Pages

▼

Saturday, June 20, 2026

06/19 Links Pt1: 4 IDF soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah attack; Melanie Phillips: Trump’s surrender; ‘Unconditional support’ for Israel doesn’t exist; Vance Drops the Pretense; How Doha captured the ICC

From Ian:

Melanie Phillip: Trump’s surrender
Trump signed the agreement because he found himself in a trap from which all escape options were bad. But that was because he had refused to accept Israel’s assessment that the Tehran regime needed to be brought down and that it would take a year of attrition to do so.

Having embarked on a different, shorter war, he then proceeded to undermine Israel’s carefully thought-out plan for victory, calling off its most decisive attacks at the last moment.

Looking for an off-ramp from the war to avoid political or economic collapse is rational, if regrettable. Dressing up a tactical retreat as victory to obscure the disaster caused by Trump’s own incompetence is also rational, if deplorable.

But the enormity of his capitulation to Iran, the ludicrous absurdity of his remarks and the venom against his great ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggest that something else is at work here.

It was always assumed that Trump would be careful never to go down in history as a second Barack Obama, replicating the former president’s disastrous 2015 Iran deal; nor would he ever tolerate being thought of as a sucker.

But what if Trump’s chronic narcissism makes him unable to see that’s what he’s actually become? We know from long experience that he often frames events to correspond with what he wants them to be, rather than what they actually are. What if, accordingly, he really has turned surrender into victory against Iran in his mind? What if he really believes that America has won this war?

There are possibly even darker explanations for this debacle. There are the financial connections between Iran’s ally Qatar and people in the Trump administration—not to mention the $1 trillion that Qatar has now pledged to invest in the United States, in addition to the vast sums with which it has already bought up America.

And in Tablet last April, Lee Smith suggested that the Iranian regime’s “echo chamber” influence operation in Washington, D.C., to sell Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal was actively working once again during the current war to safeguard Iran’s nuclear program. This time, however, it had a man on the inside of the Trump administration: Vice President JD Vance.

Israel now faces a hideous choice between abandoning its military defense against Hezbollah’s unceasing attacks—another Israeli soldier was killed in Lebanon this week, and several others were injured—or risking the vindictive wrath of Trump.

The longtime opponents of this war may be gloating, but America’s national interest demanded—and still demands—that the Iranian regime be neutralized.

Iran’s war against the West hasn’t ended. Trump’s surrender has produced a crisis not just for Israel but America as well.
Rowan Dean: Peace offering
Last week the world looked on in horror at the footage of a beautiful young 21-year-old girl, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, being callously tossed to her death at a Brazilian bungee jump, as the safety rope lay uselessly unattached to one side. To add to the tragedy, it has also been reported that Maria was still alive when a nurse got to her, but she died shortly afterwards.

It’s hard not to draw a comparison with the other horror show this week, as President Donald Trump and his sidekick J.D. Vance announced a so-called ‘peace deal’ with Iran, or rather a ‘memorandum of understanding’, that appears to throw Israeli Prime Minister and the security of Israel off a cliff, with no safety rope.

This betrayal of Israel comes as a profound shock to all those who supported Mr Trump’s war against Iran not only in the hope that it would defang the world’s most evil regime, but would also provide the impetus for the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow their murderous and oppressive government.

This magazine believes it was a mistake for the Americans to halt the bombing campaign at the very point where the Iranian regime was at its most vulnerable. It is impossible to know what may have been, but any student of military history knows that when you are winning against a bloodthirsty foe, the wisest course of action is to finish off your enemy when they are down. Giving them the opportunity to re-build, re-organise and ultimately fight another day is a very grave error.
‘Unconditional support’ for Israel doesn’t exist
It has become axiomatic, on both the Left and the Right, to claim that America has always given Israel “unconditional support.” Tucker Carlson has said as much. So has Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), among many, many others.

But there’s a problem with this narrative: It’s not true. And one only needs to read a history book to find out why.

As historians such as Walter Russell Mead have documented, America has long had a special relationship with Zionism, the belief in Jewish self-determination in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland. America has become, over time, Israel’s greatest ally.

But it is historically inaccurate to portray that support as either unwavering or one-sided.

The United States was the first nation to recognize the State of Israel. President Harry Truman, defying many of his advisers, supported U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181, which called to create two states out of British-ruled Mandate Palestine.

