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Oct 18, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump formally endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection on Sunday. The move angered critics on the left and some of Trump’s own “America First” supporters.Trump posted the endorsement on Truth Social as a letter “To the Great People of Israel.” He called Netanyahu “a great warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater partner for peace in the fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”“If Israel has the wrong leader, meaning anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do the job itself, and I have no inclination to do so,” Trump wrote. “Please consider this letter my full and complete endorsement of Benjamin Netanyahu in his next race for reelection as Prime Minister of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu will never let you down!”Axios reporter Barak Ravid was among the first to flag the post. Netanyahu answered with a video saying that only he and Trump would destroy Iran’s nuclear program.Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the wording worried him.“I may be reading too much into this statement, and I certainly hope I am wrong,” he wrote. “But it is hard not to interpret it as suggesting that Netanyahu promised Trump another joint military operation against Iran in exchange for his political support.”“Israel cannot afford another war with Iran driven by political calculations rather than a genuine national security necessity,” he added.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, pointed to the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu in 2024 over the war in Gaza.“Netanyahu has committed genocide, yet Trump endorses him,” Roth wrote. “I suppose that’s not worse than aiding and abetting the genocide, which Trump also did.”Some of the sharpest criticism came from the right. Conservative commentator Breck Worsham, who posts as ThePatrioticBlonde, called the endorsement a “slobber filled love letter of idolatry.”“Trump just once again endorsed Netanyahu, KNOWING how much the American people hate him, KNOWING how much the American people detest Israel,” she wrote. “He just continues to give the middle finger to the country he was elected to represent.”Rich Baris, director of the right-leaning Big Data Poll, noted that the endorsement came hours after a report said Trump wouldn’t weigh in on Israel’s election.“Welp, that was wrong. He did,” Baris wrote.The endorsement comes more than six months into Trump’s war with Iran, which polls show is deeply unpopular with American voters.

Oct 18, 2026 - World

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to clear up why Ukraine’s satellite internet has been slowing down. Critics say he made things murkier, and one prominent conservative predicted Congress would be asking about it.Rubio talked to reporters Saturday at Joint Base Andrews before leaving for Central Asia. One asked about Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink. Elon Musk had said this week that limits on the system are up to the president.“Starshield is a defense product, a military product,” Rubio said. “It’s not at this moment available to Ukraine, and that’s under conversation.”Asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that the slowdown was deliberate, Rubio waved it off.“I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” he said. “We have nothing to do with that. I don’t – the United States, nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored.”He added that Ukraine wants Starshield “in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia” but doesn’t have access to it.Christopher Miller, chief Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times, said that’s wrong.“In fact, Ukraine has had access to and contracts for Starshield since 2024,” Miller wrote. “So it seems the Ukrainian president is not the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”Miller noted that a week after the slowdown, Ukraine still has no explanation of who ordered the speed limits.“The White House and SpaceX each claim it’s the other who’s responsible,” he wrote. “Rubio says nobody in the US is responsible.”Barak Ravid, a politics and foreign policy reporter for Axios, pointed out that Rubio’s account doesn’t match what Kyiv has said.“This is very strange. Ukrainian officials claim they had access to starshield through the Pentagon until a few days ago when it was restricted,” Ravid wrote. “Maybe there is some misunderstanding.”Even some critics on the right questioned Rubio’s version. David Pyne, a conservative national security commentator who posts as “America First Con,” wrote: “Rubio is lying. Biden gave Ukraine access to Starshield years ago when he authorized deep strikes into Russia. Trump has only disabled it intermittently since October 14th.”Jonah Goldberg, the conservative editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, said the moment won’t go away.“This interview is weird,” Goldberg wrote. “What he says here will be revisited by journalists, historians, and Congressional committees.”Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) went after Rubio’s tone.“Innocent civilians are dying in Ukraine because of Trump/Musk and Rubio treats it like it’s a special at Applebee’s that has run out,” he wrote.Terry Moran, an independent journalist and former ABC News correspondent, said Rubio has given up the hawkish views he once held.“Marco Rubio was once a serious man,” Moran wrote. “Now he cannot even whisper a syllable of the principles he once proudly and effectively proclaimed. It profits a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world. But for Donald Trump?”German military analyst Julian Röpcke, a former journalist for the tabloid Bild, wrote in German that “the former Russia critic Rubio” had shown how Trump’s “authoritarian aura turns formerly principled politicians into spineless Putin supporters.”An American YouTuber based in Ukraine who posts as Jay in Kyiv put it more bluntly: “Rubio tells a series of complete lies.”The remarks come shortly after President Donald Trump put on hold the sweeping Russia sanctions law named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, and a week after he struck a deal to import Russian diesel.

