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Israel has launched direct strikes inside Iran against its nuclear program, military leaders, and nuclear scientists. These events were predicted in detail more than a year-and-a-half ago in the book TARGET TEHRAN by Yonah Jeremy Bob, Senior Military and Intelligence Analyst for The Jerusalem Post, and fellow journalist Ilan Evyatar.Bob and Evyatar anticipated and warned of this precise escalation: Mossad's covert operations on Iranian soil, the doctrine of preemptive self-defense, and the strategic urgency surrounding Iran's nuclear and regional ambitions. Over two pages in TARGET TEHRAN the authors described a massive air assault on Iran carried out in three waves by more than one hundred Israeli aircraft and a similar number of drones. They detailed the routes taken, the types of aircraft and weapons involved, and the targets-Iran's heavy water reactors, uranium conversion plants, research reactors and other facilities involved in Iran's nuclear weaponization experiments. They addressed the questions of casualties and revenge attacks as well. TARGET TEHRAN serves as a live roadmap to what is unfolding right now.Being on the ground in Israel, with access to high-level military and government sources and classified top secret briefings, Evyatar is qualified to discuss other potential targets that Israel might hit. He can also offer detailed, up-to-the-minute insight into the current context of the conflict between Israel and Iran, and what it bodes for the future.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Since Chaya Leah is lost at sea somewhere between Cyprus and Natanz, I was joined by Jewish Insider's Lahav Harkov, formerly a senior contributing editor, diplomatic reporter and knesset Reporter for The Jerusalem Post, and of course former Ask A Jew guest. We talked Iran, Israel, Trump, Bibi, sexy war planes, and what it's like raising a family in war. You can follow Lahav on X and sign up for her newsletter on Substack of course.If you're a substack subscriber, you caught this live and got to ask your questions - so thank you for joining! Make sure to become a subscriber so you can watch the video, get more alerts and join us next time. Askajew.substack.comFrom our sister podcast edJEWcation, consider helping out the Chabad of Cyprus, which became a temporary shelter for a bunch of stranded, hungover and horny Birthright students who were evacuated from Israel.. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe

It has been a five-day blitz of attacks by the Israeli Air Force over Iran. The IDF has taken out many key Iranian military and other strategic sites and capabilities. Civilians are very deliberately not targeted. In recent days Tehran has been evacuated—responding to IDF warnings. Based on photos we have seen, it is a ghost town. And now we are waiting to see what happens next. The nuclear centrifuges—located deep underground in a mountain bunker at Fordow, Iran—must be destroyed to truly end the country's nuclear ambitions. State of Tel Aviv and Beyond regular (and military expert) Ya'akov Katz gets into the details of what may be the next move in this critical military operation. Will the U.S. step in and finish off Fordow? Or will Israel continue to bear the burden, largely alone?For those of you continuing to enjoy our podcasts and articles—if you have not yet done so—please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. We're going 24/7 here, getting very little sleep and continuing to bring you reports. Because we believe it is important to get quality information out there. And if you're here, then you agree. We are independent and supported by our listeners and readers. Please show your appreciation today. Many thanks.Also, there are some good visuals in the YouTube version of this podcast that you shouldn't miss. So consider watching/listening there—in particular, today. Podcast NotesState of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel's Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.Find Yaakov Katz on X @yaakovkatz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, June 17: We start with a look at the global headlines discussing the Israel-Iran war. Next, we turn to analysis pieces discussing Trump's motives for (non)intervention in Iran. Meanwhile, the Trump family has a new venture: a golden smartphone "built in the US". Finally, a 135-year-old tortoise reaches a new personal milestone. For a fifth day in a row, the war between Israel and Iran is dominating global headlines. Iranian daily The Tehran Times reports on the attacks on Iran's state TV. Journalists there say they aren't "giving up". The Israeli right-wing daily The Jerusalem Post focuses on the Israeli Defence Forces' military gains: 80 to 90 percent of the Iranian missiles have been intercepted, according to the paper. The paper also says that Israel destroyed a third of Iran's ballistic missile launchers. French left-wing daily Le Monde reports that Iran was "hit from all sides and threatened with chaos". The left-wing British daily Morning Star headlines with "NO RESPITE". The paper says that the conflict shows no signs of slowing down. The Financial Times writes that Israel claims "control" of the skies of Tehran. It says that so far, the conflict has cost more than 260 lives.  Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is trying to position himself as a peacemaker in the new war. Al Jazeera writes that Trump's cabinet is "less hawkish" on Iran. The paper says that the US president has surrounded himself with supporters "possibly influencing his appetite for war" or his lack thereof. Al Jazeera writes that Trump's actions will reveal how the US president responds to the "deep ideological rift" within his Republican supporters. On the one hand are his "America First" supporters, who prioritise domestic policy and non-intervention. On the other are those who are more eager to pursue military intervention to force regime change abroad. The New York Times calls Trump's choice to intervene or not a "last-chance diplomacy or a bunker-busting bomb". The paper says that if Trump decides to get involved in the war, this will imperil any chance of a nuclear disarmament deal. The Times says that only America's "bunker buster" bomb can reach the nuclear enrichment facility at Fordow that Israel is trying to destroy. Launching it, however, would of course mean US involvement in the war. British daily The Guardian reports that a Democratic senator, Tim Kaine, has proposed to prohibit US forces from taking action against Iran without approval from Congress, in an effort to curb Trump's war powers. Staying with Trump, it seems that his family has another business venture on the way: this time, a mobile phone company. It's called "Trump Mobile" – a wireless service offer paired with a gold smartphone, as the Associated Press reports. The Trump company promises to have the phones ready by the summer. Trump's son Eric says that it's all about being patriotic, emphasising that the phones will the built in the US in the future. But The Wall Street Journal is sceptical, saying the phone cannot be made in the US for its announced price of $499 by August. The paper says that supply chain experts agree that because of Trump's tariffs, the US would need years and billions of dollars to establish factories that produce phone parts like those in China, and even if that's possible, the price would be many times higher than that of an iPhone, for instance. The tech magazine Wired has "9 urgent questions about Trump Mobile" – from privacy concerns to confusing promises. The final urgent question is "can you get a refund?"... and no, "you absolutely cannot", says the magazine that consulted Trump Mobile's terms of use.  Finally, a zoo in Miami is celebrating the world's oldest tortoise dad! He is 135 years old as he was born at the end of the 19th century. Goliath has gone through 25 American presidencies and two World Wars. He has now reached a new milestone – fatherhood – after unsuccessfully trying a couple of times before. Yogether with his girlfriend Sweet Pea – aged between 85 and 100 years old – they are the world's oldest tortoise parents. The Times reports that the couple is doing well after the birth, sharing a photo of the proud dad. You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

PRESS REVIEW – Monday, June 16: The conflict between Iran and Israel features on many front pages and is widely debated in the inside pages. Also, the controversial FIFA Club World Cup continues to make headlines, but perhaps not for the right reasons. Next, MI6 appoints a female head for the first time in 116 years. Finally, German soldiers get a telling-off for causing "romantic strife". The conflict between Israel and Iran continues to rage on, and features on many front pages this Monday morning. The Jerusalem Post leads with a photo of the destruction following a strike in the residential neighbourhood of Bat Yam. Iran Daily has photos of the aftermath of an Iranian strike on an Israeli power station in Haifa. Tehran Times, meanwhile, highlights the civilian victims of Israel's latest strikes on Iran. The Lebanese paper L'Orient-Le Jour points the finger at US President Donald Trump. French daily Libération says it is a "dynamic of the worst", saying it is in the interest of both parties to continue the conflict in order to stay in power. L'Humanité takes a clear stance on its front page, calling the conflict Benjamin Netanyahu's war without limits. The Guardian has an opinion piece by Simon Tisdall. He says that the behaviour of the three leaders involved in the war – Trump, Netanyahu and Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei – raises serious doubts about their judgment, common sense, motives and even their sanity. The New York Times, meanwhile, says that diplomacy with Iran is damaged but not dead. Foreign Policy discusses how the war might end. It says that darker scenarios are most likely, including a potential regional war. The past weekend has been a busy one for football fans after the launch of FIFA's controversial Club World Cup. The tournament is making headlines, but not for the best reasons. The Telegraph headlines with "Bayern thrash team of forklift drivers and fizzy drinks salesmen 10:0 in FIFA farce". Meanwhile, The Times reports that the Professional Footballers Association has joined a legal action against FIFA for abuse of power. In the UK, the Financial Times reports that Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6 has appointed its first woman leader – a first in the organisation's 116-year history. Meanwhile in Germany, soldiers can now be punished for having an affair with each other's spouses because of the "danger of romantic strife eroding morale", as The Times reports. You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

First up, Georgetown law professor and former national legal director at the ACLU, David Cole, joins us to discuss the legal response to the Trump Administration's serial violations of the Constitution. Then Mike Ferner of Veterans for Peace checks in to update us halfway through his Fast for Gaza, 40 days of living on 250 calories per day, which is the average caloric intake of Palestinian survivors in Gaza. Finally, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Joe Holley, stops by to pay tribute to his mentor and colleague, the late crusading journalist, Ronnie Dugger, founder of the progressive Texas Observer.David Cole is the Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy and former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He writes about and teaches constitutional law, freedom of speech, and constitutional criminal procedure. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and is the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation.Trump is obviously not concerned about antisemitism. He's concerned about targeting schools because they are places where people can criticize the president, where people can think independently, are taught to think independently, and often don't support what the president is doing. He's using his excuse to target a central institution of civil society.David ColeThe decision on Trump versus the United States is only about criminal liability for criminal acts, not for unconstitutional acts. And violating the Constitution is not a crime. Every president has violated the Constitution probably since George Washington. That's not a crime.David ColeMike Ferner served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and he is former National Director and current Special Projects Coordinator for Veterans for Peace. He is the author of Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq.Two hundred and fifty calories is technically, officially, a starvation diet, and we're doing it for 40 days. The people in Gaza have been doing it for months and months and months, and they're dying like crazy. That's the whole concern that we're trying to raise. And I'll tell you at the end of this fast, on the 40th day, we are not just going out silently. There are going to be some fireworks before we're done with this thing. So all I'm saying is: stay tuned.Mike Ferner: Special Projects Coordinator of Veterans for Peace on “FastforGaza”They're (The Veterans Administration is) being defamed, Ralph, for the same reason that those right-wing corporatists defamed public education. So they can privatize it. And that's exactly what they're trying to do with the VA. And I can tell you every single member of Veterans for Peace has got nothing but praise for the VA.Mike FernerJoe Holley was the editor of the Texas Observer in the early 1980s. A former staff writer at The Washington Post and a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist at the Houston Chronicle, he is the author of eight books, mostly about Texas.He would talk to people, and he would find out things going on about racial discrimination, about farm workers being mistreated, all kind of stories that the big papers weren't reporting. And this one guy, young Ronnie Dugger, would write these stories and expose things about Texas that a lot of Texans just did not know.Joe Holley on the late progressive journalist, Ronnie DuggerHe knew the dark side of Texas, but he always had an upbeat personality. I had numerous conversations with Ronnie (Dugger), and he was ferociously independent.Ralph NaderNews 6/13/251. On Monday, Israeli forces seized the Madleen, the ship carrying activist Greta Thunberg and others attempting to bring food and other supplies past the Israeli blockade into Gaza, and detained the crew. The ship was part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thunberg had been designated an “Ambassador of Conscience,” by Amnesty International. The group decried her detention, with Secretary General Agnès Callamard writing, “Israel has once again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip and demonstrated its chilling contempt for legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice.” On Tuesday, CBS reported that Israel deported Thunberg. Eight other passengers refused deportation and the Jerusalem Post reports they remain in Israeli custody. They will be represented in Israeli courts by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. One of these detainees is Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.2. Shortly before the Madleen was intercepted, members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing concern for the safety of these activists, citing the deadly 2010 raid of the Mavi Marmara, which ultimately resulted in the death of ten activists, including an American. This letter continued, “any attack on the Madleen or its civilian crew is a clear and blatant violation of international law. United Nations experts have called for the ship's safe passage and warned Israel to “refrain from any act of hostility” against the Madleen and its passengers…We call on you to monitor the Madleen's journey and deter any such hostile actions.” This letter was led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and drew signatures from Congressional progressives like Reps. Summer Lee, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Greg Casar, and others.3. On the other end of the political spectrum, Trump – ever unpredictable – seemed to criticize Israel's detention of Thunberg. In a press conference, “Trump was…asked about Thunberg's claim that she had been kidnapped.” The president responded “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg…Is that what she said? She was kidnapped by Israel?” The reporter replied “Yes, sir,” to which “Trump responded by shaking his head.” This from Newsweek.4. Of course, the major Trump news this week is his response to the uprising in Los Angeles. Set off by a new wave of ICE raids, protesters have clashed with police in the streets and Trump has responded by increasingly upping the ante, including threatening to arrest California Governor Gavin Newsom, per KTLA. Beyond such bluster however, Trump has moved to deploy U.S. Marines onto the streets of the nation's second-largest city. Reuters reports, “About 700 Marines were in a staging area in the Seal Beach area about 30 miles…south of Los Angeles, awaiting deployment to specific locations,” in addition to 2,100 National Guard troops. The deployment of these troops raises thorny legal questions. Per Reuters, “The Marines and National Guard troops lack the authority to makes arrests and will be charged only with protecting federal property and personnel,” but “California Attorney General Rob Bonta… [said] there was a risk that could violate an 1878 law that…forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement.” Yet, despite all the tumult, these protests seem to have gotten the goods, so to speak: the City of Glendale announced it would, “end its agreement with…ICE to house federal immigration detainees.” All of this sets quite a scene going into Trump's military parade in DC slated for Saturday, June 14th.5. In classic fashion however, Trump's tough posture does not extend to corporate crime. Public Citizen's Rick Claypool reports, “Trump's DOJ just announced American corporations that engage in criminal bribery schemes abroad will no longer be prosecuted.” Claypool cites a June 9th memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which reads, “Effective today, prosecutors shall…not attribute…malfeasance to corporate structures.” Claypool also cites a Wall Street Journal piece noting that “the DOJ has already ended half of its criminal investigations into corporate bribery in foreign countries and shrunk its [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] unit down to 25 employees.”6. Americans can at least take small comfort in one thing: the departure of Elon Musk from the top rungs of government. It remains to be seen what exactly precipitated his final exit and how deep his rift with Trump goes – Musk has already backed down on his harshest criticisms of the president, deleting his tweet claiming Trump was in Epstein files, per ABC. Yet, this appears to be a victory for Steve Bannon and the forces he represents within Trump's inner circle. On June 5th, the New York Times reported that Bannon, “said he was advising the president to cancel all [Musk's] contracts and… ‘initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status'.” Bannon added, “[Musk] should be deported from the country immediately.'” Bannon has even called for a special counsel probe, per the Hill. Bannon's apparent ascendency goes beyond the Oval Office as well. POLITICO Playbook reports Bannon had a 20-minute-long conversation with Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman on Monday evening – while Fetterman dined with Washington bureau chief for Breitbart, Matt Boyle – at Butterworth's, the DC MAGA “watering hole.” This also from the Hill.7. On the way out, the Daily Beast reports, “Elon Musk's goons at the Department of Government Efficiency transmitted a large amount of data—all of it undetected—using a Starlink Wi-Fi terminal they installed on top of the White House.” Sources “suggested that the [the installation of the Starlink terminal] was intended to bypass White House systems that track the transmission of data—with names and time stamps—and secure it from spies.” It is unknown exactly what data Musk and his minions absconded with, and for what purpose. We can only hope the public gets some answers.8. With Musk and Trump parting ways, other political forces are now seeking to woo the richest man in the world. Semafor reports enigmatic Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley and chaired Bernie Sanders' campaign in California, “talked with one of…Musk's ‘senior confidants' …about whether the ex-DOGE leader…might want to help the Democratic Party in the midterms.” Khanna added, “Having Elon speak out against the irrational tariff policy, against the deficit exploding Trump bill, and the anti-science and anti-immigrant agenda can help check Trump's unconstitutional administration…I look forward to Elon turning his fire against MAGA Republicans instead of Democrats in 2026.” On the other hand, the Hill reports ex-Democrat Andrew Yang is publicly appealing to Musk for an alliance following Musk's call for the establishment of an “America Party.” Yang himself founded the Forward Party in 2021. Yang indicated Musk has not responded to his overtures.9. Meanwhile, the leadership of the Democratic Party appears to be giving up entirely. In a leaked Zoom meeting, DNC Chair Ken Martin – only elected in February – said, “I don't know if I wanna do this anymore,” per POLITICO. On this call, Martin expressed frustration with DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, blaming him for, “[destroying] any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.” Hogg meanwhile has doubled down, defying DNC leadership by “wading into another primary,” this time for the open seat left by the death of Congressman Gerry Conolly in Virginia, the Washington Post reports. The DNC is still weighing whether to void Hogg's election as Vice Chair.10. Finally, in some good news from New York City, State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani appears to have closed the gap with disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo began the race with a 40-point lead; a new Data for Progress poll shows that lead has been cut down to just two points. Moreover, that poll was conducted before Mamdani was endorsed by AOC, who is expected to bring with her substantial support from Latinos and residents of Queens, among other groups. Notably, Mamdani has racked up tremendous numbers among young men, a demographic the Democratic Party has struggled to attract in recent elections. Cuomo will not go down without a fight however. The political nepo-baby has already secured a separate ballot line for the November election, meaning he will be in the race even if he loses the Democratic primary, and he is being boosted by a new million-dollar digital ad spend by Airbnb, per POLITICO. The New York City Democratic Primary will be held on June 24th.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Sans surprise, l'Iran a mené cette nuit une opération de représailles contre les frappes israéliennes. Le Jerusalem Post a passé, nous dit-il, « une nuit dans un abri israélien, sous les missiles iraniens ». L'un des habitants raconte : « j'étais à un dîner pour Shabbat lorsque les deux vagues de missiles ont été lancées depuis l'Iran (…) Nous étions une vingtaine, et nous avons été stupéfaits de voir la vidéo d'un missile s'écraser sur le centre d'Israël, d'autant que ça s'est passé à seulement quelques pâtés de maisons d'où nous nous trouvions ». Le reporter du Jerusalem Post raconte « les centaines de secouristes », qui sont sur place. « Plusieurs heures après le drame », ajoute-t-il, « des familles sortaient encore du bâtiment. Des parents portaient des bébés (…) je n'ai vu ni larmes ni panique. Seulement des gens qui en ont tellement vu, qui ont tellement vécu et qui sont terriblement fatigués. » Réactions en Iran De son côté, Courrier international a cherché à savoir comment les Iraniens réagissent aux frappes menées par Israël. « Réveillés en pleine nuit par le bruit assourdissant des multiples explosions dues aux frappes », nous dit-on, « les habitants de Téhéran sont descendus en panique dans les rues. Dès le matin, de longues files d'attente se sont formées devant les stations-services, aussi bien à Téhéran qu'ailleurs dans les grandes villes du pays, par crainte de pénurie ou de hausse des prix. » Courrier international reprend par ailleurs les propos du site réformateur Asr-e Iran, qui « reproche au régime "de ne pas avoir pris au sérieux les avertissements contre une possible infiltration" des services de renseignements israéliens ». Le même site d'information iranien ajoute que « si le régime n'est pas en mesure de faire "regretter aux Israéliens" leur attaque par une riposte d'envergure, il vaudrait mieux envisager "une révision de profondeur de sa politique", vis-à-vis d'Israël. » Pari risqué La situation, en tout cas, suscite l'inquiétude. Inquiétude exprimée notamment par le journal Libération, qui parle « d'un embrasement dangereux aux accents religieux ». « L'attaque israélienne spectaculaire contre l'Iran », poursuit le quotidien français (…) « représente d'un point de vue militaire une énorme réussite. Du point de vue politique, par contre, elle met en danger des millions de civils, y compris la population israélienne, et fait basculer le Moyen-Orient dans un embrasement que les pompiers habituels (les États-Unis, le Conseil de sécurité et les États avoisinants) ne peuvent ou ne veulent plus éteindre ». Enfin, en Espagne, El Païs parle « d'un pari risqué », estimant que « l'attaque israélienne encourage ceux qui, en Iran, voient la bombe atomique comme une garantie de survie du régime ».  

