[Video below.] President Donald Trump issued a sharp warning Tuesday, saying the United States would respond with overwhelming force if Iranian authorities kill protesters or carry out assassination threats directed at him.
Speaking in an interview with NewsNation host Katie Pavlich, Trump was asked about reports alleging that Iranian officials continue to burn protesters alive, as well as about a reported assassination threat against him over the weekend.
“Well, they shouldn’t be doing it, but I’ve left notification: Anything ever happens, the whole country is going to get blown up,” Trump said.
He went on to criticize President Biden’s silence on the matter, arguing that American leadership must speak clearly when threats are made. “Biden should have said something. When they made a statement, we always said, ‘Why isn’t Biden saying anything?’ Because he didn’t. But a President has to defend a President…like if I were here and they were making that threat to somebody, even not even a President but somebody, like they did with me, I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions: Anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”
Trump’s remarks come against the backdrop of escalating friction between Washington and Tehran, driven by Iran’s violent suppression of anti-regime demonstrations and Trump’s repeated warnings that the United States would retaliate if protesters were harmed.
At one point on Wednesday, the standoff appeared to be nearing a breaking point, with U.S. military action against Iran seemingly imminent. The situation later eased, however, after Trump said the reported killing of protesters had stopped.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump addressed the possibility of ordering a military strike in response to Iran’s actions against demonstrators.
“So with Iran, they were going to hang 837 people…and we let them know that if that happens that it will be a very bad day for them, and they decided not to do it,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the future but supposedly they’ve taken that off the table,” he added. “Is the military option off the table? No.”
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{Matzav.com}
A new Knesset seat poll published overnight shows Bibi Netanyahu’s Likud retaining its position as Israel’s largest party, while Shas has climbed to become the country’s third-largest political force.
According to the survey conducted by the Maagar Mochot research institute and broadcast on Channel 13 News, Likud would win 25 seats if elections were held today. Close behind is the newly formed “Bennett 2026” list led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, which places second with 23 seats, down one mandate from the previous poll.
Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, ranks third with 10 seats. Three parties are tied just behind it with nine seats each: Otzma Yehudit headed by Itamar Ben Gvir, The Democrats led by Yair Golan, and Yisrael Beiteinu under Avigdor Lieberman.
The poll shows a further decline for Yesh Atid, headed by Yair Lapid, which would receive just eight seats. Yeshar, led by Gadi Eisenkot, stands at seven seats, the same number projected for United Torah Judaism.
Among Arab parties, Hadash-Ta’al is projected to win five seats, while Ra’am, led by Mansour Abbas, would secure four seats. The poll also shows Balad crossing the electoral threshold for the first time in recent surveys, also with four seats.
Several parties are shown failing to enter the Knesset at all, including Blue and White led by Benny Gantz, Religious Zionism headed by Bezalel Smotrich, and The Reservists under Yoaz Hendel.
In terms of political blocs, the poll gives Netanyahu-aligned parties 51 seats, while parties opposed to Netanyahu total 56 seats. Arab parties collectively account for 13 seats.
The survey also examined public opinion regarding Gantz’s political future amid his party’s continued failure to cross the electoral threshold. According to the findings, 48 percent of respondents believe Gantz should retire from politics, while 29 percent say he should continue and run in the next election.
{Matzav.com}
Several members of the governing board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum are pressing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to remove Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, citing years of nonparticipation and concerns about his public statements, according to a report by JNS.
Sanders, who was appointed to the council in 2007, holds a seat on the panel of presidential and congressional appointees that convenes twice annually to guide the museum’s mission, educational initiatives, and public programming. Attendance records reviewed by board members and shared with the New York Post indicate, however, that Sanders “has missed every meeting of the board since his appointment.”
In a letter dated January 13 and signed by a dozen council members, the group told Schumer that Sanders “has rarely, if ever, attended council meetings or participated meaningfully in the work of the council since his appointment.”
The letter also raised objections to Sanders’s public rhetoric regarding “contemporary genocidal conflicts, including characterizations widely viewed as inconsistent with the principles of Holocaust remembrance and genocide prevention.”
Sanders has frequently criticized Israeli government policy and, in September, accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, marking the first time he used that term to describe the current war.
The Vermont senator also sharply condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last July for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Sanders described the occasion as “a shameful day in America,” pointing to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of “war crimes.”
Although neither Israel nor the United States recognizes the ICC as a governing authority, Sanders wrote, “Today, a war criminal under indictment from the ICC will be welcomed to the White House.”
Separately, in late July, the Senate voted down a resolution introduced by Sanders that sought to block U.S. weapons transfers to Israel.
That measure failed by a 27-70 margin, marking the third unsuccessful effort by Sanders since late 2024 to stop American arms deliveries to Israel.
{Matzav.com}