President Joe Biden is trying to have it both ways with his post Oct. 7 Israel policy. It won’t work, especially after Iran’s game-changing attack on the Jewish state over the weekend. 

Biden still claims to ‘stand with Israel.’ But he doesn’t want to stand with Israel too much because he risks losing the votes of those who support the Palestinians — including, apparently, his own wife. So now he’s encouraging Israel to stand down instead of standing up to the Iranians. 

Consider too what his administration has been doing at the United Nations. Ambassador Lisa Thomas-Greenfield abstained on March 25 from voting on UN Security Council Resolution 2728, which calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan, a release of the hostages Hamas holds, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid into Gaza. In a twist, the administration had recently proposed its own draft resolution regarding a ceasefire. 

But the resolution that did pass differs in two important respects. 

First, gone is the condemnation of Hamas’s barbaric actions on Oct. 7 as terrorist outrages against humanity — a condemnation that apparently prompted Russia and China to veto the Biden version. Second, while 2728 calls for the release of the hostages, it removes the language making any ceasefire contingent on their release.

In other words, this UNSCR turns a blind eye to Hamas terrorism and opens the door to the group getting a ceasefire while keeping the hostages — and the United States let it pass. 

Sadly, the Biden administration can point to previous and bipartisan U.S. dalliances with UNSCRs to persuade the Palestinians that the United States has not really taken a side in the conflict and is sincerely committed to their cause, even while paying lip service to America’s commitment to Israel. But such twisted logic, along with the canard that an abstention is somehow different than an affirmative vote, is too cute by half. 

This disgraceful equivocation began in January 2009, when President George W. Bush’s then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considered voting for UNSCR 1860, which the U.S. Mission to the UN had helped draft during that round of violence provoked by Hamas.  

Like 2728, 1860 called for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Gaza, while providing no security assurances to Israel. Perhaps in the hopes of completing a peace deal in the final days of the Bush administration, Rice ultimately abstained, and 1860 passed. 

In December 2016, this pattern repeated with UNSCR 2334 at the end of the Obama administration, which condemned the settlement activities of the ‘occupying power’ Israel in the Palestinian territories, thus perpetuating the fantasy that there is an equivalency between the two parties.  

Then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power abstained, allowing the resolution to pass, with the cover that she was only doing what the Bush administration had done. 

None of the UNSCRs in question have done anything material to either reduce violence or produce peace in the Middle East. But they have all contributed to the counter-productive impression among the Palestinians that violence against Israel is somehow legitimate — as is their support of the perpetuators of this violence, first and foremost Hamas.  

And while that belief remains pervasive, they will not take the concrete steps necessary to end the conflict that they have lost if anyone has the courage to tell them so. 

Despite all these contortions at the United Nations, the United States cannot have it both ways on Israel. In 1923, the pioneering Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky wrote in his essay ‘The Iron Wall’ that until the Palestinians accept that Israel is not going away, and engage in legitimate negotiations, the only way a Jewish state could survive is through impenetrable defenses that would render the inevitable future attacks futile. 

If the Iranian attack on Israel and Oct. 7 have taught us anything, it’s that Jabotinsky was correct. Given the Biden administration’s reluctance to unequivocally support Israel’s self-defense, it stands with Congress to do so — and just as failure on Israel policy has been bi-partisan, success can be so as well.   

In other words, this UNSCR turns a blind eye to Hamas terrorism and opens the door to the group getting a ceasefire while keeping the hostages — and the United States let it pass. 

Late last year, a stand-alone, paid-for request for emergency funds for Israel passed the House of Representatives, and similar legislation could be passed again on Monday. Pro-Israel senators on both sides of the aisle should then insist it be taken up and passed immediately to demonstrate that American support for Israel is indeed ironclad. 

What is needed in the current crisis is not Biden’s default to the uni-party failures of the past, but rather a fresh appreciation for Jabotinsky’s clarity. President Donald Trump understood this wisdom, and his administration’s unabashed commitment to the U.S.-Israel alliance resulted in the first peace deals with Israel and the Arabs in a quarter-century, not the grinding misery and violence we see today. 

Any future American administration that values the U.S.-Israel alliance should make it clear Israel isn’t going away because America won’t permit it to be destroyed. Only when the Palestinians — and the Iranians — accept that as an incontrovertible fact will there be any hope that they might finally lay down their arms and sue for a just and lasting peace. Until then, only a joint U.S.-Israel Iron Wall will suffice at the U.N. and beyond. 

Victoria Coates is vice president for foreign policy and national defense at The Heritage Foundation.

Did President Joe Biden receive advance warning of Iran’s strike against Israel? Reuters is reporting that ‘Iraqi, Turkish and Jordanian officials each said Iran had provided early warning of the attack last week, including some details.’ They further reported that Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that ‘Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel’s ally the United States 72 hours’ notice it would launch the strikes,’ according to Reuters.  

U.S. News and World Report also reports that Iran alerted Turkey to its planned operation against Israel and adds that ‘Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be ‘within certain limits.”  

