Latest Analysis and Commentary
by Robert Williams • January 16, 2026 at 5:00 am
Despite encouraging Iran's protesters to carry on and assuring them that American "help is on its way," Trump has done nothing to compel the regime to permanently stop the killing or its other atrocities. The question becomes: Is Trump actually going to leave these psychopaths in power and effectively thwart the brave, unarmed Iranians from ridding themselves of an armed government that has been suppressing, torturing and slaughtering them in the streets over the past 47 years? For reasons that are entirely unclear, Trump already has a history, unfortunately, of rescuing the Iranian regime -- called by the US State Department 39 years in a row, since 1984 the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Trump first said he did not want regime change in Iran; then posted that he might want regime change if it could "Make Iran Great Again: MIGA!!!", before turning around, yet again, and reimposing the ceasefire. Trump also seems constantly to be "forgetting" that Iran has been attacking the US since 1979... Every US adversary -- from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Chinese President Xi Jinping -- can now assume that the Trump administration, while giving diplomacy so much of a chance that it is effectively no help at all, is primarily just huffing and puffing, while every US ally can now assume that the US no longer can be trusted. The Trump administration's dawdling appears virtually the same as that of President Joe Biden.... Such acoustics with no follow-up destroy US deterrence and paint the Trump administration as weak and dithering at a time when the future of American preeminence is at stake. That is a terrible look.
Despite encouraging Iran's protesters to carry on and assuring them that American "help is on its way," President Donald Trump has done nothing to compel the regime to permanently stop the killing or its other atrocities. Pictured: Iranians protest against their regime on January 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Anonymous/Getty Images)
It has been nearly two weeks since US President Donald J. Trump threatened the Iranian regime with military intervention for killing its demonstrating citizens. "If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue," the president wrote in a post on Truth Social on January 2, about five days into the Iranian protests. "We are locked and loaded and ready to go." Since then, according to Iran International, the regime has killed "at least 12,000," and according to CBS News, "possibly as many as 20,000 people." According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), as of January 14, "[at] 617 protest gatherings in 187 cities across the country, the arrest of at least 18,470 people [was reported]." On January 13, Trump wrote:
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by Bassam Tawil • January 15, 2026 at 5:00 am
Placing the Gaza Strip under the jurisdiction of an international body that includes longtime supporters of Hamas and other terrorists will unfortunately be even more disastrous than the 1993 Oslo Accord, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The last thing Israel and the US need in the Gaza Strip is another Oslo Accord-style counterfeit agreement. In reality, there are only two countries capable of carrying out this task: the US and Israel. Other countries -- not only Arab and Muslim, as Jordan's King Abdullah II warned, but also European, including, Germany, Italy, Britain and Canada -- clearly have less than no interest in actively combating terrorism in the Gaza Strip. [A]s Trump said about Venezuela, "We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and secure transition... We can't take a chance that somebody else takes over... that doesn't have the good of the... people in mind." If the US can run Venezuela or Greenland, or set up "security" for Ukraine consisting of US businesses, why not in the Gaza Strip -- smaller but geopolitically just as critical for the US -- as well? US and Israeli control of the Gaza Strip would, ironically, provide the least risk to all the parties involved -- most of all to the Palestinians of Gaza. Such an arrangement seems the only realistic solution that could lead to reduced violence and long-term regional stability. A joint US and Israeli security and business presence there could result at last in the emergence of moderate, pragmatic Palestinians. Such an outcome will certainly never take place if Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan or the Palestinian Authority are allowed inside the Gaza Strip. There is a far higher probability of accords being torn up and a new war launched after Trump leaves office. American or Israeli control of the Gaza Strip would not only prevent Palestinian terrorists from gaining more power and launching attacks again but also send a reassuring message to neighboring Arab and Islamic states that they would be able to rely on the US when it comes to combating Islamist terrorism against their own regimes as well. A strong US and foreign business presence, with the knowledge that these investments are safely protected, would not only create job opportunities and improve living conditions for local residents but could also make Gaza the spectacular "Gaza Riviera" it is waiting to become. At the moment, many countries are hardly rushing to invest in Gaza. If countries aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood were in charge, there would be no way of protecting their investment, or even enforcing law and order. If the US Administration thinks that an Arab and Muslim "Peace Board" will actually take any significant action to ensure that Hamas disarms and disbands, they are in for a nasty shock. The minute the first shot is fired, the last thing on the minds of the "Board of Peace" will be enforcing "Peace." After two years of death and destruction, many Palestinians would prefer to live under American or even -- without admitting it of course --- Israeli control, than under a terror group that has brought them nothing but death, destruction and a new nakba (catastrophe). Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Islamic countries would most likely be happy to be on the side of the "strong horse." Strange as it may seem, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are popular among many Arabs and Muslims: they are viewed as reliable, sturdy and uncompromising leaders who can be counted on to keep their word. If Arab and Muslim states disagree, they are welcome to stay behind and watch the train leave the station. If not, the Gaza Strip and the "Board of Peace" will be just another failed experiment.
