Saturday, June 20, 2026

06/20 Links: In two days of Hezbollah's 'ceasefire', five IDF soldiers killed, 13 injured; How to Understand the Memorandum of Undoing; Hamas terrorist doubling as Al Jazeera photojournalist killed in Gaza

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: Trump has handed the keys to Iran, and Tehran is in control
There is logic to Iran’s moves. It wants to drive a wedge between the United States and Israel through its Hezbollah proxy. It is succeeding. And Israel faces a dilemma. An Israeli response to Hezbollah’s provocations is exactly what Iran wants. Failure to respond, on the other hand, could whet the appetite of Iran and Hezbollah.

In this situation, Israel needs a diplomatic arm to present Hezbollah’s repeated ceasefire violations. To exercise restraint, so it will be clear that this is a deliberate provocation. Only after it is clear who is violating the cease-fire, and only after the headlines stop saying “Israel bombs Lebanon” and instead say “Hezbollah violates ceasefire,” will Israel be able to respond. The problem is that Israel has no diplomatic arm. And the headlines about the bombings receive far greater prominence than Hezbollah’s violations.

Under the circumstances, the prime minister’s statement Saturday, that Israel is holding its fire, is the correct response. It is meant to put the ball back in Iran’s court. Not that this will cancel the surrender agreement. Far from it. Even the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and even the launch of ballistic missiles at Israel, will not move the United States.

Iran can torment it as much as it wants. Because the United States is deeply sunk in this agreement, and all the dubious explanations it has already offered for it amount to a total liquidation of assets. Oil prices, oh, the oil, Trump said. The global economy nearly entered a terrible crisis, he added. So now he is going to do something? It will not happen. “Even if I murder someone on Fifth Avenue,” Trump said in 2016, “they would still vote for me.” Now it is Iran. Even if it murders a few Americans, just because it feels like it, Trump will still bow his head and argue that it is Iran’s right.

We must hope the current crisis ends. But afterward, Israel must be pulled out of the terrible low point it has reached in the United States. Because without change, today’s problems will look like child’s play compared with tomorrow’s.
Lee Smith: Trump has fallen for the same false Iran promises as Obama
Opening door for Dems
It’s because of Donald Trump that Iran doesn’t have the bomb. Because of the president’s historic partnership with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Iranian regime has been battered. But that doesn’t mean Trump won the war. Not yet, anyway.

Historical trends suggest that a Democrat will succeed Trump, but losing to Iran would virtually ensure it.

Then, Obama’s party will help rebuild the Iranians’ nuclear program, and all of Trump’s efforts, and all the battles won and sacrifices made by American armed forces to stop Iran, will amount to nothing because he didn’t win. Losing wars comes with serious consequences.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth made clear at the outset of the war that the central goal of the US government was to end Iran’s ability to project power beyond its own borders. Vance said in his briefing Friday that the United States has done that by eliminating Iran’s air force and navy.

But the fact that US allies are still under fire during the war that Trump chose and the cease-fire he imposed means the administration has failed to meet the very first benchmark it set for victory.

Perhaps, then, embarrassment was the source of the president’s anger, for when after America’s regional partners retaliated against attacks by Iran and its proxies during the cease-fire, the president chastised his friends.

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.

The joint US-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.

Lost leverage
Shifting from war to talks tilts the balance of power in the other direction, away from the United States, 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. No verification regime 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 forgo 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.

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 of why than we do now.
How to Understand the Memorandum of Undoing
It took less than four months for a war of absolute demands to collapse into an agreement of postponed decisions. During the conflict, President Trump declared that there would be “no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and later warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” By June 17, the U.S. and Iran had signed an interim memorandum declaring an immediate and permanent end to military operations while opening a sixty-day window to negotiate a final agreement. The sixty-day limit governs the initial negotiation period, not the duration of the ceasefire.

The U.S. President signed it at Versailles, of all places, hosted by the French President he had mocked throughout the war, down to the jab that his wife “treats him extremely badly.” That Macron hosted him anyway tells you how eager Europe was to contain the conflict.

But nothing sat as strangely as the Vice President’s language. He wanted Iran to “behave like a normal country,” to rejoin the international community, to become, he hoped, “successful.” Touching language, if the same administration had not, weeks earlier, warned California law enforcement of unverified reporting that Iran had allegedly aspired to attack the state using drones, and if Iran had not, before the June 2025 U.S. strikes, messaged the President threatening “sleeper-cell terror inside the U.S.” if he attacked. Iran went, in the space of a season, from terror sponsor to fixer-upper.

Read against the administration’s own stated aims, the memorandum is a catalog of undoings. The MOU is, in the most literal sense, a Memorandum of Undoing: nearly everything the administration said the war was for. Every maximal promise the war made, the memorandum either narrowed, deferred, or abandoned, with the Vice President now granting that Iran, “like any state,” retains a right to self-defense and need not give up the missile capability the President had vowed to raze. A Memorandum of Undoing is, after all, the easiest kind of document to undo. And it came undone in pieces:




Five soldiers killed, 13 injured within two days, hours of Lebanon ceasefire announcement
Five IDF soldiers died, and 13 were injured in separate instances in southern Lebanon within two days of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire being announced, the IDF announced over the weekend.

