House Republicans are expected to vote on renewing a controversial federal government surveillance tool when they return from recess next week, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.

Two House GOP aides and a GOP lawmaker – all who spoke on the condition of anonymity – said the House could take up Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is set to expire on April 19 if Congress does not act soon. One of the aides said plans are still fluid.

Section 702 has been both credited with preventing terror attacks on U.S. soil and accused of being a vehicle for spying on U.S. citizens.

It lets the government keep tabs on specific foreign nationals outside the country without first obtaining a warrant to do so, even if the party on the other side of those communications is a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil.

The debate over its renewal has been intense, and it’s made unlikely allies out of hard-liners on the left and right alike over accusations it tramples on Americans’ civil rights. The FBI has been accused of improperly using Section 702 to spy on Black Lives Matter protesters in the summer of 2020 as well as people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

‘Freedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. Next week, Congress once again confronts an opportunity for reform and accountability of [FISA],’ Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, one of the tool’s critics, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

‘Demand a debate and recorded vote to require warrants to search American citizens’ data, to limit the scope of collection, and to stop the government from avoiding warrants by buying data that would require a warrant or subpoena.’

Section 702’s supporters, which include national security hawks and moderates on both sides, point out that Section 702 is critical to avoiding another Sept. 11, 2001-style attack and have accused its detractors of trying to gut the program to the point of inoperability. 

It’s not immediately clear what a FISA renewal would look like – multiple plans to do so have fallen apart already. 

Most recently, a compromise bill put together by negotiators for the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees was abruptly pulled from the House floor schedule after Republicans on the Intelligence panel threatened to tank the legislation.

Three sources close to the Intelligence Committee told Fox News Digital at the time that it was about an amendment that would have forced law enforcement to seek a warrant before obtaining communications that involved a U.S. citizen.

‘That would be the equivalent of a police officer needing a warrant before running a license plate,’ one of the three sources said.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who supported the warrant amendment, hit back at the Intelligence Committee’s reform efforts at the time, saying, ‘Intel didn’t want the Judiciary [amendments]. See, the Judiciary Committee is the committee of jurisdiction. That’s where it should’ve gone.’

But the third source close to the Intelligence Committee said those on the panel ‘are the ones that see the threats to our nation up close and personal every day.’

An earlier proposal to hold votes on dueling bills and send the highest vote-getter to the Senate had also been scrapped. One had been by the House Judiciary Committee, which would have vastly restricted the program, and another by the House Intelligence panel would have made improvements to transparency and accountability pipelines.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment but did not hear back at press time.

President Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S. policy in Gaza could change if the Israeli military doesn’t do more to improve the humanitarian situation.

During a phone call with his Israeli counterpart on Thursday, Biden stressed that Israel’s strikes on ‘humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,’ according to a White House readout of the call.

The same sentiment was echoed later Thursday by both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security communications adviser John Kirby, with Blinken telling reporters that the U.S. would shift gears ‘if we don’t see the changes that we need to see,’ according to a report from the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Kirby warned that the changes in Israeli policy needed to change within ‘hours and days’ and that the administration was expecting an announcement soon from Israel.

‘The President made very clear his concerns and the prime minister acknowledged those concerns,’ Kirby said.

According to the White House readout of the call, Biden stressed the need for an ‘immediate cease-fire,’ arguing such a move would be ‘essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians.’

The 30-minute call came after seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen were killed by Israeli airstrikes this week, adding to growing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza as Israel’s siege on the small strip of land has continued for over five months.

The two leaders also discussed Iranian threats against Israel, with the White House stressing that Biden ‘made clear that the United States strongly supports Israel in the face of those threats.’

Nevertheless, Kirby stressed the need for Israel to change how it is approaching the current invasion.

‘What we want to see are some real changes on the Israeli side,’ Kirby said. ‘And if we don’t see changes from their side, there will have to be changes from our side.’ 