Placing the Gaza Strip under the jurisdiction of an international body that includes longtime supporters of Hamas and other terrorists will unfortunately be even more disastrous than the 1993 Oslo Accord, signed between Israel and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The last thing Israel and the US need in the Gaza Strip is another Oslo Accord-style counterfeit agreement. Pictured: Arafat stands next to a machine gun emplacement in 1983 in Lebanon. (Photo by Palestinian Press Office/Getty Images)
US President Donald J. Trump is expected to announce the formation of a "Board of Peace" to oversee temporarily the running of the Gaza Strip and manage its reconstruction. According to multiple reports, Qatar and Turkey are among several countries that have been invited to join the board. Both countries are widely known as major international supporters of political Islam, specifically through their historical and ongoing backing of terrorist and Muslim Brotherhood groups – including Hamas, which is currently ruling the Gaza Strip and has shown no signs of letting up. With countries such as these, it is, frankly, hard to see how the new board would be able to bring peace, security and stability to the Middle East.
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by Ahmed Charai • January 15, 2026 at 4:00 am
In invoking Jared Kushner, this father is not expressing envy of power or privilege, but of something far rarer: normality — a life in which one can plan, build, and hope without fear. [T]he Iranian people are not the regime. They are its first and greatest victims. One option merits serious and immediate examination: a constitutional monarchy rooted in the Pahlavi framework, adapted to the realities of the twenty-first century. The father who wrote that letter is not asking for a crown or a constitution. He is asking for dignity—for a system that allows him to work honestly, care for his parents, educate his children, and sleep without fear. Any political vision that fails to meet this fundamental human demand will fail, regardless of ideology.
One option for the future of Iran merits serious and immediate examination: a constitutional monarchy rooted in the Pahlavi framework, adapted to the realities of the twenty-first century. Pictured: A poster of Iran's exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, put up by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy on January 14, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
There are moments when abstraction collapses under the weight of lived reality — when a single human voice compels strategy to confront morality. Such a moment emerged when a letter written by an Iranian father, living inside Iran and addressed to Jared Kushner, circulated widely across the Abraham TV platforms, reaching more than 27 million viewers. Devoid of slogans and free of ideological posture, the letter articulated a truth that decades of propaganda have attempted — and failed — to obscure. The author did not write as a dissident intellectual, a political activist, or a partisan figure. He wrote as a father — a man anxious about rising prices, unavailable medicine, exhausted hospitals, and a future that feels increasingly foreclosed. His words carried no call for vengeance, no appeal for chaos, no revolutionary rhetoric. They carried something far more unsettling for an authoritarian system: quiet honesty. That is precisely why the letter matters.
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by Swedish Members of Parliament • January 15, 2026 at 3:00 am
Pictured: Iranians protest against the regime on January 9, 2026, in Tehran. (Photo by MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The Iranian people are once again engaged in sustained, nationwide resistance against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that for more than four decades has relied on systematic repression, ideological coercion, and violence to maintain power. This uprising is not an isolated episode, but the continuation of a long struggle for national sovereignty, and democratic self-determination. Since the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022, Iranian citizens from all regions have demonstrated extraordinary courage in confronting a state apparatus that employs arbitrary detention, torture, executions, and mass surveillance to suppress peaceful dissent. The persistence of these protests, despite brutal crackdowns, reflects a profound and irreversible rupture between the Iranian population and the ruling regime.
