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US President Joe Biden said last month that the multilateral agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program was “dead,” but that he would not announce this publicly, according to a video that surfaced on Tuesday.

The video, which appears genuine and was apparently taken on November 3 during Biden’s visit to California, shows him being asked by a woman to announce that the 2015 deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is no longer in effect.

(December 20, 2022 / JNS) A pair of Israel antagonists bid farewell to the United Nations Security Council on Monday, but it was the Jewish state’s closest ally that made headlines.

In the council’s monthly meeting on the Israel-Palestinian file, Robert Wood, the alternative representative of the U.S. for special political affairs in the U.N., demanded Israel provide “equal allocation of resources” to countering Israeli “extremists” and Palestinian terrorists.

During a call for action to decrease violence and tensions in Judea and Samaria, Wood told the council that “the United States expects to see equal treatment of extremists—whether Israeli or Palestinian—in arrests, convictions and punishments, as well as equal allocation of resources to prevent and investigate violent attacks.” 

The security establishment was aware for a year that an Iranian hacker group had seized control of dozens of Israeli security cameras, but did nothing to stop it, as the group published several videos from across Israel, including footage of an arms facility last year and of a terror attack in Jerusalem last month, a report said Monday evening

In a preview of a full investigative report set to be aired on Tuesday, the Kan public broadcaster said officials did not take action to secure the cameras, despite their knowledge of the activities of the group, known as Moses Staff. The report did not cite sources during Monday’s snippet.

The group published footage a year ago on its Telegram channel of the surroundings of Israel’s Rafael defense contractor factory in Haifa, as well as footage from cameras throughout Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Israel launched airstrikes against unknown targets near the Syrian capital Damascus late Monday, leaving two soldiers wounded, Syria’s state news agency reported.

There was no comment from the Israel Defense Forces, in line with its policy of not generally commenting on air raids in foreign countries.

The SANA news agency, citing a military source, said Syrian air defenses shot down several Israeli missiles over Damascus. Syria regularly claims to intercept Israeli missiles, though military analysts doubt such assertions.

Seven weeks after his right-religious bloc won a definitive victory in general elections, presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to declare he’s formed a new government.

Unlike previous election cycles, there is no uncertainty over who will be part of the next coalition, nor on many key policy points. Rather, there appears to be a lack of trust between Netanyahu and his political allies, who are demanding that they receive upfront what they have been promised.

Netanyahu has less than two days to put together Israel’s 37th government, though he can attempt to wrangle another four days from President Isaac Herzog. Without such an extension, Netanyahu must swear in a government by next Tuesday.

After investigating for more than a year, the House committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Monday culminated its sweeping investigation by announcing it would make multiple criminal referrals to the Department of Justice against former President Donald Trump on multiple charges related to his actions surrounding riot at the Capitol.

Meeting for its final meeting on Monday to present a summation of the evidence it has gathered over the past year, committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin said the panel believes that "the evidence described ... today and assembled throughout our hearings warrants" criminal referrals on at least four charges.

The charges include obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and insurrection.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad-mediated diplomatic talks between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have come to a halt, largely because of Tehran claims the Sunni kingdom has played a role in alleged foreign incitement of the mass anti-government protests underway in Iran, multiple Iraqi officials said.

The talks had been lauded as a breakthrough that would ease regional tensions. Iraq’s new Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said last month after taking office that Iraq had been asked to continue facilitating the dialogue.

However, an anticipated sixth round of talks, to be hosted by Baghdad, has not been scheduled because Tehran refuses to meet with Saudi officials as protests in Iran enter a fourth month, according to the Iraqi officials.

(December 19, 2022 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu condemned The New York Times on Sunday for an editorial characterizing his incoming government as “a significant threat to the future of Israel.”

In the Dec. 17 editorial titled, “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy,” the Times argues that Netanyahu is risking “the future of Israel—its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland,” and calls for the U.S. administration to do more to show its disapproval.

Netanyahu tweeted in response, “After burying the Holocaust for years on its back pages and demonizing Israel for decades on its front pages, the New York Times now shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected incoming government.

(December 18, 2022 / JNS) Washington should steadfastly stand by the Jewish state, U.S. Congressman Dr. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said last week.

