An April 11 edition of the United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights’ NGO Action News, which provides updates about civil society organizations worldwide ‘relevant to the Palestine issue,’ linked readers to the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) list of ‘5 Ways to Take Action for Tax Day.’

Included within the list were instructions about how protesters who did not ‘want [their] tax dollars to fund genocide’ could ‘disrupt for a free Palestine.’ 

The second item on USCPR’s list was a hyperlink for protesters seeking to engage in a ‘coordinated multi-city economic blockade to free Palestine,’ an effort organizers noted was ‘not affiliated with USCPR.’ 

In the destination page, blockade organizers A15 describe efforts to ‘identify and blockade major choke points in the economy, focusing on points of production and circulation with the aim of causing the most economic impact,’ effectively ‘blocking the arteries of capitalism and jamming the wheels of production.’ 

Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital ‘the U.N. has been caught red-handed aiding and abetting pro-Hamas anarchists in American cities and streets’ by ‘distributing a newsletter, in multiple languages and to a worldwide network, that contains links to radical anti-American and anti-Israel agitators, their agendas and plans.’

Fox News Digital reported on the April 15 blockades when anti-Israel protesters stopped traffic outside Washington’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, California’s Golden Gate Bridge and on the I-5 in Eugene, Ore. Gatherings also took place outside the New York Stock Exchange and Philadelphia’s City Hall, at San Antonio’s Valero headquarters and in Los Angeles, Oakland, Tampa and Miami. 

At an attempted traffic disruption in Detroit, police told Fox 2 Detroit protesting vehicles ‘ignored multiple traffic control signals,’ which led to ‘traffic obstructions’ and ‘nearly caus[ed] accidents.’

During the day’s events, dozens around the country were arrested. 

The UN’s NGO Action News site contains a disclaimer warning that third-party links ‘are not under the control of the United Nations and the United Nations is not responsible for the content of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site.’ 

Bayefsky says the U.N. disclaimer ‘is totally bogus.’ She claims ‘it is U.N. staff who produce summaries of activist plans,’ and that ‘the inclusion of any announcement or link to a third party must receive prior approval from the U.N.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Ambassador Cheikh Niang of Senegal, for comment about whether U.N. staff approve items within and author summaries for NGO Action News. He did not immediately respond.

The USCPR’s protest guide contains other inflammatory remarks, including referencing President Biden as ‘Genocide Joe,’ and alleging that ‘Israel is mass murdering Palestinian families with [U.S.] tax dollars.’ To summarize USCPR’s messaging, NGO Action News pulls from the more measured tones within its guide for action, explaining USCPR ‘urged the public to pressure for the end of U.S. military funding to Israel’s massive violence.’

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told Fox News Digital ‘the secretary-general does not have the legal authority to label an event as ‘genocide.’ For the United Nations, that determination needs to be made by a competent court.’

In its Jan. 26 preliminary ruling, the International Court of Justice did not rule that Israel had committed genocide but urged Israel to allow Gazans access to humanitarian aid and attempt to assist Palestinian civilians.

When asked whether the secretary-general supports NGO Action News’ instructions in an official U.N. publication that protesters engage in civil disobedience, Dujarric stated that NGO Action News ‘is compiled in accordance with a mandate conferred by the member states of the U.N. General Assembly’ and ‘does not fall under the authority or direction of the Secretary-General.’ 

‘You have all this anarchy on the streets of the U.S.,’ Bayefsky said, which ‘ought to be a major wake-up call for American lawmakers and the criminal justice system since we are talking about an operation based in New York City itself. It is also a stunning reminder of the U.N.’s history of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias and its vicious post-Oct. 7 campaign to deny Israel its lawful right of self-defense.’

On April 16, the Anti-Defamation League released its annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, which found that antisemitic incidents rose 140% between 2022 and 2023. This included a 45% increase in assaults, a 69% increase in vandalism and a 184% increase in harassment. The ADL noted it ‘observed explicitly antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric at 1,352 anti-Israel rallies across the United States’ after Oct. 7.

