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Before rushing too easily into accusations against the American administration and its policy toward Iran, we must pause and ask what lesson Israel should draw when world headlines report US President Donald Trump’s dramatic declaration that “the deal with Iran is done” and that the naval blockade is being lifted.

To arrive at the right lesson, it is worth returning to a foundational principle of international relations, one that many on the Israeli right refused, and still refuse, to internalize: at the helm of the world’s greatest power stands a leader who has made “America First” his banner, said it, and genuinely means it. Trump has a clear compass; sometimes Israel falls on the same needle, and sometimes it may point elsewhere. That does not mean the compass should be discarded when there is no alignment and the goals diverge.

I recall the first Trump inauguration ceremony in January 2017. Around me was a phenomenal euphoria. People danced in the streets of Washington, drunk on hope, certain that a savior had arrived who would fulfill every political dream of the settlement movement and the State of Israel.

Today, those very same people are full of criticism, angry, and even rushing to delete old photos of themselves smiling alongside Trump from their social media accounts. The euphoria has given way to bitter disappointment.

This inconsistency on our part does a disservice, first and foremost, to historical truth: Donald Trump was and remains a president who granted Israel unprecedented support, perhaps the greatest we have ever known from any American president.

The transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and the signing of the historic Abraham Accords are all recorded in his name and have reshaped the Middle East in our favor.

But the mistake of those who danced then and those who are deleting photos today stems from a basic misunderstanding: Trump acted as he did not out of philanthropy or blind Zionism, but because, at that time, it aligned with the cool-headed national interest of the country he was entrusted to govern.

Trump’s actions aren’t based on Zionism, but on US calculations

Now, as Trump seeks to quickly end the regional war in order to present his voters at home with a swift diplomatic achievement, his priorities are shifting accordingly. And as we look toward a fog-shrouded future, Israel must prepare for three central scenarios.

The first scenario is that the agreement collapses or proves to be smoke and mirrors. Already, serious contradictions are emerging between the American and Iranian interpretations regarding the dismantling of nuclear materials and the flow of billions of dollars.

If mutual distrust prevails and the Washington understandings fall apart, we may find ourselves back in active combat, once again in a tight convergence of interests and an open alliance with the United States military against the Iranian octopus.

The second scenario is that the agreement, despite initial concerns in Jerusalem, proves to be good and satisfactory for Israel. It is possible that diplomatic pressure and high-level coordination will ultimately lead the American mechanisms to include close oversight, genuine dismantling of nuclear capabilities, and containment of the missile program and proxy networks. In such a case, the new regional architecture would grant Israel years of quiet and security.

But the third scenario, and the most sober of all, is the one in which the agreement is signed on Friday in Switzerland yet leaves Israel exposed and vulnerable, with our vital security interests pushed aside. In that case, exactly as we have done before the destruction of reactors in Iraq and Syria, we will be required to take independent and decisive action.

Israel has its own red line

We will need to make clear to our friends in Washington that we, too, have a red line, and that with all due respect to “America First,” Israel’s security and survival will always, for us, come first.

The truth is simple: the United States is our greatest friend, and Trump can be an enormous strategic partner, but we must free ourselves from the syndrome of the child waiting for parental approval. The conclusion from his recent moves should not be despair or anger, but sobriety: we must make use of America wherever possible, but never place our security and diplomatic fate on anyone’s shoulders but our own.

Oded Revivi is an Israeli public figure, attorney, and military officer who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. He is best known for his 16-year tenure as the Mayor of the Efrat local council from 2008 to 2024.

A 1,000-year-old monastery that symbolizes Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage was badly damaged on Monday in a major attack by Russia that killed 10 people nationwide, hours after US President Donald Trump spoke to the leaders of both countries about ending the war.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had discussed with Trump efforts to bring an end to the four-year-old conflict, ahead of a G7 meeting in France starting on Monday. The US president also told Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a call on Sunday that it was vital to end the war.

Zelensky offers Putin talks

Zelensky, speaking at the damaged monastery in Kyiv, said he had offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit in France this week or in the United States.

“We gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America. This is a good, I think, very good opportunity to meet all together,” Zelensky told reporters in English.

“Europe and the United States were agreed and Russia demonstrated again that…they are not ready to speak,” he said.

Writing later on Telegram, Zelensky said he had suggested to Trump in a telephone conversation on Sunday that he and the Russian president meet in the United States.

“Yesterday we discussed with President Trump that such a meeting could be organized in the US in a format that would make it much harder for Putin to refuse, at least to refuse President Trump,” he said.

“We will see what comes of this. If Russia rejects this chance too, more pressure will be needed.”

Monastery attack draws condemnation

The damage to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051, drew international condemnation. France’s foreign minister said the attack was akin to bombing Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Zelensky, who visited the monastery to inspect the damage, said the attack was “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.”

“This is an attack on our history,” he told reporters at the monastery, where rescuers were assessing the impact on the building’s paintings and frescoes. “Of course, everything will be restored.”

The blaze caused extensive damage to the roof of the Dormition Cathedral, the main church at the monastery site, but its structure and walls remained standing and much of the interior appeared intact.

Russia denied striking the monastery, calling the allegations “a crude fake,” and said instead it had been damaged by a US-made Patriot air defense missile, which Ukraine uses to protect its cities.

However, Ukraine’s SBU security service said it had recovered fragments of a Geran-2 drone, a Russian kamikaze drone, at the attack site and posted images of the debris. Reuters could not verify the information independently.

Ukraine seeks more air defenses

At least 10 people were killed in Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Monday.

Four people were killed and 34 were injured in the overnight strikes on Kyiv, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later said a fifth person had died in hospital from injuries sustained in the attack.

A Russian strike on Kharkiv killed four emergency service rescuers and a municipal official and injured at least five people, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight and that its air defenses had shot down 50 missiles and 582 drones of various types.

In recent months, Ukraine has appealed to Western allies to increase supplies of Patriot air defense missiles, which are its only effective means of stopping Russian ballistic missiles.

Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Ukraine shot down only 15 of the 34 ballistic missiles launched by Russia overnight.

“Ballistic missiles remain a problem for us,” Ihnat said on national television.

Zelensky said that his priority at the G7 meeting would be securing more air defense systems to defend against Russian strikes.

“We will have a meeting with Europeans and also with President Trump; we will speak with him about how to push Putin to stop this war,” he said.

US Vice President JD Vance said that he is confident that Israel would join the agreement with Iran “further down the road,” when asked about Israeli involvement in the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) during a Monday night interview with CBS News.

“What we know,” he said,  “is that this agreement is going to make Israel safer, going to make the entire region safer. We feel quite confident that the Israelis are going to be brought in on this agreement once we get a little further down the road.”

He also added that he believes it’s normal for close allies to have disagreements.

