Sunday, June 14, 2026

06/14 Links: Trump says peace deal with Iran completed; The Case Against Another Iran Deal; Operation Rising Lion: One year later; Somaliland president on first visit to Israel

From Ian:

We Are Told that Israel Has Lost the World
Since Oct. 7, we are told that Israel has lost the world. It has squandered international goodwill. It has alienated its allies. It has isolated itself through its conduct in Gaza. Israel was attacked in the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, responded by fighting a just war against the organization that carried out that massacre, and somehow emerged as the primary culprit in the eyes of much of the international community.

There is only one problem with this theory. It assumes Israel enjoyed remarkable support before Oct. 7. When exactly was this golden age? Was it when student groups were calling for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against the Jewish state? Was it when anti-Israel activism became a permanent feature of university life? Or was it at the UN, where Israel has long occupied a unique category of international obsession?

From 2015 through 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted more than twice as many resolutions against Israel as it did against all other countries combined. At the UN Human Rights Council, democratic Israel has routinely attracted more condemnation than regimes run by dictators, warlords, and revolutionary clerics. Apparently, the world's most pressing human rights crisis is not Syria, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.

We are told Gaza transformed Israel into an international outcast. Curiously, many international institutions seem to have reached that conclusion years before Gaza. The idea that Oct. 7 destroyed decades of goodwill would be more persuasive if anyone could point to the decades of goodwill.

Before Israeli forces had entered Gaza in significant numbers, before casualty figures dominated headlines, before military operations had fully unfolded, many people had already decided who the villain was. A remarkable amount of outrage appeared before Israel had done much of anything in Gaza at all. Israel is subjected to demands rarely made of any other country. It is expected to defeat enemies without defeating them and eliminate threats without using force.

If support disappears the moment it is tested, was it ever support at all? An ally who vanishes during a war was never much of an ally. And support that exists only during periods of calm is not support in any meaningful sense of the word.
The Case Against Another Iran Deal
Iran has treated international commitments as instruments of convenience, complying when under acute pressure and accelerating forbidden activities when that pressure eases. Verification has always been the Achilles' heel. Iran's territory, history of undeclared facilities, and demonstrated ability to delay or obstruct inspectors make robust, real-time monitoring extraordinarily difficult.

Even the 2015 JCPOA's relatively intrusive provisions proved insufficient once political will in key capitals wavered. Enforcement mechanisms, whether snapback sanctions or military consequences, have depended on sustained U.S. and allied commitment - something that has proven elusive across administrations.

Military pressure alone has not transformed the regime's ideology or behavior. The Islamic Republic's core opposition to U.S. influence and support for regional proxies has survived leadership losses and battlefield setbacks. Long-term strategy against Iran has repeatedly foundered on domestic political shifts.

Iran's leadership has learned to play for time, calculating that U.S. policy coherence rarely survives a single presidential term. Any agreement that depends on consistent enforcement across future administrations asks for something the American political system has not delivered on Iran policy in decades.

The current posture - sustained but episodic pressure combined with openness to a possible new deal - assumes that a verifiable and enforceable agreement is achievable with a leadership whose ideology prioritizes resistance and whose external patrons have incentives to help it evade constraints.

A decisive and overt regime change campaign represents the alternative that confronts these realities directly. It does not rely on persuading Iran's current leadership to abandon core strategic assets or on maintaining perfect verification against a determined cheater. Instead, it targets the source of the problem. We must weigh the risks of action against the mounting, compounding perils of inaction.
Jake Wallis Simons: The Iranian ayatollahs don’t want a deal. They want apocalypse
Over the past few days, Iran has shot down an American helicopter, attacked Kuwait's international airport, menaced Hormuz with drones, and launched missiles at Israel. This is not the behavior of an adversary that is desperate for peace.

Meanwhile, Iran has been secretly sealing off its subterranean cache of highly enriched uranium. This will make securing the material, America's main objective, immeasurably more difficult, even if an agreement is signed.

The regime has always had the same beliefs. Apocalyptic war against the West will cause a Messianic figure to emerge from invisibility and lead the Shia faithful to global domination in the endtimes. That remains its reality. You can't do a deal with that.


‘Bring light to the world’: Journalist preserves slain Bondi rabbi’s mission in joint book
Journalist Nikki Goldstein remembers the last time she met with Rabbi Eli Schlanger. It was just days before he was killed by a terrorist at the Hanukkah party he organized last December on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

“He had a two-week-old baby at that point, and as we finished work for the day on the book we were working on, he just sat back in his chair and grinned like a Cheshire cat,” Goldstein said.

She asked him what the smile was about.

“I’m just so happy,” Goldstein recalled him saying. “I’ve got five beautiful, healthy children. I love my wife, I love my family, and I’m completely doing what I’m meant to be doing. I’m on my path.”

But Schlanger’s path would be brought to a premature end the following Sunday, when two Islamic State-inspired terrorists opened fire on participants at the annual Hanukkah by the Sea candlelighting party he arranged. The holiday celebration, attended by about 1,000 members of Sydney’s Jewish community, became a day of darkness as 15 people, including the 41-year-old Schlanger, were shot dead, and dozens of others were injured in one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in recent memory.