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by Robert Williams • January 14, 2026 at 5:00 am
"In the era of disinformation, obscurantists reject not only scientific evidence but also the progress of multilateralism.... They attack institutions, science, and universities. It is time to once again defeat the denialists." — Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, November 10, 2025. Get it? Those who disagree with the UN and WEF agendas on climate change, regardless of their scientific credentials, are "denialists" who must be "defeated." "The United Nations is trying to control what people can hear, read and think about climate change just when social media companies like Meta are reversing their years-long policy of 'fact-checking,' climate change policy debate—which Meta admits resulted in censorship... The proposal that taxpayers spend hundreds of trillions of dollars on poor climate policies is surely worth debate. The UN has no place suppressing that discussion." — Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus, New York Post, March 6, 2025. "Most people there, overwhelming majority, they've never read anything. They get their speaking notes. There are speaking notes and this is the party line... Implement it and they know their job, you know, rests upon it. So, they're not going to read climate research. They're not going to go on an expedition to Antarctica or to the Arctic. They're not going to even look at real world effects...." — Desiree Fixler, whistleblower, former member of the WEF's Global Future Council on Responsible Investing, December 2025. Left out of these discussions, it seems, was any talk of nuclear fusion energy, "the holy grail of clean energy [that] promises abundant power without carbon emissions, long-term radioactive waste, or meltdown risk." Fusion energy, needed for the unimaginable amounts of electricity that will be needed to power AI and quantum computing -- is already under rapid development in China. If we do not urgently master nuclear fusion energy fast, the 21st century will belong to China.
The UN is shutting down criticism of the ongoing climate scam: At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), held in Brazil in November, several states endorsed the UN's "Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change," professedly a pledge to "fight false information about climate change." Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in his speech, said: "It is time to once again defeat the denialists." Pictured: Lula da Silva speaks at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, on November 6, 2025. (Photo by Pablo Porciuncula/AFP via Getty Images)
The UN is shutting down criticism of the ongoing climate scam: At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), held in Brazil in November 2025, several states endorsed the UN's "Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, an initiative recognizing and trying to combat the rise in climate disinformation in media and politics." The UN declaration is professedly a pledge to "fight false information" about climate change. "In the era of disinformation, obscurantists reject not only scientific evidence but also the progress of multilateralism," said Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his opening address at the conference. "They control algorithms, sow hatred, and spread fear. They attack institutions, science, and universities. It is time to once again defeat the denialists." Get it? Those who disagree with the UN and WEF agendas on climate change, regardless of their scientific credentials, are "denialists" who must be "defeated."
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by Pierre Rehov • January 13, 2026 at 5:00 am
Trump's executive order represents the most serious American effort in decades to confront Islamist political networks that, in Washington, had long been considered merely political differences rather than lethal security threats. Across the Atlantic... in the European Union and many of its major capitals, political Islam — often embodied by Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations — remains part of an approach for a larger "dialogue with Islamists". Can you imagine a "dialogue with Bolsheviks" or a "dialogue with the Third Reich"? [T]he European Union has taken a far more cautious, at times permissive, approach, apparently preferring to regard Islamic extremists as potential voters. The West ends up assimilating into Islam, rather than the other way around. Rather than confronting liberal democratic values, these "entryist" actors advocate for "reinterpretations" that often blur the lines between religious freedom and political Islam. Many Muslims in the West, of course, just want an opportunity for a better life, but they are not the ones in the engine room, driving the extremist Muslim train. The agenda, according to Islam itself, consists of sharing Allah's precious gift of Islam (Dar Al Islam, the "Abode of Islam") with the rest of the world (the Dar al Harb, the "Abode of War," those who have yet to submit to Islam) -- either by infiltration or force. Finally – when everyone in the world has submitted to Islam, whether they wanted to or not -- then there will be "peace." That, evidently, is when the world will enjoy "the Religion of Peace." The result is a West that now follows two opposite paths. On one path, the United States under the Trump administration is moving toward clarity and confrontation, willing to codify ideological enemies and remove them from the political landscape. On the other path, Europe continues its policy of engagement, accommodation and submission, risk-balancing between wished-for civic inclusion and ideological risk. This split only serves to impede counterterrorism and jeopardize the West.
On November 24, 2025, U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order initiating a formal process to designate certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Trump's executive order represents the most serious American effort in decades to confront Islamist political networks. Pictured: Trump signs an executive order in the White House on December 15, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
On November 24, 2025, U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order initiating a formal process to designate certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The order directs the Secretaries of State and Treasury to assess Muslim Brotherhood chapters in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon and take action under U.S. counterterrorism laws to deprive them of capabilities and resources — a move the executive order explicitly tied to national security priorities after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 and its aftermath throughout the West. The order also sets a rapid timetable for recommendations on specific chapters. Trump's executive order represents the most serious American effort in decades to confront Islamist political networks that, in Washington, had long been considered merely political differences rather than lethal security threats.
