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In-Depth Issues:
Israel's Yuval Raphael, Oct. 7 Massacre Survivor, Places Second at Eurovision - Amy Spiro ( Times of Israel-Jerusalem Post)
Israel's Yuval Raphael finished in 2nd place at the Eurovision 2025 grand final song contest on Saturday night.
Raphael, 24, is a survivor of the Oct. 7 Nova music festival massacre, hiding for eight hours in a bomb shelter under bodies as 40 people around her were killed.
Watch the Video: "New Day Will Rise" - Yuval Raphael ( Eurovision)
See also Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Results ( Eurovision)
Israel was number 1 in the public vote, while in 14th place among the official juries in the 25 participating countries.
Israel received the maximum 12 points in the public vote in Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, UK, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, France and Azerbaijan.
Israel received 10 points (2nd place) in the public vote in Czechia, Norway San Marino, Finland, Cyprus and Ireland.
Report: Hamas Leader Mohammed Sinwar's Body Found in Gaza Tunnel ( Jerusalem Post)
The body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, brother of slain former leader Yahya Sinwar, was found in a Hamas tunnel in Gaza alongside 10 of his aides, the Saudi news network Al-Hadath reported on Sunday, citing Gazan sources.
The IDF targeted Mohammed Sinwar in an airstrike at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis on May 13.
Iran's Air Defenses around Nuclear Site More Brittle than Expected - Aaron Mehta ( Breaking Defense)
The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies has found that air defense systems around Natanz, a key Iranian nuclear site, may be less networked and more "brittle" than expected.
An Iranian operational security slip-up enabled analysts to get a look at radar information around Natanz, providing "the clearest look that we've had for air defenses for nuclear sites," said Martin Center researcher Sam Lair.
Using a two-second clip of an Iranian command center, Lair and his colleagues were able to identify what kind of radar systems are in play around Natanz.
Three Iranian Spies Charged with Targeting UK-Based Journalists - Daniel De Simone ( BBC News)
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, all from London, have been charged with targeting journalists working for the Iran International media organization based in London, which is critical of the current regime in Iran.
They are charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service - Iran - in carrying out UK-related activities.
"Iran must be held to account for its actions," said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. "We must also strengthen our powers to protect our national security as we will not tolerate growing state threats on our soil."
The three were arrested on May 3, the same day that five other Iranian men were detained by police as part of a separate counter-terrorism investigation.
Eyewitnesses, Husband Recount Terror Attack that Killed Israeli Expectant Mother - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
Tzila Gez, 33, a therapist specializing in trauma and anxiety, was shot to death Wednesday while en route to the hospital to give birth.
Her husband, Hananel, said: "My wife was murdered last night. We were on our way to the hospital to joyfully welcome our fourth child."
Eyewitness Elia Carmi, who arrived moments after the attack, said: "I saw a wrecked car on the road, lights and windows shattered."
Tzila was slumped in the driver's seat and unresponsive.
"He was trying to stop her bleeding, fighting for her life....Once I saw her, I knew there was nothing I could do for her."
Security forces initially believed the shooter fired from a passing vehicle. However, updated intelligence suggests the attacker was a lone gunman who fired from the roadside.
Gazan Reporters "Intimidated, Threatened, Assaulted by Hamas" - Michael Horovitz ( Times of Israel)
Gazan journalists face beatings and threats by Hamas while covering anti-Hamas protests and dissent in the Strip, forcing them to self-censor to ensure their safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported Thursday.
"Gaza journalists speak out about Hamas intimidation, threats, assaults," the report said, adding that this phenomenon has been "vastly underreported."
Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate head Nasser Abu Bakr told the committee that the Hamas regime commits "major violations" against press freedoms, from "summonses, interrogations, phone calls, threats, sometimes beatings and arrests, to harassment, publication bans, interference with content, and surveillance."
Rockets, Resilience, and Children during War - Bazy Swirsky Rubin ( Times of Israel)
I wonder every single day what the long term effects of war are going to be for my children.
We were once at the park when a siren went off and my 9-year-old suddenly stopped being a child.