Uranium stockpile at center of deal

“We want them [Iran] to behave like a normal country,” Vance said, and explained that if Tehran complies with the points outlined in the MoU, including giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium, stopping funding to terrorist organizations, and making the country investible, then “benefits will float to them.” 

According to Vance, the US’s focus is on the enriched uranium, which, according to the MoU, would be destroyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US. 

“We want them to have a successful country, but only if they do what’s necessary to commit long-term to not building a nuclear weapon,” Vance added. 

Vance rejects Obama comparison

In a video shown to Vance by the CBS interviewer, former US President Barack Obama is seen saying that any agreement that arises between the US and Iran is “not going to be significantly different, or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and that we had worked for for a long stretch of time.” 

Vance responded that Obama’s claims are “fundamentally not right.” 

“If you go back to the Obama JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), what it did was it took an Iranian nuclear program that it accelerated. It basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program. 

The JCPOA was an Obama-led multilateral agreement between Iran and the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany to limit Iran’s nuclear development. 

Vance argued that Trump’s administration is in a different position. “The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed, and what we’re saying is: make the long-term commitment to not rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that.” 

The vice president also noted that the Gulf States, whom he claims have been threatened by the Iranian regime for 47 years, “hated the JCPOA because they felt that it empowered Iran to be a bad regional actor.”

The same countries, argued Vance, have called Trump’s plan “amazing because it transforms the Middle East in a way that makes them more peaceful and more prosperous.”

The reported US-Iran deal may be good for oil markets, for a White House that wants the war over, and for a president eager to say he forced Tehran to the table and reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

For Israel, that is not the test.

The test is whether Iran is weaker today than it was before the deal. Has its nuclear program been dismantled? Has its enriched uranium been removed? Have its missiles and drones been addressed? Has Hezbollah been pushed back? Has Israel’s freedom to act been preserved?

So far, the answers are unclear. That should worry us.

The warning is coming from President Donald Trump’s own side: Iran hawks, pro-Israel conservatives, and lawmakers who backed pressure on Tehran, supported the airstrikes, and believed this campaign could finally change the balance against the Islamic Republic.

‘A nightmare for Israel’

Sen. Lindsey Graham did not rush to celebrate. He warned that if a deal leaves Iran able to terrorize the Strait of Hormuz and damage Gulf oil infrastructure, it would create “a major shift of the balance of power in the region” and “over time will be a nightmare for Israel.”

That is the right frame. This is about who controls the fear next month, not whether ships move this week.

Graham also set a clear standard: “No enrichment,” American control of Iran’s highly enriched uranium, an open Strait of Hormuz, an end to Iran’s long-range ballistic-missile program, and an end to its support for terrorist proxies. Saying he is skeptical Iran will agree to terms making the deal “substantially different than the JCPOA” is “an understatement,” he added.

That is where Israel should be, too.

Sen. Ted Cruz was sharper. He warned that if Iran ends this war still receiving billions of dollars, still enriching uranium, still moving toward nuclear weapons, and still holding leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, “that outcome would be a disastrous mistake.”

Mark Levin has been even blunter. “A memorandum of understanding, from my perspective, or a final deal will not matter to the Iranian regime,” he said. “They will never abide by any of it.”

Levin’s explanation was the one Israel knows from experience. Iran’s rulers, he said, view diplomacy “as a last resort, but as a resort to survive.”

That is the fear Israel cannot ignore. Iran does not need to win a war outright. It only needs to survive one, keep its core capabilities, and convince the world to call the pause a breakthrough.

That is exactly what happened after the 2015 deal. The West treated signatures as a turning point. Tehran treated them as time.

Ben Shapiro praised Trump’s Iran airstrikes as “the single bravest foreign-policy move of my lifetime.”

That praise now creates the standard for judging the ending. A campaign sold as historic strength cannot end with Iran surviving, regrouping, and keeping the core of its nuclear and regional leverage.

Iranian defeat, or survival?

A ceasefire is valuable if it locks in Iranian defeat. It is dangerous if it locks in Iranian survival.

The reported 60-day negotiation period is the most troubling part. Sixty days sounds orderly in Washington. In the Middle East, it is enough time for Iran to move assets, rebuild confidence, reframe the war at home, and test how badly the US wants quiet. Tehran knows how to use delay. Hezbollah knows how to use delay. Israel has paid for those delays before.

Lebanon may be the immediate danger. Any arrangement that restrains Israel while leaving Hezbollah in place is unacceptable. Northern Israel cannot be secured by language in a US-Iran memorandum. Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and the Galilee need Hezbollah to be moved, disarmed, and deterred.

Trump deserves credit for understanding Iran’s danger better than many Western leaders. He left the Obama deal. He imposed pressure. He backed Israel at critical moments.

That record makes this moment more serious. Trump should not attach his name to a weaker version of the mistake he once condemned.

If this agreement removes Iran’s nuclear threat, cuts off its proxies, protects Israel’s freedom of action, and gives the regime no path back to strength, the administration should publish the details and defend them.

If it does less than that, Israel should not applaud.

Neither should Congress.

An Ecuadorian candidate for United Nations secretary-general said on Monday that the world body remains essential but must be shrunk responsibly.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa, a former foreign affairs minister and defense minister of Ecuador, is among six candidates to succeed Antonio Guterres as UN chief after his term expires at the end of the year.

Guterres’ successor will face an enormous task of revitalizing an organization in crisis with declining stature.

“I am under no illusion about the difficulties ahead, yet I remain optimistic,” Espinosa said during a hearing on her candidacy.

Like other candidates, she vowed to continue reform efforts at the UN while adding that the need for the organization formed at the end of World War Two remained “undeniable.”

‘The UN needs to rebuild credibility’

“Too often, the UN is missing in action, or relegated to the sidelines. Too often it is slow, fragmented, and constrained … the UN needs to rebuild credibility and show, not just say, that it can deliver real change,” she said.

“We can shrink the UN responsibly, while strengthening national ownership and delivery, and restoring faith in the UN,” she said.

Espinosa, a former Ecuadorian ambassador to the UN who also headed the UN General Assembly from 2018 to 2019, suggested national governments could take greater roles in areas where the UN currently operates, without providing details.

Domestically, she served in the leftist administration of former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, but has distanced herself from his party in recent years.

Race to succeed Guterres

The tiny Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda nominated her to succeed Guterres. The current Ecuadorian government of President Daniel Noboa, a right-wing ally of US President Donald Trump, has not commented on her candidacy.

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali announced last week that his country would nominate its UN Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett for the job, and she will have a hearing on her candidacy on Thursday.

In April, four other candidates also vowed UN reforms while championing its core principles of peacemaking and support for development.

