(Telegraph-UK) James Crisp - French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, "We need to move towards recognition [of a Palestinian state]. And so over the next few months, we will." In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, "A unilateral recognition of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas. These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer - but the opposite: they only push them further away."

(The Times-UK) Gabrielle Weiniger - Iran has transferred a new batch of long-range missiles to powerful Shia proxy forces in Iraq for the first time. The delivery in late March was arranged by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Air Force. "Iran has recently transferred missiles to Shia militias in Iraq, including new models with longer range, which have not been given in the past to those militias," a regional intelligence source said. The development runs contrary to recent reports from Iraqi officials that the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq were "prepared to disarm" to avert potential conflict with America. A diplomatic source in the region told The Times that efforts "to create a picture that the militias are disarming is a ruse."

(Financial Times-UK) Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper - The Dahiyeh Union of Municipalities, the municipal body for Beirut's southern suburbs, the traditional heartland of Hizbullah that was targeted by Israel during the recent fighting, has been allocated millions of dollars in public funds to oversee and contract damage appraisals and rubble removal. The Dahiyeh Union works under the purview of Hizbullah's political leadership, according to Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director of research at the Carnegie Center in Beirut. Hizbullah's opponents worry that giving a role in the reconstruction process to the group could allow it to retain political leverage and channel government funds to its base following its worst ever defeat last year. Hizbullah's role in reconstruction following its 2006 war with Israel was vital to helping it shore up its power.

(Washington Post) Loveday Morris - In recent weeks, Syrian government forces have been trying to choke off smuggling routes that cross the rugged 233-mile border with Lebanon. These routes are the last vestiges of the "land bridge" used by Iran and its allied militias to ferry weapons, cash, drugs and fuel to help prop up the Syrian government and Hizbullah in Lebanon. The overthrow of Assad in December by Islamist militants dealt a major setback to Iran's regional power and largely cutting it off from Hizbullah. With its regional influence shattered, Iran has now started looking beyond its traditional allies, including to Sunni Muslim extremist groups, in efforts to maintain supply lines and destabilize the new government. After Hizbullah was pummeled by Israeli forces in Lebanon last fall, the group remains desperate to replenish its arms stockpiles and bring in cash to compensate its traditional supporters in Beirut and southern Lebanon who lost property in the conflict. In the Syrian city of Qusayr, just six miles from the Lebanese border, the entire industrial zone had been turned into a vast weapons storage site, covering an area of about 50 soccer fields. As the Islamist fighters advanced last year from northern Syria, Hizbullah militants who had gathered in the city packed up and left without a fight, locals said. "It was a huge loss for them," said Ahmed Adbelhakim Ammar, the head of security for Qusayr. Haid Haid, a Syria analyst with Chatham House who tracks transnational smuggling routes, said, "There is a huge stockpile in Syria that Hizbullah is trying to move out of Syria. They know where those are, and they are working with Syrian networks to get them out." Israel has continued to pound weapons stockpiles in Syria.

(Ynet News) Roni Green Shaulov - The IDF on Sunday struck Hamas positions in Gaza after a rocket was launched toward Israeli communities on Saturday night - Passover Seder night The rocket was intercepted and was the fourth launched into Israel that day. Israel targeted a Hamas command and control center in the Zeitoun neighborhood of northern Gaza located within the Al-Ahli Hospital, after advance warnings led to the evacuation of patients and medical staff. A later strike on Sunday targeted a Hamas command compound in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

(Ynet News) Yoav Zitun - The IDF is set to receive a major arms shipment from the U.S. in the coming weeks, including more than 3,000 munitions for the Israel Air Force, as part of its preparations for continued operations in Gaza and potentially Iran, Israeli officials said Monday. The delivery comes in addition to more than 10,000 aerial munitions expected to replenish Israeli stockpiles after 18 months of prolonged, multi-front fighting.

(Jerusalem Post) 50% of ballistic missiles fired at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen since March 18 failed due to technical difficulties, Israeli officials told N12 on Monday.

