Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 13, 2026 at 5:00 am
Western governments and donors will undoubtedly welcome the announcement [of presidential elections] as a sign that Abbas is finally responding to long-standing demands for reform. They should not. Holding elections for the sake of holding elections is not reform. Elections alone do not create democracy, end corruption, or establish accountability. Elections by themselves, as Natan Sharansky and Ron Dermer emphasize in A Case for Democracy, do not signify a democracy. There first need to be functioning institutions of democracy — freedom of speech, freedom of the press, separation of religion and state, freedom from religion, an independent judiciary, separation of powers, equal justice under the law, due process, and so on — and then, at the end of these processes that actually embody democracy, after they are up and running, an election can be held that represents a democracy. Otherwise, as can be seen in Russia, Iran and other dictatorships, elections are not signs of reform, at all but just choreographed burlesques. The Palestinians desperately need transparent institutions, an independent judiciary, a free press, functioning checks and balances, and leaders who answer to the public rather than rule indefinitely by presidential decree. None of that exists under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank or Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian parliament, known as the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), has been effectively defunct since Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, and Abbas formally dissolved it in 2018. "[T]he clearest evidence of the slide to authoritarianism has been the decision taken by the party that lost the 2006 elections, Fatah, to dissolve the PLC in 2018. The inevitable outcome of the suspension of the PLC meetings has been the transfer of its legislative and oversight functions to the executive authority represented by the president. Since 2007, President Abbas issued more laws by decree than those ever issued by the PLC during its entire life since the first election in 1996. Most of these laws were not urgent, as required by the Basic Law, and many of them violated the terms of that law. In the absence of a parliament, the president gave himself the power to rule by decree without accountability or oversight." — Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), January 2021. The latest poll conducted by the PCPSR found that 80% of Palestinians want [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] to leave office. If Abbas and the Fatah leadership determine which candidates may participate, the outcome will be largely predetermined before the first ballot is cast. Fatah remains firmly under the control of the same leadership, the same political culture, and the same patronage networks. Some names changed, but the system remained unchanged. Same old politics, decorated with a few new faces, including Abbas's son, Yasser. For ordinary Palestinians, the choice remains essentially between Fatah and Hamas. There is no viable third force capable of competing nationally, and both movements have spent years suppressing independent political voices. Public opinion surveys over the past two years have repeatedly shown that Hamas... enjoys greater support than Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Under these circumstances, new elections could once again hand victory to Hamas. Such an outcome would strengthen an Iran-backed terrorist group that openly seeks Israel's destruction, rejects peace, and continues to advocate armed jihad (holy war). Democracy cannot exist when the ruling faction controls the rules, the institutions, and the political playing field. Power is concentrated in a small inner circle. There is no functioning parliament. There is no meaningful separation of powers. There is little room for genuine public debate. Journalists operate under constant pressure and fear. Political appointments often depend more on personal loyalty than merit. The question is not whether Palestinians should vote. The question is whether the conditions for free and meaningful elections exist. As long as Hamas remains an armed terrorist group with substantial public support, and as long as Fatah continues to monopolize Palestinian political life, elections are more likely to reproduce the current crisis than resolve it. Palestinians need institutional reform. They need independent courts. They need financial transparency. They need anti-corruption mechanisms. They need genuine freedom of expression. They need political pluralism. They need peaceful transfers of power. Only after these foundations are established can elections produce meaningful change. Otherwise, elections merely provide democratic decoration for an undemocratic system. Western governments should therefore resist the temptation to celebrate Abbas's latest decree as evidence of reform and democratic progress. His decree should be viewed for what it most likely is: another political maneuver designed to preserve international legitimacy and secure continued Western financial support, rather than a sincere effort to bring democracy to the Palestinian people.
The question is not whether Palestinians should vote. The question is whether the conditions for free and meaningful elections exist. As long as Hamas remains an armed terrorist group with substantial public support, and as long as Fatah continues to monopolize Palestinian political life, elections are more likely to reproduce the current crisis than resolve it. The Palestinian parliament, known as the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), has been effectively defunct since Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, and Abbas formally dissolved it in 2018. Pictured: The PLC building in Ramallah on January 28, 2006, three days after its last election. (Photo by Zharan Hammad/Getty Images)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has once again announced legislative and presidential elections, presenting the move as evidence of democratic renewal. According to a presidential decree issued on July 9, legislative elections are scheduled for November 28, 2026, while presidential elections are to follow during the first quarter of 2027. The decree calls on Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem to participate in "free and direct" elections aimed at strengthening democracy. Western governments and donors will undoubtedly welcome the announcement as a sign that Abbas is finally responding to long-standing demands for reform. They should not. Holding elections for the sake of holding elections is not reform. Elections alone do not create democracy, end corruption, or establish accountability.
