Israel News
Daily Alert
White House Weighs Iran's Nuclear-Talks Offer as Trump Leans toward Strikes
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Alexander Ward -
The White House is weighing a last-ditch Iranian offer to engage in diplomacy over curbing its nuclear program, U.S. officials say. President Trump currently favors attacking Iran, officials said.
U.S. Steps Up Planning for Possible Action in Iran
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Alexander Ward -
President Trump is considering options to respond to the crackdown on demonstrators in Iran. The next steps could include boosting antigovernment sources online, deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military and civilian sites, placing more sanctions on the regime, and military strikes, the officials said.
"We're looking at some very strong options," Trump said Sunday. If Iran retaliates to an American attack by targeting U.S. troops in the region, "we will hit them at levels that they've never been hit before." He also said "the leaders of Iran called" to negotiate.
U.S. Expected to Set New Preconditions for Iran Talks
on January 12, 2026
(Israel Hayom) Danny Zaken -
A diplomatic source told Israel Hayom that the U.S. is expected to respond to Iran's request to enter negotiations by presenting a series of preconditions. These include an immediate end to the use of live fire to suppress protests and the release of those detained, readiness to hand over enriched uranium, and the termination of its long-range missile project and its support for terrorist organizations under its patronage.
The source said discussions within the U.S. administration are now focused on how to intervene in Iran, not on whether to intervene. The initial steps are expected to be economic, including far more sweeping sanctions and an effort to almost completely shut down Iran's oil exports.
Trump Announces 25 Percent Tariff on Countries that Trade with Iran
on January 12, 2026
(Washington Post) Yeganeh Torbati -
President Trump said Monday he was imposing a 25% tariff, "effective immediately," on goods from any nation doing business with Iran, including China, India, Russia, Turkey and Iraq.
After Netanyahu Says He Wants to Phase Out U.S. Aid, Sen. Graham Says He'll Expedite the Process
on January 12, 2026
(Jewish Insider) Emily Jacobs -
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement that Israel seeks to wean itself off of U.S. aid within the next 10 years, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Jewish Insider, "From my point of view as an American, now that this decision has been made, I don't think we need to wait 10 years. I'm going to work on expediting the wind down of the aid and recommend we plow the money back into our own military." The current MOU guaranteeing $3.8 billion per year expires in 2028.
Sen. Graham said he "respects" Netanyahu's decision, adding, "As an American, you're always appreciating allies that can be more self-sufficient....The investment we've made into the IDF has been a great investment for our national security. We have no better ally than Israel. The more capable they are, the safer America [is]....It would be hard for America, if not impossible, to replicate some of the things the Israeli military and intelligence community can do because of location and expertise."
Hamas Orders Handover of Gaza Administration to Government under Trump's Board of Peace
on January 12, 2026
(Jerusalem Post) Miriam Sela-Eitam -
Hamas has ordered all its governing agencies to prepare to hand over authority to the upcoming technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza, Hamas's official media outlet, SAFA, reported on Sunday. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said, "There are instructions to facilitate the handover process in order to ensure the success of this body's work, in line with the higher Palestinian interest and in implementation of the plan that stopped the war in Gaza, which was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh."
Aleppo's Kurdish Neighborhoods Fall to Syrian Security Forces
on January 12, 2026
(Jerusalem Post) Seth J. Frantzman -
After a week of clashes in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Syrian security forces have taken control over most of two Kurdish neighborhoods that have been largely self-governing for a decade and controlled by Kurdish security forces linked to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group that was backed by the U.S. to fight ISIS. The clashes caused many Kurds to flee and led to abuses of Kurdish detainees.
There is widespread animosity and racist hatred against Kurds in Syria. In videos from the clashes, there have been scenes of a Kurdish body thrown off a building, a Kurdish woman fighter having her hair pulled and being insulted, and detained Kurds being called "pigs" and encouraged to bark like dogs.
In March 2024, Syria's new government had agreed to a deal with SDF leader Mazloum Abdi about integrating forces. But now that Kurds have suffered displacement in Aleppo, the SDF will be even more suspicious of the government's integration efforts.
