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 president said the operation will constitute "economic warfare," and warned that countries that try to help Iran will face "tremendous economic consequences."
President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday
to conduct the "most crushing economic operation ever taken" against
the Iranian regime amid frustration that the two countries have failed
to reach a deal to end their war that began in late-February.
The president said the operation will constitute "economic warfare,"
and warned that countries that try to help Iran will face "tremendous
economic consequences."
"No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me," Trump posted to Truth Social.
"Tragically, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I
am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against
any country.
"This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented
scale," he continued. "Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed,
their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless,
and their country is hanging by a thread."
Trump urged U.S. allies to stand with him and help isolate the
Iranian regime, emphasizing that the country cannot have a nuclear
weapon.
"Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its
financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to
provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face tremendous
economic consequences," he wrote. "Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash
transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all
needs to stop NOW.
"This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to
stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran
threat," he continued. "These maniacs are on the ropes, and these
HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror
worldwide."
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.
Before elections, Palestinians need real political reform. The Palestinian Authority needs accountable institutions, independent courts, freedom of expression, an end to corruption, and, most importantly, a political culture that does not glorify terrorists or treat armed groups as legitimate alternatives to government.
The survey, conducted by the
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip between August 5 and 8, 2026, reveals that... the
fundamental political attitudes that have plagued Palestinian society
for decades remain largely intact. Hamas remains a major political
force; convicted terrorists and Hamas leaders remain popular candidates
for the Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency; overwhelming majorities
oppose the unconditional disarmament of Hamas; and Iran, Hezbollah, and
the Houthis in Yemen continue to enjoy remarkably high approval ratings.
Asked who is most suitable to succeed PA President Mahmoud Abbas,
39% chose imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti... An Israeli court
convicted him in 2004 of five counts of murder stemming from three
terrorist attacks.
Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life terms plus 40 years.
Yet this is the man whom a majority of likely Palestinian voters would like to see as their next president.
The second-place candidate is the head of Hamas.
The PA parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 28,
2026, with presidential elections expected in early 2027. The PSR poll
offers a warning of what those elections could produce.
Hamas could still win another Palestinian Authority election (as it did in 2006).
An overwhelming 72% say Hamas should not disarm before Israel completely withdraws from the Gaza Strip.
US envoy Jared Kushner recently met Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya
and other Hamas officials in Cairo as part of US efforts to advance
President Donald J. Trump's Gaza peace plan.
Whatever the administration's intentions, such meetings provide
Hamas with something it has sought for years: international legitimacy.
When representatives of the world's leading superpower sit
directly with Hamas leaders, Hamas can present the encounter to
Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims as evidence that its strategy has
succeeded.
The message is that terrorism pays. If you carry out attacks,
take hostages, retain your weapons and survive long enough – eventually
the Americans will negotiate with you.
These figures are difficult to reconcile with claims that Palestinian society is undergoing a transformation toward moderation.
What exactly are these elections expected to accomplish?
Elections are not automatically synonymous with democracy, moderation, or peace.
The PA held a parliamentary election in 2006. Hamas participated
and won. A year later, Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip.
Now the Palestinians may be heading toward another election in which Hamas could again emerge as the largest faction....
Why, then, should the international community rush toward
elections that could legitimize extremists and terrorists rather than
marginalize them?
Before elections, Palestinians need real political reform. The
Palestinian Authority needs accountable institutions, independent
courts, freedom of expression, an end to corruption, and, most
importantly, a political culture that does not glorify terrorists or
treat armed groups as legitimate alternatives to government.
Pictured: A poster of Barghouti in prisoner's uniform, in a
campaign office in Ramallah on March 3, 2021. (Photo by Abbas Momani/AFP
via Getty Images)
Nearly three years after Hamas's October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel
and following the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, one might have
expected a fundamental change in Palestinian public opinion.
Palestinians might have turned away from Hamas, terrorism, and the
Iran-backed "Axis of Resistance." Palestinians also might have demanded
new leaders committed to democracy, reform, an end to corruption, and
peaceful coexistence.
The latest Palestinian public opinion poll, however, presents a disturbing picture.
The survey,
conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
(PSR) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between August 5 and 8, 2026,
reveals that although support for Hamas has declined, the fundamental
political attitudes that have plagued Palestinian society for decades
remain largely intact. Hamas remains a major political force; convicted
terrorists and Hamas leaders remain popular candidates for the
Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency; overwhelming majorities oppose
the unconditional disarmament of Hamas; and Iran, Hezbollah, and the
Houthis in Yemen continue to enjoy remarkably high approval ratings.
Perhaps the most alarming finding concerns the identity of the Palestinians' future leaders.
Asked who is most suitable to succeed PA President Mahmoud Abbas, 39% chose
imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya
came second with 16%, followed by former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan
with 15%.
In a hypothetical presidential election involving Abbas, Barghouti, and al-Hayya, Barghouti would receive an astonishing 54% of the votes among likely voters. Al-Hayya would receive 26%, while Abbas would receive only 14%.
Who is Marwan Barghouti?
He is not some imprisoned Palestinian political dissident. An Israeli
court convicted him in 2004 of five counts of murder stemming from
three terrorist attacks.
He was also convicted of attempted murder and membership in a
terrorist organization. Barghouti was sentenced to five consecutive life
terms plus 40 years.
Yet this is the man whom a majority of likely Palestinian voters would like to see as their next president.
The second-place candidate is the head of Hamas. That alone should
cause alarm in Washington, Brussels and other Western capitals that
continue to talk about Palestinian elections as though voting, by
itself, will magically produce moderation and democracy.
