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Tuesday, July 14, 2026

07/13 Links Pt1: Trump admin launches campaign to dismantle ICC; Lindsey Graham: A voice of moral clarity falls silent; Trump: ‘We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain,’

From Ian:

Twenty-six years after Camp David, Israel needs a new security doctrine
At Camp David, we negotiated with the man who was then regarded as the supposed partner, the only figure who was allegedly willing to sit down and negotiate with Israel (while the rest of the Palestinian leadership rejected the very idea outright). Yet we still reached a dead end. The result of those concessions was not peace, but the outbreak of the Second Intifada, a planned wave of terrorism that claimed the lives of more than one thousand Israelis.

By demonstrating a willingness to make those concessions, we created an extraordinarily dangerous precedent, one in which the international community came to regard Israeli territorial concessions as the natural starting point for every future negotiation.

That precedent must be erased. It must be erased from the pages of our diplomatic and security history, and it must be made clear that those proposals are null and void and cannot serve as the opening position for any future discussion.

The lesson of the Camp David Summit (2000) is even deeper and more relevant today. The summit definitively shattered the assumption that territorial concessions, in and of themselves, would bring reconciliation. It proved that the root of the conflict is not the scope of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria, but the very existence of a sovereign Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

Even at the point of Israel’s maximum willingness to compromise, it became clear that a historic compromise was not the objective of the other side.

From this understanding emerges the diplomatic doctrine that Israel must adopt for the decades ahead: lasting arrangements are not achieved through territorial gestures, but are built upon strength, deterrence, and security.

The only practical foundation for any future arrangement will emerge only when a profound change in Palestinian consciousness takes place, one that includes full recognition that Israel is a permanent and indisputable reality, with no intention of withdrawing or relinquishing its right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Only when the other side becomes convinced that it cannot defeat Israel or alter reality through terrorism, international pressure, or rejectionism, and that the continued illusion that the Jewish presence in the region is temporary bears no fruit, will the foundation for a stable and realistic arrangement truly be laid.

The key to peace lies not in the breadth of Israeli concessions, but in the strength of Israeli deterrence and the depth of Palestinian recognition of our legitimate existence here.
Turkey, Israel, and the New Ottoman Empire
What Is Behind Erdogan’s Antagonism Toward Israel?
So, why has President Erdogan shifted Turkey away from being a regional partner of Israel to one of its chief antagonists in the Middle East and on the world stage?

There seem to be two leading causes of Erdogan’s anti-Israel posture: His personal animus toward the Jewish people and his regional ambitions.

As an Islamist politician, Erdogan has been influenced by the ideological circle that surrounds him, which is contemptuous of Jews and views the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and establishment of the secular Turkish state as part of a secret Jewish plot.

The existence of Israel as a Jewish state in what is viewed as a traditionally Muslim region only amplifies this dislike and suspicion of Jews.

Aside from Erdogan’s personal ideology, Turkish society has become more open to public expressions of antisemitism in recent years, which has allowed the Turkish strongman to use his public opposition to the Jewish state as a means of garnering more votes among the Turkish public.

Perhaps even more consequential than antisemitism in the worsening of relations between Israel and Turkey are Erdogan’s long-term regional ambitions, which place him in direct confrontation with the Jewish state.

As opposed to other leaders who ruled Turkey before him, Erdogan subscribes to the idea of “neo-Ottomanism,” which aims to position Turkey as a leading force in the Sunni Islamic world.

As the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Middle East for hundreds of years, Erdogan seeks to return Turkey to this position of power by spreading its influence (and sometimes even its military forces) into neighboring states.

This expansion of Turkey’s role in the Middle East can be seen over the past 10 years, with Turkey sending forces into Iraq to fight ISIS (against the wishes of the Iraqi government), establishing itself militarily in Qatar, extending its influence in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israeli Arab communities, placing a foothold on the Red Sea, and becoming the patron of the new Syrian government since the fall of the Assad regime in 2024.

With the recent diminishment of Iran’s position in the Middle East, Erdogan is even more determined to increase Turkey’s influence in the region and become the new hegemonic power.

So, how do Turkey’s regional ambitions affect its relationship with Israel?

First, Israel’s own security needs can come into direct conflict with Turkey’s desires. This is most clearly seen in Syria, where Israel has established a buffer zone along its border due to its suspicion of the new regime, while Turkey has openly embraced it.

Second, in Erdogan’s view, by becoming increasingly and publicly hostile to the Jewish state, he is leveraging the anti-Israel sentiment of the Arab street to catapult Turkey into being the leading voice of the Muslim world, at the expense of more moderate regimes such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Thus, it appears likely that as Erdogan’s Turkey becomes a growing force in the Middle East and seeks to dominate the region, it will increasingly become more antagonistic toward Israel.

However, as opposed to this remaining a problem for the Jewish state, Turkey’s regional ambitions will likely become a problem for all Middle Eastern states that do not wish to become subservient to one hegemonic power in the region.
Half Won, Half Lost By Abe Greenwald
Via Commentary Newsletter, sign up here. Trump now seems to understand that the whole negotiation saga was an Iranian ruse. So we’ve gone back in time. The U.S. is once again pounding Iran from the air, and Trump just announced that we’d be reimposing a blockade on Iranian vessels.

