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Friday, November 13, 2026

11/13 Links Pt1: Rubio To ICC: ‘Stop Quoting Laws To Men With Swords’; Ex-bodyguard to Hamas chief, wanted in Germany over Oct. 7 plot, convicted for UK knife attack

From Ian:

The End of US Aid is No Cause for Alarm
Now, ending US aid does not mean that Israel will start to subsidize its domestic armaments industry. What it means is that the US aid has been subsidizing American defense contractors at the expense of Israel’s industry, and that will stop. As a result, Israel’s defense industry will grow stronger.

In addition to the economic benefits that brings, the IDF’s greater reliance on Israeli equipment will lessen Israel’s dependence on America, while greater exports will increase Israel’s diplomatic influence on the countries it supplies.

The main Israeli proponent of eliminating US aid – the late Moshe Arens, who served as Defense Minister under Begin, Shamir, and Netanyahu – understood all this. By accepting US aid, Israel was sacrificing the long-term strategic advantage of having a stronger defense industry in order to enjoy the short-term benefit of getting some armaments for free.

None of this is meant to imply that Israel doesn’t need US support – both military and diplomatic. But it needs to be clear that the President has no intention of limiting Israeli access to cutting edge American defense technology, cutting off intelligence cooperation, or abandoning Israel at the UN.

Far from distancing the US from Israel, the Pentagon is actively looking for opportunities to replace the aid relationship with far deeper defense cooperation. This is reflected in the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative” proposed as part of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act.

The idea is that America will bring its scale and its technology. The Israelis will bring their creativity and the extraordinary “venture capital” ethos they apply to defense research and development. And both countries will benefit.

Finally, it is important for Israelis to understand the internal politics in the US that is driving the President’s decision. Contrary to hysterical media reports, there is strong support for Israel among traditional Democratic and Republicans. Both parties, however, have got…serious problems.

The Democrats face an infestation of “woke” progressivism while the Republicans are dealing with a tsunami of isolation sentiment. What these two perspectives have in common – besides their predilection for magical thinking – is that they are overtly anti-Zionist and covertly anti-Semitic.

Both the progressives and the isolationists gain considerable political traction by exploiting American aid to Israel as a political talking point. While they oppose defense cooperation and intelligence sharing as well, those things aren’t salient to American voters. What voters care about most are their pocketbooks, and it’s easy to say “billions are going to the Jews!” That is a lot more compelling to voters than “we are sharing intelligence with the Jews and they are sharing intelligence with us!” or “Israel is helping us deploy advanced technologies faster!”

So there you have it. Eliminating the aid program will at worst do trivial harm to Israel’s economy, and at best may actually prove to be a net positive. It will lessen Israel’s military dependence on the US and facilitate strengthened defense relationships with other allies. And it will assist Israel’s many genuine friends in America – be they President Trump or soon to be Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries – is their effort to preserve and even strengthen the US relationship with Israel in the face of intense hostility to the Jewish people among a large and influential minority of the American electorate.

There is literally no downside to this, and Israelis – rather than wring their hands – should embrace the opportunities that the end of America’s aid program represents.
Mossad Director Gofman visits Washington, meets CIA director, pushes to resume war with Iran
Roman Gofman, director of the Mossad, has arrived in Washington, DC, to meet with senior officials from the Trump administration to discuss the war with Iran, sources told The Jerusalem Post.

Gofman's visit comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing US President Donald Trump to return to fighting against Iran.

Yashar party chairman, MK Gadi Eisenkot was not informed about the trip at the political- security briefing with Netanyahu, which was held on Thursday, Ynet reported.

Gofman is meeting with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and will then travel to Miami to meet United States Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, the sources told the Post.

Trump has recently rejected Netanyahu's requests to return to fighting, Axios reported. The leaders discussed US negotiations with Iran in a phonecall on October 31, during which Netanyahu reportedly pressed Trump to strike Iran immediately after the midterm elections.

According to Axios, Trump rejected the idea at that time, preferring to continue with diplomatic negotiations.

