The White House reversed course and now says a ceasefire in Lebanon cannot be contingent on a deal in Gaza | Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was prepared to send Lebanon back to the “Stone Age” with a massive bombing campaign. The White House desperately tries to avert a major war in the Middle East but is not making progress. ● After three days of meetings with top officials in Washington, Gallant told reporters that Israel preferred diplomacy but was also willing to utterly destroy Lebanon. “We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario. Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict massive damage in Lebanon if a war is launched,” he said. Israel could bomb “Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it.” ● Gallant’s remarks come as daily tit-for-tat exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel risk escalating into a major war that could see the US, Iran, and other militias across the Middle East enter the fray. After announcing it had “operational plans” ready for an attack, Israel has started to move some military assets from near Gaza to its northern border.

■ US approves transfer of 500lb bombs to Israel as preparations for Lebanon war underway (The Cradle)

Day 262 | During the past 24 hours:

• 3 massacres committed by the Israeli occupation

• 47 people killed

• 52 injured pic.twitter.com/RktKuNF1Zw

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) June 27, 2024

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s plan to annex the West Bank would see over 60% of the territory becoming a part of Israel. But Palestinian experts say it is “already happening.” | The issue of Israel’s creeping annexation of the West Bank has resurfaced in recent days after a leaked recording of Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed a “dramatic” plan to impose permanent Israeli control over the West Bank “without the government being accused of annexing it,” as Smotrich was recorded saying. ● Smotrich’s statements, recorded by the Peace Now Israeli NGO and published by CNN and the New York Times, were made during a speech he gave to settler leaders earlier in June. Smotrich was recorded saying that he had elaborated a plan in the past year and a half and exposed it to Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was “fully onboard.” ● The plan centers around transferring administrative authorities in the West Bank from the Israeli army to the civil authorities of the Israeli government. Smotrich said that he oversaw the creation of an entire administrative body directly linked to the government and that members of this body were already embedded in the Israeli army’s Civil Administration.

Numerous Democrats have expressed concerns about Biden’s poor performance and its implications for the future of his candidacy, according to CNN, which hosted the debate. Trump and Biden are set to debate again on September 10 in an ABC-moderated event. | US Congressman Paul Gosar in a statement to Sputnik said US President Joe Biden's debate performance demonstrated he was mentally unfit to be US president. 💬 "With tonight's debate, Joe Biden stammered the quiet part out loud: he is mentally unfit to be President of the United States," Gosar said. President Joe Biden's claim that the US southern border is more secure under his administration compared to former President Donald Trump's is nonsense, former acting US Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitiello told Sputnik.

■ Dems freak out over Biden’s debate performance: ‘Biden is toast’ (politico)
■ Biden stumbles amid fierce attacks from Trump (Los Angeles Times)
■ Trump and Biden accuse each other of ‘encouraging’ Putin (RT.com)

■ Implications of Trump-Biden "Debate" Are Staggering - for both the USA and the World (Hal Turner) | I did not get to watch the Trump-Biden Debate last night because I was doing my live radio show while the debate took place. From what I have seen in video snippets, it was an unmitigated DISASTER - for both the United States, and for the world. What everyone got to see last night is what many of us have known from the beginning: Biden is not running the country because he is incapable of doing so. His lack of mental faculties, likely from Dementia, is unquestionable. This begs the question "Who is it that's actually running the country?" It's a fair question.

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov on June 25 in connection with the situation in Ukraine. | Failure to recognize that countries and their officials have immunity can sometimes be a step toward war, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said. Medvedev said the warrants run counter to international law.

💬 "Russia, like most countries of the world, including, incidentally, the United States of America and the largest countries - China, India - is not a party to this theatrical institution called the ICC," he said. "Attempts to apply to us the norms of an international treaty, to which we are not a party, are obviously senseless. They are part of foreign policy, and an absolutely aggressive one. But the consequences, as I have already said, can be very bad for the entire humanity. Those who generate these decisions should think about this."

Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of alleged unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.