Saudies Deciding On What Is The Best Deal; Accords with Nuclear Energy Power or Palestinian statehood

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Saudis must recognize Israel for the nuclear deal to take place, says Trump. When the deal was announced Wednesday, neither the U.S. Energy Department nor the Saudi government made any mention of it being contingent on the kingdom's relations with Israel.

 People are reacting with a lot of worry over this and bring up 9/11 since he pilots from those planes were Saudis.  The View members on ABC were very upset and displayed having no knowledge at all as to why the USA was at war and didn't like it. Trump has said at several times it was because of Iran not being allowed to have uranium power for bombs, but this doesn't seem to connect with people as a good reason we are fighting them.   

Saudi Arabia has previously said it will not do so without the establishment of a Palestinian state, but the White House said the deal would be off if Riyadh did not join the Abraham accords.

Israel has welcomed Trump's statement.

Posting on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saudi Arabia joining the accords "would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East".

The statement did not mention the nuclear deal. However, Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat said previously his country "can manage it" if Saudi Arabia had nuclear power for peaceful means.

Others were more critical. Former Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, told the paper: "Every military nuclear program begins with a civilian one."

Israel itself is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, but it neither confirms nor denies that this is the case.

The US-Saudi deal is described as a "peaceful nuclear co-operation agreement" that will provide "great access for American companies in the Saudi nuclear energy programme" by the US energy department. The View expressed that money was the cause.  

Resource:

https://abc7ny.com/story/trump-adds-new-condition-saudi-nuclear-deal-says-kingdom-normalize-relations-israel/19564134/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwye71yq8wwo

The Two Places Causing The Shadow to Fall Over Israel's Great Reputation irking It's Enemies

 Nadene Goldfoot

Israel at times has had to fight on 7 fronts.  The two most important and long lasting has been Gaza with Hamas terrorists and Lebanon with Hezbollah terrorists.  Throughout Israel's formation in May 1948, Israel as been attacked and on the defensive.  Even though they followed everyday uptodate legal procedure of being born into this world again to live in their ancient lands, their new neighbors refused to accept them.  The question of why fell upon them like a ton of bricks, and they did their most to change that, but as it turns out, came down to a fact surrounding religion, and by 1967, was really fighting for survival when they won the huge battle of all nations ganging up on them, and the feeling was that G-d was helping them. 

President Trump, the last man on earth I ever thought who could bring together many of the neighbors with Israel into peace created the Abrahamic Accords, and had 4 counties join under his wing: United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Countries who had already made peace were the closest to Israel: Jordan and Egypt. 

Iran, SO far away from Israel and so determined with their Shi'ite religion, have been determined to destroy Israel, so have used others as their revolvers of death.  That's how the Houthis got in the act and terrorists galore.  

So, where are we with the present day fight?     Lebanese army forces entered the southern town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya today after the IDF vacated the area, marking the first stage of a U.S.-brokered pilot arrangement intended to transfer control of parts of southern Lebanon to the Lebanese military.

 Under the framework, the Lebanese army is also expected to enter the villages of Froun and Srifa. Those villages lie outside the Yellow Line but remain under Israeli observation and fire control, without a permanent IDF ground presence. 

Military & Political Dominance of Hezbollah: The heavily armed Iran-backed militia commands a superior military and political force in the country. Any forceful attempt by the Lebanese state to disarm Hezbollah risks igniting another internal sectarian war.   The state lacks a formal declaration of war or the air defense capabilities required to challenge broader regional conflicts. Consequently, the army has withdrawn from multiple southern border positions to avoid heavy casualties and direct confrontations with better-equipped foreign forces.  Since Israel has had to be in there, they are gaining back their power as Israel fights Hezbollah.  

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is preparing for a historic White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, where he is expected to present a plan for disarming Hezbollah and press for a broader Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.   Lebanon's ability to stand up against Hezbollah without an Israeli presence is highly uncertain and threatens to spark an internal civil conflict. The Lebanese government and military are currently attempting to enforce a US-brokered framework agreement that requires disarming Hezbollah, but the militant group has rejected the deal and warned that any forced disarmament will lead to civil war.         

