Netanyahu Is Visiting Washington Despite Mamdani

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Sen Graham meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu in 2016:  (Great meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu yesterday discussing how to strengthen the US-Israel relationship on 30 March 2016).

Prime Minister Netanyahu will be heading to Washington to attend the funeral of the late Senator Lyndsey Graham on Tuesday,July 28, 2026 after which he will meet with President Trump in the White House.

 With the Iran war on hold for the time being, can you guess what they'll be discussing?

Mamdani says "New York City can't arrest Netanyahu," with a change in his tune to " but the federal government should."  "It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant," he said in a video posted on X. "The federal government however does and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant," he added, referring to the International Criminal Court." 

One of the reasons given for the pause in strikes by the U.S. against Iran is a shortage of interceptor missiles. 

Pentagon warnings over dwindling Patriot and THAAD stocks have exposed a deeper Western production crisis; former Israeli general Eran Ortal explains how interception policy may change and why Israel could also feel the impact. 

U.S. interceptor missiles form a layered defense network, relying on key systems like the MIM-104 Patriot, THAAD, and Navy Standard Missiles. These weapons protect troops and allies from incoming threats, though high operational demand has strained national stockpiles.

Patriot (PAC-3): Land-based system targeting short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft. 

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense): Mobile land-based batteries designed to destroy short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles during their final descent using kinetic force.

Stockpile Constraints: Heavy utilization in active conflicts across the Middle East and Europe has heavily depleted existing Pentagon inventories. 

Cost Reduction Efforts: Manufacturers like Lockheed Martin are developing lower-cost alternatives, such as the PAC-3 ACE, to increase missile depth and lower per-intercept costs.