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Israel Reportedly Attempted To Shoot Down Iran’s Negotiators

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By Daily Caller. Israel attempted to kill Iran’s negotiators on their plane after talks between the U.S. and Iran concluded in Pakistan, The New York Times reported.

The attempt occurred in the air as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf were flying home to Tehran from talks in Pakistan, the outlet reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. As the officials were en route flying home, Iran’s security forces notified the plane that two Israeli fighter jets had entered Iranian airspace with the intention of attacking it.

However, the plane was not shot down as it made an emergency landing in Mashhad, Iran’s closest airport to Pakistan, according to the Times. The diplomatic jet also had an escort from Pakistani fighter jets.

The Iranian diplomatic jet was carrying more than 70 other Iranian officials during the flight, the outlet reported.

The White House, the State Department and the Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel had Araghchi and Ghalibaf on a list of targets to kill, but temporarily removed them from the list as the U.S. was conducting negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported on March 25. Although it appears that removal did not last long, as the reported assassination attempt happened just a few months later. (Read more from “Israel Reportedly Attempted To Shoot Down Iran’s Negotiators” HERE)

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US officials feared Israel was plotting to kill head Iranian negotiators: report

By New York Post. The US believed Israel was plotting to kill Iran’s head negotiators in the middle of the peace talks, with America going as far as to warn Tehran through third party countries of the risks, officials said.

Fears that Israel could derail the fledgling peace talks spiked in April as America believed the Jewish state had their eyes on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, The New York Times reported.

The two leaders would go on to approve the current peace deal with the US. If they were killed, it would have likely prolonged the conflict as previous assassinations by Israel have.

Araghchi and Ghalibaf were known to have been on a so-called “kill list” back in March, which was composed of top regime officials who Israel sought to remove.

The two leaders, however, were removed from the list following intervention from the US as the negotiations began to take form, Reuters reported. (Read more from “US officials feared Israel was plotting to kill head Iranian negotiators: report” HERE)

Fox Host Mark Levin Is Now Trashing Trump

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Fox News host Mark Levin accused President Donald Trump of “trashing” and “bullying” Israel, in recent posts on X and during the monologue of his Saturday show.

During a Thursday press conference, Vice President JD Vance criticized Israeli officials who “attacked” the memorandum of understanding Trump signed with Iran, setting up a 60-day period of negotiations to secure a final peace deal. Levin tore into Trump during a rant which lasted for over 17 minutes Saturday night.

“I want to say to people in and out of the administration: stop trashing, smearing, bullying the little state of Israel. Stop cozying up to and telling us that the enemy regime in Iran is now more rational, more moderate, and a regime that we can deal with,” Levin demanded. “When just a few months ago they slaughtered 50,000 people, they’re still hanging young people today and, if they had a nuclear missile today, they’d fire it into our country as sure as I’m alive.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but if people think they can bully a little country, Israel — a people that have existed 4,000 years through the Babylonians and the Persians, through the Romans and the Third Reich — into surrendering their defense and their decision on how to secure their country, they get another thing coming,” Levin continued. “I think it’s outrageous.”

Levin also took potshots at Trump on social media, including referencing the $400 million Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar which was converted into a new airframe in support of the Air Force One presidential airlift mission. The two government-ordered Boeing 747-8 aircraft are suffering overruns and delays pushing their delivery past 2028. (Read more from “Fox Host Mark Levin Is Now Trashing Trump” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Mark Levin Calls Out JD Vance Directly as MAGA Civil War Heats Up

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By Mediaite. Shortly after Vance made his comments, Levin fired off a tweet that read, “I think it’s terrific that people who will likely seek the GOP nomination for president are revealing themselves. Amazing how Iran is being talked about as increasingly reasonable and moderate as Israel is being smeared left and Woke Right.” . . .

Shortly after Vance made his comments, Levin fired off a tweet that read, “I think it’s terrific that people who will likely seek the GOP nomination for president are revealing themselves. Amazing how Iran is being talked about as increasingly reasonable and moderate as Israel is being smeared left and Woke Right.”

“Here’s a novel idea: stop bullying our ally and cozying up to our enemy,” he added in a follow-up.

In an earlier tweet on Thursday, Levin responded to Vance’s declaration that he is “not uncomfortable” with the idea of a photo op alongside Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf.

“Fwiw, bad idea,” commented Levin. “You’ll regret it certainly down the road. But always a bad idea to stand with a top official of a terrorist regime that killed and maimed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iranians just a few months ago.”

(Read more from “Mark Levin Calls Out JD Vance Directly as MAGA Civil War Heats Up” HERE)

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JD Vance Makes Stunning Veiled Threat To Israel Amid Trump Criticism: ‘Wake Up And Smell The Reality!’

By Mediaite. Vice President JD Vance issued a stunning veiled warning to Israel amid dissent over President Donald Trump’s 14-point Memorandum of Understanding with Iran. . .