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, June 13: Iranian state media say Tehran will punish the "Zionist regime" after massive Israeli strikes on nuclear sites and military commanders in Iran. Meanwhile, the Israeli press say Tel Aviv struck because a "point of no return" was reached over Iran's nuclear programme. We also look at reactions from the international press, with French daily Le Figaro calling the strikes a "bitter setback" for US President Donald Trump.  Iran's state-controlled channel Press TV confirms that commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, including senior general Hossein Salami and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, have been "martyred". Press TV quotes the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, who says that the "Zionist regime has prepared a bitter and painful fate for itself", adding that Iran's defence ministry is "fully ready" to punish Israel severely. Press TV is actively tweeting too, claiming that Iranian civilian neighbourhoods and residential buildings in Tehran have been targeted. The news channel reports that in the Narmak neighbourhood of Tehran, five people were killed and 20 injured.  The Israeli press is also reacting. Left-wing daily Haaretz writes that Israel launched "pre-emptive strikes" and is preparing for retaliation from Iran. The paper says that although various reports state that the United States formally expressed its opposition to the attacks, it remains unclear whether the US offered to share intelligence or aerial refuelling capacity. The paper says this option would allow the White House to participate "while maintaining some sort of plausible deniability". The editor-in-chief of the right-wing Jerusalem Post quotes the IDF's chief of staff, who says the strikes were launched because Israel reached "a point of no return". "History taught us: when faced with threats to destroy us, we must never bow our heads." In an analysis piece, The Jerusalem Post writes that Israel struck because Iran's nuclear ambitions "are no longer hypothetical". The paper says that intelligence showed that Iran had enriched enough uranium to produce some 15 nuclear warheads and was actively conducting nuclear tests.  Finally, we turn to reactions from the international press. The New York Times writes that Israel's attack aims to "cripple" Iran's nuclear programme. The paper says that the major attack could escalate into a war involving the most powerful militaries in the Middle East. Al Jazeera calls it a "major strike". American broadcaster NBC News highlights the fact that the strikes were conducted without US involvement. French right-wing Le Figaro says that the Israeli strikes are a "bitter setback for Trump", who claims to be a "peacemaker". The paper writes that the US president asked Israel to choose diplomacy and not attack Iran, but only a few hours later, the strikes began. The Wall Street Journal reports that oil prices rose by more than 8 percent after Israel's attack, reaching their highest level since February. It adds that the rise shows that traders don't think the US will lift restrictions on Iranian barrels.  You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

[00:30] Celtic Throne in Israel (27 minutes) As world events heat up, Celtic Throne is bringing a message of hope and peace. This year, the group is touring Israel, a nation desperately in need of hope after nearly two years of war. After two shows in Tel Aviv, the reaction has been phenomenal. The Jerusalem Post wrote that “this show was two hours of sheer musical and dance energy that made you feel good, happy and very much alive. In these war-torn days, that alone is worth the price of admission.” [28:00] Fomenting Insurrection (18 minutes) The anti-ICE riots are spreading across the United States. Leaders at the state and city levels have shown they have no will to stand up to violence, opting to give the rioters “space to destroy.” Why are so many against upholding law and order? [46:00] Viewer Feedback (5 minutes) [51:00] Celtic Throne Feedback (4 minutes)

In recent days Hamas has shifted all of its attention to controlling the food supply for civilians in the Gaza Strip. They continue to hoard aid meant for the needy and then resell it at extortionate prices. The last two weeks have been especially chaotic as the food supply diminishes, and people are living meal to meal. Concerns regarding famine are real and the involvement of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is intended to address the food scarcity. But the rollout of this new initiative has been a mess. Shootings. Chaos. People walking 20k to arrive at one of the few distribution centers to find that there is no food left. State of Tel Aviv regular guest, Ya'akov Katz, joins us to get into the detail of what is going on in the Gaza Strip and why everything seems to be going so wrong. We discuss Hamas, criminal clans, hostages and more. Before wrapping we touch on the surge of Jewish vigilantism in the West Bank and why this seems to continue, uninterrupted.And you will probably be relieved to know we don't even mention Greta. I'll leave that to Piers Morgan.State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Podcast NotesYaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel's Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.Find Yaakov Katz on X @yaakovkatz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

Le Premier ministre israélien pourrait être sur la sellette : « la guerre à Gaza menace enfin l'emprise de [Benyamin] Netanyahu sur le pouvoir », constate ainsi Haaretz. Puisque d'un côté, « le conflit ne peut pas se poursuivre sans nouvelles recrues », et de l'autre, « la population ultra-orthodoxe refuse d'envoyer ses fils combattre ».Il faut dire qu'il s'agit « d'un problème vieux de plusieurs décennies », rappelle le journal, qui s'est encore accéléré depuis le début du conflit : les partis concernés « font entendre leur désaccord avec le gouvernement depuis longtemps, et à présent, ils semblent plus près que jamais d'y mettre fin ». Au point que les partis ultra-orthodoxes ont menacé de quitter la coalition du Premier ministre. Un désaccord de longue date En fait, ces extrémistes religieux refusent de participer au service militaire – ils bénéficient d'une exemption pour consacrer leur temps à l'étude de la Torah. Pourtant, juge le Jerusalem Post, « du point de vue de la Torah », justement, « les arguments en faveur d'un service militaire partagé ne sont pas seulement défendables : ils sont irréfutables. » Le journal conservateur considère en effet que le service militaire « touche au symbolisme au cœur de l'identité israélienne : le retour à une terre promise autrefois perdue ». C'est bien là d'ailleurs qu'est tout le paradoxe, pointe Haaretz : d'un côté, les « haredim » sont « dédiés à la poursuite ad-vitam eternam de la guerre à Gaza, jusqu'à ce que leur rêve d'un nettoyage ethnique total soit accompli » ; de l'autre, l'armée a besoin de nouvelles recrues. Or, « la plus grande réserve d'effectifs potentiels est la jeunesse ultra-orthodoxe ». Et le résultat, conclut le quotidien, est que « Benyamin Netanyahu se retrouve coincé entre les menaces, les fantasmes et les peurs » de ses partenaires politiques. Alors, « pour l'heure, le Premier ministre joue la montre, comme il le fait toujours ». Au milieu du tumulte, des milliers d'oubliésAu milieu du tumulte figurent des milliers d'oubliés : les Gazaouis qui, chaque jour, subissent la faim, les bombardements, le deuil. « Ceux que la majorité des Israéliens ne veut pas voir, et dont on ne veut pas savoir l'histoire », accuse Le Temps en Suisse. « Les experts courent les plateaux pour analyser les dernières bisbilles politiques et les décisions militaires », occultant les récits des horreurs vécues par la population palestinienne.Conclusion, analyse le journal, « pour les Israéliens, Gaza est un territoire d'abstrait, l'enfer d'où sont sorties des cohortes sanguinaires un sombre jour d'octobre » et rien d'autre. « Cela doit cesser », martèle le titre : « Il faut sauver Israël de lui-même. » Sauver les États-Unis de Donald Trump ? Face aux dernières annonces du président américain Donald Trump, le New York Times s'insurge de l'« approche autoritaire de la présidence » et dénonce « son envie compulsive de dominer, sa quête égotique de pouvoir sur tout ce, et ceux, qu'il rencontre ». Pour Le Monde, cela ne fait pas de doute non plus : les États-Unis sont en pleine bascule vers « le nationalisme autoritaire », tandis qu'El Pais prédit que le pays « se dirige vers un État de surveillance technologique de masse », capable de « surveille[r] la vie de millions de personnes », même si son infrastructure, « pour le moment, se concentre sur la persécution des migrants ». Le quotidien espagnol énumère les outils de ce système de surveillance : « analyse massive et non autorisée des réseaux sociaux ; analyse des données biométriques (…) ; interception des communications téléphoniques ; géolocalisation », le tout « sans autorisation judiciaire ». Que le pouvoir espionne et contrôle, ce n'est pas nouveau - ce qui l'est, en revanche, s'inquiète le titre, c'est que « Washington se vante plus qu'il ne nie l'existence » de ce système de techno-surveillance.Une difficile marche arrièreLe New York Times exprime ses craintes : « nous devrions traiter Trump et son administration ouvertement autoritaire comme un échec », écrit le journal, pourtant, « il n'y a même pas de consensus public sur la nature de notre situation actuelle ». Dans ce contexte, « comment renverser la glissade de l'Amérique vers le despotisme ? » Et attention à ceux qui penseraient que ce qui se passe outre-Atlantique reste outre-Atlantique. Pour Le Monde, « certaines tendances observées » aux États-Unis et en France « sont comparables et susceptibles d'aboutir à une catastrophe de même ampleur ». « La désindustrialisation », d'abord, et son « désespoir teinté d'amertume ».La disparition, aussi, « des solidarités et des organisations syndicales », et le fait de se recroqueviller sur « [s]es proches. Ceux "comme nous" ». Contre les ‘autres, en résumé : « les immigrés et les profiteurs ». Autant de points communs qui n'encouragent pas le Monde à l'optimisme : « Si l'on se fie au miroir américain, les graines du désastre sont déjà semées ». 

