Welcome to The Now

Remember how close the United States and Iran were to a deal ? Well according to President Trump's favorite lawyer ( for now ) Steve Witkoff , Iran spent the negotiations bragging: Witkoff: Iranians bragged of uranium for 11 bombs US special envoy Witkoff, who together with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner led Washington’s negotiations with Tehran over the disputed nuclear program, said that Iran’s top negotiators boasted in the first round of talks this year of having enough highly enriched uranium to build 11 nuclear bombs. “In that first meeting, both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly — with no shame — that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% [enriched uranium] and that they’re aware that could make 11 nuclear bombs,” Witkoff told Fox. Trump has asserted that the US “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities during the 12-day war last June, which would ostensibly render Iran incapable of immediately turning that enriched uranium into a bomb. Still, Witkoff said the Iran...

  BBC : the 30-year-old baby (hint: frozen embryo).  The Hill : President Trump wants a $200 million White House renovation. The Times of Israel : (flashback) AOC's true political origins.  Reuters : Should the CEO of Intel resign because of ties to China?

  Depending on the scenario, the Knesset is the endgame of legislature and governance in Israel . Well, Israel's conflict/genocide with Gaza, has led to the Knesset becoming more of a player : The Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party will support the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party’s efforts to introduce a bill to dissolve the Knesset over the coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service, according to multiple Hebrew media reports Wednesday. Speaking with the Haaretz daily following a faction meeting held to discuss whether or not to support the UTJ-led move, a Shas source said that the party will push to dissolve the Knesset, a move that would strip the coalition of its majority and trigger new elections. Amid threats to his coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, who has been refusing to back down from his pledge that any law coming from hi...

  So first we have Netanyahu's most recent speech : Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday night that he would not end the war with Hamas in Gaza until the terror group is removed from power, calling its current demands for a hostage release deal “capitulation conditions.” Speaking in a prerecorded video address that his office described the day before as a “special statement on a diplomatic matter,” Netanyahu argued that Hamas would rehabilitate its military capabilities if the conflict were ended. He asserted that it was not possible to “trick” the terror group into ending the war in return for the hostages and then resume military operations, due to “binding” international commitments Hamas was demanding as part of an end to hostilities. Those who were suggesting this “illusion of deception” had no idea how international politics works, he said. The prime minister also accused Hamas of stymying a recently proposed deal for the return of Israeli hostages due to its d...

First the story of the bodies (vi Al Jazeera): Israel’s military has announced that its troops have recovered the bodies of six captives, including a dual US national, from a tunnel in southern Gaza, as it continued its 11-month long, deadly assault on the Palestinian enclave. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched war on Gaza on October 7 following an attack led by Palestinian group Hamas that left more than 1,100 people dead. The Palestinian fighters took about 250 captives in the wake of the attack. The coastal enclave has since been turned into rubble amid non-stop bombardment as Israel has been accused of stalling a ceasefire deal to free the captives. The military said on Sunday that their remains were recovered “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” and returned to Israel where they were formally identified. It claimed that the captives were killed not long before their bodies were recovered. The captives were identified as Almog Sarusi, Al...

  The Times of Israel is calling those who supporting the suspected soldiers a " right-wing mob ." 

It's hard for people to accept claims that Palestinians and/or Hamas are vicious characters when you turn around and destroy food and medical supplies: Apparently there have been arrests since this video came out. Keep in mind that these are also supplies that could have been given to the Israeli hostages that Hamas still have. Oh and this is worth noting: The White House condemned the destruction of the aid, calling it “completely and utterly unacceptable behavior.” “It is a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a press briefing on Monday. “We are looking at the tools that we have to respond to this and we are also raising our concerns at the highest level of the Israeli government. One "tool" is "stop selling weapons that are being used to kill civilians" but hey, keep looking.

 If flights leaving the Promised Land begin to pick up, you'll know why :  Nearly three-quarters of the Israeli public oppose a retaliatory strike on Iran for its massive missile attack on the country if such action would harm Israel’s security alliance with its allies, according to a poll published Tuesday. The Hebrew University survey also found that over half the public believes Israel “respond[s] positively” to the military and political demands of allies. Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran overnight Saturday fired over 300 missiles and drones at the country. Almost all were intercepted before they reached the country as the United States led a coordinated air defense shield that involved Israeli, American, British, French and Jordanian forces, reportedly along with radar and intelligence input from some Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. Maybe they should concentrate of getting back the hostages . For what it's worth, Iran is putting out a warning . 

 From The Times of Israel : Dozens of pictures and videoclips have emerged over the past week showing IDF soldiers abusing and humiliating Palestinians apprehended in the West Bank, often while they are blindfolded and handcuffed. In one of the most brutal videos, which has been blurred, IDF soldiers filmed themselves as they abused seven West Bank laborers who were caught as they attempted to enter Israel without a permit, in an area south of the South Hebron hills. The footage shows the Palestinian men stripped naked or half-naked, blindfolded and handcuffed, and screaming in pain. One of them is being dragged on the ground. A screenshot from the video shows a soldier stepping with his boot on the head of one of the Palestinians, while another is pointing a weapon at him. The Whole World Is Watching.