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 138 JULY 15,26 - TRUMP WILL BE GOING AFTER BRIDGES, POWER PLANTS NEXT WEEK IN IRAN.
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)
TRUMPS FINALLY
DISCOVERING HOW THESE LITTLE WEISEL WARTHOG IRANIAN DECIEVER SEX FOR
MURDER DEATH CULT LEADERS LIE TO GET THEIR WAY. BUT NEVER KEEP UP THEIR
END OF THE DEAL.TRUMP SAYS NEXT WEEK HES GOING AFTER IRANS BRIDGES AND I
FORGET THE SECOND ONE.I THINK IT WAS POWER PLANTS.TRUMP KEEP UP THE
BOMBINGS. THEN GO TAKE IRANS OIL FIELDS IN KHARG ISLAND.
Iran has
resumed crude oil loading at Kharg Island, its primary export hub that
handles nearly 90% of the country's seaborne oil shipments. The
resumption follows the withdrawal of a U.S. Navy blockade, allowing Very
Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) to dock at the Sea Island and Kharg
Terminals to transport crude, primarily to Asian markets.The terminal,
located roughly 25 kilometers off Iran's southern coast, is the backbone
of the Iranian energy economy and serves as a major strategic
flashpoint. While the U.S. and Iran have engaged in escalating conflicts
over the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil infrastructure at Kharg
Island itself has been deliberately spared from U.S. military strikes to
prevent global economic fallout, although U.S. officials and political
figures have openly floated the option of taking over the island.If you
would like, I can provide:More details on the U.S.-Iran conflict and how
it impacts shipping through the Strait of HormuzInformation on current
global crude oil prices and how Iranian exports affect them.
THIS
ONE CONFUSES ME.AHMADINEJAD IS THE MAHDI WELLBOY WORSHIPPER THAT WANTED
TO KILL EVERY JEW ON EARTH IN HIS TERM AS PRESIDENT OF IRAN IN 2005
TILL HIS TERM ENDED.WHY WOULD AN ISRAELI WORK WITH THIS DEATH CULTIST TO
BE THE LEADER AGAIN.
Ahmadinejad seen on state TV, as
his office denies story-Report: Ahmadinejad met Mossad chief under
Israeli plan to install him as Iran leader-NYT cites US officials,
sources as saying yearslong regime change plot involved at least 2
meetings with Mossad in Hungary, as Israel looked to prop up anti-Israel
Holocaust-denier By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff 13 July 2026, 5:23
pmUpdated: 15 July 2026, 1:35 am
Israel engaged in a multi-year
effort to recruit and re-install as leader Iran’s former hardline
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The New York Times reported Monday,
citing US officials and sources with knowledge of the failed Israeli
plot.The campaign, which culminated in a strike on Ahmadinejad’s
bodyguards to free him from house arrest on the first day of the
US-Israel attack on Iran in February, included a meeting with
then-Mossad chief David Barnea on the sidelines of an academic
conference in Hungary, the report said.A car driven by Mossad officials
secreted the former president away to a safe house after February 28’s
initial Israeli airstrikes, when supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed,
but Ahmadinejad later left the safe house after growing disillusioned
with Israel’s plan to install him, the report said.Ahmadinejad’s current
status was unclear, according to the report.However, the former
president was shown on Tuesday on Iranian state TV at a memorial event
in Tehran for the slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, multiple outlets
reported. In the footage, Ahmadinejad looks wan but raises a hand in
apparent reassurance to somebody off-camera, smiles, and nods.Earlier
Tuesday, Ahmadinejad’s office dismissed The New York Times report,
calling the allegations “Hollywood-style claims” that were “not worthy
of denial.” It accused the newspaper of publishing “fabricated”
material. It also denied that Ahmadinejad was under house arrest, saying
he was working as usual.The Times report had noted that he was last
seen, briefly, surrounded by guards — masked and wearing a heavy coat —
at the funeral for Khamenei, and was believed to be in IRGC custody over
his ties with Israeli intelligence. That was his first public
appearance since this year’s US-Israeli war with Iran began.According to
a separate report in Haaretz, also published Monday, the Mossad plan,
which began sometime in 2022, was briefly interrupted by the October 7,
2023, Hamas-led onslaught and the ensuing Gaza war. However, as the war
in Gaza was at its peak, the plan accelerated, with Barnea directly
overseeing the effort to install Ahmadinejad in Iran, that report
said.In 2024, the Times reported, Barnea personally met the former
leader of Israel’s biggest foe, enlisting a European ally to provide a
reason for Ahmadinejad to leave Iran.According to the Times, Hungary
invited Ahmadinejad to a 2024 climate change conference in Budapest to
allow for the meeting.The report said Gergely Deli, the rector of the
Ludovika University of Public Service, was asked by a senior Hungarian
official to invite Ahmadinejad, telling him the invitation was a cover
for the Holocaust-denying former president to meet with Mossad agents.He
returned to Budapest in 2025, and met again with Israeli intelligence
operatives, the Times said.From anti-Israel to Israeli
agent-Ahmadinejad, a virulently anti-Israel conservative, served two
four-year terms from 2005 to 2013, during which he repeatedly denied the
Holocaust, called to destroy Israel, and hinted that the Islamic
Republic could build a nuclear weapon if it chose to do so.After
Ahmadinejad left office, authorities repeatedly disqualified him from
running in subsequent elections. In recent years, he became a critic of
the regime led by Khamenei, accusing senior officials of corruption and
poor governance.Ahmadinejad began presenting a more moderate stance
publicly and established himself as an advocate for regular
Iranians.According to the New York Times report, Ahmadinejad eventually
accepted that he could not return to power under the current regime and
saw foreign intervention as his path back to leadership. A close
associate told the Times that he saw himself as a reformer, and said
that Iran would recognize Israel and join the Abraham Accords when he
came to power.He was also concerned that the US and Israel would impose
an outsider, and that the country would descend into chaos.Israel also
had “some contact” with Ahmadinejad during a 2023 trip to an
environmental conference in Guatemala, the Times reported. The former
president was initially stopped from flying by Iranian security
services, but social media posts and a sit-in convinced authorities to
let him fly.Ahmadinejad met with Israeli agents in Budapest a second
time in June 2025, days before Israel carried out the opening strikes of
its 12-day campaign against the regime, according to the Times. He
twice managed to shake his IRGC bodyguards during the trip.Israel paid
Ahmadinejad for housing and travel, according to the report.Haaretz’s
report said the head of IDF Military Intelligence and other senior intel
officers believed the likelihood of the war bringing down the regime
was low, that the Mossad’s plan would not work, and that only long-term
actions might achieve the goal. Most of the IDF intel officers’
skepticism was focused on the final stage, of installing Ahmadinejad,
and they argued that attempting to predict complex political moves in
times of chaos was fundamentally futile, Haaretz reported.Military
Intelligence presented scenarios under which attempting the plan would
worsen Israel’s situation. It was also concerned that ousting the
Khamenei regime would lead to the rise of a military regime, without
civilian components to balance the Revolutionary Guards.Israel’s plan to
topple the regime, which included a Kurdish uprising, failed, and the
regime remains firmly in control of the country.The Mossad did not
respond to a request for comment on the reports. Ahmadinejad’s office
declined to comment.