The five soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon, the military announced on Saturday.

Four names have been released so far, including Lt.-Col. Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon, 32, St.- Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, and St.-Sgt. Liav Kababia, 20, of the 52nd Battalion, 401st Brigade, as well as Sgt. First Class Nir Ben-Ari, 21, from the Maglan Unit, Commando Brigade.

They were killed in combat during Hezbollah's overnight attacks on IDF positions in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

On Friday, a projectile struck a tank belonging to 52nd Battalion forces under the Givati Brigade, who were operating in the area of the village of Tebnit.

St.-Sgt. Klein, St.-Sgt. Kababia, and Lt.-Col. Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon died in the incident, along with one other soldier, whose name has not yet been cleared for publication.

Hezbollah attacks on southern Israel kill one, injure 13
Later, Hezbollah attacked IDF positions in the Lebanon buffer zone overnight. Sgt. First Class Ben-Ari is believed to be the only soldier killed in the attacks, though 13 other soldiers were wounded.

In the overnight attacks, Hezbollah launched over 50 projectiles at soldiers in a "blatant ceasefire violation," the IDF said.

The military responded to the attacks with strikes on several Hezbollah terrorists and terror infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon, the military added, including rocket launch positions, weapons storage facilities, and command centers. Later on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz told the IDF to hold fire until further notice.

The military noted that it remains committed to the ceasefire, emphasizing that it will act to "remove any threat posed to the State of Israel and IDF soldiers."


Tehran says closing Strait of Hormuz again following Lebanon flare-up
The top command center of the Iran Armed Forces announced on Saturday it is again shutting maritime transit in the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of Israel’s actions in Lebanon, Reuters cited the Islamic Republic’s Mehr state news agency as reporting.

“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic; It is noted that this first step is a response to the enemy’s breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations,” the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a recorded message, according to AFP.

The U.S. Central Command said on Saturday that commercial ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz increased throughout the day.

“Safe passage through the international waterway remained intact today as 55 merchant ships transited, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil to global markets,” it continued.

CENTCOM further said that the Joint Maritime Information Center issued an advisory this week affirming safe passage for all vessels along a designated route that is free of arbitrary requirement claims or impediments.

The U.S. and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on June 17 that stipulates, in the first clause, that the “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon” must be ensured.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke with Fox News overnight Friday, saying that the choke point has been opened, facilitating the transportation of 16 million barrels of oil per dy.

Asked if Iranian forces are redirecting vessels from the Strait of Hormuz, Vance said he is “skeptical” of such reports. The vice president noted that mines are still present in the 20-mile stretch of the choke point, and therefore it could be that forces of the Iran’s navy warned ships against crossing in these areas.

He continued that de-mining the strait could take up to 30 days, as stressed in the MoU.

“But no, we’re not seeing any evidence of the Iranians still closing the Strait of Hormuz. It is going to take some time to clear those mines though,” Vance said.


Leiter: Hezbollah fired over 170 projectiles at Israel, IDF soldiers in 24 hours
Hezbollah has launched a total of 147 rockets, 20 UAVs and nine anti-tank missiles at Israel and at soldiers deployed to the security zone in Southern Lebanon in the last 24 hours, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter revealed on Saturday.

Leiter listed 13 villages from which the Iranian-backed terrorist organization carried out its attacks. According to the diplomat, they are: Kfar Sir, Al-Zaharani, Khirbat a-Dwir, Tufakhta, Mazraat a-Daudia, Tul, Kharouf, Jouaiyya, Kfar Riman, Kfar Fila, Joubaa, Mazraat a-Kamata and Kharet a-Nabbaa.

“Hezbollah are terrorists. Hezbollah lies. Hezbollah is Iran’s long arm and they don’t want a cease fire,” Leiter said.

In an earlier tweet, the ambassador blamed Hezbollah for breaking the ceasefire.

“Terrorists lie. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. Hezbollah lies. Iran is using its proxy to extract concessions. That is the modus operandi of the murderous regime in Tehran. Don’t be fooled,” he said.

Israel has agreed to implement a ceasefire in Lebanon in the wake of the Memorandum of Understanding signed last week between the U.S. and Iran.

Discussions between the latter two parties were scheduled to take place in Switzerland on Friday, but were postponed after a deadly flare-up in Lebanon over the weekend.

The top command center of the Iran Armed Forces announced on Saturday that it is again shutting maritime transit in the Strait of Hormuz, citing hostilities in Lebanon as the driver of the measure, according to Reuters.