The PA parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 28, 2026,
with presidential elections expected in early 2027. The PSR poll offers a
warning of what those elections could produce. If legislative elections
were held today, Fatah would receive
32% of the votes and Hamas's "Change and Reform" list would receive
29%. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas would actually come first, with 34%
compared to 30% for Fatah.
In other words, Hamas could still win another Palestinian Authority election (as it did in 2006).
This is the same Hamas that carried out the October 7 massacre. Yet
after everything that has happened since then, the terrorist group
remains within striking distance of Fatah in an election.
True, Hamas has lost some support. Overall identification with Hamas
has dropped from 35% ten months ago to 24%. Satisfaction with Hamas's
performance during the Gaza war has fallen from 60% to 42%.
These changes should not be ignored. Moreover, they should not be
confused with a Palestinian repudiation of Hamas or its ideology.
When Palestinians are asked
which faction is most deserving of representing and leading them, Hamas
still beats Abbas's Fatah: 28% to 21%. An encouraging 44% say neither
faction deserves to lead, but Hamas nevertheless remains a major
political player and retains the support of nearly one-quarter of the
population.
Even more revealing is what Palestinians say about Hamas's weapons.
An overwhelming 72% say Hamas should not
disarm before Israel completely withdraws from the Gaza Strip. Only 20%
support disarmament before a full Israeli withdrawal. Opposition to
disarming Hamas reaches 79% in the West Bank and 62% in Gaza.
This is crucial. The problem, therefore, is not whether Palestinians
approve or disapprove of Hamas's performance. The issue is whether they
believe Hamas should be allowed to retain its weapons and continue
functioning as an armed organization.
The answer from nearly three-quarters of the respondents is clear:
Yes, at least until Hamas's condition of a full Israeli withdrawal is
met.
This should be of particular concern to the Trump Administration and
anyone expecting Hamas to disarm as part of the latest Gaza
arrangements. Hamas is not operating in a political vacuum. It knows
that a large majority of Palestinians oppose requiring it to surrender
its weapons before an Israeli withdrawal.
The poll also shows why direct American engagement with Hamas is dangerous.
US envoy Jared Kushner recently met Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and
other Hamas officials in Cairo as part of US efforts to advance
President Donald J. Trump's Gaza peace plan.
Whatever the administration's intentions, such meetings provide Hamas
with something it has sought for years: international legitimacy.
When representatives of the world's leading superpower sit directly
with Hamas leaders, Hamas can present the encounter to Palestinians,
Arabs, and Muslims as evidence that its strategy has succeeded.
A US-designated terrorist organization that perpetrated the October 7
massacre is no longer merely being pressured to surrender; its leaders
are sitting across the table from senior American representatives.
The message is that terrorism pays. If you carry out attacks, take
hostages, retain your weapons and survive long enough – eventually the
Americans will negotiate with you.
This perception is particularly dangerous just months before
Palestinian elections. Instead of politically isolating Hamas, direct
high-level engagement helps portray the terrorist group as an
indispensable regional actor.
The PSR poll contains another warning: Palestinian admiration for Iran and its terrorist proxies remains extraordinarily high.
Satisfaction with the Houthis in Yemen stands at 61%. Hezbollah and
Iran each receive 50%. Moreover, when Palestinians were asked where they
stood during the recent US-Iran war, 45% said they sided with Iran,
compared to only 12% who opposed Iran.
These figures are difficult to reconcile with claims that Palestinian society is undergoing a transformation toward moderation.
The Houthis have attacked Israel, Saudi Arabia and international
shipping. Hezbollah has long functioned as Iran's heavily armed proxy in
Lebanon. Iran has funded and armed terrorist groups throughout the
Middle East, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Yet these are among the regional actors receiving the highest Palestinian satisfaction ratings.
There are, admittedly, some encouraging findings in the poll. Support for armed struggle as the most effective strategy has fallen from 41% to 27%, while support for negotiations has increased from 36% to 44%. These are significant changes.
Yet even here, caution is required. Half of Palestinians still reject
the proposition that armed resistance has failed to protect
Palestinians or end the conflict despite the destruction suffered in
Gaza and parts of the West Bank. Moreover, 36% still support a return to
confrontations and an armed intifada (uprising) against Israel.
The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, faces its own crisis of legitimacy.
Seventy-nine percent of Palestinians want
Abbas to resign. Eighty-three percent believe there is corruption in PA
institutions. Sixty-five percent say the PA has become a burden on the
Palestinian people rather than an achievement. Only 20% are satisfied
with Abbas's performance.
This raises a question Western governments should answer before
celebrating the announcement of new Palestinian elections: What exactly
are these elections expected to accomplish?
Elections are not automatically synonymous with democracy, moderation, or peace.
The PA held a parliamentary election in 2006. Hamas participated and
won. A year later, Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip.
Now the Palestinians may be heading toward another election in which
Hamas could again emerge as the largest faction – or close enough to
remain a dominant political player. Meanwhile, the leading candidate for
PA president is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison, and
his principal Islamist rival is the leader of Hamas.
Why, then, should the international community rush toward elections
that could legitimize extremists and terrorists rather than marginalize
them?
Before elections, Palestinians need real political reform. The
Palestinian Authority needs accountable institutions, independent
courts, freedom of expression, an end to corruption, and, most
importantly, a political culture that does not glorify terrorists or
treat armed groups as legitimate alternatives to government.
Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle
East. His work is made possible through the generous donation of a
couple who wish to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.
“We are not seeking escalation or war with either Turkey or Syria. But a redline was crossed," Israel's envoy to the US, Yechiel Leiter, told the Post.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter told The Jerusalem Post that Israel had received clear intelligence indicating that Turkey intended to significantly expand its military presence in Syria, a move Jerusalem viewed as crossing a red line.