When asked if he recognized that anti-Israel protests are among the reasons for the rise in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. following Oct. 7, Dujarric said ‘the Secretary-General has publicly, and repeatedly, raised his voice against what he believes is the rise of antisemitism in many of our societies, whether that be in Europe, North America and other parts of the world.  

‘In addition, the secretary-general has also stated publicly that those that call for the destruction of the state of Israel is a form of modern antisemitism.’ 

Both Israel’s foreign minister and the United Nations ambassador have called for Guterres to resign over his treatment of Israel.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this week with a fresh threat regarding Beijing’s support for Russia, as the House greenlit a new $61 billion aid package for Ukraine. 

A senior State Department official previewed Blinken’s upcoming April 24-26 trip to China in call with reporters on Friday, describing how he will meet with senior PRC officials in both Shanghai and Beijing.

‘I don’t have anything specific to announce to you today, but I’ll just underscore that as you’ve seen us demonstrate over the past many weeks and months, we’re committed to taking the steps necessary to defend our national interests, and we’re prepared to take steps when we believe necessary against firms that are taking steps in contravention to our interests and in ways that – as we’ve indicated here – severely undermine security in both Ukraine and Europe,’ the senior State Department official said. ‘And I think we’ve demonstrated our willingness to do so regarding firms from a number of countries, not just China. And at any rate, again, I think this will be a key issue of discussion while we’re in Beijing.’

With his G7 foreign ministerial counterparts, Blinken on Friday discussed concern ‘about the transfers to Russia from businesses in the PRC of a range of dual-use materials and weapons components that Russia is using to advance its military production,’ the official said. ‘The concern there is that through Chinese support, Russia has largely reconstituted its defense industrial base, which has an impact not just on the battlefield in Ukraine but poses a larger threat, we believe, to broader European security.

Blinken and other U.S. diplomats will express those concerns to China and ‘our intent to have China curtail that support,’ which is starting to pose ‘a threat to European security,’ the official said. 

The State Department could not immediately confirm whether Blinken will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The senior State Department official did confirm to reporters that Blinken is expected to meet with his counterpart, Director and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. 

In Shanghai and Beijing, the secretary will focus ‘on implementing the leaders’ commitments in San Francisco to advance cooperation on issues such as counternarcotics, bolster mil-mil communication, and establish talks on artificial intelligence risks and safety,’ the senior State Department official said. 

The State Department outlined three goals for Blinken’s trip: ‘making progress on key issues,’ ‘clearly and directly communicating concerns on bilateral, regional, and global issues’ and third, ‘responsibly managing competition’ so ‘that it does not result in miscalculation or conflict.’

Blinken is expected to ‘raise clearly and candidly our concerns on issues ranging from human rights, unfair economic and trade practices, to the global economic consequences of PRC industrial over-capacity.’ 

The official said the secretary ‘will also reiterate our deep concerns regarding the PRC’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base,’ ‘discuss the crisis in the Middle East’ and ‘challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including PRC provocations in the South China Sea, as well as the DPRK’s threatening rhetoric and reckless actions.’ 

Blinken will ‘discuss the crisis in Burma’ and ‘will also reaffirm the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,’ the official told reporters.

At the G7 summit last week, Blinken outlined the type of aid China is sending to Russia.  

‘When it comes to Russia’s defense industrial base, the primary contributor in this moment to that is China,’ Blinken told reporters in Capri, Italy. ‘We see China sharing machine tools, semiconductors, other dual-use items that have helped Russia rebuild the defense industrial base that sanctions and export controls had done so much to degrade. Now, if China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can’t on the other hand be fueling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War.’ 

The Biden administration could announce sanctions against an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) battalion for alleged human rights violations in the West Bank before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas-led terrorists, according to reports.

Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could announce the sanctions against IDF battalion ‘Netzah Yehuda’ within days, marking the first time the U.S. will have placed sanctions on military units operated by Israel.

If sanctions are imposed, the battalion and its members would no longer receive any type of training or assistance from the U.S. military, sources reportedly told the publication.

