THE WAR ROOM: Cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel have hit the wall once again with the Hamas delegation leaving Cairo and Israel now warning people in the southern city of Rafah to get out in advance of a likely invasion.

  The two sides had been inching toward an agreement but now an Israeli official has told The NY Times that the talks are in “crisis.”

  The big obstacle has been the length of the cease-fire, with Hamas demanding for it be permanent and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being open only to a temporary halt in its assaults on Hamas militants.  Netanyahu has said nothing will stop him from sending troops into Rafah to eliminate the remaining fighters.

  In a separate development, the Israeli government yesterday shut down operations in Israel of Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based news network that is a major source of news in the Arab world.

  Al Jazeera, as you might expect, has delivered sympathetic coverage of the sufferings of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment and ground attack in Gaza. Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera of damaging his country’s national security and inciting violence against its soldiers. Israeli officials did not immediately provide examples of offending Al Jazeera news coverage.

  In a statement in Arabic, Al Jazeera called the decision a “criminal act,” and said that “Israeli’s suppression of the free press to cover up its crimes has not deterred us from performing our duty.” 

ON CAMPUS: Riot police moved in before dawn yesterday for the second time at the University of Southern California to remove a pro-Palestinian protest camp.

  The encampment was established two weeks ago and police arrested 93 people, but the protest came back. The Los Angeles police said they made no arrests yesterday.

  Carol Folt, the USC president, said in a message to students that “there must be consequences” when people break campus rules and that the university had started the disciplinary measures. Folt said, “Free speech and assembly do not include the right to obstruct equal access to campus, damage property, or foment harassment, violence and threats.” 

  With the campus in political turmoil. USC at first cancelled the graduation speech by its designated valedictorian, a Muslim woman, then cancelled the entire main graduation ceremony that would have hosted 65,000 people.

  In New York, city officials say nearly half of the 282 people arrested at pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia and City College were not affiliated with the two schools. They said that at Columbia the percentage of non-affiliated was 29 percent and 60 percent at City College.

  Universities across the country are now wary about potential disruptions of their commencement ceremonies.

  Down at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, a group of white yahoo frat brothers, some dressed in American flag motif, were captured on video making racist taunts toward a Black pro-Palestinian protester on campus. One of the young men imitated a monkey. Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins posted a link to the video on Twitter/X with the comment, “Ole Miss taking care of business.”

HIGH WATER: A child trapped in a car swept away by flood waters south of Fort Worth died over the weekend while two adults in the car were rescued. After torrential rains, a flood watch remained in effect for parts of southeastern Texas with more rain expected. Whole neighborhoods have been several feet deep in water. 

  In some areas, only rooftops were still visible. Hundreds of people were pulled from their homes by high water rescue teams.

CHANNEL CHANGE: ABC News President Kim Godwin announced her resignation last night after a rocky three-year tenure. She wasn’t popular with the staff and ratings were slipping in some important areas, including at Good Morning America.

  The writing was on the wall when Disney installed an executive over Godwin’s head.

  Godwin was the first Black person to head ABC News. She had a tradition of singing happy birthday to staffers on the morning call like ABC News was an international kindergarten.

THE OBIT PAGE: British actor Bernard Hill, best known for HIS roles in The Lord of the Ringsand for playing the captain who went down with his ship in Titanic, has died at age 79.

THE SPIN RACK: A driver died Saturday night after crashing into an outside perimeter gate at The White House. Authorities said the incident is being investigated “only as a traffic crash.” — The horse Mystik Dan, which twenty off with 18-1 odds, won the Kentucky Derby Saturday. It’s still a popular event despite increasing concern by animals rights groups about the number of horses that die in the sport of horse racing. — Universal’s $200 million movie “The Fall Guy” about a movie stunt man, despite a huge marketing campaign and an appealing star in Ryan Gosling, collected only $28.5 million in North American ticket sales, marking the weakest start to the summer movie season since 1995.

BELOW THE FOLD:  It’s the dog days of political campaigning. 

   South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who admits in her new memoir that she shot her 14-month old dog because it was useless for hunting, said yesterday that President Biden should have put down his German Shepard, Commander, which was prone to biting Secret Service agents.

  Noem is on the list of potential running mates for Donald Trump. Her book, “No Going Back,” is one of those requisite ghost-written tomes destined for the remaindered shelf.   Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the Republican Noem suggested that Commander, who was banished from the White House last fall, should have met the same fate as her dog, Cricket. 

“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people,” she told host Margaret Brennan. “So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?”

  She didn’t say whether the President should have shot his dog in the Oval Office.

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