But given this administration’s penchant for stopping short of victory, it’s hard to see where this goes, even in the next few days. And why is it that Iran won’t play along with the U.S., abide by the MOU, and collect the billions it has been promised?

The man who’s had the clearest understanding of this war from the start is Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. While Bolton is a committed Iran hawk, he’s been sounding the alarm about Trump’s lack of strategy since the run-up to the operation. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Bolton argues that the U.S. and Israel have weakened Iran’s government to the point that there is no cohesive Iranian leadership to make a deal. “This disarray explains why some in Iran are again reportedly plotting to murder Mr. Trump,” he writes, “while others are still negotiating with his representatives.”

I’m sure Bolton is correct about the difficulties posed by our semi-victory. But there’s another piece of the puzzle: our semi-failure. American planning blunders have done their part to make a tidy exit impossible. The U.S. was unprepared for and ultimately checked by the Iranian threat on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has argued that energy markets will organically overcome this challenge. That could be, but he’s not so confident that he’s ready to leave the strait in the regime’s hands.

So the U.S. has fought itself into a perverse Goldilocks zone where we won just enough and lost just enough to prevent our leaving. The administration has taken a long, winding path merely to reach this point of clarity. I’ll take it, with the hope that the president finally commits to total victory. But I expect that getting from here to there will involve at least as many foolish diversions.


Trump admin launches campaign to dismantle ICC ‘brick by brick, if necessary’
The Trump administration launched a campaign Monday to “dismantle the threat” that the International Criminal Court poses to U.S. sovereignty.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the initiative, which will be led by the State Department and include diplomatic pressure on countries to withdraw from the court, particularly nations that receive U.S. military protection, security cooperation or other assistance.

“A wide range of options are available to ensure the ICC is completely and utterly incapable of threatening the U.S. and our people,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott stated. “No diplomatic option will be off-limits in the campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to Americans.”

A State Department official added that the department “will watch with interest which nations join ranks with us against this threat to Americans who are willing to risk their lives to protect others.”

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the Hague-based court. The ICC prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

The administration’s campaign follows years of U.S. opposition to ICC efforts to assert jurisdiction over American personnel. During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, the court opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan that included U.S. forces, although prosecutors later shifted their focus primarily to alleged crimes committed by the Taliban and ISIS-K.

The ICC also issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, despite Israel not being an ICC signatory either.

“The United States does not recognize the authority of international bureaucrats an ocean away who seek to upend America’s 250-year history of self-governance and impose an illegitimate legal order on our sovereign nation,” Pigott stated. “America’s sovereignty is and always will be non-negotiable.”

According to the State Department, options under consideration include a diplomatic outreach campaign, visa revocations and travel bans for ICC personnel, expanded sanctions on the court and affiliated organizations, and increased scrutiny of countries that continue to support the ICC while relying on U.S. security assistance.


UN finally admits Hamas violently disrupting aid in Gaza
After years of claiming that Israel falsely accused Hamas of blocking humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza, the United Nations said on Sunday that the terror group, which it didn’t name, has “endangered humanitarian personnel, intimidated workers delivering lifesaving food assistance and disrupted lifesaving humanitarian operations.”

Ramiz Alakbarov, U.N. deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, stated that on Saturday, armed people “affiliated with the de facto authorities” forced their way into a food distribution point in northern Gaza and entered a World Food Programme warehouse “and reportedly assaulted two truck drivers who were delivering humanitarian supplies.”

Humanitarian workers were forced to halt food distributions as a result, according to Alakbarov, who twice blamed “de facto authorities.”

Hamas controls the enclave.

“The U.N. at last states the obvious on systemic Hamas theft and diversion of aid in Gaza,” a senior U.S. official told JNS.

Over the past two years, investigators with the inspector general’s office at the U.S. Agency for International Development “consistently flagged incidents of Hamas interference in the delivery of aid, which the U.N., until now, chose to ignore,” the senior U.S. official told JNS.

The incidents with the “de facto authorities” in question “are not isolated” and “reflect an increasingly dangerous pattern of intimidation, violence and obstruction, including smuggling attempts, targeting and abusing humanitarian operations,” Alakbarov stated.

Alakbarov also blamed Israel, as the global body often does when it is commenting on the misdeeds of the enemies of the Jewish state.

“The expansion of areas under Israeli control is further reducing the space available to civilians, making it imperative that humanitarian assistance is able to move safely and reach people in need without interference,” Alakbarov stated.


Trump administration probes UNRWA over alleged employment of 1,500 terrorists
A controversial United Nations agency is being investigated by U.S. officials for alleged ties to terrorism. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the U.N. organization for Palestinian refugees, has more than 1,500 employees being probed for links to terrorism.

U.S. officials have increasingly called on U.N. member states to defund UNRWA after decades of concerns about its school materials promoting terror, the presence of Hamas tunnels beneath UNRWA schools and charges that staff members participated in the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 against Israel.