The White House denies the story, which implies that Biden might have greenlighted the drone and missile onslaught, but it fits. Biden has been playing both sides of the field, declaring his support of Israel ‘rock solid and unwavering’ until, that is, it began to cost the president political support.  

Young people, key to Biden’s reelection, are angry about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and have turned negative on the president’s support of our ally. With pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupting across the nation and polls showing young voters gravitating to former President Donald Trump, Biden’s support of the Jewish state has started … wavering. 

Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu over the weekend he will not back Israel in countering Iran’s attack. Certainly no one wants a broad war in the region, and it is possible that a retaliatory move by Israel could provoke another round of attacks, and then another.  

But Biden’s caution could also be interpreted as yet another sign that the president, desperate to win in November, will do almost anything to prevent higher oil prices, another political tripwire.  

On Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show recently, Florida Republican Congressman Michael Waltz urged the Biden White House to ‘cut off Iran’s cash.’ Waltz forgets one thing: doing so would require curtailing Tehran’s oil exports and would send energy prices through the roof. That is unacceptable to Biden. 

Hence, Biden’s appeasement of Tehran. When Trump left office, Iran was broke and isolated. Their Arab enemies in the region were increasingly united under the Abraham Accords, establishing diplomatic relations with Israel and forming a powerful bloc to counter Iran’s malicious terror activities.  

What a difference three-and-a-half years makes. 

The Biden White House enriched Iran by failing to enforce the tough sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, and by permitting $10 billion in relief funds to flow to Tehran, purportedly to buy electricity from Iraq. Biden’s crack foreign policy team claims that this money will be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes, but all funds are fungible. Money for electricity also buys drones, and military aggression. 

Biden has turned a blind eye to the country’s surging oil exports. Over the past year, Iran’s production jumped by 50%, to a five-year high. This, despite ongoing Trump-era sanctions which supposedly limited Tehran’s exports. The International Energy Agency reports that Iran exported 1.29 million barrels per day of crude oil last year and predicts overall production will increase another 160,000 barrels per day this year. Most incremental output has gone to China. 

Why would Biden allow Iran to export more oil and stockpile money? Because he took office promising to end fossil fuel production on federal lands in the U.S. and committing to an improbable and hopelessly expensive switch to green energy.  

It is nearly impossible that his team did not anticipate the cost to Americans, in the form of higher energy and electricity prices, of his ‘green revolution’; actually, given the extreme ideologues driving the White House bus, it is entirely possible. 

On numerous fronts, including canceling the Keystone Pipeline, halting drilling permits and leases and raising the costs of exploration, Biden showily stalled the upward march of U.S. oil production that occurred under Trump. As a consequence, as the economy rebounded from the COVID-19 downturn, and when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, oil prices rose and gasoline prices surged to an all-time high. Americans blamed Biden. 

When gasoline prices set records of $5 per gallon in June 2022, the Biden White House sensed electoral danger, and set out to buttress U.S. oil production by seeking incremental supplies wherever they could find them, including our own Strategic Petroleum Reserve. They even sought help from Saudi Arabia, a country spurned by Biden, only to be turned down flat.  

When oil prices surged again last year, the White House even lifted sanctions on Venezuela, another unfriendly major oil exporter, under a flimsy agreement that required the country’s hated leader Nicolas Maduro to allow free elections. When oil prices receded and the White House no longer needed to court the dictator, who of course did not allow a fair vote in his country’s election, they resurrected most of the sanctions.  

But Biden’s caution could also be interpreted as yet another sign that the president, desperate to win in November, will do almost anything to prevent higher oil prices, another political tripwire.  

Meanwhile, they also allowed Iran’s exports to rise. The excuse? Biden’s team insisted they wanted to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Obama failed to produce an agreement that would prevent Iran from creating a nuclear weapon, as did Biden. The collapse of negotiations was almost guaranteed by repeated indications that Iran lied about ongoing uranium enrichment activity and its hidden efforts to build a nuclear device.  

Today, you can be sure Biden will continue his appeasement of the Islamic state, hoping that their oil exports will continue uninterrupted as he campaigns for reelection – even as Iran continues its malevolent activities in the region which now include, for the first time, directly attacking Israel. 

As he ran for president, Joe Biden claimed to have extraordinary diplomatic capabilities and experience. During his presidency, he has directed the most humiliating military withdrawal in our history as we hastily abandoned Afghanistan, permitted Putin’s deadly invasion of Ukraine, despite having ample warning, and has now reportedly signed off on Iran attacking our long-time ally, Israel. 

Biden reportedly wanted to be a historic president. Sadly, he is just that. 

Then-Vice President Biden boasted about his Harvard-educated niece previously studying Chinese and living in China while delivering a speech in 2011 touting ‘a rising China’ being ‘a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America…’

Biden gave a shout-out to Casey Owens, who was concluding her stint as a special assistant for the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department, while delivering remarks to the opening session of the group, according to an email chain that was reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Owens, the daughter of Biden’s sister, emailed then-Vice President Biden’s ‘Auks’ alias email address in May 2011, thanking him for the ‘memorable day’ and said it was ‘very, very humbling’ watching him speak.