The aid crisis in Gaza is deepening. This morning, Israeli soldiers opened fire near crowds of Palestinians approaching a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed. At least 27 people were killed and dozens more wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This comes just days after a similar incident left 31 dead and nearly 200 injured, an event for which Israel has denied responsibility.As famine looms and disease spreads through the devastated territory, civilians are caught in an increasingly desperate struggle for survival. Aid is scarce, humanitarian convoys are often attacked or held indefinitely at the Gaza border, and the infrastructure needed to deliver essential supplies has collapsed.In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is in Jerusalem, speaking to Milena Ansari, a Palestinian lawyer and researcher with Human Rights Watch, and Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. They discuss how the crisis is unfolding, why so little aid is getting through, and who is being held accountable.

Après 19 mois de guerre quasi-ininterrompue, certains journaux s'autorisent à y penser, après qu'Israël a accepté une proposition américaine de cessez-le-feu. Plusieurs d'entre eux – à commencer par Haaretz et le Jerusalem Post – rapportent les propos du président Donald Trump selon qui « Israël et le Hamas sont proches de signer un accord. » Reste à voir ce qu'en dit le groupe armé palestinien, qui à ce stade, analyse Haaretz, « demeure hésitant, (…) à cause du manque de garanties sur la fin effective de la guerre. » Surtout, écrit le journal israélien, qui a pu consulter la proposition de cessez-le-feu, le Hamas « n'a pas confiance en la volonté de Donald Trump d'intervenir si les discussions coincent. » Et le Jerusalem Post va plus loin : d'après le quotidien, « le Hamas se sent trahi par l'administration américaine, et pense s'être ‘fait avoir' avec une proposition pro-israélienne. » Les États-Unis, toujours fervents soutiens d'IsraëlMalgré une séquence qui a « souligné la volonté grandissante de l'Europe de faire pression sur le gouvernement Netanyahu », retrace le Washington Post, les positions européennes restent « en conflit avec le soutien vocal et continu des États-Unis ». Les européens, eux, font part d'une « insatisfaction grandissante », rappelle le titre. Ils « ont perdu patience avec Benyamin Netanyahu, ont tenu compte de l'opinion publique et ont assisté à un nouveau tournant sombre de la guerre », lorsque les autorités israéliennes ont bloqué pendant près de trois mois l'entrée de l'aide humanitaire à Gaza. Même maintenant que le blocus a pris fin, décrit Haaretz, le pays « ne laisse entrer l'aide qu'au compte-gouttes » – pour le journal israélien, l'enclave palestinienne est même devenue « le lieu le plus affamé de la planète ». La faim, la dévastation, le désespoir, sont presque trop grands pour être mesurés. Il le faut pourtant, et le New York Times s'y attelle : « La famine à Gaza peut être calculée au nombre de côtes saillantes d'une fillette de six ans, (…) aux kilos qu'elle et ses proches ont perdu. Aux deux tomates, aux deux poivrons, et à l'unique concombre qu'un enfant peut acheter pour nourrir toute sa famille ce jour-là. »La situation est dramatique et pourtant, rien, ou si peu, ne bouge. C'est comme si, écrit un penseur de confession juive dans les colonnes du Monde, « les Palestiniens n'exist[aient] plus, de manière générale, dans l'esprit des Israéliens ». Cet auteur, qui a passé de longues années au Rwanda, sans comparer deux situations qui « ne sont guère comparables », rappelle qu'en 1993, « on évoquait un risque de génocide, mais on ajoutait toujours que cela n'arriverait pas. À Gaza, c'est la même chose ». Avec un risque, selon lui : « une inflexion du destin » de l'enclave, mais aussi d'Israël, dont l'attitude « est un renoncement à ce qu'il a été ». N'en déplaise à Donald Trump. Pour ce même auteur, le président américain, avec son idée de station balnéaire à Gaza, « veut couvrir la zone de peinture blanche, y construire (…) un endroit joyeux. C'est une manière absurde d'effacer l'histoire ». D'autres préoccupations pour le président américainEt principalement, encore et toujours, ses droits de douane. Malgré un revers en justice, le président américain ne désarme pas : « Il a annoncé [hier], rapporte Le Devoir au Canada, que la surtaxe sur l'acier et l'aluminium passerait mercredi prochain à 50 %. » Une nouvelle escalade dans sa politique douanière, que le South China Morning Post décrit sans aménité : « L'ignorance, l'arrogance, (…) et la peur de 'l'autre' ont convergé, en une démonstration de la grossièreté américaine sous stéroïdes. » Des justifications économiquesC'est en tout cas l'opinion du Wall Street Journal, puisque  « le prix mondial de l'acier a chuté ces derniers mois », le quotidien juge qu'il est « plus facile pour les acheteurs de payer les taxes actuelles sur les imports, tout en acquérant de l'acier à un prix réduit par rapport aux tarifs nationaux ». Ces nouvelles surtaxes devraient donc régler le problème, tout en « donnant aux producteurs locaux plus de pouvoir pour augmenter leurs prix ».Une analyse que ne partage pas le South China Morning Post : en réalité, juge le titre, « le déficit commercial américain, souvent cité comme justification, n'est que le symptôme d'un malaise plus profond ». Celui d'une Amérique « qui cherche désespérément à montrer sa force », une Amérique dont l'image « a été soutenue pendant des décennies par une hégémonie économique » à présent « en déclin ». Finalement, assène le quotidien, cette séquence révèle « la vacuité du soi-disant rêve américain (…), un tigre de papier ».

The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 3: 5:05pm- On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked the Trump Administration's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose tariffs on trading partners. The panel determined the unilaterally adopted tariffs “exceed” presidential authority. BREAKING NEWS: A federal appeals court is—at least temporarily—preserving the tariffs. 5:20pm- In a series of articles published over the weekend, The New York Times examined the Democrat Party's continued struggles appealing to the American electorate. Shane Goldmacher writes that Democrats “are still searching for the path forward”—noting that the party spent $20 million studying their “erosion” of support with “young men” specifically. In another article, Goldmacher—alongside June Kim and Christine Zhang—evaluate “how Donald Trump has remade America's political landscape.” They document that 435 counties across the country became more “Democratic” from 2012 and 2024—however, 2,678 counties became more “Republican.” Further complicating matters is the 2030 census which is expected to cause comfortably blue states to lose electoral votes as citizens move to red states. You can read the articles here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/democratic-party-voters.html. And here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-politics-democrats.html. 5:25pm- Rich announces he will be going to Israel for a fact-finding mission. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy is organizing the event and invited him. On Thursday, Israel accepted a U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas—however, according to The Jerusalem Post, Hamas is demanding some changes to the agreement. 5:40pm- Dr. EJ Antoni—Chief Economist at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to talk about his big promotion to chief economist at Heritage, President Donald Trump's use of tariffs to eliminate barriers to entry for American exports, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's fate in the U.S. Senate.

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Show (05/29/2025): 3:05pm- In a hidden video interview conducted by Project Veritas, Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee David Hogg and former Biden Administration staffer Deterrian Jones revealed that Jill Biden's Chief of Staff Anthony Bernal “had an enormous amount of power.” Jones continued: “The general public wouldn't know how this man looked, but he wielded an enormous amount of power. I can't stress to you enough how much power he had at the White House.” 3:15pm- While appearing on CNN, Alex Thompson—Axios reporter and co-author of “Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again”—revealed that Biden Administration cabinet members were not confident that Joe Biden was capable of handling a “2 am crisis,” if one were to occur. So, who was in charge? 3:40pm- During a segment on PBS, host Judy Woodruff examined whether the president—Donald Trump specifically—has the authority to unilaterally launch a nuclear strike. Why wasn't PBS expressing similar concern when, according to recent reports, a cognitively fading Joe Biden held the presidency? 3:50pm- Rich and Matt debate whether Ben Affleck has made any good movies—or if Good Will Hunting, for example, is a great film in spite of Affleck…not because of him. 4:05pm- During an interview with Brett Baier on Fox News, FBI Director Kash Patel insisted that based on the evidence he has seen—Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. While on Fox & Friends, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the agency plans on eventually releasing video definitively proving Epstein's death was suicide. 4:30pm- On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked the Trump Administration's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose tariffs on trading partners. The panel determined the unilaterally adopted tariffs “exceed” presidential authority. 5:05pm- On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked the Trump Administration's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose tariffs on trading partners. The panel determined the unilaterally adopted tariffs “exceed” presidential authority. BREAKING NEWS: A federal appeals court is—at least temporarily—preserving the tariffs. 5:20pm- In a series of articles published over the weekend, The New York Times examined the Democrat Party's continued struggles appealing to the American electorate. Shane Goldmacher writes that Democrats “are still searching for the path forward”—noting that the party spent $20 million studying their “erosion” of support with “young men” specifically. In another article, Goldmacher—alongside June Kim and Christine Zhang—evaluate “how Donald Trump has remade America's political landscape.” They document that 435 counties across the country became more “Democratic” from 2012 and 2024—however, 2,678 counties became more “Republican.” Further complicating matters is the 2030 census which is expected to cause comfortably blue states to lose electoral votes as citizens move to red states. You can read the articles here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/democratic-party-voters.html. And here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-politics-democrats.html. 5:25pm- Rich announces he will be going to Israel for a fact-finding mission. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy is organizing the event and invited him. On Thursday, Israel accepted a U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas—however, according to The Jerusalem Post, Hamas is demanding some changes to the agreement. 5:40pm- Dr. EJ Antoni—Chief Economist at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to talk about his big promotion to chief economist at Heritage, President Donald Trump's use of tariffs to eliminate barriers to entry for American exports, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's fate in the U.S. Senate. 6:05pm- Jake Tapper's new book, “Original Sin: Pr ...

PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, May 28: Israeli papers react to 600 days war in Gaza. Next, fierce debate over inhaling xenon gas – a new method used by mountain climbers aiming to break speed records. And, Donald Trump's golden redecoration of the Oval Office is labeled a "Rococo nightmare" by The New York Times. Israel is entering its 600th day of war in Gaza. Right-wing Israeli paper The Jerusalem Post marks the day with a front page, putting the names of more than 1000 Israeli victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks. In another analysis, the paper writes that "the Middle East is transformed". “Six hundred days since Hamas acted on a jihadist fantasy to destroy the Jewish state.” The paper says that the group carried out a “pogrom” that would have made “Nazis proud”. The analysis adds that the inability to bring hostages home shapes how many Israelis view the war. The left-wing Israeli paper Haaretz, however, has a different take. The headline of a critical opinion piece by Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert wrote that "Enough is enough. Israel is committing war crimes". The article says that Israel is “waging a war without a purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success”. It calls Netanyahu's government a “criminal gang” that is carrying out a “private political war” that is transforming the enclave into a "humanitarian disaster area".Next to Mount Everest, where the use of a new method helping to speed up mountain climbing, has been polarising locals and climbers. The New York Times reported that a group of Britons scaled Everest in less than a week. An unusually fast time, since climbing high altitudes, can lead to nausea, headaches and in some cases even death. That's why climbers usually spend some time adjusting at the Everest base camp. But the Brits inhaled xenon gas to help them adjust to the thin air faster and shrink the timeline dramatically. The use of the gas however is fiercely debated – its use remains unclear and some mountain climbers call it unethical. The Everest guide who took the British climbers gave an interview to the Associated Press, defending his move. He said that using xenon gas can make climbing Everest not just faster but also better for the environment. Using it would reduce the amount of waste, like oxygen masks, thrown away in the wild. The climb prompted an official investigation by the Nepalese government. The Guardian reported that Nepalese sherpas fear that the gas could encourage more inexperienced climbers to climb the peak. “The true significance of climbing Everest lies in the traditional way it has been approached,” a local sherpa told the Guardian. And finally to the Oval Office, where Donald Trump has been redecorating. The New York Times calls it a “Rococo nightmare”. The redesign has been “significant” says the paper, with a “parade of golden objects”. Just outside the Oval Office, the US president has put a copy of his mug shot on the New York Post front page in a Versailles-like golden frame. There are also two new gilded mirrors that the paper calls “quintessentially Mr. Trump”. You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, May 27: First, the tit-for-tat between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin after Russia's assault on Kyiv continues to make headlines. Also, Israeli papers are divided on how to cover the most recent Jerusalem marches. And, Namibia will be celebrating their first ever Remembrance Day to commemorate the genocide of the Herero and Nama people. Next, Eritrea's national football team will be playing its first game since January 2020. Finally, Brigitte Macron's shove makes waves in the papers. Trump and Putin's tit-for-tat comments are widely discussed in the papers, the BBC sums it up in their headline: “Kremlin calls Trump emotional after US president says Putin is crazy”. Trump's comments came after Russia launched the largest drone assault on Kyiv in the last three years, which killed several civilians. The New York Times says that although he condemned the killings, he has not made Putin pay the price. It says that Trump has never followed through with his warnings, resulting in a "strategic void in which Trump complains about Russia's killings but is unwilling to make Putin pay even a modest price”. CNN says that the president might be shifting his perspective on “what looks like an increasingly futile US effort” to find peace in Ukraine. Meanwhile, cartoonists in the Times and the Guardian make light of the fading bromance.Jerusalem saw marches and celebrations for Israel's Jerusalem day, which were covered very differently in the Israeli papers. Jerusalem Post have a peaceful looking photo of celebrants waving Israeli flags for Jerusalem day. The Times of Israel reports that far-right protestors chanted “death to Arabs”, and held up banners calling for the expulsion of Palestinians. The left-wing paper Haaretz is also covering the march, it says that the hate filled Jerusalem March demonstrated the far right's true goal for Gaza.Namibia will be celebrating Remembrance Day tomorrow. The Namibian daily New Era has it on their front page today, reminding everyone that Remembrance Day is tomorrow. It is the first time Remembrance Day will be celebrated to honour the victims of the genocide against Namibia's indigenous Herero and Nama populations between 1904-1908. It is thought that up to 110,000 people were murdered by the German Empire. The German paper Stern is also covering this story. In May 2021, Germany recognized the atrocities as genocide for the first time, but they did not apologise. The article says that although the German government pledged to provide reconstruction aid worth 1.1 billion euros, it ruled out reparations.Eritrea is holding a small football tournament for the 32nd anniversary of the country's "independence". L'Equipe reports that the Red Sea Boys, Eritrea's national football team are going to play again for the first time since January 2020. Le Monde is also talking about the team's return and travel ban. It features an interview with French historian Gérard Prunier, who doubts that this tournament should be taken as a sign of newfound openness.Finally, Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have been in the spotlight after a video emerged of Brigitte Macron slapping or shoving her husband Emmanuel Macron as they landed in Vietnam. “Nonsense” according to Macron in the New York Times. The president later said they were just “joking” as reports the Guardian.You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

