The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
The federal government has blocked more than $112 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota.
(The Center Square) -
The federal government has blocked more than $112 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota.
The state's Department of Human Services said it has already paid the provider claims and was awaiting reimbursement by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used 78 disallowed claims totaling approximately $112,000 to extrapolate a disallowance of more than $112 million; an expansion roughly 1,000 times greater than the 78 disallowed claims,” temporary MDHS Commissioner John Connolly said in a statement on Thursday.
“We have more questions than answers right now, including CMS’s extrapolation methodology and how they selected the 330 claims for review in a quarter with more than six million high-risk claims.”
This comes after CMS announced in February a pause on $259 million for Minnesota services determined to be high risk. While that was a temporary rejection of reimbursement primary for services provided in the period between July and September 2025, this new announcement is a permanent rejection.
A federal CMS spokesperson told The Center Square that the agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is committed to ensuring taxpayer funds are properly spent.
“CMS is committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring Medicaid resources serve the people who depend on the program,” the spokesperson said. “Holding states accountable for compliance with federal requirements is central to that responsibility.”
More than 1 million Minnesotans are enrolled in Medicaid. Over the past year, the state’s Medicaid programs have faced increased scrutiny as federal and state officials work to address widespread fraud. Meanwhile, $350 million in other federal CMS funding to Minnesota has also been frozen.
Connolly said the department is determining next steps.
“We are actively reviewing information we received late Friday and plan to request more information from CMS before determining next steps,” he said Thursday.
MDHS reiterated that position in response to questions from The Center Square, adding that the department also remains uncertain about the potential impact on state taxpayers, who initially funded the services.
“The department is reviewing the information we received from CMS late Friday and is considering its options before determining next steps,” the agency said.
In a letter Tuesday by Connolly to MDHS staff and shared with The Center Square, the commissioner said they were expecting some funds to be blocked, but not $112 million.
“While we have been bracing for some sort of disallowance, this amount is deeply concerning,” he said. “We are also bracing for the possibility that CMS will issue additional Medicaid funding deferrals.”
Connolly also said the funding disputes have raised concerns about how CMS is handling the reimbursement process, particularly for Minnesota.
“Over the past year, CMS has continued to engage in unprecedented ways and has not responded to multiple requests for transparency, partnership and a path to resolution,” he said. “We remain concerned about the transparency and fairness of the process CMS is using to deny reimbursements for claims the state has already paid.”
Oil prices are down, as are gasoline prices. But there are a number of factors continuing to impact the markets. Should American drivers see $3 gasoline again, it will be well after 2027, experts say.
The price of oil took a tumble beginning at the end of October, and the decrease accelerated following the midterm elections in early November.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. also dropped this week, falling below $4 per gallon for the first time since July. Going into the weekend, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in America was $3.87 per gallon, down from $4.07 per gallon a week ago, according to AAA.
However, the price remains well above the $3.08 per gallon it was at a year ago, and experts say that an elevated price is likely to continue through 2027.
Continuing hostilities
Investors are likely betting that diplomacy will help bring about an end to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, but hostilities continue in some parts of the Middle East.
Iran’s military claimed Thursday to have struck four oil tankers that had ignored warnings, Reuters reported, noting the claims couldn’t be verified.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said Thursday they attacked a pumping station on the Saudi East-West oil pipeline, which is used as an alternative route around the Strait of Hormuz, the newswire service also reported.
“The ongoing inability of the U.S., Israel, or Saudi Arabia to exert control over the Houthis and contain these attacks remains one of the more suspicious aspects of what is happening in the Middle East today,” David Blackmon, energy analyst, wrote on his “Energy Additions” Subtack.
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) November Oil Market Report released on Friday says the global oil supply rose by another 2.3 million barrels per day in October, to 105.4 million barrels per day.
Bloomberg estimates that exports from the Gulf region, excluding Oman, are about 74% of pre-war levels.
Blackmon pointed out that continuing improvement from the Gulf is far from certain. When the route around the strait is under attack, the 74% recovery is vulnerable to the next drone strike, whenever that may come, he wrote.
The U.S.-Israel war with Iran that began in late February resulted in rocket attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively closing the passageway for a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers.
Fuel prices to remain high
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, wrote in his “Fuel Insights” Substack that it’s a myth that the outcomes in the midterms had much to do with dropping gasoline prices.
“Gas prices have fallen in the 30 days leading up to the election every year since 2006 except 2010, and it’s typically seasonal: refiners finish maintenance and ramp up output just as demand fades with cooler weather. Those same forces, along with more oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, are why prices could stay below $4 in the weeks ahead,” De Haan wrote.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its “Short-Term Energy Outlook” this week.
While the agency expects the retail price of gasoline and diesel to decline in 2027, it raised its forecast from last month’s outlook, to $5.03 per gallon for diesel in 2027, a 12% increase over the previous month’s forecast. Gasoline prices are forecast to average $3.73 per gallon, a 5% increase over the previous month’s forecast.
“We now assume global petroleum product markets will face continued supply constraints through the end of 2027,” the EIA said.
Refinery capacity is limited
This will, the EIA says, support a wider petroleum product crack spread, incentivizing elevated U.S. refinery operations. The crack spread is the difference between a barrel of crude oil and the petroleum products refined from it, such as gasoline and diesel.
Blackmon wrote that U.S. inventories of refined products are 8% below the five-year average. The EIA’s weekly distillate series shows distillate fuel-oil stocks for the first week of November are lower than they’ve been since records began in 1982.
“They are running about as hard as they physically can, and the diesel shelves are still the barest in more than 40 years for this point in the season,” Blackmon wrote.
Emergency stocks will provide temporary relief, but a long-term fix requires more refining capacity. The last major refinery in the U.S. was built in 1976, and even if planning for one started today, it would be several years at least before it was brought online.
Ultimately, all these factors combined will keep fuel costs above what they were prior to the conflict in Iran for the foreseeable future.
The meeting will be the president's third with Xi this year and the leaders are expected to talk about the war in Iran and nuclear proliferation, according to the White House.
