Just about everybody with a stake in the next three weeks is working to one of two election days now, Israel's or America's, and the ones setting the pace aren't on either ballot. Abroad, it's a different kind of day. The statements are running a good way ahead of the files behind them.

Flash Brief: The Day in 90 Seconds or Less

• Iran: Trump reportedly tells Netanyahu to get ready for another strike, and Iranian officials tie the tanker war to the midterms. See The War Today.
• The Houthis: The IDF readies Eilat for a Houthi raid as weapons tracers find the Houthis buying Chinese missile parts. See The War Today.
• Drones: Katz moves to ban fiber-optic and SIM drones for six months, as he warns of enemy plots to sway the vote. See Briefly Noted.
• Kamel: Netanyahu confirms Egypt's spy chief landed in Israel eleven days before October 7, and asks who met him. See Inside Israel.
• Winter's list: Ofer Winter loses the eighth name on his list, and Ben-Gvir refuses him a surplus-vote deal before Friday's deadline. See Inside Israel.
• Apaches: The cabinet funds the lapsed 12-Apache order with NIS 964 million from the Arab development plan's later years. See Briefly Noted.
• Beirut: Washington rebukes Lebanon's military court for weighing a Hezbollah lawyer's complaint against Beirut's own ambassador in Washington. See Israel and the World.
• Pillay's panel: Commissioner Chris Sidoti admits the panel never checked the civilian figure its "genocide" finding leaned on. See Israel and the World.
• MI5: Ken McCallum counts more than 50 arrests in Iran-linked operations in a year, many aimed at British Jews. See Israel and the World.
• Lebanon's Shia: Two-thirds tell a September survey they want Hezbollah's weapons handed to the state. See Briefly Noted.
• Land Authority: The High Court turns down the government's bid to keep Eliyahu at the authority that runs the E1 tender. See Developments to Watch.

Being off the ballot is what lets Tehran and Trump keep their options open, and both are using it. Israelis who face voters on the 27th don't have that, so a lot of what Jerusalem settled this week was really about which side of the count a decision lands on. Katz's drone order doesn't care who wins. It runs six months either way.