Hôpitaux, écoles, camps de réfugiés, simples habitations : les bombes pleuvent sur Gaza depuis la reprise de l'offensive israélienne sur l'enclave le 17 mai. Rien qu'hier, les frappes aériennes ont fait 22 morts.Le Guardian à Londres relate la tragédie qui a frappé vendredi la famille d'un couple de médecins : « aux premières heures, comme chaque jour, le docteur Alaa al-Najjar, mère de 10 enfants leur dit au revoir avant de quitter la maison. Le plus jeune, Sayden, six mois, dort encore. Et comme chaque jour, alors que la guerre fait rage à Gaza et que les frappes israéliennes s'abattent à quelques mètres de son quartier de Khan Younis, elle s'inquiète de les laisser à la maison sans elle. Mais elle n'a guère le choix, pointe le Guardian. Pédiatre respectée au complexe médical Nasser, elle fait partie des derniers médecins présents à Gaza. Elle doit aller travailler pour soigner les bébés blessés qui ont survécu aux attaques israéliennes. Elle n'imagine pas que cet adieu à sa famille sera le dernier. Quelques heures plus tard, les corps calcinés de sept de ses enfants, tués dans un raid aérien israélien sur Khan Younis, arrivent à son hôpital. Deux autres corps, dont celui de Sayden, restent sous les décombres. De ses dix enfants, un seul a survécu, ainsi que leur père, Hamdi al-Najjar, 40 ans, également médecin. Tous deux sont actuellement hospitalisés ».Le Guardian précise que « selon le ministère de la Santé de Gaza, les frappes israéliennes ont fait au total près de 54 000 morts, dont plus de 16 000 enfants ».« Rien ne me préparait à ce que j'ai vu et vécu à Gaza »À lire dans Le Monde à Paris, les bonnes feuilles du livre de l'historien et spécialiste du Proche-Orient, Jean-Pierre Filiu. Un livre intitulé Un historien à Gaza, qui paraît après-demain mercredi. Jean-Pierre Filiu évoque son voyage de trente-deux jours, du 19 décembre au 21 janvier, au sein du territoire palestinien. « Un témoignage rare », souligne Le Monde. « "Rien ne me préparait à ce que j'ai vu et vécu à Gaza. Rien de rien. De rien" : ainsi débute l'ouvrage de l'historien, relate le journal, récit des semaines passées dans la bande de Gaza au sein d'une équipe de Médecins sans frontières, en partie cantonnée à la "zone humanitaire" dans le centre et le sud de l'enclave. Ce spécialiste du Proche-Orient se rend régulièrement à Gaza depuis les années 80. En complément de son témoignage direct des ravages et des souffrances causés par la guerre déclenchée après l'attaque du Hamas le 7 octobre 2023, il propose, précise Le Monde, une mise en perspective historique du conflit entre Israël et ce territoire occupé ou sous blocus depuis sa conquête en 1967.Un récit d'autant plus nécessaire que les autorités israéliennes interdisent à la presse étrangère l'accès à l'enclave. Qu'il s'achève sur les images de liesse lors de la trêve déclarée le 19 janvier rend plus déchirants les espoirs de paix, rompus par le blocus humanitaire décidé par l'État hébreu début mars et la reprise des bombardements israéliens ».« L'opinion publique doit se réveiller »Ce matin, en Israël, le quotidien d'opposition Haaretz hausse le ton : « il est impossible d'expliquer, et encore moins de justifier, ce qu'Israël fait dans la bande de Gaza. C'est une campagne de vengeance qui a totalement échappé à tout contrôle. Elle se poursuit pour des raisons politiques. Elle n'a aucun objectif militaire ou diplomatique et ne bénéficie d'aucun soutien international. Et elle est menée au prix de la vie des otages. (…) L'opinion publique doit se réveiller, poursuit Haaretz. Elle doit crier haut et fort et exiger la fin de la guerre. Elle doit exiger la fin de ce massacre inconcevable de civils, y compris d'enfants, que ce soit par la famine délibérée ou par les bombardements aériens ».Urgence…Enfin, le Jerusalem Post, plutôt favorable au pouvoir en place, estime que le temps presse… « Plus la guerre durera et plus les victimes civiles s'accumuleront, plus cela portera atteinte à la réputation internationale d'Israël et renforcera le défi auquel sont confrontés les défenseurs de l'État juif dans le monde entier pour faire valoir la légitimité d'Israël dans sa juste bataille contre le Hamas. L'urgence est flagrante en ce qui concerne nos réservistes (…). Mais surtout, l'urgence est ressentie chaque jour et chaque heure par les otages de Gaza et leurs familles qui vivent un enfer (…). Israël doit donc prendre une décision, affirme encore le Jerusalem Post. Va-t-il continuer à faire un pas en avant puis un autre en arrière dans son double effort pour vaincre le Hamas et ramener les otages à la maison ? »

In the midst of the terrible Trump tax bill moving through Congress, Ralph invites Sarah Anderson who directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies to discuss the massive tax loopholes huge companies like Amazon get that allow them to pay far less in taxes than ordinary working people. Then, Greg LeRoy from Good Jobs First joins us to discuss how state taxpayers are footing the bill for these massive data centers companies like Google are building all over the country. Plus, Ralph has some choice words for passive unions and responds to listener feedback about our guest last week, Nadav Wieman.Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and is a co-editor of the IPS website Inequality.org. Her research covers a wide range of international and domestic economic issues, including inequality, CEO pay, taxes, labor, and Wall Street reform.They're (Congress is) planning to give huge new tax giveaways to large corporations like Amazon and wealthy people like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. And partially paying for those tax cuts for the wealthy by slashing programs that mean so much to so many Americans like Medicaid and food assistance.”Sarah AndersonWe're not going to have a healthy, thriving society and economy as long as we have the extreme levels of inequality that we have today.Sarah AndersonDubbed “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies,” “an encyclopedia of information regarding subsidies,” “God's witness to corporate welfare,” and “the OG of ensuring that state and local tax policy actually supports good jobs, sustainability, and equity,”* Greg founded Good Jobs First in 1998 upon winning the Public Interest Pioneer Award. He has trained and consulted for state and local governments, associations of public officials, labor-management committees, unions, community groups, tax and budget watchdogs, environmentalists, and smart growth advocates more than 30 years.Public education and public health are the two biggest losers in every state giving away money to data centers right now.Greg Le RoyWe know of no other form of state spending that is so out of control. Therefore, we recommend that states cancel their data center tax exemptions. Such subsidies are absolutely unnecessary for an extremely profitable industry dominated by some of the most valuable corporations on earth such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google.Good Jobs First report: “Cloudy With a Loss of Spending Control”They've (Congress has) known for years that the ordinary worker pays a higher tax rate than these loophole-ridden corporations.Ralph NaderIn my message to Trump, I ask him, "Why is he afraid of Netanyahu? And doesn't he want to come to the rescue of these innocent babies by saying, ‘Mr. Netanyahu, the taxpayers in this country are paying for thousands of trucks stalled at the border of Gaza full of medicine, food, water, electricity, fuel, and other critical necessities? We're going to put a little American flag on each one of these trucks, and don't you dare block them.'”…No answer.Ralph NaderNews 5/23/251. It seems as though the dam in Israeli politics against acknowledging the horrors in Gaza is beginning to break. In an interview with the BBC this week, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that what Israel "is currently doing in Gaza is very close to a war crime. Thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed.” He went on to say, “the war has no objective and has no chance of achieving anything that could save the lives of the hostages.” These quotes come from the Jerusalem Post. And on May 21st, Haaretz reported that opposition party leader Yair Golan warned that Israel could become a “pariah state, like South Africa once was,” based on its actions in Gaza. Speaking a truth that American politicians appear incapable of articulating, he added, a “sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population.”2. Confirming this prognosis, the Cradle reports “The Israeli military has admitted that more than 80 percent of the people killed in the attacks on Gaza since Israel breached the ceasefire two months ago are…civilians.” This fact was confirmed by the IDF in response to a request from Hebrew magazine Hamakom, wherein “the military's spokesperson stated that 500 of the 2,780 killed in the Gaza Strip as of Tuesday are ‘terrorists.'” Leaving the remaining 2,280 people killed classified as “not suspected terrorists.” The Cradle compares this ratio, approximately 4.5 civilians killed for every combatant, to the Russia-Ukraine war – a ratio of approximate 2.8 to one. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has “claimed that the ratio is just one civilian killed for each combatant killed.” At the same time, AP reports that while Israel has allowed a minimum of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, under immense international pressure, “none of that aid actually reached Palestinians,” according to the United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. The renewed offensive coupled with the barring of humanitarian aid has raised the alarm about mass starvation in Gaza.3. Developments on the ground in Gaza have triggered a new wave of international outcry. On May 19th, leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada issued a joint statement, reading in part, “We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable… The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law…We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.” The Parliament of Spain meanwhile, “passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel,” per Anadolu Ajansı. This potential ban, supported by all parties except the conservative People's Party and the far-right Vox, would “ban the exports of any material that could strengthen the Israeli military, including helmets, vests, and fuel with potential military use.” Left-wing parties in Spain are now pushing for an emergency session to impose a binding decree to this effect.4. The United States however seems to be moving backwards. Drop Site news reports Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff made a deal with Hamas ensuring that, “the Trump administration would compel Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory…[and] make a public call for an immediate ceasefire,” in exchange for the release of Edan Alexander. Of course, once Alexander was released Trump reneged completely. Basem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told Drop Site, “He did nothing of this…They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.” Besides prolonging further the charnel house in Gaza, this duplicity undermines American credibility in the region, particularly with Iran at a time when Trump is seeking a new deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.5. Democrats in Congress are inching towards action as well. On May 13th, Senator Peter Welch introduced Senate Resolution 224, calling for “the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.” Along with Welch, 45 Democrats and Independents signed on to this resolution, that is the entire Democratic caucus except for John Fetterman. On May 14th, Rashida Tlaib introduced House Resolution 409, commemorating the Nakba and calling on Congress to “reinstate support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.” This was cosponsored by AOC and Reps. Carson, Lee, Omar, Pressley, Ramirez, Simon, and Coleman. And, on May 21st, a group of eight senators – Welch, Sanders, Kaine, Merkley, Murray, Van Hollen, Schatz, and Warnock – sent a letter urging Secretary of State Rubio to reopen the investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh, per Prem Thakker. The Biden administration ruled the death “unintentional,” but a new documentary by Zeteo News reveals a “Biden cover-up.”6. More action is occurring on college campuses as well, as students go into graduation season. At NYU, a student named Logan Rozos said in his graduation speech, “As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine,” per CNN. NYU announced that they are now withholding his diploma. At George Washington University, the Guardian reports student Cecilia Culver said in her graduation speech, “I am ashamed to know my tuition [fee] is being used to fund…genocide…I call upon the class of 2025 to withhold donations and continue advocating for disclosure and divestment.” GWU issued a statement declaring Culver “has been barred from all GW's campuses and sponsored events elsewhere.” The moral clarity of these students is remarkable, given the increasingly harsh measures these schools have taken to silence those who speak up.7. Moving on, several major stories about the failing DOGE initiative have surfaced in recent days. First, Social Security. Listeners may recall that a DOGE engineer said “40% of phone calls made to [the Social Security Administration] to change direct deposit information come from fraudsters.” Yet, a new report by NextGov.com found that since DOGE mandated the SSA install new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone, “only two claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent,” or 0.0018%. What the policy has done however, is slow down payments. According to this piece, retirement claim processing is down 25%. Meanwhile, at the VA, DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia, “found…a machine that largely functions, though it doesn't make decisions as fast as a startup might.” Lavingia added “honestly, it's kind of fine—because the government works. It's not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins.” This from Fast Company. Finally, CBS reports, “leaders of the United States Institute for Peace regained control of their offices Wednesday…after they were ejected from their positions by the Trump administration and [DOGE] in March.” This piece explains that On February 19th, President Trump issued Executive Order 14217 declaring USIP "unnecessary" and terminating its leadership, most of its 300 staff members, its entire board, installing a DOGE functionary at the top and transferring ownership of the building to the federal government. This set off a court battle that ended Monday, when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the takeover was “unlawful” and therefore “null and void.” These DOGE setbacks might help explain Elon Musk's reported retreat from the political spotlight and political spending.8. On May 21st, Congressman Gerry Connolly passed away, following his battle with esophageal cancer. Connolly's death however is just the latest in a disturbing trend – Ken Klippenstein reports, “Connolly joins five other members of Congress who also died in office over the past 13 months…Rep. Raúl Grijalva…Rep. Sylvester Turner…Rep. Bill Pascrell…Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee…[and] Rep. Donald Payne Jr.” All of these representatives were Democrats and their deaths have chipped away at the close margin between Democrats and Republicans in the House – allowing the Republicans to pass Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” by a single vote. Connolly himself prevailed over AOC in a much-publicized intra-party battle for the Ranking Member seat on the House Oversight committee. It speaks volumes that Connolly was only able to hold onto that seat for a few short months before becoming too sick to stay on. This is of course part and parcel with the recent revelations about Biden's declining mental acuity during his presidency and the efforts to oust David Hogg from the DNC for backing primaries against what he calls “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.9. Speaking of “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats, Bloomberg Government reports Senator John Fetterman “didn't attend a single committee hearing in 2025 until…May 8, about a week after an explosive New York Magazine story raised questions about his mental health and dedication to his job.” Fetterman, who represents Pennsylvania on the Commerce, Agriculture, and Homeland Security committees skipped the confirmation hearings for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Budget Director Russ Vought, some of the most high-profile and controversial Trump appointments. Fetterman still has yet to attend a single Agriculture committee hearing in 2025.10. Finally, in more Pennsylvania news, the state held its Democratic primaries this week, yielding mixed results. In Pittsburgh, progressives suffered a setback with the ouster of Mayor Ed Gainey – the first Black mayor of the city. Gainey lost to Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, the son of former Mayor Bob O'Connor, the Hill reports. In Philadelphia however, voters approved three ballot measures – including expanding affordable housing and adding more oversight to the prison system – and reelected for a third term progressive reform District Attorney Larry Krasner, per AP. Krasner has long been a target of conservatives in both parties, but has adroitly maneuvered to maintain his position – and dramatically reduced homicide rates in Philly. The Wall Street Journal reports Philadelphia homicides declined by 34% between 2023 and 2024, part of substantial decline in urban homicides nationwide. Kudos to Krasner.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

