Fdd's overnight brief

Israel

Several Democratic senators are urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to quickly investigate what a classified government watchdog report has described as “hundreds” of potential human rights violations allegedly committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. – Washington Post

Ten people were killed by Israeli fire in a village in southern Syria on Friday, Syrian state media reported, while the Israeli military said five soldiers were wounded in a clash during an operation to apprehend members of a militant group there. – Reuters

The Palestinian militant group Hamas called on mediating countries Wednesday to pressure Israel to allow safe passage for dozens of its fighters holed up in tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip. – Agence-France Presse

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Thursday uncovered a network of Israeli citizens from Kafr Kassem and Rahat who, allegedly acting on behalf of Hamas, moved weapons and funds into the West Bank in recent weeks. – Jerusalem Post

Two Palestinian terror suspects were shot dead by Border Police officers after surrendering to them in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday in an incident caught on camera and later confirmed by officials. – Times of Israel

Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen offered an unusually candid glimpse into Israel’s covert activities in Iran and ongoing diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia, in recordings from a closed-door conference obtained by the Haaretz daily. – Times of Israel

The military said Wednesday it killed four Palestinian gunmen and captured two other operatives who emerged from tunnels in eastern Rafah, an IDF-held area in the southern Gaza Strip where dozens of Hamas fighters are believed to be trapped underground. – Times of Israel

Israel’s military has reportedly begun phasing out leases of Chinese-made electric vehicles used by senior officers, responding to growing unease over the possibility of the cars’ sensors and other software offering Beijing a window into Israel’s most sensitive military routines. – Times of Israel

Two months after it was closed due to a severe terrorist attack in which two IDF soldiers were killed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved on Thursday the reopening of the Allenby Crossing on the Jordanian border for the entry of goods, Galei Tzahal reporter Doron Kadosh reported. – Arutz Sheva

Editorial: Saudi Arabia has made its conditions unmistakably clear. And Israel’s task is to respond with the same clarity: normalization is desirable and welcome, but not at the cost of committing to a Palestinian state that most Israelis – based on recent history and a sober reading of the current Middle East realities – believe would endanger their security and the country’s future. Normalization with the Saudis? Yes, definitely. At any cost? No thanks. – Jerusalem Post

Moshe Phillips writes: If Indonesia wishes to contribute to humanitarian efforts in Gaza, it has many options: reconstruction aid, medical support, food distribution, or engineering assistance. These would be productive avenues that do not carry the political and military risks of placing 20,000 soldiers in the middle of a conflict zone adjacent to Israel. The bottom line is clear. Indonesia is the wrong country to provide troops in Gaza. For the security of Israel, for the strategic interests of the United States, and for the prospects of genuine peace, the Indonesian soldiers should stay in Indonesia. – Jerusalem Post

Duvi Honig writes: Israel cannot be expected to sit quietly while a terrorist army-responsible for rape, torture, kidnapping, and the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust-rebuilds its command structure and prepares for its next attack. Every day Israel waits, Hamas grows stronger, more entrenched, and more capable of carrying out the next bloodbath. And when that day comes, the same leaders applauding themselves today will once again claim to be “shocked.” They will say “no one could have predicted this.” They will pretend they didn’t know. But we know. We see it now. And we refuse to be silent. – Arutz Sheva

Russia and Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the White House’s 28-point peace proposal took into account Russia’s perspective and was a good starting point for further discussions on ending the war in Ukraine, but described it as a list of questions requiring work. – Wall Street Journal

U.S. adversaries are using President Trump’s eagerness to strike deals as a chance to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its allies and undermine the Washington-led security order that has for years held them in check. – Wall Street Journal

A dozen senior German officers convened at a triangle-shaped military compound in Berlin about 2½ years ago to work on a secret plan for a war with Russia. – Wall Street Journal

A leaked telephone conversation between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and a top Russian official over how to get their respective bosses to revive a moribund Ukraine peace process sparked a global game of Clue on Wednesday in the search for whodunnit. – Wall Street Journal

When President Trump decided to send Pentagon representatives to Ukraine in an attempt to resuscitate stalled peace talks, he turned to an unexpected source: Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. – Wall Street Journal

