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New Book Details Iran’s Path to a Nuclear Bomb
A satellite image shows airstrike craters over the underground centrifuge halls of the Natanz Enrichment Facility, following US airstrikes amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Natanz County, Iran, June 22, 2025. Photo: Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS
Edwin Black’s new book, Israel Strikes Iran: Operation Rising Lion – The 20-Year Backstory, is a must-read. Don’t let the fact that you are unlikely to understand the details (unless you are a defense analyst or a nuclear weapons specialist) deter you.
The lessons are in plain English.
- Iran’s intention to enrich uranium and build nuclear weapons was clear long before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
- Iran’s scientists were pretty good. With the help of other countries, plus funding by the West in the form of “sanctions relief” or waivers, or by ignoring violations of sanctions, the Iranian scientists created weapons and plans.
- Iran cheated before, during, and after the JCPOA.
- A lot of people knew that — and didn’t act on what they knew.
- But there were other people, and we should be forever grateful to them.
Black, the award-winning investigative journalist and New York Times (NYT) bestselling author, has been watching and writing about Iranian nuclear progress for decades.
The introductory chapter, “The Twenty-year Wait,” is Black’s timeline, putting forward bits and pieces of information that culminated in Operation Rising Lion. He notes, “Israel Strikes Iran has been almost ready to publish for years … I wrote all but the final chapter material back in 2021 and 2022.”
Yes, it is a bit self-aggrandizing, but he’s more than entitled. Author of a dozen books — including the terrifying IBM and the Holocaust and equally terrifying Financing the Flames — Black is the master of the back story.
You know the Russian S-300 air defense system, right? But did you know that in 2008, Greece, which owned S-300s, held joint Air Force exercises with Israel? The NYT reported on them, but Black added, in The Cutting Edge News (TCEN) in July of that year, “Pivotal information … has remained below the radar. By swarming its jets into the S-300s massive electronics, Israel was able to record invaluable information about defeating, jamming and circumventing the Russian system.” Oh.
The article outlines Israel’s leaps in air superiority, but notes that Israel presumed heavy Iranian retaliation. “Israel considers itself to be in a no-win situation because years of sanctions and intense diplomacy have not stopped Iran’s cyclonic nuclear progress…More than one Israeli official has stated that the only thing worse than attacking Iran is not attacking Iran.”
Then his 2025 update.
Iran’s home-built air defense system, Bavar, was rushed to deployment. Israel’s air defense systems surpassed all prior understanding and, Iran’s April 2024 barrage of 30 cruise missiles, 120 ballistic missiles, and 170 drones managed to injure a seven-year-old Bedouin girl in Arad. Israel’s retaliation was much more effective.
Israel eliminated Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, carried out the pager attacks on Hezbollah operatives on September 17, and then took out Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut on the 27th. Iran responded and Israel responded.
Now you start to see how this works.
Chapter Two is the story of the development of the Massive Ordnance Perpetrator (MOP) bunker buster, which began in 2004, as Black reported in a TCEN story in September 2009. You don’t need to understand the details to understand their success.
But in the 2025 update, you will get the details, and — as hard as it is to imagine — discover that hundreds, if not thousands, of DOD personnel, government officials, and staffers kept their mouths shut about it for more than 20 years. Spoiler alert: Jump to the last chapter and read the paean to our people by General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The result: “Operation Midnight Hammer played out as one of the most sophisticated and synchronized military operations since WWII… within the space of minutes, twelve MOPS dropped on Fordow, two MOPs plunged into the Natanz facility, and the Tomahawks pounded Isfahan.”
The development of Iran’s bomb is Chapter 3, starting with an article in The Times of Israel in 2012. The article also shows the development of the Shehab-3 missile. The chapter starts with Pakistan, but it is actually a timeline on Israel’s ops inside Iran — from stealing the nuclear archive in 2018, to the assassination of Iranian scientists, to sabotage of facilities across the country. It details American policy toward Iran — from Obama through Trump 1 through Biden and into Trump 2. For 12 of those years (guess which), the US doesn’t look too good. But remember, during all that time, the military establishment was improving MOPs and plans — silently.
As you read on, you get a comforting feeling, actually, that people in the US and Israel were determined to protect us all.
Chapters Four and Five don’t require much technical knowledge. They are the best chapters and maybe should have come first — we know the end of the story. But as you read them, everything you read before comes into focus. All the groundwork, the science, the diplomacy and lack thereof, the activities carried out in secret and in public, the coordination and cooperation between the United States and Israel becomes the stage on which Operation Rising Lion and Operation Midnight Hammer played out.