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by Lawrence Kadish • July 13, 2026 at 4:00 am
As we start to pursue our second 250th era, this would be a good time to recognize that energy security is national security. Securing energy abundance through nuclear fusion will be a strategic precondition for global leadership in the coming decades. (Image source: OpenAI)
The fireworks have faded. The paradegoers have gone home. The red, white and blue bunting will be taken down by the end of the month. The 250th anniversary of our nation's founding has come and gone. What now? This historic milestone should not be viewed as a celebration to conclude by July 5th but as the opening of a national conversation about what America intends to become in the decades and centuries to come. But make no mistake: that future will be determined, in part, by energy. Every American era has been an energy story. Water wheels powered the first mills of the young republic. Coal fueled the railroads and factories of the Gilded Age. Oil powered America's twentieth-century dominance. Electrification transformed daily life for millions of Americans, and our reliable energy grid became the invisible force behind our nation's extraordinary quality of life.
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by Pierre Rehov • July 12, 2026 at 5:00 am
Iran, in exchange, reaffirmed that it would not develop nuclear weapons and agreed to leave its nuclear program exactly as it stands -- meaning with its nuclear installations and centrifuges to enrich uranium safely under Pickaxe Mountain. The last four months were the exhaustion of a method rather than a failure of nerve. The Trump method flattered the adversary, let him believe he had won, dragged him to the table under threat of force, changed course without warning and staged unpredictability as strategy. All that might work remarkably well in the West, where leaders answer to electorates, markets and quarterly reports. It presupposes, however, an interlocutor who counts costs the way Washington counts costs. The Islamic Republic counts by another arithmetic.... A power such as the US that cries wolf on Tuesday and extends the deadline on Thursday teaches a system such as Iran's exactly one lesson: that the wolf does not exist. Iran's rulers read the American desire for a deal, especially before a midterm election, as weakness, which by that arithmetic it was. Trump, who kept repeating that he wanted a deal -- in that way raising the price for one -- seemed genuinely trying to test ways not to destroy more of Iran. Last week, he gave up on that. After Khamenei, nothing has changed in Iran, where the doctrine, the gallows and the wager on Western fatigue are those of February. What finally changed, last week, is Washington.
After the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, nothing has changed in Iran, where the doctrine, the gallows and the wager on Western fatigue are those of February. What finally changed, last week, is Washington. Pictured: People gather beneath a billboard of Ali Khamenei and his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, during the third day of the elder Khamenei's funeral on July 6, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
The West has long nurtured the conviction that a regime dies with its ruler. On February 28, American and Israeli aircraft, in a joint operation prepared over months, killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei together with the chief of staff of the armed forces, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the defense minister and Khamenei's closest adviser, thereby erasing the command structure of the Islamic Republic in a single morning. US President Donald Trump promised to "annihilate their navy" and level Iran's missile industry. Across the West, and among Iranians whose January uprising had been drowned in blood only weeks earlier, an immense hope took hold. The theocracy, at last, seemed gone.
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by Amir Taheri • July 12, 2026 at 4:00 am
The snag in Iran is that those who wish to make a deal dare not do so because they lack a popular street base within the Khomeinist movement. And those who can make a deal because they have such a base won't do so because if they do, they risk losing not only that support but also the wealth and position they have illegally acquired. Beyond the stretchable 60-day "hostile truce," what is needed is a Plan B for Iran that takes into account the realities on the ground and the opportunity for positive change.
The snag in Iran is that those who wish to make a deal dare not do so because they lack a popular street base within the Khomeinist movement. And those who can make a deal because they have such a base won't do so because if they do, they risk losing not only that support but also the wealth and position they have illegally acquired. Pictured: Crowds gather for the funeral procession of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in Mashhad, on July 9, 2026. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)
Is the 60-day ceasefire with Iran declared by President Donald Trump last month over? As is often the case with what the mercurial leader of the world's only superpower says, the answer is: yes -- but not quite. In his tongue-lashing of Iran on the margin of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump compared the present regime in Tehran to cancer that has to be cut off and thrown away. He labeled Tehran's leader as "liars" and claimed to have halted negotiations with them. So, where do we go from here? A good piece of advice comes from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, acknowledged as the best Trumpologist around: Always take what Trump says seriously but not literally!
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by Majid Rafizadeh • July 11, 2026 at 5:00 am
Israel is the party most directly affected by any development involving Iran — whether diplomatic negotiations, sanctions relief, or military action. Its security is daily on the line. Israel therefore must be included in every discussion, every operation, and every strategic decision concerning Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran, for all of its 47-year existence, has pursued the destruction of Israel and the United States as a core ideological goal, using proxies, terrorism, and the development of nuclear weapons to advance it. Israel, in turn, has proven its value as a partner through resilience and deep knowledge of the Iranian threat. It is the ally we can trust most in this theater — the one whose interests, capabilities and willingness converge perfectly with America's. The U.S. must maintain the closest possible coordination with Israel, including it fully in all talks, operations and strategies regarding Iran. When America and Israel stand together, they can deter aggression, protect shared values, and safeguard democracy, peace and stability more effectively than any alternative approach. Iran knows this — and that is precisely why it seeks to divide them. In the best interests of the United States, its alliance with Israel must remain unbreakable.
