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Friday, July 10, 2026

07/09 Links Pt1: BHL: Post-Oct. 7 isolation of Israel a ‘historic moral failure’; Israel’s ‘medical malpractice’; Australia’s Treatment of Jews Is a Warning to the World

From Ian:

Bernard-Henri Lévy calls post-Oct. 7 isolation of Israel a ‘historic moral failure’
The diplomatic isolation of Israel during the war in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre will go down in history as a moral failure and a defeat of humanity, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy said on Thursday.

“The absence of support for Israel will be considered by future historians as a moment of huge disgrace for the West,” Lévy told JNS in an interview in Tel Aviv. “It is a defeat of humanity and a moral defeat. It is the loss of any moral compass.”

Lévy, who lives in Paris, rushed to Israel the day after the Oct. 7 attacks and the following year penned Israel Alone, a book about the lack of diplomatic support for the Jewish state in the West.

“I was beyond shocked,” he said.

He was back in Israel on Thursday to deliver the keynote address at the annual conference on contemporary antisemitism hosted by the Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa. The gathering is the largest annual academic conference on modern-day antisemitism, drawing an estimated 550 participants, including 250 in-person presenters, with others joining virtually from abroad.

The 77-year-old French intellectual, commonly known as BHL, decried the surge in antisemitism, which he called “unprecedented in my lifetime,” noting that he rarely gives lectures in France for security reasons and that the only safe place for him to speak in the United Kingdom is a synagogue.

“Even if I come to speak about philosophy or non-Jewish issues, the only safe place for me in the U.K. is a synagogue,” he said.

Lévy noted that he has lived under police protection in Paris for more than two decades, since the publication of his book about the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Mindful of the growing exodus of Jews from Western European cities, Lévy said he is determined to fight back.

“Europe would have no future if Jews stepped back,” he said, blaming a toxic mix of “stupid, illiterate, and barbaric anti-Semites” and a French leadership whose stance on Israel often adds fuel to the fire.

“The situation gives me the will to resist, to fight, and to win,” he said.
Amb. Michael Oren: Israel Is Not Isolated, Not Bloodthirsty
I was asked if Vice President JD Vance was right in saying that, apart from the U.S., Israel has no friends in the world. I answered "no," and listed the many friends Israel has in South America, Africa, the Arab Gulf, and India, a country with a population four times that of the U.S.

If I was asked "is JD Vance right when he said that Israel 'can't just kill (its) way out of solving every single national security problem that [it has]?'" - the answer is even more adamantly: "No!"

The charge that Israel uses brute force to resolve all its security problems is firstly and historically false. This is the country which, in 1949, signed armistice agreements with four Arab countries that only a year before had tried to destroy us. In 1967, that same country offered to return almost all of the sizable territories we captured in the Six-Day War in return for peace with the Arab leaders who once again sought to annihilate it.

This is the country, Israel, which returned the Sinai peninsula, an area more than three times its size, in return for peace with Egypt. We are the nation that signed a peace agreement with the arch terrorist Arafat who for decades specialized in murdering Israelis. He soon went back to murdering Israelis and still we sought peace with him.

Israel is the country which, arguably more than any other in the world, has done more to avoid having to kill our way out of our security problems. Still, there are some problems that Israel has no choice but to address with force. As Vice President Vance knows full well, there is no diplomatic solution for Israel's problems with Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran - enemies sworn to wipe us off the map.

Though we must never cease striving to preserve our crucial alliance with the U.S., we must respectfully but forcefully correct American leaders when they spread falsehoods about Israel, defame our national character, and distort our history. Israel defends itself when it must but makes peace whenever it can.
Ruthie Blum: Israel’s ‘medical malpractice’
Israel ought to have its head examined. Its bleeding heart could use a check-up, too. Because something is clearly wrong with a country that repeatedly deploys its extraordinary medical expertise to preserve the lives of people who later dedicate themselves to harming it.

The latest diagnosis comes courtesy of an astonishing revelation this week by Avi Shushan, former spokesman for Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center-Ichilov Hospital, on the Channel 14 program “Sheva” with co-hosts Yehuda Schlesinger and Yaakov Bardugo.

According to Shushan, about seven years ago, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was gravely ill, the Mossad requested that an Ichilov specialist be dispatched to Ankara to treat him. The physician, Shushan said, did not travel as a private citizen offering personal assistance. He went, rather, “on behalf of the State of Israel.”