U.S. Army secretaries are not usually involved in negotiating peace deals. But last week, the Army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, was in Ukraine doing just that. – New York Times

A Russian Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board successfully docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, Russian space agency Roscosmos said. – Reuters

Ukraine will need strong armed forces and security guarantees after any peace deal with Russia is agreed and Kyiv should not be forced to surrender territory, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday. – Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian and U.S. delegations are to meet this week to work out a formula discussed at talks in Geneva to bring peace and provide security guarantees for Kyiv. – Reuters

The U.S.-backed 28-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, which became public last week, drew from a Russian-authored paper submitted to the Trump administration in October, according to three sources familiar with the matter. – Reuters

Russia on Thursday ordered Poland to close its consulate in the Siberian city of Irkutsk in retaliation for Warsaw’s decision to close the last Russian consulate in Poland after a railway explosion that was blamed on Moscow. – Reuters

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies searched the home of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s powerful chief of staff on Friday, escalating a major political crisis as Kyiv faces pressure from Washington to accept terms for a peace deal. – Reuters

The International Monetary Fund has announced an agreement with Ukraine on a new financing program, sending a positive signal to the war-torn nation’s international allies. – Bloomberg

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet President Vladimir Putin as Russia weighs the sale of sanctioned refineries that have triggered concerns about fuel shortages across eastern Europe. – Bloomberg

Jillian Kay Melchior writes: Polish and Ukrainian authorities say they foiled a Russian plot last year to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky as he traveled through the Rzeszów-Jasionka airport. Spies have been caught with cameras peeping through the fence on the airport’s perimeter. Rzeszów officials are cautious with their words when I ask if the city is on wartime footing. “We feel that war is closer—we feel this atmosphere,” Mr. Fijołek responds. “It’s not a normal situation, but we know that it’s still not war.” The same could be said of Europe as a whole during this dangerous new era. – Wall Street Journal

Thomas Graham writes: Security guarantees pose other challenges. Europeans need to face the limits of what they are prepared to do. It is time to abandon rhetoric about Ukraine’s NATO membership. If one thing has become clear since the end of the Cold War, it is that NATO as an organization and individual allies are not prepared to risk war with Russia to defend Ukraine. Indeed, with the recent exception of Finland and Sweden, since the end of the Cold War, NATO has never admitted a country that it thought it would have to defend against Russia at the time of its admission. To the contrary, the major waves of NATO expansion occurred while the organization was focused on building cooperation with Russia in the late 1990s and early 2000s. – National Interest

Turkey

The first American pope began his first foreign trip on Thursday, meeting Turkish leaders in Ankara. The trip is a chance for him to set out his spiritual and geopolitical vision after six months as pontiff, notable for its relative quiet after years of turbulence in the Catholic Church. – Wall Street Journal

Turkey’s defence ministry said on Thursday that a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia must be achieved first before any discussions can take place on possible troop deployment for a potential reassurance force. – Reuters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan praised Pope Leo’s stance on the Palestinian issue after meeting him in Ankara on Thursday, and said he hoped his first overseas visit as Catholic leader will benefit humanity at a time of tension and uncertainty. – Reuters

Turkish defence companies signed $6.5 billion worth of contracts to reinforce and develop Turkey’s integrated, multi-layered ‘Steel Dome’ air defence system, the Turkish Defence Industries Presidency (SSB) said on Wednesday. – Reuters

Turkey said on Thursday contractors had begun building a naval air defence destroyer, adding the vessel would form part of the country’s planned “Steel Dome” multi-layered air defence system. – Reuters

A maritime demarcation deal signed between Lebanon and Cyprus violates the rights of Turkish Cypriots on the island and is therefore unacceptable, Turkey said on Thursday. – Reuters

Editorial: Defensive systems are legitimate, but they do not absolve an aggressive leader of responsibility for the instability he stirs up. As long as Hamas leaders find refuge in Istanbul and antisemitism is allowed to flourish, and as long as Erdogan uses Israel as a domestic scapegoat, no number of radars and interceptors will make it truly safe. The real security Turkey needs is not a steel dome in the sky, but a change in the politics inside the presidential palace in Ankara. – Jerusalem Post