Regev: 'The remaining planes can land at Air
Force bases'US halts removal of refuelers from Ben Gurion Airport, but
Israel says only 20 can stay-Tens of thousands of passengers’ flight
tickets could be canceled as the US military aircraft crowd out civilian
planes; US said to fume at decision that harms military preparedness-By
Sharon Wrobel-14 July 2026, 6:25 pm
The US said Tuesday that it
was halting the planned removal of its aerial refueling tankers from Ben
Gurion Airport amid the mounting escalation with Iran, prompting Israel
to warn that it would cap the number of such planes allowed to stay at
the country’s main airport in order to avert disruptions of commercial
flight operations.“Hundreds of thousands of tickets were bought by
Israelis to fly and enjoy their summer vacation,” said Transportation
Minister Miri Regev. “We promised that we will enable commercial flights
and we will not cancel a single ticket because of American refueling
planes.”“Therefore, I have given instructions that we will not allow any
US refueling tankers to land at Ben Gurion Airport beyond the agreed
number of 20 planes, and the remaining planes can land at Israeli Air
Force bases,” Regev added.Senior US Central Command (CENTCOM) officials
reportedly reacted angrily to the decision and received the backing of
the IDF.According to Ynet, US officials argued that the decision
undermines the operational needs of American forces amid rising tensions
with Iran, stressing that the tankers are a critical component of
Washington’s regional deterrence and defense posture.“The American
request is justified,” a senior IDF official told Ynet. “The refueling
aircraft are a strategic asset for the United States in the region and
an integral part of the joint preparations against Iran. From an
operational standpoint, it is important that they be able to operate
under the conditions set by the Americans.”According to the
Transportation Ministry, Israel and the US had previously agreed to cap
the number of American refueling aircraft parked at Ben Gurion at 20,
with Regev arguing that additional aircraft should instead use military
airfields throughout Israel.However, the US reportedly prefers Ben
Gurion because of its well-equipped infrastructure and central location
near hotels and other amenities.Israeli officials nevertheless insisted
there is “no crisis” between the two allies in light of the
disagreement, saying the Transportation Ministry had informed the
Defense Ministry of the decision, which addressed the issue with US
officials.According to a separate report by Channel 12 news, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also spoke with US officials regarding the
issue.Early Tuesday morning, the US launched fresh strikes on Iran,
hours after President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a
blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded with attacks
targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United
Arab Emirates traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and
wounding eight.The latest hostilities come after Iran said over the
weekend that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz, casting further doubt
on an interim deal to halt the war.The Israel Airports Authority has
warned that unless US aircraft continue to be removed from Ben Gurion
Airport during the busy summer months, as many as 50,000 flight tickets
could be at risk of cancellation.Earlier this month, the US began
returning home some of its military refueling planes parked at Ben
Gurion Airport as tensions seemed to diminish upon the signing of a
memorandum of understanding to end the US-Israeli war against Iran.A
fleet of about 75 US refuelers and cargo planes had parked at Ben Gurion
Airport for many months, as part of the US military buildup in the
region prior to the war, which erupted on February 28 and led to the
closure of Israel’s airspace.Following the partial removal of the
tankers in recent weeks, more than 30 US refueling planes are estimated
to be stationed at Ben Gurion Airport, crowding out civilian aircraft
and creating a shortage of parking spaces.The presence of US military
aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport has been preventing a full return to
normal commercial flight operations at Israel’s main international
gateway, while also driving up operational costs for local airlines —
expenses that industry officials have warned will ultimately be passed
on to travelers.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
US
attacks Iran and Tehran retaliates across Middle East as both vie for
control of strait-American forces strike Iran for 3rd night in a row as
Trump weighs hitting Pickaxe nuclear site; Iran targets Bahrain and
Jordan, claims attack on UAE tankers that killed crewmanBy Agencies and
Jacob Magid14 July 2026, 4:25 amUpdated at 10:14 am
The US
launched strikes on Iran early Tuesday morning, hours after President
Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the
Strait of Hormuz. Trump separately suggested the United States will
charge other ships for safe passage, upending hundreds of years of
American policy supporting freedom of navigation across the globe.Iran
responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers
associated with the United Arab Emirates traveling through the strait,
killing one mariner and wounding eight. The Emirates threatened to
retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the nation that is home to
Abu Dhabi and Dubai back into fighting with Tehran.The attacks come as
Iran and the US vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of
all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime. The price
of benchmark Brent crude oil rose to a one-month high of over $84 in
trading early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the
height of the war but threatening to make costs everywhere higher.It
also further shredded a ceasefire in place from an interim agreement
between Iran and the US to end the war. The accord is now almost halfway
through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a
final accord, which also was meant to address Iran’s disputed nuclear
program and other issues.Attacks resume across the Mideast-A US air base
in Jordan was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles on Tuesday, Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, while calling on Jordanians to
dismantle American bases in the kingdom.“You know very well that not
only do we not have any enmity with your country, but we also love you,
the noble people, who understand the pain and oppression of the
Palestinian people more than any other nation,” the IRGC said in a
statement carried by Fars News.Jordan’s armed forces said on Tuesday
they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered Jordanian
airspace from Iranian territory, according to state news agency.The
United Arab Emirate’ Defense Ministry said early Tuesday that Iran
attacked two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one mariner and
wounding eight.The Emirati Defense Ministry said Iran launched two
cruise missiles at the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah. The attacks set
both tankers ablaze, though the fires were extinguished.Iran’s
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed the attack on the tankers,
saying the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.”“They chose to pass
through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the
Guard said.The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers
killed one Indian national and wounded six Indians and two
Ukrainians.“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this
escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory,
its citizens and residents,” the Defense Ministry added.The Emirates
used similar language before launching attacks against Iran during the
war. Fighter jets could be heard overheard Tuesday morning in
Dubai.Bahrain also came under renewed attack on Tuesday morning as Iran
retaliated over the latest round of US airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its
missile alert sirens three times, urging the public to seek shelter.
Explosions were heard in the Bahraini capital Manama. There was no word
on any damage or casualties from the attack.Yesterday, using multiple
one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a
submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran. Three Corsair unmanned
surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the
first time American forces have employed sea… pic.twitter.com/bOM2kmgRxz
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 13, 2026-Overnight, US forces
completed their latest wave of strikes on Iran, which the US Central
Command began earlier in the day at Trump’s direction.The five hours of
US strikes were the third consecutive night of attacks against Iran as
Trump reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping and proposed charging a
20% fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz.Iranian media reported strikes on a
number of the cities and said four people had been wounded and rescue
operations were underway.But on Tuesday, oil minister Mohsen Paknejad
insisted Iran’s oil exports were continuing as usual.‘They didn’t honor
the test’Trump earlier told the “Hugh Hewitt Show” on Monday that Iran
would be hit “very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard
tomorrow. And there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”The latest
hostilities come after Iran said at the weekend it was closing the
Strait of Hormuz, casting further doubt on an interim deal to halt the
war and driving oil prices higher.Trump said Monday he would probably
soon order a strike on the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site.Asked about
Pickaxe, which was not among the three nuclear facilities targeted by
the US last year, Trump said the US was closely surveilling it.“Pickaxe
is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door,”
he said. “We see no activity there. They’re not doing well with their
nuclear situation… We’ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively
soon.”Satellite images released earlier this month showed recent
construction and vehicle activity at Pickaxe, which is tunneled into a
mountain near the main Natanz nuclear facility. The exact purpose of the
site is not known, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy
Agency have never been granted access.According to the Institute for
Science and International Security, there has been persistent activity
at Pickaxe since April, when a ceasefire was declared in the US-Israeli
war with Iran. The think tank argued that any work carried out at the
site violates the memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and
Tehran.In the interview Monday, Trump downplayed the importance of that
MOU, saying it was just a “test” that did not mean very much because the
US was dealing with dishonorable “sleazebags” who did not adhere to its
terms. Trump said he questioned why the US was entering into a deal to
create a ceasefire with Iran rather than moving toward a full deal
first, after declaring last week the ceasefire was “over.”“They didn’t
honor the test,” he said.Tehran lodged a similar accusation at the US,
while claiming the MOU acknowledged its control over the Strait of
Hormuz, legitimizing its demand that ships crossing through the channel
follow its rules.Asked to respond to claims by Israeli journalists that
he has thrown Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the bus through
the MOU, the terms of which have sparked profound concern in Israel,
Trump insisted that was not the case, claiming that he gets along with
the Israeli premier very well.“Sometimes I disagree with him, and I let
it be known, and I’ve been right,” Trump said, before reiterating that
Netanyahu has done a good job as a “wartime prime minister” and that
Israel would not exist today if the two of them were not in power.With
Israeli elections approaching, Trump was also asked whether someone in
Israel could do a better job than Netanyahu. The US president said he
did not know most of the alternatives, but that he had a good
relationship with Netanyahu.Pressed on whether he should greenlight
resumed Israeli conflicts Hamas and Hezbollah, Trump claimed the US has
made a “lot of progress” toward getting Hamas to disarm and again touted
the terror group for helping recover the bodies of slain Israeli
hostages.‘Reimbursed for protection’Speaking later Monday at the White
House, Trump said he wanted the US to be reimbursed by Gulf countries in
the region for working to secure the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing
Iranian attacks there, as he provided new details on his administration
doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls for ships going
through the key waterway, after previously suggesting that it
wouldn’t.“I want to be reimbursed because we’re protecting a very rich
portion of the world. We’re spending money, so… we are going to be
reimbursed for protection,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office,
singling out Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait as
countries that the US has protected.Many of those Gulf countries have
privately faulted the US for launching a war against Iran without
coordinating with them and without a plan for what it would do when Iran
closed the Strait of Hormuz. Those countries have since found
themselves bearing the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.Trump spoke
about the US “protecting allies… including Israel, including Saudi
Arabia, including Qatar, including UAE. We’re protecting all of them,
and we’ve done a very effective job.”Asked if he thought that it would
be possible to reach a settlement with Iran, Trump responded, “I never
reached that conclusion. But we’re hitting them very heavy
tonight.”“They’re going to fight for a while… and we’ll see what
happens,” he said.The US military said its latest strikes were aimed at
“imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrading their ability to
attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of
Hormuz.”“During the five-hour mission, US forces successfully struck
military targets across Iran including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask,
Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas to further degrade Iran’s ability to
attack commercial shipping,” US Central Command later said in a
statement. “CENTCOM forces employed precision munitions against Iranian
coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime
capabilities.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Analysis
'Iran thinks it won the war and holds the better cards'Iran’s strikes
show its priority is flexing muscle on Hormuz, not dealing with
Trump-Tehran looked to reap massive rewards from the MOU it signed with
the US; now it’s risking throwing that all away, as it shuts down the
key waterway and attacks US bases and allies-By Lazar Berman-14 July
2026, 5:00 pm
One would think Iran would be happy with the new
postwar reality.After successfully using strikes on neighbors and
threats against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to spook Donald Trump
into halting his military campaign in April, the US president signed a
memorandum of understanding that achieved none of the US-Israeli war
aims, imposed a stop to Israel’s fight against Hezbollah, required no
concessions on Iran’s nuclear program, and opened the door for billions
of dollars of sanctions relief.The regime in Tehran is reasonably
secure, its proxies have survived, and after withstanding over a month
of heavy fire, its regional position is stronger than it was before the
war.During negotiations, Iran’s leaders were able to bask in Trump
calling them “very rational people” who are “nice to deal with.”Now they
seem to be doing everything they can to convince Trump they are
anything but.Trump’s main achievement with the MOU was getting the
Iranians to agree to open Hormuz, but on July 7, Tehran struck three
commercial oil tankers in the vital strait, leading to US strikes
against dozens of Iranian military sites.Iran could have let the
flare-up end there, but it escalated, launching missiles and drones that
it said hit 85 US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait.Now, Trump is
singing a different tune. He raised the possibility that the US-Iran MOU
“is over” and called the same Iranian leaders “scum” and “vicious,
violent people.” And he said on Monday that the US was reinstating its
blockade on Iranian oil.Meanwhile, Iran continues to escalate, declaring
Hormuz totally closed and targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers
associated with the United Arab Emirates early Tuesday alone.To
outsiders, it looks like Iran got 20 at the blackjack table and decided
to hit. But for the Islamic Republic, it’s worth the risk of busting the
MOU and ceasefire to show the world who holds the cards over the
all-important Strait of Hormuz.Iran “seems to be prioritizing its
control over the Strait of Hormuz over avoiding a return to the
conflict,” said Annika Ganzeveld of the Critical Threats Project in
Washington.It’s all about that strait-To Iran’s new leadership, there is
one result from its recent — and its in eyes, victorious — fight
against the US and Israel that stands out above all others.“Hormuz is
the most meaningful achievement of the war for Iran,” said Raz Zimmt, an
Iran scholar at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel
Aviv.The strait is one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the
waterway before the war began.For decades, despite territorial claims by
both Iran and Oman, vessels from around the world have traversed the
strait freely under a 1973 traffic separation program defining inbound
and outbound shipping lanes.Though freedom of navigation through Hormuz
was usually respected, the Islamic Republic has used threats to close it
as a bargaining chip, and has attacked ships on multiple occasions,
particularly during the Iran-Iraq War.It was no secret that Iran would
try to shut down the vital strait in the event of a US attack on the
country in order to inflict pain on the world economy, thereby
increasing pressure on the White House to end its campaign.Days before
the start of the US-Israeli campaign in February, Iran temporarily
closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, citing live fire exercises it
dubbed “Smart Control of the Strait of Hormuz.” It was a clear warning
of what would happen if Trump followed through on his threats against
the country.It didn’t take long for Iran to make good on its threat.
