Peloni: Leon Kushner provides an important context to the discussion on US VP Vance.  This was posted as a response to a recent interview with Ambassador Yoram Ettinger on this subject but it provides too good a reflection of Vance to not earn its own post.

Leon Kushner

Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – J. D. Vance, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia 

I have much respect for ambassador Ettinger. I love how he always tries to explain how the US benefits from the ‘aid’ it sends to Israel. I totally agree of course.

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Peloni:  Don’t look for any miracles shifting the dominance of Hezbollah to the LAF simply because the US is increasing its already significant payments to Lebanon.  Hezbollah’s support in the country is mirrored in its support in the Lebanese armed forces.  Even as that support might be less than it was as judged solely by public statements of Lebanese influencers, including from some within the Shia-Hezbollah supporting community in Lebanon, has Hezbollah lost its own influence on the LAF?  Well, I would argue that such a forlorn hope will once again be met with serious disappointment, even as the LAF is once again the recipient of massive infusions of American cash and arms.  Once again, the Reaganesque adage of ‘Trust but Verify’ should be shorted to simply ‘Verify’ as the Lebanese have demonstrated as recently as January that they are untrustworthy as ever when they then laughably claimed that South Lebanon had been demilitarized.  The predictability of the Lebanese failing to address their Iran problem in the form of Hezbollah will persist until such time as someone eliminates the real source of Hezbollah’s power, which is in Iran.  You can not eliminate this influence by simply outspending the Iranians in Lebanon.

Until such time as Islamist control in Iran is eliminated, the buffer in Lebanon will remain a clear victory, even as it comes with Trump’s support for preventing any targeting of Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut which is not permitted under this current agreement, which calls to question if this was the real purpose behind both Trump’s linkage of Lebanon to Iran, and the subsequent US mediated negotiations which led to the mediating of some of the consequences of that linkage.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | July 4, 2026

Israel Defense Forces,
Israel Defense Forces, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

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Peloni:  I mentioned some time ago that many things will change before the coming election.  It is important to note that Yuli Edelstein tried to challenge Netanyahu in the last election, and that there will be no such challenge entertained in this current election within Likud.  There has been an attempt to form an alternative to Likud with previous and current members of Likud, and that attempt failed to mature beyond talk and the creation of the all too unconvincing name of Likud-B.  So, instead, or perhaps in anticipation of Likud B becoming more than a joke, an old ally of Netanyahu’s, but a more recent challenger of his, is striking out on his own.  It is important to note that Edelstein is championing a break with the Haredi parties while Netanyahu is holding fast to his long tested and recently challenged partnership.   So we will see how this matures in the coming days, but the plan for the formation of Likud B was initially to include more than just Edelstein.

On a side note, don’t miss the highlighted statement by Lapid below who admits his need to find an image of the Right behind which to hide in the form of his previous partner, Naftali Bennett.  Recognizing the shift to the Right among the electorate serves his need to hide behind Bennett, but the association with Mr. Two-State Solution Lapid has not been so useful to Bennett who once again misjudged the consequences of joining with his Leftist ally Lapid as they face the coming election in a party so aptly named “Together”.

All Israel News Staff | Published: July 5, 2026

Edelstein, Knesset member. Photo by Itzhak Harari / Knesset Archives, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia

One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s longest-serving political allies is leaving the Likud Party ahead of Israel’s upcoming Knesset elections, citing the party’s continued support for draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men as incompatible with both Israel’s needs and his own principles.

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Peloni:  Happy Birthday America!

Independence was not guaranteed.

J.B. Shurk | Am Thinker |  July 4, 2026

“Thomas Jefferson memorial” by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0

Two-hundred-fifty years ago, the Second Continental Congress lit the fuse for human freedom by declaring the United States of America independent from Great Britain.  Although we Americans celebrate the Fourth of July as our nation’s birthday, our country did not have an easy birth.

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Peloni:  The simple reality is that America is facing a threat greater than the Communist takeover of America, as it is being challenged by a pincer movement in the form of the union of the Red-Green axis, ie that of the Communists allied with the Islamists.  As they join the corrupt American Democratic party, this Red-Green-Blue Axis provides America with what might be the most challenging attack America has ever faced.  Nonetheless, if the Americans can resolve themselves to assert and defend the provisions their forefathers enshrined in the formation of the Constitutional govt, they have the ability to meet this challenge and preserve/resurrect the power and dignity of the American Republic which has served as an important example of how liberty and dignity might thrive and dominate in a world which has been marked over the centuries by tyranny, autocracy and theocracy.  Unfortunately, as America is facing the combined efforts of the three-legged union being raised against it, Pres.Trump remains silent on dealing with the Islamist third leg which is rising in power and influence in the US, even moreso than it has in the past.  If this resolve to ignore the threat from the Islamists persists in America, it will be enough to ultimately bring that great nation to its knees, and forever erase history’s prime example of how the historic dominance of tyranny, autocracy, and theocracy might be replaced by liberty, dignity and govt by the consent of the governed.  In fact, the Islamist movement which Trump has ignored in his speeches represents an ancient example of tyranny, autocracy, and theocracy which America fought against the Barbary Pirates in its first war as a fledgling nation.  Will America continue to ignore the threat today which it recognized and faced in is infancy?

