By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | June 6, 2026
How will the Trump years in office play out in the history books? Recently, a number of unthinkable scenarios have taken place which will mark Trump and 2026 out as a seismic watershed moment in America’s history which will change the country’s identity and standing in the world forever. The decision by Trump to strike Iran on February 28th was remarkable in that it was a decision that Trump more or less took while disregarding his chief of staff and most of the cabal of decision makers around him, in preference for what Israel was insisting was a quick, winnable weekend war.
If we are to believe the explosive expletives though which were delivered by Trump to Netanyahu in a telephone call, it would appear that the greatest nightmare the world has about America – that it is run entirely these days by Israel – has come true. The anger and frustration by Trump might be real, even though what was reported might have been exaggerated for political purposes but the reality is that Israel is blocking any deal that Trump might believe he can pull off with Iran. And worse than just blocking it, based on Netanyahu’s statement about Lebanon, Bibi has not “turned back” IDF troops from making the south of Lebanon a new Gaza. The killing goes on, the systematic destruction of property and the war with Hezbollah has not been halted which puts Trump in an even tighter corner than he might have imagined he was in just a couple of weeks ago. He himself is unable to strike Iran as GCC partners have critically denied his military the support it would need, but in reality those governments and their elites – in particular MbS of Saudi Arabia – have played the safety lever role on Trump’s madness that Washington couldn’t pull off itself. Trump’s firing of all chiefs of staff from Biden’s days and surrounding himself with under qualified yes men has resulted in Trump himself being able to cultivate the maddest ideas and it is only leaders of the middle east who can tell him no. Enough is enough.
Presently, what we are witnessing in the region is the division of GCC countries – those who are allied to Israel via the Abraham Accords – and those who have formed a new anti Israel alliance with its own nuclear deterrent, a group made up of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which doesn’t have a name but is now an informal pact.
And in the middle of all this madness, comes more. Now we are hearing plans for Israel to move ahead with plans which would guarantee its annual 3.8 bn USD military gift from the U.S. for the next 20 years, shrouded in even more secrecy through a bill in congress which would essentially merge the Israeli government with the Washington apparatus making the IDF one with the U.S. military.
This fusion of the IDF and U.S. forces comes when Israel is sensing that future governments and congress will demand more accountability of how the annual defence gratuity is spent and Israel’s intentions in future wars. It also comes when public opinion seems to be against America’s support for Israel and its regional goals.
For example, according to Al Jazeera, a survey this month from The New York Times and Siena College found that 57 percent of U.S. voters opposed providing Israel with additional economic and military support.
Moreover, 62 percent said they disapproved of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, which started in 2023, has killed more than 75,000 people, prompting widespread condemnation, Al Jazeera claims.
There is some kickback from both houses against the so called Section 244 although those who have opposed it have predictably been called ‘anti semitic’.
But the very fact that Israel is using its leverage with congressmen which it has on its payroll to push through a bill which would ‘co-ordinate’ all military action that both the U.S. and Israel are involved in shows just how advanced Israel is with its absolute control of Washington. We’ve reached a new high-water mark of servility and it’s the Trump second term which has been a catalyst to this new world order which is going to make any deal with Iran even harder – first of all to get signed, but more importantly to implement, which of course the Iranians know, which explains their lethargic pace in the negotiations compared to Trump’s panicky buffoonery.
To Trump’s credit, he at least presented some resistance to U.S. forces being sent to their deaths when Israel turned up the heat and insisted on getting dug into a longer, drawn out deeper conflict with Iran. Sceptics rush to point out that Israel will only use a closer union to sell on the open market all of America’s military secrets, the bigger point is being over looked. If this article 244 gets through, it will only be a matter of time before an Israeli PM can simply order U.S. troops to fight any battle it wants. The days of heated arguments, threats or even blackmail will be looked back upon almost nostalgically as a golden era where a U.S. president still had the final call on whether to send in American troops. Netanyahu’s identity for three decades has been built on him bragging that he and Israel have been running America but the claim has been largely uncontested until now. Are we now about to enter a new phase?
By Ricardo Martins – New Eastern Outlook – June 5, 2026
Netanyahu and Trump are conditioning the end of the war in Iran on the condition that all countries in the region sign the Abraham Accords, a tacit submission to Israel. Drawing on Daniel Levy, Omer Bartov, and the Pew Survey, I address the reasons, the urgency, and the limits of Netanyahu’s simultaneous battles on several fronts in the quest for a Greater Israel project.
When Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich talks about expanding Israel’s reach “to Damascus,” or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses personal attachment to broad territorial ambitions or Israel being not only a “regional superpower” but “in some respects, a global superpower,” these are not just messianic daydreams. They reflect a deliberate, and deeply destabilizing strategic doctrine. For years, the idea of Greater Israel was dismissed by Western analysts as the rhetoric of a few Israeli hardliners. Sustaining this dismissive position is no longer possible.
Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator and now head of the U.S./Middle East Project, offers a sharp analytical lens for understanding today’s events. He suggests that Greater Israel isn’t just about land—it’s about Israel aiming to establish itself as the dominant hard-power player across the Middle East. As Levy puts it, this is about seeing how far Israel can extend its reach and consolidate its role as the region’s unrivaled hegemon.
Territorial control—occupying the Golan, reasserting presence in southern Lebanon, pushing forward with West Bank annexation, and the continuation of the genocide in Gaza—is only the most visible layer. The deeper game is about forging new regional alliances, as the one with the UAE, systematically weakening rival states, and building webs of hard-power dependency that lock neighboring governments into Israel’s orbit.
The ideological consolidation of this project was the 2018 Jewish Nation-State Basic Law, which constitutionally defined Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people.” For many, including the PLO’s Saeb Erekat, this law was the moment when a Zionist aspiration became a formal legal reality, and for critics, a codification of a system of apartheid. What was once an ambition is now written into the legal foundations of the state.
Omer Bartov, a leading scholar on genocide and Israeli history, traces this shift with a heavy sense of loss. In his book Israel: What Went Wrong?, he shows how Zionism, once rooted in the humanitarian ideals of 19th-century Jewish emancipation, has been transformed into a state project of ethno-nationalism, exclusion, and, in the end, violence. As Bartov puts it, what began as a struggle for Jewish liberation has become a machinery for dominating Palestinians, with all the tragedy that implies.
The Logic of Urgency
The pace and simultaneity of Israeli military operations in recent years demand careful analysis. In just two years, Israel has bombed Gaza, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Qatar and Yemen; it has occupied the Golan Heights, Gaza, the West Bank, and parts of southern Lebanon. Israel even succeeded in drawing the United States into a direct conflict with Iran, a move that, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio accidentally admitted, was driven more by Israeli rather than American priorities. As for Netanyahu, this is a posture of someone convinced that the window for reshaping the region is closing fast, and determined to act before it closes.
Levy describes the current moment as the “Pax Greater Israel” era, a time when the old constraints of American power, the so-called Pax Americana, have faded. With a more pliable U.S. administration, Israel’s room to maneuver has expanded. Iran still hasn’t rebuilt the deterrence it once had before Israel and America struck last year. The region’s strategic balance is more fluid—and more precarious—than it’s been in a generation.
While there’s international outrage over Israel’s actions in Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon, Israel has not suffered any punishment. The European Union, which heralds itself as the guardian of morals and Western values, has seen these values undermined by Israel, yet no single action has been taken. Netanyahu, who has piloted Israeli politics for nearly two decades, is unlikely to let an opportunity like this slip by.
Netanyahu’s sense of urgency isn’t just strategic. It is also deeply personal and political. He faces criminal charges, widespread public disapproval (polls showed most Israelis wanted him out even before the Gaza war), and an election looming in 2026. His personal survival and his political project are now intertwined. History teaches us that war often delays accountability, and Netanyahu knows that he has survived through wars.
By keeping the nation in a constant state of crisis, Netanyahu postpones his own reckoning while pushing forward his broader regional ambitions. There is always a danger when embattled leaders manipulate the machinery of state.
The Collapse of the Impunity Consensus
For decades, Israel benefited from an unspoken Western consensus that gave it extraordinary complacency on international law. UN resolutions could be swept aside, settlements could expand, human rights abuses against Palestinians could be perpetrated, and the memory of the Holocaust—too often used as a diplomatic shield—offered a kind of moral immunity no other state enjoyed. That consensus is now breaking down, even if its institutional traces remain stubbornly in place.
The visibility of the Gaza war and its horrendous violence has triggered a generational break like never before and a breakdown of this consensus. According to an April 2026 Pew survey, 60% of Americans have unfavorable views of Israel and 37% favorable ones. This becomes more important, as it is the first in history. The same survey also showed Netanyahu’s administration with 27% approval and 59% disapproval. In the last Global Country Perceptions Survey, Israel ranked in the last position, several points behind North Korea and Afghanistan.
The generational divide is even sharper among young people, many of whom reject any complicity in what prominent scholars, including Bartov, now formally call genocide. Netanyahu’s act of tearing up the UN Charter at the General Assembly, followed by a mass walkout, was more than symbolism. It marked the end of an era for both Netanyahu and Israel. Criticism of Israel or Zionism is no longer quickly conflated with antisemitism, especially among the younger generations.
And yet the institutional lag is severe. The European Union, bound by Article 2 of its Association Agreement with Israel, which explicitly conditions the relationship on respect for human rights, has consistently refused to act on its own legal framework. The cost of this cowardice is not merely moral. The EU, having lost industrial competitiveness, seeks its international influence as a regulatory and normative superpower. This claim rests on credibility. A bloc that intends to police the digital practices of technology companies but cannot enforce a human rights clause in its own trade agreement with a small state faces difficulties in imposing itself as a normative power, and the Global South has drawn that conclusion because of the lack of moral authority and double standard.