All this comes as a Times of Israel report on Thursday claimed Hamas appeared to reject an Egyptian offer of a cease-fire proposal. 

No Labels, the influential centrist group that had been working for over a year towards launching a bipartisan, third-party 2024 presidential ticket, is giving up its effort.

The organization on Thursday announced in a statement that ‘No Labels is ending our effort to put forth a Unity ticket in the 2024 presidential election.’

‘Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run and hungrier for unifying national leadership than ever before. But No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House. No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down,’ the group explained.

The announcement came a week after the group suffered a major loss with the death of former longtime Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee and a 2004 presidential candidate who later became an independent and was a No Labels founding co-chair.

In public, Lieberman was a tireless defender of the group’s push for a third-party ticket. And privately, he was a key player in No Labels’ recruitment efforts.

Lieberman also repeatedly emphasized that Americans were anything but enthused about a 2024 rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, and he regularly pushed back against warnings from Democrats that a No Labels ticket would pave a path to victory for Trump in November.

Last month, in announcing the formation of a committee to vet contenders for the potential bipartisan ticket, Lieberman wrote that ‘if No Labels is unable to find candidates who meet this high threshold, then we simply will not offer our ballot line to anyone.’

Hours before Lieberman’s death, former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey became the latest high-profile politician to decline to join a 2024 No Labels ticket, along with fellow Republicans in former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

There was also plenty of speculation that former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was the final 2024 GOP presidential nomination rival to Trump before she ended her White House run earlier this month, would consider running on a No Labels ticket. No Labels had expressed interest in her earlier this year.

But Haley repeatedly nixed joining a No Labels ticket, most recently in an interview last month on ‘FOX and Friends.’

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, another vocal GOP critic of Trump, was also courted. No Labels repeatedly reached out to Sununu and indicated in conversations that he was one of their top choices based on focus group data, a source familiar with those conversations confirmed to Fox News. 

‘The Governor politely entertained their appeals, and indicated at numerous stages throughout the conversations that he had no interest in serving on their ticket. They reached out again at the beginning of March, and he once again told them no,’ the source said.

Complicating No Labels efforts was independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. 

The longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty is grabbing plenty of attention as he polls higher than any other third-party White House contender since Ross Perot over three decades ago.

Despite the announcement, No Labels continues its mission of obtaining ballot access across the country. The group on Thursday announced that it has officially qualified for the ballot in 21 states.

‘Having gained ballot access in 21 states and spurred a national conversation on the need for another choice in politics, No Labels is excited to build on our momentum to continue pursuing big ideas that promote unity and give voice to America’s commonsense majority,’ the group said in its statement.

And No Labels pledged that ‘we will remain engaged over the next year during what is likely to be the most divisive presidential election of our lifetimes. We will promote dialogue around major policy challenges and call out both sides when they speak and act in bad faith.’

President Biden’s administration is implementing a new rule to make it more difficult to fire federal workers as former President Trump promises to revamp the workforce to weed out the ‘deep state.’ 

Early Thursday, the White House released a statement from the Democratic incumbent president regarding ‘the final rule to protect nonpartisan civil servants.’ 

Biden said his administration was announcing ‘protections for 2.2 million career civil servants from political interference, to guarantee that they can carry out their responsibilities in the best interest of the American people.’ 

‘Day in and day out, career civil servants provide the expertise and continuity necessary for our democracy to function,’ the statement said. ‘They provide Americans with life-saving and life-changing services and put opportunity within reach for millions. That’s why since taking office, I have worked to strengthen, empower, and rebuild our career workforce.’ 

Biden deemed the rule to be ‘a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.’ 

The Office of Personnel Management, the government’s chief human resources agency, on Thursday implemented new regulations barring career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees, or as other at-will workers, who are more easily dismissed from their jobs. It comes in response to ‘Schedule F,’ an executive order Trump issued in 2020 that sought to allow for reclassifying tens of thousands of the 2.2 million federal employees and thus reduce their job security protections, according to the Associated Press. 