By Carleen Johnson | The Center Square | July 5, 2026

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President Donald Trump delivered a weather-delayed speech Saturday highlighting American exceptionalism while warning of the growing threat of rising democratic socialism and communism movements as America celebrated 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence,

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Peloni:  Israel has been looking for someone with the caliber of leadership skills of Menachem Begin to lead the nation since Begin retired.  It is still looking for such a candidate.

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By Christine Douglass-Williams | July 3, 2026

Muslim Brotherhood flag. Photo by NorthTension – Own work, Public Domain, Wikipedia

The Muslim Brotherhood showed its true colors on October 7, 2023, when its Iran-supported offshoot Hamas violently savaged Israelis. The American people are increasingly coming to understand that Muslim Brotherhood-linked entities are active and thriving inside America. So far, Egypt (the place of the Muslim Brotherhood’s origins), America, Canada, the EU, UK and Israel are recognized areas of Muslim Brotherhood activity. A new revelation, however, links Muslim Brotherhood activity in Sudan to the Islamic Republic of Iran; Sudanese Muslim Brothers are carrying out deadly orders from Tehran. “Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood is executing civilians on Iran’s orders,” by Amine Ayoub, Ynet News, July 2, 2026:

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Peloni:  Recall that the American experiment rose out of the ranks of those fleeing autocratic Europe and that they entered into the making of a form of govt marked by the respect for personal dignity under the guise of a constitutional framework.  Indeed, Americans have always demonstrated the pluck and ingenuity of personal identity and collective perseverance which  has served the world well as the means by which the edicts of liberty and dignity might walk hand in hand.  The ability to succeed in such a remarkable endeavor inspired the world to follow behind the American example, making America the pinnacle example by which liberty might be measured around the world.  Though corruption and mismanagement has led to serious setbacks in American leadership in recent years, the guidelines which created this remarkable nation remains intact because the guidelines were maintained and secured over generations by the American people, themselves, rather than their leaders.  As Daniel Greenfield so eloquently reminds us America is a nation of rebels, and their fight is a never ending battle to maintain power in the hands of the people and to have govt serve the people rather than the other way around.

We are a nation of rebels

by Daniel Greenfield | July 3, 2026

Fireworks appear above the White House North Portico lit in red-white and blue lights Saturday evening, July 4, 2020, during the Salute to America 2020, Fourth of July celebration. Photo by The White House from Washington, DC – Salute to America 2020, Public Domain, Wikipedia

With fireworks and parades, hamburgers and hot dogs, sweating bands playing Sousa marches and parades down Main Street? Will you remember the men who fell in the first war and all the following wars that were fought to preserve our political and personal independence from foreign and domestic tyrannies? Will you consider what you might have done in the days when revolution was in the air?

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Peloni:  Is Syria capable of being restored as a functioning state, or is its Islamist govt the limiting factor which will continue to keep it from meeting the needs of statehood?

The People’s Chamber Faces the Greatest Reconstruction in Modern Arab History
A JaFaJ Strategic Briefing

Jafaj.net | July 1, 2026

Pres. Trump Meets with Syrian Pres. Jolani. Photo by Donald Trump – Truth Social, Public Domain, Wikipedia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Syria has entered one of the most consequential periods in its modern history. The collapse of the Assad-era political order has created an opportunity to replace decades of centralized authoritarian governance with representative institutions capable of restoring public confidence, attracting international investment, and rebuilding a nation devastated by war.

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Peloni:  Vance carrying banner calls for progressive measures on economic and geopolitical topics as he is identified by Israeli sources as the leaker which undid the entire war effort against Iran.  Very interesting.

