JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER.
1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
WAR WITH IRAN - DAY 60 APR 28,26 - MOSSAD CHIEF SAYS AGENCY'S OPERATIONS PENETRATED CORE OF IRAN, LEBANON SECRETS.
THE
NEXT US-ISRAEL HIT ON IRAN SHOULD BE VERSE 37. ALL OFFENSIVE NUKE SITES
MISSLES,DRONES,AND OF COURSE KHEMENI AND THE IRGC GUARDS.THEN AFTER
IRANS REGIME CHANGE. MUSLIMS COME TO JESUS BY THE MILLIONS.
JEREMEIAH 49:32-39 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITES AND ALL OFENSIVE WEAPONS DESTROYED IN IRAN)
Jeremiah 49:32-39
32
Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a
spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of
their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of
them, says Yahweh.
33 Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a
desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of
man sojourn therein.(Location & Size: It was strategically located
along the Via Maris (Way of the Sea), a major trade route connecting
Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia.)
34 The word of Yahweh that came to
Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(IRAN) in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says Yahweh of
Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS)
the chief of their might.(MISSLES AND NUKE SITES)
36 On Elam (IRAN)
will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will
scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where
the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(SINCE 1979 IRANIANS HAVE GOTTIN OUT
OF IRAN BECAUSE OF KHEMENI AND HIS APOCOPOLIPTIC DEATH CULT
BELIEF-BLACK HATER 12ERS)
37 I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed
before their enemies, and before those who seek their life;(ISRAEL THE
LITTLE SATAN AND THE U.S THE BIG SATAN) and I will bring evil on them,
(MISSLES) even my fierce anger,(FIRE) says Yahweh; and I will send the
sword after them,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) until I have consumed them;
(DESTROYED THEM ALL NUKE SITES,MISSLES ETC)
38 and I will set my
throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION) and will destroy
from there king (KHEMENI, ISLAM) and princes, says Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY
GUARDS)
39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring
back the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) says Yahweh.(WERE IN THE LATTER DAYS
NOW)
WHEN ARE THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL IN THE SPRING TIME.(GET READY ISLAM TO BE BIRD SEED FOR THESE BIRDS)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m0bXU5Xqc5M
The
500 million migratory birds in Israel during the spring arrive from
Africa and head toward Europe and Asia, with the peak migration
occurring in March and April. While migration starts in late February,
the most intense movements, particularly of birds of prey, storks, and
pelicans, occur during the third week of March and continue into April.
Key Details on the Spring Migration
Peak Period: Mid-March through April.
Main
Migration Route: The birds use the Great Rift Valley, which includes
the Hula Valley and Eilat, acting as a "bottleneck" where millions of
birds fly through the narrow land bridge.
Best Spots: The Hula Lake
Park (Northern Israel) and the Eilat Birding Center (Southern Israel)
are primary locations for observing the migration.
Key Species:
Hundreds of thousands of white storks, along with black kites, raptors,
and pelicans, pass through over these months.
uration: The spring migration runs from late February and continues into June, though the heaviest traffic is in March/April.
The
500 million migratory birds fly over Israel in the fall between late
August and mid-December. The peak migration period for the autumn, when
the highest volume of bird traffic occurs, is typically October and
November.
Key Fall Migration Details
Location: The Hula Valley (Agamon Hula Park) in northern Israel is the premier spot to witness this phenomenon.
Timing: Migration starts as early as late June with some waders, but intensifies from mid-August through November.
Peak Festival: The "Annual Hula Valley Bird Festival" is usually held in November to align with the peak migration traffic.
Key
Species: Many birds of prey (raptors), including honey buzzards and
steppe eagles, cross during this time, along with massive flocks of
storks and cranes.
While roughly 500 million birds pass through in
the autumn on their way to Africa, the same number crosses again in the
spring (mid-February to May) on their way back to Europe and Asia.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23
Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they
have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the
sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24
Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath
seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in
travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I
will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it
shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN
DAMASCUS)
White House said likely to make counterproposal-Trump
reportedly unhappy with Iran’s proposal to reopen Hormuz but shelve
nuclear issue-Vance said to express concern war depleting US arms
stockpiles; Iran reportedly resorting to ‘junk storage’ for oil amid US
blockade on exports, will soon run out of space for crude By Reuters and
ToI Staff Today, 11:47 am-APR 28,26
US President Donald Trump is
unhappy with Iran’s latest ceasefire proposal because it doesn’t
address the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, said a US official
briefed on Trump’s Monday meeting with advisers.According to unnamed US
officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, Trump did not reject Iran’s
proposal outright during the meeting, but suggested Tehran was
negotiating in bad faith and was unable to commit to halting its uranium
enrichment and never seeking a nuclear arms.The officials said the
White House would likely make a counterproposal in the coming days.White
House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in response to the reports that the
US “will not negotiate through the press” and has “been clear about our
red lines,” while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Monday
interview that Iran’s proposal was unacceptable.Rubio’s statement came
after Axios reported that Iran had proposed an agreement on reopening
the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war, while delaying negotiations on
Tehran’s nuclear program for a later stage.In a separate report, the
Wall Street Journal said Iran was seeking to avoid a costly oil
production shutdown, and has resorted to delivering barrels of crude by
rail or holding them in “junk storage” sites because its oil shipping
has cratered since the US imposed a blockade on it on April 13.At least
six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the
US blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data showed, underscoring the
war’s impact on traffic.Meanwhile, Iran’s oil inventories have grown
more than tenfold, from 4.6 million barrels before the war to some 49
million, out of a maximum capacity of 95 million, the Wall Street
Journal said, citing the Kpler energy data firm.Analysts cited by the
Journal said Iran could run out of space to store crude in less than two
weeks.The US imposed its blockade five days into a truce that had been
conditioned on Tehran lifting its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian blockade effectively choked off the waterway, which normally
carries some 20 percent of the world’s energy shipments.Iran’s blockade
began soon after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28 in a
bid to destabilize Iran’s regime and destroy its ballistic missile and
nuclear programs.The war has caused a sharp rise in energy prices
worldwide and intensified the rift among Trump’s supporters, many of
whom are leery of US intervention abroad.US Vice President JD Vance, an
erstwhile critic of American adventurism overseas, has in private
expressed concern that the war was depleting US weapons stockpiles as
well as skepticism of the rosy picture that the Pentagon has given Trump
of the war in Iran, The Atlantic reported Monday, citing unnamed
administration officials and advisers to Vance.Hopes of reviving peace
efforts have receded since Trump on Saturday scrapped a visit by his
special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to mediator
Pakistan, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shuttled in and
out twice during the weekend.Senior Iranian officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told Reuters Araghchi presented a proposal in
Islamabad that envisioned talks in stages, with the nuclear issue to be
set aside at the start.A first step would require ending the war and
providing guarantees that the fighting could not start up again. Then
negotiators would resolve the US naval blockade and the fate of the
Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control. Only then
would talks look at other issues, including Iran’s uranium enrichment,
which Iran demands to continue and the US seeks to end.Though Iran,
whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, denies seeking nuclear arms,
it has enriched uranium to levels with no peaceful application and
obstructed international oversight of nuclear facilities. Washington has
said nuclear issues must be dealt with from the outset.The path forward
for negotiations remains unclear. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi signaled on Monday that Iran was not desperate for talks.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Iran was “humiliating”
the US in the drama surrounding the talks.
