The Harvest Comes Armed

Ali al-Bazzari, a 44-year-old Palestinian National Security Forces officer, was killed near Burqa on Oct. 7 during violence around the olive harvest. His cousin said he had gone there after hearing of an attack on the harvesters. Palestinian officials reported 16 wounded.

Israeli reports described Palestinians first attacking settlers from a nearby farm with stones, leaving one hospitalized with a head injury and four others treated at the scene.

Settlers then reportedly attacked Palestinians harvesting olives. The army acknowledged that soldiers and settlers opened fire. Reuters could not establish whose shot killed al-Bazzari.

The army said a commander shot a man running toward him with a “suspicious object.” That account and the Palestinian account leave the fatal sequence disputed.

The presence of armed civilians alongside troops is already on the record.

In Deir Nidham, settlers reportedly torched an Israeli activist’s car and left a warning for the army’s West Bank commander: “Avi Bluth, watch out.”

Military authority apparently has to negotiate its standing with people willing to advertise their objections beside a burning vehicle.

The army can explain its soldiers’ gunfire. The settlers have supplied a written explanation of how much they respect the army.

#WestBank #SettlerViolence #Israel #BabylonBurning

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#US #PeteHegseth #Iran #AbrahamLincoln

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Trump Could Order Another Strike on Iran as Midterm Elections Near


After several weeks of relative calm, the prospect of a new escalation between Washington and Tehran is once again moving to the forefront.

According to reporting by The Atlantic, the Trump administration is considering several military strike options against Iranian targets, including the possibility of launching an operation before the November 3 midterm elections.

No final decision has been made. U.S. officials cited in the reporting said the scope of any potential operation, its objectives and even whether it should go forward remain under discussion. Still, the fact that such scenarios are being actively prepared is significant.

The White House is seeking to maintain pressure on Tehran while weighing the military, economic and political consequences of another confrontation. Energy prices are a particularly sensitive issue. A fresh escalation in the Middle East could drive up oil and gasoline prices in the United States, putting additional pressure on household budgets just as voters head toward the polls.

A new U.S. strike would also carry major military risks. An attack on Iran could trigger retaliation from Tehran and set off another cycle of violence across the region. American forces stationed throughout the Middle East could become targets, while U.S. facilities and interests could face retaliatory attacks.

The Strait of Hormuz represents another major vulnerability. Any disruption to shipping through the strategic waterway could have an immediate impact on global energy markets and intensify economic pressure on Western countries.The Pentagon is therefore working through multiple scenarios, but preparing military plans does not necessarily mean an attack has been authorized.

The U.S. military routinely develops operational plans for a range of potential threats.The situation would change dramatically if Washington decided to significantly reinforce its military posture in the region and ordered the Pentagon to carry out one of the prepared options.

According to recent reports, the U.S. military command responsible for the Middle East is being instructed to remain prepared for the possibility of renewed large-scale operations against Iran. Potential targets could include Iranian military and energy infrastructure as well as facilities connected to the country’s nuclear program.

Diplomatically, the situation remains just as uncertain. Channels between Washington and Tehran have not completely closed, but negotiations remain extremely fragile. Iran says it is prepared to continue talks under certain conditions, while Washington continues to pursue a policy of maximum pressure.

Trump himself has kept his intentions deliberately ambiguous. The president has not ruled out another military operation while leaving the door open to a diplomatic agreement. The strategy allows the White House to keep pressure on Tehran without formally announcing another war.

The approaching midterm elections, however, add an explosive political dimension. A new military campaign could become a serious liability for Republicans if it led to sustained increases in energy prices, additional American casualties or a prolonged conflict.

Conversely, a limited operation portrayed as swift and successful could allow Trump to reinforce his image as a tough leader and demonstrate that Washington still holds the initiative against Iran. That calculation is at the heart of growing speculation about a possible strike before the election.

For now, there is no confirmation that a U.S. attack is imminent. No final order has been announced, and diplomatic options have not been exhausted. But the message from Washington is unmistakable: as the U.S. midterm elections approach, the possibility of another military confrontation with Iran is once again on the table.

#UnitedStates #Iran #Trump #Geopolitics

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Departures Under Fire

The Houthis have declared Saudi airspace a military target, except over Mecca and Medina. A religious exemption apparently counts as passenger protection.

Saudi aviation authorities say attacks on Abha and Riyadh’s King Khalid airports on Oct. 6–7 killed three civilians and injured 36. The dead were Moroccan, Algerian and Sudanese nationals.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks. Their war with Riyadh comes with an international passenger list.

Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed al-Budaiwi called the targeting of civilian airports “a dangerous escalation and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms.”