The U.S. is prohibited under the Leahy Law, from providing any sort of foreign aid or defense department training to countries responsible for alleged human rights violations based on credible information.

Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. State Department and White House but did not immediately hear back.

While speaking to reporters on Friday, Blinken was asked about Israel’s violations of human rights in the West Bank and recommendations made by his department to cut military aid to certain Israeli units.

Blinken started by saying the Leahy Law was important and applied across the board.

‘When we’re doing these investigations, these inquiries, it’s something that takes time, that has to be done very carefully both in collecting the facts and analyzing them – and that’s exactly what we’ve done,’ he said. ‘And I think it’s fair to say that you’ll see results very soon. I’ve made determinations; you can expect to see them in the days ahead.’

On Friday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on an ally of Israel’s national security minister and two entities that raised money for Israeli men who allegedly committed settler violence. The new sanctions came in addition to others placed on five settlers and two unauthorized outposts earlier this year. The increased sanctions also show growing frustration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the U.S.

Friday’s sanctions will reportedly freeze U.S. assets held by those targeted while also barring Americans from dealing with them.

Right-wing members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition that is pushing to expand Jewish settlements along with the annexation of the West Bank are reportedly upset with the Biden administration for making moves against the Israeli settlers.

Also adding fuel to the fire is the tension between Israel and Washington caused by the latter urging Israel to restrain themselves from attacking Iran.

One of the individuals sanctioned by the U.S. was Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of the right-wing group Lehava. The group does not support Jewish assimilation with non-Jews and has about 5,000 members.

‘Under Gopstein’s leadership, Lehava and its members have been involved in acts or threats of violence against Palestinians, often targeting sensitive or volatile areas,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

Miller warned that additional steps would be taken if Israel does not act to prevent extremist attacks as violence continues to escalate in the West Bank.

The European Union also agreed to impose sanctions against Lehava and other groups.

But the U.S. is not just targeting Israel. In fact, last week, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced sanctions would be placed against Iran after its regime attacked Israel last Saturday.

The sanctions were announced as Republicans criticized the Biden administration for not being tough enough on Iran, pointing to a waiver extended by the White House in November 2023 that released $10 billion of previously escrowed funds to Iran.

Sullivan said that the actions the U.S. is taking will ‘continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors.’

‘Over the last three years, in addition to missile and drone-related sanctions, the United States has sanctioned over 600 individuals and entities connected to terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses, and support for proxy terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Kataib Hezbollah,’ the statement added.

‘The pressure will continue. We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions.’

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Vacchiano and Reuters contributed to this report.

The House of Representatives showed overwhelming bipartisan support for a $26 billion foreign aid bill providing funding for Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The bill predictably polarized the most right and left-wing members of Congress; the former are furious over the $9 billion in aid aimed at the State Department for civilians in Gaza, while the latter are opposed to more lethal aid to Israel. 

The measure passed 366 to 58, and the chamber broke into applause after the bill passed.

In a win for the House GOP’s razor-thin majority, the bill also prohibits funding from going toward the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a Palestinian refugee agency alleged to have ties to Hamas.

The bill’s passage is a resounding victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he navigates an exceptionally fractured political environment. It’s part of a wider set of bills, totaling roughly $95 billion in foreign aid, that Johnson put on the House floor Saturday. The slate of bills also included aid for Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific as well as a fourth bill containing various national security priorities.

The vote comes as tensions in the Middle East escalate dramatically, particularly between Israel and Iran as Israel fights a war on the Palestinian terror group Hamas. 

Israel carried out limited strikes against Iran on Friday in retaliation for a barrage of airstrikes Tehran fired on Israel, the first such direct attack from the Islamic fundamentalist government. No large-scale damage or casualties were reported in either incident.

The issue of Israel has also been a divisive one for Democrats, as a growing faction of left-wing lawmakers criticize Israel’s invasion in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. 

Republicans, for the most part, have been united in backing Israel and its conservative government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Johnson has put two previous Israel funding bills on the House floor, one that offset the funding with cuts to the IRS, and one which provided the funding without any strings attached. Neither was taken up by the Senate.