If true, the story is remarkable enough on its own. Israel, a country Erdoğan has repeatedly vilified, extended a helping hand when he needed one.

The gratitude wasn’t exactly forthcoming.

Turkey and Israel aren’t officially enemy states. They maintain diplomatic ties, even if relations have deteriorated dramatically. But Erdoğan’s words and deeds have long placed the neo-Ottoman-emperor wannabe firmly in the camp of Israel’s adversaries.

He has transformed Turkey into a political home for Hamas leaders. He has hosted members of the terrorist organization’s senior ranks and defended them as “freedom fighters.” He has backed flotillas aimed at breaching Israel’s blockade of Gaza. He has accused the Jewish state of crimes against humanity while embracing some of the most vicious antisemitic rhetoric in the international arena.

After the Oct. 7 massacre, when Hamas terrorists murdered, raped, burned and kidnapped innocent men, women and children, Erdoğan did not condemn the perpetrators. Instead, he portrayed Hamas as a legitimate resistance movement and attacked Israel for defending itself.

The man who, according to Shushan, was kept alive by an Israeli doctor, repaid Israel with hostility.

But Erdoğan isn’t an anomaly; he’s merely the latest patient in a long-running Israeli medical drama: a country that keeps curing those infected with a lethal hatred of the Jewish state.


Committee to Protect Journalists’ Staff Packed With Anti-Israel Agitators Amid Boardroom Feuds Over Group’s List of ‘Journalists’ Killed in Gaza
The Committee to Protect Journalists employs multiple staffers who have engaged in anti-Israel advocacy, accused Israel of "genocide," promoted anti-Israel economic boycotts and, in one case, authored a bizarre manifesto advocating "resistance and revolutionary violent pressure" against "the Zionist occupation," according to new research from the media watchdog group HonestReporting.

The revelations are likely to raise further questions about the CPJ’s impartiality as the embattled New York group—founded in 1981 to defend journalists worldwide—descends further into turmoil and infighting over its oft-cited list of Palestinian "journalists" killed in the Gaza war. The list, which major media outlets use to discredit Israel’s war effort, has been found to include numerous military operatives for terror groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The embattled CPJ is already in an uproar over the vote by its board—composed largely of leading journalists from prestigious news operations like the New York Times and NBC News—to affirm that people who work for "organizations affiliated with militant groups" can still be considered "journalists." The board, already under fire for the pronounced anti-Israel sentiments of several members, voted 17 to 1 last week in favor of keeping that contested definition, with only Fox News voting "no," the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The hostility to Israel seen on the CPJ’s board appears to extend to at least half a dozen of the group’s staff members, according to HonestReporting, an Israeli media watchdog which unearthed extensive evidence of some CPJ staff’s past affiliation with radical—and sometimes violent—anti-Zionist organizations and causes.

CPJ Levant researcher Rama Sabanekh, for example, who is listed on the organization’s website as a "third-generation Palestinian refugee based in Amman, Jordan," emerged as an anti-Israel student activist around 2017 while attending SOAS University of London, HonestReporting found. When Sabanekh ran for a SOAS Students' Union position that year, she penned a "manifesto" outlining support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the global campaign to economically isolate, punish, and shame Israel.

Just a year prior, in 2016, Sabanekh helped orchestrate a virulently anti-Israel protest at University College London to oppose a speaking appearance by former Israel Defense Forces commander Hen Mazzig. The Telegraph noted that police were called to the event, "which left Jewish students barricaded" inside the room, which was ultimately breached by the protesters. The following day, Sabanekh uploaded a photo to Facebook celebrating that the "lecture theatre [was] shut down," according to archived posts accessed by HonestReporting.


Australia’s Treatment of Jews Is a Warning to the World
Sadly, the current Australian Jewish story echoes the experience of countless Jewish communities throughout history — communities that fled one country believing another would be different.

But as important as it is to give voice to the many Australians who have been affected by this surge of antisemitism, this Commission, at its core, is about asking how Australia, a country with a rich tradition of tolerance and acceptance, reached a point where antisemitism escalated into mass terrorism, and what must change to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

That includes understanding the drivers of that antisemitism, from Islamic extremism, the far-right, the far-left, online radicalism, foreign influence, social media and institutional failures. The Commission has been given less than a year to investigate this with a final report due on December 14, 2026 — the one-year anniversary of the Bondi Beach massacre.

