A grieving mother has expressed her fury toward the father of her children after he allegedly killed them in a suspected murder-suicide.

Olivia Piccolo told police that she went to collect her children, seven-year-old Remy and five-year-old Aria, from their father’s home in Cocoa, Florida, on Wednesday as part of a custody handover.

Authorities said Piccolo tried to contact their father, 37-year-old Joseph Dingwall, before going to the residence when he failed to respond.

When she arrived, the front door was ajar. Inside, she found her two children and their father fatally shot, according to the Cocoa Police Department.

The circumstances of the shooting remain unclear. In the days since the deaths, Piccolo has shared the depth of her grief and anger.

In one Facebook post, she appeared to criticize Dingwall for failing to protect their children.

‘I’m still in shock. You were supposed to be their protector. Their provider. One of their safe places. I’m so angry,’ the heartbroken mother wrote.

‘But my anger will never ever outweigh my love for my children. From the minute I found out I was going to be a mom, my whole entire life changed.

‘I don’t have much to say right at this moment, but I want everyone to know Remy and Aria deserved so much more and how proud I was to be their mother. I will always love you, and I promise you will be remembered for who you both are, not by what happened.’

‘I swear I’ll love you forever and ever, and I will let every person in this world know how amazing each of you are.’

In another post, Piccolo described the painful reality she has been forced to confront.

‘Tonight I switched over my laundry that had been sitting in my washer untouched since Tuesday evening…… I saw tiny socks, I saw tiny underwear (pull-ups is what Aria called it for a while), I saw husky boys underwear, and I saw so many boys’ T-shirts,’ she wrote.

The post, shared on Saturday evening, continued: ‘I stopped for a second and said I can’t do this. But then something in me reminded me that I can do it. My children have given me the strength since they were born to keep pushing through, no matter how hard it might be.’

After police were called to the home, a neighbor said he had heard what sounded like gunshots approximately 12 hours earlier.

‘Two gunshots. Two clear gunshots, and it was 12.20 a.m., midnight,’ Marcos Garcia told WESH 2, adding that he heard the noises from across the street.

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It remains unclear whether the sounds came from the home involved in the case. Collier said no 911 calls were received around that time.

Police said they had been called to the home 11 times since 2021 for ‘a variety of calls,’ including ‘medical and suspicious activities,’ Cocoa Police Department Chief Evander Collier IV said. 

When asked about the details of the calls, Collier said he did not have that information. 

Footage captured from a neighbor’s security camera appeared to capture Dingwall outside the home around the time shots rang out, according to police.

An investigation into the fatal incident remains ongoing. The Daily Mail contacted the Cocoa Police Department for comment. 

A GiveSendGo fundraiser has since been launched to help Piccolo raise money for her children’s funerals. 

According to a friend who started the campaign, Remy was just shy of his eighth birthday. 

He and his little sister have been described as ‘two very precious and deeply loved children,’ the page read.

A GoFundMe page was also set up to help raise funds for the family. 

‘Anyone who knew Olivia, even for a short amount of time, knew about her children. You couldn’t know Olivia without knowing how much Remy and Aria meant to her.

‘They were her entire world. Her life revolved around them, and every part of her heart belonged to being their mother,’ the fundraiser read. 

Remy has been remembered as a ‘fierce protector of his little sister and his mother,’ it continued.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday that New York City will investigate an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s shooting of an undocumented migrant, as well as the NYPD’s response to the incident.

The democratic socialist mayor, who has previously described ICE as “rotten to its core,” renewed his call for the federal agency to leave New York City. He also accused ICE of operating more like a terrorist organization than a law enforcement agency.

“The city is still dealing with having been terrorized by a rogue federal agency,” Mamdani said during an interview on MS Now.

Mamdani has repeatedly called for ICE to be abolished and said he urged President Trump and his administration to withdraw immigration agents from New York following the shooting of 28-year-old Dominican Republic native Oscar Belgal. Belgal was struck in the neck while riding in a moving vehicle with his 5-year-old son in the backseat.