This time, however, fiscal conservatives decried the lack of offsets and funding for Gaza.

‘I will always stand with our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel. But I rise today to express my serious concerns with a very flawed supplemental. In November, I supported the first security supplemental for Israel, which was financially paid for and would have provided weapons and equipment for Israel’s fight against Hamas. The cost was offset by rescinding Democrats unprecedented expansion of the IRS. Today, we are considering a vastly different bill, one that is all borrowing another 26 billion of debt with no rescission,’ House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said during debate on the bill.

‘The legislation also contains 400 million for FEMA, which has nothing to do with supporting Israel, and over $9 billion for humanitarian aid in…Gaza and the West Bank.’

Clyde cited a Heritage Foundation report that said Hamas and other terror groups controlled the flow of all international humanitarian aid operating in Gaza.

‘It is therefore highly likely U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid to Gaza, including some of the aid in this bill, will again be diverted to support further Hamas attacks against Israel,’ he said.

The House of Representatives has approved sending $60 billion to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion, an issue that has roiled Speaker Mike Johnson’s already perilously slim majority.

The aid package passed 311 to 112, with more Democrats voted in favor than Republicans – and just 101 Republicans voted for the bill while 112 voted nay.

In a dramatic moment toward the end of the vote, Democrats began passing around Ukrainian flags — in violation of House protocol, according to the lawmaker presiding over the vote, Rep. Marc Molinaro. The left side of the aisle exploded in cheers when the timer on the vote reached zero, earning admonishment from Molinaro, who told them the flag-waving was in violation of the rules and called it ‘inappropriate,’ to which Democrats jeered.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., took to the microphones to chide, ‘Put those d–n flags away,’ earning more verbal backlash from Democrats before the chamber was called to order for the next vote.

House lawmakers are in session on a rare Saturday working to pass Johnson’s $95 billion foreign aid plan, which also includes aid bills for Israel and the Indo-Pacific, as well as a bill with other national security measures. In a decisive victory for the Louisiana Republican, all four bills passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The close margins within the GOP alone show what a divisive topic Ukraine funding has become for the right.

A growing number of fiscal conservatives have been skeptical about the U.S.’s continued financial involvement with Ukraine, while others have raised questions about corruption within Kyiv’s government. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to strip all funding related to Ukraine from the Ukraine funding bill predictably failed Saturday in a 71 to 351 vote.

More traditional Republicans and national security hawks warn that Ukraine’s victory is critical to preventing a wider conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that its President Vladimir Putin is rapidly forming a second ‘axis of evil’ with Iran and China.

Johnson, who like his conservative colleagues was skeptical of Ukraine aid before becoming speaker, gave a sober warning earlier this week. ‘I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten that I believe [Chinese President Xi Jinpimg] and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. And I think they’re in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies,’ he told reporters. ‘To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys,’ he said.

But his support for foreign aid, particularly Ukraine, is also threatening to cut short his tenure as House speaker. Greene filed a resolution for a House-wide vote to oust Johnson, known as a motion to vacate, last month in protest of his work with Democrats on government spending and foreign aid.

Two more House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., formally backed her resolution this week.

‘[R]ather than spending the resources to secure our southern border and combating the invasion of 11 million illegals and despite repeated promises there would be no additional money going to Ukraine without first securing our border, the United States House of Representatives, under the direction of the Speaker, is on the verge of sending another $61 billion to further draw America into an endless and purposeless war in Ukraine,’ Gosar said in a statement on Friday. ‘I have added my name in support of the motion to vacate the Speaker. Our border cannot be an afterthought.’

Greene told reporters on Saturday after the vote, ‘This is the third betrayal of Mike Johnson,’ citing his earlier government funding agreement and renewal of a key government surveillance tool.

She then added, ‘And then he did this bulls–t in here on the House floor, a foreign war package that does nothing for America. It’s unbelievable. I’m thankful that America gets to see who this man is.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., conceded that Johnson could ‘maybe’ lose his job over pushing his foreign aid package over the line but praised the speaker for doing ‘the right thing’ despite the risk.