Hours into the war that began on February 28, Iran warned ships that
they would not be able to pass through the strait. It was carrying out
deadly attacks on civilian ships by March 1, and two days later, an
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps senior official said that the Strait
of Hormuz was closed, threatening that if any vessels passed through it,
Iran “will set those ships ablaze.”On March 4, the IRGC declared that
Iran had achieved “complete control” of the waterway.Though shipping
traffic dropped off dramatically, Iranian attacks on ships continued
throughout March. The closure sent oil prices skyward as economies
around the world shuddered.After the April ceasefire between the US and
Iran, and a subsequent one between Israel and Hezbollah, Tehran briefly
declared the strait open on April 17, then swiftly reversed course after
the US said it would keep its own blockade on Iranian ports in
place.Ever since it showed it can control the strait, Iran has sought
for the international community to recognize its administration of the
waterway.On May 5, it established the so-called Persian Gulf Strait
Authority, demanding that ships apply for transit permits from the IRGC
and pay a hefty fee. This formalized a payoff scheme that analysts said
had been ongoing for much of the war.In June, the US and Iran signed a
memorandum aimed at ending the war for good. The document had little to
say about Iran’s nuclear program or missile buildup, but included
several passages on Hormuz.The problem is that the US and Iran appear to
understand those sections very differently.Divergent readings-At the
heart of the dispute is the MOU’s 5th article, which declares that Iran
“will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of
commercial vessels with no charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian
Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa.”It further states that Iran will
hold talks with Oman to “define the future administration and maritime
services in the Strait of Hormuz in discussion with other Persian Gulf
littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the
sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.”Iran reads
those clauses as giving it authority to determine how and which ships
transit, and empowering it to make new arrangements with Oman about
controlling the strait, including charging fees to ships passing
through.The US, meanwhile, sees them as prohibiting Iran from doing
anything that could interfere with safe passage, including firing at
ships and laying mines.It wants to make sure the new order reflects how
Iranians see reality-Now Iran is looking to make sure that it imposes
its understanding on everyone else.“It is using negotiations to
consolidate its achievement in the war into a more meaningful
agreement,” said Zimmt. “It wants to make sure the new order reflects
how Iranians see reality.”With dozens of vessels crossing a southern
corridor through the strait in Omani waters every day, guided by the US
Navy, Iran saw its leverage in talks slipping, and with it a formal
recognition of its permanent control over Hormuz.“Iran is attacking
shipping to deter anyone who wants to sail out from the Gulf and test
Iran’s control,” said Jonathan Ruhe of the Jewish Institute for National
Security of America.Now it is essentially daring Trump to resume a war
it knows he wants out of, while flexing its ability to continue
controlling a chokepoint that represents a singularly lucrative source
of funding that rivals the frozen assets the US has promised to release,
without the baggage of significant concessions.The strategy “reflects
longstanding Iranian practice, where it tries to gauge and erode US
resolve by ramping up pressure against perceived American weak points,”
Ruhe said.A new normal-Is the Gulf entering an era of regular strikes
from the US military on Iran, and from Tehran on Arab neighbors? It
certainly could be.The past week has only underscored how far apart the
two sides are on Hormuz, to say nothing of other sticking points
referenced in the MOU, making a comprehensive follow-up deal vanishingly
unlikely.Iran has said it is entirely unwilling to make the minimum
concessions on its nuclear program that would meet Trump’s demands,
including on ending enrichment and removing highly enriched uranium.Iran
also sees the June 26 Israel-Lebanon-US agreement that demands the
disarming of Hezbollah and allows the IDF to remain in Lebanon until the
Lebanese army clears it of Hezbollah weapons, as a violation of its MOU
with the US, which explicitly called for an end to the fighting in
Lebanon.“Similar to his Gaza plan, Trump got everyone to stop shooting
by leaving all the tough questions for later,” said Ruhe, “which creates
real tension between reaching a ceasefire and maintaining it.”Neither
the US nor Iran seem to want a return to full-fledged fighting. For
Trump, it is a danger ahead of the midterms, and would be evidence that
his determination to pursue diplomacy with Tehran was folly.“Trump, and
his party, would like the war’s economic costs to recede before
midterms,” said Ruhe. “Iran seems less concerned, since it thinks it won
the last war and now holds the better cards.”Still, Iran would prefer
to rebuild its badly damaged arsenal, sell oil, and collect fees from
Hormuz traffic than face another intensive bombing campaign across the
country.At the same time, Tehran is showing that it is certainly willing
to push the envelope.It knows that it survived weeks of a carefully
planned bombing campaign by Israel and the US, and can withstand
whatever they might throw at it in the near future, which would likely
be far more limited in terms of time and scope.With bombs and drones
flying around, there is always the possibility of escalation. Iran could
kill American troops with its attacks on US bases, or might decide to
target Israel, which would lead to an Israeli response.Iran has avoided
doing so during the latest escalation. Unlike the Gulf states, Israel is
willing, even eager, and capable of responding in force, and pressure
on Jerusalem won’t improve Tehran’s position in Hormuz.The current
reality is actually favorable for Israel, which is unlikely to face the
brunt of Iranian attacks thanks to its willingness to hit back.Iran will
get no massive sanctions relief, while the US continues to slowly
degrade Tehran’s military capabilities. The restoration of the blockade
could deprive Iran of hundreds of millions of dollars in oil sales every
day.The threat that Iran poses will continue to be underscored to Arab
countries, raising support for measures that weaken Tehran’s proxies in
Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon.On a public diplomacy front, it will be far
harder to blame the Jewish state for ostensibly dragging Trump into war
when the president has bent over backwards to keep a diplomatic process
with Iran alive, and has been met by repeated Iranian attacks on US
bases and allies.If that happens, it will be evidence that Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played his cards right — avoiding public
criticism of Trump, refraining from hitting Iran, maintaining pressure
on Hezbollah, and agreeing to US requests to embark on a diplomatic
initiative in Lebanon — after being dealt a horrendous hand when Trump
put a premature end to the US-Israeli military campaign.
