Ben

[Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent @SecScottBessent]

The Iranian regime will lose the zero-sum game it is playing.

Any damage it inflicts on our allies in the Gulf will be paid for with funds extracted from Iranian Accounts.

Any tolls paid to the Persian Gulf Strait Authority will be offset by funds extracted from their accounts.

Every attack Iran launches will only deepen the economic and financial consequences it faces.

[Bloomberg @business]

Eight people tied to pro-Palestinian advocacy at the University of Michigan were charged with threatening campus leaders, businesses and a Jewish organization in a campaign to force the school to cut ties with Israel https://t.co/3hIcbeIXa4

[Amit Segal @AmitSegal]

As part of a 3,000-year-old literary tradition, most Jews would agree that “Torah study is a foundational value in the heritage of the Jewish people.” Where the Basic Law: Torah Study, which passed its first reading last night, loses everyone except the ultra-Orthodox is by making a sudden leap into draft dodging. The bill claims that “those who have undertaken Torah study for an extended period shall be deemed ... as persons who are performing meaningful service for the State.”

To fully understand the implications of this move, we must first explain what a Basic Law is.

Lacking a formal constitution, Israel relies on a constellation of Basic Laws to define the state’s fundamentals, yet they fall short in two important ways.

In the U.S., altering the Constitution demands a two-thirds supermajority in Congress followed by ratification from three-fourths of the states. In Israel, however, there is no official procedure governing how Basic Laws are amended—no special constitutional process is required. Technically, with a quorum of 10 in the Knesset, a single “yes” vote against nine abstentions is enough to alter the fundamental nature of the state.

The second deficiency is more recent. The courts do not feel bound to interpret, or even defer to, Basic Laws. In 2024, the Supreme Court struck down Basic Law: The Judiciary that sought to alter their jurisdiction on the grounds that some supra-constitutional authority exists to determine what should or should not belong in a constitution.

The result is a system where Basic Laws are neither Basic nor Laws. They fail the test of being Basic, as any temporary political coalition can amend the state’s foundation with a simple majority. And they fail the test of being Laws, as the Supreme Court has demonstrated it treats even these supposedly supreme texts as optional—and subject to cancellation.

So that brings us back to the law in question: Basic Law: Torah Study.

One of the bill’s key sponsors, ultra-Orthodox party Shas leader Arye Deri, once said he wouldn’t legislate the Ten Commandments for fear that the Israeli Supreme Court would find a way to render them secular and progressive. Apparently, he has had a change of heart. Why?

According to Deri himself, the bill would be a “historic declaration of the supreme value of Torah and the contribution of Torah scholars to the people of Israel and its security.” The mention of security is the tell. Strip away the religious framing and what remains is draft avoidance dressed up as a constitutional amendment.

Will it work? Absolutely not. The Supreme Court will strike it down before the ink is dry.

So why bother? Elections are approaching, and after four years of coalition membership, the ultra-Orthodox have nothing concrete to show their constituency on its single biggest concern: the draft. Ultra-Orthodox voters are incredibly loyal; they won’t be defecting to Naftali Bennett, but disillusionment is nonpartisan. If the political leadership is seen as impotent, people won’t interrupt their profoundly important Torah study to go vote. Deri and Netanyahu need bodies at the ballot box, and the amendment is the price of admission.

The process hit an early snag with Religious Zionism—the one part of the coalition that takes both Torah study and army service seriously. They balked at language that appeared to place yeshiva students on equal footing with IDF soldiers. After a dramatic overnight session of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, negotiators produced revised wording that preserved the law’s core intent while dropping the direct equivalence that would have enraged the broader public.

The truth is that most of the government dislikes the law in substance but finds it very useful in practice. Religious Zionism gets to serve its base and has already logged the amendment as an achievement on its website. The Haredim get to pretend they are delivering. The opposition gets to pretend it is fighting an existential battle against theocracy. Even the court gets its own PR, an opportunity to reassure its supporters that it remains the last line of defense against an out-of-control government. Everyone plays their role, the curtain falls, and nothing actually changes.

[Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz]

Starmer won’t fund his military while he refuses to support the U.S. in a war against a regime that threatens the UK. He spends his political capital on bashing the U.S. and Israel to appease his Islamist and radical left wing base while ruining the UK economy.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

Geopolitical analyst and China expert Melissa Chen on the CCP's weaponization of antisemitism to divide Western society:

“China's goal is to subvert the world order. It's a very easy way for them to paint Israel as a Western project.”

[Deborah E. Lipstadt @deborahlipstadt]

If the UN felt compelled to say this, imagine how bad the situation must be…

[New York Post @nypost]

Divestment from pro-Israel firms could cost NYC $37B: report https://t.co/jt521o1Oam

[CG Idit Shamir 🇨🇦🇮🇱 @ShamirIdit]

Toronto’s @MayorOliviaChow just personally invited FIFA referee, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, to her city after the United States BANNED him for suspected ties to terror organizations.

The SAME referee who publicly wrote that ‘Jews, target Muslims and Arabs, and suck their blood.’