This picture taken during a media tour organized by the Israeli army on February 8, 2024, shows Israeli soldiers inside an evacuated compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

While the U.N. conducted its own UNRWA investigation in 2024 through the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) following claims that 19 UNRWA employees were part of the Oct. 7. attacks, OIOS found insufficient evidence to support the participation of 10 employees. For the remaining nine, UNRWA terminated their contracts.

As the USAID Office of the Inspector General, a law enforcement agency separate from USAID, continues to investigate 1,500 UNRWA employees, it recently announced that it had referred a total of 108 current or former UNRWA staff to the State Department for suspension or exclusion from working with organizations that receive U.S. funds. Those members were found to be involved in the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, or were members of terrorist groups.

A U.S. diplomatic official briefed by USAID OIG investigators confirmed to Fox News Digital that at least 1,500 current or former UNRWA employees are under investigation for ties to foreign terrorist organizations in Gaza.

A senior U.S. official who spoke with Fox News Digital said that the USAID OIG investigation "smartly picked up where the U.N. failed" by looking beyond Oct. 7 participation. The official said the USAID OIG investigation is "critical, as U.S. taxpayers should never fund the salaries of aid workers that are members of a foreign terrorist organization."

The senior official told Fox News Digital, "USAID OIG’s investigation is helping prevent terrorists from criss-crossing across aid organizations that have received or are seeking U.S. or Board of Peace funding."

Hamas was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 1997 by the State Department, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group (SDGT) in 2001.


Why 800 million Evangelical Christians stand with Israel in an age of rising antisemitism - opinion
This is the Christian story and therefore intrinsic to Christian identity. That is why the connection between Evangelical Christians and Israel runs far deeper than modern geopolitics. Whether or not one agrees with every policy of Israel’s government is beside the point. For a follower of Jesus, it is impossible to separate Jesus from Israel – past, present, and future.

In addition, the Christian faith produces a moral and theological clarity that fuels moral courage and sharpens the discernment needed to recognize evil, which is the ultimate gaslighter that distracts, deflects, and deceives to destroy.

It is for this reason that Evangelicals have led with moral clarity in recognizing that Israel is on the front lines against the enemy of humanity, which seeks not only Israel’s destruction but ultimately the destruction of the entire free world. We must stand with her in this fight. Hitler believed in a “superior race,” but today the Iranian Islamic leadership believes in a “superior faith” that seeks to destroy Western civilization and replace it with a new Islamic world order.

Antisemitism is an evil entity
Concerning antisemitism, Evangelical Christians have been among the strongest voices opposing it. They do so not only because it is a form of racism but also because it is a Trojan horse of evil and a direct assault on the truth of the gospel.

The gospel diagnoses humanity’s greatest problem as sin and separation from God, a condition shared by every human being regardless of race or nationality.

Therefore, in the Christian view, everyone is in need of a Savior. Antisemitism, on the other hand, replaces that truth with a dangerous lie, claiming that humanity’s problems can be traced to one people: the Jews. It is not only morally evil – it provides cover for evil to advance.

The elephant in the room is that the global Christian story would not exist apart from the first followers of Jesus, who were all Jews. Think about it: it was Israel who gave the world a faith in Jesus beginning in Jerusalem that, in turn, produced a moral and theological clarity that has enabled followers of Jesus to bless and stand with Israel.

Jewish philosopher Martin Buber observed, “We must overcome the superstitious fear which we harbor about the Messianic movement of Jesus, and we must place the movement where it belongs, namely, in the spiritual history of Judaism.”

The bond between Evangelical Christians and Israel is rooted in God’s story, a story that is still unfolding.

It is a bond that will not be broken.
Lindsey Graham: A voice of moral clarity falls silent
I believe Lindsey Graham’s death will impact Trump more deeply than the passing of anyone else during his presidency. Political allies come and go. Advisors change. But trusted friends who have stood beside you through battles, victories, criticism, and history are almost impossible to replace. Lindsey Graham was one of those men.

I had the privilege of calling Lindsey Graham my friend. He attended the US Embassy Gala that I hosted, and over the years I came to respect him not only for his political leadership but for his character. He was gracious, thoughtful, courageous, and utterly committed to the principles he believed would make America stronger and the world safer.

His legacy will not be measured only by legislation passed or speeches delivered. It will be measured by the lives he influenced.

Today America mourns the loss of a great senator. Israel mourns the loss of one of its strongest defenders. Countless friends mourn the loss of a loyal companion whose word could be trusted and whose convictions never wavered.

Some voices become quieter with time. Lindsey Graham’s will not. His challenge to confront evil, defend freedom, and finish the work that remains will continue to echo long after his passing.