Explainer-So
who actually controls the Strait of Hormuz? Both US and Iran claim to
be ‘guardian’ of the key waterway, with Trump declaring US will reimpose
blockade and charge fees on shipping while Tehran attacks vessels not
using its preferred route-By MAE ANDERSON 14 July 2026, 6:22 am
AP
— A focal point of the Iran war is increasingly about who controls the
Strait of Hormuz — a narrow, elbow-shaped waterway that for decades was a
relatively safe and reliable transit route for Middle East oil and
natural gas supplies.By saying that an interim ceasefire gave it the
right to establish the terms under which ships traversed the strait, and
threatening and firing upon vessels that did not use its preferred
route, Iran has sought to exert control over the waterway and gain
negotiating leverage with the United States.On Monday, US President
Donald Trump sought to tip the scales. He reimposed a blockade on Iran
and said the United States controls the strait and would charge fees to
ships for safe passage — essentially borrowing from the Iranian
playbook.The announcement came as the US and Iran have been ramping up
attacks against each other to assert control over the strait,
threatening a return to all-out war.The world has long considered the
strait — which passes the coastlines of Iran and Oman — a free-to-use,
international waterway. But soon after it was attacked by the US and
Israel on February 28, Iran claimed sovereignty over it, disrupting
world energy markets and driving up prices.Here’s a closer look at the
facts.Both Iran and the US say they control the Strait of Hormuz-In a
posting on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said the US “will be, from this
point forward, known as THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT.”Iran’s
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the Islamic Republic’s
ballistic missile arsenal, says Tehran controls the strait. “We will not
allow a rogue and child-killing army from the other side of the world
to continue its illegal interference in it,” the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps said Sunday.According to the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, established in 1982, no country has the right to
claim international waters and all ships have the right of unimpeded
passage.Even though the US and Iran haven’t ratified the convention,
“that doesn’t matter, because this has become part of universal custom,
so all states can rely on it under all circumstances,” said Marc Weller,
director of the International Law Program at the University of
Cambridge.Still, both Iran and the US have been using tools to exert
control over the strait and constrain traffic.“You have two nations,
both of which are very capable — the US, because it has the most
powerful Navy in the world, and Iran, which is geographically well
positioned to disrupt commerce throughout the Strait of Hormuz — (and)
can exercise a significant degree of control,” said Raymond Waid, who
leads the maritime industry group at law firm Liskow & Lewis in New
Orleans and is a former Navy officer.Maritime data agency Kpler said
crossings declined by around 52% between Friday and Monday compared with
the same period a week ago. About 14 ships passed through the strait on
Sunday; before the war, about 130 ships passed through the strait
daily.Iran says it has made ‘sincere’ efforts to ensure safe
shipping-The ability to disrupt shipping in the strait gives Iran
leverage over the global economy.Tehran used this leverage early in the
war by attacking transiting ships and demanding payment in some cases to
allow vessels through. Just the fear of being attacked by Iranian
drones or speedboats was enough to deter ship traffic.After an interim
ceasefire was announced last month, Iran insisted that ships register
with the recently created Persian Gulf Strait Authority to have their
crews and cargo vetted.Iran also is demanding that ships only use a
route near its coastline instead of a southern route along the coast of
Oman, where the US military had started guiding ships through. The
central part of the strait has been mined by Iran, so few vessels have
tried to pass using that route.Tehran is suspected of attacking ships
that have used the Oman route. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade
Operations Center, which issues maritime security alerts, said it
received reports of six ships attacked in the strait near Oman since
June 25.Iranian officials assert the right to manage traffic through the
strait-Washington and Tehran have debated what they agreed to regarding
the strait. US officials say the interim agreement signed last month
called for the strait to be reopened while a more permanent resolution
to the war was negotiated.Iranian officials have said a clause in the
interim deal gave them the right to manage ship traffic and that, so
long as they didn’t charge fees for 60 days, it was up to them to decide
operating conditions.The interim agreement stated that Iran will “make
arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial
vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea
of Oman and vice versa.“ It also called for Iran to ”conduct dialog
with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and
maritime services in the strait.”The US now says it will charge a fee
for safe passage-The US said Monday it will charge a 20% toll on cargo
shipped through the strait “for any and all costs necessary to do the
job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of
the World.”That’s something the US previously opposed, and any attempt
by the US or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom
of navigation.The new US plan echoes an earlier Iranian claim — which it
opposed — that said it might charge tolls that could reach as high as
$2 million per vessel.Countries can levy fees on ships for a specific
service when passing through an international strait, said Weller, the
international law professor. For example, Chile collects fees in the
Strait of Magellan for pilotage and other services that ensure safe
passage, he said.“A fee would be possible, but it has to be a fee
commensurate with the actual service granted,” he said. “So it’s not
anything Iran should earn money off. It’s not $2 million per vessel or
something like that.”The International Maritime Organization, the United
Nations agency which oversees safety and security measures in
international shipping, said the group was waiting to find out more
about Trump’s proposal but said its stance against tolls for passage
remains unchanged.Late Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
used Trump’s support for tolls to mock him and legitimize Iran’s
position.“POTUS is absolutely right,” he posted on X. “Whoever provides
secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of
Hormuz should be compensated for this service … 20% is of course too
much. We will be fair.”
I’ll save the energy targets for last'US
reimposes naval blockade as Trump threatens to ramp up strikes on Iran:
‘You better make a deal’US president demands Iranians ‘get to the table
and negotiate’ while at same time saying his negotiators just spoke with
Tehran; Iran claims overnight attacks on Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain-By
Agencies and Jacob Magid-Today, 4:14 amUpdated at 5:48 am-JUL 15,26
US
President Donald Trump on Tuesday reimposed a naval blockade of all
Iranian ports and threatened to hit power plants and bridges next week
unless Tehran resumes negotiations, as the interim ceasefire deal
unravels and concerns grow about a return to all-out war.The US first
imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day
after the signing of the interim deal aimed at permanently ending the
war. The deal set a 60-day timeline to negotiate an agreement on Iran’s
nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has
intensified, with Tehran proclaiming last week that it again closed the
Strait of Hormuz.There are at least 19 US warships in the Arabian Sea,
including two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship with more
than 1,000 Marines aboard. US Central Command also said in a social
media post that there are “hundreds of military aircraft operating
across the Middle East.”Before renewing the blockade, US Central Command
announced another series of strikes, hitting “missile and drone sites,
naval capabilities and coastal defense systems during the seven-hour
wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping
and civilian crews.”“US forces are holding Iran accountable for
unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” said
Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads US Central Command.According to Cooper, Iran
intentionally attacked seven commercial ships over the past seven days
resulting in “nearly a dozen” civilian crew members killed, injured or
missing. He said Iran also launched dozens of missiles and drones at
neighboring Gulf countries, including early Wednesday as Iranian forces
claimed attacks on US positions at Jordan’s Azraq base and in Bahrain
and Kuwait.There were reports of injuries; material damage was reported
in Kuwait from a fire caused by an Iranian attack, while Jordan said it
intercepted three Iranian missiles fired at the kingdom.Iran’s deputy
foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi,
said in an interview aired by IRIB, Iran’s state broadcaster, that the
US was seeking to prevent Tehran from exercising what he described as
“effective sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed would remain closed “until the United
States ends its acts of aggression.”Trump told Fox News in an interview
that aired Tuesday night on “Special Report with Bret Baier”: “We’re
going to hit them very hard tonight. We’re going to hit them very hard
tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and
then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the
power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all
their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless
they get to the table and negotiate.”He added, “I’ll save the energy
targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets.”Trump has
threatened numerous times to bomb Iranian energy sites only to hold off
in the end, apparently due to concerns that doing so would result in
Iran becoming a failed state — a scenario the US is looking to
avoid.Listing Trump’s war aims as preventing Iran from obtaining a
nuclear weapon, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and to degrade Iran’s
military capabilities, Baier asked if they can be accomplished through
an air campaign alone.Trump claimed his war aims have actually already
been achieved even though the US has not secured Iran’s stockpiles of
enriched uranium and traffic through Hormuz is only at 10% of prewar
levels.“It’s open if people want to go through it,” Trump said.As for
Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Trump again downplayed the
importance of securing it, saying the US was surveilling Iran’s nuclear
sites.Asked whether the US was capable of striking the nuclear site deep
underground at Pickaxe Mountain, Trump responded, “Nobody knows about
Pickaxe,” before insisting the US was watching that site too and could
act if needed.Trump gave a similar answer regarding the Taleghan
facility outside Tehran, which satellite imagery suggests Iran has
started repairing since it was struck during the war. “We can hit that
one very easily,” the president claimed.Asked if he has been negotiating
with the right people in Iran, Trump said he does not want to negotiate
anymore because Iran purportedly reneged on a deal over the weekend.But
seconds later, he said his aides have been talking to Iranian
negotiators in just the past hour.Asked what message the US passed along
to Iran, Trump said, “You better make a deal. You’re not going to have
anybody left. We’re being very careful with the civilian population, but
you better make a deal [or] you’re not going to have anything
left.”According to two regional officials, mediators are still trying to
get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table. The
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate
diplomatic process, said Pakistan-led mediation was working around the
clock to reactivate the ceasefire.Trump drops proposed Hormuz-fee for
Gulf investment in US-When Trump announced the return of the blockade
Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through
the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before
resuming the blockade, saying he was called by “kings and emirs” who
suggested an alternate arrangement.“They said we’d love to do it a
different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions
and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval
Office.Trump said he preferred that arrangement to charging tolls
“because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the
strait.”It was unclear if the investment deals would be new commitments
relative to what Trump announced after a visit last year to the Middle
East.Trump’s plan to charge fees would have been a change to
longstanding US policy and a departure from US promises that the strait
would remain open to all without tolls — recently offered by US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a trip to the region.Under the interim
deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of
charge for 60 days — but the agreement left open what would happen
after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic and potentially
charge fees. The US has disputed that.The price for a barrel of Brent
crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $87 early Tuesday,
still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war. The
price dipped to $78 in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement that he had
changed course.
Netanyahu warns of ‘far more powerful’ response
than before if Iran attacks-Trump backtracks on plan for US Hormuz fees;
more explosions heard at Iranian sites, Kuwait intercepts projectiles;
European aviation authority warns airlines to avoid region By Lazar
Berman,Jacob Magid-and Agencies 14 July 2026, 9:18 pm
As Iran
again targeted US allies across the Middle East, including Israel’s
neighbor Jordan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran on
Tuesday that Jerusalem would respond overwhelmingly to a strike on its
territory.“We are prepared for every scenario,” he said at a conference
in the Negev city of Dimona.“I have one message for Iran’s leaders: Do
not count on there being calm if you attack us,” he continued. “Do not
expect a repeat of what happened before, because there will be no
repeat. The previous response was powerful enough, but any further
attempt to harm us will be met with a different response — far more
powerful.”Israel struck Iranian petrochemical facilities in southwest
Iran on June 8 in response to Iranian missile attacks on Israel, after
which a ceasefire was quickly reinstated under US pressure.“The days
when someone can attack us without paying a heavy price are over,” said
Netanyahu. “We proved that in confronting Iran’s axis of evil, and we
will continue to act decisively against anyone who harms us. That is how
we have acted, and that is how we will continue to act.”Iran has so far
not made good on its threat last week to target Israel as well if
American strikes persist.The US launched strikes on Iran early in the
morning, hours after US President Donald Trump said Washington was
“reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, as the two
countries have repeatedly skirmished over the past few days.Iran
responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three ships
traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight.
