War and no peace

Another late Sunday edition. After reading, a couple things you might want to read and watch:

1) New York Times Scott Pelley interview after he was fired from CBS News. 🎁

2) Trump loses it and walks off set of Meet the Press interview.

#1) Israel's War on Lebanon

There’s a dark joke about how Israel approaches ceasefires: “You cease, we fire.”

And sadly, that keeps bearing out — in Gaza, and now in Lebanon.

On Sunday, Israel struck Beirut, killing two people, after Iran warned it would treat any such strike on the city as an escalation. Iran retaliated with strikes of its own on northern Israel. Israel says all of those strikes were intercepted. President Trump reportedly called Netanyahu and told him not to escalate further. Netanyahu ordered strikes on Iranian targets again anyway. This is developing Sunday evening, as of this writing.

But these two have had this conversation before — because Netanyahu has been threatening to hit Beirut for days.

Let’s rewind.

Last Monday, Trump and Netanyahu reportedly got into a heated argument over Netanyahu’s threats to bomb Beirut.

“You're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” Trump told Netanyahu in a phone call reported by Axios.

Trump later confirmed that he had, in fact, called Netanyahu “fucking crazy.”

Publicly, of course, both leaders framed the conversation as civil. Trump claimed Israel told him it would stop firing in Lebanon and that Hezbollah agreed to stop if Israel did. Netanyahu said Israel would strike Beirut if Hezbollah kept firing.

On Wednesday, Israeli and Lebanese officials met with their US counterparts at the State Department and later announced an extension of an agreement they are calling a “ceasefire.”

Three days later, the Israeli military carried out a series of strikes that killed nine people, including three high-ranking Lebanese soldiers — among them Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, Al Jazeera reported.

“The incident is one of the deadliest single events involving the Lebanese army in recent years,” Al Jazeera reported.

The Israeli military said the vehicle was “moving suspiciously” and that the matter is under review — two familiar phrases it uses to stall and bury investigations into potential war crimes.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the attack a flagrant violation of the “ceasefire” the two countries had just signed.

The so-called ceasefire itself is farcical. It states that Israel and Lebanon have no quarrel, recognize each other’s sovereignty, and that Israel will recognize Lebanon’s established borders. But it also unequivocally preserves Israel’s right to shoot and bomb at will. Basically, Lebanon ceases, Israel fires.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah — the group Israel is actually fighting — is not even a party to the agreement.

For the last three-plus months Israel has continued to encroach on Lebanese territory, violating the basic premise of the deal. It now occupies roughly 20% of Lebanese land. As of Thursday, Israeli forces had withdrawn from only one village in southern Lebanon. In total, El País — citing Lebanon’s prime minister — reports that 67 more villages remain under Israeli occupation. Israel has displaced more than 1.4 million people – who have nowhere to go.

So why does Israel bother with these agreements if it intends to do what it wants anyway?

Because the performance has value. Meetings, photo ops, and diplomatic statements help Israel present itself as a responsible actor seeking peace — even as it reserves the right to keep bombing. They're hoping people don't read the fine print.

And why does Lebanon keep showing up?

Because Lebanon is trapped. Refusing to participate risks angering Israel and the US. Playing along buys time, keeps diplomatic channels open, and may help defuse an even larger escalation.

Related:

• Israel attacked at least three Lebanese hospitals this week, killing nine people and injuring more than 150, Lebanon’s health ministry reported via The Guardian. Doctors Without Borders shared images from one of Tuesday’s strikes, which killed four people, caused extensive damage and injured medical staff.
  • Responding to one strike, the Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hezbollah structures and hit the hospital accidentally. In another case, it claimed the hospital was treating Hezbollah fighters. But hospitals do not lose their protection under international law because combatants are being treated there.
  • Lebanese officials denied Israel’s claims and accused it of “escalating attacks on health institutions.”
• Israel has killed more than 130 medical workers and hit 163 ambulances since March 2, according to The Guardian.
• It is a well-documented fact that Israel has used white phosphorus in Lebanon, and The New York Times reports it is doing so again. White phosphorus ignites on contact with oxygen, producing thick white smoke militaries use to conceal movement. When humans are exposed to the toxic substance, they can suffer excruciating chemical burns, respiratory damage, organ failure, and death.

2) War on Iran

There is no deal to end the war with Iran, yet – and the chances seem starker by the day.

Last week, both sides claimed that a deal was near. But on Monday, Trump sent back changes to Iran that were described as “tougher terms,” shifting expectations at the last minute.