May God comfort his family, strengthen his friends, and grant President Trump wisdom as he carries forward the burden that his trusted friend believed must never be abandoned.
Lindsey Graham understood what too few in Washington still do
He was blunt in a way official Washington rarely allows itself to be. “Israel does more for us than anyone in the region,” he said – not as a talking point, but as a settled fact he had reached after decades of watching the Middle East up close. He understood, long before it was fashionable, that a strong Israel is a strategic asset to the United States, not a liability to be managed. He backed the embassy move to Jerusalem before it happened. He fought for security assistance without the conditions some in his own government wanted to attach. He pushed, relentlessly, for an Israeli-Saudi defense treaty, believing – correctly – that formal Arab-Israeli alignment against Iran was the only durable path to regional stability.

And he never let Iran off the hook. Not after the 2015 nuclear deal he opposed from the start, not during this year’s confrontation, not ever. He called the regime in Tehran what it was and said plainly that its collapse would be a gift to the region’s future. He was one of the very few in the Senate willing to say that out loud, on the record, year after year.

I will remember him as someone who treated the US-Israel relationship as a living obligation, not an inherited slogan. He showed up. He went to Israel again and again, including in the darkest weeks after October 7, when a visit from an American senator meant something beyond the photograph. He picked fights he did not need to pick because he thought they were right. In a Washington that increasingly treats support for Israel as negotiable, Lindsey Graham never negotiated.

South Carolina has lost its senator. America has lost a patriot. And Israel has lost one of the very few people in that building who never made it feel alone. My condolences to his family, his staff, and everyone in Jerusalem and Washington who counted on him – and who now have to carry that work forward without him.
South Carolina likely to elect pro-Israel senator with less foreign policy expertise, focus than Graham, experts say
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, said on Monday that it was his “duty” and “honor” to ask Darline Graham Nordone to serve out the remainder of the Senate term of her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Speaking during a press conference at the South Carolina State House in Columbia, the governor called Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel, an “irresistible,” “irreplaceable” and “extraordinary” man.

“Lindsey took care of his little sister in years long departed,” McMaster said. “It’s my honor to ask his little sister, Darline Graham, to finish his work for him now.” Hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he thought Graham’s sister was the right person for the role.

“Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” she said. “It is such a privilege to get to finish some of his important work, and I promise to work hard over the next several months to support the president and carry forward the efforts of my brother on behalf of the citizens of South Carolina and the United States.”

Experts told JNS that whoever fills the role in the long term to succeed Graham, who died on July 11, will likely be pro-Israel but probably won’t focus on Israel as much as the late senator did. A special primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.

Graham’s successor will likely be someone who leans “equally as much in a pro-Israel direction,” Christopher A. Cooper, Robert Lee Madison distinguished professor at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., and director of its Haire Institute for Public Policy, told JNS.


UK counterterror police take over investigation into suspected murder of ex-lawmaker
Anti-terrorism police have taken charge of an investigation into the killing of veteran British right-wing politician Ann Widdecombe after fresh evidence emerged, the UK interior minister said on Monday.

Police said that a suspect detained over the weekend in connection to the attack on the 78-year-old former Conservative minister has now been re-arrested on suspicion of committing, preparing, or instigating “terrorism.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that following “new information and evidence,” Counter Terrorism Policing “are now leading on the investigation into the horrific murder” of Widdecombe, who was found dead Thursday at her home in southwest England.

The head of UK counterterrorism policing, Laurence Taylor, said in a statement that “we are pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack.”

The regional police force initially leading the investigation, Devon and Cornwall Police, said Monday that a suspect arrested earlier had been “re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

On Saturday, they had arrested a 28-year-old white British man in Yorkshire in northern England, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) from Widdecombe’s home, on suspicion of murder.
The Church of England delegates should hang their heads in shame over the ‘Israel genocide’ motion
As the debate on Israel/Palestine began at the General Synod of the Church of England on Sunday evening, the chair of the debate issued some words of advice, given the sensitive nature of the matter at hand: “Can I ask members to consider carefully the language that they use.” They didn’t. And what followed was a disgrace.

The motion being debated was proposed by the Diocese of Carlisle – basically Cumbria – which the 2021 census tells me has some 50-150 Jews living there. With this extensive experience of living amongst Jewish people, the Carlisle Diocese has urged the General Synod to receive a number of documents written by Palestinian Christians that condemn Israel as a “colonial, settler, and exclusionary entity” – yes, they use that horrible word entity – and that “Genocide is a cumulative process – one that began in the minds of the settler-colonial powers of Europe when they denied the image of God in others and legitimised death, domination and slavery. We consider the State of Israel, established in 1948, to be built on racism and the ideology of ethnic or religious superiority.”

It is important to note that this document doesn’t say that the Israeli government response to the massacre of October 7 was so excessive that the word genocide comes into view – they go way further than this and say that Israel was a genocidal project from the very beginning.

Back in 2018, the Bishops gathered in Oxford to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. They fully accepted this definition “including all examples, without qualification or exemption.” Amongst the examples the IHRA uses as instances of antisemitism includes “claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour”. The document Kairos II that I quoted from above is therefore by any reasonable reading a clear and blatant piece of antisemitism, voted on by the Bishops thus: 25 yes, 0 No, 5 Abstentions.

