Pope Leo XIV to Cardinals: Church must respond to digital revolution

In his first address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV invokes the legacy of both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIII, saying that he wants the Church to "respond to a new industrial revolution and to the development of artificial intelligence." 

Leo XIV, a (pontifical) name that illustrates an entire program. 

It is Pope Prevost himself who explains the “main reason” for this choice in his first meeting with the cardinals - all the cardinals of the Sacred College, not just those who elected him in the Conclave - received this morning behind closed doors in the Synod Hall. And that is the clear reference to Leo XIII who, at the end of the 19th century, with the historic encyclical Rerum Novarum “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution”. Today the Church offers everyone its heritage of social doctrine to respond to another industrial revolution and the developments of artificial intelligence, which bring new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and work

In the wake of the Council and with the legacy of Francis

Therefore, a bridge between past and present is this decision of Leo XIII who, looking to the future, in his speech (preceded by a prayer in Latin) illustrates to the cardinals the guidelines of the pontificate just begun: "Truth, justice, peace and fraternity", "principles of the Gospel that have always animated and inspired the life and work of the family of God". 

All this in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, to which the Pope asks his closest collaborators for "full adhesion", collecting the strong legacy of Pope Francis who of that historic assembly "recalled and masterfully updated the contents in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium".

Of the first apostolic exhortation, the roadmap of Bergoglio’s pontificate, Pope Leo XIV underlines some fundamental instances: “the return to the primacy of Christ in the proclamation”, first of all, then “the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community; growth in collegiality and synodality; attention to the sensus fidei, especially in its most proper and inclusive forms, such as popular piety; loving care for the least and the discarded; courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities”.

The support of the cardinals

On this journey, the newly elected Pope asks to be accompanied by his brother cardinals, so as to support him “in accepting a yoke clearly far superior to my strength, as to that of anyone”.

Your presence reminds me that the Lord, who entrusted me with this mission, does not leave me alone in carrying its responsibility. I know first of all that I can always count on his help, the help of the Lord, and, by his Grace and Providence, on your closeness and that of so many brothers and sisters throughout the world who believe in God, love the Church and support the Vicar of Christ with prayer and good works. Pope Leo’s gratitude to the cardinals is strong, starting with the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, who – he says – “deserves applause, at least one if not more”. His “wisdom”, he adds, “the fruit of a long life and many years of faithful service to the Apostolic See, has helped us greatly in this time”. Thanks also to the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Kevin Joseph Farrell, for “the precious and demanding role” carried out during the time of the Sede Vacante and thanks to the cardinals who, for health reasons, “were unable to be present and with you I join them in communion of affection and prayer”. But the Pope addresses his deepest gratitude to his predecessor Francis, whose passing, he says, is to be experienced as “an Easter event”. In this perspective, Leo XIV encourages, “we entrust to the merciful Father and God of all consolation the soul of the deceased Pontiff and the future of the Church”.

"Light Breeze"

The Pope also recalls Francis's "style of full dedication in service and sober essentiality in life, of abandonment to God in the time of the mission and of serene trust in the moment of the return to the House of the Father".

Let us gather this precious legacy and resume the journey, animated by the same hope that comes from faith

"God - adds the Bishop of Rome - loves to communicate himself, more than in the roar of thunder and earthquake, in the whisper of a light breeze or, as some translate, in a subtle voice of silence". It is up to the Pope and the cardinals to become "docile listeners of his voice and faithful ministers of his plans of salvation", so as to "educate and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to us".

The hope of Paul VI

To conclude his speech, he quoted another Pontiff from the past, Saint Paul VI. Leo XIV makes his own the words of Montini that in 1963, he placed at the beginning of his ministry, and he relaunches a particular wish to the cardinals:

May it pass over the whole world like a great flame of faith and love that lights up all men of good will, illuminates the paths of mutual collaboration, and draws upon humanity, again and again, the abundance of divine complacency, the very strength of God, without whose help, nothing is valid, nothing is holy

After the speech, the meeting with the cardinals continues with a "second part" of sharing "to be able to hear - says the Pope - what advice, suggestions, proposals, very concrete things, which were already spoken about a little in the days before the Conclave".