‘And your remarks. That was really something else, Uncle Joe. What a way to exit the Treasury,’ Owens said, according to an email from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop. ‘I’m simply happy to be close to you, and I just wanted to say thank you for including me.’

In addition to the email from Owens to the elder Biden, a transcript from Biden’s speech was included in the email chain, highlighting what Biden thought about a ‘rising China.’

‘We cannot claim the same number of Americans in China, but our 100,000 Strong Initiative will dramatically increase the number of young Americans living and studying in China,’ Biden said.  ‘As a matter of fact, my niece who — excuse me, as we say in the Senate, a point a personal privilege — who graduated from Harvard not too long ago, works for Secretary Geithner, she did exactly what we hope another 100,000 will do: She studied Chinese and went and lived in China and is now devoted to making sure the relationship gets better and better and better.’

‘As a young member of a Foreign Relations Committee, I wrote and I said and I believed then what I believe now: That a rising China is a positive, positive development, not only for China but for America and the world writ large,’ he added.

The ‘100,000 Strong Initiative’ that Biden mentioned refers to the goal then-President Obama set near the beginning of his administration in hopes of ‘sending 100,000 American students to China in the next 4 years to learn Mandarin, to experience Chinese culture, and to learn about the hospitality of the Chinese people, while they serve as ambassadors for the United States in China.’ 

Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in May 2010 she was ‘pleased to sign’ an agreement with State Councilor Liu Yandong, who has held some of the highest positions in the CCP. 

Fox News Digital previously reported on how Yandong would meet with representatives from the Congressional Black Caucus and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) a few years later and announced student scholarships.

‘Our U.S.-China relationship must extend beyond the halls of government to our homes, our businesses, and our schools,’ Clinton continued. ‘And these exchanges really offer the opportunity for people to connect and collaborate, and they remind us of how much we have in common.’

During Owens’ tenure at Treasury, she repeatedly emailed Hunter Biden and his now-former business partner Eric Schwerin about China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Fox News Digital previously reported. A former business associate confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that Owens was ‘definitely a resource’ Hunter used and that a CIC meeting did occur.

On April 12, 2010, Owens emailed Hunter and Schwerin a schedule from her Treasury email address, highlighting a CIC investment conference that took place a couple of weeks earlier.

‘FYI on recent CIC investment conference at a resort in Sanya, on Hainan Island, over the weekend of March 27-28,’ Owens wrote.

A Thornton Group press release dated that same day – April 12, 2010 – said the company’s chairman, James Bulger, and Hunter visited Beijing just three days earlier and met with CIC Chief Investment Officer Gao Xiqing, among others, according to the Republican Senate report released in September 2020.

A feature article about Owens published months later by the Tower Hill Bulletin said she and her team had traveled to Beijing in May 2010 with a U.S. delegation led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

A photo of Owens in the article showed her receiving a ‘small jade vase as a birthday gift’ from China’s then-vice minister of finance, Zhu Guangyao. According to the Ministry of Finance website, its primary function is to implement the decisions and policies of the Chinese Communist Party in the area of public finance.

The Bulletin article said Owens’ team and Zhu ‘worked very closely during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.’ 

Weeks after returning from Beijing, Owens emailed Schwerin a Bloomberg News article about CIC, titled, ‘China’s CIC May Post Record Year for 2009 as Markets Recover,’ which Schwerin then forwarded to Hunter on July 23, 2010.

Owens, who now goes by Castello, left the Treasury in July 2011 and is currently an executive at Starbucks, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Owens isn’t the only member of her immediate family with ties to China. Fox News Digital previously reported on how her dad, John ‘Jack’ Owens, pleaded for Hunter to help him secure a business license to expand his telemedicine company in China, saying it needed to be ‘secured very quickly.’

The elder Owens emailed Hunter on May 9, 2014, informing him that his companies, MediGuide America and MediGuide Insurance Services International (MISI), reached a ‘serious stage’ in negotiations with a China-based insurance company, but said he won’t be able to ‘seal this deal’ without a ‘Chinese Business License.’ 

‘Time pressures are very tight, plus the fact that we do not yet have one has caused a slight credibility bump in the company’s mind. This all translates into a need for a Business License, and one secured very quickly,’ Owens wrote. ‘While this might seem to be a mundane task, I have come to understand that matters such as a Business License can end up taking an inordinate amount of time…..time we just do not have.’

Owens continued by saying he would be ‘most appreciative of any help.’ Hunter Biden replied less than a hour later and said, ‘Working on it-back to you ASAP.’ The younger Biden then forwarded Owens’ email to Thornton Group Chairman James Bulger, the nephew of mobster Whitey Bulger and co-founder of the Thornton Group. 

He also sent it to Michael Lin, a Taiwanese-American businessman who has worked with the State Legislative Leaders Foundation (SLLF), a nonprofit that has been partnered since 2015 with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a propaganda group that pushes Chinese Communist Party (CCP) messaging. Lin and Bulger both arranged Hunter Biden’s first business trip to China in April 2010, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

‘See email below. It’s from my Uncle Jack. Is there a way we can help him expedite this? Time is of the essence here,’ Hunter Biden wrote.