Iran's Security Forces Have Remained Loyal
on January 12, 2026
(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai -
The Iranian regime has given a clear directive to security forces - the police, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Basij militia - to shoot to kill. The result has been hundreds of deaths. Unlike in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries during the Arab Spring, where the security forces ultimately refused to fire on civilians, the regime's security forces have remained loyal.
This loyalty stems in large part from the regime's religious-jihadist character. The Arab regimes that fell during the Arab Spring were all secular. Iran's regime is a jihadist theocracy whose loyalists are driven by extreme Islamist ideology - making them willing to do what their counterparts in other countries would not.
Iranian Regime Is Not about to Fall
on January 12, 2026
(Jerusalem Post) Anna Barsky -
There is no working assumption in Jerusalem that the Iranian regime is about to fall. The prevailing assessment is that Tehran's rulers know how to buy time, survive pressure, and maintain control.
Israel's security establishment has asked ministers to curb public comments on the protests in Iran and the crackdown, out of concern that every word could support the claim that Israel is behind the protests. Israeli officials understand that the moment their government is seen as leading the Iranian street, the regime receives a gift: a clean narrative that allows it to shift from repression to "national defense."
Video: Analyzing the Protests in Iran
on January 12, 2026
(TBN Israel) Interview with Dr. Harold Rhode -
Tensions in Iran are getting higher and higher. How do I know this? Two weeks ago, the demonstrators were yelling "death to the dictator." Now they're shouting "death to Khamenei." That's just one small example.
The protests are becoming bigger and bigger and in some cases the Revolutionary Guards are withdrawing because they are afraid and don't know what to do. The moment they're not sure what to do, they have their finger in the air to see where the power is - and they very quickly can change sides.
Dr. Harold Rhode, a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, served as an adviser on the Islamic world for the U.S. Department of Defense for 28 years.
Iran's Regime Massacres Its Own People
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial -
Unable to govern its people, Iran's regime has resorted to shooting them. The enforcers for the ruling mullahs have killed at least 500 protesters, and likely thousands. But Iran's problems are intractable so long as this regime remains, and Iranians know it.
Trump promised to intervene if the regime resorted to mass murder, and the protesters heard him and are dying in the streets. Night after night, they challenge a regime that they know will meet them with bullets. "Death to America," the Ayatollah and his minions chant.
Military attacks would stun the regime. Targets could include Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters, leaders and units coordinating the crackdown; the Kharg Island export terminal, from which Iran delivers China its daily advantage in discounted oil; and the ballistic-missile program and what's left of the nuclear program.
Iran Is Hunting Down Starlink Users to Stop Protest Videos from Going Global
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Benoit Faucon -
With the government shutting down the internet and throttling phone services, Iranians are leaning heavily on Elon Musk's Starlink service to share videos of growing protests and the regime's escalating crackdown with the world. But Iran has intensified efforts to jam the service, which is banned in the country, and users are being hunted.
Viewing the Current Wave of Protests in Iran
on January 12, 2026
(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Dr. Raz Zimmt -
The current wave of protests in Iran poses the greatest threat to the regime since the 1979 Revolution. While the scope of the protests is wide and includes different sectors, there are no indications of cracks or fissures within the repression and enforcement apparatuses. The political elite also continues to display cohesion, at least outwardly. It seems appropriate to define the current situation as an "ongoing revolutionary situation," which could continue for months.
The writer is the Director of the Iran and the Shiite Axis research program at INSS.
The Downfall of the Islamic Republic Will Be Nasty, Brutish, and Likely Long
on January 12, 2026
(Substack) Borzou Daragahi -
Iran's biggest protests by far were the wave of mass demonstrations triggered by the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They drew hundreds of thousands in major cities. They also had the blessing of major factions within the political and clerical elite. They went on for months, led to thousands of arrests, and helped the regime fine-tune its repressive apparatus to deal with and eventually squelch subsequent protests.
The country's rulers came to power on a wave of mass protests and have spent the last 47 years making sure they don't suffer the same fate. They've become quite good at it. There is well-informed speculation that the Iranian regime allows a certain amount of protests as an effective way to identify troublemakers. They identify those leading the chants and dispatch intelligence officers to round the emerging leaders up in the pre-dawn hours. They sentence them to years in prison, where they are subjected to mental torture and physical duress.
