Iran’s narrative was that some of the Gulf states hosted US forces, or in the case of the UAE and Bahrain, had signed the Abraham Accords with Israel.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | MAY 14, 2026

The Persian Gulf Nations and their neighbors.  By Palosirkka, author of source file Furfur – File:Golf-Kooperationsrat.svg, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia [Added Detail and Changed size]

The Gulf states were victims of Iranian attacks during the war that began with US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Iran lashed out, attacking a dozen countries in the region.

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By Jalal Tagreeb

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In a recent video that has been circulating widely across Arabic-speaking platforms, Egyptian commentator Khaled Hassan delivered what can only be described as a devastating — and unwitting — vindication of Israel’s strategic position in the Middle East. Hassan’s analysis, sharp and unapologetic, was aimed squarely at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its contradictory, fear-driven posture toward Iran. But in laying bare Riyadh’s paralysis, Hassan inadvertently stripped away the last fig leaf covering a truth that pro-Israel observers have long argued: Iran is the existential menace in this region, and Israel, far from being the aggressor, is the rational actor that much of the Arab world secretly wishes it could emulate.

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Peloni:  The future is what we make of it.  The weight of what we might settle to accept after suffering the sacrifices made by men such as Maoz Recanati will be borne on the shoulders of our children and our grand children.

Avi Abelow | Meta | May 15, 2026

Cpt. Maoz Israel Recanati, IDF Platoon Commander in Golani Brigade’s 12 Battalion was mortally wounded following a drone strike on Israeli position in Southern Lebanon. (Israel Defense Forces)

Over Shabbat, another young IDF officer, Maoz Israel Recanati, was killed in battle in Lebanon.

He was supposed to get married in just one month.

Think about that for a moment.

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Peloni:  Rabbi Pesach Wolicki offers an analysis into the attempt by the Iranian regime to win back support of key aspects of the Iranian people.

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Janet Levy

Amid a crisis of trust in America, marked by the proliferation of manufactured news, tainted AI, and apocryphal social media populated by bots (up to 50% of posts), along with purchased likes and retweets, media consumers are deeply skeptical. According to a recent poll, only 38% believe the three assassination attempts on Trump were genuine.

Believing the unbelievable about Jews is another story. When the gray lady of ill repute reports a whooper that defies belief: that Israel trained dogs to rape Palestinians, released on the very day the results of a two-year investigation into the weaponization of sex during the October 7th Massacre were published, readers believe it.

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Peloni:  Trump retreats on Iran nuclear program, from “they can NEVER have a nuclear weapon” to “twenty years is enough.” This was a devastating shift in Trump’s rhetoric, which is notably aimed at negotiating a settlement with a terrorist death cult which has NEVER adhered to any agreement into which they previously entered.  Best case scenario from such a deal would be to hand the threat which brought Trump to war with Iran to the next generation, something for which he himself has criticized every president which preceded him.

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by Majid Rafizadeh  •  May 16, 2026

In 1979, 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019, 2022, late 2025 and early 2026, the Iranian people rose up in massive nationwide protests against economic collapse, repression, and governance failures. Each time, the regime responded with ruthless massacres. Millions of unarmed civilians, no matter how courageous, cannot easily overcome such force.  Pictured: Iranian protestors.  Screengrab via Youtube [Cropped] 

• In 1979, 1999, 2009, 2017-2018, 2019, 2022, late 2025 and early 2026, the Iranian people rose up in massive nationwide protests against economic collapse, repression, and governance failures. Each time, the regime responded with ruthless massacres…

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Brigitte Gabriel and TAFSIK embody a rising movement defined by urgency, courage, resilience, and an unwillingness to remain silent.

Michel Benchimol

Brigitte Gabriel. Screengrab via Youtube

On May 13, I had the distinct privilege of attending an interview and presentation by Brigitte Gabriel — a remarkable woman whose life story, courage, intellect, and extraordinary energy left a profound and lasting impression on everyone in attendance.

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Peloni:  A must read article.  The United Nations is a systematic tool used to imbed corruption, weaponize migration, and embolden radicalism.  It is not by chance that Europe has so quickly fallen prey to the Islamization of the continent, and America is next on the agenda.  Such enemies of Western civilization as the UN can not be reformed because its fundamental basis has become the perversion of civilized norms so as to cripple the very basis of national identity.  When President Trump next talks about the tale of the Snake, think of this report by Amil Imani, and consider what the West is doing by advancing any attempt to maintain such an evil and vile institution in any place of authority or power.  Instead, this institution should be stripped to its foundation and its leadership should be prosecuted for Crimes against its Nation State members and their respective populations.

Each and every apparatus working against our sovereignty and greatness.

Amil Imani | Am Thinker | May 14, 2026

Image: Public domain.

The United Nations functions as a predatory cartel dedicated to the systematic liquidation of national borders. Its agenda demands the total eradication of the nation-state to pave the way for a centralized, unelected global tyranny.

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Beyond the battlefield, Iran wages a war of diplomacy and perception, aiming to shape outcomes far beyond direct combat.