Greeting from Cardinal Re

Before the Pope, it was Cardinal Re who took the floor and addressed a greeting, in which he immediately recalled "the enthusiasm with which the world welcomed his election as Successor of Peter". “The whole world rejoiced, but we also rejoiced, and I appreciated the joy in Peru, which said: Nuestro Papa, nuestro Papa!”, said the dean. And, on behalf of all the cardinals, he assured the Pontiff of closeness, fidelity, and the desire to collaborate: “Collaborate so that the Church may be an ark of salvation and also a lighthouse in the darkness of the night,” especially in a historical moment in which “the world is gripped by so many wars that do not want to end, unfortunately, despite the deaths and destruction.”

READ THE ENGLISH VERSION OF RERUM NOVARUM HERE!

I begin with the following proposition. It is one which, among committed Christians certainly, may be taken as a given, as axiomatic. Not a statement of fact, mind you, as in the sum of two plus two will always be four. It is instead a statement of value, the certainty of which is hardly a function of arithmetic. It depends rather on revelation, as in Divine Revelation, the truth of which derives…

Source

The new Pope has chosen for himself the name of the last Pope of that name who, in a horrible vision while celebrating Mass, saw the incipient invasion of the Church by the vain pomps of the Evil One, and the consequent urgent need to propagate a prayer against it; and so then wrote, and propagated, the Prayer to Saint Michael that millions of Christians now say every day:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the snares and wickedness of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, by the Power of God, cast into Hell Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl about the Earth, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Less often heard is the coda:

O glorious Prince Saint Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue: deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence, and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

From that name Leo, we may perhaps dare to take some little smidge of confidence. The forces arrayed against it in the Deep Church are formidable.

May God Bless, Keep, Correct and Guard Pope Leo XIV.

See below the serenity of Saint Michael as he utterly vanquishes our foe. Partake it; take it as your own, that cannot be perturbed by any happenstantial misfortune. Michael is in combat, but he is nowise by that perturbed.

So, go ahead, and like him fight without fighting.

The institutions created to protect and build better lives for American children who have suffered abuse and neglect have made it much harder for religious families to adopt. In fact, the state nearly thwarted one Christian foster family’s sacrifice to build a better life for innocent kids, all because their beliefs did not align with radical gender ideology.

In a new docuseries available now, Separated: When The State Takes Your Kids, the Daily Caller Original Series highlights the stories of three families who paid an awful price for refusing to participate in left-wing gender madness. The third and final episode follows Nancy Harmon, a devout Christian from St. Peter, Minnesota, who barely escaped the transgender insanity of state officials as she attempted to adopt three sisters.

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“Separated” is available exclusively for Patriots subscribers. Watch the trailer below.

Nancy and her husband, Jay, had fostered three sisters, all of whom suffered abuse at the hands of their biological parents, for two years. The couple made the selfless sacrifice to adopt the girls, however government officials said they were not “the right fit” because of their Christian faith.

Why? The oldest sister claimed that she was “non-binary.”

Thankfully, a private therapist sent a letter arguing that Harmon’s adoption was in the best interest of the sisters. The left-wing state officials eventually backed down, and the adoption went through, but not without leaving lasting scars on a good and decent family that was only trying to do the right thing.

The Harmons’ story was a tragedy that could have been much worse. Unfortunately, other families are not so lucky. Though it worked out for one family, other Christians attempting to adopt face staggeringly unjust obstacles because they believe that there are only two genders, male and female.

The Daily Caller’s documentary productions are made possible by our faithful Patriots members, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without them. To watch “Separated” and to help support future investigative documentaries, please consider subscribing.

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Another case in which a man allegedly slipped abortion pills to a woman causing her to miscarry.