Bulger responded the next morning and said he would discuss with Lin how they can ‘help.’ Three days later, Bulger sent an email to Hunter saying, ‘Me and Michael had a call with Jack this morning I think we have a solution for hi[s] China problem.’

‘Michael and Ran are researching the regs and laws right now but our Thornton WOFE will likely be ok for Jacks company to use,’ Bulger continued, likely referring to the wholly foreign-owned enterprise of the Thornton Group, the company Bulger and Lin co-founded.

A few days later, Bulger sent an email to Owens and Lin, and copied Hunter Biden, asking Owens to ‘give us until Monday to review a few more laws and regulations in Beijing.’

‘I may have you answer a few question[s] on Monday so we can get specific with the appropriate authority’s in China,’ Bulger wrote.

It is unclear whether Bulger and Lin were able to successfully secure a business license for Owens or whether Thornton’s ‘WOFE’ sufficed for China’s laws. However, MediGuide’s website says it has come to ‘an agreement with AnyHealth Shanghai.’

‘MediGuide and Any Health intend to expand MediGuide’s business in China under the name of ‘MediGuide China,’’ the website reads. ‘AnyHealth Shanghai will be legally representing MediGuide International LLC in China. ‘ It is unclear if AnyHealth Shanghai is the same company referenced in the emails. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Owens for comment but did not receive a response.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

The second day of jury selection in former President Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial is expected to begin Tuesday after half of prospective jurors were excused Monday for saying they could not be impartial toward the presumptive Republican nominee.

Court is expected to begin again for the second day of Trump’s trial at 9:30 a.m. and will resume with jury selection.

The trial comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree related to alleged hush money payments made before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts last year.

‘It’s a scam. It’s a political witch hunt,’ Trump said after court adjourned Monday.

Prospective jurors were asked to answer 42 questions from a questionnaire that reviews the individual’s work history, political affiliation and what media they chose to watch and listen to.

But more than 50 of the original 96 prospective jurors were excused almost immediately for admitting they could not serve as impartial jurors. Several were excused due to other issues.

New York Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over the trial, despite Trump’s request to have him recuse himself due to his alleged hostility toward the former president and due to his daughter’s work with Democrat politicians.

Merchan, from the bench on Monday, said there was ‘no basis’ for him to recuse himself.

The judge later addressed the former president directly, telling him that he has a right to be present at the trial each day to assist in his defense.

Merchan warned the former president that if he disrupts proceedings in any way, he would be held in contempt and could be removed from the court. Merchan also said that if Trump is required to appear and fails to do so, a warrant would be issued for his arrest. 

Trump did not verbally respond but nodded in agreement with the judge.

The trial is expected to last for approximately six weeks. The court will not meet on Wednesdays and will not meet on Monday, April 29.

After jurors were excused for the day, Merchan rejected a defense request that Trump be excused from the trial next Thursday to attend arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court is hearing arguments on April 25 on the issue of presidential immunity and on whether Trump is immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case.

‘Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court … is also a big deal,’ Merchan said, rebuffing Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s request.

Merchan added, ‘I will see him here next week.’

Trump also requested to attend the high school graduation ceremony for his son, Barron Trump, on May 17. Merchan has not yet decided on whether the former president can be present to celebrate his son.

‘It looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son who’s worked very, very hard,’ Trump said after court adjourned Monday. ‘He’s a great student, and he’s very proud of the fact that he did so well and was looking forward for years to have graduation with his mother and father there. And it looks like the judge isn’t going to allow me to escape this scam; it’s a scam trial.’

Meanwhile, Merchan had imposed a gag order on Trump last month due to his ‘prior extrajudicial statements.’ Merchan said they established ‘a sufficient risk to the administration of justice.’

Merchan ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses concerning their potential participation or about counsel in the case — other than Bragg — or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

Merchan also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror.

In court Monday, prosecutors from Bragg’s office argued that Trump had violated his gag order on three separate occasions on social media. Prosecutors said Trump should be fined $3,000 for the three alleged violations of the gag order – $1,000 for each violation. 

‘The defendant is aware of the April 1 order. We know that from various posts he had made,’ said prosecutor Christopher Conroy. 

‘We think it is important for the court to remind Mr. Trump is a criminal defendant,’ Conroy added, flagging that Trump might have again violated the gag order Monday morning while attending court.

Blanche argued that the three posts highlighted by prosecutors did not violate the gag order.  

‘He is responding to salacious, repeated, vehement attacks by these witnesses,’ Blanche said. 

Merchan said he will hear arguments on whether Trump violated the gag order on April 23 at 9:30 a.m.

Bragg, last April, charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges are related to alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The DA alleged that Trump ‘repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.’

According to New York state law, a charge of falsifying business records in the first degree alleges that the defendant committed a crime of falsifying business records with the intent to defraud. The intent to defraud would be an intent to commit another crime.

