A young assassin named Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to eliminate the former president of the United States and current Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. The assassination attempt came at the right political timing for Trump. After all, in the days before the assassination attempt, the political talk in the United States of America was about the current president, Joe Biden, and the question, "Is he fit for another term?"

The talk about Biden's competence increased after Trump beat him in the presidential debates. That failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, not only brought out a hero, who survived an assassination attempt and remained indifferent to the whole event, as if he were a veteran soldier, but emphasized the difference between him and Biden. Joe Biden looks much older and slower after that assassination attempt when you look at him stammering and unable to complete a simple sentence in a televised confrontation when in front of him a man who is only 4 years younger than him gets shot in the ear and continues like Mini Rambo. It is safe to bet that Donald Trump is probably on his way to a second term as President of the United States.

If this indeed happens and Donald Trump returns to the American presidency, it can be assumed that the situation of forces in the Middle East is going to change for the better for the allies of the West. In Saudi Arabia, it is still remembered that Joe Biden decided to sever relations with Muhammad bin Salman because of humanitarian views.  Biden failed to understand the local custom in regards to the elimination of opponents of the government. True, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is an inhumane, non-Western act and this is not how it should be done in a reformed country. But the same political move by Biden hurt America's allies in the Middle East, making them feel they lack political support in the face of the terrorism fueled by Iran. Thus, the severing of relations with bin Salman, caused Saudi Arabia to get closer to Iran and damaged deterrence against the Houthis in Yemen.

And of course, you have to remember what the situation in the Middle East looked like when Trump finished his first term. At the beginning of the period at the end of his term, the United States and Israel discussed an Israeli annexation of the territories of Judea and Samaria. Although this did not happen, what did happen was the Abraham Accords - the beginning of the open relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, a historic political move. Of course, after that, the Abrahamic agreements continued to expand and also reached Morocco and Sudan. It is interesting to think how the face of the Middle East will change after the return of Trump to the position of President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world.

I can surmise that Trump will first of all start arming Israel without doing the math as if he were a grocery store seller who prescribes to his customers. True, Biden stood by Israel from the first second and gave weapons and international backing, but the problem is Biden's party. The Democrats are known as a party supported by many pro-Palestinians, so no matter how pro-Israel Biden is, there will always be those who will put a stick in his wheels. Trump will surely push for Israel to fight and win the war against Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis, and of course the head of the octopus - Iran. Biden's conciliatory approach towards the Iranians, who dared to send missiles directly to Israel, does not do the West's supporters in the East any good, not Israel, not Jordan, and certainly not Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is a pro-Western country, against Iran, pro-Israeli, and a neighbor of Iran. However, President Biden and the Democrats have not shown enough appreciation for this country.  US President Joe Biden has recognized the 1915 Armenian Massacre as a genocide, but President Trump does not.  Trump's position is greatly appreciated in the Turkic world.  Both Turkey and Azerbaijan acknowledge that the Armenians were deported from Eastern Turkey and that there were many deaths, but believe it was caused by civil unrest rather than being part of a premeditated attempt to eliminate an entire nation.  Meanwhile, Biden was silent on the Khojaly Genocide and this does not help him look balanced in Turkic eyes.

Azerbaijan is a super important country for the West, from where you can send missiles to Iran, from where you can buy natural resources, through which you can get closer to Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc.) and of course Turkey, its close ally. The West must not take Azerbaijan for granted, and not give the Azerbaijanis any excuse to join the Iranians over their allies - Israel and America. The bottom line, Azerbaijan is a country that should be appreciated, not shunned.  Therefore, it was a mistake for Biden to give into the claims of the Armenian lobby and politicize the history of what happened over 100 years ago.  He should have left history to the historians and recognized the Armenian tragedy, without using the word genocide, just like Israel does.

The fact that America has such a strong Armenian lobby who all of the time condemns Azerbaijan in the US Congress, and so many Democratic Congressmen go along with this lobby, endangers American national security now that Iran has an Azerbaijani President who is a Reformist.  For the Azerbaijanis, this is a game changer in their relationship with Iran.  Under Raisi, speaking to Iran was like speaking to the wall.  It was under his regime of terror that the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran was attacked.  But under the new president, both President Ilham Aliyev and the new Iranian leader can converse in Azerbaijani and find mutual ground, and this is not good for America's interests.  Therefore, the US must provide Azerbaijan with good treatment, so that they will stay in America's camp, and for this, Trump is excellent.