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by Lawrence Kadish • January 13, 2026 at 4:00 am
(Image source: iStock/Getty Images)
While we continue to focus on the enormous potential of fusion energy, it is important to consider the urgent needs of America's power demands. They are especially crucial when one appreciates that artificial intelligence (AI) is daily demanding inexpensive, reliable, abundant electrical power. Were we to fail, "AI" becomes little more than an abbreviation. The exponential growth of AI has created an unprecedented strain on our electrical infrastructure, making investment in power station reliability and upgrades not merely advisable, but absolutely essential. Those utilities that miss this priority literally put our nation at risk.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • January 12, 2026 at 5:00 am
Trump's "Board of Peace" will reportedly include countries such as Turkey and Qatar. Both countries, like Hamas, are followers of the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its motto is: "Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." "Qatar is at the top of funding terrorism worldwide, even more than Iran." — Udi Levy, former head of a Mossad unit dealing with economic warfare against terrorist organizations and countries that sponsor terrorism, Ynet, April 18, 2024. Many Hamas leaders and activists, who safely sat out the war in the luxurious comfort of Turkey and Qatar, have no interest in seeing Hamas removed from power. Qatar and Turkey, in addition, are hardly likely to participate in any attempt to disarm Hamas or destroy its military and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. "Hamas uses Turkey to plan terrorist activities inside Israel, in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, and to raise and launder money in support of its terrorist operations, including the October 7, 2023 attack and massacre." — Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, February 3, 2025. Documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces during the war revealed extensive cooperation between the Qatari government and Hamas. In one letter, Haniyeh informed another Hamas leader... that the emir of Qatar had agreed to covertly fund the group's armed "resistance" efforts against Israel. "So far, $11 million has been raised by the emir for the [Hamas] leadership." With members such as Qatar and Turkey, it is difficult to see how Trump's "Board of Peace" will be able to achieve even an impersonation of peace, security, and stability in the Gaza Strip. Egypt, apparently another member of the Board, recently tried to claim that Trump's plan does not call for Hamas disarmament, but only for collecting and handing over weapons as part of understandings among various Palestinian factions, including Hamas. The Trump administration should have conditioned the establishment of the Board and reconstruction on Hamas first laying down its weapons and relinquishing control of Gaza. Under the current circumstances, we seem headed toward a situation where the Board of Peace and the proposed Palestinian technocratic government will operate in parallel with Hamas, not instead of it. Recall, as well, that no Palestinian would dare to join any governing body without Hamas's approval. For the Board of Peace to succeed, it must first issue a clear ultimatum to Hamas and all the terror groups in the Gaza Strip to lay down their weapons by a certain date and then disappear from the scene. These groups, like ISIS, have nothing constructive to offer as political, military, or civilian entities: their stated goal is to destroy Israel and bring more death and destruction on the Palestinians. Reminder: Hamas and its allies do not believe in any peace process with Israel. For them, according to their conditioning as well as Article 13 of the 1988 Hamas Covenant, Jihad (holy war) remains the only option on the table: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors." From the look of the countries reportedly involved, Trump's Board of Peace seems more like an army of Israel's enemies being giddily planted on its border, and delighted to sign all sorts of accords, both for the immediate benefits and the opportunity, after Trump leaves office, to tear them up and try again to rid the world of the one country, Israel, that they never wanted near them in the first place.
President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" for Gaza will reportedly include countries such as Turkey and Qatar. Both countries, like Hamas, are followers of the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its motto is: "Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Pictured: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on April 14, 2016 in Istanbul. (Photo by Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/AFP via Getty Images)
Next week, US President Donald Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip as part of the second phase of his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war. "The board, which will be chaired by Trump and include around 15 world leaders, will supervise a still-to-be formed Palestinian technocratic government and oversee the reconstruction process," according to the American media outlet Axios. The Board of Peace representative on the ground will be former United Nations envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov. The Board of Peace is an international transitional body mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 2803 in November 2025 to support the administration, reconstruction and economic recovery of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 war, which erupted after the Hamas-led attack on Israel's southern communities. On that day, more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered and more than 3,400 wounded.
