Iran Seeking to Revive the 'Axis of Resistance' Against Israel - Khaled Abu Toameh

 

by Khaled Abu Toameh

If Hamas had any real intention of laying down its weapons, its leaders would not be participating in a conference that has come out in public against disarming terror groups in the Middle East. If Hamas were serious about implementing the Trump plan, it would not be participating in a conference that rejects it.

 

• This statement [by senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya that the group will "accumulate capabilities to move towards the liberation of Palestine"] contradicts recent remarks by White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who said that Hamas officials told him and Jared Kushner that the terror group will disarm.

• If Hamas had any real intention of laying down its weapons, its leaders would not be participating in a conference that has come out in public against disarming terror groups in the Middle East. If Hamas were serious about implementing the Trump plan, it would not be participating in a conference that rejects it.

• The ANC conference in Beirut featuring the Iran-backed "axis of resistance" is a direct challenge not only to the Trump administration but also to the Lebanese government, which has failed to carry out its decision from August 2024 to disarm Hezbollah.

• The statements of the leaders of the terror groups at the conference show that they, together with Iran's regime, are determined to continue their Jihad to obliterate Israel and resist attempts to confiscate their weapons.

• The war in the Gaza Strip may be over, but the Islamist terrorists' desire to destroy Israel remains as strong as ever.

Although Iran's terror proxies have been weakened, they are trying to rise from the ashes with the help of their patrons in Tehran. A statement by senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, that the group will "accumulate capabilities to move towards the liberation of Palestine," contradicts recent remarks by White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who said that Hamas officials told him that the terror group will disarm. Pictured: Al-Hayya meets with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on February 8, 2025. (Image source: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader)

While US President Donald J. Trump and his administration are working hard to bring peace to the Middle East and disarm terror groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the Iranian regime and its proxies are doing their utmost to ensure that their Jihad (holy war) to destroy Israel continues in full force.

The Iranian regime is evidently (and understandably) afraid of losing its terror proxies – Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. These terror groups, whose primary goal is to eliminate Israel, have suffered severe blows over the past two years as a result of Israeli military operations targeting their leaders and military infrastructure.

Although Iran's terror proxies have been weakened, they are trying to rise from the ashes with the help of their patrons in Tehran.

As part of their effort to foil Trump's Gaza peace plan and attempts to persuade more Arab and Islamic countries to join the Abraham Accords with Israel, representatives of the Iran-backed terror groups attended a conference in Beirut in the first week of November organized by a group called the Arab National Conference.

According to Ziad Hafez, the group's former general secretary:

"The Arab National Conference (ANC) is the prime popular Arab nationalist institution in the Arab world. Over the last three decades it has managed to reframe the Arab nationalist narrative and redefine the concept of Arab nationalism. The positions and statements of the ANC are key to the resurgence of Arab nationalism and to the understanding of events currently taking place in the Arab homeland."

The conference was attended by more than 250 "Arab political, cultural, and resistance figures" from several Arab and Islamic countries. Key speakers included leaders of Hamas, PIJ, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, who declared that the "resistance [terrorism] remains the central path to confronting Israel and expansionist agendas across Palestine and the Middle East."

Ma'an Bashour, a prominent Lebanese political figure, said that "resistance" is not merely military but "a political, cultural, and social framework essential for restoring sovereignty."

ANC Secretary-General Hamdeen Sabahi emphasized the need to counter narratives of Arab defeat. "The nation has won, and the day of Palestine's liberation is near," he said.

Sabahi rejected calls by the Trump administration and the Lebanese government to disarm the Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. These weapons, he added, "represent the dignity of the [Arab] nation."

According to Sabahi, one of the outcomes of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel is the victory in New York City's mayoral election of Zohran Mamdani, "who declared his allegiance to Palestine."

The October 7 atrocities, Sabahi said, also showed that the process of normalization between Arab countries and Israel was "condemned to death on the [Arab and Islamic] popular level."

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said in a speech before the conference that the October 7 massacres were "a response to attempts to obliterate the Palestinian cause and build a new Middle East."

Al-Hayya added:

"October 7 registered an epic of heroism inside Palestine and on its borders when the nation participated, each according to its ability, in supporting us. The Al-Aqsa Flood [the name Hamas uses to describe the October 7 atrocities] has placed before us a great duty to develop plans and accumulate capabilities to move towards the liberation of Palestine [a euphemism for the destruction of Israel]."

This statement contradicts recent remarks by White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who said that Hamas officials told him and Jared Kushner that the terror group will disarm. In a speech before the America Business Forum in Miami on November 6, Witkoff said:

"Hamas has always indicated that they would disarm. They've said so – they said it to us directly during that famous meeting that Jared had with them. I hope they keep their word..."

If Hamas had any real intention of laying down its weapons, its leaders would not be participating in a conference that has come out in public against disarming terror groups in the Middle East. If Hamas were serious about implementing the Trump plan, it would not be participating in a conference that rejects it.

Ziyad al-Nakhalah, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second-largest terror group in the Gaza Strip, and whose members participated in the October 7 attack on Israel, also expressed opposition to any plan to disarm terror groups.

"We are still in the field and we emphasize the need to protect the resistance," al-Nakhalah told the ANC conference. He claimed that the Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip "fought against an international coalition led by the US" over the past two years.

"We emerged from this battle with our weapons in our hands," the PIJ leader said. Referring to the possibility that the terror groups would comply with Trump's plan and lay down their weapons, he said: "Trump's plan has set many obstacles and conditions that cannot be implemented."