I have said that language matters, so let me explain one thing, for fairness’ sake. Synod did not formally approve the Kairos II document, or “receive” it; rather it voted to “hear” it. You may not think that matters, and I don’t particularly. As the Bishop of Blackburn rightly noted “such nice distinctions make no difference at all to how we are heard on the ground.” Even so, this little verbal manoeuvring will be the fig leaf that the Church will rely upon to distance themselves from what they have just done.
Church of England leaders support ‘engagement’ with Israel ‘genocide’ document despite Chief Rabbi’s warning
The Church of England’s governing body, the General Synod, has voted overwhelmingly to encourage members to “engage with” a Palestinian-Christian document that accuses Israel of genocide, despite warnings from the chief rabbi and other Jewish leaders of the potential damage to interfaith relations.

Sir Ephraim Mirvis had condemned A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide, produced last year by Kairos Palestine, an ecumenical movement of Palestinian Christians, as a “shocking” document that contains “so much falsehood” against Israel, which “can only harm the cause of peace”.

This was echoed by Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, who said: “As supreme governor of the Church of England, and patron of the Council of Christians and Jews, the King could, through no fault of his own, find that the Church he represents is now committed to promoting a document that ‘risks undermining decades of careful relationship-building’ in the words of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.”

It was also criticised by the Board of Deputies, which said it should be rejected by “that wants a credible role in tackling prejudice here or advocating for peace in the Middle East”, and Rabbi Charley Baginsky, co-lead of the Movement for Progressive Judaism, who said: “The voices of Palestinian Christians should be heard with compassion and respect [but] it should not become the only lens through which churches understand this conflict.

"Parts of the document use language about Zionism and Jewish self-determination that many Jews experience not simply as criticism of Israeli governments, but as questioning a core part of contemporary Jewish identity.”

Nonetheless, on Monday, Anglican leaders voted to encourage the Church’s engagement “at all levels “ with the document -– known as Kairos Palestine II – “as part of a quest as part of a quest for greater understanding of the situation” in the Middle East.

According to A Moment of Truth, “the genocidal war on Gaza is the continuation of the Zionist project to seize all of Palestine, emptied of its Palestinian people.”

It brands Israel a “colonial, settler, and exclusionary entity”, describes Palestinians as the “indigenous people of this land”, criticises the Abraham Accords – Israel’s agreements with a number of Arab countries to normalise diplomatic relations – and calls on churches to “distinguish between dialogue with Jews and dialogue with Zionism”. While condemning the killing of civilians by Hamas on October 7, it says the attack was “born out of decades of injustice, oppression and displacement since the Nakba of 1948” and, alluding to Israel’s actions in Gaza, continues: “The claim of ‘self-defence’ cannot stand. How can a coloniser defend itself against those it has colonised and expelled from their land?”

The Synod motion, moved by the diocese of Carlisle, also calls on the Church to review its investment policy in light of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is unlawful.


Khaled Abu Toameh: The Great Palestinian Election Scam
Western governments and donors will undoubtedly welcome the announcement [of presidential elections] as a sign that Abbas is finally responding to long-standing demands for reform. They should not.

Holding elections for the sake of holding elections is not reform. Elections alone do not create democracy, end corruption, or establish accountability.

Elections by themselves, as Natan Sharansky and Ron Dermer emphasize in A Case for Democracy, do not signify a democracy. There first need to be functioning institutions of democracy — freedom of speech, freedom of the press, separation of religion and state, freedom from religion, an independent judiciary, separation of powers, equal justice under the law, due process, and so on — and then, at the end of these processes that actually embody democracy, after they are up and running, an election can be held that represents a democracy. Otherwise, as can be seen in Russia, Iran and other dictatorships, elections are not signs of reform, at all but just choreographed burlesques.

The Palestinians desperately need transparent institutions, an independent judiciary, a free press, functioning checks and balances, and leaders who answer to the public rather than rule indefinitely by presidential decree.

None of that exists under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian parliament, known as the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), has been effectively defunct since Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, and Abbas formally dissolved it in 2018.

"[T]he clearest evidence of the slide to authoritarianism has been the decision taken by the party that lost the 2006 elections, Fatah, to dissolve the PLC in 2018. The inevitable outcome of the suspension of the PLC meetings has been the transfer of its legislative and oversight functions to the executive authority represented by the president. Since 2007, President Abbas issued more laws by decree than those ever issued by the PLC during its entire life since the first election in 1996. Most of these laws were not urgent, as required by the Basic Law, and many of them violated the terms of that law. In the absence of a parliament, the president gave himself the power to rule by decree without accountability or oversight." — Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), January 2021.

The latest poll conducted by the PCPSR found that 80% of Palestinians want [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] to leave office.

If Abbas and the Fatah leadership determine which candidates may participate, the outcome will be largely predetermined before the first ballot is cast.

Fatah remains firmly under the control of the same leadership, the same political culture, and the same patronage networks. Some names changed, but the system remained unchanged. Same old politics, decorated with a few new faces, including Abbas's son, Yasser.

For ordinary Palestinians, the choice remains essentially between Fatah and Hamas. There is no viable third force capable of competing nationally, and both movements have spent years suppressing independent political voices.