Two of the vessels were tankers associated with the United Arab
Emirates, which threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially
drawing the Gulf nation back into fighting with Tehran.Hours after the
US said it ended its campaign of strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on
the Persian Gulf was hit in at least four locations, the state-run IRNA
news agency reported. It again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab
states were attacking Iran in retaliation.“Four points in the city of
Bushehr were hit by enemy projectiles at noon (0830 GMT),” deputy
provincial governor Ehsan Jahanian was quoted by official news agency
IRNA as saying, blaming the attacks on the United States.Also, Iranian
state television reported that five explosions were heard around the
port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz.Explosions were
also heard on Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm, in the strait, the Fars news
agency reported.“In recent days, the Masan area of Qeshm has been
attacked several times by the American enemy,” Fars said.The Qeshm
governor’s office said the island was hit by a US projectile, state
media reported.During the evening, Kuwait said it was intercepting
projectiles over its airspace.“The General Staff of the Kuwait Armed
Forces announces that any explosions are the result of the Air Defense
systems intercepting hostile attacks,” the army said in a statement,
also referring to “hostile aerial targets” without further details.Trump
backtracks on Hormuz passage fees-Meanwhile, Trump announced a reversal
of plans to charge a 20 percent fee on cargo going through the Strait,
saying that Middle Eastern countries will instead make investment and
trade deals with the US.“Based on highly productive conversations with
Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States
Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf
States will be making into the United States,” Trump said on social
media.The president said the investments “will be MASSIVE,” though it
was unclear if these would be new commitments relative to what Trump
announced after a visit last year to the Middle East.Trump also claimed
oil is “flowing like never before” out of the Strait of Hormuz, thanks
to the US military efforts in the region, adding that a blockade of
Iranian ports was now in place.Before Trump announced his reversal on
fees, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that Tehran was
the guardian of the strait and would remain so “forever,” adding in
response to Trump: “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”Trump
met with Iraq’s new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House. US
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was to meet Jordan’s Foreign Minister
Ayman Safadi at the State Department. Jordan has come under repeated
missile attack by Iran over the past week.The focus of the conflict now
is the strait, through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural
gas passed in peacetime. Iran effectively shut the passage during the
war by attacking and threatening ships — a tactic that proved its
greatest strategic advantage. It sent the price of oil, fertilizer and
other goods soaring at a time when world leaders were already struggling
to address rising costs.An interim deal signed last month was supposed
to reopen the waterway, but Iran has attacked ships moving through the
strait on a route overseen by the US military that is outside Tehran’s
control.The two targeted ships, both associated with the UAE, were set
ablaze for a time. The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the
tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah killed one mariner and wounded eight
others.Dutch shipping firm Stolt Tankers said that one of its ships came
under attack. The attack on the Stolt Magnesium off Oman sparked a fire
in the engine room, but the company said all the mariners were safe.As
the flare-up showed no signs of petering out, the European Union
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) reinstated and toughened its warning to
airlines operating in the Middle East, telling them to avoid the
airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the
Gulf of Oman.Just a week ago, EASA withdrew its previous advisory
following a brief easing of regional tensions as a result of last
month’s interim ceasefire between Tehran and Washington. That warning
had asked airlines to exercise caution when operating within the
airspace of these countries, as well as Israel, Jordan, Oman and Saudi
Arabia.The new, more restrictive advisory is valid until July 29.“The
presence of major US military facilities in the region increases the
likelihood that the states covered by this Conflict Zone Information
Bulletin may be directly exposed to Iranian missile and drone attacks,”
EASA said, citing also the risk of misidentification of civil aircraft
by US and other air defence systems.Separately, EASA’s advisory asking
airlines not to operate within the airspace of Iran, Iraq and Lebanon
was extended last week until the end of August.Mediation efforts still
underway-Regional mediators are still trying to get the United States
and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to two regional
officials.The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss
the delicate diplomatic process, said Pakistan-led mediation was working
around the clock to reactivate the ceasefire.Meanwhile, Lebanese and
Israeli delegations met in Rome to continue US-mediated negotiations.
Shortly after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, the
Lebanese terror group Hezbollah joined the conflict in support of its
ally, Iran, and began attacking Israel. Israel responded with a ground
invasion of Lebanon.Last month, Lebanon and Israel announced a
“framework agreement” outlining the withdrawal of Israeli forces from
southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah.Implementation has stalled.
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.
LUKE 19:40
40 And He answered and said unto them, “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
NETANYAHU I HOPE YOU DO NOT LISTEN TO TRUMP IN THIS SITUATION.KEEP YOUR TROOPS IN SYRIA/LEBANON.GOD IS GIVING USE SYRIA/LEBANON AS SOME OF YOUR PROMISED LAND.
Trump said to urge Netanyahu to pull Israeli troops from Syria, Lebanon in recent call-US leader reportedly told PM ‘they don’t want you there’; Jerusalem and Beirut hold talks on IDF withdrawals from ‘pilot zones,’ with FM Sa’ar saying Israel is ready to move ahead By Stav Levaton,Jacob Magid and Agencies Today, 1:11 am-JUL 15,26
US President Donald Trump urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call last week to begin withdrawing Israeli troops from southern Syria and Lebanon, Barak Ravid of Channel 12 and Axios reported Tuesday, citing American and Israeli officials.According to the report on the Thursday call, Trump warned that Israel’s military presence in Syrian territory is creating tensions that could lead to an escalation, telling Netanyahu, “They don’t want you there. You should redeploy.” He reportedly made a similar request regarding Lebanon.Netanyahu was said to have pushed back, citing Israel’s security needs.According to the report, Washington sought a security agreement between Israel and Syria for months but eventually came to the conclusion that Netanyahu was not willing to meet the necessary terms, including pulling troops out of Syria.The Prime Minister’s Office said last week that during the call, Netanyahu stressed “the need for security zones along Israel’s borders,” while the White House declined to comment on the substance of the report but highlighted Trump’s “strong relationship” with Netanyahu and described the US president as “a fighter for peace.”Last month, Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from two designated “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon as part of ongoing negotiations with Beirut to allow the Lebanese Armed Forces to assume security control in those areas, with the aim of ensuring that it is clear of Hezbollah weapons. But two and a half weeks have passed and Israel has yet to pull out from either pilot zone, slowing talks between the sides.A further round of US-sponsored direct talks between Israel and Lebanon was held in Rome on Tuesday, with Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter leading Jerusalem’s delegation.A State Department spokesperson said talks “were productive and held in a positive atmosphere.”“Both sides are eager to move forward. Today’s conversations will continue tomorrow,” the spokesperson added.The sides discussed the implementation of the first batch of Israeli withdrawals from the two pilot zones in southern Lebanon.Talks were to pick up on Wednesday for a second and final day of this round.Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he expects the ongoing talks with Lebanon to help implement the pilot zones.“We are ready to move forward implementing these two pilot zones. I hope and tend to believe that this round of discussions in Rome will promote it,” Sa’ar told journalists at a press conference in Jerusalem.US-led diplomacy started after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a war by attacking Israel in early March in support of Iran, which was facing a joint US-Israeli air campaign. Talks moved forward despite strong objections from the Iran-backed terror group, which believes only Iranian pressure on Washington can secure an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal.Iran demanded an end to the war in Lebanon as part of its interim deal with Washington signed last month, but the agreement has been strained over the last week by renewed US-Iranian hostilities in the Gulf. Israel was not party to those talks.Israel’s military is occupying what it describes as a “buffer zone” about 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Lebanon along the entire length of the Israeli border. Israeli officials say the zone is necessary to protect northern Israeli communities from attacks launched by Hezbollah.A June 26 meeting in Washington resulted in an agreement calling for an end to the Lebanon conflict, the disarmament of terror groups — an apparent reference to Hezbollah — as well as the deployment of Lebanese troops to the south and the progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces.But deadly clashes have continued and Hezbollah has rejected the agreement, as well as efforts to disarm it. Israel, meanwhile, has said its troops would remain in southern Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remained armed.Hezbollah has repeatedly attacked Israel across the border over the years with rockets and drones, disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of Israelis and triggering conflicts.Settlers enter Lebanon-Also Thursday, a group of settler activists — an adult and four minors — crossed the border into Lebanon before being escorted back to Israel by the Israel Defense Forces.According to the military, the group of girls was detected crossing the border by “several meters” near the community of Ghajar, which straddles the border.“Immediately after the detection, security forces launched searches in the area, and a short while later located the civilians and returned them to Israeli territory,” the IDF said.They were handed over to the police for further questioning.The group belongs to the Uri Tzafon Movement, a Religious Zionist organization that calls for settlement in southern Lebanon, in areas it claims belong to the Jewish people.On Monday, several Israeli settler activists again attempted to illegally cross the border into Syria in the southern Golan Heights.The military said troops stationed in the area prevented the civilians from crossing the border and detained them. They were then handed over to the police for further questioning.The activists, who call themselves the Bashan Pioneers, have attempted to enter Syria multiple times in the past year, while calling to establish settlements in the area. They have received support from coalition lawmakers.