Zionist leaders in pre-state Israel supported Resolution 181, although it fell far short of the territories promised to them after World War I. By contrast, Arab states rejected the proposal and chose war instead.

In Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, five Arab armies and multiple militias, some led by former Nazi officers and collaborators, massed to destroy the fledgling Jewish state.

Israel won by the skin of its teeth, losing as much as 1% of its population. Israelis fought and bled for their freedom. And they did so on their own.

Many of those who fought and died were Holocaust survivors, some fresh off the boats from Displaced Persons camps in Europe.

They did not use American arms. The Israelis relied on a hodgepodge of weapons, many from the Czech Republic.

In fact, the U.S. government instituted an arms embargo and prosecuted those who violated it. By its very nature, the arms embargo favored the Arab states, who had an overwhelming numerical advantage.

Transjordan, known today as Jordan, even fielded British-led and trained troops, meaning that, mere years after World War II, some British officers were quite literally on the same side as the Nazi officers who were advising Syria and other Arab nations.

Opposition to the world’s sole Jewish state can make for strange bedfellows.


4-person IDF tank crew, including battalion chief, killed by Hezbollah in south Lebanon
Four IDF soldiers were killed overnight in a Hezbollah attack in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tebnit, and five soldiers were wounded there hours later, the military said Friday.

Lebanon’s health ministry, meanwhile, reported at least 18 people killed by Israeli strikes. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The violence was the latest in deadly clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group that have continued in Lebanon since the US and Iran this week reached a memorandum of understanding that committed them and their allies to halt hostilities in the country.

Israel, which was not party to the MOU, has rebuffed Iranian demands that it withdraw from a buffer zone in south Lebanon meant to protect border towns against Hezbollah attacks. A US official told Axios that Iranian anger over Israeli military activity there may be the reason US-Iranian talks scheduled for Friday were canceled.

In the Hezbollah attack shortly past midnight, a suspected drone or anti-tank missile struck the tank of Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, killing all four crew members, the IDF said.

The names of the three other soldiers killed in the incident will be published later. The exact cause of the explosion is under further investigation by the IDF.

Ben Simhon, 32, from Kibbutz Beit HaShita in northern Israel, is survived by two daughters and a wife who serves as a combat officer in the Border Defense Corps.

Ben Simhon served in several roles in the 401st Brigade throughout his military career. During the fighting with Hezbollah in 2024, he served as the chief of staff for the head of the Northern Command.

He took the helm of the 52nd Battalion on April 20 after the battalion’s commander was seriously wounded in south Lebanon.

Hours after the deadly strike on Ben Simhon’s tank, an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah struck forces of the Commando Brigade in Kfar Tebnit, wounding five soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the IDF.

The seriously wounded soldier was identified as a reservist officer. The four other wounded soldiers included three reservists and an NCO.

The IDF said the troops were taken to a hospital for treatment and their families were notified.
Hezbollah will pay ‘very heavy price’ after drone attack kills four soldiers, Netanyahu vows
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed a forceful response after a Hezbollah drone attack in Southern Lebanon killed four IDF soldiers, including Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon.

“I send heartfelt condolences to the families of the commander of the Armored Corps 52nd Battalion, Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, and of three heroic fighters whose names have not yet been cleared for publication,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

“Following the heinous attack by Hezbollah, which is a flagrant violation of the ceasefire, I instructed the IDF last night to strike Hezbollah with force,” the prime minister said.

According to the premier, Israeli forces struck more than 80 terrorist targets and killed dozens of Hezbollah operatives following the attack. The military subsequently targeted Hezbollah command centers in the Bekaa Valley on Friday morning.

Netanyahu said he had held a security assessment with Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

“My directive is clear: Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or our territory and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks,” he said. “The IDF will act to thwart any threat to our forces and our territory.”

The premier also reaffirmed Israel’s intention to maintain its buffer in Southern Lebanon despite international pressure to withdraw.

“Israel will remain in the security zone in Southern Lebanon for as long as necessary for the protection of the communities of the north,” he said.

Katz described the deaths of the four soldiers as a “difficult loss” for the IDF, the defense establishment and the State of Israel.


