Trump admin moves to boost THAAD interceptor output amid rising missile threats
(JNS) — The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Mar 25 that it reached a framework agreement with BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin to quadruple production of seeker components for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor, including seeker systems, as demand for missile defense grows.
Officials said the deal is intended to strengthen the interceptor’s supply chain and support broader efforts to expand U.S. defense-industrial capacity. The agreement follows a recent initiative with Lockheed Martin aimed at increasing overall THAAD interceptor output.
Michael Duffey, undersecretary of war for acquisition and sustainment, said securing critical suppliers is “just as important” as maintaining partnerships with prime contractors, adding that long-term demand commitments are designed to give industry the confidence to invest, expand facilities and hire additional workers.
The department said the arrangement will enable new manufacturing investments to accelerate production of missile-defense systems and ensure the timely delivery of key components needed to counter emerging threats.
“By locking in this critical component, the Department of War is ensuring that the nation’s capacity to build and deploy this vital defensive weapon will outpace any adversary’s threat to the United States or its allies,” the department said.
Feds charge Chicago man with threatening to ‘shoot up a synagogue’ after Khamenei’s killing
(JTA) — A Chicago man has been charged with making an interstate threat after allegedly responding to Israel’s announcement on social media about its killing of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by saying he planned to “shoot up a synagogue.”
Timothy Holmes, 31, posted other antisemitic comments in response to posts about Israel, including “the jew will be destroyed and discarded,” “From the river to the sea every Jew will die” and “Die jew,” according to the criminal complaint filed by the the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Holmes was arrested in Florida last week, where he traveled after posting about an Israeli official’s relatives reported to live there, “What’s their address? Flying to Florida this week. Just out of curiosity.”
He was released on bond despite the government’s objections, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago on Mar 23. Among the conditions of his release are bans on owning a gun and using social media.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in our society,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago is using all available legal tools to combat criminal conduct that rears its head in hateful anti-Semitism.”
Holmes’ arrest comes amid a spike in antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric tied to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Cornell president rejects students’ anti-Israel resolutions
(JTA) — Cornell University’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, “fully and forcefully” rejected a student resolution calling to cut ties with Israel’s Technion University. Cornell and the Technion run a joint technology-focused campus on Roosevelt Island.
Kotlikoff said in a letter last week that the resolution “fundamentally conflicts with Cornell’s principles of academic collaboration and our core commitment to academic freedom.” He added that the Technion was unduly singled out, since Cornell partners with other institutions in countries whose governments have been accused of human rights violations, “as our own has been.”
Kotlikoff also rejected another student resolution condemning the university for hosting Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, saying it “unacceptably seeks to curtail freedom of speech on Cornell’s campus.” He accused the students of “political bias” in both resolutions.
Kotlikoff, who is Jewish, told us last year that he was “very comfortable” with where his school stood on balancing free expression and protecting students from antisemitism, amid pressure from the Trump administration on colleges facing antisemitism allegations.
Student groups at a wide range of universities have advanced resolutions that call for cutting ties with Israeli institutions or companies, but in almost all cases the schools have declined to act on the students’ requests.
Trump: Iranian negotiators ‘better get serious soon, before it is too late’
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Mar 26 that Iranian negotiators were “begging” him for a ceasefire, even as they publicly said they were only reviewing Washington’s proposals.
“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal,” Trump wrote in a post on social media.
“They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is no turning back, and it won’t be pretty!” the president warned.
In a separate post on Mar 26, Trump accused NATO member states of having done “absolutely nothing to help with the lunatic nation, now militarily decimated, of Iran.”
Washington “needs nothing from NATO, but ‘never forget’ this very important point in time!” he stated.
Most NATO members have turned down Trump’s request to help provide safe passage to ships through the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iranian blockade, he said last week, adding that the United States doesn’t need their help.
Tlaib backs CAIR leader in Washington state house race
(JNS) — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has endorsed Imraan Siddiqi, a Washington state Democrat challenging an incumbent in a 2026 state house race.
Siddiqi, executive director of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is running for the state House in the 32nd legislative district.
He previously ran for Congress in Washington’s 8th District in 2024, losing in the Democratic primary to Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), who is Jewish. Siddiqi accused Schrier of “failed moral leadership” after she voted to censure Tlaib over what she said were antisemitic remarks.
Siddiqi is seeking to unseat state House member Lauren Davis, a Democrat, who has held the seat since 2019.
“Proud to have the endorsement of my sister Rashida Tlaib, one of the true, uncompromising champions of our time,” Siddiqi wrote.
His endorsers include state representatives Shaun Scott, who is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, Cindy Ryu, a longtime incumbent Democrat in the 32nd District, and Julia Reed, a Democrat and newer member of the legislature.
In his capacity at CAIR, Siddiqi has called for tech companies to divest from “activities supporting the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.” He has also described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “unequivocally a war criminal” and characterized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a “genocide.”