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by Lawrence A. Franklin • January 12, 2026 at 4:00 am
Some towns in Mali are negotiating deals with Jihadist groups to secure some semblance of liberty and save their lives by agreeing to adopt Islamic Sharia law and pay "protection taxes" (jizyah) to Islamic officials. The Jihadist threat is not limited to the Sahel, but exists in the entirety of West Africa. Unless there is an immediate Western intervention, one or more of these military regimes is likely to suffer a terrorist takeover in 2026.
Al-Qaeda's branch in Africa's Sahel region has been laying siege to Mali's capital city, as well as other areas of the country. Pictured: A woman fleeing from the town of Leré, Mali, carries her children and belongings near Fassale, Mauritania, on November 4, 2025. Leré is one of the areas being blockaded by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM group. (Photo by Michele Cattani/AFP via Getty Images)
Al-Qaeda's branch in Africa's Sahel region has been laying siege to Mali's capital city, as well as other areas of the country. The Algerian-based Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its affiliated Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (Support Group for Islam and Muslims, JNIM) are cutting a wide swath of terrorist operations across West Africa's Sahel region. This coalition of Jihadist groups now threatens the sovereignty of Mali and several other Sahelian states. Islamist operatives now control all the main routes in and out of Bamako, Mali's capital city, cutting it off from fuel, food, and friendly neighbors. JNIM militants have also targeted Mali's transport, communications, educational network, and economic infrastructure in rural regions. Some towns in Mali are negotiating deals with Jihadist groups to secure some semblance of liberty and save their lives by agreeing to adopt Islamic Sharia law and pay "protection taxes" (jizyah) to Islamic officials.
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by Uzay Bulut • January 11, 2026 at 8:00 am
"Israel is left worse off than when Hamas managed Gaza, given the sheer power of Turkey (which is increasing).... The deployment of Turkish forces in Gaza and the sale of F-35s to Erdogan are not policy ideas but a method: regional management through personal deals and assurances rather than hard reality. Trump himself illustrated this approach when he dismissed the issue as if it were a neighborhood misunderstanding: Israel 'will be fine' and Turkey 'won't use them against you'. This is not policy; it is a dangerous assumption. In the Middle East, it does not work. — Christine Douglass-Williams, Frontpage Magazine, January 7, 2026. "Giving Turkey a role in Gaza's future is a strategic mistake that will sooner or later, reborn Hamas or end up with a new militia with Hamas's goals, with another name." — Hamza Howidy, Palestinian journalist, x.com, October 26, 2025. Erdogan's regime, however, through its continuous support for Hamas, has not brought a lasting peace; it has brought lasting terrorism. Erdogan's own words reveal his intentions. "In this city, which we had to leave in tears during the First World War, it is still possible to come across traces of the Ottoman resistance. So Jerusalem is our city, a city from us." — Erdogan in an address at the opening of Parliament, October 1, 2020. "Turkey collaborates with terror organizations on both the ideological and operational levels. Terrorists working on Turkish soil establish infrastructures and plan terror attacks against Israel." — From the report "Hamas' Istanbul Headquarters Has Directed Hundreds of Terror Attacks Against Israelis and Laundered Millions of Dollars," JFCA, December 30, 2021. "Turkey is a base for the Muslim Brotherhood. There are networks there that help Hamas with funding, support, religious rulings, and logistics. Turkey has become a reception point for Brotherhood members." — Michael Barak, specialist at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism on radical Islamist and jihadist movements, JNS, April 24, 2025 "Turkey, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is one of Hamas' most important strategic allies, especially since the violent events of the Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010. Turkey hosts senior Hamas figures, some of whom have received Turkish citizenship, and provides political, diplomatic and propaganda support, as well as economic and humanitarian assistance." — From the report "Turkey as a Center for Hamas Activity," Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, March 2025. It would not be surprising if Turkey wished for nothing more -- apart from F-35 fighter jets -- than to help bring "peace" to Gaza. As soon as Trump leaves office, Erdogan would be exquisitely situated to target Israel in a pincer operation: from Syria in the east -- helped by Erdogan's protégé, Ahmed al-Sharaa -- and from Gaza in the West. Anyone investing in the rebuilding of Gaza, in which a role is played by Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, Bangladesh or the UN (which just allocated a budget of $100 million for targeting Israel) -- in short, a bouquet of countries that have long wished for Israel's demise -- should probably expect their bid for a "Gazan Riviera" eventually to have a disappointing return on investment. It will be easy for these longtime adversaries of Israel to join the Abraham Accords and enjoy the benefits as long as they can – just as it was to sign the Oslo Accords – then, at the earliest opportunity, tear them up, especially after being so deliciously positioned to attack Israel when Trump is no longer in office. No wonder Erdogan and the others must be licking their chops at the prospect of bringing "peace" to the Gazan chicken coop.
