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Jerusalem Center for Security
and Foreign Affairs
DAILY ALERT
Sunday,
September 28, 2025
In-Depth Issues:

    See below: Observations - Netanyahu at UN: Israel Is Fighting Your Fight; Our Enemies Hate All of Us with Equal Venom (Prime Minister's Office)
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly on Friday.


What Countries Walked Out on Netanyahu's UN Speech? - Itamar Eichner (Ynet News)
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly drew global headlines for the mass walkout that preceded it.
    According to Israeli officials, 77 delegations were either absent from the hall or left at the start of Netanyahu's remarks.
    Jordan and Egypt did not take their seats, but did not join the staged protest. Pakistan's delegation walked out but then stood on the sidelines to listen.
    Envoys from Bahrain and the UAE - both signatories to the 2020 Abraham Accords - remained in their seats.


The Covert Rise of China-Iran Military Ties and Israel's Dilemma - Oded Ailam (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
    China has quietly supplied Iran with military components that help rebuild and upgrade its ballistic missiles and air-defense systems, increasing Tehran's ability to threaten Israel and complicating regional dynamics.
    Because these shipments are Chinese, direct strikes carry a high risk of broader escalation with Beijing, so Israel must balance deterrence with restraint.
    The recommended response blends discreet diplomacy with economic pressure, coordinated U.S.-Israel leverage over Iranian energy exports, intensified covert intelligence and sabotage operations, and regional diplomatic action to disrupt the supply chain while avoiding a direct confrontation with China.
    The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center.


Iran Builds Underground Missile Factories in Yemen, Houthis Train for Invasion from Jordan - Yoav Zitun (Ynet News)
    Israeli security officials say the Houthis in Yemen have made significant advances in recent months, developing longer-range missiles and explosive drones and moving much of their production and storage underground.
    "The threat is evolving: the Houthis are not only launching rockets and drones, they are building resilient production and storage capabilities," a senior military official said.
    Israeli intelligence has also been watching a Houthi plan to train militias for a large-scale incursion modeled on Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
    While the training takes place in Yemen, any actual operation would likely be launched from Jordan or Syria.
    "This is an idea beyond anything they have attempted before," a military official said.


Greta Flotilla Rejects Pope's Offer to Deliver Gaza Aid - Nick Squires (Telegraph-UK)
    Greta Thunberg's Gaza flotilla has rejected an Italian proposal to unload its aid in Cyprus and let the Vatican distribute it to Palestinians, instead vowing to keep sailing towards Gaza.
    Israel's Channel 12 reported that Israel offered permission to dock in Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, so that the aid on board could be delivered by land, but the proposal was rejected by the activists.
    Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X that the flotilla's rejection of the Italian proposal showed "that their real purpose is provocation and serving Hamas."
    "Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade."


Spanish Warship Protecting Gaza Flotilla Is Equipped with Israeli Weapons (Ynet News)
    Spanish media reported that a Spanish Navy vessel deployed to protect the Gaza flotilla is equipped with Israeli-made weapons systems, including a cannon and automatic machine guns, developed jointly with the UK's BAE Systems.
    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has imposed an arms embargo on Israel and has refused to allow ships carrying weapons to Israel to dock at its ports.


Hizbullah's Internal Crisis - Makram Rabah (Al Arabiya)
    Hizbullah Secretary-General Naim Qassem's speech on the anniversary of the Sep. 2024 Israeli strike on Beirut, which killed dozens of Hizbullah commanders, betrayed that the movement is grappling with an internal crisis that is becoming harder to conceal.
    For over half an hour, Qassem recounted in detail the lives of fallen commanders and operatives. Behind this lurked the reality that Hizbullah has suffered sustained attrition at the leadership level.
    After two decades of intermittent conflict, a brutal Syrian war that drained men and resources, and the devastating Israeli war of September 2024, the Shia community of Lebanon is bearing an unsustainable burden.
    Economic collapse, social dislocation, and a steady stream of funerals have eroded the aura of invincibility.
    Hizbullah remains formidable. Its arsenal is intact, its networks entrenched, or so it claims, and its capacity to disrupt Lebanon and the region still unmatched.
    But the structural cracks are visible. When a leader spends more time reassuring his own base than threatening his enemies, it is a sign that the real battle is no longer only with Israel, but within.