Trump's attitude to Iran deal shifts
The president said on November 12 that the US does not need a deal with Iran and directed Vice President JD Vance, who has played a role in efforts to resolve the war, to focus "his complete and total attention" on alleged crime and corruption in Democratic-run cities and states.

His comments on Thursday marked a significant shift from his attitude for the last month, when Trump appeared more focused on striking a deal to bring the eight month conflict to an end.

"We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
All departing US flights grounded for several hours amid air traffic control comms failure
The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights nationwide on Friday for several hours after a communications failure hit air traffic control centers, in only the second such shutdown since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The shutdown caused chaos at airports, with airlines canceling more than 1,000 flights and delaying nearly 10,000, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Thousands of aircraft already in the air were allowed to land, while those on the ground could not take off. The disruption quickly spread beyond the United States, forcing the cancellation of flights from Canada and Europe, with all 42 members states of Eurocontrol — which includes Israel — halting departures at the FAA’s request.

The Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs the outage was caused by a cyberattack.

“There is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters outside the White House, adding that US President Donald Trump had been briefed.

“There’s no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones. This isn’t another 9/11,” Mullin added.

Mullin said the department was examining all possible causes, including a new AI-powered air traffic control system.

The disruption was the latest and most dramatic sign of strain on a US air traffic control system beset by equipment and communications failures, controller shortages and aging infrastructure.

Much of the FAA’s air traffic control technology is decades old. Last week, the agency said it would phase out floppy disks used to provide weather and other critical information at more than 400 facilities nationwide by the end of 2028.


Ex-bodyguard to Hamas chief, wanted in Germany over Oct. 7 plot, convicted for UK knife attack
A UK court convicted a former bodyguard to slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Friday of attacking a bailiff outside the defendant’s Birmingham home in October 2025.

After serving his sentence, defendant Mohammed Alfatih, 40, the son of a senior Hamas official, is expected to be extradited to Germany to stand trial for orchestrating an alleged terror plot against Jewish and Israeli targets in Germany and Austria ahead of the second anniversary of the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.

German authorities issued a warrant for Alfatih’s arrest on October 16, 2025, when he was already in custody for attacking a court bailiff who had come to check on more than £2,250 ($3,000) in unpaid parking fines owed by Alfatih’s wife.

Footage played during the UK trial showed Alfatih brandishing a knife at the broken window of a van, leaving bailiff Kevin Bucknall with a cut to the back of his head.

On Friday, the Birmingham Crown Court found Alfatih guilty of unlawful wounding, possessing two knives and criminal damage, but acquitted him of the more serious charge of wounding with intent. He will be sentenced on January 11.

Following the conviction, the court let UK media publish Alfatih’s name. He had previously gone by Mohammed Naim, and is the son of senior Hamas official Basem Naim.

Alfatih was born in Germany and raised in Gaza, where he served in the early 2000s as a bodyguard to Haniyeh. Amid claims of Egyptian persecution of Hamas, Alfatih later moved to the UK, where he was granted asylum in 2015 and made a citizen five years later.

At the time, Britain considered only Hamas’s armed wing a terrorist organization, but did not proscribe Hamas’s politburo until 2021. Haniyeh led the politburo from 2017 until Israel assassinated him in Tehran in 2024.

Alfatih’s Hamas connections, first reported by UK newspaper The Times in September, were not disclosed to jurors. A British government source quoted by the BBC called it “staggering” that Alfatih was granted asylum or citizenship.

Alfatih was the owner of weapons seized in Vienna last year as part of a multinational investigation that uncovered the terrorist plot he orchestrated, the Mossad said last November, referring to him as Mohammed Naim.

He allegedly helped procure weapons for three suspected Hamas operatives who were nabbed in Berlin a week before the second anniversary of the October 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.


Rubio To Warn International Criminal Court: ‘Stop Quoting Laws To Men With Swords’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will issue a stark warning to the International Criminal Court on Friday evening in his first major speech following the midterm elections, The Daily Wire has learned.

Rubio will address the Federalist Society at the National Lawyers Convention at 5 pm on Friday, a State Department official told The Daily Wire. He will speak on the “indispensability” of the conservative legal movement in the modern era and “the contours of power and influence in a democratic society.”

