead.

"To be clear, we will hold the PA responsible if the Palestinian delegation does not withdraw its VPGA candidacy," the cable, marked sensitive but unclassified, said, referring to the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank.

Among the talking points provided in the cable to US diplomats, the State Department's September 2025 decision to waive visa sanctions for Palestinian officials assigned to the Palestinian UN mission in New York was noted.

"It would be unfortunate to have to revisit any available options," the cable, which was first reported by NPR, said.

The Palestinian mission at the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We take seriously our obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement," a State Department spokesperson said. "Due to visa record confidentiality, we have no comment on Department actions with respect to specific cases."


US removes UN expert Francesca Albanese from sanctions list
The United States has removed Francesca ​Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, from its list of sanctioned individuals, according to the US Treasury Department website.

The removal comes a week after a federal judge temporarily blocked the sanctions, finding that the Trump administration likely violated her free-speech rights by imposing the measures after she criticized US ally Israel’s war in ​Gaza.

The sanctions barred her from entering the US and banking there.

Albanese, an Italian lawyer who is the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, recommended the International Criminal Court (ICC) pursue war-crimes prosecutions against Israeli and American nationals.

Albanese's husband and daughter, who is a US citizen, sued the Trump administration in February, alleging that the US sanctions are "effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life.”

In a post on X/Twitter following the decision, Albanese thanked her family for “stepping up” in her defense.
Today at the Paris Council we rejected the proposal by La France Insoumise to grant honorary citizenship to Francesca Albanese. One cannot honor those who multiply ideological provocations, who contextualize terrorism and relativize barbarity.





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