'Sometimes we think
it’s safe, then suddenly it’s not'20,000 seafarers stranded in Persian
Gulf as Strait of Hormuz stays shut despite ceasefire-Mariners, mostly
from India, endure fear and insolation amid missile blasts and food
shortages as they remain trapped at sea since the Iran war began two
months ago By AP Today, 8:23 am-APR 28,26
For about eight weeks,
Indian Capt. Rahul Dhar and his crew have been stranded on their tanker
in the Persian Gulf, sometimes watching drones and missiles explode as
the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut while the Iran war
dragged on.The crew’s morale, he said, is holding as they carry on with
their routines, but the strain is beginning to show.A shaky ceasefire
between the US and Iran on April 7 has brought “a careful sense of hope”
for the crew, but there is still no clear end to the war. “Day to day,
we try to keep things normal with open conversations and small team
activities that help lift everyone’s spirits.”The crew sighted drones
and missile interceptions several times, both near the ship and along
the horizon during their watches. “Those moments were difficult and
created real tension for the crew,” Dhar told The Associated Press.“None
of us expected the warlike situation,” he said, noting that reliable
internet has helped them stay in touch with families. “Those calls and
messages really keep us grounded and give us strength.”Unable to
cross-Around 20,000 seafarers on hundreds of vessels, including oil and
gas tankers and cargo ships, have been stuck in the Gulf, unable to
cross the Strait of Hormuz.Normally about a fifth of the world’s oil and
liquefied natural gas transits the waterway.Roughly 80 vessels passed
through the strait in the week of April 13-19, according to the maritime
data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, compared to approximately 130 or
more transits per day before the war.Dozens of ships have come under
attack since the war started, and the UN says at least 10 seafarers were
killed.Even as US President Donald Trump last week extended the
ceasefire indefinitely, the US kept the blockade of Iranian ports. In
response, Iran fired on ships in the strait and seized two.“Seafarers
are the backbone of global trade, yet we are often the most affected by
regional geopolitical conflicts,” said Capt. ArunKumar Rajendran, who
also has been stranded with his tanker crew for around eight weeks.Some
‘watched blasts from decks’Manoj Kumar Yadav of the Forward Seamen’s
Union of India said thousands of Indian sailors were aboard the stranded
vessels, enduring days of fear and isolation as ships lay anchored near
Iranian ports such as Bandar Abbas and Khorramshahr. Explosions
sometimes occurred just a few hundred meters (yards) away.“They were
watching blasts from their decks,” he said, adding that his union has
been fielding daily distress calls from crews and their families. “Many
of them were on board a ship for the first time, and you can imagine
what mental state they have gone through.”India, one of the world’s
largest suppliers of maritime labor, has more than 20,000 nationals
working on foreign-flagged ships in the region, many of them beyond the
reach of coordinated evacuation efforts. India’s shipping ministry said
last week that at least 2,680 sailors had been evacuated since the
conflict began.Yadav said many sailors reported acute shortages of food
and drinking water, with some vessels were forced to ration supplies.
Communication with families in India was sporadic due to internet
disruptions and signal jamming. When contact was possible, sailors often
paid high roaming charges for just a few minutes of conversation, he
said.Sailors’ families are growing increasingly anxious, demanding the
safe return of their loved ones.Mohamed Arrachedi, the International
Transport Workers’ Federation’s network coordinator for the Middle East,
said earlier this month it had received hundreds of requests for
assistance, including for food, from seafarers.Facing drones and
uncertainty-Stranded off Oman for more than a month, Reza Muhammad
Saleh, an Indonesian chief officer aboard a Greek-owned cargo ship, said
a drone exploded near the port shortly after they arrived March 3. At
least two more incidents followed, forcing repeated evacuations of the
crew to bunkers, he said. No one was harmed.“The biggest problem is the
uncertainty. We don’t know when Hormuz will be open again,” Saleh told
the AP.The vessel with 24 crew members from Indonesia, Arab countries,
India and Ethiopia typically transports iron ore across Gulf states,
transiting Hormuz once or twice a month. It now requires written
clearance from Iran. “No company wants to take the risk without it,” he
said.Though experienced in conflict zones, the crew has been rattled by
missile strikes and GPS disruptions that forced it to use manual
navigation, he said.“Sometimes we think it’s safe, then suddenly it’s
not. Today we’re safe. Tomorrow, nobody knows,” he said.Fleet Management
Limited usually communicates multiple times a day with dozens of
stranded ships that are staffed by more than 400 seafarers, its CEO
Capt. Rajalingam Subramaniam said.Stock checks are regularly maintained
for food supply, and pickups have been arranged to ensure availability
by moving vessels to the nearest points where they can pick up fresh and
dry provisions, he said.Some crew changes were still happening, but in
limited numbers. “Who wants to go on the ship?” Subramaniam said. “The
inbound crew has the right to refuse and we respect (that).”Most of the
stranded mariners have been in the Gulf since the war began. “(For)
mariners who did not sign up to be in warlike area, they also (need) to
be respected so that they do not become the unintended collateral,” he
said.Among the vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz during
the ceasefire, several were fired upon and others turned back. Vessels
managed by Fleet Management did not attempt to cross, Subramaniam
said.Germany’s largest shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, has had around 150
sailors stranded near the strait, on six vessels. “These are difficult
days and weeks,” Hapag Lloyd spokesman Nils Haupt told the AP earlier
this month. He said Hapag-Lloyd was in contact with the captains and
crews at least once a day.“We’ve been able to rotate some of them (crew)
in the meantime, but you can easily imagine that after such a long
time, monotony naturally sets in on board,” he said.Shortages of global
seafarers to worsen-The International Maritime Organization, the UN’s
shipping agency, and others have called for a safe corridor for
commercial vessels in the strait. Most ships are still unable to pass
through, even though Iran had said the strait was open to vessels it
perceived as non-hostile and demanded to collect tolls for passage.Iran
was said to have placed mines in the waterway, and Trump said last week
that the US was clearing Iranian mines and would “shoot and kill” boats
laying mines in the area. Under heightened risks of mines and attacks on
ships, “there is no safe transit anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz,”
said IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez.Multiple crises in recent
years have left many seafarers stranded at sea. That includes the
COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and attacks by Yemen’s
Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea.Subramaniam said he worries that
even after the Iran war ends, fewer people will be willing to sign up at
a time when there is already a shortage of skilled seafarers.
Iran
envoy hits back: US is only country to ever use nukes-Iran among dozens
selected for vice presidency posts at UN non-proliferation confab-US
envoy tells conference that Tehran’s selection an ‘affront’ to the NPT
given that the Islamic Republic has ‘long demonstrated its contempt for
non-proliferation commitments’By David Brunnstrom Today, 5:12 am-APR
28,26
REUTERS — The United States and Iran clashed at the United
Nations on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and the latter’s
selection to be one of dozens of vice presidents at a month-long
conference to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.The 11th
conference to review implementation of the NPT, which came into force in
1970, began on Monday at the United Nations in New York. Different
groups nominated 34 conference vice presidents, and the conference
chair, Vietnam’s UN ambassador Do Hung Viet, said Iran was picked by
“the group of non-aligned and other states.”Christopher Yeaw, assistant
secretary for the US Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, told
the conference that Iran’s selection was an “affront” to the NPT.He said
it was “indisputable that Iran has long demonstrated its contempt for
the non-proliferation commitments of the NPT,” and had refused to
cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog to resolve questions about its
program.He called Iran’s selection “beyond shameful and an embarrassment
to the credibility of this conference.”Reza Najafi, who serves as
Tehran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, rejected
the US statement as “baseless and politically motivated.”“It is
indefensible that the United States, as the only state ever to have used
nuclear weapons, and the one that continues to expand and modernize its
nuclear arsenal… seeks to position itself as an arbitrator of
compliance,” he told the meeting.The nuclear issue has been at the heart
of the two-month war between Iran and the United States and Israel,
with US President Donald Trump reiterating on Sunday that Iran can never
have a nuclear weapon.Iran has long demanded Washington acknowledge its
right to enrich uranium, which Tehran says it only seeks for peaceful
purposes, but which Western powers say could be used to make nuclear
weapons.Iran has insisted it does not seek nuclear weapons. But the IAEA
and the US intelligence community separately assessed that Tehran had a
nuclear weapons development program that it shuttered in 2003.On
Monday, Iranian sources disclosed Tehran’s latest proposal to end the
conflict, which would set aside discussion of Tehran’s nuclear program
until the war is ended and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are
resolved.Trump and his top national security aides met to discuss the
conflict on Monday and White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told
reporters “the president’s red lines with respect to Iran have been made
very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as
well.”