Goldstein was “in shock” when she heard the news of Schlanger’s death, but she later became aware that the book on the teachings of Judaism she’d been working on with him for almost a year would come to serve as more than just a religious guide.

“I woke up in the morning knowing that Eli’s legacy, his mission to bring light and love to the world, would not die with him. Through the hours of conversations, he had prepared me to be his herald, his foot soldier, and his torch bearer,” Goldstein wrote in the introduction to her new book, “Conversations with My Rabbi: Timeless Teachings for a Fractured World.”

Goldstein, who is not religiously observant, co-wrote the book with Schlanger as a guide for non-Jews to the universal, ethical teachings of the Noahide Laws, rooted in Jewish wisdom and the teachings of the Chabad Hassidic movement. After Schlanger’s death, the project has taken on the additional task of serving as a memorial to his life.
Bondi Beach victim's daughter becomes leading antisemitism advocate in Australia
Six months ago, Sheina Gutnick was a 31-year-old mother of three at the end of her maternity leave. She had degrees in social science and psychology, and had several years of experience working at a Jewish school. She was an average mother looking to get back into a 9-to-5 routine after her baby started daycare.

Then, on the first night of Hanukkah, everything in her life changed.

Gutnick was at a Hanukkah party in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and three children when she crossed paths with a friend from Sydney. He looked ghostly white and told her there had been a shooting at a Hanukkah party in Bondi. Her parents, who were visiting Sydney from their home in Melbourne, had been planning to attend.

“I immediately called my dad, but he didn’t answer. Then I called my mum, and she answered, and I could hear shooting, and she was screaming and told me they are shooting people on the beach and that my dad is running after the terrorists,” said Gutnick.

Her father, Reuven Morrison, would be one of 15 people murdered on Bondi Beach that night. Before he was killed, Morrison was filmed throwing a brick at the terrorists, charging toward them with whatever he could find, trying to shield his community with his body. The footage of his bravery against the terrorists would be seen around the world within hours. After diverting the terrorist’s attention from others, Morrison bled out on the beach after being shot 11 times. He was 62.

“At 7:13 p.m., I found out that my dad is no longer alive, and my first reaction was to tell my husband to get me on a plane to Sydney,” she said. “As I was standing at the doorframe to leave the house before I went to the airport, I turned to my husband and said, ‘This is the day our lives have changed.’”

Gutnick boarded the last flight from Melbourne to Sydney that night. She couldn’t stop crying, and a flight attendant asked what was wrong. “I told her that my dad had just been killed in Bondi,” she recalled. “She didn’t really know what to say, but told me, if you need vodka, let us know, we’ll sort you out.”


Europe’s obsession with Israel
The contrast is difficult to ignore: a democratic state fighting a war triggered by the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust receives sustained scrutiny and intensifying criticism, while authoritarian actors are often treated with conspicuous caution or leniency.

This inconsistency is not merely a public relations problem. It undermines the EU’s ability to present itself as a credible and impartial actor in the Middle East. For decades, European leaders have sought a central role in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet influence depends on trust, and trust depends on consistency. By applying visibly different standards to different actors, the EU weakens its own claim to be an indispensable diplomatic broker in the region.

The JPPI study also reveals a widening intellectual gap between Brussels and Jerusalem. More than half of all EEAS statements concerning Israel included references to the two-state solution or the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The problem is not that the EU continues to support a two-state outcome; many serious people still regard it as the only viable long-term framework. The problem is that EU diplomacy often invokes it as if October 7 did not fundamentally alter Israeli threat perceptions. A formula that does not address these perceptions will not persuade the Israeli public, whatever its diplomatic pedigree.

Yet the study’s most important conclusion may not be that the EU talks too much about Israel. It may be that Israel talks too little to Europe. While the EU remains intensely focused on Israel, Israel has largely stopped paying attention to Europe. Since October 7, Israeli diplomacy has concentrated, understandably, on Washington, regional security challenges, and the expansion of the Abraham Accords.

These are legitimate priorities. But they have come at the expense of sustained engagement with EU institutions, European governments, media, universities, and policy communities.

This neglect carries risks. The EU remains Israel’s largest trading partner. Approximately one-third of Israel’s trade in goods is conducted with EU member states. The EU is also Israel’s most important partner in research, innovation, and higher education. No alternative partner offers Israel access to a comparable ecosystem of research funding, academic collaboration, and technological networks.

At a time when economic competitiveness depends increasingly on scientific excellence and technological innovation, relations with the EU are not a diplomatic luxury. They are a strategic asset. But many Israelis have come to regard Europe as a lost cause, assuming that European attitudes are fixed, EU institutions are irreversibly hostile, and investment in the relationship is unlikely to yield results. This is not realism; it is resignation.