He will also critique the “existing legal status quo” and slam the International Criminal Court and “other entities that use the law not as an instrument of justice, but as a pretense to cynically advance an ideology that seeks to constrain the United States, hinder its ability to act in accordance with its national interest, and subordinate the will of the nation state under that of global bureaucrats and activist judges.”

The speech comes as Rubio faces speculation about a possible presidential run in 2028.

“For this global elite, ‘international law’ is not a neutral body of rules,” Rubio will say, according to previews of his remarks shared with The Daily Wire. “It’s an instrument to advance their interests under the pretense of universal principles. They’re staunch defenders of democracy, until a particular election challenges their interests.”

“They lecture us on the importance of sovereignty, even as they demand that nations surrender control of their borders – and outsource their immigration laws to unelected international courts,” he will continue. “They oppose all forms of imperialism, conquest and domination, while seeking to exercise authority over every country and government on Earth.”

That is why, Rubio will say, President Donald Trump made the “unprecedented decision to sanction the International Criminal Court” earlier this year. Rubio will call the court “an unelected world tribunal which claims to supersede the laws and constitutions of sovereign states.”

“Americans never agreed to submit to the ICC’s authority,” Rubio will tell the Federalist Society. “But the court and its allies in the global bureaucracy have appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner of the international order, ruling over all but accountable to none; armed with the power to investigate, prosecute and jail our citizens according to laws we neither consent to nor control.”

“They can certainly try,” Rubio will say. “But if they are foolish enough to try to enforce their paper decrees, our answer will be the same as the Roman general Pompey gave to those who invoked their city’s charters against his legions: ‘Stop quoting laws to men with swords.’”


FAA pauses departing flights due to ‘communication issue,’ Transportation Secretary says
Unauthorized drone activity prompted a security response at an American base in Britain, but the situation has been “resolved,” US and UK defense officials said Friday.

Security forces at Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in eastern England responded to suspected unauthorized drone activity, but no personnel, aircraft or infrastructure were affected, the US Air Force in Europe said in a statement.

“We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our US service members, US and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families,” the statement said.

A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense said the incident has been “resolved.” US Air Force security personnel had responded to the reports, and the UK ministry was working closely with the Americans to determine what happened, according to the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters.

The drone incident means that three US bases in the United Kingdom have been affected by threats in recent weeks. Friday’s security response at RAF Lakenheath comes just days after the US moved more than a dozen aircraft from a different base just miles away in eastern England — RAF Mildenhall — because of a threat.

During the plane exodus, RAF Mildenhall also raised its alert level to FPCON Charlie — the second-highest level, which is used when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating that some form of terrorist action targeting personnel or facilities is likely.

A US official said at the time that the decision to move the aircraft was proactive rather than reactive.

Several weeks ago, a group of men was detained after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward RAF Fairford, roughly 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Mildenhall and Lakenheath. British authorities linked the plot to Iran, and the US withdrew its bombers that had been stationed there.

The UK-owned base has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including the Iran war. Other arrests followed, and at least three men alleged to be Iranian operatives have been charged by the US with plotting to attack RAF Fairford.

The trio allegedly helped plan and direct the September incident at the base, which came to light when police were called after a local farmer reported seeing a group of men with several white vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.

A US charging document stated that a man identified as Mohammad Ali al-Hassani directed unnamed individuals to drive to the base in the vans, some of which contained barrels of fuel, and that he earlier paid the group to buy metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel.
Qatar, Turkey ink mutual-defense pact
The leaders of Qatar and Turkey signed a mutual defense pact on Friday, further deepening ties between the two U.S. allies, who are frequently regional rivals of Israel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that he and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed the agreement, the text of which has not been released, to “add a new dimension” to relations between the two countries.

“Turkey and Qatar would continue their joint efforts to prevent the resumption of hostilities in the Gulf region, pave the way for dialogue and establish peace, emphasizing the importance of encouraging the parties involved to resolve their differences through diplomatic means,” Erdoğan said.

The move follows a similar agreement binding Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to mutual defense that was signed in Mecca in August and subsequently ratified by the three countries.