“We are not seeking escalation or war with either Turkey or Syria. But a red linewas crossed,” he said.
His comments came following Israel’s strike in Syria and subsequent criticism from both the Syrian and Turkish governments.
“This
was supposed to be a blatant Turkish violation of the understandings,”
Leiter said. “Those who needed to be exposed to the intelligence
received it. Those who needed to know what was coming knew. We made
clear that this was a violation of our understandings – and that is why
Israel acted as it did.”
Military
personnel stand on the walls of the Damascus Citadel overlooking crowds
attending the Syria Summer Family Festival in Damascus, Syria, on
August 9, 2026; illustrative (credit: Omar Albam/Middle East Images/AFP
via Getty Images)
According
to Leiter, the failure to heed those warnings led Israel on Tuesday to
strike the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria, near the city of Aleppo, where
Turkish forces were reportedly expected to arrive. Syrian officials
said the airfield was targeted in at least eight strikes, while
satellite imagery released afterward showed damage to its runways.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that “Israel made the message clear: Don’t.”
Israeli ambassador to Post: Turkish presence in Syria 'froze the existing situation'
Leiter
said the Turkish move contradicted understandings reached during the
Biden administration between Israel and the administration of Syrian
President Ahmed al-Sharaa, which “froze the existing situation” in the
country.
According
to Leiter, those understandings were reaffirmed at a meeting in Paris
in January 2026 attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani,
US Syria envoy Tom Barrack, Leiter, then-National Security Council chief Gil Reich, and Netanyahu’s military secretary Roman Gofman, now Mossad director.
“The
freeze means that just as the Turks don’t move, neither do we – and
they don’t force us to withdraw,” Leiter said. “And it is important to
understand that while we are sitting on only 78 sq. miles in Syria, in a
security zone, the Turks have carried out a creeping annexation of
3,500 sq. miles in northern Syria over the past several years – about 5%
of the country’s territory.”
With
the exception of US Syria envoy and ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack,
senior US officials have not condemned the Israeli strike in Syria.
“The
administration’s policy is that the freeze agreed upon in the past will
continue, which is why even Trump did not condemn the strike,” Leiter
said.
Israel, Syria do not want to escalate war with each other
Despite the tensions, Leiter stressed that Israel understands that Syria is not seeking an escalation or war.
“It
is clear to us that the Syrians do not want a confrontation with us,”
he said. “That is why we are telling the Turks not to create conflicts.
There is more than one indication that the move planned by Turkey was
imposed on the Syrians.”
Leiter said the apparent disconnect was also evident in conflicting Turkish and Syrian statements following the strike.
“While
Syrian Foreign Minister Shaibani acknowledged that there had been a
Turkish delegation in Syria several days before the strike, the Turks
denied it. They should sort it out among themselves.”
He
did not rule out a return to direct talks with Syria, as has taken
place in the past, but he said the conditions would have to be right.
“The
negotiations can be renewed. We want to continue the face-to-face
dialogue that we previously held with the Syrians,” the ambassador said.
Leiter added that Israel was also not seeking a confrontation with Turkey and remained open to dialogue with Ankara.
“We
are certainly open to dialogue with them, but according to statements
by senior officials in the country, they would prefer to wipe Israel off
the map.”
He
was referring to repeated statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan accusing Israel of crimes against humanity, as well as Turkish
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement that “Israel is a stain on
humanity.”
“At
a time when Turkey is hosting Hamas leaders and transferring funds to
Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran’s arm against Israel, it is not appropriate
for them to begin expanding their influence in Lebanon and Syria,”
Leiter said.
“Under the current circumstances, Turkey cannot be a force that helps calm the region.
“I
wish we could return to the situation of several decades ago in
relations between Jerusalem and Ankara. Then, we would be open to
Turkish influence in the region. But it is not logical for Turkish
influence in the region to grow while Turkey is funding terrorist
organizations.”
One person with knowledge told the Post that Abbas reportedly asked Turkey for help to convince the US to reverse the decision.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during the 8th General Conference of Fatah in Ramallah in May 2026.(photo credit: MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/REUTERS)
The
United States plans to bar Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas from traveling to New York City in September to address the United
Nations General Assembly, a source told The Jerusalem Post.
Last year, the US denied the visas to Abbas and members of the PA's delegation to attend the assembly.
The source told the Post
that PA leaders are trying in every way to reverse the US's decision.
The person with knowledge added that Abbas reportedly asked Turkey for
help to convince the US to reverse the decision.
“McKinsey published four reports titled Why Diversity Matters (2015), Delivering Through Diversity (2018), Diversity Wins (2020), and Diversity Matters Even More (2023).
These reports allege strong links between companies with increased
levels of racial and gender ‘diversity,’ emphasizing that increased
diversity in companies causes a greater likelihood of improved financial
performance,” Gill wrote in a press release
announcing the investigation. “These McKinsey reports have been highly
influential, being cited by publicly traded companies, asset managers,
proxy advisory firms, and banking institutions, among others, as cause
for embedding illegal racial and sex-based targets into hiring,
promotion, executive compensation, and asset manager proxy voting
policies.”
Researchers who have tried to replicate McKinsey’s results have
failed, the task force said, suggesting McKinsey may have reversed the
cause and effect in its conclusions. Congress further alleged that DEI
hiring and promotion practices have cost the U.S. billions of dollars in
revenue, including $94 billion in 2023.
A McKinsey spokesperson told Fox News this week that the consulting group stands by its research.