The Daring Mossad Operation in Beirut that Led to the Targeting of Nasrallah - Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet News)
    In September 2024, as Israeli planes pounded Hizbullah strongholds in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh, several Mossad operatives slipped into Haret Hreik, a densely-built Shiite neighborhood, carrying carefully disguised packages.
    Their destination was a high-rise apartment block. Beneath it sat Hizbullah's main command headquarters in an underground bunker.
    The Mossad operatives planted the devices at pre-planned points inside the building above the compound and slipped away undetected.
    The equipment they carried was designed to allow precision strikes at varying depths underground. That precision was essential. Even a one-meter deviation could mean a bomb striking beside - rather than into - a tunnel.
    On Sep. 27, 10 Israeli F-15 and F-16 jets dropped 83 one-ton bombs on the target. The bunker buster bombs carried both GPS guidance and the specialized targeting system placed by Mossad.
    Originally, the air force planned to use about half that number of bombs. But then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant insisted the payload be doubled to ensure Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death.
    The strike killed Nasrallah, Hizbullah's southern front chief Ali Karaki, Iran's Quds Force commander in Lebanon, Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan, and some 300 others, mostly Hizbullah terrorists.
    Israeli officials said the attack marked the effective collapse of Hizbullah's central command.


The New York Times Has Spread Dangerous Lies about Israel throughout the War - Gil Hoffman (Jerusalem Post)
    The New York Times has spread dangerous lies about Israel throughout the Gaza war, from its claim that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Hospital killing 500 people 10 days into the war, to its front-page photo of skeletal Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, whom the newspaper falsely accused Israel of starving, along with other Gazan children.
    The Times ran the outrageous headline "No proof Hamas routinely stole UN aid, Israeli military officials say," quoting anonymous sources, even after official IDF Spokesperson Nadav Shoshani proved that the opposite was true.
    It published the easily disprovable claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours.
    The writer, former chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, is executive director of HonestReporting.


1 Million People Have Returned to Syria since Fall of Assad - Tobi Raji (Washington Post)
    One million Syrians have returned to the country since President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, the UN Human Rights Council said last week.
    They include 419,000 from Turkey; 334,000 from Lebanon; 204,000 from Jordan; 37,000 from Iraq and 27,000 from Egypt.
    The country's civil war, which began in 2011, displaced 13 million Syrians.