IDF troops corner 30 Hezbollah terrorists in Tebnit tunnel headquarters
The IDF cornered dozens of Hezbollah terrorists in a huge underground base in the village of Tebnit, Israeli media reported on Saturday.

According to N12, the network of tunnels is over a kilometer in total length, and IDF forces have engaged in combat both above and below ground.

Maariv reported that 30 Hezbollah terrorists were trapped inside, fighting back against the IDF using mortars and drones.

The IDF stated that the base was one of the most important Hezbollah headquarters in southern Lebanon, and that the operation in the area was intended to remove a long-term threat to northern Israeli communities.

US intelligence warns IDF operations threaten Iran MoU
US intelligence agencies have warned the White House that continued Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon may undermine the Trump administration’s recently signed Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, according to a report in The Washington Post on Friday.

The report was published shortly after it was announced that Israel and the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah had reached a ceasefire agreement.

IDF spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin clarified on Friday afternoon that the military will continue to remove immediate threats to Israel’s national security and respond to any Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire.


Hamas terrorist doubling as Al Jazeera photojournalist killed in Gaza
The IDF killed a Hamas terrorist who had been doubling as a photojournalist for Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera, the military announced on Saturday.

The terrorist, Ahmed Samir Muhammad Washah, served as a sniper operative in Hamas' military wing, the IDF said.

He, along with two other Hamas terrorists, was killed in an Israeli strike in the center of the Gaza Strip.

"In recent months, he advanced sniper attack plans and additional terrorist activities against IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip," the military stated as reason for him being targeted.

Terrorist's brother also posed as Al Jazeera journalist
Washah's brother, the IDF stated, had also been a Hamas terrorist who had posed as an Al Jazeera journalist, and had been killed by Israeli forces in April. Muhammad Samir Muhammad Washah had worked in Hamas' rocket and weapons production headquarters.

When he was killed, the military said that Washah's brother was involved in the development of drones, rockets, and other weapons, and also played a role in transferring arms across Gaza throughout the war.

The statement added that Washah contributed to Hamas’s force build-up and was directly involved in planning attacks, posing what the military described as a “concrete threat” to troops.


Winston Marshall: “Is this the calm before a much bigger war” - Haviv Rettig Gur
In this episode of The Winston Marshall Show, I sit down with Israeli journalist and geopolitical analyst Haviv Rettig Gur for a deep dive into President Trump's Iran peace deal, the future of the Middle East, and whether the West has just missed its best chance to defeat the Iranian regime.

We examine the controversial agreement between the United States and Iran, the lifting of sanctions, the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, and what the deal means for Israel, Hezbollah, and the wider region. Haviv explains why many Israelis view the agreement with alarm, arguing that it risks strengthening Tehran while allowing its proxy network to rebuild.

We also discuss the Strait of Hormuz, American leverage, the legacy of Obama’s JCPOA, the role of the Gulf states, and whether the war against Iran’s “Ring of Fire” has ended in victory, stalemate, or strategic retreat. Finally, we explore the long-term future of the Iranian regime, the limits of diplomacy, and why Haviv believes this conflict is far from over...

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:55 Initial Reactions to the Deal
7:31 Financial Aspects of the Deal
11:23 Trust in the American Administration
25:28 The Role of Hezbollah and Lebanon
32:07 The Israeli Response to the Deal
52:45 The Long-Term Implications of the Deal
53:17 The Role of the Arab Gulf States
55:55 Final Thoughts




Pro-Iran narratives target Azerbaijan’s Jewish war hero amid Israel-Baku disinformation row
Azerbaijani-language social media posts have circulated in recent weeks questioning the legacy of Albert Agarunov, a Jewish National Hero of Azerbaijan, as Iranian and pro-Iranian accounts renewed claims that Azerbaijan is being used for Israeli operations against Iran.

The posts used phrases such as “the Albert Agarunov lie has collapsed” and described his story as a “forgery.” Some appeared alongside hashtags and language associated with Iranian-supported subversive groups in Azerbaijan, which portray themselves as “opposition” to the country’s secular authorities. Their timing, wording and use of certain language mirror broader pro-Iranian narratives that have targeted Azerbaijan over its ties with Israel.

Some of the accounts present themselves as opposition voices, while using language associated with pro-Iranian and Resistance-linked networks. Their timing, wording and use of certain language mirror broader pro-Iranian narratives that have targeted Azerbaijan over its ties with Israel.

Agarunov, a Mountain Jew from Baku, volunteered during the First Karabakh War, served as a tank commander and was killed on May 8, 1992, during the battle for Shusha. He was later awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan and is buried in Baku’s Alley of Martyrs beneath the flags of Azerbaijan and Israel. A school has been named after him, and a monument was erected in one of Baku’s districts in his honor.

Agarunov is remembered not only for his battlefield role, but also as a Jewish Azerbaijani figure whose identity has remained part of his public commemoration in Azerbaijan. The recent posts about him were noted by Azerbaijani commentators and Jewish-Azerbaijani community sources as part of a broader attempt to discredit his image.