"We also recognize that diversity in the workplace encompasses a
broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. We have and
will continue to follow the law in the U.S. and in the other markets in
which we operate," the spokesperson added.
As part of the task force’s investigation, Gill has asked
McKinsey for the underlying datasets, including raw or unprocessed
data, documentation of sources and any exclusions; Internal and external
communications referencing the creation of the reports between McKinsey
and anyone else involved; all documents and communications pertaining
to internal quality assurance; and, all communications between McKinsey
and academic institutions, corporations, or governments, that received
the report and were told there was a relationship between diversity and
financial performance.
Gill’s task force also requested all documents and communications
referencing any of the four reports or analysis of the legality of using
DEI and whether it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
which prohibits discrimination in employment based on race or sex. The
task force also requested information regarding payments and financial
relationships between McKinsey and any organization that assisted in the
reports.
McKinsey has not publicly released its underlying datasets used to produce its DEI reports,” Gills said.
In one example Gill cited, the “California Public Employees
Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Office cited two of the McKinsey
DEI reports in its explanation for voting against three board members of
P.A.M. Transportation Services, Inc. who had failed to satisfy its
board diversity demands.”
Gill said this was one of a few examples where the McKinsey reports
had been directly cited as a reason for employment discrimination.
“While McKinsey has claimed the DEI studies only found a correlative
link between DEI and financial outperformance, McKinsey spokeswoman and
the author of four of the DEI reports, Vivian Hunt, publicly asserted
that ‘the leading companies in our datasets are pursuing diversity
because it’s a business imperative and driving real business results.’"
Changing America and the world while restoring Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
Last November, an article was posted that summarized Trump Administration Accomplishments in 2025
through October. At that time, President Trump had just signed the One
Big Beautiful Bill into law, brokered a string of ceasefires, and was
nine months into what was shaping up to be one of the most consequential
presidencies in American history.
Since then, the pace has, if anything, accelerated, with a full-scale
operation resulting in the capture of a hemispheric narco-dictator, the
implementation of the largest tax cut package in a generation, a
childhood vaccine schedule overhaul, a new NATO spending baseline, and a
genuinely dangerous stretch of open war with Iran over the Strait of
Hormuz that is still not fully resolved as of this writing.
Let us pick up where that article left off and summarize Trump administration accomplishments since then.
DOMESTIC POLICY: IMPLEMENTING THE ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL
The signature domestic accomplishment of the fall and winter was not a new law, but the rollout of the law already signed—H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA),
which Trump signed on July 4, 2025. Most of its individual-side
provisions took effect January 1, 2026, and by the bill’s one-year
anniversary the effects were measurable. The law permanently locked in
the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rates and the doubled standard deduction,
which—absent the OBBBA—would have expired at the end of 2025 and
triggered a tax increase on most households. The Tax Foundation
estimated the average American taxpayer would see a federal tax cut of
roughly $3,752 in 2026, with every state benefiting to some degree.
The bill also delivered on specific 2024 campaign promises: no tax on
tips (roughly 7 million workers claimed the deduction) and no tax on
overtime (28 million claimants), an increased SALT deduction cap, a
$6,000 senior deduction, and reform of Medicaid and SNAP. The Bipartisan Policy Center and Tax Foundation
both note that OBBBA is the sixth-largest tax cut in U.S. history by
the standard scoring conventions, projected to reduce federal revenue by
roughly $5 trillion from 2025 to 2034—though tariff revenue and
stronger wage/income tax receipts have kept FY2026 federal revenue
running about 5 percent ahead of FY2025 even with the cuts in place.
Most relevant to the youngest Americans, the OBBBA created Trump Accounts,
a new tax-advantaged savings vehicle that functions as a special
traditional IRA for children, with the federal government seeding $1,000
into the account of every eligible U.S. citizen born from 2025 through
2028. Parents and family members can contribute additional funds that
grow tax-deferred for the child’s future education, first home, or
retirement. It is the first federal policy of its kind—a direct,
ownership-society answer to the entitlement-state model, giving every
American child a stake in the country’s capital markets from birth. This
program will play a major part in countering the creeping cultural rot
(the public education system, Hollywood, academia, legacy media) that
has persuaded many younger Americans that “socialism is the answer” to life’s challenges.
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE) AND DEREGULATION
The Department of Government Efficiency continued its work despite
the litigation and congressional friction noted in that earlier article,
with claimed savings pushing toward the quarter-trillion-dollar mark
and continued federal workforce attrition through hiring freezes,
return-to-office mandates, and automation of processes like federal
retirement filing. A rescissions package
and impoundment actions targeted programs the administration deemed
wasteful, while fraud investigations expanded into state-level abuse of
federal benefit programs, including a high-profile Minnesota probe.
The deregulatory push continued
at pace, with the administration’s cumulative regulatory-cut ratio
remaining a signature talking point, concentrated in energy,
environmental, and labor rulemaking.
MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN: FOOD, VACCINES, AND CHRONIC DISEASE
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA Commission moved from its September 2025 strategy document
(120-plus initiatives) into implementation. The FDA continued working
with industry toward eliminating petroleum-based synthetic dyes like Red
40 and Yellow 5 from the food supply by the end of 2026 and is closing the “GRAS loophole”
that let food companies self-certify novel additives as safe without
FDA review. USDA and HHS released updated Dietary Guidelines for
Americans emphasizing whole foods, and the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program
(created in the OBBBA) began funding rural hospitals and MAHA-aligned
state policy, including support for regenerative agriculture practices.
The most consequential—and most contested—MAHA action involved vaccines. In January 2026,
HHS reconstituted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
(ACIP), while the CDC narrowed the universally recommended childhood
immunization schedule from 17 diseases to 11. Changes included ending
the universal recommendation for newborn hepatitis B vaccination and
removing COVID-19 vaccines from certain recommended schedules.
