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A growing list of Western countries have imposed individual sanctions and travel bans on two Israeli hardline ministers who advocate for Jewish supremacy over the Middle East, evidenced in their expansionist policies from the West Bank to Gaza to Syria.

The two in question are Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. France is the latest country to ban Smotrich, after the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway already did the same.

Spain, Slovenia and most recently Ireland have also banned both, citing that they call for violence against Palestinians on the basis of their ethnic identity. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot this week explained that France is banning Smotrich because he "actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the re-colonization of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority and its harmful consequences for the Palestinian population."

"This is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept," Barrot wrote on X.

The legal action targets "those responsible for the escalation of settlement activity and violence in the West Bank," Barrot said.

As expected, Israel's foreign ministry in turn quickly condemned the sanctions as "disgraceful."

The Israeli "government has condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability" - the UK had earlier said of similar measures it adopted.

Smotrich as national finance minister bluntly stated last year that the Gaza Strip is a "real estate bonanza." Further he claimed at the time that he was talks with the Americans on how to divide the enclave up once the Palestinians are kicked out.

There is "a real estate bonanza" in Gaza that "pays for itself" and he had "already started negotiations with the Americans," he said at a past conference in Tel Aviv, according to local media.

"We have poured a lot of money into this war. We have to see how we are dividing up the land in percentages," Smotrich said, explaining that "the demolition, the first stage in the city’s renewal, we have already done. Now we just need to build."

Several months ago, close in time to when the US-Iran war started, a separate conflict had erupted further east, along the Af-Pak border and even reaching as deep into Afghanistan as far as Kabul (where Pakistani airstrikes rained down).

Hostilities have abruptly flared up again along the Afghan-Pakistan border overnight as cross-border airstrikes launched by the Pakistani military killed 13 civilians, according to Afghan Taliban officials.

The aerial attacks impacted the Afghan border provinces of Kunar, Khost, and Paktika, stated Zabihullah Mujahid, according to Afghan officials.

There has been relative calm in the situation as a months-long ceasefire largely held, but the new bombardment marks the deadliest single episode in several weeks.

The Pakistani side has made no mention of civilians, but instead says its operation killed over two dozen armed militants:

Pakistan's government said on Wednesday that 26 "militants" linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group were killed in the attacks. 

"In the aftermath of recent terrorist incidents in Pakistan .... precise and calibrated Strikes were carried out along Pakistan Afghanistan border areas on hideouts and safe havens," Pakistan's information minister Attaullah Tarar posted on X.

He did not comment on any civilian casualties after Afghan authorities, who have denied Afghanistan is used for militancy, said at least 12 people, including children, were left dead in the strikes.

An AFP correspondent has offered a vastly differing account, with on report saying: "An AFP journalist saw a house completely destroyed in the southeastern province of Khost, where residents were digging graves to bury those killed in the overnight attack."

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated in the aftermath that "11 children, one woman, and one elderly man were killed" in strikes on Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces.

Pakistan's military released footage and its own counter-narrative:

Pakistan's Information Minister: 26 terrorists killed in strikes on hideouts along the Afghanistan border. pic.twitter.com/22r3dnMV8V

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 10, 2026

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which share the disputed 1,600-mile Durand Line, have shifted from cautious engagement to open hostility.

The history has been marked by shifting from one-time allies to on-and-off again enemies. Many analysts are pointing to 'blowback' for Pakistan after sponsoring the Taliban's rise in the first place, decades ago (which also had the help of the CIA in 'Operation Cyclone'). Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of sheltering Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who carry out cross-border attacks.

Via Remix News,

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has threatened Belfast’s nighttime rioters with the “full force of the law” after they conducted arson attacks on cars and homes on Tuesday night after a brutal video went viral featuring a Sudanese man trying to behead a disabled Scottish victim.

“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable. There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere. It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law,” wrote Starmer on X.

The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable.

There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.

It is clear that people were targeted last night…

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 10, 2026

On the other end of the spectrum, Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe says “millions must go” in response to the attack on disabled 44-year-old Scottish victim Stephen Ogilvie.

Lowe went even further, stating that “civil servants, judges, and politicians” must be “held to account for what has been done to this country.”