For decades, Israel has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States against the Iranian regime, a hostile power that threatens regional stability, global security, and the very existence of democratic values in the world. Israel has proven its value as a partner through resilience and deep knowledge of the Iranian threat. It is the ally we can trust most in this theater — the one whose interests, capabilities and willingness converge perfectly with America's. Pictured: US President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, 2025. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
For decades, Israel has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States against the Iranian regime, a hostile power that threatens regional stability, global security, and the very existence of democratic values in the world. Whether facing direct threats or terrorist groups and proxy militias, Israel has demonstrated unwavering and steadfast resolve, and a willingness to act when others in the world hesitated.
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by Gordon G. Chang • July 10, 2026 at 5:00 am
China's military activities have become far more brazen. Some Americans, unfortunately, have not noticed. For instance, Senators Edward Markey and Bernie Sanders introduced the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act last September. Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center looks at the rapid increase in delivery platforms, such as missiles and submarines, and believes China will have 7,000 [nuclear warheads]. [I]f the United States is to possess a deterrent, it will have to carry through with existing plans to simultaneously modernize all three legs of its nuclear "triad": missiles housed in land-based silos, weapons launched from submarines, and nukes carried by bombers and fighters. The U.S. does not need to match the number of China's and Russia's nukes or delivery systems, but it does need to maintain a credible deterrent. Markey proposes to reduce "deployed strategic warheads from approximately 1,500 to 1,000." Markey's proposal would create an imbalance that might tempt a bold or desperate aggressor to think it could, by making threats to launch, intimidate the U.S. into not defending an ally or friend. Russian President Vladimir Putin made such threats both before and after the start of his ongoing "special military operation" against Ukraine. More ominously, the test told the world of Chinese plans. Various publications have said that the test showed China's second-strike — retaliatory — ability, but it also demonstrated something else. "This test clearly indicates China's intent to obtain a first-strike capability," said James Fanell, a former U.S. Navy captain who served as director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, to this publication. What will deter our enemies from launching nuclear first-strikes? Perhaps a sea-launched nuclear-armed cruise missile, a Golden Dome missile-defense system, or "any number of new technologies and strategies," Peter Huessy of the National Institute for Deterrence Studies wrote shortly before China's missile launch. One thing Huessy knows will not work: "unilateral restraint that does not take such threats seriously in the first place."
China's military activities have become far more brazen. On July 6, a Chinese Navy submarine launched either a JL-2 or JL-3 nuclear-capable, intercontinental ballistic missile, the first known Chinese submarine-launched missile test since 1982. Pictured: JL-3 missiles are displayed at a military parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on September 3, 2025. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)
On July 6, a Chinese Navy submarine launched either a JL-2 or JL-3 nuclear-capable, intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile, traveling in a southeasterly direction and carrying a mock warhead, landed in the Pacific Ocean, in the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone. The launch was the first known Chinese submarine-launched missile test since 1982 and the first ever from a Chinese nuclear-powered sub. "China's long-range ballistic missile launch wasn't just a routine drill," the House Select Committee on China posted on X on July 6. "It was yet another act of CCP aggression toward our allies and like-minded partners in the Indo-Pacific." "Beijing is testing global patience to its absolute limit with an alarming nuclear-capable escalation directly in the Pacific," commented the UnveiledChina site on X.
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by Ahmed Charai • July 10, 2026 at 4:00 am
Trump... gave the remnants of the regime a final chance: step back, accept restraint, and choose coexistence over confrontation. Iran failed that test. The regime did not moderate. It did not reassure its neighbors. It did not abandon its hostility toward Israel. It did not choose prosperity for the Iranian people. It returned to its usual methods: missiles, drones, threats, blackmail, and violence. Trump did not abandon diplomacy. Iran destroyed it. When Iran threatens Hormuz, it threatens Washington, Jerusalem, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Doha, and Muscat. It also threatens Paris, Berlin, Rome, London, and every capital that depends on global commerce. Maritime security is a collective responsibility. The question of the Iranian regime itself is different. That has now become a matter of American national security. A dictatorial regime that publicly tolerates calls for the assassination of the president of the United States cannot be treated as just another difficult adversary. A red line has been crossed. No dictator, militia leader, or revolutionary movement should believe that threatening an American president and his family can be dismissed... The survival of this regime, in its current form, is incompatible with regional peace, nuclear restraint, freedom of navigation, Israel's security, Gulf stability, and American interests. A political transition in Iran is no longer a radical idea. It is the most reasonable strategic outcome. Trump gave Tehran a chance. Tehran failed. Now he must finish what he began. Every dictatorship is watching. If Iran can threaten an American president, attack American partners, endanger international trade, and survive with limited consequences, others will draw the wrong lesson. Every dictatorship is watching. If Iran can threaten an American president, attack American partners, endanger international trade, and survive with limited consequences, others will draw the wrong lesson He has already shown the courage to begin. Now he must show the resolve to finish.