Jamil Mazhar, deputy secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian terror group that pioneered aircraft-hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, told the conference that the fight against the "Zionist enemy" will continue. "We are meeting to renew our pledge against the Zionist enemy and those who are allied with it, and the fighting continues," Mazhar stressed.

Ammar al-Moussawi, Hezbollah's international relations official, also rejected attempts to disarm his organization. "The resistance option in Lebanon was, and still is, a strategic decision stemming from the belief in the justice of the Palestinian cause," al-Moussawi said.

The Hezbollah official claimed that "attempts to restrict the resistance's weapons in Lebanon come in response to Arab and Western pressures." Al-Moussawi said that Hezbollah, "which has sacrificed thousands of martyrs, is capable of producing a new generation that will continue the path of resistance."

The leader of Yemen's Houthi militia, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, warned against attempts by Israel and the US "to disarm the resistance in Lebanon and Gaza." He urged the Arab nations to "preserve and strengthen all elements of power to defeat Israel."

The ANC conference in Beirut featuring the Iran-backed "axis of resistance" is a direct challenge not only to the Trump administration but also to the Lebanese government, which has failed to carry out its decision from August 2024 to disarm Hezbollah.

The statements of the leaders of the terror groups at the conference show that they, together with Iran's regime, are determined to continue their Jihad to obliterate Israel and resist attempts to confiscate their weapons.

The war in the Gaza Strip may be over, but the Islamist terrorists' desire to destroy Israel remains as strong as ever.

• Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)

 

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22041/iran-reviving-axis-of-resistance

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Weary Senate Democrats break ranks, vote with GOP to advance bill ending longest federal shutdown - Nicholas Ballasy

 

by Nicholas Ballasy

Numerous Democrats broke ranks, including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who represents nearly 150,000 federal employees.

 

After more than one month of gridlock, the U.S. Senate on Sunday night advanced a deal that would end the longest federal government shutdown in American history.

Senators voted 60-40 to approve a clean reconciliation bill passed by the House weeks ago, setting the stage for a final vote that would formally end the 40-day shutdown.

Eight weary Senate Democrats broke ranks to to join Republicans in approval, Democratic Party rejected the same bill 14 times over the last month.

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats, had emerged from a nearly three-hour meeting, expressing confidence enough Democrats would break with their party to reopen the government.

"That certainly is what it looks like," he told reporters.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who represents nearly 150,000 federal employees, said he supports the updated spending package. 

Continuing Appropriations Act of 2026.pdf

President Donald Trump also expressed confidence the 40-day shutdown was poised to end.

“It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending," Trump told a White House pool of reporters.

The deal would reportedly give back pay to many federal workers, but would not authorize the extension of enhanced subsidies through insurance companies for Obamacare, lawmakers in both parties said.

A coalition of around 10 Senate Democrats signaled that they will support moving forward with a package of three appropriations bills, coupled with a short-term funding stopgap through the end of January.  

The deal also reportedly includes a December floor vote on extending the expanded pandemic-era Affordable Care Act tax credits for one additional year as well as language aimed at reversing the federal layoffs carried out during the shutdown. 

A full vote on the measure will follow likely on Monday. 

Nicholas Ballasy

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/deal-end-shutdown-forming-senate

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'Zionism is Racism'- 50 years on, the UN lie that haunts Israel - comment - Alex Winston

 

by Alex Winston

Fifty years after the UN declared Zionism is a form of racism, its legacy still continues to fuel antisemitism and distort human rights discourse.

 

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Chaim Herzog lambasts the Assembly after the adoption of Resolution 2279, stating that "Zionism is a form of racism," November 10, 1975.

(photo credit: UN/Michos Tzovaras) 

Fifty years ago, the world witnessed a change in international attitude that was the harbinger of the antisemitism we are witnessing in the modern world.

Fifty years ago, on November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt Resolution 3379, which determined that Zionism “is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

Antisemitism is at a record high. We're keeping our eyes on it >>

Fifty years ago, Israel’s then-ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, lambasted the assembly from the dais, telling those gathered, “It is indeed fitting that the United Nations, which began its life as an anti-Nazi alliance, should, 30 years later, find itself on its way to becoming the world center of antisemitism.”

The vote passed with 72 nations in favor, 35 against, and 32 abstentions. Those who voted yes included all the Arab nations, as well as those in the Communist bloc, plus others seeking favor from the Soviet Union. Only a handful of democracies, among them the United States, Canada, Australia, and most of Western Europe, opposed it. It was quintessential Cold War voting at its finest, but it was more than damaging to the Jewish state.

Herzog, whose speech would become one of the defining moral stands in Israel’s diplomatic history, tore up the resolution on the podium. “It is no more than a piece of paper,” he declared, “and we shall treat it as such.”

Protestors carrying placards reading 'Zionism isn't racism' and 'Israel is a democracy' the day after the United Nations passed resolution 3379 which determined that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination, during a demonstration in New York City, New York, 11th November 1975. (credit: Peter Keegan/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The ambassador also stated that the resolution “may well prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of the United Nations,” and the organization has spent the succeeding 50 years descending into politicized moral relativism.

Language of human rights is being turned into a weapon against Jews

For Israel and for Jews worldwide, the message was horrifying. The international body, which had been founded in the wake of the Holocaust, had turned the language of human rights into a weapon to be used against the Jewish people.