This drew sharp criticism from public health and medical
organizations that argue the changes lack scientific consensus, while
MAHA supporters frame it as restoring informed parental choice and
removing regulatory capture from pharmaceutical influence.
Note: Readers should judge the vaccine-schedule changes on their
merits rather than take either side’s framing uncritically; this is one
area where “documented” and “contested” claims sit closer together than
most of this record.
BORDER SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION: THE NUMBERS KEEP FALLING
If there is one metric where the empirical record is beyond serious dispute, it’s the border. As of Pew Research’s February 2026 analysis,
Border Patrol has recorded fewer than 10,000 southwest border
encounters per month every month since February 2025—the lowest
sustained levels in more than 25 years of monthly data, and lower even
than the pandemic-collapse month of April 2020. By July 2026, DHS was reporting its fourteenth consecutive month of zero releases at the border, with daily apprehensions down roughly 94–95 percent from the Biden-era monthly average.
The White House now credits the administration with negative net migration in 2025—the first time in at least half a century—and the departure of more than 2.5 million illegal aliens since January 2025, including more than 605,000 deported by ICE and roughly 1.9 million who self-deported.
Note that mass interior enforcement operations have drawn relentless
legal challenges from open-borders advocates, but the top-line trend of
collapsed illegal crossings is not seriously disputed by anyone tracking
the CBP data.
REMAKING THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY
This is arguably the most durable of all the accomplishments in this
record, since Article III judges serve for life and will outlast this
administration by decades. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has
driven confirmations at the fastest clip since Ronald Reagan:
circuit court nominees have been confirmed at nearly twice the pace of
the first Trump term (or Biden’s term), and district court nominees at
triple the first-term pace.
By late April 2026,
the Senate had confirmed 271 of Trump’s Article III judicial nominees
across both terms—three Supreme Court justices, 60 circuit judges, 205
district judges, and three on the Court of International Trade—plus
roughly 26 Article I and territorial appointments. Second-term
confirmations alone were already outpacing the equivalent point in
Trump’s first term (45 vs. 43) as of late June 2026, and the pipeline
continues: the Judiciary Committee advanced Tenth Circuit and Southern District of Ohio nominees as recently as June 24.
Key point: every one of these appointments locks in originalist,
constitutionalist jurisprudence years—often decades—beyond the current
political moment, which is precisely the point.
THE D.C. CRIME EMERGENCY: FROM FEDERAL SURGE TO MEASURABLE RESULTS
Building on the August 2025 crime-emergency executive order and
National Guard deployment referenced in the November 2025 article, the
federal surge in the nation’s capital produced dramatic year-over-year
numbers through the first third of 2026. D.C. police data
showed homicides down 38 percent year over year, with sex abuse down 7
percent, motor vehicle theft down 53 percent, and robbery down 18
percent; the city was on pace for roughly 42 murders in 2026—reportedly
the lowest total since at least 1930, down from 274 just two years
earlier.
Mayor Muriel Bowser
herself credited the federal-local partnership with driving crime “to
the lowest level in decades” and closing homicide cases at the highest
rate in 13 years. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office and the “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful” task force reported over 10,000 arrests, nearly 1,000 illegal firearms seized, and dozens of gang members taken off the streets.
UNDER THE RADAR MANUFACTURING BOOM
In a recent article, Steve Cortes pointed out that there is a “quiet manufacturing boom underway in America,” and he brings the receipts. The ISM Manufacturing Index
has climbed to 55.6—its highest reading in four years and well above
the 50-point threshold that signals expansion—after rising for seven
straight months. Manufacturing employment
has likewise turned higher, with the ISM employment component itself
entering expansion territory for the first time in years and supporting
high-paying, family-sustaining factory jobs.
Cortes also notes that factory- and trade-related construction jobs
are accelerating under the current administration “at roughly ten times
the pace he inherited from former President Joe Biden. In the first
quarter of 2025, when Trump took office, the U.S. only added 9,300 such
construction jobs. So far in the third quarter of 2026, America has added 93,000 such construction positions and counting.”
These statistics underscore the tangible scale of the industrial rebound underway in the second Trump administration.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Part I of this two-part series ends here, having summarized key
domestic policy accomplishments of the Trump administration since
October 2025. Part II will address important foreign policy
accomplishments over the same timeframe.
Swalwell resigned from Congress and ended his gubernatorial bid earlier this year amid renewed scrutiny of his time in office and new allegations from women.
FBI agents seized former Rep. Eric Swalwell's, D-Calif., electronic
devices when he arrived at San Francisco Airport on Saturday.
The agency confiscated the devices as part of an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him, multiple outlets reported. Agents later visited his D.C. home to seize additional materials on Sunday.
Among the devices the agents recovered were Swalwell's cell phone, Fox News reported.
Swalwell resigned from Congress and ended his gubernatorial bid
earlier this year amid renewed scrutiny of his time in office and new
allegations from women.
He previously sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020 and was a prominent anti-Trump "resistance" figure.
The FBI declined to comment for this story.
Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.
Far-right followers of Tucker Carlson are failing across the board with Republican voters. In most Democratic contests, antisemitic DSA candidates continue to thrive.
James Fishback, a Republican nominee for governor in Florida who was
eliminated on Aug. 18, 2026, speaking during a public event at Ave Maria
University in Ave Maria, Fla., on April 10, 2026. Credit:
Anthonyjayphotos via Wikimedia Commons.