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told CNN: “The main problem of negotiating with this administration is that you have to face so many changing positions, moving the goal posts, different statements, contradictory remarks by different officials, so it makes the whole process very cumbersome.”

Baghaei cited respect for Iran’s sovereignty, the right to peaceful nuclear enrichment, and unfreezing assets as key sticking points.

In another disturbing sign of how badly Israel and Netanyahu want to keep the war going, the Pentagon has reportedly raised its counterintelligence threat level for Israel from “high” to “critical” — the highest level — after finding that Israel has increased its spying on US military and intelligence personnel to figure out the Trump administration’s plans for Iran, NBC News and The New York Times report.

• The US and Israel have long spied on each other. But this latest effort has “crossed a line,” according to the Times. Israel’s threat level is now higher than that of any other US ally — and higher than some adversarial countries.
• According to The New York Times, US defense officials working in Israel found software installed on their phones to monitor their communications. The paper also cites a 2021 incident in which Israeli intelligence officers were caught trying to plant bugs in a US intelligence office and a Secret Service vehicle.
• NBC News reports that Israel is also spying on senior officials involved in Middle East negotiations, including Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. “Israel is keenly interested in whether Trump decides to resume major combat operations against Iran or to end the conflict, the current and former U.S. officials and outside experts said,” NBC reports.
• Trump administration officials have made themselves especially vulnerable. The Times: “The tendency of some senior Trump administration officials to fly on private aircraft, to conduct national security business on their personal phones and to reject staffing from U.S. embassies abroad made them especially vulnerable targets for the spy services of allies and adversaries alike,” a former senior US official told the Times.
• The Pentagon declined to comment. The White House denied the reports.

RELATED:

• The House passed a resolution calling on President Trump “to remove” the US military “from hostilities with Iran” unless Congress approves further military action. It is the first time the resolution has passed since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
  • The final vote was 215-208. Four Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (KY), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Tom Barrett (MI), and Warren Davidson (OH) — joined Democrats to support it.
  • The resolution is unlikely to become binding. Trump is expected to veto it, and Congress does not have the two-thirds support needed to override him. But the vote still sends a message: even some Republicans are growing wary of Trump’s war.
• The UN says millions are facing acute hunger because of the war. The blocked Strait of Hormuz and high oil prices are making it harder for agencies like the World Food Program to deliver aid, the AP reports.

• Ice Mistreatment. Last week, we covered protests at Delaney Hall, a privately operated ICE detention center in New Jersey where lawmakers, families, and activists have reported inhumane treatment. Those protests have continued this week, though Newark’s mayor has lifted the curfew imposed last weekend.
  • Federal officials defended their actions by first denying the reports — and then arguing that people should be grateful because ICE is removing murderers and rapists from the streets.
  • Except, most of the people detained inside Delaney Hall have never been convicted of a crime, The New York Times reports. “In early April, ICE stopped updating its once-regular public reports on the number of people being detained at its facilities,” the Times reports. “The internal data obtained by The Times shows that of 591 people held at Delaney Hall this week, 76 — about 13 percent — had criminal convictions and 123 — about 21 percent — had pending criminal charges.” And those convictions or charges include all crimes — not necessarily murder or rape. In April, just six of the 891 people in the facility were deemed high risk.
• Ebola Outbreak. The CDC projects that the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could grow beyond 10,000 cases in three months. “Large-scale, rapid public health action is needed to control the current outbreak, already the largest known BVD outbreak, from becoming one of the largest Ebola epidemics in history,” the CDC warns.
  • But Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly focused elsewhere. According to The New York Times, Kennedy is “single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.”
  • Kennedy has left Ebola to acting CDC Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has no public health experience. Bhattacharya replaced Susan Monarez, who was fired after she said she was pressured to approve vaccine recommendations before reviewing data.
  • This week, Bhattacharya wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed claiming the US is “protecting Americans from Ebola.” But the steps he listed — sending supplies and personnel to the region and restricting travel from Congo and Uganda — may be too little, too late.
  • After the Trump administration cut funding for programs that would normally respond to an Ebola outbreak, doctors returning from the region say those cuts have made a measurable difference. “By now we would [have] a lot of teams on the ground responding, doing contact tracing. But because of the limitation of the resources, it's difficult,” Oxfam official Dr. Maneji Mangundu told CBC.
  • Add together an uninterested HHS secretary, funding cuts, an Ebola outbreak the CDC warns could grow dramatically, and the upcoming World Cup — which will bring millions of people from dozens of countries to cities across the US — and it is hard to see how this does not raise serious questions about whether the CDC and HHS are ready for the public health risks ahead.
  • Also: apparently Kennedy works from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when he is in town at HHS offices. “His disinterest in matters that are not high on his priority list has meant that he has not engaged at critical moments, colleagues said.”
• Israeli aid. Congress is taking a step toward making US support for Israel less visible and harder to unwind. A new House bill would deepen ties between the Pentagon and Israel’s defense industry as the current $4 billion-a-year aid agreement nears its 2028 expiration.
  • A new Quincy Institute report warns that future support could move away from a clearly labeled annual aid package and instead flow through weapons contracts, joint research, co-production deals, software, and licensing.
  • Rep. Ro Khanna tried to block the provision, but only one Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee supported him.
• Palestinian Genocide. Israel struck an apartment building in Gaza City, killing nine people, including four children, Al Jazeera reports, citing sources at Al Shifa Hospital. There was no warning. Palestinian officials say Israel has violated the ceasefire more than 3,000 times, killing 900 people and injuring 2,000 more.
  • Israeli forces shot and killed a seven-month old baby in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says it perceived the vehicle as moving quickly toward them. The family says the vehicle was stopped.
• Albanians are protesting a new seaside development led by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Albania’s government — including its socialist prime minister — is reportedly working with the Kushners to develop a luxury resort on one of the country’s islands. Environmentalists say the land is protected and would be destroyed by development. The country’s anti-corruption agency is investigating the deal.