Biden nullified Schedule F upon taking office, but if Trump were to revive it during a second administration, he could dramatically increase the around 4,000 federal employees who are considered political appointees and typically change with each new president. How many employees might have been affected by Schedule F is unclear. 

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., torched the Biden administration’s final rule, arguing it insulates federal workers from accountability:

‘OPM’s final rule is yet another example of the Biden Administration’s efforts to insulate the federal workforce from accountability,’ Comer said in a statement. ‘The federal workforce exists to serve the American people, yet many Americans have a deep and growing distrust of the federal bureaucracy. The Biden Administration’s rule will further undermine Americans’ confidence in their government since it allows poor performing federal workers and those who attempt to thwart the policies of a duly elected President to remain entrenched in the federal bureaucracy. We need more accountability for the unelected federal bureaucracy, not less.’ 

Comer said with this rule, ‘the Biden Administration believes it is more important to protect the federal bureaucracy, rather than taking steps to increase the American people’s confidence in it. The House Oversight Committee will continue to conduct rigorous oversight of the federal workforce and will examine legislative solutions to make the unelected, unaccountable federal workforce more accountable to the American people.’ 

The National Treasury Employee Union used freedom of information requests to obtain documents suggesting that federal workers such as office managers and specialists in human resources and cybersecurity might have been subject to reclassification — meaning that the scope of Trump’s order might have been broader than previously believed, the AP reported. 

The new rule could counter a future Schedule F order by spelling out procedural requirements for reclassifying federal employees, and clarifying that civil service protections accrued by employees cannot be taken away regardless of job type. It also makes clear that policymaking classifications apply to non-career, political appointments and cannot be applied to career civil servants.

‘It will now be much harder for any president to arbitrarily remove the nonpartisan professionals who staff our federal agencies just to make room for hand-picked partisan loyalists,’ National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said in a statement.

Good government groups and liberal think tanks and activists have cheered the rule. They viewed cementing federal worker protections as a top priority given that replacing existing government employees with new, more conservative alternatives is a key piece of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s nearly 1,000-page playbook known as ‘Project 2025.’

That plan calls for vetting and potentially firing scores of federal workers and recruiting conservative replacements to wipe out what some Republicans have decried as the ‘deep state’ governmental bureaucracy.

The nation’s most prominent conservative think tank recommended an overhaul of the Department of Justice and the FBI to combat a ‘radical liberal agenda.’ 

The Biden administration’s rule, which runs to 237 pages, is being published in the federal registry and is set to formally take effect next month. The Office of Personnel Management first proposed the changes last November, then reviewed and responded to 4,000-plus public comments on them. Officials at some top conservative organizations were among those opposing the new rule, but around two-thirds of the comments were supportive.

If Trump wins another term, his administration could direct the Office of Personnel Management to draft new rules. But the process takes months and requires detailed explanation on why new regulations would be improvements — potentially allowing for legal challenges to be brought by opponents.

Fox News’ Kaitlin Spraugue and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, says it foiled a plot by three ISIS terrorists to carry out attacks in Jerusalem.

Authorities say two of the men had plans to use explosives and small arms fire in attacks on a police station and at a stadium in east Jerusalem. Both men had pledged support for ISIS and received training from the third ISIS terrorist, who specialized in organizing attacks within Israel, Israeli police said.

The third terrorist had received training abroad and urged the other men to do the same prior to the attack, according to police. All three were arrested last month before they could leave the country, however.

Authorities say all three men were in their 20s, though they did not offer any details about their identities.

‘Prior to their apprehension, the two individuals had commenced preparations for executing terrorist attacks, acquiring knowledge in creating explosives and carrying out attacks. Diligent investigations conducted by the Jerusalem District Police and Shin Bet uncovered their intentions to orchestrate explosive charges and shooting attacks against a police station in Jerusalem and the vicinity of Teddy Stadium,’ Shin Bet wrote in a joint statement with Jerusalem police on Thursday.