“It is an American interest for Judea and Samaria—indeed all the land of the Bible—to remain a part of Israel. Unification of these biblical lands benefits people of all religions, ensuring religious freedom and access for all. It is not an obstacle to peace but a chance for real peace,” said Harris during a visit to the Binyamin region on Tuesday.

He vowed to ensure that the U.S. does not block Israel from developing the necessary infrastructure to support citizens in Judea and Samaria, and suggested that the White House “should secure funds for these purposes” given that “politics must not stop improving the lives of people living anywhere in Israel.”

(December 18, 2022 / JNS) France on Sunday denounced as “against the law” Israel’s deportation of a former Palestinian security prisoner with French citizenship and claimed that eastern Jerusalem, where the convicted terrorist resided, is “occupied.”

Israel’s Interior Ministry announced earlier in the day that Salah Hamouri, currently a lawyer and field researcher for the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a group linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization, had been deported from the country.

“We condemn today the Israeli authorities’ decision, against the law, to expel Salah Hamouri to France,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response.

The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said in an interview broadcast Friday that Russia was looking to help Iran, which would pose a threat to US allies in the region.

“What’s beginning to emerge is at least the beginnings of a full-fledged defense partnership between Russia and Iran, with the Iranians supplying drones to the Russians, which are killing Ukrainian civilians as we speak today,” William Burns told PBS.

“The Russians are beginning to look at ways in which, technologically or technically, they can support the Iranians, which poses real threats to Iran’s own neighborhood, to many of our friends and partners in Iran’s neighborhood as well,” he said, without naming any of the countries.

(December 15, 2022 / JNS) Mahan Air presents itself as a privately-owned airline, established in 1991 by the son of then-Iranian President Akbar Rafsanjani and headquartered at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport.

But according to a report published on Wednesday by the Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli defense watchdog that specializes in threats from the northern arena, not much is ordinary or civilian about the airline.

In reality, says the Alma Center, the airline serves as the Islamic Republic’s main cover for transporting sizeable quantities of weapons along the Iranian-Shiite axis’s regions. Weapons produced in Iranian arms factories are sent, often in parts, to Syria, where Iran is attempting to set up missile bases, and where it is trying to arm Shiite militia proxies, and to Lebanon, where Iran’s chief regional proxy, Hezbollah, has built up an arsenal of firepower that is larger than that of most NATO armies.

Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu is widely expected to announce to President Isaac Herzog this week that he has formed a government, following a long and arduous negotiation process that lasted over six weeks.

Although none of the official coalition deals between the Likud and its partners have been signed yet, most are reportedly final, with the Likud is hashing out the final details of its deal with United Torah Judaism. The other partners are Shas, the Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit and Noam.

Iran said Saturday that its uranium enrichment capacity has increased to record levels, a day before UN nuclear monitors are set to visit the country.

“Currently, the enrichment capacity of the country has reached more than twice the entire history of this industry,” Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that according to its assessment, as of October 22, Iran has an estimated 62.3 kilograms (137.3 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity. That amounts to an increase of 6.7 kilograms since the IAEA’s last report in September.

The United Nations General Assembly condemned Iran’s violence against protesters, as part of a wide-ranging text against human rights violations by the Islamic Republic, including its executions and acts of antisemitism.

The text was approved in New York late Thursday with the support of only 80 out of the UNGA’s 193 member states.

Israel and Western countries, including Canada and the United States, voted for the annual text highlighting Iranian human rights abuses. The Jewish state also joined over 40 countries in sponsoring the resolution.

In addition to its nuclear and long-range ballistic missiles program, Iran has for years been working to build up its navy, with the goal of being able to project power in its surrounding bodies of water. Now, Israeli defense sources warn, Tehran is looking to lean on its increased ties with Russia to add new ships to its fleet.

However, experts warn that internal politics between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the domestic navy may complicate any effort between Tehran and Moscow to work together on naval capabilities.

According to multiple Israeli defense sources, officials from Iran have traveled to Russia to discuss the potential for naval cooperation. They carried with them two requests, Israeli sources say: first, to buy some existing Russian warships, and then to ask the Russians to design more bespoke naval capabilities that fit with Iran’s operational requirements.