Oct 18, 2026 - World

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee broke his silence this weekend on an American journalist who was “severely” beaten by Israeli settlers, and quickly drew scorn for what he said.On Friday, The Washington Post’s Heidi Levine was attacked by Israeli settlers despite “wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back,” the Post reported. She was “kicked repeatedly” after being knocked to the ground and “stripped of her cameras and phone.”Outrage soon poured in as Huckabee remained silent on the matter until the next day, when he released a statement.“Heidi Levine, photojournalist for [The Washington Post], suffered serious injuries from vicious & cowardly attack. Heidi is US Citizen, clear ID as journalist. Details of who under investigation, but those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” Huckabee wrote. “We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this. Attacking a female photographer is despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards. Dishonorable act of senseless violence.”Despite the encounter being captured on video, Huckabee did not identify the assailants as Israeli settlers, which multiple outlets had already confirmed. More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are considered illegal under international law, with Israeli settler violence reaching record-high levels in recent months.“[Thirty-six] hours later and no mention of the illegal Israeli settlers we all saw on camera attacking her. No mention of Israel whatsoever. Pathetic stuff here,” wrote journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.Independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel, who extensively reports on Israeli settler violence, sarcastically jabbed at Huckabee’s omission of the incident’s assailants.“Dang it the unknowable masked bandits of the West Bank strike again,” Nathaniel wrote in a social media post on X.Others, like the independent news outlet Drop Site News, condemned Huckabee for his past rhetoric, which it alleged helped fuel such attacks.“[Levine] was left with a broken rib, four broken vertebrae and a finger ripped open to the bone, the Post said. Israeli military jeeps drove through while the attack continued, and soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinians, witnesses said. No arrests have been reported,” reads a statement from the outlet.“Huckabee has spent his career erasing the people Israeli settlers target. He rejects the term ‘West Bank’ in favor of ‘Judea and Samaria,’ and said in 2008 that ‘there's really no such thing as a Palestinian.’”“Those who attacked”Who are they?— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) October 17, 2026

Oct 18, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump said he was “not inclined” to continue his deeply unpopular war against Iran if a far-right ally of his loses in an election next week.That ally is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose party is trailing behind his chief political rival’s party in recent polls ahead of next week’s Israeli elections.“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so. Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.“Please let this Letter serve to represent my Complete and Total Endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu in his upcoming Race for Re-Election as Prime Minister of Israel. BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, accusing the criminally indicted leader of intentionally targeting civilians and using starvation as a method of war during Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza.Netanyahu’s top political rival, Gadi Eisenkot, the former chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces, is a chief proponent of the Dahiya doctrine, an Israeli military strategy involving the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Oct 18, 2026 - World

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued President Donald Trump a fierce rebuke Sunday after striking a Russian oil terminal just days after the U.S. president demanded a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.In what Russian state media called “one of the biggest drone attacks of the year,” Ukraine struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg on Sunday — just one week after Trump claimed that a ceasefire had been brokered between Ukraine and Russia to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.Three days after Trump’s ceasefire announcement, Ukraine’s access to Starlink — the internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX — was abruptly restricted, with subsequent reporting suggesting that the order to limit Starlink services came directly from the White House.Zelenskyy has since broken with Trump publicly, and on Sunday issued a scathing message in defense of Ukraine’s latest attack on Russian energy infrastructure.“In total, over this past week, the Russians have attacked Ukraine with almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “The main targets of these strikes are energy facilities – the Russians are trying to cause a blackout. And America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting.”Trump has increasingly pressed Zelenskyy to cede territory to Russia in his bid to end the Russo-Ukraine war. Zelenskyy has refused, sparking a threat from Trump to cut Ukraine off from U.S. intelligence.“It is because of this position of Russia’s that the war continues, not because Ukraine is rightfully defending itself,” Zelenskyy continued. “It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance. Thank you to everyone who understands this and helps.”Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia has deliberately attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times. Last night alone, there were strikes on substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa regions. Tens of thousands of families remain without power. Energy workers and repair crews are working virtually around the clock to restore electricity supply. Overnight, the Russians also struck residential buildings in our regions. As of now, 12 people have been reported injured, including two children. Two people have been killed. My condolences to their families and loved ones. This morning, there was a strike on an agricultural enterprise in Volyn. All necessary services are working at the site.In total, over this past week, the Russians have attacked Ukraine with almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic. The main targets of these strikes are energy facilities – the Russians are trying to cause a blackout. And America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements. On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting. It is because of this position of Russia’s that the war continues, not because Ukraine is rightfully defending itself. It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance. Thank you to everyone who understands this and helps.— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 18, 2026