“If they have knowingly placed unvetted dangerous third world savages in our communities, near our children, then a Restore Britain Government will aim to prosecute them. If that includes Reform’s Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, then so be it. When they held the power – they welcomed that Sudanese monster into our country and handed him a visa. An attempted beheading followed their decision,” he continued.

Millions must go. pic.twitter.com/hHXXYa2bwQ

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 10, 2026

I want people finally held to account for what has been done to our country.

Civil servants, judges, politicians.

If they have knowingly placed unvetted dangerous third world savages in our communities, near our children, then a Restore Britain Government will aim to prosecute…

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 10, 2026

Starmer’s Labour Party has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of fueling the nighttime riots in Belfast. Protests turned violent on Tuesday evening after a shocking video showed a Sudanese man violently attacking Ogilvie with a knife before he was saved by locals who beat the perpetrator.

Houses are being burned down in Belfast in response to yesterday's attempted beheading of a man by a Sudanese migrant.

Videos are surfacing of several HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation — properties frequently contracted by the UK Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers)… pic.twitter.com/X7kD94nWX9

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) June 9, 2026

Yesterday evening, dozens of masked men gathered in residential areas and set fire to several houses, a shop, and numerous vehicles.

Labour Party leader Anna Turley partly blamed Musk and his news platform X for the riots after Musk shared several posts on Tuesday that had called for protests. Turley told Times Radio: “I think we need to acknowledge and see that social media plays a role in this. And I think there are actors with evil intentions who are often sitting many, many kilometers away.”

The knife attack follows a range of other heinous attacks and high-profile incidents involving foreign nationals in Great Britain. Numerous people shared calls for demonstrations, which were also picked up and further disseminated by Elon Musk.

While rallies in London, for example, were peaceful, groups of masked rioters gathered in Belfast before sunset and began setting fire to cars and buses. In the later hours, they directed their anger at houses where migrants also lived. A Middle Eastern supermarket was also set on fire.

Read more here...

Via Middle East Eye

The Trump administration has launched an investigation into prominent Iran war critic Trita Parsi, according to a report in the Free Press.

According to US officials and documents reviewed by the pro-Trump outlet, officials are looking into the possibility of deporting Parsi, who holds both Iranian and Swedish citizenship.

Parsi, who is co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and co-founded the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), has been a vocal opponent of the ongoing US attacks on Iran.

A Trump official told the Free Press that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been "very clear" in his intentions to tackle “people who support adversaries of ours and whose work furthers their agenda and undermines our security.

“Anyone who seeks to undermine the US, we're taking a hard look at," the official said.

Since the beginning of the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February, the Trump administration has increasingly targeted figures of Iranian descent in the US.

In April, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter Sarina were detained and had their residency permits rescinded after they were – incorrectly – identified as relatives of former Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani by far-right influencer Laura Loomer.

Despite denying their links to Soleimani, the pair remain in custody in Texas.

The US also detained and revoked the green cards of relatives of former Iranian minister Masoumeh Ebtekar in April.

Parsi is a critic of the Islamic Republic whose family fled to Sweden to escape persecution in Iran. He has faced attacks from Iranian monarchists and pro-Trump figures over his opposition to the conflict.

He has also been highly critical of US backing for what many call Israel's genocide in Gaza and its attacks on Lebanon.

Speaking to Middle East Eye in May, Parsi warned that the US's ability to secure a deal with Iran would ultimately come down to its ability to restrain Israeli attacks in the region.

"If Trump either cannot or will not do so, then the value of any agreement with Washington comes sharply into question," he said.

A couple of years ago, the Quincy Institute, an anti-interventionist think tank, tallied which experts most often testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee between 2021 and 2024, under both Democrats and Republicans. The second most frequently invited think tank was…

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 9, 2026

"A ceasefire that leaves Israel free to reignite hostilities at will – while the United States remains unable to prevent itself from being dragged back into conflict – offers little assurance of stability. Under such circumstances, the utility of a deal with Washington diminishes dramatically."

MEE contacted the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security for comment, but had received no response from either at time of publication.

Axon Enterprise is moving beyond its legacy police body-camera and TASER products and rapidly expanding into drones, robotics, and counter-drone systems, positioning itself as a top supplier in the public safety sector, according to JPMorgan analysts.

