"Play to WIN, or don’t play at all! Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

 Writes Donald Trump, at Truth Social.

"New York City’s Democratic primary voters overwhelmingly believe that Israel is 'committing genocide' in Gaza..."

"... and that the United States should stop arming the Jewish state, according to new polling from a pro-Palestinian group.... Asked if the city should 'enforce the arrest warrant' against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani supports, 63% of primary voters said yes."

Semafor reports, in "Poll: New York Dems side with Mamdani on Israel, Netanyahu."

"That appeared to suggest that the two sides... want the truce to hold."

NYT: 

Mr. Netanyahu’s office said that Iran had fired missiles after the cease-fire took effect, and that the Israeli military had retaliated by striking a radar system near Tehran. Iran’s military denied violating the cease-fire, and Mr. Netanyahu’s statement indicated that Israel’s retaliation was limited. That appeared to suggest that the two sides — both of which claim to have prevailed in the conflict — want the truce to hold. In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump said that Israel “is not going to attack Iran” and that “all planes will turn around and head home.”

From "Live Updates: Shaky Cease-Fire Takes Hold, Under Pressure From Trump/President Trump lashed out at both Iran and Israel for launching attacks after his cease-fire announcement. Iran denied violating the truce and Israel’s retaliation appeared limited, suggesting that the deal remained intact for now." 

"They basically are 2 countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing."

JUST IN 🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱: US PRESIDENT TRUMP DOES REALLY HARD AT ISRAEL. 🥶 #Iran #Israel #Trump pic.twitter.com/P77w3PqNLM

— RAJAT (@IRajatJain) June 24, 2025

"ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES."

Writes Trump, just now, at Truth Social. 

Background: "Live Updates: Trump Lashes Out at Israel and Iran as Fragile Truce Is Tested/Mr. Trump suggested that both Israel and Iran had continued fighting despite a cease-fire that both had agreed to, adding to the uncertainty over the truce he abruptly announced Monday night" (NYT).

The fate of a truce announced by President Trump that went into effect early Tuesday hung in the balance, as the Israeli military said Iran had fired another missile barrage and vowed to retaliate.

The claim from Israel’s military came just hours after the country had joined Iran in agreeing to the truce, spurring cautious hopes for an end to 12 days of unprecedented warfare between the adversaries, and as both sides seemingly claimed victory in the conflict. Iran’s military denied firing missiles after the cease-fire went into effect, according to Iranian state news outlets — adding to the uncertainty....

UPDATE: An hour after the post quoted above, Trump posted:

ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “Plane Wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

And immediately after that:

IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!

"There's an enormous amount of love in Israel for, for your president, for Donald Trump. And it's love that he's, he's earned by, by his actions."

"He, he did a tremendous thing not only for the Jews of Israel, he did a tremendous thing. And for the people of Israel, he did a tremendous thing for the people, the Jewish people. I mean, I think that what we have been doing over the past 10 days in Iran is making it clear that the Jewish people will destroy anybody who tries to destroy us. We, when we say never again, we mean it. And when the United States stepped up and joined Israel in this operation yesterday under President Trump, the United States said, not only do we respect the fact that you are doing what you have to do, we're going to stand with you and we're proud to be your ally. And that is something for all Jews in Israel and throughout the world, just is an extraordinary boost. It's, it's an, it's an amazing thing to have a friend like that — to have a friend like the United States of America."

Said Caroline Glick, the International Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, to Ben Shapiro, on today's episode of his podcast, "Trump's MASTERSTROKE: What Comes Next?!" (Podscribe).

"One statement from the ministry urges people to be wary of strangers wearing masks or goggles, driving pickup trucks and carrying large bags or filming around military, industrial, or residential areas."

"Elsewhere, a poster published by the state-affiliated Nour News – which is close to Iran’s security apparatus – singled out for suspicion people who wear 'masks, hats, and sunglasses, even at night' and those who receive 'frequent package deliveries by courier.' The poster asks people to report 'unusual sounds from inside the house, such as screaming, the sound of metal equipment, continuous banging' and 'houses with curtains drawn even during the day.'..."

From "Iran’s Mossad paranoia grows, amid fears of Israeli spies wearing 'masks, hats and sunglasses'" (CNN).

"We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza."

 That's the official statement, quoted in "Trump leaves G-7 meeting early to deal with Mideast; signs group statement/Trump signed the G-7’s statement backing Israel and criticizing Iran after discussions with other leaders and changes to the initial draft, a U.S. official said" (WaPo).

There's something off about that sentence, and I don't think it's just that "leads" should be "lead." (Subjunctive, right?) I think "urge" seems wrong. 

Who is being urged? Isn't the right word "hope"? We hope that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East.... But to hope in this situation is too passive, and yet, what is going on here except passivity?

And what disturbs me most is that it seems as though they want to urge that there be a "de-escalation," but they are not urging the belligerents to de-escalate now. There's a precondition, "the resolution of the Iranian crisis." So it seems that they are urging that the crisis be resolved, and then hoping that when — if? — that happens, hostilities will de-escalate. That makes the most sense, but it says nothing about what the "resolution" is. The Iran crisis could be resolved through a complete military victory for Israel.

