| DAILY ALERT |
Sunday, September 6, 2026 |
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
U.S. Central Command said Saturday it hit three Iranian oil tankers after Iran launched missiles toward two U.S. Navy ships. CENTCOM published video of the attacks. (Washington Post) The European Union has formally joined the U.S.-led sanctions campaign against Iran. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday praised the EU, saying, "We appreciate their strong and early stance. The world is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime: We will not stop until every remaining financial lifeline has been severed." (CNBC) Billions of dollars of Iranian funds are flowing through clearing accounts at American banks each year, Western officials and researchers say, despite sanctions that prohibit anyone subject to U.S. law from taking part in almost all financial activity linked to Tehran. Iran accesses the accounts through foreign partners that maintain relationships with U.S. banks, providing Tehran with plenty of ways to secretly infiltrate the global financial system. On Aug. 28, the U.S. Treasury identified the Emirati branch of state-owned Egyptian Banque Misr as one of the foreign institutions helping Iran access the U.S. banking system, and said it would move to cut it off. The Treasury said in 2025 it had identified $9 billion in Iranian funds that moved through American banks in 2024. (Wall Street Journal) The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would block federal aid to any college or university that boycotts Israel. The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026 passed by 237 to 169; 33 Democrats broke with the party line to vote in favor, while two Republicans voted against. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said, "The antisemitic rot that has corroded college campuses must be eradicated - enough is enough. Today, the House sent a clear message: if an institution of higher education chooses to capitulate to the caustic BDS movement, there will be consequences." (Inside Higher Ed) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The IDF said Thursday it had finished clearing a strategic underground facility belonging to Hizbullah beneath the Ali Taher Ridge in southern Lebanon near Nabatieh. Hizbullah built tunnel systems beneath the hill, which served as the nerve center of its Badr regional division. In the past few weeks, the IDF achieved "operational control of the ridge area above and below ground," clearing two major tunnel routes of Hizbullah operatives, killing some while others fled. Inside the tunnels, troops found "command centers, weapons rooms, generator rooms, living quarters, showers, and a kitchen." Now that the underground site had been cleared of Hizbullah operatives, the IDF was working to demolish it. There was no indication that Iranian IRGC members were inside the tunnels when the IDF captured them. (Times of Israel) Undercover operatives from the Israel Security Agency were embedded in Gaza as aid workers distributing food and drink to market stall-owners prior to the recent capture of Hamas's head of internal security, Mu'in al-Arabid, Israel's Channel 11 reported. After establishing a relationship with the locals, Israeli operatives were able to get Gazans to help monitor the movements of various people, including al-Arabid. (Jerusalem Post) Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Saturday, "I just came out of this meeting talking about Gaza to people who've been there and are there on the ground. And frankly, it was horrific what is unfolding. You know, the stories that people were telling me of medicines being blocked, children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment." Israel's Foreign Ministry responded, "The British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband posts a video recounting 'stories' he was told about Gaza. If the Foreign Secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into Gaza, and that no medicines are being blocked; that 22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began; and that Gazans exit the Strip for medical treatment, including 200 who did so in just the last two weeks." U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wrote: "The Brits have lost it. The Jew-hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts." (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran The U.S. naval blockade has prevented Iran from shipping any oil from the Persian Gulf since July. At the same time, despite Iranian drone and missile attacks, Washington has been able to assist Gulf Arab states in moving significant amounts of their crude through the waterway, keeping global oil prices from surging above critical levels. Now it is clear that Tehran's move to shut down the Strait of Hormuz didn't trigger a worldwide economic crisis or force President Trump to end the war on Iranian terms. A senior Gulf Arab official said the clock is ticking more for the Iranians because they are under enormous economic strain. The American clock is more about politics and public opinion than economic pain. Norman Roule, who served as the principal U.S. intelligence community official on Iran matters from 2008 to 2017, said, "Those who believe the regime is too strong, too deeply embedded in Iranian society, or too well protected by pervasive domestic security institutions to fail, should recall how similar judgments were once made about Mubarak, Ben Ali, Ceausescu, and even the Soviet Union." (Wall Street Journal) There is a growing consensus that the Iranian grip on the Strait of Hormuz is being loosened to some degree. A combination of American power, Arab ingenuity and commercial interest is allowing significant amounts of oil to make their way to market. Big producers have been using smaller ships to shuttle through the strait while also adopting "shadow fleet" tactics pioneered by Russia and Iran. Such vessels "go dark," not only disabling their navigational and positioning systems but also getting crews to switch off mobile phones. There have been shifts of ownership and crewing too, with, for example, nine Saudi tankers adopting Liberian flags in mid-August. The American military campaign to suppress the Iranian forces that have been attacking tankers while clearing the international shipping lanes in the strait also appears to have achieved some success. Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen appear to have faltered in their attempts to close the Bab el Mandeb, where the Red Sea meets the Arabian Sea, adding to the sense that the balance of power is shifting. Once again, a combination of force and stealth seems for now to be keeping traffic moving. (Sunday Times-UK) China has long been a rare partner to Iran, with the economic heft to blunt U.S. efforts to strangle the Iranian economy. Yet even as China opposes President Trump's latest pressure campaign, few observers expect it to go much further than the economic links it has thus far forged with Iran. China's foreign policy seeks to balance relations with numerous countries, including the U.S. and the Gulf states, limiting its appetite to prop up the Iranian leadership at any cost, analysts say. "China, with broader global interests, can only actively promote de-escalation of the U.S.-Iran conflict, and cannot and will not engage in fierce confrontation with the U.S. for Iran's sake," said Hongda Fan, director of the China-Middle East Center at Shaoxing University in China. As Iran's top trade partner, China has taken up to 90% of Iranian oil exports. Iranian crude, however, accounts for only 2% of China's overall energy mix. Fearing exposure to U.S. sanctions, China's major state-owned refiners such as Sinopec and PetroChina have shunned Iranian oil for years, leaving the trade to independent "teapot" refiners with minimal links to the dollar-based global financial system. "The legitimate question is why third countries should be expected to adopt Washington's unilateral economic policy towards another sovereign state," said Zichen Wang, deputy secretary-general of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) think tank in Beijing. "That does not, however, mean that Beijing will provide Tehran with a blank check." While China pledged to invest up to $400 billion in Iran over 25 years as part of a strategic partnership agreement signed in 2021, in 2023, Iran's then deputy economy minister, Ali Fekri, complained that China's level of investment since the agreement was only $185 million. "For China, Iran is valuable - but replaceable across many dimensions. Iranian oil matters, but China can obtain energy from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, and numerous other suppliers," said Mordechai Chaziza, an expert on China's Middle East policy at Ashkelon Academic College in Israel. (Al Jazeera) When the sound of aircraft and incoming Iranian missiles began to fill the sky above the small desert town of Azraq in Jordan one night in July, restaurant manager Ahmad al-Qadri, 24, pulled up a plastic chair outside and watched. In the darkness, he saw flashes as missiles were intercepted overhead. A few miles away, Iranian missiles were striking Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a vast Jordanian military facility used by the U.S., which is thought to have 4,000 troops in the country. Three were killed. Jordan has become a useful pressure point for the Iranian regime. Nearly 300 Iranian missiles and drones have been directed at Jordan since the war began, most aimed at facilities used by American forces. Jordan has not announced any retaliatory strikes against Iran. In July, 300 Jordanian politicians, academics, lawyers, retired officers and tribal leaders signed an open letter calling for foreign forces to leave and the country's military facilities to remain neutral. Yet Jordan is one of the largest recipients of American aid, receiving $1.65 billion in economic and military assistance last year. The archaeological site of Petra became familiar to millions through the film "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." After war broke out in Iran this year, tourist visits collapsed by 80% between February and March. (Sunday Times-UK) Gaza What was missing from nearly all major Western reports in the final months of 2023 was the role of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza. Shortly after 10:40 a.m. on Oct. 7, a large number of vehicles drove through its gates transporting Israeli hostages. Palestinian video footage proves that al-Shifa Hospital served as a key Hamas command center for the transfer and distribution of abducted Israelis. Despite numerous photos and video clips [included in this report] of the arrival of stolen military vehicles, armed terrorists, civilian cars carrying hostages, and cheering crowds, not a single journalist reported on the arrival of Israeli hostages at the hospital. The writer, who worked for Spiegel TV / Der Spiegel from 1990 to 2003, is an academic researcher from the Free University of Berlin. (Wolfgang Tietze) Israeli Security IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said Thursday that since Oct. 7, "we have removed real existential threats that were built against us over years. We fundamentally changed our security concept - there is no ignoring and no containment - there is removal of threats in advance." (Ynet News) IDF Col. (res.) Oren Zini warned Friday against any future agreement that would force the IDF to withdraw from its positions in Gaza and Lebanon before completing its missions. He said a policy shift now