“Peace is not a noun, it’s a verb. Peace takes action, not words.” That is a message carried by Secretary of State Marco Rubio today during his interview with CBS Margaret Brennan that pertains to both the Israel -v- Hamas conflict and the Russia -v- Ukraine conflict.

Brennan used the interview to push the MSM narrative that JD Vance was lecturing European leaders at the Munich Security Conference.  Rubio defended the remarks by Vice President Vance and told Ms. Brennan that certain uncomfortable truths need to be said regardless of the reception to them. The video and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to “Face the Nation.” We want to begin today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is in Jerusalem on the second leg of his trip through Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Secretary, I know it’s the evening hours there, and you’ve had a long day. We appreciate your time. You’ve got quite a busy schedule. You met earlier with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He said he’s lock step with the Trump administration, but he can’t share details on, quote, “when the gates of hell will be open…if all our hostages are not released.” Did he tell you he wants to keep talks going to get to phase two of this hostage deal?

SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think we share a common goal. We want to see every hostage released. Frankly, I think, and the President has said this, we want to see them out as soon as we possibly can. And- and certainly, you know, the world has watched these images of people, and it’s just heartbreaking to remember that some of them have been now almost two years there. It’s a horrifying situation. So we coordinate and work very close with them. We share the goal that every hostage needs to come home, every single one, without delay. Obviously, the- there are details of how we’re pursuing that and coordinating that we’re not going to share publicly because we don’t want to endanger the hostages and we don’t want to endanger this process. But suffice it to say that if it was up to us, every one of these hostages would be home right now, and we want it to happen as soon as possible.

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On the eve of DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s full senate confirmation vote, President Trump announces his Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), which will be chaired by the former head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, former Gang of Eight member and current CEO of Truth Social, Devin Nunes.

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump is pleased to announce a distinguished and trusted group of Patriots to serve on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB). These individuals will advise the President on our nation’s most important security challenges and ensure that the Intelligence Community is working to advance the President’s America First agenda. The President’s PIAB appointees represent a broad range of experience and intellect that will help restore integrity to our Intelligence Community. The following individuals have been appointed to the PIAB:

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President Donald Trump and King Abdullah II of Jordan are having bilateral meetings today on the Israel v Hamas war and the subsequent issue with displaced Palestinians.

During the first press availability in the oval office, both President Trump and King Abdullah delivered remarks about the regional challenges, approaches and overall perspectives on the issues.  As expected, both President Trump and King Abdullah noted they await the plan from Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi who has been tasked with taking the lead on developing a peaceful solution and broader long-term plan for regional stability.

Jordan doesn’t want to take more Palestinian refugees, though King Abdullah did say he was going to take 2,000 sick children for care in the kingdom of Jordan.

President Trump has given Hamas a deadline of Saturday at noon to release all the remaining hostages or, “there will be hell to pay.”  President Trump is willing to take part in rebuilding Gaza in the aftermath of the chaos and rubble as soon as Hamas is removed from the issue.

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Nominee for the position of the Director of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI), Tulsi Gabbard, has passed the Senate cloture vote (52-46) ending debate on her confirmation.  McConnell and Murkowski voted “yea.”  The full senate is likely to take the final confirmation vote on Wednesday, and the traditional outcome should follow the same result as the vote to affirm cloture.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Having secured the support of 52 Senate Republicans, Gabbard, one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees, is on track to be confirmed as the nation’s top intelligence official in the coming days. Forty six Democrats in the chamber voted against Gabbard. Two senators were absent from the vote. (read more)

By the end of this week things could start to get very interesting on the Intelligence Community (IC) front.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is the newest office in the IC system. It was created as an outcome of the Patriot Act and the office represents the pivot point of all IC information flows.

The CIA information is supposed to enter the DNI silo from outside the USA, and the FBI information enters the DNI silo from inside the USA.  The combined information is then assembled and becomes part of the National Security Information (NSI) that is available to the Dept of Homeland Security.

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President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a press conference following a bilateral meeting in the White House. The anticipated start time for the presser and remarks is approximately 5:30pm EST. Livestream Links Below:

UPDATE: Video Added

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Having previously warned last week that “there would be hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by the day of his confirmation, President Trump broke news today that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been reached.  President Trump broke the news via Truth Social:

[SOURCE]

DETAILS: “This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies. I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones.

