(Sunday Times-UK) Roxana Saberi - Two weeks after Ali Rahbar was arrested in anti-regime protests in the Iranian city of Mashhad, his cousin heard that he had been executed. He was 33. Rahbar's family had no idea where he had been held or what the charge was. Three weeks after Iran's authorities began to brutally crush nationwide protests, fears have been growing over the fate of those taken alive. A member of Iran's parliament disclosed that the nationwide estimate of detained protesters "cited...during a closed-door parliamentary session" has "surpassed 50,000." That figure roughly matches the 49,545 tallied by the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) as of Saturday.

(BBC) Ian Aikman - The European Union has added Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its terrorist list in response to Tehran's deadly crackdown on protesters in recent weeks. "Repression cannot go unanswered," the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday described the actions of Iranian security forces as "the most violent repression in Iran's modern history" and said there could be "no impunity for the crimes committed." France had previously been seen as hesitant to add the IRGC to the EU's terror list. But it changed course on Wednesday, coming out strongly behind a push to blacklist the group, which was led by Italy.

(MEMRI-TV) Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told Al-Jazeera on Jan. 28, 2026: "At no given moment have we talked about surrendering our weapons, or about any formula connected to [weapons] destruction, disarmament, or anything like that....They could not do it for two years [of war], and now they are trying to achieve it through negotiations?"

(Reuters) The U.S. State Department approved a potential sale to Israel of 30 Apache helicopters for $3.8 billion, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and related equipment for $1.98 billion, and armored personnel carrier power packs for $740 million, the Pentagon said Friday.

(New York Times) Christina Goldbaum - Syria's government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached an agreement on Friday to integrate Kurdish forces into the Syrian military, after clashes between the sides in the country's northeast. The agreement included the formation of a Syrian military division made up of three brigades from the SDF, as well as the integration of Kurdish-led civil institutions into Syria's central government. Government forces that had amassed along a front line in the north would also withdraw.

(Washington Free Beacon) Adam Kredo - The State Department formally determined in January that the Palestinian Authority paid more than $200 million to terrorists and their families in 2025, the same year PA President Mahmoud Abbas claimed he ended the "pay-to-slay" program. The State Department determined that the payments continued from March to August 2025 under a purportedly reformed welfare system. "Despite changing the mechanism for doing so, the PA continued the payments to Palestinian terrorists and their families." The PA used post offices, social media platforms, and encrypted messaging services like Telegram to alert aid recipients that cash was available under the newly branded pay-to-slay program, "indicating clearly that compensation in support of terrorism has continued." "A shift to a potential welfare system without ending specific payments and benefits for Palestinian terrorists and their families is not compliant with the provisions under the Taylor Force Act. The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through a new mechanism under a different name." Palestinian Media Watch has compiled firsthand accounts and bank notifications that show "the sums transferred were identical to those received previously."

(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - For now, U.S. President Donald Trump is allowing diplomacy to run its course, aiming to exhaust negotiations in hopes of forcing a radical shift in the policies of the ruling regime in Tehran. If diplomacy fails, Trump is expected to move toward a broad military campaign. One central reason for delaying a limited strike is the conclusion in Washington that a short, highly precise attack - even if intense - would not be decisive enough to topple the regime or fundamentally destroy Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missile arsenal, and its drone capabilities. Following a limited strike, Iran would still retain the ability to inflict casualties, destruction and severe economic damage on adversaries it chooses to target. The naval and air forces already amassed by U.S. Central Command do not yet provide sufficient defensive coverage against missiles and drones to fully protect American forces, Gulf states, critical oil and gas infrastructure and population centers. Additional assets are required. Another consideration is the loss of surprise. Surprise is essential for a short, intense strike to succeed, and it is no longer available. Moreover, Washington cannot afford an operation in which aircraft are shot down, naval vessels are damaged or American personnel are captured, which would deal a blow to the image of U.S. military dominance that the Trump administration seeks to project.

(Israel Hayom) Danny Zaken - The U.S, in coordination with Britain, France and other countries, including Israel, has prepared a bank of targets for potential strikes on Iran, following the receipt and analysis of intelligence from multiple sources. Intelligence collection has accelerated significantly over the past two weeks. IDF Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder, head of IDF Military Intelligence, visited the U.S. recently. According to a source familiar with the situation, senior Israeli intelligence officials held brainstorming sessions with their American counterparts aimed at maximizing the impact of a strike and determining follow-on steps to ensure Iran would be unable to cause harm, and that the regime would be weakened to the greatest extent possible. An American source said monitoring by the U.S. Treasury Department has revealed that billions of dollars have been transferred in recent weeks from Iran to accounts and financial institutions outside the country. The aim is to freeze, seize and confiscate these funds wherever they are identified. An Israeli political source said the EU decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization grants European enforcement authorities the ability and legal authority to carry out asset freezes and seizures, and make arrests.

(Times of Israel) Emanuel Fabian - A Hamas tunnel in Khan Yunis on the Israeli side of the Gaza ceasefire line containing dozens of weapons - including 45 grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, RPGs and launchers, and explosive devices - was recently demolished by IDF combat engineers.

(CTech) In January 2026, 24 Israeli startups raised more than $1 billion, making it the strongest January for Israeli tech since 2022.