Authorities said Belgal, who was shot by federal ICE agents during a chaotic confrontation in the Bronx, had previously terrorized former neighbors with a machete and was suspected of having ties to the violent Trinitarios street gang.

Belgal’s criminal record includes a 2023 conviction for grand larceny robbery and an August 2025 arrest on allegations that he sold fentanyl, cocaine and heroin.

Mamdani nevertheless said Belgal was “hurting” after being shot in the neck and that his 5-year-old son had been “traumatized.”

The mayor condemned the actions of ICE agents who, he said, used construction vests for cover and opened fire on a vehicle in “broad daylight.”

“It feels as if you’re looking at a mass shooter as opposed to seeing some purportedly representing a federal agency,” Mamdani said.

“What New Yorkers want to see is the end of ICE activities across our city. In New York City it is not acceptable to be firing at a moving vehicle … to be shooting at a car where there is a 5-year-old in it.

“There’s a reason why the NYPD would not be shooting at a moving vehicle,” he added.

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Mamdani acknowledged that his two-hour discussions with Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin over the ICE shooting ended without an agreement.

The mayor said negotiations with the administration would continue.

Here’s the latest on the Bronx ICE shooting:

“The secretary did not think ICE did anything wrong,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani said he refused to detain Belgal because there was no warrant for his arrest.

“They’re making a mockery of what law and order is supposed to be, and then they want us to justify their actions for them,” Mamdani claimed.

Mamdani said his administration, particularly the NYPD, would review the events surrounding the shooting, the police response and the handling of protests over the following 24 hours.

The review will also examine how a Target parking lot was used as a staging area for ICE operations, he said.

“We will use every tool at our disposal to keep New York safe,” Mamdani said.

He also said that 70% of migrants detained by ICE do not have criminal records, arguing that the agency is “ripping families apart.”

“Trusting ICE’s word is a fool’s errand. It’s rinse and repeat,” Mamdani said. “I am demanding ICE cease operations in the city immediately. It leaves New York less safe.”

Italy’s government has unveiled what it calls a “Schools Decree,” introducing several tough integration measures. Beginning next summer, students will be prohibited from covering their faces in class, schools will be expected to limit foreign-born pupils to 30% of enrollment, and parents who fail to attend required Italian-language lessons could be fined as much as $1,120.

Officials present the decree as a way to strengthen integration. But the plan has reignited a broader debate: can a Western democracy require newcomers to assimilate, and have European countries waited too long to address social divisions?

Nile Gardiner, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, described mass migration and what he calls the “Islamification” of Europe as “the single biggest issue of our time.” He warned that cultural changes already visible in London and other European cities could eventually appear in the United States unless American leaders take a more forceful approach.

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni defended the decree on X, calling the new rules “Tools of common sense that do not divide, but truly help to integrate, avoiding ghetto classes and giving all students the same opportunities. This is the direction we want to continue to follow: a school that integrates without giving up on rules, that supports those who have more difficulties and that puts everyone in a position to start from the same point.”

Experts say the basic expectations outlined in Italy’s plan are not inherently radical. “Learning the national language and taking part in your child’s education are reasonable expectations,” said Simone Rodan‑Benzaquen, senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

She also said requiring students to keep their faces visible in classrooms—spaces centered on communication and personal interaction—is a reasonable policy. The larger issue, she told News Media, is whether these rules genuinely promote integration or merely address the most noticeable signs of a deeper problem while leaving the forces that discourage broader participation untouched.

Italy is part of a wider European shift. Governments on both the left and right are imposing stricter integration requirements, from Denmark’s so-called “ghetto laws” and France’s limits on religious symbols in schools to Germany’s language and citizenship courses and the Netherlands’ efforts to assess newcomers before they enter the country.