When Vance was asked about the crack at Thursday’s White House press briefing, he gave a stark response, cautioning Israeli critics that Trump and the United States are their only friends and demanding they “wake up and smell the reality of the situation”:

GATEWAY PUNDIT’S JORDAN CONRADSON: Jordan Conradson with the Gateway Pundit. I want to talk back to the Lebanon component.

There’s a report in Axios that Netanyahu is fuming over this. Israel doesn’t feel bound to MOU as it relates to Lebanon.

As you mentioned, your frustration with Israel striking in Beiruit hitting apartment buildings.

If that continues, could it torpedo the deal? And what would the US’s response be to a broader war in Lebanon involving Israel?

VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Yeah, well, I don’t want to get into hypotheticals that could torpedo the deal because I think the president’s expectation is that all of our friends, the Israelis, the Arabs in the region, we’re going to work together and actually see this deal to completion.

Now, I saw the Axios report that Netanyahu is fuming. That’s not reflective of the conversations that I’ve had with him, but maybe he’s saying something to somebody else that he’s not saying to me.

What I will say, and this does bother me, is that you’ve seen people within Bibi’s cabinet who have come out and attacked the deal and in some ways very personally attacked the President of the United States.

And I guess my message to them would be twofold.

Number one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. And he happens to be the head of state of the world superpower.

If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.

And the second message I would give to some of those cabinet members, Bibi, to his credit, has not gone down this path. But to some of these cabinet members in Israel who are attacking the President of the United States, the other thing that I would say is that over the last three months… Two-thirds of the defensive weapons that have protected your homeland have been built by American hands and paid for by American tax dollars.

The problem for Israel is not Donald J. Trump. And anybody in Israel who thinks their biggest problem is the President of the United States needs to wake up and smell the reality of the situation that country is in. Thank you all.

(Read more from “JD Vance Makes Stunning Veiled Threat To Israel Amid Trump Criticism: ‘Wake Up And Smell The Reality!’” HERE)

Congressman Massie Wants A New Investigation Into Israel Over USS Liberty Attack 59 Years Ago

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In his speech on the House floor Monday marking the 59th anniversary of the USS Liberty incident, Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie called for a new investigation into what happened during the attack, as well as a resolution honoring the men onboard.

Massie’s speech referred to a June 8, 1967 incident involving the Liberty, a U.S. Navy ship sent to collect intelligence off the coast of the Sinai peninsula where it was bombed and strafed by two Israeli fighter jets and struck by three torpedoes. The Israeli government claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, and a subsequent U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry confirmed Israel’s statement.

Massie, the survivors of the tragedy, and others continue to contest this narrative, claiming that the Court of Inquiry was invalid. Notably, a number of sailors aboard the Liberty insist the attack was deliberate.

“This was an effort to kill everybody on board. There was no intention of taking prisoners,” Massie claimed.

Speaking on the House floor, Massie relayed a conversation he had just prior to entering the chamber with some of the survivors of the Liberty and how their recollection of the event was very different from the court findings. While the Israelis claimed they did not know they were bombing a U.S. ship, the survivors recalled that the American colors were flying high on a day with unlimited visibility. (Read more from “Congressman Massie Wants A New Investigation Into Israel Over USS Liberty Attack 59 Years Ago” HERE)

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Following U.S.-Mediated Talks, Israel and Lebanon Agree to Ceasefire if Hezbollah Ends Attacks

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Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to implement a U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework contingent on Hezbollah ending its attacks, withdrawing operatives from southern Lebanon, and allowing the Lebanese Armed Forces to assume exclusive control over newly proposed security zones, as Iran simultaneously warned that renewed Israeli strikes on Beirut could trigger a “full-scale resumption” of the broader regional war.

Following two days of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department, Washington, Jerusalem, and Beirut issued a joint statement announcing that the ceasefire would require “a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire” and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives from areas south of the Litani River, while establishing “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese army would exercise exclusive control “to the exclusion of all non-state actors.”

“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,” the statement read, while further emphasizing that “the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments” and rejecting attempts by “any state or non-state actor” to “hold Lebanon’s future hostage” — a clear reference to Iran and its Hezbollah proxy, which has sought to tie the Lebanon conflict to ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran over the broader regional war and Strait of Hormuz crisis.

The agreement followed days of mounting tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border, including continued Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, and threats from Jerusalem that additional Hezbollah attacks on Israeli population centers could trigger expanded Israeli operations in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Wednesday that any renewed Israeli military action against Beirut would lead to a “full-scale resumption” of the war, insisting that Tehran viewed the Lebanon conflict as inseparable from ongoing negotiations surrounding the broader Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis. (Read more from “Following U.S.-Mediated Talks, Israel and Lebanon Agree to Ceasefire if Hezbollah Ends Attacks” HERE)

Congress Discreetly Moves To Merge US Military Even Closer To Israel’s

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Congress quietly moved to further deepen military ties between the United States and Israel by advancing a provision buried in the House’s 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The NDAA released late May includes a measure embedded in section 224 called the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” which would strengthen military cooperation between both counties in the form of research, development, and even defense industrial base co-production. The provision also proposes “network integration” and “data fusion,” further intertwining the U.S. military with Israel.

