New Book: Halevi and the Conceptica

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-897896

Fmr. IDF chief Herzi Halevi

No one on any end of the political spectrum will agree with this, but Herzi Halevi is a tragic unsung hero.

Tragic because he was the IDF chief of staff when the October 7 massacre took place in 2023. It happened on his watch, leading to the worst Israeli defeat since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He resigned in March 2025, about a year earlier than the standard three-year term.

A hero because he was a senior special forces commando for years, then a commander of the special forces, then a frontline commander during the 2008-09 invasion who was prevented from dealing Hamas a larger blow in Rafah by political-diplomatic considerations, then head of the Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command, then deputy chief of staff,  and then the IDF chief of staff who beat Hamas in northern Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Rafah in three successive invasions from October 2023 until the summer of 2024.

During those periods, he played key roles when the IDF killed Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, bludgeoned Hezbollah from September-November 2024, killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, destroyed Iran’s most advanced Russian S-300 antiaircraft missile systems in October 2024, and planned the Rising Lion operation from October 2024-March 2025, including rebuilding much of the IAF’s strike capabilities prior to October 2023.

Unsung because that long list of accomplishments will forever – or at least for the coming years – be overshadowed by the horrible stain of the October 7 massacre.

All of this has been true for more than a year, but it is time to write about it now for a few reasons.

First, Halevi has now gone more than a year since resigning without making his own case publicly. This was probably an error on his part, but he has always been a better general than a public-relations manager.

    Ronen Bar and Halevi

'In The War Room' on shelves this September

Second, I have a new book coming out in September called In The War Room, with The Wall Street Journal’s Elliot Kaufman, in which a complex, detailed, and nuanced portrayal of Halevi and other top Israeli and US decision-makers is given.

But it has already become clear to me that various people and media outlets may cherry-pick portions of the book that are critical, while ignoring the larger portions that are positive, to present him in a selective negative light.

Some of those who will do this will do so because they will fail to read the whole book or understand all of the nuances that the book unpacks.

Others, and this is the third point, will do so because of the upcoming Israeli election.

Once election season starts, everything becomes black and white. A leader was a success or a failure. And anyone else who was around who shares in your success takes away from your credit, so better to label them a complete, unmitigated failure.

Many participants in the upcoming election have been blaming Halevi for the October 7 massacre for years in no small part to avoid their own contributory responsibility.

Let there be no doubt: Halevi shares responsible for October 7 – along with all of the other senior defense chiefs, and all of the political chiefs, over a period of many years – some say going back a decade and some say two decades – in which there was a “conceptica” (conceptual framework) that incorrectly assumed Hamas as it was constituted could easily be contained and deterred and did not need to be treated as an invasion threat.

This conceptual framework also avoided even limited diplomatic initiatives for an extended period, hoping Hamas, and the Palestinians more broadly, could just be ignored.

And since I have gotten to know Halevi – military reporters get periodic group access to most of the IDF’s senior officers at one point or another – I know that he truly takes responsibility for his role regarding October 7. He does not just say he has contributory responsibility generically; he makes sure to add: “I personally am among those responsible” – which was why he resigned early.

But it is profoundly simplistic to think that one man, even the IDF chief of staff at the time, was solely or primarily responsible.

When Halevi assumed his role in January 2023, he did not just adopt everything that his predecessors had done; he certainly had new initiatives and ideas. But there were certain built-in limits and rules of the game.

Definitely during the terms of Gabi Ashkenazi (2007-2011), Benny Gantz (2011-2015), Gadi Eisenkot (2015-2019), and Aviv Kohavi (2019-2023), the determination by both the Israeli political – Ehud Olmert (2006-2009), Benjamin Netanyahu (for most of 2009-2021), Naftali Bennett (2021-2022), and Netanyahu again (since 2022) – and defense senior echelons, including the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency and the Mossad, was that larger conflict with Hamas was to be avoided in an effort to “manage” the conflict.

This misplaced thinking was so deep that mid-level Israeli intelligence officers never even passed on to Halevi and other IDF senior staff the Walls of Jericho plan that the IDF Intelligence Corps intercepted more than a year before the October 7 massacre.

