JD Vance accuses Israel of 'manipulating' US public opinion to prolong Iran war

In an interview published on Wednesday, Vance told conservative podcaster Joe Rogan that while he trusts some people within the Israeli government, there are others "who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely".

"I definitely think you have seen this very discreet, extremely well-funded campaign to try to derail the negotiation and try to derail the deal," he said, adding there is "exact evidence" that some Israeli leaders "hate the deal."

He told Joe Rogan that he "doesn't mind" what he described as "certain elements of the Israeli government" criticising the US position, adding that "foreign governments trying and influence the government all the time".
 
"What bothers me is actually when Americans allow, meaning American leadership allows, that influence to affect their judgement and to affect what they are advocating for," he said.

The consensus among analysts is that Hamas is down, but hardly out. The group may be badly battered, but it has been around since 1987, and in that time, it has been repeatedly attacked by Israel and has always grown back. The conditions that gave rise to the organization—occupation, dispossession, and humiliation at the hands of Israel—are as severe as ever. And in the Gaza Strip, there is no comprehensive alternative to Hamas’s governance. Even in its weakened state, the group has institutional memory, administrative infrastructure, and coercive capacity that its competitors cannot match.

But in truth, Hamas’s two-year war with Israel has decimated the organization beyond the point of recovery. It may still be more powerful than other groups in Gaza. But Israel’s bombing campaigns and invasion have cost Hamas essential military infrastructure, torn apart its leadership, and cut it off from its patrons. As a result, the organization lacks the power to actually rule Gaza. It is suffering from political paralysis and facing financial disaster in the enclave. Finally, it has lost public support: many Gazans blame the group for starting a war that has resulted in the destruction or damage of 90 percent of the homes in the Gaza Strip and the deaths of roughly four percent of the prewar population.

Despite these facts, officials on both sides of Gaza’s yellow line have embraced the idea that Hamas is alive and well. Members of Hamas perpetuate this farce for an obvious reason: they do not want to admit that they lost. But Israel is also pretending that its nemesis remains strong so it can justify its continuing military operations—and avoid having to answer difficult questions about the future of Palestinians.

US House defeats amendment to end Israel aid, but nearly half of Democrats vote in favor

Besides Massie, who was the only Republican to back the measure, 103 Democrats voted in favor, a sharp departure from previous years in which bills supporting Israel passed almost unanimously

Report: No charges filed in almost all IDF probes into Palestinian prisoner deaths, abuse

The IDF has opened 57 criminal investigations into the deaths of Gazans and one Lebanese detainee in military custody during the war, but none have resulted in an indictment, despite most deaths occurring inside military detention facilities equipped with security cameras and potential witnesses, Haaretz reports, citing the Hatzlacha organization, which describes itself as aiming to promote a fair society in Israel.
 
Of the 57 investigations, seven of the cases involved inmates who were shot to death. The military was reportedly unable to identify suspects in most of the cases.
 
According to data obtained by the Hatzlacha through Freedom of Information requests, an additional 19 investigations were opened into alleged beatings, violence or the “unlawful use of force,” but only two indictments were filed.

@MSF
Gaza - On 17 July, following an Israeli forces airstrike in Al Nuseirat, our teams treated a total of 12 people, most referred from Al Aqsa hospital – seven of whom were children. Three of these were critical cases including a 14-year-old who had shrapnel in his chest and abdomen from an explosion-related injury.
 
The other nine people also had injuries caused by explosions and were stabilised in our emergency department and admitted for monitoring or surgery.
 
Since midday Thursday, at least eight airstrikes from the Israeli forces have been reported across Gaza - all with casualties. There have also been reports of heavy gunfire and artillery shelling. For people in Gaza, there is no relief from violence. This is not a ceasefire.

@clashreport
Israel is spending about $50 million on a U.S. influence campaign to improve its image as American support has fallen over the wars in Gaza and Iran.  
 
The campaign, led in part by former Trump adviser Brad Parscale, uses AI-generated text messages, conservative media advertising, influencer outreach, and websites designed to shape how AI chatbots present information about Israel.  
 
It is part of a broader $700 million Israeli effort to strengthen its global image.  
 
Source: WSJ
 

https://www.lemonde.fr/un-si-proche [...] 16995.html
Quatre-vingt-onze personnes, majoritairement des civils, ont péri dans l’explosion de charges placées par un commando de l’Irgoun dans le sous-sol du bâtiment, où était installé, entre autres, le quartier général britannique pour la Palestine. Mais l’hôtel restait un des établissements les plus réputés de la Ville sainte, d’où le très lourd bilan, incluant 17 Juifs, 28 Britanniques et 41 Arabes, tués dans l’effondrement d’une partie de l’édifice.
 
