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Wednesday, July 01, 2026

06/30 Links Pt1: One-year jail term for professor who killed pro-Israel demonstrator in LA; Iran’s ceasefire trap; Defensible Borders after October 7; The UNRWA crisis

From Ian:

One-year jail term for professor who killed pro-Israel demonstrator in Los Angeles
A Moorpark resident has received his punishment after entering a guilty plea regarding the death of a 69-year-old Jewish rally attendee who sustained fatal cranial trauma during a 2023 clash between opposing Middle East war demonstrations in Thousand Oaks.

Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, a 53-year-old educator at Moorpark College, was handed a one-year incarceration term at the Ventura County Jail alongside two years of felony probation for the 2023 death of retired pro-Israel activist Paul Kessler, KTLA-TV reported on Tuesday, citing an announcement from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

The sentencing follows Alnaji's legal decision in May of this year to plead guilty to charges of felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery resulting in serious bodily harm.

According to state prosecutors, Alnaji transformed a heated verbal shouting match into an active physical assault against the victim on November 5, 2023, while opposing groups gathered at the intersection of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Westlake Boulevard.

The district attorney's team established that Alnaji hit Kessler in the head utilizing a megaphone, a blow that forced the victim backward onto the asphalt where he struck his head on the hard pavement.

Eyewitness recordings captured from the immediate aftermath showed Kessler immobilized on the ground while multiple bystanders, including at least one individual from the pro-Palestinian Arab demonstration, rushed over to administer first aid.

Following the physical encounter, Alnaji remained at the intersection, placed a call to emergency services via 911, and provided a formal statement to arriving police detectives.

Kessler succumbed to the extensive internal injuries caused by the confrontation one day later. Law enforcement officers subsequently tracked down Alnaji several days after the incident, placing him under arrest for causing the fatality.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office formally noted that its prosecution team lobbied heavily for a state prison commitment, registering an official objection when the presiding judge chose instead to grant the more lenient combination of a county jail stay and probation.

“Mr. Kessler lost his life in a violent attack that took him from his family and his wife of 43 years," said District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, as quoted by KTLA. “Given the circumstances of this case and the death that resulted, we believe a state prison commitment was the appropriate and just sentence."
Groups condemn ‘slap on the wrist’ sentence for man who killed Jewish protester near Los Angeles
Jewish leaders and Jewish advocacy groups criticized the sentencing.

“We are deeply disappointed by the lenient sentence handed down to Paul Kessler’s killer,” Burt told JNS. The sentence “is little more than a slap on the wrist and not in proportion with the enormity of this crime.”

Burt said the court spent much of the sentencing hearing “expressing dismay” with letters submitted by members of the Jewish community and asking the district attorney’s office to “make a statement correcting the perceptions of the 132 community members who felt compelled to express how this woefully inadequate sentence would impact them.”

“Despite the court’s pointed statements about the Jewish community, the judge never once expressed dismay at the defendant who took Paul Kessler’s life,” Burt told JNS. “The judge merely asked the defendant to stay late to sign some paperwork.”

“Our system of justice needed to send a strong message here,” he said. “Instead, the message being sent is that you can get away with attacking someone in broad daylight because you disagree with their opinions, especially if it involves feelings about Israel.”

He added that the verdict comes as the Jewish community faces an “unprecedented surge in antisemitism,” including more than 800 antisemitic incidents in California in 2025 alone.

“This verdict does little to restore our faith in the justice system and its ability to protect us,” Burt said.

Alyza Lewin, president of U.S. affairs at the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told JNS that “as antisemitic protests turn increasingly violent, a dangerous trend closely monitored by CAM since Oct. 7, 2023, it’s essential for our legal system to deter, not embolden, unlawful conduct targeting Jews.”

“The disturbingly lenient sentence for Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji does just the opposite,” she said. “Rather than serving as a warning to potential assailants, making clear that assaults which lead to death will be punished severely, this sentence emboldens would-be perpetrators of antisemitic aggression.”

“I fear it is only a matter of time before more Jews like Paul Kessler pay the price,” Lewin said.

Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the Lawfare Project, told JNS that “to call this sentence an outrage doesn’t do it justice.”

