‘All about deception,’ says NJ Republican, who can’t get X to remove handle spoofing him, posting Jew-hatred

By

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March 20, 2026

Look up Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, and you see his picture and his letterhead. But it’s not his handle.

As a result of that handle, the congressman has been criticized for postings that he didn’t make and opinions that he didn’t express—all while being stymied in his efforts to find out the identity of the person behind the phony handle.

“It’s all about deception, and I have a right to know who is doing this,” Smith told JNS. “I wanted to take it down, but I have a right to know at least who is smearing my name.”

“Somebody in that business over at X knows,” the congressman said. “Why could they know, and I can’t know?”

The account is listed as a “parody” on X, but that hasn’t stopped groups that support the long-term congressman from using that parody’s ChrisSmithNJCD4 handle when thanking him for his efforts in posts on X. (JNS sought comment from X.)

What galls Smith most of all, he said, is that the person behind the handle has used it to spread antisemitic and anti-Israel messages, even though the veteran lawmaker authored the law that made the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism and gave the special envoy ambassadorial rank.

He co-chairs the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, and he’s used his chairmanship of a House Foreign Relations subcommittee to hold hearings on the issue.

“It’s been a lifetime of concern and work on behalf of it,” Smith told JNS.

The congressman still tells the story of his family’s sporting goods wholesale business, which was adjacent to a luncheonette where a Holocaust survivor, his tattooed number visible to all, dined regularly.

Smith said that his father wanted his children to talk to him, to ask questions of his experiences.

“My father made sure that my brother and I both had lunch with him,” Smith told JNS. “That’s why Holocaust remembrance is so important, because if you don’t remember it, you repeat the mistakes.”

“Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it,” he said.

Under Smith’s name on social media, however, are tweets such as, “I just spoke to my handler at AIPAC. We need to get American soldiers on the ground in Iran,” invoking the antisemitic trope of Jews controlling the world.

Another antisemitic trope says that “we in Congress are owned by Zionist Israel, and I’m ok with that.”

Some of the posts quote other articles and then comment on them. One quoting Pope Leo XIV criticizing violence against Palestinians calls the pope “an antisemite and a moron.”

Another has an article blaming former President George W. Bush’s 2003 Iraq War on Israel, adding that “I know thousands of American soldiers died for Israel in Iraq, and will gladly do it again in Iran.”

Smith said he got an earlier phony account taken down, but X is refusing to budge on this one. Even though the page expressly says “parody” in two places, people apparently think that’s his official page, he said.

Anti-abortion groups, supporters of Smith’s efforts to highlight China’s efforts against the Muslim ethnic group the Uyghurs, opponents of wind energy off the Jersey shore and even the New Jersey Bankers Association have identified Smith by the phony handle as they praised his work, according to screenshots that Smith’s office shared with JNS.

“I think a lot of people are not aware as to what parody means,” Smith told JNS.

“If this thing is growing, this inauthentic account is going to deceive more people,” he said. “Especially overseas, where there’s a language barrier or something.”

The handle is “posting all these terrible things,” he said.

Smith is not on the social media site, so the phony page is the only one with his name.

He shut down his page on the site, then known as Twitter, in January 2021 citing “security concerns” two weeks after the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Smith was one of the House Republicans who refused to overturn the certified election results that showed Joe Biden becoming president. “Divisive and hate-filled tweets have become far too frequent and impede the healing so needed today,” he said at the time.

Smith told JNS that he left the social media site for another reason. He was a leader of congressional efforts to oppose China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s freedoms.

At one point, China declared that “any contact with a foreigner constitutes a violation,” Smith said. He took a look at his 15,000 followers from Hong Kong and said, “Oh God, they’re going to use that. It’s a hit list for them.”

“So I got off for that reason as well,” he told JNS.

But X won’t do anything to quiet this fake account, Smith said.

He said that he even went up to the site’s owner, Elon Musk, at a House Republican gathering to ask him to take action. Musk told him to contact one of his top officials. Nothing happened.

“That’s why I’ve been profoundly disappointed in Twitter, or X,” Smith told JNS. “We sent letters. We did everything by the book to say, ‘This is an impersonation. It’s malevolent. It is deceptive, and your own policy suggests at least that you want none of that, and it’s absolutely designed to mislead people.’”

