From Foreign Aid to Forever Partnership

Donald Trump lost his patience with Benjamin Netanyahu and told him off. Or did he? According to Axios, Trump exploded during a private phone call with the Israeli prime minister after Israel expanded its military operations in Lebanon and reportedly considered strikes on Beirut. U.S. officials familiar with the conversation claim Trump unloaded on Netanyahu in unusually blunt terms: “You’re f** *ing crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” If the conversation went as reported, F-bombs and all, would that be all it would take for Netanyahu to change course? It doesn’t seem likely, but according to Trump, the so-called pressure worked: “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on

CEPI, an organization that played a major role in funding COVID-era vaccine development and which sports the slogan “Preparing for Future Pandemics,” has announced roughly $60 million in funding for Moderna and other groups to accelerate work on Ebola Bundibugyo vaccines. There are a few concerns here… As of May 16, the WHO was only able to report eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths. The repeated use of the word “suspected” really stands out here. It’s also worth noting that an Ebola vaccine already exists, but authorities stated that it won’t target the new strain. How could they make that determination from only eight confirmed cases? Officials are also saying they suspect it’s an outbreak. This is odd, given the limited number of confirmed cases. On top of this, we don’t know how reliable the PCR tests are for Ebola, so the numbers could

Many people on social media were panicking over the weekend about a provision in the defense bill that would codify military cooperation between the United States and Israel. Is that true? Is it in there? It is. Buried in the House version of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act is Section 224: “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.” “Section 224 would require the Secretary of Defense to designate an executive agent responsible for coordinating and synchronizing defense technology cooperation between the United States and Israel. That cooperation would include research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.” Supporters say this simply formalizes and streamlines an already close military relationship. Oh really? Israel has never committed ground troops alongside any of the wars that it supported for U.S. involvement. Americans fought and died in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Israel did not. The U.S. does collaborate with Israel on

Why is Google asking for approval to release millions of mosquitoes into California and Florida? The project is called the Debug Project, and it was developed by Verily, Google’s life sciences division. The idea is to breed male mosquitoes carrying a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia. When those males mate with wild female mosquitoes, the eggs fail to hatch, theoretically reducing populations of disease-carrying mosquitoes without spraying pesticides. The company is now seeking approval to release as many as 32 million mosquitoes over a two-year period. And what is so wrong with reducing mosquito populations? Maybe it’s not so much what is being done but who is doing it. Google emerged from university research programs that received federal funding and has long maintained close relationships with government agencies and defense contractors. So when the company says, “Trust us, we’re releasing millions of mosquitoes for your own good,”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t hiding his intentions for Gaza, and why would he when those with the power to stop him continue looking the other way. What are his intentions? He recently said, “At this point, we are fully in control of 60 percent of the territory of the Gaza Strip … and my directive is to get to … 70 percent.” Then, after someone in the room called for Israel to take “100 percent” of Gaza, Netanyahu responded, “First 70 percent. We’ll start with that.” Think about what that statement actually means. This isn’t being framed as a temporary military operation but more like a gradual takeover of an entire territory, killing its residents in the process, while the world sits back and lets it happen. And what’s left of Gaza at this point? About 81 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been damaged, 22

For years, Americans have been told that foreign governments meddling in U.S. politics is one of the greatest threats to democracy. So what happens when a foreign government openly spends millions of dollars trying to shape American public opinion? According to newly disclosed foreign lobbying records, Israel funneled more than $15 million through a company run by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale as part of a major influence operation aimed at Americans. Parscale’s firm was hired to help push pro-Israel messaging through conservative media channels and digital campaigns. The filings show that millions of dollars were then distributed to political consultants, media strategists, advertising firms, and technology companies connected to some of Parscale’s closest Republican allies. Why was Parscale so heavily involved in promoting Israel’s interests? According to public filings, he was working as a registered foreign agent on behalf of the Israeli government. One company was said