It was a major turning point in the globalization and acceptance of the political language of antisemitism. It was the beginning of Israel’s global delegitimization.

In December 1991, under US pressure and in the afterglow of the Gulf War, the UN formally repealed the resolution. It was hailed as a diplomatic victory, but the damage had already been done. The rot had already set in.

For 16 years, the phrase “Zionism is racism” entered the global lexicon. Via textbooks, media, and political rhetoric, a veneer of legitimacy to antisemitism was acceptable under the guise of “anti-Zionism.” Even after its repeal, the idea lived on in the reports of NGOs, the language of “human rights” forums, and the slogans of campus movements.

It would be a nice trip down memory lane if that were the end of the story. The ramifications of what happened that day in New York are still being felt now.

1975 MARKED the playbook of how to use one of the Jewish people’s greatest beliefs – its eternal connection to the Land of Israel – against it. In a post-October 7 world, we have once again seen the demonization of Jews masquerading under the guise of “anti-Zionism.”

Antisemitism has exploded across Western capitals, universities, and online spaces, all with the same package.

In May of last year, a rally in Melbourne, Australia, featured the chant, “All Zionists are terrorists.” One activist, Hash Tayeh, was later charged under Victoria’s Summary Offences Act for using “insulting words in public.”

On July 9, just a few months later, Meta Platforms announced a policy change to remove social media posts that target “Zionists” when the term is being used to represent Jewish people or Israelis rather than simply supporters of the political movement of Zionism. That was a reactive measure to the antisemitic abuse. Not a proactive measure.

Last week, after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were barred from traveling to the UK for a soccer match against Aston Villa in Birmingham, activists plastered “Zionists not welcome” signs and Palestinian flags around the city.

We have all seen posters, placards, and social media invitations to events, notably across US campuses, with the loud proclamation “ZIONISTS NOT WELCOME!”

These are just several examples. There are many, many more.

Nowadays, language change has been accompanied by an attitude change as well. The delegitimization of Israel has gone into overdrive in the two years since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel.

“In the Middle East, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf, only one presence is allowed, and that is the Arab presence,” Herzog declared during his speech, more relevant than ever. “No other people, regardless of how deep are its roots in the region, is to be permitted to enjoy its right of self-determination.”

To mark people out for being Zionist, or even worse, to label them as racist because of their Zionism, is to deny the Jewish people the very right to identity and self-determination that every other nation takes for granted.

“I come here to denounce the two great evils which menace society in general and a society of nations in particular. These two evils are hatred and ignorance,” Herzog uttered. “These two evils are the motivating force behind the proponents of this draft resolution and their supporters. These two evils characterize those who would drag this world organization, the idea of which was first conceived by the prophets of Israel, to the depths to which it has been dragged today.”

Fifty years later, Israel is still facing the same battle it was then, and more prominently in the West than at any time since the Holocaust. Fifty years later, it is still facing hatred and ignorance.

 The Hate Monitor is here to track antisemitism worldwide. Learn more >>

Alex Winston

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-873282

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Australian white nationalists rally against 'Jewish lobby,' protest 'new hate crimes laws' - Michael Starr

 

by Michael Starr

Protesters showed up outside the New South Wales parliament with a large banner that read "Abolish the Jewish lobby." There was outrage against the NSW police for allowing it to occur.

 

White nationalists protest in Australia.

(photo credit: SCREENSHOT/TELEGRAM/WHITE AUSTRALIA/ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 27 OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW) 

An Australian white nationalist organization rallied outside the New South Wales parliament against Jewish community involvement in politics and against hate crime laws, drawing outrage against the NSW police for allowing the protest to occur.

Black-clad men stood at attention in rows outside the Sydney government building, according to a video shared on Telegram by White Australia, which claimed responsibility for the event. A large banner read "Abolish the Jewish lobby."

"We are here today because the Jewish lobby is destroying our nation. The Jewish lobby is one of the most powerful lobbies in Australia," said a speaker. "They bribe our politicians, they coerce our politicians, they send them on all expenses paid trips to Israel to educate them, to indoctrinate them, so that they can come back and do their wishes. They own our politicians."

Speakers on behalf of the NSW chapter of the white nationalist organization charged that a package of laws passed in February by the NSW government was advanced under false pretenses. The state had seen a wave of antisemitic arson and vandalism incidents, which NSW and federal police had claimed to have in part been conducted by criminal organizations to distract or manipulate police into rewarding leaders with reduced prison sentences.

While the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in August attributed at least two of the incidents to Iranian operatives, White Australia speakers implied that biker gangs had been paid by the Jewish community, and had their acts exaggerated and embellished by a supposedly Jewish-controlled media in order to pressure the government into passing the law package.

''Abolish the Jewish Lobby'' protest in Australia. (credit: SCREENSHOT/TELEGRAM/WHITE AUSTRALIA/ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 27 OF THE COPYRIGHT LAW)

"These laws should never have existed in the first place. They stifle freedom of speech," said a White Australia speaker. "These laws should be repealed immediately, and the Jewish lobbies, who lobbied based on falsehood and lies, should be abolished."

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said on Saturday that it was inexcusable that the police authorized the protest.

"The chilling images and despicable words of antisemitism which were uttered at the event should never find a home or be accepted in our society, especially outside the heart of our democracy," said the board.