Soixante ans plus tard, Benyamin Nétanyahou a pourtant dévoilé une plaque célébrant ce fait d’armes de l’Irgoun dans l’enceinte même du King David. Il a justifié un tel hommage en considérant « essentiel de ne pas confondre les groupes terroristes et les combattants de la liberté, l’action terroriste et l’action militaire légitime ». L’actuel premier ministre israélien est resté fidèle à des convictions aussi tranchées, conformes à son héritage aussi bien familial que politique.

@UKinJerusalem

Joint local statement of diplomatic missions of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, EU, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom on the extensive use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities without formal charge. Over 9,000 Palestinians are detained in Israeli prisons, including thousands held without charge or trial.

Human rights organisations describe prison conditions for Palestinians as severe and life-threatening, citing inadequate food, denial of medical care and systematic abuse. We are deeply concerned by recent reports regarding the deterioration of Dr. Abu Safiyah's health.

Detainees have the right to be informed about the charges underlying any detention, must be granted access to legal assistance, and be subject to a fair trial.

We call on Israel to uphold its human rights obligations towards detainees under international law, including by granting the ICRC immediate access to all detention facilities. We welcome the recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling on ICRC access and urge its full implementation.

But that relationship is now effectively over. Iranian leaders seemed frustrated that Hamas launched the attacks of October 7 without giving them sufficient warning. Iran, in turn, did not do much for Hamas during the war in Gaza. Hamas then did little when Iran itself came under attack. Both entities are currently rebuilding, but Iran’s new leaders are more focused on controlling the damage in their country, rebuilding, preserving their nuclear program, and managing a cease-fire than on aiding their onetime ally.
 
Hamas has also lost much of its support from Qatar. For over a decade, Qatar granted the organization’s leaders permanent residency, let them maintain a formal office in Doha (at Washington’s request), and featured them on Al Jazeera—Hamas’s primary platform for reaching the Arab world. Qatar also funneled around $360 million per year to the group in Gaza. But in November 2024, after Hamas killed the American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and rejected several cease-fire proposals, Qatar kicked some officials out of Doha at the behest of the United States. Qatar expelled more Hamas leaders in 2026 when they refused to condemn Iranian missile attacks on Gulf capitals. Many left for Turkey, but the Turkish government, which is wary of antagonizing the United States and interested in warming relations with Israel, has offered Hamas leaders far fewer perks than they enjoyed in Qatar.

Hamas still has enough small arms to control a check point, intimidate a merchant, or execute a collaborator. According to U.S. intelligence estimates, it also has about 20,000 fighters left. But this does not mean it can mount a meaningful military response to continued Israeli attacks. Before 2023, whenever Israel would strike Gaza, Hamas would fire rockets back in a tit for tat. Since the October 2025 cease-fire went into effect, Israel has killed over 1,000 Gazans and announced it would expand its control of the territory from 53 to 70 percent. Yet Hamas has responded with nothing more than statements.
 
 
In fact, Hamas is so weak it can no longer suppress armed challengers in its own territory. Today, five militias, each made up of a few dozen to a few hundred men, are fighting Hamas for control over Gaza, including the Popular Forces led by Ghassan al-Dahini and the so-called Strike Force Against Terror led by Hussam al-Astal. Hamas is also up against several armed families, such as the Dughmush and Shuhaiber clans in Gaza City and the al-Majayda clan in Khan Younis. These groups will not develop into a Hamas 2.0 because they lack relationships with Iran or Arab governments and are openly backed by Israel, which has provided them with weapons, money, and aerial support. But they are nonetheless dangerous to Hamas because they have undermined the group’s authority over certain areas and targeted its members.

The rest of the world, then, needs to stop being complicit in the fiction that Hamas is still a menace. U.S. and European governments must begin asking Israel to account for the gap between the threat it describes and the reality on the ground. Donor countries should condition reconstruction funding on Israeli compliance with the cease-fire’s provisions—which mandate a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the opening of all border crossings, and the unrestricted return of displaced civilians—not on Hamas’s disarmament alone. Seeing through Netanyahu’s ploy is a prerequisite for rebuilding the lives of the two million Gazans left in the strip

A défaut des armes, le Hamas abandonne la gouvernance de la bande de Gaza. Au moins verbalement. Le mouvement islamiste palestinien a annoncé, lundi 6 juillet, dans le cadre d’une conférence de presse, que « le président du comité d’urgence du gouvernement, Mohammed Al-Farra, a[vait] officiellement présenté sa démission ». Il a aussi procédé à la dissolution de ce comité d’urgence, l’organe aux commandes de l’enclave depuis que le Hamas en a pris le contrôle, en 2007.

