Jun 13, 2025 1:24:04 am
A growing behind-the-scenes battle between Fox News personalities threatens to escalate into open war as they fight for President Donald Trump’s attention about the threat posed by Iran and the proper way to address it.
‘Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran.’ ‘To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it.’ ‘A war with Iran would amount to a profound betrayal of his supporters. It would end his presidency. That may explain why so many of Trump’s enemies are advocating for it.’ Tucker Carlson.
US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza and stop talk of an attack on Iran, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The two leaders spoke on the phone on Monday. Trump later said the call went “very well, very smooth.”
Trump and Netanyahu appear increasingly at odds over the war in Gaza as the conflict passes the 20-month mark. Netanyahu has made clear that his war goals include the complete disarmament and removal of Hamas, while Trump has pushed for an end to the war.
It’s one of several major issues in the region where a growing rift is emerging between the US and Israel. In recent weeks, the Trump administration bypassed Israel on a trip to the Middle East, reached a ceasefire deal with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen that failed to halt their ballistic missile attacks at Israel, and lifted sanctions on Syria – even as Israel warns against legitimizing a regime run by former jihadists.
The president has told Israeli Prime Minster Bibi Netanyahu that attacking Iran’s nuclear sites is off limits as he prefers a diplomatic solution to the growing tensions between the two countries.
‘I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we´re very close to a solution,’ the president said, recalling to reporters his phone call with Netanyahu. ‘Now, that could change at any moment. It could change with a phone call.’
MIXED MESSAGES: The US State and Defense departments on Wednesday made efforts to arrange the departure of non-essential personnel from locations around the Middle East, according to US officials and sources familiar with the efforts. It’s not clear what is causing the sudden change in posture, but a defense official said US Central Command is monitoring “developing tension in the Middle East
“They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens. But they have been or we’ve given notice to move out, and we’ll see what happens,” President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday upon arriving at a Kennedy Center event.
Trump has said he’s grown less confident in being able to strike a deal with Iran curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions, saying in a new interview that Tehran could be “delaying” striking an agreement.
“I’m getting more and more less confident about it. They seem to be delaying, and I think that’s a shame, but I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,” Trump said in an interview with a New York Post podcast that was released earlier on Wednesday.
“Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” he went on, saying it was his “instincts” telling him a deal was moving further from reach.
ROGUE STATE:: Two intelligence sources said the US had observed indications of Israeli military posturing, including the movement of air munitions and the completion of an air exercise. Though officials cautioned it’s not clear that Israeli leaders had made a final decision and said there was deep disagreement within the US government about the likelihood that Israel will ultimately act.
Iran’s defense minister warned Wednesday that if the nuclear talks with the US fail and conflict breaks out, the US would be “forced to leave the region.”
Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said that in such a scenario “the adversary will certainly suffer heavier casualties,” though he did not specify whether the “adversary” was the US, Israel or both.
In his comments published by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, the defense minister said some officials from the opposing side had “made threatening remarks, warning of potential conflict in case no agreement is reached” in the US-Iran talks.
“In that case, the US will have no choice but to leave the region, as all of its bases are within the reach of Iranian military and they will not hesitate to target all of them in their host countries,” Nasirzadeh said.
MIKE THE MADMAN SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF: The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has suggested “Muslim countries” should give up some of their land to create a future Palestinian state. In an interview with the BBC, Huckabee said “Muslim countries have 644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel”.
“So maybe, if there is such a desire for the Palestinian state, there would be someone who would say, we’d like to host it,” he said.
The ambassador also strongly criticised US allies including the UK and Australia for sanctioning two far-right Israeli ministers over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.
In his interview, the ambassador called a two-state solution – a proposed formula for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that has generally received international backing, including from multiple US administrations – “an aspirational goal”.
The two-state solution envisages an independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel. In a separate interview with Bloomberg, Huckabee said the US was no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce later said the ambassador “speaks for himself”, and it is the president who is responsible for US policy in the Middle East.
JUDEA AND SAMARIA: Later this month at the United Nations in New York, French and Saudi diplomats will host a conference aimed at laying out a roadmap for an eventual Palestinian state. Although Huckabee did not say where any future Palestinian state could be located specifically or whether the US would support such an effort, he called the conference “ill-timed and inappropriate”.