White House: Trump has discussed new Iran proposal with
aides-Rubio rejects new Iranian proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz,
with future of talks in limbo-Iran’s plan is ‘We’ll blow you up and you
pay us,’ says top US diplomat; tanker traffic muted in strait, which
Iran says it controls; Germany’s Merz: Iran ‘humiliating’ US in talks By
Agencies, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid-27 April 2026, 8:36 pm
US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that a reported recent offer
from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not
acceptable to the United States or other countries.Speaking in an
interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the
strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world does: “What they
mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as
you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up, and
you pay us.”“That’s not opening the straits,” the top US diplomat said.
“Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we
tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide
who gets to use them.”Rubio’s statement came after Axios reported that
Iran had proposed an agreement on reopening the strait and ending the
war, while delaying negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program for a later
stage.Later Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told
reporters that Trump had discussed a new proposal from Iran with top
national security aides, while also indicating that Washington was not
fully satisfied with what Tehran was offering.“I wouldn’t say they were
considering it,” Leavitt adds, regarding an Iranian suggestion to reopen
the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending the US blockade. “I would
say there’s a discussion.”Separately, Iran insisted it was still in
control of the strait, a key pathway for the global oil
supply.Negotiations between the sides were meant to take place in
Pakistan last week, during an ongoing ceasefire in the US-Israeli war
with Iran, but the talks did not come together. According to Axios,
Iran’s attempt to kickstart negotiations again by solving the issues
centered on the Strait of Hormuz was conveyed to the US by Pakistani
mediators.US President Donald Trump was expected to discuss the Iranian
proposal and other issues held up in the stalled negotiations during a
Situation Room meeting with national security and foreign policy teams
on Monday, the report added.The path forward for negotiations remains
unclear. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled on Monday that
Iran was not desperate for talks. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said
Monday that Iran was “humiliating” the US in the drama surrounding the
talks.Araghchi says Trump pushing for talks, Iran ‘stable’Hopes of
reviving peace efforts have receded since Saturday, when Trump scrapped a
visit by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, the
Pakistani capital.Araghchi traveled to Russia on Monday. In Saint
Petersburg, he said that Tehran is looking into Trump’s request for
negotiations, according to a post on his Telegram account.He told
reporters that Trump requested negotiations because the US has not
achieved any of its objectives in the war, and said that the Islamic
Republic is “stable, solid” during a meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, according to Russian state TV.Due to the war with the
United States and Israel, “the world has now realized Iran’s true
power,” he claimed, and “it has become clear that the Islamic Republic
of Iran is a stable, solid, and powerful system.”“For our part, we will
do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the
peoples of the region to ensure that peace is achieved as quickly as
possible,” Putin told Araghchi, according to Russian state media.“Last
week, I received a message from Iran’s supreme leader. I would like to
ask you to convey my most sincere thanks for this and to confirm that
Russia, like Iran, intends to continue our strategic relationship,”
Putin added in a reference to Iran’s new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who
has not been seen or heard publicly since being appointed last
month.Germany’s Merz says Iran ‘humiliating’ US in talks-Meanwhile,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Iran’s leadership
was humiliating the US during the negotiations by getting American
officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an
unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict.Merz also said he did not see
what exit strategy the US was pursuing in the Iran war, comments that
underlined deep divisions between Washington and its European NATO
allies, which had already been festering over the Ukraine war and other
issues.“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or
rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel
to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,” he said during a
talk to students in the town of Marsberg.“An entire nation is being
humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called
Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as
possible,” he added at the venue in the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia.Trump has harshly criticized NATO allies for not
sending their navies to help open the Strait of Hormuz during the
conflict.Merz said it was evident the Strait of Hormuz had been at least
partially mined. “We have offered, also as Europeans, to send German
minesweepers to clear the strait, which has obviously been mined in
part,” he said.He said the conflict was costing Germany “a lot of money,
a lot of taxpayers’ money and a lot of economic strength.”Merz
reiterated that Germans and Europeans were not consulted before the US
and Israel started attacking Iran in late February, and that he had
conveyed his skepticism directly to Trump afterwards.“If I had known
that it would continue like this for five or six weeks and get
progressively worse, I would have told him even more emphatically,” Merz
said, comparing the conflict to previous US wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.Iran’s military insists it is still in control of
Hormuz-Maritime traffic in the strait remained muted Monday, as Iran’s
military asserted that it still controls the waterway, and would remain
in control under a new law proposed in Tehran’s parliament.Despite the
ongoing US blockade, top Iranian security official Ebrahim Azizi
asserted Monday that the country’s armed forces are in control of the
strait and are seeking to prohibit the passage of “hostile
vessels.”Azizi, the head of the national security commission in Iran’s
parliament, said that a new law awaiting approval in parliament would
ensure that the military remains the authority responsible for the key
waterway after the war ends.He also said that the proposed law states
that financial gains from the strait would be paid in the local rial
currency. Azizi did not offer more details on the proposed law or when
it is expected to be voted on in parliament.Meanwhile, shipping data on
Monday showed that only some seven ships crossed the strait over the
previous day.The ships, mainly dry bulk vessels, included several
leaving from Iraqi ports and one from an Iranian port, according to ship
tracking data from Kpler and separate satellite analysis from data
analytics specialists SynMax.Shipping traffic passing through the
crucial waterway represents a fraction of the average 140 daily
passages before the Iran war began on February 28. US Central Command
has redirected 37 vessels since a US blockade of Iranian ports was
imposed, the military said on Saturday.Six Iranian tankers returned to
Iranian ports and sailed back through Hormuz in recent days with some
10.5 million barrels of oil, according to satellite analysis from
TankerTrackers.com. Around four million barrels of Iranian oil onboard
tankers sailed through the US blockade on Friday, according to separate
satellite analysis from the tracking site.Oil prices stay high-Amid the
stalled talks, oil prices again rose on Monday, with international oil
benchmarks up around two percent, to a two-week high, and staying above
$100 a barrel, though European stock markets advanced.“It may be that
hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough were pretty faint to start with, and
markets are now in wait-and-see territory ahead of a heavy week of
earnings and economic touchpoints,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity
research at Hargreaves Lansdown.As European governments and financial
markets look to get a handle on the energy crisis, British Prime
Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that he will host representatives from
the Bank of England on Tuesday at a meeting of the government’s
emergency response committee focused on the impact of the war in
Iran.“Tomorrow, I’m chairing a meeting of Cobra on the impact [of the
war], bringing in people from the Bank of England, so that you can be
sure we will stand by working people in this crisis,” Starmer said in a
speech to trade union members.“I have to level with you about Iran,
because the truth is, the economic consequences could still be with us
for some time,” he added, citing fuel as one example of where prices
have risen already.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR
TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH) (DO NOT EVER LISTEN TO ANYBODY
THAT SAYS THE WORLD IS ENDING.ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN-4 BILLION WILL BE
LEFT ON EARTH TO GO INTO JESUS" 1000 YEAR RULE)(THAT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE
THE END OF THE WORLD TO ANY ONE, DOES IT-NOT ME.THE EARTH IS JUST
RENOVATED.NEVER ENDED.
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.(CAN YOU SAY
TORNADOES,HURRICANES,VOLCANOES,EARTH QUAKES,LANDSLIDES,FLASH
FLOODING,EXPLOSIONS,SNOW STORMS,THEN FINALLY NUKESAND ANY OTHER
JUDGEMENTS THE EARTH CAN VOMIT THE SINNERS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH
WITH.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there
shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and
troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE
SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the
stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE
WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
GENESIS 16:11-12
11
And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with
child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF
THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And
he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS)
man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be
against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against
him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL
ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the
morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF
THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM
MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
And here are the
bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or
peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels
land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the
future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq
west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe
23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN
THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE
FUTURE.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN
HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A
TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - HALF OF EARTHS
POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead
with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
And here are
the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war
or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only
Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land
in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel,
Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half
of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18,
Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY
OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND
IN THE FUTURE.