Foreign policy is not about engaging only with those who already agree with you. It is about shaping debates, building coalitions, and defending national interests even in difficult environments. When Israel withdraws from the European arena, others fill the vacuum. When it stops trying to influence European discourse, it should not be surprised when that discourse evolves without Israeli input.

The EU should ask why Israel occupies so much space in its diplomatic imagination and whether that hyper focus reflects balanced diplomacy or an entrenched double standard. Israel should ask why the Union occupies so little space in its own strategic thinking and whether it can afford to neglect its most important economic, scientific, and technological partner.

Neither Brussels nor Jerusalem benefits from the current trajectory. The EU risks its credibility as a diplomatic actor. Israel risks its influence, its economic interests, and its scientific future in a relationship it cannot afford to neglect.

Both outcomes are avoidable, but only if both Israel and the EU begin treating this relationship with the seriousness it deserves.


Lee Smith: Donald Trump’s Pallets of Cash
Polls show that Trump voters still support his war aims. The catch is that it seems he no longer does. He says it’s always been his preference to take Kharg Island by force but he chose against it because he didn’t think the American people had the stomach for it. But it’s the job of a wartime leader to steel the public and prepare them in the event American lives are lost. Trump says the U.S. could recover the stockpiled uranium on its own, but the risks are high. And, says Trump, he doesn’t want to end up like Jimmy Carter, whose effort to rescue American hostages during the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran ended in failure and the deaths of U.S. servicemen. To be fair to the one-term president often ranked among our worst commanders-in-chief, Carter tried. The choice then isn’t between failure and negotiations, it’s between winning and losing.

The joint U.S.-Israel campaign destroyed physical things that can’t be easily replaced, like nuclear facilities. Entering negotiations with Iran to secure physical things that yet remain—the remainder of the regime’s nuclear facilities and its stockpiled enriched uranium—is an acknowledgment that you are, at least at present, not capable of or willing to destroy or seize them. Shifting from war to talks tilts the balance of power in the other direction, away from the U.S., which at war made no concessions, and toward Iran, to which Trump must now make concessions to make a deal.

And the deal as Vance laid it out in his press briefing only means surrender. There is no verification regime that can hold Iran to the commitments he says Iran is willing to make. What happens when the Iranians invariably fail to uphold their pledges and then turn away inspectors? They typically do. They’ve never allowed inspectors access to military sites believed to house important parts of the nuclear weapons program. And Trump’s decision to forego military operations to achieve his aims means there is no mechanism to enforce any of the already feeble provisions Vance is promoting. If Trump has already put aside force because he reckoned the cost for winning his objective was too dear, what reason does Iran have to fear that he’d return to tactics he discredited by abandoning them for negotiations after he failed to secure his aims through war?

The Iranians have the upper hand, and not because of any preternatural ability to negotiate for which they’re often, wrongly, credited. The plain truth is that what won’t be won by force cannot be taken through negotiations.

Is Trump aware that he’s losing? He knew he got covid wrong. His supporters’ anger grew until it became the basis of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. Kennedy needed nothing more to launch a run than his well-documented history of fighting the very public health system that Trump didn’t fight, with catastrophic results for millions of Americans.

When the scion of America’s greatest modern political dynasty joined Trump on stage at an August 2024 campaign rally to announce he was backing the GOP candidate, he was returning to Trump the millions of votes he’d forfeited with his covid response. It was the most spectacular public absolution in American history: We forgive you, was the message that late summer night, here are your votes back, now go out there and win for all of us.

If Trump doesn’t get Iran right, there will be no time left for absolution or apologies. If he loses this war, generations of Americans will pay the price for a defeat that the 47th president of the United States brought on himself. And future historians of the period are unlikely to have any clearer understanding than we do now of why.
Israel Will Not Be Bound by Iran Deal, but Will Have to Coordinate with U.S.
A senior diplomatic source told Israel Hayom that if a deal is reached to end the war with Iran, Israel would be able to defend itself against threats, but its conduct must be coordinated with the U.S.

The source said Trump promised Netanyahu that the nuclear issue would be resolved in the most complete manner; otherwise there would be no deal.

Trump said all the reasons that led the two countries to go to war would be addressed, including the issue of missiles and support for regional terrorist organizations.

According to the source, the issue of Lebanon remains open, with the understanding that the rules of the most recent ceasefire agreement remain in force, under which Israel is permitted to strike whenever an emerging threat against it arises.
Trump says peace deal with Iran completed, ‘will bring peace and security to the whole region’
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the peace deal with the Iranian regime has been completed.

“I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the U.S. Naval blockade,” the president stated just before 5:30 p.m. in Washington. “Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow.”

About an hour later, the president said that “this great deal will bring peace and security to the whole region.”

“Many presidents have tried to make peace with Iran, and all have failed before me,” he said. “The leaders of the region have, for the first time, found a president who can help them achieve real peace. With the opening of the strait upon the signing of the deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal, oil will flow on both ends again for the region and the world.”

The U.S. president made the announcements on his birthday, June 14.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli prime minister wished him a happy birthday. He had not commented on Trump’s announcement at press time, nor had multiple other Israeli officials, including its top diplomats in Washington and New York.