If successful, the Commission will explain why antisemitism increased, why it was not confronted and halted, recommend reforms, and provide Australia with a roadmap to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

However, despite hopes that such a report will be an antidote to the mental disease of antisemitism, there is reason to be concerned that trends feeding the explosion in antisemitism are not truly turning around.

Even as the Commission does its work, anti-Israel politics continues to make inroads in the background. A proposed new policy platform of the ruling Australian Labor Party (ALP) calls for increased pressure on Israel while dropping past demands that Hamas disarm and give up its rule over Gaza, and that the Palestinian Authority be reformed.

These demands formed a central part of the Australian Government’s justification of Australia’s recognition of “Palestine” last September — a move that made little sense except as a response to activist pressure, both inside and outside the ALP.

But apparently, the pro-Palestinian lobby within the ALP is now demanding even more — they just want Israel punished, and reject any obligations, no matter how obviously justifiable, directed at the Palestinian side.

Australia is not an exception, but instead a warning. And if the lessons emerging from the Royal Commission are ignored, other democracies may one day find themselves confronting the same question Australia faces now: how did we let this happen?
Australia antisemitism envoy urges oversight of Israel coverage
Australia’s antisemitism envoy called on Thursday for the creation of an independent oversight committee to review public broadcasters’ coverage of Israel, telling a royal commission that existing complaint mechanisms are insufficient.

Jillian Segal said the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), which both operate with internal ombudsmen, should be subject to external review of their reporting on the Middle East.

She cited what she described as a “common and pervasive perception” within Australia’s Jewish community that coverage of the Israel-Hamas war lacks balance.

Segal told the commission that reporting has placed disproportionate emphasis on Gaza compared to other global conflicts and has amplified anti-Israel perspectives.

“It’s the perception of the Jewish community feeling constantly that they are being faced with reporting about the Middle East, about Gaza and about Israel in a way that paints Israel constantly in a negative light,” said Segal.


‘ABC in the dock’: Royal Commission hears explosive claims of ABC anti-Israel bias
Sky News host Andrew Bolt condemns the ABC's coverage of Israel, arguing the Royal Commission must finally hold the broadcaster accountable for what he describes as years of anti-Israel bias.

“The ABC finally got put on the rack today in the Royal Commission for its role in spreading this tsunami of Jew hate,” Mr Bolt said.

“After the Bondi massacre, many Jews are turning on the ABC for its role. They are horrified by its top-to-bottom bias against Israel that’s feeding this Jew hatred.

“Today the Royal Commission into antisemitism put the ABC in the dock. But far too gently in my opinion.

“Is this Royal Commission going to hold the ABC to account at last for its vile history of bias against Israel?”


ABC ‘remains in denial’ of its erroneous anti-Israel coverage
Sky News host Chris Kenny discusses the Bondi Royal Commission hearing evidence about media coverage, with a special focus on the public broadcasters.

“Of course, this kind of emotive and erroneous reporting flies in the face of the facts,” Mr Kenny said.

“Always errors that portray Israel in a bad light, always a bias that supports a pro-Palestinian and even pro-Hamas narrative.

“It's a narrative that seems to be in denial about the driving motivation of Islamist extremism.

“This is a bias recognised and detailed very widely, but the ABC remains in denial.”


‘Really serious issue’: ABC blasted for turning into pro-Palestine political advocacy platform
Jewish Community Member Marnie Perlstein says the ABC transition into a “political advocacy platform" is a “really serious issue”.

​“I think our national broadcaster ceased to be a balanced news outlet and actually has morphed into a political advocacy platform which really just supports the pro-Palestinian cause,” Ms Perlstein told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
​“If you’re someone who went and studied journalism or did a communications degree at any Australian university over the last three decades, it’s not surprising because you would’ve walked out of there with a degree in anti-Israel bias.
​“Of course they [ABC] are going to deny most of what they’ve been accused of.
​“Yes, they have made mistakes, and they have admitted to one mistake with the story about the babies, but there have been repeated mistakes made by the ABC that haven’t been corrected.
​“The reporting is always one-sided.”