allows troops to operate in areas previously considered out of reach. "If in the past there was hesitation over whether to act, today everyone understands that policy permits it, and everyone realizes the heavy price paid when policy does not permit it." "The IDF has penetrated the enemy's most complex strongholds, against both Hamas and Hizbullah, in a way that is suffocating them from within." However, Zini cautioned that if we do not maintain our hold in these areas, the enemy will regroup and move fighters and weaponry back into position. "We were just one minute away from an Oct. 7 scenario on the northern border as well," he said. (103FM-Jerusalem Post) In the past, the management of borders was entrusted to routine security operations forces that served primarily to prevent "drip" attacks and localized infiltrations. This allowed many states to avoid deploying high-quality forces to their vicinity. Today, the border is a target for a rapid, systemic breach by enemy forces to achieve strategic gains. The border must be transformed from the soft underbelly of the state's security apparatus into a concentration of power sufficient to counter a Blitz threat. Defending nations still operate on the assumption that strategic warning will provide sufficient tactical time to prepare against a developing threat. At the same time, their adversaries are operating according to a doctrine of "immediate occupation and strategic achievement." The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 is an example of a Modern Blitz, designed for tactical paralysis and immediate strategic gain. The technological barrier was breached using simple means, with preemptive paralysis of the observation and communications array via rocket fire and electronic warfare. The forward force was too sparse and collapsed against the mass. In the previous era, the main effort was invested in the proliferation of sensors, centralized control, and warning processes designed to generate a complete picture of what is happening at the border. We are now in a different world of "awareness of targets for immediate strike." Knowing is not enough. It is imperative to strike in time. The direction of the solution is a transition from "Penetration Prevention" to "Immediate Containment." In this concept, the border is a space where he who detects knows how to strike, is capable of operating under disruption, and can absorb and kill. The mission is not to wait for reinforcement but to deny the enemy the advantage from the outset. Building an immediate containment capability requires transferring significant weight from investment in infrastructure and situational awareness to investment in firepower capabilities, command independence, and systemic resilience. The writer served as the head of the IDF's Planning Directorate. (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) In the last three years, Israel killed much of the senior leadership of Hamas and Hizbullah as well as 29,000 Hamas and over 5,000 Hizbullah militants, crippling its enemies' combat effectiveness. Israel's military success against the Iranian insurgent proxies is surprising. It defied post-War on Terror thinking about the lack of utility of military power against decentralized insurgent networks. Israel's success against Hizbullah was facilitated by Hizbullah's organizational evolution into a conventional terror army with conventional assets and defensive infrastructure. With Iranian and North Korean support, Hizbullah was equipped with sophisticated weaponry fortified by underground tunnels. Its tunnel networks and extensive rocket arsenal proved resistant to Israeli airstrikes. After the 2006 war with Hizbullah, Israel began constructing a Digital Land Army, or DLA. Drones, satellite images and artificial intelligence were pooled into centralized information systems to target enemy commanders, combat units, weapons depots, and communication systems. After Oct. 7, infantry and tank units were equipped with drones to facilitate real-time targeting of enemy forces. The IDF's Multiyear Plan envisioned digitally integrated, intelligence-driven, mass-precision air- and land strikes to rapidly destroy enemy military capabilities with the smallest possible number of IDF casualties. The writer is Professor of Global Security Studies at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Hamas Hamas has no intention of surrendering its weapons, abandoning its armed "resistance" against Israel, or relinquishing control over Gaza. Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Nov. 10, 2025, "No one said that we will hand over our weapons." Instead, Hamdan said, the agreed framework calls for the "containment and storage" of Hamas's heavy weapons by the Palestinian Committee for the Administration of Gaza and the Palestinian "resistance factions." Khaled Qaddoumi, the Hamas representative in Iran, told the Islamic Republic News Agency on Aug. 29, 2026, that Hamas regards weapons as essential to its struggle against Israel. He rejected the idea that the question of weapons should even be discussed before Israel's military presence in Gaza ends. Hamas wants the international community to recognize its political claims while treating its military arsenal as an internal Palestinian issue. Hamas cannot insist on retaining the weapons that it has used - and clearly plans to use again - to attack Israel. The victims of Hamas's weapons have a say in the matter too. Hamas's laying down its weapons and relinquishing its political and military control over Gaza must be unconditional. Hamas is a terrorist organization that launched the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion and massacre. It is not a sovereign state entitled to negotiate the terms of its own disarmament. Was ISIS ever asked to "store" its weapons? Terrorist organizations are supposed to be disarmed. Their weapons are supposed to be confiscated and destroyed. There is no legitimate reason for Hamas or any other Palestinian terrorist faction to possess weapons. Palestinians do not need rockets, explosive drones and anti-tank missiles to build a better future. Hamas, like its benefactors in Iran, may well believe that its best strategy is to drag out negotiations for as long as possible, at least until Trump is no longer president and someone more accommodating might take his place. Hamas is telling the world exactly what it intends to do: keep its weapons. So why is Washington still negotiating the terms? There is only one viable solution for Gaza: Hamas must be eliminated as a political and military entity. Its weapons must be confiscated or destroyed, not "stored," "contained," or hidden. Until that happens, Hamas remains armed and the threat of another Oct. 7 massacre - or more - remains in the works. (Gatestone Institute) Israel and UNRWA It has become increasingly clear that UNRWA - the UN agency established to assist Palestinian refugees - functioned, in practice, as an active arm of the Hamas terrorist organization. UNRWA employees participated directly in the Oct. 7 massacre, including acts of murder and kidnapping. Throughout the war, Hamas terrorists operated from UNRWA schools, using the agency's facilities to store weapons and conduct military activities. Even deep into the conflict, UNRWA continued employing thousands of individuals who simultaneously held positions within Hamas's military. They incited hatred against Israel in classrooms by day and planned terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians by night. Even before Oct. 7, UNRWA had become the problem rather than the solution. Instead of helping resolve the Palestinian refugee issue, it perpetuated it and fueled the conflict. Numerous reports documented the incitement and hatred promoted in UNRWA schools, shaping another generation of Palestinians. The Knesset, by an overwhelming, cross-party majority in 2024, passed legislation prohibiting UNRWA from operating within Israel. Israeli authorities were justified in acting decisively in closing every UNRWA facility in Jerusalem, Israel's capital. The writer is Israel's ambassador to the UN. (Jerusalem Post) Other Issues The IDF has helped establish five locally managed medical clinics for Druze in southern Syria, providing advanced equipment, medicine, and even an ambulance to strengthen evacuation and emergency-treatment capabilities. Some of the clinics have also been equipped with delivery rooms. The military wants to deepen strategic ties with neighboring Druze communities without forcing them to cut themselves off from Syria and without making them dependent on Israeli rule. Israeli officials fear that if the Druze are perceived as having cut themselves off and aligned fully with Israel, rival actors could retaliate against them. Israel currently controls the area from a security standpoint but does not want to assume civilian responsibility for it. Dr. Daabous Najm, who treats patients free of charge at the clinic in the Syrian village of Khader, said: "Give the people of Israel a message that all of us want Israel. All Druze are close to one another, just like you Jews, and we are proud of Israel. Everyone here is dangerous to the Druze. They see us as traitors. They don't know our history with the Jews and how it goes back to Jethro and Moses. But we know, and we remember the alliance." (Ynet News) People instantly assume that someone working in Holocaust education, Jewish advocacy, or antisemitism research is Jewish. The surprise on their faces when they realize I am not Jewish is unmistakable. From both Jews and non-Jews, I get the same stare of disbelief, with the same question behind their eyes: Why would someone non-Jewish do this work? The truth is that many people who work in this space are not Jewish. In my own experience, more than 95% of the Holocaust educators I work with, teach, and mentor are not Jewish. Nevertheless, we have chosen to step into a space where we will sometimes be challenged, questioned, misunderstood, or even hated. We do this work because we are called to it and believe it is ours to do. Because Jewish people should not have to carry the responsibility of educating the world about antisemitism and Jewish history alone. Because we can't not do this work. During presentations, I also identify myself directly as an ally of the Jewish people. Students need to hear a non-Jewish person say, very clearly: I stand with the Jewish people. Meaningful allyship is being the person who raises the concern so your Jewish colleague doesn't always have to. It means challenging disinformation and Jew-hatred when you hear it, even when no Jewish person is in the room. Being a Jewish ally feels like knowing you're on the right side of history. It means using your position as a non-Jew to enter into spaces where a Jewish person may not be able to go - because you may be perceived as less biased. It also means having a thick skin and being prepared to receive ignorance and flat-out hate. I can speak as a non-Jewish person who has decided that Jewish history is human history, that antisemitism is everyone's problem, and that Jewish people should not have to stand alone against it. The writer is Director of Education at the Stan Greenspon Holocaust Education Center at Gratz College. (Times of Israel) Observations: Hamas Has a Human Sacrifice Strategy - Maj. (ret.) John Spencer interviewed by Yanya Kellick (American Thought Leaders) Maj. (ret.) John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point's Modern War Institute, said in a podcast on Saturday:
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