A dictatorial regime that publicly tolerates calls for the assassination of the president of the United States cannot be treated as just another difficult adversary. A red line has been crossed. No dictator, militia leader, or revolutionary movement should believe that threatening an American president and his family can be dismissed. Pictured: A large banner offering a reward for the assassination of US President Donald Trump, in Tehran on July 5, 2026. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump's intransigence on Iran should not be underestimated. From the beginning, his approach followed a clear sequence: strike, weaken, test, and enforce. American power changed the balance of force. Diplomacy then tested whether what remained of the Iranian regime could recognize reality and choose restraint. Tehran answered with escalation. Enforcement became unavoidable. Trump weakened Iran's military confidence and damaged key elements of its nuclear and strategic infrastructure. Then he gave the remnants of the regime a final chance: step back, accept restraint, and choose coexistence over confrontation. Iran failed that test. The resumption of American strikes against Iranian military targets is not a contradiction of diplomacy. It is the consequence of diplomacy being betrayed.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 9, 2026 at 5:00 am
The key question is not who sits in ministerial offices in the Gaza Strip. The key question is who holds the guns. Nothing essential has changed. Hamas is not dismantling its military wing. It is not surrendering its weapons. It is not disbanding its security apparatus. It is not ending its command structure. Thousands of Hamas employees and loyalists will also remain embedded in the Gaza Strip's institutions. "Hamas's apparent willingness to make room for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament.... [A]s long as Hamas retains its weapons, any civilian government will of course operate as Hamas dictates." — Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Sa'ar warned that Hamas seeks to replicate the Hezbollah model in the Gaza Strip: a civilian administration would be responsible for garbage collection, public services, reconstruction, and salaries, while Hamas would remain the dominant military force. This is not peace and stability. It is simply outsourcing civilian responsibilities while preserving the machinery of jihad (holy war). "The ceaseless headlines about Hamas 'ending its government' in Gaza and 'preparing to give up control' are yet another ruse and a nothing‑burger dressed up as a concession by the terror group, which has zero intention of relinquishing real power or disarming.... None of this resembles disarmament. Hamas's al‑Qassam Brigades are working nonstop to repair tunnel networks and rebuild munitions stockpiles... Yet the media coverage of this non‑event has already reframed Hamas as cooperative, reasonable, even constructive; a narrative shift that obscures Hamas's role as the primary obstacle to Gaza's recovery. And this is landing successfully and working well for Hamas.... Ultimately, Hamas 'dissolving its government' will be judged by simple metrics like whether Gazans can share posts on Facebook without being tortured, beaten, or dragged into hospital interrogation rooms, abuses that continued from October 7 until just last week. Until that changes, the headlines are theater, and Hamas's grip in Gaza remains intact." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Palestinian political analyst, x.com, June 6, 2026. A technocratic government financed by foreign donors would relieve Hamas of the financial burden of governing while allowing the terrorist group to concentrate on rebuilding its military machine. The full implementation of the Trump peace plan requires the dismantling of Hamas's military capabilities and the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Allowing Hamas to establish a Hezbollah-style state within a state would guarantee continued instability and ensure that any future Palestinian administration remained hostage to an armed terrorist organization. The only meaningful solution is for Hamas to dissolve itself, and not merely one of its governing committees. This means dismantling both its political and military structures, surrendering all of its weapons, disbanding its security apparatus, relinquishing every instrument of coercion, and disappearing as an armed political force. Until Hamas disappears as both a political movement and a terrorist organization, declarations about dissolving committees amount to little more than political make-believe designed to secure international legitimacy, unlock billions of dollars in aid, and buy time for the next war.
The key question is not who sits in ministerial offices in the Gaza Strip. The key question is who holds the guns. Hamas is not dismantling its military wing. It is not surrendering its weapons. Pictured: Hamas terrorists take part in a military parade in the Gaza Strip on July 19, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)
Nearly three years after the October 7, 2023 massacre and more than six months after President Donald J. Trump's 20-point peace plan called for the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Hamas has announced that it is dissolving its de facto governing body and is prepared to hand authority to a committee of Palestinian technocrats. At first glance, the announcement appears to represent an important concession. It is not. It is merely Hamas's latest attempt to deceive the international community into believing that it is complying with the requirements of the Trump peace initiative while preserving what matters most to the terrorist organization: its military power. The key question is not who sits in ministerial offices in the Gaza Strip. The key question is who holds the guns.
