Monday, June 29, 2026

06/28 Links: CPJ announces full review of journalist death toll in Gaza after Hamas obituaries; Shapiro: Yes, We Should Abolish The United Nations; The Archbishop, Terrorists, and the Christians She Chose to Ignore

From Ian:

Michael Oren: America's Founders Fought a Middle East War Centuries Ago. We Could Learn a Lot from Them
George Washington believed it "the highest disgrace" that Americans paid monetary "tribute" to the Barbary pirates of North Africa who preyed on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean, enslaving their crews and endangering the nascent republic's economy. The practice sparked a visceral debate between John Adams, who favored giving in to extortion over using force, and Thomas Jefferson, who preferred to "raise ships and men to fight the pirates into reason [rather] than money to bribe them."

Today, the U.S. is grappling with many of the same questions. To what degree should Americans defend the freedom of navigation through a vital international waterway? Should they stand up to or pay off a Middle East power threatening it? The ayatollahs' worldview is almost identical to the pirates'. In a 1786 meeting with Jefferson and Adams in London, Tripoli's ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja insisted that Barbary was sovereign in the Mediterranean and that no nation could traverse it without paying a massive toll.

He further explained "that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their [the Muslims'] right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners." Any Muslim killed in battle "was sure to go to Paradise."

Jefferson concluded that peace with Barbary was only attainable "through the medium of war," but the newly independent America lacked a navy. After adopting the Constitution in 1789, which enabled a single federal government to raise taxes to build a navy, the U.S. authorized the construction of six frigates especially designed to fight close to Barbary's shallow shores. What ensued was America's first foreign war, lasting until 1815. Only then was Barbary decisively defeated, and American merchantmen guaranteed safe passage through the Mediterranean.

The victory was a source of immense national pride. The country erected its first war monument, to the triumphant Barbary War, on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. 17 American cities were named for the hero of that campaign, Commodore Stephen Decatur. And the Marines still sing of their landing "on the shores of Tripoli."

These testaments serve to remind Americans of the ways in which the Founders faced the threats to free navigation posed by an extremist Middle Eastern regime.
Netanyahu: ‘No room’ for Palestinian state between Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that there is “no room for two states” between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, arguing the war created broad public consensus against creating a Palestinian state.

“Before the war, the public was divided: although in my opinion most of the public was against it, a significant portion was in favor. I think that has changed,” Netanyahu told reporters, answering a question at a press conference in Jerusalem on Saturday night.

“That is a basis for agreement,” added the premier. “In my opinion, there is much more unity among the public than you see in the Knesset.”

Netanyahu was responding to a question from Israel Hayom about the principles on which he would seek to form his next government if he wins another term in the general election this fall.

Before the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the current multi-front war, 69% of Israelis opposed the establishment of another Palestinian state beyond the one in Gaza. This opposition surged to 79% in the aftermath of the attacks, according to polling data published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs in May.
Israeli government votes to recognize Armenian Genocide
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday voted to recognize the genocide carried out against the Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks by Ottoman Turkey in the early 20th century.

“The government of Israel unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s proposal to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Sa’ar’s office announced following the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” he said in the statement.

Sa’ar announced on Thursday night that he would submit the resolution to the Cabinet, tweeting: “Recognizing the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty.

“We must also firmly condemn any denial, minimization or distortion of the historical truth,” he added. “The resolution will subsequently be brought before the Knesset for a vote.”

To date, 34 countries, including the United States and Greece, have recognized the Armenian Genocide. Israel would be the 35th.

In August 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time publicly recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Asked by American podcaster Patrick Bet-David why Jerusalem has yet to recognize the genocide, Netanyahu said, “In fact, I think we have. I think the Knesset passed a resolution to that effect.”


CPJ Launches Review of Gaza Journalist Database After Hamas and PIJ Obituaries Identify Listed Names as Terrorists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) announced on June 25 that it has launched a full review of its database of journalists killed during the Israel-Gaza War, after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries identifying terrorists that CPJ had previously listed as journalists.

The disclosure is significant because CPJ’s casualty count has been treated by international media, United Nations statements, and diplomatic actors as the authoritative tally of Gaza journalist deaths — and because the catalyst for the correction is the terror groups’ own publications.

CPJ said it has removed eight names from its Killed database after they were established as Hamas or PIJ combatants, and 12 more for other reasons — 20 total removals. The organization’s review is set to complete in July.

A Pattern of Retroactive Disclosure
The CPJ review lands at a moment when the same dynamic — Hamas and PIJ identifying their own commanders only after the fact — is also driving the most detailed open-source casualty analysis of the war to date.

On June 24, one day before the CPJ announcement, an independent investigator publishing under the name MiddleEastBuka released a dataset mapping 391 PIJ commanders to 364 reconstructed casualty incidents, identifying 1,547 people killed in the same events. The study cross-references PIJ’s bulk obituary releases against the Hamas Health Ministry’s casualty lists, Palestinian casualty datasets, local reports, and social-media death notices.

A Commander List Built From PIJ’s Own Publications
The study says it began with 19 official Palestinian Islamic Jihad obituary batches published between October 22, 2025, and June 1, 2026. Those releases contained 425 names of killed commanders, including photographs, military roles, brigade affiliations, battalion information, and, in some cases, unit-level details.

The author analyzed 391 of those names, excluding 34 because they were killed after the relevant Hamas Ministry of Health list was released, could not be confidently identified, were missing from the MoH list, or lacked enough incident evidence for casualty reconstruction. The resulting dataset identified 391 PIJ commanders, 60 additional combatants or political figures, and 1,096 “collateral casualties” — people killed in the same incident who are not currently identified in the dataset as combatants.