Korean Peninsula

South Korea‘s recent joint military drills with the United States are aimed at deterring North Korea, the North’s state media, KCNA, said on Friday. – Reuters

South Korean police and Labour Ministry officials raided on Thursday the shipyard of Hanwha Ocean, in Geoje in the southeast of the country after the death of a worker, the Yonhap News Agency reported. – Reuters

South Korea successfully launched its fourth homegrown space rocket Nuri on Thursday and put more than a dozen satellites into orbit, the Science Ministry said, marking the country’s first launch jointly conducted with a private company. – Reuters

South Asia

The party of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan demanded a meeting with him on Thursday, saying it was worried about his health as he has been barred from seeing his family and lawyers for over three weeks. – Reuters

Afghans who fled the Taliban and have waited years for a U.S. resettlement decision say their last path to safety has shut since Washington froze all Afghan immigration cases following a shooting near the White House. – Reuters

India is examining a request from Bangladesh for the extradition of the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday. – Reuters

Myanmar’s junta will pardon or drop charges against a total of 8,665 people, state media reported on Thursday, allowing them to vote in an upcoming election that Western countries and human rights groups have dismissed as a sham. – Reuters

A Bangladeshi court has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, already facing the death penalty for last year’s violent crackdown, to 21 years in prison in multiple corruption cases, a lawyer for the nation’s anti-graft agency said Thursday. – Bloomberg

Mehreen Zahra-Malik writes: Days later, Nawaz asked Karamat to step down, the first time a general, not the prime minister, paid the price in Pakistan’s political warfare. Under Shehbaz, the tables have entirely turned. Strip away the polite language of “co-ownership” and “facilitation,” and the hybrid model is camouflage for an old truth made new: the generals run the show and civilians play along. The difference now is that the curtain is drawn open and the stage fully lit for all to see. – Foreign Affairs

Harsh V. Pant and Aleksei Zakharov write: Meanwhile, Putin’s visit is poised to reinforce Russia’s position in India. For New Delhi, the narrative of Russia as a “time-tested partner” plays an important role in domestic messaging that India’s foreign policy is consistent and remains insulated from external shocks. For this reason, India will continue to invest in its partnership with Russia even though the underlying conditions sustaining the relationship are not that strong, and multiple issues prevent the partnership from expanding. The outcomes of Putin’s visit will therefore be as much about sending a signal to the United States as about assuaging domestic concerns that India will not buckle under pressure from Trump. – National Interest

Europe

In the accelerating contest between great powers, Europe is struggling to keep up. The continent’s leaders have long worried they will be left behind as the U.S., China and Russia vie for economic, technological and military dominance. – Wall Street Journal

French President Emmanuel Macron is resurrecting the concept of military service as a rite of passage for young people, part of a broader push to put Europe on a war footing to counter an expansionist Russia. – Wall Street Journal

Some 1,500 paramilitaries descended on this industrial city in northeastern Lithuania late last month, taking up positions at government buildings and around critical infrastructure to prepare for what many in this frontier city now fear: a Russian invasion. – Wall Street Journal

Moldova’s Parliament voted on Thursday to close a Russian cultural centre, a new bid to reduce Moscow’s influence in the country a day after Russia’s ambassador was summoned over drone intrusions that Moldova said were unacceptable. – Reuters

European nations agreed on Thursday to increase spending on space over the next three years by about 30% to 22.1 billion euros, part of an effort to try to catch up to the U.S., China and private firms zooming ahead in the space race. – Reuters

Romania’s defence ministry said it will buy French Mistral air defence systems worth more than 626 million euros ($726 million), part of a joint procurement deal with several other European Union states. – Reuters

Two European governments have agreed to buy underwater drones for military use, their German manufacturer told Reuters, as countries in the region ramp up defence spending to address what they say is an increased Russian threat. – Reuters

Europe’s antitrust chief Teresa Ribera has unleashed a blistering attack on the Trump administration, accusing Washington of using “blackmail” to strong-arm the EU into watering down its tech rulebook. – Politico

German lawmakers are set to approve spending €2.9 billion ($3.4 billion) on 11 military procurement contracts, including for drones, rifles and missiles, in deals that will go largely to domestic manufacturers. – Bloomberg