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations and a frequent critic of the Jewish state, lauded the deal. “I warmly congratulate the United States and Iran for having reached a peace deal that provides for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as well as a framework for further negotiations,” he stated. “This represents a critical step towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict.”
Graham demands administration present the Iran deal to Congress
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday he is “somewhat concerned” that Iran’s account of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal diverges sharply from what the U.S. negotiators are claiming, and demanded Vice President JD Vance personally present the deal to Congress.

Iranian state media has claimed that the memorandum of understanding with the United States requires the release of all sanctions on Iran, a $300 billion reconstruction plan financed by the United States and its allies and the release of nearly $30 billion in blocked Iranian funds, and excludes any negotiation of Iran’s missile program or support for terrorism.

“I am pleased to hear the memorandum of understanding with Iran to allow the Strait of Hormuz to open has been agreed to. I will be watching closely the ensuing negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and other matters,” Graham said on X. “I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming.”

He emphasized that the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) requires the administration to send any nuclear deal with Iran to Congress for review and a vote.

“I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress,” Graham said. “Congratulations to all in getting us to this point. Time will tell.”

Earlier in the day, Graham also diverged from President Donald Trump on Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Beirut, which Trump sharply criticized. Graham emphasized that “we must understand who we are dealing with” and that Hezbollah’s strikes on Israel have continued in spite of the ceasefire deal.

“It is clear to me that no matter what deal we sign with Iran, Hezbollah’s stated ambitions of destroying Israel and making Lebanon a caliphate have not fundamentally changed,” Graham said.


Operation Rising Lion: One year later
When Operation Rising Lion was launched, Israel had the support of the Trump administration. The Iranian attacks in 2024 had proven that Israel’s new ties with US Central Command and other countries would help detect and intercept Iranian threats.

June 2025 inspired even more confidence. Iran’s ally, Hezbollah, was weakened in 2024. The Assad regime had fallen, and Hamas was similarly weakened.

Operation Rising Lion led to important achievements against Iran and its nuclear program. However, several goals didn’t pan out. Claims of myriads of missile launchers and launching sites being destroyed proved either to be too optimistic or outright false.

In fact, the problem Israel has faced since October 7 is a tendency toward optimism and a lot of premature claims of victory. For instance, just months after October 7, the IDF already claimed that Hamas was largely defeated in Gaza.

Israel also exaggerated its gains against Hezbollah and the Houthis, and it showed a similar tendency towards Iran. For instance, there were several claims in 2024 that Iran had suffered setbacks to its ballistic missile program because its “planetary mixers” had been destroyed.

The same hubris would return during Operation Roaring Lion in 2026, when there were claims that Iran could no longer enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles. Iran, however, has always shown that it can find ways to rebuild its programs.

Operation Rising Lion was important because it has apparently clipped the wings of Iran’s nuclear program. The problem is that after the apparent victory in June 2025, the war in February 2026 occurred in response to purported ballistic missile threats.

The war in February and March was waged for a second reason: to push for regime change. Unfortunately, this didn’t pan out.

Now, the conflicts with Iran present a new problem, because they have entered a familiar pattern Israel has seen on other fronts. This includes a series of extended conflicts and managing said conflicts amidst diminishing returns.


New IRGC Chief "Frequently Overruled" Iran's Leaders during Talks with U.S.
Ahmad Vahidi, 67, commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has emerged as a key power broker in Iran who is pushing a hard line at the negotiating table with Washington.

The Revolutionary Guard and those close to it have stood as the biggest obstacle to an agreement.

For months, Vahidi, whose predecessor was killed on the first day of the war, has tussled with more public-facing, political figures in the Iranian leadership. Each time, he has come out on top.

Vahidi was a founding member of the Revolutionary Guard and took charge of its intelligence branch in 1982. He helped establish the Quds Force, which specialized in training foreign militias to attack Iran's enemies, and became its first commander in 1988.

In the 1990s, he helped develop Hizbullah into the dominant military force in Lebanon.

Vahidi was sanctioned by the U.S. for helping oversee a crackdown on protests over women's rights in 2022 and is wanted by Interpol for helping orchestrate the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

Throughout the war, Vahidi has frequently overruled Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian, said Arab, Iranian and European officials.


Hizbullah's War of Survival
"Hizbullah's image as Lebanon's protector collapsed long ago," said Dr. Yossi Mansharof, a researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. "But now its image as the protector of the Shiites is also beginning to crumble. Hizbullah is at a low point in terms of its legitimacy, both inside the country and within the Shiite community."

Over the past two weeks, the IDF has expanded the ground maneuver in Lebanon, crossing the Litani River at several points. While the IDF tends not to report on its progress in southern Lebanon, statements by Hizbullah make it possible to understand where Israeli forces are located, as do satellite images, which show where buildings have recently been destroyed. Based on this data, four active fronts can be identified in which the IDF is advancing beyond the previous yellow line.