At the very least, Smith said, X should let him know who’s behind the site.

“They owe me to tell me who it is,” he said. “There’s no right to secrecy when you’re engaging in such a very nefarious enterprise.”

“This is their word: ‘You may not impersonate other identities or individuals, groups or organizations to deceive them,’” he said. “This is all about deception. It’s all it is. I can’t believe they can’t see that.”

Third week and counting

By

Michael Kuttner

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March 20, 2026

Three weeks of missile and drone bombardments from Iran, together with disrupted sleep and siren-filled days, certainly make life here at the moment a rather action-packed experience.

Most Israelis, however, realise that in order to make the Middle East, in particular, and the world in general, a safer place, a certain amount of pain and inconvenience is inevitable

This highlights the stark difference between those of us living in Israel and those who reside elsewhere.

Many Americans, Canadians, Brits, Europeans, Australians and Kiwis cannot understand the underlying necessity for this current conflict. They have been seduced by a media peddling lies, myths and fables and are succumbing to a spreading malaise of misinformation. If one does not live in the shadow of an existential threat where a terror regime is trying to achieve the means to destroy you, then a simple explanation for this conflict would elude them.

It is hardly surprising when those directly threatened by annihilation retaliate in order to thwart imminent danger. Then the blame always falls on the intended victim rather than the obvious culprit. When the victims happen to be Jews, then the age-old virus is reactivated.

The Iranians are very well aware of this, which is one of the reasons that they plan to inflict as much worldwide economic mayhem as possible. Resultant waves of “blame the Jews/Israelis” can be guaranteed when the price of oil reaches stratospheric levels and oil tankers are attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in petrol shortages.

Israel is already perceived as having coerced the USA into attacking Iran, and no amount of logic and facts will be able to undo the collateral damage this will cause. Add in the economic and financial hardships that will flow from Iran’s attack on international markets, and you have a perfect storm of Judeophobia waiting to be unleashed.

The political fallout can already be seen and discerned.

In the USA, with all eyes focused already on the mid-term elections later in the year, the omens are ominously stark.

A steady erosion of support for Israel is well underway in both political parties. As there are only two parties to choose from, the options for committed Jewish voters are becoming almost non-existent.

Democrats are rapidly succumbing to extreme progressive and left socialist demonising of the Jewish State.

What was once a solid wall of Republican support for Israel is steadily being undermined by a twin assault from the ultra-phobic isolationist right and the traditional neo Nazi type conspiracies spread by so-called “influencers” and others of that ilk.

Traditional evangelical Christian Zionists are threatened by twin threats of anti Zionist Christian groups tied to liberation dogmas and a younger generation of adherents whose historical knowledge is grossly deficient.

One would think that the majority of American Jews might be concerned for their future. Unfortunately, like their European brethren pre-1939 and today, the warning signals are either dismissed as alarmist or ignored altogether.

Here is something to ponder.

A common thread that binds most of these anti-Israel/ Zionist haters together is their fervent declaration that “we believe Israel has a right to exist.”

This affirmation is somehow supposed to establish the unblemished sincerity that, in fact, they really do have Israel’s best interests at heart.

Think about it for a moment, and you will quickly see what a disgusting notion it really is.

Can you think of any other country or nation whose existence and very legitimacy are challenged to such an extent that politicians, critics and commentators feel the need to declare that it “has the right to exist?” Which other member of the United Nations needs to be reassured that “it has the right to exist?’”

Which other country, apart from Israel, is so delegitimised that its very presence is questioned?

To add insult to injury, what usually follows next exposes the hypocrisy for what it really is.

Always following the statement that the nation-state of the Jewish

People have a right to exist, is the declaration “that of course it also has a right to defend itself.” Well, that is really generous, but the caveat that follows lays bare the underlying double standards apparently not applicable to any other country.

What always follows is the solemn admonition that “of course any defence must be proportional and approved by the UN.” In other words, in order to survive the genocidal machinations of the Jew haters of this world, Israel must never ever take measures which might cause those plotting our demise to regret their actions.