Don’t cheer yet. Black is nothing if not a realist, ending with a cautionary note: “The most important warning of this book is contained not in the text written above, but the text yet to be written below … Our destiny paragraph is yet to be written.”
Wait for it.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly.
The post New Book Details Iran’s Path to a Nuclear Bomb first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Office Vandalized With Anti-Israel Message Amid Backlash Over Iron Dome Funding Vote
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 21, 2024. Photo: Craig Hudson/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
A New York campaign office for US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was vandalized with what appeared to be red paint resembling blood and an anti-Israel message on Sunday night, amid backlash from fellow progressives following her vote last week against an amendment aimed at blocking US funding for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.
“AOC funds genocide in Gaza,” was written in red paint on the office windows, using the lawmaker’s popular nickname. The vandals also spread paint all over the building’s entrance. Police arrived to the scene early Monday morning.
A group calling itself the Boogie Down Liberation Front claimed responsibility, saying it “stands with the Palestinian people and condemns AOC’s hypocrisy.”
Overnight, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Bronx office was vandalized. A fringe group calling itself the Boogie Down Liberation Front claimed responsibility and left behind this note:
“The Bronx is sick and tired of people like AOC and Ritchie Torres using us as a stepping… pic.twitter.com/ctwKoV0uOF
— Stu (@thestustustudio) July 21, 2025
The vandalism came after Ocasio-Cortez on Friday voted against an amendment to the US House’s defense appropriations bill that would have cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program — an agreement through which the US provides Israel $500 million for missile defense programs including Iron Dome, which protects against from rockets and missiles launched by neighboring terrorist groups, such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The amendment was overwhelmingly defeated in the House by a vote of 422 to 6.
While Ocasio-Cortez ultimately voted against the broader appropriations bill (which ultimately passed the House), her decision not to support the stand-alone measure cutting funding to Israel’s missile defense has drawn strong criticism from fellow progressives, who argued that the left-wing lawmaker betrayed the pro-Palestinian movement.
In a post on the X social media platform, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that the amendment to the military funding bill “does nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza. Of course I voted against it. What it does do is cut off defensive Iron Dome capacities while allowing the actual bombs killing Palestinians to continue.”
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a prominent far-left organization, repudiated AOC’s vote, accusing the congresswoman of assisting Israel carry out what it falsely described as a “genocide” in Gaza.
“Providing any aid to Israel as they carry out a genocide with US support is completely unacceptable,” DSA said in a statement. “This is even more true of military aid of any kind. Any funds that go to Israel assist this brutal genocide. Any support for Israel legitimizes its eliminationist campaign against the Palestinian people. The fact that Representative Ocasio-Cortez acknowledges that Israel is carrying out this genocide makes her support for military aid all the more disappointing and incongruous.”
DSA and Ocasio-Cortez have recently maintained a rocky relationship. Last year, the organization rescinded its endorsement of the congresswoman, citing her insufficient level of commitment to “Palestinian liberation.” The organization took umbrage with the lawmaker over her decision to co-host an event with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), a Jewish organization that champions progressive policies. DSA also rebuked Ocasio-Cortez for a previous House vote which labeled “denial of Israel’s right to exist” as a form of antisemitism.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez took a shot at those criticizing her vote against the amendment, noting she opposed the broader appropriations bill.
“Google is free,” she posted on social media. “If you’re saying I voted for military funding, you are lying. Receipts attached. Drag me for my positions all you want, but lying about them doesn’t make you part of the ‘left.’ If you believe neo-Nazis are welcome and operating in good faith, you can have them!”
The post Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Office Vandalized With Anti-Israel Message Amid Backlash Over Iron Dome Funding Vote first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Groups Applaud Major Teachers’ Union’s Rejection of ADL Ban
Rebecca S. Pringle, president of the National Education Association, speaks on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, US, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
Jewish groups this week commended the National Education Association (NEA) teachers union for refusing to adopt as policy a ban on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) voted for by the group’s Representative Assembly during an annual conference held in Portland, Oregon earlier this month.
“We welcome the NEA Executive Committee’s decision to reject this misguided resolution that is rooted in exclusion and othering, and promoted for political reasons,” said a joint statement issued on Friday by the leaders of the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, and the Jewish Federations of North America. “This resolution was not just an attack on the ADL but a larger attack against Jewish educators, students, and families.”
The statement added, “We are urging educators across the United States to recognize and act on the importance of education about Jewish identity, antisemitism, and the Holocaust that reflect the perspectives and experiences of the vast majority of the American Jewish community … divisive campaigns to boycott, reputable, centrist Jewish organizations and educators normalize antisemitic isolation, [and] othering.”