The pro-Israel lobby in the United States, sensing the tide turning, has responded by intensifying rather than moderating. More money is being spent, more countries are being pressured, more political careers are being threatened or terminated, as was the case with Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and more communication and online platforms are being acquired; censorship is being imposed, especially on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, and algorithms are being “re-educated,” as Mr. Larry Ellison said when he acquired TikTok. The main lobby, AIPAC, has, in great measure, turned into a politically toxic brand, according to The Intercept.
But Levy is right to note the structural limits of this approach. Lobbying is most effective when it moves with the current of public opinion or when it operates in the dark. It is least effective when it operates openly against an overwhelming public majority, against a country’s perceived national interest, and against the values of the rising generation. The lobby is fighting a rearguard action — powerful, well-resourced, and increasingly desperate.
The Next Iran and the Regional Order
It’s no accident that Israeli security officials—from Naftali Bennett to the current establishment—have started designating Türkiye as “the next Iran.” This isn’t just rhetoric; it is also part of “Greater Israel” strategy. Three decades ago, Israel argued that Iran was the existential threat that had to be contained before it led the region. Now, the same logic and language are applied to Türkiye: any regional power capable of building a new security order outside Israeli influence is seen as a threat to be isolated or confronted before it can consolidate.
But Türkiye is a different kind of challenge. As a NATO member with the largest NATO army in Europe, a strong economy, and the anchor of a coalition with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, Türkiye is not easily marginalized. Recent agreements point to a regional bloc that aims to build security frameworks explicitly outside Israeli (and, by extension, Western) dominance. This coalition news has not pleased Israel and soon reached the EU, with Ursula von der Leyen declaring, “We do not want to live under the influence of China, Russia, or Türkiye.”
The regional threat map has changed. For much of the Arab world and for Türkiye’s Erdoğan, Israel—not Iran—is now seen as the chief destabilizer. This shift in perception has real geopolitical consequences, and it’s not something American air power can easily undo.
Are we at the point of no return? In some ways, yes. The two-state solution, no matter how often it’s invoked in diplomatic statements, is functionally dead. It wasn’t killed by a single act, but by decades of illegal settlements, legal discrimination, disproportionate violence, and the systematic fragmentation of Palestinian territory. The ethnostate is already a reality on the ground. Bartov’s assessment is sobering but direct: unless there is sustained, structural pressure and actions from the international community, a real course correction is unlikely, and so far, that pressure hasn’t materialized.
But in another sense, we’re not quite past the point of no return for Netanyahu’s grand project. The conditions that have enabled the Greater Israel strategy are starting to slip away. American public opinion is shifting faster than the country’s political leaders; the support for Palestine is now higher than the support for Israel. A new regional bloc—with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt—offers a real counterweight. Iran, for all its setbacks, still possesses significant strategic resources and has the backing of China and Russia. And inside Israel, recent polling shows that a large majority (71%) support replacing the current Basic Laws with a formal constitution. Beneath the surface noise of hardline politics, there’s evidence that Israeli society hasn’t wholly given in to the ethnonationalist vision Bartov describes.
One thing is clear: this current trajectory of forever war and continued violence and humiliation of Palestinians can’t last forever. As Levy notes, Netanyahu is playing a high-stakes game of “use it or lose it.” The real question isn’t whether this moment will end — sure it will — but what the aftermath will look like. Will the region be forcibly remade in the image of Greater Israel, or will a new order, forged through painful resistance, emerge in its place? The stakes for Israelis, Palestinians, and the broader Middle East couldn’t be higher.
Ricardo Martins – Doctor of Sociology, specialist in European and international politics as well as geopolitics
Your tax dollars at work
By Kevin Barrett | American Free Press | June 5, 2026
On May 18, Israeli commandos attacked 54 civilian boats carrying food and medical supplies to Gaza. The boats were near Cypress, nearly 300 miles from Gaza, in international waters.
The Israelis fired at the boats and kidnapped 428 unarmed humanitarian activists. Those people were never charged with any crime. How could they be? When kidnapped, they were exercising their right to sail in international waters. It was the Israelis who were committing the crime of maritime piracy, which carries a penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.
But piracy and kidnapping were just the initial crimes. Sexual assault, rape, and torture followed. It began almost as soon as the Israeli pirates boarded the victims’ boats. According to Dropsite News, “The flotilla says at least 12 sexual assaults were documented aboard the vessel alone, including anal rape and forcible penetration with a handgun.”
The kidnapping victims were subjected to sadistic sexual abuse in the form of strip-searches accompanied by sexual taunting and groping. Many were raped. Participants described “rubber bullets fired at close range, tasers used on the face and upper body, stun grenades thrown into groups of detainees (and) prolonged stress positions under permanent bright light.” The activists were brutally beaten, emerging with “broken ribs (and) fractures to the torso, shoulders, and back.”