In 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York investigated the matter and opted not to charge Trump related to the alleged payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

Fox News’ Grace Taggart contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM — With all eyes focused on a brewing high-intensity war between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the state of Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program has come under the microscope.

Iran’s sprawling aerial attack, with over 300 suicide drones and missiles, on Israel has raised pressing new questions about the Islamic Republic’s capability to fire a nuclear weapon at the Jewish state. For Israel, as the country’s former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, Iran with an atomic weapon would mean a ‘nuclear Holocaust’ for the Jewish state.

On Sunday, after rejecting calls that the Biden administration was too soft on Tehran, the White House National Security Communication spokesperson, John Kirby told Fox News’ Shannon Bream that ‘Iran is so much dramatically closer to a potential nuclear weapon capability than they were before Mr. Trump was elected.’

David Albright, a physicist who is the founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital that ‘Iran would need a year or more to build a semi-reliable warhead for a ballistic missile and about two years to reconstitute the Amad Plan so as to be able to serially produce reliable warheads for ballistic missiles, i.e., have a fully developed nuclear weapons production complex.’ 

Iran’s regime pursued an atomic weapons program code named the Amad Plan from the late 1990s to early 2003.

In February, Reuters exclusively reported that Iran had enriched uranium well beyond the need for commercial nuclear use. The IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters that while the pace of uranium enrichment had slowed slightly since the end of last year, Iran was still enriching at an elevated rate of around 7 kg of uranium per month to 60% purity.

Commenting on the presidential blame game, Albright said, ‘Neither Trump nor Biden did well dealing with Iran’s nuclear program. Biden has done worse due to his policy of avoidance and his fear of taking any steps that could create a crisis. This risk-averse strategy has utterly failed to stop Iran’s progress on its nuclear program and left the West far weaker to fashion a policy to stop Iran’s progress either diplomatically or militarily.’

Albright warned that ‘Iran can make a crude nuclear explosive in about six months, able to be tested underground or delivered by truck, ship or cargo plane. This accomplishment would be enough to establish Iran as a nuclear weapons power.’

Fox News Digital revealed last year that European intelligence reports showed Iran continued to work on the construction of a nuclear weapon.

When asked about Iran’s regime firing a nuclear missile at Israel, Albright said, ‘The recent attack would not be a good way to cover an attack with a nuclear weapon. But it shows that to have confidence in getting one nuclear weapon to target, Iran would need to fire several, if not many, nuclear-tipped missiles.’

He cautioned that ‘A sneak attack with a nuclear weapon, more like a terrorist attack, using highly trusted proxies and transport to Israel via land or sea, may have more chance of success in the next few years.’

With President Biden urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not retaliate against Iran, the Jewish state is facing one of the most existential security questions since the rebirth of the nation in 1948.

Israeli war planners believe they need to reestablish deterrence against the Iranian regime. 

Albright said, ‘It is critical to stop Iran from deciding to build nuclear weapons. The best short-term strategy is to make sure Iran understands that any movement to build nuclear weapons will be met with a rapid, large-scale military strike by Israel, backed by the United States, followed by additional strikes against its infrastructure if Iran moves to rebuild its nuclear weapons capabilities.’ 

The White House has ruled out participation in military strikes against what the State Department recently told Fox News Digital is the world’s worst international state-sponsor of terrorism, Iran’s regime.

Benny Begin, a veteran former Israeli lawmaker with expertise in Iran’s nuclear weapons program, told Fox News Digital that ‘Iran has already reached a status of a nuclear threshold state – if left unhindered, it will produce a bomb within a year or two after the order is given. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Grossi has recently announced that Iran has amassed enough highly enriched uranium that would suffice for the production of several nuclear bombs. It should be noted that Iran’s professional discourse is very open about it.’

Begin, who held cabinet member status in a previous Netanyahu administration, said the world ‘powers have failed’ to stop Iran’s drive to build a nuclear weapon device.

The United States and other world powers reached an atomic accord with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. The agreement merely imposed temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and the uranium enrichment process that is a pre-condition for building an atomic bomb.

Devastating U.S., EU and U.N. energy and missile sanctions were imposed on Iran to compel the regime to agree to concessions. In 2018, former President Trump withdrew from the JCPOA because, he argued, it did not stop Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and global terrorism. Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran would be termed his administration’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign.

Begin said ‘the ‘maximum pressure’ policy was a good idea, and was actually implemented before 2015, with this or another degree of success. The problem was that the parties to the agreement did not react to Iran’s reaction to the renewed sanctions. Apart from IAEA reports and hollow warnings, Iran took the opportunity, broke the agreement and enriched uranium in an unprecedented quantity and pace.’

When questioned about Iran’s swarming drone and missile attacks on Israel, Begin said that ‘when a regime decides to launch a nuclear warhead (most probably on a ballistic missile warhead) against its enemy, it must be certain that it will reach its target. Reports since yesterday speak about a high percentage of failed launches of those missile types that Iran was trying to launch against Israel. So, in a peculiar way, this is an important (though negative) lesson they can draw from the attack. Another lesson would be the ability of Israel and its allies to thwart such attacks away from Israel.’

