“In 1957, Israel surrendered hard-won gains for promises that dissolved when tested. The emerging order with the Islamic Republic of Iran bears an unsettling resemblance”

Posted on June 24, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

FUTURE OF JEWISH
The guarantee that failed Israel is back
Adam Hummel
June 24, 2026

In recent days, an American president stood in a French palace, signed a memorandum ending a war that America undertook with Israeli support — a war Israel was then forbidden to finish — and called the Israeli prime minister his “very small partner.” He said it almost fondly. Benjamin Netanyahu “gets a little excited sometimes,” Trump explained. We are the big partner. He is the small one. When trying to make sense of the present, I often go looking for it in the past. Not for comfort necessarily, but because the present is bad at telling you what it actually is, and the past is much better at it. So when I read that phrase — “very small partner” — I went looking and found that I had read this script before. The setting changes, the waterway changes, the enemy changes. The structure, not so much. READ MORE

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“Trump can say “enough” and sever the link between Hormuz and Lebanon. He almost did so when he threatened to “destroy Iran” if it did not rein in Hezbollah. Further insults to Iran could bring the talks crashing down”

Posted on June 23, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

ISRAEL HAYOM (by agreement with JNS)
The Iran talks are in danger of blowing up any day
Michael Oren
June 23, 2026

The Trump administration’s creation this week of a “cell to reduce friction” in Lebanon, comprised of Pakistan, Qatar, and Iran and totally ignoring Israel, has heightened Israeli anxiety over America’s Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran. That agreement grants the Islamic Republic billions of dollars to rebuild its ballistic missiles and resupply its terrorist proxies while doing little or nothing about its nuclear threat. Understandably, Israelis are asking what, if any, are chances that the agreement will fail. Not surprisingly, the most obvious cause for the agreement’s failure would be Lebanon. Trump has allowed Iranian leaders to use Lebanon as leverage against the United States by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz unless he reins in Israel. As such, the Iranians have every interest in encouraging Hezbollah to violate the ceasefire, enabling them to demand further concessions from the president to keep the Strait open. But Trump could say “enough” and sever the Hormuz-Lebanon connection. READ MORE

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“Washington is drafting the rules of Israel’s self-defense – without Israel in the room”

Posted on June 23, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

MIDDLE EAST FORUM
Micromanaging Survival
Gregg Roman
June 23, 2026

Don’t let the headline numbers — barrels, waivers, frozen billions — set tonight’s frame. The tell of the day is a small procedural fact almost everyone skipped: the United States and Iran sat in Switzerland and drew up rules for when Israel may defend its northern border, then left Israel out of the room. The cell seats Hezbollah’s patron and excludes its target, and would cap the IDF to “imminent” threats rather than the “emerging” ones it acts on now. That is not diplomacy in support of an ally. It is an attempt to micromanage an ally’s survival. Tonight I follow that pattern across the whole board: the deal that pays the arsonist, the impunity machine running in Washington’s own courtrooms, the map our adversaries are quietly redrawing, and the war for perception that no ceasefire touches…Per Israel’s Channel 12, the “deconfliction” body that emerged from Switzerland would include the U.S., Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, and Pakistan — and exclude Israel — while narrowing the IDF’s writ in southern Lebanon from “emerging” threats to merely “imminent” ones (Times of Israel; IBTimes). READ MORE

JEWISH INSIDER Vance, Rubio offer mixed messages on Iran having a role in Lebanon As the details around the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran emerge, Vice President JD Vance, who has been deputized with leading the effort, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ostensibly the Trump administration’s top diplomat, have offered different messaging around the issue of Lebanon and Hezbollah being subsumed into discussions with Tehran.  Rubio, meanwhile, has been clearer about Iran’s role in propagating terror in the Middle East. Arriving in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, he said a “complete end of hostilities in the entire region” is “not possible … as long as Iranian proxies are launching missiles and drones from Iraq and are participating in terrorism like Hamas did and like Hezbollah did.”

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In Iran, most of those death sentences have been carried out in the past three months, as the authorities have hurried to send a message to a restless population: The regime is still firmly in charge, and dissent won’t be tolerated”

Posted on June 23, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

WALL STREET JOURNAL
As War With U.S. Eases, Iran Steps Up Hangings of Dissidents
Henna Moussavi
June 21, 2026

In the days before Iran’s regime hanged Nasser Bakerzadeh, the 26-year-old spoke of the normal life he would never return to. Bakerzadeh dreamed of returning to run his mobile-phone store, he told fellow inmates in the main prison of Urmia, a city in Iran’s northwest. Instead, he was executed for being an Israeli spy—a charge he denied and his lawyer said lacked any credible evidence. “He just wanted to live, to work, and to make his parents happy,” said Hamid Chapati, a former cellmate.  Bakerzadeh is one of at least 45 people executed in Iran this year on political charges, ranging from spreading propaganda to espionage, according to human-rights groups and Iranian state media…The rise in political executions is raising alarm about the fate of thousands of Iranians who are still in prison for participating in the January protests. READ MORE

