Egypt's Dangerous Palestinian 'Unity' Project to Legitimize Terrorists - Khaled Abu Toameh

 

​ by Khaled Abu Toameh

Why is Hamas being treated as a legitimate political organization rather than a terrorist group that needs to be disarmed, dismantled, and removed from power?

 

• The real question, however, is: Unity with whom, and against whom?

• Why is Hamas being treated as a legitimate political organization rather than a terrorist group that needs to be disarmed, dismantled, and removed from power?

• Egypt, a key ally of the United States, should be asking these questions. Instead, Cairo appears to be doing exactly the opposite.

• The Trump Administration and the Board of Peace might make clear to Cairo that Hamas cannot be both a terrorist organization that needs to surrender its weapons and a political partner invited to negotiate the future of the Palestinians. One approach eliminates Hamas. The other rehabilitates it.

• Even more alarming are reports of a possible electoral alliance involving former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan's Democratic Reform Current, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – all terrorist groups that do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

• What possible role should these terrorist organizations have in Palestinian elections or a future Palestinian government?

• If Egypt welcomes the designation of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, why is it simultaneously trying to give Hamas – which emerged from the same organization – renewed political legitimacy?

• The Trump Administration would do itself a great service to tell Cairo that Palestinian reconciliation cannot include organizations that retain weapons, embrace terrorism, and seek the destruction of Israel. There is no need to unify the Palestinian ranks around Hamas. There is a need immediately to remove Hamas from those ranks.

• Egypt should be using its considerable influence not to persuade Fatah to reconcile with Hamas, but to pressure Hamas and other terrorist groups to surrender their weapons and permanently leave the Palestinian political arena. A politically rehabilitated Hamas, still armed and still committed to its Islamist ideology, will only strengthen the very ideological current that the Egyptian government has spent more than a decade trying to suppress.

Egypt should be using its considerable influence not to persuade Fatah to reconcile with Hamas, but to pressure Hamas and other terrorist groups to surrender their weapons and permanently leave the Palestinian political arena. A politically rehabilitated Hamas, still armed and still committed to its Islamist ideology, will only strengthen the very ideological current that the Egyptian government has spent more than a decade trying to suppress. Pictured: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) welcomes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo on March 4, 2025, photographed from a large screen at the Arab League summit. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)

Egypt is reportedly preparing to host another round of talks between the Palestinian factions, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction and the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group.

The stated goal sounds appealing: achieving Palestinian "national unity."

The real question, however, is: Unity with whom, and against whom?

Nearly three years after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, why is anyone still talking about bringing Hamas back into the Palestinian political system? Why is Hamas being treated as a legitimate political organization rather than a terrorist group that needs to be disarmed, dismantled, and removed from power?

Egypt, a key ally of the United States, should be asking these questions. Instead, Cairo appears to be doing exactly the opposite.

According to an "informed source" quoted by the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the Egyptians are preparing for a broad "Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue" that could even be attended by Abbas. The unnamed source said that Egypt wants a comprehensive dialogue including all Palestinian factions, especially Fatah and Hamas.

The same source explained that Cairo is attempting to maintain a "delicate balance" between Hamas on the one hand and the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah on the other, on the grounds that bringing together all the factions would prevent any one group from obstructing future arrangements.

That is precisely the problem.

Why should Egypt be maintaining a "balance" between Hamas and anyone?

Hamas is not just another Palestinian political faction with which Fatah happens to have disagreements. It is the terrorist group that staged a violent coup against the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in 2007, seizing full control of the Gaza Strip. It is the terrorist group responsible for the October 7 atrocities against thousands of Israelis and foreign nationals. It continues to maintain its weapons and military infrastructure and has not abandoned its jihadist ideology or its long-standing goal of eliminating Israel.

The appropriate policy toward Hamas should therefore not be reconciliation. It should be disarmament.

Egypt is a member of the Board of Peace, whose mission includes ensuring the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip in order to prevent another October 7-style attack against Israel.

How can Egypt supposedly support the disarmament and marginalization of Hamas while simultaneously working to reintegrate the terrorist group into Palestinian politics?

These are contradictory policies.

Egypt might wish to preserve its importance as a supposedly indispensable mediator between the Palestinians the Israelis, or perhaps it imagines that it might someday control a Palestinian process, or, because Hamas continues to retain weapons and fighters, that it would be prudent not to write off the terrorist group.

The Trump Administration and the Board of Peace might make it clear to Cairo that Hamas cannot be both a terrorist organization that needs to surrender its weapons and a political partner invited to negotiate the future of the Palestinians. One approach eliminates Hamas. The other rehabilitates it.

There should be no confusion about which approach is needed after October 7.

Reports about the Egyptian initiative are even more disturbing because the discussions appear connected to the upcoming Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, scheduled for November 28, 2026.

A report in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar notes that Egypt has intensified meetings with Palestinian factions in preparation for an extended dialogue and seeking understandings that could lead to a unified Palestinian Authority and elections.

Egypt had reportedly planned to host a Fatah-Hamas meeting last week to discuss arrangements for the elections, although the meeting was canceled at the last minute for reasons that are still unknown.

Even more alarming are reports of a possible electoral alliance involving former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan's Democratic Reform Current, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – all terrorist groups that do not recognize Israel's right to exist. According to Al-Akhbar, the Egyptians suggest that such an understanding could contribute to establishing a unified political authority in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

If this proposition is true, the situation is even more unacceptable. What possible role should these terrorist organizations have in Palestinian elections or a future Palestinian government?

Egypt and the rest of the international community should have learned this lesson 20 years ago. In the 2006 elections for PLC, Hamas ran under the banner of "Change and Reform." Allowing Hamas to participate did not transform the terrorist group into a peaceful democratic movement. It simply unleashed, supported and legitimized a terrorist one.

The result was Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, years of terrorism and warfare, and eventually the October 7 massacre. Repeating this experiment after what we now know would be even more reckless.

There is another odd dimension to Egypt's approach. Hamas emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist organization outlawed by the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Muslim Brotherhood regards Sisi's government as an enemy. Egypt has spent years confronting Islamist terrorism and extremist organizations, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, that threaten its national security.

In January 2026, the United States designated the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Egypt welcomed the decision, saying the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology posed a regional and international security threat.

If Egypt welcomes the designation of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, why is it simultaneously trying to give Hamas – which emerged from the same organization – renewed political legitimacy?

Egypt should be especially concerned about any attempt to rehabilitate Hamas. A stronger Hamas would not only threaten Israel. Islamist organizations inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology have long posed challenges to Egypt itself.

Harakat Sawa'd Misr, for instance, is an Egyptian terrorist organization that emerged after the military overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The organization carried out a series of attacks against Egyptian police, security officials, and government targets. Egypt has also battled a long and bloody jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula.

