Two Israeli embassy staff members were shot dead outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday evening. The young couple were soon to be married. A 30-year-old man has been arrested and is expected to be charged with murder. According to police reports, he said he did it for Palestine. Commentators reflect on the causes and necessary consequences.

The right-wing populist candidate Sławomir Mentzen, who came third in the first round of the Polish presidential election, has submitted a list of demands to Karol Nawrocki and Rafał Trzaskowski, the two candidates competing in the run-off vote on 1 June, and made his support conditional on their fulfillment. Nawrocki and Mentzen have already had a meeting in which Nawrocki agreed to the conditions and even supported Mentzen's criticism of the PiS. The media takes stock.

After his phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump proposed the Vatican as a venue for peace talks on the Ukraine war. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has indicated that she would support Pope Leo XIV in the negotiations. According to the Wall Street Journal, these could begin in mid-June.

Russia's war against Ukraine is increasingly perceived not just as a military conflict, but as a battle against the Western way of life as a whole. A glance at Europe's media reveals that at many different levels the question of how to deal with direct and indirect Russian influence is being posed.

A majority of the European Union's foreign ministers have spoken out in favour of reviewing the bloc's Association Agreement with Israel. The humanitarian situation in Gaza made it necessary to examine whether Israel still fulfils the basic principles of the trade agreement which include respecting human rights, EU foreign affairs representative Kaja Kallas explained. European commentators see criticism of Israel's actions gaining traction.

President Donald Trump has revealed plans to build a completely new missile defence system for the US by the end of his term of office, with 25 billion US dollars having been earmarked as start-up funding for the project. The shield, modelled on Israel's Iron Dome, is expected to cost around 175 billion dollars in total. However the US's territory is around 440 times larger than Israel's. Criticism rains down in the media.