(New York Times) Samuel Granados - Iran appears to have rapidly repaired several ballistic missile facilities damaged in strikes last year, but it has made only limited fixes to major nuclear sites struck by Israel and the U.S., a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery suggests. The analysis looked at two dozen locations struck by Israel or the U.S last June and found construction work at more than half of them. Intelligence assessments have found that Iran has largely rebuilt its ballistic missile program since the attacks in June. Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said that the Shahroud missile test facility appeared to have been rebuilt particularly quickly and that it was believed to have become operational again within months of the strikes. "Shahroud is their largest and newest solid-propellant missile production plant," he said.

(White House) On Friday, President Trump signed an Executive Order to impose additional tariffs on countries that acquire any goods or services from Iran. The President is holding Iran accountable for its pursuit of nuclear capabilities, support for terrorism, ballistic missile development, and regional destabilization that endanger American security, allies, and interests. The regime brutally represses its own people, killing thousands of protesters, denying human rights, and using violence to maintain power, while spreading extremism.

(U.S. State Department) Deputy Spokesperson Thomas Pigott - The State Department said Friday it is sanctioning 15 entities, two individuals, and 14 shadow fleet vessels connected to the illicit trade in Iranian petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemical products. So long as the Iranian regime attempts to evade sanctions and generate oil and petrochemical revenues to fund oppressive behavior and support terrorist activities and proxies, the U.S. will act to hold both the Iranian regime and its partners accountable.

(Jerusalem Post) Amichai Stein - The Bank of Palestine has refused a request from Israel's Finance Ministry to close 3,400 accounts used to distribute payments to released terrorists, sources told the Jerusalem Post on Friday. The accounts are linked to the PA's "pay-for-slay" program, which provides monthly stipends to Palestinians who were imprisoned for carrying out terrorist attacks. Israel believes that senior PA officials instructed the bank not to comply.

(Jerusalem Post) Tobias Holcman - Former Gaza hostage Nimrod Cohen told Israel's N12 that he is planning to return to military service. Cohen was abducted from a burning tank by Hamas near Kibbutz Nirim on Oct. 7, 2023. The other three crewmen were murdered. He was kept hostage for more than two years before being released on Oct. 13, 2025. "I didn't really do my service, the way I see it. I served for 10 months until I was kidnapped...and didn't really do what I define as significant service....The military has the correct framework for me in this moment of my life."

(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - During Friday's negotiations in Oman, Iran refused to end enrichment of nuclear fuel or move it offshore. The U.S. and Israel disabled Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity by force in June, but the regime won't promise to forswear it in the future, according to Iranian state media. It is also hard to see Iran agreeing to strict limits on its missile program and an end to its support for regional terrorist proxies. In an interview aired Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance expressed frustration with Iran's negotiating style. "The person who makes the decisions in Iran is the Supreme Leader," not the so-called reformist President, he said. "But it's a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can't even talk to the person who's in charge of the country." President Trump said Wednesday that Iran had sought to restart its nuclear program, at an old site and a new site. It has rapidly restored its ballistic-missile program. It sent Hizbullah a billion dollars to rebuild in 2025. This is a picture of a regime digging in, not changing its ways.

(Wall Street Journal) Benoit Faucon - Though Israel pounded Iran's missile launchers and storage sites during a 12-day war in June, the regime emerged from the conflict with much of its remaining arsenal intact. More important, Iran learned how to get more of its missiles past Israeli and American defenses as the war went on. That has forced the White House to worry about Iran's ability to target Israel and U.S. forces, as well as friendly Arab countries in the Persian Gulf and the wider region. Tehran still has an estimated 2,000 midrange ballistic missiles that can reach across the region. It also has significant stockpiles of short-range missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases in the Gulf and ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as antiship cruise missiles. "With decimated allies and nuclear capabilities, Iran's ballistic missiles now constitute the backbone of Iran's deterrence," said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will discuss Iran with President Trump when they meet Wednesday in Washington. "The Prime Minister believes any negotiations must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis," Netanyahu's office said Saturday. This past week, hard-liners in Tehran said Iran's missile program was the main reason the U.S. hasn't attacked Iran and had opted for talks instead.