In a note on Wednesday, JPM analysts led by Joseph Cardoso said recent FAA rule changes regarding beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations have removed a key barrier to scaling drones for first-responder programs, while expanding demand for counter-drone threat technology across law enforcement, critical infrastructure, and large public venues.

Cardoso and his team hosted Axon's Jeff Kunins, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer, on a call earlier this week and focused on the evolving U.S. drone market, industry trends, and Axon's positioning:

1. Regulation finally catches up, driving inflection point for DFR and CUAS. The past year represents an inflection for drone-as-first-responder (DFR) and counter-drone (C-UAS), anchored by regulatory changes, including: 1) FAA/TSA rule changes in Aug-25 related to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), which removed the requirement for human observers, a prerequisite that had been a barrier to scaling, since prior rules mandated a oneto-one human observer per drone, undermining the core value proposition of faster and cheaper response times relative to human responders; and 2) the Safer Skies Act, passed in Dec-25, extending drone mitigation authority to select state & local agencies, an important milestone with standalone detection only functional in nuanced situations. While still early, changes have been characterized as seminal rather than incremental, reflecting regulation catching up to the technology, with the SFPD, for example, already conducting DFR missions in dense urban corridors and overall deployments expanding rapidly

2. Counter-drone mitigation boasts an expansive toolkit, albeit with no "winner" to date. The mitigation technology landscape was characterized as a land rush, with heavy investment underway and no settled winners to date. For example, a wide range of tools is available in the market today, including RF jamming, cyber takeover, directed energy lasers, interceptor drones, and kinetics (both destructive and non-destructive), none of which have demonstrated a high success rate across both mitigation effectiveness and cost, particularly against the backdrop of what can be safely deployed in crowded civilian environments. As a result, the market is expected to undergo a rapid iterate-and-fail evolution over an extended period, making it a critical decision for companies to determine where to focus.

3. Highlights tale of two stacks with integrated DFR and open counterdrone. Relative to DFR, the importance of a vertically integrated stack was emphasized, particularly given the need for the operating experience to be tightly coupled with the drone itself, which drove Axon's decision to closely align and partner with Skydio. By contrast, counter-drone will likely remain an open ecosystem for some time, given the unknowns around which cocktail of sensors and effectors will deliver the best results related to producing superior detection and mitigation outcomes from any arbitrary hardware mix.

4. Made in America expected to be a durable tailwind. The durability of American-made policy tailwinds was underscored, as Axon highlighted: 1) companies like Skydio have surpassed Asia-based alternatives on price-performance and product-market fit for law enforcement use cases; and 2) restrictions on foreign drone and camera suppliers due to data-security concerns, have broad bipartisan support

5. Beyond blue lights, drone opportunity expected to be sizeable across enterprise use cases. The enterprise opportunity for drones was characterized as large, immediate, and growing fast off a small base. Use cases highlighted include perimeter security for data centers, logistics networks, and corporate campuses, as well as operational applications such as automated indoor inventory checks, with Axon noting hourly drone patrols at its HQ and inventory checks at its warehouses. On the counter-drone side, demand is already concrete in corrections (contraband drops) and increasing for critical infrastructure, with recent Middle East drone attacks on data centers cited as a motivator for U.S. operators to seek prophylactic capabilities. Importantly, security adoption is expected to come first, followed by operational use cases that broaden the TAM over time.

6. Axon is participating across multiple drone opportunity fronts. Axon is participating across three areas related to drones: 1) outdoor DFR, with Skydio integrated into Fusus real-time crime center (RTCC), Axon Evidence, and the rest of the portfolio, such as body cameras (request button) and 911 solutions; 2) indoor tactical drones for SWAT-type use cases; and 3) counter-drone via Dedrone, which combines first-party hardware (RF sensors, RF mitigation) and software with third-party hardware (additional sensors and effectors), an area where Axon noted its leadership across state & local as well as FedCiv markets, including deployment in every NFL stadium.

Recall that we have been tracking Axon's drone deals with Ukrainian companies and observing how the company is positioning itself as a key importer of battlefield-tested drone and counter-drone technology.

In late January, we noted that the global data center buildout, power grid modernization wave, and broader AI infrastructure boom were missing a critical layer of low-altitude air defense against small drones. One month later, multiple data centers in the Gulf region were hit by Iranian one-way attack drones, underscoring how quickly that threat moved from scenario to reality (read here).