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of the U.S.-based United Against a Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital, ‘After the Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran only took an incremental and modest expansion of its nuclear program. But after the Biden administration took office, it grew dramatically, especially enriching to 60%. Iran’s risk tolerance increased under the Biden administration because of its perceived desperation for diplomacy. That has resulted in failed negotiations and an adrift Iran policy.’

He said the ‘U.S. should support the E3 [Britain, France and Germany] triggering the snapback sanctions mechanism at the U.N. Security Council and participate in a joint military action with Israel against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. This would build deterrence against Tehran which has been dangerously eroded over years.’

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

No matter how you look at it, the first direct attack by Iran against Israel was a victory for the Jewish state.

And the United States. And Britain and France. And an utter humiliation for Tehran.

Yet many are still understandably nervous that it could lead to a wider war.

In launching more than 300 drones and missiles over the weekend, the Iranians showed the world that Israel’s military technology is far superior to theirs. Iran no longer seems quite so threatening, and Israel seems more than capable of defending itself.

Even as the media spotlight shifted yesterday to Donald Trump’s first criminal trial – with round-the-clock reports on arguments over admissible evidence and a gag order, and jury selection – the Middle East loomed large as a potential powder keg.

For decades, Iran has fought a shadow war against Israel through its proxies. Without its support of the Hamas terrorists, there would have been no barbaric slaughter of Israelis on Oct. 7, or the unthinkable seizure of civilian hostages. Without its backing of Hezbollah, rockets would not have rained down from southern Lebanon, including during Iran’s latest assault. The same goes for Yemen.

The reason for the direct attack, as Iran sees it, was retaliation. Israel had killed three top Iranian commanders in a strike against its consulate in Syria. Iran’s leaders vowed to strike back.

Now they had no idea how effective Israel’s Iron Dome and Arrow missile defense systems would be at stopping their assault. Many Israelis could have been killed, which would have inflamed the region further.

My own view is that Iran’s goal was to save face and inflict only limited damage. The minor incursion against an Israeli military base strongly suggests that.

And while there were dozens of injuries, including the hospitalization of a young Bedouin Arab girl, the lack of fatalities also helped things from boiling over.

After all, 99% of Iran’s incoming weapons were destroyed outside Israeli airspace, and some failed on their own.

What’s more, Iran clearly telegraphed the timing – so precisely that Biden knew when to return from Rehoboth to the White House – and declared its response over while some projectiles were still in the air.

This was a big win for President Biden, who vowed an ‘iron-clad’ defense of Israel, but after a congratulatory call to Bibi Netanyahu, word quickly leaked to the press that the president was urging the prime minister not to retaliate. 

‘Take the win’ was one of the phrases attributed to Biden. Another was ‘slow things down.’

Which leaves Netanyahu with a monumental choice.

He could blow off Biden’s warnings and retaliate against Iran, which, especially if there are casualties, could lead to further rounds of airstrikes that could easily turn into a wider war. (Israel says it will ‘exact a price.’)

Or Netanyahu could do nothing and allow things to settle down – which would run the risk of allowing the Iranians to pay no price for a sustained attack that had many frightened Israelis spending all night in bomb shelters.

And there is an additional layer of questions involving Bibi’s self-interest. The longer the war goes on, the longer it protects him from possible ouster and potential charges. Israeli streets were filled with anti-Bibi protesters angry with his attempt to neuter the Supreme Court. That quieted down during the war, though there have been some demonstrations since, so Netanyahu may just view a gradual escalation as his insurance policy.

There is no question that the massive death toll and widespread hunger in Gaza have hurt Israel in the court of world opinion. It has hurt the Biden administration at home as well, particularly as Netanyahu has ignored the president’s calls for restraint and more civilian aid, especially regarding the coming invasion of heavily populated Rafah.

But the brazen Iranian attack has been a gift to Israel by showing the world that the Mideast’s only democracy has come under sustained assault by one of its Arab enemies. And it has brought America and Israel closer together, despite previous tensions, as the administration has delivered on its promise to race to the Jewish state’s defense with warplanes and ships.

One final consideration is whether the aerial assault has transformed the atmosphere on Capitol Hill. The months-long failure to provide further aid to Israel because of petty partisan politics looks all the more pathetic in light of the Iranian fusillade.

Both sides bear some responsibility, but it’s the House Republicans who carry the heaviest burden because of Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to allow a vote on aid to Israel. A compromise effort collapsed when Donald Trump objected to a military aid bill that also would have beefed up border security, though to what extent is debatable.

Does anyone really doubt that if Johnson put an Israel bill on the floor today, it would pass overwhelmingly?

The speaker, after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, told Fox News that he wants to bring an Israel measure to the floor this week. He also hinted that he would like to include aid to Ukraine – a decidedly less popular move within the Republican caucus – with Trump saying it could take the form of a loan rather than an outright grant.

