(((Staunch)))

Member of the Tribe. Corporate/Bankruptcy lawyer. MBA. Former Hill staffer. Mets/Tottenham. Pretend smart person. Never paid for WinRAR. Speak Russian poorly.

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

Everyone will have their take on the deal.

Mine is kinda what you'd expect.

1. Trump caved. The early-May naval attempt to break the closure of Hormuz -- Project Freedom -- could have worked. He didn't give it a chance.

2. He may nevertheless have done the right thing from an American perspective. On the larger chessboard, the one where America is curtailing Chinese lines of influence and supply on all fronts, he's gotten everything he needs. Iran's nuclear program is also set back dramatically. And worrying about gas prices come November is an extremely valid concern for an American president.

As I argued back in February, the US and Israel weren't fighting the same war. Roughly 80% of each side's war overlapped with the other's. But toward the end, their interests would diverge and America would bow out.

And so it was.

3. Israel remains in the region, Hezbollah remains ensconced in Lebanon and committed to murdering us all, Iran remains the same muqawama regime it always was, committed to mass-murder and mass-sacrifice of its own people. The decades-long war between the muqawama ideology and the Jews of Israel continues.

4. Israelis owe the United States a vast and abiding debt of gratitude for what it has done to Iran's missile and nuclear programs. That this finished on America's timetable rather than ours, that it was doing it for its own interests and not ours, these don't diminish the fact that we received from America more than we had a right to ask for.

5. And still, #3 remains true. We fight on. Because that regime is undeterrable, actually wants to destroy us all, and like the Nasserist ideology that once sent army after army at us to destroy us, will require a few more wars and perhaps another decade or two to defeat completely.

6. The new IRGC military dictatorship now in charge in Iran is built to survive catastrophe. But not to govern, reform or build anything of value.

Some commentators on the deal have suggested that the most damaging thing you could do to the Iranian regime at this point is send it back to its embittered people to try to govern the peace.

I think they might be onto something. It'd be a much safer and happier and more peaceful region if the regime falls from within and a new and better day dawns for the long-suffering people of Iran.

[Han Shawnity 🇺🇸 @HanShawnity]

China is watching today's events closely, and they now know that if they so much as lift a finger toward Taiwan, Trump is going to respond harshly by signing a deal and giving them Thailand and Vietnam along with full sovereignty over the South China Sea.

They better be careful.

[אריה ארליך A. Erlich @AryeErlich]

It's becoming increasingly difficult to understand what happened to Donald Trump, once regarded by many Israelis as the greatest friend Israel ever had in the White House.

After months of threats, ultimatums, and dramatic declarations, what exactly has been achieved? By every visible measure, this looks like a remarkable victory for Iran. Trump himself now acknowledges that Tehran will retain the ability to enrich uranium.

The only party paying a price appears to be the United States, which is signing what looks disturbingly like a surrender agreement.

And Israel? Israel is reduced to the role of a dependent client state, forced to watch from the sidelines as decisions affecting its survival are made elsewhere.

Instead of eliminating the threat, this deal merely postpones it while handing Tehran something even more valuable: time. Time to regroup, rebuild, rearm, and continue advancing its ambitions.

Without the complete dismantling of Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles, without addressing its ballistic missile program, and without seriously confronting its regional terror network - Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other Iranian proxies - the regime is effectively being granted breathing room to continue its campaign of destabilization and terror.

The president whom most Israelis viewed as a historic ally, the leader whose election was celebrated across Israel, may ultimately be remembered as one of the greatest disappointments in the history of U.S.-Israel relations.

Many Israelis opened champagne bottles when Trump won. They believed they were witnessing the return of a president who understood the Iranian threat better than anyone.

Instead, Israel has been thrown under the bus, its hands tied in Lebanon and Gaza, while its most dangerous enemy is rewarded with resources, legitimacy, economic relief, and the oxygen it needs to continue pursuing its long-term goal: the destruction of the Jewish state.

The same president who fiercely denounced Obama's Iran deal and proudly withdrew from it is now on the verge of signing an agreement that may prove even worse.

A tragic and historic mistake.

[Tony Badran @AcrossTheBay]

By definition, "deal" means Obama territory. Which in turn means "respecting Iranian equities." Which in turn means US protection for Iranian assets. When Trump announced that his goal was a deal, as opposed to unconditional surrender, this became inexorable.

[Haviv Rettig Gur @havivrettiggur]

For those who haven't been following -- and nobody's been following because nobody cares, least of all the journalists' NGOs -- Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been steadily releasing death notifications for one "journalist" after another, listing them invariably as fighters and commanders in the organizations' ranks.