The measure specifies several areas of cooperation between Israel and the United States, should the NDAA be adopted in its current form. Some of these “cooperative efforts” include cyber defense, artificial intelligence, anti-tunneling and subterranean threats, biotechnology, and any other “emerging technologies.”

“Remember last year when they tried to sneak that definition of antisemitism into federal law that would have banned portions of the New Testament?” Auron MacIntyre, host of the Auron MacIntyre Show, said in a post on X. “This is somehow just as absurd. Why does the GOP congress try to do this every summer?”

This push to further integrate the two militaries comes at a time where popular perception of Israel in America hits record lows. (Read more from “Congress Discreetly Moves To Merge US Military Even Closer To Israel’s” HERE)

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Israeli Military Attempts To Halt Catholic Marian Festival In West Bank, Until Cardinal Intervenes

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Israeli military officials allegedly attempted to halt a Catholic Marian festival in honor of the Virgin Mary in a Christian village located in the West Bank on Friday, sources say.

Jason Jones, founder and president of the Vulnerable People Project (VPP), told the Daily Caller that VPP had witnessed an Israeli military vehicle enter the village of Taybeh in the early morning and order organizers preparing for the festival to leave the area.

“A permitted Catholic festival honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary was nearly shut down by armed military intervention before it even began,” Jones said.

VPP told the Caller that it had been stationed in Taybeh to document the festival as part of its Save West Bank Christians Campaign, following concerns that the annual celebration may have been the target of Israeli settlers encroaching on the Christian village.

Approximately 30 minutes later, another military vehicle appeared and delivered the same orders, VPP told the Caller.

The parish priest overseeing the festival, Fr. F, contacted church authorities immediately, until the matter reached Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. (Read more from “Israeli Military Attempts To Halt Catholic Marian Festival In West Bank, Until Cardinal Intervenes” HERE)

‘A World Without America’: U.S., Israel Reportedly Floated Installing Ex-Iranian President as New Leader

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In the opening days of the Iran War, the United States and Israel were reportedly considering an unlikely choice as a potential new leader for Iran, according to The New York Times.

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was viewed as a favorable choice to replace the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the NYT reported, citing anonymous U.S. officials. Ahmadinejad was injured when Israeli airstrikes intended to free him from house arrest failed, the outlet reported.

Ahmadinejad has been an ardent anti-U.S. critic, according to public statements that he made in the past.

He called called for “a world without America,” on Oct. 26, 2005, at a conference in Tehran titled The World without Zionism, according to a congressional resolution passed on Jan. 27, 2006.

“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” Ahmadinejad said in reference to statements by Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini at the conference, Al Jazeera reported.

(Read more from “‘A World Without America’: U.S., Israel Reportedly Floated Installing Ex-Iranian President as New Leader” HERE)

US Used over Half its THAAD Interceptors Defending Israel from Iran

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The U.S. used more than half of its THAAD anti-missile interceptor inventory defending Israel from Iranian attacks during the war, according to reports.
The Washington Post reported the U.S. also used more than 100 SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors, while Israel used fewer than 100 Arrow interceptors and around 90 David’s Sling interceptors.

Citing an official, the outlet reported that if fighting resumes with Iran, the U.S. would likely need to use even more interceptors because the IDF has sent some missile defense batteries for maintenance.

“Israel is not capable of fighting and winning wars on its own, but nobody actually knows this because they never see the back end,” the official said.

The Pentagon denied there was any issue with sharing resources with Israel, saying, “Ballistic missile interceptors are just one tool in a vast network of systems and capabilities.” (Read more from “US Used over Half its THAAD Interceptors Defending Israel from Iran” HERE)

Nick Kristof’s Israel Abuse Claims Spark Civil War at New York Times: ‘I’m sick of being embarrassed’

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A civil war has erupted inside the New York Times over Nicholas Kristof’s explosive column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinians by Israeli prison guards.

Staffers at the newspaper are questioning whether some of the most incendiary claims, including an allegation that Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinian detainees, would have ever cleared the paper’s newsroom standards, according to Puck News.

The internal backlash has grown so intense that one Times journalist vented to Puck: “I am sick of being embarrassed by the Opinion section.”

The controversy centers on Kristof’s May 11 opinion essay, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” which included graphic allegations from Palestinian detainees who claimed they were sexually assaulted, raped with objects and abused by Israeli prison guards, interrogators and settlers.

The column immediately ignited outrage from pro-Israel critics, sparked denunciations from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered threats of a libel suit against the Times. (Read more from “Nick Kristof’s Israel Abuse Claims Spark Civil War at New York Times: ‘I’m sick of being embarrassed’” HERE)