They are Rebeca Grynspan, a former vice president of Costa Rica; Michelle Bachelet, the former Chilean president; Macky Sall, a former president of Senegal; and Rafael Grossi of Argentina, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Elections are due later this year.

No woman has held the post

No woman has ever served as UN secretary-general.

Espinosa told reporters that after 80 years of the UN it was about time a woman was chosen, but added: “I would also say that not any woman, the right woman, and the right leader that the UN deserves.”

Precedent holds that a secretary-general should not come from one of the permanent members of the Security Council, Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States, although the major powers’ backing is crucial in a lengthy and arcane selection process.

The Iran soccer team were preparing to play their first match at this year’s World Cup in Los Angeles on Monday, with protests expected by the city’s large Iranian diaspora against both the government in Tehran and the US war.

The team arrived in the US for the first time at this World Cup on Sunday, flying from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, and touching down in Los Angeles just as a deal was announced to end the US-Iran war.

They are set to play New Zealand in Group G at 6 p.m. local time.

Iran’s participation in the tournament has been beset by controversy against the backdrop of the war, which began in February when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

That followed nationwide protests in January inside Iran in which thousands were killed in a bloody government crackdown.

In recent weeks, the soccer team changed their base from Arizona to Mexico, while their federation complained that not all their staff received US visas and that tickets allocated to supporters had been withdrawn.

Los Angeles is home to the biggest Iranian community outside of Iran

In Los Angeles – home to the biggest Iranian community outside Iran, many of whom fled the country after the Islamic Revolution – Iranian American soccer fans say they have been left torn between excitement at seeing the team on the world’s biggest stage, anger at Tehran’s crackdown on protesters, and concern about Washington’s bombing campaign.

Some are planning to protest outside the stadium, while others have said they will watch the match on TV, uneasy over possible trouble at the stadium or that their attendance would imply support for Iran’s government.

“How can they go to cheer a team that comes with the flag of the Islamic Republic and national anthem?” said Koroush Krumarsi at a small protest held outside the team hotel on Sunday.

US rights of freedom of speech and expression

Others have indicated they will go to the match and try to smuggle in symbols of protest, including the pre-revolutionary Iran flag, which is the same colors as the current official flag but has a different lion-and-sun motif.

That sets up a potential clash with security and US rights of freedom of speech and expression.

Iran has threatened to halt matches if unofficial flags are brought in or slogans chanted, while a California non-profit has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent any restrictions.

World soccer’s governing body FIFA says, when asked about the matter, that it prohibits flags or apparel of a political nature. But it has not commented specifically on what its approach will be to the Iranian pre-revolutionary flag.

The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday overturned the Education Ministry’s decision to remove the Parents Circle Families Forum’s dialogue program from the GEFEN database, allowing schools to again invite the group’s “Dialogue Meetings – From Pain to Hope” program.

The ruling marks the third round of litigation on the program between the forum, together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), and Education Minister Yoav Kisch, which brings bereaved Israeli and Palestinian family members into high schools for a 90-minute meeting on loss, dialogue, and reconciliation.

Judge Avraham Dan Rubin, sitting as an administrative court judge, accepted the petition filed by the forum and ACRI against Kisch, the ministry official responsible for external programs and the ministry’s tenders committee.

Rubin canceled the ministry’s January 25 decision and ordered it to pay the petitioners NIS 20,000 in legal expenses.

The forum, according to the ruling, includes more than 800 Israeli and Palestinian families who lost relatives in the conflict and work to promote reconciliation and dialogue. The program has operated in schools since the early 2000s, and the petitioners said, without contradiction, that some 200,000 students and educators had been exposed to it.

Program discourages military service, Education Ministry says

Since the closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the start of the Israel-Hamas War, the program has been operated by Israeli facilitators only, according to the ruling.

The Education Ministry argued that the program contradicted the goals of state education, particularly the goal of encouraging meaningful service in the IDF. It also argued that the program was pedagogically unsuitable for high school students, especially after October 7, because it allegedly blurred the difference between Israeli bereavement and Palestinian bereavement, exposed students to one-sided narratives, and included terms such as “occupation.”

Rubin rejected those arguments, finding that the ministry had not established that the program contradicted state education goals or contained a pedagogical flaw serious enough to justify removal from the database.

The judge said state education goals must be read together, not as a hierarchy in which one value erases the others. The ministry’s decision, he noted, relied only on the claim that the program contradicted education for meaningful IDF service, and not on any broader finding that it contradicted other purposes of state education, such as education for peace, tolerance, critical thinking, and respect for human rights.

A central part of the ruling dealt with the factual basis used by ministry officials. Rubin found that the professional opinions on which the ministry relied stretched the monitoring reports beyond what they actually showed.

Three reports cited by the ministry, he noted, explicitly said that no unusual remarks were made in the meetings, or that the meeting observed was too short to draw conclusions. The judge also cited a summary by the head of the ministry’s monitoring department that the forum and its lecturers were aware of ongoing supervision.

In one example, Rubin addressed a ministry claim that a forum speaker’s remarks could be understood as discouraging military service.

The full quote, he said, showed the opposite: Students were urged to enlist for the right reasons, defend the state, and not serve out of hatred or revenge.

The court also criticized what it described as a lack of trust in teachers, students, and school principals. The Education Ministry’s own circular on controversial classroom discussions, Rubin wrote, distinguishes between criticism and delegitimization of state institutions, and recognizes the importance of discussing disputed subjects in school.

He added that the ministry’s position did not give proper weight to the role of teachers present in the classroom, the ability of older high school students to think critically, or the fact that principals are not required to invite the program and students are not forced to participate.

The ruling also addressed arguments by Btsalmo, Choosing Life Forum, and bereaved families who opposed the program and were permitted to submit their position. Rubin said many of their arguments concerned publications and claims about the forum as an organization, rather than the educational program itself. Those claims, he said, were not the basis of the ministry’s decision and had not been properly examined by the authorized officials.

Kisch sharply criticized the ruling, saying the court was forcing the ministry to allow what he called “an organization of terrorists’ families” into classrooms. He called the decision “scandalous and disgraceful” and vowed to keep the program out of the education system.

Btsalmo also attacked the ruling, arguing that the judge ignored its claims against the forum.

ACRI attorney Tal Hassin, who represented the petitioners, said the court had made clear that students are not a captive audience and that the education system cannot be used to silence complex discussion.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that Iranian regime change will start when Israel has a new government.

“The clock for regime change in Iran will start as soon as the government in Israel is changed,” said Bennett. “The leadership is a disappointment.”

“The term of the Netanyahu government began with a civil war, continued with the massacre of October 7, and ends with a historic failure against Iran,” he added.

Bennett stated that he would “implement mandatory conscription for everyone, stop the financing of evasion, and thus bring the IDF the tens of thousands of soldiers that it so lacks.”