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by Anna Mahjar-Barducci • July 8, 2026 at 5:00 am
Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. Pakistan has actively enabled and amplified this jihadist narrative by positioning itself as the foremost protector of Muslims, effectively asserting ownership over Kashmir. In June 2026, Pakistani paramilitary forces opened fire on protesters in... Kashmir. The protesters were not armed rebels. They were ordinary Muslim residents — traders, students, lawyers, transport workers and women — demanding cheaper electricity, affordable wheat flour and fairer treatment from the authorities that rule them. Sit-ins drew more than 70,000 people chanting "Pak Forces Out." What began as an economic protest gradually became a broader challenge to Pakistan's administration of the territory. For nearly eight decades, the "two-nation theory" has provided the moral and political framework through which Pakistan has justified its authority over Kashmir. The Muslim crowds in Kashmir chanting "Pak Forces Out," however, have delivered their verdict on that claim. What made the protests politically significant was not their scale, but their target: Muslim Kashmiris rising against Pakistan itself. [T]he Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)... has an established mechanism for addressing the Kashmir dispute.... The OIC's selective outrage — loud on India, silent on Pakistan's abuses — exposes its hypocrisy. Despite Pakistan's persistent claim that it is the rightful protector of Kashmiri Muslims and that the Indian-administered portion also belongs to it, Muslims in Pakistan-administered Kashmir are openly rejecting this narrative, telling Pakistan that it is not their protector -- that they are better off without its rule. This is particularly striking given that Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir enjoy greater political rights, economic opportunities, and development compared to those living under Pakistani administration. By bravely confronting the very state that claims to embody Muslim "purity" and protection, the Kashmiri Muslim protesters have dismantled the moral foundation of Pakistan's narrative from within. While jihadists, with Pakistan's active encouragement, have been attempting to turn Kashmir into the next major jihadist stronghold and battlefield against non-Muslims after Gaza, the voices of Kashmiri Muslims chanting against Pakistani forces have been rejecting the idea. The founding myth of Pakistan as the "pure" Islamic homeland and true representative and protector of Kashmiri Muslims has visibly collapsed.
Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. Pictured: Indian security forces in Kashmir inspect the site of a jihadist terrorist attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), in which 40 Indian troops were killed, on February 14, 2019. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad. Hamas leaders themselves have explicitly framed the Palestinian and Kashmiri causes as one struggle. High-ranking Hamas envoys who traveled to Kashmir in 2025 to headline the "Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood' Conference." The message stressed at the conference was "The mujahideen of Kashmir and Palestine have become united." Soon after October 7, 2023, on November 6, during a meeting with Pakistani politician Fazal-ur-Rehman in Qatar, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal framed the "Palestine and Kashmir issues" as a shared "litmus test" for "human rights" advocates. In international forums, Pakistan-based jihadi groups and Pakistani political parties have long treated "Palestine and Kashmir" as aligned.
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by Nils A. Haug • July 8, 2026 at 4:00 am
Well, it finally happened. The executive branch – Israel's government – has apparently had enough of the activist, self-selected Supreme Court endeavoring to micro-manage policy decisions that have nothing to do with it. For the first time in Israel's nearly 80-year history, the government announced it would not abide by a Supreme Court ruling. The reality... is that the Supreme Court is itself guilty of these allegations directed towards the government. The court has ignored existing law, for reasons of its own ideological persuasions, and has led the country to a constitutional crisis entirely of the court's own making. It was probably inevitable that a government of integrity would one day resist the slew of biased Supreme Court decisions made against it in an attempt by the court to insert itself into the executive's policy-making function –- an action well outside the limit of judicial authority. Months of massive demonstrations – partially financed by the Biden Administration in the hope of dislodging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to replace him with someone more pliable -- indirectly led to the horrors of October 7, 2023. Israel's leaders would do well urgently to draft legislation clarifying the role and functions of the judiciary, as well as that of the attorney general. Perhaps the nation's enemies will then understand that the people of Israel stand together against their enemies as one.
Well, it finally happened. The executive branch – Israel's government – has apparently had enough of the activist, self-selected Supreme Court endeavoring to micro-manage policy decisions that have nothing to do with it. Pictured: The Supreme Court building, in Jerusalem. (Photo by: Israeltourism/Wikimedia Commons)
Well, it finally happened. The executive branch – Israel's government – has apparently had enough of the activist, self-selected Supreme Court endeavoring to micro-manage policy decisions that have nothing to do with it. Just about every major government decision not to the court's liking appears to be barred from implementation. This leads to months, if not years, of appeals and counter-appeals, preventing the government from moving forward with its programs for the nation. The government, as the executive, is a body elected by the people; the Supreme Court is not. It is therefore unaccountable to anyone except itself. In a normal democratic environment, the legislature enacts laws that are implemented as policy by the elected representatives of the people -- Israel's parliament, the Knesset -- or by the executive.