This is what lies at the crux of each and every opposition to Israel defending itself in any meaningful shape and form.

Next time you hear a politician burble any of the above nonsense, you can guarantee that they are merely trying to “cover themselves” from any accusation of selective enmity.

It is excruciating but hardly surprising to witness the current squirming responses to Iranian attempts at precipitating chaos and mayhem.

Freedom of the seas and navigation used to be a well-accepted principle of international law.

Apparently, those days are well and truly in the past.

The Islamic Iranian regime blockades the Strait of Hormuz and throttles the world’s oil supplies. The reaction of major democracies and maritime nations is underwhelming.

Instead of a united stand against this modern form of piracy those most affected resort to rhetoric and apathetic appeasement. News reports had intimated that the French were going to send their aircraft carrier to escort tankers. This turned out to be fake news. Instead, the French resorted to their usual fallback position and apparently initiated pleas to the mullahs and their handlers to be “nice people and allow freedom of navigation.” Having had generations of such spineless policies blow up in their face, one would have thought that they might have learnt that pleading with bullies doesn’t pay.

The British are no better. Starmer and his Labour Government are blowing hot and cold but that is as far as allied solidarity and freedom of the seas goes these days in London. A commentator noted that the Brits don’t have anything worthwhile to send to break the blockade so recycled pontification is about all they can fire off.

The Europeans have fallen back to their well-worn technique of seeing evil but not wanting to do anything meaningful about it.

The Irish, having kissed the Blarney Stone, offer gratuitous advice and declare that only diplomacy and talks can break the blockade.

Australia is apparently sending a reconnaissance plane, which will no doubt terrify the Iranians into surrendering.

Meanwhile, as the IRGC Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon fire missiles and drones indiscriminately into northern Israel communities, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom issue a stern warning to Israel. Once again, Israel is warned not to “overreact” as its citizens are targeted.

Iran is firing cluster missiles at Israel. These are deadly because they split in mid air and scatter lethal projectiles over a wide area causing multiple fatalities and injuries. These weapons were banned in 2008 when 120 countries signed a convention banning their use.

Guess what?

Have you, by any chance, heard an international outcry over Iran using these weapons? Not a peep has been forthcoming from London, Paris, Ottawa, Canberra, Wellington, Rome, the Vatican and the United Nations among others. It’s only Israelis who are being targeted by these missiles; there’s no need to get excited. One would think that Iran might be hauled in front of the ICJ and World Court at The Hague. Unfortunately, those bodies are still too busy investigating Israel for a fake genocide in Gaza.

After three weeks of this insanity, is it any wonder that most Israelis just want the job properly completed once and for all?

Beyond ceasefire: The unresolved core of the West Asian conflict

By

David Bedein

-

March 20, 2026

Over the next weeks and months, Israel will be pressured by the US into accepting a ceasefire. However, before agreeing to a ceasefire, fundamental issues must be brought to the forefront to show that the war conducted by the Palestinians and their Iranian allies is far from over.

These issues are:

• The official Voice of Palestine, operating on Israeli government radio and TV frequencies, continues its daily incitement.

• The Palestinian “Pay for Slay” law continues, mandating a salary for life for anyone who kills a Jew.

• The PLO charter places the Palestinians in a permanent state of war until all Jews have been expelled from all areas that were Mandatory Palestine.

• The PLO has now spawned a new Palestinian constitution, which does not recognise the right of any Jews to live anywhere in Palestine.

• The Palestinian-designated Jew-free areas include all of the territory which today constitutes the State of Israel.

• The Palestinian war curriculum continues to educate all Palestinian children to live a life of permanent war with the Jews, until all Jews are expelled from Palestine.

• UNRWA transforms generous humanitarian aid into cash for arms training to prepare the next generation for war. Sixty-seven nations pour $1.6 billion into UNRWA for humanitarian services. UNRWA hosts five million descendants of Arabs who left Israel in the wake of the 1948 war and remain in 58 “temporary” refugee camps under the premise and promise of the right of return to Arab villages that existed before 1948.

All the above begs the question: what about the PSF, Palestinian Security Forces, established by the Israeli security apparatus to ensure at least one Palestinian partner on whom it could rely for cooperation?