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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
  • European Nations Hit Iran with "Snapback" Sanctions over Its Nuclear Program - Tim Lister
    France, Germany and the UK on Sunday triggered the reimposition of UN "snapback" sanctions against Iran a decade after they were suspended as part of a deal to limit the country's nuclear program. They accused Iran of not meeting its obligations under the JCPOA agreement. Sanctions were due to end permanently on Oct. 18. But the original agreement allowed any signatory to restore sanctions before that date if it decided Iran had failed to meet its commitments.
        In August, European negotiators told the UN Security Council that Iran had violated "the near entirety of its JCPOA commitments," and gave a month's warning to Iran in August. Snapback restores an arms embargo and a ban on Iran getting technology for its ballistic missile program. Iran's oil and financial services sectors were also targeted. The European decision is not binding on China and Russia, historical allies of Iran. (CNN)
        See also UN Sanctions Snapback Pressures Iran "for the Safety of the World" - Secretary of State Marco Rubio (U.S. State Department)
        See also Iranians Brace for Economic Impact of New UN Sanctions - Farnaz Fassih
    Iran's economic situation, already dire with water and power shortages, staggering budget deficits, and a devalued currency, is now expected to deteriorate even further after the UN Security Council reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
        The new sanctions freeze assets and ban travel for a range of Iranian entities and individuals, and authorize countries to stop and inspect cargo traveling from Iran by air and sea on Iranian government vessels, including oil tankers. The sanctions also prohibit Iran from enriching uranium at any level, launching ballistic missiles with nuclear warhead capability and transferring technical knowledge of its ballistic missiles.
        On Saturday, Iran's markets quickly reacted to the news of the new sanctions, with the rial dropping 4% on Saturday to a 1,126,000 to the dollar in the black market. Iranians are already struggling with inflation of over 40% and rising unemployment. (New York Times)
  • Trump Proposes 21-Point Gaza Peace Plan - Karen DeYoung
    The Trump administration's proposal for ending the Gaza war would begin with the immediate cessation of all military operations, battle lines frozen in place, and the release within 48 hours of all 20 living Israeli hostages and the remains of more than two dozen believed dead. According to the 21-point plan, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, all of Hamas's offensive weaponry would be destroyed. Those militants who "commit to peaceful co-existence" would be offered amnesty. Safe passage to other countries would be facilitated for Hamas members who choose to leave.
        U.S. officials shared the plan with regional and allied governments at the UN over the past week. "These are broad strokes," said an official from the region. "There are still things that need to be ironed out." The plan includes the release of 250 Palestinians sentenced to life in prison plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after Oct. 7.
        The plan also outlines a "temporary transitional governance" of "qualified Palestinians and international experts" to run "day to day" public services in Gaza. Eventually, the Israelis will completely withdraw, except for an undefined "perimeter presence."
        A senior Israeli official said Friday that his country's leadership still needed to review the plan ahead of President Trump's Monday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. The official said Israel's Gaza City offensive was key to making Hamas accept a deal, and "the pressure is already working."  (Washington Post)
        See also Trump's 21-Point Plan Extends to Judea and Samaria - Danny Zaken
    The American plan for the day after the Gaza war includes sweeping changes in Judea and Samaria, according to several American and Arab sources. The American initiative includes turning all the refugee camps there into "ordinary" neighborhoods and abolishing their residents' refugee status.
        Other elements include shutting down UNRWA's activities, deep structural reforms within the Palestinian Authority, major changes to its education system as part of a de-radicalization process, expanding that process to the broader population, and banning incitement. Gulf states are expected to commit to significant investments in the Palestinian Authority only if it implements the reforms.
        Asked whether the plan paves the way for a Palestinian state, an American diplomat replied: "Not at this stage." An Israeli diplomat said Israel would likely adopt the plan, but would seek clarifications on issues such as the stages of an Israeli withdrawal and the Palestinian Authority's involvement in Gaza's rehabilitation and governance. (Israel Hayom)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
  • IDF Pushes Deeper into Gaza City with Methodical Ground Campaign - Yoav Zitun
    Israeli forces are pushing deeper into Gaza City in a slow and methodical maneuver aimed at dismantling Hamas's remaining military strongholds. The strategy is to move cautiously, prioritizing troop safety over speed, while Hamas seeks to inflict heavy Israeli losses or seize a soldier.
        Units are supported by heavy artillery and Israeli air force strikes ahead of every movement. Hamas terrorists have detonated roadside bombs near tanks and armored personnel carriers, fired RPGs, and attempted sniper attacks from high-rise buildings. (Ynet News)
        See also IDF Controls over Half of Gaza City as 800,000 Residents Flee the Area - Amir Bohbot
    More than 800,000 residents of Gaza City have evacuated as the IDF has gained operational control of more than half of the city as of Saturday. (Jerusalem Post)
  • Israel Strikes Key Houthi Military Sites in Yemen - Lior Ben Ari
    Dozens of Israeli aircraft dropped 65 munitions targeting the Houthis' general staff headquarters, security and intelligence facilities, and military camps containing weapons and fighters in Sanaa, Yemen, on Thursday. This was Israel's 15th strike in Yemen, 2,200 km. away, in response to drone and missile launches. (Ynet News)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