Antisemitism in Australia is on the rise

Anti-Israel group Palestine Action Group Sydney, whose October appeal to the NSW Supreme Court saw the striking of a state law against blocking or intimidating those seeking access to a house of worship, also complained that the white nationalist protest demonstrated a double standard.

"It is outrageous that the NSW Government and police have repeatedly tried to ban and block our protests against genocide and war, while they wave through neo-Nazi rallies," the group said on Instagram on Sunday. "[NSW premier] Chris Minns can not use this despicable Nazi rally to pass even more anti-protest laws. They have more than enough."

NSW opposition leader Mark Speakman also questioned on X on Saturday how the "disgusting scene" outside the parliament was allowed to occur under the watch of the premier, police minister, and police commissioner.

Police commissioner Mal Lanyon said in a Saturday press briefing that the Sydney police had made a judgment about the protest, taking into account the right of free speech against concerns about division and other limitations. Lanyon said that he would be reviewing the decision-making process, but that it may be that, under current legislation, the Sydney police made the correct decision.

Minns suggested in the same press briefing that more legislation was a possibility to allow the police more discretion to respond to such incidents. The premier warned that such White Nationalist organizations would not stop with the harassment of the Jewish community, and would also act against the NSW Indian and Islamic communities.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said on X  on Saturday that law enforcement needed the right legislative tools to monitor and disrupt extremists.

"Conspiracy theories about Jewish control of politics are more prevalent now than at any time in the past 80 years. They are common to all extremist ideologies from the far left to the far right. Neo-Nazis are adept at identifying the grievances and prejudices that are taking hold in a society and manipulating this for their evil purposes," said Ryvchin. "The single most important thing we must do is to restore decency, civility, and basic rationalism to our country, which would instantly remove any appeal of movements founded in pathetic ideas of overthrowing democracy and racial hierarchies."

Australian Jewish Association CEO Roberty Gregory said on social media that his organization was against hate speech laws, but that all decent Australians and Jewish community members had to stand united against "racist freaks."

The NSW Jewish Board called for the police to review whether the protest fell afoul of the law package that they were protesting against.

In January, there was a federal ban on the Nazi salute, symbols, and terrorist iconography. In February Minn's government passed a bill creating minimum and maximum sentences for displaying Nazi or terrorist organization symbols, or performing the Nazi salute.

The NSW laws also introduced offenses against threats and advocacy of violence against groups for their immutable characteristics, as well as a ban on advocacy or threats to damage the property of targeted groups. A minimum sentence of six years' prison was added for acts of terrorism, including planning, membership, recruiting, training, support, and association.

Michael Starr

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-873366

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US offered Hamas safe passage to return Hadar Goldin - report - Idan Kweller, Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Idan Kweller, Jerusalem Post Staff

Sources say Washington proposed safe passage for Hamas terrorists in Rafah in exchange for the return of Lt. Hadar Goldin’s remains.

 

A poster of Hadar Goldin hanging among cards with messages for Gaza hostages, Hostage Square, Tel Aviv, October 28, 2025.

(photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)

Washington promised Hamas terrorists safe passage in exchange for the return of deceased hostage Lt. Hadar Goldin, sources involved in the negotiations told Walla on Sunday.

The source stated that the terror group approached the US negotiation delegation via intermediaries and requested the safe passage of approximately 200 terrorists holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza.

However, the source did not clarify where the terrorists would be transferred to, stating that it is possible they will be transferred to Egypt, rather than into the Gaza Strip.

Turkish officials claimed to be instrumental in facilitating Goldin's return to Israel after "intensive efforts (reflecting) Hamas' clear commitment to the ceasefire."

"At the same time, we are working to ensure the safe passage of some 200 Gazan civilians currently trapped in the tunnels," an official told Reuters.

IDF honor guard carries the coffin of Lt. Hadar Goldin after his return from 11 years of captivity in Gaza, November 9, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Goldin held meters from IDF troops in Gaza 

N12 News reported that Turkey pressured Hamas not to surrender Goldin until the terrorists were guaranteed safe passage. However, Goldin was returned before the IDF agreed to return the terrorists trapped in Rafah. 

N12 reported that Goldin's body was returned after Hamas learned that the IDF had discovered Goldin's location and could thus no longer delay his return.

Goldin was held in a tunnel system that the IDF was calling the "White Sparrow.”  Soldiers were operating meters from his body for months, but were unable to locate his body. 

Hamas terrorists murdered Goldin in Gaza on August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge.

Hamas terrorists holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza will not surrender to Israel, the group's armed wing said on Sunday, urging mediators to find a solution to a crisis that threatens the month-old ceasefire.

Sources close to mediation efforts told Reuters on Thursday that terrorists could surrender their arms in exchange for passage to other areas of the enclave under a proposal aimed at resolving the stalemate.

Egyptian mediators have proposed that, in exchange for safe passage, terrorists still in Rafah surrender their arms to Egypt and give details of tunnels there so they can be destroyed, said one of the sources, an Egyptian security official.

US likely to pressure Israel to ease stance on terrorists in Rafah tunnels, official tells 'Post'

Senior Israeli officials estimate that US pressure will push Israel to show flexibility regarding the issue of the terrorists in the Rafah tunnels, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post. 

“Outwardly, everyone declares that Israel will not allow those 100–200 terrorists to leave the tunnels, even if they lay down their arms,” the official said. “But behind closed doors, everyone admits: if there is significant American pressure on this issue, Israel will have no choice but to compromise.”