She didn’t just invite him. She WROTE TO FIFA to make it official. And do you know what she called it? A commitment to fairness. Inclusion. Giving talent the opportunity to shine.

So let me get this straight. The U.S. says: terror associations, not welcome. Olivia Chow says: perfect, @cityoftoronto will take him. And the man she’s championing has a history of publicly inciting Jew-hate and spreading blood libels.

This is not an oversight. This is a mayor of a major Canadian city telling you exactly who she thinks deserves her protection - and exactly who does not.

[Marc Thiessen @marcthiessen]

When Trump defines victory as a deal he gives Iran all the leverage, because they can deny him victory by denying him a deal. He does not need a deal! Finish the target list, open the strait and declare victory!

[Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון @dannydanon]

After tweeting “Heil Hitler” and not even bothering to apologize, the UN Security Council platformed a delusional leader who spreads anti-Semitic statements. Today the President of Colombia even claimed that “We're going back to the era of the Nazis”

It is not clear what he took before the discussion this morning, but nothing justifies the reprehensible words that came out of his mouth.

[Eyal Ofer אייל עופר @Eyalo365]

"Jew Hunt"

[Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter @yechielleiter]

A special message from Israel's president 📣

[Israel ישראל @Israel]

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

[Yuli Edelstein 🇮🇱 יולי אדלשטיין @YuliEdelstein]

חוק יסוד לימוד התורה הוא למעשה חוק מיסוד ההשתמטות

[יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog @Isaac_Herzog]

יש לי חלום לנסוע ישירות ברכב לביירות, והוא יכול להתקיים - אך ורק אם עתידה של לבנון ייקבע בביירות ולא בטהרן.

הבוקר, בביקורי ביישובים בגבול לבנון, פניתי לנשיא לבנון ולעם הלבנוני בשפה הערבית >>

لديّ حلم بالسفر بالسيارة إلى بيروت، وما زال هذا الحلم قائماً، بشرط أن يُصنع مستقبل لبنان في بيروت، لا في طهران.

هذا الصباح، وخلال زيارتي للبلدات الواقعة على الحدود اللبنانية، وجّهت رسالة باللغة العربية إلى الرئيس اللبناني وإلى الشعب اللبناني>>

[Amit Segal @AmitSegal]

Donald Trump gave Iran an inch, and they took a mile.

Mere hours after a ceasefire halted the exchange of fire between Iran and Israel, a U.S. helicopter patrolling the coast of Oman was shot down by Iranian forces. Once the intelligence confirmed Iranian guilt, Trump abruptly shifted gears, declaring a U.S. retaliation an absolute “necessity.” It was quite the sudden epiphany. After spending Monday morning demanding Israel turn the other cheek, it took just twelve hours for him to discover that sovereign nations don’t survive by capitulation.

The U.S. carried out a series of strikes on air defense systems, ground control stations, and radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz. In response, the IRGC claimed to have launched strikes on 21 targets at U.S. bases in the region, including sites in Bahrain and Jordan, while Kuwait’s army reported intercepting a separate attack.

But why did Iran target the helicopter in the first place? The answer lies in how Tehran operates on both a strategic and tactical level.

Strategically, the regime clearly has no issue with using military aggression despite the supposed “ceasefire.” Recent statements from senior officials and regime-affiliated media reveal that Tehran believes it is still actively at war. They view military action as a necessary lever to improve their negotiating position and advance broader objectives. Even the supposedly “moderate” Iranian Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, bluntly stated that military force and diplomacy are complementary tools—where violence creates favorable conditions on the ground so that diplomats can extract “legal, political and economic achievements” at the table.

Tactically, this strategy manifested directly in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Navy relies on helicopters to intercept Iranian drones and fast-attack craft, opening the possibility of free passage through the vital waterway. By downing a U.S. gunship, Tehran is attempting to deter the U.S. from protecting commercial vessels and forcing the international community to comply with Iran’s maritime protection racket.

The retaliatory American strikes sparked a fierce internal debate in the regime. Behind closed doors, Iranian leadership seriously considered taking out their anger over the U.S. bombardment by launching a strike against Israel.

The IRGC pushed hard for retaliation, but the political echelon balked. The politicians understood that redirecting their fire at Israel could invite an immediate Israeli counterstrike—one they feared wouldn’t stop at air defenses and petrochemical facilities but place their core energy infrastructure in its sights. For the time being, the political echelon’s caution has prevailed, validating the age-old rule of deterrence that Trump only relearned on Monday night: tit for tat.

To read the rest of today's newsletter click here

https://t.co/QgzTKf7Hd8

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

Turkey is emerging as a major regional threat to Israel, under the Islamist regime that salivates at the thought of conquering Jerusalem and frames the Jews as the obstacle to humanity’s salvation.

[The Free Press @TheFP]

There is only one nation on Earth that must continually argue for its right to exist, even when the very survival of its people is threatened by avowedly genocidal enemies, writes Sam Harris. https://t.co/FFJUB15e06

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Florida hospital reveals Palantir software has cut sepsis deaths by more than half since it was installed.

[Israel Foreign Ministry @IsraelMFA]

It's time for the Netherlands to wake up.