That distinction matters. The author explicitly warns that “collateral casualty” is not a final civilian-status determination. It means only that no Palestinian or factional source reviewed in the project had identified the person as a combatant at the time of publication — exactly the kind of classification that CPJ is now revising as new PIJ obituaries surface.


Locked up like an animal in cage...forced to witness rape and slaughter...tortured until they prayed for death: October 7 hostages' most horrifying accounts yet of what they endured at the hands of Hamas
Mia Schem was shot in the arm at point-blank range by a Hamas gunman, losing five litres of blood as she was dragged by terrorists into Gaza.

There, she was held like an 'animal in a cage', and told she would never return to her home in Israel, but would instead be married off to a man in the Palestinian enclave.

Omer Wenkert was beaten with a metal rod, sprayed with pesticides and lost 40 per cent of his body weight while suffering for 505 days in an underground tunnel.

He began to crave death and even did a ritualistic ceremony where he bid farewell to his family, accepting his fate.

Hadar Sharvit overheard the screams of Israeli women being raped by Hamas militants at the Nova festival site, and still remembers the smell of hundreds of burnt bodies.

Hiding from terrorists only a few metres away from her, she apologised to her father over the phone, telling him she loved him — sure that her murder was only a few seconds away.

On October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas gunmen breached the southern border of Israel, slaughtering 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 250 others hostage in the single-worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

Over two years after the terrorist attack that triggered the Israel-Gaza war, October 7 survivors are attempting to psychologically heal by recounting the traumatic memories that still keep them up at night.
Al-Qaeda glorifies Bondi massacre in chilling terror propaganda
Sky News host James Macpherson reveals Al-Qaeda has praised the Bondi massacre in online propaganda, describing the attack as a model for future extremists.

“Islamic terror group Al-Qaeda has gone online and given the Bondi shooters a five-star review as it were,” Mr Macpherson said.

“The Islamic terror group has called for people living in here, or as they call it, behind enemy lines, to conduct attacks like the Bondi massacre, which they describe as the gold standard.

“They even published a brochure online, encouraging more attacks, and featuring a photograph of the Bondi shooters whom they describe as knights.”


Jake Wallis Simons: The Archbishop of Canterbury is blind to the true enemies of Middle East Christians
Which country offers the strongest legal protections and lowest risk of persecution for Christians in the Middle East? Where do believers enjoy the greatest safety and the richest opportunities to flourish? The answer, of course, is Israel.

Yet the new Archbishop of Canterbury's pilgrimage to the Holy Land last week sought to highlight "stories of the immense hardships" facing Palestinian Christians, apparently at the hands of Israel.

At the end of her pilgrimage, Sarah Mullally released an open letter to Anglicans calling for a "viable two-state solution," with Jerusalem as a "shared capital."

Strangely, she did not mention that Ramallah had previously rejected this precise offer when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tabled it in 2008.

The charity Open Doors publishes the annual World Watch List, one of the best-known indexes of persecution against Christians globally.

The charity says: "In Palestine, anyone born into a Christian family faces all kinds of opposition to their faith. And converts from Islam who become followers of Jesus Christ often face harsh persecution."

Did the Archbishop mention the "20-year-old woman who converted at the end of 2024 [and] was killed by her family in February 2025"?

By far the greatest threat to Christians around the world is Islamist extremism.

The Jewish state, by contrast, a wonderful place for Christians, stands on the frontlines against the very enemy that comes for followers of Christ.

Israel, despite her failings, is on the side of the angels. If the Church is to be a beacon of truth, the Archbishop should loudly proclaim this.

While essentially ignoring the true enemies of the Church and implying that Israel is a malevolent force, she is falling victim to trendy bigotry and has lent her Anglican stamp to the wave of Israelophobia that engulfs us.
David Collier: The Archbishop, Terrorists, and the Christians She Chose to Ignore
It is hard to believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury actually knew that these two women, whom she was presenting as innocent, both had long histories of association with a terrorist group, but this only reinforces how little understanding her office clearly has of what is actually taking place on the ground. Because both these women are from well-known clans and live within a tiny community. If the Archbishop herself was unaware of their backgrounds, others almost certainly were not. Those people who organised the tour and put the women in the room with the Archbishop must have known exactly who they were.

Historical conflicts with the Druze, Ottoman oppression, rising Pan-Arab nationalism and the 20th-century growth of Islamist power have all contributed to the decline of Christian populations. In the midst of all this, the creation of a Jewish refuge, Israel, created additional and undeniable pressures for those caught on the Arab side of the partition. But Israel has proven to be a place in which Christians can practise freely. No, it is not perfect, and yes, of course, like everywhere else, there is racism – but it is still the one free society providing Christians with security in a region that has become a region of failed or failing states.

So for the Archbishop to align herself with supporters of terrorist factions and point the finger of blame at the one place in the region where the Christian world is thriving is an unforgivable betrayal of every community that seeks to live in peace – including her own. In these difficult times, we would all have hoped that the new Archbishop of Canterbury would stand up for her persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East. Instead she sided with those who spread hate and seek to perpetuate conflict. There is no excuse for this.

It should be remembered that on the 19th June, shortly before her trip to the Middle East, the Archbishop visited the Nova exhibition in London, meeting with relatives of those who were murdered in the 7 October attacks. She claimed it was a “privilege to meet with relatives of those who were murdered in the 7 October attacks.”

Just days later she was embracing those aligned with a terrorist group that actually participated in the October 7 atrocities.

I am unsure how she can even look at herself in the mirror.