In exchange, Johnson wants to see a relaxation of Biden’s energy policy – which would help a potential project in his Louisiana district – a pork-barrel trade that seems a small price to pay.

There are many cross-pressures, many tensions, many moving parts, but it’s time for Congress to get something done after an unconscionable delay.

All right, to the news. Like I said, over the weekend, Iran launched an all-out attack on Israel, shooting as many as 300 drones and rockets at the Jewish state. And I don’t mean Florida. The result? One injury. One. By that metric, it was far more dangerous to be on the New York subway this weekend than strolling around Tel Aviv. Seriously, you have a better chance of getting hurt trying to take a burrito from Whoopi Goldberg.

Give credit to Israel’s air defense system, Iron Dome, which is the same nickname we gave Jesse Watters’ head. Now, however, give the Iranians their due. It’s an accomplishment to send hundreds of projectiles and kill no one. Nobody has bombed this badly since Jimmy Failla got his own show. When he gets preempted by disaster coverage, viewers can’t tell the difference. 

But it’s all a reminder that Iran typically prefers to do its dirty work by proxies, grimy organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah and the University of California, Berkeley. But this was an escalation and any time an enemy nation does something it hasn’t done before, you got to ask why. What’s changed? Iran certainly hasn’t. The mullahs are the same charming gents they’ve been since ’79. And that’s 979, in case you’re counting. 

So then what’s changed? Well, America. Namely, a president who’s weaker than Jimmy Carter in ’79. Hell, he’s weaker than Jimmy is now. Remember the old phrase, speak softly and carry a big stick? Now it’s mumble incoherently and use a walker. On top of that, we’ve got a broken southern border, disgraceful Afghanistan retreat, and a military that’s more concerned with trans than torpedoes. Our best hope is that our enemies die laughing. If you don’t believe me, consider the difference between October 7th and April 13th. 

Iran’s doctrine has always been ‘let the people we supply and train have the literal blood on their hands,’ [and] we’ll stay back like the craven cowards we are. Except for this Saturday. Sure, the Iron Dome works, but come on, Iran couldn’t kill a single person. Obama’s drone strikes killed more than that accidentally. The lesson is when Iran has to do the dirty work themselves, they don’t. They farm it out. Like when I have interns deep clean my jacuzzi. So why did they bother with this? Maybe to see if Biden would answer the 3 a.m. call or a 3 p.m. call, or if he’d respond to his home health aide trying to shake him awake. 

Remember Obama’s red line when he threatened Syria but did nothing when they crossed it? That showed the Middle East that America’s resolve was softer than Bill Clinton seeing Hillary step out of the shower. Now, say what you want about Trump but one of the things the media hated about him was his unpredictability, which kept stuff like this from happening. It’s funny when academics or the State Department use that strategy, they give it a fancy term like ‘strategic ambiguity.’

Strategic ambiguity. I guess it applies here. But with Trump, it’s called unstable, erratic. But it’s the same thing. Make the enemy wonder what you’re capable of and keep them worried. You know, like a good football coach would do. Just ask friends of Suleimani, the Iranian major general who was a major problem until Trump’s airstrike turned him into a carpet stain. 

Do you think anyone in Iran is afraid of Biden’s national security team? The team that brought us Afghanistan? Let’s see. You got a president who could barely walk, a veep that can barely talk, a secretary of defense who disappears for weeks at a time. A secretary of state who looks like he’s seen a ghost and a national security adviser who looks like that ghost. I haven’t seen a less impressive group of five people since I let that Menudo cover band sleep on my couch. So we’re in the red zone now, and Biden’s attempt to neutralize the mullahs by burying them under piles of money? That flopped. Things are changing faster than a girls swim team with Lia Thomas in their locker room. We’re in a dangerous place, and that’s not me talking. Here’s FBI Director Chris Wray:

FBI DIRECTOR CHRIS WRAY: Our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw some kind of twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home. Increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall just a couple weeks ago.

Sounds serious. Too bad our so-called leaders aren’t. In the old days, the battle of the three-letter agencies, the CIA and FBI versus KGB. Now the CIA and FBI worry more about DEI. And we have a DHS that’s M.I.A. on the border. It’s time to put out an S.O.S. We’ve never seemed weaker, and the bad guys can see it. And what they’re seeing is a president who thought this would work.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: I have one word: Don’t. Don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t, don’t.

Maybe that was Joe reacting to Dr. Jill approaching him with an anal thermometer. Now, laughing over the old poop joke. Now, Iran could also be looking to further draw from the ‘Bank of Holocaust Goodwill.’ By baiting Israel into doing something out of proportion to the attack. That’s one thing Iran and other antisemites will never forgive Israel for. The fact that 6 million of them were murdered must be part of that Jewish plan for world domination. If that’s what Iran is up to, that’s also something new. 

And that could normalize more direct attacks on Israel. And while John Kirby blames Trump for all this, the White House has been busy enriching Iran by waiving sanctions against Iran selling oil. **** PayPal would have been a lot easier, Joe. 