But except for those in 2009, Iran's protests have not offered any possible roadmap to substantive political change. The truth is that the protests are scary to the bulk of Iranians. They stay away from crowds, denying protests the critical mass they need to be effective. They stay home because more than freedom, the bulk of Iranians cherish order above all. Iranians realize that regime collapse or foreign intervention could worsen their economic plight and threaten their security.
The writer, an international correspondent for The Independent (UK), previously served as Baghdad bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times.
Iranian Leaders' Claim to Legitimacy Shattered in the War with Israel
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Yaroslav Trofimov -
Iran's 12-day war with Israel and the U.S. last June broke the regime's carefully nurtured image of invincibility, many ordinary Iranians say. Now the aftermath is helping to fuel a wave of protests. The social compact that endured since the bloody eight-year war that Saddam Hussein's Iraq launched in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution was that Iranians would acquiesce to hardship and restrictions in return for a strong state that protects them from foreign attack.
That assumption came crashing down when Iranian-backed Hamas and Hizbullah attacked Israel in 2023, triggering a regional war that brought death and destruction into the heart of Tehran in the summer of 2025. Israeli strikes across Iran destroyed much of its military leadership, and the follow-on U.S. bombing campaign struck a heavy blow against Iran's nuclear program. It was a humiliation for a regime that had invested so much of the country's national wealth into a proxy network that was designed to deter exactly this sort of assault on the homeland.
"This was the last straw. The regime over the years had argued that although it has not been able to bring about prosperity or pluralism for the Iranians, at least it had brought them safety and security. Turns out, it didn't," said Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group. History is replete with examples of repressive regimes falling to domestic unrest after military setbacks against foreign adversaries.
How the Iranian Regime Plans to Survive Its Own Collapse
on January 12, 2026
(Times of Israel) Catherine Perez-Shakdam -
When the Islamic Republic begins to crack, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will move, according to plans already rehearsed, to ensure that the regime does not truly end but merely changes costume.
The IRGC was built to protect the architecture of power. It was designed as the regime's guarantor: an armed ideology with its own intelligence organs, its own patronage and procurement networks, and its own commercial empire. It has spent decades perfecting its survival doctrine.
The IRGC will present itself as the sole barrier between Iran and chaos. It understands that anxious populations can be stampeded into accepting the familiar jailer as the price of avoiding an unknown disorder. Iranians must reject the seductive lie that stability requires the continued dominance of the very apparatus that destroyed civic life. Stability is not the continuation of fear. Stability is the restoration of law.
The writer is an associate scholar at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
Iran Cracks Down. Where Are the Western Protests?
on January 12, 2026
(Wall Street Journal) Gerard Baker -
As the people of Iran brave another intensifying crackdown by their rulers in one of the world's most repressive regimes, where are the protests in the West? Where are all those defenders of persecuted Muslims who have been so active on the streets of New York, London, Sydney, Rome and elsewhere the past two years? Where are the demands for justice and freedom for the downtrodden victims of a brutally repressive state?
More than three million Iranians have been driven from their homeland in the 47 years of the mullahs' rule. People have been forced into prisons or into exile in foreign lands, their homes and property stolen, their loved ones punished and frequently murdered.
Where are the movie stars and pop icons with their video pleas for justice? Where is the International Criminal Court's crack team of lawyers to investigate crimes against humanity and issue indictments against Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, as they did for Benjamin Netanyahu?
In the UK, there has been criticism that the BBC has been playing down or even ignoring the dramatic events in Iran. BBC News world affairs editor John Simpson noted how difficult it is to get accurate and reliable information given the reporting conditions in the country. Yet in Gaza, the scarcity of reliable information didn't stop the BBC from broadcasting daily for two years the most lurid accounts of the Israeli offensive there - much of it pure Hamas lies.
Perhaps the reason so many protesters condemn Israel for its legitimate actions and give Iran a pass for its illegitimate ones is that, unlike Israel, Iran isn't run by Jews.
The Courage of Iran's Women
on January 12, 2026
(spiked-UK) Joanna Williams -
It is impossible to overstate the bravery of Iran's protesters. Men and women, united in opposition to the dictatorship, have taken to the streets in defiance of the threat to their lives. "I am not afraid," one female protester is filmed saying. "I've been dead for 47 years." Her arm is raised in defiance, as blood drips from her mouth.
