News leaks this week say the Administration is denying Ukraine much-needed weapons. Our sources tell us they include Patriot air-defense missiles, Hellfire missiles, some 8,500 Howitzer rounds and other ammunition. Some were already in Poland awaiting delivery. So this is a conscious decision to deny Kyiv weapons it was counting on before Russia’s summer assaults. It’s a hostile act that favors Vladimir Putin.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Iran Ready to Enrich Uranium to Bomb-Grade Levels: "We Can Do That"
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-ready-enrich-uranium-bomb-grade-levels-we-can-do-that-2093390
Iran can now enrich uranium up to the 90 percent level required for nuclear weapons even though it has no desire to build them, a prominent member of the Iranian parliament said following Israeli and U.S. attacks on its nuclear program.
Going forward, Iran will enrich uranium according to its needs at any levels and without abiding by conditions, according to Alaeddin Boroujerdi's statements on Iranian TV, multiple Iranian media reported.
"Iran may need to enrich uranium to 90% purity for fuel to power its ocean liner. We can do that. The only red line is the atomic bomb," the senior member of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission was quoted as saying by the UK-based Iran International English outlet. He described U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for zero enrichment as a "delusion".
It is unclear to what extent the damage at Iran's underground nuclear facilities, acknowledged by Tehran, affected the program's development.
Trump and administration officials have spoken of the "obliteration" of Iran's nuclear program by the attack but the leader of the IAEA Rafael Grossi estimated the setback for Iran was a matter of "months."
Americans’ – and Republicans’ – increasingly complicated relationship with Israe
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/13/politics/republicans-israel-support-analysis
Multiple indicators suggest Americans’ support for Israel has reached historic lows as its war in Gaza has dragged on. And while Republicans are much more likely to back Israel than Democrats, even that is getting more complicated – particularly as influential voices on the right voice skepticism of a hardline approach to Iran.
Americans’ support for Israel at record low, backing for Palestinians at all-time high
This week’s poll found that Republican sympathies with Israelis have remained relatively steady, at 75% vs. 10% for Palestinians. Among independents, the Israeli-Palestinian split was 42% to 34%.
The poll found that 55% of Americans, and majorities of Democrats and independents, support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Among Republicans, support for a Palestinian state was at 41%.
Less Than Half in U.S. Now Sympathetic Toward Israelis
https://news.gallup.com/poll/657404/less-half-sympathetic-toward-israelis.aspx
Although Americans remain more likely to say their sympathies in the Middle East situation are with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians, the 46% expressing support for Israel is the lowest in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure on its World Affairs survey. The previous 51% low point in this trend of Americans’ sympathy for Israelis was recorded both last year and in 2001.
At the same time, the 33% of U.S. adults who now say they sympathize with the Palestinians is up six percentage points from last year and the highest reading by two points.
Given their majority-level sympathy for the Palestinians, it follows that Democrats are also broadly supportive of an independent Palestinian state. About three-quarters of Democrats, 76%, are in favor of such a state, compared with 53% of independents. While 41% of Republicans support a Palestinian state, 49% are opposed.
Democrats’ support for a Palestinian state has been trending upward since 2021, whereas independents’ has been relatively steady over the same period. Republicans’ support is up 15 points after dropping sharply last year.
Elon Musk Responds to Trump's 'Back Home to South Africa' Comments
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-trump-south-africa-2093392
Musk was one of the most prominent supporters of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, spending at least $250 million to support his bid. However, he has been deeply critical of Trump's "big, beautiful bill," a major tax and spending package that passed the Senate with Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote. It now heads back to the House.
The package would raise the U.S. debt ceiling by $5 trillion, impose large tax cuts and increase spending on border security and defense. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would add $3.3 trillion to U.S. fiscal deficits over the next decade. The bill also reduces health insurance and food subsidies for some lower-income households.
Musk described the bill as "political suicide" and "utterly insane and destructive," adding on X, "It gives handouts to industries of the past, while severely damaging industries of the future."
After Running Hot and Cold, Trump Heaps Praise on Netanyahu
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-netanyahu-israel-praise-566d399f?mod=hp_lead_pos10
Relations between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have had plenty of ups and downs. As the two leaders prepare for a White House visit set for next week, things are decidedly on the upswing.
Trump has showered Netanyahu with praise for leading a 12-day assault on Iran aimed at setting back Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, a conflict the U.S. joined by launching bunker-busting airstrikes on underground Iranian uranium-enrichment sites.