    Israel and the West

  • Trump's Vision of U.S. Primacy in the Middle East - Dr. Dan Diker
    President Trump's Abraham Accords represent a framework designed to establish American primacy in the region through economic partnerships and security cooperation between the U.S., Israel, and Western-friendly Gulf states. After the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent regional upheaval, the Accords have demonstrated remarkable resilience.
        When Iran launched massive missile and drone assaults against Israel in April and October 2024, Arab partners quietly but effectively supported Israeli defense efforts. The UAE shared critical intelligence on missile trajectories, Bahrain coordinated naval interceptions, Morocco provided satellite imagery, and even non-signatory Saudi Arabia shared radar data and intercepted projectiles. The coordinated Arab-Israeli defense cooperation against Iranian missile barrages represents unprecedented Middle Eastern security integration.
        Trump's vision of an expanded Abraham Accords creates an alternative framework that binds regional partners to American economic and technological systems rather than China's "Belt and Road Initiative" alternative. Trump recognizes Israel's key role in American foreign policy in the Middle East as a defense, technology, and regional security anchor.
        From Washington's perspective, the Abraham Accords constitute a geopolitical platform for American primacy during intensifying great power competition, providing America with economically integrated, security-coordinated regional partners. Each new signatory strengthens America's position against Chinese economic penetration and Iranian proxy warfare while creating commercial opportunities for American businesses.
        The writer is president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.  (Jerusalem Post)
  • What the World Gets Wrong about Israel - Former Israeli Defense Minister Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Benny Gantz
    Some in the West have misinterpreted Israel's actions in prosecuting its war against Hamas. For Israelis, Oct. 7, 2023, was not another round in a yearslong conflict. It was a strategic rupture - and a reminder of what may happen when terror on our doorstep is underestimated.
       Israel's core security interests are not partisan property. They are anchored by a national consensus that is rooted in the hard realities of our region. Opposition to the recognition of Palestinian statehood stands at the heart of that consensus. Any path forward for broader Palestinian civil autonomy must first incorporate a proven long-term track record of accountable governance, comprehensive de-radicalization reforms, and a successful crackdown on terrorist elements targeting Israelis.
        The truth is that international recognition of Palestinian statehood under current conditions is a rejection of Israel's bipartisan security consensus. The PA has failed to thwart terrorism originating in its territory against Israel. It has incited violence and glorified terrorism in school textbooks, and waged unilateral campaigns to isolate and delegitimize Israel in international forums. At the UN, in international courts, through boycott movements, it has sought to bypass reform, accountability and dialogue - and dismiss Israel's security concerns altogether.
        A declaration passed last year by 99 of 120 members of the Knesset in a democracy proclaimed that "Israel will continue to oppose unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," and that "such action following Oct. 7 would be an unprecedented rewarding of terror and prevent any future peace arrangement."  (New York Times)
  • The UN's Betrayal and Israel's Fight for Truth - Former Israeli Defense Minister Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yoav Gallant
    Last week, the UN released a report that accuses me personally of war crimes and, by extension, accuses Israel of genocide. I am proud to have stood in the position to defend the State of Israel. Given the choice, I would do so again without hesitation.
        As minister of defense, I led the IDF as it set standards for proportionality and distinction not seen in any modern military conflict. No other army has put greater effort into warning civilians in every possible way: leaflets, calls, texts, and warning shots, before targeting terrorist infrastructure. These are not the acts of an indifferent military; they are the actions of a nation of conscience and responsibility.
        Hamas, in contrast, hides rockets in schools, launches missiles from hospital courtyards, forces civilians to serve as shields, and still holds dozens of Israelis hostage. It manufactures civilian suffering and uses it for propaganda.
        The UN report points to a phrase I used in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7. After terrorists from Gaza slaughtered, raped, and kidnapped Israeli civilians, I referred to those responsible as "human animals." That description applied to the perpetrators and orchestrators of these barbaric attacks. Yet the report intentionally ignored the context of those remarks. The accusations of genocide rest on misquotes and deliberate manipulation. There is no evidence that I, or any other IDF or defense official, have ever dehumanized Palestinians as a people.
        Israel asks for no favors, only fairness. If the UN wants to serve its founding mission, it must apply the same standards to all parties. It must not let humanitarian language be weaponized in service of terror. History will show that when the UN gave cover to prejudice and to lies, the people of Israel stood unbowed, determined, and righteous. (Fox News)
  • Emmanuel Macron, the Merchant of Unreal Palestine - Amb. Freddy Eytan
    Emmanuel Macron is a dreamer who mistakes his wishes for reality. In the jungles of the Middle East, Islamist terrorists couldn't care less about international law, democratic values, or philosophical norms. Hamas prefers to sow terror and barbarism; it's its ideology.
        Macron should have demanded that Hamas release all hostages unconditionally and as a matter of priority and dismantle its military arsenal. Macron chose to go it alone, rush events, dictate the agenda and final status without any prior negotiations, and punish Israel if it fails to respect recognition of the Palestinian state. As a result, he foolishly delayed normalization with the Arab countries.
        Of course, we want to stop the war and end the bloodshed, but what assurance does the French president give us other than fine words and moral lessons? The experience of the painful past teaches us that all Palestinian leaders refuse any compromise and are incapable of leading an independent state living in peace alongside the Jewish state.
        Since Oct. 7, 2023, all polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of Israelis refuse any dialogue with Palestinian leaders until the day their security along all borders and within the country is absolute. The determination to unilaterally proclaim the Palestinian state is therefore counterproductive and dangerous for the future of the Jewish state.
        The future of peace with the Arabs is a noble wish. Israelis are not warriors; they defend themselves and sacrifice their children precisely to achieve security and peace.
        The writer, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, is a former Foreign Ministry senior adviser who was Israel's first ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.  (Israel Hayom)