President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China.
The meeting will be the president's third with Xi this year and the leaders are expected to talk about the war in Iran and nuclear proliferation, according to the White House.
U.S. officials have been worried about China's nuclear arsenal in recent years and a U.S. treaty with Russia expired earlier this year, the White House told reporters on a call Friday.
“The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world, whose proliferation President Trump believes is very dangerous,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said.
Two White House officials told the New York Times that the president is also expected to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila early next week before traveling to Shenzhen for APEC, where he will be joined by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The president is not expected to discuss the Jensen Huang scandal with Nvidia at the meeting.
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
Even Palestinians are publicly accusing the terrorist group of obstructing efforts to help Gaza's population.
"Palestinian Authority employees inside Gaza have reported that professionals from the Ministries of Public Works and Relief Affairs were intimidated, summoned, and coerced by Hamas into signing pledges not to undertake humanitarian projects without the group's approval. According to their accounts, those who defied Hamas risked so-called 'field justice,' including beatings and worse." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Palestinian political analyst, X.com, November 9, 2026.
"The terrorist group did not show any concern for the civilian lives that would be lost when the tower eventually collapses on its own, because it wants dead Palestinians and news of tragedy to keep Gaza in the news cycle and to gain global sympathy, hoping for more incoming resources and donations for the Strip's humanitarian and reconstruction needs that it could siphon. Additionally, Hamas has also been accused of obstructing construction projects intended to create safer communities for displaced Gazans in southern Gaza, prioritizing political control over humanitarian relief." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, X.com, November 9, 2026.
Hamas had also used equipment necessary for civilian life for military purposes. A video published by Hamas's own media outlets shows Hamas operatives dismantling water and sewage pipes in the Gaza Strip to use in manufacturing rockets to fire at Israel.
Humanitarian assistance, for Hamas as for other dictatorial regimes, is just another instrument for exercising its control. Through its selective distribution of tents, food, money and supplies, Hamas rewards loyalists, intimidates opponents, and strengthens its grip on the population.
Hamas especially benefits politically and economically from the continued misery of Gaza's residents. The more dramatic the humanitarian images, the greater the international pressure on Israel and the greater the sympathy and financial assistance directed to the Gaza Strip. It is like professional beggar women who deliberately blind their babies to make them "better beggars." Hamas retains its ability to exploit international aid and supplies for reconstruction while avoiding responsibility for its own failures.
Any involvement by US President Donald J. Trump's Board of Peace in addressing Gaza's humanitarian difficulties should not be limited to monitoring rainfall, coordinating winter supplies, and expressing "concern" about flooded displacement camps. These measures do not address the fundamental problem: Hamas remains armed, maintains its military infrastructure, and refuses to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.
The Board of Peace urgently needs to be concentrating its efforts on ensuring that Hamas disarms, dismantles its military wing, and cedes control of the Gaza Strip. Without these fundamental steps, reconstruction and meaningful improvements in living conditions will remain hostage to the interests of a terrorist organization.
Finally, the international community must stop treating Hamas as an innocent bystander to Gaza's misery. Hamas launched the October 7, 2023 war, embeds its military infrastructure in civilian areas, diverts civilian resources to terrorism, and continues to reject the disarmament necessary for Gaza to move forward.
The Palestinians in Gaza do not need more crocodile tears from Hamas leaders or another round of international condemnations of Israel. They need to be liberated from the terrorist organization, as well as its patrons in Iran, who sacrificed their present and threaten their future.
As winter approaches, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are once again facing heavy rainfall, flooded tents, damaged shelters and miserable living conditions. Humanitarian assistance, for Hamas as for other dictatorial regimes, is just another instrument for exercising its control. Through its selective distribution of tents, food, money and supplies, Hamas rewards loyalists, intimidates opponents, and strengthens its grip on the population. Pictured: Gaza City after heavy rainfall on November 7, 2026. (Photo by Omar Al-Qataa/AFP via Getty Images)
As winter approaches, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are once again facing heavy rainfall, flooded tents, damaged shelters and miserable living conditions. Images of displaced families struggling through muddy streets and standing in waterlogged tents have triggered another wave of international condemnation of Israel — as planned.
The crucial question that gets largely ignored is: How come Hamas, the Iran-backed terrorist organization that continues to control the Gaza Strip, not only has done nothing to protect the people it claims to represent, but has actively obstructed help?
First, Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated that its military objectives take precedence over the welfare of the Palestinian population. The organization that invested enormous talent and resources in constructing a network of hundreds of miles of liveable underground tunnels and in manufacturing tens of thousands of rockets now appears unable — or unwilling — to make even the slightest effort to protect displaced families from annual winter flooding.
In fact, according to Palestinian officials and engineers, Hamas has been deliberately obstructing humanitarian projects to improve living conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Even Palestinians are publicly accusing the terrorist group of obstructing efforts to help Gaza's population.
Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib wrote on X:
"The scandal surrounding Gaza's failed winterization efforts lays bare a grim reality: Hamas obstructed attempts to protect Palestinian civilians before the devastating winter storms that flooded tens of thousands of tents.
"Palestinian Authority employees inside Gaza have reported that professionals from the Ministries of Public Works and Relief Affairs were intimidated, summoned, and coerced by Hamas into signing pledges not to undertake humanitarian projects without the group's approval. According to their accounts, those who defied Hamas risked so-called 'field justice,' including beatings and worse.
"Another example was a proposal that was put forward to demolish several heavily damaged towers which were at risk of collapse from rainwater after extensive bombardment. According to those involved, Hamas blocked the removal of the 'Bank of Palestine Tower' in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood, reportedly arguing that it would 'collapse from the rain anyway.' The terrorist group did not show any concern for the civilian lives that would be lost when the tower eventually collapses on its own, because it wants dead Palestinians and news of tragedy to keep Gaza in the news cycle and to gain global sympathy, hoping for more incoming resources and donations for the Strip's humanitarian and reconstruction needs that it could siphon.
"Additionally, Hamas has also been accused of obstructing construction projects intended to create safer communities for displaced Gazans in southern Gaza, prioritizing political control over humanitarian relief.