THIS JUST SHOWS HOW MUCH THESE DEMON LIBERAL DEMOCRAPS HATE ISRAEL.
Wendy
Sherman: Israeli PM destabilized the Middle East-Biden’s deputy
secretary of state: Netanyahu helped ‘create a genocide in Gaza’Veteran
Jewish diplomat Wendy Sherman says US also responsible for what unfolded
in the Strip, then clarifies that she can’t make legal analysis whether
genocide ‘literally’ occurred By Jacob Magid Today, 6:23 am-APR 28,26
Wendy
Sherman, who served as deputy secretary of state for much of former US
president Joe Biden’s administration, has accused Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the perpetration of a
genocide in Gaza.Speaking to Bloomberg’s “The Mishal Husain Show” last
week, Sherman said, “I think that it is critical that Israel remain an
ally of the United States, and that we protect the right of a Jewish
state.”“But I also believe that the prime minister has led us down a
road — and we have been part of it that has, in essence — created a
genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East,” Sherman
added.Sherman appeared to walk back the allegation when pushed.“I can’t
make the legal analysis about whether it is literally a genocide. But
there is no doubt that Gaza was demolished.”“Palestinians deserve a
home, dignity and peace. Israel absolutely deserves security and peace.
I’m a strong supporter of Israel and the right of a Jewish state, but I
am not a supporter of destroying any civilization, or any people. That
goes for the Palestinians or the Iranian people, as much as I might find
the regime odious,” said the former deputy secretary of state, who
helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during Barack Obama’s
presidency.Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State under Joe Biden, Wendy
Sherman:I believe that Netanyahu has led us down a road, and we have
been part of it.That has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza, that
has destabilized the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/GSeOTwXGwV— Clash
Report (@clashreport) April 27, 2026-Israel insists that it fights in
accordance with international law, and has rejected allegations of
genocide or other war crimes in its campaign against Hamas. It has noted
evacuation warnings sent in advance of airstrikes; efforts, throughout
most of the war, to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid; and
Hamas’s systematic use of human shields.While most Biden officials have
expressed significant frustration with Israel’s prosecution of the war
in Gaza, they have refrained from lodging accusations of genocide.The
remarks by Sherman pointed to an ongoing shift within the Democratic
Party, where such rhetoric of Israel is becoming increasingly
mainstream.Sherman, who is Jewish, retired from the State Department in
the summer of 2023, several months before Hamas’s October 7 onslaught
that sparked the Gaza war.Asked in the Bloomberg interview whether the
US could have done more to restrain Israel, Sherman said presidents from
both parties “have not dealt with the Middle East in a way that’s
helped create stability and peace.”“Obviously, the Iraq war was a
disaster. Then, Obama tried to deal with Iran — that was undone by
Trump. Could the Biden administration have done more? I’m sure we could
have. Every administration, in hindsight, could have done more,” she
said.“The politics in our country have been very tied up with our
relationship with Israel, in many ways. It’s a tough call and something
we all have to unpack.”Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris came
similarly close to definitively accusing Israel of genocide last
year.She was asked during an October interview whether she would use the
term to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza — a question that has
increasingly become a litmus test in Democratic circles.“Listen, it is a
term of law that a court will decide,” Harris responded. “But I will
tell you that when you look at the number of children that have been
killed, the number of innocent civilians that have been killed, the
refusal to give aid and support, we should all step back and ask this
question and be honest about it.”Several US lawmakers, including
Vermont’s Jewish Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive, and
former far-right Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have
described Israel’s conduct in Gaza over the past two years in Gaza as a
genocide, but the allegation has not gotten mainstream support in
Congress.
Sa'ar accused of hypocrisy after panning Sybiha for X
diplomacy-Kyiv summons Israeli envoy, EU warns of sanctions after 2nd
‘stolen’ grain ship incident-Ukraine says it ‘reserves right to deploy
full suite of diplomatic and international legal responses’ if if Israel
does not reject latest cargo from Russian-occupied lands-By Reuters and
Nava Freiberg Today, 4:46 am-APR 28,26
Ukrainian Foreign
Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday that Israel’s ambassador had been
summoned to his ministry over what he described as Israeli inaction in
allowing shipments of grain to enter the country from Russian-occupied
Ukraine.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Sybiha that Ukraine
had provided no evidence to support allegations that the grain was
“stolen.” He accused him of conducting diplomacy through the media.The
Haaretz daily reported earlier that the vessel Panormitis, which it said
was carrying grain from occupied Ukrainian territory, was waiting for
permission to berth in Haifa.The newspaper said four shipments of grain
from occupied Ukraine had already been unloaded in Israel this year.A
European Union spokesperson later told The Times of Israel that Brussels
has “taken note” of reports on the Russian vessels and warned that
those involved could face EU sanctions.“We condemn all actions that help
fund Russia’s illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions, and
remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities
in third countries if necessary,” the EU spokesperson told The Times of
Israel in a statement.“In a joint démarche with Ukraine, we are
requesting additional information from the Israeli authorities on this
subject,” the spokesperson added.Sybiha, writing in English on the X
social media platform, said it was “difficult to understand Israel’s
lack of appropriate response to Ukraine’s legitimate request regarding
the previous vessel that delivered stolen goods to Haifa.”“Now that
another such vessel has arrived in Haifa, we once again warn Israel
against accepting the stolen grain and harming our relations,” he
wrote.Israel’s ambassador, Sybiha said, had been asked to appear at the
foreign ministry on Tuesday so that Kyiv could “present our protest note
and request appropriate action.”In his response, also on X, Sa’ar said
the issue would be examined, but that allegations were not evidence and
no evidence had been provided.“You did not even submit a request for
legal assistance before turning to the media and social networks,” Sa’ar
said.A second Russian vessel carrying stolen Ukrainian grain is
approaching Haifa, Israel.Israel previously accepted grain cargo from
another Russian ship despite prior warnings about its origin. Ukraine
formally requested the vessel’s arrest as soon as it entered port, but
Israeli… https://t.co/1BTl7RuyNs pic.twitter.com/hHUzLMgkPe — Special
Kherson Cat ???????????? (@bayraktar_1love) April 26, 2026-Diplomatic
relations “are not conducted on Twitter or in the media,” he added.Sa’ar
quickly faced allegations of hypocrisy, as he regularly hits out at
Israel’s critics using his social media accounts.Later, a community note
was added to Sa’ar’s post on X responding to his Ukrainian
counterpart.“Ukraine provided evidence and formal requests for legal
assistance to Israel regarding previous shipments of alleged stolen
grain since March, including ambassadorial meetings and a judicial
cooperation request, despite claims to the contrary,” the note said.A
Ukrainian diplomatic source, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity,
said that if Israel did not reject the latest cargo, Kyiv would
“reserve the right to deploy a full suite of diplomatic and
international legal responses.”The source said Kyiv was tracking the
latest vessel and Israel had “essentially shrugged off” Kyiv’s previous
demands.Earlier this month, Israel reportedly allowed a Russian vessel
carrying stolen Ukrainian grain to dock at a Haifa port, claiming it was
too late to turn the ship around.Sa’ar, at the time, sent a message to
his Ukrainian counterpart claiming that the vessel could not be detained
due to the late notice, even though Israel had reportedly been aware of
it two weeks before it arrived.Senior Ukrainian officials had been
demanding the confiscation of the wheat cargo.Ties between Israel and
Ukraine have been delicate since the Russian invasion began in 2022.Last
month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to maintain a neutral stance between
Moscow and Kyiv, even though Russia has been providing critical
intelligence to Iran in the US-Israel war against Iran.Ukraine has
sought to purchase Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, but
Netanyahu ruled that out to avoid antagonizing Russia.Israeli officials
routinely defended this stance when Russia controlled the skies over
Syria before the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in 2024. Since then, some
Israeli officials have been willing to break more publicly with Moscow,
but Netanyahu has avoided doing so.