    • Recognition of a Palestinian State

  • What Young Israelis Think about Recognition of a Palestinian State - Jim Armitage
    I traveled to Tel Aviv, a 50-mile drive from Gaza, to gauge Israeli opinions on the decision last week by the UK and other Western countries to recognize Palestine. Saul and Yair, both 21, are appalled that Western leaders could even talk of a two-state solution while Hamas still has hostages hidden underground in Gaza.
        Yair says: "I just don't think people in Europe understand the situation we're in. Did they see what happened on October 7?" "Everyone here knows someone who was killed or taken that day," says Saul. "And, you know, Israel only has to lose one war and we will all be killed. All of us Jews will be dead."
        Josh Hantman, a partner at a polling and strategic communications agency, said, "Everyone has seen the images of October 7. Everyone is following the hostage crisis and feels it personally. And everyone has been running to bomb shelters with their kids on an almost daily basis."
        What has upset people, says Lianne Pollak, 42, is that Western leaders have proffered recognition of a Palestinian state now, without extracting anything from Hamas in return. "It ignores that right now there are 48 hostages being held by Hamas. It ignores that Hamas has not agreed to release them, end the war and disarm."
        Idit, 24, an army reservist, said her best friend was killed in Gaza in March, aged 23. "This is why it makes me so sad to hear about the European leaders recognizing Palestine....They have given a prize to Hamas....We have to destroy Hamas because we have nowhere else to go."  (Sunday Times-UK)
  • Recognition or Not, a Palestinian State Seems More Remote than Ever - Aaron Boxerman
    Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians alike say the possibility of a two-state solution seems more remote than ever. In opinion polls, Hamas still commands greater support among Palestinians than the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. Many Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now dismiss the possibility of ever allowing Palestinian independence.
        In the 1990s and 2000s, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held multiple rounds of talks. But the talks fell apart in the early 2000s, as Palestinian militant attacks against Israeli civilians surged. Israeli and Palestinian officials last held serious peace negotiations during the Obama administration.
        Israelis are skeptical that establishing a Palestinian state would end the conflict. In the wake of the 2023 attack, they often argue that any territorial withdrawal would invite further attacks on a smaller and weaker Israel. They also point to the failure of previous talks, for which they blame Palestinian leaders. (New York Times)
        See also The World Sees Hope for a Two-State Solution. Israelis and Palestinians See None. - Anat Peled (Wall Street Journal)
  • UK Prime Minister's Palestine Doesn't Exist - Stephen Daisley
    In recognizing a state of Palestine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is attempting to summon a tide which flows counter to history and human nature. Men like Starmer flatter themselves that they can, with the flick of a remote pen, will a nation-state into being like modern heirs to Arthur Balfour.
        This reflects the common misconception that the Balfour Declaration created the State of Israel, when that communique merely expressed British favor for the Zionist project in Palestine/Eretz Yisrael. Israel was (re)founded by the efforts of Jews, not the sympathies of the British Foreign Office.
        Neither Starmer nor any other Western leader can recognize a Palestinian state because no such entity exists and there is no prospect of one in the near future. Across Palestinian politics, in culture, among intellectuals and activists, on the streets and in the mosques, the dominant cause is anti-Zionism.
        Palestinian liberationism is a misnomer because, except for a narrow segment of liberal opinion, Palestinian society does not wish to be free from Israel, it wishes to be free of Israel. Theirs is a counter-nationalism, a common identity forged in reaction to and rejection of another people's identity.
        Starmer doesn't want a Palestinian state, he wants his notion of a Palestinian state, a liberal market economy with free elections and the rule of law, living in peace with its neighbors. But you can't press release Western liberal democracy into the Middle East.
        The lessons the Palestinians and others will take are that the West is so weak and decadent that it will reward mass murder with diplomatic prizes. That provoking Israel into war will quickly turn the West's stomachs and thereafter their policies. That governments in Europe and the Anglosphere are compelled by mass immigration to treat foreign policy as a domestic issue. (Spectator-UK)
  • The UK Has Emboldened the Enemies of Humanity - Brendan O'Neill
    The idea that decreeing that a State of Palestine should exist assists peace - by giving an army of antisemites what it wants less than two years after it slaughtered more Jews in one day than anyone else since the Nazis - is preposterous. In truth, it emboldens the enemies of humanity, the neo-medieval murderers of Hamas and their allies in the regressive Islamist project, by telling them that butchery works. Mass murder brings benefits. Rape a Jew, get a nation.
        This isn't about whether we think there should be a Palestinian state in the future. It's about the fact that, right now, a bloody war is raging between the Jewish nation and the Jews' enemies, and what our leaders do and say in that moment really matters. To shame and ridicule an ally as it fights an existential war against the racist militia that invaded its lands and killed its people - what an ignominious new low in British foreign policy.
        Violent Islamism is a menace across Europe. Anything that appeases these dreamers of a Caliphate, these soldiers of bigotry who long to punish "infidels," is a calamity for the West, too. To advertise one's penchant for appeasement in an era of profound moral and physical conflict is a folly of incalculable proportions. (Spiked-UK)