Additionally, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which later pledged allegiance to ISIS and became ISIS-Sinai Province, carried out countless attacks against Egyptian military and security forces.

Reports over the years have also pointed to contacts and transactional cooperation between Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip and jihadists in Sinai, including weapons trafficking, training, and logistical assistance.

This situation makes Cairo's current approach toward Hamas all the more puzzling. Egypt, of all countries, after enduring the Muslim Brotherhood's "Arab Spring" takeover in 2011, knows better than most countries that Islamist organizations do not become moderate just because they participate in elections, join political institutions, or sit at negotiating tables.

The Trump Administration would do itself a great service to tell Cairo that Palestinian reconciliation cannot include organizations that retain weapons, embrace terrorism, and seek the destruction of Israel. There is no need to unify the Palestinian ranks around Hamas. There is a need immediately to remove Hamas from those ranks.

Egypt should be using its considerable influence not to persuade Fatah to reconcile with Hamas, but to pressure Hamas and other terrorist groups to surrender their weapons and permanently leave the Palestinian political arena. A politically rehabilitated Hamas, still armed and still committed to its Islamist ideology, will only strengthen the very ideological current that the Egyptian government has spent more than a decade trying to suppress.

• Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter) 

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

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22831/egypt-palestinian-unity-terrorists

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Israel, Greece ink $3.5 billion ‘Achilles Shield’ defense pact - JNS Staff

 

​ by JNS Staff

The arms accord will see the largest-ever military export sale between Jerusalem and Athens.

 

Israel Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram (left) and his Greek counterpart, Maj. Gen. Ioannis Bouras, after signing an approximately €3 billion defense export agreement at the ministry in Tel Aviv, Aug. 31, 2026. Credit: Israel Defense Ministry.

 

Israel and Greece signed a defense export agreement worth some €3 billion ($3.5 billion) on Monday, under which the Jewish state will build the Hellenic Armed Forces a multi-layered air defense array, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.

The deal, signed at the Defense Ministry’s Tel Aviv headquarters, includes David’s Sling missile defense batteries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Spyder mobile air defense systems, Israel Aerospace Industries’ BARAK MX modular, multi-layer air and missile defense systems, multi-mission radars made by IAI subsidiary ELTA Systems, and a new national command-and-control system to be developed by Rafael.

An approximately €3 billion deal: Israel and Greece have signed the massive "Achilles Shield" agreement, under which Israel will build Greece a multi-layered air defense array based on Israeli systems architecture.

Read More: https://t.co/xXTK35zycj pic.twitter.com/QCmZuJcBeJ

— Ministry of Defense (@Israel_MOD) August 31, 2026

An additional agreement worth €26 million ($30 million), covering Rafael’s Drone Dome systems, was also signed on Monday.

The overall program, known in Greece as “Achilles Shield,” is the largest defense export deal in the history of Israeli-Greek relations, and one of the largest in Israeli history, the statement said.

Athens approved the procurement framework on July 23, as part of a sweeping $31.8 billion military modernization initiative slated through 2036. Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias noted at the time that the multi-layered “Achilles Shield” array—which also integrates Heron unmanned aerial vehicles alongside other allied platforms—is slated to become fully operational within 35 months.

Jerusalem will also expand industrial defense cooperation with Athens, including through transfers of knowledge and technology, the Israeli Defense Ministry added.

“Israel and Greece share common strategic interests and face shared regional challenges,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said. “At a time when actors with hegemonic ambitions are seeking to expand their influence and undermine stability in the region, Israel and Greece will continue to deepen their defense and strategic cooperation, and will act with determination to preserve stability and safeguard their security and shared interests.”

In a separate statement, IAI said it “has maintained extensive cooperation with European countries for many years, providing advanced, combat-proven systems across the maritime, land, air and space domains. In recent years, IAI has sold advanced defense systems in Europe valued at tens of billions of shekels.”

IAI’s European expansion “reflects growing demand for advanced defense systems with proven operational effectiveness,” the company added. “As part of this effort, the company is leading major strategic programs, including the Arrow 3 system for Germany, while also establishing local infrastructure, subsidiaries and innovation centers, and expanding cooperation with local defense industries. Through these activities, IAI provides its partner countries with a broad operational and technological framework designed to strengthen their resilience and security.”

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/news/israel-news/israel-greece-ink-3-5-billion-achilles-shield-defense-pact

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Fauci memos expose instructions to delete emails, steer spy agencies during COVID-19 pandemic - John Solomon

 

​ by John Solomon

The Federal Records Act requires government agenc

 

On at least five occasions during his final two decades in government, Dr. Anthony Fauci asked recipients of emails to delete the contents after reading them, according to newly released evidence from Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul that chronicles a culture of secrecy under America's former top doctor that extended to his dealings with U.S. spy agencies.

Fauci's contacts with the intelligence community included efforts to steer the CIA and the Director of National Intelligence's office toward scientists who were advocating that COVID-19 emerged naturally even as the FBI developed evidence that the deadly virus was man-made and may have leaked from a Chinese lab where research was funded by Fauci's agencies, the memos show.

For instance, a CIA memorandum stated that Fauci urged the agency to contact Robert Garry, Kristian Andersen and Eddie Holmes, "all three of whom have advocated for features of the virus that they judge to be consistent with a natural origin," according to a summary of the memos released this weekend by Paul.

Likewise, a July 12, 2021, email from ODNI states that Fauci had emphasized a scientific article and identified “the authors whose views he thought were particularly important." That article was written by Anderson, Holmes and Andrew Rambaut, the scientists who advocated the natural-origins theory of COVID.

The documents also show that the CIA struck an inter-agency contract with Fauci's agency, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on bioterrorism research, permitting the transfer of funds between the two agencies that would be unclassified but restricted from public release.

The undated contract released by Paul was to "conduct work to support BTC [biological threat characterization] relevant forensic research needs and focus on comparative genomic analysis of organisms considered agents of bioterrorism." 

Some of that work appeared to focus on viruses that could kill humans.

For instance, one memo shows the CIA, on Sept. 4, 2015, asked Fauci's agency “for a paper outlining the rate of mutation, the number of passages from human to human to lock in these mutations (or to generate them), and the molecular genetic means through which this is likely to occur.”

You can read those documents here.

2026.08.29_Final-Hearing-Document-Release-Package.pdf

The memos released by Paul also show Fauci closed at least five sensitive emails from his government account with specific instructions to delete the conversation after it was read. The instructions appear in messages dated Sept. 26, 2009; December 19, 2011; March 4, 2012; Feb. 2, 2020; and July 20, 2020. 

"It is truly amazing how people let their own self-interest drive them to make stupid statements," Fauci wrote in one such email among rivalries between AIDS vaccine researchers and comparisons to the smallpox vaccine.