The UN's finding that Israel “deliberately targeted” Palestinian children: anatomy of a manipulated narrative
On 23 June 2026 the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry submitted report A/HRC/62/CRP.2, finding that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children. Within hours it saturated the world's news agencies and drove a 389,091-post cascade. This report follows how that finding moved: a modern-day game of “telephone,” in which each retelling multiplied the reach and shed the caveats: a hedged finding (the UN “finds on reasonable grounds” a genocide) hardened into a flat, official-sounding verdict (“the UN officially declared a genocide”) as it passed from one network to the next, repeated as settled fact far more often than it was questioned. Two things here are contested, and I keep them apart: the intent the Commission inferred, and the casualty figures themselves, which are sourced to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The takeaway
What this episode shows, and what to do about it
A contested UN finding hardened into a global certainty in a matter of days, not because new evidence emerged, but because of who carried it and how. The word “genocide” was never invented downstream, the Commission reached it. But as the claim passed from network to network it was stripped of its qualifiers: the “on reasonable grounds” standard, the attribution, the status of a finding rather than a verdict. Certainty was manufactured by subtraction, until a tentative, contested finding arrived in millions of feeds as settled fact, amplified hardest by an opaque, unaccountable account and by foreign state-aligned media, and questioned by almost no one. The careful wording, the caveats and the rebuttals were left behind. That is the anatomy of a manipulated narrative.

None of this proves the underlying finding true or false. That is not my role, and both the intent finding and the casualty figures remain contested. The point is narrower and more durable: a claim's reach tells you almost nothing about its reliability. What reaches you has usually been shaped, by people and platforms with their own interests, long before it arrives.
Ben Shapiro: Yes, We Should Abolish The United Nations
We built the UN to prevent world war; but, we ended up with a global HOA that sends angry letters, loses your money, and lets the worst people in the neighborhood sit on the board. We should abolish it completely. Let's dive in.




Iranian Attacks Damaged 20 U.S Middle East Bases
The U.S. is rethinking its footprint in the Middle East after Iranian missile and drone attacks damaged at least 20 U.S. bases.

Between late February and June, Iran repeatedly targeted the Navy's base in Bahrain. Hit hard were the command headquarters and at least a dozen other buildings, along with two satellite communications terminals.

The military said no one was killed and that the strikes didn't significantly affect operations. The U.S. evacuated most personnel.

The U.S. is now considering revamping the base in Bahrain, reducing the U.S. presence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and moving some bases or base functions farther from Iran.

Over the course of the war, "Iran shot more than 8,000 missiles and drones and only two hits resulted in U.S. fatalities," said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command.
How Three Months of War Changed the Gulf Forever
For decades, people in the wealthy Gulf Arab nations watched the wars of the region unfold on their televisions.

That illusion was shattered by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. It upended these countries' sense of security, hobbled their energy-rich economies, and pushed them to reconsider defense strategies.

The American military bases on their soil - rather than shielding them from any harm - had made them the targets for thousands of Iranian missiles and drones.

Many Gulf countries are now intent on boosting their hard power, spending more on military hardware and defense.

The scenes that unfolded over the past few months in Gulf cities like Dubai and Doha, including massive explosions and smoldering luxury towers, were once unthinkable to most residents.

Parents huddled with children in hallways as incoming missile alerts blared on their phones. In the Emirates, schools closed for weeks.

While the Gulf countries were able to intercept the vast majority of Iran's missile and drone attacks, more than 30 people were killed and scores were injured.
Top Nuclear Expert Describes What the Iran War Accomplished
President Trump went to war to stop Iran from acquiring a game-changing nuclear weapon, the regime's project for imposing its will on the region and making the American people less safe. So is Iran stronger now than it was on Jan. 1? "You'd have to be delirious to think that's the case," said nuclear weapons expert David Albright, founder of the Institute for Science and International Security.

"When we look at it strictly technically, this war was...very successful in seriously setting back Iran's ability to make a nuclear weapon." Assessing the damage done to Iran's nuclear program, Albright said the "gas centrifuge program, the enrichment program, the secret program to turn weapon-grade uranium into a nuclear weapon...is severely damaged."

"The centrifuge program as it was no longer exists. And what we're essentially discussing are remnants." Those remnants "are dangerous, but nonetheless this is an enrichment program - it's not enriching, it's not making centrifuges, and it's going to have a very hard time reconstituting anything close to what it had for years."

Not only did the U.S. and Israel strike Iran's known nuclear sites at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, he said. "Israel revealed sites that it struck that were not known publicly that they said were related to making the nuclear weapon itself." You have "roughly 10 nuclear-weapons-related sites destroyed" - including Iran's storage, conversion, and research and development facilities - and "many scientists and engineers killed."

Albright said that before Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025, Iran had "a program that had 22,000 centrifuges, many of which were operating, enriching all the way up to 60%. Now they're not enriching at all and most of those centrifuges are destroyed."
Iran Didn't Win the War
When viewed from a broader perspective, the outcome of the war with Iran looks different. The almost three-year-long regional conflict that started with Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023 has put the U.S. and its partners in a far stronger position in the Middle East and left Iran much weaker.

Iran's proxy network of militant groups is largely in ruins; Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, one of Iran's key partners, is gone; Tehran has been mostly ignored by its supposed allies in Beijing and Moscow; and Iran's conventional forces, and much of its defense and nuclear industrial base, have been decimated.

Iran's sole victory has come from its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz and cause economic damage across the world. But closing the strait also harms Iran itself, and the impact of a closure is likely to weaken over time as countries seek alternative suppliers, substitutes for oil, and new shipping routes to avoid the strait.