Already receiving hefty salaries on the PA payroll, all levels of Israeli security document that PSF officers are consistent perpetrators of terrorism against civilians and the security forces of Israel.

Glorified as “martyrs”, all PSF groups are complicit.

The Palestinian Security Forces were formed under the Oslo Agreement signed in September 1995: “To guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… shall establish a strong police force that consists of the Palestinian Police and other branches responsible for national, preventive, public, and presidential security.”

PSF officers hold parallel positions in ‘resistance’ movements, either civil or military, such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (the military arm of Fatah), using armed confrontation with Israel. Rather than upholding public order and preventing terrorism, they themselves carry out acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians and members of Israel’s security forces.

In sum, no ceasefire can be implemented in West Asia until each of these issues is resolved.

It is crucial to understand the precise nature of the “ceasefire” that the Palestinians offer: a hudna to stop firing, a term frequently misunderstood as “truce” or “ceasefire”.

A hudna is nothing but a temporary respite and does not remotely resemble either a “truce” or a “ceasefire”.

Here, then, are four terms now in use in the Arabic understanding of what a ceasefire means:

• Hudna: tactical pause intended for rearmament

• Tahida: temporary halt in hostile activity, which can be violated at any time

• Hudaybiyyah: cessation of fighting for 10 years, invoking the “Treaty of Hudaybiyyah” in 628 CE

• Sulch: total cessation of hostile activity

Notably, a hudna, tahida, or hudaybiyyah has no relation to the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Egypt signed with Israel in 1979, or the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Jordan signed with Israel in 1994.

The authoritative Islamic Encyclopaedia (London, 1922) defines “hudna” as a “temporary treaty” which can be approved or abrogated by Islamic religious leaders, depending on whether or not it serves the interests of Islam, and that a “hudna” cannot last for more than 10 years.

The Islamic Encyclopaedia adds that the Hudaybiyyah treaty is the ultimate “hudna”.

When our news agency sent a crew to monitor Yasser Arafat’s speeches following the 1993 Oslo peace accords, we documented that the PLO leader repeatedly declared that the Oslo accords were akin to the Hudaybiyyah treaty.

No one listened.

Calls Grow To Scrutinize Ceasefire Terms As Israel Faces Mounting Pressure

By

David Bedein

-

March 18, 2026

Over the next weeks and months, Israel will be pressured by the US into accepting a ceasefire.

However, before agreeing to a ceasefire, fundamental issues must be brought to the forefront to show that the war conducted by the Palestinians and their Iranian allies is far from over.

• The official Voice of Palestine, operating on Israeli government radio and TV frequencies, continues its daily incitement.

• The Palestinian “Pay for Slay” law continues, mandating a salary for life for anyone who kills a Jew.

• The PLO charter places the Palestinians in a permanent state of war until all Jews have been expelled from all areas that had been Mandatory Palestine.

• The PLO has now spawned a new Palestinian constitution, which does not recognize the right of any Jews to live anywhere in Palestine.

• The Palestinian-designated Jew-free areas include all of the territory which today constitutes the state of Israel.

• The Palestinian war curriculum continues to educate all Palestinian children to live a life of permanent war with the Jews, until all Jews are expelled from Palestine.

• UNRWA transforms generous humanitarian aid into cash for arms training to prepare the next generation for war. Sixty-seven nations pour 1.6 billion dollars into UNWRA for humanitarian services. UNRWA hosts five million descendants of Arabs who left Israel in the wake of the 1948 war and remain in 58 “temporary” refugee camps under the premise and promise of the right of return to Arab villages that existed before 1948.

All the above begs the question: What about the PSF, Palestinian Security Forces, established by the Israeli security apparatus to ensure at least one Palestinian partner on whom it could rely for cooperation.

Already receiving hefty salaries on the PA payroll, all levels of Israeli security document that PSF officers are consistent perpetrators of terrorism against civilians and the security forces of Israel.

Glorified as “martyrs,” all PSF groups are complicit.

The Palestinian Security Forces were formed under the Oslo Agreement signed in September 1995:

“To guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… shall establish a strong police force that consists of the Palestinian Police and other branches responsible for national, preventive, public, and presidential security.”