Government says $431 million allocated last month for 34 new West Bank settlements-Ministers Smotrich and Strock declare a ‘day of celebration’ for plan that is ‘killing’ possibility of Palestinian state-By Jeremy Sharon-14 July 2026, 11:13 pm
The government announced Tuesday that NIS 1.3 billion ($431 million) was allocated by the security cabinet last month to fund the establishment of dozens of new West Bank settlements approved by Israel over the last three and a half years.The cabinet decision was formulated by the Prime Minister’s Office, and will be implemented by the Settlements Ministry and the Housing and Construction Ministry.Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Settlements Minister Orit Strock announced the details in a joint press conference, stating that the funds would be used to establish “pioneer neighborhoods” at the sites of newly approved settlements, which will include prefabricated homes, roads and infrastructure.Smotrich, who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, is the head of the Religious Zionism party that draws much of its support from settlements. He is also in charge of the Defense Ministry Settlement Administration, which oversees settlement activities in the West Bank.Declaring the cabinet’s decision historic and a “day of celebration for Israel and settlements,” Smotrich thanked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support.“We are strengthening the security of the State of Israel, killing the idea of establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold on the homeland in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank.“There has never been a Zionist-settlement decision of this size in the whole history of Zionism since it was founded,” Strock said.United Nations bodies, Palestinians and most countries view the settlements as illegal under international conventions — a stance rejected by Israel — and as a primary obstacle to peace. Palestinians want the West Bank and East Jerusalem as territory for their own future state.The government has, during its tenure, approved 103 new West Bank settlements, an unprecedented number in the history of the settlement movement.The expedited establishment of 34 new settlements will run in parallel to the usual settlement development process, Smotrich said, and appears designed to establish facts on the ground before any potential new government can reverse or stall the establishment of these settlements.“We are making sure that the decisions we made regarding the legalization and establishment of new settlements in Judea and Samaria do not remain on paper, but are translated into reality on the ground. One after another, we are passing budgetary government resolutions that allocate funding for roads, for infrastructure, and now also for buildings and caravans,” Smotrich said of the new settlement funding.He said another NIS 1.075 billion ($358.4 million) would be approved to pave roads to the new settlements.Anton Goodman from the Rabbis for Human Rights organization denounced the funding, saying the new settlements would further harm the ability of Palestinians to access their land.“These 34 outposts are ideological, and they will hold very few people. That is the point: Smotrich’s strategy is to take vast amounts of land with a minimal number of settlers,” said Goodman.“Palestinians will pay the price, in freedom of movement, in access to medical care, and in the ability to reach and farm their own private land.”Last month, the Axios outlet reported that the cabinet was set to approve dozens of new settlements.The move “could significantly reshape the map of the West Bank over the coming years,” the report said, as many of the settlements will be located in “strategically sensitive” areas such as the South Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley.By increasing its presence in these areas, Israel will further cement its grip on Area C of the West Bank, where it has full civilian and security control under the Oslo Accords, and which constitutes some 60 percent of the West Bank.In doing so, it will increase the isolation of Palestinian villages and hamlets and thus complicate any future attempts at implementing a two-state solution.Israel has not extended sovereignty to the West Bank, while refuting international objections to the settlements and arguing that it is a disputed territory where Jews have lived for thousands of years.
Hamas said to demand increased financial, diplomatic support from Iran-In talks on sidelines of Khamenei funeral last week, terror group reportedly asked for help rebuilding military capabilities and for its demands to be part of Iran’s talks with US By ToI Staff Today, 10:04 am-JUL 15,26
A delegation of top Hamas officials recently presented Tehran with a list of demands for increased diplomatic and financial support, according to a report Tuesday, as the ruling Gaza terror group seeks to strengthen its position amid an ongoing push by mediators to demilitarize the Palestinian enclave in accordance with a US-backed peace plan.The Hamas delegation, led by the head of its political bureau, Mohammed Ismail Darwish, met with senior Iranian leaders, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, on the sidelines of the funeral of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on July 4.The Hamas delegation, according to the Kan public broadcaster, used the meeting to present Tehran with a list of the terror group’s demands, which included using the Islamic Republic as a “diplomatic safety net” during negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war in Gaza.The terror group also asked Tehran to publicly reject any possibility of it being disarmed and removed from power in the war-torn Gaza Strip, the report said.Iran has for years provided support to Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated as terrorist groups by the United States and other Western nations, making itself the target of international sanctions.Hamas’s refusal to disarm and relinquish its power has stalled attempts to advance US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, with little progress having been made since a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, after two years of war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.Hamas has repeatedly insisted that it is not opposed to handing over some of its arsenal, but only as part of a Palestinian political process, which Israel has ruled out.The Hamas delegation also asked Tehran to link the Gaza Strip to any future negotiations with the United States, similar to the way it brought Lebanon and the Hezbollah terror group into its recent ceasefire negotiations with Washington.Specifically, the report said that Hamas asked Iran to include “ending Israeli erosion operations in the Gaza Strip” as a demand in any future negotiations with the US.Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in the Palestinian enclave despite the October 2025 ceasefire, saying it responds to imminent threats, and the IDF has continued to push out the boundaries of the area it still occupies in the Strip.Following the implementation of the October 2025 ceasefire, the IDF was left in control of around 53% of the Gaza Strip, but slowly increased its hold over the following months to around 60%. In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to keep pushing ahead until it holds 70 percent of the enclave.Beyond diplomatic support, Kan reported that Hamas also asked Tehran for increased financial and logistical support as it tries to rebuild its military capabilities, which were gutted by Israel during its two-year war with the terror group.Despite also facing the task of rebuilding damaged and destroyed infrastructure in Iran after the recent war with the US and Israel, the report said that the Iranian leadership agreed to all of Hamas’s demands and pledged that its support, both financial and diplomatic, would continue until “complete victory” had been achieved for the Palestinian cause.It also agreed to integrate Hamas’s demands and negotiating positions into its own negotiations with Washington, according to the report, although the talks have since stalled amid a renewed round of hostilities.
Movement for Quality Gov't petitions court to strike it down-Israel passes quasi-constitutional law declaring Torah study a foundational value-Defying outcry from legal officials, the IDF, reservists and opposition parties, coalition secures final approval of flagship Basic Law, which aims to help enable ongoing broad exemption of ultra-Orthodox young men from IDF serviceBy Ariela Karmel-14 July 2026, 12:31 am
The Knesset voted 63-52 on Monday to pass a deeply divisive Basic Law declaring Torah study a “foundational value” of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, following 10 hours of speeches and opposition filibustering, and despite resistance from the opposition, legal officials, reservists and some coalition lawmakers.The legislation makes Torah study the only value explicitly enshrined in one of Israel’s Basic Laws, giving it quasi-constitutional recognition. Haredi parties pushed to pass the law as part of their broader effort to preserve blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, while opponents argue it effectively elevates Torah study above all other national values.The law was framed to make it harder for the High Court of Justice to continue to rule that Haredi non-service is illegal and discriminatory, because it enshrines Torah study as an essential component of the state.The court ruled unanimously in 2024 that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted. The IDF has said repeatedly in recent months that it urgently needs 12,000 new recruits amid ongoing multi-front conflict since Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.While the final version of the legislation no longer explicitly equates Torah study with military service following pressure from some within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own Likud, opponents argue that even in its pared-down form, it intolerably seeks to legislatively anchor the ongoing broad exemption from IDF service of Haredi young men, elevating Torah study above other national values while the IDF is crying out for manpower and tens of thousands of reservists continue to serve in the ongoing war.“Today, a historic step has been taken in the State of Israel,” said United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, who co-sponsored the law. “This Basic Law will serve as the state’s moral compass and express the recognition that Torah study is not merely the heritage of the past, but the foundation upon which rests the present and future of the Jewish people on their land.”Shas party chairman Arye Deri celebrated, “This is a victory for the world of Torah and a clear answer to the ousted attorney general and everyone who sought to persecute and humiliate yeshiva students. You will not succeed in breaking the Jewish spirit. The holy Torah will prevail!”Deri called the law “a historic achievement,” declaring, “For the first time, the Jewish state recognized the supreme status of Torah study and of its students.”“I never dreamed that we would have to legislate a Basic Law to establish that Torah study is a foundational value in the State of Israel,” said United Torah Judaism chair Yitzhak Goldknopf before the plenum, during the debate before the vote.Likud MKs Yuli Edelstein and Dan Illouz voted against the legislation. Both have long opposed the bill and recently announced they are leaving Likud over the issue.“How characteristic of this coalition that it opens the last week [of Knesset legislation before October’s elections] with a Basic Law that is an utter desecration of God’s name,” fumed Opposition leader Yair Lapid from the Knesset podium before the vote. “This is how you are ending your term: by spitting in the face of IDF soldiers.”Added opposition MK Chili Tropper: “This house is behaving this week as though the war is over: It’s ok to look after draft dodgers. It’s ok to back the evasion of IDF service…. But the war is still here. Our soldiers are in Lebanon right now … and they see clearly that in this house, this week, draft dodgers are preferred to warriors.”Netanyahu stays away from vote; Eisenkot calls him a coward-Netanyahu was absent from the vote, prompting opposition Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot to write, “Coward. Here’s another stain, one that won’t be erased”The legislation is the first of several contentious measures expected to become law this week as part of a larger political deal struck last month between Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to break a legislative deadlock and solidify their alliance before the election.Under that agreement, the coalition is fast-tracking further legislation demanded by the Haredi parties, including bills temporarily freezing arrests and sanctions of draft dodgers, and restoring the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly over kosher certification.In return, the Haredi parties are backing legislation Netanyahu wants, including a bill that would give the government control over appointing a commission to investigate the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, attack as well as legislation significantly weakening the powers of the attorney general, one of the country’s only institutional checks on executive power.According to the Knesset’s weekly agenda, lawmakers are also expected to hold final votes in the coming days on Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s media overhaul bill, a measure to give the government control of the Kan public broadcaster’s budget, a bill establishing an official October 7 state memorial framework, and legislation expanding gender-segregated study tracks in higher education.All of the legislation and more is expected to pass by the end of the week, when the Knesset dissolves ahead of the October 27 general election.Opposition leaders roundly condemned the law’s passage, and in a rare joint statement ahead of the vote urged coalition lawmakers to vote against the legislation.“We call on coalition members to act responsibly and not vote in favor of seriously harming the IDF during a war, in defiance of the IDF chief of staff’s dramatic warning,” the statement read, referring to a harsh letter from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to lawmakers opposing legislation advancing in the Knesset to shield draft dodgers at a time of war.“Those who support the draft-evasion law will forever bear the shame of that vote in the eyes of the citizens of Israel who serve and work,” the opposition leaders added.The statement was signed by Lapid, Eisenkot, Tropper and Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists party, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the joint Together list, Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman, Democrats chairman Yair Golan.Notably absent was Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, which has broken with the rest of the opposition by refusing to rule out joining a future government led by Netanyahu. Gantz has also declined to state explicitly whether he would serve in a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties.But Gantz issued his own statement against the proposed Basic Law, saying it harms the value of mutual responsibility in Israel.“Torah study is an important and central value for the Jewish people, but the State of Israel must ensure that the value of service and defending our shared home will be protected,” wrote Gantz, a former IDF chief and defense minister. “There are no rights without responsibility, and no responsibility is placed only on part of the public.”Speaking at his faction meeting earlier in the day, Liberman called the legislative push a “fire sale of the State of Israel and all of our basic values.”Golan vowed to repeal the legislative agenda of the “most corrupt, extremist and violent coalition” in Israel’s history if elected, declaring that replacing “the laws of destruction” would be the first priority of the next parliament.“Instead of the Basic Law: Torah Study, which cynically exploits Basic Laws for political ends, we will complete Israel’s Basic Laws, strengthen democracy and lay the groundwork for a constitution,” he added.The Movement for Quality Government announced immediately following the vote that it had petitioned the High Court of Justice to strike down the Basic Law, arguing that it is an attempt to “turn draft evasion into a constitutional value.”“Behind the innocent name lies an attempt to write exemption from military service into Israel’s Basic Laws — to circumvent High Court rulings precisely as enforcement has begun to take effect and sanctions are increasing enlistment,” the organization said in a statement, arguing that “a Basic Law born of a political deal, enacted in haste and without genuine public debate, and seeking to institutionalize permanent discrimination, cannot stand.”The group also warned that the legislation is only “the first part of the plan,” pointing to separate coalition-backed legislation that would temporarily bar the arrest of yeshiva students who evade the draft. It argued that the two bills together amount to “a draft exemption law through the back door” and vowed to fight the measure “both in the Knesset and in the courts.”