Fauci instructed the recipient, a NIAID deputy named Greg Folkers, to "please delete this email after you had read it."

In another email, about debate over a "doomsday virus," Fauci told another top deputy, Dr. Cliff Lane, "please delete this email and then delete from the deleted file."

The Federal Records Act requires government workers to preserve in nearly all cases the records of their federal work, including emails,

President Barack Obama in 2016 mandated that every agency create archives of their email systems for preservation at the National Archives.

'Federal agencies must manage all email records in an electronic format. Email records must be retained in an appropriate electronic system that supports records management and litigation requirements (which may include preservation-in-place models), including the capability to identify, retrieve, and retain the records for as long as they are needed," the 2016 memo stated.

Fauci received a pardon at the end of the Biden presidency that protects him from federal prosecution for any crimes committed between 2014 and 2024, but some states said they are investigating whether to prosecute him under state laws.

On July 29, Fauci appeared before Paul's committee under subpoena and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times, refusing to answer senators' questions. The committee subsequently voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress and referred him to the DOJ for prosecution.

Fauci recently opened a legal defense fund to raise money to defray his legal expenses.

That effort comes as Dr. David Morens, a former top Fauci adviser, pleaded guilty this month to conspiracy in a scheme to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Justice Department brought the case against Morens in April, which accused the former senior scientific adviser at NIAID of committing conspiracy against the U.S., destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting.

The case comes after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic uncovered evidence in 2024 that Morens used his personal email, outside the scope of FOIA requests, to discuss National Institute of Health grants with the infectious disease group EcoHealth Alliance. 

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/monfauci-memos-expose-instructions-delete-emails-steer-spy-agencies

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Israel Navy acting to deter Turkish maritime aggression as Ankara encroaches on areas of interest - Yonah Jeremy Bob

 

​ by Yonah Jeremy Bob

The Jerusalem Post understands that the IDF is on high alert for any new Turkish moves by sea, land, or air, including in areas near Greece, Cyprus, and Syria.

 

An Israeli Navy patrol boat sails off the coast of Haifa, as seen from Haifa beach, May 26, 2026.

(photo credit: Sharon Label/Flash 90)

The Israel Navy is acting to deter Turkish maritime aggression, and in response to the Turkish navy traveling to new points of interest in Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Israel Navy, in essence, wants to send a message to Turkey: if it thinks it can move its navy freely, it will have to think again.

The Post understands that the IDF is on high alert for any Turkish moves, whether it’s by sea, land, or air; this includes areas near Greece and Cyprus, or, in the worst-case scenario, in Syria or Gaza.

The IDF recognizes that Turkey’s navy is powerful and cannot be ignored. Still, the largest danger Turkey faces is in Syria, given the IDF’s attack on a Syrian air base to prevent Turkey from installing a new radar or other assets that may compromise Israel’s freedom of action.

Israel has also staunchly opposed Turkey’s involvement with the International Stabilization Force (ISF), a peacekeeping entity for the Gaza Strip.

Syrian President for a transitional phase Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan pose as they shake hands after a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, February 4, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/CAGLA GURDOGAN)

The Post understands that the IDF sees Turkey as having a deep commitment to the Syrian regime –  a commitment rooted in religious doctrine. In contrast, Turkey’s commitment to Gaza is more general in nature and involves regional influence, not religion.

On July 26, the Post reported that, even as Turkey and Egypt are reconnecting in certain areas, senior Israeli defense sources sense opportunities for Israel and Cairo to work together to counterbalance Ankara’s naval interests.

Egypt, Israel may realize benefit of coordinating against Turkey

As both Israel and Egypt watched Iran tighten its grip over the Strait of Hormuz, the two may eventually agree on their shared interest in preventing Turkey from emerging as a rising power and posing a similar threat.

Until now, Israel and Egypt’s naval units have cooperated in international drills, but neither has been seriously challenged in the Mediterranean.

But that is only one narrative; there are at least two others.

Despite the optimistic narrative, Egyptian Defense Minister Ashraf Salem Zaher traveled to Ankara on July 13. This move, according to some pessimistic observers, represented a profound structural shift in the geopolitics of the eastern Mediterranean. The pessimistic narrative sees this as evidence that Egypt and Turkey are moving closer together – potentially against Israel.

This is linked to the third narrative: that, until now, Turkey and Egypt have wanted nothing to do with one another. This narrative, which was true until last year, had a historical basis. For over a decade, the conflicting ideologies between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi were permanently embedded into the regional landscape. The two seemingly had no path for reconciliation.

Sisi blamed Erdogan for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which took over Egypt from 2012-2013, and Erdogan blamed Sisi for ousting the Brotherhood from power.

But Turkey and Egypt have been gaining something new, particularly in recent months. Sisi is securing access to advanced military technology from Turkey without Western interference, while Erdogan has gained a partner to legitimize his maritime ambitions.

Moreover, the military cooperation between Cairo and Ankara has quickly evolved past superficial diplomacy into deep, structural integration. Their joint maneuvers over the past months showed what appeared to be an alarming level of operational alignment.

Turkey’s Anatolian Eagle aerial exercises integrated Egyptian pilots for training under simulated high-threat environments alongside Ankara’s assets. This was immediately followed by the Egyptian Golden Eagle special forces drills, which focused on command interoperability on multiple fronts.

According to some observers, these have not been routine bilateral military drills, but rather a process to synthesize the doctrines of two of the region’s most powerful militaries.

Cairo's concerns about Ankara may align with Israel's interests

Senior Israel Navy sources believe that, despite the two’s mended ties, Egypt’s concerns about Turkey gaining a maritime advantage work in Israel’s interests.

Sisi has strong sensitivities about ongoing issues relating to Libya and other areas in which Erdogan may have decidedly different interests.

The Post understands that, in these areas, Egypt could work together not just with Israel, but with Cyprus and Greece to counterbalance Turkey’s aggression.

In late June, Greece’s Navy Chief, Vice-Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras, visited Israel with Israel Navy Chief Vice-Admiral Eyal Harel. This meeting included the Shayetet 13 Navy SEALs, and the two sides deepened the joint mechanisms between their navies.

Some pessimists may view this alliance as a coalition of Israel, Cyprus, Greece, and a few European countries against Egypt and Turkey. However, regardless of the outcome between Egypt and Turkey, Israel still has its allies. 

Yonah Jeremy Bob

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-907170

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

House intel chief heads to 9/11 hallowed site to implore vigilance against drone, AI attacks - John Solomon

 

​ by John Solomon

"The danger is believing that the work is finished because it's far from finished," Rep, Rick Crawford, R-Ark., tells Just the News. "...we can't allow for a failure of imagination on our part. We need to exploit every weakness, gap, vulnerability that we can find for our own good before our adversaries do it for us."