Field commanders who have recently encountered Hizbullah report that its combat standard has declined significantly. Nevertheless, Hizbullah is still carrying out dozens of operations every day against IDF soldiers. According to the Alma Research and Education Center, over the past week Hizbullah carried out 198 attacks, 168 of them aimed at IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon and 30 at Israeli territory. That same week, the IDF carried out 436 strikes, half of them north of the Litani.

Hizbullah has suffered an estimated 8,000 dead and thousands more wounded since Oct. 7, out of 50,000-80,000 regular and reserve operatives - 10% of its manpower, an enormous number by any measure - including hundreds of its most skilled fighters. Yet Hizbullah has recruited new fighters by lowering the age of its recruits. Dozens of Hizbullah's dead in recent weeks have been teenagers.
Hizbullah's Defenses Are Collapsing
Lt.-Col. B., 37, is the outgoing commander of the IDF's Maglan special forces unit, which has seen months of continuous fighting and deep ground operations in Lebanon.

He described what he sees as the collapse of Hizbullah's defensive network. "I think we are fighting an organization that has been badly beaten," he said.

"A year and a half ago, Hizbullah was still fighting us directly. Today, it barely dares to create friction with the army. It is simply retreating. Their commanders are sending them into southern Lebanon simply to die, and they are trying to avoid engaging us face to face."

He described the destruction of Hizbullah's underground complex beneath Beaufort Ridge, north of the Litani River, in an area used to attack Israeli communities in northern Israel.

He described "an underground city" with food and water supplies lasting months, operating rooms and a fully equipped underground hospital capable of treating wounded fighters.

"We found an insane amount of weapons and huge warehouses containing hundreds of explosive devices that were intended to be deployed along the roads."

"Above all, you see a clear Iranian fingerprint....A project built over decades became irrelevant within a single week."


IDF hits Hezbollah in Beirut in response to cross-border attacks
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday attacked Hezbollah terrorist targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said.

“In accordance with the directive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the IDF has just struck terrorist targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut,” the PMO stated.

The strike came “in response to Hezbollah’s fire toward Israeli territory,” it added. “Israel will not tolerate attacks on its territory.”

The IDF confirmed that it “precisely struck a Hezbollah infrastructure site in Dahiyeh, Beirut.”

Several steps were taken to mitigate harm to Lebanese noncombatants, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance, it stressed.

The strike targeted a command center “used by Hezbollah terrorists to advance terrorist attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF soldiers operating in Southern Lebanon,” the military said.

The Iranian-backed terrorist organization launched three drones on Sunday morning that exploded inside Israel in two separate incidents, the IDF said. No injuries were reported.


IDF says it killed key Hezbollah official responsible for deadly 2007 attack on US troops
Senior Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq, mastermind of a January 2007 attack that killed five US troops in Iraq, was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon over the weekend, the IDF announced Sunday.

Daqduq was reported in November 2024 to have been killed in an Israeli strike in Syria, but he apparently survived.

According to the military, Daqduq was killed by an Israeli strike south of the Litani River in Lebanon on Friday.

Daqduq had held a series of senior positions in Hezbollah, “served as a source of knowledge with extensive operational experience,” and, in recent years, “played a central role in advancing terrorist attacks and combat operations against the State of Israel and IDF soldiers,” the IDF said.

The military said Daqduq’s roles included head of security for slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah; commander in the elite Radwan Force; a commander in the operations unit of Hezbollah’s Nasr Unit; head of infantry in Hezbollah; and the commander of the “Golan File,” Hezbollah’s entrenchment efforts in southern Syria.

“Over the past several years, Daqduq led much of Hezbollah’s operational planning against IDF soldiers along the Lebanon border,” the IDF said.


Israeli air raid in Beirut ‘will not go unanswered,’ Iranian general warns
A senior Iranian military official on Sunday warned that the Israeli strike in Beirut, targeting its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, will be met with a response.

IRGC Brig. Gen. Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Tehran’s highest operational military command, told the state-run Defa Press outlet that Jerusalem’s “crimes” in Lebanon “will not go unanswered.”

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday attacked Hezbollah terrorist targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs “in response to continued Hezbollah attacks on Israel’s territory,” the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said.

The Iranian-backed terrorist organization launched three drones on Sunday morning that exploded inside Israel in two separate incidents, according to the IDF. No injuries were reported.

The retaliatory strike targeted a Beirut command center “used by Hezbollah terrorists to advance terrorist attacks against the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF soldiers operating in Southern Lebanon,” the military said.

Earlier this month, Iran launched several missile barrages at Israel in defense of Hezbollah, shattering a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since April 8.

The attack came after the IDF carried out a precision strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said in response to the renewed IDF attack on Sunday that the Islamic Republic should “discipline the Zionist regime” before reaching a diplomatic agreement with the United States.

“If this rabid dog is not controlled, it will bite your leg before the ink is dry on the agreement,” the senior lawmaker tweeted.