As the summer comes to a close, the last primaries have provided
observers with some clear conclusions about the current state of
America’s two major parties. Polls
still show that the Democrats are the favorites to win control of at
least one of the two houses of Congress in November. That’s only to be
expected since historical trends generally show that the party out of
power always gains ground after being routed in the previous
presidential election year. And that goes double when the incumbent is
as deep underwater as President Donald Trump is in his job approval ratings.
There
may be too many variables in play in too many different races to know
for sure who will run the House and the Senate in January. Yet
regardless of the ultimate outcome of the midterms, we already know
something important about both the Republicans and the Democrats that
ought to inform both policy decisions next year, as well as the 2028
presidential race that will already be ongoing a year from now. And that
is the plain fact that the Democrats are in thrall to their antisemitic
and anti-Israel extremists while the Republicans—for all of their
problems and shortcomings—have marginalized theirs.
The rise of the DSA
For
the past few months, we’ve seen in race after race how far-left
candidates, whether they call themselves members of the Democratic
Socialists of America (DSA) or not, have triumphed over those who can be
labeled mainstream liberal Democrats. In most of these races, Israel is
the issue that has been the difference-maker. There are exceptions
to this trend; specific circumstances have led to incumbent supporters
of the Jewish state surviving primary challenges. But there is no
question that anti-Zionists who routinely spout blood libels about
Israel committing “genocide” and seek to demonize American Jews for
organizing to support the tiny nation’s efforts to defend itself against
actual genocidal terrorist foes appear to speak for the bulk of those
who identify as Democrats.
The same trend has not applied to what
is happening on the other side of the aisle. That was made abundantly
clear in Florida, where Republican voters were given a chance to embrace
candidates who mimic the antisemitic left while still posing as
conservatives. They were routed by unabashed pro-Israel opponents.
In
the gubernatorial primary there, only one candidate—investor James
Fishback—was clearly identified as anti-Israel. Were Republicans as
influenced by the anti-Israel bias that pervades mainstream corporate
media as Democrats have shown themselves to be, that might have been
smart politics. And if you watch or listen to a number of popular
podcasts that are said to appeal to conservatives, such as those hosted
by former Fox News personalities Tucker Carlson and Megyn
Kelly—or those who appeal to an even more extreme audience, such as
conspiracy theorist Candace Owens or neo-Nazi groyper Nick Fuentes—you
might be under the impression that someone like Fishback would have at
least a fighting chance to prevail.
Israel-bashing and
antisemitism, which increasingly resembles the same sentiments that now
prevail on the left, are a predominant theme on these shows, which are
often represented as providing platforms for views that are widespread
on the right.
Still, while Jew-hatred was no bar to victory in
Democratic primaries across the country, it turns out that the same sort
of thing isn’t appealing to Republican voters.
In the Florida governor’s race, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) won
easily in a multi-candidate contest where he wound up with 47.8% of the
vote. Fishback, who mocked the pro-Israel stands of the GOP
establishment, flopped badly, getting only 10.5% of ballots cast. The
same thing happened in the state’s 6th Congressional District, where
incumbent Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), an outspoken supporter of Israel who
has taken to wearing a kippah on the floor of the House of Representatives, defeated antisemitic challenger Dan Bilzerian 56.9% to 18.7%.
The GOP and Israel
This shouldn’t surprise anyone.
National polls
show that 70% of Republicans still favor Israel, despite a tsunami of
anti-Israel coverage in the mainstream media since the Hamas-led
Palestinian Arab terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That
number may be down from where it was before the onslaught of Hamas
propaganda masquerading as news. But it demonstrates that the GOP is
still rock-solid in its backing for the Jewish state. And it also
provides a strong contrast to the situation among Democrats, where the
same surveys show that only 17% of their voters back Israel.
Despite
the convictions among liberal elites that Trump supporters and
conservatives in general are inherently antisemitic, the vile Jew-hatred
exhibited by Fishback and Bilzerian wasn’t just appalling. It was
rejected by Republican primary voters as disqualifying.
Yet at the same time and in the same state, another Democratic Socialist, Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon, defeated
U.S. Army veteran Alex Vindman in the U.S. Senate primary. Vindman was
one of the main players in the first attempt to impeach Trump in 2019
and earned the status of a hero of the Democrats. He used his national
profile to amass a 16-1 fundraising advantage over Nixon. Yet Nixon, who
ran as both a fervent opponent of Israel and an advocate for DSA
economic plans, trounced Vindman 56% to 44%.
Nor are the Florida
returns an isolated result. The other key contest among Republicans that
hinged on Middle East policy was in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional
District, where Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) labeled his primary opponent
as a stooge of AIPAC. The libertarian incumbent was not only an opponent
of Trump and the war on Iran. He claimed that the primary was “a
referendum on whether Israel gets to buy seats in Congress.”
But while AIPAC and Israel-bashing helped Democrats like Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
win his race in Michigan, it doomed the seven-term congressman, who
lost to a Trump-backed political newcomer in a 55% to 45% landslide.
On the outside looking in
The
only other Republican member of Congress who joined Massie in libeling
Israel and its supporters didn’t even bother trying to win re-election
this year. Former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from
Congress in January after it was clear that not only would the
administration oppose her mounting a run for the U.S. Senate, but Trump
would back a challenger to her in her deep-red district.
Fishback,
Massie and Taylor Green may be welcomed guests on Carlson’s podcast,
where they can bash Israel and vent their Jew-hatred to their hearts’
content. Nevertheless, that puts them not just outside of the political
mainstream but outside of the Republican Party in 2026 and for the
foreseeable future.