David Benjamin Coots, a Washington state nurse practitioner, “is accused of secretly administering abortion pills to his mistress during sex leading to assault and rape charges,”  Lesley Cosme Torres reporting for People Magazine.

Yet even with a string of serious charges– second-degree assault, third-degree rape, tampering with a witness and five counts of violating a court order–Judge Stanley Rumbaugh will allow Coots to remove an electronic home-monitoring device on May 14th so he can start a business.

Coots was a nurse practitioner at MultiCare Gig Harbor Medical Park until his license was suspended in April 2024 by the state Board of Nursing.

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Background

“The alleged victim was a patient of Coots’, a married father of five who is accused of persistently pursuing a romantic relationship before beginning an affair with her last year, according to the charging documents,” Cosme Torres reported.

In January, when the woman learned she was pregnant, she said Coots was “overly supportive” when she told him, per the charging documents. But on at least two occasions, the woman believes that Coots tried to induce an abortion. 

Coots allegedly prescribed misoprostol pills to himself and slipped four of them into the woman’s body during sex, according to the court documents.

Cosme Torres continued

On Feb. 5, David was allegedly “relentlessly” messaging the woman until approximately one minute before officers served him with a protection order, authorities said, per the charging documents. He also allegedly contacted the woman and left gifts and flowers outside her home; he was arrested for allegedly violating his protection order. [A restraining order against Coots was served in February 2024.

Coots recently obtained an esthetician license by the Department of Licensing on April 11, the outlet reported, citing court documents. Coots’ new business would help people with “cystic acne, alopecia, rosacea and hyperpigmentation,” The News Tribune reported. 

The New Tribune’s Puneet Bsanti contacted the Department of Licensing. DOL spokesperson Christine Anthony told Bsanti

“State law doesn’t require a criminal background check for cosmetology licenses, but the application asks a person to attest or self-report if they have been convicted of a crime and he checked no. Now that we know the serious nature of the charges against him, his esthetician license is under review.”

“The alleged victim told Rumbaugh the ankle monitor has given her peace of mind as the case also has affected her 9-year-old daughter,” according to Bsanti.

The woman said she would like Coots to stay on the ankle monitor until a decision has been made during trial.

“I don’t know how to explain how terrifying it is,” she said. The woman also said if Coots is taken off the ankle monitor, she and her daughter would leave the state.

“That’s how afraid I am of him coming to my house,” she said.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.

The post Man Secretly Put Abortion Pills Inside His Girlfriend’s Body and Killed Her Unborn Baby appeared first on LifeNews.com.

In a bold move to protect the First Amendment rights of our client, we have just asked a federal court to prevent the city of Carbondale, Illinois, from enforcing an unconstitutionally vague ordinance that restricted our client Brandon’s speech. If you’ve been following Brandon’s story, you’ll recall that he is a pro-life missionary and founder of a sidewalk counseling ministry who found himself entangled in the bureaucratic web of Carbondale’s unconstitutionally vague ordinance while peacefully advocating for life with small pro-life signs near a local abortion clinic.

On April 16, Brandon was exercising his right to free speech by displaying signs that read “Free baby supplies” and “Please don’t murder your unborn baby.” These signs, placed in a grassy area open to the public near the abortion clinic, should have been protected under the First Amendment. Yet Carbondale Community Development Manager John Lenzini, at the bidding of city attorney Jamie Snyder, tried to cite Brandon by saying the signs were either “commercial” or were not a First Amendment “demonstration”; and Mr. Snyder, through Mr. Lenzini, declared the signs violated the ordinance on permitted temporary signs.

After our client attempted to comply with the express demands of the city officials by swapping out those signs for others that purely expressed pro-life messages, Mr. Lenzini still insisted they were in violation, claiming he had consulted with Mr. Snyder, and both remained adamant that Brandon’s speech was not protected speech. Astonishingly, even when presented with the ordinance’s language – which specifically exempts demonstrations from certain restrictions – and the fact that Brandon has a constitutionally protected right to engage in demonstrations, Mr. Lenzini denied Brandon’s right to free speech, simply stating, “No, you don’t.” It’s clear that these city officials care more about arbitrarily enforcing a vague sign ordinance than protecting the speech of American citizens.