It was so deep that in a moment of impressive and haunted honesty, Halevi has admitted that if he had been shown the plan, it might have made him a bit more concerned when he was warned about Hamas making trouble around 3-5 a.m. hours before the invasion.

But he probably would have made the same basic decisions. He has explained that this was because it was ingrained among all of Israel that Hamas simply would not dare to be crazy enough to invade. Any contrary information then was reflexively explained away.

Halevi was among the first to take public responsibility for October 7, when many Israeli officials delayed doing so, or did so with so many qualifications that it is hard to say whether they ever took responsibility.

Taking responsibility and resigning was a contribution in an age when public officials worldwide, not just in Israel, have started to treat taking responsibility as a disease and prefer to redirect, change the subject, or “double down” on blaming someone else.

And with all we know today, maybe he could have been more aggressive in calling up much larger reinforcements – a small number of reinforcements were called up – just in case there was some horror scenario that no one expected, instead of worrying so much about exposing the identity of Israeli intelligence assets to Hamas. That was one reason – it turned out to be grossly mistaken – why he wanted to avoid too many large Israeli moves.

And that is only part of Halevi’s legacy.

Those who criticize him personally the harshest for October 7 also seem to create a bizarre dichotomy in which he is only responsible for any IDF failures but not its successes.

This is not how responsibility works. He is responsible for the successes as well as the failures.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-897896

Negotiating with Iran: The Art of the Non-Deal

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-897618

Using delaying tactics, Iran turns US negotiations into a prolonged waiting game

Diplomacy with Iran is a cycle of progress and delay, where clarity often gives way to calculated ambiguity.

When it comes to the highly skilled merchants of Persia, no one does it better.

Just listen to this mouthful by the Iranian Foreign Ministry: “The fact that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the topics under discussion is correct. However, to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent, no one can make such a claim.

“Policymaking and decision-making in the US are suffering from a kind of institutionalized vacillation. The repeated changes in positions – within a matter of hours, you are faced with different, often contradictory and conflicting viewpoints. This disrupts the process of any negotiation.”

It is that obtuse statement that tells you everything you need to know about how the Iranian regime is engaged in the art of the non-deal.

The main points Trump clearly outlined don’t seem to have changed:

• Iran would have to agree to never develop nuclear weapons. Consequently, they would not be permitted to retain the 60%-enriched uranium or the stored dust that is yet to be enriched.

• The Strait of Hormuz would have to be opened with free access to all vessels, without payment, essentially acknowledging that the waterway is not the property of any country but, rather, a passage which allows unfettered international commerce for all.

• All mines in the Strait of Hormuz would have to be cleared out, so that anyone using the waterway would be guaranteed safe passage. The American naval blockade wouldn’t be removed until that happens.

So where is the ambiguity? Where are the contradictions, vacillation, or conflicting viewpoints of Americans? These have always been the non-negotiable points.

What is clear is that this back-and-forth game is fooling no one – at least none of us here in the Middle East who understand the devious, cunning, and underhanded tactics being employed by experts skilled at not making deals.

They will feign ignorance, misunderstanding, and ambiguity, ad nauseam, all towards the goal of buying more time in order to position themselves favorably. It’s what they do best!

Just try buying one of their magnificent rugs. It’s never a simple, cut-and-dry process. The asking price is meant to be outrageous, but getting to the point where it will walk out the door with you is a lengthy, tedious, and painful process. Don’t even think about using the ploy of turning your back and walking away, because it will not sway them. I speak from much personal experience.

But rugs are nothing when it comes to high-stakes power plays. Iran is not about to give up the things that provide it with the potential of world dominance, their end goal.

It took the Islamic Revolution 47 years of hard work to illicitly procure centrifuge technology, along with nuclear blueprints they managed to take from the Pakistanis, allowing the extremist regime to develop uranium enrichment. It wasn’t until 2002 that an opposition group disclosed the nuclear sites that had been established.

Lying, as usual, they claimed the facilities were just for their civilian energy program, but no one was buying it. Knowing that they were suddenly being scrutinized, they feverishly worked hard to complete their ambitions. Once they reached 60% enrichment, the other 30% needed to make it weapons-grade became an urgent priority to stop them dead in their tracks.