Public opinion surveys over the past two years have repeatedly shown that Hamas... enjoys greater support than Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

Under these circumstances, new elections could once again hand victory to Hamas. Such an outcome would strengthen an Iran-backed terrorist group that openly seeks Israel's destruction, rejects peace, and continues to advocate armed jihad (holy war).

Democracy cannot exist when the ruling faction controls the rules, the institutions, and the political playing field.
Hamas Wants to Relinquish Governance, Not Power
In many ways, Hamas's latest move appears only designed to alter the diplomatic landscape rather than the military one. By publicly embracing the appearance of civilian governance reforms while refusing to address disarmament, the organization may be attempting to shift international attention toward reconstruction, humanitarian relief, and political normalization,while continuing to portray Israel as the primary obstacle to implementation of those efforts. Such a strategy also allows Hamas to preserve its image domestically by avoiding the appearance of capitulation, particularly after months of conflict that have significantly degraded both its military and its governing capabilities.

The broader significance of the announcement therefore extends beyond the immediate question of who governs Gaza, it showcases how the negotiations have entered a new phase in which political administration is no longer the principal point of contention. Instead, the future of the ceasefire increasingly relies on whether Hamas can be separated from Gaza's security architecture altogether. Civilian governance, reconstruction, and international investment all ultimately depend on resolving that fundamental question, not simply replacing one administrative body with another.

For now, Hamas's announcement should be viewed less as the beginning of a Gaza that will see the terror organization dissolve or wither away, and more an attempt to redefine what "post-Hamas" actually means. The organization appears prepared to relinquish the burdens of governance while retaining the strategic leverage provided by its armed wing. Like Hezbollah in Lebanon, it may be Hamas’ ultimate goal to achieve a hybrid status-quo, existing as a “state-within-a-state,” while any involvement in any form of governance is in name only. Whether that balance proves acceptable to Israel or the international community will likely determine whether Gaza's political transition moves forward or remains indefinitely stalled. Until the issue of disarmament is fully resolved, changes to the administrative structure alone will not ensure the durable political settlement envisioned under the October 2025 ceasefire framework.
Middle East minister accused of campaigning for ‘Hamas colonel’
The Middle East minister has been accused of campaigning for a “Hamas colonel” to “pander to Labour MPs”.

Hamish Falconer announced on social media that he had “raised the case” of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya with the Israeli government, after hearing “concerning” reports of his treatment in prison.

Dr Abu Safiya, who was director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, became a vocal critic of Israel’s war against Hamas, frequently speaking to international media about conditions in his hospital and appealing for medical supplies.

He was detained by the Israeli defence forces (IDF) in December 2024 and remains in custody in Israel.

Humanitarian groups – including Amnesty International – have called for his unconditional release, explaining that he had been “tirelessly running the hospital” until his arrest.

Dr Abu Safiya has been described in Palestinian media, as well as in Hamas-run official government communications as “colonel”, and has previously been photographed wearing a military uniform.

However, medical staff and international aid groups that worked with Dr Abu Safiya have previously denied to the BBC that he co-operated with or worked for Hamas.

The Israeli foreign ministry said: “Palestinian Hamas Colonel, Hussam Abu Safiya, managed one of Hamas’s terror hubs at Kamal Adwan Hospital, exploiting humanitarian resources to support Hamas terrorist operations against Israel. A terrorist in a white coat is still a terrorist.”
The Iranian lawyer with model looks who runs rings around pro-Palestinians
Elica Le Bon is a British-Iranian who has become one of the most outspoken voices against the regime in Tehran. She conducts her social media campaign from California, where she moved from London nine years ago, and over the past four years she has become an “influencer activist”, speaking out not just against the Islamic Republic but its proxies such as Hamas and the Western Leftists who support them.

An essential element of her activism has been her support of Israel and, like many Iranians, she recognises a solidarity between Iranian émigrés and Jews, both of whom see a common enemy and the danger posed by Islamists to Western freedoms.

“Hamas uses the same narrative as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp [IRGC] to justify killing Jews. There is a natural affinity between Iranian exiles and the Jewish community because we have faced the same propaganda, we’ve been killed by the same forces.”

She has received death threats and lost friends because of her views, but the qualified lawyer is determined to defend Israel whatever the cost. “You are fangirling terrorists who’ve killed my family,” says Le Bon, recalling her disbelief at how pro-Palestine activists responded to Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 2023.

“Hamas are the progeny of the Iranian regime, so it flips morality on its head if you were the people who say you stand against oppression but you’re actually supporting the oppressor and calling them the oppressed. October 7 was when everything changed for me.”

Two years ago, she put a potential career as a defence attorney in Los Angeles on hold to dedicate her time to political activism.

Born and raised in London, the daughter of two exiles from Iran who narrowly avoided death during the 1979 revolution, Le Bon – a name she adopted on her move to the States – has more than half a million followers on Instagram, 121,000 on TikTok and 212,000 on X, and appears as a political commentator on Fox News and Piers Morgan Uncensored, among others.