Our view is that the U.S. has major air-defense gaps across data centers, power assets, logistics hubs, and other critical infrastructure. Those vulnerabilities could be exploited by bad actors, creating massive demand for counter-UAS systems to fill gaps in air defense.

Via American Greatness,

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block a new congressional map approved by Republican lawmakers earlier this year.

The map allows the districts to remain in place as the state prepares for upcoming elections.

The decision marks a victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican leaders who advanced the mid-decade redistricting effort following a US Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana’s congressional map.

DeSantis signed the revised map into law in May after the nation’s highest court ruled that Louisiana’s congressional plan, which included an additional majority-Black district, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The new Florida map could strengthen Republicans’ position in the state’s congressional delegation.

Republicans currently hold a 20-8 advantage in Florida’s US House seats, and the revised districts could potentially expand that margin to as much as 24-4.

The legal challenge was brought by several Democratic groups that sued the state shortly after the map was enacted.

A Florida judge previously rejected efforts to stop the map from taking effect.

On Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court upheld that decision in a 6-1 ruling, according to The Hill, refusing a request for a temporary injunction against the new districts.

The ruling means the map will remain in place while other legal challenges continue.

Opponents of the map wanted the court to require Florida election officials to continue using the congressional districts from the previous election cycle during the state’s August primaries.

The court  declined that request.

Whether consumers are ordering from Uber Eats or DoorDash, delivery costs before tips now average roughly $8 to $10 per order. Add in the tip, and the basic meal for one at Chipotle, such as a burrito bowl, moves into unaffordable territory for many working-class folks. The result is that food delivery, once pitched as a mass-market convenience, is increasingly looking like a discretionary luxury.

Barclays internet equity analyst Ross Sandler penned a note on Wednesday titled "Autonomous Food Delivery Likely Hits Critical Mass By 2030," covering how automation in last-mile delivery could push delivery costs down to as little as $1 per order.

"The promise of autonomous food delivery is still a few years out, but showing very positive signals in markets that have been quick to embrace it. AVs should reduce the cost of delivery for both marketplaces (currently $8-$10 per order) and for consumers (tipping, $5 per order) down to as low as $1 per order," Sandler wrote in the note.

He continued, "As witnessed already in select APAC geos with low delivery costs, when this kind of improvement happens to the cost curve, consumer adoption should go through the roof. China's online food delivery penetration is 40% of orders in tier one cities, well ahead of the US, with cost being the biggest delta.

"UBER and DASH have a number of strategies in place in both SDR (sidewalk delivery robotics) and drones, but claim that these efforts are not likely to hit a material percentage of orders until 2030 and beyond."

The analyst sees "sidewalk delivery robots as the nearer-term opportunity. Current costs are around $5 to $7 per drop, but could fall toward $1 over time as utilization improves. Drones offer faster delivery and a larger "wow" factor, but regulatory hurdles, battery limitations and airspace approvals make the path more complicated."

Automated last-mile food delivery will certaintly improve the economics, and the added benefit is no tip.

Once delivery costs plummet, likely by the end of the decade, improved affordability should drive more people to order restaurant meals at home.

All of this is welcome news from Sandler's team at Barclays, but delivery costs are unlikely to decline meaningfully until automation is added to the last-mile process. Even then, the path to $1 delivery fees with no tip won't be frictionless. Local politicians and regulators could slow the adoption of automation with policies because voters will revolt over job displacement. Still, the benefit is obvious: cheaper delivery and no tip required, something almost everyone can agree on.

Guy breaks down how ridiculous food delivery app fees have gotten... 

This guy breaks down how ridiculous food delivery app fees have gotten.

He shows how a $4.99 iced coffee can easily turn into $19+ once you add the service fee, delivery fee, tip, and priority fee. Even if you subscribe to the app to “save money,” you’re still hit with multiple… pic.twitter.com/CLGsCeW3jr

— End3of6Days9 (Helen) ???? (@end3of6days9) June 9, 2026

Kevin O'Leary says Gen Z is financially cooked... 

Kevin O’Leary says Gen Z is financially cooked when people making $70K a year are spending $28 on lunch pic.twitter.com/7s820Xnhg9

— Mikli (@CryptoMikli) May 18, 2026

Professional subscribers can read more about automation and AI at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.