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In-Depth Issues:
Hizbullah Disarmament Plan Stalls - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
The pilot program in southern Lebanon, designed to pave the way for Hizbullah's disarmament south of the Litani River, is not progressing as expected.
The Lebanese army is not operating in accordance with the targets set for it. Its soldiers avoid searches inside homes and terror infrastructure in villages, preferring to focus only on open and public areas.
Moreover, at the diplomatic level, no agreement has been reached on who will supervise the Lebanese army's work, what criteria it will be required to meet, and what exact conditions the IDF will need to approve before beginning a withdrawal.
The deadlock gives the IDF vital room to complete its mission on the Ali al-Taher ridge, where dozens of Hizbullah terrorists are currently trapped.
Senior IRGC Officers Believed Trapped in Hizbullah Command Center - Maya Gebeily ( Reuters)
Iran has warned the U.S. that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on the Ali al-Taher mountain ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hizbullah fighters, three officials said.
Hizbullah built an underground command center and weapons stores within the Ali al-Taher ridge.
The Israeli military occupies territory to Ali al-Taher's south and has identified the ridge as one of its "primary operational focuses."
Two officials said over a dozen members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, including at least two senior officers, were with the Hizbullah fighters.
Despite a ceasefire announced in June, the Israeli military has said Hizbullah is still operating around the ridge.
Germany Successfully Tests Israeli Ballistic Missile ( Reuters-Ynet News)
Germany successfully tested an Israeli LORA ballistic missile in the North Atlantic, military officials said on Wednesday.
Navy chief Jan Christian Kaack said, "Our units can successfully deploy the system, and its potential range [500 km. - 310 miles] exceeds anything we have seen before....This test marks a new chapter in deterrence and maritime defense readiness."
Two LORA missiles were launched from a German Navy warship and both struck their designated targets at sea.
Israeli Air Defense Dominates as Europe Races to Rearm - Udi Etzion ( Jerusalem Post)
The value of Israeli air-defense deals with EU countries has reached $15 billion in less than five years, after European countries found themselves with weakened defense industries and an unpredictable American partner following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In addition to the recent 3.5 billion euro deal with Greece, Germany purchased the Arrow 3 system in 2023 for $3.6 billion. In 2025, Germany approved an additional expansion deal worth $3.1 billion.
The Israeli system will serve as the backbone of the European Sky Shield Initiative.
In other major deals, Romania purchased short- and medium-range SPYDER systems for $2.3 billion.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia purchased SPYDER and Barak MX systems worth $1.2 billion.
Finland purchased David's Sling for $345 million, while Cyprus acquired Barak MX systems for hundreds of millions of euros.
Israel's defense industries offer decisive advantages: industrial flexibility, with relatively short delivery times and lower prices, and an unprecedented operational record.
Successful interceptions by Israel's Arrow, David's Sling and Barak systems against complex missile and drone attacks from Iran demonstrated that these are systems tested under fire in real time.
The wave of deals represents a major growth engine, leading to the rapid expansion of production lines in Israel and the creation of thousands of high-quality jobs for engineers and industrial workers.
In addition, the high profitability of these export deals is channeling huge sums into research and development, ensuring continued funding for the next generation of defensive layers including laser systems.
Palestinian Authority Schools Glorify Oct. 7 - Adam Kredo ( Washington Free Beacon)
Palestinian Authority-run schools in the West Bank are glorifying Hamas's Oct. 7 terror spree, hosting school-wide assemblies where children publicly commit to "cool the fire in our heart with the body parts and screams of soldiers" and recite poems praising the Hamas fighters who raped, tortured, and murdered more than 1,200 Israelis.
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed that the PA is violating promises to end terror incitement.
One math problem from the Al-Kuwait Co-ed Elementary School run by the PA asks:
"[Hamas'] Al-Qassam Brigades sent 150 Jihad fighters to [each of] nine settlements [Jewish towns] in Israel. How many Jihad fighters entered [all] the settlements?" Answer: 1,350 Jihad fighters.
One young, keffiyeh-clad girl from the Kharas Girls' Elementary School in Hebron described how waking up on Oct. 7 was "a beautiful dream....We never imagined such pride in our people on our faces. The sense of honor that we felt is indescribable."
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- U.S. Strikes Iran Tankers under New "Tanker for Tanker" Policy - Barak Ravid
The U.S. military attacked two Iranian government tankers on Tuesday in retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials said. A U.S. official said the move was part of a new "tanker for tanker" policy approved by President Trump to further deter Iranian attacks on tankers that move through the strait.
U.S. drones launched missiles that hit their engine rooms.
U.S. officials said around 100 targets were attacked during Tuesday's strikes to degrade Iran's attack capabilities in the strait. Among the targets were Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defense sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications sites, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack drone launchers.
In retaliation, Iran fired 25 ballistic missiles, but only half reached Jordanian airspace. Ten were intercepted and three landed without causing any casualties. Iran launched two dozen drones at U.S. bases in Bahrain, but most were intercepted. Iran also fired ballistic missiles and drones at U.S. bases in Kuwait. Two drones were launched at a U.S. base in Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq but were intercepted.
