By David Daoud | April 11, 2026

An image from an animated IDF illustration depicting strikes in Lebanon on April 8, 2026.

On the afternoon of April 8, Israel launched its deadliest and most intense wave of airstrikes in Beirut since the war with Hezbollah restarted in early March. Initial reports claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had dubbed this wave of strikes “Operation Eternal Darkness,” a nod to the ninth Passover plague. The IDF later clarified, however, that “Eternal Darkness” was the name of the operational order, not a standalone name for the wave of strikes or the initiation of a new operation under that name.

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Update: US-Iran talks begin

Negotiations continue despite Iranian threats over Israeli strikes on Hezbollah

All Israel News Staff | Published: April 10, 2026

Screengrab via Youtube

The Pakistani government placed its capital, Islamabad, on lockdown Friday as U.S. and Iranian delegations prepared to arrive for the first round of negotiations over a final ceasefire agreement.

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Peloni:  Behold, the peacemakers of our current age…

By Robert Spencer | April 11, 2026

Karachi local police Pakistan, Voice of America, Public domain

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Christians frequently suffer at the hands of police and other authorities who are jihadis themselves, or sympathetic to the global jihad.

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Peloni:  The problem in Lebanon is indeed integral to the problem in Iran, and in all truth, there is no good solution for Israel with Hezbollah so long as the IRGC controls Iran.  Unfortunately, resolving the threat from Lebanon is not the motivation bringing US pressure on Netanyahu to end the war in Lebanon, but rather it is clearly intended to satisfy the IRGC whose continued existence should, itself, not be considered as a viable outcome of this war, much less its proxy control in Lebanon.  Meanwhile, as Trump is applying pressure on Netanyahu to negotiate with Hezbollah, the Israeli electorate is applying its own pressure to end the harrying attacks on Israel’s northern communities.

Netanyahu stresses: Strikes against Hezbollah to continue during talks

All Israel News Staff | Published: April 10, 2026

Following heavy pressure from the United States to tone down Israeli strikes against the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon in order not to endanger ceasefire talks with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that direct negotiations with Beirut are set to begin “as soon as possible.”

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Peloni:  Notice that the Gulf members maintain their pre-war positions.  Qatar remains ever the groveling submissive to its dominating Iranian neighbor.  Oman remains closely alligned with its Iranian ally.  UAE wants a way out from the capture and control of the radicals in Iran.  And Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the radical Iranians remaining in power so long as it doesn’t affect Saudi interests.

By: Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez | MEMRI | April 10, 2026

Secretary Marco Rubio meets with Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council Member States in New York City, New York, September 24, 2025. Photo by U.S. Department of State – Flickr, Public Domain, Wikipedia

The announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, brokered by Pakistan, evoked mixed reactions from the Gulf states, reflecting their fundamental differences regarding the conflict. While Qatar and Oman, which maintained a pro-Iranian line throughout the war,[1] warmly welcomed the ceasefire agreement, other states expressed significant reservations.

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Peloni:  The defeat of these measures as well as the fact that they were brought to a vote, carry with them important implications.  The radicalism which is rife within the US Democratic party has been weaponized and focused towards support for radical candidates such as AOC and Mamdani, but this radicalism fails to gain significant support among the broader American public.  Notably, the simple fact that these antisemitic resolutions gained enough support for the measures to be considered and voted upon demonstrates the influence which the antisemitic rancor has in the Democratic party.

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Shoshana Bryen • JPC • April 10, 2026

U.S. Sailor guides a Panther helicopter during a supply transfer between USS Pinckney and USNS Carl Brashear during Operation Epic Fury, March 20, 2026. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

A ceasefire is, by definition, a temporary situation. In the best case, it is followed by peace. In other cases, the battle returns. Iran has already announced that it has reclosed the Straits of Hormuz. And just before that, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, told a briefing audience this morning, US forces remain in place. In such a situation, there are a few rules for understanding where we are, Including why it has already been violated by Iran.

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Peloni:  This is an important discussion between Chris Cuomo, Israeli Special Ops veteran Aaron Cohen, former CIA Special Agent Tracy Walder, and former political prisoner and NYU International Affairs Prof. Kian Tajbakhsh.  Of particular note, they address the fact that we can not substitute the notion of victory, which is a political outcome, with operational achievements, no matter how great these achievements might be.  As I have noted before, if the terrorist laden, psychopathic regime currently in power in Iran outlasts the Trump administration, all that will have ultimately been achieved in this war is a delay in Iran’s ability to dominate and defeat the West.  No amount of discussion can ignore this fact, and arguably, if this is what we will come to see at the end of Trump’s term, ie that the IRGC remains in power, the fairly articulated complaints which Trump leveraged against past presidents will come to be fairly articulated against Trump, himself.  This terrorist regime in Iran must be removed.  That is the only measure of victory which can be claimed in Iran and failing to do so could only be understood to be fairly claimed by the blood thirsty Iranian regime, itself, should it be allowed to remain in power.  

