Trump: ‘We’ll be back’ if Iran restarts nuclear program
(JNS) — Questioned about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s possible plans for a full military occupation of Gaza, President Donald Trump emphasized the American role in fostering stability across the region.
“We have stopped wars in the Middle East by stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon … as soon as they start, we’ll be back,” he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump underscored that the broader pattern of conflict hinged on the Islamic Republic’s influence, describing Iran as the “perpetrator of hate” and suggesting that American actions had changed the security landscape: “I think it’s going to be a lot different in the coming years.”
Earlier in the press Q&A, the president detailed recent U.S. actions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, stating, “We wiped out their nuclear capacity for weapons. They would have had a weapon within two months, maybe less, and that was totally obliterated.”
Hate crime inquiry open after ‘Death to the IDF’ graffiti and arson outside St. Louis soldier’s family home
(JTA) — Police in Clayton, Missouri, are investigating after finding what they said was “antisemitic graffiti” alongside three cars that were set on fire in the St. Louis neighborhood.
The street was graffitied with the phrase “Death to the IDF,” according to drone footage shared by a local news outlet that obscured a portion of the graffiti including the identity of the intended target.
The police department said in a statement that it believed that the victim was “specifically targeted” and it was investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Leo Terrell, the Trump administration’s domestic antisemitism czar, wrote on X that the “horrific antisemitic attack” targeted a local resident who recently returned home after serving in the Israeli army, adding, “Hateful graffiti outside the family’s home accused him of being a murderer.”
Huckabee: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to scale up aid sites to 16
(JNS) — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has confirmed there will soon be a significant increase in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution footprint in the Gaza Strip.
“The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16 and begin to operate as much as 24 hours a day to get more food to more people more efficiently,” the diplomat said on Fox News on Wednesday.
The U.S. and other countries are committing $1 billion in funding for the expansion project, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
GHF — a U.S. nonprofit organization backed by the American and Israeli governments designed to bypass the Hamas terrorist group — has delivered nearly 110 million meals since launching on May 26. It has been running four sites, in Rafah’s Saudi neighborhood; Tel al-Sultan, just north of Rafah; Khan Yunis; and Wadi Gaza, south of Gaza City.
“It has worked …, it’s not going into the hands of looters and thieves. It’s going into the hands of the people who actually have come because they really do need food. That’s what the president wants. This is a president, I think we’ve seen it: He makes a promise, he keeps it,” Huckabee said.
Netanyahu meets with congressional delegations in Jerusalem
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a bipartisan delegation of visiting House Intelligence Committee members on Wednesday and with a delegation of congressional Republicans on Tuesday, his office stated.
David Barnea, director of Mossad, participated in the Wednesday meeting, as did Reps. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas).
On Tuesday, Netanyahu briefed the delegation of Republicans, which AIPAC organized, on the war in Gaza and “commented on the issue of the humanitarian assistance and the mendacious campaign being waged by Hamas against the State of Israel,” according to an Israeli readout.
Netanyahu also “referred to the efforts to release our hostages, and answered questions from the members of Congress on regional issues and expanding the Abraham Accords,” the Israeli premier’s office said.
Government reportedly seeking death penalty in killing of Israeli embassy staffers in DC
(JNS) — The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing the death penalty and hate crime charges against Elias Rodriguez, whom it accuses of shooting and killing two Israeli embassy staffers as they left an event at a Jewish museum in Washington in May, CNN reported.
“The charges, if approved by a grand jury, would position the case as a centerpiece of the Trump Justice Department’s fervent approaches toward both violent crime and targeted hate against the Jewish community,” per CNN.
The news organization said it sought comment from the Justice Department and an attorney for Rodriguez. (JNS sought comment from the department.)
The defendant is accused of allegedly killing Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left the Capitol Jewish Museum on May 21. The gunman also allegedly said “free, free Palestine” after the shooting.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes reach record high in the United States, according to FBI
(JTA) — Hate crimes against Jews in the United States reached an all-time high in 2024, accounting for 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes, according to FBI data released this week.
The new FBI report released Tuesday found that hate crimes against Jews accounted for over 17% of all reported hate crimes in the United States in 2024, marking a 16% rise from 1,998 anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2023 to 2,321 in 2024.
More than half of the incidents were related to vandalism, with “intimidation” the second-largest category. But about 200 were assaults of varying degrees, and 260 of the total incidents took place in synagogues.
The new data set adds to others showing that the number of antisemitic incidents has continued to rise since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the country in 2024, marking a 5% increase from the previous year and a new all-time high for the group. (The group’s tally includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents.)