Swedish political scientist Daniel Schatz said the central political divide is increasingly separate from the traditional left-right spectrum. It now pits those who believe governments can establish firm requirements for membership in a national community against those who worry such conditions may become discriminatory or exclusionary. The debate, he said, is over whether integration should be offered voluntarily or treated as a civic duty.

Sara Wallace Goodman, a political science professor at the University of California, Irvine, points to Denmark as a notable example of broad political agreement on immigration. Because the country operates a generous welfare system designed primarily for its citizens, she said, policymakers have made it harder for outsiders to establish themselves and gain access to the same benefits.

Goodman, who is also affiliated with the European University Institute’s Global Citizenship Observatory, said Denmark’s center-left government can gain political ground by taking a firm stance on immigration. That approach can weaken right-wing challengers by addressing concerns they might otherwise use to attract voters.

At the heart of these policies is anxiety about the growth of “parallel societies”—communities, schools and neighborhoods where newcomers remain largely separated from the wider population. Officials fear that language barriers, concentrated poverty and intense internal pressures can produce self-contained social worlds operating beside, rather than inside, the country’s civic life.

Goodman cited a mid-2000s British report by Trevor Phillips, then head of the Commission for Racial Equality under Prime Minister Tony Blair. Phillips warned that separate communities were living distinct lives and argued that an openly multicultural Britain was drifting toward segregation. Goodman said governments have attempted to dismantle such disconnected communities through mandatory policies, but cautioned that blunt measures can also become restrictive, oppressive and destabilizing.

The parallel society Phillips warned about may already be taking hold. A video distributed on TikTok shows shoppers at an Asian market in London waiting in a line mostly separated by gender. Nile Gardiner called the video disturbing. “I think it’s an illustration of the advancing Islamification of the United Kingdom, which has been accelerated in the last decade, and I think it poses a threat to the future of the U.K.

Gardiner argued that Islamic cultural influence is increasingly shaping Britain, which he described as the center of Western civilization. He pointed to what he calls a “red-green alliance” involving Islamists, socialists and environmental activists, claiming that the cooperation has contributed to unrest in cities including Berlin, London, Vienna and The Hague. He also said France’s violence is being driven in part by Islamists working alongside the far left.

Schatz said migration politics are shaped less by raw population figures than by what voters can see in their daily lives. Even when asylum applications decline, he explained, public concern can intensify if people believe integration is failing. The fundamental question, he said, is not whether Europe should permit immigration, but whether it still expects newcomers to become part of the societies they enter.

Rodan‑Benzaquen, however, cautioned that coercion can address only the outward signs of a much larger challenge. Governments cannot expect citizens to feel connected to shared institutions when those institutions fail children or limit opportunities, she said. At the same time, she argued, authorities should not abandon core principles whenever organized groups challenge them or when Islamist propaganda urges people to reject public institutions.

She added that policymakers often focus on the most visible elements of a problem while overlooking the conditions that create it. When organized campaigns discourage participation in mainstream society, officials should investigate the people, institutions and funding involved. Rules governing clothing, she said, cannot solve those underlying issues on their own.

France has restricted prominent religious symbols in public schools since 2004, including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and visibly displayed Christian crosses. Rodan‑Benzaquen said the policy reflects France’s assimilationist philosophy: children should have the opportunity to form their own views and exercise freedom of conscience within a common educational environment.

She said the “central promise” of the French model “remains worth defending… you can become fully French whatever your origins. Although,” she adds, “sustaining it is becoming more difficult.”

Rodan-Benzaquen continued, “There has to be something clearly understood to integrate into,” adding, “a language, a political community, a history and freedoms and responsibilities that people are expected to share. A society embarrassed to transmit these will struggle to ask newcomers to embrace them.”

Goodman said, “Europe is in a really unique situation where it has accepted immigration, but it hasn’t accepted the long-term consequences of immigration. Societies over time adapt and start to see themselves as immigrant receiving countries and as multicultural, and a lot of societies in Europe have resisted this transformation.” She said that the “society that birthed the Enlightenment and the ideas of liberalism and pluralism” must evaluate itself “and say there’s a boundary on this.”