‘We…had intelligence that if we didn’t get this done soon, Ukraine was in a bad situation,’ Bacon said.

House leaders do not have to put Greene’s resolution up for a vote unless she files it as ‘privileged,’ at which point it’s required that lawmakers act on it within two legislative days. Greene did not indicate when she might do that.

Several Democrats, however, have indicated that they were open to helping save Johnson’s job if he put the Ukraine aid bill on the House floor.

The bill with roughly $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific overwhelmingly passed 385 to 34 earlier on Saturday.

Iran’s top foreign affairs official dismissed weapons launched against the country by neighboring Israel as ‘toys’ and said there was no plan to retaliate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian downplayed the Israeli strike during an interview on Friday, hours after the impact.

‘What happened last night wasn’t a strike,’ Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told NBC News. ‘They were more like toys that our children play with — not drones.’

‘As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions,’ he added.

Amir-Abdollahian also stated that the Iranian regime is not completely convinced the strike came from Israel, though he failed to offer alternative theories.

‘If Israel takes a decisive action against my country and this is proven to us, our response will be immediate and to the maximum and will cause them to regret it,’ the foreign minister said.

Israel carried out limited strikes in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday. A well-placed military source told Fox News that the strike was ‘limited.’

There have been no reports of large-scale damage or casualties.

Explosions were reported in the Isfahan province, which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located. 

Following the attack, Iranian state media stated that the nation’s atomic sites were ‘fully safe’ and had not been struck by the missiles.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations affiliate watchdog organization, later confirmed ‘there is no damage to Iran’s nuclear sites.’

The House of Representatives is holding a rare Saturday vote to consider Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign aid plan, which has spurred calls for his ouster by a small group of GOP rebels.

Three of the four bills fund Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, totaling roughly $95 billion. A fourth bill includes national security priorities like the House’s recently passed crackdown on TikTok’s ownership, as well as the REPO Act, which would liquidate seized Russian assets and give that funding to Ukraine.

Each is expected to receive a final vote sometime later this afternoon after lawmakers weigh amendments to all but the Israel bill, which House leaders decided must stay as is.

Among the amendments up for consideration is one by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of the House GOP’s fiercest foreign aid skeptics, to strip all funds from the $60 billion Ukraine aid bill. It’s not likely to pass, but it could get a significant amount of Republican support with a growing number of right-wing lawmakers opposed to the U.S.’ involvement in Kyiv’s war with Moscow.

Johnson’s handling of foreign aid and government spending spurred Greene to file a resolution calling for a vote to oust him from power, known as a motion to vacate the chair. Since revealing the details of his plan earlier this week, two more Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. — have formally backed her effort.

Foreign aid has proven to be one of the most politically fraught fights Johnson has faced in his short tenure as speaker. As has been the case for most complicated issues, he’s caught in a two-front battle between the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House, as well as outspoken conservatives in his own conference — namely the House Freedom Caucus and their allies.

The former group had been pressuring Johnson to take up the Senate’s $95 billion supplemental aid package as one item, while the latter objected to foreign aid without spending offsets or border security measures.

To assuage GOP border concerns, Johnson is also holding a vote on a border security and immigration bill on Saturday — though it’s unlikely to pass. Republican rebels blasted that move as a meaningless display, arguing that Johnson knows it has no chance in the Senate if not paired with foreign aid. 

The foreign aid proposal passed a key procedural hurdle on Friday morning known as a rule vote, which now allows for debate and passage of the final bills.

Rule votes have traditionally fallen across party lines, with lawmakers on both sides following their leadership to allow for a vote on legislation even if they don’t agree with its contents.

However, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have deliberately sunk GOP rule votes several times this Congress in protest of House Republican leadership’s decisions.

In a stunning turn of events not often seen in modern U.S. politics, Democrats leaped to the foreign aid proposal’s rescue and provided more than enough support to counter the 55 Republican defections — something that further irked Johnson’s right-wing critics.