Pianist loses case against orchestra over Gaza statement
Concert pianist Jayson Lloyd Gillham has lost his Federal Court case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after claiming he was unlawfully discriminated against over comments he made about Israel and Gaza during a recital.

Federal Court judge Graeme Hill handed down his decision on Friday, finding the MSO did not take unlawful action against the British-Australian performer because of his political beliefs.

Gillham sued the orchestra after it removed him from a scheduled performance following an August 11, 2024 recital at which he addressed the audience before playing Witness, a piece dedicated to Gazan journalists.

Before performing the composition, Gillham told the audience Israel had deliberately targeted some journalists to prevent the reporting of war crimes.

The following day, the MSO apologised to recital attendees for the comments and told them Gillham would no longer perform at a concert scheduled for August 15.

The orchestra later attempted to reinstate him, advising his representatives on August 14 that he could perform the next day if he agreed not to make any verbal or physical statement from the stage.

Gillham refused that condition.

The MSO then issued a public statement confirming he would not perform, citing safety concerns.

Gillham alleged the orchestra’s actions amounted to unlawful adverse action because of his political beliefs.

Justice Hill rejected Gillham’s claims, finding the orchestra acted to protect its business interests and reputation, rather than because of his political beliefs.


Pew: 44% of Muslim Americans surveyed view Hamas favorably, overall support for Israel falls
A Pew Research Center survey released on Thursday found that 44% of Muslim American respondents expressed a favorable opinion of Hamas, compared with 17% of Black Protestants and 2% of Jewish respondents.

The survey of 12,574 U.S. adults, conducted May 4-17, also found Americans now view Israelis and Palestinians nearly equally favorably overall, marking a significant shift from 2022, when Israelis were viewed much more positively.

Younger Americans were considerably more favorable toward Palestinians than Israelis. Among respondents under 30, 58% viewed Palestinians favorably, compared with 32% who said the same of Israelis. Among Democrats under 30, the gap widened to 72% versus 26%.

Favorable views of both the Israeli people and the Israeli government declined among Republicans and Democrats alike, though the drop was steeper among Democrats. Among Jewish respondents, 83% viewed the Israeli people favorably, down from 89% in 2024, while favorable views of the Israeli government fell from 54% to 47%. Jewish adults under 50 were less likely than older Jews to hold favorable views of either.

The survey also found that Muslim and religiously unaffiliated Americans were more likely than other religious groups to view Palestinians favorably and less likely to express favorable views of Israelis.


White House Preparing for Prolonged Iran Conflict over Hormuz
The White House is preparing for what could turn into a multi-day or even multi-week exchange of fire with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials told Axios on Thursday.

The duration and intensity of the new campaign depend entirely on Iran's upcoming actions.

The White House believes it has more room to escalate because hundreds of oil tankers have successfully navigated through the strait in recent weeks.

"That has eased concerns within the administration that a renewed clash would immediately trigger a major oil price spike," the officials said.

"They started shooting, and we decided it's time to slap them back hard. It's a process. We have patience. If we don't feel we're getting the deal we want, we are not going to do it," another U.S. official said.
Israel Sees "Huge Achievement" in Lebanon, Deepens Control in Gaza
Assessments presented to Israel's Security Cabinet described Israel's situation in Lebanon as "excellent." Under the Israel-Lebanon agreement, Israeli officials say Israel received international legitimacy to remain in a security zone 8-10 km. deep inside Lebanese territory and continue clearing and dismantling terrorist infrastructure until Hizbullah is dismantled. "This is a huge achievement for Israel, remaining in the territory with authority and permission while the IDF continues to operate and dismantle infrastructure," a senior Israeli official said.

The IDF is expected to hand over two pilot areas to the Lebanese army. According to a senior Israeli official, it will take at least several weeks before the Lebanese army is ready to assume responsibility for them.

However, the official said, "We assess that the Lebanese army cannot dismantle Hizbullah and that ultimately we will have to do it ourselves, on our own timetable. We will prepare ourselves with intelligence and everything else that is needed. But at least during this period we remain in a security zone, keep the enemy away from our communities, remove the threat and thoroughly clear the entire area for complete sterilization, something that has never happened before."