Schatz said that any successful integration model in Europe “will not be one that is simply ‘tough’ or simply ‘welcoming.’… A state that cannot enforce its borders or its basic civic rules eventually loses the public confidence needed for a generous and sustainable integration policy.”

CHICAGO (WLS) — Police have charged a Chicago man in the fatal stabbing of CTA worker Julian Mobley at a Green Line station, authorities said.

Mobley was stabbed and killed Thursday. The rail janitor is survived by his wife, a toddler and his 14-year-old daughter.

Union officials said Mobley intervened while helping a coworker during a dispute. According to the union, a rider was spraying mace at a customer service assistant over a fare issue when Mobley stepped in and was stabbed.

Police announced Sunday that 37-year-old Chevazz Campbell faces charges of first-degree murder, armed robbery and bringing weapons onto CTA property.

Court documents indicate that Campbell has prior felony convictions.

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Campbell is scheduled to appear in court Sunday.

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.

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Getting engaged can be surprisingly terrifying.

Not necessarily because of the lifelong commitment or even the wedding planning—although that certainly plays a part.

The real source of anxiety can be the relentless “bridal noise.”

That noise is overwhelming, particularly for vulnerable brides-to-be. It is easy to see why: the Wedding Industrial Complex generates more than $100 billion in economic impact each year in the United States, while the average wedding costs about $34,000.

In the months before the ceremony, brides are encouraged to look their absolute best—whatever the expense. Social media constantly reinforces the idea that you are not quite perfect enough and that your wedding photographs will preserve every perceived flaw forever. The result is a relentless focus on every insecurity, which can then be poked, prodded, sculpted and altered.

Across the US, MedSpas promote year-long “Bridal Package” programs featuring customized skin lasers, fat-melting procedures and laser hair removal, all promising brides poreless skin and a cellulite-free appearance for the biggest day of their lives.

But achieving visible results should not require brides to go bankrupt.

With that in mind, I set out to test several of the most viral and unconventional wedding treatments. The goal was to discover whether they justified their price tags—or whether the bridal noise could simply be tuned out.

PRF Under-Eye Injections, 3/10

$800 per session, $2,400 for a recommended package of three treatments

For brides like me who have hollow under-eyes, the appearance of prominent “designer bags” can be a particular concern.

I have looked tired for years, so in the hope of avoiding sagging, double-bagged eyes in my wedding photographs, I decided to try a treatment often promoted as a solution.

You may know the “Vampire Facial” made famous by Kim Kardashian. This procedure is similar. “PRF stands for Platelet-Rich Fibrin,” explains board-certified Nurse Practitioner Sarah-Kate Nems.

“We draw a small sample of your blood, spin it in a centrifuge to concentrate the platelets, white blood cells and fibrin, and then inject that back into the under-eye area. The fibrin matrix is the key,” she says. It gradually releases the body’s own growth factors over roughly two weeks, rather than only a few hours, encouraging collagen production and tissue improvement.

The treatment is designed to address dark circles, fine lines, crepey under-eye skin and hollowness—common concerns for brides seeking a more refreshed look. Unlike traditional fillers, which are synthetic and typically made with hyaluronic acid, PRF uses 100 percent of the patient’s own blood.

“The honest promise here is ‘refreshed and natural,’ not ‘completely different,’” Nems says. At least three sessions are needed before visible results are expected.

I found the treatment, including the blood draw and injections, mostly painless. However, anyone considering it should be prepared for visible puffiness and swelling around the eyes for several days afterward.

The results were modest in my case, with only minimal changes. To be fair, the treatment is intended to be repeated at least three times for the best effect, but I was not willing to continue without any guarantee that the outcome would justify the risk.