US officials also made it clear in recent days that they want to resolve the issue of Hamas terrorists in the tunnels, saying that they "think [the terrorists] should get free passage, after Goldin's release."

Amichai Stein, Jerusalem Post Staff, and Reuters contributed to this report. 

Idan Kweller, Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-873292

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Syria foiled two ISIS plots on President Sharaa's life, sources say - Reuters

 

by Reuters

The reported plots came to light as Syria was poised to join a US-led global anti-Islamic State coalition when US President Donald Trump hosts Sharaa.

 

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, US, September 24, 2025.

(photo credit: REUTERS/JEENAH MOON/FILE PHOTO) 

Syria has foiled two separate Islamic State plots to assassinate President Ahmed al-Sharaa, two senior officials said, adding a personal dimension to the leader's plans to join a US-led coalition to fight the militant group that he has long battled.

The sources, a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official, said the plots on Sharaa's life were foiled over the last few months and underlined the direct threat he faces as he tries to consolidate power in a country ruined by 14 years of civil war.

The sources said that, in one case, the ISIS plot was centered around a pre-announced official engagement involving Sharaa, declining to provide further details due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Syrian information ministry declined to comment.

Plots emerge ahead of the Sharaa meeting with Trump

The reported plots came to light as Syria was poised to join a US-led global anti-Islamic State coalition when US President Donald Trump hosts Sharaa on Monday for a historic White House meeting, the first ever by a Syrian head of state.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria March 10, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI/FILE PHOTO)

The Syrian president, who came to power last December after the Islamist rebel force he led ousted President Bashar al-Assad, has been keen to promote an image as a moderate leader. He hopes the meeting with Trump will unlock international support for Syria's long-term rehabilitation and rebuilding.

The move to join the anti-IS coalition exemplifies Syria's shift since the fall of Assad from being a key ally of Russia and Iran toward closer ties with the Western and Arab camps.

Sharaa's task in trying to unite Syria remains monumental: his forces have been embroiled in repeated bouts of sectarian violence amid attacks on civilians and security forces that Damascus has blamed on Islamic State.

 A long fight against the Islamic State

Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting ISIS cells across the country, apprehending more than 70 suspects, government media said.

The senior Syrian security official said they were acting on intelligence that the group was planning operations against the government and Syrian minority groups.

It was also intended as a message that Syrian intelligence has deeply penetrated the group and that joining the coalition would bring a major asset to global operations against the militants.

Before taking power in an 11-day lightning offensive last year, Sharaa led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist rebel group that was formerly Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

Sharaa broke those ties in 2016 and has waged bloody battles against the Islamic State for more than a decade, carrying out a campaign of arrests and military operations against its cells in HTS's Idlib stronghold.

Islamic State has tried to stage a comeback in Syria after the fall of Assad. It has sought to portray Sharaa's rapprochement with the West and pledges to govern for all of Syria's religious groups as being at odds with Islam.

In June, 25 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a Damascus church, an attack the government blamed on Islamic State. The group did not claim responsibility.

Sharaa's government has already been coordinating with the US military for months in the fight against Islamic State, according to several Syrian officials, but formally joining is expected to significantly increase cooperation. It is also seen as a key confidence-building measure by Sharaa to convince US lawmakers to lift remaining sanctions against Syria before the end of the year.

Last week, Reuters reported the US military was preparing to establish a presence at a Damascus airbase for the first time. A US administration official asked that the exact location and name of the base not be published, citing operational security concerns.

Syrian state media denied the Reuters report without elaborating on what was false.

Reuters

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-873339

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‘Fighting Israel is not like fighting the Taliban’: Inside Iran post-12-Day War - Maariv Online, Anouk Carter-Dorf

 

by Maariv Online, Anouk Carter-Dorf

"The government and people seem stuck in a position of uncertainty where they are neither fully in peace nor at war. In a sense, the entirety of Iran has been trapped in a 'Groundhog Day' scenario."

 

Iranian flags fly as fire and smoke from an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot rise, following Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025.

(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS)

 

When Alireza Talakoubnejad, a young Iranian living in the United States, returned to his home in Iran after its brutal war with Israel, he saw a country significantly changed, one with deep-rooted trauma, a newfound reluctant respect for Israel's military precision, and emerging social reforms. 

In a deeply personal X/Twitter post in late October, Talakoubnejad recounted what he saw and heard in today’s Iran, a country he says is entirely different from the one he left behind.

The four main fronts of change he described include: the war’s aftermath, daily living conditions, public attitudes toward the regime, and shifting social norms. But above all, he observed that the profound transformation in Iranian society stemmed from internal changes, not from external influence. 

For the second time this year, I had the opportunity to go home and visit Iran.

I usually don’t have the opportunity to go back this frequently (I have a full time job and a life), but the 12 Day War dramatically changed my perspective on my priorities & I made it happen at the… https://t.co/jg1DjbUmMH

— Alireza Talakoubnejad (@websterkaroon) October 25, 2025

Iran's government is losing its people

Mistrust of the government, Talakoubnejad said, runs deeper than ever. "This isn’t new, but has significantly exacerbated with the electricity & water shortages and then the experience of the war. And this lack of confidence has turned into strong feelings of vulnerability."

"Iran has always had its difficulties," Talakoubnejad wrote, "but things have never (at least in my lifetime) deteriorated to this level."

