Manuela Franco

‼️ A puzzle is coming together here: • Saudi Arabia secured a civilian nuclear agreement with Trump administration: WSJ • Trump and MBS hold a call, followed by a call between Vice President Vance and MBS. • MBS spoke with Aoun while Aoun is in Washington. • Signs of a rapprochement with the UAE emerge. As the pieces come together, the bigger picture will be worth watching.

Not confirmed, but tonight's tactic looks familiar. Israel? Minutes before the U.S. strikes, swarms of small drones reportedly exposed Iran's air-defense positions around Tehran. Once revealed, the U.S. struck successfully. It mirrors a tactic first used by Israel, raising questions about possible quiet coordination or intelligence support. The drones appear to have been launched from inside Tehran, as their maximum range is only around 20 km. This video from tonight appears to show that sequence.

I’m excited to share that in a week, on July 27, my short book Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages will be published in paperback and as an eBook. It traces Hamas’s rise in Gaza; its motivations, the ideology that shaped its rule, and the road to October 7; interwoven with my own experience growing up under its ascent. I reflect on key elements of Gaza’s recent history and Hamas’s assault on the Palestinian national project. While not a full memoir or exhaustive history, the book offers a clear, accessible overview for readers often misled about Gaza and the Islamist movement that dominates it. The book’s argument is direct: Hamas has inflicted catastrophic harm on Palestinians, turning Gazans into hostages of a violent, rigid movement whose decisions led to the Strip’s devastation, all while accounting for Israeli policy choices that helped entrench Hamas and made dislodging it difficult. This short book is my case against the terror organization and against those who cast it as legitimate “resistance.” It is a call to promote Palestinian agency, accountability, and responsibility, even within the profound imbalance of power dynamics with Israel. Palestinians urgently need honest assessment and self‑reflection from a genuinely pro‑Palestine perspective to learn from past mistakes and chart a different path toward safety, prosperity, freedom, and well‑being. You can pre‑order the paperback or eBook at the link, or use the ISBN (9781760646158) to order through Amazon: jewishquarterly.com/essay/2026/07/…

Mayor Mamdani knew all along that he could never arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu or any foreign leader in New York City, which hosts the United Nations. Yet, he postured, virtue-signaled, used fiery rhetoric & lied as part of the tried & tested "pro-Palestine" ethos & strategy post-10/7 to build a political career and curry favor with a radicalized and selectively outraged voter base. This is the state of the contemporary “pro-Palestine” and anti-Zionist movements: zero accomplishments; no progress for Gazans or Palestinians on the ground; hollow sloganeering; empty promises; using Palestinians for personal gain; spreading divisiveness and unnecessarily incendiary language that goes nowhere; making a point but never making a difference, and blaming failures on everyone else. Mamdani is the latest iteration of a well-established pattern that has gotten the Palestinian people nowhere for decades. This is precisely why the DSA socialists, the neo-Communists, and Islamists are dangerous and cannot be trusted as actual allies and custodians of the Palestinian cause, nor as real partners in building prosperous and improved Western societies.

Recent @POTUS meetings have done a lot for US policy in the Middle East, particularly meeting Arab leaders. In fact, July 2026 could be seen as a unique and transformative month in US-Arab relations; key states of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, which are in some ways the heartland of the Levant; with Damascus and Baghdad being historic important hubs in the region; the core states, that are different than Turkey, Egypt and Iran, which are also countries the US has historic ties with (Iran pre Revolution); This level of personal meetings and engagement appears unique 1. July 8, Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa on sidelines of NATO in Turkey 2. July 14, Iraq Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi at the White House 3. July 21, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House

A 4 de dezembro de 1580, num auto-de-fé em Goa, a Inquisição queimou os restos mortais do maior cientista português do século — desenterrados da igreja onde repousavam havia doze anos. Em vida, nunca o apanharam: Garcia de Orta saiu de Lisboa dois anos antes de o Santo Ofício lá chegar, escreveu em Goa o primeiro tratado de medicina tropical do mundo, fez a primeira descrição europeia da cólera — e publicou, nas páginas do seu livro, o primeiro poema impresso de Luís de Camões, seu amigo de exílio. Quando a fogueira chegou, chegou dezassete anos atrasada: o livro já corria a Europa em latim. Os Encobertos, episódio 4: O Desenterrado.

Em 1954, um português morreu num hospital de caridade em Lisboa e foi enterrado com um hábito de frade emprestado, porque não tinha roupa própria para o caixão. Catorze anos antes, esse homem assinara em Bordéus, dia e noite durante oito dias, os vistos que arrancaram milhares de pessoas às mãos de Hitler — desobedecendo a uma ordem direta de Salazar. O Estado processou-o em três semanas, proibiu-o de ganhar a vida e esmagou-lhe a família. Portugal passou séculos à espera de um salvador. Quando um apareceu, demitiu-o. Os Encobertos, episódio 7: O Justo.