In this episode of the Touring the Holy Land Series, Jen has a conversation with Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, the executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace. Mae shares some of her transformative experiences traveling and leading trips in Palestine-Israel. She unpacks the role that privilege plays when foreigners travel to the region, emphasizing the cognitive dissonance  that travelers often face when encountering conflicting narratives and the systemic injustices that Palestinians endure. Mae shares about how Churches for Middle East Peace facilitates Christian Holy Land pilgrimages, fostering transformative possibilities for Christian peacebuilding through multi-narrative trips that uplift diverse perspectives from Palestinians and Israelis.In their extended conversation for our Patreon supporters, Jennifer and Mae discuss the impact of Christian pilgrimage on Palestinian communities, highlighting both the economic and emotional significance of solidarity. To access this extended conversation and others, consider ⁠supporting us on Patreon⁠. Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is the executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace. Cannon formerly served as the senior director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision U.S. on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC; as a consultant to the Middle East for child advocacy issues for Compassion International in Jerusalem; as the executive pastor of Hillside Covenant Church located in Walnut Creek, California; and as director of development and transformation for extension ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois. Cannon holds an MDiv from North Park Theological Seminary, an MBA from North Park University's School of Business and Nonprofit Management, and an MA in bioethics from Trinity International University. She received her first doctorate in American History with a minor in Middle Eastern studies at the University of California (Davis) focusing on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine and her second doctorate in Ministry in Spiritual Formation from Northern Theological Seminary. She is the author of several books including the award-winning Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World and editor of A Land Full of God: Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Christianity Today, Leadership Magazine, The Christian Post, Jerusalem Post, EU Parliament Magazine, Huffington Post, and other international media outlets.If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting our work on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/AcrosstheDivide Follow Across the Divide on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠⁠⁠‪@AcrosstheDividePodcast‬⁠⁠⁠Across the Divide partners with Peace Catalyst International to amplify the pursuit of peace and explore the vital intersection of Christian faith and social justice in Palestine-Israel.Show Notes:Vox article on the influence of the book Exodus by Leon UrisCMEP TripsCMEP Action alert

Donald Trump a décidé d'interdire à la prestigieuse université d'accueillir des étudiants étrangers. Une décision qui provoque un émoi certain, aux États-Unis, mais aussi en Europe. Aux États-Unis, tout d'abord, le New York Times rapporte que « la peur et la confusion ont rapidement gagné hier les étudiants étrangers de Harvard, qui représentent plus d'un quart des inscriptions ». « Les diplômes et l'avenir de milliers d'étudiants – une part essentielle de l'identité et de la culture de l'université – sont plongés dans une profonde incertitude », explique le quotidien new-yorkais, qui a interrogé Karl, un étudiant autrichien. « Tellement d'étudiants viennent à Havard (…) pour changer en mieux l'Amérique et leur pays d'origine. Tout risque de s'effondrer, ça me brise le cœur », témoigne le jeune homme.Dehors les étrangersEn Europe, dont sont originaires une partie de ces étudiants étrangers, la colère gronde…Le journal allemand die Welt rappelle le contexte : « Trump a qualifié Harvard « d'institution d'extrême gauche » et qui plus est « antisémite ». Il lui a reproché « d'accepter les manifestations propalestiniennes sur ses campus ». « C'est pourquoi », poursuit die Welt, « l'administration américaine a déjà réduit de plusieurs milliards de dollars les subventions accordées à Harvard ». En Suisse, le Temps remarque que « cette décision, sur fond de chantage, a de quoi effrayer toutes les autres universités ». « Dehors les étrangers », s'exclame la Republica, en Italie, qui évoque aussi le « préjudice économique » de cette décision, les frais de scolarité payés par les étudiants étrangers sont plus élevés que ceux des étudiants américains ». « C'est en attirant les jeunes les plus qualifiés du monde entier qu'Harvard a bâti en quatre siècles sa réputation de meilleure université de la planète », remarque encore la Republica…Jeunes et amoureuxDans la presse internationale également ce matin, la photo du jeune couple juif, travaillant à l'ambassade d'Israël et abattu hier à Washington. Photo dans le Wall Street Journal notamment, lui souriant, tenant un verre à la main. Elle, toute de rose vêtue, parlant devant un micro. « Ils étaient jeunes et amoureux », « selon leurs proches, ils consacraient tous leurs efforts à la paix », raconte le quotidien américain.  « La veille de son assassinat », poursuit le Wall Street Journal, « Yaron Lischinsky cherchait anxieusement une alternative à un vol annulé vers Israël (…) il emmenait sa petite amie rencontrer ses parents pour la première fois à Jérusalem, il comptait la demander en mariage pendant le voyage ».Le quotidien américain a par ailleurs interrogé Ayelet Razin, experte israélienne en droits de l'homme, également amie de la jeune femme tuée Sarah Milgrim. « Elle était jeune et pleine de vie », dit-elle, « cet antisémitisme qu'elle s'était donné pour mission de combattre lui a tragiquement couté la vie ». « Lorsqu'ils ont été tué mercredi soir », précise le journal, « les deux jeunes gens venaient d'assister à une réunion de jeunes diplomates, « pour promouvoir « la collaboration israélo-palestinienne et régionale » et « répondre à la crise humanitaire à Gaza ». Expulser les étudiants militantsEn Israël, le Jerusalem Post évoque également le drame, et le lie, d'une certaine manière, à l'Université d'Harvard, dont nous parlions tout à l'heure…Le Jerusalem Post se demande « si Trump va sévir contre les militants anti-israéliens », alors que, dit-il, le président américain, « a mené ces derniers mois une offensive contre l'activisme propalestinien ». Et le Jerusalem Post prend les étudiants pour exemple, indiquant que « l'administration américaine a cherché à expulser les étudiants militants, gelant des milliards de financement universitaires, exigeant des réformes dans leur lutte contre l'antisémitisme ». Le quotidien israélien ajoute qu'à ce titre, « l'administration américaine a retiré hier à l'université d'Harvard, son autorisation d'accueillir des étudiants étrangers ». Enfin, le journal Haaretz, quotidien d'opposition israélien, publie une tribune, intitulée : « L'antisémitisme meurtrier n'empêchera pas les Juifs de Washington de parler à voix haute ».

X: @americasrt1776 @ileaderssummit @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk Join America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio co-hosts Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy with Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Kehi-Lath Je-shurun on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He has been a congregational Rabbi for over 30 years, and previously served pulpits in Montreal, Quebec and Mount Vernon, New York. This interview was recorded 12 hours prior to the heinous murder of two staff members of Israel's Embassy to the US, which took place in front of the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were planning to get engaged when their lives were cut short by a pro-Hamas supporter. He is on the leadership team of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, on the board of directors of the American Jewish Committee, NY and American Friends of Open University Israel, and a founding board member of the Moral Hearts Alliance, which builds Jewish-Christian cooperation in support of Israel. His first book, “Despite Everything: A Chronicle of Jewish Resilience in the Aftermath of October 7th,” was published in September 2024. Rabbi Steinmetz writes a weekly column for The Jewish Journal, and has written for many other publications, including The Washington Post, The Daily News, The Globe and Mail, La Presse, Haaretz, and The Jerusalem Post. americasrt.com (https://americasrt.com/) https://summitleadersusa.com/ | https://jerusalemleaderssummit.com/ America's Roundtable on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-roundtable/id1518878472 X: @americasrt1776 @ileaderssummit @NatashaSrdoc @JoelAnandUSA @supertalk America's Roundtable is co-hosted by Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy, co-founders of International Leaders Summit and the Jerusalem Leaders Summit. America's Roundtable (https://americasrt.com/) radio program - a strategic initiative of International Leaders Summit, focuses on America's economy, healthcare reform, rule of law, security and trade, and its strategic partnership with rule of law nations around the world. The radio program features high-ranking US administration officials, cabinet members, members of Congress, state government officials, distinguished diplomats, business and media leaders and influential thinkers from around the world. Tune into America's Roundtable Radio program from Washington, DC via live streaming on Saturday mornings via 68 radio stations at 7:30 A.M. (ET) on Lanser Broadcasting Corporation covering the Michigan and the Midwest market, and at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk Mississippi — SuperTalk.FM reaching listeners in every county within the State of Mississippi, and neighboring states in the South including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Tune into WTON in Central Virginia on Sunday mornings at 6:00 A.M. (ET). Listen to America's Roundtable on digital platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other key online platforms. Listen live, Saturdays at 7:30 A.M. (CT) on SuperTalk | https://www.supertalk.fm

PRESS REVIEW – Wednesday, May 21: The humanitarian situation in Gaza is on most front pages today, many of them picking up on a UN report which suggested that 14,000 babies could die if aid does not get through. Israel seems to be losing the support of many of its allies. Also, a medical journal has found that teenagers today are facing an unprecedented health crisis. And, a local Chicago newspaper has published a summer reading list almost entirely made up of fake books. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is on most front pages today. The Independent's front page calls the Gaza hunger crisis “utterly intolerable". Although Israel said it would let in some aid, the BBC reports that although the Israeli government let 93 trucks into Gaza, no aid has been given out so far. The Times of Israel looks at a UN statement issued on Tuesday, which said that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza if aid does not get through quickly. The Jerusalem Post is reporting on the backlash faced by Israeli opposition politician Yair Golan after he said that "a sane country does not kill babies as a hobby”. La Croix meanwhile says that his comments might be the start of a critical reflection on Gaza.Israel is not only facing domestic criticism. The international community has been adding pressure on Israel recently. the Guardian's front page also quotes David Lammy's speech to the House of Commons, where the foreign secretary has since announced the suspension of talks with Israel and imposed sanctions on three individuals and four entities related to the settler movement. Le Monde says that the EU has agreed to re-examine “the EU-Israel Association Agreement”, which forms the basis of the bloc's trade ties with Israel. Meanwhile, the Times is reporting that Donald Trump is also growing increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu.A report published in The Lancet has found that adolescents and young children have never been unhealthier. The National Geographic reports that this generation is facing unique threats on a scale never seen before. The article says that teenagers are having to grapple with the influence of new global technologies. It says that today's adolescents are the “first cohort of humans who will live their entire life experiencing the growing reverberations of climate change”. The Guardian says that half a billion young people will be obese or overweight by 2030.A local newspaper in Chicago has come under fire for an AI mishap. The Chicago Sun-Times has just published a summer reading list with books that don't exist. The tech news site 404 media was the first to report that AI had partially generated the list. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun Times has issued a statement apologising to its readers.Finally, The Hollywood Reporter brings very joyous news that Peppa Pig has a new baby sister Evie. Evie Pig will be making her screen debut on March 30.You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

Une forme de « en même temps » :« Gaza : Israël passe à l'offensive… et poursuit les négociations », constate La Croix à Paris.« Israël lance une vaste opération militaire à Gaza, au milieu de pourparlers de très incertains », renchérit L'Orient-Le Jour à Beyrouth.En effet, précise le quotidien libanais, « l'État hébreu annonce le début d'une offensive d'ampleur "Les chars de Gédéon", peu avant la tenue à Doha d'un nouveau cycle de négociations indirectes. »En fait, pointe le journal, « Israël poursuit la même stratégie depuis plus d'un an et demi : affamer Gaza et utiliser aux frappes militaires pour obtenir du Hamas un cessez-le-feu provisoire et libérer davantage d'otages, sans mettre fin à la guerre, et mener une réoccupation plus vaste de l'enclave. »Libération à Paris a fait les comptes : l'armée israélienne a lancé « 670 frappes dans l'espace d'une semaine. » Bilan : « au moins 462 Palestiniens tués, selon les autorités de l'enclave, dont 344 ces trois derniers jours. »Au même moment, constate notamment Le Soir à Bruxelles, alors qu'aucune aide humanitaire n'est entrée dans l'enclave depuis le 2 mars, «  Israël va autoriser l'entrée d'une « quantité de base de nourriture ». L'État hébreu veut "éviter le développement de la famine dans l'enclave", explique le premier ministre Benyamin Netanyahou.  »Il faut dire, complète le New York Times, que « certains militaires israéliens ont conclu, en privé, que les Palestiniens de Gaza risquaient de souffrir d'une famine généralisée si les livraisons d'aide n'étaient pas rétablies dans les semaines à venir. »Violations et pas de sanctions…Le Temps à Genève énumère les violations du droit international humanitaire dont l'État hébreu se rend coupable dans l'enclave palestinienne : absence d'approvisionnement (article 55 de la Convention de Genève), blocage de l'aide humanitaire (article 59), destruction de biens civils (article 53), attaques disproportionnées (article 57), déplacements forcés et transferts de population (article 49), interdiction de visite des puissances protectrices du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (article 143).Pour autant, si certains pays donnent de la voix, pas de condamnation unanime et encore moins de sanctions… « Guerre à Gaza : les alliés d'Israël face au risque de la complicité  », prévient Le Monde à Paris. « Face à l'horreur des événements dans la bande de Gaza et en Cisjordanie, les organisations humanitaires, les défenseurs des droits humains, avocats, professeurs, intellectuels, artistes, et responsables des Nations unies, demandent aux États d'agir et de ne pas se rendre complices des crimes en cours. (…) La répugnance des États occidentaux à prendre des mesures concrètes contre l'État hébreu les expose à des poursuites pour manquement à leurs obligations internationales.  »Dans la presse internationale, les commentaires se multiplient ces derniers jours. A l'instar de cette supplique lancée hier par un chroniqueur du Sunday Times hier à Londres : « j'ai pleuré les victimes du 7-Octobre, écrit-il. Mais qui parmi nous ne pleure pas aussi les victimes de Gaza ? Critiquer le gouvernement israélien n'est pas antisémite ; c'est le service le plus pro-israélien qu'un ami de cette nation rendre puisse. C'est pourquoi je dis aux Israéliens, après des centaines de morts supplémentaires la dernière semaine et alors que des enfants désespérés cherchant les déclins à la recherche de restes de nourriture, arrêtez. Pour leur bien comme pour le vôtre, arrêtez, s'il vous plaît.  »«  La preuve que tout le monde ne nous déteste pas  »En Israël, l'opinion est partagée… à l'image de ce qu'on peut lire dans la presse. Pour Haaretz, quotidien d'opposition, «  la seule voie vers l'avenir d'Israël est d'arrêter la destruction de Gaza – maintenant !  » Il faut parvenir «  à un accord global visant à rapatrier les otages, à mettre fin à la guerre, à retirer les troupes de Gaza, à permettre l'acheminement de l'aide humanitaire, à engager la reconstruction et à lancer un effort diplomatique international pour apporter des changements profonds dans la région, y compris sur la question palestinienne.  »A contrario, le Jerusalem Post consacre son éditorial à Yuval Raphael… Cette chanteuse de 24 ans, rescapée des massacres du 7-Octobre, arrivée 2e au concours de l'Eurovision samedi soir. «  Yuval Raphael symbole de l'étonnante résilience d'Israël  », s'exclame le Jerusalem Post . Elle «  est arrivée en tête des votes du public. Preuve que la position mondiale d'Israël, décrite souvent comme étant en chute libre, n'est pas aussi désastreuse que nous l'imaginons. (…) C'est la preuve, poursuit le Jerusalem Post, qu'en dépit des résolutions de l'ONU, des appels au boycott et des condamnations réflexes de nombreux hommes politiques européens (Emmanuel Macron, nous vous regardons), c'est la preuve que tout le monde ne nous déteste pas.  »