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by Uzay Bulut • July 7, 2026 at 5:00 am
A new 2026 annual report, "Scapegoats: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran," published by Article18 in partnership with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern, sheds an alarming light on the persecutions of Christians in Iran. House churches have been labeled as enemy groups. IRGC involvement in raids tends to be characterized by increased brutality. The IRGC agents, singling out whoever was wearing a cross, tore them off and conducted body searches. After they wounded several individuals, the agents blocked emergency medical personnel who attempted to assist them. Last month, regime security forces moved to seize Saint Peter Evangelical Church in Tehran. They ordered residents of the church compound to leave their homes, and worshippers were told to find a different church. The seizure of Saint Peter, built in 1876 and also known as Qavam Church, and the eviction of its residents, who belong to Iran's recognized Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities, come after a state organization moved to enforce a court order issued nearly 30 years ago. The order, issued by a Revolutionary Court in 1998, ruled that the entire church compound -- around 10 acres, which includes two schools and dozens of homes -- should be handed over to the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order. "House churches are commonly raided, often followed by arrests, interrogations, pressure to inform on other Christians and long-term imprisonment. This is typically under charges of breaching 'national security'. The conditions in prison are dire... Each year, thousands of converts flee Iran to escape persecution." — Open Doors. A year after the Bible Society's closure [in 1990], Iran's representative at the United Nations wrote to the UN's special rapporteur, saying the Bible Society had been "temporarily closed", pending investigation of "violations of the Islamic Republic's laws and regulations" – without specifying which – and adding that "when the situation of the accused becomes clear, the Society could continue its activities." Yet, 36 years later, Iran's Bible Society remains closed, and the Bible and other Christian books are frequently treated as illegal contraband and evidence of a crime. The same regime that terrorizes its own citizens has also been demanding the right to develop and build nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and plans the continued use of centrifuges for uranium enrichment in its underground site at Pickaxe Mountain. The Islamic Republic has also declared that it will charge "fees" from commercial maritime passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and retain control of its main terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, which is now controlling beautiful Lebanon -- known before its 1975-1990 civil war as the "Switzerland of the Middle East." The Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention of giving up exporting its terrorism throughout the wider Middle East. It funds, arms, and trains a network of terrorist proxies, in addition to Hezbollah in Lebanon: the Houthis in Yemen and various Islamic militias in Syria and Iraq. The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding that the Trump administration signed with Iran is most likely regarded by Iran's IRGC regime as an irrelevant infidel document. It will do nothing to curb their hatred for Christians, Jews, their own citizens, and the West.
Ordinary Christian activities are criminalized and punished in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Christians are arrested and imprisoned over charges related to church activities, such as baptism, Communion, gathering for prayer or Bible study, including those conducted abroad. Last month, regime security forces moved to seize Saint Peter Evangelical Church in Tehran, which was built in 1876 (pictured). They ordered residents of the church compound to leave their homes, and worshippers were told to find a different church. (Image source: Herbert Karim Masihi/Wikimedia Commons)
A new 2026 annual report, "Scapegoats: Rights Violations Against Christians in Iran," published by Article18 in partnership with Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern, sheds an alarming light on the persecutions of Christians in Iran. According to the report, at least 21 Christians have received custodial sentences in 2025 related to their alleged involvement in the distribution of Bibles in Iran, in addition to other forms of punishment, such as fines, exile, and social deprivation.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • July 6, 2026 at 5:00 am
Unlike the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which seeks durable solutions by resettling refugees and helping them rebuild their lives, UNRWA has institutionalized refugee status across generations. Instead of solving the refugee problem, UNRWA's function is to perpetuate it. Many Palestinians fled the country during the 1948 war, which five Arab armies waged on Israel and lost, then were refused entry back into Israel because they had not been loyal. For Palestinians, UNRWA has become the international symbol of their demand that the remaining Palestinian refugees of 1948 and millions of their descendants be allowed to settle inside Israel. The Palestinian insistence on the unrealistic "right of return" therefore remains one of the principal obstacles to any peace agreement. According to a detailed report published by the Israel Defense Forces, at least 1,462 of UNRWA's 12,521 employees in the Gaza Strip... are members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), or other terrorist organizations. The report further states that Hamas systematically exploited UNRWA facilities by constructing terror tunnels beneath schools, storing weapons, establishing command centers, and launching rockets from areas adjacent to UN facilities. Instead of helping Palestinians move beyond a perpetual claim to refugee status, UNRWA appears committed to sustaining the conflict's central illusion: that Israel will one day absorb millions of Palestinians and thereby cease to exist as a Jewish state. The "Board of Peace" is therefore correct in arguing that UNRWA has no place in the future Gaza Strip. If Arab leaders genuinely care about the welfare of their Palestinian brethren, they should insist that Hamas lay down its weapons and relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. The Trump Administration should insist that any future arrangement for Gaza exclude UNRWA and replace it with mechanisms that promote rehabilitation rather than dependency. Most importantly, it is time for Palestinian leaders to abandon the fantasy of the "right of return." These leaders are lying to their own people by telling them that one day they will return to their families' former homes inside Israel. So long as UNRWA continues to institutionalize that dream, it will remain part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If the goal is a different future for the Gaza Strip – one based on reconstruction, coexistence, and stability rather than perpetual conflict – then eliminating UNRWA and replacing it with a new institution – one not obstructed by past conflicts of interest – is not only justified. It is long overdue.