Targeting of synagogue,
Judaica shop window ratchet up Toronto Jews’ concerns-Unlike other
recent attacks on Toronto synagogues and Jewish businesses, which were
carried out late at night, these two weekend incidents took place in
broad daylight By Joseph Strauss Today, 2:44 am-APR 28,26
TORONTO
(JTA) — A pair of incidents took place outside of Jewish sites in the
Toronto area over the weekend, adding to a series of attacks that have
left the city’s Jewish community unnerved.During Shabbat services on
Saturday, a man tried to force his way into the Sephardic Kehilah Centre
in the suburb of Vaughan. After the man was turned away by security, he
reportedly encountered a father and son on their way to the synagogue
and punched the father in the face. The father was left with no serious
injuries.The following day, photos circulated after a rock was hurled
and broke the window of Aleph Bet Judaica, a shop on the heavily Jewish
Bathurst Street corridor. Police did not confirm which business was hit,
but confirmed that a rock was thrown at a business near Bathurst Street
and Regina Avenue, and that the Hate Crime Unit “was consulted and is
aware.”No suspects have been identified in either incident.Unlike other
recent attacks on Toronto synagogues and Jewish businesses, which were
carried out late at night, these two incidents took place in broad
daylight, both around 9:30 a.m.The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto
wrote in a statement that the Sephardic Kehilah Centre incident, which
is being investigated by the police’s Hate Crime Unit, reflected “a
continued pattern of antisemitic violence targeting our
community.”???????? Vaughan, Ontario, April 26, 2026: A male suspect
attempted to force his way into the Sephardic Kehila Centre synagogue on
Bathurst Street and assaulted a victim before fleeing the scene.Source:
@YRP pic.twitter.com/tLsbP5Dgzl— Combat Antisemitism Movement
(@CombatASemitism) April 26, 2026-In March, three synagogues across the
Toronto area were hit with gunfire. In the last couple of months, a
restaurant owned by a Jewish pro-Israel advocate was shot at twice, at
two of its locations. And in 2024, a Jewish girls’ elementary school was
hit by gunfire on three separate occasions.“As these incidents become
more normalized, they erode public safety and our way of life as
Canadians,” the UJA’s statement read. “This cannot be tolerated.”The
Canadian Jewish News reported that the suspect was turned away by
synagogue security on Saturday for “suspicious behavior,” according to
an email from the rabbi, and told security that he was Middle Eastern
and not there for prayer services. After the man left the building,
according to the email, he threw away torn pieces of paper that looked
to contain verses of Psalms.B’nai Brith Canada blasted “people in
positions of authority” who it says have “responded with hesitation,
weak enforcement, and political platitudes while Jewish communities
continue to pay the price.” It also thanked Vaughan Mayor Steven Del
Duca, who wrote that “we must be vigilant and do everything possible to
support and protect our Jewish residents.”The group called for the
federal government to take eight specific actions to combat
antisemitism, including establishing a national antisemitism task force,
providing emergency funding for the protection of Jewish institutions,
and prosecuting the repeated gunfire attacks as acts of domestic
terrorism.On Monday, B’nai Brith also released its annual audit of
antisemitic incidents, which found that there were 18.6 antisemitic
incidents reported per day across Canada in 2025, a 9% increase from
2024.
Inside story-As Hamas prepares to choose 1st leader since
Sinwar, postwar Gaza’s fate hangs in the balance-Two leading contenders
would pull terror group in different directions: prioritizing fighting
to keep a grip on the Strip or conceding the battlefield in exchange for
survival By Nurit Yohanan-27 April 2026, 4:25 pm
Battered but
still breathing, Hamas is set to hold a long-delayed internal election
to choose a new chief and political bureau in the coming weeks.The vote,
coming after a years-long military campaign aimed at dismantling the
terror group’s rule over the Gaza Strip, will likely offer an indication
of Hamas’s future direction while broadcasting its continued existence
as an organized entity and its ability to project power.Coming amid
slow-moving negotiations aimed at disarming the group and installing a
transitional leadership in Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s
ceasefire proposal, the vote will serve to telegraph whether Hamas plans
on continuing to fight Israel over Gaza or whether it will shift to a
less aggressive stance aimed at buying the time needed to rehabilitate
its strength in the Strip and beyond, according to expert Michael
Milshtein.“These elections are about which arena will lead Hamas,” said
Milshtein, who heads the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv
University’s Moshe Dayan Center.Hamas generally holds leadership
elections every four years, but the latest vote, initially scheduled for
2025, was delayed by the war sparked by the terror group’s October 7,
2023, massacre. During the war, Israel assassinated most of the group’s
senior political and military commanders.According to reports in Arab
media, the vote is now expected to take place in the coming weeks,
roughly a year behind schedule, though the exact timing remains
unclear.Fighting in Gaza broke out following the October 7 onslaught
into southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and another
251 were kidnapped, most of them civilians. Israel vowed in the wake of
the worst massacre in its history to wipe out the group, launching a
war that left much of Gaza in ruins and killed much of Hamas’s command
structure.However, many vestiges of Hamas rule and military strength
remain intact since the October 2025 ceasefire took effect, particularly
in the approximately 47 percent of Gaza outside of Israeli military
control, where nearly all of the enclave’s Palestinians live.Based
largely outside of Gaza, Hamas’s politburo manages the group’s strategic
priorities, including on the diplomatic front, and also directs the
Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which primarily
operates in Gaza and the West Bank. According to Milshtein, a hierarchy
remains intact whereby strategic decisions are made by the leadership
abroad, while the military wing carries them out.The elections have
historically been conducted in secrecy, with only a few hundred to a few
thousand senior members quietly casting ballots and Hamas keeping
results under wraps to shield its operatives from exposure to Israeli
assassination attempts. In 2021, however, the group’s confidence in its
firm entrenchment in Gaza, with even Israel recognizing its de facto
rule over the Strip, led the group to hold the vote in the open and
officially announce who had won roles in the political bureau.This time,
Milshtein assessed, the process will likely be more limited and far
more covert, given the heavy blows Hamas has sustained across multiple
fronts.“In 2021, Hamas held elections among some 20,000 people in Gaza —
almost public elections. You can’t do that in Gaza in 2026,” he said,
citing the devastation in the Strip and the extensive targeting of Hamas
operatives. The only place where he believes organized voting can
realistically take place is abroad.Voting in other areas will also be
challenging, at least in part due to Israeli actions against Hamas
leadership since the October 7 attack.“The entire Hamas leadership in
the West Bank has been arrested and imprisoned since October 7, and the
leadership structure inside prisons itself has been dismantled,”
Milshtein said, referring to steps taken by the Israel Prison Service
that ended the previous system of internal organization and autonomy for
Palestinian security prisoners, including Hamas.Despite these
constraints, Milshtein stressed that coordination between Hamas
leadership abroad and its military wing inside Gaza remains strong — and
is expected to continue even after the selection of a new leader, who
will likely remain outside the Strip for the foreseeable future.“The
ability of those outside Gaza to control what happens inside remains
very high,” he said. “In Israel people often say there’s a disconnect,
that they’re not communicating – that’s nonsense. There is ongoing
consultation with those inside Gaza — Mohammed Oudeh, Ali Amoudi, Izz
al-Din Haddad — but the hierarchy is clear: the strategic decisions are
made outside the Strip, and they implement them.”Party of five-Hamas has
not had an elected leader since July 2024, when a bomb planted by
Israel in Tehran killed Ismail Haniyeh, who was elected to a second term
as terror chief in 2021. Following the assassination, Hamas announced
that Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza, would take over as leader,
without holding internal elections.Sinwar, a former al-Qassam chief who
is credited as the mastermind of the October 7 assault, assumed the role
while in hiding from Israeli airstrikes on the Strip, and his tenure
lasted just three months before he was killed in the Rafah area.Since
his death, Hamas has not formally named a successor or interim leader.