“It exposes major flaws in the criminal justice system that need to be addressed—from the prosecutor declining to charge this as the hate crime it was and undercharging conduct that should have carried a mandatory term, to a judge whose slap-on-the-wrist sentencing is taken by many to devalue Jewish life,” he said. “It is hard to see this as justice for Paul Kessler’s family, let alone for a Jewish community under constant siege.”


UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff discusses latest UN report alleging Israel deliberately targeted Gaza children
A new report by the UNHRC's "Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel", which accuses Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children since 7 October 2023.

In this interview, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, Natasha Hausdorff, examines the report's methodology, evidential standards and legal conclusions.

The discussion explores why critics believe the report is an updated form of historic blood libels, its failure to address the context of Hamas and its tactics, the reliability of the evidence on which it is based, its misstatement of the law of armed conflict, and the potential consequences for international courts, the UN and the international legal order.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Why critics compare report to ancient blood libel
05:27 Can report's evidence support allegations?
07:50 Does report rewrite Law of Armed Conflict?
10:03 Has Hamas been written out of report?
14:41 What does this mean for international law and UN?




The UNRWA crisis
A month after the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, HonestReporting, a pro-Israel media watchdog based in Canada, alerted the public to some uncomfortable findings: They had discovered that several Gaza-based freelance photojournalists appeared to be operating in proximity to prominent Hamas leaders and terrorists during the attack or possessed material that raised serious questions about how it had been obtained.

The report, titled “Photographers Without Borders,” was published on Nov. 8, 2023. The photographers in question were working with or associated with media outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times and CNN.

The media outlets in question, as expected, denied responsibility and characterized the photographers as independent contributors. At this stage, only Israelis and those closely following the aftermath of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust seemed troubled by the report’s findings. The story did not end with the allegations against the media.

In January 2024, more uncomfortable allegations began to surface. Based on hostage testimonies and Israeli intelligence work, it was reported that at least 12 U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) employees actively participated in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That means participation in logistics, rape, kidnapping or even murder.

No other group of refugees in the world has a single agency dedicated to them. Critics have long argued that this unique arrangement contributes to the perpetuation of the Middle East conflict rather than its resolution. The first report on UNRWA’s involvement in the events of Oct. 7 was written by Israeli journalist Almog Boker. It stated that a recently released hostage said he had been held for nearly 50 days in the attic of a teacher employed by UNRWA.

Later, former Israeli hostage Emily Damar reportedly told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that she had been held at UNRWA facilities. While this was not a claim against a UNRWA employee, it was serious enough for the United Nations itself to begin an internal investigation. That investigation led to the dismissal of nine UNRWA employees for possible involvement in the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 others.

Given this evidence, one might assume that UNRWA would have been shuttered. Certainly, under normal circumstances, the United Nations would shut down the agency, undertake a deeper investigation and use the organization’s general-purpose refugee agency, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to handle Palestinian refugee matters.


UN Watch: UN Watch Calls on UN Chief to Waive Philippe Lazzarini’s Immunity for Criminal Investigation
As Philippe Lazzarini’s term as Commissioner-General of UNRWA ends today, UN Watch has called on UN Secretary-General Antรณnio Guterres to immediately waive any immunity enjoyed by the outgoing UN official so that competent national authorities may investigate and prosecute him for alleged complicity in terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The request was made today in a formal legal letter invoking Section 20 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

The letter argues that immunity exists solely to protect the interests of the United Nations—not individual officials—and must be waived where it would impede the course of justice without prejudicing the Organization’s interests.

“For years, we repeatedly warned Mr. Lazzarini that Hamas had deeply infiltrated UNRWA,” said Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “We provided detailed evidence identifying Hamas-affiliated teachers, school principals, union leaders, and other employees. We documented repeated meetings between senior UNRWA officials—including Mr. Lazzarini himself—and leaders of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Yet he continued to assure governments that UNRWA’s neutrality mechanisms were effective while overseeing an agency whose personnel, facilities, and resources were being exploited by terrorist groups.”

UN Watch contends that despite repeated warnings, Lazzarini continued to oversee the payment of salaries to thousands of UNRWA employees in Gaza, many of whom have since been shown to have deep ties to Hamas and other terrorist organizations, while continuing to administer facilities that provided terrorist groups with access to students, infrastructure, and institutional legitimacy. The letter states that these facts establish reasonable grounds to investigate whether Lazzarini knowingly facilitated or provided material support and assistance to individuals and entities involved in terrorism, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

UN Watch called on Secretary-General Guterres to publicly waive any applicable immunity without delay and to ensure the full cooperation of the United Nations with any resulting criminal investigation.


