Israel Update 11.6.26

CONTEXT:

 

The latest eruption of clashes earlier this week between Iran and Israel did not suddenly arise out of the blue – they are a direct result of Hezbollah’s continued belligerence and ceasefire violations.

Since October 8, 2023, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in multiple rounds of fighting and ceasefires. Even during the ceasefires, Hezbollah continued to violate them, attack Israeli forces and civilians, and test the boundaries of Israel’s response to the terror group’s intransigence.

While Hezbollah and Iran may claim that they are defending the Lebanese people, it is clear that their attacks on Israel are for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the people of Lebanon. Report here

 

BALLISTIC MISSILE ATTACKS ON ISRAEL

 

 

Iran fired several missile barrages against Israel’s North on Sunday night, for the first time since a ceasefire took effect in early April.

Israel launched strikes on Iranian military targets and a petrochemical plant on Monday morning in response to the attacks on northern Israel hours earlier, defying public calls from US President Trump not to retaliate.

After threatening continued barrages if Israel retaliated to its initial attack on Sunday evening, Iran launched more ballistic missile attacks targeting much of Israel on Monday morning, and was joined by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who also fired a missile at Tel Aviv. Reports here & here (paywall)

 

 Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. posted on Monday:
“Iran fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel today. Each one of those missiles can level an entire neighbourhood and kill hundreds.”
“No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel.”
“Israel is now targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile launch sites…” X post here

 

The IDF confirmed that damage was caused to the IAF’s Ramat David Airbase during Iran’s attacks. Preliminary findings pointed to falling fragments following the interception of an Iranian ballistic missile, rather than a direct impact. Report here

 

Reportedly, Israel launched its strike on Iran after coordination and American consent after President Trump was persuaded that Iran must not be allowed to achieve gains as a result of its attack on Israel.. After Trump made public statements that he would ask Netanyahu not to respond, the two leaders held a fairly lengthy conversation, followed by a security and diplomatic consultation in which Secretary of State Rubio played a significant role.
The lines were drawn for a powerful strike, but one limited to several hours. The targets were also agreed upon. Netanyahu convinced Trump that failing to launch an attack would give Iran an advantage and might even harden its positions in the negotiations with the U.S.  Report here

 

According to the IDF, the U.S. military stayed out of (Monday’s) attacks on Iran, but it did assist in shooting down missiles that were fired at Israel.The IDF criticized the media for presenting the conflict as if Iran and Israel were equally responsible. Iran was the one who unilaterally broke the ceasefire between the two countries. Report here

 

Footnote:

Hospitals across Israel on Monday relocated operations to their underground shelters after Iran renewed its ballistic missile attacks on Israel. Non-emergency and elective surgeries were cancelled. Clinics without a nearby bomb shelter were closed… Two major concerts, a theatre awards show and a book festival were postponed. Reports here& here

 

THE US & IRAN

 

U.S. Central Command forces completed “self-defence strikes” against Iran on Tuesday in response to the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter on Monday. Both crew members were rescued.

Iran retaliated by attacking the U.S. al-Azraq base in Jordan using long-range missiles and struck other targets in Kuwait and Bahrain on Wednesday. Jordan intercepted 20 Iranian missiles.

For the second night in a row, the US military launched what it called “self-defence strikes” against Iran early Thursday,  in response to “Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,”as President Trump vowed even more attacks if no peace deal is secured. Reports herehereherehere

 

 

THE WAR AGAINST HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON

 

Another difficult week for the IDF.

Despite a ceasefire announced last Wednesday, Hizbullah continued to launch rockets and explosive drones at Israeli forces operating in Lebanon. On Friday, the group also fired surface-to-air missiles at IAF aircraft.

Capt Eitan Shmuel Lemberg, aged 21, was killed in combat in southern Lebanon.

Sgt. Ohad Yaari, 21, was killed in an accidental discharge incident.

Capt. Shahar Gamla, 24, was critically wounded in a Hizbullah drone attack in Lebanon and died on Saturday. His family donated his organs to six patients.Reports here here& here

 

The IDF on Sunday revealed a major Hezbollah tunnel system near Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, constructed with direct Iranian assistance and launched operations to destroy it. The tunnel was “built in a civilian area, in a location that enabled operational control over the Galilee panhandle region, only six kilometres (3.7 miles) from Metula.” Report here  

 

A recent poll found that 60% of Israelis and an overwhelming majority of the government’s supporters say Israel should intensify its fight against Hizbullah.
60,000 residents of northern Israeli were targeted and displaced for 14 months by missiles launched by Hizbullah from Oct. 2023, and have held protests demanding that Netanyahu eliminate the Hizbullah threat. A resident said: “What are we supposed to do, stop all the activity in the north and let them kill us? We need to continue to defend ourselves until everything is quiet.”  Report here  (paywall)

 

TERROR ATTACK

 

Master Sergeant (Res.) Haim Kalomiti, a regional defence soldier, was killed and five other people were wounded in a coordinated shooting attack across several locations in central Israel on Sunday morning in a coordinated drive-by attack by two attackers. One of the attackers, Omar Yassin, an Israeli Arab citizen, was shot and killed by security forces. Israeli media reported that the second shooter had also been neutralized. Report here  

 

 

IRAN

While global attention remains fixed on war and negotiations, the Iranian regime has launched one of its most extensive campaigns of political executions and repression in recent memory.
Young protesters, political activists, students and opposition supporters are being sent to the gallows while much of the democratic world remains distracted.
775 have been hanged since the beginning of the year. Dozens more remain under sentence of death. Report here  

 

23 countries including the UK, U.S., Canada, France, Germany, and Australia “condemn the lethal plotting and other malign actions in Europe, North America and Australia by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Intelligence Organization, Quds Force and Ministry of Intelligence and Security, including those against Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish and Israeli communities and interests.” Joint statement here

 

LEBANON

 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in an interview on Friday, “We are fed up and we want to live in peace.” Lebanese people “deserve not seeing their homes being destroyed every five to 10 years.” Since its founding in the 1980s, Hizbullah has gone to war with Israel multiple times. The Lebanese state had pledged to tackle the daunting task of disarming Hizbullah.
“It’s not your country, it’s our country,” Aoun said, addressing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the main backers of Hizbullah. Iran is “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with U.S.” Addressing Iran, he said, “You are not trying to help us…the people of Lebanon are paying the price…for the sake of your own interest. Our interests…do not coincide with your interests.”  Report here  

 

 

UNWRA IN GAZA

 

The U.S. Agency for International Development inspector general’s office, responsible for monitoring American foreign assistance, has determined that scores of “UNRWA school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counsellors, and medical professionals” were also members of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades or other terror factions.

The inspector general determined that 101 current or former UNRWA employees should be added to a government blacklist that will prevent them from participating in all American foreign aid projects for 10 years. Report here  

 

 

The UNRWA Terror Network presents verifiable cases of 490 UNRWA staff who are members of terrorist groups, educators who glorify mass murder, terror leaders influencing UNRWA decisions, and the top UNRWA officials collaborating with them. Report here  

 

 

 

THE IDF

 

 

For the first time, a female combat soldier has completed training in the Israeli military’s elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit. The pilot programme for women to serve in Sayeret Matkal began in December 2024 as part of the IDF’s efforts to open more roles for female fighters. The IDF congratulated the soldier “on her significant and groundbreaking achievement.” Report here

 

 

 SLOVENIA

 

Less than an hour after Slovenia’s newly elected prime minister, Janez Janša, was sworn into office, he had the Palestinian flag lowered from a government building, a first step in a sharp reorientation of Slovenia’s posture towards Israel. Israeli FM Saar announced that Israel would open its first-ever embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital, writing that the move was a statement of “friendship, dialogue, and a shared belief in freedom, democracy, and security.” Report here

 

Footnote:

Only last week, Slovenian authorities (under the previous government) had denied an Israeli passenger plane permission to land at Ljubljana as a protest against Israeli government policy.  The Israir Airlines jet was forced to divert to an airstrip in neighbouring Croatia. Report here

 

AZERBAIJAN

 

When Israel’s gas exports to Egypt and Jordan were stopped and restarted three times since Oct. 2023, as it did for 32 days during the Hormuz war, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, kept Israel linked to its regional customers, shipping three cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Egypt each month.
Egypt’s December 2025 agreement with Israel for 130 billion cubic metres of pipeline gas over 15 years, worth $35 billion, remains “structurally irreplaceable.” Report here

 

 

TURKEY

 

 

Turkey’s Interior Minister declared at a recent party conference “Just as we witnessed the liberation of Damascus, Aleppo, and Karabakh, God willing, one day we will also witness the liberation of Jerusalem”, vowing to restore Turkish control to the city.Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded that “Jerusalem DC (David’s capital) shall remain the eternal capital of Israel. Forever.” Report here

 

 

AGRI-TECH

 

Netafim, an Israeli-developed manufacturer of precision agriculture equipment, has announced the inauguration of one of its largest factories to date in Hermosillo, Mexico.The 30,000-square-metre plant will supply farmers across North and Central America, and will be equipped with advanced automation systems to “ensure quality, efficiency, and reliability

Netafim was founded in Kibbutz Hatzerim in 1965 and rapidly became one of the world’s leading companies in drip irrigation, a system that delivers plants a precise amount of water to use resources more efficiently. Report here

 

 

MEDICAL

 

Doctors at Schneider Children’s Medical Centre in Israel have treated an 8-month-old baby with an experimental gene therapy designed to replace a missing gene linked to a fatal neurological disorder, in what the hospital described as the first procedure of its kind in the world. Reports here& here

 

SOLIDARITY

 

A delegation of Christian leaders from the United States and Europe arrived in Israel on Sunday amid rising tensions with Iran, seeking firsthand insight into the conflict and tools to combat antisemitism worldwide. Their visit is designed to provide practical tools for advocacy and reinforce solidarity with Israel during a volatile regional period. Report here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

ISRAELI RESPONSE TO IRANIAN AGRESSION

 

 

Alex Winston:
Israel’s decision to strike military targets in Iran early Monday was a deliberate response to Iranian missiles launched toward the country, presenting a dangerous test by Tehran that Jerusalem could not afford to leave unanswered. Yemen’s Houthis also rejoined the fray.
Had Israel allowed the attack without response, the message to Tehran would have been that it was allowed to fire directly at Israel while assuming that American diplomatic pressure would keep Jerusalem’s hands tied. Iran’s missile attack was a test of whether Israel’s ability to defend itself has become subordinate to American-Iranian diplomacy.
Iran did not attack Israel due to a strike on its cities or nuclear facilities. It was responding to an Israeli attack on Hizbullah. If Tehran is allowed to fire missiles at Israel after every Israeli strike on Hizbullah, then Hizbullah effectively gains strategic immunity. Not responding would have set a dangerous precedent. Article here

 

 

Herb Keinon:
A failure to respond would have allowed Iran to establish a new strategic equation, signalling that future Israeli action against Hizbullah in Beirut would trigger a direct Iranian response. The message being sent to Iran is: no terror state will dictate Israeli security policy.  Article here

 

 

Lt.-Col. (ret.) Jonathan Conricus:
Iran blinked first. Israel checked the Iranian attempt to restrict Israeli freedom of action against Hizbullah despite reported discrepancies between the US & Israel  X post here

 

THE US & IRAN

 

Washington Post Editorial:
When the Iranian regime shoots down a U.S. Army helicopter, it’s a much needed reminder that Tehran’s negotiators are not seriously pursuing acceptable terms to end the war. While the U.S. launched a round of retaliatory strikes Tuesday described as “a proportional response,” it’s important for the U.S. to not cut a deal that would provide a lifeline of cash to Iran as the government continues pursuing its nuclear ambitions.
Appeasement has never worked as a strategy to contain Iran’s imperial ambitions. Under President Biden, the U.S. freed up billions in frozen funds in an attempt to buy goodwill during nuclear negotiations. Iran took the money and dragged out talks. At the same time, Iran blew through limits on uranium enrichment, barred international nuclear inspections and continued to fund terrorist proxies across the region, including Hamas. Negotiations sputtered.
Instead of haggling, Trump can keep ratcheting up the cost of conflict for Iran. One of his most effective tools is the blockade, which has already shrunk Iranian oil exports from 2.1 million barrels per day in February to just 64,000. Flinching now would squander so much of the president’s leverage. Article here

 

 

Wall St Journal Editorial:
The President has given diplomacy a chance, but “they keep playing us for suckers,” he said Wednesday. For nine weeks, the ceasefire has let Iran dictate events in the Gulf. The regime gets to start each “skirmish” and then decide when the exchange ends. The task at hand is to open the Strait of Hormuz to allied ships. If the U.S. blockade endures while Iran’s breaks, the war is won.
As long as Iran believes Mr. Trump is stuck with no alternative, it will squeeze him in the talks and in Hormuz. The President’s choice now is to alter the facts on the ground. Editorial here

 

Further reading

 

 

Amir Taheri: But the most curious feature of this war, rarely seen in most previous conflicts, is its depiction by the mainstream media (MSM) through a prism of ideological and/or partisan prejudices…the MSM cover the war with a clear bias in favour of Iran. Some depict Iran as an innocent though a bit naughty country given to boasting and bragging but certainly not deserving a thrashing.
European and American MSM try to portray Iran in rosy shades that make many Iranians uneasy, to say the least. What the MSM choose to ignore is the war within this war, one that the regime is waging against the Iranian people.
Since the war began last February, hundreds of Iranians have been executed on spurious charges, while over 2,000 have been arrested across the country. To shed tears for such a regime and depict it as an innocent victim is a betrayal of the Iranian people. More importantly, it is a betrayal of the truth.Article here

 

 

Ben-Dror Yemini:
Israel faces a special kind of enemy – an ideology built on destruction and victimhood. When Hizbullah fired its first rockets in the current round on March 2, against the will of most Lebanese, it knew that whatever damage it caused Israel, the damage to Lebanon itself would be 100 times greater. Because of Hizbullah, most villages in southern Lebanon are destroyed and close to a million people have been displaced…
Iran and its proxies must be defeated. Israel’s war is just. But it is a difficult war. It is not over. Not even close. More is coming. But giving up is not an option. This is a Sisyphean war. Hizbullah can and must be isolated through a diplomatic chokehold, together with Lebanon’s leadership and the Lebanese people, who are ready for a peace agreement.Article here