‘During the interrogation process, it was revealed that these individuals had pledged allegiance to ISIS and meticulously plotted several attacks targeting key areas within Jerusalem, employing various methodologies, including the planned deployment of explosives and firearms,’ the statement continued.

The announcement comes barely a week after Israel said it thwarted a massive Iranian smuggling operation aimed at delivering weapons to Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an investigation into known Hezbollah and Iranian operative Munir Makdah ultimately uncovered the smuggling scheme. Makdah had been working to recruit ‘agents in Judea and Samaria to carry out attacks,’ the IDF said in a statement.

‘In recent months, Iranian agents have been attempting to smuggle weapons, including advanced arms originating from Iran, into Judea and Samaria with the intention of carrying out terror acts against Israel,’ the statement read.

The confiscated cache included 2 BTB15 peripheral shrapnel charges, 5 Iranian anti-tank mines model YM-2 and 5 detonators, ⁠4 M203 grenade launchers, ⁠15 kg of C4 explosives, 10 kg of Semtex explosives, 13 shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles, ⁠15 RPG launchers, ⁠16 RPG-7 rockets plus explosives, 25 hand grenades, ⁠33 M4 rifles and 50 pistols, Israeli authorities said.

The Israeli military remains on high alert for potential terror attacks as well as retaliation from Iran after Israel is believed to have killed seven of its military commanders in a strike on its consulate in Syria this week. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.

‘US election: Donald Trump 7/4 favourite for White House return.’

That was the headline at the United Kingdom’s Ladbrokes’ betting emporium —in July of last year! I have to think the line there is moving in Donald Trump’s favor every week. President Joe Biden isn’t exactly a ‘dead candidate walking’—he was a 2:1 bet in the same bookie forum at the same time—but between the Wall Street Journal and Fox News polls this week, you have to love 45’s odds over 46.

I think Trump enters ‘mortal lock’ territory if he picks a ‘normie Republican’ as his running mate. People simply don’t vote for the second name on the ticket, but they do factor it in, especially when the contrast will be with Vice President Harris. If Trump picks Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Joni Ernst or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—all veterans, all disciplined campaigners and serious voices on national security—I think Trump can order the drapes for the Oval the second time. Give the establishment GOP, the RINOs, the independents and even the old school Democrats who believed in national defense something to cling to and Trump wins most of them. These three are all conservative but they are conservatives with whom most ‘normies’ are very comfortable.

The issues are set and they favor Trump. An easy way to remember them is with the mnemonic AABCDEII: Afghanistan and appeasement, border, crime, ‘DEI’ and inflation. You could add another ‘E’ for ‘education’ and make it AABCDEEII, but some folks remain queasy over ‘school choice.’

I don’t. ‘Choice’ is established and working in Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, but is still blocked in Texas. I think ‘school choice’ is a winner with parents, but haven’t heard much yet from the former president on saving kids from broken public schools where the expansion of administrators at the expense of classroom teachers is mind-boggling.

There is also the endless ‘lawfare’ being waged against Trump, and any fair-minded American is repulsed by it. The absurd circus in the New York civil ‘fraud’ case alerted the center-right and center-left voters that the Empire State is no place for Republicans or even moderate Democrats to do business if they fall afoul of the political interest of that state’s Attorney General Leticia James and end up in the courtroom of a judge from the left. That charade was bad for every business in New York.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is about to increase Trump’s lead with Bragg’s joke of a criminal prosecution. Listen to former Southern District of New York Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy’s podcast, ‘The McCarthy Report,’ to get the honest-to-goodness assessment of this ridiculous prosecution. Now, I don’t think Trump can get a fair trial from the presiding judge there either or from the Manhattan jury pool, so I expect a conviction unless one courageous juror with a brain gets on the jury and simply refuses to be part of this Big Apple witch-hunt.