In Gaza, Israel is pushing Hamas into a smaller area along the coast in order to clear the territory, the Israeli official said. "We drill, destroy tunnels, and gradually deepen the clearing and purification of all terrorist infrastructure in Gaza....Gaza is in ruins. There is no reconstruction....We have full freedom of action. All the headlines claiming Hamas is rebuilding are complete nonsense. It has very limited ability to rebuild because we control everything that enters. So yes, it has some smuggling here and there, but it is not a dramatic development that changes reality."
Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas's Latest Trick: Leaving Government, Keeping Weapons
Hamas has announced that it is dissolving its de facto governing body and is prepared to hand authority to a committee of Palestinian technocrats. The announcement is merely Hamas's latest attempt to deceive the international community into believing that it is complying with the requirements of the Trump peace initiative, while preserving its military power. The key question is not who sits in ministerial offices in Gaza, but rather who holds the guns.

Hamas admits that its ministries and thousands of employees will remain in place. Moreover, Hamas says it will continue overseeing security and policing in the areas still under its control. In other words, nothing essential has changed. As long as Hamas retains its military forces, every future civilian administration in Gaza will operate under the shadow of Hamas's guns. No technocratic government will be able to function independently.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar wrote, "Hamas's apparent willingness to make room for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament." He warned that Hamas seeks to replicate the Hizbullah model in Gaza.

This is simply outsourcing civilian responsibilities while preserving the machinery of jihad (holy war). Both Israelis and Palestinians have already paid an unbearable price for repeatedly believing Hamas's promises. They cannot afford to make the same mistake again.


The Classroom of the Resistance: How Hizbullah Built Lebanon's Most Powerful Weapon
Hizbullah has spent four decades cultivating ideological loyalty, political influence, and future generations of supporters. The 1926 Lebanese Constitution guaranteed religious communities the right to run their own schools. With the emergence of Hizbullah, religious education among the Shiites of Lebanon shifted to a political mobilization project funded by Iran.

Former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah frequently highlighted the strategic expansion of Hizbullah's private school networks (such as the Al-Mahdi and Al-Mustafa schools) as an extension of the group's core military and ideological mission. Nasrallah also framed the role of educators and religious leaders as a vanguard responsible for shaping public perception. Sheikh Naim Qassem, today Hizbullah's secretary general, is one of the founders of the Al-Mustafa school network, which caters primarily to the Shiite middle class and families of senior cadre.

Hizbullah schools operate under directives of detachment from national identity. Values are adapted to promote ideas from outside the Lebanese national context. Education is not a tool for critical thinking but for "molding" the individual. There is one absolute truth, and all competing narratives are suppressed. Youth are taught that the highest achievement is self-sacrifice for the cause. Education systems identify a clear enemy to foster group cohesion through shared hatred.

These institutions are designed to transform the Shiite community into a disciplined, ideologically uniform base, ensuring that the party's survival is anchored in the minds of the next generation. Hizbullah views education as a primary pillar of societal engineering and the building of a "resistance society."
Syrian School Network Teaches Jihadist and Anti-Israel Indoctrination
The Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif school network, affiliated with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), operates as part of the official education system of Syria's regime under the leadership of Ahmad al-Sharaa.

HTS is the Sunni Islamist political and paramilitary organization that spearheaded the 2024 rebellion to oust President Assad. Under al-Sharaa's leadership, HTS now governs major parts of Syria.

Throughout the religious curriculum, consistent messages appear of jihadist and anti-Israeli indoctrination, beginning in kindergarten and intensifying as students advance.

Israel is consistently portrayed as "the Zionist enemy," while educational maps erase its existence and replace it with the name "Palestine."

Educational materials frame the conflict as an ongoing religious struggle between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Jihad is presented as a desirable means of confronting unbelievers, while fighting Islam's enemies is portrayed as a religious obligation.
Israel said to warn US that Iran devised a new plot to assassinate Trump
Israel has shared intelligence with the United States about a new plot by Iran to kill US President Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The newspaper notes Iran has been publicly pledging to assassinate Trump since the US killed Iranian IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020, with calls for the US president’s death prominently featured in the ongoing mourning commemorations for slain supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It was unclear from the report when the intelligence was relayed, or through what channel.

Trump, who has faced several assassination attempts — including the 2024 shooting in which a bullet grazed his ear, this week referred to threats against him, saying, “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long.”
Sirens sound in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as Iran launches missile, drone attacks
Air-raid sirens sounded in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain on Thursday, as Iran said it targeted U.S. military assets with missiles and drones in retaliation for American strikes on the Islamic Republic.