 

Most of the House intelligence Committee's work happens behind closed doors in secure rooms designed to protect the nation's secrets in Washington, D.C. 

But Chairman Rick Crawford is taking the panel on a rare field trip in hopes of using the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to force Americans to think hard about how to stop the next major terror strike.

Crawford, R-Ark., told the Just the News, No Noise television show he is concerned the nation hasn't done enough to prevent future attacks driven by artificial intelligence, drone swarms, bioweapons or cyber hackers.

"What we need to be thinking about is the look forward," he said in a wide-ranging interview Friday night. "And this 25-year mark gives us the opportunity to recognize the solemnity of that day, but also the importance of what we've done in the intervening 25 years and what we need to do going forward."

Crawford plans to release a roadmap Monday on securing America from future threats during a field hearing in Shanksville, Pa., at the site where Flight 93 crashed to the ground 25 years ago when its passengers bravely commandeered the plane from terrorists so it could not crash into another building in the nation's capital.

"I think by and large the post-9/11 reforms worked, but the danger is believing that the work is finished because it's far from finished," he said. "And we have to constantly challenge ourselves because what we know is our adversaries don't organize themselves around our bureaucracies; they organize themselves around our vulnerabilities.

"So we have to find those vulnerabilities ourselves first before they do," he also said. "There was a constant theme in the 9/11 Commission report: a failure of imagination. So we can't allow for a failure of imagination on our part. We need to exploit every weakness, gap, vulnerability that we can find for our own good before our adversaries do it for us."

Crawford pointedly warned about specific emerging threats that could be commandeered by a nation state sponsor of terrorism or an asymmetric terror group like ISIS or al-Qaeda, specifically citing "the evolution of the battle space."

"We've seen that take place in Ukraine, you know most notably drone swarms. But AI is the enabling technology that's allowed them to be able to control multiple drones," he said. "It's not an overstatement to say they're swarms. They are absolutely swarms, and their ability to be employed in a tactical environment for various functions."

Crawford also warned about drones and AI being used for economic terrorism to disrupt industries like airlines.

"We are hearing about the deployment of drones in commercial airspace in Europe, large numbers of drones that are being designed to just sort of disrupt travel, agitate and be a sort of economic disrupter," he warned.

"So these drones can be deployed for various functions, and sometimes they can carry different payloads. They can target very effectively, and they're in many cases AI enabled," he continued. "And so what we're seeing is an on-the-fly adaptation by adversaries to be able to employ all manner of technology in ways that we didn't even think existed, and it didn't 25 years ago."

Crawford said it is essential that Americans in general and government agencies in specific spend time imagining how terrorists might envision attacking us and countering the threat before it unfolds. 

"What does another 9/11 look like? Is it a large scale kinetic strike like we saw on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon and Flight 93? Or is it a large-scale cyber penetration that attacks vulnerable critical infrastructure? Is it going to be going after the tech sector? Is it going to be some move to disable the defense industrial base? We don't know. 

"But what we do know is we have to be diligent in rooting out these threats ourselves, before our enemies and our adversaries exploit them," he said

Crawford also reacted to a report in Just the News that the USAID inspector general has now identified more than 100 United Nations (UN) relief workers who participated in the Oct, 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel. They wormed for the UN World Relief Agency.

"I think the president was absolutely right to say we're not going to support that (UNWRA). ... They're a problem. They have been anti-Israel. They've been supporting Hamas. They have been actively engaged, and I think it was the right decision to make to sever that relationship with that particular arm of the UN," he said.

"I think it really kind of, you know, brings more questions to bear about the value of the relationship with the UN in general for the amount of money that the United States invests in the UN and the accommodations that we provide diplomats from around the world, and the benefit that we receive for that investment," he said.

Crawford also said he was disappointed that the military judge presiding over the 2028 planned trial for 9-11 alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammaed has ruled his confession to the FBI was coerced and will be inadmissible at the trial.

"I think most of the world knows that he was the ringleader. So we'll just see what happens in court," he said. 

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/monhouse-intel-chief-heads-911-hallowed-site-implore-vigilance-against-drone-ai

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Domestic politics drive Britain’s proposed ban on settlement goods, UK chief rabbi says - JNS Staff

 

​ by JNS Staff

“I explained why I believe the UK Government’s intended sanctions will be counter-productive,” Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said.

 

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, seen when he was Labour Party leader, September 2010. Credit: Ed Miliband/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.

The United Kingdom’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said on Sunday he “welcomed” the opportunity to meet with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to express his opposition to the government’s plan to impose “robust” sanctions targeting Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

“While we share fervent hopes for a future of peace and security in the Middle East, I explained why I believe the U.K. government’s intended sanctions will be counter-productive and even endanger such a vision of peace,” Mirvis said in an X post.

“I told the Foreign Secretary that many within the U.K. Jewish community will view such measures with deep dismay, at a time when the vilification of Jews, Judaism and the Jewish State has already reached unprecedented levels,” the chief rabbi said.

The British government wants to impose sanction in connection with Israel’s planned development of the E1 area in Ma’aleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem.

On Aug. 18, Israel announced it would market the first 1,400 housing units of E1, a strategically significant area in Judea.

Mirvis said that the U.K.'s intended policy, which involves ending trade with Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, wouldn’t affect Israeli decision-making the way the government hopes, but instead risk doing harm. There is a “clear danger” that a boycott would “spiral into a de facto boycott of trade with Israel more broadly,” harm U.K.-Israel relations and harm the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinians.

Noting that E1 was always envisioned as remaining under Israeli sovereignty, it is “difficult to escape the painful conclusion that domestic political considerations are driving foreign policy, the impact of which is negative both for prospects for peace in the Middle East and for the U.K. Jewish community,” Mirvis concluded.

In response to the British government’s intention to impose a boycott, Israel is reportedly planning to evict British personnel from the U.S.-led International Gaza Support Center (previously known as the Civil-Military Coordination Center), the multinational hub overseeing post-war Gaza stabilization efforts.

The British embassy in Israel said this would undermine efforts to improve Gaza’s future. 

JNS Staff

Source: https://www.jns.org/news/world/domestic-politics-drive-britains-proposed-ban-on-settlement-goods-uk-chief-rabbi-says

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Shutdown-averting spending bill at top of 'to do' list as House comes back into session - Kevin Killough

 

​ by Kevin Killough

The government funding bill would postpone a possible shutdown from midnight Sept. 30 to Dec. 11, and it would extend the deadline to reauthorize lapsing surface transportation authorities.

 

The House will be back in session Monday, and Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping that a shutdown-averting spending bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk before lawmakers go back home. 

The item is the only must-pass legislation on the Capitol Hill agenda until later this year, Politico reported. 