The posts also drew pushback from ordinary Azerbaijani users, many of whom continued to describe Agarunov as a national hero. Israel has long been viewed in Baku as an important defense partner, particularly during and after the Karabakh wars.

The online activity followed a CNN report on June 5, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter claiming that IDF commandos, intelligence personnel and Mossad operatives had operated from locations in southern Azerbaijan during the Iran war. The report said the Israeli presence was linked to intelligence gathering, drone activity and possible rescue operations near Iran’s northern border.

Azerbaijan denied the report. Officials in Baku said the claims were baseless and that Azerbaijan does not allow its territory to be used for military operations, intelligence activity or hostile actions against a third state.
lran to lash prominent female singer for performing online without hijab
An Iranian court sentenced a prominent singer named Parastoo Ahmadi and a group of seven fellow artists to 74 lashes each after they livestreamed a performance on YouTube, according to her videographer and local media.

The concert featured Ahmadi singing powerful, mournful songs to an empty audience, on a dimly-lit stage adorned solely with a large Persian carpet in the grounds of a traditional caravanserai complex.

Ahmadi was backed by a pianist, drummer, guitarist and bassist.

All the musicians wore black, with Ahmadi dressed in a long, strappy gown and wearing deep red lipstick, in a country where women are banned from singing in public.

They are also required to dress modestly and wear the headscarf.

Ahmadi livestreamed the concert on her own channel in December 2024, where it has been viewed three million times. It has also been viewed many thousands of times more on other channels.

“Two years banned from artistic activities, banned from leaving the country, and 74 lashes for all of us,” wrote videographer Tahmineh Monzavi in a post on Instagram on Thursday.

Ahmadi, Monzavi, the musicians and others involved in the production were first taken into custody in December 2024, days after the concert took place.

Local media had at the time said they were released on bail, while the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website said a case was filed for performing “music without observing legal and religious standards.”

Mizan and other official websites have not confirmed the latest sentencing, but Iran’s reformist Emtedad news platform also reported on the story on Thursday. Women share a moment as they look at a smartphone at the main gate of the Tehran University as a banner shows portraits of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Ahmadi and other participants “were sentenced to 74 lashes, a two-year ban on leaving the country, and a two-year ban on artistic activity,” according to a post on Emtedad’s Telegram.

“This verdict was issued by the Qom Provincial Criminal Court… The charge against them is hurting public decency by producing and publishing vulgar and immoral content on the internet.”


France arrests 20 after banning rally against political executions in Iran
French police arrested around 20 people in Paris on Saturday as demonstrators gathered for a protest against repression and executions in Iran, defying an official ban.

Several buses arrived at Place Vauban in central Paris despite police having banned the rally over what they said was concerns about potential clashes “in the current particularly tense national and international context.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered at the location, an AFP correspondent saw.

Police issued orders for the crowd to disperse and a score of people were arrested, a police source told AFP.

“They arrested about 20 people for no reason,” Afchine Alavi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told AFP.

“On the protesters’ side, there is no violence. Police dispersed many people and are preventing others from joining,” Alavi added.

The NCRI is the political arm of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also known by its Persian acronym MEK), which is designated a terrorist group by Iran.

The group has organized numerous protests in Paris without incident, including in recent months during nationwide anti-government demonstrations in Iran and the US-Israeli conflict with the Islamic Republic.

Some protesters carried signs reading “Neither shah nor mullahs.”

Alavi said police used pepper spray and that several protesters were injured.

Organizers filed an emergency motion to overturn the ban but a Paris court upheld it on Saturday morning.

The ban was ordered Thursday evening hours after a call between France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, during which they discussed the latest developments to end the Iran war.


Danon demands UN official quit over Israel blacklist
A verbal confrontation erupted at the United Nations on Friday when Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon called on a senior U.N. official to resign over what he described as a politically motivated campaign against Israel.

The clash occurred during the United Nations’ flagship event marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Danon sharply criticized Pramila Patten, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, over Israel’s inclusion by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres last month on a U.N. blacklist of parties suspected of conflict-related sexual violence, alongside terrorist organizations.

“Israel has been placed on a blacklist alongside Hamas, ISIS and Boko Haram,” Danon said. “This is a moral disgrace that will be remembered as one of the darkest stains on António Guterres’s legacy.”

Tensions escalated when Vanessa Frazier, the U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, interrupted Danon’s remarks. Frazier is responsible for the annual report that included Israel on a U.N. blacklist related to children and armed conflict.

The interruption triggered a brief but vocal exchange. Danon accused Patten of lending credibility to allegations against Israel without independently reviewing the evidence or ensuring that Israel had been given a fair opportunity to respond.

“If verifying the facts is not Ms. Patten’s responsibility, then what exactly is her responsibility?” he asked.