Turkey makes no secret of its support for the Hamas terror organization. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime, through its continuous support for Hamas, has not brought a lasting peace; it has brought lasting terrorism. Erdogan's own words reveal his intentions. Pictured: Erdogan (right) honors then Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey on January 3, 2012. (Photo credit by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)
After supporting the Hamas terrorist group for more than a decade, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with US President Donald J. Trump, now reportedly plan for Turkey to be part of the international "Board of Peace" that will operate in Gaza. "The deployment of Turkish forces in Gaza is bad news," notes journalist Christine Douglass-Williams: "Consider that Erdogan has referenced Hamas as a 'liberation organization,' hosted its leadership in Ankara, and granted them Turkish passports. Turkey and Qatar are well-known Muslim Brotherhood supporters. With Turkey also supporting Syrian jihadist President Ahmed al-Sharaa, as well as its increased partnership with Iran and the fact that it considers the Taliban a friend, Israel is left worse off than when Hamas managed Gaza, given the sheer power of Turkey (which is increasing)....
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by Robert Williams • January 11, 2026 at 5:00 am
"The evidence confirms that NGOs in Gaza do not operate independently or neutrally," NGO Monitor found. "Rather, they are embedded in an institutionalized framework of coercion, intimidation, and surveillance that serves Hamas' terror objectives.... NGOs – both local and international, including ones operating under the auspices of UN projects – are not permitted to provide services or operate projects in Gaza without Hamas' approval." On an everyday basis, NGOs need permission from Hamas to do their work in Gaza. Hamas also inserted "guarantors" – local Gazans approved by Hamas, or themselves Hamas members or affiliates – into high positions in the respective NGOs to serve as points of contact between Hamas and the NGOs. Hamas required its "guarantors" to be placed at the highest administrative levels of the NGO, such as director, deputy director, or board chair. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), for instance, an Oslo-based NGO operating in Gaza, among other places, chose to simply ignore concerns from a Gazan that his floor was collapsing because of a terror tunnel being built underneath. The mainstream media has largely refused to acknowledge that, as reported in a recent study by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 60% of the "journalists" killed during the fighting in Gaza were Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives or affiliates.
Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the Gaza Strip have been thoroughly infiltrated by Hamas, according to a new report. Pictured: Ambulances donated by Rahma Worldwide on August 7, 2024 in Khan Yunis (southern Gaza). A recently revealed Hamas document from 2022 reported that Rahma Worldwide's Gazan director "is now affiliated with the Hamas movement." (Photo by Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images)
Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the Gaza Strip have been thoroughly infiltrated by Hamas, according to a new report by NGO Monitor: Puppet Regime: Hamas' Coercive Grip on Aid and NGO Operations in Gaza. The report is based on Arabic-language documents, retrieved by Israel's military, spanning the years 2018-2022, from Hamas's Gaza Interior Security Mechanism (ISM), a unit within the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security. "The evidence confirms that NGOs in Gaza do not operate independently or neutrally," NGO Monitor found. "Rather, they are embedded in an institutionalized framework of coercion, intimidation, and surveillance that serves Hamas' terror objectives." On an everyday basis, NGOs need permission from Hamas to do their work in Gaza.
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by Amir Taheri • January 11, 2026 at 4:00 am
No legal system could anticipate all imaginable cases of an illegal action. That can be done only if and when an act contravenes a clearly defined law that also envisages a clearly defined punishment. Neither of those caveats applies to the foggy notion of national sovereignty, let alone to the foggier concept of international law. Leaving aside virtue-signalers and blame-America cabals attacking the US, the truth is that international law is as exposed as the Wizard of Oz was at the end of Dorothy's journey. Perhaps the most accurate description of Operation Absolute Resolve came from Beijing, with the term "hegemonic act". True, the US acted as a hegemon, that is to say, a power capable of enforcing its laws against foes. The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Maduro "my bus driver". Maduro drove the Venezuelan bus into a ravine and made himself easily kidnappable. Venezuela doesn't cry for him.