The Saudi-led coalition subsequently announced that it had destroyed 82 Houthi military targets. The condemnation now has a sortie count.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government has launched Operation Dawn of Yemen with Saudi support, naming the removal of the Houthis from Sanaa as a goal.

Meanwhile, new protective fencing has appeared around Aramco fuel tanks near Riyadh’s airport.

The coalition is planning the capture of a capital. Aramco is installing cages around the fuel.

#Yemen #Houthis #SaudiArabia #BabylonBurning

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The Chosen Army Meets Venice

NAZA won Venice’s Special Jury Prize. Israel’s culture minister responded by demanding that directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor lose their citizenship. The film questions the army’s conduct. The minister questions whether its witnesses should remain Israeli.

The polling helps explain the nerve it struck. In October 2024, Dor Moriah and Geocartography asked 1,005 Israeli adults to position themselves between “the Jews are the chosen people” and “the Jews are one of many ancient peoples.” According to the supplied article, 63.7% leaned toward chosenness.

A separate INSS survey in September 2025 found 75% expressing high trust in the IDF, but only 37% expressing high trust in its investigations and lessons-learned processes. The institution commands considerably more confidence than its ability to examine itself.

Chosenness has competing political uses. Religious Zionists attach it to land and sovereignty. Secular Zionists translate it into moral distinction, with the “most moral army in the world” serving as a national credential. NAZA puts that credential before a foreign audience through testimony about Gaza targeting and AI-assisted warfare.

Venice awarded a film, not a factual verdict. Zohar nevertheless reached for the filmmakers’ passports.

The army’s investigations get 37%. Its critics get a citizenship test.

#Israel #NAZA #IDF #BabylonBurning

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Coalition Admissions Office

Yoaz Hendel wants a broad Zionist government without extremists. On Oct. 8, the Reservists-Economic Party leader invited Ofer Winter to sign a surplus-vote agreement and jointly exclude Haredi and Arab parties from the next coalition.

His broad government starts with a restricted guest list.

The offer also asks Winter to abandon his commitment to a Netanyahu government with the Haredi parties. Netanyahu needs those partners. Hendel wants their exclusion to become the organizing principle of an alternative. Both camps are selling coalition arithmetic as national salvation.

The proposed agreement pools leftover votes when allocating the final Knesset seats. It works only if both parties cross the 3.25% threshold.

Recent polls put Winter below it and Hendel around the cutoff. The prospective “blocking bloc” first needs to avoid being blocked by the electorate.

Avigdor Liberman brought a different campaign asset to Reichman University: “200% certainty” that Washington will secure Palestinian statehood through the UN Security Council.

He accused Netanyahu of knowingly allowing it to happen.

Netanyahu’s challengers promise tighter coalition boundaries and warn of a Palestinian state beyond them.

For now, the border Hendel and Winter most urgently need to cross is 3.25%.

#IsraelElections #Hendel #Liberman #BabylonBurning

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To the Last Yemeni

Riyadh has a condition for a ceasefire: its Yemeni allies must first recover all the territory they lost. An anonymous regional source told AFP on Oct. 9 that Saudi Arabia would reject a truce until then and refuse Houthi “military blackmail.” The ceasefire comes after the counteroffensive delivers.

The arrangement gives the sponsor considerable influence over how long its ally keeps fighting. Saudi support sustains the campaign. Yemen supplies the battlefield and the people living on it.

The Houthis export that battlefield into Saudi airports. Saudi aviation authorities say Thursday’s attacks on Riyadh’s airport killed three Saudi citizens and targeted airport facilities and a Saudia aircraft. Civilian passengers have acquired a role in the negotiations.

Turkey has already drawn a line. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Oct. 8 that the Mecca pact is defensive and ruled out an offensive role. Pakistan describes its contribution as reconnaissance support. Neither position amounts to endorsing Riyadh’s reported territorial condition for a truce.

The pact makes an attack on one an attack on all. It leaves a harder question open: can Riyadh make its terms for ending the war everybody else’s obligation?

Meanwhile, the war has reached the sponsor’s departure board. After the Houthis claimed an Oct. 8 attack on Riyadh’s airport, Lufthansa Group suspended flights through Oct. 16. Air India and Akasa Air canceled services through Oct. 10. An Air India flight from Delhi turned back before reaching the Saudi capital.

Riyadh insists its allies recover territory before negotiations can stop the fighting. The Houthis have found another negotiating table: the international flight schedule.

#SaudiArabia #Yemen #MeccaPact #BabylonBurning

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Hormuz Has an Enforcement Department

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it struck the LPG carrier NV Sunshine for attempting to use an “illegal route” south of the Strait of Hormuz.