(Telegraph-UK) Joseph Pavitt - Western analysis consistently misunderstands the nature of the Iranian state. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is highly entrenched. Its control over security, infrastructure and local networks makes a rapid overthrow of the government extremely unlikely. Moreover, for a significant portion of the religious Iranian population, the regime's legitimacy is theological. Clerical governance is seen as divinely sanctioned. Opposition can therefore be paramount to heresy. The Islamic Republic invested extensively in rural electrification, healthcare clinics, roads and education. For many Iranians outside the major cities, the post-revolutionary state represented their first sustained encounter with public services and, as a result, won a degree of support. The assumption that Iranians have "nothing left to lose" is simply false. Many do - whether in the form of education, employment, housing or relative stability compared with neighboring states.

(Ynet News) Ben-Dror Yemini - Recently, multiple media outlets reported that unnamed sources within the IDF were inclined to accept Hamas's casualty figures from Gaza. But who exactly were these sources? I repeatedly contacted the IDF Spokesperson's Unit and was told: "That's not our position." The IDF spokesperson to the foreign media, Nadav Shoshani, said: "The details published do not reflect the official data of the IDF." An investigation reveals that, indeed, an IDF source did say something in a background briefing. But he wasn't an authorized spokesperson. He didn't intend for his words to be understood the way they were. And his comments were twisted and distorted. But the damage? Enormous. Hamas Health Ministry figures on the numbers of dead in Gaza identify no Hamas fighters, no deaths from natural causes, or those killed by rockets misfired by Gaza terror groups. They do show that the majority are men of combat age. Hamas alone is to blame. It is Hamas that for years incited genocide against Jews. It is Hamas that launched a murderous rampage on Oct. 7.

(Jerusalem Post) Dan Ezra - Former Israeli hostage Almog Meir Jan, who spent 246 days in Gaza, said in an interview in Maariv that his belief in coexistence has crumbled. He sees that hatred and the focus on the destruction of Israel are why Gaza is in ruins. Jan said, "Before October 7, I had different thoughts about coexistence and peace. Today, my perspective has changed dramatically. I saw it with my own eyes, and eyes don't lie. The people there are driven by hatred, and someone driven by hatred can never reach anything good. You can't befriend someone like that." "During my captivity, my greatest fear was that the people of Gaza would discover where I was, break into the house, and lynch me in the street....There are no innocents in Gaza." When asked about the possibility of peace in the future, Jan said, "As long as hatred and terror are the driving forces, it will never happen. And I say this clearly: I don't pity them. They did this with their own hands. They brought this on themselves."

(JNS) Rachel Sapoznik - Vivian Silver, 74, was a lifelong peace activist who built her entire identity around Jewish-Arab coexistence. She lived on Kibbutz Be'eri, just miles from Gaza, and was a founding leader of "Women Wage Peace" that advocates dialogue, reconciliation, and a two-state future. She also volunteered with the group "The Road to Recovery," personally driving Palestinians from Gaza to Israeli hospitals for lifesaving care. On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists and ordinary Gazans set her home on fire and she was murdered. Her son, Yonatan Zeigen, was on the phone with her as the attack unfolded. They continued texting as Silver hid in a closet as terrorists moved through the house. Her final message to him was: "They're inside the house. It's time to stop joking and say goodbye." We are told that if Israelis show enough goodwill, enough restraint, enough empathy, enough "understanding," then peace will follow. Silver dedicated her life to Palestinian welfare. She believed in coexistence until her final moments. It did not save her. A viable solution requires moral reciprocity, the basic recognition that those who extend their hand in peace should not be murdered in return. Gazan society did not mourn people like Silver. In fact, her murder was celebrated there. You cannot murder your most committed allies and expect the world to keep pretending that nothing has changed. The writer is founder of the Jewish Shield Action Alliance.

(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Maarten Boudry - Across Europe, open letters from academics - often amassing hundreds or even thousands of signatures within days - denounce Israel in the strongest terms. Dozens of universities have now severed ties with Israeli institutions, citing alleged complicity in genocide or systematic war crimes. In August 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars adopted a resolution that declared Israel was guilty of the "crime of crimes." In reality, the accusation of genocide is obscene. There's no evidence whatsoever that Israel intends to exterminate Gazans, and abundant evidence to the contrary. The eagerness of Western intellectuals to accuse Israel of genocide is by now depressingly familiar, as is their blindness to Hamas's cynical war tactics and the extraordinarily difficult conditions under which Israel has had to pursue its legitimate aims of defeating Hamas and freeing the hostages. Yet there are clear indications that this supposed academic consensus was artificially contrived. For the past two years, I have been receiving regular emails from academic colleagues saying, "I completely agree with you and am glad that you're fighting this battle, but please keep it quiet - I don't want to get into trouble." A senior lecturer at a Dutch university writes: "I'm afraid to share my thoughts freely with my colleagues and feel restricted in my freedom to speak openly about this." A philosophy professor describes the academic debate on the war in Gaza as effectively "impossible," writing that "Critical voices are silenced through exclusion, dismissal, and sometimes even violence." In today's academic climate, speaking out in support of Israel is widely regarded as tantamount to "academic suicide." The "Gaza genocide" accusation is a baseless claim that defies logic and evidence. Breaking the spiral of silence will require more people to step forward and call out such nonsense, thereby lowering the social cost of dissent. The writer has been a researcher in philosophy and moral sciences at Ghent University in Belgium since 2006.