Tag: Middle East

It’s Like a War Zone

~ Randy Harris ~ Leave a comment

Iranian security forces are deliberately firing at protesters’heads to cause them debilitating injuries, local doctors have claimed, citing wounds inflicted on hundreds of patients they have treated.

Over 400 eye wounds from gunshots have been documented at a Tehran hospital by an ophthalmologist working there, according to the Guardian.

The British newspaper reported Tuesday that it received three messages from doctors about conditions in hospitals, which they say have been overwhelmed by demonstrators with gunshot wounds — most of them to the eyes and head.

Security forces have been seen using shotguns to fire metal pellets at protesters, as well as rifles with more lethal ammunition, according to the report.

“[Security forces] are deliberately shooting at the head and the eyes. They want to damage the head and the eyes so they can no longer see, the same thing they did in [2022],” one of the doctors was quoted as saying, referring to anti-government protests at the time.

According to the doctor, many of the injured had to have their eyes removed and were blinded as a result.

“Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets, and it was deliberate; they are shooting to kill,” he said.

A wave of injured people arriving for treatment, which spiked after Iran cut off internet access last Thursday, has left hospitals looking “like a war zone,” the doctor said.

“It’s like in the war movies where you see the injured soldiers getting treated on the open field,” he said. “We don’t have blood, we don’t have enough medical supplies.”

Security forces occasionally enter the medical centers to arrest injured protesters, he said.

Another doctor described treating injured protesters outside in the grounds of the hospital despite freezing temperatures, as there was no space left in the wards.

The US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights also accused Iranian authorities of seeking to intimidate protesters with mutilating injuries to the face and genitals.

“The evidence demonstrates that even when utilizing ‘less-lethal’ weapons, the Islamic Republic deliberately targets vital organs, transforming these tools into instruments of systematic mutilation and permanent disability to terrorize protesters,” a spokesperson said in the Guardian report.

TIMES OF ISRAEL

Iran protest death toll said to be at least 12,000

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CBS News cited Iranian sources saying up to 20,000 may have been killed, though only some 2,500 have been confirmed by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Israel and Arab states have reportedly advised Washington that the regime is not weakened enough for a military strike to be decisive.

Jan. 14, 2026 / JNS)

More than 12,000 people are feared dead in Iran after a sweeping crackdown on anti-regime protests, with CBS News reporting on Tuesday that sources inside and outside the country believe the toll could be as high as 20,000 and newly verified video showing hundreds of bodies stacked at a morgue near Tehran.

The outlet said the true scope of the bloodshed has been obscured by a near-total shutdown of internet and phone service imposed by Iran’s rulers over the past five days, with only limited outgoing calls allowing word of the killings to leak out. 

Activist networks citing medical sources around the country told the network they now believe the death toll stands at a minimum of 12,000 and could reach 20,000, even as an unnamed Iranian official told Reuterssome 2,000 people had been killed since the unrest erupted Dec. 28.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said on Tuesday that it has confirmed 2,403 protester deaths, and that 18,434 people have been detained. HRANA also said that 1,134 people with severe injuries have been reported. jns.org

Serious conditions in Iran. I don’t envy President Trump and the administration, but what the sane world has hoped for may be about to come to fruition. What happens next? IMO strikes must happen soon to stop the carnage. Rh

Selective Outrage

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As with everything the radical Luciferian left does, it is couched in selective outrage. Crying wolf and painting themselves and their causes in fear mongering and victimhood.

Take for example the ongoing crisis in Iran. Iran is a rogue nation bent on not only destruction of Israel, but the United States and all we stand for. (Little satan first, big satan next.). Speaking of Israel and the US.

The left loves anti constitutional entities, choosing dictators over freedom loving people. Take for example choosing a non-existent Palestinian people who could have lived free in Gaza if not for allowing Hamas to take over. (Insert Bill Clinton saying his administration gave the Palestinians a state.) Hamas is financed in part from Iran. It seems the left of America and other nations love dictators and despots. Take Venezuela, the left screams about intervention there. Look at Iran, where is the outrage over gunning down the protesters in the streets. The Iranian people want freedom, isn’t that a cause to get behind not shrink like flowers after the first frost?

The Iranian regime has reportedly shut down the internet, cut electricity, and unleashed security forces using live fire against civilians. Yet tonight, hundreds of thousands are said to be back in the streets of Tehran, waving the lights of their phones in the darkness–silent signals to a watching world that they are still there. In an extraordinary act of defiance, reports indicate that hundreds of mosques have been burned, a declaration by ordinary Iranians that they are done with clerical rule and religious tyranny.

And yet–silence.