American forces continued guiding ships through the strait. A U.S. official said 40 ships transited in and out on Tuesday, carrying millions of barrels of oil. U.S. forces intercepted several anti-ship cruise missiles and drones that the IRGC fired toward the ships. (Axios)
- IAEA Secures 73 Tons of Uranium Hidden in Syria
UN nuclear inspectors have secured 73 tons of uranium stockpiles in Syria dating from the Assad era.
The material had been verified and secured by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts in recent days and was now under IAEA monitoring.
Israel destroyed the construction site of a nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007 to prevent the production of nuclear weapons. The IAEA concluded in 2011 that it had been a secret reactor bearing similarities to a reactor in the nuclear-armed state of North Korea. (DPA)
- Syria Offers Options to Bypass Hormuz - Gerry Shih
Day and night, 5,000 tanker trucks carrying oil from the Persian Gulf rumble across the Syrian desert toward the Mediterranean Sea, shuttling between the refineries of southern Iraq and the Syrian port of Baniyas in order to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz. (Washington Post)
- U.S. Seizes $560,000 in Cryptocurrency Donations for Hamas
The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday the disruption of an ongoing scheme by Hamas - a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization - to raise funds for terrorist operations and recruit supporters. Over $560,000 in cryptocurrency donations destined for Hamas were seized and its fundraising and recruitment communication platforms and websites were disrupted.
"These seizures deprive Hamas of resources it relies on to recruit and radicalize individuals online and finance barbaric attacks like the one on October 7, 2023," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
(U.S. Department of Justice)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran
- Inside Iran: "We've All Become Poor because of the War" - Danny Zaken
Inside Iran, the economic crisis continues to worsen. The Iranian rial fell to a new record low of 2.2 million to the dollar. Prices of basic goods rise daily, and Iranian social media is flooded with "empty pot" videos and harsh accusations against the regime. One video that reached millions showed a uniformed police officer, a station commander, holding an empty pot while sharply attacking the regime and its indifference.
An Iranian citizen from Mashhad, a government employee, told me Tuesday: "We haven't eaten meat in weeks, chicken once a week, and mostly rice with very few side dishes on the table. The car sits by the house because there's no fuel, and I don't have extra money to buy it at the inflated black market price."
"Public transportation is mostly paralyzed because there's no diesel for the buses, and I walk to work, almost an hour each way. People are selling everything they have to fund food and medicine, and I keep getting requests from family and friends to help them. We've all become poor because of the war, and in practice, the government barely exists."
"It's no longer about supporting or not supporting the government's policy on the nuclear issue or Hormuz; nobody cares about that anymore; people are just trying to survive. When the people feel they can't take it anymore, change will happen." (Israel Hayom)
Lebanon
- The Fight to Get the UN Out of Lebanon - Editorial
After nearly 50 years of failure, the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon has run out of time - but not if France can help it. For decades, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has failed, billing the U.S. $150 million a year to sit by in peacetime while Hizbullah turned Southern Lebanon into an armed camp. In wartime, the UN peacekeepers acted as Hizbullah's human shields, refusing to budge when Israel took up the job they had failed to do.
UNIFIL's operations were set to end on Dec. 31, after which a yearlong "drawing down" period will commence - as though it takes 12 months to cease doing nothing. The result is that international forces will stay in Lebanon until the end of 2027.
But now the U.S. faces maneuvering by the French and others who seek to preserve the international role in Lebanon and their own postcolonial influence in Middle East affairs. Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said on June 15 that she was "advancing work on a new EU mission in Lebanon." This mocks the intent of the push to end UNIFIL.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in April, "We'd like to keep the French as far away as possible. They're not needed. They're not a positive influence, particularly not in Lebanon." The Trump Administration is right to say no to UN peacekeepers and no to an international force in Southern Lebanon, where they help rather than hinder Hizbullah. (Wall Street Journal)
Israel and the West
- How NGOs Helped Mainstream Anti-Israel Hatred - Gerald M. Steinberg
The UN held an event 25 years ago that previewed today's Israel-obsessed Jew-hatred - the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. Officially aimed at celebrating the apartheid regime's end in that country, the summit was hijacked into a platform for anti-Western, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic demonization - creating the foundation for the rampant hate directed nowadays at the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
The main venue for attacking Israel was the conference's NGO Forum, where 1,500 organizations came together to hurl accusations of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide at Israel. The NGO industry that claimed to promote universal human rights picked up the antisemitic and anti-Zionist agendas on full display at Durban's NGO Forum.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other groups launched bogus "research reports" and pseudo-legal analyses which were copied by mainstream media platforms, parroted in UN documents, and quoted by politicians and academics. This process culminated in the full-scale explosion of anti-Israel hate led by the NGOs launched immediately after the Hamas massacres of Oct. 7, 2023.
It is clear that many ostensibly humanitarian NGOs are political actors with malevolent agendas. NGOs with annual budgets in the tens of millions should be required to publish details of foreign government donations.