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Syria is a hot mess.  There’s only one face with a genuine smile today, Turkish Leader Recep Erdogan who has been attempting to leverage support for the “rebels” in Syria for a decade.  Through the years U.S. policy in Syria essentially armed and supported various factions of al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and eventually Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), whose leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is essentially the Defacto head of the rebels who now control it.

What happens next is anyone’s guess.  The various elements of Islamic rebellion fall under the political umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood; however, they have yet to show an ability to effectively govern in any region or state without extreme authoritarian rule.  Odds are high that Syria will tilt in that direction and eventually fall upon the only governing mechanism they understand, Sharia Law.

Joe Biden hails the efforts of the Syrian Rebels as a victory; however, these are the same rebels we armed and then fought repeatedly -in various iterations- as an outcome of U.S policy under the Obama/Biden administration. Lessons never learned from Benghazi, Syria is a hot mess.

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(Via Fox News) – Islamist leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who led a lightning offensive through Syria, has a long history of extremism despite a recent appeal to moderate policies.

[…]  Golani would cut ties with al Qaeda in 2016 and lead a merger between HTS and other Islamist groups in northwest Syria in 2017, bringing him control of territory that had fallen out of government hands during the country’s long civil war.

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NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is demanding the immediate release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, saying that if they are not freed before he is sworn into office for a second term there will be “HELL TO PAY.”

[Source]

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Everyone watching Mideast politics connected the November 11th visit of Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home just a day before Dermer sat down to discuss a potential ceasefire agreement with Biden’s Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

President Trump’s resounding win in the November 5th U.S. election changed things.

Without doubt, Israel watched the final weeks of the election and saw Arab and Muslim-Americans supporting President Trump specifically because Trump has expressed very publicly the bloodshed must stop, and it must stop quickly.  President Trump won Michigan in part due to that support.

“Just stop the killing” is a message President Trump has repeated frequently, and not just about the middle east.  The pragmatic and forceful Trump demand to stop killing people and get to the negotiating table also looms heavily over Ukraine and Russia.  However, in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, both sides want to be well positioned when President Trump takes office.

That backdrop, the scale of Trump’s presence in the geopolitical dynamic, is admitted by even the most severe of President Trump’s critics at the Washington Post, New York Times and Politico.  The domestic political media may not like Donald Trump, but they cannot deny the impact of his doctrine when it comes to stopping senseless violence and halting hatred.  Both Israel and Lebanon understand this dynamic.  Even Iran knows it is in their best interests to restrain Hezbollah, as the Trump horizon dawns again.

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There are a lot of interesting discussions and interviews amid the political chatter today.  It’s often difficult to filter which ones actually matter in the big picture.  This is one of those interviews’ worth watching.

Incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, brother-in-law to nominated U.S. Surgeon General Janette Nesheiwat and husband to former DNI policy chief Julia Nesheiwat, appears on Fox News to discuss his priorities for the national security system under President Donald Trump.

Within the interview Waltz makes sure the collective NATO “west” get the unity message about U.S-Ukraine policy: “Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz says in the interview. “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong. We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”  WATCH:

Mike Waltz is married to Julia Nesheiwat, the sister of Surgeon General nominee Janette Nesheiwat.

Julia, who -like all other people who work in DC silos- has never taken a married name.  Julia Nesheiwat was born in Carmel, New York, in 1975 to Jordanian Christian immigrants and raised in Umatilla, Florida. She has a BA from Stetson University, an MA from Georgetown, and a PhD from Tokyo Tech.

Julia Nesheiwat became a military intelligence officer. She received the Bronze Star Medal during Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq. She departed the military as captain.  Julia Nesheiwat served in several U.S. administrations. Under George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, she held senior national security and economic policy positions. Her most notable role was as Trump’s 10th Homeland Security Advisor from 2020 to 2021. Her Bush administration posts included State Department seniority and Office of the Director of National Intelligence Policy Chief.

Suffice to say their bedroom conversations are likely Intel Community shop talk.

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