“In a shocking revelation, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has reported the case of a young, wounded protester who survived by pretending to be dead inside a body bag”

JPOST
Iran security forces shoved wounded protesters into body bags, executed live patients in hospitals
Omid Habibinia/The Media Line
January 25, 2026

…According to sources, numerous injured protesters were not taken to hospitals but to forensic morgues while they were still alive and transported by truck to a hangar facility in Kahrizak. Among them, several were still breathing. In a shocking revelation, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has reported the case of a young, wounded protester who survived by pretending to be dead inside a body bag. He heard gunshots being fired at wounded civilians who moved or moaned while being held in body bags. Fearing he would be next, he remained motionless in the bag for three days, until a crowd of families stormed the site in search of their loved ones, enabling him to escape…The Media Line obtained a message from a nurse who confirmed that [hospital] patients were being systematically executed. The nurse was later killed. READ MORE

YNET Iran launches mass arrests to prevent protest revival amid rising tensions with US Iranian security forces have launched a wave of mass arrests across the country in an apparent effort to prevent a resurgence of nationwide protests, according to witnesses, activists and officials cited Thursday by Reuters. The arrests follow weeks of heavy repression that crushed large demonstrations under a near-total internet blackout. Witnesses told Reuters that security forces, many operating in civilian clothing, have been detaining people indiscriminately in Tehran and other cities, with detainees often taken to undisclosed locations.

FRANCE 24 Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel, judiciary says Iran on Wednesday executed a man arrested in April 2025 on charges of spying for Israel’s espionage agency Mossad, the judiciary said. Hamidreza Sabet Esmailpour, who had been convicted of passing information to a Mossad agent, was hanged at dawn, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency said. Rights groups have previously said 12 people have been hanged on similar charges in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June.

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After championing the cause for the past eight years, team pilot AJ Edelman leads four-man bobsleigh squad to Milano Cortina: ‘Let’s go make more history’

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel’s bobsleigh team clinches spot at 2026 Winter Olympics
Amy Spiro
January 22, 2026

Israel made ice-cold history on Thursday after qualifying a bobsleigh team for the Winter Olympics for the first time. The four-man team, headed by pilot AJ Edelman – who has been working tirelessly toward this goal for the past eight years – will hit the track at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games in just a couple of weeks. The team managed to clinch a place after reallocation – finishing just one spot out of contention in the official rankings, but garnering an invitation to the Games after the UK decided to send only one team instead of two. READ MORE

Click here for video.

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“Trump’s full-time haters are incapable of considering the possibility that, like any U.S. administration, this one might get some things wrong and some things right”

FREE PRESS
The Arrogance of Trump’s Foreign-Policy Critics
Niall Ferguson
January 25, 2026

I never cease to be amazed by the high conviction of so many journalists and academic commentators in their judgments on President Donald Trump. This has been especially striking during and after the Davos World Economic Forum. The impressive thing is that the same people rush to condemn Trump (and his defenders) in just the same way as they have been doing for 10 years. They remain unshakably convinced of their own superior intelligence. Three things are especially striking. First, they never look back and ask: “How good were my previous judgments of Trump? How did I do last year? Did I anticipate how much Trump would achieve in the first 100 days? Did I wrongly predict that his tariffs would crater the economy and cause inflation? Did I fail to anticipate the air strikes on Fordow? Did I fail to foresee the deal that got the Israeli hostages out of Gaza?” And so on. READ MORE

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“The invitation is about structure, power, and a deliberate attempt to reshape the global order” effectively sidelining a sclerotic United Nations, which wasn’t invited. Nor was China.

JPOST
Trump’s Invitation to Putin for Board of Peace Signals a New World Order
Alex Selsky
January 22, 2026

To understand what US President Donald Trump’s invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to join the proposed Board of Peace for Gaza truly means for Israel, one must step back and examine the broader strategic picture. This is not merely a diplomatic gesture toward Russia, nor is it only about Gaza. It is about structure, power, and a deliberate attempt to reshape the global order. Putin’s invitation is part of a much wider outreach. Trump reportedly invited around 60 heads of state from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. Among them are major players such as Germany, Saudi Arabia, and India, alongside smaller but strategically significant states like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Nearly every relevant Middle Eastern actor appears on the list, including countries that deeply concern Israel and with which Jerusalem has serious disagreements, notably Turkey and Qatar. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Kushner presents plan for glitzy Gaza rebuild, aiming for ‘catastrophic success’ Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner on Thursday presented a plan to rebuild war-torn Gaza into a glitzy resort, which he said could happen in three years if Hamas demilitarizes in accordance with the next phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace planKushner ended his presentation with a plea to Israel’s critics and to “Israelis criticizing Turkey or Qatar” — Hamas-supporting Board members whom Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep out of Gaza — to “just calm down for 30 days.”