– all of which are, in theory, supposed to combat terrorism and collaborate with Israel on security matters.

PSF officers hold parallel positions in ‘resistance’ movements, either civil or military, such as the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades (the military arm of Fatah), using armed confrontation with Israel.

Rather than upholding public order and preventing terrorism, they themselves carry out acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians and members of Israel’s security forces.

In sum, no ceasefire can be implemented in the Middle East until each of these issues is resolved.

It is crucial to understand the precise nature of the “ceasefire” that the Palestinians offer: a hudna to stop firing, a term frequently misunderstood as “truce” or “ceasefire.”

A hudna is nothing but a temporary respite and does not remotely resemble either a “truce” or a “ceasefire.”

Here, then, are four terms now in use in the Arabic understanding of what a ceasefire means:

• Hudna: tactical pause intended for rearmament
• Tahida: temporary halt in hostile activity, which can be violated at any time
• Hudaybiyyah: cessation of fighting for 10 years, invoking the “Treaty of Hudaybiyyah” in 628 CE
• Sulch: total cessation of hostile activity

Notably, a hudna, tahida, or hudaybiyyah has no relation to the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Egypt signed with Israel in 1979, or the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Jordan signed with Israel in 1994.

The authoritative Islamic Encyclopedia (London, 1922) defines “hudna” as a “temporary treaty” which can be approved or abrogated by Islamic religious leaders, depending on whether or not it serves the interests of Islam, and that a “hudna” cannot last for more than 10 years.

The Islamic Encyclopedia adds that the Hudaybia treaty is the ultimate “hudna.”

When our news agency sent a crew to monitor Yassir Arafat’s speeches following the Oslo peace accords, we documented that the PLO leader repeatedly declared that the Oslo accords were akin to the Hudaybia treaty.

No one listened.

Imposed Cease Fire – No Pretense of Peace

By

David Bedein

-

March 13, 2026

Over the next weeks and months, Israel will be pressured by the US into accepting a ceasefire.

However, before agreeing to a ceasefire, fundamental issues must be brought to the forefront to show that the war conducted by the Palestinians and their Iranian allies is far from over.

The official Voice of Palestine, operating on Israel government radio and TV frequencies, continues its daily incitement.
The Palestinian “Pay for Slay” law continues, mandating a salary for life for anyone who killed a Jew.
The PLO charter places the Palestinians in a permanent state of war until all Jews have been expelled from all areas that had been Mandatory Palestine.
The PLO has now spawned a new Palestinian constitution, which does not recognize the right of any Jews to live anywhere in Palestine.
The Palestinian-designated Jew-free areas include all of the territory which today constitutes the state of Israel.
The Palestinian war curriculum continues to educate all Palestinian children to live a life of permanent war with the Jews, until all Jews are expelled from Palestine.
UNRWA transforms generous humanitarian aid into cash for arms training to prepare the next generation for war. Sixty-seven nations pour 1.6 billion dollars into UNWRA for humanitarian services. UNRWA hosts five million descendants of Arabs who left Israel in the wake of the 1948 war and remain in 58 “temporary” refugee camps under the premise and promise of the right of return to Arab villages that existed before 1948

In sum, no ceasefire can be implemented in the Middle East until each of these issues is resolved.

One must always keep in mind that the ceasefire that the Palestinians offer: a hudna to stop firing, a term which is too often misconstrued to mean a “truce” or a “cease fire.”

A hudna connotes no more than a temporary respite and does not remotely resemble either a “truce” or a “cease fire.”

Here, then, are four terms now in use in the Arabic understanding of what a cease fire connotes:

Hudna: a tactical pause intended only for rearmament,
Tahida: a temporary halt in hostile activity which can be violated at any time
Hudaybiyyah:No fighting for 10 years: invoking after the “treaty of Hudaybiyyah” in 628 AD
Sulch: a total cessation of hostile activity

The reality is that a hudna, tahida or hudaybiyyah do not compare to the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Egypt signed with Israel in 1979, or the mu’ahada treaty of peace that Jordan signed with Israel in 1994.