European members of UN Security Council warn businesses building Jewish communities
The five European members of the United Nations Security Council united on Monday to caution businesses that bidding for construction contracts in Jewish communities beyond the so-called “green line” would come with legal consequences and would cause damage to one’s reputation.

Jรฉrรดme Bonnafont, French envoy to the global body, made the statement prior to a council session on the Israeli-Palestinian file. Additional council members cited what they said are deteriorating circumstances in Judea and Samaria.

Denmark, Greece, Latvia and the United Kingdom, known as the E5, joined Bonnafont.

The French envoy decried Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount—the most sacred Jewish site—Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has withheld due to Palestinian Authority support for terror and Israeli action against the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which Israel and the United States say employed staffers with ties to Palestinian terror groups. The latter includes UNRWA staffers who took part in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Bonnafont focused on Israeli construction plans in the E1 area near Jerusalem, which critics say would eliminate the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.

The French envoy said that Israel “continues to entrench its control” and that the five countries advise businesses to sit out the bidding process for construction contracts in E1 or other settlement projects. The E5 group said that participation would violate international law and come with “reputational consequences.”

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a blacklist of businesses tied to Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem—the only list of such kind for disputed territories.
HonestReporting Calls on News Outlets to Correct Reporting on Data From Committee to Protect Journalists
HonestReporting Calls on News Outlets to Correct Reporting on Data from Committee to Protect Journalists

HonestReporting, the media and information watchdog, today called on a number of news outlets to correct reporting related to flawed data provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on slain journalists in Gaza.

CPJ recently removed eight names from the database of journalists killed in Gaza. This was spurred by public pressure by HonestReporting and because Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both designated terrorist organizations, posted obituaries for these individuals and confirmed they were armed combatants in the conflict, not journalists. CPJ then announced it would conduct a full review of its database of journalists killed in Gaza.

This major error by CPJ has led to repeated inaccurate reporting in major media outlets. For example, the New York Times has cited the flawed CPJ data in 95 articles, and CNN has cited the flawed data in 34 articles.

Based on an analysis of news coverage by HonestReporting from October 7, 2023 to June 28, 2026, the flawed CPJ data was cited by the following outlets:
The Guardian: 129 articles
Al Jazeera: 126 articles
The New York Times: 95 articles
The Independent: 74 articles
Anadolu Agency: 52 articles
CNN: 34 articles
BBC: 24 articles
Reuters: 19 articles

“CPJ has proven they are wholly unreliable,” said Jacki Alexander, CEO of HonestReporting. “Now that CPJ has itself admitted its data was flawed, major media outlets must update their reporting to maintain a basic level of credibility. HonestReporting was able to determine that CPJ’s list was unreliable using simple open-source research. It defies logic that major international news publications couldn’t have unearthed the same information with ease. They either chose not to search for the facts, or they chose to ignore them. Media operating with integrity and responsibility have an irreplaceable role in every free society, but that power comes with equal responsibility.”


Iran’s ceasefire trap
If Tehran believes the United States will avoid decisive military action for fear of disrupting talks, it has every incentive to continue testing American resolve through incremental violations.

That is why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is willing to continue inciting America and has stated that US retaliation to Iranian provocations “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes,” believing that the US will return to negotiations after “proportionate” American responses.

As the Bahraini foreign affairs minister said about the strikes against the Gulf states – they are a “systemic pattern of repeated aggression.”

Effective deterrence requires overwhelming consequences for attacks on commercial shipping. A ceasefire sustained only by Washington’s reluctance to enforce its red lines ultimately advances Tehran’s long-term strategy.

By offering sanctions relief in exchange for largely unenforceable promises on Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles, proxy networks, and human rights, the administration risks turning tactical military success into a strategic diplomatic concession.

Some defenders of the administration argue that, once domestic political pressures ease, particularly after the midterm elections, Washington will adopt a tougher approach if Iran violates its commitments.

A more likely outcome is the repeated extension of the ceasefire despite continuing Iranian provocations, gradually normalizing behavior that would once have been considered unacceptable.

The longer negotiations continue without meaningful Iranian concessions, the greater the risk that diplomacy becomes the objective rather than the means.

Iranian negotiators, heirs to one of the world’s oldest diplomatic traditions, have consistently demonstrated patience and tactical sophistication.