Qatar and Turkey have long been close partners in Middle East power politics, united by a shared affinity for Islamism, including support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, that has often put the two countries at odds with Israel and some Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates.

Turkey is also a treaty ally of the United States as a member of NATO, while former President Joe Biden designated Qatar as a “major non-NATO ally” in 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in 2025 pledging that the United States would “take all lawful and appropriate measures” to defend Qatar in the event of an armed attack against it.

Erdogan’s statement on Friday about the new defense pact did not explicitly name Iran, but Qatar has repeatedly been subjected to Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks by the Islamic Republic after the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran in February.

Iran’s efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz have also continued to affect Qatar, even as the U.S. Navy has helped restore the transit of oil through the strait. Qatari transits of liquefied natural gas, which is the country’s main energy export, reportedly remain at only 30% of pre-war levels as the U.S.-led operation to reopen the strait has prioritized crude oil over other energy commodities.

Qatar has served alongside Pakistan as the diplomatic mediator between the United States and Iran in ceasefire talks, though Trump claimed on Monday that Qatar’s prime minister informed him that it supports the status quo of a U.S. blockade of Iran.
Lebanese army says it seized arms and ammunition in Beirut Hezbollah stronghold
The Lebanese army said on Friday it seized “a large quantity of weapons and military ammunition” during a raid in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as a stronghold of the Hezbollah terror group.

One suspect was detained in the Msharafieh neighborhood during the “targeted security operation,” which came following “the monitoring and close tracking of weapons transfers and trafficking,” the Lebanese Armed Forces said.

The army did not say who owned the seized weapons, but added that law enforcement officials had launched an investigation.

The army rarely announces such raids in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital.

Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the war with Iran on March 2 in support of its Iranian patrons, prompting massive Israeli airstrikes and a subsequent ground invasion of southern Lebanon before an agreement to end the conflict was reached in June, though sporadic fighting has continued.

Israel has said Beirut’s efforts to disarm the terror group were encouraging but insufficient, and that Hezbollah was rearming faster than it was being disarmed.

In a separate operation earlier this month, the Lebanese army said it apprehended six wanted individuals, including Syrian nationals, for trafficking drugs and possessing weapons in a Hezbollah stronghold in the east of the country.

The Lebanese soldiers also seized “a large quantity of weapons,” including RPGs, along with “equipment and raw materials used in drug manufacturing,” the statement read.

On October 10, Lebanese authorities arrested two suspected Hezbollah members accused of secretly transporting a half-tonne cargo of explosives, a judicial source told AFP at the time.

Based on initial investigations, one of the suspects was found to be the son of a Hezbollah official and the other was also a member of the terror group, according to the source.

On October 30, a Lebanese military court charged 13 people for their alleged involvement in shipping the half-tonne cargo of explosives to Hezbollah, a judicial source told AFP.


IDF: Hamas held dozens of hostages at Nasser Hospital, used it as military headquarters
Hamas held dozens of hostages at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, during the war, including women, children, elderly people and foreign nationals, and used the medical facility as a heavily guarded military headquarters, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.

The disclosure came a day after the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced that an Israeli airstrike on the hospital compound had targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, a senior commander of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade, along with other terrorists operating from the facility.

According to the military, many of the hostages held at the hospital were abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.

The IDF said Abu Ismail was responsible for holding numerous hostages captive during the war, including Edan Alexander, Nimrod Cohen, Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel, Col. Asaf Hamami, Avera Mengistu, Capt. Omer Neutra and Matan Zangauker.

Hospital’s second floor used as Hamas headquarters
The military said the second floor of Nasser Hospital served as a Hamas military headquarters, where civilians were prohibited from entering and security was tightly controlled.

According to the IDF, the facility was used by senior Hamas commanders, including Abu Ismail, to direct operations against Israeli forces and coordinate efforts to rebuild the terrorist organization’s military capabilities.

Abu Ismail became a central figure in the command and management of Hamas’s Khan Yunis Brigade following the targeted killing of its commander, Muhammad Yazouri, on Sept. 10, the military said.