The kidnappers took their victims to the Israeli port of Ashdod for “further beatings, sexual humiliation, prolonged interrogations, and torture.” Israel responded to the media outcry and formal diplomatic protests from twelve governments, including Spain and Italy, by having extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir film himself participating in the abuse of the kidnapped civilians. After Ben-Gvir proudly posted his torture selfies on social media, even the US, UK, and Canada protested. Facing universal condemnation, the Israelis finally released their victims four days after the kidnapping, sending most of them on deportation flights to Turkey.
The kidnapped and tortured activists pointed out that the four days of hell they experienced were nothing compared to what Palestinian prisoners endure every single day. They called attention to the fact that Israel is currently imprisoning more than 400 Palestinian children, and that almost three-quarters of the children kidnapped by Israel report experiencing sexual violence or abuse.
Israel’s crimes against the flotilla activists were shocking but not surprising. Israel, after all, is a nation that trains dogs to rape prisoners, as reported by The New York Times. It is a nation with a “right to rape” movement that makes national heroes of prison guards who sodomize people to death. In his article “Israel Is the Global Rape Capital” Elias Akleh describes how “Sadistic sexual rape seems to be an endemic character of the whole Israeli society, making Israel the rape capital of the world, where sexual abuse and rape are not restricted against Palestinians only, but against Jewish Israeli girls in general.”
In 2011 psychologist Avigail Moor of Tel-Hai College conducted a scientific poll on whether it’s okay to rape your acquaintances. She found that 61% of Israeli men and 41% of women did not consider forced sex with an acquaintance to be rape.
All of this is just the proverbial tip of an iceberg of evidence that Israel is a nation of sadistic sex criminals. Depraved, violent, sadistic sexual abuse is even part of Israeli Orthodox Jewish religious rituals, as reported by the Jerusalem Post (6/3/2025). Social media is full of pictures posted by Israeli soldiers who murder Palestinian women, dress up in their victims’ bras and underwear, and take selfies.
In relatively normal societies, it is estimated that two per cent or less of the population consists of clinical psychopaths, while 98% are non-psychopathic. Among the Israeli Jewish population, it seems, that ratio is reversed. Polls show that the vast majority of Israeli Jews support the genocide of Gaza, which has featured the murders of tens of thousands of innocent women and children, most of whom have been slowly crushed to death beneath the rubble of their own houses.
None of these crimes could happen without the roughly ten trillion dollars of support Israel has received from American taxpayers. That money has been bestowed on the Dog Rape Nation by our politicians, who are bribed or blackmailed by Israeli agents like Jeffrey Epstein, himself a shining example of Jewish-Israeli sexual psychopathy.
Epstein described himself as “Donald (Trump’s) closest friend for ten years.” But it gets worse. In his 20s, Trump was the protegé of Jewish-Zionist gangster Roy Cohn, a sadistic homosexual pedophile who, according to journalist Anthony Summers, ran an Epstein-style blackmail operation that filmed powerful men, including J. Edgar Hoover, abusing little boys.
And it isn’t just Trump. Our whole political class is compromised. Just look at how they vote on Israel-related issues.
The USA desperately needs a serious, French Revolution style housecleaning.
See Also:
MEMO | June 4, 2026
At the University of Vienna, an independently organized student assembly voted by a large majority in favor of an academic boycott of Israeli educational institutions, according to the activist group, University of Vienna for Palestine, which announced the result on Instagram, Anadolu reports.
Previously, over 1,000 students at the university had signed a petition to convene a student assembly “from below,” which organizers described as the first of its kind in Austria.
The students’ resolution is explicitly directed against the strategic partnership between the University of Vienna and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which has been in place since 2015.
The first core motion adopted by the assembly was titled “Academic Boycott Instead of Complicity in Genocide.”
The initiators accuse the partner university in Jerusalem of direct cooperation with the Israeli military.
Other demands made by the participants include the introduction of a university “civil clause” prohibiting military research, as well as the withdrawal of security forces and the Austrian domestic intelligence service from the campus grounds.
READ: ‘We are not part of Trump’s chaotic policy,’ including with US overflights: Austria’s vice chancellor
According to “University of Vienna for Palestine,” approximately 400 eligible students attended the meeting.
One of the university’s largest lecture halls, Lecture Hall I in the New Institute Building, was reportedly filled beyond capacity.
At the start of the gathering, South African author Andrew Feinstein, who worked for the African National Congress (ANC) under Nelson Mandela, gave a speech in which he emphasized the historical significance of the gathering.
In his address, Feinstein also highlighted the historical necessity of the international “Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions” (BDS) campaign.