So, no matter who controls the House and the
Senate when the 120th Congress is sworn in next January, it’s clear that
the so-called “progressives” and DSA supporters who regard smears of
Israel as an “apartheid state” that commits “genocide” will dominate the
Democratic caucuses. Their Republican opponents, whether back in the
minority or not, will be uniformly pro-Israel.
This will have a decisive impact on the 2028 presidential race.
Among
Democratic contenders, the impulse to bend the knee to the hard left
may prove irresistible to any of them who are serious about winning. If
the 2026 primaries taught us anything about the contemporary Democratic
Party, it’s not just that it is leaning more heavily to the left than at
any time since their landslide defeat in 1972. While economic issues,
including appeals to tax the rich and provide free health care, are
popular among its voters, it’s obvious that the organizing principles of
Democratic politics have become opposition to Israel and enforcement of
immigration laws.
It’s only in such a political universe that a
previously marginal figure like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.),
the ringleader of the original progressive congressional “Squad,” could
be spoken of as a serious presidential contender. Indeed, AOC’s gestures
toward the center—like her hypocritical claims that the sort of
far-left views she called “Woke 1.0”
that conquered academia, culture and liberal politics in recent years
are now out of fashion—confirm this. That led to the Maoist faction of
her DSA condemning
the inveterate Israel-basher as insufficiently anti-Zionist to be
considered for the presidency. But the point to be gleaned from this is
that a Democratic Party where AOC is now considered mainstream is one
run by its extremists.
The contrast with the sentiments of Republican voters ought to be sobering news for the man who is, as of the moment, the frontrunner to succeed Trump: Vice President JD Vance.
Whither JD Vance
The vice president’s refusal
last December to take sides in a debate at the Turning Point USA
AmericaFest over Carlson’s antisemitism was a pivotal moment that seemed
to signal that conservatives were succumbing to the same destructive
trends that were turning the Democrats into a party that was both
anti-Israel and tolerant of Jew-hatred.
Since then, Vance has
solidified his position as the opponent of Israel within the
administration, as well as someone unhappy with Trump’s decision to go
to war with Iran over its nuclear threat and terrorism. That led him to
being given the job of negotiating an end to the conflict, a fool’s
errand that confirmed his lack of understanding of the problem and the
vacuous nature of his foreign policy philosophy.
After the blowup
last fall over support for Carlson at the Heritage Foundation and the
widespread conviction that large numbers of young Republicans are fans
of Fuentes, there was an expectation among many observers that Carlson
and the groypers represent the future of the GOP in the same way that
the DSA does for the Democrats.
The primaries demonstrated that
the Democrats’ lurch to the left is even more pronounced than many
thought possible only a year ago. But the same assumption about the
Republicans has proven to be mistaken.
There’s no denying that
antisemitism exists on the right and that it is louder than ever. But if
Vance really thinks that alienating the groypers would harm his 2028
presidential chances, then he may be setting himself up for failure. The
demonstrated political strength of anti-Israel and antisemitic
extremists appears to pose an insurmountable obstacle to Democrats who
don’t want to conform to woke hatred. But Republican primary voters have
been sending the message that if Vance wants to be his party’s 2028
nominee, then he is going to have to ditch Carlson and the anti-Israel
right, not appease or echo it.
Republicans may be currently
swimming upstream in an election year in which their president and his
policies have proven to be unpopular. But whatever else one can say
about the GOP, it’s still determined to marginalize extremists and toss
them out of the party, as Trump has done with Carlson. Irrespective of
their chances of holding on to Congress this fall, that’s a fact that
bodes well for Republicans in 2028—and also sends a warning to Vance
that if he fails to follow the president’s example, then he will never
be president.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS, a columnist for Newsweek and a
contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political
scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East
diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS “Think Twice”
podcast, both the weekly video program and the “Jonathan Tobin Daily”
program, available on all major audio platforms and on YouTube.
Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief
political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger.
He has won 60-plus awards for his columns, commentary, art criticism
and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on
politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history
at Columbia University.
Anti-Israel activists are targeting Israeli travelers at airports, turning freedom of movement into the latest front in the campaign to ostracize the Jewish state.
A Ryan Air passenger jet at Alghero Airport in Cagliari, Italy. Photo by EyesWideOpen/Getty Images.
There is a pack of fanatics in Italy that wants to take control of
airports for the purpose of excluding Israel from international air
routes.
They organize protests so that Israeli men, women and
children arriving for an innocent vacation encounter a hostile and
aggressive presence designed to frighten them and, ultimately,
discourage Israelis from coming to Italy at all.
Israelis? Well,
of course, the message goes further. It is meant to discourage Jews in
general from traveling—those hated Zionists. Let them stay home. Better
yet, let them remain shut inside their homes.
According to the
familiar antisemitic narrative that now pursues Jews at school, at
university, on vacation and at work, they are all part of a clique of
genocidal murderers who carry out ethnic cleansing and shoot children
for fun.
One can imagine where the activists get their
information: antisemitic social media and television panels that take
their news from the Qatar-based television network, Al Jazeera.
A group called Giovedì Bianco
(“White Thursday”) has for some time been active at Cagliari Airport,
where tourists arriving from Tel Aviv are greeted with shouts of “Free
Palestine” and followed by hateful chants as they collect their luggage
and make their way through the terminal, while children tremble.
Israelis adore Italy. Yet today, Thursday, Giovedì Bianco
is calling for protests at the airports of Verona, Cagliari, Milan
Linate, Rome Fiumicino and Venice, targeting Israeli travelers and
denouncing the government for insisting on the “maintenance of air
routes with Israel.”