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“The digital post featured an image of Goldman inside the Park Slope establishment, where the congressman – who is currently embroiled in a highly competitive Democratic primary race against former city Comptroller Brad Lander – had stopped in”

Posted on June 22, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

ARUTZ SHEVA
‘We don’t serve genocide enablers’: Brooklyn cafe cancels Jewish lawmaker’s order
June 23, 2026

A Brooklyn coffee house has targeted pro-Israel Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) by canceling his recent transaction, returning his money, and declaring that the business refuses to accommodate “genocide enablers”, reports The New York Post. Poetica Coffee publicized the unsolicited $9.82 reimbursement through an aggressive Facebook update on Sunday…“Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn’t taste like genocide juice? Or are you still having a hard time telling the difference?” the caption read, invoking Goldman’s diplomatic support for Israel and echoing international contentions surrounding the Gaza war. See, here at Poetica, we don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between. Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away. We issued you a refund – we don’t need your money (it’s probably coming from AIPAC anyways). Enjoy your loss on Tuesday. Don’t ever come to Poetica.” READ MORE

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Rep. Josh Gottheimer: “Swap ‘AIPAC’ for ‘Jews’ and it’s the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theory in the books”

Posted on June 22, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
Some of Mamdani’s Jewish allies criticize his use of ‘monsters’ to describe AIPAC
Andrew Lapin
June 22, 2026

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday defended his use of the word “monsters” to describe AIPAC at a rally Friday for progressive candidates, as some of his Jewish supporters expressed concern that the term may connote an antisemitic trope. The war of words came as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is increasingly a target of the progressive movement — including in acts of attempted violence — and as progressive Jews have accused some Israeli right-wing figures of dehumanizing liberal pro-Israel lobbying groups. “Calling AIPAC and its backers ‘monsters’ casts them as less than human, rather than as human beings who are one’s political opponents,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs, head of the progressive rabbinic human rights group T’ruah, wrote in a Substack post Monday. READ MORE

NY POST Editorial Board: Mamdani takes the Jew-hate all the way to 11 Mayor Zohran Mamdani last week tore off the mask: He’s going full-on antisemite/ At last Thursday’s rally for his slate of extremist House candidates — Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez — Mamdani railed that we’re now living in a “time of monsters.” Who are these monsters? Though they “take many forms,” it’s … AIPAC. Yep: Per Mamdani, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is the heart of all evil in America; the only thing it fears more than democracy “is an end to genocide.” Reality check II: Israel’s recent war in Gaza featured no “genocide”; the Palestinian population has grown since Hamas started that war, indeed has grown every decade that Jerusalem has controlled Gaza and the West Bank.

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“To Trump: In the Middle East, loyalty is currency. If you abandon your closest friend halfway through a fight and cut deals behind their back while leaving them exposed, don’t expect anyone to trust your guarantees again”

Posted on June 22, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
‘MIGA: Making Iran’s Regime Great Again’: Why Many Arabs Vehemently Oppose Trump’s MOU
Khaled Abu Toameh
June 22, 2026

The prevailing narrative in much of the Western media is that opposition to US President Donald J. Trump’s new agreement with Iran comes primarily from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters. This narrative is false. Many Arabs, including prominent Gulf analysts, academics, former officials, and Lebanese commentators, have publicly voiced concerns about the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and the Iranian regime. Their objections are strikingly similar to those expressed in Israel: the agreement strengthens Iran, weakens America’s credibility, ignores Tehran’s regional proxies, and leaves America’s allies vulnerable. The concerns are especially pronounced in the Gulf states and Lebanon, where people have firsthand experience with Iran’s destabilizing activities. READ MORE

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“The vice president is trying hard to sell an Iran deal that hawks claim is weak while offering an olive branch to noninterventionists who opposed going to war at all”

Posted on June 18, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

FREE PRESS
Vance Tries to Have It Both Ways on the Iran Deal
Eli Lake
June 17, 2026

Vice President J.D. Vance emerged this week as the White House surrogate in chief to sell the agreement with Iran to end the war. In a slew of television and podcast appearances, Vance has explained how a war President Donald Trump once promised would end only with Iran’s “unconditional surrender” will now be settled through negotiations. Vance has his work cut out for him. For many mainstream Republicans, the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran is nothing more than American surrender. Sharp-tongued Louisiana Republican senator John Kennedy summed up this sentiment on Tuesday when asked if he believed Iran’s regime would abandon its nuclear ambitions during the 60-day negotiation period that starts Friday. “Unless you were homeschooled by a day drinker, no one’s confident that Iran is going to do anything,” Kennedy replied. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Vance slams Israeli ‘freakout’ over Iran deal, says Trump only world leader who still likes Israel US Vice President JD Vance castigated Israeli officials on Thursday for not backing the US’s nuclear deal with Iran, accusing far-right cabinet ministers of lacking appreciation for American support, as he made the case for the newly signed memorandum of understanding at a White House press briefing. “You have seen people within Bibi’s cabinet, who have come out and attacked the deal, and in some ways very personally attacked the president of the United States,” he told reporters…“Number one, Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.”