That’s when the regime reverted to its stalling tactics. Pretending that they don’t understand or are confused, they have used every trick in the book known to man when it comes to slow-walking a deal that requires a simple yes or no.

Each time the negotiators claimed to be on the verge of a deal, there was always the proverbial sticking point that gummed up the process, requiring an extra 30-60 days to work out the complicated details.

But that’s where it all becomes so transparent. There are no real sticking points in this deal. There are only parties that want to appear to be moving in your direction while never actually doing it.

It is in the DNA of Persians to interminably stall for time, which is said to have “deal-making prowess, that’s been rooted in thousands of years of imperial administration, the strategic environment of the Silk Road and complex cultural traditions – theirs is a heritage cultivated on valuing patience, psychological awareness and strategic adaptability in negotiations.”

Iran proves hard to outmaneuver

How does anyone compete with that? The art of the non-deal has been honed and crafted in a way that exceeds the capability of others who dare to compete for that distinction. In short, there is no way to win and no way to outmaneuver these uber-skilled artisans – not even if your name is Donald J. Trump.

The only way to get the desired results is to abandon all negotiations, acknowledging that it will bear no fruit. Then, overpower this regime by brute force. Until that is internalized, we will be subjected to this protracted game, which will only stop once enough time has been bought by the ruling Iranian regime to accomplish its nuclear ambitions.

It’s what they’re counting on and what the American administration has to finally realize. They simply will not win if they continue down the losing path they have chosen.

They might have already come to that conclusion had they spent enough time in this area of the world, where marketplace haggling is an art form. Instead, they relied upon their default position of American logic, fair-bargaining practice, and the same tactics that worked well for them in the business world.

That explains why the Gaza deal, brokered by American businessman Steve Witkoff, sounded good but has never really gotten off the ground as intended.

It’s a hit-and-miss, testifying to a different sort of people who cannot be outmaneuvered. They’re in this to win, and if the rest of us are going to have a chance in this battle of good vs evil, it’s time that we attempt to do more than level a playing field that can never be evenly matched.

Stop haggling, forget about negotiations, and just attack!

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-897618

British Spy who assisted with Entebbe operation

https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/s1negspgge

The British spy who helped Israel pull off Entebbe, and paid with his life

Bruce McKenzie, a former Kenyan minister and secret British agent, helped Israel foil an El Al missile plot and later enabled the Entebbe rescue; Idi Amin took revenge with a bomb hidden in a farewell gift

Next month, Israel will mark 50 years since Operation Entebbe, one of the most daring hostage rescue missions in history. Official ceremonies will rightly honor the creativity of the planners, the bravery of Yoni Netanyahu, Sayeret Matkal fighters and Israeli Air Force crews, and the almost unimaginable achievement of rescuing hostages from the heart of Africa.

But behind the scenes stood a key figure without whom the operation may never have happened: Bruce McKenzie.

3 View gallery

Bruce McKenzie

(Photo: Renate Patzek)

McKenzie was a British secret agent who became a close friend and trusted partner of Israel’s Mossad. His ties with Israeli intelligence led him to assist Israel in two critical moments: foiling a plot to shoot down Israeli passenger planes in Kenya and providing the vital intelligence and logistical support that made the Entebbe rescue possible.

For standing with Israel in some of its most difficult hours, he ultimately paid with his life.

McKenzie was born in South Africa in 1919. During World War II, he served as a fighter pilot in North Africa and Europe. After the war, he moved to Kenya, where he became a successful farmer and businessman near Nakuru.

Although he was a white settler who had risen during the colonial era, Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, brought him into government after independence in 1963 as agriculture and settlement minister. McKenzie became a crucial political bridge between colonial Kenya and the newly independent state, gaining enormous political and business influence.

Behind the polished image of a cabinet minister and seasoned politician, however, was another life entirely. McKenzie, known by some as “a man of many hats” and “the spy inside,” was recruited by Britain’s MI6 shortly before Kenya gained independence. Through the connections of MI6 chief Sir Maurice Oldfield, he built a historic relationship with Israel’s intelligence community. As part of his covert role during the Cold War, he used his position to pass critical intelligence to Britain and Israel.