IDF strikes 80 Hezbollah targets, kills dozens of terrorists after four soldiers killed
The IDF struck over 80 Hezbollah targets across Lebanon overnight in response to repeated violations of the ceasefire by the terrorist group, the military announced on Friday.

"Overnight, the IDF struck more than 80 command centers, terrorists, launch positions, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area of Nabatiya and additional areas in southern Lebanon, within the Security Zone and beyond it," the IDF said.

After four Israeli soldiers were killed, the IDF also announced that they had attacked two Hezbollah command centers in the Bekaa Valley, while terrorists were inside.

Throughout all the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists were killed, the IDF stated.


Israel, Hezbollah agree to ceasefire starting on Friday, Israeli source tells 'Post'
Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to a ceasefire, an Israeli source confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.

The ceasefire was set to begin at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, a senior US official told Reuters.

“Hezbollah and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire,” the official said on background, adding that negotiators for the US and Qataris worked out the deal with help from Iran. “We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire.”

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, an IDF spokesperson said the IDF will continue operating in Lebanon unless it receives different directives.

"Recent events have made one thing clear: IDF soldiers must stand between Hezbollah and Israeli civilians," he said.

"We will not wait for the next attack to reach our homes. We will continue to remove immediate threats, respond to Hezbollah’s violations, and do whatever is necessary to protect our civilians."

Despite IDF readiness to fight, ceasefire seemingly reached
Earlier on Friday, the United States relayed a message to Iran via mediators assuring that Israel will not continue its attacks against Hezbollah, according to a CNN report.

According to CNN's sources, Israel will not continue attacking Hezbollah for the time being, with the 80 sites targeted during Thursday night and Friday morning being the full response to the recent Hezbollah attack that killed four IDF soldiers.

“Hezbollah violated the ceasefire. Israel has agreed to let it be, which was relayed to the Iranians, and it’s up to Hezbollah to stop,” the US sources told CNN.
Ben-Gvir: ‘All of Lebanon must burn’ after deadly Hezbollah attack
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Friday called for a dramatically intensified Israeli military response against Lebanon following a Hezbollah drone attack that killed four IDF soldiers in Southern Lebanon.

“For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn,” Ben-Gvir posted on X.

The remarks came hours after the military announced that four IDF soldiers, including Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, commander of the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Brigade, were killed.

“With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit,” Ben-Gvir said. “Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration.”

The minister said he had conveyed the same message directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Lebanon-Israel talks to resume in DC, Rubio says after call with Aoun
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday, hours after the start of a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The two agreed that Israel and Lebanon would begin the next round of peace talks in Washington on Tuesday.

“Secretary Rubio underscored that Lebanon’s bilateral negotiations with Israel represent the only feasible path to reconstruction, economic recovery and ending recurrent cycles of violence,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott stated. “They discussed the next round of negotiations, scheduled for June 23-25 in Washington, where the two sovereign governments will make progress toward a lasting peace. Secretary Rubio reiterated the need to disarm Hezbollah and to re-establish control over all Lebanese territory.”

The Lebanese readout of the call was broadly similar, while mentioning that Aoun emphasized “the necessity of halting Israeli aggressions on Lebanese territories.”

Israel renewed major ground operations in Lebanon in response to Hezbollah attacks in March, shortly after the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran. Israel currently occupies large portions of Lebanon’s south as a security zone intended to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure and to act as a buffer between Hezbollah and northern Israel.

The United States and Iran agreed to “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon” as part of the Memorandum of Understanding that the two countries agreed to on Sunday.

The U.S.-negotiated linkage between the Iranian and Lebanese theaters has provoked outrage in Israel, as Israeli forces have continued to come under fire from Hezbollah despite previously negotiated ceasefires.
Huckabee rebukes France over criticism of Israeli strikes in Lebanon
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Friday sharply criticized French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot after the French diplomat called for Israel to halt its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“French FM said Israel needs to stop strikes on Hezbollah. Does France get all its info from Hezbollah?” Huckabee wrote on X.

“Last night, Israel had four of its soldiers killed. Israel strikes when struck,” he added. “Ceasefire happens when Hezbollah stops shooting & killing.”

Huckabee’s comments came after Barrot told French broadcaster Franceinfo that Israel should end its military actions in Lebanon and that the United States should pressure Jerusalem to do so.

The ambassador highlighted a post by Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter, documenting repeated Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire.