However, various reports indicate that the group has since been led by a
quintet of senior officials based outside Gaza, primarily in Qatar and
Turkey.The crew is reportedly made up of Khalil al-Hayya, Sinwar’s
deputy and the group’s chief negotiator; Khaled Mashaal, who heads
Hamas’s external leadership and had headed the group before Haniyeh;
Mohammad Darwish, head of the advisory Shura Council; Zaher Jabarin; and
Nizar Awadallah. Most had been in Gaza but left the Strip shortly
before the October 7, 2023, attack.These officials have been seen over
the past two years in numerous meetings with representatives from Qatar
and Turkey, and in Cairo during ceasefire negotiations over Gaza.Hamas’s
accession to the Trump ceasefire deal has underscored its ability to
make strategic decisions even without a single leader at the helm, a
feature built into Hamas’s structure. Though organized hierarchically,
Hamas also maintains the ability to operate in a decentralized way, with
factions in the West Bank, Gaza, Israeli prisons and abroad able to act
independently of each other.Even after many senior figures in Gaza were
killed, the external leadership was able to fill the vacuum, continue
decision-making, and maintain contact with those still inside the
Strip.Hamas also operates under the principle of “shura,” or
consultation, requiring decisions to be made collectively rather than by
a single individual.Still, Milshtein noted that the five-headed
leadership represents an unusual moment in Hamas’s history, with the
group likely seeking a return to a single figure at the top guiding its
direction.The identity of that person, and where he hails from, will
likely be a major factor in shaping the organization’s trajectory in the
coming years, particularly regarding the centrality of Gaza in its
priorities.Gaza or survival-The upcoming elections amount to “a battle
for the survival of the concept that has dominated Hamas over the past
20 years — since the group seized control of the Gaza Strip by force —
according to which Gaza is Hamas’s crown jewel,” Milshtein
said.Prioritizing the Strip as its main area of investment, Hamas built
up its military wing in Gaza and entrenched its civilian rule there. The
October 7 attack put Hamas’s consolidation of its power there to the
test, risking its rule over the enclave, the lives of millions of
Palestinians, tens of thousands of whom were ultimately killed, and the
enclave’s entire future.Gaza’s place in the group’s priorities is now
particularly critical as Hamas engages in efforts to negotiate the
second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which could strip it of
civilian control over the enclave.While the first phase of the ceasefire
required little more than halting hostilities, Hamas is now facing more
immediate and consequential decisions about its future in Gaza —
including how much power it will retain, whether it will relinquish its
weapons, and whether it will maintain a long-term ceasefire with
Israel.Hamas has not publicly named the leading candidates in the
upcoming elections, but the two figures most frequently mentioned in
recent months — Al-Hayya and Mashaal — represent sharply divergent
visions regarding Gaza’s importance in Hamas’s broader agenda, and
whether the Strip should remain the central arena or give way to
building the organization’s strength on other fronts against
Israel.Al-Hayya is closely tied to the Gaza Strip. Born and raised
there, he spent his entire life in the territory until the October 7
massacre. Just days before the attack, he left the Strip along with
other senior figures in Hamas’s Gaza-based political bureau and
relocated to Qatar, where he has remained since.Despite his current
residence, Milshtein said, “he is not from abroad — he is a Gazan in
every sense,” in terms of his priorities and the emphasis he places on
investment in the Strip.For al-Hayya, Milshtein explained, “it is far
more important to continue developing the issue of control in Gaza and
the matter of [military] rebuilding.”That preference is also reflected
in his role. Until Sinwar’s killing, al-Hayya served as his deputy —
effectively making him deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza.
After Sinwar’s death, Hamas referred to al-Hayya as the group’s leader
in Gaza, even though al-Hayya is not in Gaza and no formal internal
elections were held for the position.Shielded from Israel by a reported
US guarantee protecting his safety, al-Hayya has become one of Hamas’s
more recognizable public faces, appearing before cameras to deliver key
speeches on behalf of the organization at major moments.He also led
negotiations for a ceasefire, building something of a rapport with Trump
envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, reflecting his senior standing
and international cachet.Despite agreeing to a deal that ostensibly
includes Hamas’s ouster from Gaza and disarmament, he has also broadcast
stances that place the group’s control of Gaza as a central priority
and one worth continuing to fight Israel over.Mashaal, on the other
hand, has pursued a different strategy, one that sees Hamas surviving by
maintaining quiet in Gaza and improving relations with the Palestinian
Authority, according to Milshtein.“For Gaza, it is far more important to
continue developing governance and the struggle [against Israel],” he
said. “But Mashaal, in his discourse, talks about reconciliation with
Fatah and about [Palestinian-wide] elections.”Unlike al-Hayya, Mashaal
was born in the West Bank and spent most of his life abroad. Since 2011,
he has been based in Qatar.During his tenure as Hamas leader between
2011 and 2017, Mashaal promoted reconciliation efforts with Fatah, and
he has continued to call for such reconciliation since leaving the
post.That message has persisted during the war in Gaza. In June 2024,
speaking at a conference in Beirut, Mashaal said that reorganizing “the
Palestinian house” — referring to reconciliation between the rival
Palestinian factions — had become essential.“We cannot wait until the
end of the [military] campaign; we must address it in the midst of the
campaign,” he said.Milshtein framed the divide as “a battle over
emphasis,” and stressed that Mashaal’s position should not be seen as
“moderate,” noting that it does not reflect a fundamental ideological
departure from Hamas’s broader stance of continued confrontation with
Israel.“It is pragmatic,” he said. “What matters to him is preserving
Hamas, and that is currently more important than when the next round
with Israel [in Gaza] takes place.”According to Milshtein, this approach
could entail a willingness to curb Hamas’s power, including by pursuing
a compromise with Fatah, committing to long-term calm, or relinquishing
some degree of control of Gaza, in exchange for ensuring the
organization’s survival.The Iran factor-Hovering over the vote will
likely be Iran, which has provided Hamas with hundreds of millions of
dollars annually, weapons expertise and military training, and which may
be seeking to torpedo a Mashaal leadership bid.Ties between Tehran and
Hamas ramped up following Mashaal’s ouster in 2017, largely cultivated
by Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, who relied on Iranian support in
planning and executing the October 7 assault.Al-Hayya, Sinwar’s deputy,
is seen as continuing that line within Hamas and maintaining ties with
Tehran.Mashaal fell out with Iran as early as 2011, when he and other
Hamas leaders based in Damascus were expelled after criticizing the
Assad regime, a key Iranian ally.Correspondence between Hamas and Iran
uncovered by the IDF during the Gaza war suggests that years later,
relations between Mashaal and Tehran remained strained, with Iranian
officials seeking to sideline him from decision-making within Hamas.In
one such letter, Mahmoud Saeed Izadi, head of the Palestine branch in
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, wrote to Sinwar in 2021 that Mashaal’s
“misguided policy bears responsibility for many of the failures and
problems that have emerged in the axis of resistance, because he did not
fulfill his role and did not make use of his leadership and influential
position.”In the same letter, Izadi made clear that Iran opposed
placing a Hamas military force established with its support in Lebanon
under Mashaal’s command, despite his formal role as head of Hamas’s
external wing.The issue also surfaced within Hamas itself. According to
documents reportedly seized during the Gaza war, Sinwar wrote to Haniyeh
on March 6, 2023, recommending that Mashaal not be included in a Hamas
delegation to Iran and stressing the need to assure Tehran that its
financial support would not be directed to Hamas’s external branch, led
by Mashaal.Milshtein said the trove of material captured during the war
“illustrates just how much the Iranians resented Mashaal — how much they
disliked him,” Milshtein said.Should the more Gulf-centered Mashaal
emerge as Hamas leader, ties between the group and Tehran may be
strained once again. However, Milshtein noted that what Iran thinks
likely matters less at this point, with its ability to exert influence
weakened by strains on its resources due to weeks of US and Israeli
attacks.Iran viewed Mashaal as someone seeking to curb its influence
over Hamas and favor ties with Gulf states such as Qatar instead,
meaning his election could significantly strain relations between Tehran
and Hamas.“Its standing has declined” within Hamas regardless, he
said.In the absence of strong Iranian backing, Hamas is expected to
continue relying on the countries hosting its leadership — chiefly
Turkey and Qatar. On this front, Milshtein said there is little
meaningful difference between the candidates, with both Mashaal and
al-Hayya currently based in Qatar and maintaining stable ties with
Doha.There is also the possibility that neither candidate will be chosen
and that Hamas will opt instead for a compromise figure — a relatively
low-profile individual without a clear ideological stance on the
movement’s future, such as Shura Council leader Mohammad Darwish or
Mohammad Nasr, a relatively obscure senior figure who has been part of
the team negotiating in Egypt over the Gaza ceasefire.