"This is a reminder that Gaza's suffering is not only a consequence of war. It is also the result of a fascist and ruthless governing power that repeatedly places its own interests above the welfare of the people it claims to represent. The same terror group that helped bring catastrophe upon Gaza continues to obstruct efforts to mitigate its consequences."
Hamas is not just exploiting the suffering of Palestinians to make false accusations against Israel. It is also intentionally perpetuating it.
Hamas had also used equipment necessary for civilian life for military purposes. A video published by Hamas's own media outlets shows Hamas operatives dismantling water and sewage pipes in the Gaza Strip to use in manufacturing rockets to fire at Israel.
Pipes that should have supplied Palestinian families with water and supported basic sanitation have been systematically destroyed to manufacture weapons.
That was not an isolated incident. Hamas has long demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice the basic needs of Gaza's residents to achieve its military objectives. Hamas might well even prefer it: the worse the conditions of Gazan people look to the international community, the more money and sympathy come flowing to Hamas.
The consequences of those policies are now becoming apparent. While Hamas boasts about its ability to construct tunnels and manufacture rockets, Palestinians are denied even finding shelter from the rain.
Hamas's obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts has also drawn criticism from its Palestinian political rival, Fatah. In a statement, Fatah condemned Hamas for summoning employees of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Labor, who work with relief agencies, and forcing them to sign pledges preventing them from continuing their professional and humanitarian work in Gaza.
Fatah clearly pointed out the contradiction between Hamas's accusations that the Palestinian Authority was failing to do enough to help Gaza's residents and Hamas's own actions in obstructing their relief efforts. According to Fatah, Hamas was misleading the public and evading responsibility for disrupting humanitarian operations.
Why would an organization claiming to defend the Palestinians prevent efforts to provide them with safer shelters?
Humanitarian assistance, for Hamas as for other dictatorial regimes, is just another instrument for exercising its control. Through its selective distribution of tents, food, money and supplies, Hamas rewards loyalists, intimidates opponents, and strengthens its grip on the population.
Hamas especially benefits politically and economically from the continued misery of Gaza's residents. The more dramatic the humanitarian images, the greater the international pressure on Israel and the greater the sympathy and financial assistance directed to the Gaza Strip. It is like professional beggar women who deliberately blind their babies to make them "better beggars." Hamas retains its ability to exploit international aid and supplies for reconstruction while avoiding responsibility for its own failures.
Hamas leaders, many of whom reside comfortably in Qatar and Turkey, are not sleeping in flooded tents or struggling to protect their children from the rain. What do they care? The ones who are, are the Palestinian families whom they leave in destitution and mud -- and whom they have seen time and again produce more compassion and financial help than they could ever have dreamed up.
Each time, the international media and so-called human rights groups rush to shore up Hamas's claims without even asking a question.
After the recent rainfall, Gaza's Hamas-run Government Media Office announced that approximately 70,000 tents belonging to displaced Palestinian families had been flooded within 12 hours. The figure was quickly repeated by various media organizations, including outlets that routinely pretend to present themselves as independent sources of information.
How was this number calculated? Who inspected the tents? How did Hamas establish the extent of the damage within such a short period of time, while the storm was still underway? These are normal questions that any responsible journalist should ask before even publishing figures supplied by a terrorist organization.
The same applies to Western politicians who appear to love to condemn Israel whenever images of Palestinian suffering emerge. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, directing his criticism at the Israeli government, described the flooding and the humanitarian situation in Gaza as unacceptable. Meanwhile, Hamas's obstruction of projects to protect displaced families received no attention at all.
According to Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), more than 91,000 tents and 8,200 truckloads of tarpaulins, blankets, winter clothing, and other supplies have entered Gaza with Israel's help since the beginning of their efforts to winterize the area. Israel also facilitated the entry of sanitation equipment, including 12 vacuum trucks, as well as fuel and supplies for pumping facilities.
Any involvement by US President Donald J. Trump's Board of Peace in addressing Gaza's humanitarian difficulties should not be limited to monitoring rainfall, coordinating winter supplies, and expressing "concern" about flooded displacement camps. These measures do not address the fundamental problem: Hamas remains armed, maintains its military infrastructure, and refuses to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.
The Board of Peace urgently needs to be concentrating its efforts on ensuring that Hamas disarms, dismantles its military wing, and cedes control of the Gaza Strip. Without these fundamental steps, reconstruction and meaningful improvements in living conditions will remain hostage to the interests of a terrorist organization.
Finally, the international community must stop treating Hamas as an innocent bystander to Gaza's misery. Hamas launched the October 7, 2023 war, embeds its military infrastructure in civilian areas, diverts civilian resources to terrorism, and continues to reject the disarmament necessary for Gaza to move forward.
The Palestinians in Gaza do not need more crocodile tears from Hamas leaders or another round of international condemnations of Israel. They need to be liberated from the terrorist organization, as well as its patrons in Iran, who sacrificed their present and threaten their future.
"A Grade 8 Arabic Language textbook incites students to take up the fight against Israel for the Golan Heights, encouraging them to view sacrificing their own lives to reclaim this land as a noble and heroic act." — From "The New Syria: Education Under al-Sharaa: Review of Syria's National School Curriculum, 2025–2026."
If al-Sharaa, a former arch-terrorist, had truly "distanced" himself from terrorism, you would think that grooming Syrian children for jihad (holy war) and martyrdom would not be at the top of his list. Yet, this appears to be exactly what is happening in Syrian schools....
"From the earliest grades, martyrdom is introduced as having a spiritually exalted status, while jihad is framed as both a moral and military duty tied to defending religion, the homeland, holy places, and the Islamic nation (ummah)." — From "The New Syria: Education Under al-Sharaa: Review of Syria's National School Curriculum, 2025–2026," authored by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), August 2026.
"A Grade 8 Arabic Language textbook incites students to take up the fight against Israel for the Golan Heights, encouraging them to view sacrificing their own lives to reclaim this land as a noble and heroic act." — From "The New Syria: Education Under al-Sharaa: Review of Syria's National School Curriculum, 2025–2026."