But I also don’t think a conviction in Manhattan will in any way hurt Trump. Legacy media is betting everything on a conviction arriving on the bizarre theory Bragg cooked up actually hurting Trump, but they don’t get out much from their Blue Bubbles. ‘Normies’ know what’s going on here. And they don’t like it, no matter how often NBC and MSNBC hosts and ‘analysts’ scream at them that they must DQ the former president if he’s convicted, even if it is a show trial in a kangaroo court. They are all lefties—all of them—and they don’t understand that the public generally understands—and loathes—’lawfare.’

7-4 is a good line for Trump right now. I suspect it will even be better in May and then pop more with his VP choice. Which leads to the key question.

When do Democrats panic (if they haven’t already?) The obviously infirm president who can’t even do an interview with Stephen Colbert without former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton flanking him and propping him up, is fading in real time. But no one has stepped out yet asking for an ‘open convention’ which will be the ‘Go!’ signal to California Governor Gavin Newsom and many others in the wings. (The GOP’s nightmare is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as the Democratic nominee, with VP Harris sticking in the #2 position.)

The polls are great for Trump and awful for Biden. The cake seems baked absent some extraordinary event and a Manhattan show trial isn’t going to be such an event no matter the result.

Democrats gavel in their Chicago convention on August 19. I don’t know if Ladbrokes has opened a line yet on whether somebody other than Biden is the actual Democrat nominee come, but if I was in England, I’d be stopping by to place some quid on ‘somebody else’ right now. 

Hugh Hewitt is one of the country’s leading journalists of the center-right. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990, and it is today syndicated to hundreds of stations and outlets across the country every Monday through Friday morning. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and this column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio show today.

The Biden administration is preparing to soon finalize highly anticipated standards targeting menthol cigarettes despite heavy opposition from small business, civil rights, law enforcement and free market consumer groups.

The regulations, which would broadly ban the product, were first proposed by the Food and Drug Administration two years ago and have sparked a contentious debate between health advocates and civil liberties and business groups. The FDA has repeatedly missed target dates for finalizing the proposed ban, the latest of which was earlier this week.

‘The FDA remains committed to issuing the tobacco product standards for menthol in cigarettes and characterizing flavors in cigars as expeditiously as possible; these rules have been submitted to the [Office of Management and Budget] for review, which is the final step in the rulemaking process,’ an FDA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘As we’ve made clear, these product standards remain at the top of our priorities.’

The spokesperson said the agency, which handed the regulations off to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final approval months ago, is limited from discussing the process further since the proposal remains pending. White House spokesperson Kelly Scully declined to comment, also noting the rulemaking process is ongoing.

But the Biden administration’s continued delays in finalizing the regulations has caused angst among proponents of banning menthol cigarettes, many of whom have argued such an action is vital for achieving goals laid out in President Biden’s ‘Cancer Moonshot’ initiative. The administration was first expected to finalize the ban in August 2023, meaning its delays have stretched more than seven months.

‘This continued inaction is a shocking deference to the tobacco industry, which has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to profit from products that result in death,’ said Karen Knudsen, the CEO of the American Cancer Society and its affiliate Cancer Action Network.

Opponents of the ban expressed optimism that their advocacy has resonated with White House officials, potentially prompting them to reconsider the ban. Associations representing convenience stores, police, consumers and minority groups have warned a ban on menthol cigarettes could foster a black market while punishing small business owners and minorities who are the largest consumers of the product.

According to OMB filings, the White House and FDA have convened a flurry of meetings on the proposal with a wide range of stakeholders, including proponents, such as the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network and American Lung Association, and opponents, such as the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and National Action Network.

‘The proposed ban would have the exact opposite results that proponents have championed,’ NACS said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘We hope that FDA is reconsidering its policy in light of the evidence that these types of bans simply don’t work.’