Scalp Analysis, 4/10

$299 for a two-hour all-in-one head spa treatment

Brides strive for optimal hair health on their wedding day, so their tresses can look clean, sleek and shiny. Beautiful hair begins with a healthy scalp, and Allure Day Spa in Midtown Manhattan encourages brides to start hair spa treatments about three to six months before the wedding for the best long-term scalp and hair benefits.

My scalp was analyzed with a high-tech tool that showed me my individual hair follicles with ultra-magnified imagery. It was determined that my scalp, similar to my face, was an oily/dry combination that leaned oily, and that I would benefit from shampoo products with salicylic acid that breaks down sebum and product residue.

Staff typically see hair dullness as a result of poor scalp health and inadequate water quality following a home hair wash, so their head spa package offers a 90-minute treatment complete with tools to stimulate and promote hair growth, as well as a scalp mask, anti-sebum shampoo and a ‘steam helmet’ to open up pores.

This treatment was utterly luxurious and restorative, I would encourage anyone to try it for softer, healthier-looking hair. It certainly has stress reducing benefits, too.

However, it’s more of a self-care option than a must-do for your bridal list. Perhaps book it in for a pre-wedding stress reliever, or something fun to do with your bridesmaids for your bachelorette party.

Sweat Reduction Treatment, 9/10

$1,050 per session

Almost all brides that I know have chosen to tie the knot in the summer, in a hot climate. While getting married on a beautiful sunny day fares well for photos, it’s far more stressful to worry about makeup setting evenly as well as ending up with spray tan streaks and sweat stains on a white gown.

A scorching wedding day isn’t just a bride’s nightmare – grooms and guests in suits are just as likely to drench through their layers.

With this in mind, I tried Contor’s Sweat Reduction Treatment, a botox neuromodulator with FDA approval that specifically targets axillary hyperhidrosis (overactive sweating).

‘The mechanism is actually quite simple: these neuromodulators block acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for triggering sweat gland activation. The glands themselves are completely untouched; they’re simply not receiving the signal to produce sweat,’ Lindsay Pratt, Advanced Injector at Contor, says.

It doesn’t affect the body’s natural cooling process as the underarms account for a remarkably small fraction of the body’s total sweat output. ‘When the area is treated, it’s not meaningfully impacting thermoregulation because the rest of the body’s sweat response remains completely intact,’ she affirms. 

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Recommended at least six weeks before the wedding, I tried this (painful) treatment a few weeks before my bachelorette party in the French Riviera, which was due for an ultra-humid heatwave over the dates we were there.

I went into sweat reduction botox with my fair share of reservations, but I was utterly astounded by my results. My underarms remained bone dry throughout my bachelorette, where temperatures soared to 90 degrees and beyond. New York summer was not even a match for this treatment. With up to six months of results, the investment is worthwhile for the peace of mind being sweatless can offer.

Pratt says it best: ‘What surprises people most is the mental relief. They expect to sweat less, but they don’t always anticipate how much headspace that frees up. For a lot of people, it’s genuinely one of the highest-impact treatments they’ve received relative to how simple the process is.’

Facial Sculpt and Release, 2/10

$120 for 30 minutes

I think it’s important to preface this by saying that I am a sensitive person with a sensitive disposition. So, I can unequivocally now say that sculpt and release treatments are not for me.

Different from a lymphatic drainage facial, sculpt and release combines pressure point therapy, fascia release, facial muscle work, TMJ release, and lymphatic stimulation to help a person’s facial features ‘return to their most balanced, natural state.’

For brides who want to look their most sculpted, this treatment, which should be done a few times at least three months before the wedding, is a fair option.

Brides should expect reduced puffiness, a more defined jawline, brighter skin tone and better facial symmetry immediately after a treatment. The face often appears more rested and refreshed without looking ‘overdone.’

However, in full transparency, you have to be able to withstand a lot of pressure on your neck, ears, chest and jaw to be able to get through this treatment successfully. While my experience brought me to tears as someone with a low pain tolerance, for my colleague, who has TMJ, it was a breeze. She found it deep, relaxing and refreshing.