That alliance with Israel became operational in January 1976, when a terrorist cell made up of Palestinian militants and German Marxists planned to fire missiles at an El Al plane as it landed at Nairobi airport. McKenzie was directly involved in the secret capture of five wanted terrorists, who were immediately transferred to Israel and later sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Reception for hostages who returned after Operation Entebbe

(Photo: Avi Simhoni and Miki Tzarfati, BaMahane)

A few months later came the defining moment in his covert relationship with Israel. In June 1976, an Air France plane was hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda, under the protection of dictator Idi Amin. As Israel searched desperately for a military solution, McKenzie became the central link that made the plan possible.

He used all his influence to persuade Kenya’s president to provide Israel with extraordinary assistance: permission for Mossad personnel to operate from Kenya to gather intelligence, and the crucial authorization for Israeli Air Force planes to land in Nairobi for refueling and medical support on their way home.

McKenzie went even further. He personally helped a Mossad agent fly a light aircraft over Entebbe airport, producing aerial photographs that were critical to the Israeli assault force.

In Israel and across the West, Operation Entebbe was celebrated as a spectacular success. But for Amin, the Kenyan-Israeli cooperation was a humiliation and a personal betrayal. His suspicions focused on McKenzie.

On May 24, 1978, McKenzie traveled to Uganda for a meeting with Amin on behalf of Kenya’s president. After the meeting, he boarded a plane back to Nairobi. During the flight, a powerful bomb exploded, killing McKenzie and the other passengers.

Idi Amin

(Photo: gettyimages)

The bomb, it later emerged, had been planted on Amin’s direct orders as revenge for McKenzie’s role in Operation Entebbe. It was hidden inside a farewell gift Amin had personally given him shortly before takeoff, reportedly an antelope head or a carved wooden lion.

Although much of McKenzie’s work was done in the shadows, Israel did not forget the man who risked everything for its security. After his assassination, Mossad chief Meir Amit initiated the planting of a forest in Israel in McKenzie’s name.

With quiet assistance from Kenyan authorities, McKenzie’s widow was later flown to Israel to attend a Mossad-backed ceremony, where she accepted on his behalf the “Yakir HaSeter” award, a rare honor given to those who risked their lives and freedom to secretly assist Israel’s special operations.

https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/s1negspgge

Facial Recognition used to spot adult migrants posing as children

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15857699/AI-facial-recognition-spot-adult-migrants-posing-children.html

AI facial recognition used to spot adult migrants posing as children to 'game the system'

A new AI facial recognition system that can spot adult migrants pretending to be children will be rolled out next year - to the fury of human rights campaigners.

The new technology is intended to make it easier to find adults trying to 'game the system' by getting into in the care system as opposed to the asylum system, often an easier path to staying in the UK.

An IT firm has now been awarded a £322,000 contract by the Home Office to provide 'an algorithm that can accurately predict the age of a subject', according to an official notice published today.

Harlow-based Akhter Computers are set to test and develop AI technology to be able to estimate a person's age by assessing images taken of them at the border. 

The system is expected to be used alongside existing methods of age estimation, with the Home Office saying it had shown “promising performance and accuracy” in initial tests.

In the year ending June 2025, 111,084 claimed asylum in the UK - an increase of over 14 per cent when compared to the year prior. 

A group of people arriving at the Border Security Command compound in Dover, Kent on May 27, 2026

It comes as the Home Office has awarded a contract to a tech firm to develop AI facial recognition to determine the age of migrants arriving at the English Channel

More than 6,400 migrants claiming to be children were assessed for their age at the border, with nearly half found to be adults in the year ending March 2026.

Last year the UK government's independent immigration inspector discovered there were several incidents where both migrant children and adults were classed in the wrong age group.

It added that it was 'inevitable that some age assessments will be wrong' in the absence of a 'foolproof' testing method. 

It added that the current room for error in age assessments of migrants was 'a cause for concern' particularly in incidents where children were denied rights and protections 'to which they are entitled'. 