However, from a legal standpoint, the assembly’s vote is non-binding and symbolic, as it is an independent activist assembly and not an official body of the university administration or the legally established student council.
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | June 4, 2026
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei said that the US and Israel had suffered a humiliating defeat.
In a statement published on Thursday, Khamenei said the US and Israel’s “system of domination” has suffered a historic defeat. He explained that Washington and Tehran had shifted to targeting Iranian society through psychological warfare.
“The vile enemy, having suffered defeat at the hands of your brave sons in the armed forces, and having experienced a profound and meaningful humiliation — both on the military battlefield and in the streets.” The statement continued, “Which has visibly caused countries to drift away from it, has now focused its hybrid war on two points: breaking the people’s endurance and creating errors in the calculations of the country’s officials.”
Khamenei’s remarks came after President Donald Trump expressed that he wanted to meet with the Iranian leader. In an interview with the New York Times released on Wednesday, Trump said that he is “getting along quite well” with Khamenei. The President added, “I’d like to meet him. I’d love to meet everybody.”
It’s unclear whether Trump’s remarks are rooted in reality, as the US and Iran have not engaged in direct meetings but have instead exchanged messages through Lebanon. Additionally, Khamenei’s father was assassinated on the first day of the war.
Notably, Trump suggested that Khamenei is running Iran. The President told the New York Post that Khamenei has “absolutely” been involved in talks and other Iranian leaders have a lot of respect for him.” Trump continued, “They say he is approving, because that’s the way it has been for a long, long time. His father and then him, I guess it’s a succession. But we seem to be getting along quite well.”
US officials previously suggested that Khamenei was incapacitated, and the government was fractured. Trump claimed the Iranian leader was “not doing well” and “missing a lot of parts.”
The rare statement from Khamenei comes as the ceasefire appears on the brink of collapse.
Press TV – June 4, 2026
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps has stated that no peace will be established in the region without the withdrawal of Israel from occupied territories in Lebanon, as it condemns ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians.
In a statement issued on the recent events in Lebanon on Thursday, the IRGC declared that international condemnations and expressions of disgust from countries and nations around the world have had no effect on the behavior of Tel Aviv’s “bloodthirsty rulers.”
“The arrogant American regime, under the pretext of establishing peace, has only increased crime and genocide through its interventions,” the statement read.
The IRGC described the Israeli army as “cowardly and incapable,” stating that it tries to compensate for its battlefield defeats by killing civilians and destroying homes, hospitals, and schools.
“This racist regime, despite unlimited support from America and European countries, has not even been able to win the hearts of the people of a single occupied village during its shameful existence,” the statement said.
“Its skill is merely ruling over burned lands, and every day we witness the destruction of the homes of the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon at the hands of this aggressor regime,” it further said.
The IRGC asserted that the Lebanese nation will not allow the occupying regime to achieve through a forced agreement what it could not achieve through war, even with the support of the “child-killing American regime.”
“Our primary condition for accepting a ceasefire in the regional war has been a ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon,” the statement said.
The IRGC stated that the enemy must urgently halt its attacks on the Lebanese people, immediately withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories back behind international borders, and recognize Lebanon’s territorial integrity.
“The Lebanese nation is the pride of the Ummah and a symbol of the honor of the region’s peoples. We will support them with all our being. No peace will be established in the region without withdrawal from the occupied territories of Lebanon,” it said.
On Monday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered strikes on the Dahiyeh area, a predominantly Shia district in Beirut’s southern suburbs, and issued evacuation orders covering the entire area.
In response, Iran’s central military command warned that if Israel carried out its threat to bomb southern Beirut, Iranian forces would retaliate against the northern occupied territories.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry also said Tehran was ready to help Lebanon resist the “illegal aggression,” adding that a Lebanon ceasefire is “an integral part of any ceasefire and any final agreement” with the United States.
Shortly after Iran’s warning, US President Donald Trump said on social media that he had intervened, claiming he had held a “very productive conversation” with Netanyahu that prevented further escalation.
He also said he had reached an understanding with Hezbollah through senior representatives, stating that the resistance group had agreed to halt attacks in exchange for Israel refraining from strikes.
A Pakistan-brokered ceasefire between Tehran and Washington, which also covers Lebanon, has been in place since early April, though Israel has continued carrying out daily attacks on the Arab country in violation of the truce.
Iran has repeatedly said that any ceasefire must be comprehensive, covering all fronts, including Lebanon, and has warned it will not tolerate continued Israeli attacks on the country.
The Cradle | June 4, 2026
Israeli War Minister Israel Katz vowed on 4 June that Tel Aviv will continue attacking Lebanon and that any truce is conditional on Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the south Litani area, after Beirut announced its acceptance of a framework allowing continued attacks on its country.
The war chief’s comments coincided with continued airstrikes on south Lebanon.
“Any ceasefire in Lebanon remains conditional on the prior removal of Hezbollah elements from the area south of the Litani River,” Katz’s statement read.