Its statement says the strike caused a major fire in the engine room and propulsion system. The shipping violation apparently required combustion.

On Oct. 9, the Guard also announced that enforcement would extend beyond the strait: “Any vessel that passes through an unauthorized passage will be pursued throughout the region.” Tehran’s maritime regulations now come with a traveling punishment service.

The Guard named a company it called Natwit. Maritime databases identify NV Sunshine as Vietnamese-flagged, owned and managed by Nhat Viet Transportation Corp. A Vietnamese LPG carrier has been drafted into Iran’s confrontation with Washington.

Washington is pushing to reopen Hormuz. Tehran is reviewing proposals for reopening it while the Guard advertises attacks on ships attempting passage.

Shipowners can wait for diplomacy or test the enforcement department.

Freedom of navigation has two competing sales offices. The carrier gets the invoice in its engine room.

#Iran #Hormuz #Shipping #BabylonBurning

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National Security, Campaign Property

Gadi Eisenkot says he will seek a Knesset confidence vote even without a declared 61-seat bloc. The prospective government is ready for presentation. Its parliamentary support remains under development.

Democrats leader Yair Golan has identified a security advantage in keeping an elderly enemy alive. On Oct. 9, he called the assassination of Ali Khamenei a mistake because it left Israel facing “more extreme and violent individuals.” At 86, the Iranian ruler apparently qualified as the manageable option.

Yoaz Hendel is shopping for a partner. He wants Ofer Winter to sign a surplus-vote agreement and commit to a government without Haredi or Arab parties.

Winter’s colleague Natali Shem-Tov replied that Hendel had already served in a government without Haredi parties and failed to get Haredi men drafted. The proposed partnership has reached the reference-check stage.

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s campaign has a more tangible resource: public employees. Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg has ordered police officers blurred in one campaign video and a prison video removed altogether.

In the prison video, Ben-Gvir stood beside uniformed guards and told a convicted Hamas terrorist, “I want to kill you.” The committee ruled it election propaganda produced with public resources.

The opposition campaigns on its superior judgment on national security. Ben-Gvir films state power as a personal credential.

The committee has found at least one enforceable boundary: the police belong to the state, even when the minister wants them in his campaign.

#IsraelElections #Eisenkot #BenGvir #BabylonBurning

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Justice Gets a Shutdown Notice

Washington has sanctioned the International Criminal Court itself. Penalizing judges and prosecutors apparently left too much of the courthouse standing. The Oct. 9 designation blocks assets under U.S. jurisdiction and generally bars American companies and individuals from doing business with the court.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio supplied the terms: “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.” He also told allied governments that rely on American troops for their defense to “rein in the court.” Judicial independence now comes with a reminder about who provides security.

The court called the sanctions an attack on the rule of law and promised to continue its work. Washington controls something more practical than the court’s mandate: access to American financial services, technology and dollars. Treasury licenses provide a six-month wind-down period and exemptions for certain transactions. The shutdown notice includes customer support.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called those six months “a window for dialogue” and said Europe has options to keep the court functioning. Rubio threatens demolition. Brussels schedules a conversation about preserving the building.

The court says it answers to law and evidence. Washington has asked the court’s service providers to reconsider.

#ICC #Trump #Sanctions #BabylonBurning

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Cleared for Takeoff

The flydubai co-pilot passed the airline’s professional and security checks. UAE prosecutors now say he planned to crash the aircraft into Ben Gurion Airport’s passenger terminal in a suicide attack inspired by 9/11.

The paperwork found a qualified employee. The captain encountered the rest of the applicant.

According to the Oct. 9 statement, the Omani suspect confessed to acting alone. Investigators traced signs of radicalization to his studies in Australia in 2017.

None surfaced during the airline’s screening. His earlier flights to Tel Aviv allegedly doubled as reconnaissance.

Another pilot, a flight attendant and passengers intervened when he attacked the captain with the cockpit’s emergency ax. The aircraft landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

A tool supplied for emergencies became the weapon, but the people aboard stopped the attack.

In Paris, airport workers applied their own clearance procedure to an Elbit Systems shipment.

After unions and pro-Palestinian groups blocked military components from traveling on Air France, the cargo was reportedly rebooked on El Al. Workers refused to load it there too.

An attempted mass-casualty attack and a cargo boycott are different acts. In one, an airline’s checks missed a threat in the cockpit. In the other, an arms shipment’s booking failed to get it through.

The passenger flight survived because people intervened. The military cargo stayed behind for the same reason.