Ask Haviv Anything: 123: Batya Ungar-Sargon on why the left turned on the Jews
In this episode, Batya Ungar-Sargon joins the show to discuss her provocative new book, "The Jews and the Left." We dive deep into the unique history of Jews in America -- a history that looks nothing like the conditional emancipation of European Jewry. Batya argues that American Jews were never an oppressed minority, but rather founding partners in the American project whose rights were viewed as God-given from the start, and why Jews don't know that history. We unpack why the Jewish community historically aligned with the Democratic party, the impact of Foucault and "woke" ideas on elite institutions, the strategic failure of Jewish institutions to understand the problem and push back, and why it is time for American Jews to stop bowing to ideologues who despise them. Batya argues this is a moment for reclaiming history, rejecting victimhood, and standing up with agency.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Batya Angar Sargon and Her Work
01:52 The Unique History of Jews in America
03:04 The Role of American Jews in Political Dynamics
03:45 Understanding Jewish Emancipation in Europe vs. America
06:20 The Relationship Between American Christianity and Jews
09:12 The Complexity of Evangelical Support for Israel
11:49 The Current Political Landscape and Anti-Semitism
14:39 The Left's Perception of Jews and Oppression
17:41 The ADL and the Oppressor-Oppressed Narrative
20:31 The Historical Context of Jewish Immigration to America
33:49 Jewish Identity and Immigration History
36:35 American Jews: Agency and Power Dynamics
39:48 The Left's Shift and Jewish Response
43:15 Civil Rights Movement and Jewish Involvement
47:47 Wokeness and Its Impact on Jewish Identity
51:22 The Irony of Elite Ideologies and Jewish Response
58:10 The Future of American Jews and Political Identity


Coleman Hughes: John McWhorter: Why Elite Campuses Turned on Jewish Students
Why are elite college campuses so obsessed with Israel? John McWhorter argues it’s not really about Israel at all. For a generation raised to see American history as a story of white supremacy, Israel became a proxy, a place where the sins of America could be symbolically undone. That’s how campus protests got so fierce, and why Jewish students were left to walk through gauntlets while administrators looked away. John and I discuss what that reveals about the left’s relationship with antisemitism, and why it looks so different from the kind that comes from the right.




Flotilla leader sanctioned by US over ‘Hamas links’ invited to Parliament
MPs have prompted astonishment for welcoming to Parliament a leader of the Gaza flotilla who is sanctioned by the US over alleged links to Hamas.

Saif Hashim Kamel Abu Keshek – a former leading figure in the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which the US Treasury says is “clandestinely acting on behalf of Hamas” – attended an event in Westminster this week alongside fellow flotilla activists and MPs from across the house.

The gathering came just weeks after Keshek was sanctioned by the US Treasury, which accused him and three other flotilla activists of links to networks associated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said it was “astonishing” that Keshek, “an extremist activist with alleged links to Hamas”, was welcomed to Parliament.

“Mr Abu Keshek... should never have been allowed entry to the UK, never mind given VIP access to the heart of British democracy.

“The Green Party are yet again showing their own extremist colours by linking themselves with this figure,” he said.

Among those photographed at the event were former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, now sitting as an independent MP, Green Party MP Hannah Spencer, Green peer Baroness Jenny Jones, Labour MPs Richard Burgon, Lorraine Beavers and Steve Witherden, independent MPs Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan, SNP MP Brendan O'Hara, Liberal Democrat MP Vikki Slade and Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake.

According to US authorities, Keshek was designated over his leadership of PCPA, which Washington alleges is “clandestinely controlled by or act[ing] on behalf of sanctioned Palestinian terrorist organisations”.

The US Treasury document that sanctioned the activist alleges: “The PCPA was established with funding from Hamas’s International Relations Bureau and Hamas directs its activity through the placement of Hamas officials throughout the organisation, including its executive body, the General Secretariat.”


Gwyneth Paltrow is not so soppy after all
Meanwhile, in Blighty, all the usual suspects are at it. “From Goop to ‘Gwynicide’,” runs a typically revolting Guardian headline, with the author primly and ludicrously stating that “Just a few miles away from 51 Park, Palestinians are being killed and displaced by settlers and the Israeli military at record levels as this land grab continues.” Given that Israel is hardly bigger than Wales, you could say the whole place is just “a few miles” from Gaza. Certainly, if Herzliya is illegitimate, none of Israel is. But we already know the pro-Pal lot think that.

What’s cheering is that Gwyneth doesn’t. What is more, in choosing to work for Aviv Melisron, the developer of 51 Park, she is accepting Israel as it is: namely, with a Netanyahu government. Many luvvies lauded for being pro-Israel are very clearly, almost hysterically, only supportive of those who loathe Netanyahu and see the country as virtually illegitimate while he and the likes of Ben-Gvir are in power. Not Gwynnie, for there is nothing hysterically anti-Netanyahu about a luxury high-rise developer. Quite the opposite, you could argue.

