News Summary-Intelligence Report 4/18/2025*Newsdump Friday*Deportations To El Salvador Prison Rumored*Firing Of Fed Chair Considered*RFK Assassination Docs Released*Rubio Speaks Of "Moving On" From Ukraine*Pre Iran Talks News Leak Stories*

Federal District Judge James Boasberg holding an emergency hearing this evening...Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union also asking for Supreme Court...

Meanwhile a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington DC putting a hold on an earlier contempt order from Judge Boasberg...

The Pentagon making official...pullout of a large part of the US military...in Syria...

The Trump Administration considering how it can fire US Federal Reserve Chairman...

In the Balkan nation of Slovenia former populist Prime Minister Janez Jansa acquitted...

...documents related to the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy released...

Bloomberg reporting that the US plan for resolving the Ukraine War implies Russian sovereignty...

Another story leaked out Israel's public media out "Kan" reporting that US bunker buster...

The judge handling the resentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez pausing proceedings...

The United Nations children's agency warning of 'critical' food shortages in Haiti...

apa.az.americas
19 April 2025

Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) reports:
“US delivers large amount of weapons, ammunition to Israel in last 24 hours”

In the last 24 hours, nine cargo planes belonging to the U.S. Air Force have delivered a large amount of weapons and ammunition to the Nevatim military base in the south of the Palestinian territories, APA reports citing the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN).

Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) claimed that the hundreds of special missiles brought to the Nevatim base, used for bunker busting, were sent by the US in preparation for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities......... in case negotiations between the US and Iran fail.

These missiles are reported by Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) to have been sent to Israel from US bases in Europe and the Middle East.

The New York Times (NYT) also reported that the Israeli administration was preparing to strike Iran’s military bases and nuclear facilities in May of this year, but U.S. President Donald Trump did not support this option in order to pursue negotiations with Tehran.

Backstory An earlier NEW YORK TIMES story reported Israel itself had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, according to administration officials and others briefed on the discussions.

Israeli officials had recently developed plans to attack Iranian nuclear sites in May. They were prepared to carry them out, and at times were optimistic that the United States would sign off. The goal of the proposals, according to officials briefed on them, was to set back Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon by a year or more.

Almost all of the plans would have required US help not just to defend Israel from Iranian retaliation, but also to ensure that an Israeli attack was successful, making sure the United States was seen as a central part of the attack itself.

For now, Mr. Trump has chosen diplomacy over military action. In his first term, he tore up the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. But in his second term, eager to avoid being sucked into another war in the Middle East, he has opened negotiations with Tehran, giving it a deadline of just a few months to negotiate a deal over its nuclear program.

Anxiety at US colleges as foreign students are detained and visas revoked
BBC News ^ | April 19, 2025 | by Brandon Drenon and Robin Levinson-King
Posted on 4/19/2025, 5:30:44 AM by Oldeconomybuyer

For the last few weeks, many foreign students living in the US have watched as a sequence of events has repeated itself on their social media feeds: plain-clothes agents appearing unannounced and hauling students off in unmarked cars to detention centres.

The combination of targeted detentions and reports of wide-scale visa revocations have left campuses on edge, from the biggest public universities to elite Ivy League institutions.
One imperiled student visa-holder attending Georgetown University has written articles about Israel and the war in Gaza. At some colleges, departments are being hit as researchers abroad refuse to return to the US.

The reasons for visa cancellations vary. In some cases,
<><>criminal records appear to be a factor.
<><>others reportedly include minor legal infractions like driving over the speed limit.
<><>those targeted have been involved in pro-Palestinian protests, Secy of State Marco Rubio said.

It is part of a wider White House push to crack down on protesters whom officials say created an unsafe environment for Jewish students on many campuses. They also accuse demonstrators of having expressed support for Hamas, an officially designated terrorist group. (Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...

Source: Jewish Insider
By Marc Rod
April 16, 2025

Israeli strikes scuttled; Trump rejected Israeli plan for
striking Iranian nuclear program: Jewish Insider report

The president reportedly chose to pursue talks with Iran over supporting Israeli strikes and told Israeli officials he would not back them while negotiations are ongoing

Faced with fault lines inside his own administration over Iran policy, President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan, which would have required American backing and potential U.S. involvement, to strike Iran’s nuclear program as soon as May, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The Times reported that Trump chose instead to pursue diplomatic talks with Iran, which began last Saturday and have fueled concerns among Iran hawks in both the U.S. and Israel that the U.S. may make concessions on key issues that would allow Iran to retain some of its nuclear program. He reportedly told Israeli officials he would not back a military strike while talks are ongoing.

Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles all reportedly weighed in against the plan. Vance and Gabbard in particular have been seen as key figures in the more isolationist wing of the administation.

Curious they did not include discussions wrt Netanyahu’s disastrous WH meeting which led to cancellation of Israel’s carefully laid plans to bomb Iran.

Israeli media labels Netanyahu’s April 6 meeting w/ Trump
“a failed summit” leaving the PM “weakened and humiliated,”

The Hebrew news outlet Walla, citing sources close to the Israeli delegation, went so far as to label the meeting between Netanyahu and Trump as “arguably the most failed summit” between the two leaders.

According to the Israeli report, Netanyahu returned to Tel Aviv empty-handed, having failed to secure any progress on key bilateral issues, including the hoped-for reduction of trade tariffs.

Political correspondent Barak Ravid described Netanyahu’s position as “weakened and humiliated,” noting that the Israeli prime minister served more as a symbolic figure than an active negotiator in a privileged place.....the WH. “He played the role of a backdrop to Trump’s broader agenda,” Ravid observed, citing the manner in which Trump diminished Israeli priorities as being the dominant force against Tran, in favor of Trump’s declaration of a renewed engagement with Iran, adhering to Trump’s rock solid principle of putting America first.

Putting America first did not sit well with Israeli protaginists.

Israel Hayom, often a Netanyahu-aligned publication, did not shy away from acknowledging the tension and frustration visible on the faces of Israeli officials throughout the visit.

The didactic “Times of Israel” news outlet characterized the summit as “deeply disappointing,” especially Pres Trump’s apparent openness to direct negotiations with Tehran—a move seen in Jerusalem Al-Quds as a strategic shift with potentially far-reaching consequences for Israeli security interests

The political fallout was swift.

New Dimor, spokesperson for opposition leader Yair Lapid, offered a stark assessment of the trip, urging Israeli media to report the unvarnished truth.

“This was one of the most humiliating moments for any Israeli prime minister,” Dimor said. “It culminated in Israel’s public embarrassment on the international stage, without even the smallest diplomatic win. Trump relegated Netanyahu to being little more than a decorative fixture to lend symbolic legitimacy to Trump’s forthcoming US-Iran negotiations.”

Posts on X from Israeli users and media personalities amplified this frustration, with some describing the trip as “the most failed ever” in Netanyahu’s history of US visits.

Even though busy Pres Trump characterized the visit as a “quick in and out,” others preferred to point out the “suspicious speed” of Netanyahu’s departure, hoping to highlight behind-the-scenes tensions or disagreements with Trump.

Trending topics on X in Israel reflected a mix of disappointment and cynicism, with many questioning whether Netanyahu’s international trips were more about his own personal survival than Israel’s national interest.

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