We spend the whole program with Nadav Wieman, a former IDF sniper and now executive director of Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli veterans who expose the reality of life in the Occupied Territories and work to end the occupation. He and Ralph discuss Nadav's experience in the IDF and his work trying to turn the tide of sentiment in Israel against the ongoing genocide.Nadav Weiman is the executive director of Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli veterans who expose the reality of life in the Occupied Territories and work to end the occupation. Mr. Weiman served in a sniper's team in the special forces of the Nahal brigade and attained the rank of staff sergeant. He also worked as a history and literature teacher and was the legal guardian at a home for underprivileged teens in Tel Aviv.Now the soldiers that gave us testimonies told us that they came to the commander and said, "Okay, this is too much." And the commander said, "Listen, we lost too many dogs in the dog unit, so we're using Palestinians as human shields."Nadav Wieman former IDF sniper and Executive Director of Breaking the SilenceWhen the first soldier came to us in December 2023 and told us about using Palestinians as human shields, I thought it was an isolated event. But then another soldier came and another soldier and another soldier, and then we understood. It's a new protocol. It's called the Mosquito Protocol. “Mosquito,” is a code name on the radio saying, take a Palestinian man and put him in an IDF uniform, and in some cases a GoPro camera on his chest. And then soldiers were ordered to send them into tunnels to sweep the tunnels or into homes to sweep the homes.Nadav WiemanYou have another protocol called “Wasp”. The Wasp Protocol is Palestinians sweeping tunnels, but this time our Palestinians working with the IDF were brought from the West Bank. And they were told that they will get something from us, a permit or something like that.Nadav WiemanNews 5/16/251. Trump has abruptly ended the American war on the Houthi militia in Yemen, saying in a press conference, “You know, we hit them very hard. They had a great capacity to withstand punishment…You can say there's a lot of bravery there…It was amazing what they took. But we honor their commitment and their word,” per Prem Thakker. Behind the scenes, a New York Times report exposes the jaw-dropping waste that precipitated the U.S. backing down from this campaign. Some highlights include that the Houthis almost shot down an F-35 fighter jet – which run about $100 million apiece – that this campaign used so many precision munitions that Pentagon contingency planners grew “increasingly concerned about overall stocks,” and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)'s reported metric of success was “bombs dropped,” evoking the failed campaigns in Vietnam, per the Stimson Center's Emma Ashburn. All in all, this campaign cost $1 billion over the course of just 30 days.2. In more stunning news of Pentagon profligacy, CNN reported on May 6th that a SECOND F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet fell off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier into the Red Sea following the first lost jet by just over a week. Each of these planes bear a price tag of over $60 million, according to the Navy, just in case you were wondering where your tax dollars are going now that Trump and Musk have slashed the budget of anything resembling a social program.3. In more foreign policy news, Edan Alexander, the last remaining U.S. citizen hostage in Gaza, has been released. Alexander was born and raised in New Jersey, then moved to Israel to serve in the IDF after graduating high school in 2022. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was quoted saying “[Alexander's release] was achieved thanks to our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump. This is a winning combination.” Meanwhile Trump posted on Truth Social “Edan Alexander, American hostage thought dead, to be released by Hamas. Great news!” Despite this heraldry however, MSN reports Alexander “rebuffed” a personal meeting with Netanyahu. Counter Currents adds “In a video released by Hamas…last November, Alexander harshly criticized Netanyahu…[accusing] the Israeli leader of abandoning the…[hostages]…and urged Trump…to secure his release.” In this video, Alexander told Netanyahu, “You neglected us…We die a thousand times every day, and no one feels our pain.”4. In a similar vein, the Jerusalem Post reports, “The Trump administration's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, criticized Israel in a meeting with hostage families…[saying] ‘We want to bring the hostages home, but Israel is not willing to end the war.'” Witkoff added “Israel is prolonging [the war] despite the fact that we don't see where else we can go and that an agreement must be reached.” Further, the New Arab reports “The Trump administration has…dropped its longstanding demand for Hamas to disarm as a precondition for a Gaza ceasefire.” This willingness to call a spade a spade regarding Israel's intractable opposition to peace, or even a lasting ceasefire – coupled with a seemingly genuine willingness to realistically approach peace talks – has been a marked point of departure compared to the Biden administration, which “Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire,” according to Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, as reported in Drop Site News.5. Turning to some positive consumer protection news, “Ticketmaster will now show how much you'll pay for tickets — fees included — before checkout,” the Verge reports. This “All In Prices” initiative is an effort by the company to comply with the Federal Trade Commission's ban on junk fees. The FTC cracked down on Ticketmaster following the 2022 Taylor Swift Eras Tour “ticketing catastrophe.” In addition to the FTC, the Department of Justice sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation in 2024, accusing them of “driving up prices as a result of their alleged monopoly,” while the House passed the TICKET Act in 2024, a law that would “force ticket sellers to show full prices upfront.” The Senate is considering that bill now.6. Meanwhile, Igloo has voluntarily widened a recall of their coolers, related to “possible amputation and crushing hazards,” per ABC. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall notice for a little over a million Igloo 90 Qt. Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers back in February, on the basis that “the tow handle can pinch consumers' fingertips against the cooler,” risking “fingertip amputation.” ABC reports this recall now includes “130,000 additional coolers, as well as approximately 20,000 in Canada and 5,900 in Mexico.” According to the CPSC, “since the recall was initiated in February, Igloo has received 78 reports of injuries involving the recalled coolers, including 26 reports of bone fractures, fingertip amputations or lacerations.”7. The first American Pope, Leo XIV, addressed the College of Cardinals on Sunday, in part explaining his decision to take that particular name. According to Business Insider, AI played a major role. The Pope told the college, “I chose to take the name Leo XIV…mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical 'Rerum Novarum' addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution…In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice, and labor.” In a January 2024 message, Pope Francis said “At this time in history, which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity, our reflections must begin with the human heart.”8. Turning to domestic politics, 25-year-old Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg is fighting an uphill battle to remain in his post. The activist and survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting has been a target of the party hierarchs since he refused to disassociate himself from the mission of the organization he cofounded – Leaders We Deserve – which seeks to primary “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats. On May 10th, POLITICO reported that Hogg sought a compromise with the party, vowing that he would erect a “internal firewall,” barring him from “accessing any internal DNC information about congressional and state legislative races as long as he was supporting challengers.” The DNC flatly refused. Instead, it would seem they are trying to oust Hogg by voiding his election, claiming it violated “fairness and gender diversity,” rules, per Semafor. On May 13th, the DNC's Credentials Committee voted to nullify the results of the February election, the Hill reports. According to POLITICO, the full DNC could “opt to hold a virtual vote ahead of the meeting later this summer. Otherwise it will take the issue up during its August meeting.”9. In Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was “arrested and detained by masked federal immigration police Friday when he joined three Democratic congressmembers set to tour a newly reopened 1,000-bed [ICE] jail run by GEO Group,” Democracy Now! reports. This is the latest installment in the power struggle between federal agents and local officials over immigration, an escalation from the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan in April. Dugan herself was indicted this week for supposedly “obstructing or impeding a proceeding,” per Wisconsin Public Radio. Alina Habba, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, tweeted, “The Mayor of Newark…committed trespass…He has willingly chosen to disregard the law…He has been taken into custody.” She added in all caps, “NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.” Chilling words.10. Finally, we pay tribute to Uruguayan revolutionary, anti-dictatorship rebel and former president José “Pepe” Mujica, who passed away this week following a protracted battle with esophageal cancer. Mujica was celebrated throughout the world during his tenure as president for his humble lifestyle; He was called ‘the world's poorest president' famously driving a beat-up old VW bug and donating the bulk of his salary. In 2013, he delivered a bombshell speech at the United Nations in wherein he decried capitalism and the environmental destruction it has wrought. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Greg Grandin eulogized Mujica, writing “He was a member of the insurgent, armed Tupamarus, and served 14 years in prison, much of it in solitary, subject to extreme torture techniques taught by US advisors… Upon his release, he helped build the Frente Amplio into one of the most successful left coalitions. He radiated humility and humanity but he knew that power was meant to be taken and used, and behind his smile was steel. He was 89.”This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

This week on the Jerusalem Post Podcast, Tamar Uriel-Beeri and legal correspondent Sarah Ben-Nun discuss the largest events of the past week. Sarah discusses the view from the courtroom as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives testimony to the court. Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein will also be giving a preview of the Post's upcoming conference in New York.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits down the road over what the government will pay. The order calls on the health department, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to broker new price tags for drugs over the next month. If deals are not reached, Kennedy will be tasked with developing a new rule that ties the price the U.S. pays for medications to lower prices paid by other countries. Jimmy and Americans' Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss the high prices of pharmaceuticals in the United States and whether Trump's executive order will have the intended effect. Plus segments on Trump bypassing Netanyahu to negotiate the release of the last U.S. hostage in Gaza and reports in the Jerusalem Post suggesting that Trump is planning to declare U.S. recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Also featuring Stef Zamorano and Mike MacRae. And a phone call from Andrew Cuomo!

Hoy hablamos sobre la celebración del Día de la Victoria, el día en que la Unión Soviética derrotó al Ejército nazi en Berlín, terminando de manera efectiva la parte europea de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Vladimir Putin ha recibido una gran cantidad de mandatarios, que representaban aproximadamente a la mitad de habitantes del mundo. Sin embargo, en el contexto de la guerra de Ucrania, en Europa se han prohibido banderas rusas y se ha renombrado como "Día de Europa", minimizando y ocultando el papel de la URSS en el final de la II Guerra Mundial. También analizamos hoy el nuevo foco de conflicto mundial que ha surgido entre India y Pakistán. Dos potencias nucleares con un historial de hostilidades que ya se están enfrentando directamente. Por último, analizamos el aparente cambio de postura de Donald Trump respecto a Israel. Su próxima gira por Oriente Medio no incluirá una visita oficial a Netanyahu y el Jerusalem Post publica que tiene fuentes que afirman que Trump podría reconocer al Estado palestino. Con Íñigo Molina, Carlos García y Toni Hernández. Conduce Juan Carlos Barba. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters' own files, Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025) traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives. We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals' found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors, after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens. It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But readers will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us. Sharon Udasin is a reporter for The Hill, covering U.S. West climate & policy from her home base in Boulder, Colorado. She was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder and has also reported for The Jerusalem Post and The New York Jewish Week. A graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Journalism School, Sharon also received a 2022 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award and was honored by the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in 2013. Rachel Frazin covers energy and environment policy for The Hill: that's everything from climate change to gasoline prices to toxic chemicals to renewable and fossil energy. It was through this work that she learned about, and became alarmed by, "forever chemicals." She is originally from South Florida, and she studied journalism and political science at (the very cold) Northwestern University. Previously, her work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Beast, the Tampa Bay Times, and The Palm Beach Post. Daniel Moran's writing about literature and film can be found on Pages and Frames. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the long-running podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Today, Michael speaks with Rabbi Sharon Brous. Sharon is the senior and founding rabbi of IKAR, a leading-edge Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World, a national bestseller. She was named #1 on the Newsweek/The Daily Beast list of most influential Rabbis in America and has been recognized by The Forward and Jerusalem Post as among the most influential Jews alive today. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, and her 2016 TED talk, “Reclaiming Religion,” has been viewed by more than 1.5 million people. Sharon is in the inaugural cohort of Auburn Seminary's Senior Fellows program, which unites top faith leaders working on the frontlines for justice, she sits on the faculty of REBOOT and serves on the International Council of the New Israel Fund, and the national steering committee for the Poor People's Campaign. Highlights from Michael's and Sharon's insightful conversation include:  -Sharon's spiritual awakening and a deep dive into her seminary journey, her love for Talmudic texts, and the realization that her feminist, activist voice was missing from the tradition, and needed to be included -The deep spiritual yearning among disaffected Jews and the need for a new, imaginative religious expression that is both prophetic and rooted in justice -The criticism and threats Sharon received for calling people to compassion, and the spiritual imperative to resist polarization by turning toward, not away from, each other -Poignant stories from Sharon's community and life, including a powerful lesson from her mentor that taught her the sacred responsibility of simply showing up -Themes from Sharon's celebrated sermon, The Amen Effect, and how it turned into a national best-selling book -The link between social disconnection and the rise of tyranny, and a story of how an ideological conflict helped catalyze a life-changing shift in someone -The “18 minutes of joy” practice from Sharon's grieving friend, redefining joy as a form of resistance and spiritual resilience, and so much more! Finally, Michael leads a guided meditation on expanding love from a personal to global scale, culminating in gratitude, spaciousness, and divine compassion.  Learn more about IKAR and Sharon's work at https://ikar.org/ and on social media. Remember to Subscribe or Follow and set an alert to receive notifications each Wednesday when new episodes are available! Connect with Michael at his website – https://michaelbeckwith.com/ – and receive his guided meditation, “Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable” when you sign up to receive occasional updates from Michael! You can also connect with him at https://agapelive.com/. Facebook: @Michael.B.Beckwith https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith  IG: @michaelbbeckwith https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith/  TikTok: @officialmichaelbeckwith   https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w  And as always, deep gratitude to the sponsors of the Take Back Your Mind with Michael B. Beckwith podcast: -Agape International Spiritual Center: https://agapelive.com/ and -NutriRise, the makers of Michael's AdaptoZen product line, a few of which include: -Superfood Greens: https://nutririse.com/products/greens-superfood  -Superfood Reds: https://nutririse.com/products/adaptozen-superfood-reds    -ELEVATE+: Organic Fermented Mushrooms: https://nutririse.com/products/elevate-fermented-mushrooms-powder

The Israeli cabinet have approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and hold the territory indefinitely, which could push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the southward. Alistair Bunkall Sky News Middle East Correspondent brought us the latest. We also heard from Avi Mayer Editor of the Jerusalem Journal and Former Editor-In-Chief of The Jerusalem Post.