American negotiators should enter such talks with humility, deep regional expertise, and a clear understanding that preserving negotiations cannot become an end in itself.

The stakes extend far beyond the Persian Gulf. America’s response will be closely watched in Beijing, Moscow, and other capitals.

If Washington appears unwilling to enforce freedom of navigation against a regional power, larger revisionist states may draw conclusions that increase the likelihood of broader conflict.

What happens in the Middle East rarely stays in the Middle East.

The one caveat is that, with an unconventional US president, he may at any time determine that enough is enough. Let’s hope so.
Defensible Borders after October 7
Since Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, invasion, Israel's security concept has undergone a fundamental shift, underscoring the essential importance of protecting all of Israel's borders by demilitarizing the territory beyond the border, creating broad buffer zones, enabling Israel's control and monitoring mechanisms, with strategic depth and maneuverability.

Establishing a buffer zone and demilitarized belt inside Gaza under Israeli control, including along the border between Gaza and Egypt, is essential to establish minimal strategic depth to prevent a repetition of Oct. 7. Before the attack, the lack of strategic depth between Israeli communities and Gaza rendered them virtually defenseless against a mass terror assault. The porousness of the Gaza-Egyptian border reflected similar strategic and existential vulnerabilities.

In the North, Israel has faced ongoing threats of Hizbullah infiltration through the Lebanon-Israel border and has established a buffer and demilitarized zone to prevent hostile direct fire at Israeli communities. On the Syrian-Israeli border, threats by radical Islamist militias to invade Israel require Israel to establish buffer and demilitarized zones beyond the border with Syria.

Opposite Egypt, Israel should seek a full demilitarization of the Sinai approaches to Gaza, as set in the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty's military annex. In Judea and Samaria, securing and holding the Jordan Rift Valley and the Judea-Samaria hill ridge constitute unconditional security requirements for any prospective Palestinian entity there.
Saudi and Bahraini Journalists in Israel: "We Have a Common Enemy in Iran"
During a visit to Israel, Saudi journalist Abdulaziz Alkhamis and Bahraini journalist Ahdeya Ahmed Al-Sayed told a panel hosted by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs that Iran's direct attacks on Gulf states have fundamentally altered regional perceptions.

Al-Sayed said, "We have a common enemy, and this enemy is not a theory anymore. It's not proxies anymore. Iran actually directly attacked Gulf states with its ballistic missiles and drones, just as it attacked Israel and Jordan."

Alkhamis argued that despite official rhetoric, many Arab governments privately welcomed Israel's military campaign against Iran and its proxies. "Some countries are brave enough to say Israel did a very good job in this war and wanted Israel to continue. Others claim Israel dragged them into the conflict, but nobody believes that....The main source of instability in the region is not Israel. It is extremism, and those countries that support extremists and their barbaric actions like October 7 - especially Iran."

Jerusalem Center President Dan Diker said many governments across the Arab world quietly support Israel's efforts to weaken Iran, even if they cannot publicly express that support. "Israel stands alone publicly, but it has very quiet, even embarrassed, cheerleaders across the Arab world."

"As Gulf Arab countries revisit decades of appeasement of Iran and distancing themselves from Israel, it is very possible that Israel will find itself partnering with countries that until now avoided any public affiliation."
Trump considered return to all-out war with Iran but 'prefers negotiation'
US President Donald Trump considered returning to all-out war with Iran, but currently prefers to stick with diplomatic talks and one-off strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing US sources familiar with the discussions.

According to the report, Trump held multiple conversations with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine about additional strikes, but has chosen to continue negotiations instead.

Trump has also said that he is fine with negotiations with Iran continuing past a previous August 18 deadline for a nuclear deal while ordering limited single strikes in response to any Iranian violations of the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries, according to the WSJ.

However, Trump has not yet made a final decision to avoid returning to war, the outlet reported.


WSJ Editorial: U.S. Holds the Line on Hizbullah
The U.S.-brokered Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework signed Friday tries to box Iran out, focusing on disarming Hizbullah, Tehran's Lebanese Shiite proxy. Lebanon's government has reaffirmed that Hizbullah's disarmament must come first.