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Then, Carbondale Community Development Manager Lenzini escalated the situation and called the police. Police officers arrived and gave Brandon yet another interpretation of the ordinance. They said that Brandon could place the signs further than 20 feet from the road. Mr. Lenzini then interrupted the police and said that no signs could be placed on public property, but the demonstrators could hold the signs. The officers and Mr. Lenzini contradicted themselves. This contradiction highlighted a core issue: The ordinance is hopelessly vague. It fails to clearly define what is permitted, leaving its enforcement to the whims of city officials. This type of arbitrary application is not only unconstitutional but strikes at the heart of our First Amendment freedoms.

The very next day, our client went down to the municipal building and requested a permit to display signs, noting a provision in the ordinance for 501(c) organizations to obtain such a permit. His attempt was met with outright denial. Mr. Lenzini stated flatly that “you can only get a sign permit if you own the property,” despite the ordinance explicitly stating otherwise. This refusal is not just bureaucratic incompetence; it is viewpoint discrimination. Brandon’s pro-life message was singled out and suppressed, despite clear legal protections.

We have taken decisive action by filing for a preliminary injunction, along with a declaration from our client and accompanying exhibits. Importantly, the exhibits include photos from other signs that the city did not take down despite being in violation of the way Mr. Lenzini and Mr. Snyder attempted to enforce the ordinance against our client. This further shows how arbitrarily this statute is being enforced and that our client was, in fact, targeted for his pro-life speech. Our argument is clear: The city of Carbondale’s ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and discriminatorily enforced. It chills free speech, allows for arbitrary enforcement, and silences voices the city disagrees with – which in this case are those protecting innocent lives.

Why This Matters

The First Amendment prohibits laws that are vague and infringe on the right to free speech. The Supreme Court has held that a statute is “vague” when an ordinary citizen cannot understand what the law means and could have differing opinions on how the law should be applied. Essentially, if five people can give you five different meanings of what following that law looks like, it’s unconstitutionally vague. And that’s exactly what happened here. This is important because, as courts have noted, the law must “give people fair notice of what conduct is prohibited” so that people can follow the law. Without this benchmark requiring a statute to be reasonably understood by ordinary, reasonable citizens, government corruption – like we see here with Brandon’s case in Carbondale – would run amok, and governments would be able to arbitrarily enforce unconstitutional laws without a citizen having any idea what appropriately following the law looks like. This is a direct due process violation.

When government officials are permitted to arbitrarily enforce vague ordinances, free speech is at risk for everyone. The First Amendment does not permit local governments to pick and choose who gets to speak based on their viewpoints. Today, it’s Brandon’s pro-life advocacy; tomorrow, it could be any message the city finds inconvenient.

We are committed to defending Brandon’s rights and setting a precedent that vague and discriminatory laws will not stand. Stay connected with us for updates as we continue this critical fight to protect free speech and hold Carbondale accountable.

The post Pro-Life Advocate Fights in Court to Display Pro-Life Signs Outside Abortion Biz appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Pro-life forces in Congress have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood, but the road ahead is far from easy. Before scaling an avalanche of media disapproval, then hurdling a potentially adverse ruling by the Senate parliamentarian, pro-lifers must first navigate the measure between the forbidding cliffs that are constraining the GOP’s historically narrow House majority. House moderates are making that last task extremely difficult.

The simmering tension boiled over “in a Tuesday evening closed door meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson [R-La.], House Majority Leader Steve Scalise [R-La.], and some moderate Republicans,” NOTUS reported. However, neither Johnson nor other members present were willing to discuss what happened in the meeting with them.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said beforehand that he planned to raise the issue in the meeting, arguing that “we need simplicity in this bill.” According to NOTUS’s anonymous sources, Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) were also among the members opposed to cutting Planned Parenthood funding through reconciliation. Kiggans’s office vehemently contested the report, calling it “false.”