The thin Republican majority has had difficulty opening the House floor for debate on many legislative priorities, and Republicans are eager to get back home ahead of the November midterms rather than deal with more problems in Washington. 

The government funding bill would postpone a possible shutdown from midnight Sept. 30 to Dec. 11, and it would extend the deadline to reauthorize lapsing surface transportation authorities. Republicans plan to get the bill to the floor Tuesday under a fast-track method requiring a two-thirds majority vote. 

The measure enjoys bipartisan support, which is expected to overcome Republican concerns about a provision to delay the start of an intoxicating help product ban, something the Senate inserted and the White House supports. 

The bill's bipartisan support is also likely to overcome GOP concerns about a Democrat-supported provision to temporarily hold up a Trump administration proposal to put political appointees in charge of federal grant proposals. 

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., told reporters earlier this month that he believes Congress can avoid any kind of shutdown, which is important ahead of the midterms. 

Members and aides speculate that House leaders will head home sooner than the currently scheduled Oct. 1 exit date. 

“So many people are having to run back and forth to campaign. I think we can get some other things done [beyond the spending stopgap], but the big bills will probably have to wait until after the election," Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., told reporters Thursday.  

Kevin Killough

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/congress/shutdown-averting-spending-bill-top-do-list-house-comes-back-session

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

How Oxford became a hub of anti-Israel radicalism - Canaan Lidor

 

​ by Canaan Lidor

Critics say anti-Jewish hostility, pro-Hamas rhetoric and foreign funding expose the university’s intellectual decline.

 

A banner at Oxford University in England reads “Welcome to the people’s university for Palestine” on May 7, 2024. Photo by Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images.

At a prestigious British university with millions of dollars in funding from Qatar, a London-born student leader who identifies as a Palestinian is under police investigation for allegedly celebrating Hamas publicly.

Two decades ago, this scenario would have seemed unlikely at Oxford University, a symbol of British intellectual authority. Now, the outgoing president of the Oxford Union, the world-famous debating society at Oxford University, Arwa Elrayess, is suspected of celebrating terrorism when she said that Hamas may be “lauded as heroes.”

This controversy at Oxford is the latest in a string of incidents that, to critics, indicate moral and academic decline not only in the institutions that make up that bucolic center of higher learning, but throughout British universities.

Amid foreign influences, U.K. campuses have become hubs of hatred of “Zionists”—a term of abuse that’s often applied to any Jews who don’t vocally condemn Israel.

In October, Oxford student Samuel Williams drew attention to this trend, and to the hate that accompanies it, when he was filmed ecstatically leading the chant “Gaza, Gaza, make us proud, put the Zios in the ground” at a London demonstration, saying it had been “workshopped in Oxford.”

Williams is facing racist incitement charges and has been suspended from Oxford’s Balliol College, but his behavior was part of rhetoric that’s consistently directed at Jews at Oxford, watchdog groups say.

Jewish academics and students submitted to Oxford’s vice chancellor a dossier containing over 70 allegations of antisemitism that occurred on campus in 2023-2024. The abuse caused one student, Madeline Bryant, to resign as a student leader after saying she was targeted for being Jewish.

Ben Ashworth, a student who had run for a leadership position within the Oxford Union, described the debating society as a “breeding ground for anti-Jewish hatred,” following a campaign against him during his run for president. Ashworth is not Jewish but was targeted for attending a fact-finding trip to Israel.

The Oxford Union is a student-led framework that’s not officially part of the colleges and institutions that make up the university, but its leaders are students and it is widely seen as emblematic of the university’s spirit. The forum has hosted addresses by Nelson Mandela, Ronald Reagan, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Albert Einstein, and debates featuring leading politicians and philosophers.

The Oxford Union has become “a microcosm of the apparent capture of institutions, even whole regions, in the U.K.,” prominent Jewish Oxford alumnus and broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti told JNS.

An Oxford University spokesperson told JNS that it “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, any language urging violence against groups of people or expressing any form of racial hatred.” The university has taken “a number of actions in recent months, in collaboration with Jewish students and staff, to strengthen our approach to tackling antisemitism and fostering an inclusive environment,” the spokesperson said. This included “issuing targeted communications to students highlighting the Inclusive Student Life platform,” and delivering “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion inductions for students.”

The Oxford Union did not reply by press time to queries sent by JNS requesting its reactions to the allegations made by critics.

Activists attempt to push over a security fence near the Oxford Union, in Oxford, western England, on June 17, 2026. Photo by Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images.

Sacerdoti was confronted with the shift at Oxford about two years before police began their investigation of Elrayess. She is suspected of violating British laws against glorifying terrorism in a 2025 WhatsApp chat involving dozens of participants. She has denied this, claiming her critics have misquoted her.

In 2024, Sacerdoti attended an Oxford Union debate titled “This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.” This was under Elrayess’s predecessor, Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, who was born in Egypt. The debate descended into disruptions, jeers and the ejection of a pro-Israel debater, and was a “low point” in its history, Sacerdoti said.

Gerald Steinberg, founder and president of NGO Monitor, a nonprofit that researches funding for anti-Israel activities, said, “The headline of the debate—during which many hecklers hurled insults in English and Arabic for minutes at Sacerdoti and another pro-Israel debater—signaled the Oxford Union’s “intellectual descent from serious debate to a kangaroo court with foregone conclusions.”

Steinberg had been invited to that debate but declined. The motion, defended at the debate by Norman Finkelstein and three other anti-Israel activists, passed by 278 votes to 59. One anti-Israel debater, Miko Peled, called the Hamas attacks “acts of heroism,” denied they constituted terrorism and advocated creation of a Palestinian state “from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.”

More than 300 academics signed an open letter addressed to William Hague, the newly elected Oxford chancellor, stating that the debate featured illegal glorification of terrorism.

Peled was not sanctioned at the debate. Pro-Israel debater Yoseph Haddad was ejected after displaying a shirt reading “Your terrorist is dead.” Some anti-Israel incitement was omitted from the video recording of the debate published by the Oxford Union, prompting allegations of an attempt to hide evidence.

“Not only institutions but local councils, mayoralties, whole regions—they appear to have been somehow captured by people of a singular outlook, ideologically or politically,” Sacerdoti said.

Einat Wilf, head of Israeli centrist political party Oz, who earned her Ph.D. at Cambridge, attended the latest Oxford Union debate on Israel in June, titled “This House Believes Israel Never Truly Wanted Peace with Palestine.” Wilf’s team lost, receiving about a third of the votes.

“Pretty early in the debate, I noticed something unexpected: Our opponents didn’t even bother to address the proposition and treated it as self-evident, and rushed to an action plan, namely dismantling Israel, that had nothing to do with the proposition being debated. They displayed a strikingly low level of debating skill,” she said of anti-Israel historian Ilan Pappé, journalists Sami Hamdi and David Hearst, and Palestinian activist Ghada Karmi.