He described the development of nightly water outages, summer power cuts, and suffocating smog that blanketed major cities. In Ahvaz, a strange haze from marsh fires across the Iraqi border caused widespread breathing problems. Inflation has soared to unbearable heights. Basic goods have turned into luxuries. Families are barely making ends meet; food now consumes most household budgets.

Business owners are taking out loans and buying gold, scrambling to pay off debts as a collapsing currency drives prices down. Even buying a car has become absurd, he said. "Someone that wants to buy a new car has to enter a raffle to then get the opportunity to buy it (and will sometimes stay in line for years)."

The regime, he wrote, seems paralyzed. Even critical issues like the water crisis go unaddressed out of fear of public unrest. "Years ago, the government may have had the ability to force certain changes. But this is no longer the case – fearing protests, there is only so much it can push."

He heard stories of angry citizens attacking civil servants going about their day. An electrical engineer at the Ministry of Energy told him that, almost every day, protesters would break into their offices in anger over the power outages. "On two different occasions, someone walked into his room and turned off his AC out of anger." 

"During the Khatami era, there was a famous phrase that the government faced one national crisis every nine days.  Now it seems that this has flipped, and the government faces 9 crises every day," Talakoubnejad wrote.

"The government and people seem stuck in a position of uncertainty where they are neither fully at peace nor at war. In a sense, the entirety of Iran has been trapped in a 'Groundhog Day' like scenario for two decades, where no matter what we do, we end up in the same place."

War's scars still run deep among Iranians 

On the surface, Tehran has survived. The city suffers few visible scars, no vast ruins, and only a handful of empty lots remain where busy buildings once stood. Across the city, some scattered billboards display portraits of slain commanders, but otherwise, not much has changed.

But to the keen observer, Talakoubnejad says, the psychological damage runs deep. "In contrast to the physical state of the city, I did see very deep marks left by the war in the psyche of the people." Dozens of Iranians told him they cannot sleep without medication and startle at the sound of loud noises. "A common refrain I heard was people hoping to entirely black out those 12 days from their memory and never have to think about them again," he wrote.

The bombing of Evin Prison in particular seemed to have lasting effects on the community. Talakoubnejad repeatedly heard the story of a girl killed during a visit to her imprisoned father, convicted over an unpaid debt. 

People ride on a motorcycle as a view shows the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Evin Prison that took place on June 23, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 29, 2025. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Through conversations with locals, he learned that the scariest part for Iranians was "the few days that Tehran was completely empty." One person described "leaving his home in the morning to buy bread and not hearing any sounds but birds." When people stepped out of their houses, the hum of the city gave way to eerie silence; many felt as if they were living through an apocalypse. 

Yet many Iranians expressed a reluctant respect for Israel’s calculated restraint. "As a pro-government friend described to me: 'Fighting Israel is not like fighting the Taliban, where they randomly shoot at different parts of the city. They had precise intelligence and weapons. Every single strike was intentional and had a purpose.'"

A quiet revolution in the streets

The most striking changes, he observed, are those that have developed over the course of day-to-day life. Hijab enforcement has nearly disappeared, even in banks and airports. "As a young friend told me, this limited freedom of dress was not something that was granted by the government... it was taken by force, through a very high price, by the people, and will not be given back."

He was astonished to see LGBTQ Iranians walking openly in public, transgender people and same-sex couples expressing their identity without fear. Talakoubnejad described seeing an effeminately dressed man wink at another man who turned visibly red and winked back. Even for him, he says, "this was somewhat shocking" and not something he expected to see outside Park Daneshjoo. 

As faith in the clerical establishment crumbles, many Iranians are turning toward mystical and unorthodox spiritual practices. From amulets to spells, once orthodox Shia are exploring their spirituality, reflecting the loss of trust in religious authority.

The younger generation, Talakoubnejad wrote, "tend to be terminally online & largely live in the same culture other people their age around the world do." They consume Western pop culture, TV shows, music, tattoos, and no longer hide it. Unlike his generation, he says, which hid parties and relationships from parents, today "kids don’t feel the need to hide any of it."

Despite the hardships, Talakoubnejad believes the transformation underway in Iran is real and unstoppable. "The remarkable thing about this change is that is has come directly from the people – not imposed top down by the state (as has been the case in so much of Iran’s history), nor from foreign powers."

"What makes me the happiest," he added, "is seeing someone dressed without a scarf and in a very Westernized way standing side by side with their best friend who chooses to wear a full hijab and dress traditionally. And there is no tension between them & each chooses to value the other and their choices."

True change, he concluded, will not come from exiled leaders, reformists, or from US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "This change will come from inside, from family settings, and the heart of society itself. This type of change is far more durable and effective than any alternative."

Maariv Online, Anouk Carter-Dorf

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-872583

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Albania becomes 64th nation to join Israel Allies Foundation - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

Chaired by Romina Kuko of the Socialist Party and Gazmend Bardhi of the Democratic Party, the caucus marks a rare cross-party initiative reflecting Albania’s history of supporting the Jewish people.

 

Flags of Albania and Israel side by side (Illustrative).

(photo credit: Canva, REUTERS/FLORION GOGA)

 

Albania has become the 64th nation to join the Israel Allies Foundation advocacy group, and the country launched its Israel Allies Caucus at the Parliament of Albania in Tirana on Monday.

The new caucus will work side by side with the international coalition of pro-Israel parliamentary groups to advance “faith-based diplomacy” while strengthening support for Israel.