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Johnson has publicly promised that the reconciliation bill “is going to redirect funds away from ‘big abortion.’” This is consistent with President Trump’s stated goal of returning abortion policy back to the states.

Getting the federal government out of the business of setting abortion policy is hard to do while the federal government continues to subsidize the nation’s largest abortion supplier. In 2023 (the latest report available), the Government Accountability Office calculated that, in the three-year span from 2019-2021, Planned Parenthood affiliates received approximately $1.8 billion from the federal government, through HHS grants, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP payments, Paycheck Protection Program loans, and even USAID.

Yet the effort to excise “big abortion’s” slush fund stands in danger of faltering over intra-party squabbles. This is an appropriate time for President Trump to step in and unite the GOP, argued National Review’s Dan McLaughlin.

“There’s a time and place in partisan politics for a big-tent approach to letting legislators vote their consciences or their districts (which are often not the same things), and there’s a time and place for demanding that people stand with the party’s principles and priorities,” he argued.

“Even for those Republicans who don’t care all that much about the moral issues, the group is for all intents and purposes an arm of the Democratic Party,” McLaughlin added. “Trump’s second term should send a message that Democratic and progressive groups no longer have a permanent entitlement to taxpayer financing that is immune to the outcomes of elections.”

This point of partisan expediency should resonate with the policies pursued by the second Trump administration so far. Defunding Planned Parenthood is no different than cancelling DEI grants, pulling university funding over blatant anti-Semitism, or shutting the spigots of USAID to leftist NGOs. The point is that left-wing organizations have enjoyed unfair advantages for decades, and they should be de-subsidized.

At least one moderate Republican understands this. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he is “not opposed” to defunding Planned Parenthood through reconciliation. “A lot of people in my district don’t like money going to organizations that do abortion — taxpayer money,” he said.

“Planned Parenthood is a massive abortion provider,” Bacon added. “They also are very political, so, [we’re] giving them taxpayer money, and then they turn around and attack us.”

If this argument persuades one moderate Republican, it stands a chance of persuading others.

Amid this debate, newly released audio from Live Action reminds America that Planned Parenthood is evil not only for perpetrating the mass destruction of unborn lives but also for its predatory provision of gender transition procedures to minors.

In the recording, a Live Action investigator posed as a 16-year-old girl seeking a testosterone prescription. The investigator called multiple Planned Parenthood facilities in Minnesota and New York. Multiple facilities said they would prescribe cross-sex hormones to a minor. Multiple facilities were willing to schedule virtual appointments. Multiple facilities said they required no documentation that the presumed minor had attended therapy. Multiple facilities were willing to write a prescription for cross-sex hormones on the very same day as their first visit with the minor.

This is the very opposite of good medical practice. Planned Parenthood is willing to prescribe extreme physical interventions with irreversible effects for a psychological condition. They are willing to do so without physically examining the patient, without monitoring the patient over a period of time, and without even attempting therapy to construct a holistic picture of the patient’s condition. They are even willing to do these things to minors.

This second evil is one that the Trump administration has moved aggressively to counter. Thankfully, President Trump has issued an executive order defining “man” and “woman” in biological terms. Executive departments from HHS to DOD to Agriculture have acted to implement this executive order throughout the federal government.

Purging federal funding from an organization that actively promotes and profits from transgender ideology is simply the next step on a trail the Trump administration has already blazed.

President Trump has shown that this is one fight from which he will not back down. His administration has successfully fought activist judges to re-implement his military transgender policy. It has tackled states like Maine for allowing men to compete in women’s sports. The next item of business is for the Trump administration to lean on members of his own party in Congress, so that the federal government no longer has to subsidize an organization that actively pushes a transgender ideology on children.

LifeNews Note: Joshua Arnold is a staff writer at The Washington Stand, contributing both news and commentary from a biblical worldview. Originally published by The Washington Stand.