ISRAEL HAYOM Amit Segal: Normalization is Dead: Israel’s New Enemy? Here is the updated assessment now being heard in important capitals in the region: normalization with Saudi Arabia is dead, at least for the foreseeable future. The strategic decision to pursue reconciliation with Israel has been replaced by a wild incitement campaign, whose depth and damage are questionable in terms of awareness. When Qatar’s “plastic empire” attacks Israel via Al Jazeera, it is very harmful—but when the preacher in Mecca poisons the entire Sunni world against Israelis, that is something else entirely…Why is this happening? Strangely, Israel has fallen victim to its historic success in severely damaging Iran’s nuclear project and its proxy network. 

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“The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln is moving closer, fighter jets have arrived in Jordan, air defense systems are on the way, and aerial refueling and transport aircraft have also been tracked heading east”

ISRAEL HAYOM ( by agreement with JNS)
Inside the US military’s massive buildup ahead of possible Iran strike
Dudi Kogan
January 21, 2026

Amid rising tensions with Iran, the US is steadily amassing additional military forces in the region, according to open-source intelligence analysts, media outlets covering the US military and American newspapers reporting on Wednesday. According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump has continued to press his advisers for “decisive” military options against Iran, even after backing away from a strike last week. Senior US officials told the paper that the president repeatedly uses the word “decisive” when describing the impact he wants any American action against Iran to have. At the center of the buildup is the movement of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its strike group, which includes destroyers, F-35 jets and additional combat aircraft. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST By asking Trump to delay Iran attacks, Netanyahu exposes Israel’s air defense holes The stunning revelation that part of why US President Donald Trump called off, or at least paused, any American attack on the Iranian regime was a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exposes a gaping, relatively new hole in Israel’s otherwise stellar multilayer air defense shield. The IDF sent more than a dozen messages in a matter of days about how it was ready and how strong its air defense capabilities are, only for Netanyahu to privately tell Trump the opposite. There were likely a variety of reasons that Trump canceled or postponed attacking the Iranian regime, and there were multiple reasons why Netanyahu also pushed him in that direction.

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US official re Bibi: “If he wants us to deal with Gaza, it will have to be our way. We worked over him. Let him focus on Iran and let us deal with Gaza”

AXIOS
“Gaza is our show”: U.S. pushes its plan over Netanyahu’s objections
Barak Ravid
January 17, 2026

President Trump’s advisers have little patience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objections as they push ahead with “phase two” of the Gaza peace plan. “This is our show, not his show. We managed to do things in Gaza in recent months nobody thought was possible, and we are going to continue moving,” a senior U.S. official told Axios, referring to Netanyahu. Netanyahu released an unusually pointed statement objecting to the “executive board” for Gaza, which the White House named on Friday. Th committee, which reports to the Trump-led Board of Peace, includes the foreign minister of Turkey and a senior Qatari official, despite Netanyahu’s insistence that those countries have no role in governing Gaza. READ MORE

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“It’s a reminder for those who are in this country on a visa or on a green card. You are a guest in this country. Act like it.”

