Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org, I'm

and Masters, and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with a reaction from the Israeli public and in political circles to Biden's threat

to halt weapons deliveries to the IDF if they move into Ruffer, which appears to be the beginning

of an operation underway. We will discuss Prime Minister Netanyahu's defiant response to Biden,

quote, if Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,

and the Israeli public support for the war,

in spite of the United States being Israel's main benefactor.

Joining us is Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and columnist for Hararets,

and a member of the Newspapers Editorial Board. He is the former spokesman for Shimon Peres

and writes the weekly Twilight Zone feature which covers Israeli occupation of the West Bank in Gaza

for over 30 years. His latest book is The Punishment of Gaza, and he joins us from Israel.

Then we'll examine today's testimony by Stormy Daniels, in which she belittled Trump's sexual

prowess, which over the years he has built up into mythical proportions on the Howard Stern Show,

and assess whether the damage to his wildly inflated ego is more

devastating to Trump than the possibility of going to jail. Joining us is Jennifer Taub, a legal

scholar and professor of law at Western New England School of Law, whose writing focuses on

corporate governance, banking and financial regulation, white-collar crime and corruption.

She has testified as a banking law expert before Congress, and her latest book is Big Dirty

Money, Making White Collar Criminals Pay, now out in paperback, and she is the host of the new

podcast booked up with Jen Taup. Then finally, it will assess whether the 359 to 43 vote in the

House to slap down Marjorie Taylor Green's attempt to remove Mike Johnson from the Speaker's

...