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Habemus Prevost…

The Conclave Elects Leo XIV:
Initial Thoughts by Bp. Donald Sanborn

In a livestream broadcast shortly after the election of Robert Prevost as ‘Pope Leo XIV’ on May 8, 2025, His Excellency Bishop Donald J. Sanborn of Most Holy Trinity Seminary in Reading, Pennsylvania, sat down with Stephen Heiner of Roman Catholic Media to discuss the 2025 conclave, the new papal claimant, and the post-Francis era that has now begun:

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In case the embedded video above won’t display, it can be accessed directly on YouTube here.

Full disclosure: Bp. Sanborn is a sedevacantist who holds to the so-called ‘material-formal thesis’, also known as ‘sedeprivationism’.… READ MORE

I have in the past speculated that the day might come when President Donald Trump, he of a massive ego, might just become tired of his being manipulated and controlled by America’s Israel Lobby and by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. I thought, and hoped, that he might become so annoyed that he might move to take control of the so-called tail wags the dog relationship that has for so long put Israel in the driver’s seat. While I am loathe to read too much into several recent developments, the first suggestion that all is not well in Washington’s relationship with what has been euphemistically referred to as “America’s best friend and closest ally.”

Many observers are now openly voicing their view that Israel and its all-powerful Lobby in the United States have corrupted and now control many aspects of government, starting at the top in Washington and working its way down to state and local levels. Witness the near worship of Netanyahu by groveling congress critters during recent visits to Capitol Hill if you want a tangible display of government serving no conceivable national interest. Or check out the “antisemitism” and anti-Boycott legislation currently moving through Congress that will strip all Americans of free speech and free association, leaving them able to demonstrate against or even criticize their own country or other nations with the single exception of the Jewish state. If you don’t believe that will happen, check out the current tale coming out of San Marcos in Texas at the hands of ardently Zionist Governor Greg Abbott.

Given that Jews constitute something like 3% of the US population the establishment of such control through bribery and the support of a compliant media is truly a remarkable achievement but one might plausibly argue that it has done terrible damage to the country as a whole and has contributed nothing to benefit the American people. Israel is currently carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians that is funded, armed and provided with political cover by the Trump Administration, following on to the model established by Genocide Joe Biden, which could be stopped with one phone call to Netanyahu from the White House. But, unfortunately, up until now no one has been picking up the phone.

I must admit to being shocked to have read some of the recent news coverage, mostly coming out of Israeli and other foreign media, of course, that is describing the rift between Trump and Netanyahu. The signs that trouble could be brewing might well be dated back to January 11th, when US Presidential Special Envoy Steve Witkoff demanding a meeting in Tel Aviv with Netanyahu. Netanyahu responded that it was a Saturday, the Sabbath, but Witkoff, acting under orders from Trump, insisted and the meeting was held. It turned out to be a tense exchange which included a demand that a ceasefire for Gaza drawn by the White House be implemented, and so it was, though Netanyahu later proceeded to withdraw from it and recommence hostilities before it entered phase two on March 1st. A demand by Trump that Netanyahu should visit him in Washington in early April followed and there were reported disagreements about the Administration’s tariff plan and about US negotiations with Hamas without Israel’s input. Discussions also concerned US discussions with Iran to restore a program (JCPOA), canceled by Trump during his first term in office, to monitor the Iranian nuclear program to prevent it from being weaponized. Netanyahu was demanding a “Libyan Solution” which would have been a war including US forces that would have basically destroyed Iran’s defensive capabilities, something that even a White House disinclined to deal with reality realized would never be accepted in Tehran. Netanyahu was reportedly also angry at the Trump Administration’s resistance to his own plans to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians while also going to war with the Iranians.