‘The proposed ban, while well-intentioned, could have had far-reaching economic consequences for convenience stores by cutting 30% of sales and the livelihoods of over 600,000 workers,’ said Javier Palomarez, the president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council (USHBC).

NACS, USHBC and other opponents of the regulations have pointed to data from states that have banned menthol cigarettes, arguing such policies don’t work.

According to NACS, the rule would lead to a reduction of $72,285 a year in non-tobacco sundry sales and $160,107 a year in tobacco product sales for the typical convenience store nationwide. The organization claims the convenience store industry could collectively lose $2.16 billion in sales because of the new regulations. 

Groups representing minorities, like the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement and the nonprofit National Action Network, the latter which was founded by civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, argue that banning menthol cigarettes while not restricting non-menthol cigarettes ‘puts a microscope on minority communities.’ They say it could increase the probability of negative interactions between police and minorities.

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement, National Action Network, National Newspaper Publishers Association and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump met with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden to discuss the proposal in November.

The FDA first issued the product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors other than tobacco in cigars in April 2022. The agency said the move would reduce disease and death from tobacco product use by reducing youth experimentation and addiction, while increasing the number of smokers that might quit.

Tobacco smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death nationwide, according to the FDA. In proposing the rules, the FDA cited its congressional authority to adopt tobacco product standards.

One of the U.S.’s closest Mideast allies, Jordan, has been hit by demonstrations that, according to some analysts, have spilled over into a serious threat to the Hashemite Kingdom with open declarations of support for the Hamas terrorist organization.

Jordan’s government has been one of the most vocal opponents of Israel’s war to root out Hamas terrorists from Gaza after the jihadi movement slaughtered 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including many Americans.

Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi declared in November that ‘Hamas is an idea and ideas do not die.’ Jordan’s Queen Rania cast doubt in a CNN interview on whether Hamas really committed atrocities on Oct. 7.

Veteran experts on Jordan view King Abdullah II and his inner circle as contributing, directly and indirectly, to the unrest that could potentially dislodge his regime.

The former Israeli ambassador to Jordan, Jacob Rosen, told Fox News Digital that ‘Jordan is walking on a very tight rope. The authorities let the Muslim Brotherhood under whatever cover they operate to voice out their message, but they disperse any demonstrations [that]] may go ‘wrong’ or to turn against the government itself.’

Rosen, who speaks fluent Arabic and is a leading expert on the Hashemite Kingdom, added that Jordan ‘operates for some years a military hospital in Gaza, which has no choice but to be in contact with whoever is in control there. There is also a sizable contingent of Gazans in Jordan (at least 300,000), which has to be considered.’

‘Parallel to that, the minister of foreign affairs, Ayman Safadi, has a free hand with anti-Israeli rhetoric accusing Israel of genocide and warning against ethnic cleansing. But in any case, Jordan cannot condemn Hamas directly but let some publicists or ex-ministers to do that.’

Last week, protesters chanted, ‘We are your men, Sinwar.’ Yehya Sinwar is the Hamas mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attack and is believed to be hiding in Gaza’s vast underground tunnel system.

Walid Phares, an expert in foreign policy, told Fox News Digital, ‘What is happening in Jordan now, while it appears as chaotic, is in fact tightly organized by Hamas, the larger Muslim Brotherhood network and the Iran regime. The protests against the Israeli Embassy and spillover in Amman’s streets are the result of tightly coordinated moves by the Iran and Ikhwan networks, with the real target being the Hashemite Kingdom itself.’

The term ‘Ikhwan’ is an Arabic word that refers to the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.

Indeed, just this week, the former Jordanian minister of information, Samih Al-Maaytah, said on the Saudi Arabian TV network Al Arabiya, ‘The Hamas leaders in Qatar have incited the Jordanian public, and they are inciting the tribes, inciting people to take to the streets and to chant new [anti-Jordanian] slogans. They are trying to say to Jordan, ‘We own the Jordanian public.” The U.S.-based Middle East Media Research Institute first located and translated Al-Maaytah’s comments.

