Still from Ben-Gvir’s video of the abusive treatment by Israeli security forces under his command of Gaza flotilla members.
+ An internal Pentagon assessment of Operation Epic obtained by the Washington Post concludes that the US rapidly depleted its stockpile of “advanced missile-defense intercepters,” largely because the US was forced to use more of its high-tech weaponry defending Israel from Iranian missiles and drones than it anticipated. The US launched at least 200 THAAD missiles to defend Israeli sites, nearly half of its arsenal, leaving the US with only 200 interceptors to defend its own sites across the Middle East. This is likely another reason Trump backed off his threat to “make Iran glow.” A single THAAD missile costs $15.5 million. You do the math.
+ The Lebanese Health Ministry reports that at least 3,089 people have been killed, and 9,397 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2. This includes 14 people killed and three wounded on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanon town of Deir Qanoun en-Nahr. Among those killed was a family of 11, including three children, their parents and grandparents.
+ Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel has killed at least 883 Palestinians and wounded 2,648, since October 11, 2025, the first day of the Trump-brokered “ceasefire,” where the Israelis have yet to cease firing.
+ Lawyers with the human rights group Adalah met with passengers on the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were abducted by Israeli forces and taken to Ashdod Port. They described the detainees having been beaten, tasered, shot with rubber bullets, placed in forced stress positions, and subjected to sexual humiliation. The hijabs worn by Muslim women were ripped off by Israeli personnel. At least three detainees needed hospitalization.
+ Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released a video showing detained participants of the illegally seized Gaza-bound flotilla being bound, shoved, dragged and abused in Israel’s Ashdod Port. Ben-Gvir wrote: “That’s how we welcome the terror supporters. Welcome to Israel.”
+ Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni fired back at Ben-Gvir’s appalling stunt and the abusive treatment the kidnapped flotilla members, many of whom are Italian citizens, have been subjected to by Israeli forces:
The images of the Israeli Minister Ben Gvir are unacceptable. It is inadmissible that these demonstrators, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates human dignity.
The Italian Government is immediately taking, at the highest institutional levels, all necessary steps to secure the immediate release of the Italian citizens involved.
Italy further demands an apology for the treatment reserved to these demonstrators and for the total contempt shown toward the explicit requests of the Italian Government.
For these reasons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation will immediately summon the Israeli ambassador to request formal clarifications on what has occurred.”
+As for Trump, when asked about the current state of his relationship with Netanyahu, he said
He’s fine. He’ll do whatever I want him to do. [The truth is almost certainly the reverse.] I’m at like 99% in Israel. Maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel and run for prime minister.
+ In an appearance on Israeli TV, Tucker Carlson was accused of comparing Israel, “a country that abides by international law,” to the “terror regime in Iran”.
Carlson shot back: “As an Israeli, you should pause before using the phrase ‘terror regime,’ since you live in a country that murdered thousands of children in Gaza…The Israeli prime minister pushed the US president, who turned out to be far weaker than I understood, into a war that hurts the United States. That is not an attack on Jews. Israel does not represent all Jews despite its claims. It does not.”
+ The DNC finally released its autopsy report on the 2024 elections. It doesn’t mention the words “genocide,” “Palestine,” “Gaza,” or “Israel.” No wonder the cause of Harris’s political death remains a mystery to them.