Of course, I am not happy that former President Trump was injured and almost assassinated. It's even very scary to think that one person can determine the fate of an entire world if only he manages to get a good enough weapon. But I am sure that if before the assassination attempt, there was any doubt in the world about who would win the American presidential election, it disappeared after seeing the picture of Trump, with a bleeding ear and the American flag in his hand while security guards guard him. And in the situation we are in with the war in Israel, the processes of building the nuclear reactor in Iran, the desire to protect the allies of the West (mainly Azerbaijan), and the Iranian takeover of the Middle East, we should have Trump sitting in the purple room, and no one else.

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center and the editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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"When the people's rights are violated and their voices are not heard, of course the turnout will be dissatisfaction.  We are losing social support day by day due to rising prices, attitude towards girls and women, and restriction of internet." These are the words of Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's ethnic Azerbaijani reformist presidential candidate, while debating his hardline opponent, Said Jalili.    He also condemned how Iran treats non-Persians and non-Shias: "This causes citizens to distrust the government."  He even condemned how the Islamic Republic represses protesters.

These promising remarks make one ponder, will the election of an ethnic Azerbaijani reformist candidate change how Iran conducts business or not?   Tarlan Ahmadov, the head of the Azerbaijani Society of Maine, believes that everything will overall remain the same despite the promising rhetoric.

"Regardless who will be elected, the shift in the political and foreign policy will not be much shifted in a good way," he stressed.  "In order to keep this regime, they have to be cruel to their own population, but also to sponsor all of this chaos in the region not only to gather the power but to maintain the power.  Of course, if Pezeshkian wins, we might have some ease in terms of the relations with Azerbaijan, Turkey, Qatar and other countries in the Gulf.  This foreign policy might be shifted a little way, but not in a huge way, for Khamenei will still call the shots.  It is a cruel theological Shia regime."

However, Ahmadov did note: "Him being ethnic Azerbaijani will bring some connections with Azerbaijan and Turkey, especially since he is a Reformist.   It is really interesting, but it won't be a tremendous change.  The regime is very powerful.   They won't ease their relationship with Israel.   This is not going to shift overnight.   It is difficult to predict who will win, but this won't be a big change.   It is good for listening for the ethnic Azerbaijanis, but not many are coming.   Many people are not coming for they don't believe in these elections."

Babek Chalabi, a South Azerbaijani dissident based in the US, sees things differently: "Pezeshkian's approach emphasizes dialogue with the West to address the current crisis and demonstrates a thoughtful and balanced stance. It is believed that being aware of the situation, Khamenei has permitted Pezeshkian to address the severe economic and social challenges. It is necessary for him to reintegrate the reformists, who have been marginalized since the 2009 elections, into the political landscape, and so far, he has made progress in this regard. In the recent elections, Khatami, who had previously boycotted elections, extended his support to Pezeshkian."

According to him, "There are various reasons for Khamenei's support, which is to manage the national movements of non-Persian ethnic groups, such as Turks, Kurds, Baluchs, and Arabs. Pezeshkian, who hails from Mahabad, Azerbaijan, a predominantly Kurdish-speaking city, is fluent in Turkish, Kurdish, and English, which could be a valuable asset. Additionally, in recent years, Pezeshkian has publicly advocated for the national rights of non-Persian peoples, including their right to education in their native language."

Chalabi added: "Pezeshkian was among the political figures who advocated for Mahsi Amini's rights during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. He also provided support to protesters during the 1999 student protests, which contributed to his growing popularity and attributed to his reputation for honesty and commitment to justice.

Given these factors, it is expected that Azerbaijanis and other non-Persian ethnic groups may be more inclined to lend their support to Iran's Pezeshkian in the upcoming second round."

Chalabi concluded: "Should he emerge victorious; we could expect significant shifts in both Iran's domestic and foreign policies. An election victory for Pezeshkian might pave the way for improved relations between Iran and Turkic nations, such as Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as Gulf Arab countries. This should potentially lead to a decrease in Iran's support for regional groups in Syria, Lebanon, and Hamas. The leadership may have recognized that with the potential election of Trump in the upcoming U.S. elections, it is in their best interest to de-escalate tensions in the region. Conversely, if Jalili were to win, there is a possibility that Iran may align itself more closely with Russia and, to some extent, China."

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center and the editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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With great AI power comes great AI responsibility. While the most revolutionary tool since the beginning of the Internet is intended to ease our lives, it also eases hackers' lives. The current challenges of security teams and decision-makers are both staying ahead of the AI-driven hackers and getting prepared for the next battle

Over the last several years, we have witnessed the streamlined evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), impacting virtually every aspect of our lives, including our safety on the web. Indeed, AI has become both a catalyst for escalating cyber threats and a potent tool in fortifying our cyber defense.