(Ynet News) Shilo Freid - Tens of thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Tuesday morning to participate in the traditional Priestly Blessing ceremony, held during the intermediate days of Passover. The event was also attended by former hostage Eliya Cohen and Israel's Chief Rabbis Kalman Bar and David Yosef, along with Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites. The event was broadcast live, courtesy of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. During the ceremony, participants received blessings twice from the priests, who are descendants of the Tribe of Levi. The mass blessing at the Western Wall began in 1970 and has been held for over 50 years, both during Sukkot and Passover.

(Wall Street Journal) Agam Berger - I was kidnapped by Hamas, taken to Gaza and held hostage for 482 days. Today I am home, healthy and whole in body, soul and spirit. This Passover, I am reflecting on my freedom. When Hamas overran the Nahal Oz base on Oct. 7, 2023, many of my friends were murdered. I survived the massacre - when babies, children, women and elderly men were killed simply because they were Jews. Even as Hamas tried to coerce me into converting to Islam - at times, forcing a hijab on my head - they couldn't take away my soul. My fellow scout Liri Albag and I marked Passover together last year. Held in a small room with no natural light, we did what we could to set the holiday mood. We cleaned our room and adorned the table with napkins and other small "decorations" made from scraps of paper. As a surprise, Liri wrote me a makeshift Passover Haggadah, the text that recounts our ancestors' journey out of slavery. The Jewish people don't have a history - they have memory. "History" the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote, is "an event that happened sometime to someone else. Memory is my story - something that happened to me and is part of who I am." The Jewish people are told to remember - "remember what Amalek did to you," "remember the Sabbath," "remember the stand at Mount Sinai." There is now a new, painful command: "Remember Oct. 7."

(Ynet News) Ben-Dror Yemini - Genocide, by definition, entails indiscriminate killing - the mass murder of women, children, infants and the elderly, all with the goal of eradicating a population. That is not what happened in Gaza. If it were genocide, there would be no statistical difference between men and women among the dead. Yet, a breakdown of the casualties by age and gender, based on the list published by Hamas's Health Ministry, shows that across nearly all fighting-age groups, from 14 to 59, men vastly outnumber women among the dead. In most of these age brackets, the number of male casualties is double or more than double that of females. In the core combatant age range, from 20 to 44, Hamas data shows 5,850 women were killed, compared to 17,000 men. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy, and the responsibility lies with Hamas, which initiated this cursed war.

(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Prof. Efraim Inbar - Israel's original military doctrine, formulated by David Ben-Gurion, emphasized three core elements: deterrence, early warning, and decisive victory. However, Israel suffered major deterrence and intelligence failures in October 1973 and October 2023. In both instances, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) failed to deter its adversaries and Israel's intelligence apparatus did not provide adequate warnings of the impending attacks. Deterrence is an elusive and problematic psychological concept. Military superiority and the threat of retaliation do not always succeed in dissuading an adversary from the attack. For Hamas, the anticipated benefits of confronting Israel outweighed the costs of potential punishment, as its religious motivations overrode the logic of rational deterrence. Israel underestimated Hamas's resolve to destroy it and its belief that this objective is attainable. Furthermore, Israel failed to recognize that its containment policy, implemented over two decades, had eroded its deterrence. With regard to intelligence failures, analysts overlooked evidence that did not support existing theories. Israeli intelligence knew about Hamas's attack plan, but this was not effectively communicated to decision-makers with the appropriate context. Analysts misread signals and intentions. In addition, the IDF was overly reliant on technological means of intelligence collection at the expense of human intelligence. Human beings are inherently fallible. Consequently, we cannot expect to receive early warning about the erosion of deterrence or an imminent attack. Instead, Israel has no choice but to build a better defensive posture while facing a multifront scenario. Israel needs a larger standing army along with larger reserve units in border communities. The former policy of containment/restraint has proven counter-productive. Containment conveys weakness in a region where the political culture values the use of force. Fear remains the most effective political currency in the Middle East. Kicking the can down the road is rarely a prudent course of action. Despite the inherent risks involved, Israel must use preemptive strikes, a core element of its original military doctrine. Today Israel is paying a staggering price for its delay in mounting a strong military response to the buildup of military capabilities by Hamas and Hizbullah. The writer, former head of JISS, is professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University.