‘While many people are good candidates for Facial Sculpting & Release, it isn’t appropriate for everyone,’ Salon86 facialist and makeup artist Yumi Kaizuka says.

‘The right candidate isn’t someone who simply wants a relaxing facial – it may not be the best choice for someone with an extremely low pain tolerance or someone who is uncomfortable with therapeutic pressure.’

Lymphatic Drainage Massage, 8/10

$115 to $275 per session

For brides in unforgiving wedding dress fabrics, regular lymphatic drainage treatments can be a great fix for a bloated stomach or swollen legs or arms.

Bloating can happen as a result of body waste from the lymphatic system – think excess gas, trapped stool, or fluid retention. By using light, rhythmic movements, lymphatic drainage can help reduce swelling and fluid retention.

‘In the weeks leading up to the wedding, lymphatic drainage massage can leave both the face and body looking more refreshed and defined. Brides may notice a less bloated feeling, a more sculpted appearance, and smoother-looking skin,’ Jade Haifa, of Jade Haifa Studios, says.

Haifa, a master of lymphatic drainage trained in different global methods, is thorough in her approach, using several different electronic tools and techniques to achieve optimal results.

However, don’t expect to see immediate results if you’re going to try this method. ‘One of the biggest misconceptions about lymphatic drainage is expecting a dramatic transformation after one session,’ she notes.

For the best visible results, Haifa recommends brides start lymphatic drainage treatments about three months before the wedding, scheduling at least two to three weeks apart, and then once a week in the month leading up to the big day.

Cheek Filler, 10/10

$800 to $2,000 per syringe

After I saw minimal difference following my PRF under eye injections, I opted to pull out the big guns, and try dermal filler for my sunken under-eyes. 

Little did I know about fixing this issue, is that the cheeks were actually the place to start. Dr Schwarzburg, of Skinly Aesthetics, explained that doctors should really be assessing cheek structure, projection, facial width and under-eye transition for their brides.

‘By restoring volume in the right area of the cheeks, I can rebuild some of that underlying support and create a smoother transition from the lower eyelid into the midface. In the right patient, that can make the under-eye look significantly less hollow without putting filler directly underneath the eye,’ he said.

The goal, he explained, isn’t to give someone noticeably bigger cheeks. ‘For a bride, especially, I want people looking at the photographs and thinking she looks rested and defined, not wondering whether she had filler.’

Generally, brides should beware of attempting to get this treatment done too close to the wedding date. 

While one person may have almost no bruising or swelling, another may bruise for a week or longer, such as myself. After one to two syringes, I bruised like an apple, but I was also a little too lenient with healing instructions.

There is also the very (uncommon) risk of infection and vascular occlusion, which is why Dr Schwarzburg does not recommend brides rush last minute appointments, even for Botox. Three to four weeks ahead of time is the latest a bride should try a treatment.

However, results were unmatched, and I felt like I had taken 10 years off of my appearance – bridal bags be gone.

WASHINGTON — President Trump is not merely looking to make waves. He appears determined to put his name on them.

At a rally Saturday, Trump floated the possibility of renaming both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans after himself, the latest in a series of efforts to leave his mark on the map.

“We’ve got the Gulf, we’ve got a beautiful lake, and now someone said, ‘You need a river,’ so I don’t wanna change the name of the Hudson River,” Trump said during the rally in Clarksville, Tennessee. “Henry Hudson, he did a good job sailing up that sucker a long time ago.

“So, we need a river; we need an ocean,” he continued. “So, I was thinking of either the Atlantic or the Pacific. We call it Trump Ocean or Ocean of the Americans, something like that.

“No, before I get out, I think we should have an ocean, and we need a great river. Now, I’m not changing the name of the Mississippi. I love Mississippi. We won that state by so much.”

Trump has already moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The proposed lake name came in retaliation amid trade tensions with Canada.