According to Qualys, in 2023, the number of reported vulnerabilities soared to over 26,000 worldwide, marking the highest figure since the beginning of the Internet. The cybersecurity threats increased not only in numbers but in complexity partly due to the rise of AI. Both organizations and individual internet users should keep in mind that even the most life-changing tool, like AI, can be exploited for malicious purposes by threat actors.

Most cybercriminals use large language models like ChatGPT to perform different actions, such as personalize phishing emails and messages based on extensive data analysis of the user's online behavior, automate the generation of malicious code and develop malware that continuously mutates to evade detection, automate social engineering attacks, such as identity theft and financial fraud, and more.
Therefore, we are witnessing new challenges for security teams and decision-makers - staying ahead of ever-mutating threats that overwhelm cybersecurity professionals and getting prepared for the next battle.

This should be a mutual effort by all employees, as any factor in the workplace could be a potential loophole in the cyber wall – From education to cautious behavior to implementations of AI-powered security tools.

A survival kit for emerging risks

As cyber attacks keep evolving, security teams must anticipate the potential breaches beforehand by constantly building new strategies. AI-powered tools, such as SOAR platforms, enable security operators to streamline security workflows, to save time focusing on a big picture.

AI-driven platforms are designed to continuously learn from past incidents, predict potential security breaches, and adapt to new emerging threats. Therefore, by utilizing these platforms, security operators can mitigate risks associated with zero-day attacks and be prepared for whatever tomorrow brings.

IBM's case is a good example to illustrate this efficiency in numbers. Within the first year of implementation, IBM's security team used these AI capabilities to automate the closure of 70% of alerts and accelerate their threat management timeline by over 50%. Therefore, AI-powered cybersecurity software transformed from an expensive whim into a survival kit, that enables cybersecurity operators to keep up with a dynamic field of emerging risks.

The revolutionary AI era

Besides implementing AI solutions to the infrastructure, organizations should prioritize educating employees about the growing risks associated with AI-powered social engineering. Research from the University of North Dakota reveals that machine learning-based phishing detection technique achieves 94% accuracy in detecting phishing emails. However, it's crucial to address the remaining 6%, as this small margin represents the loophole that users must be vigilant to identify.

Therefore, AI enables us to scale up our defenses to confront the evolving landscape of cyber threats. Simultaneously, it allows us to harness the unique strengths of human context comprehension, which AI has not yet fully mastered.

The AI vs AI battle is another obstacle in the revolutionary AI era. A challenge that every huge invention needs to pass through to prove it's worth it and to take the world another step forward.

Mike Admon is the CEO of Unipath.

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In recent weeks, headlines have been dominated by college students protesting on campuses across America in favor of the BDS movement, which the Anti-Defamation League considers to be an antisemitic movement. At Portland State University, they treated the campus library like ISIS treated Palmyra, shattering glass windows, damaging furniture, and computers, destroying the fire extinguishers, and stealing rare books that were endowed to the university, in addition to spraying hateful graffiti calling for an intifada across the library.

About 300 students and community members were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York, where the university is surveying damage from several buildings and grounds after demonstrators smashed glass doors, graffitied walls, and ransacked public property. At UCLA, the police broke up a violent plot to take over a campus building and disrupt mid-term exams. And the list just goes on regarding the violence that has taken place on American campuses in recent weeks by pro-BDS protesters.

And now, after the police have broken up many of the protests, at Princeton University and other campuses, the pro-divestment students are going on a hunger strike, angered at how campuses across America have invited in the police to deal with the violence caused by the protesters. I have a suggestion for the presidents of American universities. Why don't they just arrest them, place these students in a mental institution and forcefully feed these demonstrators inside of that mental institution?

If the universities give into the pressure caused by these hunger strikes and the sensational headlines that they cause, all it will do is encourage a repeat of what happened at the library at Portland State University and other violent incidents that took place on campuses across America. Appeasing violence never works. To the contrary, it just whets their appetite to do more violent acts, which severely adversely affect the environment for all students studying at American universities.

However, if the university ignores them and lets them starve to death, it will be bad publicity for Harvard and all of the other American universities. Therefore, the universities should not sit back and let them starve themselves to death, nor should they give into their demands. Instead, the police should go to their encampment and give them the following option: Eat and go home, or be hospitalized in a mental institution for possessing suicidal intentions and causing harm to themselves and inciting other students to inflict self-harm. They should be given two hours to eat and go home. During these two hours, the families of the protesters should be brought in to try and dissuade the protesters from continuing their hunger strike.