Passed by a razor thin majority, the ban would have proscribed the union’s sharing ADL literature which explains the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust. In the lead up to the vote, a website promoting the policy, titled #DroptheADLFromSchools, attacked the ADL’s reputation as a civil rights advocate and knowledgeable source of information about antisemitism, the very issue the group was founded to fight.
“Analysis by scholars and journalists makes it clear that the ADL systematically distorts people’s understanding of antisemitism by including criticism of Israel as an indicator of hatred toward Jews,” the website said. “We further urge you to join in nationwide efforts to drop the ADL from schools … Cut all ties with the ADL, including use or endorsement of their curricular materials, participation in their programs, and engagement in their professional development offerings.”
The ban garnered the support of extreme far-left groups — such as Black Lives Matter, Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) — and others which have praised the use of terrorism in Israel and across the Western world to advance a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which necessitates destroying the Jewish state. Its approval by the Representative Assembly prompted the ADL to say that the activists behind it were attempting to “isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical antisemitic agenda on students.”
In two statements following the vote, one issued by union president Becky Pringle, the NEA said it remains committed to fighting antisemitism and said it had foreclosed the idea of disassociating with the ADL altogether.
“Following the culmination of a thorough review process as governed by NEA rules, including a vote by NEA’s Executive Committee earlier this week, NEA’s Board of Directors — representing the broad and diverse membership of the NEA including representatives from every state — voted not to implement this proposal,” the union, which is the largest teachers labor group in the US, said in a statement on Friday. “After consideration, it was determined that this proposal would not further NEA’s commitment to academic freedom, our membership, or our goals.”
It added, “There is no doubt that antisemitism on the rise,” while noting that its decision to reject the proposal “is in no way an endorsement of the ADL’s full body of work” and implying that the ADL is hostile to “free speech and association.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Jewish Groups Applaud Major Teachers’ Union’s Rejection of ADL Ban first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Man Physically Assaulted on Dublin Bus Amid Rising Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Ireland
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
A Jewish man was physically assaulted on a Dublin city bus last week as the attacker hurled antisemitic slurs — marking the latest incident in an increasing wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes in Ireland since the start of the war in Gaza.
According to a video circulating on social media and recorded by the victim, the assailant shouted “genocidal Jews” along with other antisemitic slurs. He also claimed he could tell the man was Jewish “because of his face.”
Moments later, a female passenger who had witnessed the incident stepped in, telling the assailant, “You are being hateful right now” and “We are better than this.”
The Jewish man can then be heard saying, “I get used to it; they are all like this.”
At that point, the assailant shouted, “Look at the white woman standing up for genocide” and “Look at the woman white-knighting for the Jew.”
He then slapped the Jewish man in the face and attempted to snatch his phone.
Raw, unfiltered antisemitism.
This is Dublin – the capital of Ireland – the most antisemitic nation in Europe – and what you see is the result of decades of anti-Israel demonisation pushed out by parts of the Church, Irish media and Irish politics. pic.twitter.com/gUiRMt0fMr
— David Collier (@mishtal) July 19, 2025
Local police confirmed that a 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene under public order laws and taken to a police station following a call from the bus driver reporting the incident.
However, he was released without charge pending ongoing investigations into the incident.
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Ireland has seen a disturbing rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes. At the same time, the Irish government has taken one of the most hostile stances against Israel since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Alan Shatter, a former member of parliament who served in the Irish cabinet between 2011 and 2014 as minister for justice, equality and defense, told The Algemeiner in an interview last year that Ireland has “evolved into the most hostile state towards Israel in the entire EU,” explaining that antisemitism in the European country has become “blatant and obvious.”
Jerusalem has accused the Irish government of undermining Israel at international forums and promoting “extreme anti-Israel policies.”
Last month, Ireland became the first European nation to push forward legislation banning trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, an effort officials say is meant “to address the horrifying situation” in the Gaza Strip.
Ireland’s decision comes after a 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
The ICJ ruled that third countries must avoid trade or investment that supports “the illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Ireland joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel earlier this year, accusing Jerusalem of committing “state-led genocide” during its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris has also condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing the country of “the starvation of children” and “the killing of civilians” — remarks Israeli officials slammed as “antisemitic” and historically insensitive.
Last year, the Irish government officially recognized a Palestinian state, prompting outrage in Israel, which described the move as a “reward for terrorism.”
The post Jewish Man Physically Assaulted on Dublin Bus Amid Rising Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Ireland first appeared on Algemeiner.com.