The Home Office has been testing the technology on various images of people from different gender and ethnicities, including those of asylum seekers, in its system. 

But the results have not yet been used to determine the outcome of any live cases. 

The new system will tested in asylum seeker cases at the Western Jet Foil processing centre in Dover next year. 

Currently, trained immigration enforcement officers carry out age assessment using various procedures such as X-rays, MRI scans and documents. 

But the Government has since determined the AI recognition was the most 'cost-effective option' of analysing an asylum seeker's age. 

Border Security and Asylum minister Alex Norris said adult migrants 'making false age claims have exploited the system and diverted vital support away from children at risk'.

'That is why we are rolling out AI technology to put a stop to this, ensuring those who game the system are identified, detained and removed without delay, and those who deserve support and protection are given it,' Norris said.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15857699/AI-facial-recognition-spot-adult-migrants-posing-children.html

Justin Castro

 https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15855345/Fidel-Castro-daughter-answer-Justin-Trudeau-father-rumors-Cuba.html

The daughter of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro gave a surprising answer when asked if she is the half-sister of former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. 

Theories that the Cuban communist revolutionary fathered Justin have circulated since Castro died in 2016, with some pointing to physical similarities between the two.

The rumors resurfaced several times in the years since, particularly as his mother admitted to having a relationship with Castro, and after Castro's eldest son left a suicide note referring to Justin as his half-brother.

Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, may have just reignited the rumors once again after she refused to deny the rumors in a recent interview with NewsNation.

During the interview, host Katie Pavlich asked, 'For years, we've heard rumors that Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Canada, could be your half-brother. What do you think of that?'

With a wry smile, Fernandez replied: 'The only thing I can say is that his mother used to visit the country very often.' 

Pavlich then said, 'Well, that may be a tell then. I guess that's a half answer. Do you plan to call him and maybe find out?'

Rumors have swirled since 2016 that former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, left, is late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's son due to similarities in the two men's appearance

Trudeau with his mother, Margaret Trudeau, who admitted to having several high-profile lovers

Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, refused to deny the rumors in a recent interview

Fernandez answered, 'No, no, I won't do it. If he wants, he's gonna be welcome, but I won't. I won't. I think he keeps that to himself, and you have to respect that.'

Fernandez's responses will surely become another piece of circumstantial evidence that conspiracists latch onto.

Justin is the son of Canada's late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau and activist Margaret Sinclair, who took her husband's name. He was born in 1971, and his parents divorced 13 years later during his father's last months in office.

Margaret would later admit - in her 1982 book Consequences - that she had had affairs with actors Jack Nicholson and Ryan O'Neal and singer Lou Rawls, as the relationship broke down.

And through her public persona, she said she became associated with members of the Rolling Stones, top US government officials - and even Cuban revolutionary leader Castro. 

The latter of those relationships has led to speculation over the past decade, including by President Donald Trump, that Pierre is not truly Justin's father.

The rumors began in 2016 and exploded two years later when Castro's eldest son, Fidelito, died by suicide in 2018 and several outlets reported he had left a note referring to Justin as his half-brother.

Photos have emerged of Fidel Castro hosting Justin in 1976 as the Canadian prime minister and his wife landed in Havana in a historic visit, becoming the first NATO leader to set foot in Castro's Cuba. 

Margaret smiles as Cuban President Fidel Castro holds her youngest son Michel after the Trudeaus arrived in Havana, Cuba, in 1976

Margaret (above with Pierre and their kids in 1975) admitted to having affairs after becoming estranged from her husband in the late 1970s

President Trump entertained the rumors in his 2024 book, Save America. 'His mother was beautiful and wild. In the 1970s, she would go "clubbing" with the Rolling Stones, but she was also somehow associated with Fidel Castro,' he wrote. 

'She said he was "the sexiest man I've ever met," and a lot of people say that Justin is his son. He swears that he isn't, but how the hell would he know!

'Castro had good hair, the "father" didn't, Justin has good hair, and has become a Communist just like Castro.'

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15855345/Fidel-Castro-daughter-answer-Justin-Trudeau-father-rumors-Cuba.html