In recent days, the hunger strike of Armenian leader Ruben Vardanyan ended because his family persuaded him not to give up his life over politics. "I am deeply concerned about the health and well-being of my father," said David Vardanyan, one of Vardanyan's sons, after his father lacked nourishment for several weeks. His concern about his father's well-being in the end paid dividends for Azerbaijan, as he ended his hunger strike when he spoke to his wife on the phone.

This shows that bringing in families of the hunger strikers is instrumental in helping to end a hunger strike without giving in too much to the demands of the protesters. After all, all Azerbaijan did was permit him to speak to his family and to make some speeches from prison, and he ended his hunger strike without Azerbaijan giving him anything substantial in return. This shows how influential families can be in helping to end hunger strikes.

Anyone who does not comply after getting warned from the police and hearing pleas from their family should be arrested and brought to a mental hospital, where they will be forcefully fed with tubes. These students should not be released from the mental hospital until they commit to giving up their hunger strike, which should be treated as the same as having suicidal intentions. Until they agree, they should be forced into the same types of therapy given to people that wish to commit suicide and treated by the authorities as such.

The authorities can even drug them with psychiatric medication in the mental hospital, which will cause them to be more relaxed, less angry and less agitated, and thus when they do return, they will be less motivated to do something like having a hunger strike. The campus should treat these students as individuals who took a break from studies due to mental health issues, and get a record as such. After all, anyone who destroys a library and vandalizes a campus has significant mental health issues, which require psychiatric treatment for either malignant narcissist personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder or both. Anyone willing to die in order to protest for BDS also has significant psychological issues that should be addressed as well.

In this way, Princeton and all of the other universities can rid themselves of the students who are presently doing a hunger strike in favor of divesting from Israel, thus helping to restore peace and tranquility to campuses across America without adversely affecting the public image of the universities. After all, they would not be doing anything more than preventing mentally ill protesters from killing themselves over a worthless cause and stopping malignant narcissists from further disrupting campus life.

Allowing a hunger strike to continue will do nothing more than damage the public image of the universities. Indeed, every week that Vardanyan was on hunger strike was a public relations disaster for Azerbaijan. His son was interviewed by CNN, France 24 and a series of other major outlets, who all spoke ill of Azerbaijan defending itself against the financing of terrorism. A separatist terrorist allied with Putin under the influence of a hunger strike was transformed into a freedom fighter in the eyes of Western media outlets, and this was terrible for Azerbaijan, which prompted them to let his family convince him to stop the hunger strike, even though he was in solitary confinement.

Similarly, if these pro-divestment hunger strikers continue to wage their struggle at Harvard, the value of a Harvard degree will go on a slippery slope downhill. People will stop referring to Harvard as a top notch-institution but rather as a school that let its students starve to death over their refusal to give into the demands of their cause, or as a school who gave into antisemitic agitation and divesting from Israel, thus encouraging more violence on campus in the future. The only way to prevent this from spiraling in that direction is to invite their families into the picture to dissuade them from continuing their hunger strike and if that fails, to place these students immediately in a mental institution, where they will be forcefully fed. There is no other valid response to their hunger strike.

Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center and the editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."

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While Dan Elbaum, The Jewish Agency for Israel's Head of North America and President and CEO of Jewish Agency International Development (JAID), is certainly dismayed by the at times violent protests on college campuses, he's still optimistic that there is much to be salvaged with today's youth. Elbaum sat down with Israel Hayom and spoke about why there are many students worth reaching out to who have compassion for Jews on campus and why the spirit of Jewish students remains high despite the struggles they're facing.

 1. How do you explain these massive protests on campuses across the United States and how they turned into what we are seeing today?

What we are seeing is a perfect storm of three things. First, a simplistic and almost cartoonishly false portrayal by the media and on social media of Israel's legitimate steps to protect its population and free its hostages from an enemy, a terrorist organization, bent on their destruction. Second, a history of universities encouraging all conflicts, regardless of their nuances and individual characteristics, to be neatly pigeonholed as a struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. And third, a systematic disregard of the opinions and rights of Zionist students on the campus community.

When we look at the situation from that perspective, the question really becomes one of not why did this happen, but rather, why did it take this long to reach this point?

2. What is your assessment of how university leadership have handled these protests? What more could they do to enhance the safety of Jewish students?