It's dozens now. Maybe more.

But the "Israel targets journalists" meme is forever. The facts will never penetrate the thick fog of ideological confirmation bias that has overtaken the NGO and activism world and its journalistic arms in the mainstream media.

Literally no one cares about whether journalists were actually hunted down by Israel, as it was depicted by @pressfreedom and others, or whether Hamas used fake "journalist" claims to protect combatant commanders, counting on a global NGO and media ecosystem it knew was looking to confirm its biases.

No one will examine these falsehoods or report on them in a visible way because no one cares about the wellbeing of the real journalists, who are desperately endangered when combatant commanders are labeled "journalists" -- and even the world's major journalist advocacy groups decide to play along.

[Aizenberg @Aizenberg55]

🧵FAKE Gaza Journalist Alert: Helmi Al-Faqawi is listed by @pressfreedom as a journalist killed by the IDF at a "reporter's tent" at Nasser Hospital. But PIJ confirmed he was a commander—he used the hospital as a base. The 14th fake journalist outed in the last few weeks. 1/

[נדב איל Nadav Eyal @Nadav_Eyal]

בןגביר העלה סרטון בחירות על "יום בחייו". כל הליצנות, הבוז, חוסר המקצועיות, הידרדרות המשטרה נמצאת שם. שימו לב לתמונה הזו: הוא בדרך לאגף התנועה ולפי הצילום מלווים אותו לא פחות מחמישה אופנועי משטרת תנועה, כמו איזה חואן פרון לעניים.
מה עוד יש שם? משחק של בית"ר. הופעה. נאום מתלהם לסוהרים בכלא. נושף בינשוף אלכוהול ומראה שיצא אפס. חותם שבנתניה יקבלו נשק משהו. הכל בדיחה, הכל הצגה. בינתיים הפשע משתולל, שיעורי רצח, תאונות, שחיתות ציבורית.

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

START SPREADING THE NEWS‼️

NEW YORK IS BACK ON TOP 🏆

[Josh Block @JoshBlockDC]

🚨🚨🚨
“Before the military campaign began on February 28th, Iran was under heavy sanctions while the Strait of Hormuz remained open. Now, the US is offering sanctions relief and access to frozen assets simply to reopen that same strait.

This means America is paying a real price for a situation that already existed before the war.

If the deal is finalized, Iran stands to gain immediate revenue from oil sales and access to billions in frozen funds, while keeping its enriched uranium stockpile and nuclear infrastructure largely intact. The regime will emerge financially stronger and politically emboldened.”

[Eyewitness News @ABC7NY]

A sea of people is out in New York City's streets celebrating the Knicks NBA title!

More: https://t.co/JlyWydRxb1

[Raylan Givens @JewishWarrior13]

⭕ Never in the history of the modern world have you had a leader who is a few inches from total victory and then decides to retreat and help the enemy who was on their knees, and give them a lifeline so that they can survive. This is Trump’s legacy. He made it, and he owns it, and no spin in the world would change it.

[Brick Top aka Mr.Pulford @Eradicator_NYC]

@InvertTheWing And that weasel pulled a LBJ and stormed off the court without congratulating anybody on NYK. Weak ass loser.

[Robert Graham @robertgraham]

This man was put in charge of Ukraine's "Unmanned Systems Forces" and has revolutionized modern warfare and is by far the most lethal commander in the world today.

But he cannot meet Pete Hegseth's physical fitness requirements. Hegseth is largely ignoring modern drone warfare while he focuses on physical fitness and an attractive male physique, a lethality that is out-of-date.

[Kyle Orton @KyleWOrton]

The Lancet has been one of the leading platforms for political warfare against Israel since 7 October 2023, and is generally much better-known these days for its political activism, though it has disgraced itself on the Science front, too. https://t.co/PPITcKZaM3

[Saul Sadka @Saul_Sadka]

@ConceptualJames It's more like the Israeli equivalent of Jacobin

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

This little girl is no older than 3 years old. Isn’t she just adorable wearing her jihadist uniform and gesturing how she wants to slit a throat, then merrily skipping with a knife in her hand.

The “innocent” children of Gaza.
Cute, right?

[Anna Gvarishvili @AnnaGvarishvili]

Insane!

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Hegseth removed Chappie James's portrait from the Air Force Art Gallery and left the wall empty.

James flew 179 combat missions across two wars. First Black four-star general in US military history.

Curry passed that portrait every day for a decade. When it came down, he retired.
The wall is still empty.

[Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. @neoavatara]

Forevermore the evidence he is sparse... To say the least.

https://t.co/rQt3PieEWn