Jews joined the meraglim to avoid fighting in war

 According to Rav Yakov the reason why the Jews readily accepted the negative evaluation of the meraglim was because they didn't want to fight in war.

Emes L’Yakov (14:29) As punishment all those older than 20 will die in the desert. Bava Basra (121b) the punishment did not apply to those less than 20 or more than 60. It is clear that those less than 20 should not be punished as they were below the age of punishment even from Heaven. But why should those older than 60 also not be punished? The answer seems to be that only those who were to fight in the battles to conquer Israel were scared and thus accepted the negative report of the spies. Those older than 60  were no longer in the army and thus had no reason to believe the spies and thus didn’t sin

עיין בבבא בתרא [דף קכ"א ע"ב] דאיתא התם דלא נגזרה גזרה לא על פחות מבן עשרים ולא על יתר מבן ששים, ועיי"ש. ולכאורה צריך ביאור, דבשלמא אלו שהיו פחותים מבן כ' יש לומר שנכללו בכלל וטפכם אשר אמרתם לבז יהיה ובניכם אשר לא ידעו היום טוב ורע וגו' [דברים א' פל"ט], או יש לומר שלא נענשו בדיני שמים מכיון שהם פחותים מבן כ', אבל אותן שהיו יותר מששים מדוע לא נענשו - וכי אפשר לומר שכולם לא חטאו בחטא העגל. וצריך לומר דאכן כן היה, דרק אלו שהיו יוצאי צבא שפחדו מלהלחם האמינו למרגלים ומיאנו לעלות לארץ ישראל, אבל אותן שהיו יותר מבן ששים - שכבר לא היו יוצאי צבא - לא היתה להם שום סיבה להאמין למרגלים והם באמת לא חטאו, ודו"ק.

Gedםlim and war

 According to the Netziv the meraglim were chosen because they were gedolim with knowledge of war. He generalizes and says that is the general approach to deal with problems in the world - is gedolim with some knowedge of the actual propblem it is not enough to be a gadol in Torah

Netziv (Bamidbar 13:2) כל נשיא בהם. מי שנשיא היינו גדול בישראל ויודע טכסיסי מלחמה הוא ילך. ולא הדיוט אע״ג שאפשר שיודע יותר טכסיסי מלחמה. ובקי בטיב הענין הנדרש יותר מכל מקום היה הצווי ליקח גדולי ישראל ויודעים לתור ולעמוד על הענין הנדרש ג״כ. בכדי שיהיו דבריהם נשמעים ביותר. ומזה יש לנו ללמוד בכל הליכות עולם לנו: 

Netziv (Bamidbar 13:2) Every nassi – What is a nassi? He is a Gadol who in addition to Torah is also knowledgable about how to fight a war Experts were chosen and not an ordinary person even though he might know more about how to fight a war. Gedolim were chosen who knew how to spy the country and and were also able to determine what was necessary to do. This extra requirenment was so that their views would be more likely to be  respected. This dual model is the prototype of dealing with all issues of the world. 

Iranian missiles trigger waves of sirens across Israel, damages electrical infrastructure in South

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-858660

Missiles fired from Iran triggered sirens across Israel in several waves on Monday morning, the IDF said. Israeli media reported that between 10 and 15 missiles were fired, and that there was a total of 35 minutes of sirens. 

The missiles were launched in numerous waves and to areas across the country, with initial sirens sounding first in northern Israel, including the Galilee area, followed by sirens in central and southern Israel. 

Large booms were heard in the Shfela area and in southern Israel, and loud thuds were heard in Jerusalem, according to Reuters witnesses.  Footage on social media showed a large impact in Israel's South. 

Israel Unsure Iran Nuke Program 'Annihilated' After US Strikes

 https://www.newsweek.com/israel-us-bombs-iran-nuclear-program-fordow-isfahan-natanz-2088974

During a Sunday morning press conference, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that "many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could until President Trump."

The defense secretary then said to the world's cameras: "We devastated the Iranian nuclear program."

In Israel, though, there's less certainty about whether Iran's nuclear development has been smashed to pieces by U.S. strikes on three of Iran's major nuclear facilities overnight, and whether the country's nuclear program is permanently out of the game.

"Is it fully, fully annihilated? We don't know yet," a senior Israeli official told Newsweek. "Nobody knows yet," added the source, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. "It requires a lot of intelligence work."

Kremlin warns that other nations ready to give Iran nukes: ‘Dangerous escalation has begun’

 https://nypost.com/2025/06/22/world-news/kremlin-warns-that-other-nations-ready-to-give-iran-nukes-dangerous-escalation-has-begun/

Moscow warned Sunday that several nations are prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons, as Russia and China condemned America’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, claimed Saturday’s US airstrike — the first to use 15-ton GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs in combat — only caused minimal damage to Tehran’s nuclear sites, including the fortified Fordow enrichment plant.

Medvedev, who did not specify which countries are ready to arm Tehran, reiterated that the attacks would not stop Russia’s ally in the Middle East from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Top General Immediately Undercuts Hegseth’s Claim Iran Was ‘Massive Success’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-declares-irans-nuclear-ambitions-obliterated-in-secret-midnight-attack/

The United States carried out a middle–of-the-night attack using decoys and deception that completely “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared.