Robina Aminian, 23, from a Kurdish region in Iran, was shot last week at close range in the back of her head by Iranian security forces and then buried by the side of the road. Today, her vibrant, smiling face shines from the front covers of British newspapers. Yet not even this has been enough to nudge privileged Western activists to so much as summon up a hashtag in solidarity with Iran's women. Instead, those quick to don a keffiyeh for the supposedly "right" cause have determinedly looked the other way.
Mass displays of solidarity from the West's activist class have been notable only by their absence. Celebrities queued up to sign petitions, pen open letters, make TikToks and join protests critical of Israel's actions in Gaza. Students established protest camps on posh university lawns and hundreds of thousands of people marched through Britain's city centers week after week, purportedly in solidarity with Palestinians. But when it comes to supporting Iranian women? Silence.
The silence of the Western virtue-signalers reminds us that not all women are equal. Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 revealed that Jewish women do not count. Jewish rape victims are to be forever doubted. Now we know that Iranian women do not count either.
To date, the iconic image to emerge from the Iranian protests is of a beautiful young woman, hair loose about her shoulders, lighting a cigarette from a burning image of the ayatollah. That is freedom.
We Need to Talk about Western Derangement Syndrome
on January 12, 2026
(Telegraph-UK) George Chesterton -
When we see activists campaigning against the Iranian people's wish to overthrow one of the most repressive and murderous regimes in the world, the most accurate description of this baffling reaction is "deranged." A video from Cologne illustrated this, where a woman berated Iranians who were demonstrating against their government's killing of protesters. She was screaming wildly about Palestine, apparently provoked by some Israeli flags being waved by Iranian Jews.
Only a person who has taken leave of their senses could convince themselves that it's rational to support the Iranian regime while despising the West, where they benefit from freedoms that people in Tehran could only dream of. Opposing the efforts of the Iranians themselves to overthrow the clerics who've kept them in bondage since 1979 is a leap into genuine madness.
It is the most worrying symptom yet of "Western Derangement Syndrome" (WDS) - the belief that anything and anyone opposed to the West is preferable to the horrors of liberal democracy, even if that means supporting a regime that has executed 1,500 of its own people in 2025, treats women like chattel, criminalizes homosexuality and sponsors global terrorism.
How to Ensure the Success of Gaza's "Board of Peace"
on January 12, 2026
(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh -
Next week, President Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace, an international transitional body to support the administration, reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 war.
The Board of Peace will reportedly include countries such as Turkey and Qatar, both followers of the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood who have long been providing financial and diplomatic aid to Hamas. They are hardly likely to participate in any attempt to disarm Hamas or destroy its military and terror infrastructure in Gaza.
Egypt, apparently another member of the Board, opposes the use of force to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups operating in Gaza. We seem headed toward a situation where the Board of Peace and the proposed Palestinian technocratic government will operate in parallel with Hamas, not instead of it. Hamas has no plans to go away and views itself as an integral part of any post-war arrangement.
For the Board of Peace to succeed, it must first issue a clear ultimatum to Hamas and all the terror groups in Gaza to lay down their weapons by a certain date and then disappear from the scene. These groups have nothing constructive to offer. Their stated goal is to destroy Israel and their attempts to do so will bring more death and destruction on the Palestinians.
No Board of Peace or International Stabilization Force will succeed so long as the Palestinian terrorists are still roaming the streets. These terrorists must be defeated, destroyed, and forced to surrender. Unfortunately, that is the only way to transform Gaza into a terror-free territory and prevent more violence and bloodshed.
How International Law Has Been Weaponized Against Israel
on January 12, 2026
(JNS) Melanie Phillips -
The UN Human Rights Office has issued a report detailing what it calls Israel's "systemic discrimination" against Palestinians in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem. It ignores the fact that every restriction on the Arabs living in the "West Bank" is imposed by Israel only to prevent the murderous terrorist attacks that the Arabs living there perpetrate against Israeli civilians almost every day.