The IDF said the hospital compound was used to advance dozens of terrorist attack plans on Israeli soldiers and rebuild the brigade, which had suffered significant losses during the war.

The military previously said Hamas had also used the hospital complex to store weapons, interrogate and torture Gazans, and coordinate attacks on Israeli forces.

Other Hamas terrorists targeted
Alongside Abu Ismail, the IDF identified two additional Hamas terrorists targeted in Thursday’s airstrike.

Muared Tawfiq Mahmoud Abu Zarifa served as a team leader in the engineering department of the brigade’s combat and administrative support company, while Khaled Osama Abu Anza headed the communications section of the Operations Department in Hamas’s intelligence headquarters.

The military said the three men were operating from a room inside the hospital compound when they were targeted.

According to the IDF, the strike was intended to eliminate the threat posed by the terrorists, who were using the medical facility to plan attacks and restore Hamas’s military infrastructure in southern Gaza. The military did not immediately confirm whether Abu Ismail and the other operatives had been killed.

IDF says Hamas ignored repeated warnings
The IDF said it had repeatedly warned Hamas to halt military activities at Nasser Hospital, including in the period immediately preceding the strike.

Despite those warnings, the terrorist organization continued operating from the facility, according to the military.

The IDF said the airstrike was specifically directed at the room used by the Hamas commanders and that precautions were taken to minimize harm to civilians and damage to the hospital building.

In its initial statement Thursday, the military said it had employed precision munitions and aerial surveillance to reduce the risk to noncombatants.


IDF, Shin Bet kill over 10 terrorists in Gaza, dismantle Hamas weapons workshop
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed more than 10 terrorists in strikes across the Gaza Strip over the past week, including two who infiltrated Israel during the October 7 massacre, the military said on Friday.

According to a joint IDF and Shin Bet statement, the strikes targeted "terrorists who advanced terror attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians and operated to restore the capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization, in systematic violation of the ceasefire."

Among those killed was Muhammad Ata Zaki Kishawi, a member of Hamas's Nukhba force who infiltrated Israel during the October 7, 2023, massacre, according to the military.

The IDF and Shin Bet also killed Hani Ibrahim Said Khudri, a supply company commander in Hamas's Sabra Battalion, as another October 7 infiltrator was killed in the strikes.

A third terrorist identified in the statement was Ali Na'im Aish Abu Asei, an operative in the Saif Al-Islam faction who was involved in weapons manufacturing.

The military said Abu Asei operated at a weapons manufacturing workshop under the production headquarters of Hamas's military wing. The facility was dismantled by Israeli forces, according to the statement.

The IDF said the weapons produced at the workshop were intended to be used against Israeli civilians and military personnel.

Before carrying out the strikes, the military said, "measures were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance."

Israeli security forces under the Southern Command remained deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and would continue operating to remove threats, according to the statement.


France calls Israel's barring of French left-wing candidate Melenchon 'demagogic' decision
France has criticized as "demagogic" a decision by Israel to ban French hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon and another leading figure in his France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) party from entering the country.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it would bar Melenchon and Mathilde Panot, the party’s parliamentary group chair, over "the extreme anti-Israel stance of La France Insoumise party and the outrageous statements made by its leaders."

"This demagogic decision, coming from a government that has repeatedly violated international law, plays into the hands of those who, like La France Insoumise, thrive on exploiting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X/Twitter.

"France will continue to work tirelessly toward a two-state solution and the peaceful coexistence of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” he said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that both Melenchon and Panot had made statements spreading "blood libels" against Israel, and that Melenchon had called for French ships to escort illegal flotillas to Gaza.

"Israel will respond firmly to those who seek to harm it and will not allow individuals who act against Israel and incite against its citizens to enter the country," it said. Melenchon says French vessels would aid activists seeking to enter Gaza

Melenchon told Franceinfo radio: "I am banned from entering a territory I did not ask to enter... I regret that the Israeli government is pursuing me like this."

In a campaign speech last Saturday, Melenchon made clear that, if he were elected president, French vessels would accompany activists hoping to force aid into the Gaza Strip.



 

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