But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine immediately undercut this, telling reporters that while an initial assessment indicated “severe damage and destruction,” it would take time for the final battle damage to be known.

White House wary of Iran counterattack as Trump strikes triumphant tone

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/22/white-house-wary-of-iran-counterattack-as-trump-strikes-triumphant-tone-00416470

President Donald Trump was triumphant Saturday night during his Oval Office address but within the administration the mood was less sanguine as officials braced for a potential Iran counterattack.

The decision to send American B-2 bombers to attack Iran, the most significant military action of Trump’s presidency, threatens to inject the United States into another Middle East conflict, the kind that Trump and Vice President JD Vance have long promised to avoid.

“We don’t know how much this is going to get us into something protracted,” said an administration official, who like others was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberation. “Right now the message is we want to get rid of the nuclear capacity and focus on negotiations.”

US joins Israel’s war in Iran, bombs fortified Fordo site and other nuclear facilities

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-strikes-irans-elusive-fordo-facility-joining-israels-fight-against-nuclear-program/

US President Donald Trump announced early Sunday that the US had carried out a “successful attack” on the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites in Iran, hours after he appeared to suggest that the matter of US involvement in Israel’s campaign against Iran’s nuclear program was as yet undecided.

The decision to directly involve the US in the war came after more than a week of strikes by Israel that damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities, eradicated the country’s air defenses, and took out many of its military brass and top nuclear scientists. Iran, in retaliation, has launched dozens of ballistic missile barrages at Israel.

“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordo,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to the difficult-to-destroy underground site, which has been characterized as the most integral part of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

US bombs three Iran nuclear sites, entering war

 https://thehill.com/homenews/5362296-trump-us-bombs-iran/

President Trump announced Saturday the United States had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, including the Fordow site that is located in a mountainside.

“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Trump posted on Truth Social. 

Fake News - Bibi and Trump colluded to trick Iran?!

 https://mishpacha.com/wars-easier-to-start-than-finish/

Did President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu collude to deceive Iran by creating the impression that the US opposed the IDF taking military action while negotiations over a nuclear deal were still underway? Or did Netanyahu act alone, fearing that Trump would strike a deal with Iran that would garner international support, making it impossible for Israel to attack Iran without becoming a pariah state? There is a lot of spin in both directions. The truth may lie somewhere in between, but it’s irrelevant now.

The mixed messaging serves both American and Israeli purposes. Israel has an interest in demonstrating that Trump and Netanyahu are in sync. Trump is playing a more difficult hand. He boasts of Israel’s military prowess, pleasing his pro-Israel constituency, while his insistence that America is not involved in Israeli strikes and his call to Iran to resume negotiations reassure his domestic right-wing base that he is adhering to his policy of keeping the US out of foreign entanglements.

Regardless, Israel has made significant progress in restoring its deterrent posture with a diversified and well-planned preemptive strike against Iran, which doomsayers claimed Israel could never achieve alone, while also absolving Trump of any blame. Assuming that Iran lacks the desire or capability to restart talks, Trump is no longer at risk of damaging his reputation as a dealmaker by either entering into an agreement that Iran would never honor or being forced to admit that the negotiations had failed.

Donald Trump proves he’s the stupidest man in the Situation Room

Trump's lack of foreign policy principles tears MAGA apart on Iran

How close was Iran to the bomb, and how far has Israel pushed it back?

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-close-was-iran-to-the-bomb-and-how-far-has-israel-pushed-it-back/

The more we learn, the clearer it becomes that Israel struck in the nick of time: Iran was very close to the bomb. Its ballistic missiles were becoming a dire threat. And then there’s that derided ‘Destruction of Israel Plan’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still more dramatic, characterizing Israel’s resort to force on Friday as preemptive action against an imminent “existential” threat. In a video address at the start of the campaign, Netanyahu said Iran had stockpiled enough uranium to build nine bombs, had taken unprecedented steps in recent months to weaponize that enriched uranium, and could get to the bomb “in a very short time — it could be a year, or it could be a few months.” (The IDF at the launch of the attacks said Iran could enrich enough uranium to weapons-grade level for 15 bombs “within days,” and did not specify how long it would take the regime to complete its nuclear weapons project.)

By contrast, CNN on Tuesday cited a host of American sources assessing that Iran was “up to three years away” from being able to build, deliver and detonate a bomb and asserting that it was not even “actively pursuing” one — an implausible claim, not least in light of the regime’s documented production of increased quantities of near-weapons-grade uranium with no civilian application.

As far as I have been able to determine from interactions with several sources familiar with the matter, Israel’s intelligence assessments are that Iran was very close indeed to attaining nuclear weapons — as in, building and delivering a working bomb. Closer, that is, even than Netanyahu’s public estimate.

Parnossa learning trade in time of Chazal to Modern Times

Igros Moshe (YD IV #36.11) Question: Doesn’t the Talmud and Rishonim indicate that working at a job is required? Answer  I don’t understand why you cite the gemora in Kiddushin (29a) that a father is obligated to teach his son a trade and if not it is consider the son was taught to steal.  Or the statement at the end of Kiddushin that a father most teach his son a trade which seems to be the view of the Rashba. This seems to indicate that this is the halacha. In fact all it shows is an obligation to teach a trade . It simply means he should ensure the son gets a good Torah education so that he can teach others or be a rabbi of a community and thus have parnossa.