@UKinJerusalem
 
Joint local statement of diplomatic missions of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, EU, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom on the extensive use of administrative detention by Israeli authorities without formal charge. Over 9,000 Palestinians are detained in Israeli prisons, including thousands held without charge or trial.
 
Human rights organisations describe prison conditions for Palestinians as severe and life-threatening, citing inadequate food, denial of medical care and systematic abuse. We are deeply concerned by recent reports regarding the deterioration of Dr. Abu Safiyah's health.
 
Detainees have the right to be informed about the charges underlying any detention, must be granted access to legal assistance, and be subject to a fair trial.
 
We call on Israel to uphold its human rights obligations towards detainees under international law, including by granting the ICRC immediate access to all detention facilities. We welcome the recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling on ICRC access and urge its full implementation.

@KalshiPolitics
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC SENATE ODDS:

Abdul El-Sayed: 66%
Haley Stevens: 34%

Grenoble Des militants pro-Palestine mettent fin au concert de Barbara Butch
 
Le concert de la DJ Barbara Butch au Cabaret frappé, à Grenoble, a été perturbé par des militants pro-Palestine après un appel lancé par l'élu d'opposition LFI Allan Brunon.
Le Dauphiné Libéré - 18 juil. 2026 à 23:43 | mis à jour le 19 juil. 2026  
 
    Allan Brunon et ses militants devant la scène du concert de Barbara Butch scandant des slogans pro-Palestine. Photo Rémy Kiledjian
 
Elle est l'une des têtes d'affiche de l'édition 2026 du Cabaret frappé. La DJ Barbara Butch se produit ce samedi soir à Grenoble. Un concert qui n'est pas du goût de l'élu d'opposition LFI Allan Brunon, qui appelait, le 12 mai dernier, à un « boycott culturel » dans une publication Instagram. L'élu réproche notamment à l'artiste d'avoir signé une tribune soutenant la très controversée loi Yadan.
 
Ce samedi soir, des militants ont suivi son appel et sont venus perturber le concert.
 
22:30
Une centaine de militants ont répondu à l'appel de l'élu d'opposition LFI Allan Brunon
 
Une centaine de militants pro-Palestine tentent de faire stopper le concert de Barbara Butch à Grenoble, DJ qui avait signé une tribune en faveur de la loi Yadan.
 
Comme il l’avait annoncé lors d’un conseil municipal, Allan Brunon est au cœur de cette action.
 
Le concert a débuté vers 22h25 sous les huées et se poursuit pour l’instant malgré les protestations des personnes situées à l’avant de la scène. De nombreuses insultes sont proférées en direction de l’artiste
https://www.ledauphine.com/faits-di [...] bara-butch

Grenoble : le concert de Barbara Butch au Cabaret Frappé stoppé par des militants pro-Palestine
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Le concert de Barbara Butch au Cabaret Frappé à Grenoble a été arrêté après 20 minutes de show. © Radio France - Emma Jacob
ICI Isère
 
Diffusé le dimanche 19 juillet 2026 à 7h31
Le concert de la DJ Barbara Butch a été arrêté après vingt minutes samedi 18 juillet à Grenoble. Sa performance a été perturbée par des défenseurs de la cause palestinienne, en raison du soutien de l'artiste à la loi Yadan. Un boycott soutenu par la section grenobloise de La France insoumise.
 
Le show n'aura duré qu'une vingtaine de minutes. Ce samedi soir, une centaine de militants pro-Palestine s'est mobilisée pour perturber le concert de la DJ Barbara Butch au Cabaret Frappé à Grenoble, en raison de son soutien affiché à la loi Yadan. Le texte, finalement retiré par les macronistes en avril dernier, était accusé de criminaliser la critique du gouvernement israélien.
https://www.ici.fr/emissions/l-info [...] ne-4508640

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader de LFI, a crié « Victoire » sur X. « Le préfet de police, le président du CRIF [Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France] et la mairie PS de Paris ont tenté en vain d’attenter aux libertés publiques de l’opposition de gauche », a écrit le candidat à l’élection présidentielle. « Le préfet de police prend acte de la décision » du tribunal « qui a estimé que les conditions étaient réunies pour permettre au concert de se dérouler en sécurité », a réagi la préfecture de police.