Addressing Patten directly, Danon said, “You knew Israel had cooperated. You knew you had not reviewed the evidence yourself. Yet you chose to stand behind this falsehood. You should have said no. You should have resigned. You tried to stain Israel’s name. But the stain is not on Israel. The stain is on you.”

According to a video of the exchange posted by Danon on X, Frazier objected to what she called “personal attacks” and defended her findings, saying they were based on verified evidence.

Danon responded forcefully, accusing U.N. officials of bias against Israel.

“You caved to the secretary-general’s obsession with targeting Israel,” he said.

At one point, after another interruption, Danon declared, “We are a member state, and you work for the U.N., and you will be quiet now!


Swastikas, hate speech reportedly printed in NYC UN-affiliated middle school yearbook
Swastikas and homophobic comments were reportedly printed in an eighth-grade yearbook of the United Nations International School in New York, a UN-affiliated institution that teaches the children of diplomats.

The school canceled the eighth grade’s end-of-year party over the incident and has launched an internal investigation, the Ynet news site reported Thursday, citing Israeli and Jewish parents of students at the school, where a swastika was also found etched in a boys’ locker room earlier this year.

UNIS, where annual tuition costs run up to about $50,000, is also facing a lawsuit from earlier this year by a Jewish veteran French teacher who claims the institution has ignored repeated complaints about antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse from both students and staff.

The Ynet report did not include pictures or quotes from the yearbook, but UNIS spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina confirmed to the news site that school yearbooks had contained “hateful language.”

“We are shocked by the hateful language found in the junior school yearbooks and unequivocally condemn identity-based harm,” the spokesperson said. “Upon learning of the incident, school leadership immediately confiscated the remaining yearbooks and launched a comprehensive investigation.”

Israeli diplomats whose children attend UNIS slammed the school’s response for speaking broadly about “identity-based harm” without explicitly calling out antisemitism, Ynet reported.

“Nothing surprises us anymore,” Ynet quoted an Israeli parent as saying. “It feels implausible to present every incident like this as an isolated case and not a deep-seated problem.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon brought up the Ynet report at the General Assembly on Thursday, when the UN marked the International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
Israel: Palestinians only group whose refugee numbers keep growing
The Israeli Foreign Ministry marked World Refugee Day on Saturday by criticizing the U.N. Relief and Works Agency over its discriminatory treatment of Palestinian refugees since its establishment in 1949.

“Refugee agencies are supposed to reduce the number of refugees,” the ministry tweeted, adding that as for UNRWA, it ensures that the number of Palestinian refugees only rises.

As a result of Israel’s defense of itself during its reestablishment, roughly 700,000 Arabs in Britain’s Palestine Mandate were displaced. A large portion of them heeded to calls to leave from the invading Arab armies, promising that they could return home after the nascent Jewish state was destroyed.

Unlike other United Nations refugee agencies, UNRWA automatically grants refugee status to all descendants of Palestinian refugees, and does not actively search for resettlement solutions.

As a result, today more than 5.9 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry in a separate tweet highlighted a contrary policy, the Jewish state’s absorption of millions of Jewish refugees and immigrants in its founding years.

These included Holocaust survivors, Jews expelled from Arab countries, Ethiopian Jews and Soviet Jews.

“They were not kept as refugees: They became citizens. They became Israelis,” the ministry stressed.


Jonathan SacerdotiWe found the limit of free speech at the Oxford Union
Laurence and I had prepared a brown paper envelope on which he had written the letters C.H. for Charlie Hebdo. At the start of his speech, he held it up, warning the audience that it contained a caricature he wished to show them, later on. Most didn’t react at first, but some minutes later, when he reached for the envelope a second time, the opposition bench jumped like a group of dozing cats who had heard a sudden noise.

“My wife asked me not to show this for fear of repercussions for my family,” he said. “But I told her that if I did not, I would have submitted to Islam.”

The opposition speakers and their guests squirmed in discomfort, terrified at the very suggestion a drawing of Mohamed might soon be unveiled – and not just any drawing, that drawing.

Entirely as predicted, the mask slipped. Arwa, who had been enjoying her 15 minutes of fame as the self-proclaimed final protector of free speech in the UK, jumped to her feet with an interjection that seemed intended to prevent her own death for facilitating such blasphemy.

Had she not demonstrated enough commitment to freedom of speech, as a Muslim woman, she begged, by inviting him to speak in the first place? Must the cartoon be unleashed?

But before Laurence could even answer, Sir Jacob – who would later claim Britain’s Western, Christian foundations were sufficient to defend us from the horrors of Islamic violence – jumped to his feet. Maybe there was an obscure rule in the Union’s constitution which prohibited the use of props, he clutched, but the straw was not there.

A young man in the third row announced that no such prohibition had been applied to remove PLO flags in previous debates, so clearly the cartoon should be allowed. Touché.