He ran over to me, barked a command like an army sergeant, "You take the younger two; I'll go grab my brother," and ran to reach my 7-year-old and bring him to safety.
Time and time again, their father has had to leave them for months at a time. They are proud that Abba is a soldier keeping us safe, and they are confused and hurt that he has left them.
We have picked up the shattered pieces of their hearts countless times, and rebuilt relationships in between army rounds, again and again.
They know the rules when a siren goes off. If you are outside, run to the nearest building and stand in the stairwell.
If you are in the house mid-shower, dry off and come to the safe room.
If it's the middle of the night, make sure your siblings are all there and then go back to sleep.
When we run to safety during a siren, I've noticed some of my kids will shake. It's the noise that scares them.
To instill resilience in my children, we say things like, "Yay, now we have an excuse to be late for school!" Focusing on the funny and the positive is a lifesaver, and helps us snap back into reality.
At kindergartens or schools since Oct. 7, the kids are well-trained. As soon as we go into a bomb shelter, my kids start singing Am Yisrael Chai (The People of Israel Live), jumping on the beds, dancing.
The movement sends our bodies a clear message: We are strong and we are unafraid.
We teach our children that even when the ground shakes and there are rockets above, we have the power to persevere.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Trump: Everyone Forgets There Was October 7
President Trump told Bret Baier of Fox News on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has "got a tough situation. You have to remember, there was October 7 that everyone forgets. It was one of the most violent days in the history of the world, not the Middle East, the world, when you look at the [video] tapes. And the tapes are there for everyone to see."
"Bibi, he's an angry man, and he should be because of October 7, and he's been hurt badly by that, but in another way, he's been sort of helped because I think he's fought hard and bravely."
Asked on Thursday if the countries he visited in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE - would be part of the solution, Trump said: "I spoke to all three of them, they would absolutely be. I mean, they're really rich and really, really, really, even more than rich, they're good people, and they would help. And so, money is not even the problem. You got to get countries to say, yes, take them." (Indo-Asian News Service-India)
- Hamas Wanted to Torpedo Israel-Saudi Deal with Oct. 7 Attacks, Documents Reveal - Marcus Walker
On Oct. 2, 2023, days before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's Gaza chief, said at a high-level meeting that an "extraordinary act" was required to derail the normalization talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to minutes of the meeting discovered in a tunnel by the IDF.
Sinwar said, "There is no doubt that the Saudi-Zionist normalization agreement is progressing significantly" and warned that a deal would "open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path." For Sinwar and Hamas, who have called for total destruction of Israel, this was unacceptable. He expected to get help from the other Iranian-backed forces of the "axis of resistance" to Israel.
The Journal has reported on another meeting on Oct. 2 in Beirut involving representatives of Hamas and Iranian security officials, where Iran approved the planned attack.
Senior officials from Iran and Hizbullah had been discussing attack options with Hamas since the summer of 2021.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has told foreign visitors in the past year that he can't proceed with normalization unless Israel agrees to a diplomatic process that would eventually lead to a Palestinian state. But the Oct. 7 attack hardened attitudes in Israel, potentially for years to come. Palestinian statehood has become anathema for most of the Israeli political spectrum.
(Wall Street Journal)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel Launches Intensive Airstrikes in Gaza - Lilach Shoval
The IDF ramped up aerial attacks in Gaza over the weekend in preparation for a planned ground offensive.
The IDF intends to extend operations to nearly the entire territory of Gaza and maintain a presence until Hamas is dismantled.
In the next phase, the IDF plans to scale up the relocation of the Palestinian civilian population from the north and center of Gaza to the south, to specific locations where the army has established four logistical centers where Gazans can obtain food and humanitarian supplies. According to the IDF, there is no starvation in Gaza at this time, and "there is enough for the near future." (Israel Hayom)
See also IDF Intensifies Operations in Gaza - Amir Bohbot
IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists and destroyed multiple terror infrastructures in northern Gaza, including a 2-km.-long tunnel, the IDF announced Saturday. They also located several mines, rocket launchers, and missiles.