The new fighting followed a Hezbollah drone attack in Southern Lebanon that killed four IDF soldiers, including Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, commander of the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Brigade, overnight on Thursday.

In response to repeated Hezbollah violations, the Israel Defense Forces said it struck more than 80 terrorist targets in Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, including two Hezbollah command centers, launch positions and other terrorist infrastructure. The military said dozens of Hezbollah terrorists were killed in the strikes.


Jake Wallis Simons: Trump’s Iran deal has led Israel and the US to the very brink of disaster
As the world comes to terms with the detail of a Memorandum of Understanding that emboldens the West’s enemies, dismays its friends and sets the stage for fractured alliances and more confrontation, here are the three main catastrophes it contains.

1. American surrender. Under the terms of the deal, the United States commits to a full military withdrawal, never to attack in the future, and not to foment regime change (refrain from “interfering” in “internal affairs”). Outrageously, the safety of Hezbollah in Lebanon will be secured. All naval blockades will be lifted.

2. Cash. Iran will be enriched beyond its wildest dreams. Oil sanctions will be lifted immediately, with all other sanctions permanently removed forthwith and no new ones ever introduced. In addition, $24bn of frozen assets will be released and at least – at least! – $300bn will be made available as a “rehabilitation fund”. How will this money be used? Put it this way: given that Hezbollah’s annual budget is around $1 billion, the Lebanese terror group could be funded for decades to come with huge quantities left over to rebuild stockpiles of ballistic missiles (at the G7, Trump said that Iran deserved to have them), buy new air defences, and even build new nuclear plants (the president also said a degree of enrichment was OK).

3. Nukes. All that Iran seems to have offered in return for this largesse is to “reaffirm” a commitment to non-proliferation that was made in the first paragraph of the JCPOA, which was agreed by Barack Obama in 2015. What significance did that hold? No significance at all. If Iran was genuinely only interested in civilian nuclear power, it could either buy ready-enriched uranium from overseas or enrich the material itself to a level of 3.67 per cent, which is all that is needed to generate power. Instead, it has pushed its stockpiles up to 20 per cent, 60 per cent and even higher, which can only be of use in an atomic bomb. Moreover, the Islamic Republic did not even commit to any concrete details of the supposed curtailment of its nuclear ambitions, instead – as usual – deploying strategic delay and kicking the can down the road.

All of this, of course, is the worst possible news for Israel, America and the West, and the best result ever for the enemy. What could have possessed Trump? This is a man who has been arguing since the very birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979 that the only way to deal with the Ayatollah is by force.

As long ago as 1980, Trump told NBC: “When you get the respect of the other countries, then the other countries tend to do a little bit as you do, and you can create the right attitudes. The Iranian situation is a case in point.” During the Obama years, he consistently lambasted the administration for signing a “weak” deal.

“The Iran deal was so bad,” he told crowds of adoring supporters at a rally. “We paid $150 billion to sign a horrible agreement.”

Well, Mr President, now you’ve paid much more than double that sum. For what? You’ve spent up to a trillion dollars on degrading the regime’s military capabilities, only to withdraw and hand them the money to replace them. In the meantime, none of your war aims – regime change, ending the nuclear threat, curbing Iran’s ballistic missile programme, stopping its support for proxy militia – have been achieved, and Israel has been thrown under the bus to boot.

Henry Kissinger was right. “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” Trump, once Israel’s best hope, has led the Jewish state, America and the West to the very brink of disaster. Now we can rely on nobody but ourselves.
Poll: 65% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s Iran policy; 34% back his approach on Israel
Most Americans continue to disapprove of how US President Donald Trump is handling Iran, while his overall presidential approval holds steady, according to a new AP-NORC poll that was conducted as he suggested a deal with Iran had been reached.

The poll points to just how unpopular the war, which began Feb. 28, has been with Americans even as the Republican president turned abruptly from threatening Iran to reopening negotiations. Support for his handling of the war remains lopsidedly partisan. About two-thirds, 65%, of US adults disapprove of how Trump is handling issues with Iran. But while the vast majority of Democrats and independents view Trump’s actions negatively, only 28% of Republicans are unhappy.

Americans’ views on how the president is handling Iran are roughly in line with his overall job approval, which stands at 37%, unchanged from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in May.