The IDF and Shin Bet announced the elimination of Adham Ibrahim Sha’aban Nasman, a senior Hamas commander who directed the Hamas infiltration from Gaza City during the October 7 2023 massacre and later took part in holding multiple Israeli hostages captive, including Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, Ziv and Gali Berman, Eitan Mor, Matan Angrest and Omri Miran. 

He was killed in an airstrike in Gaza over the weekend.   

Israeli forces currently maintain control over a significant portion of the Strip, with long-term goals surrounding security zones. In parallel, some proposals have floated building secure zones for housing, water, and power infrastructure to facilitate civilian resettlement and restart local economies. Various recovery frameworks are tied to the U.S.-led "Board of Peace," which is designed to oversee the day-to-day administration of Gaza by Palestinian technocrats while managing reconstruction and demilitarization.  The United Nations estimates that clearing an estimated 50 million tons of rubble will take up to 15 years and hundreds of millions of dollars. Some international backers and the Arab League have proposed phased recovery plans that begin with temporary housing and eventually move toward constructing a new port, airport, and economic zones.

Al-Hayya joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1980s and Hamas in 1987.^] He participated in the First Intifada and was arrested and imprisoned by the IDF multiple times, spending three years in Israeli prisons. During the First Intifiada, Al-Hayya worked as a part-time teacher.

 Under its newly elected political chief Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas has outlined an agenda focusing on a complete Israeli withdrawal, securing international reconstruction funds without yielding total political influence, and resisting displacement. Al-Hayya has been a Hamas official for decades. He was regarded a close associate of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and has been described as "one of the few people whom Sinwar felt he could rely on."  

Hamas is facing intense pressure to surrender its arms as part of ongoing, US-brokered peace and ceasefire negotiations. Relinquishing their military arsenal is a central—and highly contentious—demand to achieve lasting stability in Gaza. 

How Israel Helps USA's Trump; Not Dictates What To Do

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

According the Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence (Mossad, no doubt)  informed the U.S. that Iran transferred thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June.                    

After the 2020 explosions near Natanz, Ali Akbar Salehi, then head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that Iran would build a "more modern, spacious and comprehensive" facility inside a mountain near Natanz. Based on satellite imagery, excavation at Pickaxe Mountain began in the autumn of 2020 and intensified in 2021,

Pickaxe Mountain—known locally in Iran as Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La—is located in central Iran. It is situated roughly one mile south of the heavily fortified Natanz uranium enrichment facility.  Pickaxe Mountain is located in the Zagros Mountains in Iran's Isfahan Province. It is situated roughly 1.5 kilometers south of the Natanz nuclear complex.

 The Natanz site, where two of Iran’s uranium enrichment plants are located, has been bombed before; during the war started by the US and Israel on 28 February, and during the 12-day war of 2025. 

The Twelve-Day June War was a direct armed conflict between Israel, the United States, and Iran that took place from June 13 to June 24, 2025. The war began when Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear facilities. In response, Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones into Israel. 

The United States intervened on June 21, launching strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. The conflict resulted in over 600 deaths in Iran and nearly 30 in Israel before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended the fighting on June 24, 2025.  Iran traditionally exaggerates numbers, so 600 might be less.  (there's that 21st, and I'm thinking of the coming November 21st and peace)

February 28, 2026, marks the outbreak of the 2026 Iran war following joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and leadership. The initial strikes, codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the U.S. and Operation Roaring Lion in Israel, resulted in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

According to the Institute for Science and International Security, the underground complex is buried roughly 328 feet beneath the mountain, which rises more than 5,000 feet above sea level.

 President Trump has said recently that Pickaxe Mountain was a potential target for U.S. forces.

Official Pentagon photo of an F-15E “Strike Eagle,” like 

the 

one that was shot down over Iran yesterday. The F-15 was 

designed in the 1960s and went into service in the 1970s. 

(Air Force photo.)

When pressed about the facility, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday that the U.S. military has the capabilities to strike deeply buried targets.  “A lot of our capabilities are classified, but if anybody in the world can reach anything on God’s green earth, it’s the United States military, the most powerful military in the world,” Hegseth said. “It’s all about options and trade-offs.”

