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"I’m extremely creeped out," said one journalist in response to the staged video between the Israeli prime minister and the US ambassador. "Just going to go ahead and say it."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday posted a video of himself showing off what he said was a list of kill targets to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
In the video, Netanyahu informs Huckabee that he recently "erased" two names off the punch card, while noting that there are "many more to go."
Huckabee then expresses relief to Netanyahu that his name is not on the punch card, to which Netanyahu replies that the former Republican Arkansas governor was on a "list of the good, good guys."
Netanyahu then says that he's "proud to stand shoulder to shoulder" with the US military in "getting rid of these lunatics" that the two countries started bombing more than two weeks ago in Iran.
"We're wiping them out," the Israeli prime minister boasts.
"I love it," Huckabee responds. "Thank you, mister prime minister."
Crossing names off the list is good - doing it shoulder to shoulder with our American friends is even better.
Good to see Ambassador @GovMikeHuckabee. Always a pleasure.
🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FZrZN03IZI
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 17, 2026
Journalist Noga Tarnopolsky expressed disgust at the two men being so jovial about matters of life and death.
"PM Netanyahu and US Ambassador Huckabee amuse themselves with a kill list," she wrote. "Yes, really."
Drop Site News reporter Julian Andreone expressed a similar sentiment.
"I’m extremely creeped out," Andreone wrote. "Just going to go ahead and say it."
"I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people," the far-right former Army Ranger and CIA officer said.
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent announced his resignation Tuesday, accusing President Donald Trump of being manipulated by Israel into launching a war on Iran.
"I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Kent—a former Army Ranger and CIA paramilitary officer often described as a white nationalist and conspiracy theorist—wrote in his resignation letter to Trump.
"Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage war with Iran," Kent continued. "This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory."
"This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq War that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women," he claimed.
While there is no solid evidence that Israel "drew" the US under then-President George W. Bush into invading Iraq and toppling longtime dictator and erstwhile US ally Saddam Hussein, then-Israeli opposition leader Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2008 that the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States—which Iraq had nothing to do with—were "benefiting" Israel. He also said two years later that "America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction."
Kent, whose first wife, Navy intelligence officer Shannon Smith, was killed in a 2019 bombing targeting US forces invading Syria, said that "I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives," said
"I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for," he told the president.
Trump decided to attack Iran despite Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifying before Congress last year that it "is not building a nuclear weapon," and that late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei—who was assassinated last month by an Israeli airstrike—"has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
US intelligence agencies have repeatedly come to the same conclusion since the George W. Bush administration.
Kent—who has been a staunch Trump loyalist—is the most prominent US official to resign as the president, who infamously campaigned for reelection on a promise of no new wars, has attacked seven countries since returning to the White House and 10 over the course of his two terms.
In contrast to his vehement opposition to waging war on Iran, Kent led an effort to rewrite intelligence so that it did not clash with Trump's dubious claim that the government of Venezuela was involved with the Tren de Aragua drug trafficking gang ahead of the recent US invasion of the South American country and kidnapping of its president, Nicolás Maduro.
While Kent's resignation drew praise from many opponents of Trump and the illegal US-Israeli war of choice in Iran, others focused on his troubling record and associations.
Iran war was a bad idea from start. But Joe Kent is not the right messenger on this. See his alleged associations with Nick Fuentes and live streamer who said Hitler was “a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand” @splcenter.org @westernstatescenter.org 2025 letter:
[image or embed]
— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw.bsky.social) March 17, 2026 at 7:25 AM
"Joe Kent isn't suddenly a good guy," former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on X. "He's a straight-up white nationalist. But there are fissures in the MAGA base."
MeidasTouch News CEO Ron Filipowski also took to social media, writing, "Just for the record, I'm glad Joe Kent resigned but he is still a POS."
"If this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest."
The United Nations World Food Program warned Tuesday that the US-Israeli war on Iran and its cascading impacts on the global economy could push 45 million more people into acute hunger this year.
WFP said in a statement that while the war "involves a global energy hub and not a breadbasket region, the potential impact is similar because energy and food markets are tightly correlated." The organization pointed to Iran's retaliatory closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a key factor in rising energy and fertilizer costs, which can drive up food prices.
Carl Skau, WFP's deputy executive director and chief operating officer, said that "if this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest."
"Without an adequately funded humanitarian response," Skau added, "it could spell catastrophe for millions already on the edge."
WFP provided a breakdown of where and how much acute hunger is expected to rise if the war—now in its third week—does not end by the middle of 2026:
The illegal US-Israeli assault on Iran has already displaced more than 3 million Iranians, sparking fears of a massive refugee crisis. Hundreds of thousands have also been displaced in Lebanon, where Israel is expanding its aggressive aerial and ground attacks.
Aline Kamakian, a member of the World Central Kitchen Chef Corps who is leading the group's response to the escalating humanitarian disaster in Lebanon, said in a statement that "the official figures likely don’t capture the full scale of displacement."
“My biggest concern now is how long this conflict will last," said Kamakian. "Every day, more families arrive in Beirut, but there is already a shortage of housing and basic infrastructure to support so many people. Many have lost their homes and don’t know where they will go next. At the same time, the economy is collapsing—restaurants are empty, businesses are struggling, and next week is normally a period when tourists arrive and the city comes alive."
"He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally. Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do 'anything he wants' with it."
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he believes he will have "the honor of taking Cuba" and that he "can do anything" he wants with the island, as the nation of 11 million people faced a large-scale blackout and a humanitarian crisis intensified by the Trump administration's oil embargo.
"It's a beautiful island, great weather," Trump said of Cuba, whose economy has been strangled by decades of US economic warfare. "I do believe... I'll be having the honor of taking Cuba."
Asked to clarify what he meant by "taking" Cuba, Trump said: "Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth. A very weakened nation."
Watch:
Trump: Cuba, it's a beautiful island. Great weather. I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. Whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth pic.twitter.com/Po7J9tJMr2
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 16, 2026
"Dear god," responded David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. "Donald Trump is once again announcing his plans for a violent invasion of Cuba. We must stop him. To stand up for Cuba—against this malignant colonial mindset—is to stand up for all of humanity."
Trump's remarks came as Cuba faced an island-wide blackout caused by what the government called "complete disconnection" of the nation's electrical system. According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the country hasn't received an oil shipment in over three months due to the Trump administration's embargo, which began shortly after the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and set its sights on the island as its next target.
"Cuba is ready to fall," Trump said hours after the kidnapping of Maduro.
The New York Times reported Monday that the Trump administration is seeking to remove Diaz-Canel from power in ongoing talks with the nation's government.
"In the view of some Trump administration officials, removing Cuba’s head of state would allow structural economic changes in the country that Mr. Díaz-Canel, whom the officials consider a hard-liner, is unlikely to support," the Times reported. "If the Cubans agree, it would result in the first major political shake-up arising from talks between the two countries since those began a few months ago."
Trump's latest threat to seize Cuba came as his administration continued to wage war on Iran, a deadly assault that was not authorized by the US Congress and is illegal under international law.
"He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally," US Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Monday. "Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do 'anything he wants' with it. Where the hell are my Republican colleagues?"
"They took the same oath I did. Every single one of them who stays silent owns this," Levin added. "A Congress that won’t stop a president who answers to no one isn’t a coequal branch. It’s an accomplice."
Last week, a trio of Senate Democrats introduced a war powers resolution aimed at preventing Trump from attacking Cuba, but the measure likely faces the same fate as previous resolutions on Venezuela and Iran in the Republican-controlled chamber.
"The United States is a full-blown rogue state under Donald Trump," Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote Monday.