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Over the past decade, Iraq’s government has empowered Iranian-backed militias, which in turn used Iraqi territory to carry out hundreds of attacks during the war.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | APRIL 9, 2026

Iranian missile attack on Kurdish forces in Erbil Iraq. Screengrab via Youtube.

Many countries in the region are breathing a sigh of relief following the ceasefire between the US and Iran, as the Middle East was plunged into a war that most of them did not want.

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Peloni:  Rabbi Pesach Wolicki talks with Dr. David Wurmser about the strategic situation in Iraq, Lebanon, and the broader war involving Iran, in which Wurmser explains that many common assumptions about these conflicts are fundamentally flawed.

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Arabs’ illegal planting on Jewish farms is a microcosm of their strategy to encroach on all of Judea and Samaria. 

Douglas Altabef |   Apr 8, 2026

Im Tirtzu – Planting Hope: 100 Trees at Avichai Farm. Screengrab via Youtube

Sometimes seemingly small actions bespeak a world of larger intentions.

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Peloni:  Iran’s opportunity to free itself from its chains of oppression by the Mullahs and the IRGC is something which only the Iranian people can achieve.  With proper conditions and international support, the people can choose their path forward, all of which I hope to see as being more than an empty promise in the coming days, weeks or months.

By Hugh Fitzgerald | April 10, 2026

By Elke Wetzig (User:Elya) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikipedia

Analyst Zvika Klein thinks regime change will come to Iran only after the hot war is over, and it will be a task for the Iranian people alone to undertake, as they yet again go out into the streets to protest against a regime that is now a shadow of its former self.

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Peloni: As if on queue, Pakistan demonstrates for the world that their role in being chosen as the intermediary for peace talks has nothing to do with seeking peace.  Pakistan is not remotely a fair arbiter for peace.  As I have noted previously, they were chosen for their connection to China so as to convey Chinese influence over the Iranians to end the war before China loses all access to gulf oil, which is a real possibility should Iran persist in the war and its threats to target regional energy targets further. Note the Force majeure already declared on Chinese contracts for LNG exports by Qatar after having suffered significant damage by Iran’s attacks, something which would be further expanded if the US followed thru on its threats to target Iran’s economic system.

DM Asif calls Israel ‘evil and a curse for humanity’ and the ‘true and eternal enemy’ of Muslim world

All Israel News Staff | Published: April 10, 2026

Israeli leaders slammed an antisemitic post on ? by Pakistan’s defense minister on Thursday, just hours before his government was due to host talks aimed at a permanent ceasefire between Israel, the United States, and the Iranian regime.

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Peloni:  Was the rescue mission a cover story for a failed op on the Ishfahan nuclear site?  Interesting supposition.

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Peloni:   It will be difficult for Iran to end this war on Trump’s terms, and it will be impossible for Trump to end them on Iran’s terms.  So there is a deep disconnect at play between these two adversaries, which is why Washington is using a Chinese affiliated Pakistani intermediary in the negotiations.  Pakistan will place as much pressure on Iran as possible using the influence of Iran’s highly valued customer/patron in Beijing.  In fact, it is difficult for psychopaths to deal with reality, so using the Chinese to motivate the Iranians to come to terms with the US was an important gambit, even as the outcome of this ‘negotiation’ continues to clearly remain tenuous at best.

Avi Abelow | Israel Unwired | April 9, 2026

Everyone is asking the same questions right now…So Is there a ceasefire now or not? What is going on? Is the war over? Who won???

We were all bracing to end the Passover holiday and hear the news about bringing down the Islamic regime of Iran, as President Trump threatened.

Instead we ended the holiday hearing Trump talking about a two-week ceasefire and that “all the military objectives have already been achieved”.

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Arlene Kushner | April 9, 2026

Trump. Gage Skidmore via Flickr, Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikipedia

In my last posting – https://arlenefromisrael.info/because-we-must-is-why/ – I had praised President Trump highly because he was politically astute enough to recognize the dangers of Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, and responsible enough to pull the US out of that deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

Who could have imagined that, less than a week later, I would find it necessary to take a very different tone.

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Peloni: In an important article, foreign policy analyst and expert on US-Israeli relations, Mitchel Bard explains that Israel faces a significant strategic dilemma in dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon for which no good options exist.  The continued threat posed by a heavily armed Hezbollah, but potential strategies such as containment, escalation, or reoccupation all carry significant risks.

Reoccupation of southern Lebanon could result in pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, but it would not eliminate the threat of Hezbollah’s long-range missile capabilities, nor would it prevent it from rebuilding north of the Litani. Previously, Israel has relied upon deterrence and limited strikes, but this failed, as Hezbollah continued to strengthen and prepared for a large-scale attack similar to Hamas’s October 7 assault.

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