(X-U.S. Air Force) Gen. David Allvin - On April 13, 2024, the 494th and 335th fighter squadrons of the U.S. Air Force were forward deployed. Iran launched 300 missiles and attack drones at Israel. These airmen will never know how many innocent lives they saved that night. Hear the story from those who lived it. "I get the green light to take off. This is just another normal night mission, like any other." "We were out there for a couple of hours, with nothing having actually happened, so we thought, oh, maybe it's off." "A pilot gets the first lock-in. He does exactly what he was taught and shot within about 20 seconds." "That's a drone, and then the radar gets another, and another. It's all attack drones. The radar just lit up." "I see a drone there and then shoot. The missile would come off the rail [of my plane]. Drone destroyed. Next. Eight engagements and it was like, well, that happened fast." "We were in an hour-long fight, just trying to kill whatever we could." "The ground is on fire right now. You could see every single one of the drones, where they hit." "It took about 45 minutes to shoot all of the missiles that we could before we had to come home out of missiles and try to get some more to go back up." "Three hundred weapons were fired at the target [Israel], six of them hit. No one died." "This is way, way bigger than me just shooting missiles at drones. This is defense of our coalition partners." "We got to be part of a thing that was meaningful and had an impact."

(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - Steve Witkoff, President Trump's lead negotiator on Iran, suggested that the U.S. goal in talks with Iran over its nuclear program will be, "there can't be weaponization of your nuclear capability." Iran will insist it is already meeting that "weaponization" standard because it hasn't built a bomb. If that's where talks end up, it won't be much better than Obama's 2015 deal. In that deal Iran retained its uranium enrichment capacity, refused inspections to key nuclear sites, and expanded its ballistic missile program. Ayatollah Khamenei's goal will be to get the same deal. That's why foreign-supervised dismantlement and intrusive, on-demand inspections are essential. A dismantlement deal is preferable to an attack on Iran that would have uncertain consequences, but the military destruction of most of Iran's program is better than a deal that leaves Iran able to build a bomb after it has had time to rebuild its military strength and proxy network.

(Wall Street Journal) Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh - Many Americans fail to understand that for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, getting bombed is preferable to giving up the bomb. Khamenei knows that conceding Iran's atomic program would anger his core supporters, particularly among the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. The sight of him - known for decades for his willingness to cripple or kill his opponents - going wobbly in the face of Trump threats could provoke his constituents to take to the streets. The mullahs also understand that most Iranians despise them, and an internal insurrection could be around the corner if they are perceived as weak. Forcing Americans to engage in diplomacy that runs the clock is entirely acceptable to Tehran. Iranian leaders openly discuss their belief that recent regional convulsions and Trump's return to power increase the importance of atomic arms. Khamenei will continue to industrialize Iran's nuclear-weapons capacity. The Islamic Republic is already a threshold state, and as its atomic know-how and highly enriched uranium stockpiles increase, the clear efficacy of bombing Iran subsides. Khamenei may not even care that much about reinvigorated U.S. sanctions, since Chinese purchases of Iranian crude oil - almost all of Tehran's oil exports - haven't yet been diminished by Trump. Given the tariff war between Washington and Beijing, the odds that China will effectively resist anti-Iran U.S. sanctions have significantly increased. Is America willing to use force to try to stop Iran's development of an atomic bomb? The Obama-era hope that the clerical regime would somehow change its spots through diplomatic engagement is kaput. For the U.S., diplomacy has become either a diversion, an off-ramp from confrontation, or a prelude to war. Khamenei appears ready for a fight. Is Trump? Reuel Marc Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ray Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