Her key message is to challenge the people in the West to better understand the nefarious nature and aims of the IRGC, and by extension challenge the attitudes of progressives over how they see the Middle East, particularly their hostility to Israel.
Why is the Mossad-Ahmadinejad meeting's dirty laundry being aired now?
Between foreign reports, public confirmation by former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate Tamir Hayman, and The Jerusalem Post’s own Western sources, it has been known now for some time that the Mossad sought to replace supreme leader Ali Khamenei with former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The New York Times had previous, more speculative reports on the issue, which were eventually confirmed by Hayman to the Public Broadcasting Service. That created space for the Post to receive confirmation, although Israeli journalists often cannot publish all that they know.

Hayman had told PBS: “Regarding Ahmadinejad, there was a sequence of special operations, very, very unique that was supposed to happen. And Ahmadinejad was a part of that sequence. The rest of the operations are not fully disclosed to the public, except for the Kurdish invasion.”

Questioned why the plan to replace Khamenei with Ahmadinejad had failed, Hayman replied: “Because the centerpiece of all the sequence should have been set off with the Kurdish invasion. According to what was published, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who really considered the Kurds as a strategic threat to the stability of Turkey, convinced [US President Donald] Trump that it was a bad idea to give the Kurds a state. Backing the Kurds goes against the interest of Turkey, and I think that had something to do with the decision of Trump to cancel this operation.”

Hayman has been used before to grandfather in sensitive information about Iran, which Israeli authorities had previously kept under wraps, according to foreign reports. They include the 2022 public admission by Hayman of a concrete role played by Israeli intelligence in the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

Mossad's Ahmadinejad recruit attempt involved striking residence, evacuating him
But the latest exposure by the Times of the tactics used by the Mossad to recruit Ahmadinejad, including its picking him up mid-war under the cover of an attack around his residence, and his walking away from the operation after being unhappy about the circumstances of the war, has not come from Israeli sources.

Whether the leaking of the story is revenge for the Israeli leak of its attempt to assist Trump in avoiding his aircraft being targeted by Iranians, or to push back against Israel’s opposing Trump’s sale of F-35s to Turkey, or whether the leak occurred earlier, to otherwise humble Israel and put it in its place as it tries to pressure the US to take a harder stance on Iran, the leaker’s message to Israel and the Mossad is clear: We don’t trust you, so back off.
‘We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain,’ Trump says, of Iranian nuclear site
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered more strikes against Iranian regime sites on Monday in response to the Islamic Republic’s attacks on civilian-manned commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command said that it began launching the “third consecutive night of strikes against Iran” at 4:45 p.m. Eastern on Monday.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said.

The president told Hugh Hewitt on Monday that Pickaxe Mountain, an underground nuclear facility in Iran, is “a possible target for a nice, big, fat shot right in the front door.”

“I think that you’ll, maybe you’ll see that. I’ll tell them right now. Look, the fact is they have no air force. They have no navy. They have no nothing. All they do is talk, and they have fake press,” the president said. “We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready.”

“There’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” he added.
President Donald Trump returned to Hugh’s program today with a focus on Iran

US uses one‑way attack sea drones against Iran for first time, CENTCOM says
The US military used several Corsair sea drones during operations against Iran, United States Central Command announced. It was the first time that such unmanned surface vessels have been used in offensive operations during the war.

In a post on X/Twitter, CENTCOM said that by using “multiple one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran. Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations. Last night’s strikes degraded Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping.”

Earlier CENTCOM announced that it had struck Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats using “US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time,” the command said.

The command has been integrating several sorts of unmanned surface vessels (USV) in recent months.

Last month a Corsair USV manufactured by Saronic was instrumental in the rescue of two US Army helicopter crew members after their Apache helicopter was shot down in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.

The Corsair was under the operational lead of the US Naval Force Central Command (NAVCENT) and the 82nd Airborne Division with Task Force 59. Task Force 59 is NAVCENT’s Unmanned Systems Unit, and it is the Navy’s primary hub for integrating drones and AI‑enabled maritime platforms.


Iran strikes UAE, UK tankers in Strait of Hormuz, launches attack on Bahrain
Two national tankers were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters, killing one Indian crew member and wounding eight others, including four seriously, the UAE's Defense Ministry said early on Tuesday.

Six of the wounded were Indian nationals, and two were Ukrainian nationals, the ministry said.

The UAE's Defense Ministry said two tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, were damaged after fires broke out on board. The fires were brought under control on both ships, the ministry added.

It also condemned the attack as a serious breach of international law and said the UAE retained its full right to respond and take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security, adding that it is on "high alert and fully prepared to deal with any threats."

UKMTO reports struck tankers
In a separate incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said in a post on X/Twitter that it received a report of an incident northeast of Qalhat, in Oman.

A tanker was struck by an "unknown projectile," according to UKMTO, which added that no crew members were injured in the incident.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf and would ensure the strait remains open.

"We're going to keep the strait, and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we'll call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that," Trump said.

