“While Trump is unpredictable, there are certainly signs that he might hit Iran hard” after the midterm vote, said Michael Makovsky, the president and chief executive of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a hawkish think tank in Washington.

Mr. Trump may hold out “slim” hope for striking a deal before Election Day, Mr. Makovsky added. “But he doesn’t seem to think it’s likely.”

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Read the full piece in the New York Times. 

The post Taunting Trump Over Gas Prices, Iran Braces for Aftermath of U.S. Vote appeared first on JINSA.

Why it matters: The lengthy document, littered with warnings, was co-authored by a man known as “Col. David,” an elite combat engineer who commanded Israel’s counter-tunnel and subterranean warfare operations after the Oct. 7 attack.

…

What’s inside: The report lists five key takeaways from Israel’s experience. They include:

1. Synchronizing above-ground and below-ground operations and viewing both fights as a “single, cohesive effort.”
2. Updating military concepts, language and structure to treat subterra “not as a specialized issue, but one that impacts the entire conflict.”
3. Monitoring and disrupting knowledge transfer and supply chains, even in peacetime.

Threat level: China, North Korea, Iran, terror groups and drug smugglers alike operate and exploit these underground warrens.

• They also share best practices.
• “We know there’s so much cooperation between them on so many different fronts,” Tobin said, “and this is one of them that often gets overlooked.”

The intrigue: A report published by the U.S. Army in 2025 concluded American forces “may not be able to avoid a subterranean fight in the future” and recommended studying the IDF’s successes and failures.

My thought bubble: Remember Northeast drone chaos?

• Among the problems then were slapdash policies, reporting chains and countermeasures. The same is true here.

The bottom line: “We’re at a political moment where we actually are risking losing access to some of those lessons that our frontline partner has learned,” Blaise Misztal, JINSA’s vice president for policy, told Axios.

• The report, he said, is “about raising the profile — or the alarm — on these subterranean threats” as well as “recognizing the hard-fought lessons that Israel has learned.”

Read the full article in Axios.

The post Exclusive: What Israel’s Underground War Can Teach Other Militaries appeared first on JINSA.

On October 7, 2026, 78 retired American military leaders and legal experts signed an open letter rejecting the claim that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. They pointed to evacuation warnings, humanitarian measures, legal reviews of military operations, and efforts to limit civilian casualties. In their view, those actions cut against the claim that Israel intended to destroy Palestinians as a people.”

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Read the full piece in the Times of Israel.

The post Genocide: When Accusation Replaces Evidence appeared first on JINSA.

Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow for American strategy at JINSA, said the reported troop numbers point to an evolving but still incomplete shift in U.S. posture, falling short of a full commitment by either side to a “semi-permanent U.S. presence” in Israel.

“The recent, sudden expansion of U.S. presence reflected ready-made opportunities in Israel: certain bases like Ovda are built to U.S. specifications, Israel maintains high readiness at its bases, and it already had some surge capacity for the rapid influx of American aircraft, personnel, and materiel for [Operation] Epic Fury,” he said.

“But a more permanent and shared basing posture entails tough political decisions from both sides to fund it. Especially after its recent losses, the United States is trying to lessen its dependence on permanent bases in the Gulf, in favor of rotating forces through multiple countries, like Israel, that are farther from Iran.”

…

Read the full piece in JNS.

The post ‘United States Looking At All Possibilities’ on Iran appeared first on JINSA.

The open letter, organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), is not only about Israel; it is about America, as well. Falsely accusing Israel of genocide, the letter explained, threatens America’s national security by setting a dangerous precedent for future American military operations.

No major American news organization has reported on the JINSA letter. In the days since its release, there has been no media coverage outside the Jewish and Israeli press and social media.

To be sure, Israel’s and Jewish groups’ rejection of the genocide charge has been reported, but the open letter is qualitatively different. It reflects the informed and independent judgment of former leaders of the U.S. military rebutting the charge. It stands alone.

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Read the full piece in JNS.

The post Refuting the Genocide Claim Is Not News appeared first on JINSA.

Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said the uncertainty comes against a complicated history of U.S. policy toward Israeli settlements and BDS.

“Israeli settlements have always existed in a gray area when it comes to U.S. opposition to BDS. President Obama excepted West Bank settlements from his enforcement of anti-BDS laws, and Biden sanctioned certain settler activities while officially opposing BDS.”

He said that ambiguity appears to have carried into the Trump administration as tensions between Israel and European governments over settlement policy have increased.

“This gray area now seems to be carrying over to the Trump administration, where coherent and consistent policymaking has never been a strong suit, precisely as the West Bank and U.S.-European ties become particularly tense more generally,” Ruhe said.

Ruhe also pointed to the administration’s previous responses to European actions targeting Israel as a possible indication of how Washington could respond to the latest measures.

“Though Amb. Huckabee repeatedly called settler violence ‘acts of terror’ and ‘criminal activity’ over the summer, Europe’s latest threats follow a pattern where the administration jumps at the opportunity to retaliate for sanctions, embargoes, and arrest warrants aimed at Israel from Europe,” Ruhe said.

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Read the full piece in JewishInsider.

The post Trump WH Sends Mixed Signals Over Response to European Sanctions Against Israeli Settlements appeared first on JINSA.

On October 12, JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky spoke to Fox News about the latest Houthi attacks. “It’s very important that the [Saudi] Crown Prince be successful [in combating the Houthis], and it’s vital for US national security. But he’s alienated or distanced himself from a few key countries that could have been helpful here. I mean, he had a very well-known fight with the Emiratis, who were effective … against the Houthis. … He’s kept a distance from the Israelis, who have … [been] very effective at hitting the Houthis, and, at times in this war, he’s been rather cool to the United States,” Makovsky said, according to a synopsis of the discussion released by JINSA.

He added, “I’d like to see the Saudis work with the Israelis, the Emiratis, and the US to deal with the Houthi threat. It is not only a threat to the Saudis, of course, but affects the whole world because of [the Houthi threat] to international commerce. … There has to be an international coalition.”

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Read the full piece in the Jerusalem Post.

The post Riyadh’s Dilemma: Can Saudi Arabia Stop Houthi Attacks Without Triggering a Wider War? appeared first on JINSA.

On October 12, JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky, PhD, spoke to Fox News about the latest Houthi attacks, including the group’s October 10 drone and missile strike on Riyadh’s international airport. That attack was the deadliest on Saudi soil since 2015 and killed a U.S. citizen. Dr. Makovsky noted that Iran is the Houthis’ main funder and arms supplier, a role which enables Houthi aggression. He observed that the Houthi slogan is “God is the greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. A curse upon the Jews. Victory to Islam,” and commented, “It’s not exactly a Disney slogan.”

Noting that Saudi Arabia made a strategic mistake by alienating its key allies in recent months, Dr. Makovsky discussed the way forward, including the possibility of an international counter-Houthi coalition. He also argued that the Iranian and Yemeni fronts cannot be separated: “The more we can weaken the regime in Tehran … the more that’s going to weaken the Houthis.”

The post JINSA President Dr. Michael Makovsky on the Houthi Quandary (Fox News) appeared first on JINSA.

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Read the full piece in the Washington Times.

The post Should we keep funding Israel? America’s $3.8 billion question appeared first on JINSA.

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Read the full piece in Maariv.

The post The US Army’s expert on tunnel warfare signed the document: “This is not what happened in Gaza” appeared first on JINSA.