(Jerusalem Post) Danielle Greyman-Kennard - U.S. Vice-Admiral (ret.) Robert Harward, former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday that Iran's sending a drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea and Iranian gunboats that approached a U.S.-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz last week is likely just Tehran "grasping at the last straw." "If they were to escalate and [employ] kind of their last remaining spear, be it missiles, be it strategic or tactical, dependent on the range, that would really bring escalation to the point that Iran is not prepared to deal with...so they're playing poker." He said the U.S. could "provide communications and intelligence to those who are opposing the regime, could provide them arms, could provide them other means that are more covert or below the line, kind of like the way Iran has been addressing [the U.S.] asymmetrically. I think this administration has those same sort of options on the table, and I'd be surprised if they're not already pursuing them to influence the regime, much less lead to regime change." "Past operations - the Israeli strike on the nuclear facilities with U.S. support and U.S. participation, the neutering of Iran's surface-to-air missile threats - illustrate how weak the regime is."

(Ha'aretz) An Iranian Diary - The call was heard for a protest on Jan. 8-9. Everyone talked about it. No one knew what would happen, but a feeling of change hung in the air. Then shooting started. Forces made up of the city's residents opened fire on their fellow townspeople. The next morning, the bloodstains on the ground testified to how unarmed protesters were suppressed by means of weapons meant for wars. As the lines of communication were gradually restored, a bitter reality was revealed: Friends and acquaintances simply never returned. Out of fear of security pressure, arrest or confiscation of their children's bodies, certain families were compelled to bury the bodies of their loved ones secretly in gardens in the yards of their homes. Checkpoints were set up across the city. People were arrested for having photos or videos of the protests on their phones. More than three weeks have passed since the massacre. The checkpoints are still operating and the security atmosphere is tense. Being online offers no comfort. More and more photographs of young people who could have been the pillars of the nation have now become reduced to photos. There's one feeling that I and many others share: With the crimes it has committed, the Islamic Republic burned itself up, along with every demand it made in the name of the religion of Islam. Rage seethes throughout the country and threatens to boil over. The desire for revenge has become a collective emotion. Photographs and names of the suppressors in the various cities are currently being disseminated via social media. A separate page has been opened for each city. The faces are known, these are people who lived next to us. I heard that some people are only waiting for conditions to change in order to settle accounts with them. The level of hatred and resentment is frightening, but it is real. In many cities, a large proportion of those who took part in the suppression have already been identified.

(Wall Street Journal) Margherita Stancati - A new wave of popular anger is rising in Iran, as people enraged by last month's mass killings of protesters vent their antipathy for the regime despite the risks of a continuing crackdown. At funerals and memorial services, crowds of mourners shout, "Death to Khamenei!" University students in Mashhad, Tabriz and Shiraz held memorial events last week for fellow students who were killed. Medical students in Shiraz held a sit-in for several days, chanting slogans in support of protesters who had been killed and doctors who were arrested for treating the injured. Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, a prominent dissident who has been under house arrest in Tehran for years, said the scale of the killing shows the Islamic Republic can't be reformed and must be replaced. "When you were wearing the uniform of war against your own people, you were striking your own roots with an ax," Mousavi said, marking his sharpest rebuke of the Islamic Republic to date. More than 50,000 people have been arrested since late December, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a U.S.-based rights group. Many of the detained people were arrested in their homes or while seeking medical treatment in the aftermath of the crackdown. Merchants at Tehran's Grand Bazaar - where the protests first flared up - called on shopkeepers nationwide to take to the streets again on Feb. 17-18 to mark the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period for the killings that occurred Jan. 8-9. The goal was to "avenge the greatest street massacre in contemporary history."