Where is the outrage, where is the international community standing with the Iranian people. A free and somewhat democratic Iran tops anything they have now. Where is the Western outrage? Where are the campus protests? Where are the celebrities, the social media campaigns, the carefully worded condemnations? The contrast is impossible to ignore. Protesters who claim to stand for human rights seem energized only when Israel is the villain. When Jews are involved, outrage becomes a public ritual. When a radical Islamist regime kills its own people, the moral urgency evaporates.

Something to think about.

Qatar is biggest foreign funder of US colleges, per Education Department

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“Every single dollar given by our adversaries comes with strings attached,” Rep. Tim Walberg told JNS. “Enough is enough.”

AARON BANDLER jns.org

It’s not Israel that’s influencing US policy, it’s the Muslim and Arab world through big payments to our institutions of higher learner. That money comes with big strings attached. Now you know why collage age young people rally for Palestinians. They believe the lie and propaganda. Rh

Jan. 8, 2026 / JNS)

Qatar has been the largest source of foreign funding for U.S. higher education institutions, according to data displayed in a new U.S Department of Education portal.

The portal, which went live on Jan. 2, explains that, under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, federally funded universities are required to disclose, twice annually, any gifts and contracts from a foreign source that are worth at least $250,000 in a calendar year.

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, told JNS that “our college campuses are being flooded with foreign cash, but every single dollar given by our adversaries comes with strings attached.”

“America’s adversaries exploit these financial ties to steal research, spread divisive propaganda, push indoctrination and undermine free speech,” Walberg said. 

“Enough is enough,” he added. “The Trump administration is making the reporting of foreign funds easier and more transparent so we can protect our students and the integrity of American education.”

Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and a former assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights, told JNS that he’s “glad that the Trump administration is bringing greater transparency to the enormous amount of foreign money that’s coming into our higher education system.”

According to the dashboard, Qatar was the source of around $6.6 billion to U.S. universities, followed by Germany ($4.4 billion), England ($4.3 billion), China ($4.1 billion), Canada ($4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($3.9 billion).

Of the schools that received funds from Qatar, Cornell University topped the list with $2.3 billion, followed by Carnegie Mellon University ($1 billion), Texas A&M University ($992.8 million) and Georgetown University ($971.1 million).

“In particular, this portal already shows huge amounts coming in from Qatar,” Marcus told JNS. “It is hard to imagine that this amount of money doesn’t imply some amount of influence, and it’s fair to ask what kind of influence Qatar is obtaining in exchange for its money.”

Overall, the data shows that the value of contracts and gifts from all foreign countries has been $62.4 billion to 527 U.S. colleges and universities.

Brandy Shufutinsky, director of the education and national security program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that she has questions about the data, such as whether universities are required to report the specific funding entities within a country.

“For example, if an international non-governmental organization or governmental department gave funds to an American university, does that university have to disclose the name of that NGO or governmental department?” she said. (JNS sought comment from the Education Department.)

She also asked whether the portal provides information on how foreign funding is used.

“The idea for the portal should not only be to increase transparency around Section 117, but to allow users to truly understand the level of foreign funding and influence taking place in the American higher education system,” Shufutinsky said.

Linda McMahon, U.S. education secretary, stated that “after years of neglect by the Biden administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by facilitating improved compliance.”

According to the portal, Yeshiva University in New York has received $1,097,897 in foreign funding, and Rabbinical College Bobover Yeshiva Bnei Zion in New York received $1.5 million. Both received foreign funding solely from Canadian sources. Yeshiva had three such gifts and the rabbinical college had two.

The Michigan Jewish Institute, a Chabad-affiliated organization in the Detroit area, received a single $250,000 contract from an Israeli source between 2011 and 2013, according to the portal. The institute shuttered in March 2016.

The portal reported a total of $62,4 billion total disclosures to the Education Department up until Jan. 31, 2025, including 117,152 total reports from 194 countries to 527 U.S. colleges and universities.

Brandeis University, which “is animated by a set of values that are rooted in Jewish history and experience,” was listed in the portal as having received $7,816,216 in foreign funding in 17 transactions from the United Nations ($3.9 million), Malaysia ($1.4 million), Hong Kong ($821,000), United Kingdom ($570,000), France ($420,000), Canada ($405,000) and Switzerland ($250,000).

About half of the funding for Brandeis came from restricted contracts (55.9%) and 30.1% were gifts and 14% were restricted gifts.

According to the most recent disclosure file, dated Feb. 28, 2025, Israel had 1,323 transactions for a total of $419,454,891.24 to about 105 institutions. The largest three were contracts to Brigham Young University: $7 million in 2018, $6.5 million in 2020 and $5.2 million in 2019

Round Two??