This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters' own files, Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025) traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives. We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals' found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors, after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens. It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But readers will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us. Sharon Udasin is a reporter for The Hill, covering U.S. West climate & policy from her home base in Boulder, Colorado. She was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder and has also reported for The Jerusalem Post and The New York Jewish Week. A graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Journalism School, Sharon also received a 2022 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award and was honored by the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in 2013. Rachel Frazin covers energy and environment policy for The Hill: that's everything from climate change to gasoline prices to toxic chemicals to renewable and fossil energy. It was through this work that she learned about, and became alarmed by, "forever chemicals." She is originally from South Florida, and she studied journalism and political science at (the very cold) Northwestern University. Previously, her work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Beast, the Tampa Bay Times, and The Palm Beach Post. Daniel Moran's writing about literature and film can be found on Pages and Frames. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the long-running podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters' own files, Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025) traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives. We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals' found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors, after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens. It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But readers will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us. Sharon Udasin is a reporter for The Hill, covering U.S. West climate & policy from her home base in Boulder, Colorado. She was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder and has also reported for The Jerusalem Post and The New York Jewish Week. A graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Journalism School, Sharon also received a 2022 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award and was honored by the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in 2013. Rachel Frazin covers energy and environment policy for The Hill: that's everything from climate change to gasoline prices to toxic chemicals to renewable and fossil energy. It was through this work that she learned about, and became alarmed by, "forever chemicals." She is originally from South Florida, and she studied journalism and political science at (the very cold) Northwestern University. Previously, her work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Beast, the Tampa Bay Times, and The Palm Beach Post. Daniel Moran's writing about literature and film can be found on Pages and Frames. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the long-running podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the shocking true-life story of how PFAS—a set of toxic chemicals most people have never heard of—poisoned the entire country. Based on original, shoe-leather reporting in four highly contaminated towns and damning documents from the polluters' own files, Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America (Island Press, 2025) traces an ugly history of corporate greed and devastation of human lives. We learn that PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals' found in everyday products, from cooking pans to mascara, are coursing through the veins of 97% of Americans. We witness the pain of families who lost sisters and daughters, cousins and neighbors, after PFAS leached into their drinking water. We discover evidence that the makers of forever chemicals may have known for decades about the deadly risks of their products—because their own scientists have been documenting these dangers since the 1960s. And we see the failure of our government, time after time, to provide basic protections to its citizens. It is impossible to read this searing exposé without being infuriated by the recklessness of corporate America. But readers will also be awed by the spirit of ordinary people who, while fighting for their own lives, took it upon themselves to fix a broken regulatory system. Heart-wrenching and maddening, stirring and uplifting, Poisoning the Well offers a unique window into the worst and best of human nature. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the unfettered power of industry and the invisible threat it poses to the health of the nation—and to each of us. Sharon Udasin is a reporter for The Hill, covering U.S. West climate & policy from her home base in Boulder, Colorado. She was a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder and has also reported for The Jerusalem Post and The New York Jewish Week. A graduate of both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Journalism School, Sharon also received a 2022 SEAL Environmental Journalism Award and was honored by the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership in 2013. Rachel Frazin covers energy and environment policy for The Hill: that's everything from climate change to gasoline prices to toxic chemicals to renewable and fossil energy. It was through this work that she learned about, and became alarmed by, "forever chemicals." She is originally from South Florida, and she studied journalism and political science at (the very cold) Northwestern University. Previously, her work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Beast, the Tampa Bay Times, and The Palm Beach Post. Daniel Moran's writing about literature and film can be found on Pages and Frames. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in History from Drew University. The author of Creating Flannery O'Connor: Her Critics, Her Publishers, Her Readers, he teaches research and writing at Rutgers and co-hosts the long-running podcast Fifteen-Minute Film Fanatics, found here on the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Judges across the country are calling BS on the Trump administration's lies in court. But the government has come up with a genius plan to impress the judiciary by perpwalking a Wisconsin judge out of her own courthouse. If that doesn't work, they'll try contaminated milk. Links:   STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA'S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/   State of NY v. Department of Education [Docket via Court Listener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69944116/state-of-new-york-v-department-of-education/   American Bar Association v. DOJ [Docket via Court Listener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69934429/american-bar-association-v-us-department-of-justice/   NTEU v. Vought [DDC docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69624423/national-treasury-employees-union-v-vought/?   NTEU v. Vought [DC Cir docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69821739/national-treasury-employees-union-v-russell-vought/   Trump Administration Previews Genius New Legal Strategy https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/trump-admin-previes-genius-new-legal   US v. Dugan docket (E.D. Wisc.) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69943130/united-states-v-dugan/   Russell W. Currier and John A. Widness, A Brief History of Milk Hygiene and Its Impact on Infant Mortality from 1875 to 1925 and Implications for Today: A Review, Journal of Food Protection (Oct. 2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X22087610   Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking. Jerusalem Post, April 25, 2025 https://www.jpost.com/food-recipes/article-851470   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

Please, feel free to send a text message here and give us feedback. Also, you may send a text msg or leave voicemail (425) 550-6670. Please DO NOT ask questions here because I have no way to respond to your questions. If you have questions, please send an email: questions@cominghome.co.ilToday, we will examine the controversial question of “When does a Biblical day start?” This is PART 1. Of course, whether a biblical day starts in the morning or with the previous evening, it has been a topic of great discussion, sometimes heated, for at least twenty centuries, and that is a long time! From my research, I have found that both sides (pro and con) present compelling evidence supporting their respective positions. Given this, you might ask, “Why even bring up the dispute if both sides seem to make a valid case for their beliefs?” I have my reasons, which you will learn in this study series. To begin, rather than argue about what this or that Bible verse says or does not say, I want to take a different approach to answer the all-important question, “When does a biblical day start?” Let's begin with learning about the known positions from within cultural Jewish history, then continue with more historical information on biblical authority and prophecy. Today, we will start with a teaching article from the Jerusalem Post published in 2009, "From Sun to Moon," when they interviewed Hebrew University Professor Rachel Elior to learn from her years of research and scholarship in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Please join me for today's Real Israel Talk Radio biblical study, Episode 175 PART 1. Support the show

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Ellis Shuman, author of the book Rakiya - Stories of Bulgaria. Ellis is an American-born Israeli author, travel writer, and book reviewer. His writing has appeared in The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, World Literature Today, and The Huffington Post. His short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and has appeared in Isele Magazine, Vagabond, The Write Launch, Esoterica, Jewish Literary Journal, San Antonio Review, and other literary publications. He is the author of The Virtual Kibbutz, Valley of Thracians, The Burgas Affair, and Rakiya – Stories of Bulgaria.   In my book review, I stated Rakiya - Stories of Bulgaria is a collection of cultural short stories set in Bulgaria. In these short stories we follow such characters as pickpocketing Roma, a WWII veteran, refugees, authors, makers of rakiya, and hunters - all while learning about the rich history of the area.    As someone who knows little about the Bulgarian culture or the history, I was enchanted by the stories. I was also intrigued by the foods, drinks, mountains, and churches. By the time I was finished with the collection, I wondered if a trip to Bulgaria might be in order!   As an author, I was fascinated with how the author weaved these tales into a cohesive whole - and loved how a character from one story would inevitably end up in another. Despite being a series of short stories, it reads far more like a novel, with Bulgaria as the main character. It's a great read.   Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1   Join the Novels N Latte Book Club community to discuss this and other books with like-minded readers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3576519880426290   You can follow Author Ellis Shuman Website: https://ellisshuman.blogspot.com/ FB: @Ellis Shuman Author   Purchase Rakiya - Stories of Bulgaria on Amazon: Paperback: https://amzn.to/3RwLK1L Ebook: https://amzn.to/4ja3EU6   Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor IG: @terimbrown_author X: @terimbrown1   Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors   #ellisshuman #rakiyastoriesofbulgaria #shortstories #contemporaryfiction #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview *As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  Today on Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Zineb Riboua, a research fellow and program manager of Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. She specializes in Chinese and Russian involvement in the Middle East, the Sahel, and North Africa, great power competition in the region, and Israeli-Arab relations. Riboua's pieces and commentary have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, the National Interest, the Jerusalem Post and Tablet among other outlets. She holds a master's of public policy from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. She did her undergraduate studies in France, where she attended French preparatory classes and HEC Paris' Grande Ecole program. Her Substack is Beyond the Ideological. Razib and Riboua discuss the Trump administration's theory of tariffs as a tool of foreign policy and his attitudes toward multilateral diplomacy. They explore whether any principle beyond power and dominance underlies the current administration's approach, and consider the role of principles and values in foreign policy. Riboua elaborates a realist perspective in line with the thinking of Henry Kissinger. States have interests and abilities to execute on those interests; idealism is secondary. Riboua also discusses the fact that Trump seems attuned to how foreign politicians relate to the American domestic scene. He seems willing to punish those abroad whom he perceives to be favorable to his political enemies and reward those who are personally favorable toward him. Razib then asks Riboua about the geopolitics of her native Morocco, a relatively stable monarchy on northwest Africa's edge that has promoted moderate Islam, a good relationship with Europe and maintained a stable democracy.

Brooklyn-born Israeli cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, whose iconic “Dry Bones” cartoons appeared in newspapers for decades, has died at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba at the age of 87 after a lengthy illness. Kirschen, who made aliyah in 1971, began drawing his trademark cartoon “Dry Bones” in 1973—a series inspired by the biblical vision of the Valley of Dry Bones and featuring a main character named Shuldig (Yiddish for guilty or blame). The comic strip became internationally syndicated and was published in The Jerusalem Post for 50 years before Kirschen moved his work to JNS.Jeff Barak, a former editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post, says that Yaakov Kirschen was the “ideal cartoonist.” He told reporter Arieh O’Sullivan that Kirschen had a unique, original style and a joie de-vivre presence whose cartoons also resonated outside of Israel. (photo: Koren Jerusalem) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As countries in the Eastern Mediterranean - particularly Greece, Cyprus, and Israel - deepen their ties, they are also faced with the challenges posed by malign actors across the region. This includes countries like Russia, Iran, and Turkey, but also non-state actors like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in the Red Sea. Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum and a contributor to the Jerusalem Post, the Wall Street Journal and The Australian, joins Thanos Davelis as we explore these security challenges and look at how East Med countries can work together to address them.You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:No One Should Be Surprised About the Syrian MassacresTurkey, Israel have begun talks to avoid clashes in Syria, sources sayHigh-stakes poker over energy linkPM: ‘A trade war only produces losers'

Documentary filmmaker, Alexis Bloom, joins Nihal for an in-depth conversation.Recorded in December and centering on Alexis' Oscar-shortlisted documentary The Bibi Files.To bring the story up to date, Nihal also caught up with The Jerusalem Post's News Editor, Alex Winston, as Benjamin Netanyahu's trial and the political situation in Israel continue to evolve.