The new survey was conducted June 11-17, just after Trump called off threats to escalate the war with Iran. The poll was fielded as Trump announced a deal with Iran and authorized an end to the US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, concluding just before the deal was signed Wednesday.

Approval of Trump’s actions on Iran has been low over the past few months. But in interviews, some Republicans also weren’t pleased with the outcome of this week’s agreement, which gives Iran an immediate benefit, allowing it to sell its oil freely again.

The deal also reopens the strait without tolls for two months, restarts talks between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program and calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
The CIA director’s warning and the illusion of peace with Iran
You can call it “a discrepancy.” Since the term comes from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump, one must express it politely. But the issue itself is anything but polite.

At stake is the conclusion of a conflict that has brought the world to the brink of a far wider war. When governments across the globe mobilize around a diplomatic initiative, and when the president of the world’s most powerful nation assumes the mantle of peacemaker, one naturally assumes he is acting on the basis of reliable information. One assumes the Iranians are prepared to cooperate.

Trump warns, travels, signs agreements and attends international summits. The world celebrates. The G7 applauds. Words such as “agreement” and even “peace” begin to dominate the conversation.

According to Trump’s practical, business-oriented logic, the calculation seems straightforward. Iran has been weakened, impoverished and stripped of much of its military capacity and regional proxy network. Why wouldn’t it agree to a deal?

Thus, after months of discussion about defeating Tehran’s murderous regime, after promises to curb terrorism and halt the ayatollahs’ nuclear ambitions, the narrative suddenly changes. Iran, we are told, may surrender enriched uranium, ease tensions in strategic waterways and stop destabilizing the Middle East and the West.

Only Israel appears dissatisfied. And that dissatisfaction is quickly transformed into another opportunity to isolate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is routinely criticized for defending Israeli citizens from continuous attacks by Iranian-backed terror organizations. Once again come the familiar accusations: “Occupation!” Israel must stand down, withdraw and trust that the regional situation will somehow improve.

The expectation seems to be that Iran will ultimately accept a financial package in exchange for peace. Really? No.

Ratcliffe has publicly identified what he calls a discrepancy between what Iranian officials say in negotiations and what they tell one another privately.

In other words, according to the CIA director, Iran has shown no genuine intention of abandoning uranium enrichment, ending its support for Hezbollah and other proxies, or relinquishing the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic.

This should surprise no one familiar with the Middle East.
Vance Drops the Pretense By Abe Greenwald
Via Commentary Newsletter, sign up here.
JD Vance's Jew-baiting is no longer hiding in plain sight. It’s no longer something that has to be inferred from his choice of anti-Semitic allies, his serial flirtations with the rhetoric of the podcast right, or his clear displeasure whenever the Jewish state asserts itself in a way that conflicts with his political faction's priorities. It’s now out in the open.

“If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government,” he said today, “I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.” Vance then added that Donald Trump is “the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.”

We get it. Everyone hates Israel, and maybe they’re all onto something. Vance has been itching to say this for a long time, and Donald Trump’s failure in Iran finally gave him the opportunity. The president is letting JD be JD. Turns out, he’s exactly who I thought he was.

Vance’s premise, it’s worth noting, is false. Israel has relations with dozens of countries and maintains significant strategic partnerships throughout the world, even with countries that criticize it obsessively. And while Vance claims that Israeli cabinet members are personally attacking Trump, they’ve merely commented on the Iran deal and what it means for Israel.

But the real problem here is moral. Vance's formulation is intended to put Israel in a position that Jews know all too well: that of a people whose fate depends on staying in the good graces of a powerful ruler. And Jews in this circumstance, Vance was saying, should really know when they’re pushing their luck.
Josh Hammer: Trump Ties His Name and Credibility to Vance’s Dubious Iran Diplomacy
The Iranian regime, long guided by the sharia doctrine of taqiyya, has always viewed negotiations with Western powers as a strategic tool to buy time while advancing its nuclear capabilities, exporting jihad, and sowing discord across the region. To imagine that Iran will suddenly embrace a spirit of good-faith cooperation is simply preposterous. No one actually believes that—including Trump’s own CIA director, John Ratcliffe.