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Over the past several hours, dozens of U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tankers and heavy military transport aircraft – specifically C-5 and C-17 platforms – have departed from the United States and from a U.S. airbase in the United Kingdom, heading toward the Middle East.

According to multiple sources, the United States is preparing for strikes against Iran, and this activity reflects the ongoing transfer of forces to the region.

Iran Updates

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“If Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” – President DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump, Maduro, Iran Protests, and America First – Please Read and Share This Short Analysis copied from Amir Tsarfati

President Trump’s America First policy is fundamentally different from the version promoted by commentators such as Tucker Carlson.

In Trump’s view, one cannot ignore the reality that foreign actors are actively undermining the United States. The 90-minute operation in the Venezuelan capital and its surrounding areas was not a war; therefore, Congress was neither informed nor asked to approve it. It was a law-enforcement action – a swift removal of a destabilizing domestic agitator.

Judging by the president’s own words, regime change was not the objective. Rather, the goal was a complete change in policy.

Three considerations were at the forefront, none of which had anything to do with Israel’s concerns regarding Venezuela. From Trump’s perspective, the issues were drugs, illegal immigration by criminals, and oil that was unjustly taken from American companies.

Trump’s priority is to keep America free of drugs and gangs while maintaining a strong, thriving economy. He did not remove Maduro because of his ties to Iran or Hezbollah – at least not according to his statements or those of his secretary of war. Any genuine regime change in Venezuela, he argues, must come from within, through free and non-fraudulent elections.

Now let’s turn to Iran.

The United States will not initiate a war with Iran simply because of internal unrest or popular protests. American intervention would occur only if the Iranian regime poses a direct threat to U.S. interests. In practical terms, threats against American allies, U.S. bases, or U.S. assets are the triggers that could lead the 47th president to authorize another round of B-2 operations over the skies of the Islamic Republic.

From Trump’s perspective, an Israeli strike could once again serve as the catalyst – not to pursue regime change, but to reinforce deterrence. A follow-on U.S. B-2 presence would signal unmistakably to Tehran that continued aggression, including the killing of its own civilians, carries severe consequences. The objective would be pressure, not overthrow: pushing the regime to halt repression and recalibrate its behavior.

Israel, however, does not have the luxury of waiting.

Israel cannot afford to watch the ayatollahs accumulate thousands of ballistic missiles while renewing their nuclear ambitions – all while already possessing roughly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%.

Therefore, in my assessment, another round involving Iran is very close – literally around the corner. For Israel, it would be about removing existential threats. For Trump, it would be about restoring deterrence and forcing restraint.

Unfortunately, according to Scripture, Iran will come against Israel in the near future as part of an emerging coalition led by Russia. Until then, the regime will attempt to survive – waiting patiently for the end of Trump’s presidency, counting on the assumption that his successor’s worldview will be closer to that of Tucker Carlson.

(IMO). I totally concur, I don’t see us doing a regime change in Iran, however Israel will need to strike again and what happens after that is anyone’s guess.

On Venezuela, it’s more than just narco-terrorist there, Russia, China and Iran have interests there. Is there weaponry or launch capabilities in country?? Who knows, I am sure the US military knows. Exciting times to live in. I have been preaching about these days since I was a young man. Maranatha! Rh

Israel Seeks Defense Independence

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently committed Israel to a 350 billion-shekel ($110 billion) investment over the next decade to boost independence in critical arms production. 

The announcement, detailed during a meeting of defense chiefs at Shin Bet headquarters on Dec. 25, came one day after the prime minister, at an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony, stated that he had approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of 350 billion shekels “over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry. We want to reduce the dependency on any party, including allies.”

This is a great move for Israel, Netanyahu has also stated earlier that the alliance with America is good, but waiting on approval like a vessel state is not what Israel needs in today’s world. I remember the slow walk by the Biden Administration in delivery of weapons that had already been bought by the IDF. Even now with a friendly President in the White House it seems that Israel is like a beggar on a street corner at times. Recently Israel shipped defense weaponry to Germany, also a gas deal with Egypt was also worked out between the two nations. Good for Israel.

Israel is surrounded by enemies in the Middle East and Northern Africa. If you look at a map Israel is the tiny dot in the middle of Islamist who have sworn to destroy them. My fear is that America is turning from its hard commitment of Israel to a more neutral position. That my friends is not good for the US.

Only a nation blessed by Almighty God could find itself capability to repeal a sneak attack and wars on all fronts and come back, in many cases stronger than before. The Bible clearly states that the Jews will come home and make the desert blossom as a rose. It surely has.