Chaired by Romina Kuko of the Socialist Party and Gazment Bardhi of the Democratic Party, the caucus marks a rare cross-party initiative reflecting Albania’s long history of support for the Jewish people and Israel.

“It is a great honor to be part of this moment, marking another chapter in the long-standing friendship and cooperation between Albania and Israel,” Kuko said. “The fact that this group includes representatives from both the majority and the opposition carries strong symbolic meaning, reflecting our shared national commitment and the excellent relations between our two peoples.”

Bardhi said it was an honor to mark a new chapter in the enduring friendship between Albania and Israel.

A crowd waves Israeli and Albanian flags. (credit: Created with ChatGPT)

“This initiative reflects our shared values and deep historical ties,” he said. “Albania’s rescue of Jews during World War II remains a proud symbol of our humanity and courage. Through this platform, we strengthen our partnership in promoting peace, coexistence, and human dignity.”

Participating members of Parliament signed the official Resolution for Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus during Monday’s launch ceremony.

Albania's connection to Jews, Israel

Albania is the only mainland European country that ended World War II with more Jews than it had before the war, as citizens hid and protected Jewish refugees despite the great personal risk.

In recent years, Albania has supported Israel in international forums, including abstaining from several one-sided UN resolutions.

“Albania has a remarkable legacy of protecting and honoring the Jewish people, and this new caucus will build on that moral tradition,” said Josh Reinstein, president of the Israel Allies Foundation.

“Faith-based diplomacy continues to unite leaders around shared biblical values. We are proud to welcome Albania into our global network at a moment when standing with Israel is more important than ever.”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-873313

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GOP preparing legal challenge to redistricting effort that could cut GOP's sole MD House seat - Nicholas Ballasy

 

by Nicholas Ballasy

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., is the only sitting Republican House member from Maryland. Redistricting battles have bled into several states, which could bring changes.

 

Republicans are preparing a legal challenge to Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's redistricting effort that could cut out the GOP's sole House seat. Moore, who has said he is not running for president in 2028, is creating a commission that will consider a new House map.

His move follows the adoption of a new map in Texas that could add five additional GOP House seats and redistricting in California that could result in five more Democratic House seats.

“My commitment has been clear from day one — we will explore every avenue possible to make sure Maryland has fair and representative maps,” he said in a statement. 

Sole GOP seat on chopping block

Former Gov. Larry Hogan called the establishment of the redistricting commission a "cancer on our democracy" on Sunday.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., is the only sitting Republican House member from Maryland.

His office was not available for comment before publication.

Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) said she is ready for a new map and that she and Harris are in touch with the legal team they had worked with in 2022.

Szeliga led the effort to challenge redrawn congressional districts in Maryland three years ago.

"We haven’t signed any papers, but we’ve got it teed up to go right back to the Supreme Court," she said, referring to the state Supreme Court.

A Washington Post op-ed described Moore's redistricting effort as embarrassing.

Szeliga said the formation of the commission seems "like Kabuki theater [...] It’s very theatrical, big on theatrics and short on substantial, genuine efforts to serve the citizens of the state of Maryland," she said. 

Nicholas Ballasy

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/gop-preparing-legal-challenge-moores-restricting-effort-could-cut-gops-sole-md-house

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The Race for the Trump Economy - Victor Davis Hanson

 

by Victor Davis Hanson

Trump’s first-year economy is surging, but the race ahead hinges on perception, messaging, and whether voters see the boom before the 2026 midterms.

 

The current economic indicators, at least those attributable to the 10-month Trump administration, are strong.

Fourth-quarter GDP is estimated to grow between 2.7 and 4 percent, the robust latter figure according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.

Inflation from June to August ranged from 2.7 to 2.9 percent, significantly lower than the 5 percent annual average during Biden’s 2021-2025 term.

Gas prices now average $2.98 per gallon, compared to $3.46, the average cost during Biden’s four years.

In less than a year, Trump has increased oil production by one million barrels per day.

Unemployment in the second quarter of 2025 stayed steady at 4.2 percent, roughly the same as the 4.1 percent during the final month of Biden’s tenure.

The stock market has reached an all-time high. Foreign investment is pegged at record levels. Tariff revenue could reach $400 billion by the end of the year—vastly outpacing the $77 billion in all of last year, 2024.

In other words, the economy is rolling along.

To the extent the Trump administration has a problem with the economy, however, it is threefold.

One is public perceptions.

In 2021, Biden foolishly borrowed $7 trillion and infused it into the economy at precisely the wrong time. The economy had already been stimulated by Trump’s prior massive lockdown borrowing.

The COVID-19 pandemic was ending. The emerging public was eager to get out, splurge, and satisfy its two-year pent-up consumer demand. And yet supply chains were still disrupted and unable to supply sufficient goods or services.

That perfect storm would ensure that there were too few goods and services for too much cash-flush, inordinate consumer spending.

Despite warnings from even liberal economists that the “stimulus” was a recipe for hyperinflation, Biden—or whoever at that time ran the country—went ahead with his massive borrowing and ensured that inflation would peak at an annual rate of 9.1 percent in 2022.

The mess continued, however, since inflation still kept up in the next two years at 3-4 percent. And when Trump entered office in 2025, goods were over 21 percent higher than when Biden had been inaugurated—with even steeper prices on key staples like energy, groceries, automobiles, housing, and insurance.