Finally, what is a "broader de-escalation of hostilities"? Hostilities have been escalating. The de-escalation has yet to begin. It's nonsense to speak of something that doesn't exist getting broader. And escalation and de-escalation are metaphors of height, not breadth. Pick one. "Broader de-escalation" also absurdly asks simultaneously for more and for less: We want wider shortness.

This sentence feels as though it began with many different words that have been swapped out for awkward substitutions. We're told Trump wouldn't sign the original draft. I'll bet that was better written, but the edited version we see won Trump's signature. Perhaps he wanted it to say nothing specifically discernible (other than "including a ceasefire in Gaza"). And perhaps he wanted to endorse military victory for Israel — AKA "the resolution of the Iranian crisis" — and didn't want or need to say it outright. He did get the others to sign onto that. 

“Where is our air defense?”/“How can Israel come and attack anything it wants, kill our top commanders, and we are incapable of stopping it?”

Said Iranian officials in "private text messages shared with The New York Times," quoted in "A Miscalculation by Iran Led to Israeli Strikes’ Extensive Toll, Officials Say/Interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials show that they were not expecting Israel to strike before another round of talks" (NYT).

Hamid Hosseini, a member of the country’s Chamber of Commerce’s energy committee, said, in an telephone interview: “Israel’s attack completely caught the leadership by surprise, especially the killing of the top military figures and nuclear scientists. It also exposed our lack of proper air defense and their ability to bombard our critical sites and military bases with no resistance.” 

From the article: "Iran’s senior leaders... never expected Israel to strike before another round of talks that had been scheduled for this coming Sunday in Oman, officials close to Iran’s leadership said on Friday. They dismissed reports that an attack was imminent as Israeli propaganda meant to pressure Iran to make concessions on its nuclear program in those talks. Perhaps because of that complacency, precautions that had been planned were ignored, the officials said."

Why would they concede "complacency"? Perhaps because they didn't really have "precautions" that, if taken, would have helped significantly. Still, I would have expected them to denounce Israel for treachery, especially given the promise of peace talks. 

"Israel launched a stunning series of strikes Friday morning on Iranian nuclear sites and killed several of the nation’s security chiefs, in a remarkable coup of intelligence and military force..."

"... that decapitated Tehran’s chain of command. President Trump warned that further attacks would be 'even more brutal' and redoubled pressure on Iran to reach a new deal to curb its nuclear program.... The attacks also killed top Iranian officials and nuclear scientists and hit Tehran’s long-range missile facilities and aerial defenses."

The NYT reports.

Trump at Truth Social: "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to 'just do it,' but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. God Bless You All!"

"I don’t know how one changes the minds of others. Through fifty years of writing, I’ve regularly heard that film and drama..."

"... should be enlisted in the service of good works; but no one has ever had his mind changed by a play or movie. That’s not how they function—they’re entertainment, with as little ability to alter ones thinking as does a meal. Exodus no more reduced anti-Semitism than tacos clarify the border crisis.... Islamists at home and abroad have been demonizing the Jewish State since 1948: Why would a bunch of septuagenarian Jews in Hollywood conclude they could be defeated by 'changing the narrative'? The answer: they did not conceive of them being defeated; they merely wanted peace, which to their minds might be achieved rationally, without war, through mere dialogue, as if murderous savagery were the result of misunderstanding...."

I'm reading "The Disenlightenment: Politics, Horror, and Entertainment" by David Mamet (Amazon Associates link).

Wait. What about "The Birth of a Nation"? Did Mamet consider the movies and plays that have changed people for the worse? How about all the pornography? 

"The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel."

Wrote the Israeli foreign ministry, quoted in "Israel Intercepts Gaza-Bound Aid Ship With Greta Thunberg Aboard/Israel had vowed to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza, saying its military would use 'any means necessary' to stop it from breaching a naval blockade" (NYT).

The Madleen was carrying only a symbolic amount of humanitarian assistance — an amount the Israeli foreign ministry dismissed as “tiny” in its statement, and “less than a single truckload of aid.”... 

“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” Ms. Thunberg said last week. “Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.”

Those statements from Israeli foreign ministry and from Thunberg are saying the same thing: The boat trip was symbolic speech.

The speech was delivered, no one was hurt, and no one received substantive aid.

"I went to Columbia for grad school. I saw the same thing in his eyes as I saw in the eyes of all the protestors at Columbia."

WOW. INCREDIBLE RESPONSE👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

CNN Reporter: “You said you looked the shooter in the eyes can you tell us what you saw in him? “

Eye Witness: “I went to Columbia for grad school. I saw the same thing in his eyes as I saw in the eyes of all the protestors at Columbia.”

CNN… https://t.co/yxURFVj4Hr

— Jeremy Kamali (@JeremyKamali) May 23, 2025

"But they did not create this horrific shooting"/"They gave it permission. They have called for intifada revolution, which is the same thing he (the shooter) yelled last night.”

"The event in Washington DC where two Israeli embassy workers were shot dead was aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in 'brutal and tragic irony'....