It was also reported in Israeli media that Al-Maaytah told another Saudi channel, AlHadath, that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was sowing discord among Palestinian clans in the kingdom. Al-Maaytah suggested that Meshaal be stripped of his Jordanian citizenship as well as those stoking conflict.

Phares, the author of ‘Iran: An Imperialist Republic and U.S. Policy,’ said, ‘Some in Israel and the U.S. assert that the queen and foreign minister ‘contributed’ in encouraging demonstrations against Israel. But an examination of the domestic situation in Jordan shows that the royal government had to show that they are in solidarity with the Palestinian people as a way to avert an intifada waged by Hamas, precisely. Jordanians argue that had the U.S. administration not been so attached to the Iran deal, Hamas wouldn’t have been encouraged to attack Israel, and Arab allies would have acted differently and earlier.’

He continued, ‘Hence, we know that Tehran and Damascus have been targeting the Hashemite Kingdom for years, and now it looks like they’ve unleashed their supporters against the regime.’

The fragility of Jordan’s kingdom has made it a target for past efforts to oust the king. The nation does not have an oil and gas industry. The unemployment rate is more than 20% and the kingdom has made no real effort to heighten awareness about the need for peace with Israel’s population following the 1994 peace accord between the Jewish state and Amman.

Phares said that ‘Almost half of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian descent, and an attempt by Yasser Arafat and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), backed by the Assad regime [in Syria], to take over the country was averted by the loyal Jordanian armed forces.’

‘The more Israel closed in on Hamas the more the Islamists of Jordan closed in on the Jordanian government,’ he continued. ‘Obviously, the best gate for Iran and the Brotherhood – read, Hamas – to ignite an intifada in the kingdom is a series of violent protests against the Israeli Embassy to appear in sync with the protests everywhere else. But the second stage is in the form of clashes with Jordanian security forces. This old Bolshevik and later jihadi tactic aims at putting large segments of society against their own armed forces, which I believe is the ultimate goal of the Iran axis. It is about taking out Jordan as a Western ally and spread chaos, leading to sending militias across the borders.’

President Biden met with Abdullah in February at the White House, where the leaders discussed the war in Gaza. King Abdullah said, ‘We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah,’ adding that ‘It is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe.’ The last vestiges of Hamas’ battalions are in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is also holding more than 100 hostages who are believed to be in Rafah.

Biden thanked Jordan at the meeting for its humanitarian aid to Gaza, stating, ‘We’re grateful to our partners and allies like the king who work with us every single day to advance security and stability across the region and beyond. It’s difficult times like these when the bonds between nations are more important than ever.’

Biden said at the meeting with the king that a Palestinian state could lead to stability and peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors.

‘That effort was underway before the Oct. 7 attacks,’ Biden said, adding, ‘It’s even more urgent today.’

The mood in Israel, however, largely contradicts Biden’s optimism, as most Israelis see the two-state solution as a kind of dead-man-walking idea after more than 70 years of failed attempts.

An unnamed Jordanian official condemned the protests by saying, ‘Hamas is inciting and trying to ignite unrest inside the kingdom. We will not allow it to achieve its goal.’

The growing Iranian threat to Jordan’s government further surfaced when a security official from the pro-Iran regime militia said about intervention in the Hashemite Kingdom: ‘The ‘Islamic Resistance in Iraq’ is ready to meet the needs of 12,000 fighters … so that we can stand united in defending our brothers in Palestine.’ 

The security situation for Jordan appears to be raising alarm bells within the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank (known as Judea and Samaria in Israel).