Most prices have never gone down. The fact that they have remained high over the last ten months has been blamed on Trump, on the strange rationale that he was supposed to have engineered a deflationary economy in less than a year to lower what Biden recklessly had raised over four years.

The left-wing propaganda is Orwellian:

“Our four-year policies created hyperinflation. Your 10-month antithesis did not. But you are still responsible for not undoing in ten months what we did in 48 months. Therefore, we deserve to return to power to repeat the disaster that we made under Biden.”

Second, the administration and Republicans have rarely compared their own economic record with that of Biden’s dismal four years to explain how there is improvement in almost every area.

Trump’s circle understandably has emphasized its accomplishments on the border, reducing crime, curtailing DEI, restoring military recruitment, and especially in foreign affairs, such as the ruination of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the reenergizing of NATO, the oversight of Israel’s successful wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, and achieving ceasefires in conflicts across the globe. These are notable successes. Talk of a Trump Nobel Peace Prize is understandable and warranted.

But the recent off-year elections, albeit in blue states like California, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia, were decided mostly on perceptions of “affordability,” shorthand for the economy.

When independent voters heard little from Republican candidates about the good economic news or of the sharp contrast from the prior Democratic train wreck, they simply bought the left-wing line that the lack of “affordability” was due to the administration in power—that is, Trump.

Third, most of Trump’s key economic initiatives are long-term and will not be fully realized by the end of 2025 or in early to mid-2026.

No one yet knows what the full effects will be of record deregulation and tax cuts by 2026. No administration has ever prompted the deportation of 2 million illegal aliens, as will happen by 2025, with a likely 2 million more in 2026.

Nor does anyone yet know the positive effect on jobs and wages when there are fewer foreign workers undercutting American labor, and even fewer people receiving costly state and federal entitlements.

No one knows what will follow from a record production of nearly 14 million barrels of oil per day, which, with new federal leasing and fewer regulations, may still increase even more in 2026. More federal revenue from leasing and exports? Cheaper natural gas and gasoline for consumers?

No one knows the economic role of a rapidly advancing artificial intelligence industry, with likely huge breakthroughs from robotics to medicine. No one knows the impact of a new generation of smaller micro-nuclear generation stations or more natural-gas power-plants that should provide electricity far more cheaply than massive, state-subsidized wind and solar farms.

No one knows the effect of the massive promised foreign investment. Trump talks confidently of $15 trillion or more promised in foreign investments. If just a third of that sum were to be actualized by late 2026, together with trillions of dollars in new domestic investment, the effect on GDP, unemployment, and federal revenues would be enormous.

Tariffs have caused neither a trade war, stock collapse, nor recession. Instead, the use of tariff threats, jawboning, and deals has resulted so far in little additional inflation, at least if the courts do not intervene.

Again, even downwardly negotiated new tariffs could bring in $400 billion in additional revenue. Far from stuck in a destructive trade war, the U.S. is more likely in 2026 to be in the strongest and most advantageous commercial position with both America’s allies and rivals, like China, in the last half-century.

The left is certainly apprehensive about the prospect of a likely booming pre-midterm Trump economy by November 2026.

The current shutdown, preplanned by Democrats to synchronize with the recent elections, makes no sense given their prior damnation of minority-party shutdowns, their prior serial votes to approve continuing resolutions, and their prior incoherent claims about putting a sunset on massive Obamacare subsidies, which they also once insisted would never be necessary.

So the likely real purpose of the shutdowns is a nihilist effort to slow down or sidetrack the expanding Trump economy—a sort of smaller replay of what the purported “natural” disaster of COVID-19 did to the then-booming 2019 Trump economy that likely cost Trump the 2020 election.

In addition, there is no reason now for the Fed not to lower rates, and far more than the recent paltry 0.25 percent cut. There is neither wild growth nor high inflation, but most certainly a stagnant housing market, high mortgage rates, and natural uncertainty among builders.

For most of 2025, the media has tried to talk the U.S. into a recession—wrongly predicting a March stock market crash, wrongly assuring us of a mid-2025 recession, wrongly maintaining that tariff-borne hyperinflation would bury the economy by fall, and wrongly insisting a disastrous trade war was upon us, one that would crash both the U.S. and Chinese economies.

If the shutdown were quickly ended and the Fed steadily lowered interest rates by at least 2 percent, and if the media would just report the news rather than seek to create realities by falsification, then a strong, and soon to be even more robust, economy would likely determine the 2026 midterms, and with it the Trump presidency.

So the current Trump economy is in a race of sorts. The challenge is not nature, not war, not the unpredictable, and certainly not wrong economic policies and agendas.

The rub is a failure to highlight the radical improvement from the Biden years in just a few months, to explain that novel policies are already in motion that may revolutionize the American economy within a year, and to recognize the destructive efforts of partisan shutdowns, partisan high interest rates, and partisan hysterical doom and gloom fake news.

If Trump meets these challenges, voters could see the economy take off as never before in 2026—just in time for the midterms.

Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness and the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He is an American military historian, columnist, a former classics professor, and scholar of ancient warfare. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004, and is the 2023 Giles O'Malley Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University. Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush, and the Bradley Prize in 2008. Hanson is also a farmer (growing almonds on a family farm in Selma, California) and a critic of social trends related to farming and agrarianism. He is the author of the just released New York Times best seller, The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation, published by Basic Books on May 7, 2024, as well as the recent  The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won, The Case for Trump, and The Dying Citizen.

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2025/11/10/the-race-for-the-trump-economy/

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