Zvika Klein, Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post, was arrested by police last week as part of the investigation into the Qatargate affair. He was questioned under caution but eventually released without being charged. KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with him about his interrogation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ralph welcomes Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, whose group has filed eight lawsuits that have significantly slowed the Trump/Musk cabal's attempt to dismantle the government. Then, our resident Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein reports on Public Interest Law Day at Harvard Law School and how important it is for law schools in general to step up to meet this constitutional crisis. Plus, Ralph answers listener questions!Robert Weissman is a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on a wide variety of issues ranging from corporate accountability and government transparency, to trade and globalization, to economic and regulatory policy. As the President of Public Citizen, he has spearheaded the effort to loosen the chokehold corporations and the wealthy have over our democracy.The efforts in the courts are really vital to stem the illegal, unconstitutional actions of the administration, but also to show that there's a way to fight back. In these early days and months of the administration, there's been a sense that Trump is inevitable and unstoppable. And the actions in the courts, I think, have been really critical to illustrating that that's not true.Robert WeissmanIt's open season for the polluters. And of course, they're also promoting in a variety of ways a rush towards climate catastrophe by undoing the positive measures that have come recently from the Biden administration to deal with the climate crisis.Robert WeissmanIf you pull back all the enforcement rules, and you say we're not going to enforce the rules that are left over, corporations get the message. And they're going to bemore reckless, and it's a near certainty that we're going to have many more serious industrial disasters as a direct result of what they're doing at EPA and other agencies.Robert WeissmanBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.If we don't inform the public (with the law students as well as others in the lead), we're not going to have rule of law and Harvard Law School will become an irrelevancy. It will be a museum piece.Bruce FeinI think the country and the law students are going to pay a price. They're being very narrow and myopic with regard to their immediate preoccupation with their trade school, where they're going to work the next day, and very little given to the fact that if we don't have a country anymore, they aren't going to have a legal career.Bruce FeinIt's a more cowardly, timid type of law school whose explanations are still ready to be discovered. It's a real puzzle…because they have tenure, they have status, they have wealth, and they have the ability to defend themselves because they're skilled lawyers.Ralph NaderNews 4/2/251. Our top stories this week are on the topic of corporate crime. First, the American Prospect reports that the Trump administration is seeking to reverse a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau case against Townstone, a mortgage brokerage firm that blatantly discouraged potential Black borrowers. According to the Prospect, Townstone's owners Barry Sturner and David Hochberg vigorously promoted their firm though “personal-finance call-in infomercials,” on Chicago's WGN radio station. During these infomercials, which generated 90 percent of Townstone's business, Sturner and Hochberg “characterized the South Side of Chicago as a ‘war zone,' downtown Chicago as a ‘jungle' that turned on Friday and Saturday into ‘hoodlum weekend,'” and so on. As the Prospect notes, if Sturner and Hochberg were simply airing these views that would be perfectly legal, however unsavory. Instead, this program is “an informercial, which generates 90 percent of the brokerage's leads, which the brokerage pays WGN to air, presumably punctuated at regular intervals by some phrase along the lines of ‘an equal housing lender.'” Therefore, this rhetoric was determined to have violated the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Community Reinvestment Act. The remarkable thing about this case is that it was brought by the Trump administration's CFPB between 2017 and 2020. Townstone eventually settled the case for a little over $100,000. Yet, just last week, the Trump administration 2.0 returned the money to Townstone posting “a long press release about how ‘abusive' and ‘unjust' the whole case had been.” This episode highlights just how much more extreme the new Trump administration is, even compared to the old one.2. Another outrageous case of corporate criminal leniency comes to us from Rick Claypool, a corporate crime expert at Public Citizen. For background, CNBC reports that Trump has “pardoned three co-founders of the BitMEX global cryptocurrency exchange, as well as…a former high-ranking employee.” As this piece explains, the co-founders received criminal sentences of probation…and were ordered to pay civil fines totaling $30 million,” after “Prosecutors accused the men of effectively operating BitMEX as a ‘money laundering platform' …[and] ‘a sham.'” But Trump went beyond pardoning the corporate criminals involved. As Claypool noted, “the crypto corporation pled guilty and was sentenced in January to two years' probation,” leading Claypool to wonder whether Trump would pardon the corporation itself. His question was answered on March 29th when Law360 reported that yes, Trump pardoned the business entity. This is the logical endpoint of regarding corporations as people. Not only will individual crooks be let off the hook, the whole crooked enterprise will come out unscathed.3. New evidence confirms the redistribution of wealth from working people to the capitalist class. A February 2025 RAND Corporation study titled “Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023” finds that, “the bottom 90 percent of workers would have earned $3.9 trillion more with..more even growth rates [since 1975],” resulting in a “cumulative amount of $79 trillion.” This study extends prior estimates by factoring in “inflation, growth in inequality, and a longer time frame.” And even more recently, an April 2025 article in the Journal of Political Economy, titled “How the Wealth Was Won: Factor Shares as Market Fundamentals,” finds that “40% of [the increase in real per capita value of corporate equity, which grew at an annual rate of 7.2% between 1989 and 2017]…was attributable to a reallocation of rewards to shareholders in a decelerating economy, primarily at the expense of labor compensation.” This study estimates “Economic growth accounted for just 25% of the increase,” and compares this period to the preceding era, “1952–88, [which] experienced only one-third as much growth in market equity, but economic growth accounted for more than 100% of it.” Taken together, these studies starkly illustrate an American economic machine built to make the rich even richer and the poor ever poorer.4. On the other end of the criminal penalty spectrum, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that they will seek the death penalty for alleged UnitedHealthcare assassin Luigi Mangione, the BBC reports. The first Trump administration saw the resumption of the federal death penalty after a 16-year hiatus; the Biden administration then issued a new moratorium and commuted the sentences of most federal death row prisoners. Since returning to power, Trump has aggressively pursued federal executions once again.5. In more positive legal news, NBC reports French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty Monday of embezzling over €3 million of European Union funds. The National Rally party leader was sentenced to four years in prison (with two on house arrest and two suspended), a €100,000 fine, and a ban on holding political office for five years – making her ineligible for the 2027 French presidential election, which polls showed her leading. Her party will, for the time being, be led by her protégé 29-year-old Jordan Bardella. It is unclear if he will enjoy the same popularity Ms. Le Pen held. She announced that she plans to appeal the verdict, but will remain ineligible for public office unless and until she wins that case.6. In more international news, British police last week executed a shocking raid on a congregation of the Quakers. The Guardian reports, “More than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with Tasers, forced their way into the Westminster meeting house…[and] seized attenders' phones and laptops.” In a statement, Paul Parker, the recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said “No one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory… This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest.” The stated charge is the absurd “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.” A report on the incident in Church Times adds a statement from Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain, who said “This raid is not an isolated incident. It reflects a growing trend of excessive policing under new laws brought in by the previous government, which are now being enforced by the current administration.” Even former Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, criticized the raid, stating “There has long been a tradition in this country…that religious spaces should not be invaded by the forces of law and order unless absolutely necessary.”7. Of course, the outrageous use of lawfare on Israel's behalf continues in the halls of Congress as well. In a letter, Congressmen Jim Jordan, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast – famous for his role as an American volunteer for the IDF – have announced their intention to investigate activist groups critical of the Israeli government – within Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post, these NGOs are being investigated to, “ascertain whether funding they allegedly received from the Biden administration was utilized for the judicial reform protests in 2023.” These groups include the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and Blue and White Future, among others.8. The government's use of brute force to muzzle criticism of Israel continues to rock academia. At Harvard, the Crimson reports 82 of Harvard Law School's 118 active professors have signed a letter which “accused the federal government of exacting retribution on lawyers and law firms for representing clients and causes opposed by President Donald Trump…described Trump's threats as a danger to the rule of law…[and] condemned the government for intimidating individuals based on their past public statements and threatening international students with deportation over ‘lawful speech and political activism.'” The letter reads, in part, “we share a conviction that our Constitution, including its First Amendment, was designed to make dissent and debate possible without fear of government punishment. Neither a law school nor a society can properly function amidst such fear.” This letter stands in stark contrast to the recent statement by Harvard President Alan Garber, in which he pledged to “engage” with the federal government's demands in order to protect the university's $9 billion in federal funding.9. Last week, we reported on the “lynching” of Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land – and how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences dithered before ultimately releasing a milquetoast statement decrying violence against “artists for their work or their viewpoints,” with no mention of Palestine or even Ballal's name. This caused so much uproar among Academy members that nearly 900 of them signed a letter “denouncing the Academy's silence,” per Variety. The letter and full list of signatories can be found here. Shamed, the Academy leadership was forced to issue a follow-up statement expressing their “regret that we failed to directly acknowledge Mr. Ballal and the film by name.” This statement continues “We sincerely apologize to Mr. Ballal…We abhor the suppression of free speech under any circumstances.”10. Finally, speaking of shame, the Hill reports that the shame of Congressional Republicans is giving Democrats a golden opportunity. According to this piece, “House Democrats are ramping up their aggressive strategy of conducting town halls in Republican-held districts, vying to exploit the GOP's advised moratorium on the events to make inroads with frustrated voters, pick up battleground seats, and flip control of the House in next year's midterms.” One Democrat, Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign co-chair Ro Khanna, has held three town halls in Republican-held districts, whose main takeaway was “People are mad.” Republicans who have bucked the GOP leadership and held town halls anyway, such as Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman and Indiana congresswoman Victoria Spartz have found themselves looking down the barrel of constituents furious at the conduct of the administration in general and DOGE in particular. This, combined with the upset Democratic victories in recent special elections, has the GOP on a defensive backfoot for the first time in months. Could we be looking at the beginning of a Democratic tea party? Only time will tell.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Bruce Brill is a former analyst for the US National Security Agency called NSA. During his tenure in the early 1970s he became aware of intelligence indicating imminent attacks on Israel by Egypt and Syria prior to the Yom Kippur war in 1973. He asserts that this critical information was withheld from Israeli authorities and Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur.  More than 2660 Israeli soldiers were killed.    The surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 exactly 50 years almost to the day 1300 Israeli's were killed and more than a 130 were taken hostage..  This was also a surprise attack similar to Yom Kippur 11973,   Bruce shares a fascinating story with me.  He wrote a book Deceit of an Ally and discusses it with me. The books is available on Amazon.  It's a good read and flows like a spy thriller.  Bruce Brill is an independent journalist and former U.S. National Security Agency Middle East analyst. He's been published in the Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor, Midstream, Jewish Spectator, Jerusalem Report, others.

Upcoming Event Notice: Dan Senor will be delivering this year's State of World Jewry Address at the 92nd Street Y (92NY) on Tuesday May 13 at 7:30 pm. To register: https://www.92ny.org/event/the-state-of-world-jewry-addressWatch Call me Back on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CallMeBackPodcastTo contact us, sign up for updates, and access transcripts, visit: https://arkmedia.org/Dan on X: https://x.com/dansenorDan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansenorArk Media on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arkmediaorgIsrael's pre-October 7th and post-October 7th worlds are colliding, as the war in Gaza resumes, along with the internal strife that preceded it. Today we discuss Israel's new and expanding military campaign in Gaza, its objectives, the difference in war-fighting strategy between the IDF's former chief-of-staff and new chief-of-staff, and the kind of enemy the IDF is facing now in Gaza compared to what the IDF was facing before the ceasefire. All of this is against the backdrop of domestic political tensions reaching a boiling point over the Government's efforts to remove the head of the Shin Bet and the Attorney General. Our guest is Seth Frantzman, who joins us from Jerusalem. Seth is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post. He is also an adjunct fellow at the Foundation For Defense of Democracies, and the author of three books. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Seth has served as a research associate at the IDC in Herzliya and a lecturer at Al-Quds University. His latest book is The October 7 War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza: https://lnk.to/XGEe6bx0.CREDITS:ILAN BENATAR - Producer & EditorMARTIN HUERGO - Sound EditorYARDENA SCHWARTZ - Executive Editor, Ark MediaGABE SILVERSTEIN - ResearchYUVAL SEMO - Music Composer

Karen Kirsten joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about the messy complexity of family, asking the right questions, writing about a time in history when you weren't present in that history, utilizing and incorporating primary research, recorded interviews, archived documents, diaries, film, and photographs into memoir, writing fact-based vivid scenes, working with historians to accurately depict world-altering events, being honest with the reader and grappling with conflicting information on the page, changing the central question of your memoir, being a detective and being dogged, having a care plan and a nurturing creative community, writing about transgenerational trauma, inserting yourself into the narrative as a character, and her new memoir Irina's Gift.   Also in this episode: -structural changes late in the process -delaying reveals to add suspense -using image systems to address transgenerational trauma   Books mentioned in this episode:    The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich The Most Dangerous Book by Kevin Birmingham The Sinner and the Saint by Kevin Birmingham Fairyland by Alysia Abbott The Postcard by Anne Berest The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel WIlkers The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante Leviathan by Paul Auster Question 7 by Richard Flanagan Swimming in Paris: A Life in Three Stories by Colombe Schneck Who I Always Was by Theresa Okokon Karen Kirsten is the author of Irena's Gift, a National Jewish Book Award finalist for Autobiography & Memoir, winner of Zibby Awards for Best Family Drama & Best Story of Overcoming, and an Australian Jewish Book Award finalist. Irena's Gift is also The Australian newspaper's'notable book', and described by Pulitzer prize winning author Geraldine Brooks as ”a disturbing investigation into the power of secrets to harm and to haunt.”   Karen is an Australian-American writer and Holocaust educator who speaks around the world on the topics of hate and reconciliation. Karen's essay “Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother's Life” was selected by Narratively as one of their Best Ever stories and nominated for The Best American Essays. Karen's writing has also appeared in Salon.com, The Week, The Jerusalem Post, Huffington Post*, Boston's National Public Radio station, The Boston Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, and more.    Connect with Karen: Website: https://www.karenkirsten.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingbabcie/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karen.kirsten Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747811/irenas-gift-by-karen-kirsten/   – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

We pulled one of our favorite interviews from the BLS interview archives where Derek Champagne interviews Michael Levin. This was a powerful interview and Michael overdelivered as our guest! As one of the most established writers in the nation, New York Times best-selling author Michael Levin has written or co-written more than 100 books, of which eleven are national best sellers.He appeared on ABC's Shark Tank on January 20th, 2012. In the past, Michael has published with Simon & Schuster, Random House, St. Martin's Press, Putnam/Berkley, and many other houses. His works have been optioned for film and TV by Steven Soderbergh/Paramount, HBO, Disney, ABC, and others. One of his own novels became Model Behavior, an ABC Sunday night Disney movie of the week. He has also made contributions to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Politico, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Jerusalem Post, Writers Digest, CBS News. Michael has had the experience to teach writing classes at the University of California – Los Angeles and New York University. As an Amherst College and Columbia Law School graduate, Michael served for many years as a member of the prestigious Authors Guild Council and as Treasurer of the Authors Guild Foundation.Michael currently resides with his wife and four children in Boston, Massachusetts. Learn more about Michael at www.businessghost.com

A video from an ultra-orthodox wedding last week went viral and stoked fresh rage targeting the ultra-orthodox population.In his column in the Jerusalem Post last Friday (see the Podcast Notes for the link), State of Tel Aviv regular, Ya'akov Katz, gave voice to the growing anger that many Israelis feel towards the ultra-orthodox population in Israel. This time, it was triggered by the wedding video, showing a prominent Rabbi leading what looked to be many hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, men in a frenzied song and dance. As they rocked to the beat, they referred to the nation of Israel as a country of heretics and celebrated their continued refusal to serve in the IDF. Well… hell hath no fury like a population that has given its all to the war effort for 17 months now, being scorned and mocked so openly. This same ultra-orthodox population also receives tens of millions of shekels in funding for their educational institutions annually from this nation of heretics. And they use this funding to provide an education that further demonizes the Israelis who serve and work, entrenching this insane cycle of entitlement, dependence, and exploitation. Ya'akov Katz is hopping mad, and rightly so. We discuss the policies, the gutter political reality, and how this very broken paradigm cannot continue. The IDF has a severe shortage of soldiers—in the draft and reserve armies. This Haredi holiday is over. Ya'akov and I get into it. And pull no punches. You can listen to the podcast on the State of Tel Aviv site or, if you prefer, click on YouTube and have the full AV experience. Please like and subscribe. Ring the bell on YouTube. We're working hard to build our YouTube presence and really appreciate your support.State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Podcast Notes:1) Column by Ya'akov Katz published in The Jerusalem Post, Friday March 14: “The IDF needs soldiers but Israel is paying yeshivas to dodge the draft—opinion”This might have been possible to tolerate before October 7, but definitely not now, at a time when the IDF is missing over 10,000 soldiers to fulfill the missions it already has.2) Column By Ya'akov Katz published in the Jewish Chronicle, Tuesday March 11, 2025: “Dismissing Israel's Attorney-General is a distraction from government's failures.”Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel's Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.Find Yaakov Katz on X @yaakovkatz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

The pace of events here is impossible. I'm keen to keep you updated and for now that means more podcasts than usual. Today I was lucky to catch a regular State of Tel Aviv guest and a man with deep knowledge of security and military issues… politics too…Ya'akov Katz. My head has been spinning from the pace of reports being made public by the IDF into the total failure of October 7 and I turned to Ya'akov to make it make sense. He did his best. We discuss the reports, which confirm what we already knew – but in writing. And then there was the unseemly brawl that broke out in the Knesset halls yesterday when bereaved family members were banned from entering the Visitor's Gallery for a plenary session of Parliament. This was done at the direction of the Knesset Speaker, Likud MK Amir Ohana. Finally, we touch on the breakdown of the ceasefire with Hamas and the uncertain fate of the remaining hostages. Thanks for being here. As always, we'd love your feedback. Have a listen.You can listen to the podcast on the State of Tel Aviv site or, if you prefer, click on YouTube and have the full AV experience. Please like and subscribe. Ring the bell on YouTube. We're working hard to build our YouTube presence and really appreciate your support.State of Tel Aviv is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Yaakov Katz is an Israeli-American author and journalist. Between 2016 and 2023, Yaakov was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post where he continues to write a popular weekly column.He is the author of three books: “Shadow Strike – Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power”, “Weapon Wizards—How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower” and “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War.”Prior to taking up the role of editor-in-chief, Yaakov served for two years as a senior policy adviser to Naftali Bennett during his tenure as Israel's Minister of Economy and Minister of Diaspora Affairs.In 2013, Yaakov was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Originally from Chicago, Yaakov has a law degree from Bar Ilan University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Chaya and their four children.Find Yaakov Katz on X @yaakovkatz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stateoftelaviv.com/subscribe

Newt talks with Yaakov Katz, the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, about the historic collapse of the Assad family's 53-year rule in Syria, marking a significant moment 14 years after the Syrian civil war began. Opposition forces declared Syria liberated from President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Katz provides insights into the Assad family's history, the dynamics of the Syrian civil war, and the implications for Syria and the broader Middle East. Katz discusses the Assad regime's brutal tactics, including the use of chemical weapons, and the complex geopolitical landscape involving various factions and international players like the U.S., Russia, Turkey, and Iran. They also discuss Israel's strategic interests and military actions in the region, the role of Kurdish forces, and the potential future of Syria under new leadership.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.