As with my nation, I don’t agree with everything that they do, but for Israel and the US this friendship is in our best interest as well as theirs. We may give them aid, but it comes back in investments in our military complex and even more importantly in intelligence from a very fragile and complex region.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Rh

Ambassador Huckabee: ‘Iran didn’t get the message’

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Interview with Mike Huckabee

December 22, 2025

Source: Israel National News

Iran will never stop trying to make a bomb. Everybody with half a brain knows that. Why Trump and Netanyahu did not go ahead and finish the job, it will take regime change in Iran for anything to be different when it comes to their hatred for Israel and the United States. Mark my words a strike on Iran will have to happen one more time. And let’s hope this time the job is finished, just like the job in Gaza with Hamas should have been finished. Rh

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Iran remains a central national security concern for Washington, stressing that President Donald Trump has been unequivocal in opposing any Iranian path to nuclear weapons, during a wide-ranging interview with the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).

Asked whether the US would support further Israeli military action should Iran move to cross nuclear or ballistic missile thresholds, Huckabee emphasized that such decisions are made at the White House level. However, he pointed to the President’s consistent public statements. “He consistently has said Iran is never going to enrich uranium and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Huckabee said, adding that the message has not changed following the recent conflict.

threat beyond Israel and the US, suggesting Tehran may only recently have begun to take US warnings seriously. “Iran, I don’t know that they ever took him seriously until the night that the B-2 bombers went to Fordow,” he said. “I hope they got the message, but apparently they didn’t get the full message because … they appear to be trying to reconstitute and find a new way to dig the hole deeper, secure it more.”

For full article: Israel National News

Israel’s economic boom

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By Jim Fletcher

December 18, 2025

Benjamin Netanyahu just announced a $112 billion gas deal with Egypt. In thelast 15 years, the   state has discovered vast gas and oil reserves in the Mediterranean. Remember how Israel was often almost mocked for not having any real natural resources, especially in contrast to her Middle East neighbors?

Those days are over.

Amid all the war and talk of war and security—topics that dominate the news cycle regarding Israel—the economy of the state of Israel is experiencing growth so incredible, one wonders if in fact there might be some sort of temporary cessation of hostilities between Israel and most of the Middle East.

Now comes word of another financial win.

Nvidia, the world’s leader in artificial intelligence computing (worth $4.3 trillion) is planning a campus in northern Israel, to be fully occupied by 2031. For up to 10,000 employees, the new site will be built on 22 acres. All these plans are being developed from the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

The multi-billion-dollar investment will turbo-charge Israel’s economy. Of course, the country is already a tech leader in innovation. The capabilities and potential ofIsraeli tech firms is already  legendary.

All Israel News reported some of the potential:

“Nvidia’s senior vice president of marketing Gilad Shainer assessed at the time that artificial intelligence is the ‘most important technology of our lifetime.’

“’Generative AI is going everywhere nowadays. You need to be able to run training on large datasets,’ Shainer said in an interview with Reuters. The Israeli-based AI computer currently ranks 34th among the world’s top 500 supercomputers.”

Perhaps most astonishing is the fact that “Nvidia’s Israeli workforce currently constitutes some 15% of the tech giant’s total global workforce.”

Incredible!

And, as an extra example that God is actually guiding things, as the Bible tells us He does, the Gaza War was thought to endanger Israel’s economy. Instead, Israel’s tech sector is strong, attracting international groups like Nvidia. What Hamas meant for evil, God meant for good.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made it clear he intends to continue investing in Israel and is not deterred by the military threats.

“’The thing I showcased, which is the heart and soul of the Blackwell processor, came from Israel. And so, we will continue to invest heavily in Israel. This entire region is very important to me,’ Huang stated last year.”

The more than 3,000 Israeli employees are reinforced by another 100 in Judea-Samaria, and even Gaza itself.

When you consider this type of economic juggernaut against a backdrop of war, it becomes clear that the Nvidia story is almost hidden from the public. And it should also impress President Donald Trump, whose now uneven relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu causes some to worry about U.S.-Israel relations going forward. So again, are we seeing an economic paradise that might even overcome the jihadists for a time? After all, the Abraham Accords are a cornerstone of Trump’s belief that economic advances can blunt 7th century warmongering.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that all these things will overcome the haters. We know from Scripture that Gog-Magog will erupt in a climate of at least relative safety for Israel. And you can be sure the Abraham Accords are not built on anything but economic expediency. But we can speculate fairly accurately that Israel’s tech and energy successes will flourish for a time. After all, Gog comes to “take a spoil” and Israel has an economy that would spoil anyone.

Since 9/11, there have been 65,000 Islamic terrorist attacks across the globe. Satan’s army seeks to destroy. We should however welcome any respite from this kind of evil.