“It’s also something that is completely wrongheaded for European states to try to impose in the middle of a war,” he said, arguing that it would result in Israel being “less secure”.
Huckabee has previously been a strong supporter of the idea of a “greater Israel”, seeking permanent Israeli control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and using the biblical term “Judea and Samaria” for the West Bank.
Some of his language echoes positions frequently taken by ultranationalist groups in Israel. Some in this movement, including far-right ministers in the Israeli governing coalition, have argued for the expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying any future Palestinian state could exist in Arab or Muslim countries.
If such a policy was enacted, rights groups and European governments say it would be a clear violation of international law.
SANCTIONS NOT AS SHOCKING AS GENOCIDE, MIKE: The ambassador also reacted to the sanctioning of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which was part of a joint move announced by the UK, Norway, Australia, Canada and New Zealand on Tuesday.
The UK has sanctioned two far-right Israeli ministers over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich will both be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the UK frozen as part of the measures announced by the foreign secretary.
It is part of a joint move with Australia, Norway, Canada and New Zealand announced on Tuesday. In response, Israel said: “It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kind of measures.”
David Lammy said Finance Minister Smotrich and National Security Minister Ben-Gvir had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the move, writing on X: “These sanctions do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring all hostages home, and end the war”. He urged the nations to reverse the sanctions, adding that the US “stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.”
The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, joined Rubio’s condemnation, describing the move as a “shocking decision” in an interview with the BBC. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have also been criticised for their stance on the war in Gaza. Both ministers oppose allowing aid into the Strip and have called for Palestinians there to be resettled outside the territory.
WHO ARE THE REAL EXTREMISTS? The Foreign Office said: “As Palestinian communities in the West Bank continue to suffer from severe acts of violence by extremist Israeli settlers which also undermine a future Palestinian state, the UK has joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in stepping up the international response.”
After the announcement, Lammy said: “These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now – to hold those responsible to account.
“We will strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the remaining hostages by Hamas which can have no future role in the governance of Gaza, a surge in aid and a path to a two-state solution.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the cabinet would meet next week to respond to what he called an “unacceptable decision”.
The Foreign Office added that the five nations are “clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop”. In a statement it said the sanctions against the ministers “cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold International Humanitarian Law”.
The ministers lead ultra-nationalist parties in the governing coalition, which holds an eight-seat majority in parliament. The support of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, which holds six seats, and Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, which holds seven seats, is crucial to the government’s survival.
Speaking at the inauguration of a new settlement in the West Bank, Smotrich said he felt “contempt” towards the UK’s move.
“Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we cannot do it again,” he said. “We are determined, God willing, to continue building.”
The minister was alluding to the period when Britain governed Palestine and imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration, most significantly from the late 1930s to late 1940s.
ILLEGAL OCCUPATION: Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law – a position supported by an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year – although Israel disputes this.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer said that 2024 had seen the “worst settler violence” in the West Bank in the past two decades and this year was “on track to be just as violent”. Commenting on the sanctions imposed on the two ministers, Falconer said they were “responsible for inciting settler violence” in the West Bank which has “led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians and the displacement of whole towns and villages”.
Falconer said Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had continued their “appalling” rhetoric despite warnings from the UK government, and so action was taken. The possibility of sanctioning these two ministers has long been in the pipeline. In October, Lord Cameron said he had planned to sanction the pair, when he was foreign secretary from 2023-24, as a way of putting pressure on Israel.
The UK’s decision reflects growing popular and parliamentary pressure to take further action against the Israeli government for its operations both in Gaza and the West Bank. It also comes after a steady escalation of pressure by the UK and other allies. Last month the leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement saying that Israel was at risk of breaking international law. The UK also broke off trade talks with Israel.
In the Commons last month, Lammy described remarks by Smotrich about “cleansing” Gaza of Palestinians as “monstrous” and “dangerous” extremism. LIiberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey welcomed the sanctions, but said it was “disappointing” that the Conservative government and Labour “took so long to act”.
It is 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 54,927 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.