“When there are no soldiers, you have to conquer the same point again and again, and that way you can’t win,” added Bennett. “We can restore security to Israel.”

Bennett added that he would defend Israel against Iran by renewing the “Octopus Doctrine.”

“On the one hand, we prevent Iran from going nuclear, and on the other hand, we accelerate the collapse of the regime with political, economic, technological, and military tools,” he said.

Ben-Gvir: ‘Trump’s agreement does not bind us’

Earlier on Monday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in an X/Twitter post that Israel is not bound to US President Donald Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire agreement.

“Trump’s agreement does not bind us. Israel is not subject to the United States, and we are an independent and sovereign nation,” he said.

“We are not partners to this agreement that does not ensure our security, and it does not bind us in any way,” continued Ben-Gvir. “We must not compromise on anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah, we must not withdraw from any territory that our fighters have captured and cleared of terror infrastructure, we must not return to a situation where thousands of terrorists sit on the fences of northern settlements, and certainly we must not remain silent for a moment in the face of fire directed at the State of Israel.”

ההסכם של טראמפ אינו מחייב אותנו. ישראל לא כפופה לארצות הברית ואנחנו מדינה עצמאית וריבונית!

חובתנו לאזרחי ישראל לחיילי צה״ל ולעם היהודי וחובתנו ההיסטורית לנרדפים ולנרצחים היהודים באלפי שנות גלות, להעניק ביטחון ליהודים בארץ ישראל.

בכל פעם שנכנענו ללחץ בינלאומי על חשבון ביטחון…

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) June 15, 2026

Other Israeli officials took to X on Monday morning to state their positions, including Yair Golan, leader of The Democrats, who criticized Netanyahu for capitulating to a deal he deemed unsatisfactory.

Netanyahu “stood on the sidelines” as Israel’s “military achievements secured with the courage of our pilots and the blood of our fighters have been erased,” Golan said.

Replacing Netanyahu an ‘existential’ issue, Iran agreement a ‘strategic failure’

“Trump signs an agreement that funnels billions to the Ayatollahs’ regime, leaves the nuclear infrastructure intact, preserves the ballistic threat as is, and throws a lifeline to the murderous regime in Tehran,” he said in harsh criticism of the agreement. 

Pinning much of the blame for the agreement he sees as unsatisfactory on Netanyahu, Golan continued, saying, “Netanyahu is good for Hamas. Netanyahu is good for Iran. Netanyahu is good for Hezbollah. Netanyahu is not good for Israel.”

Golan ended his post by saying, “Replacing him is not just a political necessity – it is an existential security imperative.”

בוקר קשה לישראל.

הבוקר אזרחי ישראל מתעוררים להסכם בין ארצות הברית לאיראן שנעשה מעל ראשה של ישראל.

באיבחת חתימה אחת נמחקו הישגים צבאיים אדירים שהושגו באומץ לבם של טייסינו ובדם לוחמינו, בזמן שנתניהו עמד מן הצד – חלש, חולה, מבודד וחסר השפעה.

טראמפ חותם על הסכם שמזרים מיליארדים…

— Yair Golan – יאיר גולן (@YairGolan1) June 15, 2026

Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White party, said “Under no circumstances – it is forbidden to agree to restrict Israel’s freedom of action in Lebanon or to a withdrawal that endangers the residents of the north,” in his X post.

“The emerging agreement with Iran appears to be a strategic failure that will require Israel to engage in diplomatic, military, and legal struggles in the coming years, which only a broad Zionist government can lead,” he said.

בשום מצב – אסור להסכים להגבלת חופש הפעולה של ישראל בלבנון או לנסיגה שתסכן את תושבי הצפון.

ההסכם המסתמן עם איראן נראה ככישלון אסטרטגי שיצריך את ישראל לצאת למאבק מדיני, צבאי ומשפטי בשנים הבאות אותו תוכל להוביל רק ממשלה ציונית רחבה.

— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) June 15, 2026

‘Bond between Trump and Netanyahu’ remains strong

MK Miki Zohar, on the other hand, took the opportunity to emphasize the strength of US-Israel relations and, in particular, the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu.

“The bond between Trump and Netanyahu will only grow stronger. More surprises are expected until the elections, and many people will be eating their hats in the coming period. Trump loves Netanyahu and Israel,” he was quoted as saying by KAN.

השר מיקי זוהר: “החברות בין טראמפ לנתניהו רק תתחזק. צפויות עוד הפתעות עד הבחירות והרבה אנשים יאכלו כובעים בתקופה הקרובה. טראמפ אוהב את נתניהו ואת ישראל”

כאן חדשות ברשת ב’🎙️| #הבוקרהזה@golan_aryeh

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 15, 2026

Defense Minister Israel Katz released a statement on Monday, saying that he and Netanyahu were outlining a “policy dictating that the IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza – indefinitely – in order to protect the border and Israeli communities,” calling the seizure of territory and establishment of security zones “among the greatest achievements of the IDF.”

Katz said that they will not compromise on Israel’s security, promising that all terror infrastructure will be destroyed. 

‘An abyss yawns between the empty promises of ‘total victory’ and this morning’

Former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar! party, Gadi Eisenkot, lamented what he views to be a major failure of the government in his own X post, saying, “What began as the gravest failure, with historic internal and international legitimacy, is ripening into the bleak outcome of a failed government.”

“A government that operated without strategy or diplomatic or leadership courage, and over three years lost the public’s trust and that of its allies while abandoning Israel’s residents,” Eisenkot continued. 

“An abyss yawns between the empty promises of ‘total victory’ and this morning.”

כמעט שלוש שנים אחרי מחדל השבעה באוקטובר, מחירים כבדים והישגים צבאיים ראויים לציון – ישראל מתעוררת הבוקר להסכם שמתגבש הרחק מכאן והרחק מהאינטרס הישראלי.

מה שהחל במחדל החמור ביותר, עם לגיטימציה פנימית ובין לאומית היסטורית, מבשיל לתוצאה עגומה של ממשלה כושלת. ממשלה שפעלה בהיעדר…

— Gadi Eisenkot – גדי איזנקוט (@gadi_eisenkot) June 15, 2026

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also posted on X, saying, “The agreement with Iran is bad for Israel and for the entire free world. Period.” He also implied that Israel will have to continue to carry out the war against Iran itself in order to ensure that Iran does not achieve nuclear weapons.

ההסכם עם איראן רע לישראל ולעולם החופשי כולו. נקודה. למערכה המשותפת היו הישגים רבים בהחלשת איראן והם לא ירדו לטמיון. נצטרך להמשיך את המערכה להפלת המשטר בעצמנו ובדרכים יצירתיות ולוודא שלאיראן לעולם לא יהיה נשק גרעיני.