The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Nicolás Maduro "my bus driver". Maduro drove the Venezuelan bus into a ravine and made himself easily kidnappable. Venezuela doesn't cry for him. Pictured: Maduro delivers a speech during a military ceremony on November 25, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
"Illegal" was the word most used by governments and commentators across the globe to describe the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros on January 3 by US Army Delta Force soldiers. There is, however, no consensus. Some, including many leftist politicians in Europe, call it "an act of piracy". Others label it as "hostage taking". The term "kidnapping" has also been used. That politico-juristic cacophony puts the term "illegal" into a bracket denoting doubt. An act is described as illegal when it contravenes a law or set of clearly spelled-out laws recognized by a collectivity. In this case, the collectivity is supposed to consist of the 193 member states of the United Nations that include both Venezuela and the US. Those who argue that the US operation was illegal refer to the principle of "national sovereignty" that is supposed to be the cornerstone of international law.
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by Majid Rafizadeh • January 10, 2026 at 5:00 am
President Donald J. Trump has emerged as the first leader to stand decisively, openly, and courageously with the Iranian people themselves — against the dictatorship, against repression, and in favor of genuine freedom, democracy and peace. What distinguishes Trump's position is not rhetoric, but resolve. For years, Western leaders have issued statements of "concern" while avoiding any action that might inconvenience their diplomatic calculations or economic interests. President Trump broke from that spinelessness. More importantly, Trump sent a direct warning to the Iranian regime: if it continues to kill innocent protesters, he will "rescue" them: the United States will not stand idly by. This is the opposite of a call for war; it is deterrence in the service of peace -- a warning designed to prevent bloodshed, signaling to all violent regimes that massacres will not be tolerated or ignored. Thank you, President Trump, for standing with the oppressed, for choosing people over tyrants, and for reminding the world that peace is not achieved by silence in the face of evil, but by courage in defense of individual freedom. May the Iranian, Venezuelan, Gazan and Cuban people -- and others held hostage by cutthroat leaders -- achieve their long-denied dream of freedom, democracy, and peace. God bless you, President Trump.
Pictured: A demonstrator outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse after ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro attended his arraignment hearing on January 5, 2026 in New York. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
Over the past decade, the Iranian people have turned out again and again against one of the most entrenched and brutal dictatorships in the modern world. From students and workers to women, minorities, and the urban poor, Iranians have poured into the streets demanding dignity, freedom, and a government that represents them rather than ruling them through fear. These uprisings have been nationwide, sustained and extraordinarily courageous, often carried out in the face of live ammunition, mass arrests, torture and executions. Yet despite the clarity of the Iranian people's demands and the scale of the regime's violence, no European country, no self-described democratic power, and no U.S. administration claiming to champion freedom and human rights has ever stood with them in a meaningful way -- until now.
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by Drieu Godefridi • January 9, 2026 at 5:00 am
According to critics, this framework [the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA)] effectively forces American platforms to act as "speech police" on behalf of the EU, under the constant threat of severe sanctions. In doing so, the DSA produces extraterritorial effects that extend well beyond Europe. This point is crucial: any American user of X, for instance, can be sanctioned by X for expressing opinions on the platform. In practice, the DSA is thus applied to all Americans. This requirement constitutes a clear instance of the normative imperialism that has characterized the EU for the past 20 years. The only conceivable technical alternative would be the creation of separate platforms — an X-USA and an X-EU — which would amount to a denial of the very idea of a global network and of the internet itself. The US House Judiciary Committee has denounced this system as one of "organized censorship," in which the EU effectively "arms" NGOs to compel American technology companies to remove content that is lawful in the United States but deemed "problematic" in Europe. Fines could reach up to 6% of a company's global turnover, amounting to potentially billions of euros for firms such as Meta or Google. In cases of non-cooperation, platforms even face the possibility of a temporary ban within the EU. This environment of stringent enforcement strongly encourages platforms to over-moderate content in order to minimize regulatory risk, leading to the removal of content that is perfectly legal. We are speaking here of approximately eight million posts deleted per month in the European Union, not including complete bans, such as those imposed on Russian media outlets. Illegal content is treated as the top priority. Defined by the EU and national legislation, it includes hate speech (such as incitement to violence based on race or religion), terrorist content, child sexual exploitation material, counterfeit goods, and dangerous products.... Yet the central problem remains: "hate" itself is never defined in law. It must be stressed that disinformation itself is not illegal. The DSA therefore mandates the active censorship of content that is lawful -- but merely displeasing to the European Princes and their legions of censors. American freedom of speech cannot survive a "Big Brother" DSA.