I will answer in generalities as there have been several universities that have behaved in an exemplary manner.  Yet, it has been shocking to see the complete lack of moral clarity and blatant insensitivity shown to Jewish and Zionist students when the request is as simple as merely asking the University to enforce their own rules and regulations. Please understand that I am not a person, nor is my organization an organization, that lightly makes these types of statements. Yet, it is difficult to imagine any university treating any other minority's safety, feelings, and emotional and physical wellbeing as cavalierly as so many Universities have treated their Jewish students. Sadly, this has been true since October 8 and remains true to this day.

This would be egregious under any circumstances yet is somehow even more hurtful for two reasons. First, many of those harassing Jewish students are not even students. And, secondly, there has never been any community in American history that has revered the university system more than American Jews. Our story is one of overcoming quotas and other hardships to become a part of this system and supporting it every possible way. I really do not know a better way to describe it than nothing less than shameful.

3. What are The Jewish Agency's campus emissaries, known as the Israel Fellows, doing on the ground right now as a resource for Jewish students? How have their activities and approaches changed since October 7?

If there has been a ray of hope on our college campuses, it has been our Israel Fellows and the Jewish students involved with Hillel and other pro-Israel organizations. At its simplest level, the fellows are there to answer hard questions, be a resource to Jewish and pro-Israel students, present a human face of Israel, and instill pride in our shared history, culture, and background.

Bear in mind that nearly every single one of our fellows has family and friends who are serving or have served in this war. Many have lost family and loved ones on October 7 or in the months afterward. Yet in the face of the largest challenge that their country has ever encountered, they have been there for American Jewish students every step of the way.

4. Hundreds of students have been arrested, suspended, put on probation, and, in rare cases, expelled from colleges in the US due to the protests. Do you think this is an appropriate form of punishment? When do protesters' actions cross the line from free speech to behavior that necessitates disciplinary action?

This is not a complicated question. Indeed, President Biden said it well the other day. You have every right to say and believe anything that you wish as long as you are not threatening others. You do not have the right to bar Jewish students from going to class; you do not have the right to break into university buildings, you don't have the right to damage things that do not belong to you and you do not have the right to call for genocide.

I do think that it is striking that universities have not seemed to care that much about free speech when the rhetoric was directed against other minorities. Many of the same institutions that were quick to expel students, correctly in my opinion, when the speech was directed against African American or LGBTQ students, suddenly find the issue somehow more complicated when Jews are the victims. In that situation, it is not only important that Jews ask why that is, but that we encourage our allies to do the same.

5. Have you had a chance to visit any US campuses since October 7 and see for yourself what's happening?

Yes and in every case, I must say that as shocked and saddened that I was by some of what I saw and heard, I left inspired by the Jewish students at Hillel, Chabad as well as our Israel Fellows. This is not what they signed up for, but this is what they are doing. For all of those older American Jews who are discouraged by what we see from the next generation, I would urge you to speak to some of these Jewish students. You will feel a lot better.

I also want to point out something relatively new that truly bears watching. It has been the voice of Israeli students on campus as well as Israeli Americans who grew up in America with one or two Israeli parents. They have been a crucial voice of leadership on many campuses and another inspiring part of Jewish life on campus.

6. What advice would you give to Jewish students navigating their final days of the academic year while these protests are occurring?

I would tell them three things:

1.      Be proud of who you are and don't let anyone else define you. You have worked hard to get to where you are and do not allow others to derail you and all that you are doing.

2.      Know that you are not alone and that there are resources at Hillel, Chabad, their local Jewish federations, and other good people who have your back.

3.      You will always remember this time in your life and look back on it in a way that is different than maybe any other time after. Ask yourself how you want to remember what you did during this time and do your best to act accordingly.

Also, I think that it's important for students to remember that the overwhelming majority of their fellow students are not antisemites nor are many of them involved in this movement. There are a great deal of reachable people, and we must never forget that.

7. How do you think these protests will influence students' and parents' decisions when enrolling in colleges and universities for the next academic year? Do you think a significant number of prospective students may stay away from schools that have been hotspots for protests, including Ivy League or other elite institutions?

It is early to say, but I cannot count how many parents have identified the current atmosphere as an important factor in their child's college decision. College is a place where you should be exposed to other ideas, and we should not shy away from schools for allowing students to articulate views with which we disagree. But it is appropriate and proper for us to ask the question of how much that school prizes our children's safety and make sure that we are satisfied with the answer. Shamefully, many universities have failed that test and I do think that they have considerable work to do if they want to regain our community's trust.

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