(Ynet News) Aviram Bellaishe - Hamas is a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. For decades, Brotherhood clerics issued fatwas obligating every Muslim to armed jihad against Israel. Qatar has hosted the Brotherhood's global leadership for 60 years. In 1961, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Brotherhood's spiritual leader, arrived in Doha. Qatar funded him and gave him an Al Jazeera platform reaching 60 million viewers. Qatar also transferred billions to Hamas, whose leaders live in Doha five-star hotels. Turkish President Erdogan's AKP party is the Turkish arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, assisting its establishment of schools and media channels throughout Turkey. After Egypt's 2013 coup, Erdogan granted asylum to 1,500 Brotherhood members. On Oct. 25, 2023, Erdogan said, "Hamas is not a terrorist organization. It is a group of mujahideen defending their land." Egypt outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. But a Washington Institute poll found 75% of Egyptians view Hamas positively, and 94% believe Hamas did not kill civilians on Oct. 7. On Oct. 18, 2023, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, a premier center of Sunni Islamic learning, issued a fatwa declaring that "Zionist civilians on occupied land are not worthy of the description of civilians." While Egypt's government fights the Brotherhood, Egypt's religious establishment supports Hamas. Qatari textbooks teach children that "treachery and treason are among the traits of the Jews." Turkish textbooks call Jews "infidels." If Qatar and Turkey are involved in Gaza schools, they will deepen anti-Israel indoctrination. The writer, vice president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, has served in senior government positions for over 25 years.

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - On Oct. 7, 2023, there was no "occupation" in Gaza; Israel had no security or civilian presence. In 2005, every Jew left Gaza. It then became a de facto independent Palestinian state. On Oct. 7, the "State of Gaza" declared war on the State of Israel, firing 2,000 rockets into the country, while thousands of Palestinians poured over the border, many videotaping their atrocities. After the Israeli withdrawal, the Palestinians could have turned Gaza into the "Singapore of the Middle East." Instead, most Palestinians in 2006 voted for Hamas, whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza increased their appetite to pursue jihad to replace Israel with a Palestinian Islamist state. In their eyes, if Israel pulled out of Gaza as a result of terrorism, all that is needed for the rest of Israel to leave is more terrorism. The establishment of a Palestinian state will not lead the Palestinians to abandon their determination to eliminate Israel. Quite the opposite. A Palestinian state will make them more determined to continue their efforts to obliterate Israel. Oct. 7 did not happen because Palestinians were denied a state. It happened because they were given one.

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - At the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, presidential aide Jared Kushner presented his "New Gaza" master plan to transform the territory into a hub for "coastal tourism" and commerce. The assumption that boosting the Palestinian economy would have a moderating effect on the Palestinians has already proven delusional. After the signing of the Oslo Accord between Israel and the PLO in 1993, the international community poured billions of dollars on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The international aid did not prompt then PA President Yasser Arafat or his successor, Abbas, to make far-reaching concessions to Israel during the peace negotiations. Both Arafat and Abbas rejected several Israeli peace proposals. The Palestinians are not going to give up the "right of return" because of foreign investment in Gaza. Hamas is not going to recognize Israel's right to exist or give up its Jihad (holy war) against the "Zionist entity" because of new homes, luxury apartments and tourist resorts. The only way to change the hearts and minds of Palestinians is through a deep and thorough process of re-education and actual serious pressure, for once, from the outside world.