In grade 10, students are taught that "joy remained incomplete as long as there remained even one piece of Arab land defiled by the filth of Zionist occupation." The students are furthermore taught, again through poems, to glorify violence and death in the name of "Palestine".
Overall, the textbooks present a civilizational hierarchy with Islam reigning supreme over Christianity and Judaism, which must both submit to Islam.
What does the Trump Administration think al-Shaara is doing? Does indoctrinating children with terrorism and jihad indicate, just perhaps, building the Islamic state that al-Shaara has fought for his entire terrorist career?
By having taken Syria off the list of state sponsors of terrorism and lifting sanctions, the US will sadly succeed in one thing only: The emergence of yet another radical, jihadist state.
The Trump Administration would be wise to put Syria right back on it.
If Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former arch-terrorist, had truly "distanced" himself from terrorism, you would think that grooming Syrian children for jihad (holy war) and martyrdom would not be at the top of his list. Yet, this appears to be exactly what is happening in Syrian schools. Pictured: Al-Sharaa is greeted by jihadists at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on December 8, 2024. (Photo by Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP via Getty Images)
In August, the Trump Administration removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. It had also previously lifted sanctions "to create a new relationship between the United States and Syria."
"These actions were all taken in recognition of the positive actions taken and further commitments by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa to fully distance Syria from acts of international terrorism," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time.
If al-Sharaa, a former arch-terrorist, had truly "distanced" himself from terrorism, you would think that grooming Syrian children for jihad (holy war) and martyrdom would not be at the top of his list. Yet, this appears to be exactly what is happening in Syrian schools.
According to a new report, "The New Syria: Education Under al-Sharaa: Review of Syria's National School Curriculum, 2025–2026," authored by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), what can only be described as an Islamist indoctrination effort on steroids is taking place in the Syrian Arab school system from grades 1 through 12.
The report analyzed 130 textbooks from the Syrian Arab Republic's national school curriculum for the 2025-2026 school year and found that far from revising the existing school curriculum's emphasis "on jihad, martyrdom, sacrifice, and the glorification of both religious and secular heroes" the new curriculum has not only left it in place but is doubling down on it by, "across subjects and grade levels, continu[ing] to normalize and valorize violence, armed resistance, and self-sacrifice as central components of collective identity and moral duty.
"Themes of confrontation, martyrdom, and militant steadfastness are embedded within literary, historical, and religious instruction, presenting armed struggle not as a tragic necessity or last resort, but as an honorable and expected response to perceived injustice....
"From the earliest grades, martyrdom is introduced as having a spiritually exalted status, while jihad is framed as both a moral and military duty tied to defending religion, the homeland, holy places, and the Islamic nation (ummah)."
A couple of examples:
"A Grade 8 Arabic Language textbook incites students to take up the fight against Israel for the Golan Heights, encouraging them to view sacrificing their own lives to reclaim this land as a noble and heroic act.
"This is taught through a poetic verse about the Golan Heights, stating 'in every span of this soil [the Golan Heights], there is a fragrance from martyrdom or a remnant of a body.' Significantly, this verse appears within a sub-chapter dedicated to the concepts of shuhada (martyrs) and sacrifice for the nation."
In grade 10, students are taught that "joy remained incomplete as long as there remained even one piece of Arab land defiled by the filth of Zionist occupation." The students are furthermore taught, again through poems, to glorify violence and death in the name of "Palestine:"
"One particularly notable example is found in the Grade 12 Arabic Language textbook, in a lesson on 'The Bridge' by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, a poem dedicated to the Palestinian Right of Return after the Nakba, through imagery saturated with death, destruction, and suffering... Beyond its strong anti-Israel framing, the lesson's accompanying grammar exercises reinforce and normalize this violence... Students are asked to analyze lines describing a river spitting 'pieces of shredded meat' at its banks... and 'the migration of blood in the river's waters'... The incorporation of such imagery into routine linguistic exercises transforms scenes of bloodshed and death into ordinary pedagogical material, effectively aestheticizing violence."
Lessons also romanticize martyrdom:
"In a lesson on national and pan-Arab issues from the Grade 11 Arabic Language textbook, martyrdom is presented as one of the highest moral, national, and religious virtues" with the martyr "the ultimate embodiment of 'sacrifice, selflessness, and giving.' The lesson repeatedly romanticizes death in battle and political struggle through emotionally charged poetry and imagery, citing various poems which praise the sacrifices and martyrdoms of nationalist and pan-Arab militant 'heroes.'"
Jihad is taught from the earliest grades throughout grade 12 as a duty, which means a Muslim must fight "until achieving victory or martyrdom."
The duty of jihad is taught by having students "consider what measures they might take to 'defend the homeland and liberate occupied territories.'"
The authors of the report conclude:
"Taken as a whole, the curriculum constructs an educational environment in which self-sacrifice and militant struggle are not peripheral themes, but recurring motifs that shape historical consciousness, literary interpretation, and religious understanding. Historic events, poetic imagery, and Islamic concepts are repeatedly woven together to present armed resistance, martyrdom, and death in struggle as morally elevated and identity-forming ideals... encouraging pupils to perceive fighting and martyrdom as faithful continuations of revered historical struggles while simultaneously legitimizing and glorifying violence, killing, and sacrifice in the context of wars and revolutions...
"Looking ahead, this integration of armed resistance into multiple domains of study raises concerns regarding the promotion of peace-oriented values and the cultivation of critical, pluralistic perspectives."
In addition, the curriculum, unsurprisingly, teaches antisemitism: One grade 6 book on Islamic Education, for instance, teaches that "treason and backstabbing are among the traits of the Jews."
Overall, the textbooks present a civilizational hierarchy with Islam reigning supreme over Christianity and Judaism, which must both submit to Islam. Whereas Christians, however, can be "tolerated or protected under Islamic authority... Jews are repeatedly marked as dangerous, treacherous, financially immoral, punished, and in need of correction through Islamic moral authority."