Some of those ideas initially appeared to be jokes, only for Trump to later sign executive orders aimed at putting the proposed name changes into effect.

Trump has also suggested renaming New Mexico “New America” and the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.” He has not acted on either proposal so far.

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The former real estate mogul, who built his brand by placing his name on properties, has also pushed to rename prominent government institutions and structures after himself.

Last year, his administration renamed the Institute of Peace headquarters the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.” The move came as Trump was waging a highly public campaign to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump had intervened in several overseas conflicts while seeking to end them, apparently with the additional goal of earning the prestigious award.

After Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, prominent opposition leader María Corina Machado gave him the Nobel Peace Prize she had received.

Although Trump now technically possesses a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Machado, he has continued to criticize the Norwegian Nobel Committee for declining to give him the honor himself.

“This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things,” Trump wrote angrily on Truth Social on Friday, alongside a photo of the latest prize winner, Navi Pillay.

“I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!”

Beyond the Institute of Peace, Trump has sought to rename the Kennedy Center after himself. A judge blocked that effort, after which his administration placed a tarp over part of the facility.

Trump was later seen reviewing demolition plans for the Kennedy Center, though courts have since ordered his administration to provide 30 days’ notice before making major changes to the facility.
Trump has suggested that demolishing the iconic national cultural center could be necessary because of damage he says was caused by storms.

As Israel prepared its September 2024 operation against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior defense officials debated whether to alert the Biden administration in advance. They feared Washington might intervene to block the strike, according to Wall Street Journal editorial writer Elliot Kaufman and another person familiar with the discussions.

“140%, they won’t approve of the mission,” Netanyahu told senior Israeli defense officials, according to Kaufman, co-author of In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis. Kaufman described the exchange in an interview with News Media.

Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi supported notifying Washington, Kaufman said. They believed the United States could back an attack on a Hezbollah leader associated with the deaths of American service members. Netanyahu took the opposite view, warning that then-National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan would “jump out of his skin” if he discovered the plan.

The dispute underscored the growing rift between Jerusalem and Washington over Israel’s campaign against Iran-backed groups. The Biden administration was focused on containing the conflict and preventing it from developing into a wider regional war.

Hezbollah: Netanyahu’s warning about Washington

When Israeli aircraft struck Hezbollah’s Beirut headquarters on September 27, 2024, the Pentagon said it had not been given advance notice. Gallant spoke with then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as the attack was already in progress.

The operation killed Nasrallah, who had headed the Iranian-backed terrorist organization for more than 30 years. His death marked a pivotal moment in Israel’s fight against Hezbollah, which had opened a second front on October 8, 2023—one day after Hamas launched its deadly assault in southern Israel—and had continued firing rockets and missiles at communities in northern Israel.

Kaufman said Israel had spent nearly a year relying on American diplomatic efforts to halt Hezbollah’s attacks on the north, but those efforts had failed.

“From Israel’s point of view, it had been sitting and waiting for 10, 11 months while Hezbollah had been pounding the north of Israel with rockets and with anti-tank missiles, waiting for American diplomacy to succeed,” he said. “It didn’t work. Something had to change on the northern front.”

According to Kaufman, the episode highlighted a basic difference between the two governments’ strategies for the war.

“The United States may not have been in Israel’s war room, but it could never be denied a seat at the table when it asked,” he said.

“What I was told from the Israeli prime minister’s office is ‘America’s goal is to de-escalate the war. Our goal is to win the war,’ and we saw that clash at every point, especially during the Biden administration.”

October 7: Netanyahu’s reluctance and the question of accountability

Kaufman and Jerusalem Post senior military analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob also recount in their book how Netanyahu initially opposed a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre. He later became one of the strongest voices urging Israel to continue the war.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu had just seen the IDF, Israel’s military, fail miserably on Oct. 7, and Israel’s intelligence services fail miserably on October 7,” Kaufman told News Media.