Iran's actions after the 12-day war in 2025 reinforced the perception that it was insistent on maintaining its regional dominance. In January, the Iranian regime brutally suppressed a nationwide popular uprising. The Islamic regime thus showed it was not changing. The Trump administration and Israel decided that it was better to attack while Iran was still relatively weak from the 12-day war and the popular uprising than to wait until it had rebuilt missile stocks.

The U.S., Israel, and Gulf Arab partners intercepted the vast majority of Iran's missiles and drones. Those that got through did little damage to Israeli targets and only moderate damage to U.S. bases in the region and Gulf states' infrastructure.
US strikes 10 Iranian targets near Hormuz after drone hit
U.S. forces struck 10 Iranian military targets in and near the Strait of Hormuz overnight, U.S. Central Command said on Sunday, in response to a drone attack on a commercial tanker.

In an apparent reference to the same attack, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre, a Royal Navy arm with a regional office in Dubai, said on Saturday that it had received a report of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz being hit by an “unidentified projectile.” The crew was unharmed and no environmental damage was reported, although the vessel sustained damage to its bridge, UKTMO said.

CENTCOM said that U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft targeted surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defenses, drone storage sites and minelayer capabilities after Iran launched a one-way drone that hit the Panama-flagged M/T Kiku around 4:30 a.m. ET. The vessel was carrying more than two million barrels of crude.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned of further military action if Iran continues attacks.

“United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn!” Trump wrote. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

Tehran had been given an opportunity to honor the ceasefire but “elected not to,” CENTCOM said on Sunday, adding that commercial traffic through the waterway continues and warning that U.S. forces “remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”
US and Iran agree to halt Hormuz attacks, will reportedly hold talks about strait in Qatar on Tuesday
Iran and the United States have agreed to halt attacks, a US official said Sunday, and will reportedly meet again on Tuesday in Doha to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.

The Axios news site, citing US officials and a source with knowledge of the details, reported that Tuesday’s talks were originally planned to take place in Switzerland, but the flareup caused them to be moved to Qatar’s capital and the topic was changed to the Hormuz standoff, as disputes and gaps remain despite the memorandum of understanding reached earlier this month.

“We decided to stop all the kinetic activity,” one of the US officials was quoted as saying.

Confirming that the sides agreed to stop attacks and resume negotiations, a US official said”technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU,” not just Hormuz.

“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely,” the official said.

The remarks came shortly after an Iranian official said Tehran did not take part in technical talks slated for Sunday due to recent attacks on the country and unfulfilled conditions of the MOU, which was meant to halt the fighting and reopen the strait while negotiations proceeded on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.

“For example, one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds, if there is no access then this condition has not been fulfilled,” Mehdi Fazaeili, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran’s Supreme Leader, told state television.

Despite a ceasefire that took effect in April and the recently signed MOU, sporadic violence has continued in the Gulf region, the spark of which is often Iranian attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran was angered by Oman’s announcement last week of an alternative route through the strait that hugged the Omani shoreline, which Muscat said was in conjunction with the International Maritime Organization.

Iran has continued to insist on controlling passage through the vital strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas travel in normal times. It did not enjoy such control before the war.
Two of CENTCOM's targets in weekend strikes in Hormuz were newly built by Iran, source tells 'Post'
Two of the targets struck by US Central Command (CENTCOM) in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday night were newly built by the Iranians, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, while others were targets that had not been attacked before.

Included in the targets were Iranian surveillance infrastructure, communications systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and mine-laying capabilities.

The US military confirmed the renewed strikes on Iran on Saturday, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, in the worst escalation since the two sides signed an interim peace deal two weeks ago.

US President Donald Trump also commented on the strikes in a Saturday Truth Social post, noting that they followed Iran “violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!”

“It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he wrote.


Seth Frantzman: Security zone reduction in Lebanon: Will this time be different?
This will bring some peace of mind to the communities on the northern border. Israel evacuated these communities, comprising tens of thousands of people, after October 7. The whole city of Kiryat Shmona was evacuated and became a ghost town for an entire year. This was a national disaster that had never before befallen the Jewish state. Israeli prime ministers had never evacuated Israelis from the border.

The October 7 doctrine became one of evacuating Israelis and then waging a long war and carving out buffer zones, in the hopes that citizens might return.

Nevertheless, the policy of evacuating Israelis was not extended to the communities in the West Bank. Those communities, even if threatened, stayed. Only historic communities built prior to 1967 were evacuated. Why this was the case was not clear.

It’s still unclear whether a lesson has been learned in avoiding evacuations, or whether another threat could bring with it more of the same. Creating buffer zones is supposed to end that trend.

The challenge for Israel will be to see whether the new security zone in Lebanon, shown in all its newfound reality on the map that the prime minister showed on June 27, will remain. Israeli officials, such as the defense minister, say that it will remain. This is being presented as a vow. However, times and administrations change. A new framework deal with Lebanon, signed with the US, is supposed to have Lebanon attempt to remove Hezbollah. This would allow the IDF to redeploy in some areas.

What the text of the 14-point plan says is that “the Government of Israel and the Government of Lebanon commit to a reciprocal, sequenced process, with clear conditions, whereby the LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] will restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups and dismantlement of associated infrastructure, enabling the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to progressively redeploy out of the Lebanese territory.”

It also says that “successful implementation of this framework will pave the way for a stable and peaceful relationship between the two countries and will enable the IDF to redeploy out of the Lebanese territory.”