The incoming coalition on Friday passed a first reading of highly contentious legislation set down as a political precondition for finalizing the hardline government coalescing under Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Demanded by Likud’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, the legislation will clear a path for a party leader serving a suspended sentence — Shas’s Aryeh Deri — to helm three ministries, and will enable a member of Religious Zionism, likely party leader Bezalel Smotrich, to become an independent minister in the Defense Ministry in control of West Bank building.

Prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to pursue peace with Saudi Arabia and posits that it could be the key to resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Speaking to the Al Arabiya channel in an extensive interview, Netanyahu urges Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords.

A normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be part of a new peace initiative that can resolve the conflict between the Jewish state and the Palestinians, incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday in an extensive video interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya English.  

"I think we can end the Arab-Israeli conflict and achieve peace with the Palestinians, we just have to be creative about it," he said.

"I look forward to discussing this with Arab leaders and the Palestinians themselves," he said.

Vladimir Putin appears to have renewed his nuclear threat against the West by readying a strategic missile capable of striking the UK and US for combat use.

Yariv Levin, a confidant of presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was elected speaker of the Knesset on Tuesday, paving the way for a rapid legislative blitz demanded by Likud’s partners as a condition for forming their government.

Despite incoming opposition attempts to delay the vote, Levin received 64 votes in the 120-seat body, allowing him to assume the role of Knesset speaker — a role he held in 2020-2021 — and take control of the Knesset’s legislative agenda.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid praised a United Nations decision on Wednesday to remove Iran from a women's commission over policies it deemed contrary to the rights of women and girls.

The move was proposed by the United States after Tehran's brutal crackdown on protests sparked by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody.

Iran was expelled on Wednesday from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women by a majority vote, with a number of countries voicing alarm over the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the country’s morality police and the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on the ensuing rights protesters throughout the country.

The US-led resolution to remove Iran from the leading UN women’s rights body passed by a vote of 29 in favor, 8 against and 16 abstentions.

It appears to be the first time a country was removed from the commission. The resolution will remove Iran for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term.

A celebratory crowd of thousands bundled up on a chilly Tuesday afternoon to watch President Joe Biden sign gay marriage legislation into law...

“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms,” Biden said on the South Lawn of the White House. “And that’s why this law matters to every single American.”

Singers Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper performed. Vice President Kamala Harris recalled officiating at a lesbian wedding in San Francisco. And the White House played a recording of Biden’s television interview from a decade ago, when he caused a political furor by unexpectedly disclosing his support for gay marriage. Biden was vice president at the time, and President Barack Obama had not yet endorsed the idea.

Three days later, Obama himself publicly endorsed gay marriage.

“Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected,” Biden said.

Israel reportedly intends to present a visiting senior UN official with what it says is proof that most of the Palestinian minors killed by Israeli troops had been involved with terror groups and were engaged in military or quasi-military activity.

Virginia Gamba, UN special representative for children and armed conflict, is currently on a visit to Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, during which she will visit senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, for her annual report of harm to children in the conflict.

Unnamed diplomatic sources cited by Channel 13 news and the Kan public broadcaster on Monday said that officials will present Gamba with information on the “cynical use of kids by Palestinians, especially by terror groups: From recruiting children and teenagers as combatants to weapons training, summer camps, indoctrination, and using UNRWA schools as shelters for terrorists.”

The Knesset’s Arrangements Committee agrees to fast-track four bills politically required to form Israel’s next government under prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, enabling them to move up for their first votes on the Knesset floor this evening.

Demanded by far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners as a precondition to forming the government, three of the bills will augment key roles and powers, including expanding the authority of the national security minister — set to be Otzma Yehudit head Itamar Ben Gvir — over the police force; clearing a path for a party leader serving a suspended sentence — Shas’s Aryeh Deri — to helm three ministries; and enabling a member of the Religious Zionism party, likely party leader Bezalel Smotrich, to become an independent minister in the Defense Ministry in control of West Bank building. The fourth will make it harder for rebel MKs to peel off from their parliamentary factions without sanction, and is a bill specifically desired by Likud.

A report details far-reaching achievements allegedly made by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party in coalition talks with expected incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, including barring all electricity generation on Shabbat in Israel and forming bodies that will provide answers to the public on questions of Jewish law.

If all measures laid out in the unconfirmed report by Channel 12 news end up being implemented, it would most likely take Israel closer to being a theocracy.