(Jerusalem Post)
- IDF Pounds Houthi Ports in Yemen on Friday after Missile, Drone Attacks - Emanuel Fabian
15 Israeli jets carried out a wave of airstrikes in Yemen on Friday, targeting Houthi-controlled ports at Hodeidah and Salif in response to ongoing missile and drone attacks on Israel. Israel had waited until the end of President Trump's visit to the region before launching its reprisal strikes after the Houthis launched seven missiles and two drones at Israel since May 6.
(Times of Israel)
See also IDF Downs Missile from Yemen on Sunday - Emanuel Fabian
Israel intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Warning sirens sounded across central Israel, sending nearly a million residents to bomb shelters.
(Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Gaza War
- Gen. Amidror: Only Israel Can Eliminate Hamas - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror interviewed by Yaakov Lappin
Former Israeli security officials say the campaign to dismantle the remaining capabilities of Hamas will separate it from Gazan civilians and fundamentally alter the Strip's reality. They argue that only decisive Israeli action can pave the way toward future stability.
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror told JNS that while Hamas may no longer pose a major threat to Israel from Gaza, "it is still a threat to everyone in Gaza." To prevent a future Hamas resurgence, "Hamas must be eliminated, down to the level of threat it poses today in Judea and Samaria."
It is "important to emphasize that if we do not go through a long phase of fighting in Gaza for the thorough elimination of Hamas, no third party will help us."
"It is likely that we will need to continue fighting for at least a year, in order to clean the Strip of remnants of Hamas rule, terrorists, and infrastructure, and then and only then to try to bring in an entity that will be responsible for the civilian system."
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror was national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister and chairman of Israel's National Security Council. (JNS)
- Gen. Eisenkot: Establishment of Palestinian State "Irrelevant" in Post-Oct. 7 Reality - Sam Sokol
Former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot, a former minister and a Knesset member in the opposition National Unity party, told Israel's Channel 12 in an interview Saturday that "I think a Palestinian state is irrelevant after Oct. 7." After the "murderous event" when 1,200 people were massacred and 251 were taken hostage, Israel was not in a place to discuss giving the Palestinians "a state and a prize." Israel must instead "make our considerations from a position of strength, and take our time" on the issue. (Times of Israel)
- We Expect Our Allies to Support Our Right to Destroy Our Enemies - Amb. Dror Eydar
As the war continues, voices condemning Israel grow louder across Europe as antisemitism has soared to heights unseen in recent years. Yet the accusations leveled by Europeans can be easily refuted.
We possess damning evidence not only against Hamas's military but also against the cooperation of the so-called "uninvolved" Gazan population in acts of murder, looting, rape, and actively hiding our hostages in residential homes.
As German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the Bundestag in October 2024:
"Self-defense means, of course, not just attacking terrorists, but eliminating them....We will not back down [from supporting Israel]. I made it clear to the UN that civilian facilities can lose their protected status when terrorists exploit them. This is Germany's position and our understanding of Israel's security."
This should be our core message to all our allies. We are not asking them to support our right to self-defense and, of course, neither Israel's right to exist. We expect them to support our right to destroy our enemies.
Fortunately, we live in an independent Jewish state, accountable for our own fate. We will not live next to barbarians whose raison d'etre is the murder of Jews. If you are unhappy with that, then we must agree to disagree.
Numerous violent conflicts rage worldwide, yet Europeans elevate the plight of Gazans above all. Why? Because they happen to be fighting Jews.
Muslims killing Muslims doesn't attract global concern. But Jews fighting and defeating their enemies - that demands a reckoning.
Israel contributes significantly to Europe's security. We are the modern embodiment of an ancient civilization on which the West was built. We are fighting for our survival in a long and complex battle that requires both patience and resolve. This war is not about the right to defend our lives, it is about eliminating the terrorists and uprooting the threat. Just as no rational person would live at the foot of a volcano that erupts every few years, Israelis will not return to normal life as long as the barbarians remain just a few kilometers away.
Dear Europeans, you fail to see the threats you face. In the 1930s, you ignored Churchill's warnings about Hitler. You thought it would end with the Jews.
You learned nothing; after us, it will be your turn.