This indoctrination was frankly all too predictable: Syria is run by a former arch-terrorist, who during his decades-long "career" was at first a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and then went on to found Al Qaeda's branch in Syria, the Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Nusra Front), which he led from 2012-2017. He then formed HTS as a conglomerate of various jihadist groups to replace the regime of Syria's then President Bashar al Assad with an Islamic state – and the Trump administration, in fact, removed the HTS' from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list.
What does the Trump Administration think al-Shaara is doing? Indoctrinating children with terrorism and jihad might just indicate that al-Sharaa is building to build the Islamic state that al-Sharaa has fought for his entire terrorist career.
By having taken Syria off the list of Foreign State Sponsors of Terrorism and lifting sanctions, the US will sadly succeed in one thing only: The emergence of yet another radical, terrorist, jihadist state.
The Trump Administration would be wise to put Syria right back on it.
Trump can turn the midterm setback into an opportunity by ending the Iran war, unleashing American energy production, and locking in energy independence for years to come.
Voters sent an unmistakable message in the midterms: the Iran war and the energy disruptions it caused imposed real costs on American families and small businesses. Gasoline averaged under $3 a gallon before the February strikes, climbed above $4.50, and only this week fell back below $4, still a record for November. Diesel remains above $6. Brent crude has swung sharply with every threat to the Strait of Hormuz. Ending the Iran war is the single fastest way to deliver relief at the pump, reassert America First priorities, and seize the cost-of-living issue from the Democrats who will soon control both chambers of Congress.
1. End the Iran War now and stop further escalation.
The president’s recent statement that further strikes on Iran are unnecessary was the right call. Now he should finish the job. Iran’s nuclear program has been set back years, and the regime is weaker militarily and financially. Negotiate an exit, restore reliable oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and remove the war premium that has driven gasoline and diesel higher. As I explained in my November 6 American Greatness article, this means ignoring calls for endless escalation and focusing on an honorable end to the war that prioritizes American interests over open-ended conflict. Markets already responded to de-escalation signals—Brent crude oil futures fell below $90 on recent comments that the war could end soon. But markets also punish mixed signals—Brent jumped back above $94 on Thursday after the president said the U.S. doesn’t need a deal with Iran. Ending the war would quickly lower prices for the U.S. economy, undercut Democratic attacks on energy costs, and let the administration claim credit for the relief voters demanded. Speed also matters: congressional Democrats are weighing whether to use the December 11 government funding deadline to force an end to the war. If the president ends it first, he gets the credit. President Trump should pair this with personnel changes that signal his seriousness about ending, not expanding, this war.
2. Pass an energy abundance package in the lame-duck session and dare the new Democratic Congress to oppose cheaper fuel.
The Senate has already advanced the bipartisan permitting bill, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, 73-25, and the House is moving nuclear licensing bills. The president should press House Democrats to pass both before January 3 rather than hold out for a “better” bill next year. He should also push additional legislation now to expand domestic oil, gas, and coal production, speed permits for pipelines and LNG, and accelerate nuclear builds. Whatever does not pass should be reintroduced in January to force the new Democratic majorities to explain why they block measures that would keep U.S. output at record levels (already near 14 million barrels per day of crude) and lower utility and pump prices. This seizes the initiative on an issue Democrats used against Republicans: put the burden on them to choose between ideology and household budgets. Lock this in with long-term leasing, multi-year production targets, and binding timelines so future administrations cannot easily reverse course through executive orders.
3. Launch a nuclear buildout that will be difficult for any future Congress to unwind.
Support every type of nuclear reactor, from large conventional plants to small modular and advanced reactors, along with restarts and upgrades of existing plants, all under streamlined licensing. The nuclear licensing bills now moving in the House are a good start. Just as important is building a fully functioning American nuclear fuel cycle that includes mining, uranium enrichment (including domestic HALEU production), fuel fabrication, and, above all, recycling spent nuclear fuel using proliferation-resistant technologies. Nuclear fuel recycling can turn a decades-old waste problem into a domestic fuel supply and reduce U.S. dependence on Russia and other foreign suppliers for reactor fuel. Modern recycling techniques can also produce the advanced nuclear fuels needed for next-generation reactors, including fast reactors that can run on recycled material. By advancing multiple nuclear power projects with private capital, federal site support, and bipartisan licensing reforms, the administration can create facts on the ground—reactors and fuel facilities under construction or operating—that Democrats would struggle to cancel without raising electricity prices and blackout risks. This strategy can make energy security durable across election cycles while meeting rising demand from AI and industry.
4. Use every executive tool and bipartisan deal, where possible, to lock in faster energy permitting that will be hard to reverse.
Whatever passes in the lame-duck session, a Democratic Congress in 2027 will block any further large permitting statute. The administration should therefore maximize what it can still accomplish without new legislation. This includes aggressive use of existing authorities to set hard internal deadlines, expand categorical exclusions, limit the scope of environmental reviews, and defend those decisions in court. It also means advancing specific high-value projects (pipelines, LNG terminals, nuclear restarts, and transmission) that can be permitted and under construction before 2027 ends. Once ground is broken or facilities are operating, future Democratic majorities face higher political and legal costs if they try to stop them.
On the narrow issues where Democratic priorities overlap—such as transmission lines needed for reliability or data center power—the White House may still be able to strike some limited bipartisan deals that create statutory or regulatory precedents difficult to unwind. The core strategy is not to wait for a perfect law; it is to build a pipeline of permitted and operating projects so energy abundance becomes the status quo. Democrats opposing such projects will hand the administration a clear “they are raising your energy costs” message heading into 2028.
5. Refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and expand pipeline and refining capacity as insurance against future energy price shocks.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell below 282 million barrels, its lowest level since 1982. It should be refilled as prices fall so purchases do not push them back up. Much of this year’s SPR release was structured as exchanges that require the return of barrels, but a full refill will cost about $20 billion, and Congress has set aside only $171 million. The new Democratic majority should be made to choose whether to fund it. This will cushion against any Middle East and other energy supply disruptions while supporting higher production. The administration should frame this as pragmatic energy security that will benefit consumers long into the future. The administration should also expand LNG exports strategically so American gas strengthens allies and funds further domestic investment while protecting domestic supply.