American generals sent to Israel by President Biden likewise cautioned Israeli leaders that a ground offensive could end in defeat, even if the campaign were limited to Gaza City, Kaufman said.

After weeks of debate, Netanyahu ultimately authorized the ground operation on October 27, 2023.

“Over time, he would gain confidence in the IDF, regain confidence in the military, in Israel’s intelligence services, and end up outlasting, exhausting, or simply firing all of his war room rivals,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman offered a sharper assessment when discussing Netanyahu’s responsibility for the October 7 failures.

“I have spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu several times in person, even more on the phone. I had a three hour conversation with him extending well past midnight in Israel,” Kaufman said. “I have not heard him take responsibility for what happened on October 7th.”

Instead, Kaufman said, Netanyahu consistently points to the failure of senior military officials to alert him before the Hamas assault began. “What he says is, 6:29. They didn’t wake me up until 6:29 in the morning on the day of October 7th,” Kaufman recounted.

Those remarks came as a new controversy erupted in Israel over the official record of Netanyahu’s actions on the morning of the attack.

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In a lengthy interview broadcast Thursday by Israel’s Channel 12, retired Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, who served as Netanyahu’s military secretary at the time, said that the prime minister’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, attempted to alter the official record of a telephone call between Gil and Netanyahu.

Gil said a stenographer told him she had been instructed to change the recorded time of their first secure telephone conversation from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m. Gil said he had raised concerns about irregular recordkeeping with the attorney general’s office in real time. Braverman has acknowledged seeking to change the recorded time but denied wrongdoing.

Gil also challenged the completeness of Netanyahu’s public account of the events preceding the massacre, saying there were significant gaps between what occurred and what had been presented to the Israeli public and in his written statements.

The Likud party dismissed the alleged attempt to falsify the record, saying “the matter had been investigated by police two years earlier and that police had recommended closing the case because it lacked substance.” However, prosecutors have not announced a decision to close the case.

Gil also said that opportunities to secure hostage agreements earlier in the war had been lost because of political considerations.

Asked by Channel 12 whether some hostages who died in captivity could have been brought home alive, Gil replied, “We could have.”

He indicated that opposition to ceasefires and hostage deals from far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition influenced the prime minister’s decisions.

While acknowledging that senior Israeli military officials believed Netanyahu was prolonging the war for political reasons, Kaufman challenged the argument that political survival was his sole motivation, pointing to Israel’s subsequent campaigns against Hezbollah and Iran. “There were real strategic interests to be pursued,” he said.

“Almost all of the real achievements of this war came later in the war,” he said, arguing that the subsequent weakening of Hezbollah, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities complicated claims that continued fighting served only Netanyahu’s political interests.

Iran: How Israel helped convince Trump to strike

The book also examines how Israel’s early military successes against Iran helped persuade President Donald Trump to authorize U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day war in June 2025.

Kaufman described how a Trump administration official showed him a map of Israeli airstrikes that had opened a route toward Fordow, Iran’s heavily fortified underground nuclear facility.

According to Kaufman, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir subsequently made the case directly to Vice President JD Vance that American forces had an extraordinary opportunity to strike.

“You have a straight shot to Iran’s nuclear sites. You will never have a better opportunity than this,” Kaufman said, recounting Zamir’s message to Vance.

Kaufman said the Israeli military chief told Vance that Israeli aircraft were already operating over the area, but that the U.S. possessed the heavy bunker-busting bombs necessary for the Fordow mission.

He credited the vice president with helping secure Trump’s final authorization for Operation Midnight Hammer.

“Vice President Vance played a critical role in ultimately securing American participation in the highly successful 12-day war,” Kaufman said.

The account challenges the notion that Trump was reluctantly drawn into the conflict by Netanyahu, Kaufman argued, portraying the president instead as responding to an opportunity created by Israel’s demonstrated military capabilities.

Jake Sullivan’s response was not received by the deadline.