So, the US move to negotiate with Hamas directly, sidelining Israel, started the rebellion on the part of Washington and it was followed up by the negotiations with Iran, again without Israel’s input. And there was also the issue of US negotiations with Saudi Arabia, again without including Israel, over the Kingdom’s intention to develop its own civil nuclear program. And finally, there was last week’s decision to enter into a ceasefire with the Houthis after direct negotiations, described by the White House comically as a “capitulation” by the Yemenis. Some observers accepted the language but have been questioning who had done the surrendering in a war that cost in excess of $1 billion and which accomplished nothing. Israel, for its part, was not involved in either the talks or the agreement, leading an aggrieved Netanyahu to vow to “defend ourselves alone”.

But this week, Trump sent the clearest message of all to Netanyahu. He has been planning to meet with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the Middle East next week but will not meet with Netanyahu. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also canceled a planned trip to Israel at the same time, according to two Israeli officials, reinforcing the message sent by the president. The immediate cause of the rift was that Trump had apparently hoped for a major de-escalation and even a ceasefire in Gaza as a highlight of his trip for which he would have taken credit, but Netanyahu instead called up army reserves and ordered a major escalation. The Times of Israel reported that “Trump is disappointed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu” citing two “senior sources close to the president.” And even opinion columnist Thomas Friedman in normally careful-about-its-reporting on Israel The New York Times is openly suggesting in a piece “This Israeli Government is Not Our Ally” that the Netanyahu government is no longer behaving as an American friend because of its regime’s extremist agenda.

Several reports, relying on what are claimed to be multiple sources inside the Israeli government, have now claimed that Trump has de facto cut ties with Netanyahu and will have no direct contact with the Israeli Prime Minister. Israeli government Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and former Ambassador to the US was in Washington on Thursday and was welcomed and met with Trump. He was reportedly told flatly that the US “will move forward on regional plans without coordinating with Netanyahu, accusing him of manipulation.” One report on the development went on to emphasize that what Trump hates most is being looked down upon and being manipulated, “There is nothing Trump hates more than being portrayed as a fool or someone being played. That’s why he decided to cut contact with Netanyahu,” one US official speaking off the record added.

What is not being discussed in the media but is nevertheless being considered in intelligence circles in Washington is the possible connection of the excommunication of Netanyahu with various dismissals and relocations of high officials in Washington, including that of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz who was demoted to the post of UN Ambassador. It seems that there is strong evidence to suggest that Netanyahu did not exactly trust Trump and has been spying on him and his decision making through a number of officials in his cabinet, which explains to a certain extent the odd Signal phone calls where journalist Jeffrey Goldberg just happened to be listening in and other incidents that suggest that Mossad or the Israeli Embassy in Washington has established relationships that sought to go around the president and might be described as espionage. It would also help to explain the mixed signals coming out of the administration, suggesting that some “recruits” are being coached on what to say to advance the Netanyahu agenda.

How all of this will develop and where it will eventually wind up remains somewhat up in the air as the powerful Israel Lobby is almost certainly cranking up efforts to restore the Jewish state’s dominance of US foreign policy in the Middle East, what Trump is now defining as “manipulation.” Zionist uber hawks in Congress are already warning the White House that any agreement on nuclear developments with Iran will be rejected by the legislature if it does not include a “complete dismantling” of all nuclear enrichment by Tehran, something that is not likely to be acceptable and which means that no agreement will be possible. Wholly owned by Israel Senators Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Victor Cruz are leading the charge and claim to have enough votes to block any such proposal, which means it will not be a “law” or treaty and could be “withdrawn from” by any new president, just as Trump did with the original JCPOA in 2017.

So, there has been some movement in the relationship between Israel and the United States. As it is headed towards Washington regaining some independence of action in its Middle Eastern foreign policy it can only be a good thing as the lopsided relationship with Israel has brought nothing but grief and suffering. One can hope that it will continue in that more positive direction but there will be strong resistance from Congress and the Media, directed by the powerful Israel Lobby. Trump and whoever supports him will find themselves assailed from all sides but we ordinary citizens who are watching all this from the sidelines will have to hope and pray for a good result.

Reprinted with permission from Unz Review.