(Gatestone Institute) Dr. Majid Rafizadeh - The Trump administration is engaging with the Iranian regime to prevent Iran from an imminent nuclear weapons breakout. Iran's acceptance of talks is a tactic. Cornered by growing U.S. and Israeli threats, the mullahs seem to be seeking to buy time and ease the pressure. Tehran only negotiates when it is desperate. Tehran understands full well that refusing to talk could invite devastating consequences. That is why the regime is willing to engage. Tehran's hold over the region has been weakening. Internally, the economy is near collapse. Under these conditions, who would refuse to talk, especially when the alternative is an Israeli-American air campaign targeting its nuclear facilities. Tehran has played this game before: Agree to talks. Make vague promises. Extract sanctions relief. Then quietly continue nuclear development under the radar. This formula has worked for more than two decades. The only reason Iran is talking is to stall, to promise just enough to prevent America from striking it and seeing its uranium centrifuges and enrichment sites blasted to rubble. But the regime cannot accept total nuclear disarmament. It is naive, even dangerous, to believe that Iran will dismantle its nuclear program. This is a regime that has spent decades investing billions of dollars, building secret facilities and deceiving international inspectors. Since the early 2000s, when Iran's clandestine program was first exposed, U.S. presidents have tried every approach imaginable. None of these efforts worked. The Islamic Republic has smoothly outmaneuvered every administration. It has accepted deals to avoid confrontation, then quietly violated them. With each round of negotiations, Iran gained time, money, legitimacy - and gave away nothing it could not reverse. Further talks will only serve Iran's interests. The Islamic Republic has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith. Hoping for a different outcome is self-deceptive make-believe.

(JNS) Yaakov Lappin - Nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, which began in Oman on Saturday, have raised questions about the risk of Tehran's exploiting the diplomatic track to gain time and legitimacy for its nuclear program. Prof. Eitan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, said Iran-U.S. talks contradict longstanding Israeli strategic positions. "Netanyahu does not believe in negotiations. He does not believe that they will produce an agreement. And if they will produce an agreement, Iran is not going to implement it. Netanyahu has been advocating a military action - preferably only by the United States or by the United States together with Israel....As long as negotiations with Iran are going to be held, there's no military option. Iran is known for exploiting negotiations endlessly to avoid any restrictions about its nuclear program." Gilboa stressed three key questions: How long will the talks go on for, is the U.S. seeking the complete dismantling of the nuclear program, and would any agreement also cover the Iranian ballistic missile threat. Netanyahu told the Israeli Cabinet that he had requested that Trump impose a time limit on the negotiations with Tehran and that Israel is fully coordinated with the American administration on Iran. Gen. Chuck Wald, USAF (ret.), former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command and a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said, "We can't treat the Iranians the way we wish they were. We have to treat them the way they are. I have very little faith that the negotiations are going to work, and I have a real high probability in mind that we're going to have to do something militarily."

(Ynet News) Lior Ben Ari - Lebanon's Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Saturday that Hizbullah's weapons are a "source of deep division among the Lebanese," and that the Shiite terror group "no longer enjoys the same influence it once had." Hizbullah's declining influence is due in part to its ongoing war with Israel, which has "weakened and exhausted it," and to a growing political consensus around principles such as the state's exclusive right to bear arms, the state's authority over decisions of war and peace, and its responsibility to reclaim all Lebanese territory. Mitri added that these principles have become more entrenched in Lebanese politics, altering the debate around Hizbullah's weapons compared to the past. A source close to Hizbullah told AFP that out of 265 Hizbullah outposts south of the Litani River, "around 190 have been transferred to the Lebanese army." On Thursday, Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji confirmed that Beirut had been told it won't receive international aid until all weapons in the country - north and south of the Litani - are brought under control.

(Israel Hayom) Shachar Kleiman - The Lebanese Hizbullah-affiliated Al-Akhbar reported Thursday that the U.S. told Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, not to provide any financial aid to Lebanon at this stage. They have been instructed to await developments in negotiations with Iran and the response of the Lebanese government to U.S. economic, security and political conditions. The U.S. decision also applies to Syria, where the Americans are demanding full implementation of their conditions.

(Spectator-UK) Jonathan Sacerdoti - Hamas - the Iranian-backed terror group responsible for the 7 October massacre - is petitioning British courts to lift its designation as a terrorist organization. Aided by British lawyers, Hamas is seeking to launder its blood-soaked record under the false banners of "liberation" and "resistance." This is not mere absurdity. It is a direct assault on the integrity of British democracy - and on the very survival of Western civilization. We must as a society avoid at all costs giving legitimacy to groups which openly seek the destruction of the very freedoms they exploit. Hamas's legal challenge frames it as a Palestinian Islamic liberation movement. Yet its founding charter, issued in 1988, remains a naked manifesto of genocidal intent. It declares all of Israel an Islamic trust to be reclaimed through jihad, rejects any negotiation, and traffics in classic antisemitic conspiracy theories. From the suicide bombings of the 1990s, to the relentless rocket barrages against Israeli civilians, to the mass rapes, murders and kidnappings of 7 October, Hamas has been unwavering in its purpose: the annihilation of Jews and the eradication of the Western-style democracy of Israel. Hamas's attempt to portray itself today as a political movement wronged by Western injustice is not merely dishonest - it is part of a broader strategy of political Islam to manipulate and subvert Western democratic systems. Britain's legal tradition is being cynically weaponized by an organization that would, given the chance, dismantle its very freedoms. If we allow Hamas to succeed in this grotesque charade, we will have surrendered the very principles that make Britain worth defending.