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Peloni:  Oren exposes an important display of Qatari propaganda on full display

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Peloni:  The sentiments voiced by these brave activists in Lebanon are encouraging, but the simple reality is that Iran will fund and arm Hezbollah so long as the Iranian regime remains in power in Tehran, and so long as Hezbollah is funded and armed, the voices of Hezbollah allies such as the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, will dwarf the relevance of the Lebanese people who object to being a captured vassal to Iran.  It will literally take a civil war to rid the Iranian control over Lebanon, and though the people may have a growing distaste for Iranian rule, the truth is that the Lebanese have thus far demonstrated a lack of interest in committing to doing the heavy lifting of freeing themselves from the tyranny which serves to disenfranchise their rights to sovereignty.  If the Lebanese people want to be a free people, they will have to fight for this privilege, and if regime change in Iran is not pursued, it remains highly questionable if such a fight might be successful.  When Washington’s policy of pursuing regime change in Iran was dropped, it left the people of Iran, the people of Lebanon, and the people of the region at large, in a position of capture by the menacing radical Shia ideology which has held an ever strengthening grip over the region since 1979.  The Mullahs and the IRGC must fall, and until they do, talk about Lebanese freedom, even by the Lebanese themselves, will remain nothing more than talk.

Can tide turn enough despite terror groups’s influence in Lebanon?

Nicole Jansezian | All Israel News | Published: July 3, 2026

Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif meeting with Lebanese speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri in his office in Tehran. Photo by Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

Voices of opposition to and outright disdain for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been amplified more than ever, with many politicians and activists publicly supporting the agreement with Israel as a last-ditch effort to save the country.

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Peloni:  A couple of points rise to the top of this fascinating conversation between Urban Warfare Expert John Spencer and Asher Katz, cofounder and CEO and of Traysar Industries and a former member of the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Yahalom unit.  The first is that the Iranians and their counterparts have spent years developing their networks of tunnels and underground cities and infrastructure as a basis by which they can actually stifle Western warfare efforts.  By recognizing the limitations of Western endurance capacities, the underground infrastructure provides the Iranians the means by which to simply hide out while the West simultaneously expends its military ordinance capabilities and political interests in pursuing any military achievements.  Much as the Arabs used the desert as the means of retreat from harm, the underground facilities provide Iran and its proxies with a strategic advantage which had upto this point been understood in the West to be a logistical hedge.

The second aspect of underground warfare which stands out in this conversation is the dual aspect challenges which accompanies underground fighting.  Not only are soldiers faced with the the challenges of tracking, isolating and eliminating enemy forces, but the actual subterranean terrain is an additional component which must simultaneously be overcome.

John Spencer | 07.03.26

For decades, underground warfare was viewed as a niche military problem. Today, it has become a defining feature of modern conflict.

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by Gerald A. Honigman

Vice President Vance meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog to discuss the Gaza Peace Deal. Photo by JD Vance – X, Public Domain, Wikipedia

The latest on a long list of problems the American VP has with both Jews and Israel is described below and involved his confrontation with some Israeli cabinet members who refused to bend down and kiss his derrière regarding the various conflicts their beleaguered nation, by no choice of its own, is forced to fight merely to prevent its own innocents from being slaughtered…

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Peloni:  This will have a permanent effect of diminishing Israeli dominance in the region at the expense of promoting Turkey ever higher over the region. Why is the Trump administration so motivated to purposefully empower the Muslim Brotherhood led Turkey to such a position of influence in the region?

By Christine Douglass-Williams | July 2, 2026

Capt. Andrew “Dojo” Olson, F-35 Demonstration Team pilot and commander performs a high-speed pass during the Oregon International Airshow Sept. 21, 2019 in McMinnville, OR. Photo by Air Force Senior Airman Alexander Cook – Media.defense.gov, Public Domain, Wikipedia

Jihad Watch reported that “Both Republicans and Democrats oppose Trump’s mad plan to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.” According to YNet News…

Israel and Greece have consistently opposed the possibility of Turkey acquiring the stealth fighters, arguing that such a move would harm their technological edge and alter the regional balance of power. Greece has already ordered F-35s, while the Israeli Air Force operates a unique version of the aircraft, which has taken part in operations in Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

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Peloni:  Rabbi Pesach Wolicki dives into the relationship between Saudi Arabia and America, and how this is being manipulated by China, and how it impacts Israel.

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Peloni:  The more that Judicial Reform is blocked, the greater the support for its passage becomes, specifically because of the public recognition of this need only grows stronger with each passing day and each subsequent ruling based on arbitrary standards and the promotion of anti-Israel positions from the courts.  There can only be one standard of justice in any democratic govt, and yet, in the only democracy in the Middle East, a two-tiered policy is weaponized to promote one standard which maintains the influence and agenda of the Leftist bureaucracy.

Avi Abelow | Meta | July 3, 2026

Screengrab via Meta

While left-wing Kaplan protesters blocked major highways night after night for hours on end in the judicial reform protests, bringing life in Israel to a standstill, the police often stood by, sometimes even joining them. Leaders of those protests faced no serious consequences, even after burning tires in the middle of major highways. Violence during those daily blockades? Rarely punished. The message was loud and clear: certain protests are protected.

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