Author: JNS.Org

By JNS Staff Iran secretly obtained a Chinese-made reconnaissance satellite in late 2024 and used it to help target U.S. military positions across the Middle East during the recent conflict, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The newspaper, citing leaked Iranian military documents, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force took control of the TEE-01B satellite built by China’s Earth Eye Co. after its launch from China. The system reportedly provided the IRGC with imagery and coordinates of U.S. bases before and after missile and drone attacks in March. As part of the arrangement, the Iranian regime gained access to ground stations operated by…

By Amelie Botbol Freedom of navigation through the strategic waterway is a key part of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday denounced Iran for its “very poor job” in allowing freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a key condition of the two-week ceasefire agreed by Washington and Tehran that paused 40 days of war in the Middle East. “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have!” Trump posted to Truth Social. One hour earlier,…

By Amelie Botbol/jns.org Tourists ride out war from hotel shelters Foreign visitors caught in Israel amid escalating conflict describe disrupted travel, sleepless nights and a growing sense of solidarity as they wait for flights home. At the Orchid Hotel in Tel Aviv, the bomb shelter on level minus one is filled largely with foreign voices, with little Hebrew heard. The space is occupied by tourists who arrived for short visits, but now find themselves stranded in Israel, with no clear departure date. Jacqueline Sanders, a headhunter from the Netherlands, arrived on Feb. 23 for what was meant to be a…

The Israeli military said it recovered internal Hamas documents in the Gaza Strip that suggest that Hezbollah allowed the Palestinian terror group to establish positions inside Lebanese territory without official state approval and with Iranian coordination. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are U.S.-designated terror organizations backed by the Islamic Republic. Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, a spokeswoman for the Arabic media division of the Israeli military, said the documents detail meetings between top Hamas and Hezbollah officials, including a Quds Force commander, to approve joint military projects. “We call on the Lebanese government to take practical and meaningful measures against Hezbollah, whose…

Steven James Perkinson, 21, of Plainfield, Ind., was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison on Tuesday for vandalizing a local Baptist church, followed by three years of supervised release. Perkinson had pleaded guilty to intentionally damaging religious property and making false statements to federal investigators, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. On Nov. 18, 2024, Perkinson defaced a sign outside Maple Grove Baptist Church, spray-painting symbols including a pitchfork and the number “666,” and crossing out the sign’s Christian cross. “Targeting any house of worship is an attack on the fundamental freedoms that define our…

Story by Andrew Bernard/jns.org U.S. President Donald Trump told the New York Post that he would not rule out sending American troops into Iran “if they were necessary.” “I don’t care about polling,” he said. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” the president said. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ ‘if they were necessary.’” The Post reported that recent polling shows a lack of American support for the war. “I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling.…

Israel’s National Security Council on Saturday called on all citizens abroad to take increased precautions in light of the war with Iran. The council said in a statement issued to the press that the Iranian regime is likely to intensify efforts to carry out attacks abroad against Israeli and Jewish targets, “effective immediately.” The motivation to harm Israelis abroad may also rise among other Islamist elements, such as local “lone wolf” initiatives, it added. The agency directed the public’s attention to existing travel advisories, including on the council’s website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and recommended reviewing the level of travel warnings…

Story by JNS/.org U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that he is displeased with the progress of talks with Iran intended to address the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday afternoon before boarding Marine One for a trip to Texas, the president accused Iran of negotiating in bad faith. “We’re not exactly happy with the way they negotiated,” Trump said. “They cannot have nuclear weapons, and we’re not thrilled with the way they’re negotiating.” “It’d be wonderful if they negotiate, really, in good conscience—good faith and…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel has never been stronger, the bond between Washington and Jerusalem has never been tighter, and Iran would be making the worst mistake in its history were it to attack Israel. He declared this during an address to the Knesset plenum on Feb. 23. “I recently returned from my seventh meeting with the president of the United States since he was elected,” he said, describing the relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and himself as unprecedented. That relationship extends to the Israel Defense Forces and the U.S. military, according to Netanyahu,…

Victorian police are investigating a suspected antisemitic assault on an 18-year-old man who was allegedly punched in the face at a Scouts camp while wearing a yarmulke and carrying an Israeli flag, Australia’s 9News reported on Monday. Police said Joshua Levy was first verbally abused by an unknown man while walking at Lardner Park in West Gippsland about 2 p.m. on Saturday, then later assaulted by the same person in a crowd of about 300 people at around 9 p.m. Levy suffered bruising around his nose and swelling to his cheek and reported the incident to police the following day with his…

Story by Canaan Lindoor/jns.org French Interior Ministry data showed incidents targeting Jews formed the majority of roughly 2,500 acts against religious groups recorded last year. Most of the documented hate crimes targeting a religious group in France last year were against Jews, who make up 0.6% of the population, the French Interior Ministry said on Friday.The ministry’s report of anti-religious hate crimes for 2025 counted 1,320 antisemitic cases out of 2,489 offences targeting all religious minorities. The report was published on the 20th anniversary of the murder of Ilan Halimi, a French Jew who in 2006 was abducted, tortured and murdered by…

Following a near doubling in antisemitic crimes in Sweden, police in Stockholm moved a weekly anti-Israel rally to a Holocaust memorial monument bordering the city’s main synagogue, despite protests by the local Jewish community, its leader told JNS on Monday. On Saturday, “the rally was moved to the Raoul Wallenberg memorial, which is really offensive,” the president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, Aron Verständig, told JNS. The new location, situated 50 yards from the Great Synagogue of Stockholm, makes “people feel threatened,” Verständig added. Last month, a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) counted 217 reported antisemitic hate…