Há 329 anos, a 18 de julho de 1697, morria no Brasil o homem que Portugal mandou calar. Toda esta série foi sobre os que partiram — expulsos, queimados, exilados. Falta o reverso: o maior génio que Portugal produziu no seu século e que não fugiu. António Vieira ficou, serviu o rei, pregou como ninguém na história da língua — e a Inquisição prendeu-o dois anos, proibiu-o de escrever e de pregar, e ele teve de ir buscar a Roma um papel que o protegesse do seu próprio país. Ele é o grupo de controlo da experiência. Fecho da temporada de Os Encobertos: O Que Ficou.

@psantacl Obrigada por esta bela série! Pf qual o episódio 4? não o encontro

Os ingleses não têm uma palavra para isto. Os franceses também não. Só o português precisou de inventar um termo para designar os seus melhores cérebros a pensar do lado de fora: estrangeirado. António Ribeiro Sanches é o caso mais puro da categoria. Fugiu de Penamacor aos 27 anos, denunciado à Inquisição pelo próprio primo. Foi discípulo de Boerhaave, salvou a vida da adolescente que viria a ser Catarina, a Grande, escreveu na Encyclopédie a convite de Diderot — e reformou a Universidade de Coimbra por correio, de Paris, porque ao autor das ideias não era dado voltar. Os Encobertos, episódio 7: o homem, e a palavra que o país inventou para o arrumar.

The brilliant Golda Meir.

"Are you a Mossad agent?" Sarah, a Malaysian Muslim woman, sat down with CNN to discuss her accusations against the ICC chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. Showing her face for the first time, she details the heartbreaking allegations. During the interview, she had to dispute claims that she was acting as an agent for Israel. "If ever there was even a hint of suspicion that I was a state agent of any kind, I would have been fired." We have seen so many deny the stories of women who were sexually assaulted on Oct. 7. Now people want to invoke Israel to discredit anyone they can. Truly shameful.

"O homem mais extraordinário hoje vivo — ou, talvez, que alguma vez viveu." Um americano escreveu isto no início do século XIX. Falava de um abade nascido em Serpa em 1750. Houve quem o quisesse contar entre os Pais Fundadores dos Estados Unidos. Thomas Jefferson adiou deixar de ler jornais só pelo prazer de ver o nome dele impresso. Em Portugal, quase ninguém sabe quem foi. E o país que o produziu fê-lo fugir — não uma vez, duas. Começo hoje uma série sobre portugueses assombrosos que o mundo celebrou e nós esquecemos. Não sou historiador; sou apenas quem aponta. Primeiro episódio: José Correia da Serra.

Tehran’s logistical spine was shattered overnight. The U.S. military has launched intense "shaping operations" across southern Iran, systematically dismantling the IRGC’s supply lines. Here is the damage report: Strategic Chokepoints: 5 to 6 major bridges obliterated in Hormozgan province. Maritime Blindness: The Chabahar naval surveillance tower hit again and completely destroyed. Logistics Paralysis: A key railway station west of Bandar Abbas neutralized. Aviation Cutoff: Iranshahr civilian airport in the southeast taken offline. The message is loud and clear: the noose is tightening around the regime's neck, and the window for diplomacy is officially welded shut. How much longer can the IRGC hold on as their infrastructure crumbles?

As the United States and Syria enter a new chapter under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is supporting Syria's economic recovery, reintegration into the global economy, and new opportunities for American businesses. Watch Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Levant Jacob McGee discuss the progress underway in remarks to the U.S.-Syria Business Council.

Yesterday, using multiple one-way attack surface drones, CENTCOM forces successfully struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran. Three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations. Last night’s strikes degraded Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping.

🚨 Iranians are forming armed groups to defend their communities and fight against the Islamic Republic. The newly formed Qom Military Group, composed of families linked to the Javid-Naman-e Lor group, former political prisoners, and activists from Lor and Bakhtiari regions, has declared its support for the Lion and Sun Revolution. The group says it is organizing to defend Iranians following the Islamic Republic’s massacre of more than 45,000 defenseless protesters in January. It announced its formation on July 13, coinciding with the anniversary of the Bakhtiari conquest of Tehran, and vowed to stand against what it called the Islamic Republic’s “satanic regime.”

Après France Culture, Franceinfo… L’attaque systématique de LFI contre le service public donne un avant-goût de la manière dont cette formation politique, agissant de plus en plus comme une secte liberticide, entendrait gouverner le pays si son chef était élu. Des attaques infondées contre le service public, tandis que la défense de la Chine semble, elle, systématique. Ci-dessous, des références publiées par Le Monde, The Guardian et Reuters qui corroborent les informations avancées par Franceinfo. 👇 lemonde.fr/international/… lemonde.fr/international/… theguardian.com/world/2025/dec…

In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a French far-left politician. He’s best known for founding the party La France Insoumise (“Unsubmissive France”), demanding submission from his own movement and advocating global submission to authoritarian dictators. 1/23