The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to Italy. (Israel Hayom)
Israeli Security
- The Fighting Isn't Over, but Israel Has Already Won - Dr. Dan Shueftan
In the regional arena, Israel has already won the war that started on Oct. 7, 2023. While the fighting is not over yet, the balance of power in the Middle East has shifted dramatically in favor of the Jewish state and its de-facto Arab allies. The radicals have never been more humiliated, isolated, vulnerable and intimidated, while the moderate Arab regimes are surreptitiously grateful for the Israeli resolve in fighting their common enemies.
Since Oct. 7, Israel has devastated in Gaza the only Arab state-like entity controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood. The IDF also reduced Hizbullah from an intimidating strategic threat to a major nuisance, fighting a rearguard battle for its position in Beirut and southern Lebanon. And Israel's Air Force exposed the supreme vulnerability of Iran's most-defended sites.
In Cairo, Amman, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Rabat, Arab leaders know that sustainable Israeli resilience, strategic power, determination and tenacity in the struggle against common radical enemies are indispensable for their own regional welfare, sometimes even their existence. Whereas America is immeasurably more powerful, Israel, in their experience, is an infinitely more trustworthy and dependable partner.
The Middle East has taken a major turn for the better in the last year and a half. Israel is exhausted, but much safer, and even the Americans are somewhat more realistic. A lot depends on containing Iran, but the chances to avoid a catastrophe are better than they have been in a long time and everybody recognizes Israel's indispensable contribution.
The writer is head of the International Graduate Program in National Security Studies at Haifa University.
(Jewish Chronicle-UK)
- The Druze Reveal a Road Not Taken in Israeli-Palestinian Relations - Jeremy Shapiro
Israel sent planes and troops into Syria to defend the Arab Druze religious minority, attacking the armed groups that attacked them. The Druze are not Muslims. Their religion originated as an offshoot of Islam 1,000 years ago.
The Druze in Israel have been loyal citizens ever since the creation of the state of Israel.
The Druze religion teaches its adherents to be loyal to whatever state they live in. The Druze volunteered to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. Many serve in elite units and are officers, including generals.
This relationship of loyalty is the reason Israel came to the defense of the Druze in Syria.
Israeli Druze number 150,000 and comprise 8% of the Arab population of Israel. The hypothesis that Zionism is fundamentally based on racism is refuted by the story of the Druze in Israel.
If the Palestinians did as the Druze did, then the intermittent violence of Israeli self-defense would not exist. Israel's use of force against Palestinians is the result of Palestinian use of force against them. The story of the Druze in Israel shows that the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not have to be the way it has been.
The writer is an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. (The Hill)
Syria
- Trump's Lifting of Syria Sanctions Solidifies Iran's Regional Defeat - Amb. James Jeffrey
On 13 May, President Trump announced that he was lifting sanctions on Syria, and the next day met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh. Most importantly, the move has arguably blocked any realistic chance of Iran exploiting a weak, divided Syria to restore its "Shiite Crescent."
The historic impact of this decision, following the series of defeats Iran and its proxies have suffered,, cannot be overstated. By reducing Iran's options in Syria, and presumably allowing the Israeli military to draw down on at least one front, Trump's decision could boost Israel's security as well as that of everyone else in the region.
Meanwhile, the U.S. still has Hay'at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), al-Sharaa's organization, on the terrorism list, and Syria is still listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. Finally, the U.S. has not officially recognized the new al-Shaara government and a U.S. list of demands remains in discussion.
These include security issues, resolving outstanding chemical and other weapons of mass destruction issues from the Assad regime, dealing with the Islamic State (IS), authorizing U.S. counter-terrorism military operations anywhere in Syria, and acting against a long list of terrorist and militant organizations, starting with the IRGC and Hizbullah, as well as various Palestinian groups.
The writer served as U.S. Special Representative for Syria Engagement, Deputy National Security Advisor, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey. (Al Majalla-UK)
Israel-U.S. Relations
- The Sanity of John Fetterman - Meir Y. Soloveichik
A recent article in New York magazine proclaimed that staffers of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) "say they no longer recognize the man they knew." The implication is that the senator, a stroke victim, has lost control of his faculties.