Not only did Democrats vote for the rule, they outnumbered Republicans in support. It got 165 Democratic ‘yes’ votes compared to 151 Republicans, for a total 316 to 94 margin.

‘We agreed with the objective,’ Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the former House majority leader, told reporters when asked about the overwhelming Democratic support. ‘I think Democrats are going to continue to save the country. And when the speaker proposes something that we think is good for the country, we’re not going to arbitrarily oppose it because it happens to be a Republican proposal.’

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va., accused Johnson of dividing the Republican Party but distanced himself from calls for his ouster.

‘Funding Ukraine divides the country. It divides Republicans tremendously, divides the Republican conference, as evidenced by the vote today, just a moment ago. And so that should not be our starting point, to do what the Democrats want to do,’ Good said.

Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, one of the House’s GOP national security hawks, said he was ‘absolutely’ relieved that the bills advanced on Friday but that he was ‘confident’ they would.

Unlike his colleagues who were criticizing the show of bipartisanship, Ellzey said he was glad to see Democrats buck norms to support the rule.

‘I think that, this is a good thing for us now, for our national security, and the assurance of our friends and allies across the world, that we are a steady partner, and it’s bipartisan. Americans come together in times like this,’ he said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to comment on the Biden administration’s response, particularly a lack thereof, escalating tensions in the Middle East during her Friday morning press briefing. 

‘I know there’s a lot of interest in reports from the Middle East overnight. And we understand that, we get that. I’m going to see it now, though. I know you will all certainly ask me about it. That we do not have any comment on the reports at this time. Obviously, you all heard from Secretary Blinken earlier this morning,’ Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre added that President Biden is kept in the loop and up-to-date on everything happening with unrest in the Middle East. 

This comes after Israel carried out limited strikes on Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

Fox News confirmed there have been explosions in Iran’s Isfahan province, which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located. 

Jean-Pierre said the White House does not want to see conflict escalate in the Middle East.

‘We have been very, very clear from the beginning that we do not want to see this conflict escalate. We continue to consult with our allies and partners, including in the region, obviously, and to reduce further risk of escalation in the region. And that’s a sentiment that was expressed in the G-7 Foreign Ministry’s joint statement that went out this morning,’ Jean-Pierre said. ‘You heard that now, obviously, from Secretary Blinken, who was part of that meeting. I’m just going to be super mindful. I’m not going to speculate or speak to any of the reportings that are out there at this time.’

When asked whether the U.S. was informed by the Israelis ahead of the counter strike, Jean-Pierre still declined to comment.

‘I’m not going to speak to our diplomatic conversations,’ Jean-Pierre stated.

She also declined to answer if the U.S. has leverage in the Middle East after being questioned about President Biden’s response of ‘don’t’ to any Iranian retaliation.

‘I know this is not going to be satisfying. I’m not going to speak to any of the reports out there. I’m just not going to do that, not going to speculate. I will say, you’ve heard this from my NSE colleagues, and you’ve heard this from many of us here at The White House. The president and the prime minister have a long-standing relationship that goes decades, decades,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘Because of that long-standing relationship, they are able to speak very honestly with each other and have difficult conversations when it’s necessary. That is the type of friendship that they have. I’m just not going to speak to any of the events that’s been reported.’

The United States has denied any involvement in the strike, having pleaded with Israel for days to respond with restraint against Iranian strikes.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when asked about Israel’s strikes on Iran on Friday morning, said, ‘I’m not going to speak to that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations.’

‘What we’re focused on, what the G7 is focused on, and again, it’s reflected in our statement and in our conversation, is our work to de-escalate tensions, to de-escalate from any potential conflict. You saw Israel on the receiving end of an unprecedented attack,’ he added. ‘But our focus has been on, of course, making sure that Israel can effectively defend itself, but also de-escalating tensions, avoiding conflict.’

Iranian state media has also reportedly downplayed Friday’s strikes, those of which a well-placed military source told Fox News that those strikes were ‘limited.’ 