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - Shortly after the October 7 massacre, Hamas published a report highlighting the motives behind its cross-border attack on Israel. "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was a necessary step and a natural reaction against Israel's plans to...establish complete control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites." Last month, tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers converged on the mosque to attend special prayers for the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr feast. In previous years, similar numbers of Muslim worshipers enjoyed unlimited access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. On April 12, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that Jews were planning "to storm the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish holidays." Hamas said, "[Jewish] threats posed to Al-Aqsa Mosque require mobilization and action at all levels to thwart the...plans to impose a new reality at the mosque and expel the Muslims." The PA and Hamas were referring to routine visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where two ancient Jewish temples once stood. Notably, the Jewish visitors do not enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque during their outdoor tour of the Temple Mount compound. Moreover, the Islamic Waqf authorities do not ban non-Muslims from visiting the grounds around the mosque, so long as they do not set foot inside the mosque itself. Yet, peaceful and permitted outdoor tours to the grounds around the Al-Aqsa Mosque are regularly described by the PA and Hamas as violent incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. When it comes to spreading defamation against Israel and Jews, the PA and Hamas are invariably in full agreement. It is time for the U.S. and other Western countries to impose consequences on Palestinian leaders, especially Mahmoud Abbas and his senior representatives, for spreading falsehoods and libels against Israel and Jews. It is precisely this type of rhetoric that incentivizes Palestinians to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews. The mosque remains intact and is not facing any threat, despite Palestinian libels and lies. If anyone is desecrating the mosque, it is those who exploit it to encourage their people to carry out terrorist attacks.

(Capital Research Center) Ryan Mauro - A study of the online rhetoric from major "pro-Palestinian" groups and activists in the U.S. before and after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, concludes that their protests have morphed into an anti-American and anti-police movement with sharply radicalizing rhetoric that advocates terrorism and sedition on U.S. soil. An analysis of thousands of social media posts by 496 of the most active "pro-Palestinian" groups, many connected to "charities" and nonprofits, found a 3,000% surge in calls for violence and a 186% increase in the use of anti-American and anti-police keywords and phrases since Oct. 7. The broadening "pro-Palestinian" agenda includes siding with Western adversaries in conflicts around the world.

(Jerusalem Post) Gerald M. Steinberg - When Jews on Passover retell the 4,000-year-old story of the Exodus from slavery to freedom, they recall Pharaoh's order to murder all male Israelite children - a form of genocide. God then appointed Moses to lead them out of bondage through 10 plagues that devastated the entire Egyptian population. If these events had transpired today, the powerful "human rights" industry, led by the UN and the NGO superpowers (Human Rights Watch and Amnesty), would issue lengthy reports, hold press conferences, and publish posts on social media platforms condemning Moses and Aaron as war criminals. The International Criminal Court would issue arrest warrants charging the Israelite leaders with genocide. The successful creation of Israel and its survival remains the core "crime." The 1947 UN Partition Plan (the original two states for two peoples) and the victory of the Jews over the invading Arab armies were spun into nefarious Zionist plots, aided by the imperialist West. For Israel's critics, Israelis have no inherent right of self-defense - all military actions, including after the Oct. 7 atrocities, are automatically and cynically defined as war crimes. In parallel, Palestinian Arabs are perpetual victims, and any act against the hated Zionists, no matter how brutal, is embraced as "resistance." Today, the EU, NGO and UN network would denounce the ten plagues as a highly disproportionate use of force, and demand the return of the Israelite slaves to their Egyptian owners. The writer is founder and president of NGO Monitor and professor emeritus of political studies at Bar-Ilan University.