Even as Fetterman seems far healthier than he was when he ran for office,
one new feature of his public life that alarms those who once embraced him is his support for Israel since Oct. 7. Fetterman's disgruntled former chief of staff seems to assume that a concern for Jews in the Middle East means he is no longer fit to serve as a Democratic senator.
Yet there are millions of people who are utterly unperturbed by Fetterman's embrace of Israel - the Pennsylvanians who elected him in the first place. The senator continues to enjoy high poll numbers among his own constituents.
(Commentary)
Antisemitism
- Why Do So Many Have a Blindspot on Jew-Hatred? - Brendan O'Neill
English sports broadcaster and former soccer professional Gary Lineker shared an "anti-Zionist" Instagram post illustrated with a rat emoji. The Jew as rodent, as vermin-like pest, doesn't get more Nazi era than that. The likening of Jews with rats was all the rage in Nazi Germany, depicting Jews as a rodent race that "carry contagion." Der Sturmer published cartoons of Jew-rats being exterminated.
If Jews were rats, then their incineration in the death camps was not a crime - it was "pest control." To see the "Jew rat" make a comeback in 2025 is chilling in the extreme. You couldn't ask for better proof that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism in a keffiyeh than the fact that some of its adherents are now rehabilitating the rat propaganda.
We live under a regime of influencers who are hyper-sensitive about racism. Who see racism in everything. And yet when Jew-hatred surges, they seem not to notice. We now have people on the streets chanting for the Army of Muhammad to come back and finish off the Jews. If a well-known public figure had shared a social-media post likening black folk to monkeys, these people would have gone nuts, for days. But it was just Jews, so nothing to see here.
(Spiked-UK)
Observations:
- In the years since Israel's rebirth in 1948, a narrative has taken root that portrays well-armed and financed Jewish immigrants overrunning peaceful Palestinian villages, brutally expelling Palestinians from their homes and their country, a narrative summed up in the Arabic word nakba, or catastrophe. In contrast, Israelis view their War of Independence as a battle of the few against the many, a battle forced on a beleaguered Jewish community by Palestinian militias and the invading armies of five Arab states.
- Israel was not born in sin - with a few justified exceptions, there were no expulsions, nor was there any policy of harming innocents, on the contrary. As early as 1937, Israel's founding father David Ben Gurion wrote: "We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places. All our aspiration is built on the assumption - proven throughout all our activity... that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs."
- On Dec. 13, 1947, Ben Gurion said in a speech: "In our state there will be non-Jews as well - and all of them will be equal citizens; equal in everything without exception....The attitude of the Jewish state to its Arab citizens will be an important factor - though not the only one - in building good neighborly relations with the Arab states."
- Five Arab states, together with Palestinian Arabs, launched a brutal war against the Jews, in which more than 1% of the Jewish population was killed. An Egyptian armored column had penetrated up the coast to within 21 miles of Tel Aviv. Had the Palestinians accepted partition, a Palestinian state would have been created side-by-side with Israel in 1948, and there wouldn't have been a single Palestinian refugee.
- In the summer of 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton hosted intense peace talks at Camp David between Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli leader Ehud Barak. Despite the vast concessions the plan required of Israel, Prime Minister Barak accepted President Clinton's proposal, while Arafat refused, returned home, and launched a new terror campaign against Israeli civilians (the Second Intifada).
- Israel again tried to make peace with the Palestinians in 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and presented a comprehensive peace plan, going beyond even the Clinton proposal. Olmert said in an interview in 2009, "Abbas could not commit. Instead, he said he would come with experts the next day. He (Abbas) promised me the next day his adviser would come. But the next day Saeb Erekat rang my adviser and said we forgot we are going to Amman today, let's make it next week. I never saw him again."
- The Palestinians have repeatedly run away from a negotiated peace and statehood, and have caused most of their own problems. It's a testament to the power of endlessly repeated propaganda that so many in the West act as if Israel caused the Palestinian refugee problem, as if Israel refuses to make peace, and as if Israel stands in the way of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian nakba narrative is a potent myth, a massive collection of blatant falsehoods intended to stand history on its head, and turn the victim into the perpetrator.
Watch the Video: The "Nakba" Narrative is Nonsense (CAMERA)
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