We should also consider how this appeasement affects Trump’s Middle East legacy and, looking toward 2028, possible successor plans. Up until the April 8 ceasefire, Trump evinced a life’s work of consistent toughness toward the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism—a regime whose revolutionaries’ very first action, in 1979, was to storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and commence a 444-day hostage crisis. To cap off the fiery and effective Epic Fury on such a limp note, without a single American goal having been achieved, is to jeopardize that legacy.

What is the point, after all, of winning the war but losing the peace? On Wednesday, Trump celebrated the signing of the MOU at a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles. The profound symbolism of having that particular dinner at that particular location, intimately associated as it is with tragically flawed peace accords, cannot be ignored.

It seems, then, that Trump is placing a high-stakes wager on his Middle East legacy on his credulous vice president. As Trump said at the G7 summit earlier this week in France: “If [the Iran deal] works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming JD.” Perhaps Trump meant that comment in jest—but perhaps he didn’t. The buck stops with the commander-in-chief, but maybe this has also been a trial run for Vance as he gears up for a likely 2028 run. If so, it has not been a particularly impressive one. No intellectually honest person can deny that Iran comes out the big winner from yet another futile exercise in kicking the nuclear (and missile) can down the road.

Throughout this ordeal, many Iran hawks have asked, “Where is Marco Rubio?” Rubio, like Ratcliffe and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, allegedly lobbied Trump against the deal. Perhaps the answer, in a possibility raised by the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, is that Rubio is deliberately missing in action: He is letting Vance “take the fall” if (when) the deal inevitably implodes. If Trump cares about preserving his legacy on the world stage, then, ironically, his best remaining hope may well be for Rubio to clean up this mess.
FDD: Iran Prioritizes Protection of Hezbollah Over Negotiations With U.S.
The MOU was intentionally drafted as a framework document, allowing both Washington and Tehran room to interpret what a final agreement might entail. Events in southern Lebanon are exposing the limits of that ambiguity.

Israel’s security zone exists because Hezbollah remains armed, entrenched, and committed to threatening northern Israel. Until that reality changes, Israel is unlikely to withdraw, regardless of diplomatic pressure, and is also prepared to absorb significant costs to ensure northern communities never again live under Hezbollah’s threat.

In terms of Iran’s stance, the regime’s boasts about having secured a strategic victory are one thing. Canceling the first face-to-face meeting with the U.S. vice-president after signing the MOU is something else entirely.

The administration should see this maneuver for what it is: an effort by the Islamic Republic to shield its most important proxy while pretending to defend Lebanese sovereignty.

The Lebanese government has already made it clear that it refuses to be subordinated to Iran’s interests. Beirut should make good on this commitment by arriving at its next meeting with Israel determined to disarm Hezbollah.

The Trump administration should reject Iran’s cynical attempt at diplomatic blackmail. It should not reward Iranian obstructionism. It should make clear that diplomacy will not be held hostage to Hezbollah’s agenda, especially as Tehran has no standing to lecture anyone about Lebanon after decades of using the country as a forward operating base against Israel.

If Iran wants negotiations, it should show up. If it wants to protect Hezbollah, it should stop pretending the issue is Lebanese sovereignty.
French FM: Paris will support UN sanctions relief only after ‘major concessions’ by Iran
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Friday that Paris would approve UN sanctions relief for Iran only if it is satisfied with the final US-Iran agreement.

He is the latest senior official to express concern over the US-Iran memorandum of understanding, which has drawn criticism from a range of voices in the US and beyond, including in Israel.

But Barrot also drew a rebuke on Friday from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee for saying Israel should cease hostilities in Lebanon, after four Israeli soldiers were killed by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in the country’s south overnight. Iran is also demanding that Israel halt its fire and withdraw from Lebanon.

Speaking to broadcaster FranceInfo on Friday, Barrot said France wants to play a role in the nuclear talks with Iran as outlined by the MOU that Tehran and Washington agreed to this week, which kicks off 60 days of negotiations between the sides.

The MOU says the final agreement will be “endorsed by a binding UNSC resolution.” It also provides for hundreds of billions of dollars in economic relief for Iran, despite not mandating any concrete concession from the Islamic Republic on its nuclear program.

Barrot, whose country holds veto power on the United Nations Security Council, said there would be no stability in the region unless US talks with Iran also dealt with Iran’s support for terrorist proxies, as well as its ballistic missile program. Neither of those issues is addressed in the MOU.