Suddenly Rees-Mogg, Alrayes, the two converts, and even the three Muslim heavies they’d brought with them to attempt an intimidating entourage, all looked distinctly freaked out. It seems we had found the limit of free speech they had all denied existed. That limit was Islam, and if they let this pass, maybe it would come for them too. The author, Jonathan Sacerdoti, at the Oxford Union during Wednesday’s debate

Exercising the full dramatic abilities only a professional actor cancelled by the woke mob could, as Laurence slowly unwound the string which fastened the old-fashioned brown paper envelope, time stood still. The audience gasped, and let out a nervous laugh, as he slid out its scurrilous contents.

A caricature of Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Relief. A pardon from the otherwise inevitable death sentence. Because in this country, you can mercilessly mock an antiquated former MP and knight of the realm with no fear for your bodily safety or life. Actually, it’s almost compulsory to mock the Mogg. But don’t you dare touch Mo.

As we had intended, the moment perfectly revealed the palpable fear of Islam held even by its staunchest defenders in that room, and by everybody else, too. Check mate.


Winston Marshall: The Islam Debate Britain Can No Longer Avoid
In this episode of The Winston Marshall Show, I sit down with writer, commentator, and former Muslim Ridvan Aydemir, better known as The Apostate Prophet, for a conversation on Islam, immigration, demographics, free speech, and the future of Britain.

Aydemir argues that many Western leaders have failed to understand the ideological challenge posed by political Islam and warns that mass migration, demographic change, and cultural fragmentation are transforming Europe in ways few politicians are willing to discuss openly. Drawing on his experience growing up in a devout Muslim household before converting to Christianity, he explains why he believes Islamism remains one of the most significant challenges facing the West today.

We discuss anti-Semitism, Sharia law, integration, grooming gangs, deportations, free speech, and the rise of what some have called "Islamic populism." We also explore the history of Islam, the life of Muhammad, the relationship between Christianity and Islam, and why Aydemir believes many Western assumptions about tolerance, multiculturalism, and liberal democracy are increasingly being tested.

Finally, we examine whether Britain can reverse its current trajectory, what a successful integration model would look like, and why Aydemir believes Christianity remains essential to preserving Western civilisation.

Chapters
00:00 The Shocking Survey On British Muslims
03:22 Do These Polling Numbers Surprise Ex-Muslims?
08:40 Islam, Christianity & Religious Tolerance
15:28 Demographics, Integration & The Future Of Britain
17:42 Why Some Muslim Communities Integrate Better Than Others
20:32 Qatar, Saudi Arabia & Exporting Islamism
27:28 Immigration, Deportations & Western Identity
34:47 Free Speech, Blasphemy & Islamic Influence
39:50 Growing Up Muslim In Europe
43:03 Islam, Anti-Semitism & The Jewish Question
45:42 Muhammad, History & The Origins Of Islam
56:27 Why Muhammad Turned Against The Jews
58:22 Is Britain Heading Towards Balkanisation?
1:02:00 The Islamic View Of Jesus & The Gospel


Van Hollen says he’s considering presidential bid, wants Israel to be 2028 litmus test
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a leading critic of Israel in the Senate, publicly confirmed for the first time this week, after visits to key primary states, that he is considering a 2028 presidential bid — and argued that criticism of Israel should be a key litmus test for the emerging field.

Van Hollen has become an increasingly outspoken and virulent voice against Israel in the Senate and taken trips to states that will play a pivotal role in the 2028 presidential primary, fueling speculation that he is scoping out a presidential run.

“I went to New Hampshire because I was invited, but I would say kind of kicking the tires a little bit,” Van Hollen said on the “On NOTUS” podcast this week.

Asked whether he thinks any Democratic presidential candidate will be viable without criticizing Israel and supporting conditioning aid to the Jewish state, Van Hollen responded, “I think a Democratic presidential candidate should believe in the United States’ foreign policy based on advancing our values and our interests. And if you want to advance our values, you cannot apply one set of standards just to our adversaries and another to our friends and be taken seriously in the world about it.”

“I think any credible Democratic presidential candidate has to be willing to hold the government of Israel accountable when it’s violating human rights and violating international law and violating US interests because the Israeli-Palestinian issue, conflict goes to the heart of so much of the instability that we’ve encountered and paid for in the United States over decades,” Van Hollen continued.
Mamdani’s House candidates attack Israel in closing arguments
The battle for three Democratic congressional primaries in New York City has been defined by a conflict more than 5,000 miles away, with candidates spending the final days before Tuesday’s primary echoing the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that helped elevate Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power.

All three of the mayor’s favored contenders for the House — former City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier — underscored their criticism of Israel and its U.S. supporters as early voting began in the contested districts.

Avila Chevalier took time in a televised debate on Tuesday to accuse the country of “apartheid” while seeming to compare the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the IDF in the Gaza Strip to gentrification in the district where she hopes to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and other majority-minority areas.

