IDF forces in the south were on high alert Wednesday morning following an overnight barrage of rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip which disrupted a political campaign event by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and prompted 15 retaliatory strikes by IDF aircraft. Netanyahu was just beginning a speech at a campaign event in Ashdod when the siren began, alerting residents to an incoming rocket. He was rushed from the stage by security personnel, leaving journalists to wonder if his speech would have built on an announcement earlier in the day about a pledge he made to annex West Bank settlements if re-elected later this month.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tweeted on Tuesday that Iran’s refusal to answer questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about traces of uranium it found at a site the clerical regime in Teheran said was in no way related to its renegade nuclear program “raises questions about possible undeclared nuclear material or activities.” Adding that this fit a longstanding pattern of deceit from the regime he further Tweeted that “The world won’t fall for it. We will deny the regime all paths to a nuclear weapon.”

In yet another defeat for efforts to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel, officials of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem signed a memorandum of understanding with officials from the city of Guangzhou, China to establish a new brain science innovation center there. “The Hebrew University and the government of Guangzhou understand the importance of investing in science and technology for the benefit of neuroscience,” said Prof. Hagai Bergman of Hebrew University.

Dr. Yonatan Stelzer , a member of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Molecular Cell Biology Department recently published an article in the medical journal Molecular Cell, explaining his research into the behavior of the building blocks of the cells which form the human body, starting at inception. The research holds great promise for treating a variety of congenital health conditions including cancer.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokespeople played up Tuesday’s announcement for hours in advance as being “dramatic.” And indeed, an announcement that Israel will apply sovereignty to every Jewish community over the Green Line fits that category. Historic would even apply. But it is too soon to uncork champagne at the Dead Sea. Every statement made ahead of an election must be viewed with scrutiny, and Netanyahu’s announcement would end up being remembered as much less dramatic if it ends up being an unkept campaign promise.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have their fingerprints on every battleground in the Middle East. Both countries support proxy militias that align with their own politics, and both interfere in their neighbors’ affairs to advance their own interests. These external interventions bolster foreign clients who, in turn, support the patron regime back home, further legitimizing Tehran and Riyadh’s roles as regional hegemons.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is how our Bible, the Word of God, starts. Yet the understanding that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth is the one biblical concept which has come under the sharpest attack in modern times. In fact, many churchgoers today can believe much of what the Bible says, except that He is the Creator.