TABLET MAG Lee Smith: Donald Trump’s Pallets of Cash What seems to have held Trump back from green-lighting the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Vice President JD Vance has negotiated with Iran is his fear that he can’t repackage Obama’s deal as his own big geopolitical win because his base will see through it and think him a loser. And so, for nearly a month, Vance, leader of the White House’s “restrainer” faction, has been trying to convince Trump that MAGA is definitely dumb enough to be suckered into believing that the Iran deal his loyal deputy has captained is a historic win.

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Israeli public sours on Trump for all the obvious reasons

Posted on June 18, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

NOON IN ISRAEL
Iran Deal: It’s Worse Than We Thought
Amit Segal
June 18, 2026

It’s Thursday, June 18, and the official terms of the U.S. Memorandum of Understanding are out—and it’s worse than anticipated. The official signing ceremony isn’t until Friday, but the agreement was already signed digitally last night during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles. Anyone familiar with the palace’s history knows this makes the MOU the second great surrender signed at Versailles. Except this time, the U.S. is the one capitulating. Here’s why it’s worse than we thought. As the details slowly leaked, it became clear that this agreement is not a pause—the status quo held in place while negotiations ran their course. It was a rewind, actively restoring the Islamic Republic. The only question left was how fast it would run, and according to these clauses, faster than we would like. READ MORE

THE DAILY WIRE Mark Dubowitz: Why Squander The Greatest Leverage Ever Built Against Iran? There is one final instrument that every administration has neglected. The Iranian people. Economic pressure and military power can weaken the regime. Only the Iranian people can ultimately end it. Nothing can match the power of tens of millions of Iranians who despise the regime that rules them. No one has sacrificed more to challenge the Islamic Republic. Despite enduring killings, incarceration, torture, corruption, and economic ruin, they continue to resist. The truly decisive question is not how long the United States can pressure this regime. It is whether America is finally prepared to help Iranians finish the job themselves.

JEWISH CHRONICLE Iran chief negotiator vows to avenge Supreme Leader’s death with ‘liberation of Jerusalem  Iran’s chief negotiator in the deal signed today with the US has warned the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khameini will be avenged with the “liberation of Jerusalem”. The Memorandum of Understanding agreed between the US and the Islamic Republic has raised hopes of ending the conflict in the Gulf, pending a final agreement. But Tehran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf signalled the regime remains committed to its longstanding objective of the destruction of Israel, in a newly published interview that contradicts hopes of peace. The true way to avenge the martyred Imam is the liberation of Jerusalem.

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Declining a job for a company owned by Jews, he stated, “My experiences with Jews have not been pleasant”

Posted on June 17, 2026 by ArchitectGuy

CORNELL DAILY SUN
Student Writes ‘Not Interested in Working for a Jew’ on Handshake, Cornell Reports Bias Incident
Everett Chambala
June 13, 2026

The University reported Austin Franco ’28 to the Office of Civil Rights for a bias incident in which he responded to a job offer with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.” on Handshake, according to a June 8 X post from Gabe Einhorn, co-founder and CEO of the company which Franco was accepted to. The Sun spoke to Franco and Einhorn following the incident. Franco initially applied to a growth/sales role at Einhorn’s real estate startup, VrfyID, on May 26 through Handshake, a digital hiring platform, according to Einhorn. He was accepted in the first round and Gabe’s brother Aiden, who co-founded VrfyID, asked to set up a time for a meeting on May 29. Franco responded the same day with times he was available. Gabe told The Sun that both him and Aiden then offered two dates for students to attend, neither of which Franco went to. When Aiden followed up on June 8 to ask Franco about his attendance, Franco responded with “Not interested in working for a jew. Thanks.” READ MORE

JPOST Jewish start-up founders face hate for exposing antisemitic applicant’s messages “We were both just kind of shocked. My whole goal of posting this was to show this is a clear example of antisemitism. I only had maybe a thousand followers on X, so I didn’t expect it to reach the national news that it has.” Einhorn stressed that his initial intention was not to call Franco out; in fact, he didn’t publish his full name so as not to identify him publicly.

NEW YORK POST Sick fundraiser gets nearly $20K for Cornell student who turned down job to avoid ‘working for a Jew Sick supporters of an antisemitic Cornell student who refused a job interview because he was “not interested in working for a Jew” have raised nearly $20,000 for him — with the top donor forking over a symbolic $1,776. Austin Franco, 19, went viral when he hatefully declined an interview at VryflD, a New York City-based startup, because its co-founders, brothers Gabe and Aiden Einhorn, are proudly Jewish.

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