“I saw so many connections between what was happening to Palestinians there in Palestine and what was happening to so many communities across the U.S., particularly Black and Latino communities, who have been priced out and pushed out of our homes,” said Avila Chevalier, who — like most candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America — draws her strongest support from predominantly white and highly educated residents of the district.

“When we talk about displacement in the West Bank and Gaza, it is a very similar, visually similar situation, where people who have been in a place for generations, are being displaced because of corporate interests, because of folks who are coming in, claiming the land over, and buying it up and kicking the people who live there out.”

Avila Chevalier, who has come under fire for attending an anti-Israel demonstration one day after the Oct. 7 attacks, added during the debate that the “very institutions” involved in both the Holy Land and urban America are the same.


Inside the minds of extremists: Counterterror experts warn antisemitism driving wave of radicalism
In 2025, deaths from terrorist attacks fell by 28%, and the number of global incidents declined by 22%, according to the 13th edition of the Global Terrorism Index.

At first glance, the data suggest an overall easing of the threat. Yet the picture is more uneven: terrorist attacks increased in Western countries over the past year, accounting for seven of the 19 states where conditions deteriorated.

About 3,000 km. from mainland Europe, 10,000 km. from the United States, and 13,000 km. from Australia, a single attack on Israel sent shock waves of radicalization that have reverberated far beyond the region. October 7, 2023, marked a turning point in global security.

The European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2024 notes that Hamas’s attack, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, has contributed to a renewed surge in global terrorism and helped accelerate patterns of fundamentalism.

In 2023 alone, there were 120 terrorist incidents across seven EU member states, including 98 completed attacks, nine failed attempts, and 13 foiled plots.

Former counterterrorism operative explains what draws youth to extremism
Mubin Shaikh, a former undercover counterterrorism operative for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service who later worked with US security services to counter the threat of ISIS, told The Jerusalem Post that he has observed a growing number of referrals to the organization Parents for Peace, where he now works as an exit peer specialist.

Shaikh explained that Hamas’s October 7 attacks and the ensuing war have drawn more young people into a complex conflict environment without the information, cognitive maturity, or analytical tools needed to understand it fully.

“What we’re finding in Parents for Peace is that antisemitism becomes like the connective tissue between all different extremist groups – Islamist, Marxist, etc. The hatred of Jews is a common denominator among them,” he explained.

Though not discounting the effect the Internet and media can have, Shaikh said young people were becoming drawn to extremist groups, as they could offer something they lacked, whether it be respect from peers, friends, validation, and, in many cases, support from an older male role model.

“At high schools, or schools in general, it’s peer groupings that are going to really get people mobilized. It’s one thing to have an idea about [a social issue]; it’s another thing to actually mobilize physically, get out there, participate in events, in protests, and get more extreme to [the point of committing] crimes,” he commented.
Jewish LGBTQ group reaches deal to march in Rome Pride after float banned over Gaza
Jewish LGBTQ group Keshet Italia, whose float was barred from Saturday’s Rome Pride parade over the war in Gaza, announced Friday that it reached an agreement with organizers to participate “with its own delegation and symbols,” and to join the coordinating committee for next year’s march.

“We consider this agreement a victory for Pride and for the values it represents,” said Keshet, Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQ group, in an Italian-language press release.

The group thanked Rome Mayor Robert Gualtieri for his help in mediating the agreement, and the Rome Pride coordinating committee for its “willingness to engage in dialogue.”

Keshet was not expected to contribute to the more than 30 floats in Saturday’s parade, but would instead “march on foot in a special section we’re organizing with other groups to ensure everyone’s safety,” Rome Pride spokesman Mario Colamarino told Italian news agency ANSA.

Keshet spokespeople who announced the agreement at a meeting in Rome also stressed the group would march under special protection, ANSA said. The group and other Jewish participants in Italian Pride events have previously reported coming under verbal and physical assault.

The “well-attended” Friday meeting drew politicians and activists who supported a missive signed this week by 2,000 cultural figures urging Gualtieri to ensure Keshet Italia’s participation in Rome Pride, the group said.

Organizers of the parade said last month that they had barred Keshet Italia from operating a float over the Jewish group’s failure to “distance itself” from the “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

Groups that want to be formally recognized in the parade with a float must sign onto Rome Pride’s political platform, which includes a condemnation of the “genocide in Gaza” — a charge Israel vigorously rejects.
Ofcom urged to act after terrorist on TV show calls suicide bombing ‘God’s destiny’
Ofcom has been urged to take action against a television channel on which a convicted terrorist said a suicide bombing which killed civilians was “God’s destiny”.

Al-Hiwar TV has also given a platform to a guest who claimed Israel was to blame for the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green earlier this year.

The channel broadcasts on YouTube and holds a licence with Ofcom, which claims it is unable to restrict Al-Hiwar output under current rules.

Jewish leaders and politicians have urged any “loophole” to be closed so the regulator has the powers to act.