“The return for major concessions that will be asked of Iran is the lifting of sanctions, sanctions that were taken at the United Nations,” he said.


J Street to organize Iran briefing for congressional staff featuring Rob Malley
J Street is slated to host a virtual briefing for congressional staff on the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding with Iran featuring former Biden administration special envoy for Iran Rob Malley, who was suspended from his State Department role amid an investigation over his handling of classified materials.

The event, scheduled for next Tuesday, will feature Malley alongside Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. It’s being co-organized by the Center for International Policy and Win Without War.

The Center for International Policy is a far-left think tank led in part by former Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) advisor Matt Duss, that has taken a strongly hostile stance toward Israel, including opposing U.S. aid to Israel and describing Israel’s operations in Gaza as a genocide.

Malley was suspended for much of Biden’s term in office under suspicion of leaking classified documents, though he said the investigation into him had been closed during the Trump administration, and denied any knowledge of what the investigation pertained to.

A State Department inspector general’s report found that Malley was improperly allowed to continue working in his role for some time after his security clearance was suspended, and that his direct supervisor and other senior officials were not notified of his suspension.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard set up Iraqi cells to attack Gulf neighbors, sources say
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has set up secretive new cells in Iraq to carry out attacks on Gulf countries that host American forces, bypassing established militia networks to avoid detection, eight Iraqi sources told Reuters.

Three or four cells, each comprising about 10 elite Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim fighters, launched at least seven drone attacks from desert locations near the southern cities of Basra and Samawa against sites in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates between April 20 and May 17, three of the sources said.

A number of their members were drawn from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi’ite factions with thousands of fighters. But the new groups operate outside its command structure, reporting directly to the IRGC, according to the sources, who include two Iraqi military officials, another security official and five local militia commanders.

The establishment of the new Iraqi cells, which has not previously been reported, reflects a shift in IRGC tactics aimed at preserving Iran’s ability to project force across the region at a time when its armed proxy groups are greatly diminished, in part following years of fighting with Israel, and its own military and economic resources are depleted following the US-Israeli war with Iran, the five militia commanders said. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization.

Iraq, a Shi’ite-majority country, has a host of militias, many of which maintain close ties to Tehran. They form a key pillar of Iran’s regional “Axis of Resistance,” which stretches from Gaza and Lebanon to Yemen and Iraq.

Groups acting under the banner of Islamic Resistance in Iraq have claimed responsibility for dozens of drone and rocket attacks against American assets in the country, drawing deadly retaliatory airstrikes, since the US and Israel began the war with Iran on February 28. But there has been no mass mobilization of Iran’s proxies inside Iraq’s borders.


Commentary Podcast: Lebanon Sequitur Today we discuss reports on issues with the Iran MOU and the cancellation of JD Vance's trip to Switzerland, ostensibly over ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and the scapegoating of Israel, Zionists, and neocons.



How Doha captured the International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court in The Hague is seeking the arrest of more Israeli leaders for alleged crimes against Palestinians. The court’s specious claims against Israel never made sense. Now, however, those claims are beginning to unravel because of the ICC’s own problems. New evidence suggests that the ICC has ulterior motives that go far beyond mere anti-Israel bias—and that its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is likely acting as a pawn of even more sinister actors.

It now seems that the ICC’s actions form part of a Muslim Brotherhood-led lawfare campaign, with Qatar pulling the strings. A shocking exposé published last month seemingly blew the lid off the ICC’s true motives. According to the report, which cites individuals who worked on behalf of Qatar, the Qatari government promised to “look after” Khan if he issued the arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. Khan, for his part, has not denied the allegation. The report also claims that Qatar hired investigators to discredit Khan’s critics, including a U.S. senator and a woman who accused Khan of sexual misconduct.

The ICC has pursued an intense anti-Israel campaign, possibly at Qatar’s behest. In November 2024, it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza—a result of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—even though Israel’s operations produced one of the lowest civilian-to-combatant casualty ratios of any modern urban conflict.

These ICC measures were not just symbolic, as some claim. Instead, they produced immediate real-world consequences.

Fearing arrest, Netanyahu canceled several diplomatic trips to Europe. He continues to risk detention in any of the roughly 125 countries that recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction—a court that the United States, for good reason, has refused to join. Beyond the practical impact, ICC actions have also tarnished Israel’s image on the world stage and will likely stain its reputation in future history books.