Top Democrat in US House says he won’t support bill to cut off US aid to Israel-But Hakeem Jeffries urges ‘major reset’ in ties between Washington and Jerusalem, which he says ‘has an advanced economy and is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons’By Jacob Magid-and JTA Today, 2:28 am-JUL 15,26
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Tuesday informed fellow Democrats that he will vote against an amendment that aims to cut off US military aid to Israel.While the amendment to the fiscal 2027 spending bill for the State Department and overseas programs is certain to fail given overwhelming Republican support, it is seen as another bellwether of the Democratic Party’s rapidly waning support for Israel.A vote on the legislation could be held as early as Wednesday.In explaining why he cannot support the amendment, Jeffries faulted it as “overly broad in that it prohibits or would limit the use of funds for longstanding initiatives related to humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and US Embassy operations.”He argued in a letter to colleagues that the amendment submitted by Republican Representative Thomas Massie would “restrict our country’s ability to confront Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations in the region who are sworn enemies of both the United States and Israel.”However, Jeffries said that House leadership would not whip members to join him in opposing the amendment because there are “good faith reasons that will result in Members voting in a variety of different ways,” indicating that he is listening to shifting sentiment on Israel among Democratic voters and politicians. Jeffries’s relatively moderate, pro-Israel stance has sparked some left-wing Democrats to call for his replacement as leader.Moreover, Jeffries called for a “major reset” in US-Israel ties due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies over the years.“A meaningful change in direction is needed,” the House minority leader declared.The $3.3 billion targeted by Massie, an anti-Israel Republican who lost his primary in May, is part of the $3.8 billion that the US sends to Israel annually under its 10-year memorandum of understanding, which was signed by Barack Obama and expires in 2028. That aid is then used by Israel to purchase American-made weapons and equipment. Massie’s proposed amendment would strip Israel of all of the allocated aid, except the $500 million designated for missile defense programs such as the Iron Dome.“Minority Leader Jeffries opposes the Massie-Khanna amendment to cut $3 billion of aid to Israel, but leaves members of his party to vote their conscience,” Massie wrote on X. “My conscience is clear. I will vote against using American tax dollars to fund genocide.”Though Jeffries opposes Massie’s amendment, his letter suggested that the next MOU beginning in 2028 not include any military subsidies.“Israel has an advanced economy and is capable of paying for its own sophisticated weapons, as the Prime Minister recently acknowledged,” Jeffries wrote. Indeed, calls for the United States to end military aid to Israel have come from both a growing swath of the American left, as well as from the Israeli government and some American conservatives.Netanyahu has stated that he wants to begin winding down US military aid to Israel over the last two years of the Trump administration, transitioning the US-Israel relationship “from aid to partnership.”Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly this week, had been enthusiastically on board with the idea. He wrote in January that he’d like to “dramatically expedite the timetable” of Israel tapering off US military aid to become “more self-sufficient.”Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, wrote on X last month that the next MOU between the two countries “ends aid & will be based on trade.”Multiple progressive Democrats who are critical of Israel have said they plan to vote with Massie to cut aid, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Representative Greg Casar, despite concerns that the amendment will have an effect outside the bounds of military spending.“I am aware that the amendment as written may cut off both military weapons (~$3.3 billion) and some diplomatic funding (~$50 million),” Casar wrote on X. “While I would prefer to vote on an amendment that stripped just military funding, I think opposing the billions in military funding is what’s most important here.”The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, said in a statement that the Democratic leadership ignored voters who the group says increasingly want their representatives to halt US military aid to Israel. “Yet again, they’ve missed the opportunity to stand with voters — and if they do not adjust course, they will repeat the disastrous mistakes of 2024 in 2028,” said Margaret DeReus, the group’s executive director.Meanwhile, New York Representative Jerry Nadler, who is Congress’ most senior Jewish member, told The Hill last month that he opposes the amendment and called it “poorly drafted.” He added that it would have unintended consequences such as eliminating funding for US Embassy operations in the country. Democratic Representatives Greg Meeks and Adam Smith have also said they would vote no.After Jeffries announced his intention to vote no during a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday, pro-Israel Democratic Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Richard Neal commended Jeffries for standing up to the party’s growing pro-Palestinian wing, Axios reported.Brian Romick, CEO of the pro-Israel group Democratic Majority for Israel, wrote in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he disagreed with some of the points Jeffries made in his letter, but was pleased by Jeffries’s opposition to the amendment and urged other Democrats to follow suit.“While we do not agree with every policy outlined in Jeffries’ letter, we appreciate his commitment to ensuring that America’s support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state remains ironclad,” Romick wrote. He did not clarify where he specifically disagreed with Jeffries.AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group that has endorsed Jeffries and has become widely unpopular among Democrats, wrote to JTA that it supports Jeffries’s vote against “Massie’s reckless amendment” but did not address his remarks on the next MOU.Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal group J Street, which also endorsed Jeffries, wrote that J Street backs Jeffries’s decision and said the amendment is “being used by Republican leadership to divide Democrats rather than advance a serious debate about US policy.” But he also offered support to members who plan to vote in favor of the amendment, saying that this is “one of the few opportunities to cast a recorded vote” expressing opposition to how the Israeli government is utilizing American military assistance.