JNS
Anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil to be deported to Algeria, DHS official says
Mike Wagenheim
January 22, 2026

The Trump administration plans to re-arrest and deport Syrian-born anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, according to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant U.S. secretary of homeland security for public affairs. “It looks like he’ll go to Algeria. That’s what the thought is right now,” McLaughlin told NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” Khalil’s mother has family ties to Algeria, and as a result, Khalil holds citizenship there. Khalil, a Columbia University graduate of Palestinian descent, holds a green card as a U.S. permanent resident. He has been accused of organizing encampments and other protests at the Manhattan campus, several of which turned violent and included rhetoric supporting Hamas. READ MORE

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NRO: “Kamala Harris’s Presidential Campaign Was Run by a Bunch of Lunatics”

ABC NEWS
Gov. Josh Shapiro alleges in memoir that Kamala Harris’ team asked him if he had ever been an Israeli agent
Oren Oppenheim
January 19, 2026

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a forthcoming memoir, claimed that the running mate vetting team for Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 run for the presidency asked him if he was ever an agent of the Israeli government, ABC News has confirmed. The New York Times first reported Shapiro’s claim. Shapiro writes in his memoir “Where We Keep the Light,” which is set to be released on Jan. 27, that he was asked at the last minute by Dana Remus, a former White House counsel and member of the vetting team, if he had ever been an agent for Israel. He said that he told Remus he found the question offensive, according to excerpts reported by The New York Times. He wrote that he was also asked by Remus if he ever spoke with an undercover Israeli agent, to which Shapiro said he responded in part that if they had been undercover, “how the hell would I know?” READ MORE

NATIONAL REVIEW Kamala Harris’s Presidential Campaign Was Run by a Bunch of Lunatics And what, exactly, spurred the Harris campaign’s suspicion that Shapiro had dual loyalties and had secretly been an agent of the Israeli government? And if an agent of any foreign state is undercover . . . how do you know? Occam’s razor would suggest that either (1) the Harris campaign foresaw insurmountable obstacles from having a Jewish, pro-Israel running mate at a time when the Democratic grassroots were growing vehemently anti-Israel, and needed an excuse to conclude Shapiro had flunked the vetting process or (2) the Harris campaign was full of paranoid antisemites who believed that every American Jew they encountered was secretly working for the Mossad.

JEWISH INSIDER Jewish leaders condemn ‘classic antisemitism’ in Josh Shapiro’s account of Harris VP vetting “The more I read about [Shapiro’s] treatment in the vetting process, the more disturbed I become,” Deborah Lipstadt, who served as the State Department’s antisemitism envoy under President Joe Biden, said in a post on X. “These questions were classic antisemitism.”  Shapiro suggests in the book that he was being treated unfairly as a Jewish contender for the role of vice president: “I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” he writes.

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“The recent surge of antisemitism on both the left and the right suggests that we are entering a new chapter of the Jewish relationship to political power in America”

TABLET MAG
Are Jews Still Welcome in the White House?
Tevi Troy
January 20, 2026

…Another, also unpalatable, possibility is that this fourth phase could couple rising elite and popular antisemitism with diminishing opportunities for Jews, as national politicians fear that prominent Jewish appointees might alienate key voting blocs, be they Muslims in Michigan, progressive Israel critics, or anti-globalists on the right. In the summer of 2024, for example, Gov. Shapiro’s Jewishness clearly seemed to count against him in the Democratic vice presidential selection process, as demonstrated by the offensive question from the Harris team of whether Shapiro was an Israeli agent. Bypassing Shapiro resulted instead in the choice of the less-talented Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that the increasing mainstream acceptance of antisemitism in both major parties may already be causing the pipeline of future higher-level Jewish appointees to dry up. READ MORE

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“The Iranian regime thought it signed Israel’s death warrant on 7 October 2023 – in fact, it may have signed its own”

SPIKED
7 October was the biggest mistake Iran ever made
Brendan O’Neill
January 12, 2026

‘The Zionist regime is melting before the eyes of the world’, gloated Ayatollah Khamenei in the aftermath of Hamas’s pogrom of 7 October 2023. His giddy foretelling of the death of the Jewish nation was echoed across the realm of Israelophobia. Israel’s downfall ‘is a matter of when, not if’, said the Islamo-loons of 5 Pillars. Leftist hotheads agreed that the invasion of Israel by Iran’s proxies sounded the death knell for ‘the Zionist project’. Fast forward to 2026 and the only thing ‘melting before the eyes of the world’ is the Islamic Republic itself. All the terrible things Khamenei thought would befall Israel have in fact befallen his own regime. Israel has ‘entered a dead-end corridor’ from which it ‘will not be able to escape’, he boasted. Hilariously, he’s probably literally in a corridor right now, or some squalid room, the hatches well and truly battened down as he hides from the implacable fury of the glorious Iranian revolt. READ MORE

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