When Israel deployed its Iron Beam laser weapon for the first time last December, the announcement by leading Israeli defense firms Rafael and Elbit Systems was met with fawning coverage worldwide. The futuristic laser system, designed to shoot drones and rockets out of the sky, was celebrated as a demonstration of the Israeli weapons industry’s technological sophistication.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense described Iron Beam as “Israel’s first domestically developed laser interception system,” while touting the country as a pioneer in missile defense. The Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, another key example of Israel’s purportedly homegrown ingenuity, was heavily employed to defend from Iranian missile attacks during two recent wars.
That alleged ingenuity is at the center of a debate roiling Washington this month as Congress returns to debates about whether to create a new office in the Pentagon to coordinate U.S. and Israeli military research, testing, and industrial production, giving institutional architecture to a relationship that is already deeply intertwined on a de facto basis. The legislation, known as Section 219, was included in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, but remains contested in the Senate. Backers of the bill argue that tighter coordination with Israel should not be seen as a giveaway or cost to the United States, but rather is a boon to U.S. military capacity because the U.S. benefits more from the partnership than Israel. Arrow and Iron Beam are routinely held up as case studies of such innovation.
But the real story of how these weapons were developed is quite different. In fact, both weapons systems were developed and financed by the United States before being handed off to Israel by acts of Congress, according to government documents and interviews with key personnel involved in their development—despite warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies that transferring the tech to Israel effectively hands it over to U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia.
U.S. Makes, Israel Takes: The Real Story of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation
UN investigators find 'reasonable grounds' US committed war crimes in Iran
The United Nations has “reasonable grounds” to believe the US committed a war crime with its strikes on the Minab elementary school and a sports centre in the opening days of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The US attack on the Minab school killed at least 150 people, including approximately 120 children. Another strike hit a “clearly identifiable sports complex and residential area” in the southern Iranian city of Lamerd.
“The Mission found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” a UN fact-finding mission wrote in a report released on Thursday.
The report is not a judicial ruling, but has been submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The UN investigators noted that the Minab school was struck by a Tomahawk missile as part of ongoing strikes on an adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The researchers noted that the strike was not due to an errant missile
Far-right Israelis call for NAZA co-director to be hanged in protest outside parents' home
Dozens of far-right Israelis gathered outside NAZA filmmaker Rachel Szor's family home on Wednesday, demanding she be hanged over her documentary on war crimes Israel committed during its genocidal war on Gaza.
Szor and her co-director, Yuval Abraham, have faced a growing backlash in Israel since their film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that several of the protesters demanded the "death penalty for traitors".
One demonstrator said that when Szor and Abraham return to Israel, "they should be tried and go to the gallows, and the family should be expelled and the house sealed".
A far-right activist with connections to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also urged protesters to identify the filmmakers if they saw them in public.
Trump officials move to dismantle key protection for US endangered species
More than 1,600 critically imperiled species protected under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) face losing further federal protections following a new reinterpretation of the 1973 law by the Donald Trump administration.
A September 14 memo distributed to Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) field offices by FWS director Brian Nesvik calls for a reinterpretation of what it means to “take” an endangered species. Under the ESA, “take” is defined as “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct”.
The memo, obtained and shared by the Center for Biological Diversity, reinterprets the law to mean that harming or killing an endangered animal would no longer be considered illegal unless the action was specifically intended to cause harm or death.
“A vessel that inadvertently strikes a whale has not taken it, because the vessel’s course was not set against the whale,” the memo said, adding: “Felling a tree is not a take of the bats roosting in it unless the tree is felled for the purpose of killing or capturing them.”
US Institute of Peace files emergency motion to block carving of Trump’s name into facade of its headquarters
While Donald Trump ponders demolishing the Kennedy Center unless his name is added to the memorial for the slain president, the United States Institute of Peace filed an emergency motion in federal court on Thursday asking a judge to block his administration “from carrying out plans to carve President Trump’s name into the façade of the iconic USIP headquarters building.”