#Flydubai #ElAl #Aviation #BabylonBurning

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Sanctions, Now With a Fuel Waiver

Trump says America has “complete control” of Hormuz. To bring down diesel prices, he has called Putin. Apparently, control of the strait comes without sufficient fuel.

On Oct. 9, Trump announced that more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel would arrive immediately, another 500,000 in November and 1 million afterward.

A further 3 million would depend on the condition of Russia’s refineries. The promised price collapse has a maintenance clause.

The Treasury Department supplied the paperwork by issuing a temporary sanctions license through April 7, 2027.

Russian diesel, previously a target of the pressure campaign against Moscow, has become relief for an American administration facing expensive fuel before the midterms.

Crude oil and diesel tell different stories. CNBC reported on Sept. 30 that Gulf crude exports had essentially returned to prewar levels.

Refined-product shipments through Hormuz averaged 677,000 barrels a day, compared with 3.6 million before the war. Reopening the crude route has failed to refill the diesel market.

Putin gets a sanctions opening. Trump gets a fuel announcement. The administration that set out to squeeze Russian energy revenue now needs Russian energy to bring down American fuel prices.

#Trump #Putin #Diesel #BabylonBurning

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Now Boarding, Pending a War Decision

A missile struck the domestic terminal complex at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Oct. 10. Regional officials told The Associated Press that many people were wounded.

Saudi aviation authorities suspended operations while assessing casualties, damage and the safety of the facilities. The departure board now requires a structural inspection.

The strike followed an attack on the same airport on Thursday that killed three Saudi citizens, including a pilot.

The Houthis claimed that attack. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday’s strike. Civilian terminals have become a recurring battlefield.

A day earlier, a regional source told AFP that Riyadh would accept no ceasefire until its Yemeni allies recovered all territory lost in recent weeks.

Saudi Arabia set a territorial condition for ending the war. Its passengers are discovering where the fighting can reach while that condition remains unmet.

Asked whether America would join Saudi strikes against the Houthis, Trump answered, “We may. We’re going to look at it.” He added, “We move very quickly.”

Washington is considering intervention. The missile has already completed its arrival procedure.

#SaudiArabia #Riyadh #Houthis #BabylonBurning

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#NewYork #ICE #ZohranMamdani #Manifestations

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Hegseth’s Execution Livestream Order Catches the Army Off Guard, Triggering a Political Firestorm

A decision announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sent shockwaves through the Pentagon, raising urgent questions about military leadership, the psychological toll on American service members, and the limits of turning the machinery of justice into a public spectacle.

Hegseth’s announcement that the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan would be livestreamed reportedly caught senior Army and Pentagon officials off guard.

According to sources familiar with the discussions, many military officials first learned of the plan when Hegseth revealed it during a Wednesday interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The announcement immediately set off a series of difficult questions: Who would carry out the execution? How would the broadcast be conducted? And what consequences could the decision have for the soldiers ordered to participate?

Hasan was convicted for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. His scheduled execution by firing squad, expected to take place at Fort Hood on December 3, would mark an extraordinary moment in the modern history of American military justice.

But the proposed livestream has transformed the case into a broader national controversy.

Hegseth has defended the decision as a way to demonstrate that serious crimes carry serious consequences. Yet the prospect of broadcasting a military execution to a potentially worldwide audience has drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle.

For some military personnel, the controversy extends far beyond the punishment itself. The central concern is what happens to the people ordered to carry it out — and whether the public exposure of such an act could leave lasting psychological scars.

#Pentagon #PeteHegseth #USArmy #MilitaryJustice

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Outsourcing the Electoral Risk of a Strike

Washington reportedly wanted Israel to strike Iran alone. According to Maariv journalist Ben Caspit, American officials calculated that a U.S. attack would hurt Trump before the midterms, while an Israeli operation could help Netanyahu before Israel’s election. The alliance was dividing up the electoral risk along with the military responsibilities.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reportedly warned that renewed fighting could force Israel to postpone its Oct. 27 vote. Washington then withdrew the request, according to the same report. A military operation marketed as an electoral advantage threatened to remove the election from the calendar.

Trump’s public position was explicit on Oct. 8: “We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections” on Nov. 3. Separate reports described Pentagon preparations and officials weighing earlier action. Those accounts point to competing signals, not an approved strike.

Iran’s recovering missile and drone production provides the security rationale cited in the reporting. Electoral calendars shape the debate over who should act and when. Tehran’s capabilities are the threat, while exposure to voters is another operational constraint.

Washington reportedly offered Israel the lead role. Zamir pointed out that the audience might have to be sent home.

#Iran #Israel #Trump #BabylonBurning

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