"... according to an Israel-based aid group. 'All participants came together to find practical solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,' IsraAid, an Israel-based international emergency response group said in a statement. The event was a reception for young Jewish diplomats and foreign policy professionals, and was hosted by the American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum. The event 'focused on delivering aid to Gaza through Israeli-Palestinian and regional co-operation. It was driven by humanitarian values and a belief that collaboration is the only path forward for all people in the region,' IsraAid said."

The London Times reports.

Was the murderer misinformed? It seems more likely that he — along with many others —  opposes "practical solutions," "regional co-operation," "humanitarian values," and "collaboration" as "the only path forward." 

Look at the hopeful faces of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who are now dead. Perhaps they were smiling so beautifully because they believed in humanitarian values.

The arrested man, Elias Rodriguez, "had been waving a red keffiyeh, which is often associated with the Marxist–Leninist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)."  He asked for the police to be called, and, as you can hear, in video at the link, he shouts "Free Palestine! Free Palestine!" after he is handcuffed. 

"The man accused of setting fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence Sunday indicated he was motivated by his views on the Israel-Gaza war and believed Shapiro needed to stop the killing of Palestinians..."

"... a newly unveiled search warrant says. Cody Balmer, 38, made the declarations in a 911 call after he left the property, in which he reported his own attack to dispatchers.... Balmer — who reportedly struggled with untreated mental illness — said the governor needed to stop having [Balmer's] friends killed and said 'our people have been put through too much by that monster,' according to the affidavit. He also said, 'All he has is a banquet hall to clean up.' Balmer allegedly identified himself by name and told the dispatcher he would “confess to everything that I had done.... Shapiro has expressed support for Israel, and last year pushed for the University of Pennsylvania to disband a pro-Palestinian encampment...."

From "Suspect who targeted Shapiro cited views on Palestinians, warrant says/Cody Balmer, 38, described his views in a call to 911 reporting the attack. His brother said that Balmer suffered from mental illness" (WaPo).

We're told that Cody Balmer's brother Dan says Cody "was diagnosed with bipolar disorder" and has expressed the belief that his sister-in-law is a witch. And: "Dan Balmer also said Cody Balmer was politically independent and had urged his family to vote for Donald Trump in November."

"Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job...."

"Yarden looked me in the eyes and asked that all the world know and be horrified by the manner in which they murdered his children."

"The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement. The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an anonymous woman...."

From "IDF spokesman: Terrorist captors murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas 'with their bare hands'" (Times of Israel)(Ariel was 4 and Kfir 9 months).

UPDATE: "Body of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has been returned, family says/'Last night, our Shiri was returned home,' the Bibas family said Saturday" (ABC News)("The body of hostage Shiri Bibas was returned to Israel after Hamas initially sent back the wrong remains")

"President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed moving Gazans to a 'good, fresh, beautiful piece of land' in another country, offering a vision..."

"... of mass displacement likely to inflame sentiments in the Arab world as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Trump’s proposal was likely to provoke a furious reaction from many Palestinians as well as their Arab allies in the region, since it suggested permanently removing Gaza’s 2.2 million residents from Palestinian territory and settling them outside of their land. In saying that the Palestinians would not return to Gaza, Trump did not specify who would ultimately control the territory. But an annexation of Gaza has long been a goal of Israel’s far right, which has sought to fully expel Palestinians from Palestinian territory...."

From "Trump proposes permanent displacement of Gazans as he welcomes Netanyahu to White House/The two leaders were set to focus on the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, relocating Palestinians, rebuilding Gaza and normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia" (WaPo).

"Such an uneven swap is not unusual. Israeli governments have long been determined to bring back captured civilians and soldiers..."

"... including dead ones, even at steep costs.... The exchange of civilian hostages for prisoners, including some whom Israel has accused of terrorism, has also raised the ire of some Israelis. In a statement celebrating the release of the three Israeli hostages on Sunday, an Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, hinted at some of that underlying frustration, saying the latest trade was not 'a true like-for-like exchange.' Two of the women were abducted from their homes and one from a music festival, and 'then brutally held since,' he said. 'This is a huge difference when compared to the terrorists who are being released.'"

From "What’s behind the uneven exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners?" (NYT).

"WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!"

Writes Trump, just now, at Truth Social.

ADDED: Here's what the NYT is saying now: "Negotiators from Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza, though the start date is unclear, according to a senior official from one of the mediating countries and two senior Israeli officials.... There are also still technical details that need to be worked out. Two other officials said there was last-minute wrangling over the Egypt-Gaza border, which is currently controlled by Israeli forces.... President-elect Donald J. Trump also announced that a hostage deal had been reached, writing on social media that 'THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY.' Mr. Trump had threatened severe consequences unless Israel and Hamas reached an agreement before his Jan. 20 inauguration, which some officials credited with helping the negotiations to advance. If implemented, the cease-fire would allow for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, after more than a year of devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of the enclave. Neither Israel nor Hamas has publicly endorsed the agreement, but the Palestinian group said on Tuesday that the negotiations had entered their 'final stages'...."

AND: Another Truth Social post from Trump: "This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies. I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones. With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven. We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World! We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House, and my Administration is fully confirmed, so they can secure more Victories for the United States!"