Some Iran analysts have criticized the framework as "incompatible" with the memorandum of understanding with Iran. But Trump Administration sources tell us this framework is the U.S. interpretation of the MoU's language regarding Lebanon. On this, Vice President Vance backs Secretary of State Rubio; nobody on the Trump team wants to force Israel to cede all of southern Lebanon to Iran's proxy, as Iran demands.

The framework states a reasonable desire by Israel to stop years of rocket fire on its northern towns. That means a buffer zone and defensive strikes until Hizbullah can be disarmed. Israeli officials say the deal's security annex doesn't contradict their freedom of action against emerging and developing threats. In any event, the deal shores up the diplomatic basis for Israeli counterterrorism.

On Sunday, the IDF blew up a Hizbullah tunnel complex that served as a drone factory and air base, guarded by steel blast doors that opened for launches. Hizbullah wants to turn Lebanon into Gaza. The Trilateral Framework gives Beirut and Israel the best chance in years to prevent that.
Seth Frantzman: Is a new insurgency brewing? Kurdish rebels clash with IRGC in major border escalation
Western media reports about the United States or Israel potentially supporting Kurdish groups have spotlighted them. Initially, the groups were skeptical of entering into an offensive in Iran in March 2026.

Many other minority groups in Iran, as well as the Persian opposition groups, often oppose the Kurds. As such, the minorities have been wary of being sucked into a cauldron and then exposed and suffering a crackdown.

It’s worth noting that some Kurds across Iran serve with government forces. As such, any Kurdish uprising would also pit Kurds against each other potentially. Iran has been pressuring Iraq to expel Kurdish Iranian opposition groups.

Iran and its proxies in Iraq also targeted the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in excess of 850 times since February 28, and the US and Israeli operations against Iran began. As such, Iran wants to crush Kurdish opposition before it can grow. PJAK mostly stayed out of this conflict so far, with Iran also avoiding strikes on PJAK camps.

Now it appears PJAK is clashing with the IRGC.

“With the latest incident, three provinces in Rojhelat – West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah – have witnessed similar armed clashes over the past week, pointing to a significant escalation in military confrontations across the regime,” Rojhelat.Info noted.

Rudaw Kurdish media noted that “In a short statement late Sunday, PJAK said the IRGC had launched an operation in the Gagosh area, south of Mahabad in West Azerbaijan province, triggering clashes between PJAK fighters and IRGC forces.”

“The IRGC has started an operation in the village of Gagosh in the Mahabad region and, based on our information, the clashes have continued until now,” PJAK said.
Mutual Israel-Lebanon Recognition Follows Decline in Hizbullah's Power
The first clause of the Trilateral Framework, signed on June 26, states that Israel and Lebanon recognize each other as sovereign neighbors with the right to live in peace, and commit to ending the state of war between them.

A Lebanese government has not put that on paper since 1983.

In the 2022 maritime agreement, American officials shuttled between two rooms precisely so that the Lebanese side would never have to acknowledge Israel. This time, both governments signed in one room.

What actually holds the agreement together is that Hizbullah is broken.

For 20 years, the party sold its own community the idea that the resistance kept them safe and the Lebanese state did not.

The war that started in February buried that idea. Hizbullah took heavy casualties and the Shia south is rubble.

People who once saw the weapons as protection now look at them and see the reason their towns are flattened.

None of it is safe yet. Can Tehran rearm Hizbullah before Beirut disarms it?

Last time, Iran was rebuilding a confident proxy inside a state that let it happen. This time, the proxy is broken, and the state has signed its name to the other side.
Iran denies direct talks with US in Doha, says will meet only with Qatari mediators
Iran said on Monday that its delegation will travel to Doha, Qatar but will not hold direct talks with U.S. officials, contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertion that negotiations would take place there Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

Trump said on Monday that Iran has requested a meeting with the United States, with talks set to take place on Tuesday.

“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA! President DJT,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

According to the report, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the delegation would instead engage with Qatari mediators to press Washington to uphold commitments tied to a fragile ceasefire.

The White House said senior advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were en route to Qatar for discussions, the Times reported.

The developments come as the United States and the Islamic Republic look to de-escalate recent flare-ups in the Gulf. The interim agreement—the Memorandum of Understanding—between Tehran and Washington signed on June 17 was tested over the weekend when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly struck a cargo vessel and a commercial tanker with one-way attack drones in separate incidents on Thursday and Saturday, prompting U.S. forces to launch retaliatory strikes on Iranian military sites. Iran then fired missiles and drones at U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday.
2 IRGC members shot dead at home in Iran, in what state media calls ‘terrorism’
Attackers shot dead two members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at their home in the western city of Paveh, near the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan region, state media reported Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting. But Tehran has frequently blamed Kurdish separatist groups in the area for previous violence, accusing them of links to the United States and Israel.