European Union seeks to advance trade ban on Israeli settlements-Foreign ministers debated various measures, but outright ban had the most support, EU policy chief Kaja Kallas says; opinions differ on approval needed for stricter sanctions-By Shira Li Bartov 14 July 2026, 9:47 pm
JTA — The European Union could be leaning toward banning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.Foreign ministers debated various tactics to respond to the settlements on Monday at their monthly council meeting in Brussels, against the backdrop of rising violence by settlers and efforts by the government to expand settlements in the territory.In a press conference following the meeting, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said one possibility had stood out.“The option that got the most support was banning the trade with illegal settlements,” she said. All 27 member states consider settlements in the West Bank to violate international law.Kallas added: “We tasked the ambassadors to take this work forward, and probably will also have an extraordinary meeting on this.”She said that the diplomats, at the request of the European Council, examined a range of measures to further limit trade with settlements in the West Bank as well as towns in the Golan Heights.No decisions have yet been made, and the path forward is uncertain. Some EU member nations favor aggressive action against the settlements, while others are unlikely to back any measures that take aim at Israel. A number are in the middle and have not decided whether they support trade bans.The level of agreement between European governments needed to enact a partial or full trade ban on settlements remains an open question. Kallas said it was the European Council’s legal opinion that voting on trade issues called for a qualified majority, meaning that 15 out of 27 states would have to vote in favor, representing at least 65 percent of the EU population.But she also acknowledged that legal experts disagreed about how much backing was needed for a trade ban. “You can always find different lawyers who come up with different ideas,” she said.Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Kallas of an “obsessive campaign against Israel” in a post on X.“There was no consensus. There was no qualified majority. In fact, there was no majority at all,” he wrote, adding: “Tricks like this do nothing to advance our shared interests.”The EU has hotly debated measures against Israel as settlements in the West Bank have expanded and settler violence has sharply intensified over recent years. The Israeli NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said in a report last week that “the current Israeli government has advanced de facto annexation of the West Bank at an unprecedented pace.”The ministers considered measures including a stricter export licensing system, higher tariffs and a partial or outright ban on goods produced over the pre-1967 lines. The options were first presented in a paper last week by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, as pressure mounted from European governments.Kallas said these potential moves were not “options against Israel,” but “options against the illegal settlements that undermined the two-state solution.” She told reporters before the meeting that member states had been pressing for a trade ban on settlements, saying: “Everyone agrees that the situation in the West Bank is really intolerable.”In May, the EU sanctioned “extremist and violent” Israeli settlers over violence against Palestinians after Hungary’s new government, led by Peter Magyar, gave its approval and allowed the states to reach a consensus.To protest the Gaza war, the commission last year proposed suspending the EU’s free trade agreement with Israel as set out under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the cornerstone of economic and political cooperation between Europe and the Jewish state. The proposal was not advanced because it lacked the majority support of 15 member states.The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for 33.1% of its imports and 29.4% of its exports in 2025, according to a summary on the European Commission website, which did not provide data on settler goods. The free trade agreement does not apply to goods originating from Israeli businesses located in territories seized from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War.Revoking the association agreement requires unanimous approval from the EU’s 27 member states, while a partial suspension, such as freezing the free trade agreement, calls for a qualified majority. Germany, Italy, Hungary and Czechia have consistently opposed such suspensions.Israel’s most vocal critics in Europe, including Ireland and Spain, have pushed for suspending the association agreement, along with proposing their own import bans at the national level. Ireland now holds the rotating presidency of the European Council, a six-month term that ends in December 2026.The legal basis of trade restrictions on Israel lies at the heart of debates in the EU. Support from a qualified majority is sufficient to enact a commercial policy, while changes in the common foreign and security policy — such as sanctions — require unanimity.Some legal scholars have argued that an EU ban on imports from settlements should be imposed as a trade measure rather than a sanction, making it easier to pass.A group of 40 scholars said in an open letter last month to Kallas, trade chief Maros Sefcovic and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen that a blanket ban on settlement imports had a legal basis under the EU’s common commercial policy. Claims that unanimity was needed for the prohibition were “grounded in political rather than legal considerations,” they said.The scholars also referenced an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in 2024, which said that Israel’s military control of the West Bank constituted an illegal occupation.“In that regard, it should be noted that the EU Court of Justice has ruled that, in its acts, the EU is ‘bound to observe international law in its entirety,’” they said.Daniel Mariaschin, Honorary CEO of the pro-Israel Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith International, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that reducing trade “would only weaken one of Europe’s most important partnerships in the region.”“There are those within the EU who are looking for any way to undercut Israel’s international standing, and this is yet another example,” Mariaschin said.Most of the international community views settlements as a violation of international law, a determination Israel disputes. Jerusalem annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, which the international community largely does not recognize.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
They who control time control the Jewish people-Power of 7: Could an ancient political feud explain Qumran sect’s faulty 364-day calendar? New theory offers a solution to one of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ longest-running puzzles, arguing the out-of-sync calendar was used for ideological reasons — until it felt safe to abandon it-By Zev Stub-Today, 5:56 am-JUL 15,26
For scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the mystery of the 364-day version of the solar calendar discussed extensively in the scrolls found in Qumran has remained an unsolved puzzle for decades. Was this flawed model of timekeeping, which lost 1.25 days every year, actually used in practice, or was it just a theoretical model? New research published by Prof. Eshbal Ratzon of the Department of Jewish Philosophy and the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University suggests a new approach: The calendar, which sat at the crux of a bitter dispute between the Qumran sect and the rabbinic Pharisee community some 2,100 years ago, was indeed used in Qumran, but was later abandoned when it drifted too far from the seasonal flow and political relations allowed for a smooth transition.The history of the strange calendar has to be understood in the context of the acrimony between the mainstream Pharisees and the Essenes and Sadducee movements at the time, Ratzon told The Times of Israel in a phone discussion. Her paper was recently published in the Tarbiz Quarterly for Jewish Studies.“There were several halachic disputes between the two sides at that time, including issues related to purity in the Temple, but most likely, they were all built around political and personal rivalries,” Ratzon said. “Many arguments can be resolved when there are good intentions, but in this case, they clearly wanted to split, and these issues were framed as the cause for separation.”By the time the Qumran sect, which many scholars associate with the Essene community, settled in caves in the desert near the Dead Sea, astronomers in Egypt and other civilizations had already established that the solar year was at least 365 days, even if they didn’t yet add a day every four years to account for the extra six hours in the Earth’s annual journey around the sun.(Israelites tracked their lifecycles according to the lunar calendar, in which 12 months equate to about 354 days and nine hours, but scholars had already developed a 19-year cycle of leap years to ensure that seasonal holidays remained broadly on time.) But a 364-day year fit better into what Qumran elders may have seen as a perfect divine order, Ratzon said. That number divided evenly into seven, and would thus allow every date to fall on the same day of the week every year. The first day of Passover, for example, would always fall on a Wednesday, simplifying scheduling challenges (and possibly shedding light on a Talmudic discussion about whether the counting of the Omer begins on Sunday or on the second day of the holiday).The problem with following a 364-day calendar, of course, is that it is a bit off from reality, and that 1.25-day divergence from reality adds up over time. Those following it would lose a month every 24 years, and after enough time, the spring festival would be held in the winter, or even in the fall. This posed a fundamental problem for an agricultural community whose lifecycle was defined by first fruits and harvest seasons.But the 364-year cycle is discussed frequently in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which serve as some of the most important documents in existence for understanding Jewish life in Israel in the third through first centuries BCE.The Book of Jubilees, a central work in the Qumran library, fiercely attacks the prevailing lunar calendar, presenting the 364-day calendar as the original calendar received by Moses on Mount Sinai, Ratzon noted. Another document calculates how the calendar restores dates to their proper season every 294 years — clearly indicating that the system didn’t have leap years built in.Making sense of the problem-Until now, scholars have put forth two central theories as to how the 364-day calendar was employed in practice.In the 1950s, Hebrew University professor Shemaryahu Talmon argued that the sect’s acceptance of the calendar was a radical and intentional rejection of the timetable accepted by the Jerusalem Temple elite. Controlling the calendar gave the community’s leaders immense political and theological power, and effectively barred their followers from worshiping at the Temple with their rabbinic brethren.A dramatic story found in the Pesher Habakkuk scroll may illustrate the intensity of this rift. According to the text, found only in the Qumran scrolls, a “wicked priest” in the Temple’s Rabbinic leadership tried to exile an early leader of the Qumran sect for trying to observe Yom Kippur on a completely different date than was traditionally observed.According to Talmon’s view, this tale would serve as a precedent for the dramatic split between the sects that would follow in the coming centuries, Ratzon said.Another scholar of the Hebrew calendar, University College London professor Sacha Stern, developed a different theory. Given the long-term untenability of the 364-day calendar, along with a lack of discussion of the calendar outside the Qumran scrolls, Stern suggests that the 364-day year served purely as a theoretical framework. According to this approach, this faulty calendar served as a philosophical ideal, but was never actually used.“I think this approach contradicts the evidence, though,” Ratzon said. “If that was the case, why would the priest in the story have been persecuted?”Ratzon, instead, offers a third approach. In her view, the 364-day calendar was actively used by the community in Qumran — until it became clear that it couldn’t be anymore.In her view, the calendar was probably first used when the residents of Qumran fled there in the mid-second century BCE. However, by the time Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (c.130 BCE-76 BCE) was firmly in power some 50 years later, the calendar had drifted by several months, and its flaws could no longer be ignored.Jannaeus, a violent leader whose reign was defined by constant conflict, embraced an approach to Jewish law that opposed that of the rabbinic Pharisees and aligned with the Qumran sect’s beliefs. That warmed diplomatic relations between the sides, as illustrated in a Qumran hymn found that praises Jannaeus, Ratzon said.“We have evidence that there was some sort of rapprochement at that time, which would have created a setting that allowed them to stop using their calendar and get closer to the Jerusalemite leadership,” she said. “It’s also possible that the first Qumran leaders, who were driven by their personal rivalry with the Pharisees, would have just recently passed away. So they could have quietly gone back to using the lunar calendar at that time.”From then on, the Qumran sect would have retained its calendar only as a theoretical concept that might eventually be used again in the End of Days, Ratzon speculated. There is no archaeological mention of any debate about the calendar, or the religious dissonance that the community may have experienced after its abandonment, following that period, she noted.“There is no scroll that admits that there was a problem, and we don’t hear about it in later sources like Josephus or Philo, or the rabbinical writings,” Ratzon said. “But I believe we can see two different approaches to the issue emerge in later writings.”According to Ratzon’s later research done with Anna Shirav, which she plans to publish in a future paper, two different approaches to the calendar seem to have evolved in the period after the 364-day calendar was abandoned. In one, a lunar calendar resembling the biblical one is used, along with the Jewish holidays described in it. (Later holidays Purim and Hanukkah are not included.) In the other, a solar calendar is employed, with the addition of several new festivals.“After the seven-week count from Passover to the wheat harvest festival, you see another seven-week count to the beginning of the grape harvest, and then another seven weeks to the beginning of olive oil season,” she said.Ratzon said that her research has given her some perspective on current conflicts.“If I were to connect this story to modern times, I would say that one thing we can learn from this story is that for every disagreement, we can decide whether we want to seek a peaceful solution or create nasty divisions,” Ratzon said. “It all depends on our choice.”
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