According to a detailed report published by the Israel Defense Forces, at least 1,462 of UNRWA's 12,521 employees in the Gaza Strip are members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or other terrorist organizations. The report further states that Hamas systematically exploited UNRWA facilities by constructing terror tunnels beneath schools, storing weapons, establishing command centers, and launching rockets from areas adjacent to UN facilities. Pictured: Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a Hamas terror tunnel directly outside an UNRWA compound in Gaza City, on February 8, 2024. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
The furious Palestinian reaction to the recent declaration by the so-called "Board of Peace" -- that the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) "has no place in the new Gaza Strip" -- has once again exposed a fundamental truth that many in the international community continue to ignore: for the Palestinians, UNRWA is not just a humanitarian agency. It is a political institution that keeps alive the dream of the so-called "right of return" -- a demand that, by overwhelming Israel's population of roughly 10 million with millions of supposed "refugees" -- would effectively bring about the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. In announcing that "UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza... [w]e are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid dependency and conflict. The people of Gaza deserve better," the "Board of Peace" touched on one of the most sensitive issues in Palestinian politics.
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by Raymond Ibrahim • July 5, 2026 at 5:00 am
Boko Haram still seeks to impose strict sharia law across Nigeria and routinely targets Christians. — Morning Star News, April 2, 2026, Nigeria. The ADF's [Allied Democratic Forces] "purpose is to gain a foothold in the nation, establish Sharia law in areas it controls, and kill non-Muslims." — International Christian Concern, March 13, 2026, Democratic Republic of Congo. "Only Muslims are the real living human beings; all non-Muslims are corpses ... whoever is not a Muslim is equivalent to a dead body." — Musa Baluku, leader of the ADF, International Christian Concern, March 13, 2026, Democratic Republic of Congo. On March 26, police in Lahore's Sadhoki Kahna Nau area, tortured to death 42-year-old Christian Iftikhar Masih while in custody. Police arrested Iftikhar on fabricated kidnapping charges, demanded a 200,000 Pakistani rupee ($720) bribe for his release, and later claimed he committed suicide by hanging. — Morning Star News, April 7, 2026, Pakistan. "'Abraham,' a member of the Coptic community... said the main goal of these kidnappings 'is to reduce the Christian population and promote Islam by pretending that the woman chose Islam on her own free will.... They end up as Muslim wives by force.' He is not aware of any prosecutions against the kidnappers. 'Authorities are complicit, because they often do very little or nothing.'" — International Christian Concern, March 18, 2026, Egypt. On March 25, Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court ruled that 13-year-old Christian girl Maria Shahbaz must remain with the Muslim man who abducted and forcibly converted her. Despite her parent's testimony, the court declared Maria was of "mature age," accepted her conversion to Islam as genuine, and ruled that her marriage is valid under Islamic law. Maria's father, Shahbaz Masih, told the court she was only 12 or 13 when taken and presented documents to prove her age. The judges rejected the documents, claiming her appearance suggested she was older. The court stated that in Islam, conversion requires only a declaration of faith. — International Christian Concern, April 6, 2026, Pakistan. "Nearly 400 million Christians worldwide face persecution or violence..." — Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, March 3, 2026. "Msgr. Balestrero also warned that persecution does not always take the overt and bloody form of murder, attacks, or physical violence. There are also 'more subtle and often silent forms of persecution,' such as gradual marginalization or exclusion from social and professional life, 'even in traditionally Christian countries.... through which legal norms and administrative practices restrict or, in effect, nullify the legally recognized rights of the predominantly Christian population, even in some parts of Europe....' The oppression of Christians does not stem solely from violent mobs or extremist groups, but also from institutional mechanisms that undermine, in practice, the very rights that are officially declared protected." — fsspx.news, March 10, 2026.
On March 24, Suhail Khojah Siddiqi of Newark, California, broke into Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Mill Valley (pictured) and vandalized it. He smashed a century-old statue of Jesus and knocked a portrait of Mary face-down on the floor. When police arrived, they found Siddiqi sitting inside the church "apparently reading the Quran." (Photo by Frank Schulenburg/Wikimedia Commons)
The following are among the murders and abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of March 2026. The Muslim Slaughter of Christians Nigeria: According to a March 17 report, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked Dorowa Maitozo village in Kaduna State. The Muslim bandits killed Rev. Joshua Ajiya, pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ, who had served the congregation for only two months. Dozens of other Christians were kidnapped in the nighttime attack. On March 11, suspected Fulani terrorists attacked Oyatedo village in Kwara State. They killed John Omoniyi Ajise, brother of a prominent pastor, and abducted his wife and four other Christians. On March 29, armed gunmen attacked the predominantly Christian Angwan Rukuba area (Gari Ya Waye community) in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
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by Amir Taheri • July 5, 2026 at 4:00 am
If fully backed by NATO, Ukraine could win. Taking into account the devastation [the Middle East] war has caused, not only in Iran but also in Israel and the GCC countries, not to mention its global impact, talk of devising a new plan to bring peace and stability to the region sounds like adding insult to injury. Great powers have been talking of a plan for the Middle East since 1919. NATO nations face three major problems, none of which is on the agenda in Ankara. The first is that most members are experiencing what amounts to a cultural civil war accompanied with a general de-sacralization of political authority. The second problem is that NATO's war machine, including all those giant aircraft carriers and heavy bombers, was meant for classical wars that may have become part of history. The third problem is that the new form of war favors inexpensive materiel, such as drones, theater missiles and rockets, while the military industry in NATO nations is geared to producing costly warplanes, cruise missiles and, of course, aircraft carriers and their equally costly bridesmaids. In Ankara, the key word will be "cheese" as TV cameras record yet another photo-op.
NATO nations face three major problems, none of which is on the agenda at this year's summit in Ankara. Pictured: The Atakule tower in Ankara, on July 5, 2026. (Photo by Serdar Ozsoy/Getty Images)
Having led ceremonies marking the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence on July 4, President Donald Trump will be heading to Ankara, Turkey, for the 36th summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which some fear could be the stormiest the 75-year-old beast has seen. Signs are that Trump is still unhappy with the alliance, which he thinks has been ripping the US off for decades. Nevertheless, Secretary-General Mark Rutte is making the rounds in TV studios, assuring everyone that the US president will come to Ankara in a calmer mood. "This summit will be about delivering on promises made," Rutte says. By this he means promises by almost all members to increase defense spending to between 4 and 5 percent of their GDP, something that Trump demanded as soon as he entered the White House.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • July 4, 2026 at 5:00 am
Iran saw Trump's turn-around on permission to have ballistic missiles and... must have thought, "Why not nuclear weapons too?" The goal seems to be to outlast the current US administration and then openly march toward nuclear bombs. One look at Libya and Ukraine, which gave up their nuclear weapons with catastrophic results, and then at North Korea, which did not, tells the regime everything it needs to know. A nuclear deterrent is the ultimate insurance for survival -- and expansion. This critical moment is not helped by wishful thinking. Flawed agreements, or even ones that look firm, will simply wait until the US has turned its attention somewhere else. Before a US administration that was resolute, the Iranian regime's days could be numbered.... Targeted military responses against renewed ballistic missile, nuclear, and proxy activities -- or members of the regime who are not helpful -- remain on the table. There are no shortcuts. [T]he focus must be on finishing the job: unrelenting pressure and denying the regime any tools that might threaten the world. Anything less perpetuates an Iran openly bent on destruction.
Iran saw Trump's turn-around on permission to have ballistic missiles and must have thought, "Why not nuclear weapons too?" The goal seems to be to outlast the current US administration and then openly march toward nuclear bombs. Pictured: A Fattah ballistic missile is displayed during the annual military parade in Tehran, on September 22, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The Islamic Republic of Iran has long mastered the art of deception, particularly when it comes to its nuclear program. Many times, it has been caught advancing its nuclear ambitions behind closed doors -- from covert enrichment facilities to undeclared sites -- only, when exposed, to delay, deflect and deny. Now, the regime is not even hiding it. Iran, like the rest of us, saw President Donald Trump foolishly change his mind from prohibiting Iran's regime from having ballistic missiles to permitting them -- supposedly to defend themselves in a neighborhood that has been relatively peaceful except for them. The Times of Israel reported Trump's decision: "If other countries have them, it's a little bit unfair for them not to have some," Trump said. "If Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and they all have some, I would say that in relative proportion, I think it's okay" for Iran to have ballistic missiles as well.
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