US President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an Executive Order directing, among other things, that the US Treasury cease funding for UN agencies that recognize “Palestine” as a state. In related news, several Israeli lawmakers are planning trips to Washington in the coming weeks to meet with their counterparts in the new Administration.

Muqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shi’a cleric and political/militia leader with close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) gave a fiery speech Tuesday declaring his intention to send an army of his followers to “liberate Jerusalem” if US President Donald Trump goes forward with his promise to move the US Embassy there. Adding that such a move would be considered a “declaration of war on Islam” he made many other threats against the US and Israel in particular and the West in general.

Channel 10 News reported Wednesday that Israel has agreed to accept 100 refugee children from the war in neighboring Syria. The plan is to bring them in and gradually allow them to attain permanent residency status. However, a time frame for the plan’ implementation has not yet been announced.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hosted the ambassadors from 11 Asia-Pacific countries at his official residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday, telling them among other things that Israel is eager to assist them in any way it can in the common struggle against terrorism, but also in areas such as water management, agriculture and development.

The US Missile Defense Agency and Israel’s Missile Defense Organization carried out another successful test demonstration of the “David’s Sling” mid-range air defense weapons system this week at the Yanat Sea Range in southern Israel, according to a statement released Wednesday by the MDA. The system is designed to complement air defense umbrella over Israel by engaging threats too big for the the Iron Dome system but too small for the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 systems.

As currently constituted, the Iran agreement is extremely dangerous for Israel, Western European countries, and for the United States, and requires careful consideration about whether and how the West should proceed with it (Video)

General Amos Yadlin, director of the Institute for National Security Studies think tank at Tel Aviv University, sits down with General David Petraeus to discus Israel’s national security in the new Era under US President Donald Trump.