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his top diplomat have been on a whirlwind tour of central Europe with an eye to snap up sanctioned Russian-owned refineries. – Bloomberg

The Polish Ministry of National Defence has selected the country’s new submarine, opting for the A26 Blekinge, a design offered by Sweden’s Saab. – Defense News

The Americas

Now, designated as terrorists by the Trump administration, they face not only the perils of a capricious sea but the new danger of getting blown out of the water by the U.S. military. The trade’s unofficial motto—“deliver or die”—has never rung so true. – Wall Street Journal

When Nicolás Maduro declared himself Venezuela’s president once again after a 2024 election that the United States and more than 50 other countries declared fraudulent, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the few foreign leaders to call. – Washington Post

Peru’s judiciary on Thursday sentenced former leftist President Pedro Castillo to 11.5 years in prison for rebellion and conspiracy against the state at the end of 2022, when he unsuccessfully attempted to dissolve Congress and assume broad powers. – Reuters

The U.S. will “very soon” start taking action to stop suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday. – Reuters

Venezuela revoked operating rights for six major international airlines that had suspended flights to the country following a warning from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. – Reuters

Chile’s gradual expansion of abortion access is at risk of a dramatic reversal as far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, a staunch Catholic who opposes even morning-after contraception, surges toward a likely presidential runoff victory in December. – Reuters

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited sailors on the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier stationed in the Latin American region on Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s administration undertakes a military buildup that has deepened tensions with Venezuela. – Reuters

Brazil will seek U.S. cooperation in fighting organized crime in its fuel sector, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Thursday, after a police operation flagged money laundering by Delaware-based firms to help one of the worst tax dodgers in the South American country. – Reuters

United States

U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the National Guard members targeted by a gunman in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, has died, according to President Trump. – Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghanistan, hours after officials in Washington detained an Afghan man they said had shot two National Guard troops near the White House. – New York Times

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration will “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World Countries”, following the death of a National Guard member in an attack near the White House. – Reuters

Editorial: The Trump Administration said it has paused processing immigration applications from Afghanistan, and Mr. Trump said the attack justifies his mass deportation policy. But it would be a shame if this single act of betrayal became the excuse for deporting all Afghan refugees in the U.S. Tens of thousands are building new lives here in peace and are contributing to their communities. They shouldn’t be blamed for the violent act of one man. Collective punishment of all Afghans in the U.S. won’t make America safer and it might embitter more against the United States. – Wall Street Journal

Editorial: A week after Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush visited a D.C. mosque to explain that Islam was not America’s enemy, and the religion wasn’t represented by the terrorists who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Those attacks prompted the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. That became the country’s longest war, and it continues to have a long tail. Neither of Wednesday’s victims was alive on 9/11. – Washington Post

Raja Krishnamoorthi writes: Instead, Washington needs a strategy built around revitalizing domestic production, investing in its people, strengthening its partnerships, and elevating its values. It is the best, and indeed only, way to beat back Beijing, and it will do much to help Americans as the competition unfurls. By following this strategy, the United States can rebuild its working and middle classes and attract the world’s best and brightest people. It can promote a more just and peaceful world. It can prove, as it has time and again, that democracy is better than authoritarianism. – Foreign Affairs

Defense

The Navy was attempting to launch and recover more than 30 drone boats from a combat ship off the coast of California in May when more than a dozen of the uncrewed vessels failed to carry out their missions. The boats had rejected their inputs and automatically idled as a fail-safe, making them “dead” in the water. – Wall Street Journal

A U.S. military plane soared over Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base earlier this month and released a drone made by the defense tech giant Anduril Industries to test whether it could take flight and conduct surveillance. – Reuters

The US Navy is cancelling its Constellation frigate program following months of cost overruns and delays but plans to keep two vessels that are already being built in Wisconsin. – Defense News

The U.S. Navy has deployed a salvage vessel to comb the depths of the South China Sea for the remnants of a jet and helicopter that crashed last month. – Military Times

The commanding officer of the Okinawa, Japan-based Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 36 was fired Wednesday, according to a Marine Corps notice. – Military Times