Iran's top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the future of the waterway and would not be allowed to intervene.
Trump resumes blockade of Iran’s ports, says US ‘guardian’ of Hormuz, will charge ‘20% on all cargo’
US President Donald Trump on Monday declared a resumption of the American blockade on Iranian ports, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and saying Washington would be “reimbursed” for doing so to the tune of 20 percent on all cargo traversing the passageway.

Meanwhile, Iran shot at two ships attempting to cross the strait, and American airstrikes reportedly killed two people in southwestern Iran, as continued clashes cast doubt on diplomatic efforts to bring a complete end to the war.

The clashes around the strait again underlined that the waterway, which once saw a fifth of the world’s traded crude oil and natural gas pass through it, remains the key issue in negotiations.

Shipping through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf has been disrupted since the start of the war as Iran has maintained a chokehold on it by attacking commercial vessels around it, intimidating shippers.

Iranian state TV reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fired “warning shots” at two ships attempting to cross the strait, as Tehran and Washington continue to battle for control of the strategic waterway. Such attacks on ships in the strait had prompted the US to launch fresh strikes on Iran in recent days, igniting the ongoing clashes.

“This morning, two ships that were attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz illegally were targeted and stopped by warning shots fired by the navy of the Revolutionary Guards,” said a correspondent on national television based near the strait.
Iran netted nearly $5 billion in 22 days after signing MOU, report finds
Iran netted nearly $5 billion in the 22 days after Washington and Tehran signed their memorandum of understanding on June 17, according to a new report from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

The findings come as President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would reimpose its naval blockade on Iranian ports effective July 14 at 4 p.m. ET, with an added 20% U.S. toll on all shipping through the strait.

The U.S. had lifted the blockade last month upon the signing of the MOU with Iran, at which time the Trump administration also issued a waiver that allowed the sale of Iranian oil. That waiver was revoked last week in response to Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the strait, but the damage, JINSA says, was already done.

The JINSA report, published on July 8, found that once the initial maritime blockade was lifted mid-June, the Iranian regime “rushed to export its oil at the first opportunity.” Shipping data analyzed in the report indicates that Iran exported 50 million barrels of crude within the first two weeks after the blockade was lifted. By early July, total exports under the temporary truce topped 55 million barrels, netting the regime more than $4.5 billion.

Before the conflict, Iran typically exported between 47 million and 50 million barrels in a single month, averaging roughly $3.05 billion in revenue, according to the report. Because the U.S. waiver allowed Iran to sell its crude at standard market prices rather than the heavily discounted rates it usually relied on to bypass international sanctions, the regime pulled in 47% more cash in the 22 days following the MOU than it normally did in an entire month before the war.


In major escalation, Yemen’s Houthis target Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport on Monday in response to airstrikes they blamed on Saudi Arabia that struck Sanaa International Airport earlier in the day.

No casualties were reported, but the attacks marked an escalation not seen since a Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi-controlled areas several years ago. Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the airstrikes in Yemen.

Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Telegram, warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace, saying these warnings should be taken “seriously until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted.”

The internationally recognized government in Yemen said earlier that the strikes that hit Sanaa International Airport were meant to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.

The Houthis vowed to retaliate for the strike, which marked the first major escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia following a period of relative calm.

The UN Security Council, in an emergency meeting on the developments Monday afternoon, officials expressed concern about the risk of a wider escalation.

“Yemen and the wider region cannot afford another cycle of escalation,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari told the 15-member council. “We call on all actors to constructively engage in negotiations under UN auspices.”

For years, a Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen’s south has fought the Houthis in the north.


Commentary Podcast: Iran Heats Up
It's Monday, and we are back to discuss the waves of airstrikes against Iran over the weekend and what the US might do next, the legacy of Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed suddenly over the weekend, and Abdul El-Sayed's race in Michigan.




UK to designate Iranian Regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror group
The government has announced that it will designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of the Iranian regime as a terrorist group, making it a criminal offence to support, assist or obtain a material benefit from.

Draft regulations will be laid before Parliament to designate the IRGC, as well as Russia GRU military intelligence corps and Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right), a group which previously claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks on the British Jewish community back in April.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “As foreign states increasingly seek to back threats on our streets, we are cracking down on those who try to undermine our country and its security. Iran and Russia’s use of proxy groups to carry out state-backed activity on our soil is reprehensible.

“As I set out today, the IMCR publicly claimed responsibility for seven abhorrent attacks at locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and Persian-language media in the UK earlier this year.

“Their malign behaviour, and anyone who acts on their behalf, must be held to account.

“My message to Iran and Russia, and anyone who does their bidding, is clear. We will take all measures necessary to protect the British people, at home and abroad.”

As he spoke to Jewish friends and communal leaders from the Downing Street garden, Keir Starmer said: “A criminal group called the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right has publicly claimed seven attacks at UK locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities, and sitting behind them were members of Iran’s IRGC.

“Of course, the IRGC itself has a long history of using proxies and criminal networks to target people in the UK, including our Jewish communities.

“So today, under our new state threat powers, we’re designating this criminal group, the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, and we’re designating the IRGC.”





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