He emphasized that Israel “will not” withdraw its troops from south Lebanon, including from the Beaufort Castle, and said residents of the south “will not return at this stage.”
Katz said the Israeli army will remain in what he described as a “security zone” in Lebanon up to the ‘Yellow Line’ area or so-called ‘Forward Defense Line.’
He also claimed that the reality “imposed” by Israel in Lebanon will lead to an agreement that achieves security for the residents of the north “for the first time in 50 years.”
The war minister also stated that, with US backing, Israel reserves the right to carry out strikes, including in Beirut, in response to any rocket fire toward Israeli settlements.
His comments coincided with continued Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the Israeli army is continuing its operations in Lebanon and has not received any new instructions despite the announced ceasefire understandings.
A series of drone strikes was reported across southern Lebanon on Thursday morning.
An Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle between the towns of Kfarwa and Zefta. Additional strikes were reported at the Kfar Rumman roundabout near the Al-Aytam station and the Nejda Hospital Road.
Drone strikes also targeted a vehicle near the Nmairiyeh junction, as well as the towns of Shhour and Bastat.
Hezbollah resistance fighters remain present across the areas of south Lebanon that Israel has occupied. Hezbollah said on Thursday that its fighters targeted Israeli troops at the Beaufort Castle at around midnight, and later announced rocket attacks on forces in Qantara and Al-Bayyada.
While speaking to journalists on Thursday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Wednesday’s negotiations were extremely difficult and resumed only after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio intervened, following their suspension by delegation head Simon Karam.
He added that he is awaiting responses from all concerned parties and compliance guarantees, and that implementation could begin within 24 hours of final approval.
Aoun warned that the agreement that has been reached represents the “last” opportunity.
On Wednesday, a new round of US-hosted direct talks between Lebanon and Israel – a violation of Lebanese law – concluded.
After the talks, the US, Israel, and Lebanon announced that they reached an agreement on the implementation of a conditional ceasefire.
According to the joint statement, the arrangement is “contingent” on a complete halt to Hezbollah fire and the withdrawal of all Hezbollah operatives from the area south of the Litani River.
The agreement calls for the creation of “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon where the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) would exercise exclusive control, excluding all non-state actors. The parties said these measures are intended to pave the way toward a broader security and political agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
The statement also outlined plans for continued direct negotiations under US sponsorship, including discussions on a security framework focused on strengthening Lebanese state control, preventing the re-emergence of “armed groups,” and advancing a comprehensive “peace and security” agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
The next round of talks is scheduled for the week of 22 June.
The three governments also condemned Iran’s regional activities, while Israel reiterated that its security requires the disarmament of Hezbollah and the dismantlement of its infrastructure across Lebanon.
Lebanon, for its part, pledged to strengthen the LAF with US support and reaffirmed its commitment to state “sovereignty” and the implementation of the cessation of hostilities.
The statement contains no explicit Israeli commitment to halt attacks on Lebanon. Instead, the proposed ceasefire is conditioned on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the withdrawal of Hezbollah operatives from south of the Litani River.
The arrangement effectively requires Hezbollah to withdraw under continued Israeli fire.
The Lebanese resistance has repeatedly vowed that it will not return to the November 2024 deal or any agreement allowing Israel to attack at will and maintain an occupation in Lebanon. It has yet to officially comment on the deal announced by the US, Lebanon, and Israel.
Al Mayadeen | June 4, 2026
A UNIFIL peacekeeper died early Thursday from critical injuries sustained when mortar shells struck his position near Marjayoun in southeastern Lebanon.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the peacekeeper succumbed to his wounds several hours after the attack, which also injured two other members of the peacekeeping force, who are receiving treatment at a medical facility within a UNIFIL base, according to the mission.
A series of systematic Israeli attacks
The attack comes against the backdrop of mounting evidence pointing to a pattern of Israeli attacks impacting UN positions in southern Lebanon. A UN inquiry conducted indicated that Israeli tank fire struck a UNIFIL site in early March, injuring peacekeepers, while repeated incidents over the past year have included drone-dropped explosives and machine-gun fire directed near or at UN locations.
Since then, several other attacks have been recorded against UN posts in South Lebanon, particularly amid the escalating Israeli aggression against South Lebanon.
In April alone, three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed, sparking intense backlash in Jakarta. Days later, UNIFIL reported escalating Israeli attacks against its positions, including ramming UN vehicles, firing near personnel, and obstructing operations.
UNIFIL further stated that Israeli troops have “continually blocked peacekeepers’ movements on this road,” alongside additional restrictions on freedom of movement recorded across multiple areas in southern Lebanon.
The force also reported deliberate damage to its infrastructure. Since early April, Israeli soldiers have “destroyed force protection cameras in UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters and five other positions on the Blue Line from Ras Naqoura to Maroun ar Ras,” undermining the mission’s ability to monitor developments along the sensitive frontier.