These steps can turn the post-midterm landscape into an advantage for President Trump and congressional Republicans. Ending the Iran war can deliver immediate price relief and seize the cost-of-living argument from Democrats. Pairing this with production, nuclear, permitting, and infrastructure measures can create an energy abundance framework that will be hard for Democrats, obsessed with radical environmentalist agendas, to reverse.
With steps like these, President Trump can use the next two years to lock in lower energy costs and energy security that prioritizes American households over an endless war and make energy gains durable and hopefully irreversible.
Fred Fleitz is President and CEO of the Washington Global Strategy Group and an Advisory Board member of Curio Solutions, a Washington, DC-based startup specializing in advanced nuclear technologies, including nuclear fuel recycling. He previously served as chief of staff of the National Security Council and as a CIA analyst.
Mohammed al-Fateh, Haniyeh's ex-bodyguard, was convicted of violent offenses in Britain and faces extradition to Germany on suspicion of arms transfers to Vienna and plots against Jews and Israelis ahead of the Oct. 7 massacre's second anniversary.
Ismail Haniyeh צילום: Abed Rahim Khatib, Flash 90
Mohammed al-Fateh, 40, a former personal bodyguard to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, is expected to be extradited from Britain to Germany on suspicion of involvement in planning attacks against Jews and Israelis in Europe.
German authorities requested his extradition, alleging that he was involved in preparations for attacks planned in Germany or Austria around the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.
Al-Fateh, who also uses the name Mohammed Naim, is suspected of playing a central role in transporting and storing weapons intended for use by members of the terrorist cell. The German investigation is examining the involvement of seven suspects affiliated with Hamas who allegedly planned to attack Jewish or Israeli targets in Europe.
The extradition request stated that a man identified as "Mohammed A.", believed to be al-Fateh, was involved in transferring weapons to Vienna, Austria, where they were hidden for possible use in an attack. It further alleged that he had recorded a video in advance claiming responsibility on behalf of Hamas for the planned attack.
In a video published by German media, al-Fateh appears masked and promises, "revenge for the genocide in Gaza."
Al-Fateh was arrested in Britain following a violent incident in which he attacked a bailiff who came to his home with a knife. He was convicted of unlawful wounding, possession of two knives and criminal damage, but acquitted of the more serious charge of wounding with intent.
Alongside the criminal proceedings against him in Britain, German authorities pursued his extradition over suspicions of involvement in terrorist activity. According to the information provided, he is expected to be extradited to Germany after completing his prison sentence in Britain.
Al-Fateh moved to Britain in 2015 and obtained British citizenship in 2020. He previously served as the personal bodyguard of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was killed in 2024.
The German investigation focuses on suspected preparations by Hamas operatives to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe, and on al-Fateh's alleged role in transferring weapons and preparing for the attack.
Russia officially commemorates the Holocaust, yet tsarist blood libels, Soviet anti-Zionism, and remarks by Putin and Lavrov keep old antisemitic tropes alive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities Alexander Boroda at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 26, 2023.(photo credit: Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Pool/via Reuters)
On June 17, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived by boat to watch three flags being raised over the Gulf of Finland: those of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Gazprom had erected three flagpoles, each nearly 180 meters tall. The empire overthrown by the Bolsheviks and the state they subsequently built coexist comfortably in Putin’s Russia. They even stand at the same height.
In Rostov-on-Don, acknowledging that Jews were murdered at a major Holocaust massacre site proved more difficult. In 2011, municipal authorities replaced the inscription at the memorial in Zmiyovskaya Balka, the site of mass executions. The words “Jews” and “Holocaust” disappeared. What remained was a reference to “Soviet civilians and prisoners of war.”
After two years of disputes and protests by Jewish organizations, the plaque was replaced again. The reference to Jews was restored. The word “Holocaust” was not.
In contemporary Russia, Soviet anti-Zionism coexists with Orthodox monarchist mythology. The state officially commemorates the Holocaust, while its history also serves as ammunition in political disputes.
Antisemitism in tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union
In the Russian Empire, Jews were confined to the Pale of Settlement – the territory where most Jews were legally required to reside – accused of ritual murder, and killed in pogroms. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” also gained widespread circulation there.
The victims of a Jewish pogrom in Russia, circa 1920. (credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The blood libel – the false allegation that Jews used Christian blood in religious rituals – was a widespread superstition. Such accusations predated modern nationalism, survived the Enlightenment, and persisted in the Russian Empire even after official authorities had rejected them.
By the late 19th century, religious hostility was increasingly intertwined with racial antisemitism. Jews were portrayed not merely as members of another faith but as an alien element within the nation. Even conversion to Christianity did not necessarily dispel suspicion.
Sociologist Klaus Holz describes one feature of national antisemitism through the figure of the Jew as a “third party.” In a world divided into nations, Jews were imagined as capable of operating across national boundaries, infiltrating other societies, and controlling them from within. They were portrayed not simply as another people but as a supposed threat to the national order itself.
“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” gave these ideas the form of a worldwide conspiracy. Revolutions, capitalism, liberalism, and political crises were supposedly the work of a single force. Jews could be depicted simultaneously as revolutionaries destroying the state and capitalists controlling it.
The Bolsheviks abolished the tsarist restrictions and declared antisemitism unacceptable. Under Stalin, however, the authorities launched a campaign against “rootless cosmopolitans,” a designation used to target Jewish intellectuals; executed the leadership of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, a wartime Soviet organization that had mobilized international support against Nazi Germany; and orchestrated the Doctors’ Plot, a fabricated conspiracy case targeting predominantly Jewish physicians.
Mass anti-Jewish repression ended after Stalin’s death. Soviet propaganda nevertheless continued to portray international Zionism as a hostile force linked to Western intelligence agencies. Discrimination persisted in admissions to universities and research institutions and in appointments to senior positions. Some Jews 'Russified' their names.