Trump is presented facts from Israel and knows it is true.  it never pays to give out false information whoever you are.  To be honest is to give all the facts, not leave anything out that you already know and are not sharing when asked.  That's a hard and dangerous action to follow, but otherwise, no one will trust you.  I've seen media leave out all sorts of important facts that could change a person's opinion.    

Looking Back: Anti-Semitism in the 70's in Portland, Oregon

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

In the 1970s, Portland’s Jewish community experienced a complex reality. Overt, violent acts of antisemitism were rare, but the community navigated systemic exclusion in exclusive social circles and the early rise of right-wing extremist groups in the broader Pacific Northwest While Portland had a long history of Jewish civic participation (including a Jewish mayor in the 19th century), social and athletic clubs maintained restrictive membership policies.  

Portland had a history of being welcoming to Jews at first.  Portland's first Jewish mayor in the 19th century was Bernard Goldsmith, who served as the city's 19th mayor from 1869 to 1871. He was an immigrant businessman originally from Bavaria. Goldsmith was succeeded two years later by another Jewish businessman and leader in the community, Philip Wasserman, who served as mayor from 1871 to 1873.  

So, While Portland itself was generally a safe haven, the broader Pacific Northwest became a targeted hub for white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizing in the 1970s and 80s. This era marked the transition of the White nationalist movement toward revolutionary ideologies that explicitly positioned Jews as the enemy. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and local watchdog groups like the Western States Center have documented how radical right-wing extremists used the era's cultural circles to freely spread their agendas across Oregon. 

Cars of the period that everyone wanted to drive:  

            1971 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible $21,298.  

The history of racism in Oregon began before the territory even became a U.S. state. The topic of race was heavily discussed during the convention where the Oregon Constitution was written in 1857. In 1859, Oregon became the only state to enter the Union with a black exclusion law, although there were many other states that had tried before, especially in the Midwest. 

By the same time that Jews experienced anti-Semitism, the Blacks  saw  organized white supremacy in Portland transitionizing from the overt Ku Klux Klan rallies of earlier decades into more localized, politically engaged, and anti-government paramilitary movements.  

Despite these subtle and creeping threats, the 1970s was a period of growth and advocacy for the Portland Jewish community.  Organizations like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) helped facilitate the emigration of thousands of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union to Portland to escape religious discrimination, but at least Portland's wasn't as lethal as what was happening to Russian Jews.  

Israeli folk dance formally began at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center (MJCC) in 1972, but its roots go back to 1950s Portland.  At the same time, critical events were happening in Israel that affected Jews of Portland as well:  The 1970s in Israel was a defining decade marked by the conclusion of the War of Attrition, the devastating Yom Kippur War in 1973, and a major political shift in 1977 when the Likud party took power. The era also saw a rise in militant attacks and concluded with historic peace talks with Egypt with Sadat.

There is no exact census or demographic data available detailing how many Israelis entered Portland, OR in the 1970s. Historical records focus on the broader Jewish population, which hovered around 7,000 to 8,000 in the early 1970s and grew to 10,000 by the late 1970s. This demographic increase was largely driven by an influx of young, well-educated migrants from other parts of the United States who were drawn to Portland's progressiveness, rather than direct immigration from Israel. Nationwide, organized immigration from Israel to the U.S. was relatively small during this decade.

The primary figures and factions driving the hard-right and white supremacist scene in the area during this era included:

Walter Huss: A fundamentalist minister and vocal anti-communist who was actively tied to white nationalist groups. He maintained deep grassroots connections with the far-right in Oregon, ultimately serving as the chair of the Oregon Republican Party from 1978 to 1979.
The Posse Comitatus: A militant, anti-tax, and white supremacist organization that established roots in the Pacific Northwest during the 1970s. This group, which advocated for local vigilante justice and rejected federal authority, included former members of the pro-Nazi Silver Shirt movement. 
Christian Patriots: A network of religious extremists who advocated for white Christian supremacy and tied their ideology to anti-Semitism and anti-communism, often crossing paths with other far-right activist circles. 

The hard-right ecosystem in 1970s Oregon laid the groundwork for the violent neo-Nazi skinhead movements that became highly visible in Portland during the 1980s.

Resource:

Moment Magazine +4

Jewish Federation of Greater Portland +1