‘The President of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas, spoke with King Abdullah II on Tuesday and reiterated during the call Palestine’s stand in solidarity with the Kingdom of Jordan, headed by King Abdullah II,’ according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency. WAFA also wrote, ‘President Abbas stressed the complete rejection of all attempts to tamper with Jordan’s security and stability or attempts to exploit the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip to tamper with the Jordanian arena, affirming the rejection of any external interference in the internal Jordanian affairs.’

The external interference is an apparent reference to the pro-Iranian regime proxies in Iraq.

A Jordanian government spokesperson had ‘No comment’ when asked by Fox News Digital about the recent unrest in Amman, anti-Israel rhetoric from the government, and whether Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood should be designated as terrorist organizations.

Michelle Obama is praising Beyoncé’s new album in an Instagram post urging voters to ‘stand up for what we believe in’ at the ballot box in this year’s elections. 

Beyoncé, who has supported former President Obama and current President Biden, released her new country-themed ‘Cowboy Carter’ album Friday. 

‘With Cowboy Carter, you have changed the game once again by helping redefine a music genre and transform our culture. I am so proud of you!’ the former first lady wrote on Instagram. 

‘Cowboy Carter is a reminder that despite everything we’ve been through to be heard, seen, and recognized, we can still dance, sing, and be who we are unapologetically. This album reminds us that we ALL have power. There’s power in our history, in our joy, and in our votes — and we can each use our own gifts and talents to make our voices heard on the issues that matter most to us.

‘Together, we can stand up for what we believe in, and we must do that at the ballot box this year,’ Obama added. ‘The issues that impact us most are on the ballot across the country — from equal pay and racial justice to reproductive healthcare and climate change. And as Queen Bey says at the end of Ya Ya, we need to ‘keep the faith’ and ‘VOTE!’ 

Ahead of the album’s release, Beyoncé said on Instagram, ‘This album has been over five years in the making’ and ‘was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed … and it was very clear that I wasn’t.  

‘But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.’ 

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

Democrats are reacting furiously to a new GOP proposal to rename Washington, D.C.’s main international airport after former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., unveiled a bill backed by six of his fellow House Republicans to change the name of Washington Dulles International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport.

While the bill likely has little chance of being passed in the current Congress, it did succeed in triggering the ex-president’s critics when the legislative text was unveiled on Tuesday.

‘Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges. If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison,’ said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., whose district partially covers Dulles.

The rest is in the district represented by Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., who sounded off, ‘This is just another in a long list of instances where extreme House Republicans have shown how unserious & delusional they are.’

‘Let’s get to work on the real issues the American people sent us here for — not renaming an airport after someone who sought to undermine our democracy,’ Wexton said.

Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said he was at the transit hub with worried families when Trump’s travel ban on terror-prone countries, most of them predominantly Muslim, was fueling ‘chaos’ at major airports.

‘One of Trump’s first acts as president was a racist Muslim ban that blocked permanent American residents from their own country,’ Beyer said. ‘I went to Dulles to try to help innocent people caught up in the chaos. I remember grandparents detained for hours as their terrified families waited.’

Reschenthaler’s fellow Pennsylvanian, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said, ‘Dulles is an old, ugly airport that no one wants to see. So I think this is a fitting tribute to [the 45th president].’

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., called the bill’s supporters ‘children, competing for the attention of an abusive parent.’

Reschenthaler responded to Democrats’ anger, saying, ‘If Democrats spent as much time working for the American people as they spend attacking President Trump, our nation would not be in a state of chaos and weakness. Thankfully, the end to this nightmarish chapter of our nation’s history ends in November.’

He told Fox News Digital of his bill on Tuesday, ‘As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil.’

Dulles is a busy international hub that’s critical for lawmakers and other Washington officials’ travel, particularly for airlines and routes that do not operate out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, its smaller domestic counterpart also located in Virginia.

Dulles was ranked 33rd out of 764 U.S. airports in terms of passenger traffic in 2023, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. With domestic and international travel combined, roughly 25 million passengers went through Dulles last year.