Again
pleads for more troops amid growing burden of missions-IDF chief slams
‘unethical’ conduct by soldiers; cites smashing of Jesus statue,
inciteful insignia-Zamir says discipline eroded in recent wars, warns
‘IDF must not compromise our values’; also raises alleged looting,
social media misdeeds; promises ‘no exclusion of women’By Emanuel
Fabian-27 April 2026, 11:16 pm
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal
Zamir told senior officers on Monday that the military has seen
discipline erode in Israel’s multi-front war over recent years, listing a
number of incidents in which Israeli soldiers have behaved in ways that
he described as “rebellion” against the army’s values.Among other
issues, he denounced reports of looting, the destruction of a statue of
Jesus in Lebanon that prompted international outcry, and the trend of
soldiers wearing unauthorized badges and patches bearing religious,
messianic, political and inciteful messages.“The unethical incidents we
have seen are the product of a long and complex period, but that does
not justify them. We must not compromise on our values. The erosion of
norms could be no less dangerous than operational threats,” he said,
while speaking at a conference of the IDF’s senior command staff.During
the conference, Zamir displayed a picture of a soldier wearing a patch
that read “Stop the hatred. It is time for violence,” and asked the
participants, “Is this the army you want? If there is even one person
who thinks this reflects IDF values, stand up now.”“This is not a minor
incident. This is a rebellion against IDF values,” he said.Zamir said
that the “phenomenon of looting, if it exists, is disgraceful and could
stain the entire IDF,” after Haaretz reported last week that there has
been widespread looting by Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, where
many residents have fled the fighting.“If such incidents occurred, we
will investigate them,” he said, adding that “I am not willing for us to
become an army of looters.”The IDF recently punished soldiers who took
part in the smashing of a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, and said
it was investigating a video of soldiers damaging solar panels. During
his address, Zamir showed a widely circulated picture of the crucifix
being smashed.The statue incident caused international outrage, and the
IDF dismissed from combat service the soldier who destroyed the figure,
as well as the serviceman who filmed him, also jailing both of them. The
military replaced the damaged statue in the Christian village of Debel
with a new one.Zamir also said that soldiers, both in the standing army
and reserves, “must not use social media as a tool to spread
controversial messages or for self-promotion.”“This is a red line that
must not be crossed, and those who do so will be dealt with
disciplinarily,” he said. Soldiers are rarely punished for posting
content online, though videos posted by IDF soldiers have at times
circulated widely and led to efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to
prosecute them abroad.In a press release issued by the IDF on Zamir’s
speech, there was no mention of any remarks from the chief of staff
regarding the military’s failure to tackle spiraling Jewish terrorism in
the West Bank. Zamir last month issued a sharp condemnation of settler
violence, calling attacks against Palestinian civilians and soldiers in
the West Bank “morally and ethically unacceptable” and a major strategic
impediment.Zamir also addressed the status of women in the IDF in light
of renewed criticism of alleged religious coercion in the armed forces.
This month, female soldiers were court-martialed for wearing
purportedly revealing clothes to a base when they arrived to be
discharged, sparking criticism.Zamir said women are “an inseparable part
of the IDF and its operational strength.”“There will be no exclusion of
women in the IDF,” he stressed. He also referred to concerns that women
will face additional restrictions in the military, as it seeks to
increase draft numbers among the ultra-Orthodox, who adhere to strict
rules of gender separation.“We will continue to enable service for
diverse populations, without harming others or at their expense. We will
do this while preserving the identity and values of the IDF,” Zamir
said.Still, Zamir said he backed the officer, Col. Mazzie Swissa, who
court-martialed the female soldiers for their clothing.‘I back you. I
know you’ve taken hits in recent days, but I tell all of you, enforce
the law and the orders in the army. We need to clear ourselves of
background noise and do the right thing,” he said.Zamir said Swissa “did
not act out of religious coercion, and she is not the modesty
police.”“Soldiers who do not comply with orders, their commander is
authorized to discipline them,” he added.Zamir: IDF ready for ‘a return
to intense fighting in all sectors’On operational matters, Zamir said
that the IDF will likely remain fighting on multiple fronts throughout
2026, an assessment he has also made previously. The IDF has fought on
several fronts since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that sparked
the war in Gaza. Ceasefires are currently in effect in Gaza, Lebanon,
and Iran, though the latter two are considered fragile.“Since October 7,
the IDF has been engaged in combat, in an ongoing multi-front campaign.
We continue to be prepared and on alert for a return to intense
fighting in all sectors. 2026 may continue to be a year of combat on
each of the fronts,” he said.He also said that the IDF urgently needs
more troops: “In light of the growing burden of missions on the IDF in
the coming years, the urgent need facing the State of Israel is to
increase the number of those serving and fighting, and we will insist on
this.”A bill under consideration in the Knesset would preserve blanket
exemptions from conscription for most Haredi men. While its supporters
say it will draw more Haredim to the IDF, the bill has drawn criticism
for not significantly increasing draft numbers and for preserving a
disparity in who is obligated to enlist in the army.
Suspect
ordered to remain jailed pending additional hearings-Man charged with
attempted assassination of Trump for correspondents’ dinner
shooting-Authorities say Cole Thomas Allen reserved room weeks in
advance at hotel where event would be held; 31-year-old faces up to life
in jail if convicted of assassination count alone By Eric Tucker,
Michael Kunzelman and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Today, 2:26 am-APR 28,26
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House
Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives was charged
Monday with the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump as
federal authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of
Washington’s glitziest events had been planned for at least several
weeks.Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court to face federal charges after
the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump
being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover
underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending
additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted
of the assassination count alone.An FBI affidavit filed in the case
revealed additional details about the planning behind the assault, with
authorities alleging that Allen, on April 6, reserved a room for himself
at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under
its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from
California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one
day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend. With him,
authorities said, were a 12-gauge pump action shotgun he bought last
year and a .38 caliber semi-automatic pistol he purchased in 2023.The
event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance,
California, man tried to race past a security barricade near the
cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests,
prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with
safeguarding the event.“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference, It cannot and
will not be used to disrupt democratic institutions or intimidate those
who serve them, and it certainly cannot continue to be used against the
president of the United States.”He added: “We are investigating this
matter fully, we will apply the law fairly and we will ensure
accountability is swift and certain.Allen was injured during the attack
but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a
bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say.Questions remain about
how many shots Allen fired and how many officers discharged their
weapons.Blanche said investigators believe that a Secret Service agent
fired five shots and that Allen discharged his shotgun at least once.