Historian and antisemitism researcher Thomas Haury has examined this mechanism in Stalinist and left-wing anti-Zionism. Although the official ideology proclaimed internationalism and condemned ethnic discrimination, Soviet propaganda reinterpreted old notions of a Jewish conspiracy in the context of the struggle against imperialism. The ethnic character of the persecution went unacknowledged.
In official Soviet remembrance, Jews murdered during the Holocaust became “Soviet civilians.” The Nazis murdered them precisely because they were Jews, regardless of citizenship, language, or degree of assimilation. Soviet commemorative policy placed their fate within the broader history of wartime losses, without recognizing the Holocaust as a distinct catastrophe.
After 1991, Jewish communities gained freedom of religious and cultural life. The Holocaust Research and Education Center was established in 1992. Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center opened in 2012.
Historians, museums, and Jewish organizations worked to restore the memory of the Holocaust. Meanwhile, the state incorporated Soviet and imperial symbols into its own historical narrative. It supported some Jewish cultural initiatives, but the revival of the imperial past also brought old monarchist legends back into public debate.
In November 2017, Russian Orthodox Bishop Tikhon Shevkunov said that a substantial part of a church commission believed the murder of Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family had been ritualistic. “We take the theory of ritual murder very seriously,” he said. Investigative Committee representative Marina Molodtsova announced plans to examine the theory.
Jews flee from the Tzar's army in 1914. (credit: Imagno/Getty Images)
The Bolsheviks executed the imperial family in 1918. The execution was led by Yakov Yurovsky, whose background has long featured in antisemitic interpretations of the Romanovs’ murder.
Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, recalled that accusations of ritual murder against Jews had led to persecution and pogroms for centuries. Tikhon rejected allegations of antisemitism. He said he was referring to ritual revenge carried out by atheist Bolsheviks.
The theory that the Romanovs were ritually murdered had already spread a century ago among sections of the White émigré monarchist community.
Unlike Soviet anti-Zionism, this narrative draws on religious anti-Judaism and the blood libel. RIAS, a German network that documents and analyzes antisemitic incidents, distinguishes between religious, modern conspiratorial, post-Holocaust, and Israel-related forms of antisemitism. In its methodology, these forms are not mutually exclusive.
Antisemitism on Russian television: Who was to blame for the Holocaust?
On March 22, 2014, Russian nationalist writer Alexander Prokhanov appeared on the state television channel Russia 24 to discuss Jewish organizations that had supported Ukraine’s Maidan protests.
He warned that they were bringing a second Holocaust upon themselves. Presenter Evelina Zakamskaya replied: “They were bringing the first one closer in the same way.”
Zakamskaya’s remark reproduced an antisemitic motif of blaming victims for their own destruction. German-language scholarship describes such an inversion as Täter-Opfer-Umkehr (victim-perpetrator reversal).
In May 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, responding to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewish background, claimed that Hitler had Jewish ancestry and that some of the most fervent antisemites were themselves Jewish.
His remarks triggered a diplomatic scandal with Israel. The office of then-prime minister Naftali Bennett later said Putin had apologized for the foreign minister’s statement.
At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 16, 2023, Putin said: “I have many Jewish friends, going back to childhood. They say Zelensky is not a Jew, he is a disgrace to the Jewish people.”
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, August 21, 2025. (credit: ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL VIA REUTERS)
In a September 2023 interview with Russia 24, Putin had already described Zelensky as an “ethnic Jew” who, he claimed, was covering up the glorification of Nazism.
On September 12, 2023, at the Eastern Economic Forum, Putin spoke about Anatoly Chubais, the former senior Russian official who had moved to Israel. Putin referred to him as “some kind of Moshe Izrailevich” and suggested that Chubais feared possible criminal proceedings over financial problems at Rusnano, the state-backed nanotechnology company he had headed.
Suspicions of dual loyalty followed Jews long before the establishment of Israel. In the 19th century, antisemites questioned whether Jews could be full members of a nation-state. After Israel’s establishment, Soviet propaganda portrayed Jewish ties to the country as potential evidence of political disloyalty.
By assigning Chubais a Jewish name, Putin made his departure for Israel appear to reveal a previously concealed identity. Antisemitism researchers describe this kind of symbolic exclusion from the community of “us” through the concept of othering.
Antisemitism in Russia’s Security Council and the Lubavitch Hasidim
In October 2022, Alexei Pavlov, an aide to the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, published an article in the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty about what he called Ukraine’s “witches’ cauldron.”
Among the religious movements he described as dangerous were the Lubavitch Hasidim, followers of Chabad. Pavlov claimed that the movement’s central principle was “superiority over all nations and peoples.” Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar belongs to the movement.
Lazar publicly objected, calling the claims “vulgar antisemitic nonsense.” Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev apologized and said the matter had been addressed with the author. According to Patrushev, Pavlov’s position “in no way represents the official position of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.” Pavlov was dismissed in January 2023.
Antisemitism in Russia: Public attitudes and the North Caucasus
A survey conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in 2022 and published in 2023 found that 26% of Russian respondents endorsed at least six of 11 antisemitic stereotypes.
Thirty-six percent agreed that Jews were more loyal to Israel than to the countries in which they lived. Seventeen percent denied the Holocaust or believed that the number of Jews murdered had been greatly exaggerated.
One of the statements the ADL uses to measure antisemitic attitudes is that Jews talk too much about the Holocaust. In the Russian sample, 42% of respondents agreed.
Another survey, commissioned by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress in 2018, found that beliefs about excessive Jewish influence over the economy, politics, and the media were widespread.
Researchers at the SOVA Center, a Russian organization that monitors xenophobia, hate crimes, and extremist activity, have noted that serious antisemitic attacks in Russia remained relatively rare.
Arab students shout anti-Israeli slogans in front of the embassy of Israel in Moscow, 12 April 2002. More than a hundred Arabs and Russian Moslems held a protet action demanding a stop to Israeli agression towards Palestinians. (credit: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)
However, after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel and the outbreak of war in Gaza, a series of antisemitic incidents occurred in the North Caucasus.