A Jordanian military source told Amman’s official Petra News Agency that air defenses intercepted eight missiles launched from Iran on Thursday afternoon. Debris from the interceptions fell in several areas, causing no casualties or damage, according to the report.

The Jordanian air-raid sirens were heard in some Israeli border communities in the Jordan Valley, according to Hebrew media.

The U.S. Embassy in Amman confirmed reports that “missiles, drones or rockets are in Jordanian airspace” and called on Americans in the country to “seek overhead cover and shelter in place immediately.” The mission added, “Remain indoors and pay attention to local announcements and alerts. The U.S. Embassy in Jordan will continue to review the situation and provide additional information as needed.”

A flight from Ethiopia to Tel Aviv was forced to turn around amid the missile attacks, Channel 12 News reported.

In Kuwait, a Defense Ministry spokesperson said the country’s armed forces intercepted three ballistic missiles, one cruise missile and 10 drones launched from Iran on Thursday.

“The interceptions resulted in material damage after debris fell at several locations across the country. One person was injured and is receiving the necessary medical treatment. The injured person’s condition is stable,” said spokesman Col. Saud Abdulaziz al-Atwan.

The Bahrain Defence Force said it had “successfully confronted, intercepted and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian aerial attacks.”


JPost Editorial: Withdrawal cannot be a gesture of faith: US, Israel must align on Lebanon - editorial
Is Israel’s presence in southern Lebanon temporary? If so, what are the conditions for withdrawal? What does “disarming Hezbollah” mean in practice? Who will verify it? What role will the Lebanese Armed Forces play? What happens if the Lebanese state proves unwilling or unable to enforce the agreement?

These questions need answers.

The US-Israel relationship has always been strongest when disagreements are handled seriously rather than theatrically. Strategic ambiguity can be useful when directed at enemies. Among allies, it can create confusion that enemies exploit.

Hezbollah should not be left wondering whether Washington is pressuring Israel to leave or whether Israel intends to stay indefinitely. The Lebanese government should not be allowed to play one ally against the other. Israelis living near the northern border deserve to know what security arrangement is supposed to protect them.

There is also a larger opportunity.

Lebanon has a chance - perhaps its best in decades - to restore genuine sovereignty over its own territory. A weakened Hezbollah and a changing regional order have created possibilities that once seemed remote. Israel should not remain in Lebanon one day longer than its security requires. But it should not leave one day before a credible alternative is in place.

That alternative cannot be another document filled with promises. It must include enforceable benchmarks: the removal of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure from the border region, the deployment of effective Lebanese state forces, mechanisms for verification, and clear consequences for violations.

Washington and Jerusalem should be working together to define those conditions now.

Trump’s instinct to seek a diplomatic breakthrough is understandable. Katz’s insistence that Israel will not outsource its security is equally understandable. But diplomacy and security are not opposing goals. A durable agreement requires both.

The US should not promise an Israeli withdrawal that Jerusalem has not approved. Israeli ministers should not speak about America as though its position were irrelevant.

Before either side makes another public declaration, the two governments need to agree on the answer to a simple question: What must happen for Israel to leave Lebanon?

Until they can answer it together, both would be wiser to speak less.


Call me Back Podcast: The MoU is dead, long live the _______! - with Nadav Eyal
Is the collapse of the U.S.-Iran deal the start of another war, or something messier in between?

Dan is joined by Ark Media contributor and senior analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, Nadav Eyal, as Iran and the U.S. launch missile and verbal attacks. They discuss the apparent end to the ceasefire, why Israel believes the MoU was destined to fail and how Tehran is calculating its next move.They also explore why Turkey's growing military and political influence could be Israel's next strategic challenge.

In this episode:
Why the U.S.-Iran deal collapsed
Iran's power play in Hormuz
Who is really in charge in Iran?
Israel's "we told you so" moment
Why Turkey is becoming Israel's next big concern
Netanyahu's public fight against the U.S. selling F-35s to Turkey
Israel's long-term strategy toward Turkey
Are we heading toward round three of war with Iran?