Al Mayadeen | June 4, 2026
An Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle on the Nmeiriyeh road in the Nabatieh district, injuring three people, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported early Thursday.
According to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent, an Israeli airstrike targeted the towns of Deir al-Zahrani and Shoukin in the Nabatieh region. Israeli warplanes also targeted al-Mansouri in Tyre.
Another Israeli drone strike hit the Nabatieh–Kfar Reman road, and another targeted a roundabout in the town of Kfar Tebnit.
In Tyre, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that an Israeli drone carried out a strike on the town of Shhour, alongside artillery shelling that targeted the towns of Hanine and Mansouri. Israeli occupation forces also carried out a large-scale detonation on the outskirts of the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah.
Two airstrikes targeted the towns of Shaqra and Burj Qalawiyah in southern Lebanon overnight as well.
Meanwhile, Israeli reconnaissance drones continue hovering over the coastal road in the Tyre area, the entirety of South Lebanon, reaching the capital, Beirut, and its southern suburbs.
US-Israeli-Lebanese statement reiterates ‘ceasefire’
The attacks come after the US State Department released a joint statement by the United States, the Lebanese government, and “Israel” outlining the outcome of US-mediated negotiations aimed at implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon. The agreement stipulates a “complete cessation of fire by Hezbollah” and the withdrawal of all its fighters from areas south of the Litani River.
Under the framework, the two sides also agreed to swiftly establish so-called “model zones” in which the Lebanese Army would exercise exclusive authority, with all non-state actors excluded from those areas.
The US State Department said the measures could facilitate progress toward “a comprehensive agreement for peace and security,” adding that all parties reaffirmed that the future of relations between Lebanon and “Israel” should be determined by their respective governments through US mediation rather than any parallel track.
The latest strike comes amid continued Israeli attacks across Lebanon despite the ceasefire announced by Washington in April. Since then, the Israeli occupation has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and attacks targeting civilians, towns, and areas in southern Lebanon, while the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, continued to respond with operations against occupation forces and settlements in support of Lebanon and its people.
What is the Resistance’s position?
Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah affirmed on Monday the Resistance’s support for a comprehensive ceasefire across all Lebanese territory, noting that only a full ceasefire would be accepted by the Resistance, as a prelude to the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from all Lebanese soil.
Fadlallah said that there was an attempt by the US Secretary of State on Sunday to promote a new deterrence equation, “the Southern Suburb for the North,” without a commitment to a comprehensive ceasefire, reiterating that this proposal was rejected. He noted that a development also occurred in light of the Iranian position regarding intervention.
He warned that Lebanon is facing a treacherous enemy, stressing that what matters is reaching what serves the country’s interests and safeguarding its sovereignty, and that they will not accept a return to what existed before March 2.
Press TV – June 4, 2026
The United States says Lebanon and Israel have agreed to implement a new ceasefire following Washington-mediated talks in the US capital, as Hezbollah stresses that neither Washington nor Tel Aviv has any authority to dictate the future of the Lebanese resistance movement.
Lebanon and Israel on Wednesday agreed to move forward with a ceasefire aimed at ending months of hostilities, the US State Department announced in a joint statement issued after US-led negotiations in Washington.
The agreement requires a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah and the evacuation of all of the movement’s “operatives from the South Litani Sector.”
Hezbollah has not been a party to the talks and contends it will not abide by any agreement that would undermine Lebanese sovereignty and benefit the Israeli regime.
The agreement announced by the US also includes the establishment of “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon where the Lebanese army “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors.”
“Israel and Lebanon reaffirmed that they have no hostile intent toward one another and committed to continuing direct negotiations to build confidence, resolve all outstanding issues, and work toward a comprehensive agreement” between the two sides, it further read.
The latest understanding emerged despite continued violence on the ground, including Israeli attacks that reportedly killed at least nine people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and cross-border operations claimed by Hezbollah.
The ceasefire effort follows several rounds of direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, who do not maintain formal diplomatic relations.
Earlier this week, Iran warned that Israel’s military offensive in Lebanon could jeopardize ongoing talks with Washington.
Trump acknowledged growing frustration with the Israeli regime’s actions, claiming he had intervened to prevent an imminent Israeli strike on Beirut and had spoken with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hezbollah representatives who agreed that “all shooting will stop.”
Trump also confirmed reports that he had called Netanyahu “crazy,” explaining that he was “a little bit perturbed” by Israeli attacks on Lebanon that were undermining US diplomatic efforts.
Separately on Wednesday, Mahmoud Qomati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s Political Council, stressed that the resistance would neither retreat nor surrender its arms.
“The resistance continues and will prevail,” he told Al Jazeera.
“All US and Israeli efforts will fail. The confrontation continues, and the resistance against Israeli aggression remains steadfast,” he added.