The two IRGC members were killed in “a terrorist and cowardly act,” state television said, while two other Guards members were wounded.

State television said that “exact details of this incident and the measures being taken to identify those responsible are under review.”

Sepah news, the official media outlet of the Guards, later said the IRGC had dismantled a team working for “anti-government and separatist groups” that had entered Iran from the northwestern border.

The report included blurred photos showing four bodies of people allegedly killed in the operation.
US, Gulf allies sanction Hezbollah financial network
The member states of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center announced on Tuesday joint sanctions on “multiple key components of Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure,” according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The designations target five entities and 16 individuals, including Hezbollah financial institutions Al-Qard Al-Hassan and Bayt al-Mal, their senior leaders, and Ibrahim Ali Daher, chief of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit.

The TFTC includes the United States and the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The group coordinates sanctions designations, intelligence sharing on terrorist-financing networks and efforts to strengthen members’ ability to counter such networks.

“These coordinated actions underscore TFTC members’ shared commitment to disrupting Hezbollah’s ability to exploit the international financial system,” Treasury stated. “All targets announced today were previously designated by the United States.”

Treasury said Al-Qard Al-Hassan “masquerades as a non-governmental organization” while providing banking-like services beyond its stated registration, including moving funds through shell accounts and facilitators.

Hezbollah uses the organization “to facilitate its destabilizing militant activities, undermining the Lebanese people’s ability to rebuild while enabling the group’s own interests,” the department said.
HRF petitions Lithuanian court to investigate Israeli dental student for alleged Gaza war crimes
The pro-Palestinian Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) said that it had petitioned Lithuania’s Constitutional Court on Monday after authorities rejected its request to investigate an Israeli dental student in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The organization alleges that the student, identified as S.G., is a former IDF soldier who was involved in war crimes and genocide while serving in the Gaza Strip.

The petition is the latest step in the foundation’s legal campaign against Israelis in Europe, particularly against S.G.

The foundation previously filed a complaint against the student, but Lithuanian authorities declined to open proceedings against him. Separately, the HRF filed an unusual complaint in Germany against a senior prosecutor, accusing him of failing to investigate another Israeli whom the organization alleged had been involved in war crimes.

In its March complaint to Lithuanian authorities, the HRF claimed that S.G. served in the “Vampire Empire” company of the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Armored Brigade.
20-year-old US citizen arrested in Jerusalem, to be charged with spying for Iran
A 20-year-old US citizen residing in the Jerusalem area will be charged in court of security offenses for allegedly spying on Iran’s behalf, police said Tuesday.

The man was arrested June 9 by Jerusalem District police on suspicion of maintaining contact with an Iran-linked agent, police said, in an announcement of his forthcoming indictment.

In the months leading up to his arrest, the suspect carried out various missions for the agent, which included taking photos and videos of “sensitive sites,” police said. For each task, he allegedly received dozens to hundreds of dollars.

A prosecutor’s declaration was filed against the suspect Tuesday, signaling he will be formally charged in the coming days.

Police requested that the court keep the man in custody until the end of legal proceedings against him. The investigation into the alleged espionage was conducted jointly by the Shin Bet and police and while underway was subject to a sweeping gag order.

No details were available on the identity of the suspect, and there was no immediate comment from the US embassy.
IDF kills Islamic Jihad terrorist tied to Oct. 7
Israeli forces in Gaza have eliminated a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who infiltrated Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and later helped hold hostages in Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

According to a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) statement on Tuesday, Talal Jaber Mohammad Abd al-Aal was targeted in a strike on Sunday in the southern Gaza Strip.

The military said he commanded a terrorist cell that crossed into Israeli territory during the Hamas-led massacre.

Israeli officials said Abd al-Aal was also involved in holding hostages in southern Gaza throughout the war.

The IDF on Sunday eliminated another Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who abducted civilians during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and held them captive.

Zaher Brahim Khalil Abu Salem “took part in the abduction of Israeli civilians from their homes and in holding them hostage,” according to Monday’s IDF statement.