But Blanche didn’t say whether authorities have confirmed it was Allen’s
bullet that struck the agent in the vest, or whether any other officers
used their weapons. Blanche said ballistics experts are still examining
evidence to provide more clarity on those questions.The Justice
Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including
discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does
not allege that Allen was responsible for shooting the agent.Suspect’s
email sheds light on motive-The shooting resulted in the cancellation of
the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.White House press
secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be
one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual
who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many
administration officials as possible.”Acting Attorney General Todd
Blanche, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, left, and FBI Director Kash
Patel, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of
Justice, on Monday April 27, 2026, in Washington, following the initial
appearance in federal court of the suspected White House Correspondents
Dinner gunman, Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California. (AP
Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)Allen invoked his constitutional right to
remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to
family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.In the
message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred
to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and alluded obliquely to
grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling
text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen
apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared
could be caught in the violence, while at the same time seeking to
explain the attack.A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to
keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention
hearing set for Thursday.Allen did not speak at length during the quick
appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Tezira Abe,
noted that he has no criminal record.Members of law enforcement control
shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen during the White House Correspondents
Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
ADDITION: Adds name of shooting suspect after name shared by law
enforcement officials“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she
said.Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur
video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same
name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he
worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers
admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college
students.Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home
address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most
historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro
area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter
knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law
enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an
FBI sweatshirt.A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a
local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County
Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen
contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in
support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer
as C2 Education, which said in a statement Monday that it was shocked to
learn of the shooting and was cooperating with law enforcement.Allen is
registered to vote without a party affiliation in California and voted
in the last three general elections, according to the Los Angeles County
Registrar of Voters.He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical
engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The
small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance
rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that
battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.Allen’s
profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when
graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California
State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken
May 2025.
Northern officials, residents slam Lebanon truce: ‘Stop
using our kids as sitting ducks’Council head says decision-makers
should move north with their families to see the reality; security
cabinet member Regev concedes situation is more of a ‘porous
ceasefire’By ToI Staff Today, 2:52 pm-APR 28,26
Kiryat Shmona
Mayor Avichai Stern on Tuesday accused the government of selling out the
north’s security after he and heads of neighboring towns announced
protested moves against the US-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon.“What’s
determining our security at the moment is an agreement between the US,
Lebanon and Iran,” Stern told the Kan public broadcaster, as Iran’s
Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah kept up attacks on Israel’s north and on
the IDF in southern Lebanon, despite the truce that was declared on
April 16.Likud member Stern said the government had failed to live up to
its word to northerners who were evacuated en masse in the previous war
with Hezbollah and told it was safe to return to following a November
2024 ceasefire deal.“We elected our government… full-on right wing for
full-on security,” Stern said. “In practice, we see that our security is
up for a negotiation that isn’t even ours.”“Our security is
nonnegotiable. We’ve had this threat [from Hezbollah in Lebanon] over
our heads for decades,” said Stern.Northern municipality leaders had
said in a press conference on Monday that they would independently
impose security restrictions and suspend educational activities, despite
an update in IDF Home Front Command orders that had reclassified the
area as safe.Beni Ben-Muvhar, head of the Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional
Council, told Army Radio on Tuesday that the municipalities could not
“send kids to schools in buses that we know to be a target for
Hezbollah.”Israel’s decision-makers should “to come and live here for a
day or two or three” with their families to see what was life was liked
under Hezbollah’s daily attacks, said Ben-Muvhar.Danielle Eliyahu, a
resident of the northern community of Ein Yaakov, also assailed the IDF
instruction to reopen schools.“There isn’t really a ceasefire,” she told
Army Radio. “Stop using our kids as sitting ducks.”Under the terms of
the ceasefire, Israel is permitted to strike in Lebanon in self-defense.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday that
Hezbollah was “dismantling” and Israel would “vigorously” target the
terror group, despite reported pressure from US President Donald Trump
to end the fighting in Lebanon so it doesn’t upend negotiations with
Iran.Amid northerners’ criticism of the Lebanon agreement,
Transportation Minister Miri Regev claimed the ceasefire in Lebanon was
not quite that.“You can’t say it’s a ceasefire,” said Regev, who is a
member of the security cabinet, in an interview with the 103FM radio
station. “We’re calling it a porous ceasefire.”The Lebanon ceasefire
talks have seen Israel and its northern neighbor conduct their
highest-level direct talks in decades even though they have technically
been at war since Israel was established in 1948.Israel carried out
massive airstrikes and pushed its troops farther into Lebanon after
Hezbollah, on March 2, launched its first rocket attack on Israel since
the November 2024 ceasefire deal, under which the Lebanese state was
required to disarm Hezbollah.That agreement ended over a year of
conflict initiated by Hezbollah, a day after fellow Iran-backed terror
group Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in
Gaza.During the fighting in Lebanon, Hezbollah fired some 5,500 rockets
at IDF troops operating in the south of the country, as well as around
2,500 at Israel, according to the military. There were at least 75
rocket impact sites in Israel.In addition, Hezbollah launched around 300
drones, of which 25 struck Israel, according to the IDF.Thirteen IDF
soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against
Hezbollah, and three during a ceasefire with the terror group. Two
civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian
was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.In
Lebanon, authorities report over 2,000 people have been killed and a
million displaced by Israel’s strikes. The IDF claims it killed over
1,900 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror
group’s elite Radwan Force, in the renewed fighting.
Mossad chief
says agency’s operations penetrated ‘core’ of Iran, Lebanon
secrets-Barnea commends 10 operations and projects for outstanding
achievements in 2025, notes that cooperation with the military had
‘changed Israel’s strategic posture’By Stav Levaton and ToI Staff Today,
2:15 pm-APR 28,26
Mossad chief David Barnea said Monday the
agency had penetrated “the core of the enemy’s secrets” and carried out
“groundbreaking” operations in Iran and beyond, speaking at a ceremony
honoring agents and outstanding missions from 2025.At the Mossad
headquarters, Barnea highlighted what he described as a shift in the
agency’s wartime role, saying it had become a more offensive and
effective organization alongside the Israel Defense Forces in campaigns
against Iran and its proxy terror group Hezbollah.“We obtained strategic
and tactical intelligence at the core of the enemy’s secrets,” Barnea
said. “We demonstrated new and groundbreaking operational capabilities
in target countries.”“Thanks to these operations, numerous activities in
the campaign against Iran and in the northern arena were made possible,
and Israel’s intelligence superiority was preserved,” he added.The
agency also said in a statement that the shift was reflected in the
Mossad’s “operational activity” against Iran and Lebanon. It added that
the changes stemmed in part from the creation of new units and
specialized capabilities in recent years, as well as the adoption of
advanced technologies and innovation throughout the organization.Barnea
stressed the operations had helped enable strikes “in the heart of
Tehran,” the “thwarting of senior operatives,” and efforts to secure
Israel’s air superiority and defend the home front.“The operations
recognized this year enabled us to break boundaries in Lebanon and
Iran,” he said, adding that the agency had also “carried out the covert
diplomatic campaign, whose importance is critical for forging regional
alliances and expanding Israel’s strategic depth.”He added that
cooperation with the military had “changed Israel’s strategic posture,”
but warned that threats remain.At the ceremony, 10 operations and
projects received commendations for having “made an exceptional
contribution to Israel’s security and reflected groundbreaking
achievements.”Additionally, a commendation for bravery and fortitude was
awarded to a veteran operative for leading a “bold, first-of-its-kind
operation.”Barnea also noted in his speech that “the campaign against
Iran will only be complete with a change of regime. It was planned in
advance to continue for a long time even after the fighting subsides and
a ceasefire takes hold. The mission is still ahead of us and could take
many months.”Meanwhile, the Iranian opposition outlet Iran
International reported Tuesday that Iran’s Supreme National Security
Council convened amid concerns that the mass protests that plunged the
country into chaos back in January could return due to rising prices,
high unemployment rates, and damage to key industries as a result of the
US-Israeli war.In March, The New York Times reported that Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was frustrated with the Mossad after the
intelligence service promised that an uprising against the regime could
be fomented during the war but had not materialized.The report stressed
that the Mossad chief provided disclaimers and qualifications, and noted
both that the situation was developing and that achieving the desired
ends could take a long time.In 2025, the Mossad played a crucial role in
Operation Rising Lion, and reportedly enlisted its agents to smuggle
attack drones into Iran via trucks, shipping containers and even
suitcases.Mossad agents inside Iran then gathered the equipment and
handed it out to teams who prepared the drones for use within the
country. Once airstrikes began, the drones took out air defense systems
and hit hitting surface-to-surface missile launchers aimed at Israel.