The authoritative Islamic Encyclopedia (London, 1922) defines “hudna” as a “temporary treaty” which can be approved or abrogated by Islamic religious leaders, depending on whether or not it serves the interests of Islam, and that a “hudna” cannot last for more than 10 years.

That Islamic Encyclopedia ads that the Hudaybia treaty is the ultimate “hudna.”

When our news agency sent a crew to monitor Yassir Arafat speeches after the Oslo peace accords , the PLO leader constantly proclaimed that the Oslo accords were like the Hudaybia treaty.

No one listened.

Has UNRWA Indoctrination Stopped?

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

-

March 13, 2026

New Monitoring Project Aims To Expose Palestinian School Indoctrination

By

Israel Behind the News

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March 12, 2026

The Center for Near East Policy Research, publishing through the Israel Behind The News platform, has released a formal proposal to conduct continuous news coverage of schooling in the “State of Palestine” for the 2025–26 school year. The project seeks to document curriculum content, teacher affiliations, classroom materials, and whether PA pledges of reform have been enacted.

The proposal builds on two decades of research and media work by the centre and allied investigators who, the organisation says, have been analysing Palestinian and UNRWA education materials since 2000. The stated aim is to bring sustained, verifiable reporting on classroom realities to mainstream media and policymakers. The organisation says it will combine documentary filmmaking, textbook analysis, and first-hand interviews with principals, teachers, and administrators.

The plan arrives against a backdrop of repeated, independent reviews that have flagged problematic content in Palestinian curricula. Research groups such as IMPACT-se have released multiple reports documenting examples of militaristic and anti-Israeli material in textbooks and teacher guides. Those reports question the extent to which stated reforms have removed messages that glorify violence or demonize Israelis and Jews.

An EU-commissioned review led by the Georg Eckert Institute also assessed sample Palestinian textbooks and recommended a foundation for dialogue with the Palestinian Authority. That review acknowledged improvements in some areas while noting persistent concerns about material that could hinder peace education and tolerance. The new coverage proposal says these independent findings justify closer, ongoing scrutiny rather than episodic reporting.

The project proposes active engagement with school principals, teachers, and administrators. Investigators plan to catalogue classroom media, songs, poems, artwork, and graffiti, and to determine if any staff have affiliations with terrorist organisations or armed groups. The researchers say they will also test whether pledges by the PA and international donors to reform curricula have resulted in measurable changes in classrooms.

Operational details in the public proposal call for an Arabic-speaking correspondent, translators, press liaison, and administrative support. The team proposes monthly public events and a modest monthly budget to sustain field reporting, translation of documents, and outreach to mainstream outlets that can amplify verified findings. The proposal also points to a library of 26 documentary films the group has produced on Palestinian education as background and context.

Advocates for the initiative argue that sustained coverage is necessary to protect the interests of Israelis and Jewish communities worldwide. They say transparency about what children are taught matters to donors, diplomats, and educators who seek genuine peace education and accountability. Critics caution that monitoring must be rigorous, methodologically sound, and sensitive to the risk of conflating conflict narratives with deliberate indoctrination. Independent organisations such as IMPACT-se have emphasised the need for evidence-based engagement when pressing for educational reform.

The proposal urges media partners and community donors to support ongoing reporting, arguing that intermittent studies are insufficient to track classroom practice and the effects of international funding. It highlights options for alternative educational models and points to examples in Tunisia, Morocco, and Indonesia as possible lessons for reformers.

For readers in the Jewish and pro-Israel communities, the planned coverage offers a channel for verified information about school content and teacher conduct that could inform advocacy and diplomatic outreach. The project aims to produce regular public reporting that mainstream newsrooms can use to test claims of reform and to press funders and Palestinian authorities for accountability.

