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Following the sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) this weekend, tributes poured in from lawmakers, administration officials and Jewish organizations.
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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized and has not made any public statements since a fall that he said left him “briefly unconscious” last month, released a photo of himself amid speculation over the extent of his illness, saying that he developed pneumonia while recovering from the fall.
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European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels today to discuss a potential ban on the importing of goods from West Bank settlements.
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CENTCOM launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday to “continue degrading” Tehran’s ability to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The military said the strikes were intended to “hold Iranian forces accountable” for targeting civilian mariners and commercial vessels.
Tehran accused Washington of destabilizing shipping in the strait and said the latest wave of U.S. strikes had “rendered futile” months of diplomatic effort.
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who was in Israel this week, said that while visiting the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khirbet Zanuta in the West Bank on Wednesday, he was confronted by Israeli settlers who did not let the group pass for an hour and a half. Khanna was with a security officer and Cameron Kasky, who briefly ran for the NY-12 congressional seat and is now working for the California Democrat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on NBC News in response to Khanna’s account that Israel is “a nation of laws” and will “act against those who break the law,” claiming unrest in the West Bank is caused by a small number of “vigilantes” and “juvenile delinquents.”
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Israeli elections will be held on their original date of Oct. 27, Knesset House Committee Chairman Ofir Katz announced, marking the first elections to be held on schedule in the country in nearly 40 years. The move is a reversal of the coalition’s intention to dissolve the Knesset and hold elections earlier in the fall.
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The U.S. struck Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz overnight after Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship, prompting Iran to fire barrages of drones and missiles at Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
Tehran declared early Sunday that the strait was “closed until further notice.”
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Former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani died at 74, Qatari state media reported. Sheikh Hamad led the Gulf nation for 18 years until he stepped down in 2013 after having led the country through an era of massive economic and diplomatic growth that also saw Doha grow closer to Iran, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
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The Qatar Investment Authority, which owns a 10% stake in Volkswagen AG, blocked a deal between the German automaker and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems that would have seen Volkswagen produce vehicles supporting the Iron Dome missile-defense system — a move that would have saved hundreds of jobs at the struggling plant in Osnabrück, Germany.
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Former Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner officially notified the Maine secretary of state on Friday that he is withdrawing his candidacy, allowing the Maine Democratic Party to proceed in nominating his replacement ahead of the July 27 deadline. Platner ended his resignation letter, which he posted to X, with “F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.”
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Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at a press conference on US-Israel relations on February 17, 2025
Worthy Reads
Articles and items across the web that are worth reading
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Charity Case
In The Wall Street Journal, law professors Eugene Kontorovich and Mark Goldfeder look at the Government Accountability Office’s invesigation into U.S. charities that support Israeli communities in the West Bank, following a request from eight Democratic lawmakers. “The lawmakers also asked the agency to report the ’estimated number of U.S. citizens living in Israeli settlements.’ The effort sounds to us like a political fishing expedition.”
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From Friends to Foes
Bloomberg’s Ethan Bronner spotlights the dissolution of the “cross-cultural bromance” between Israeli entrepreneuer Eyal Waldman and Palestinian American tycoon Bashar Masri following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel in which Waldman’s daughter Danielle, who was attending the Nova music festival, was killed. “Waldman today says his views on coexistence haven’t changed. He continues to meet with the Palestinian leadership and advocate for two states. But he dismisses the notion that Masri might ever again be a partner. Convinced that Masri helped Hamas build the infrastructure that was set loose to such devastating effect, Waldman is doing everything he can to bring down his old friend through the U.S. lawsuit.”
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Mojtaba’s MIA
The New York Times’ Yeganeh Torbati reports on Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s “looming absence at the top of the government” and failure to appear in public since he succeeded his father in March. “Without a strong central authority like the elder Ayatollah Khamenei, it has become even more unpredictable which faction will eventually gain the upper hand — and how the country will navigate its many crises. … ‘There’s no central authority in effect to reconcile the various factions that are fighting for control,’ said Ali Ansari, a historian of Iran at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.”
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Crowd Control
In The Free Press, Masih Alinejad posits that the coverage from within Iran of the funeral ceremonies for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not depict the reality on the ground. “The Islamic Republic has always treated mass mobilization as a proof of legitimacy: The bigger the crowd, the stronger the claim to power. But the crowds are an illusion. I know from experience how they are assembled: through force. This time is no different. … The Islamic Republic spent this week performing strength. But the regime has a problem: Almost everything about it — the chants, the flags, the scripted weeping at the coffin — is a performance. The people inside Iran, dancing in secret or driving north with 20 kilograms of rice they did not want, know this to be true.”
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F-35 Fears
In the Greek daily Ekathimerini, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), the co-chairs of the Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance, warn of the risks to the alliance formed by Greece, Cyprus and Israel posed by the potential sale of advanced U.S. weaponry to Ankara. “Turkey’s expansive maritime claims, continued tensions in the Aegean, military overflights and provocations affecting Greece, Turkey’s continued occupation of Cyprus, and increasing demonization of Israel have contributed to instability at a time when the region has an opportunity to move in a different direction. … Advanced military capabilities should strengthen alliances and regional stability – not create uncertainty among the partners who have worked alongside the United States to build a more secure Eastern Mediterranean.”
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