These and other debates have chipped away at the reputation of the Oxford Union, Wilf said, as the university’s prestige also took hits for its politicization and the targeting of Jews on campus by some students.

Gavriella Epstein-Lightman, a Jewish first-year history student at Oxford, described, in a recent column in The Telegraph, the atmosphere on campus as “a conspicuous silence when it comes to calling out antisemitism. Outrage over prejudice on campus appears selective rather than principled. The double standard is increasingly difficult to ignore.”

When Tommy Robinson, the right-wing activist known for his criticism of Muslim immigration and his support of Israel, came to speak at Oxford, his arrival agitated robust opposition by students. But when the antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker was scheduled to speak, there was no such mobilization, she said.

 

BREAKING @FoxNews Digital: Hasan Piker just read aloud that the UK is denying him entry, rejecting his request for an “Electronic Travel Authorization.” Jewish groups advocated for him to be barred for his anti-semitism. The UK government didn’t respond to a request for comment. pic.twitter.com/QlMV6iX1d8

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) May 31, 2026

Piker has referred to ultra-Orthodox Jews as “inbred” and called a Jewish online viewer a “bloodthirsty violent pig dog,” Epstein-Lightman noted. Piker had also said: “It doesn’t matter if rape happened on Oct. 7.” He has argued that “Hamas is a thousand times better” than the Israeli state.

Piker was barred from entering the U.K. and was not able to appear in person. The Oxford Union arranged for him and Cenk Uygur, another anti-Israeli pundit, to participate remotely. Piker read the British notice aloud in a video posted on X, while Uygur wrote that he had been barred from the country.

At Oxford, the capture was sudden, according to Ronnie Fraser, a historian and former prominent activist in the fight against boycott of Israel in British academia.

Oxford was the setting of one of the earliest cases of an open boycott against Israelis in 2003, when a professor, Andrew Wilkie, informed an Israeli applicant that he wouldn’t be considered for a lab position due to his IDF service. Wilkie was suspended for two months without pay for violating the university’s anti-discrimination policy.

“One wonders whether that would happen today,” Fraser said.

In the wake of that affair, which was unusual at Oxford, the university did not emerge as a major hub of anti-Israel activity until after Oct. 7, 2023, when anti-Israel activists set up encampments on campus, Fraser said.

Sacerdoti and others interviewed for this article said it was unclear whether Oxford’s shift was linked to the fact that the university has received at least $9.8 million in Qatari state-linked donations since 2009, according to its public records.

Oxford’s funding from Middle Eastern states, including Qatar, whose media operations spread anti-Israel propaganda and which is a major financier of Hamas, increased a hundredfold from 2001 to 2014, according to a 2021 report by Professor John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter and three other researchers.

Britain’s limited disclosure requirements mean the complete sum is unknown, Steinberg told JNS. The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) is currently researching the issue of foreign funding for Oxford University-affiliated institutions, an ISGAP spokesperson said.

An Oxford University student, Ben Ashworth, told JNS he’s noticed the prominence of Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded satellite network, as the go-to news source. “Few people consuming Al Jazeera seem to know it’s funded by Qatar,” he said.

Oxford University’s records show a steep increase in the share of foreigners studying there. In 2000, they accounted for about 13% of attendees. Today, overseas students constitute more than 40% of a student body of about 26,000.

In 2025, some 3,000 of the foreigners were from China and India. About 1,000 were from Muslim-majority countries, according to Oxford University’s records.

Wilf said Israel’s allies need to keep showing up on campus and at debates despite their hostile atmosphere, because prestigious universities are “where the whole war is being waged by laundering libels through institutions of prestige.”

Then there’s the need to stand by Jewish students at those institutions, who “no longer have the option to remain neutral,” Wilf said. “If they find the courage to speak up when they inhabit such a hostile environment, then we can do the same as visitors.”

Canaan Lidor is an experienced journalist and international correspondent for JNS, covering Europe, Australia and global Jewish affairs.

Source: https://www.jns.org/analysis/how-oxford-became-a-hub-of-anti-israel-radicalism

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Australian documentary on cancel culture quashing Jewish artists is itself canceled - Etgar Lefkowits

 

​ by Etgar Lefkowits

The 88-minute documentary, which includes prominent Australian Jewish artists, was also nixed by both Australia’s national public broadcaster, ABC, and the country’s multicultural network SBS, both of which are taxpayer-funded.

 

An Australian documentary on how antisemitic cancel culture post-Oct. 7 has manifested itself in the world of art has itself been “canceled,” with the country’s major film festivals and its two public broadcasters refusing to screen the film, the documentary’s producer and director said on Sunday.

The film ‘Cancelled,’ which portrays the doxing of Jewish artists in Australia following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel three years ago, will premiere at the Jewish International Film Festival in Australia in September after the high-profile Sydney and Melbourne film festivals both rejected the movie.

The 88-minute documentary, which includes prominent Australian Jewish artists, was also nixed by both Australia’s national public broadcaster, ABC, and the country’s multicultural network SBS, both of which are taxpayer-funded. It will instead air on News24 Australia, formerly Sky News Australia, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. 

Etgar Lefkowits

Source: https://www.jns.org/live/breaking-news#000001a0-56a7-d5c1-a5fd-77bfc4140000

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Why Is the Trump Administration Determined to Arm Hostile Jihadist States That Will Outlast It? - Pierre Rehov

 

​ by Pierre Rehov

The real plan, as can be seen from Saudi Arabia's recent moves, seems to be to avoid joining the Abraham Accords, and instead position themselves in Gaza, right on the border of Israel, to be able to attack it after Trump leaves office.

 

• An institution built around one person, such as US President Donald J. Trump, carries the expiration date of that person's term in office. The states that join it do not.

• The real plan, as can be seen from Saudi Arabia's recent moves, seems to be to avoid joining the Abraham Accords, and instead position themselves in Gaza, right on the border of Israel, to be able to attack it after Trump leaves office. No one will have his determination to make sure that any agreements are enforced.

• Early on, Saudi Arabia came up with a "poison pill": the kingdom conditioned joining the Abraham Accords on the creation of a Palestinian state. Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has since reached an agreement with the US that reportedly allows Saudi Arabia to develop domestic uranium enrichment capabilities under safeguards that fall short of the stringent standards previously demanded by Washington, rather than importing nuclear fuel as other Gulf countries do. The uranium enrichment would, of course, be supposedly "for peaceful purposes." However, these enrichment centrifuges could also be used to make nuclear weapons -- the same kind Iran is not allowed to have.