Now the ICC has reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, with perhaps more to come. Smotrich is certainly a controversial figure. However, the ICC was created to prosecute “the most serious crimes of concern,” not government ministers like Smotrich for approving housing permits in disputed territories.

Sometimes, it is more convenient to accept a dysfunctional status quo than to challenge it. Yet new allegations against the ICC’s top judge should catalyze scrutiny of the entire court.

That Qatar was working behind the scenes with Khan to prosecute Israeli leaders is a major revelation, and it may explain the ICC’s rush to prosecute Israeli officials, an alacrity that is unusual for the court. As one legal expert observed, the ICC, which was only established on July 1, 2002, is “the most inactive and procrastinating court in the world—it dealt with a dozen cases only, over a period of more than 20 years.” Qatar’s alleged meddling in the ICC case carries major ramifications. Most obviously, it represents a clear conflict of interest. In Western legal systems, any case in which a prosecutor was allegedly bribed by an interested party, especially one as deeply invested as Qatar—a longtime ally and financial backer of Hamas—would almost certainly be thrown out.
ICC chief prosecutor Khan suspended by British bar association after sexual misconduct allegations
Britain's Bar Standards Board said on Friday it had imposed an interim suspension of Karim Khan, who had been the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor before he was suspended by the court on June 8 over sexual misconduct accusations.

"Under the BSB's Enforcement Regulations, the interim suspension must now be considered by an Interim Suspension Panel at a hearing within the next four weeks," the board said, adding that the suspension was effective immediately.

Khan, 56, denies the allegations made against him.

ICC rules Khan committed serious sexual misconduct
A diplomatic source briefed on the ICC's decision to suspend Khan told Reuters the court's governing body's executive bureau has ruled that he had committed serious misconduct following an 18-month-long probe into accusations that the prosecutor had non-consensual sexual interactions with a lawyer in his office.

The source added that the bureau has recommended that the prosecutor be removed from office.

The ICC's governing body will send its conclusion on to all 125 ICC member states, which will vote on Khan's fate in a special session convened at a later date.




UN’s Albanese faces uphill battle with First Amendment case seeking to end sanctions against her
An Italian expert credentialed by the United Nations and living in Tunisia is at the center of a highly unusual First Amendment lawsuit, despite not being a citizen and the speech in question taking place overseas.

U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese has been placed back on the sanctions list after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a stay this week against a lower court’s previous injunction.

Albanese — an advocate against the Israeli government who has drawn international condemnation for her rhetoric — is hoping a residence she owns in the United States and her daughter’s American citizenship will be enough to convince the legal system she cannot be punished for her speech.

Albanese was slapped with sanctions by the State Department in July 2025 as the Trump administration hit the International Criminal Court, an organization it claimed “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

The rapporteur ended up in the administration’s crosshairs due to her history of lobbying for the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the basis of war crimes in Gaza. The court ultimately issued warrants in late 2024, though they have never been carried out.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted at the time that Albanese “directly engaged with the International Criminal Court in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries.” He further accused her of “unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West.”


UN school in New York cancels dance after students scrawled swastikas in yearbooks
The United Nations International School, a private school for the children of employees of the global body, canceled an end-of-year school dance after students wrote antisemitic and homophobic messages in each other’s yearbooks.

The incident occurred during yearbook distribution to M4 students, the school’s eighth-grade class, last week.

Administrators at the school were alerted by the early afternoon that hate speech, including swastikas and antisemitic and homophobic remarks, had been written in the autograph sections of multiple yearbooks, according to emails sent to parents and staff, which JNS viewed.

The school immediately confiscated as many yearbooks as it could and launched an investigation. Subsequent updates to families stated that more than 30 yearbooks contained hate speech and that nearly 20 students had been identified as potentially involved.

In response, administrators canceled the M4 Social.

“We have made a collective decision to cancel the M4 Social scheduled for tomorrow,” the email to parents stated.

“While we acknowledge that not all students were involved, the gravity of the situation and its widespread impact on our school community make this not the right time for a celebration,” the email stated.

“This decision is not intended as a punishment but rather reflects our profound sadness and disappointment regarding recent events,” a follow-up email stated.





Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

Reclaiming the Covenant on America's 250th (May 2026)

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    

 

 

at