The times and descriptions of the planned
actions are public. But the objective goes well beyond airports. It is
part of the effort to erase Israel from the international arena—from
sports, culture, music, medicine and now travel—and, ultimately, to make
Israel and Jews disappear from public life.
They are not the first to try.
Targeting
air travel attacks something fundamental: the freedom of movement,
education and exchange on which the free world is built. Apparently,
however, those freedoms are not meant to apply to Jews.
Airports
have already been transformed by decades of Palestinian and Islamist
terrorism, subjected to stringent security measures intended to protect
travelers from attack. Now comes another form of aggression against
Jews, violating a basic principle of international coexistence.
And
one final question: The boycott website lists telephone numbers
connected to these activities. Might those numbers perhaps make it
possible to identify the people behind this brilliant idea?
Fiamma Firensteinis an Italian-Israeli journalist, author and senior research fellow at
the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).
An adviser on antisemitism to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she
served in the Italian Parliament (2008-2013) as vice president of the
Foreign Affairs Committee. A founding member of the Friends of Israel
Initiative, she has written 15 books, including October 7, Antisemitism and the War on the West, and is a leading voice on Israel, the Middle East, Europe and the fight against antisemitism.
The decision comes amid declining public confidence in higher education to sufficiently equip students for life and the workforce.
The University of Michigan’s recently announced plan not to
give letter grades to some first-semester students – citing a "mental
health crisis" among college-aged students – has sparked concern and
criticism from some education experts.
“The hallmark of a strong undergraduate education is that
students work hard, tackle challenging content, deal with adversity, and
emerge as more thinkers and citizens,” Frederick Hess, fellow and
director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise
Institute, recently told Just the News. “This certainly cuts against all of that.”
The pilot program will
be for students in the university's College of Literature, Science and
the Arts. And the program is set to begin in fall 2027.
According to a fact sheet released earlier this month, the students
will receive grades of either pass (P) or no credit (NC) on all courses
their first semester. And the grades will not be counted on students’
official transcript, nor factored into their Grade Point Average.
However, they will receive assignment grades and instructor feedback in
every course.
"Helping all students establish early momentum has been recognized as
the most important element in U-M’s campus-wide Student Success
Initiative," the university says. "We believe that covering grades will
help students start strong and curb the mental health crisis unfolding
among college-aged individuals."
Experts such as Deborah J. Conan, who has a doctorate
degree and is a former university professor, argue the effort won't
improve the underlying issues young people face.
“Concealing grades is an exercise in denial, which is antithetical to showing students how to manage mental health issues,” she wrote in Psychology Today in response to the program.
“When students elect to attend college, it may be for the
whole of the experience, yet arguably a centerpiece of it is mastery of
coursework. It’s baffling to remove the evaluative aspect of that
endeavor before students even arrive, all in the name of mental health.”
She also argues, “Neither the origin nor the solution to the problem of students’ mental health is grades.
“When I reflect on the thousands of hours I’ve spent
listening to students, I’m reminded that grades are typically the
smallest part of their despair and fear. Instead, I hear about the anguish and stress of family dynamics, grief and death, dating violence and sexual assault, the impact of social media, and fears about the brokenness of the world.”
A Harvard study
found that the most commonly-cited reasons for anxiety and depression
in young adults were "lack of meaning and purpose" (58%), financial
worries (56%) and achievement pressure (51%), a "sense that things are
falling apart” (45%) as well as not feeling like they mattered (44%).
Additionally, roughly 73% of Gen Z report feeling lonely "sometimes or always," a Cigna study revealed.
Still, Conon argues that withholding grades will not mitigate such issues.
"They “serve as an important barometer that assists faculty
in early intervention with struggling students, reaching out to them
with care and concern," she said. "These conversations need to happen
without any sugarcoating.”
A 22-year-long analysis
on so-called "grade inflation" – in which teachers reward too many high
grades – at the graduate-school level found that inaccurate
representation of academic progress hurts students by failing to reveal
learning gaps that allow for early intervention, in addition to
improperly “inform[ing] employers and admission decisions in the labor
market and academic selection.”
Grade inflation and ‘No fail’/‘No zero’ policies are
frequently criticized for lowering educational standards and undermining
academic rigor – while shielding students from any meaningful
accountability or incentive to perform well.
“Unfortunately, higher ed has retreated so far from rigor
or expectations – between grade inflation, electives, reduced reading
loads, and the rest--that it has gutted student work and compromised the
integrity of a college education,” AEI's Frederick Hess told JTN.
The University of Michigan has previously been scrutinized
over possible grade inflation following a sharp incline in top marks.
Between 2012 and 2022, As and A-minuses awarded at the premier public
university rose by an average of 13.3% across all campuses.
“If Michigan were simultaneously bolstering reading loads,
combating grade inflation, mandating attendance, and restricting
devices, I could potentially imagine a case for something like this,”
Hess argued. “But, in isolation, it seems like yet another unfortunate
retreat from rigor and responsibility.”
Trends such as these are common at higher education institutions across the U.S., leading grade inflation researcher Stuart Rojstaczer to declare that grades have been “diluted to a level that they are meaningless.”
The University of Michigan’s “grade covering” program comes
amidst a broader decline in trust in higher education to properly
educate and prepare students for the workforce.
On Aug. 3, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to colleges and universities, urging them to respond to cratered public confidence with reforms.
McMahon prompted institutions to renew their commitment to
merit-based admissions, the free exchange of ideas, intellectual
pluralism, ensure affordable, high-return degrees, promote academic
rigor and end grade inflation, resist foreign influence, and ultimately,
serve the American people.
Higher education has been a particular point of focus for
the second Trump administration, and President Trump has issued at least
eight executive orders to hold institutions accountable as of
mid-August.