• The Justice Department says it will comply with a judge’s order barring it from dispersing any money from the $1.8 billion so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — a fund set up by the Trump administration to pay supporters who claim they were wrongly targeted by the government.
  • But Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to put that commitment in writing, telling Congress it was not necessary. Later, when asked about the fund, Trump would not commit to getting rid of it, saying he thought it was a good idea.
  • Behind the scenes, Republicans have pressured the Trump administration to drop the fund because it looks like what it is: a big, fat grift — and because they worry it could hurt their midterm prospects.
  • Coming up: A federal judge has ordered Trump’s lawyers to explain by June 12 why their handling of the fund was not an effort to defraud the court.
• Trump plans to nominate Blanche to be permanent attorney general, replacing his former boss Pam Bondi, CNN reported. After this slush fund debacle, it will be worth watching who backs Blanche’s nomination — even among Republicans.
• By a vote of 213-210, the House voted to cut $141 million from SNAP/WIC funding for fruit and vegetable benefits that help 5.4 million children and pregnant and postpartum women. Breastfeeding mothers would see their monthly fruit and vegetable stipend drop from $52 to $13, while the benefit for young children would fall from $26 to $10, The Washington Post reports. This is what Fox had to say, which I thought was interesting: “The WIC cuts would come at a time when grocery prices are rising, in part because of the Iran war and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.”
• On Tuesday, Trump nominated Bill Pulte — head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chair of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — to replace Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, despite the law requiring the DNI to have “extensive national security expertise.” Pulte has none. After pushback — even from Republicans — Trump was walking it back by Thursday. “He's not going to be permanent because, you know, I don't think he'd want to be permanent,” Trump told reporters.
• HHS released new Medicaid work requirement rules this week — and they are stricter than expected, according to public health officials who reviewed the guidelines, NPR reports.
• President Trump signed an executive order stripping roughly 8,000 government employees of their civil servant protections, meaning they can be fired for political reasons. The original estimate was 50,000 workers, so more cuts may be coming.
• A man convicted of participating in the January 6 Capitol insurrection by Trump supporters has been hired to work in a highly sensitive Pentagon office that handles “irregular warfare and counterterrorism” and requires a top-secret security clearance, The Washington Post reports.
• CBS News fired correspondent Scott Pelley after he reportedly had a heated argument with the new executive producer of 60 Minutes and accused him and Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of destroying the legendary news program. The firing reverberated through DC and media circles as another major sign that Trump-era pressure, billionaire ownership, and MAGA politics are reshaping legacy journalism into something else entirely. CBS’s parent company, Paramount, merged with David Ellison’s Skydance Media last year.
• The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) over allegations of sexual misconduct, sources tell CNN. Gomez apologized after one report surfaced in The New York Post. Gomez says the interaction was consensual.
• Bot traffic on the internet now exceeds human usage for the first time, according to Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. That could change how websites make money because bots, unlike people, “don’t click on ads,” Prince noted in an interview with NBC News.
• The White House Correspondents’ Association announced that its annual dinner has been rescheduled for July 24. The dinner, last held in April, was stopped midway by a shooting. President Trump says he will attend. X Truth Social