International law has become an overarching and unchallengeable political instrument to govern the world in the way the West tells itself it should be run. Yet international law didn't stop Russian President Vladimir Putin when he invaded Georgia, annexed Crimea and marched into Ukraine. It didn't stop Syria's former president, Bashar Assad, from butchering half a million of his fellow citizens, nor Iran's Islamic regime from waging a terrorist war on the West for the past half-century.
A key reason why so many well-meaning people hate Israel is that they believe every word uttered by the humanitarian nexus of the UN, international courts and NGOs. Because international law has turned against Israel, the Jewish state is widely believed to stand for illegality and evil. Not only is this as false as it is revolting, but international law is itself built on sand.
Certainly, the rule of law is essential to a civilized society. But that involves laws passed within the jurisdiction of a democratic nation and that are therefore rooted in the consent of the people. International law, rooted instead in agreements between states, is essentially politics by other means. As a result, it has become weaponized as "lawfare" by people with a malign agenda against Israel.
International law isn't the pathway to a fairer and more civilized world. In its ferocious weaponization against Israel, it has been turned into the negation of justice and the legal instrument of evil.
The writer is a columnist for The Times-UK.
Reform in the Palestinian Authority Curriculum?
on January 12, 2026
(JNS) Dr. Arnon Groiss -
Saudi Arabia has offered to assist in implementing reforms within the Palestinian Authority, among them, reform of the PA school curriculum. Since 2000, I have researched the portrayal of Israel, Jews and peace in PA textbooks. The principles embedded in these books are not fundamentally different from those promoted by Hamas.
Their treatment of the conflict rests on three core pillars: rejection of Israel's right to exist anywhere in the land and denial of the legitimacy of its seven million Jewish citizens; severe demonization of Israel and Jews, often on religious grounds; and the glorification of violent struggle for "liberation," in which the annihilation of Israel is implicitly - and sometimes explicitly - endorsed.
In PA textbooks, Jewish history in the land is denied, as is the existence of Jewish holy sites. The "occupation" does not begin in 1967, but in 1948. Jews are depicted as infidels, allies of Satan and enemies of God's prophets. Students are taught that Jews betrayed Muhammad, and that they pose an existential threat to Palestinians.
These textbooks remain in use in the current school year and have not been meaningfully revised since 2020 - contrary to repeated claims by Western officials. As the PA curriculum remains unchanged, the PA should not be permitted to assume a role in Gaza. Doing so would preserve the ideological foundations of Hamas's extremist education.
Iran's Uprising and the Moral Bewilderment of Western Youth
on January 12, 2026
(Spectator-UK)
Brendan O'Neill -
The shameful, tight-lipped caginess of activists in response to the glorious revolt in Iran is more than cowardice - it's pathology. These people are so lost in the maze of moral relativism that they can't bring themselves to criticize an Islamic regime. The sight of young women throwing their hijabs on to open fires is more likely to baffle than excite them.
They're so drunk on anti-Westernism that the first calculation they make when a people rises up is: "Will this help or hurt America?" Fearing that the fall of the Islamic Republic would benefit the U.S., they balk at the thronging freedom fighters who are hell-bent on bringing about just such a fall. Hurting the white, privileged, colonialist West matters far more to these fools than freeing Iranians from the bondage of Islamist diktat.
The extraordinary valor of the young in Iran has exposed the moral bewilderment of the young in the West. Inculcated with that cruel, truthless idea that "All cultures are equally valid," this new generation is struck dumb by a fiery foreign revolt against an Islamic government. Solidarity struggles to take root in soil defiled by the cult of relativism.
We are witnessing one of the most important feminist revolts in history and yet many feminists are silent. Feminists who think being called "sweetheart" is a patriarchal crime seemingly have nothing to say about a staggeringly valiant uprising of women against the crushing of their rights by religious bigots.
The revolt in Iran is a world event of extraordinary proportions. If this regime falls - and those of us still in possession of our moral faculties sincerely hope it does - it will prove to be the most consequential event of the 21st century so far. It will ripple far beyond Iran's borders, radically changing the Middle East and the world itself.
If the ayatollah classes fall, Hamas and Hizbullah, already battered by the Jewish nation's resistance against their regime of terror, will be starved of resources. Israel will breathe easier. Russia's wings will be clipped as its ally in the Middle East is laid to rest by the very people it oppressed.
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