Additionally, the text notes that “the LAF will gradually assume full and effective security responsibility in pilot zones, which will serve as the mechanism for phased and verified redeployments of the IDF and the deployments of the LAF.”

So far, only two “pilot” zones have been determined in Lebanon, where the IDF and LAF will try to coordinate.

“Upon the confirmation of successful disarmament of non-state armed groups and dismantlement of their infrastructure in these zones, the LAF will assume full and effective security responsibility in these zones, internationally supported reconstruction efforts will begin, and Lebanese civilians will be able to safely return to these areas under the exclusive control of Lebanese state authorities.”

Time will tell whether this will happen.
Hezbollah-allied Lebanese parliament speaker says deal with Israel ‘will not pass’
Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri says that the trilateral framework agreement between Lebanon, Israel and the United States will not pass as it doesn’t guarantee Lebanon’s rights.

“This agreement will not pass, and it will not be implemented in its current form,” Berri says in a statement shared by his party the Amal movement, adding that it was “an agreement of ‘dictates,’ not an agreement that preserves Lebanon’s rights.”

The deal paves the way for Lebanese-Israeli peace and conditions Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon on Hezbollah’s disarmament.


IDF soldier killed by Hezbollah terrorist in Southern Lebanon
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed and another was lightly wounded during operations against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, the military said on Sunday.

Capt. David Hazutt, 21, from the southern city of Ashkelon, served as a a platoon commander in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Infantry Brigade.

The soldier who was injured “was evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital, and his family has been updated,” the IDF stated.

An IDF official told JNS that Hazutt was slain around 2 a.m. on Sunday after soldiers encountered a Hezbollah terrorist who entered a “suspicious structure” in Southern Lebanon’s Deir Siryan area.

“Following the incident, the soldiers began searching for the terrorist and struck targets in the area,” the military official said. “Efforts to eliminate the terrorist are ongoing, and the soldiers continue to search the area.”

The total death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the War of Redemption—which was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre—now stands at 964, according to official IDF data.

Hazutt is the first soldier to be killed by Hezbollah since Jerusalem and Beirut signed a framework agreement on Friday aimed at removing the Iranian proxy from Southern Lebanon.


Former Israeli news star builds startup to destroy Hamas, Hezbollah tunnels
Gilad Adin was once one of the most recognizable faces in Israeli television news. A well-known reporter and anchor, he was considered at the height of his media career one of the country’s senior journalists. He later held major management and editorial roles, including editor of a prestigious Friday night news program and CEO of Channel 10 News, the previous incarnation of what is now Channel 13.

Now, at 60, he is making a surprising turn. For the first time in his life, Adin is becoming a startup founder, and not just in any field, but in one of the hottest sectors in the global market: defense tech.

“When my friends are already thinking about retirement, I feel like I’m at the beginning of the road,” Adin says. “In some sense, I’m going back to the start. A not-so-young man with two partners in their 30s, who takes his laptop in the morning and happily walks to work.”

Last week, at a major industry conference in Detroit, Traysar, the new startup Adin co-founded with two partners, was unveiled for the first time. It is one of the first companies in the world developing and manufacturing systems designed to operate below ground: for dismantling and destroying tunnels and bunkers, rapidly penetrating the earth’s crust and protecting critical infrastructure at those depths.

So far, the company has revealed only two systems. The first is a kind of small autonomous D9, a reference to the armored bulldozers used by the IDF, designed specifically for tunnels and controlled remotely by fiber-optic cable. The small vehicle is built to fit the dimensions of tunnels like those used by Hamas and Hezbollah. It can “run” through them, pass sandbags, blast doors and mines, reach the end of the tunnel and then dismantle it while moving backward.

The second system is deployed from a command-and-control trailer in the field and allows forces to strike facilities buried underground without using airstrikes.

Traysar, which is only one year old, has already raised $25 million from some of the most respected funds in the industry, at a valuation of more than $100 million.

“We know how to build underground facilities quickly, and we want to control the entire underground value chain,” Adin says. “In Iran there are huge underground bases where vehicles drive inside. The West has no solutions for that today, and that is where we will be.”
IDF demolishes 200-meter-long terror tunnel in southern Lebanon
The IDF destroyed a 200-meter terror tunnel used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday night.

The tunnel, located near the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon, was over 25 meters deep. It contained hundreds of weapons and several shafts from which rockets would be launched towards Israel, according to Netanyahu and Katz's statement.

The IDF announced that the demolition mission was carried out by forces from the 551st Brigade in coordination with Yahalom Combat Engineers.

Terror tunnels invulnerable to airstrikes, IDF forced to seize from Hezbollah
The tunnel system, which the 551st Brigade had taken earlier in June, could not be destroyed by airstrikes and thus had to be captured and destroyed from within.


IDF kills terrorists in southern Syria security zone
Israeli troops killed several armed terrorists in the security zone in southern Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said on Sunday.

The operation took place on Saturday, the military said, reiterating that Israeli forces will continue operating in the area to eliminate threats to Israeli civilians and IDF personnel.

Israeli forces have been positioned in the security zone since the fall of the Assad regime and the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who, until recently, was a wanted Sunni Islamist terrorist.

Jerusalem has said that it forces will stay in the buffer zone indefinitely to combat threats from southern Syria and to protect the Druze community in Syria’s Suweida Governorate from tribal violence.

“We will not leave the security zones in Syria and Lebanon. This is our security doctrine. The IDF must be on the enemy’s side of the border and protect the communities from within the territory itself. Soldiers inside, residents outside. We are not withdrawing,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on June 24.

The U.S. military is also operating against terrorist threats in Syria.