Paltrow’s advert couldn’t have come at a better moment, a week in which Helen Mirren, formerly considered an ally, gave in to the mob and accused Israel of perpetrating a Holocaust on Palestinians – an accusation defined as anti-Semitic by the IHRA (Holocaust Remembrance) definition. Having played Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda, about the Yom Kippur war, how, we reasoned, could Mirren not now feel in her bones the case for Israel in a world of haters? How indeed.

But there she was at the Taormina film festival last week, reflecting on being called a “Zionist b---” on the streets of east London last year. Instead of rebuffing the assumptions of the harangue, she said: “How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?”

And so the stable of the righteous, already small, is now even smaller. There are a few who deserve continued appreciation. Boy George is a particular mensch: refusing to boycott Israel at Eurovision, never giving into pressure to avoid performing in Israel and, defending another righteous singer, Lady Gaga, from backlash for her stated love of Israel recently retrieved from a video of a 2014 show in Tel Aviv: “I love Israel too. Blaming an entire people is moronic. You can be against war and still love humanity.”

Who else is there? Arnie Schwarzenegger, director Quentin Tarantino, whose wife Daniella Pick is Israeli – he lives in Tel Aviv and visited an IDF base after October 7 to boost morale – and then a few older Jewish actors like Debra Messing and Jerry Seinfeld, plus watery support from Israeli-Americans like Natalie Portman.

Those who began the war in support of the release of the Israeli hostages have fallen away, and those, particularly in the music industry, who refused to boycott Israel for shows in the past, have also fallen into line with the mob – Thom Yorke of Radiohead a depressing example. In music, some of the most strident support is coming from two unlikely female rappers: Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks (both, not coincidentally, fans of Kemi Badenoch).

In this context, Paltrow’s 51 Park advert is all the more impressive, so impressive, in fact, that we are all putting the goopiness of Goop to one side. After all, a moral backbone is worth a million vagina-scented candles.


15 arrested in major police operation as Jewish protesters clash with anti-Israel activists
Fifteen people, including a 71-year-old Jewish man, have been arrested after rival protests erupted outside an Israeli real estate exhibition.

The protest centred on the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, held at Edgware United Synagogue after its original north London venue withdrew days before the exhibition. No reason was given for the cancellation.

In tense and dramatic scenes, police were forced to shut off a section of the A41 and and Edgware Way as Jewish protesters swarmed across the busy four-lane road to angrily confront a group of pro-Palestinian activists gathered on the other side.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police, the Territorial Support Group and the Community Security Trust managed to keep rival groups apart, although there were reports of physical violence.

Police estimated around 1,000 demonstrators and counter-protesters were involved. Jewish residents, joined by groups including Stop the Hate, prevented pro-Palestinian activists from reaching the synagogue itself, before gathering on the main road singing, dancing and waving Israeli and British flags.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators carried placards accusing Israel of selling “stolen Palestinian land” and promoting “ethnic cleansing,” while chants both supporting and opposing the IDF echoed across the area. Flags associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Iran’s Lion and Sun movement were also visible.


World Medical Association opposes call to suspend Israeli membership
The World Medical Association (WMA) has defended its Israeli member organisation against calls for its suspension, which are detailed in an article published on Saturday in The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals.

The campaign, led by the People's Health Movement (PHM), Artsen voor Gaza (Doctors for Gaza) and the Health Advisory Council of the Jewish Voice for Peace, argues that the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) should be expelled from the WMA over the association's “failure to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, the destruction of health-care infrastructure, and the torture and killing of health-care workers in Gaza”.

The petition seeks to place the suspension of the IMA on the agenda of the WMA's annual general assembly later this year.

But the WMA said in comments provided to The Lancet that it “stands against exclusion of any of its members for the actions of their governments – doing so diminishes our ability to call out injustices, and threatens shrinking the dialogue among physicians at this critical time when consensus in support of our medical ethics is so needed.

It continued that it “deeply values inclusion and believes engagement with its 117 constituent national medical association members is vital to advancing health and medical ethics globally.

“Preserving dialogue and cooperation among physicians internationally is essential in a world fractured by escalating conflicts and humanitarian crises.

“The IMA, one of our founding members and a strong advocate for WMA ethics and policies, has engaged in the development of our statements on Gaza, and has itself approached the Israeli government with shared concerns from the medical profession on many occasions.

The IMA also rejected the allegations, describing them as “at worst, lies, and at best, highly contested allegations presented as fact”.
The Lancet publishes call to suspend Israeli Medical Association from global medical body
Renowned medical journal The Lancet has published a petition calling for the suspension of the Israel Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA).

On Saturday, The Lancet published a petition by health organizations such as the People’s Health Movement (PHM), Artsen voor Gaza (Doctors for Gaza), and the Health Advisory Council of the Jewish Voice for Peace calling for the IMA to be suspended from the WMA over “its failure to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, the destruction of health-care infrastructure, and the torture and killing of health-care workers in Gaza.”

Leslie London, Emeritus Professor of Public Health at the University of Cape Town and a member of PHM South Africa, told The Lancet that the IMA has “colluded in the unspeakable treatment of Palestinians during this war.”