To support this crucial initiative, readers can donate here:
Israel Behind the News – Donations

False Flags and Real Agendas

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

-

March 10, 2026

The settlement of Yitzhar in Samaria, near Shechem, off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. — YITZHAR, ISRAEL - NOV 20, 2009 : A general view of the settlement Yitzhar. Yitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the Samarian mountains of the West Bank near Nablus/Shechem just off Route 60 north of the Tapuach Junction. The Hebrew term 'Yitzhar' is a biblical term, meaning high quality olive oil, and derives from one of the region's major industries. The village was originally established as a pioneer Nahal military outpost and demilitarized only a year later when turned over to residential purposes in 1984 with the assistance of the Amana settlement organization. Photo by Gili Yaari / Flash 90 *** Local Caption *** ???????
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In recent years, and not coincidentally, the concept of “settler violence” has begun to seep into the discourse in Israel and around the world. What began some two decades ago with anarchists harassing IDF soldiers using cameras and provocations, continued in 2018 with a high-end campaign to alter public perception and inculcate messaging regarding violent Israeli settlers through newspaper ads and giant billboards along Israeli highways. Later, “settler violence” became the main topic of conversation at the first White House meeting between the Prime Minister of Israel and newly-elected US President Joe Biden. This conversation lead to weekly meetings of the heads of Israel’s law enforcement and security systems on one hand, and a series of international sanctions on individuals and organizations on the other.

Israel didn’t drag the US into war with Iran — they enabled us to fight it smarter and faster

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

-

March 10, 2026

A dangerous lie has taken hold in Washington: that Israel somehow pressured the United States into war with Iran.

It’s wrong. And both President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said so directly.

When a White House correspondent asked President Trump whether Israel had pulled America into the conflict, he didn’t hesitate. “I might have forced their hand,” he said. “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first.”

Rubio was equally blunt after a deceptively edited video suggested he believed otherwise: “The president made a decision that negotiations were not going to work… this was a threat that was untenable. The decision was made to strike them.”

Untenable. That word deserves to sit with you for a moment.

Iran has spent years building nuclear weapons, developing long-range ballistic missiles, and encircling Israel with a terror army stretching from Lebanon to Gaza to Yemen. It has fired ballistic missiles directly at Israeli civilians.

No Israeli government — left, right, or center — could ignore that. Jerusalem’s decision to join a combined American-Israeli operation targeting Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities drew near-universal support across Israel’s political spectrum. This wasn’t Netanyahu’s partisan gamble. It was a national security imperative.

And it was no surprise ambush on America.

When Netanyahu met Trump at Mar-a-Lago last December, reporting indicated the president had already green-lighted an Israeli strike on Iran’s missile infrastructure. When they met again at the White House, that green light held. Washington knew exactly what was coming and decided to lead the war.

The claim that Israel pressured the president of the United States into war is not just factually hollow — it veers dangerously close to the antisemitic fringe narratives about shadowy, unaccountable Jewish power that serious Republicans rightly reject.

But here’s the bigger point that keeps getting buried.

Iran’s missiles and nuclear program and terror are America’s problem.

Those missiles don’t just threaten Israel. They are being fired right now at US forces, American bases, our embassies, and our Gulf Arab allies. Iran is actively developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could one day reach the American homeland.

This is the same regime that declared war on the United States in 1979 — that has killed and maimed thousands of Americans from Beirut to Baghdad to Kabul, taken Americans hostage, organized assassination and kidnapping plots in America, and armed the terrorist proxies that have American blood on their hands for decades.

Dismantling that regime’s nuclear, missile, and terror infrastructure is not a favor to Israel.

It is core American national security.

Now here’s what Americans should actually understand about the 12-Day War that took place against the regime in Iran in June 2025.

Israel didn’t ask American pilots to do the heavy lifting. For the first 11 days, Israeli aircraft flew deep into Iranian territory — more than a thousand miles from home — dismantling Iran’s air defenses and striking key military targets. No American fighter jets alongside them. No boots on the ground. No American pilots risking their lives over Iranian skies. Israel did that work itself.

Only once Iran’s defenses were shattered did President Trump act. On day eleven, American B-2 bombers struck Fordow — the deeply buried nuclear facility that had long kept American planners up at night. The result was a devastating blow to Iran’s nuclear program.

Dismantling that regime’s nuclear, missile, and terror infrastructure is not a favor to Israel.

It is core American national security.

Now here’s what Americans should actually understand about the 12-Day War that took place against the regime in Iran in June 2025.