Police seize stolen IDF shoulder-mounted anti-tank rocket launcher from criminal in South
Officers from the Israel Police's Negev District found a stolen IDF shoulder-mounted anti-tank rocket launcher inside a vehicle that was allegedly used by criminal elements, Walla learned on Sunday.

This occurred during a police raid targeting a criminal dispute in Tel Sheva.

The officers found a vehicle containing a stolen M72 LAW (Light Anti-tank Weapon), as well as flammable materials, allegedly intended to obscure evidence after the launcher was used.

Bomb disposal experts examined the LAW and verified that it was not armed or loaded.

Authorities seized the LAW for further evidentiary and forensic examination. Initial investigations suspect that it was prepared as part of Bedouin clan and gang warfare in Tel Sheva and the surrounding area.


IDF kills Hamas terrorist who commanded Oct. 7 kidnappings
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday eliminated a Hamas commander who directed the kidnapping of civilians during the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the military said on Saturday.

Walid Haniyeh, who served as the deputy commander of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s “military wing,” continued to recruit and train terrorists during the past two-and-a-half years of war, according to the statement.

He infiltrated the Jewish state on Oct. 7 and provided “operational instructions to the terrorist cell as they took Israeli civilians hostage into the Gaza Strip,” it stated.

Haniyeh was a nephew of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, whom Israel assassinated in Tehran in July 2024, the IDF added.

The Oct. 10, 2025, truce agreement ended the two-year war in the Gaza Strip that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

On Friday, the IDF killed three operatives in Hamas’s naval police unit, including the commander in the central camps sector, according to a statement on Sunday.

“Hamas’s naval police operates under Hamas’s military wing and advances and directs terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel,” it noted.


Colonel Richard Kemp: UK Is Heading for Civil War...and Iran Is Part of the Reason
The United States and Israel achieved unprecedented military success in their campaign against that started earlier this year on Feb. 28. But, according to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, the American decision to stop the war due to the economic pressure Iran was able to exert via its menacing of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz revealed a bitter truth about the West’s ability to defend itself.

He’s joined in this week’s episode of Think Twice by military expert Col. Richard Kemp, a veteran of several wars in which the United Kingdom took part and an on-the-scene analyst of the conflict Israel has been fighting against Iran and its terrorist proxies. Kemp says the reason why the United States pulled the plug on the war was due to President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to risk even a small number of casualties in order to ensure freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf.

“Very clearly, the United States was not, and probably would never be prepared to commit to boots on the ground in that situation,” says Kemp.

While Israelis are willing to do what is necessary to defend their country as well as their homes and families, the political leadership of the United States as well as Western Europe, lacks the will to commit to such a fight. Kemp also believes that the refusal of Britain and other NATO allies to fight alongside the United States against a nation like Iran that is as much of a threat to them as America, also played a role in Trump’s decision.

That is a political decision by London. According to Kemp, that has embarrassed the British military, since they would have been willing to defend British sovereign territory, like their bases in Cyprus, which were attacked by Iran, but their political leaders lack the will to do so.

Kemp also described the enormous difference between the image of Israel, which he visits frequently, and the way it is depicted in the Western media. “We shouldn't forget that this is not a misunderstanding or a lack of knowledge,” says Kemp. It is a deliberate campaign to delegitimize Israel, which began in the Soviet Union in the 1960s.”

In particular, he drew a strong contrast between the way Israel empowers and takes care of all of its citizens, including those who are disabled, with the way Palestinian Arabs treat their people. Israel is, he says, the only country that allows its disabled to serve their country while the Palestinians sacrifice their disabled children as human shields in the fighting in Gaza.

When asked about the future of British Jews, Kemp says the problem isn’t only the plague of antisemitism that has been tolerated by both the British Labour and Conservative parties. It’s that the rights of all British citizens, what he refers to as the “indigenous” people of Britain, are being undone by a willingness to tolerate law-breaking and Islamicization of society by immigrants from the Arab and Muslim world.

Kemp says the prospects for a political sea change that will enable any conceivable British government to protect the rights of all British citizens, including Jews, are not good. He believes it is more likely than not that future British prime ministers, like the last few, will be too afraid of violence from Muslims and the far left, to do anything about the problem. If that is the case, he predicts that it will result in a kind of civil war, comparable to the strife that prevailed in Northern Ireland for decades, where government forces strove in vain to counter violence from competing factions. In this case, that will mean Muslim terror will become a normal part of British life alongside counter-terror from “indigenous” Britons.


Triggernometry: DEBATE: Has Trump Surrendered To Iran? - Melanie Phillips
00:00 Trailer
00:59 Keir Starmer's Resignation & Aftermath
05:12 The Decline of British Institutions
11:46 The Rise of Reform UK
19:11 Ad: Ethos
20:04 The Escalating War With Iran
34:02 The West's Strategy of Appeasement
42:39 Ad: Qualia
44:18 American Isolationism & Geopolitics
01:01:27 Ad: Hillsdale College
01:02:05 The Global Defamation of Israel
01:36:47 What The One Thing We're Not Talking About




Top Armed Services Democrat flips on U.S.-Israel cooperation provision in defense bill
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, now says he plans to support efforts to strip a provision on U.S.-Israel cooperation from the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, after arguing strenuously against similar efforts during the committee’s markup of the same bill weeks ago.

The provision, based on the FUTURES Act, is relatively routine, creating a single official to oversee all U.S.-Israel cooperative programs in developing and acquiring defense technologies, and builds on existing programs. But critics have falsely claimed the provision would irrevocably link the U.S. and Israeli militaries and undermine American sovereignty.