Al-Hiwar TV has 6.4 million followers on Facebook and 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube.

In a broadcast on March 30, the station’s co-founder and chairman Azzam Tamimi spoke to Othman Bilal, who was convicted in Israel as a terrorist for his part in suicide bombings in 1995.

In one segment Bilal describes those involved as “martyrs”, including Labib Azem, who was responsible for the deaths of six civilians.

Bilal also talked about “God’s destiny” enabling his part in the atrocity carried out by suicide bomber Sufyan Jabarin, in which she killed five civilians on a bus in the Ramat Eshkol area of east Jerusalem.

Recalling how he had been arrested but still succeed in helping the attack, Bilal said: “During the crucial hours, it seems it was God's destiny, praise Him. He willed that we went off the monitoring radar during that period, and we succeeded then in delivering explosives ready to be detonated.”

He added: “The operation succeeded while we were in detention.”

In another discussion broadcast on April 6, Bilal and Tamimi discussed the massacre of 1,200 men, women and children carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Bilal said: “A guy came in and told me there was a war. I tuned in and there was a huge barrage. He told me: ‘The Jihad fighters are in Sderot.’”

Mr Tamimi responded: “Like a fantasy.”

The text accompanying the interview on YouTube refers to the attacks as the “blessed Al-Aqsa Flood”.

Bilal and Mr Tamimi described the Oct 7 terrorists as individuals who “struggle for the sake of freedom”.

The day after the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green in April, guests on the Arab-language channel claimed that Israel was to blame for the attack.

One argued that the incident was not antisemitic but an act of opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and that the Jewish state bore “the lion’s share” of responsibility for what happened.

A guest told the channel: “This is not antisemitism but rather an expression of his [the attacker’s] rejection of the Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people.”
Entebbe raid’s unsung hero gets limelight in new documentary 50 years later
If you ask people who the hero of the Entebbe Raid of 1976 was, Israeli commando Yoni Netanyahu or Air France Pilot Michel Bacos will likely be mentioned. Very few, if any, would name passenger Michel Cojot, even though without him, the IDF special forces operation that saved 103 hostages would probably never have succeeded.

A new documentary by Boaz Dvir celebrates this unsung hero. “To Kill A Nazi” premieres in Los Angeles on June 22 and will have other screenings in Croatia and online this summer. The film is narrated by award-winning Jewish actor Jason Alexander.

“I was nine years old and growing up in Israel when Entebbe happened. I was riveted and followed developments minute by minute. Air France captain Michel Bacos became a big hero for me. Here was this non-Jewish French guy who was given the chance to leave but chose to stay with his Israeli and Jewish passengers,” filmmaker and journalism professor Dvir said.

“Fast forward years later, and I decided to make a short documentary on him… and I was shocked to discover that although there was a hero named Michel among the hostages, it was not Michel Bacos! It was Michel Cojot,” he said.

On June 27, 1976, French business consultant Cojot and his 12-year-old son, Olivier, were passengers aboard Air France flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris. The plane made an unscheduled stop in Athens to pick up more passengers. Just after takeoff, the plane was hijacked by four terrorists: two Palestinians from the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations, and two West Germans from the Revolutionary Cells. The plane was diverted to Benghazi, Libya, for refueling, and then on to Entebbe, Uganda, where it was welcomed by dictatorial president Idi Amin. Amin lent troops to assist the hijackers, mainly in guarding the abandoned airport terminal where the 250 passengers and 12 crew members were being held hostage.

The hijackers demanded a ransom of $5 million, as well as the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian terrorists, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel. They said that if these demands were not met, they would begin killing hostages on July 1. On June 29, the hijackers separated the Israelis, including those with dual citizenship, and some non-Israeli Jews from the rest of the hostages.

On June 30, they released 47 hostages from the non-Israeli group — mainly the elderly and sick, and mothers with children. Cojot’s son, Olivier, was among them. When Israel signaled on July 1 that it was open to negotiations, the hijackers extended the deadline to July 4 and released 100 more non-Israelis and non-Jews.

Throughout, Cojot stepped up as a leader. He translated when Idi Amin came regularly to address the hostages. He negotiated with the hijackers to improve conditions for all the hostages and aligned himself with the Israeli group. Although not a military man or a spy by training, he slyly gleaned information from the hijackers and made notes on the building’s layout, the tarmac, and the surrounding area, as well as on the fighting capabilities of the hijackers and Ugandan soldiers. He took the brave step of having Olivier smuggle the material out in his jeans cuff, but the boy, excited to be home, forgot about passing it to the authorities and let his mother put the pants in the wash.

Cojot was released on July 1, and the Mossad immediately contacted him upon his arrival in Paris. The detailed information he provided made Operation Thunderbolt (the raid’s official military title) possible.

“No one in the Israeli political or military leadership would have denied this — including [then-]prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and [then-]defense minister Shimon Peres,” Dvir said.





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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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