The British Medical Association already suspended ties with the IMA in June 2025.

WMA distances itself from calls to suspend Israel
The WMA, however, told The Lancet that it stands against the exclusion of any of its members for the actions of their governments, as “doing so diminishes our ability to call out injustices and threatens shrinking the dialogue among physicians at this critical time when consensus in support of our medical ethics is so needed.”

It also pointed out that the IMA is one of the founding members of the WMA and is a “strong advocate for WMA ethics and policies.”

Following the publication of the petition, Iranian-Jewish cardiologist Dr. Afshine Emrani wrote an open letter to The Lancet.

“I’m a cardiologist. I’m an Iranian Jew who grew up under a regime where medicine was subjugated to the state. What The Lancet just did is a disgrace to my profession,” he said.

He listed things that the boycott would actually destroy, including PillCam (revolutionized GI diagnosis), ReWalk (robotic exoskeletons for paralyzed patients), and breakthrough AI diagnostics for cardiac imaging and cancer detection, all of which are developed in Israel.


Anti-Hamas Activists Urging Gaza Residents to Join Protests
A new campaign organized by a group of Palestinian activists, exiled social media influencers, and journalists, mostly from Gaza, calls on Gazans to take to the streets on June 26 to protest Hamas rule and the current reality they face.

"The people of Gaza need to rebuild their lives. The suffering has to stop," said Gazan journalist Abed al-Hamid Abed al-Ati, who now lives in Cairo.

"People have been displaced and left in tents, and they're just not seeing, at least for now, any real signs on the ground that their lives are about to significantly change and get better soon. We reject the continuation of this war. It needs to end."

"Those responsible for bringing war and destruction upon us do not deserve to continue leading and should relinquish power. An entire people has been punished because of the reckless gamble of one organization."


Masked attackers in Basque region of Spain vandalize light rail trains destined for Israel
A group of masked individuals in Spain’s Basque region has vandalized six light rail trains belonging to the Spanish company CAF that were allegedly destined for Tel Aviv. The damage caused is likely to delay the trains’ arrival in Israel.

In early June, the attackers smashed the windows of the trains, which were being stored in the Navarre region, and sprayed them with red paint. 'We did not remain passive'

In a statement, the group said, “We discovered where CAF stores the trams that are heading to Tel Aviv, because they were marked in Hebrew, and faced with that, we did not remain passive.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Metropolitan Mass Transit System (NTA) said that CAF informed it about the incident “during which several carriages intended for the Purple Line were painted with anti-Israeli slogans and several windows were damaged.”

NTA said the damage was handled by the CAF company, including cleaning and replacing/repairing the glass.

NTA said the incident has no impact whatsoever on the progress of the Purple Line project.

In September 2025, CAF was one of four Spanish companies listed in a United Nations report about 158 companies that carry out activities generating “human rights concerns” in the West Bank. The listing resulted from CAF’s involvement in the Jerusalem light rail construction project, which includes the construction of the Green Line tram as well as the extension of the existing Red Line tram, which partially runs through east Jerusalem.


Herzog hosts Somaliland president on first visit to Israel
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday hosted Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi, in what marked not only the first state visit of a Somaliland president to Israel, but to any country.

“We are deeply appreciative that the State of Israel has chosen to receive us with such an honor on this historic occasion. By doing so, Israel has taken part in a moment that will be remembered in the diplomatic history of our nation, and we do not take that gesture lightly,” Abdirahman said to media following a private meeting between the two leaders.

(Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi’s name includes a patronymic. On second reference, he is referred to by his given name, Abdirahman.)

“Somaliland has been talking, has been reaching out to world leaders for the last 35 years. They were asking only one question: to see us. Only one country desired to see us and recognize Somaliland, and that’s the government of Israel and its people,” Abdirahman said.

The meeting took place at 11:30 a.m. at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, where Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog welcomed Abdirahman and first lady Fardowsa Mohamed Roble in an official ceremony, according to the President’s Office.

Herzog thanked Abdirahman for showing the “courage and realism” to open his country’s embassy in Jerusalem. Somaliland Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Hagi announced last month that the Horn of Africa country would soon establish an embassy in Jerusalem.

“The beautiful images of the people of Somaliland waving Israeli flags in celebration of this new relationship warmed all of our hearts,” Herzog said, referring to celebrations that followed Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland, noting that Somaliland’s independence has been “a reality on the ground for several decades.”

“Today, we are equally delighted to have the flags of Somaliland flying here in the President’s Residence and all throughout Jerusalem,” Herzog said.

Herzog urged moving from declarations to people-to-people cooperation. He said that the two nations faced common threats, such as radical extremism. “We both seek security and stability in the region and in the Horn of Africa. We both see the importance of protecting maritime freedom.”

The relationship comes in a “broader context” of growing ties between Israel and African nations, said Herzog, who has made three official visits to Africa during his presidency. Those burgeoning relationships hold much promise. “Whilst there are those who seek to keep Israel and African nations apart, I’m certain these ties will grow and grow,” he said.





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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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