That’s a chore, however.

This past week, I spent a half-day listening to and transcribing Tucker Carlson’s Dec. 10th podcast, “Our Closest Ally,” in which the now-Israel-hating commentator made the absurd claim that Qatar is a more viable alliance for the U.S. than Israel. In fact, speaking of the famed Israel-U.S. alliance, Carlson made this chilling remark: “There’s no reason for it to stay that way forever.”

My goodness, that sounds like a threat. And it plays of course right into such prophecies as Jeremiah 30:14. There, we see that one day, Israel will literally wind up alone. Carlson might thirst for the end of Israel, but even he can’t erase Israel’s value to the international community for the time being.

Let’s pray that Israel’s marvelous economy will continue to be a bulwark against those that seek Israel’s destruction.

Although we have to be very careful about making specific predictions, let us at least hope that this good news from Israel will make the Jewish state an indispensable actor in today’s world for some time to come.

God is blessing Israel, who are trying to protect their ancient land from those who wish to destroy them. The Bible tells us the land of Israel shall blossom like a rose in the last days. Rh

‘They Sponsor Terrorism’: Trump Moves to Target Muslim Group Following Startling Report by Paul Petitte – CBN News

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JERUSALEM — The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic terror group so dangerous that it’s banned in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt. This year in the U.S., Texas and Florida designated the group a foreign terrorist organization. In the coming days, the Trump administration is expected to do the same.

President Donald Trump’s executive order beginning the process of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization follows a lengthy report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, known as ISGAP.

The report, nearly 200 pages long, argues that the Muslim Brotherhood has spent decades advancing what it calls a “civilization jihad” aimed at undermining democratic institutions in the United States and the West.

“This is an organization that believes in murdering Jews, destroying Israel, and destroying the United States of America,” said Dr. Charles Asher Small, the founder and director of ISGAP. “This is their objective.”

Founded nearly a century ago in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood now operates across the Middle East. Hamas originated as the group’s Palestinian branch, according to the report.

In November, Small appeared alongside lawmakers and scholars to warn that the Brotherhood is “more than halfway through” what ISGAP describes as a 100-year plan to erode democratic societies from within.

“They sponsor terrorism, murder, and mayhem across the planet,” said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee at a recent Knesset prayer event. “They are a very negative and destructive force, and it’s very important for the United States to use its power and influence to call them out for what they are.”

The ISGAP report focuses heavily on what it describes as the Brotherhood’s influence operations in the West, particularly in academia. It alleges that groups such as the Muslim Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine serve as vehicles for spreading the organization’s ideology. The report cites Students for Justice in Palestine as a major force behind violent anti-Israel protests at Columbia University.

Small pointed to the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City as evidence of what he describes as long-term political penetration.
“He came out of SJP,” Small said. “He was a student activist for Students for Justice in Palestine at Bowdoin College. It’s important for your listeners to understand that SJP comes out of American Muslims for Palestine, which is a Muslim Brotherhood-backed organization.”

Trump’s executive order states that Muslim Brotherhood chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt pose a threat to U.S. national security interests.

Middle East analyst Dr. Mike Evans said he urged the administration to expand the scope of the order to include Brotherhood-linked activity in Syria, Turkey and Qatar.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar funded and fueled terror — al Qaeda, the Taliban, Iran and Hamas,” Evans said. “These people hate us.”

At the state level, decisions by Texas and Florida governors to label both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as terrorist organizations are currently being challenged in court.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott cited past convictions tied to CAIR affiliates in defending the designation. “One of the founders of the Texas branch of CAIR was sent to prison for 65 years for financing terrorism,” Abbott said. “The fact of the matter is there are people associated with CAIR who pose a serious danger.”

Under Trump’s order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent must submit a joint report by the end of the year outlining next steps toward a formal designation.

The Muslim Brotherhood is already banned as a terrorist organization in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Syria, and Jordan. However, the ISGAP report says Brotherhood-linked organizations continue to operate freely in Turkey and Qatar, funding media outlets and political influence campaigns worldwide.

“Qatar is buying favor with the BBC, CNN, and other media outlets, including Al Jazeera, and it’s now into our political system,” Small said.

Evans said a formal U.S. designation would dramatically limit the group’s global reach. “It’s a game changer,” Evans said. “When you designate a terrorist organization, they can’t move anymore. They have no room to operate.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Trump’s initiative and indicated Israel may follow with its own designation.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel warned that radical Islamist groups have been clear about their long-term goals. “We’ve seen the movements of radical jihadist groups who say very clearly that what they seek is the destruction of Western civilization as we know it today,” Haskel said.