Niall Ferguson: What China is Learning from Our War in Iran
Is the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran over? Is the memorandum of understanding dead? On Wednesday, those questions were put to President Donald Trump at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, a gathering that came on the heels of renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Here, to make sense of the fragile state of the strait, the stalled negotiations in Iran, and the big ticket questions about the European alliance, Turkey, and China, is Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson. He breaks down how the ceasefire fell apart, why the pathway to managing the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on cooperation from the Gulf States, and what the new status quo looks like—plus: Will the U.S. let Turkey buy F-35 fighter jets, after it was previously barred from doing so? How have hostilities between Russia and Ukraine escalated? And what is China learning from the sidelines?




Foreign Policy Gives Trita Parsi a Platform and the Iranian Regime a Pass
The founder of the Iranian regime’s de facto lobby in the U.S. is perhaps not the expert one should turn to for a nuanced, balanced read on an ever-shifting Middle East.

Yet that is precisely who Foreign Policy chose to elevate.

In “Israel Belongs in the New Saudi-Iranian Order,” the founder and former president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), Trita Parsi, argues that Israeli and American “unprovoked wars” against Iran have destabilized the Middle East more than the regime’s own conduct ever did, producing what he calls an “anti-Abraham Accords.” A Lobbyist Posing as an Analyst

Parsi’s analysis is less surprising when viewed in light of his record of pro-Iranian-regime advocacy, and NIAC itself has long faced accusations of acting as a lobby for the Iranian regime. During the 2015 nuclear deal, NIAC advocated for lifting sanctions on the premise that engagement would moderate the regime’s foreign policy. Instead, Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for regional proxies only expanded in the years that followed.

At the same time, NIAC also claimed that the regime’s anti-Israel messaging didn’t reflect the true policy of Iran – but October 7 and the missile barrages that followed left little ambiguity about the regime’s actual intent.

In 2012, a federal judge dismissed NIAC’s own defamation suit against a critic who’d made that claim, ruling the group’s conduct was not inconsistent with being “first and foremost an advocate for the regime.” With such a history of pro-regime messaging, including throughout the recent war, the U.S. opened a probe into Parsi. The War the Iranian Regime Started

Throughout the wars Parsi dismisses as “unprovoked,” it was some of the Abraham Accords countries who found themselves in the Iranian regime’s crosshairs. In fact, the Iranian Regime’s regional aggression disproportionately impacted the UAE in comparison to other Gulf states. Other countries in the region repeatedly condemned the Iranian regime’s attacks, and Jordan had even taken part in shooting down Iranian drones heading toward Israel.

This did not prevent Parsi from amplifying Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, who sought to create a “regional security framework between [Qatar] and Iran.”

What Parsi ignored entirely was that until recently, Qatar has provided a place of refuge for Hamas leaders, who, on October 7, publicly celebrated the massacre while in Doha.

Parsi celebrates Qatar’s outreach to Tehran, but ignores an inconvenient truth: several Arab states have actively coordinated with Israel to strengthen air defenses against Iran. Israel even deployed an Iron Dome battery to the UAE during the war. This is not the behavior of a Middle East working to isolate Israel, but one working with shared interests.

Still, he continues with undermining the U.S.’ role in Middle East security:
Washington Post Reporters Falsify a Trump Quote to Manufacture an Anti-Israel Narrative
In a July 2 article at The Washington Post (“U.S. warned Iran about Israel’s aims to assassinate leaders”), a falsified quote is used to advance a narrative of strain between the Trump administration and Israel. Authors John Hudson and Ellen Nakashima reported that the United States feared that Israel might assassinate senior Iranian leaders Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who have been involved in ceasefire negotiations with the U.S.

The report portrays the United States as having to restrain an out-of-control Israel. Citing “current and former officials familiar with the matter,” “a diplomat” and “analysts,” the reporting purport to show that Israeli efforts to kill Iran’s leadership undermined the Trump administration’s efforts to reach a peace deal with Iran. They attempt to support their thinly supported thesis with a few tactics.

But a key piece of evidence is, in fact, a doctored quote. The authors claim:
In March, President Donald Trump suggested publicly that Israel’s assassination campaign was complicating efforts to negotiate with the regime. “You know it’s a little tough,” he told reporters at the time. “They’ve wiped out everybody. I don’t want them to be killed.’’

Trump did, indeed, utter those words, but not together. The authors spliced together two sentences uttered by President Trump in response to two separate questions as if they were part of one cohesive statement. Worse, they omit words in between that entirely contradicted the narrative they advanced.





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

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