(Times of Israel) Zev Stub - American Jewish organizations are rethinking the value of their coalition-building efforts after many long-time allies turned against Israel or stayed silent following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff told the Times of Israel Thursday. "The day after the attack, we were punched in the gut a second time when we saw how many of our erstwhile friends and allies, with whom we'd marched and supported, abandoned us....The unions that we had stood with abandoned us." Daroff, whose organization represents 50 mainstream Jewish organizations from across the political spectrum, said he sees a new level of unity and willingness to cooperate among its members. "October 7 forced us to focus on who our real enemies are and what our real priorities are, and there is so much work to be done that we can do better together." "Things like anti-Israel encampments and Jewish students being harassed are not happening anymore," Daroff said. "Campuses are much calmer now than they were previously." Much of that, he said, is because the Trump administration took strong steps to enforce Title VI protections against discrimination, including threatening to withdraw federal funding, to force university administrators to clamp down on hate activities on campus. "Those interventions raised the stakes for institutions and literally changed the atmosphere for Jewish students and faculty overnight."

(Wall Street Journal) Gideon Israel - In the Middle East, a place name is never just a name - it is a claim. For decades, the term "West Bank" has stripped the land of its historical identity. A mid-20th-century substitution, it replaced the indigenous names Judea and Samaria to sever the Jewish connection to the region. Now U.S. lawmakers in a dozen states and both houses of Congress are advancing legislation to restore these original names in official U.S. documents. Judea and Samaria are crucial to Israel's survival. Their ridges tower up to 3,000 feet over the coastal plain where 70% of Israel's population and Ben-Gurion Airport reside. These highlands are a strategic asset that protects the country from invasion. Without them, Israel would be less than 10 miles wide at its narrowest point and indefensible. Samaria is a region mentioned more than 100 times in the Bible as the heart of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. To the south, Judea is the birthplace of the line of King David. Even under the Persian Empire, Judea was the official administrative name for the province. Christian scriptures treat Judea and Samaria as the actual districts on the Roman map, proving that a millennium after the kings of Israel, the world still used these names. When the UN drafted the 1947 Partition Plan, it repeatedly referred to Judea and Samaria. The transition to "West Bank" occurred in 1950, when Jordan annexed the territory and sought to justify a Jordanian presence west of the Jordan River. Its rule lasted less than two decades, yet it managed to cloud thousands of years of history.

(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Col. (res.) Dr. Ofer Guterman and Tara Feldman - Since Hamas's takeover of Gaza in 2007, its extremist religious-nationalist ideology has been systematically embedded across all spheres of Gaza life - from education and religious institutions to welfare and the media - producing a profound "Hamasification" of public consciousness. In the wake of the Gaza war, military disarmament and physical rehabilitation alone will not ensure long-term security and stability. A far deeper process of "de-Hamasification" is required: dismantling Hamas's ideological and institutional hegemony and replacing it with a more moderate civic and normative infrastructure. Instead of Western deradicalization models such as those implemented in Germany and Japan after World War II, we propose adopting operational principles drawn from contemporary Arab models, particularly the model applied in the Gulf states, which combines a firm crackdown on extremist actors with re-education toward religious tolerance and broad-based economic rehabilitation. Deradicalization in Gaza should be conceived as a comprehensive institutional and cultural reengineering of the entire sphere of life. The scale of destruction vividly demonstrates to the public the costs of the "resistance" project and may generate openness to a more moderate political and ideological alternative - provided that such an alternative is presented credibly, consistently, and with Arab and international support. Two models from Arab states are relevant to Gaza. The first is a restrictive containment model that relies primarily on security measures (Egypt, Tunisia). The second is an ambitious model of comprehensive social transformation (the UAE and Saudi Arabia). In both, many of the lines of action are similar, albeit implemented with different emphases. These include the use of security measures of coercion, enforcement, and surveillance; the inculcation of a national narrative that elevates state identity and state law above all other identities and normative frameworks; the promotion of "moderate Islam" as an alternative to extremist Islam, which is framed as a deviation from religious truth; and the engineering of public consciousness across various spheres of social life, with the aim of undermining the extremist narrative and entrenching the preferred narrative. Col. (res.) Dr. Ofer Guterman is a senior researcher at INSS, where Tara Feldman, the political officer of Labour Friends of Israel, is an intern.