In addition, he attempted to advance “numerous” attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians during the war sparked by the Hamas-led massacre, the IDF said.
‘Have fun in hell’: IDF kills Islamic Jihad man who held Rom Braslavski hostage, abused him
Freed hostage Rom Braslavski on Tuesday rejoiced at the news that the Islamic Jihad terrorist who held and abused him in captivity had been killed in a recent strike by the Israel Defense forces, telling him to “Have fun in hell.”

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday the killing of three senior terror operatives, including figures closely involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, one of whom subsequently held Israeli captives whom terrorists kidnapped during the rampage.

Among them was Talel Abd al-Aal, who held several roles in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, and was killed in a strike in southern Gaza on Sunday, according to a a joint statement from the IDF and Shin Bet.

“Al-Aal commanded a cell of terrorists that invaded Israel and took part in the October 7 massacre,” the military said, adding that during the subsequent war he held hostages who were in PIJ’s captivity.

The IDF in recent months has been ramping up strikes on terror operatives in Gaza, including several October 7 terrorists, saying they posed a threat to Israeli forces.

Braslavski, sharing a video of him being informed of his captor’s killing, described how he burst into tears after receiving the news that “changed my life.”


Did the US-Iran deal betray Israel? American insider gives both sides
American businessman, analyst, and longtime US diplomatic insider Harley Lippman returns to Israel for the first time in two years to give a blunt geopolitical assessment: the US-Iran MOU shocked the system, American public opinion has flipped against Israel, and three converging forces: media optics, far-left ideology, and Qatari money, are driving a crisis that didn't exist five years ago.

Lippman, who has met with world leaders including Erdogan, offers a rare two-sided analysis of the Trump administration's ceasefire deal with Iran: the pessimistic case that Israel was sold out, and the optimistic case that Trump is managing midterm politics before pivoting. He argues Iran "outmaneuvered everybody" by closing the Strait of Hormuz and warns that Turkey may actually be a greater regional danger than Iran, a point that surprises even his interviewer, Jerusalem Post's editor-in-chief Zvika Klein. On the Palestinian question, he floats a controversial but conditional solution that he believes could finally end the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.

Lippman has served in advisory roles across multiple US administrations from both parties and built two companies from scratch. His warning about the Democratic Party's drift toward antisemitism, the Qatari university infiltration strategy, and what he calls Israel's failure to fight the PR war as effectively as it fights conventional wars makes this a wide-ranging and candid conversation.

00:00 - Trump wanted to bomb Iran before Netanyahu: Lippman's opening argument
01:07 - First impressions: Israel two years later, PTSD and choosing life
02:07 - The US-Iran MoU: why it shocked the system
03:51 - Pessimist vs. optimist view of the ceasefire deal
05:41 - Trump's midterm calculus and what happens after the election
07:00 - Iran's ICBMs and 47 years of "Death to America": making the case to Americans
09:07 - Israel did NOT drag America into war with Iran, the historical record
10:34 - American public opinion has flipped: now majority pro-Palestinian
12:41 - Three rules of warfare Israel violated on October 7
13:07 - What's different from the 1930s: Jewish power and the case for strength
14:06 - Is America still different for Jews? Dark clouds in both parties
15:50 - Three converging forces: media optics, the far-left, and Qatari money
18:57 - Can Israel adopt the Qatari influence model?
21:29 - NYC mayor race and Jewish voters: the jealousy factor explained
26:35 - The Middle East today: power dynamics, the Gulf nations, and good news
32:46 - Turkey: NATO member, F-35 sale, and why it may be more dangerous than Iran
40:53 - Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the window of opportunity Iran's arrogance created
42:18 - A controversial Palestinian state proposal: on Israel's security terms
45:27 - Israel needs to win the charm campaign, not just the military war
47:18 - ADHD, mental health, and the closing personal note


Lebanon has been ‘completely useless’ in its attempts to dismantle Hezbollah
Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy has claimed Lebanon has been “unable or unwilling” to dismantle the terrorist group Hezbollah.

“If Lebanon can do the basic thing of asserting its sovereignty over its own territory, Israel will pull back, and there will be peace,” Mr Levy told Sky News Senior Reporter Caroline Marcus.

“If Lebanon can’t get a grip over its own territory, Israel isn’t going to allow these Iranian-funded terrorists to be within spitting distance of Israeli houses again.”







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