איש מבין המועמדים בעיני עצמם לראשות הממשלה לא היה עומד גם לא…

— בצלאל סמוטריץ’ (@bezalelsm) June 15, 2026

He alluded to heavy pressures upon the Israeli government and on Netanyahu to comply with the ceasefire’s restrictions, while maintaining defiance of stipulations he views as detrimental to Israeli security.

Avihai Chiim contributed to this report.

University College London has axed its dedicated Antisemitism Programme Manager, a UCL source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

UCL’s Antisemitism Programme Manager position was started in November 2022, and has been held by Anthony Orkin for that whole period. It was the first and only dedicated antisemitism role at any UK university.

The source told the Post that the role helped to respond to an 841% increase in antisemitism reported through UCL’s own Report and Support system in the year following October 7, 2023, “responding with sensitivity, expertise and urgency to an unprecedented and sustained volume of incidents, concerns and requests for support.”

Orkin held confidential support sessions for Jewish students and staff, delivered training and awareness sessions to over 2,430 students, staff, and stakeholders across UCL and beyond, and arranged and facilitated CST antisemitism training for UCL’s senior security staff in April 2025.

Most recently, Orkin delivered an antisemitism awareness session to the EDI Community of Practice on May 21, achieving an average participant feedback score of 4.75 out of 5.

“The importance of this role at this moment cannot be overstated,” the source told the Post. “Jewish students and staff at UCL need dedicated expert support at the most difficult time for the community in recent memory.”

UCL ‘talks a good game’ but doesn’t act, student Dov Forman tells ‘Post’

Author, influencer, and UCL student Dov Forman, told the Post that “Anthony is one of the few things they were genuinely getting right. I have no doubt that Jewish students will be worse off at UCL and will feel his departure immediately.”

“So many of my friends didn’t speak to anyone except Anthony about the antisemitism they faced, because they knew that anywhere else and with anyone else at the university, they’d be met with skepticism, bureaucracy, and resistance. He was the trusted expert they had confidence in and could turn to.

“The demand for his expertise has, unfortunately, been overwhelming and, sadly, for good reason. UCL talks a good game on antisemitism, but when it comes to action, it has too often been lackluster.”

Antisemitism complaints will now be tackled by UCL’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team, overseen by Addeel Khan. Khan happens to also be the communications manager and trustee for Save One Life, a charity investigated by the UK’s Charity Commission last year over allegations that funds raised for Gaza may have been diverted to Hamas.

The air was buzzing with excitement on Sunday, June 14th, as members of the Karnei Shomron community eagerly awaited the arrival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Political luminaries, including Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz, and Governor of the Mateh Binyamin council, Israel Gantz, mingled with community friends and town workers at the Yeshivat Bnei Akiva in Karnei Shomron, enjoying camaraderie and plenty of food and drink.

However, as the IDF bombed Dahiyeh, sending Trump’s “dealmaking” into turmoil, and inspiring Iran to threaten Israel with midnight missiles, it was the perfect subterfuge for an announcement far greater than ceasefire extensions. Although the Prime Minister was a no-show, the excitement didn’t dissipate. Instead, the conversation turned to a Roof Plan, designed to bring the 11,000-member community to 40,000. The deal was developed through close collaboration between the Karnei Shomron Local Council, the Israeli government, and the Israel Land Authority.

The plan allows the construction of approximately 6,000 new housing units, along with substantial investments in infrastructure, public institutions, education, culture, transportation, commercial centers, employment zones, and public space development. This long-term, high-budget partnership is expected to accelerate housing supply and foster urban growth throughout the northern West Bank region of Israel.

The interconnected residential neighborhoods are presented as a fully integrated urban development, featuring premium high-density housing, a complete educational campus with dozens of kindergartens and schools, a cultural center, a country club, and a major commercial hub intended to serve residents across the broader region.

Upgrades to the existing parts of Karnei Shomron will focus on resurfacing and repaving roads, relocating high-voltage power lines underground, and enhancing overall safety and visual appeal. The environmental plan also calls for a new community park, backed by an investment exceeding NIS 10 million (about $3.2 million), that will include professional sports fields and various leisure facilities. This is supported by expanded transportation infrastructure, including newly paved access roads and dedicated bike paths.

‘This is the first of many such plans,’ Smotrich said

According to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, “This is the first of many such plans to be introduced in Judea and Samaria. Ariel and Moetza Eizorit Shomron are expected to follow,” he continued.  “This creates ‘normalization, ‘ making Judea and Samaria every bit a part of Israel as is Caesaria, Dimona, Ofakim, and other places within Israel.”

He said he looks forward to his own town, Kedumim, getting a roof plan as well.

The historic and unprecedented initiative for the community is expected to significantly expand Karnei Shomron’s boundaries and establish it as a major regional center in the heart of the West Bank, connecting neighborhoods like Alonai Shiloh and Emmanuel. It is called a Roof Plan because it incorporates housing, infrastructure, public facilities, and funding. But most importantly, it serves as a practical measure to counteract the illegal construction that has been occurring in Area C by Arab residents, even along the seamline to Kfar Saba and Rosh HaAyin.

“We are signing one of the most significant moves in the history of Karnei Shomron,” Karnei Shomron Local Council Head Yonatan Kuznitz explains. “The roof agreement is not just a large-scale construction plan, but a strategic move that will determine the face of the region for decades to come. We are laying the foundations for turning Karnei Shomron into a leading regional metropolis that will connect Samaria to the center of the country and serve as a magnet for young families, employment, commerce, and quality education.”

Kuznitz noted that the Roof Agreement will also include new connections to major highways and transportation arteries, greatly improving residents’ access to other parts of the country.

Katz pointed out that granting the Roof Plan reaches beyond the growing metropolis of Karnei Shomron.

“From 2013 through last July, only fifty roof plans were signed throughout Israel. However, from last July, twenty-five additional roof plans were introduced. And this is the first time it is being introduced in Judea and Samaria, the Biblical heartland.” Katz said.

He noted that the substantial investments in infrastructure, public facilities, and urban development represent a major advancement for Karnei Shomron. He added that the plan will enable the community to triple its population while maintaining orderly and balanced growth.

Katz described the initiative as an unprecedented step in the region, emphasizing that the strength of a settlement should be measured not only by the number of housing units, but primarily by the quality of life it provides.

“We will keep working to advance and sign additional Roof Agreements in the West Bank over the coming year, as part of strengthening Jewish settlement and expanding the overall housing supply,” he declared.

A brief video by Netanyahu gave Kuznitz and Karnei Shomron a “Mazel Tov,” and then Smotrich addressed the crowd.

“The Roof Plan we sign today is for the future of Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said.  “It is a significant chapter in the Zionist story of the entire state of Israel, especially these days when there are those who are trying to weaken us in politics, threaten us with sanctions, orders, and boycotts.  We give one clear answer – more construction, more settlement, and more Zionism.”