The writer is founder and president of the NGO Monitor research institute and professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University. (Jerusalem Post)
Antisemitism
- I Won't Be Bullied by Actors over My Views on Israel - Dame Maureen Lipman
A young actor by the name of Gerard McCarthy has withdrawn from his role in a West End play because...I am in it, and my "views" on Israel are beyond the pale. What prompted this man to now refuse to share a stage with me for one day in "Right Before I Go" - a play meant to generate awareness about suicide and raise money for the cause?
My appearance as Evelyn Plummer in "Corrie" a few times a week does not give me a back channel to Bibi Netanyahu, despite the fact that yes, I am Jewish. So Mr. McCarthy, I challenge you to explain your rejection of the things which make our business viable and comradely. Why are you refusing to work with an 80-year-old, experienced actress (allegedly I'm a national treasure) for the benefit of young people who are struggling to find the strength and courage to go on living?
There are a lot of Jewish actors who won't speak up for Israel. They keep quiet. That is up to them. But I will not countenance juvenile, immature posturing. Why did Mr. McCarthy have to release a lengthy, moralizing statement attacking views I have "publicly and repeatedly" expressed?
I will not be bullied, nor will I allow anybody to tell me what to think. If that affects their ability to work with me, as opposed to convert me to their point of view, then they are lily livered. Mr. McCarthy could change his mind though. Let's behave as actors who believe in free speech and free thought, rather than engage in a new McCarthyism.
The writer is an English actress, comedian and columnist. (Telegraph-UK)
- Hollywood's Paranoid Hatred of Israel - Brendan O'Neill
180 showbiz folk of Jewish heritage signed a missive this week in defense of Mark Ruffalo, Hollywood's shrillest hater of Israel, who's been facing accusations of antisemitism. It is the clearest proof yet that the anti-Israel crusade has curdled into a vicious bigotry with eerie echoes of ancient hatreds.
It all started when Ruffalo let rip against the $111 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Like all Gazaholics - people so inebriated by Israelophobia it clouds their every waking thought - he couldn't resist dragging Israel into his tirade. Paramount Skydance is run by David Ellison, he said. And David Ellison's father is Larry Ellison, the chief technology officer of tech company Oracle. And Oracle has provided software to the Israel Defense Forces.
So the same money-grubbing oligarchs who have "powered" Israel's "genocidal" mania will soon be the masters of "one of the largest media conglomerates in the world." And one day this vast and blood-fueled empire will be "used on you."
Paramount issued a rare statement in response to Ruffalo, saying it was "troubled" by the invoking of what seem to be "antisemitic tropes." Applying words like "genocide" and "apartheid" to a "corporate transaction" isn't just wrong, said Paramount - it's a "bridge too far," with its sinister depiction of normal media business as a genocide-enabling enterprise puppeteered by dark forces.
I'm sick of tiptoeing around this. You don't need a PhD in either medieval hysteria or 1930s Europe to clock how dangerous it is - not to mention disgusting - to depict the Jewish nation as having its boot on the neck of the world. And to view that tiny state as the source of global tyranny. Insisting on a dark, twisted link between some Jewish entity and the suffering of humankind is the original antisemitism.
In her defense of Ruffalo, actress Ellen Barkin tweeted, "Antisemitism is a hatred of Jews. Anti-Zionism is a hatred of Israel." There it is. We don't hate Jews, just the country that's full of them. We see you.
(Spiked-UK)
Observations:
- President Trump is applying enough force to change the calculus of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps without tipping into a war of conquest. Bombing has proved insufficient, so he is tightening an economic siege in its place.
- Iran's missiles and drones are dispersed, mobile, buried underground. As long as enough survive, Tehran can impose severe costs of its own, not just on American forces but on the energy and desalination infrastructure on which the Gulf states depend.
- Tehran spent two decades preparing for precisely this war. The IRGC's "mosaic" defense disperses command, launchers, and production across so many redundant nodes that no single strike changes much. The arsenal sits in tunnel complexes and hardened silos.
- A revolution in the character of warfare is underway. The stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz is the product of cheap precision weapons. A Shahed drone is assembled from commercially available components in a workshop small enough to hide. The U.S. can destroy production sites, temporarily, but it cannot bomb away an arms industry that fits in warehouses and can be replicated beyond Iran's borders in Russia, Belarus, and Tajikistan.
- Tehran can replenish its offensive arsenal faster and more cheaply than the U.S. and its allies can replenish the high-end defenses required to stop it. The result is that while the U.S. enjoys overwhelming superiority by every conventional measure, Tehran retains the ability to break things faster and more cheaply than Washington can guarantee that they will keep working.
- If Trump were prepared to destroy enough of Iran's economy and absorb Iranian retaliation across the Gulf, American power could eventually destroy Iran's capacity to resist. But that is very different from saying that Iran can be compelled quickly and cheaply. The recent histories of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza have demonstrated how much suffering Middle Eastern political and military organizations can impose on the populations under their control without abandoning their fundamental objectives.
The writer is Director of the Middle East Center at the Hudson Institute.
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