‘The explosion this morning in the sky of Isfahan was related to the shooting of air defense systems at a suspicious object that did not cause any damage,’ according to Iranian army commander Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi in a report by the Associated Press. 

A senior Iranian official reportedly told Reuters on Friday that Tehran has no immediate plans to strike back.

Israel and its government have remained relatively quiet leading up to, and following, the retaliatory strike on Iran. 

‘Israel will do whatever it needs to defend itself,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement before the Israeli strike. ‘[Foreign leaders] have all sorts of suggestions and advice. I appreciate that. But I want to be clear: Our decisions we will make ourselves.’

Former Israel Defense Forces spokesman Jonathan Conricus tweeted that following the strike, and while Iran appears to downplay the strike, he ‘think[s] they’ve gotten the message.’

Fox News Digital’s Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Bradford Betz, Jennifer Griffin, Greg Norman and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

Roughly 40 minutes after it lapsed, the Senate voted to pass a renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which serves as a critical tool used by the government to gather intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers. 

The upper chamber voted 60-34 to pass the re-authorization. The provision lapsed for less than an hour at midnight on Friday, and if the renewal hadn’t passed soon after, the expiration would have meant companies would not be forced to comply with the government’s requests for surveillance aid under the bill. 

Without the FISA section’s re-authorization, the government would be required to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, which is a process that can span extended periods of time. 

The measure now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature. 

‘The stakes of such an outcome are grave,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned his colleagues in floor remarks Friday afternoon prior to any votes on amendments or the final bill.

‘The authorities in question today have, quite literally, been the only defense against would-be national security disasters,’ he added. 

On Thursday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., claimed the program would not ‘go dark,’ as others had suggested, if it was not renewed on time. Instead, Durbin pointed to recent certifications granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that the Justice Department had informed Congress would ‘ordinarily remain in effect for one year, expiring in April 2025.’ 

However, the DOJ cautioned Congress against allowing this knowledge to slow down the Section 702 renewal process in a letter earlier this month, as companies ‘are likely to stop or reduce cooperation with the legal process they receive.’

The DOJ further noted that this occurred during a previous surveillance measure lapse. 

This warning was reiterated by McConnell on Friday, who said, ‘It will be up to the government to play a slow and painstaking game of whack-a-mole in court against an army of the most sophisticated lawyers in the country.’

‘And in the meantime, actionable intelligence will pass us right by,’ he predicted. 

By around 6:00 p.m. on Friday, it seemed unlikely that the Section 702 FISA re-authorization would be voted on until next week, as several senators were unwilling to yield their debate time and sought votes on their various amendments to the measure. 

However, around 8:00 p.m., senators appeared to come to an agreement on amendment votes and debate time, clearing the way for an expedited voting process. 

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed the compromise made my senators on the floor, announcing several roll call votes would take place. ‘All day long, we persisted and persisted and persisted in hopes of reaching a breakthrough, and I am glad we got it done,’ he said, noting that there had been ‘great doubt’ it would be accomplished. 

‘We finally got the Senate to agree to take votes to address serious problems with the FISA expansion and 702 reauthorization passed by the House,’ Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on X. 

Bipartisan coalitions had grown on both sides of Section 702 renewal, with some arguing that the provision is a vital national security necessity, and others sounding the alarm about what they believe to be violations of constitutional protections. 

Amendments from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Lee and Durbin were voted on ahead of the final bill’s consideration. ‘We cannot continue sacrificing our freedoms in the name of security. Rather than reining in FISA overreach, RISAA expands it dramatically,’ Paul said prior to votes on his amendments, which required 60 supporters to pass. ‘I urge my colleagues to support meaningful reforms that protect both national security and civil liberties.’

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., spoke against the consideration of amendments to the bill, citing the fast approaching deadline. If any amendments to the measure were passed in the Senate, the bill would be sent back to the House, where they would once again need to approve it. 

All of the amendments failed to garner enough votes for passage, and thus were not added to the bill. 

‘Allowing FISA to expire would have been dangerous,’ Schumer remarked prior to the votes.