Abbas Araghchi. Photo by Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia

We are living with multi-pronged and multi-layered fighting in the Middle East. There is the straightforward military conflict that is multi-faceted, featuring overwhelming military might against asymmetrical fighting that seems more like terrorism than warfare.

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Update:  Haddad killed in Israeli strike!

Peloni:  Haddad was integral to the abuses suffered by Hamas’ hostages, and managed the hostages in the prison dens beneath Gaza.  His final elimination should be recognized as a significant achievement in and of itself.

By Joe Truzman | May 15, 2026

Israeli military aircraft attacked an apartment building in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood on Friday, targeting Hamas’s military chief, Izz al Din al Haddad. The strike, if successful, would be the third Hamas leader in Gaza to have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the Islamist group and its allies initiated the war with Israel on October 7, 2023.

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Peloni:  I really never thought we would see the day Tina Peters was finally released from prison.  Her incarceration was a case of clear retribution for having carried out her duty in overseeing the election process in her district and then collecting evidence and reporting the crimes which she uncovered in the infamous 2020 election tampering.  In an era marked with political show trials under the Biden administration, Tina Peters stands out due to her remarkable courage and relentless determination by the Colorado state authority to break every norm so as to make an example of what might befall those who might duplicate Peter’s resolve to secure the vote in America.

Rebeka Zeljko | National Correspondent | Daily Caller |  May 15, 2026

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence of Tina Peters on Friday, a former county clerk who questioned the 2020 election outcome and was facing nine years in prison.

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Peloni:  In the following video, Victor Davis Hanson states, “?If you want to give reparations, how about all the people who died fighting in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and Korea? What did they get.”  Victor Davis Hanson discusses pro-Palestinian protests in Jewish neighborhoods in New York City, arguing that political and campus culture have contributed to rising antisemitism and broader social disorder. He outlines what he calls the “four horsemen” of modern antisemitism: immigration-driven demographic change, DEI ideology, shifts within the Democratic Party, and left-wing popular culture, while also criticizing parts of the populist right.   The conversation also covers immigration and sanctuary policies, comments by Alejandro Mayorkas on border policy, reports on Oct. 7 atrocities, Harvard University’s reparations initiative, crime and early release policies, and upcoming political issues.

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Madeline Brooks:  The outstandingly brave Son of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef, goes even further in his excoriations of Hamas’ wickedness and his endorsement of Israel. In a recent video that did not recieve the attention it deserved, he declares, “Israel is earth, Israel is God. You fight with Israel, you fight with the most powerful authority of the universe.”  What a wonderful rebuke not only to the gentile Israel haters but to the growing hordes of “Jewish” Israel haters who side with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Of course, Israel is not God, but it is the place where God is working Redemption.

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Peloni:  While it should be acknowledged that any lawsuit put forward will almost certainly be dismissed, what is the real prize in such a suit will not be the judgement of the plaintiff’s [ie Israel] innocence in the form of any sum awarded, but rather victory in such an undertaking would be in being granted discovery where the real source and motivation behind Krisof’s rape fantasies might be uncovered.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | May 14, 2026

New York Times Building by Robert Scoble, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

The just-published New York Times piece by Nicholas Kristof, accusing Israel of horrific crimes, including the sexual abuse of “Palestinians” in Israeli prisons, with victims said to include men, women, and children, and of “training dogs” to rape “Palestinians” as well, has quite properly enraged the government and the people of Israel. The Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a Thursday, May 14 statement that Israel will take legal action against the Times over Kristof’s column.

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Peloni: Zineb Riboua explains how Iran’s attempt to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage has backfired after the Xi–Trump summit showed U.S.–China alignment on keeping the waterway open and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  Whereas the relationship between China and Iran has been characterized as being an alliance, I have argued previously that the their connection was merely that of partners, where shared interests were the limit of any commitment by China for Iran.  Iran’s refusal to negotiate with the US, tied to its weaponizing of the Strait of Hormuz, to its whimsical attack on the Gulf Arab nations, have all undermined China’s interests in Iran, even as Iran foolishly ignored its growing isolation from its former partner.  The enforcement of US sanctions on China’s Teapot refineries was always the ultimate leverage which Trump held over the Chinese-Iranian relationship, and having now enacted this crucial measure, there can be little support for Iran coming from China.

The Strait of Hormuz Is Not Iran’s to Close

Zineb Riboua| Beyond the Ideological | May 14, 2026

Pres. Trump meets with Pres Xi at Beijing Summit. Screengrab via X

The situation is obviously dynamic, but from reading today’s statements, here is my takeaway.

When Iran sealed the Strait of Hormuz, its genius strategists believed they held a winning hand. They expected two things: a global energy shock to force Washington into negotiations and the Gulf states to blame the disruption on US belligerence. Today, as President Trump sat across from Xi Jinping in Beijing, the first statements emerging from that summit began to reveal how thoroughly Tehran had misjudged the situation.

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Janet Levy

Listen to Amy Mekelberg from the RAIR Foundation (6 minutes)

Sharia-compliant enclaves exist throughout Texas, Michigan, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, California, Tennessee, Phoenix, and at least five other states.

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