In a candid interview with CNN on Wednesday, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert stated that he can no longer justify Israel’s actions in the face of allegations of war crimes.
Olmert said his intensifying disapproval of Israel’s leadership stems from its failure to articulate any plan for what lies ahead. “A lack of any vision for what comes next. What are we going to do in order to end the war, release the hostages, and start to move it towards some kind of political horizon?” he said.
Pointing to controversial statements made recently by members of Israel’s government, Olmert highlighted remarks such as, “We should starve Gaza.”

A federal judge has stepped in to stop the U.S. Department of Transportation from cutting off funding to New York as part of the Trump administration’s effort to derail the city’s congestion pricing initiative. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman issued a preliminary injunction, following his earlier temporary restraining order, that blocks federal officials from denying funds or necessary approvals for New York infrastructure projects.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte: “People couldn’t, for the last four years, afford a home. The American Dream is what America is all about — and we’re going to restore the American Dream under President Trump.

A Defense Ministry civilian contractor was killed on Thursday by a powerful roadside bomb explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announced. He was identified as Dovid Libi, H’yd, 19, from the Malachei HaShalom yishuv in Binyamin. Libi was operating a heavy engineering vehicle when the bomb went off and was killed instantly. The Binyamin Regional Council stated: “With great sorrow, we announce the fall in battle in the Gaza Strip of Dovid Levi, H’yd, a resident of the yishuv Malachei HaShalom in Binyamin. Dovid, 19, a third-generation pioneer of settlement in Binyamin, a builder and lover of the land, is survived by his parents and seven siblings.” “He is the oldest son of Eliav and Sora Libi, settlement pioneers.

A push in Texas to ban social media accounts for children under 18 faded Thursday after lawmakers did not take a key vote on creating one of the nation’s toughest restrictions aimed at keeping minors off platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram. The bill, which already passed the GOP-controlled state House, aims to go further than a Florida social media ban for minors under 14. Australia banned social media accounts for anyone under 16. But earlier momentum behind the Texas measure slowed at the eleventh hour in the state Senate as lawmakers face a weekend deadline to send bills to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that if the “One Big Beautiful Bill” fails to pass, Democrats will be responsible for a massive 65 percent hike in taxes. He laid the blame squarely on their shoulders during remarks from the Oval Office following a swearing-in ceremony for interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.
“You know, if it’s up to the Democrats, they’ll take the 65 percent increase. If that doesn’t get approved, this country is going to have a 65 percent increase in taxes and lots of other problems, big problems, almost bigger than that,” Trump said, stressing that the legislation would deliver “the largest tax cut in the history of our country.”

A new US-Israel distribution center in central Gaza is now operational, distributing 1.6 million meals to Gazans just today.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa meets U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack in Damascus, this morning.

The U.S. flag was hoisted at the American Ambassador’s residence in Damascus, marking the first time since 2012.

Nancy Pelosi says that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is “about tax cuts for the wealthiest people.”

The Tel Aviv district’s main unit stopped a group of five suspects, including some from a foreign gang, who were planning a shooting. During the arrest, police confiscated a loaded pistol with a cartridge, two rubber bullets, and face masks.

Amid Palestinian unrest at a new aid distribution site near Netzarim, U.S. forces deployed stun grenades to repel Palestinians trying to advance.

IDF forces putting the finishing demolition touches on a terrorist structure in Gaza.

DISASTER AVOIDED: Hours after a major international high-tech conference held yesterday at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Center’s Expo, a lead wall, estimated to weigh well over a thousand pounds, collapsed while the setup was being taken down.

In a searing address delivered Wednesday from the Knesset plenum, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Almog Cohen of the Otzma Yehudit party lashed out at Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, calling them “disgraceful” and “lowly” individuals.
Cohen, speaking forcefully from the podium, slammed Golan for past remarks made about IDF soldiers: “The message I’m sending,” he said, “to Yair Golan, who described our soldiers as baby killers for sport — see under: sadists — is that you should be ashamed of yourself. You are a lowly person. You are a disgraceful person.”

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