On October 28, 2023, a crowd gathered outside the Flamingo Hotel in Khasavyurt, Dagestan, after a rumor spread on social media that refugees from Israel were staying there. People threw stones at the windows and demanded that the guests be checked. Police allowed representatives of the crowd inside. A notice subsequently appeared at the entrance barring Israeli citizens, identified in parentheses as Jews.
That same day, demonstrators in Cherkessk, Karachay-Cherkessia, demanded that Israeli refugees be kept out and Jews expelled from the region. The following day, a Jewish cultural center under construction in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, was set on fire, and an antisemitic inscription appeared on its wall.
On October 29, a mob stormed the runway at Makhachkala airport, searching for passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv. People inspected cars, demanded identification documents, and hunted for Jews.
One participant in the riot even peered into an aircraft engine.
Four days later, Dagestan’s leader, Sergei Melikov, commented on the footage: “When I first saw it, I smiled too. But then I became frightened. He’s looking inside to see whether there’s a Jew in there or not.”
Putin claimed that the unrest had been instigated in part from Ukrainian territory by Western intelligence agencies. He presented no evidence for the allegation.
Research by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an organization studying extremism and online disinformation, found that antisemitic rumors and calls to action had spread through local social media accounts and Telegram channels.
Following the riots, Israel’s National Security Council raised its travel warning for the North Caucasus to Level 4, its highest threat category, and urged Israelis in the affected areas to leave. Three years later, the region remains at Level 4, while the rest of Russia is listed at Level 2.
Holocaust remembrance in Russia: Schools and Yad Vashem
January 27, 2025, marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. That day, the subject of Conversations About Important Things – Russia’s nationwide, state-designed series of weekly school lessons on patriotic themes – was the “Year of the Defender of the Fatherland.” The lesson focused on military service and patriotism.
In its international statements, the Kremlin emphasized the importance of the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp. Meanwhile, in Russian schools, the main theme of the day was the government’s political agenda, focused on the sanctity of the war waged against Ukraine.
In February 2024, Russian television presenter and prominent pro-Kremlin commentator Vladimir Solovyov circulated a claim that Israel’s Yad Vashem had removed material about the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in the murder of Jews. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova endorsed the allegation.
Yad Vashem said no such removal took place. Historian Aron Shneer pointed to material about Ukrainian collaborators that remained on display at the museum.
The Russian state’s approach to the Holocaust differs from that of its close partner, Iran, whose former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a “myth” and whose government hosted a Holocaust-denial conference. Russia officially recognizes the Holocaust, but its history is repeatedly used to level accusations against political opponents. Its officials have also emphasized the Jewish identity of Holocaust victims only when it serves their interests.
With Democrats taking over both chambers of Congress and a number of key border-state positions, illegal immigration is poised to be a battleground once again.
In President Donald Trump's border playbook, the barrier that has moved Mexico fastest isn't made of steel or concrete but of tariffs. With Democrats retaking Congress and at least one new migrant caravan heading north, the president is reaching for the weapon once more.
In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump warned that if Mexico does not stop the caravans, "the Tariffs on Mexico will be IMMEDIATELY DOUBLED." He added that there would be "no leniency."
One group of about 2,000 migrants left the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, roughly 1,150 miles from the U.S. border, with some saying they hoped Democratic gains in the midterm elections would soften U.S. immigration policy.
Fox News put the group at about 1,500 people, mostly from Central America, and is reportedly the third caravan to try to cross Mexico since September.
Trump tied the surge directly to the election, arguing that Republican losses had invited a renewed "INVASION" even though he was not on the ballot.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected Trump's claims, saying no migrant caravan has reached the U.S. border since January 2025. That point, made as a rebuttal, also shows how much the border has changed since Trump returned to office.
The 2019 blueprint
This is not the first time Trump has used trade as a border tool. In May 2019, he announced a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports starting June 10 unless Mexico acted to stop Central American migrants from crossing its territory. The tariff could have climbed to 25% by October.
The resulting deal came about a week later. In a joint declaration, Mexico pledged "unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration," including deploying its National Guard nationwide. Mexico also agreed to share more intelligence and to let the U.S. return asylum-seekers to Mexico while their cases were pending. Mexico committed 6,000 Guard troops to its border with Guatemala.
Critics argued the concessions were overstated. Mexico had already planned the Guard deployment and had told U.S. officials so. Trump defended the deal, insisting Mexico never would have acted without the threat.
Round two came even faster
Trump returned to the same lever weeks into his second term. After he ordered 25% tariffs on Mexican goods on February 1, 2025, Sheinbaum initially threatened retaliation. Within two days, Trump paused the tariffs for a month after Sheinbaum agreed to send 10,000 National Guard members to the border. Mexico began moving 6,310 Guard members and 2,700 soldiers north the next day, to states including Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora and Tamaulipas.
The results have shown up in the numbers. The Washington Examiner reported about 99,000 border arrests in Trump's first year back, compared with about 2 million in former President Joe Biden's first year.
Same lever, new rules
This time, Trump is reaching for the lever under different legal limits. On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not allow the president to impose tariffs. The 6-3 decision struck down a central piece of his trade agenda. That ruling wiped out the 25% fentanyl-related tariff on Mexico. Brookings analysts noted that it specifically limits the use of emergency tariffs to pressure countries on fentanyl and related enforcement.
The administration responded quickly. It imposed a temporary global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which caps such tariffs at 15% for 150 days and exempted USMCA-compliant goods from Mexico and Canada. That tariff expired July 24.
Other tools remain in play. The ruling did not touch Section 232 national security tariffs on goods such as steel, aluminum and autos, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said combining the remaining authorities would leave 2026 tariff revenue "virtually unchanged." Trump's post did not say which tariffs would be doubled or under what law.
Border states are also shifting. Trump's post said Texas' incoming Democratic governor had been informed, and Texas Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson, a Democrat, could drop the state's defense of SB4, the law allowing state arrests for illegal border crossings. That would make federal leverage over Mexico more important to Trump's border agenda.
Amanda Head is White House Correspondent for Just the News. You can follow her here.