Now the White House has renewed its push for a halt to the war in Gaza. In a Tuesday evening social-media post, Trump said Israel had agreed to the “necessary conditions” for a 60-day cease-fire with Hamas, a goal likely to come up in his meeting with Netanyahu.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Since the Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran, Trump has weighed in on Israel’s domestic affairs, urging Israeli authorities to drop charges against Netanyahu that accuse him of corruption, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing. The calls represent rare interference by a U.S. leader in a foreign country’s domestic judicial process.
“Bibi and I just went through HELL together,” Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land. Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos!”
Trump has called the case against Netanyahu a political witch hunt and compared it to his own legal issues. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records by a New York court last year and also found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case. Trump has denied wrongdoing and called both the cases against him disgraceful.
Trump’s decision to add U.S. forces to the air campaign against Iran and then to champion Israel’s leader reflects the president’s affinity—in military and political affairs—for leaders he sees as winners.
Trump-Musk feud reignites over the ‘big, beautiful bill’
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5380120-trump-musk-fight-over-bill/
The Senate’s version of the bill, which narrowly passed earlier on Tuesday, would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion between 2025 and 2034, roughly $1 trillion more than the House-passed version, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote on X.
“And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
How Republicans got Murkowski to yes on Trump's megabill - Not in my backyard
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/01/murkowski-trump-alaska-megabill-00435981
What Murkowski was wrangling for was pretty basic: How to blunt the impact of the bill on her state.
“What I tried to do was to ensure that my colleagues understood what that means when you live in an area where there are no jobs, it is not a cash economy,” she told reporters. “And so I needed help, and I worked to get that every single day.”
And as part of Senate Republicans’ sweeping final amendment to the bill that was part of the overnight negotiations, they removed a controversial tax on solar and wind energy projects that Murkowski and a handful of other Republicans were agitating to be removed.
Another goodie bordered on the obscure, if not for the senator: Bowhead whaling boat captains recognized by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission will be able to deduct more for whale-hunting-related expenses, up to $50,000 from the current $10,000.
Tamar Epstein and the Scarlet Letter: The Kaminetskys and Rabbinic sanctioned adultery
Jewish society is faced with a major crisis - how to deal with a case of rabbinic sanctioned adultery. On the one hand we have adultery - which is one of the worst sins and one which is based on betrayal of the most important human - that of husband and wife. This betrayal aspect is why it is used as a metaphor for betrayal in the relationship of G-d and the Jewish people. There is a primal revulsion towards the betrayal of a wife who has an affair with another man. It also is one of the most defiling of sins - because of its violation of the sanctity of marriage.
At the same time we are faced with another theme - loyalty to rabbinic authority and gedolim. There is no higher praise than to say one has emunas chachomim i.e., obeys the decisions and views of G-d representatives - the rabbis. In this case Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and Rav Nota Greenblatt are American gedolim who have the stature of being of the select group of transmitters of G-d's Torah and Mesorah.
The halacha is very clear - Tamar Epstein is a married woman who is married to a man not her husband - the definition of adultery. But she did it with the guidance and encouragement of two major rabbinic figures. However the rabbis who sanctioned this adulterous relations refuse to justify their actions. By their silence they are demanding acceptance of their activities simply because of their status and authority as gedolim - not because they are experts in the halacha - or are correct.
From the point of view of the Kaminetskys and Greenblatts they are saying they have no need to justify anything they do - no matter how horrific in appearance - because they are gedolim. They are hoping that the perceived obscenity of what they are doing will eventually be forgotten and they will succeed in getting away with distorting the Torah. Thus they are not only giving the appearance of violating the Torah by facilitating apparent adultery but they are violating a specific requirement of halacha - that decisions which appear wrong - need to explained in detail to the public.
What about the other rabbis who know that R Greenblatt and the Kamenetskys are wrong? Why haven't there been loud cries of outrage from our rabbinic leaders? The answer is that the rabbis are very uncomfortable with being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thus they are dodging the question with a technicality. They acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that there is a valid justification for the marriage without a get. However they say that they can not judge whether this is truly a case of adultery - unless they see a written justification for the act to which they can agree or disagree. Without this written justification - they feel they need to assume that what great rabbis have done - must be correct. The fact that the failure to provide a written justification is a violation of halacha - while puzzling - is also something which they say must be given the benefit of doubt.
So the crisis continues - a blatant act of adultery, a brazen concealing of justification, demands of "trust me I am a gadol", timidity and fear of rabbinic leaders in addressing the issue - and the accelerated loss of emunas chachomim and growth of cynicism by the masses.
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