Israel didn’t ask American pilots to do the heavy lifting. For the first 11 days, Israeli aircraft flew deep into Iranian territory — more than a thousand miles from home — dismantling Iran’s air defenses and striking key military targets. No American fighter jets alongside them. No boots on the ground. No American pilots risking their lives over Iranian skies. Israel did that work itself.

Only once Iran’s defenses were shattered did President Trump act. On day eleven, American B-2 bombers struck Fordow — the deeply buried nuclear facility that had long kept American planners up at night. The result was a devastating blow to Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel didn’t drag us into this war. It enabled us to fight it smarter, faster, and at far less cost than we ever could have alone.

That’s not pressure. That’s what real partnership looks like.

Mark Dubowitz is CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. https://www.fdd.org/

Mojtaba Khamenei Appointed Iran’s Supreme Leader in Defiance of America and Israel

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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March 10, 2026

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran scored a significant political victory, successfully securing the appointment of their ally, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new Supreme Leader of Iran, following the elimination of his father, Ali Khamenei, by Israel on the first day of the war. This development underscored once again that the IRGC continues to wield decisive influence over the country’s political system.

On March 8, 2026, the Iranian Assembly of Experts officially announced that Mojtaba Khamenei had been chosen as Iran’s third Supreme Leader since the founding of the Islamic Republic. Footage emerging from Iran captured citizens shouting “Death to Mojtaba.”

According to senior Israeli security sources, Mojtaba Khamenei reportedly survived an Israeli assassination attempt in recent days and received the endorsement of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who stated that his selection as Supreme Leader reflects “Iran’s desire to strengthen national unity.”

Senior Israeli officials have noted that the move was expected and that the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei represents a direct challenge to the United States and Israel, describing it as “a finger in the eye.”

They assess that his selection presents an immediate political and security challenge for Washington and Jerusalem, both of which aim to dismantle the clerical regime.

In Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei is considered significantly more hardline than his father, Ali Khamenei, who was eliminated by Israel on February 28, 2026.

Western analysts had assumed that the removal of Ali Khamenei might spark a succession struggle, potentially weakening the regime or producing a compromise candidate. In reality, the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei signals the opposite: near-complete ideological continuity with the principles established since the Islamic Revolution.

His selection indicates that the regime’s key power centers, led by the IRGC, preferred a candidate closely aligned with Iran’s security apparatus and its regional “resistance” doctrine.

For the Iranian leadership, the appointment of the previous leader’s son sends a dual message: the regime has not been broken by the elimination of his father and can maintain political continuity even under conditions of war and international pressure.

Senior Israeli security officials assess that Mojtaba Khamenei is now the top potential target for assassination, given recent statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

They argue that such a move could be necessary to dismantle the Iranian regime, even if it triggers unprecedented escalation, since an attack on the Supreme Leader would be perceived in Iran as a direct strike at the heart of the regime and a symbolic assault on its religious and political sovereignty.

Conversely, if Israel refrains from taking action, it risks being perceived as weak and deterred by the IRGC. Strategically, Mojtaba Khamenei now embodies the central axis of the Iranian regime, both as an ideological symbol and as the ultimate holder of political and religious authority.

Going forward, Mojtaba Khamenei will become a primary intelligence target for Israel and the United States, with any operational decisions against him to be coordinated between Prime Minister Netanyahu and former President Trump.

Israeli security sources also note that his appointment is likely to strengthen the connection between the office of the Supreme Leader and the military establishment, particularly the IRGC.

Over the years, Mojtaba Khamenei has been considered the individual most closely linked to the IRGC’s commanders and internal power networks. This suggests that decision-making in Tehran may become more centralized and heavily weighted toward security considerations, especially at a time when Iran is in direct military confrontation with Israel and the United States.

In Tehran, officials are expected to use the American and Israeli statements to present Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as a victory for “Iranian sovereignty.” Propaganda-wise, the regime’s ability to select a new leader despite external threats reinforces the narrative of standing firm under international pressure.

Ultimately, the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader signals that, despite the severe blow to the top of the regime, Iran’s political system has rapidly ensured continuity of governance, and the battle over the future of the Iranian regime is far from over.

Column from the Director