Smith himself said during the committee markup that the way critics have described the amendment “is simply not accurate” and that the provision should not be treated as a referendum on the U.S.-Israel relationship.

In a message to constituents viewed by Jewish Insider, Smith said he now supports removing the provision.

“I previously opposed removing Section 224 because I looked at the ways the provision benefits the U.S. and helps us improve our anti-drone and anti-missile technologies,” Smith said in the message. “I still believe that Section 224 is something that primarily benefits the U.S., but after several conversations with constituents, I agree with the position that this provision is about more than just the U.S. working to improve our defense technology.”

Smith described his new opposition as based on Israeli activities in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran — despite arguing just weeks ago that, “taking a step back from using technology that is available to us just because we strongly disagree with where Israel is at right now, I think would be a mistake.”
House Appropriations Dems warn of broader consequences of Massie effort to cut aid to Israel
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee are warning that an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut aid to Israel from the State Department’s annual funding bill could have further-reaching consequences than intended and impact a range of other programs and issues, Jewish Insider has learned.

Those concerns come amid reports of an outpouring of agita among House Democrats about how to approach the amendment — a reflection of how far debate among Democrats over aid to Israel has shifted.

Though Massie has focused his messaging around the amendment on the $3.3 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel laid out in the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, the amendment also includes blanket language stating that “none of the funds made available under this Act shall be obligated or expended for Israel.”

Democrats on the Appropriations Committee are warning that it would be up to the State Department to interpret how to implement the amendment, but that the amendment would likely also require the department to withhold funding for joint U.S.-Israel development programs in underserved countries, the Middle East Partnership for Peace program, the Middle East Regional Cooperation program supporting Israeli-Arab scientific cooperation and longstanding funding for refugee resettlement in Israel — a line item that dates back to efforts to resettle Soviet refugees.

The legislators believe, depending on the State Department’s interpretation, it may also defund U.S. Embassy operations in Israel, U.S. support for the Palestinian Security Forces, educational and cultural exchanges and even U.S. military sales to Israel not funded by the U.S.
House urges Trump to halt F-35 sale to Turkey over Israel partnership, Russian intel. concerns
A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers is urging the Trump administration not to approve the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, warning that Ankara's continued possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system poses a serious threat to US military technology.

In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the lawmakers argued that moving forward with the sale would jeopardize American national security, weaken trust among key regional allies, and reward Turkey despite longstanding concerns over its defense ties with Moscow.

The letter from congressional representatives further warned that the Russian defense system "poses a direct threat to US military aircraft, including the F-16 and the F-35, by enabling Russian intelligence to gain insights into sensitive US technologies if these systems are operated alongside one another."

The lawmakers also cautioned that approving the sale would undermine US credibility with allies that have consistently supported Washington's strategic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.

"Such a decision would also send the wrong message to America's allies and partners. Key US partners in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, have consistently aligned with and supported US security interests.

"Granting Ankara access to advanced American fighter aircraft despite its conduct would undermine these partnerships and embolden Turkey to intensify its aggressive behavior in the region, thereby jeopardizing the regional stability that we have worked so hard to preserve."
Victor Davis Hanson: Zohran Mamdani’s AIPAC Attack, Updates on the Iran Strategy, and America’s Urban Decline
Victor Davis Hanson and Sami Winc examine the Trump administration’s emerging agreement with Iran, arguing that the memorandum reflects a strategic effort to avoid a broader regional conflict.

They also discuss New York politician Zohran Mamdani’s attacks on AIPAC, exploring what seems to be a growing antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment from within the American Left.

The episode critiques Kamala Harris’ political future and public messaging, while also examining reports that Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene could even break with the Republican Party over disagreements regarding Iran and Israel.

They discuss that such divisions reflect differing visions within the conservative movement rather than a fundamental challenge to Trump’s leadership.

Their conversation turns to governance in major cities, criticizing Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s priorities amid rising crime concerns, and faulting Los Angeles leadership for ongoing struggles with homelessness and infrastructure. The episode closes with a discussion of British politics, assessing the challenges facing Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the broader economic and cultural pressures in the UK.




Lefty California teacher declares she married Gaza man to give him US citizenship: ‘Equalize the playing field’
A radical, Israel-hating California teacher claimed she married a Gaza resident online to help him gain American citizenship — and push her pro-Palestinian agenda.

Laura Pinho, a dance teacher at Canoga Park Senior High School in California, announced her nuptials in a wild June 16 CODEPINK Zoom webinar called “Challenging Zionism In Our Schools.”

When CODEPINK activist Marcy Winograd congratulated her on her marriage and asked her to share details about her life, Pinho, 51, launched into a pedantic monologue about how she only married Salem S.E. Abu Amra to advance “Palestinian rights and freedoms.”

“I have power as an American citizen. I have a passport that I was just born with, and how can I live in this world if I don’t make every effort to equalize the playing field on whatever way that I can,” she said in the webinar, first uncovered by the North American Values Institute.

Englewood New Jersey Mayor Michael Wildes — who is also an immigration attorney and former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York — told The Post that Pinho is playing with fire.

“She can be prosecuted criminally, brought up on federal conspiracy charges. Marriage fraud is one of the top five crimes you can perpetrate including terrorism and drugs. The fact that somebody would be foolish enough to say they actually did it makes it actionable for the federal government to investigate,” Wildes said.

Marrying someone to obtain a green card is federal crime and can carry a five-year prison sentence and up to a $250,000 fine, according to the Department of Justice.

The odd couple tied the knot April 5 in Utah, which allows marriages to be conducted via Zoom, according to records posted online by the Utah County Clerk and obtained by Israeli nonprofit NGO Monitor.