“In recent years, we have led an unprecedented settlement revolution.  We have established and regulated over a hundred yishuvim. We have prevented and are preventing the establishment of a terrorist state in the heart of the Land of Israel.”

Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank

Smotrich then delivered the one-two punch, addressing the Prime Minister directly. “Mr. Prime Minister, the time has come to declare sovereignty over Judea and Samaria – now – before the elections.”

He went on to point out that building planned communities in the West Bank is certain to prevent another “October 7” attack in Ranaana, Kfar Saba, Afula, and throughout Israel, and that the national and existential security of the State of Israel relies on initiatives like this.

Kuznitz finally addressed the crowd, calling the decision, “An event that will forever be etched in the history of Karnei Shomron and that will bring de facto sovereignty to the area and create a territorial continuity of strong Jewish settlement.”

He also highlighted that Karnei Shomron had some of the highest IDF recruitment rates in the country, which unfortunately came along with a heavy and painful price in blood. Twelve new graves, he pointed out, are in the cemetery since the October 7th war began.

“Their dedication and that of all IDF soldiers and security forces who guard our borders are what allow us today to go into new places and strengthen our hold on the Holy Land of Israel, the land of our ancestors.”

“This is how Zionism is expressed,” he added.

How history judges the Iran war may depend on the goals accomplished and the outcome of the ceasefire. What remains are the deep scars of those who were killed and those still in grave danger at the hands of Iran’s rabid regime.

Whether a country initiates a just war or prolongs one, the safety and well-being of its citizens must remain a focal point.

As details emerge about a signed agreement between the United States and Iran, there still may be room to protect the Persian people from Tehran’s despots, the Lebanese from Hezbollah, Yemenis from the Houthis, and Gazans from Hamas. After all, Iran still holds the keys to the terrorist groups it supports, or “proxies,” as they are known in the region.

Strategically, the Iran war was years in the making. Tehran believed it could exert power through nuclear weapons, while ambitious American plans to weaken the regime and strip it of its uranium and nuclear ambitions were also taking shape.

The October 7 attacks accelerated the Middle East agenda on every Iranian proxy front.

At the center are the people: the grandparents, parents, and siblings of those murdered on October 7; the soldiers who courageously fought for a reason; and even the families of the villains in this story.

There is no happy ending when the Iranian people are promised freedom by the one country that presents itself as an arbiter of freedom. Those who oppose the regime are in grave danger because they may pay with imprisonment, hardship, or death. 

Locals and foreigners are being held unjustly in prisons. Who will defend them?

History is often decided in a cold, calculated manner. In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed, creating a short-term pause in certain nuclear advancements in exchange for temporary sanctions relief.

Earlier diplomatic agreements offer another example. The Sinai interim agreements were phased in between 1974 and 1975. After the Yom Kippur War, Sinai I and Sinai II served as step-by-step agreements under which Israel withdrew its military from parts of the Sinai Peninsula, while Egypt agreed to ease restrictions related to the Suez Canal and the Straits of Tiran.

If a war is fought by people, then the goals and outcomes of ceasefire negotiations should include the safety of those people.

When I wrote the opinion piece “Did Mahsa Amini Die in Vain?” I did not want to find myself in the same place, asking the same question a short time – or even a long time –later. Her parents and her nation deserve better. When young men and women who have just entered college, full of expectations for their lives, go off and fight a war without an endgame, there is no justice.

What are the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MoU)?

Those terms should benefit nations, not politicians. The politicians, one hopes, were elected by the people.

What is driving the MoU? If it is based on the economy, elections, polls, or out-maneuverability, then countries risk losing their citizens’ hope.

The Iranian regime did not wipe out Israel or destroy major US assets. The US did deplete some of Iran’s power. The MoU may deliver some nuclear leverage, sanctions relief, and open waterways through the Strait of Hormuz.

Gulf countries split more deeply over the war and realized they would not be spared. In the end, every country will do what it sees as best for its economy and its citizens.

Tehran never did what was best for its economy or its citizens. It held the world’s economy hostage as a bargaining chip.

High-stakes military diplomacy drives strategic agreements, but when the average citizen loses, civilization loses as well.

US President Donald Trump must bring the people back into the equation. As America celebrates its 250th year, it should recognize that democratic values hold society together.

Don’t forget the people.

The writer is president and CEO of The Media Line news agency and founder of the Press and Policy Student Program, the Mideast Press Club, and the Women’s Empowerment Program. She can be reached at ffriedson@themedialine.org.

As every day passes, it becomes increasingly apparent how much negotiating with the mullahs is a waste of time and that the only solution that guarantees the well-being of the Iranian people themselves and the security of Israel, America, Europe, and the West is regime change.

Simply put, you cannot negotiate with a government that is willing to massacre its own people to survive, that chants “death to America” and “death to Israel,” and that dreams of becoming shahids in the afterlife more than the well-being of its people.

You cannot negotiate reasonably with a regime that values Hezbollah in Lebanon more than the economic well-being of its citizens. You cannot negotiate with a regime that does not respect women’s rights, gay rights, minority rights, and other basic human rights.

After all, if a regime does not value the well-being of its own people, how can it be expected to care about the well-being of Americans, Israelis, Europeans, and others in the West?

Indeed, the raison d’être of the Iranian regime is vilayet-e-Faghih, the rule of Islamic jurisprudence. Under such a system, it does not hesitate to execute rape victims, stone people to death, or even sell the hair of political dissidents at a marketable value abroad. 

No deal will be able to alter any of this horrific behavior.

The Islamic Republic of Iran cannot exist anymore because the regime is not willing to change its attitudes and objectives and thus to change from within. Iran is a multi-ethnic country, and all of the ethnic groups need to have their freedom. 

The country’s entire population is hoping that the West will help them to overthrow the government so they can have a better relationship with the world for the sake of their future.

The regime cannot be reformed. It has to go. There is no other solution. 
Any hope that the regime will act according to agreements is a mistake. This regime will only try to buy time so that it can do damage to its neighbors and the US and Western interests at a later date. 

This regime is not going to be a friend of anyone the West wished for.
South Azerbaijani dissident Aslan Sultan noted that now is certainly the time to topple this regime, as the mullahs in Tehran have never been weaker: 

“After 47 years of brutal and tyrannic ruling in Iran, the Islamic regime is in its weakest and most vulnerable situation after last year’s 12-day battle with Israel and also the 44-day joint war with the US and Israel. 

“This is a regime with a deceased supreme leader and a successor who is probably hiding himself underground, frightened and heavily injured or even dead, according to some rumors.”

Sultan emphasized that the regime has long ago lost legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people and that they are yearning for liberation.