• Secretary of Energy Chris Wright signed the nuclear framework before Trump, to his great credit, the next day presented his own "poison pill": first, Saudi Arabia would have to normalize its relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. This requirement seems to have been, revealingly, a dealbreaker.

• Instead, Saudi Arabia organized the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey, which has a vast military, and Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. Based on the Middle East's frequent schoolyard excuse that "it all started when he hit me back," the three countries could, for instance, provoke or attack on Israel, then when Israel responds for its own self-defense, claim that all three of them had been attacked and "forced" to retaliate: Turkey with its conventional military, Pakistan with a nuclear weapon, and Saudi Arabia by financing the expedition.

• [T]he most senior levels of the Israeli security establishment that concluded that Turkey is still financing Hamas. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan holds a seat on the Gaza Executive Board, the body charged with implementing the disarmament of Hamas.

• When the White House named the executive board for the Board of Peace in January, its members included Fidan, senior Qatari official Ali Al-Thawadi and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated publicly that the composition had never been coordinated with Israel and ran contrary to its policy.

• The Board of Peace itself, 28 countries operating under UN Security Council Resolution 2803, released an interim report to the UNSC that identified Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States as the four mediating states. The 15-point roadmap that now governs Hamas's disarmament was drafted by those four "guarantors"... What, though, will they actually be guaranteeing?

• A former senior Shin Bet officer with three decades in the service has argued that the parties actually driving developments inside the board are Qatar and Turkey, assisted by Egypt. The arrangement amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood supervising the supposed disarming of its own Palestinian branch, Hamas.

• Turkey has been strengthening its hold on Syria and positioning its military there, potentially for a pincer attack on Israel: from Syria on Israel's east and Gaza on Israel's west.

• Senior Israeli officials trace the Iranian money reaching Hamas and Hezbollah along a route running through Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's implicit permission.

• Money often settles what communiqués leave open. Eight governments -- among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco -- signed the founding donors' declaration behind roughly $17 billion in reconstruction pledges... Whoever pays the contractors, the suppliers and eventually the policemen, will decide who governs the streets they patrol.

• The political alignment already exists on paper. On August 3, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey published a declaration in their capacity as mediating countries, condemning Israeli operations in Gaza and calling on the international community to compel Israel to stop.

• Trump's term of office ends in January 2029. He personally chairs the Board of Peace and will pass on that position to whoever succeeds him. Every month of delay moves the supposed complete disarmament of Hamas closer to Trump's successor, and to the states that will still be seated at the table when he or she arrives.

• [T]he US State Department informed Congress that Turkey has not met the statutory conditions... which require Ankara to give up its Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missiles. Although Turkey tested the S-400 following its delivery and has not returned it to Russia, the Turkish government claims that the system is in storage — presumably until it is taken out of storage.

• Erdogan has made no secret of his intentions regarding Israel, as well as Syria, Cyprus and Greece. As recently as March 30, 2025, he stated, "May Allah, for the sake of his name ... destroy and devastate Zionist Israel" He also reportedly prayed for "mercy upon the martyrs" of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a "speedy recovery" for their wounded terrorists. Previously, Erdogan stated, "Jerusalem is our city," and "Patience brings victory," and that "We are determined to not give up on our rights on Jerusalem." This is the country to which Trump wants to supply stealth fighter jets?

• The Saudi nuclear file runs on an identical clock. The draft nuclear cooperation agreement reported to Congress does not contain a Saudi commitment to forgo enrichment and reprocessing, a commitment Washington spent two decades calling the gold standard for nuclear nonproliferation. The Agreement refers instead to additional "safeguards" in the most sensitive areas of cooperation, which is diplomatic phrasing for enrichment centrifuges on Saudi soil.

• Even if the S-400 batteries have been shipped off from Turkey to another country, and Hamas offices in Istanbul are shuttered and independently verified as closed, no F-35 stealth fighter jets should be supplied to Turkey. After all, the S-400 missile batteries could always find their way back.

• In addition, no uranium enrichment centrifuges should be allowed in Saudi Arabia, even if a binding Saudi renunciation of enrichment and reprocessing were written into the operative text, not a side letter. As we have seen with Iran, no one but Trump can be counted on to enforce international commitments.

• Not one dollar for Gaza reconstruction should be disbursed through channels controlled by governments that Israel has identified as financing Hamas, the organization the money is meant to displace.

• What Turkey and Saudi Arabia want from Washington is hardware, and those F-35s will still be flying and those centrifuges will still be spinning, long after the people that vouched for them have left office.

An institution built around one person, such as US President Donald J. Trump, carries the expiration date of that person's term in office. The states that join it do not. Nothing better explains the conduct of Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the past eight months — and nothing in current American policy appears to be taking the countless danger signals from them seriously. Pictured: Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman shakes hands with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, on June 22, 2022. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)

An institution built around one person, such as US President Donald J. Trump, carries the expiration date of that person's term in office. The states that join it do not.

Nothing better explains the conduct of Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the past eight months — and nothing in current American policy appears to be taking the countless danger signals from them seriously.

The real plan, as can be seen from Saudi Arabia's recent moves, seems to be to avoid joining the Abraham Accords, and instead position themselves in Gaza, right on the border of Israel, to be able to attack it after Trump leaves office. No one will have his determination to make sure that any agreements are enforced.

Early on, Saudi Arabia came up with a "poison pill": the kingdom conditioned joining the Abraham Accords on the creation of a Palestinian state. Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has since reached an agreement with the US that reportedly allows Saudi Arabia to develop domestic uranium enrichment capabilities under safeguards that fall short of the stringent standards previously demanded by Washington, rather than importing nuclear fuel as other Gulf countries do. The uranium enrichment would, of course, be supposedly "for peaceful purposes." However, these enrichment centrifuges could also be used to make nuclear weapons -- the same kind Iran is not allowed to have.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright signed the nuclear framework before Trump, to his great credit, the next day presented his own "poison pill": first, Saudi Arabia would have to normalize its relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. This requirement seems to have been, revealingly, a dealbreaker.

Instead, Saudi Arabia organized the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Turkey, which has a vast military, and Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. Based on the Middle East's frequent schoolyard excuse that "it all started when he hit me back," the three countries could, for instance, provoke or attack on Israel, then when Israel responds for its own self-defense, claim that all three of them had been attacked and "forced" to retaliate: Turkey with its conventional military, Pakistan with a nuclear weapon, and Saudi Arabia by financing the expedition.

On August 17 in Jerusalem, Shin Bet director David Zini and military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder briefed Jared Kushner and a Board of Peace delegation on conditions inside Gaza and on Hamas's reconstruction of its military capabilities. Their presentation included an assessment from the most senior levels of the Israeli security establishment that concluded that Turkey is still financing Hamas. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan holds a seat on the Gaza Executive Board, the body charged with implementing the disarmament of Hamas. Both facts sat in the same room on the same afternoon and produced no visible consequence.