Herzog warns of 'alarming' surge of antisemitism at Romanian pogrom memorial ceremony
President Isaac Herzog attended a Romanian state ceremony on Sunday marking the 85th anniversary of the Iași pogrom, where he delivered a speech warning of the dangers of antisemitism in the present day.

In June of 1941, more than 13,000 Jewish inhabitants of Iași, constituting around one-third of the city's Jewish population, were massacred by the Nazi-aligned Romanian authorities. Today, the community numbers in the hundreds.

The ceremony was held at the Iași Jewish cemetery and included representatives of the Romanian government, city leadership, and members of the local Jewish community.

Chief Rabbi of Romania, Rabbi Rafael Shaffer, opened the ceremony with the recitation of Kaddish, followed by Herzog's speech. Afterward, a reburial ceremony for newly identified victims of the massacre took place.

“It is no coincidence that in this very town, decades before the Iași pogrom and massacre, Naftali Herz Imber wrote the first draft of what would become the Israeli national anthem: Hatikvah, The Hope," Herzog said.
In North Carolina, a memorial project will honor Martin Luther King and Holocaust victims
Two people lean down from an abstract version of a railcar. Their outstretched hands reach towards a family gathered around the car’s opening. The adults on the ground reach back, either to get help stepping into the car or to say good-bye.

That’s one side of a rendering of what will be a Holocaust monument. On the other side, train tracks lead to the entrance of the Nazis’ largest death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau. A message across the top reads, “They were here. We remember.”

The sculpture by artists David Wilson and Stephen Hayes, called “In Transit: The Weight of Absence,” is emotional on its own. But what makes the project planned for Charlotte, North Carolina, especially noteworthy is what will be alongside it.

Charlotte is the planned home for what its organizers believe is the first memorial plaza in the United States to both honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remember the Holocaust in the same space. The Circle of Humanity: Monuments for Unity and Remembrance in Marshall Park will feature the eight-foot bronze statue of King currently in the park, plus the new Holocaust monument.

Linking the two will be paved walkways, educational reflections and digital resources on the Holocaust, the civil rights movement and the combined history of African Americans and Jews in the United States. School and tour groups will take part in interactive educational experiences.

To those who might wonder why these monuments belong together, Rabbi Ya’aqov Walker points to a common inheritance. “You could just describe it plainly: white supremacy in continental Europe and white supremacy in the southeastern United States,” said Walker, who is Black and serves on the project’s education committee.
Tennessee GOP leaders denounce ‘No wars for Jews’ mailers bearing Young Republicans name
A rural Tennessee region was rocked this week after thousands of homes received mailers encouraging them to join the local Young Republicans chapter with a campaign platform including “No wars for Jews.”

The flyers led to a dramatic showdown at a local GOP meeting, including a state lawmaker’s cry of “I am a Jew!” and a rejoinder from Austin Lee, the young man behind the flyers: “We will not fight wars for you.” Cops escorted the provocateur out.

“Let’s face it, we read about antisemitism and anti-Black or white nationalism, right?” the lawmaker, State Rep. Scott Cepicky, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We hear about this stuff, and people are like, ‘Well, you know, that’s over there, or that’s in another state, that’s not here.’ Let me tell you something. It came to Maury County.”

The mailers, which encouraged recipients to “support” Lee, also said “Stop the Great Replacement” (a reference to the antisemitic Great Replacement Theory), “Ban Islam and Hinduism” and “Men in charge.”

“Nonwhite foreigners have invaded our country and are replacing White Americans,” read the flyers, viewed by JTA and reportedly sent to around 2,000 households with young white men. “Efforts at mass deportations have failed. No one is coming to save us; we must solve this problem ourselves.”

The flyers were mailed mainly in Maury County, 50 miles south of Nashville, as well as some surrounding counties. In addition to Lee’s name and an invitation to join the Maury County Young Republicans, they contained the prominent logo of the Tennessee Young Republicans - invoking broader concerns that a younger generation of Republicans are trending toward antisemitic and white nationalist ideas.

Mailers reportedly sent out without permission
However, local Republican leaders told JTA the mailers were sent out without permission; that Lee holds no formal leadership role in the county GOP; and that the county’s Young Republicans chapter is currently inactive.

The county GOP chair strongly denounced the content of the mailers to JTA.

“It’s appalling that somebody would send this out,” Jason Gilliam told JTA about his reaction to the flyers. “This kind of thing really disgusts me. I mean, I have an Israeli flag on my bumper - not that that means anything.”
Slovenia moves embassy, revokes Palestine recognition
The new Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, plans to repair ties between Ljubljana and Jerusalem and relocate the Slovenian embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital of Israel.

Jansa revealed this in an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend.

He also promised to reverse the previous government’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, something Jansa said is in violation of Slovenian law.

“We will uphold the law and freeze their illegal decision,” he told Israel Hayom. “We raised this as a condition for our participation in the coalition negotiations, and everyone agreed.”

'Terrorism, extremism, and growing political pressures'
Jansa has visited Israel on numerous occasions, including in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 massacre.

He said Israel and Slovenia share “many of the same challenges,” including “terrorism, extremism, the erosion of national identity, and growing geopolitical pressures.”

“Instead of distancing themselves from one another, they must increase cooperation. Israel is not Europe’s problem; it is one of its most important allies.”

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen congratulated Jansa on the “right and important decision to revoke Slovenia’s recognition of a Palestinian state and to move Slovenia’s embassy to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel.”

“This is a step that reflects true friendship and standing on the right side of history,” he 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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