Sadig Isabeyli, head of the Savalan Research Centre and member of the Board of Directors of the South Azerbaijan National Liberation Front, added: 

“In the current geopolitics of the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran should be viewed not as a traditional, natural historical model of statehood but as a terrorist state seeking to establish a regional power system built on ideological foundations and networked terror mechanisms. 

“The mullah regime that came to power after the 1979 Islamic Revolution did not limit its activities within state borders; on the contrary, it sought to develop a trans-regional strategy of ideological influence based on the principle of ‘exporting the revolution.’”

According to Isabeyli, “This strategy is implemented through religious-ideological narratives, proxy forces, security apparatuses, information manipulation, and other regional threat networks. 

“Therefore, in many cases, Tehran manages military conflicts in geopolitical processes not directly under its own name but through networked terrorist groups it has created at the level of regional threat and is able to gain advantages and concessions by influencing various countries. 

“For example, through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Houthis in Yemen, and terrorist groups it has established under various names in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and a number of African countries, it aims to undermine the national security architecture of these states and create an environment of long-term instability in them.”

The regional security implications of Tehran’s strategy

For this reason, Washington, DC, must understand that the Iranian threat extends far beyond its nuclear program and its ballistic missile program.
 
Iran essentially had created a Shi’ite Crescent that spread its tentacles across the Middle East region and beyond, posing a grave threat to the security of Israel, America, Europe, and the entire free world. 

What is happening with the Strait of Hormuz and the attacks on the Arab Gulf countries is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the Iranian threat. 

Indeed, solving the Iranian issue requires much more than just transporting their nuclear material to the United States or another third country. It requires the full dismantlement of the regime. And now, we have the golden opportunity to pursue regime change.

The writer is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy and an Israel-based journalist. She is the author of Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli, and Arab Media.

Iran has already begun shaping the narrative surrounding the deal with the US as a victory, Dr. Raz Zimmt, head of the Shi’ite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said in a Monday interview with 103FM.

During the radio interview, Zimmt discussed the reactions in Tehran, the agreement’s economic implications, and the possibility of renewed anti-regime protests. 

According to Zimmt, while some factions in Iran oppose any engagement with Washington, the dominant response to the agreement has been positive, largely because the regime is portraying it as an achievement over both Israel and the US.

“With the exception of a small and vocal minority of ultra-radicals, who viewed negotiations with the United States after the war, and certainly reaching an agreement with it, as a betrayal, there is definitely support for ending the war,” said Zimmt. “More importantly, the emerging agreement, although not all of its details are yet clear, is being presented as a strategic victory for Iran.

“At the end of the day, they are presenting it exactly as we feared: Iran not only managed to survive against the two strongest armies in the world, but also succeeded in leveraging this event to achieve a new order that will deter its rivals and secure other economic benefits,” he continued.

Zimmt also addressed developments that preceded the signing of the agreement. According to reports from Iran, an Israeli strike in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district affected the dynamics between the sides. He said Trump subsequently demonstrated additional flexibility, particularly regarding the timing of lifting the maritime blockade.

“We are relying on reports from Iran indicating that the details of the agreement had not yet been finalized, and that following the escalation and the Israeli strike in Dahiyeh, President Trump further softened his positions, which made it possible to reach the final agreement. I assume that once Israel struck in Dahiyeh, Iran’s original intention was to implement the equation it had established, a strike against Israel in response to an Israeli strike in Dahiyeh,” he said.

Iran avoids attacking Israel following Beirut strike

Asked what happened behind the scenes that ultimately prevented an Iranian attack on Israel, Zimmt pointed to two parallel developments.

“Yesterday afternoon, there was a dilemma,” he said. “The timing was very sensitive, and ultimately, two processes took place. One was discussions among Iran’s leadership, as happened last week, and the second was pressure on President Trump, who appears to have agreed to soften his position in at least one area: the timing of lifting the maritime blockade.

“Reports up until yesterday suggested that the blockade would be lifted gradually over the coming month, but by last night it became clear that it would probably be lifted as early as Friday,” Zimmt continued. “From the Iranian perspective, that was a concession that allowed them to say they had maintained their connection to Lebanon.”

Addressing reports that Trump promised Iran Israel would withdraw from Lebanon, Zimmt said such a move appears unlikely in the near term, particularly without a diplomatic process involving the Lebanese government. However, he suggested Iran could now seek to restrain Hezbollah after using the threat of escalation in Lebanon as leverage during negotiations.

“At face value, I find it difficult to see an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon except in the context of negotiations between the Israeli and Lebanese governments,” said Zimmt. “Even if such a process begins, it will be gradual. The question now is whether, after signing the agreement, the Iranians might tell Hezbollah: what worked very well over the past few weeks was that we used the threat of escalating the situation in Lebanon to pressure President Trump to move forward on the Iranian issue. That no longer serves our interests.

“Therefore, from this point on, even if the IDF remains in southern Lebanon, you should cease fire. We could return to that scenario, but it is obviously very fragile, because as long as IDF forces remain in southern Lebanon, it is impossible to prevent a situation in which Hezbollah forces try to attack them.”

Billions expected to flow into Iran

Zimmt warned that the agreement is likely to provide the Iranian regime with significant economic relief. Even if frozen Iranian assets are not released immediately, he said, renewed oil exports alone could generate billions of dollars in revenue for Tehran.

“There is no doubt that billions of dollars will flow into Iran,” he said. “Even if frozen Iranian funds are not released in the coming weeks, the very fact that the Americans intend to allow oil exports from Iran, at least the oil already sitting on tankers, amounts to billions of dollars in assistance to the Iranians. This will certainly strengthen the regime and help it cope with its severe economic distress.

“Having said that, it is important to remember that the deep economic crisis Iran has fallen into in recent years, especially in recent months, is not solely the result of economic sanctions. It is also the result of mismanagement, corruption, and the fact that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plays a central role in the Iranian economy.”

Still, Zimmt stressed that an influx of money alone will not resolve the regime’s deeper structural challenges.

“Without very significant structural reforms in the Iranian economy, and given the severe damage the economy has suffered in recent months, it will be very difficult for Iran’s leadership to provide solutions to all of the country’s economic problems. Therefore, it is clear even within Iran that, regardless of the economic benefits that will strengthen the regime, this does not solve the fundamental problems facing the Islamic Republic. It is entirely possible that we will see renewed protests in the future.”

According to Zimmt, while the agreement may strengthen the regime in the short term, it does not address the underlying causes of public dissatisfaction. Without major economic reforms and improvements in governance, he said, domestic unrest could eventually reemerge despite any immediate gains resulting from the deal.

Three cases of femicide were reported in Iran last week, with the women brutally murdered by their husbands following what regime-affiliated media described as “family disputes,” according to Iranian media reports.