When the White House named the executive board for the Board of Peace in January, its members included Fidan, senior Qatari official Ali Al-Thawadi and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated publicly that the composition had never been coordinated with Israel and ran contrary to its policy. The Board of Peace itself, 28 countries operating under UN Security Council Resolution 2803, released an interim report to the UNSC that identified Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States as the four mediating states. The 15-point roadmap that now governs Hamas's disarmament was drafted by those four "guarantors," together with High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov. What, though, will they actually be guaranteeing?

Israelis who have spent careers on this file do not treat the result as an accident. A former senior Shin Bet officer with three decades in the service has argued that the parties actually driving developments inside the board are Qatar and Turkey, assisted by Egypt. The arrangement amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood supervising the supposed disarming of its own Palestinian branch, Hamas.

The Board describes itself as an objective mechanism. Its operational majority consists of governments historically hostile to Israel, which have spent two decades keeping the Hamas solvent and trying to lend it political respectability.

Turkey has been strengthening its hold on Syria and positioning its military there, potentially for a pincer attack on Israel: from Syria on Israel's east and Gaza on Israel's west. On August 18, Israeli aircraft struck an airbase near Aleppo to stop a Turkish military deployment against which Jerusalem had warned Damascus for weeks.

At its inaugural summit in February, the Board of Peace denied Turkey a place in the International Stabilization Force, instead awarding troop slots to Albania, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Morocco, and giving Egypt and Jordan stewardship of police reconstruction. That arrangement left Turkey with logistics.

Hamas nevertheless keeps offices and personnel on Turkish soil, where it recruits, raises money and plans terror attacks. Senior Israeli officials trace the Iranian money reaching Hamas and Hezbollah along a route running through Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's implicit permission.

Money often settles what communiqués leave open. Eight governments -- among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco -- signed the founding donors' declaration behind roughly $17 billion in reconstruction pledges, against a World Bank estimate of $71.4 billion over a decade. A senior Board of Peace official, describing the three-year mechanism capped at $400 million for debts inherited from Hamas rule, said the outside money would come from regional partners rather than from Washington. Whoever pays the contractors, the suppliers and eventually the policemen, will decide who governs the streets they patrol.

The political alignment already exists on paper. On August 3, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey published a declaration in their capacity as mediating countries, condemning Israeli operations in Gaza and calling on the international community to compel Israel to stop.

Thirteen days later, a joint statement signed by Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia accused Israel of disrupting peace efforts and urged the Board of Peace to take concrete measures against any party obstructing implementation. The guarantors have a shared position on how this war ends, and it has nothing to do with security for Israel, to say the least.

The resource they are actually managing is time.

Kushner left the Jerusalem meeting predicting that weapons from Hamas could begin coming out of Gaza within 30 days and that tunnels might be filled within 60-90 days.

Seven months after the ceasefire took effect, the International Stabilization Force has still not deployed, and the Palestinian "technocratic" committee built to administer Gaza cannot physically enter it. Trump's term of office ends in January 2029. He personally chairs the Board of Peace and will pass on that position to whoever succeeds him. Every month of delay moves the supposed complete disarmament of Hamas closer to Trump's successor, and to the states that will still be seated at the table when he or she arrives.

Two decisions now before Washington would outlast the arrangement entirely. Standing beside Erdogan in Ankara on July 7, Trump signaled willingness to for sell US F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey. Erdogan told reporters he had been promised five aircraft, a claim Trump neither denied nor corrected.

Two weeks later, the US State Department informed Congress that Turkey has not met the statutory conditions set by Section 231 of CAATSA and Section 1245 of the 2020 defense Authorization Act, which require Ankara to give up its Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missiles. Although Turkey tested the S-400 following its delivery and has not returned it to Russia, the Turkish government claims that the system is in storage — presumably until it is taken out of storage.

While praising Turkey as a founding member of the Board of Peace, the State Department also voiced concern about the relationship with Hamas.

Erdogan has made no secret of his intentions regarding Israel, as well as Syria, Cyprus and Greece. As recently as March 30, 2025, he stated, "May Allah, for the sake of his name ... destroy and devastate Zionist Israel" He also reportedly prayed for "mercy upon the martyrs" of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a "speedy recovery" for their wounded terrorists. Previously, Erdogan stated, "Jerusalem is our city," and "Patience brings victory," and that "We are determined to not give up on our rights on Jerusalem." This is the country to which Trump wants to supply stealth fighter jets?

The Saudi nuclear file runs on an identical clock. The draft nuclear cooperation agreement reported to Congress does not contain a Saudi commitment to forgo enrichment and reprocessing, a commitment Washington spent two decades calling the gold standard for nuclear nonproliferation. The Agreement refers instead to additional "safeguards" in the most sensitive areas of cooperation, which is diplomatic phrasing for enrichment centrifuges on Saudi soil. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said for years that the kingdom would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran obtained one.

Once submitted, the US-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement takes effect unless both chambers of the US Congress adopt resolutions of disapproval within 90 days.

Congress is the only American institution whose calendar runs longer than a presidency, and the remedies to the current administration arming terrorist-supporting, jihadist, long-term enemies of Israel are unglamorous but effective.

Even if the S-400 batteries have been shipped off from Turkey to another country, and Hamas offices in Istanbul are shuttered and independently verified as closed, no F-35 stealth fighter jets should be supplied to Turkey. After all, the S-400 missile batteries could always find their way back.

In addition, no uranium enrichment centrifuges should be allowed in Saudi Arabia, even if a binding Saudi renunciation of enrichment and reprocessing were written into the operative text, not a side letter. As we have seen with Iran, no one but Trump can be counted on to enforce international commitments.

Not one dollar for Gaza reconstruction should be disbursed through channels controlled by governments that Israel has identified as financing Hamas, the organization the money is meant to displace.

The Board of Peace was created by an executive decision and can be undone by one. What Turkey and Saudi Arabia want from Washington is hardware, and those F-35s will still be flying and those centrifuges will still be spinning, long after the people that vouched for them have left office.

Pierre Rehov, who holds a law degree from Paris-Assas, is a French reporter, novelist and documentary filmmaker. He is the author of six novels, including "Beyond Red Lines", "The Third Testament" and "Red Eden", translated from French. His latest essay on the aftermath of the October 7 massacre " 7 octobre - La riposte " became a bestseller in France. As a filmmaker, he has produced and directed 17 documentaries, many photographed at high risk in Middle Eastern war zones, and focusing on terrorism, media bias, and the persecution of Christians. His latest documentary, "Pogrom(s)" highlights the context of ancient Jew hatred within Muslim civilization as the main force behind the October 7 massacre.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22814/trump-administration-determined-to-arm-hostile-jihadist-states

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter