Without Iran Funding, Hizbullah's Empire Crumbles - Shachar Kleiman (Israel Hayom)
    The Lebanese newspaper Sawat Beirut reported last week that "Hizbullah faces a severe and unprecedented economic crisis that could change its course and affect Lebanon."
    "In a desperate attempt to reduce expenses, Hizbullah now adopts a comprehensive austerity policy that affects all areas."
    For example, a fund belonging to Hizbullah that distributed tens of millions of dollars annually recently announced to the families of killed terrorists that it would stop subsidizing tuition for their children.
    According to Lebanese sources, salaries for terrorists are no longer guaranteed in full, compensation payments are unusually delayed, and families of the dead do not receive benefits they previously enjoyed, such as medical treatment, education fees, and social assistance.
    Iran has significantly reduced Hizbullah's budget. Moreover, "logistical and security complications" have delayed money transfers.

Trump Administration Tells Congress Hamas-Linked UNRWA Must Be Dismantled - Adam Kredo (Washington Free Beacon)
    The Trump administration has formally determined that the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Hamas-linked humanitarian group, cannot be salvaged and must be disbanded, according to a notification transmitted to Congress.
    The State Department "has not funded UNRWA since January 2024, does not have any ongoing programming with UNRWA, and is maintaining a policy of minimal contact with" it, according to the July 29 notice.
    "The Administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement."
    At least 12% of all UN employees in Gaza are members of Hamas or other terrorist organizations, and many of the workers identified as Hamas members drive the aid trucks.
    A senior State Department official said, "UNRWA exists to provide cover for Hamas. They are completely corrupt and should be disbanded."
    Hamas demanded in the most recent round of ceasefire talks that UNRWA retake control of humanitarian aid networks in Gaza.
    That demand provided further evidence that UNRWA is compromised and serving Hamas's interests.
    See more below Commentary: UNRWA

Iran's Oil Exports Continue to Surge - Saeed Ghasseminejad and Behnam Ben Taleblu (The Hill)
    Despite sanctions and war, the Islamic Republic of Iran's oil exports continued to surge in the first six months of 2025.
    According to Tankertrackers, Iran exported 1.7 million barrels per day in June 2025 of crude oil, condensates, and fuel oil, resulting in a total of more than 50 million barrels worth $3.6 billion.
    These revenues will be used to fund oppression at home and aggression abroad, as well as to rebuild Iran's shattered air defenses, missile capacity, and terror networks.
    92% of these exports were destined for China, while 6% went to the UAE.
    80% of these shipments came from the oil export terminal at Kharg Island, which continued operating during the 12-Day War.
    Despite a few symbolic strikes against energy depots and refineries, Israel largely avoided striking Iran's major oil and gas production and export facilities.
    Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior advisor on Iran at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Behnam Ben Taleblu is senior director of the Iran program.

Gaza Provided a Glimpse of What a Palestinian State Would Be - Douglas Murray (Telegraph-UK)
    It is no longer in the power of the British or French governments to create states in the Middle East. That era is over.
    The idea of a Palestinian state is utterly dead for the foreseeable future because nobody knows how to run Gaza or who will run it, and no one could trust the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank which has not had an election in two decades.
    Historians will note with some amazement that the present Hamas-started war led to Western countries scrambling to once again try a Palestinian-statehood option.
    The years 2005-2023 showed in Gaza a glimpse of what a Palestinian state's actual objectives and ambitions would be: not coexistence, but rather the continued effort to wipe out the Jewish state.
    Much of the Muslim world have imbibed anti-Israel and indeed antisemitic views from birth.
    And they have decided that the creation of another Muslim state, and the eradication of the world's one Jewish state, should be a priority.

Israel Arming Gaza Clans as Counterweight to Hamas - Claire Parker (Washington Post)
    In the past few months, Yasser Abu Shabab, 35, has come to represent an Israeli initiative to empower Palestinian clans and weaken Hamas in Gaza.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the beginning of June that Israel was arming members of clans - large, influential extended families - in Gaza as counterweights to Hamas.
    Abu Shabab hails from the large Tarabin Bedouin tribe. His group is one of several that are now openly brandishing arms and challenging Hamas.
    Almost as soon as Abu Shabab appeared on the scene, he was in Hamas's crosshairs. Hamas began to target his relatives and associates, killing his brother in December.
    During the two-month ceasefire in January, Hamas security forces kneecapped nearly two dozen members of Abu Shabab's group in a wave of retribution.

By Punishing Israel, Europe Rewards Terror - Lauren Smith (European Conservative)
    Regardless of the rationale, the message being sent out, loud and clear, by both British Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron, is that terrorism pays.
    That if you massacre civilians, kidnap families, and hide behind human shields long enough, the West will reward you.
    Are Europe's leaders really so naive or so myopic that they don't see where this kind of capitulation ends?
    Not with peace in the Middle East, but with more conflict and more incentive for Hamas to continue its bloodshed. If terror pays, it multiplies.

How the West Prolonged Gaza's Misery - Saul Sadka (Jewish Chronicle-UK)
    At a critical point in the Israel-Hamas hostage negotiations, Western governments effectively emboldened a terror organization, putting all the blame for the food situation and the pressure to agree on a ceasefire on Israel alone.
    Hamas's position then hardened despite many Israeli concessions, leading to a collapse of the talks.
    The Gazans mostly want to flee the war zone - but Hamas wants them to stay and die, for the photo ops.
    The Gazans want to eat - but Hamas wants to make that as hard as possible, to promote a false famine narrative.
    By amplifying the jihadist narrative, the global media, the NGOs and the UN are giving Hamas false hope and in the process, they're prolonging Palestinian suffering.
    Without all that international pressure on Israel, Hamas may have folded already.
    Hamas didn't just lose a war, they turned their Jewish neighbors, including many former supporters of a two-state solution, against giving them sovereignty for at least a generation.