So, really, the big day wasn’t Saturday, it was Sunday. And all the other days after the attack. Please, someone explain that to Joe, even if you have to use flash cards.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declared that it was the U.S.’s ‘biblical admonition’ to help and support Israel during a Monday night speech.

The House GOP leader was addressing an emergency meeting of Christians United For Israel, convened after Iran’s weekend missile attack on the Middle East American ally.

‘I’m going to state something that you all know – at this critical moment, the United States must show unwavering strength and support for Israel…We have to make certain that the entire world understands that Israel is not alone and God is going to bless the nation that blesses Israel,’ Johnson said. ‘We understand that that’s our role. It’s also our biblical admonition. This is something that’s an article of faith for us. It also happens to be great foreign policy.’

He spent much of his 15-minute address also laying into President Biden and other top Democrats who have been critical of Israel in its response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. In particular, he singled out Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for calling for new elections in Israel.

‘They’re trying to dictate strategy, then they’re trying to demand a change of leadership while Israel is in a battle for its very existence,’ Johnson said. ‘It’s breathtaking.’

He also criticized Biden’s foreign policy with respect to Iran, including reports the administration extended a sanctions waiver last month to pump more cash into its shaky economy. The waivers were first granted in November 2018.

‘It’s unconscionable. I can’t make sense of it. And I’ve talked to the White House about this. I do not understand the policy. You can’t make sense of it,’ Johnson said.

The speaker also said he confronted Schumer by phone after he called for new Israeli elections last month.

‘I called the senator and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ Johnson said. ‘What if I came out and made a statement and called for a regime change in Ukraine…your hair would be on fire.’

It came just after Johnson unveiled a new plan to fund Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan in a closed-door meeting with the House GOP conference.

Under his proposal the House would hold separate votes on each funding priority sometime at the end of this week, likely Friday, he told reporters after the meeting.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., unveiled a plan for moving foreign aid through the House of Representatives during a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers on Monday. 

The Republican leader had been under pressure to act on Israel and Ukraine funding as the situation in both conflicts grows more dire, while also navigating fraught divisions in the House GOP conference over conditions for giving aid overseas.

Under Johnson’s tentative plan, aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel would all be considered as separate bills, according to two lawmakers present at the meeting. A fourth bill would combine miscellaneous national security priorities, including the House’s recently passed bill that could pave the way to a TikTok ban and the REPO Act, a bipartisan measure to liquefy seized Russian assets and send that money to Ukraine.

Johnson indicated to reporters after the meeting that he anticipates a vote on the bills by Friday.

‘We won’t be voting on the Senate supplemental in its current form, but we will vote on each of these measures separately in four different pieces. We will vote on the Israel aid, on the aid to Ukraine, on the aid to the Indo-Pacific, and then another measure that has our national security priorities included in [it] that has some of the things with regard to the loan-lease option and the REPO Act and some other sanctions on Iran and other measures that we’ve been talking about here for quite some time,’ he said.

Johnson added that the bills, the text of which is expected early on Tuesday, will allow for members to offer amendments.

He said later that he expects the funding levels to be ‘roughly the same’ as the Senate’s $95 billion bipartisan supplemental aid package, which included money for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian causes like Gaza.

Breaking apart the Senate’s supplemental package was an idea backed by a significant share of House Republicans. However, it also appears to be a move aimed at appeasing fiscal hawks on Johnson’s right flank who otherwise would have likely attempted to block the bills from getting to the floor.

The two GOP lawmakers who shared details of the plan with Fox News Digital said there was more support for the plan in the room than opposition.

‘I think it’s a good plan. I don’t know that I’ll support every single subject bill, but this is the way the House should work,’ Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital after the meeting.

Mace added that several members, including herself, urged Johnson to include some border security measures, which do not appear to be part of the latest proposal.

Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., did not say if he’d support the measures but told reporters, ‘I think any time you separate these out to single subject bills, I think that’s a good strategy.’

But others, including members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, signaled they were still skeptical.

Both Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., and its policy chair, Chip Roy, R-Texas, suggested they were not optimistic that border security measures would ultimately be part of the deal, despite their demands.

‘I think that the border security component will come from the members,’ Good told Fox News Digital. 

Good was also dissatisfied that the funding bills would not be offset by spending cuts elsewhere, as was the case with Johnson’s original $14 billion stand-alone Israel aid bill that passed the House in November.

‘We ought not to be borrowing to do any of these, and so some of us will absolutely make amendments to pay for this,’ he said.

And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has threatened to oust Johnson over his handling of government spending and foreign aid, trashed the plan after the meeting.

‘I just think it’s the wrong direction to go. Our border is the No. 1 policy issue that voters care about all across the country. And the Senate has not taken up … our border package that we sent over there; they’re just demanding that the House vote to fund Ukraine, vote to fund Taiwan and send more money to Israel, claiming that our military is running out of ammunition,’ Greene said.

‘Well, you want to know something? If these people in there cared about our military, why don’t we do a separate bill to fund and rebuild our military with ammunition and supplies without having to fund a foreign war to do that?’