The filing was made in a court battle that began in May 2025, when a federal judge ruled that Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, or US Doge service, illegally took over the the non-profit thinktank created and funded by the US Congress through “blunt force, backed up by law enforcement officers from three separate local and federal agencies”.
Musk’s Doge staff fired most USIP employees in a late-night email in March 2025, and then forcefully entered the thinktank’s building after cancelling its contract for private security.
In court, the USIP has maintained the organization is an independent creation of Congress and outside the president’s executive authority. The administration argues it is an executive branch organization, and pushed ahead, last December, with affixing Trump’s name to the exterior of the building, using bolted-on lettering. That change already offended the USIP board members who filed the suit, but carving Trump’s name into the stone, they argued on Thursday, “would cause irreparable harm”.
ICE agent appears in Minnesota court to face charges in the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro made his first appearance in state court in Minneapolis today in connection with the shooting of a Venezuelan man last January during a surge that brought thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities area.
Castro, handcuffed and in an orange jumpsuit, said very little during the hearing. He did, however, sign a pre-waiver of extradition, agreeing to immediately return to Minnesota if he violates his conditions of release.
"The state of Minnesota certainly has an interest in not being back in the frustrating situation we were in last month," Senior Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Joshua Larson said in court Thursday.
Castro had traveled to Minnesota from Texas, where authorities released him from jail in August. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested Castro, 52, Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis, ending a months-long standoff between the two states. Minnesota authorities charged him with several counts of assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant.
Maimonides Medical Center merger with NYC wins key approval
Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center on Thursday cleared a major hurdle to becoming part of the city’s public hospital system, even as the long-discussed merger remains contentious in the surrounding community of Borough Park.
The state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council, which oversees certain healthcare transactions, voted to approve the proposed merger with NYC Health and Hospitals. The merger still requires court approval before it can be finalized.
Maimonides, a 700-bed teaching hospital with roots going back to the early 20th century, has become a centerpiece of Brooklyn’s healthcare system. But at a planning council hearing last month, state Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri emphasized that Maimonides is struggling financially and needs a lifeline. The proposed merger would come with $2.2 billion in funding from the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Leaders at Maimonides and NYC Health and Hospitals celebrated the planning council’s endorsement. By joining the public hospital system, they said, Maimonides will become eligible for higher reimbursement rates under the Medicaid program.
Judge says government must give 30 days’ notice before demolishing Kennedy Center
A federal judge on Thursday declined Rep. Joyce Beatty’s (D-Ohio) request for an emergency hearing to review the Kennedy Center board’s latest vote to close the building for renovations.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper will, however, require the government to provide at least 30 days’ notice if it intends to demolish the performing arts center in the nation’s capital.
Cooper said his requirement seeks to “avoid any confusion on that score given more recent events.”
The Trump administration has described the Kennedy Center as in a state of decay, saying renovations are needed to conduct repairs.
President Trump has publicly suggested the building could soon be razed if courts don’t allow him to add his name to the facade. The president was seen Wednesday night on Air Force One looking at a placard that appears to depict a potential demolition.
At Least 10 Explosions Rock Kyiv as Russian Missile Attack Injures 10, Including Child
At least 10 people were injured, including a 10-year-old girl, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
The blasts followed warnings of an incoming missile threat.
“An air raid alert has been declared in Kyiv due to the threat of missile strikes. We urge residents to proceed to the nearest shelters,” the Kyiv City Military Administration said.
Damage was reported across at least three districts of the capital.
In the Dniprovskyi district, debris fell at several locations, damaging an office building and residential buildings, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
More Articles...
- Trump asked Americans to help him whitewash national parks. They revolted instead
- Palestinian American activist arrested and ‘charged for trespassing at a public hearing’
- 3 people killed when news helicopter crashes while covering LA bus accident
- Judge blocks DHS from acting against a man over a harsh email to an ICE official
Page 1 of 1189