    • Indonesia and Israel

  • Indonesia to Israel: "Shalom" - Haisam Hassanein
    At the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said peace requires guaranteeing Israel's security. He closed his speech with the Hebrew word: "Shalom." His words are a profound break with Indonesia's long insistence that bloodshed would end only with the erasure of Israel's legitimacy.
        Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. For an Indonesian leader to say "Shalom" from the UN podium is a calculated signal both to his domestic audience and to the West, including Israel. For years, Arab governments have loudly proclaimed ritual condemnations of Israel while quietly deepening trade and security ties with the Jewish state. Subianto put back on the table a simple, powerful truth: Stability starts with guaranteeing Israel's security.
        His statement reflects a hard reality: Palestinians won't win independence by denying Israelis' right to security. If Indonesia turns words into policy - opening trade offices, pursuing cultural exchanges or joining regional mediation - the effect would be seismic and could push other Muslim-majority nations toward coexistence.
        The writer is an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  (Wall Street Journal)


    • Iran

  • Sanctions on Iran Are Only the Start of the Battle Against the Terror State - John Woodcock
    The snapback of UN sanctions on Iran is a welcome recognition that Tehran has no intention of honoring its nuclear commitments. The UK should now embrace tougher, broader action to target Ayatollah Khomeini's global network of terror.
        First, it must target the $50 billion a year in oil revenue essential to the terrorist operations of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that bankrolls Hamas rockets, entrenches Hizbullah in Lebanon, sustains Houthi piracy in the Red Sea, and pays for assassination plots across Europe.
        A web of shipowners, brokers and financiers launder Iranian crude into global markets by switching off transponders, rebadging cargoes, and masking transactions through Dubai, Istanbul or Kuala Lumpur. Britain must step up efforts to seize assets, impound tankers, and prosecute those who profit.
        The IRGC is the custodian of a revolutionary doctrine, funding Hizbullah, Hamas, Shia militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran's rulers are not sponsors of terrorism. They are terrorists with a state. MI5 has foiled 20 Iranian plots on our soil. We cannot reform this regime into respectability. At its core lies Ayatollah Khomeini's revolutionary doctrine, which demands that the Islamic revolution be exported abroad. (Telegraph-UK)
Observations:

Netanyahu to UN: Israel Is Fighting Your Fight; Our Enemies Hate All of Us with Equal Venom (Prime Minister's Office)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly on Friday:
  • Iran's terror axis threatened the peace of the entire world and the very existence of my country, Israel. So what's happened over the past year? Half the Houthi leadership in Yemen - gone. Yahya Sinwar in Gaza - gone. Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon - gone. The Assad regime in Syria - gone. And Iran's top military commanders and its top atomic bomb scientists are gone too. President Trump and I promised to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and we delivered on that promise.
  • Much of the world no longer remembers October 7th. But Israel remembers. These monsters took more than 250 people hostage. So far, we've brought home 207 of these hostages. But 48 still remain in the dungeons of Gaza. To the remaining Hamas leaders, and to the jailors of our hostages, I now say: Let my people go! Free all the hostages now! If you do, you will live. If you don't, Israel will hunt you down.
  • Israel did what any self-respecting nation would do in the wake of such a savage attack. We fought back. Imagine a terror regime dispatching thousands of terrorists to invade the U.S. In an attack proportionate to the attack against Israel on October 7th, they massacre 40,000 Americans. They take 10,000 Americans hostage. Do you think America would leave that regime standing? Not a chance! The U.S. would wipe out that terror regime and ensure that such savagery would never threaten America again. This is precisely what Israel is doing in Gaza.
  • Our enemies hate all of us with equal venom. They want to drag the modern world back to the past, to a dark age of violence, fanaticism, and terror. You know deep down that Israel is fighting your fight. Behind closed doors, many of the leaders who publicly condemn us, privately thank us. They tell me how much they value Israel's superb intelligence services that have prevented time and again terrorist attacks in their capitals, saving countless lives.
  • Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7th is like giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11th. This is sheer madness. It's insane, and we won't do it. Israel will not allow you to shove a terror state down our throats. We will not commit national suicide because you don't have the guts to face down a hostile media and antisemitic mobs demanding Israel's blood.
Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs
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