Rejecting foreign demands regarding Hezbollah’s military capabilities, Qomati emphasized that “the United States and Israel have no right to speak about the weapons of the resistance, because this is an internal Lebanese matter on which we agree.”
Pointing to Hezbollah’s long history, the movement’s official also stressed, “We have been fighting for 50 years and are not among those who have weakened the Lebanese state. No one can force the Lebanese resistance to disarm.”
Qomati also noted that previous Lebanese governments had supported the resistance, unlike the current administration, emphasizing that while Iran supports Hezbollah as a resistance movement, “we are not a pawn in the hands of any country.”
By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | June 4, 2026
Donald Trump’s explosive telephone call to Benjamin Netanyahu has taken the internet by storm. But can we really believe it’s true?
Can we believe what we have just witnessed with the explosive telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu? According to Washington insiders who provide no concrete evidence of the call, Trump exploded with rage over the telephone with Bibi shortly after Iran pulled out entirely from the so-called peace talks – after Israel continued its bombing and illegal invasion of Lebanon.
Indeed, it was reported that Israel had actually cancelled air strikes on Lebanon at the request of Trump, as he tries to bring Iran back to the negotiating table – or so the British pro-Israel broadsheet The Telegraph presents it.
According to The Telegraph, the U.S. president phoned Benjamin Netanyahu on the evening of June 1st after Iran walked away from peace talks and said it would return only if Israel ceased its attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.
Apparently, the call was so heated that a number of swear words were used by Trump, followed by threats – indicating, if we are to believe the call took place, that Trump is really desperate to get out of the Iran war, a war he started because he was talked into it by Israel’s intelligence chiefs.
One U.S. official told Axios that Mr Trump told Mr Netanyahu that following through on his plans to bomb Lebanon would further isolate Israel on the global stage, adding that he thought Netanyahu was “crazy”. Two sources went further and recalled how Trump claimed that he had helped keep the Israeli prime minister out of jail – a reference to Mr Netanyahu’s ongoing graft trial.
Summarising the U.S. president’s remarks, a Washington official said: “You’re f—ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your a–. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “p—-” and at one point yelled at Mr Netanyahu: “What the f— are you doing?”
Yet was any of what was reported the truth? Given that the outlets reporting on the call are Zionist, it begs the question: why would they report on something which is so damaging to the Israeli prime minister and hardly paints Trump in a good light either?
One answer might be that the whole call was staged and leaked to the press in a bid to regain the confidence of the Iranians, who lack motivation to move forward in the talks as they trust nothing that comes from the American side. Another possibility is that Western consumers of media are being prepared for a huge false flag attack, and the architects of such a plan believe that reasserting Trump over Netanyahu is a good move. Of course, a third scenario is that it really did happen, and it was a tactic for Trump to leak the essence of the call to the press in a desperate bid to claw back some credibility, given that he is looking so foolish and very much under the thumb of Netanyahu. In this last scenario, it doesn’t necessarily ring true that the dog and its tail have been restored to their correct positions, in terms of who tells whom what to do on the foreign stage.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that Israel has stopped bombing Lebanon for the moment, which would indicate that Trump is trying his best to get a deal with Iran. Lebanon for the time being seems to be playing a pivotal role in the entire Iran war, although it is likely that most of the information Trump is being given is tailored to what he wants to hear, rather than the truth. In the Oval Office, he announced that no ships are getting through the blockade when, on the same day, 24 ships got through escorted by the Iranians – as well as announcing that nearly all of Iran’s missile production had been taken out (which couldn’t be further from the truth). Given the amount of lies and fantasies being produced on Trump’s side, it’s not hard to not take the Bibi telephone call seriously. The only real test of whether Trump is really calling the shots now is whether Israel will continue to disrupt any deals that he tries to put together. Whether the call was genuine or not is less important than what those who presented it to the press are attempting to pull off: a recalibration of the working relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
For the moment, the internet has gone into overdrive with the creativity you might expect, even animating the call itself with AI. While it is true that Trump in many ways has saved Netanyahu, for the moment, from being netted by the judiciary on corruption charges, it seems far-fetched that Trump would tell him everyone hates him. If only that were true. If you struggle to doubt the authenticity of the call, then simply ask yourself: if Trump were to call Bibi and give him a real piece of his mind, how would you fantasize that call might go?
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Two new paperbacks — DMSO and chlorine dioxide
Lies are Unbekoming | August 14, 2026
Two molecules. Both cheap. Both simple. Both used for decades. One has been approved for a single condition. The other has been officially demonized. Neither has killed anyone.
In June I wrote about twelve remedies they can’t patent. The essay described a pattern: the cheaper a substance is, the more versatile it is, the more the evidence stacks up, the harder the door gets pushed shut. Two of those twelve now have their own books. … continue
Aletho News If Americans Knew No Tricks Zone
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