According to critics, the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA) effectively forces American platforms to act as "speech police" on behalf of the EU, under the constant threat of severe sanctions. In doing so, the DSA produces extraterritorial effects that extend well beyond Europe. This point is crucial: any American user of X, for instance, can be sanctioned by X for expressing opinions on the platform. (Images source: iStock)
The Digital Services Act (DSA), adopted by the European Union in 2022 and fully applicable since February 2024 to "very large online platforms" (VLOPs) such as X, Facebook, TikTok, and Google, is not officially presented as an instrument of "organized censorship." Formally, it is purported to be a regulatory framework intended to govern digital services in order to protect users from illegal content, systemic risks, and opaque platform practices. However, a growing number of critics — particularly in the United States, including Elon Musk and several Republican members of Congress — describe the DSA as a mechanism of mass censorship. In their view, it imposes heavy bureaucratic oversight on freedom of expression and enables selective repression of dissenting opinions.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh • January 8, 2026 at 5:00 am
Trump's plan may have ended the Israeli-Hamas war, but it has not stopped Hamas from waging its own brutal campaign against its own people. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas has turned hospitals in the Gaza Strip from terrorist command centers into terrorist interrogation and detention centers. "Hamas has turned all of Gaza's hospitals into MAJOR police, intelligence, and security headquarters, a flagrant criminal violation of international law and humanitarian law and basic decency." — Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Palestinian political analyst and former resident of the Gaza Strip, x.com, January 1, 2026. "Hamas isn't hiding its brutality. The hospitals of Al-Shifa, Al-Aqsa and Nasser are not simply medical centers. Hamas has repurposed Gaza's main hospitals as interrogation sites, cages, gulags for perceived 'dissidents.'" -- Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, x.com, January 6, 2026. "How many of our people need to disappear into hospital basements, interrogation rooms, and 'revolutionary courts' before the pro-Palestine movement stops romanticizing this militia and starts seeing what Gazans have been living under for years?" — Hamza Howidy, Palestinian political activist from the Gaza Strip, now in Europe, x.com, November 30, 2025 Hamas, according to Palestinian sources, has set up a number of armed units whose main mission is to hunt down and silence its political rivals. Some of these Palestinians have been forced to make public "confessions" about their alleged ties to Israel. The videos are then posted on various Hamas-affiliated social media platforms as part of a psychological warfare designed to terrorize and deter the residents of the Gaza Strip. Hamas wants to go back to the days when the international community, including the United Nations, was providing humanitarian aid and food to the Gaza residents while the terror group was busy building tunnels, manufacturing weapons and preparing massacres against Israel. Hamas's "political" leaders, living luxuriously in Qatar, are no less dangerous than the terrorists hiding in Gaza's tunnels. There must be no room in the Middle East for terrorists and criminals who continue to commit crimes not only against Israel, but also against their own people. By the time the second phase of Trump's plan begins, the only Palestinians left in the Gaza Strip will be the leaders of Hamas and their supporters.
President Donald J. Trump's peace plan for Gaza may have ended the Israeli-Hamas war, but it has not stopped Hamas from waging its own brutal campaign against its own people. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas has been arresting, torturing and publicly executing suspected "collaborators." Pictured: Hamas terrorists in Gaza on February 15, 2025. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
While the US and other countries are talking about the need to move to the second phase of President Donald J. Trump's 20-point peace plan, the Iran-backed Hamas terror group is continuing to reassert its control over parts of the Gaza Strip that are no longer under Israeli control. Hamas, in addition to rearming and regrouping, has stepped up its crackdown on Palestinians suspected of "collaboration" with Israel. Hamas's goal is to intimidate and deter the residents of the Gaza Strip and remind them that the terror group has no plans to end its rule or lay down its weapons. As far as Hamas is concerned, any Palestinian who believes in Israel's right to exist and opposes terrorism is a traitor who should be punished by death.
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