Nour News, a media company affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that a mother of two was murdered in Tehran’s Bisim neighborhood. The 35-year-old was attacked by her husband with a knife and hammer while she slept.

Detectives from the 10th Division of the Tehran Major Crimes Police arrested the husband, who was reported to have confessed to the killing during preliminary investigations.

“For a few days, due to work conditions and the fact that I was a laborer working in different places, I had disputes with my wife. On the night of the incident, we argued before going to bed. I waited until she fell asleep, but in a moment of anger, I killed her with blows. Then I called the police and reported the incident,” the husband reportedly told investigators.

The couple’s two sons, aged eight and 10, were said to have been asleep in their bedroom during the murder.

A 46-year-old woman was also reported as murdered by her husband in Lahijan, after initially being reported as missing, according to the regional news site Nimrokh Gilan.

The woman’s 66-year-old husband was said to have reported his wife missing before eventually confessing to police that he killed her and left her body in the Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh area. It was reported that the only motive he gave police was “family dispute.”

Police are still searching for the woman’s body, according to the most recent reports.

A 38-year-old woman was also reportedly murdered by her 41-year-old husband in a village near Aqqala. Police found the husband in a hideout, arresting him “in the shortest possible time.”

Economic hardship’s impact on domestic violence

Iran’s Institute for Management and Planning Studies (IMPS), a prominent academic and research arm under the presidency in Iran, reported last week on the significant impact economic hardship has on the likelihood of a woman experiencing domestic violence, claiming that one-in-every-two women murdered is killed by a close relative.

“Rainfall shock” is often used to describe the impact that agricultural issues, which by extension lead to economic issues, can have on a woman’s safety.

Iran, notably, has been suffering from water scarcity for a number of years. In 2021, water shortages sparked violent protests in the southern Khuzestan province. Sporadic protests also broke out in 2018, with farmers in particular accusing the government of water mismanagement. Last year, it was announced that Tehran’s reservoirs, which collectively could once store nearly 500 million cubic meters, now barely hold 250 million.

“Whenever there is a negative rainfall shock, the rate of violence against women increases by 5.5%. However, when there is a positive rainfall shock, no change in the rate of violence is observed,” the IMPS study said.

“Whether it is a positive temperature shock or a negative rainfall shock, interpersonal violence increases by about 5%, and intergroup violence increases by 15%. It is expected that such climate changes will become more frequent in the future, allowing us to predict how much crime and violence may increase,” according to the study.

Out of the 223,521 international female respondents, aged 13-45, 41% reported having experienced sexual violence, 24% had experienced physical violence, and 20% had experienced psychological and emotional violence. More than half of the respondents experienced some type of domestic violence.

Though the study focused exclusively on rainfall as an economic variable in domestic violence, Iran’s economy has been decimated under the weight of sanctions, multiple wars with Israel, and regime-imposed internet shutdowns.

El Al will add Starlink internet services to its aircraft starting in 2027, the company announced in an X/Twitter post on Monday.

According to the statement, the new onboard service “will provide a fast, stable and continuous browsing experience throughout the flight, just like at home.”

האינטרנט המהיר ביותר בשמיים של Starlink מגיע לאל על.

אל על חותמת על הסכם עם Starlink להתקנת שירות אינטרנט מתקדם במטוסי החברה, שיספק חוויית גלישה מהירה, יציבה ורציפה לאורך כל הטיסה ממש כמו בבית. השירות יושק באופן הדרגתי החל משנת 2027.

אנו ממשיכים להשקיע במוצרים ובשירותים… pic.twitter.com/zweU1NaIal

— EL AL אל על (@EL_AL_ISRAEL) June 15, 2026

“We continue to invest in the most advanced products and services,” the post continued, “with the aim of upgrading your flight experience from the ground to the air.”

The Starlink service is set to be available at the beginning of 2027 and will be offered to customers free of charge, according to Reuters.

El Al currently offers wireless internet service on its 787 and 777 fleets, as well as on some 737 aircraft, according to the company’s website.

The service is offered in three pricing tiers, ranging from messaging/social media only to full video streaming, and can be paid for with a credit card or frequent flyer points.

Current in-flight Starlink availability

Starlink is already available on other airlines around the world, including US carrier United Airlines, which rolled out the service starting with its regional aircraft in March 2025, according to a press release.

Starlink shared an X post on Saturday showing a user’s in-flight Starlink experience onboard a United flight, saying the service offers “high-speed internet from 30,000 feet.”

On June 8, Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air announced on X that the service would be installed on its aircraft in 2027.

Yaki Dayan, the former Israeli consul in Los Angeles, voiced deep concern about the recent developments between the US and Qatar, compared with the strained relations with Israel, during a Monday interview with 103FM.

Dayan expressed concern about the agreement expected to be signed between the US and Iran. “There is no alternative from Israel’s side, and on the Democratic [Party] side, there are no giant friends waiting at the door to embrace you,” he explained.

He also added: “Not only that, we hear Trump speaking about Qatar in terms that an American president previously used only about Israel. Washington’s favorite son is Qatar. We are seeing the emerging axis, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, and Turkey, which is also taking shape as a result of this war. The situation in Washington right now is a very serious problem; the question is how it will be translated into action.”

New Middle East axis?

Dayan also addressed the Qatar issue, which has caused growing concern, even more so recently: “Will there be hard moves on the ground? As long as it is talks between the prime minister and Trump, then that is fine, especially when Netanyahu insists that there be no link between Lebanon and Iran. That is what needs to be done; insist on that point. But there is no doubt it does not sound good.”

“It does not sound good that the American president keeps coming back and saying, ‘A tough man,’ ‘tough talks,’ ‘serious mistakes,’ that is how he speaks about Israel, and then we hear him speaking about Qatar and saying, ‘What a courageous country,’ and we see Saudi Arabia aligning with Pakistan and Turkey. Maybe we are seeing a new Middle East, but it is not the Middle East we wanted to see after the war with Iran,” he warned.

Better agreement with Iran, still not a solution to nuclear bomb 

When asked about comparisons between the current agreement and the one signed in 2015, he replied: “We know how to compare it in the sense that there apparently are no missiles and no proxies. That was not in the 2015 agreement either.”

“In 2015, there really was a nuclear agreement. Here, there is still no nuclear agreement. There is only an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. They will talk for 60 days about the nuclear issue. If you go to places like Fox, they say Trump will not approve enrichment, which is what Obama did and allowed enrichment to a low level, all kinds of things like that. In the end, one must remember that there is no nuclear agreement right now,” he added.

He also explained that the agreement calls for reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the blockade, something that Dayan described as “the strongest tool the Americans had,” while adding that the monetary side of the agreement will be key for its implementation.

“There will be money, or there will not be money. We are hearing absurd things, $300 billion to strengthen the Iranian economy. Lindsey Graham aptly described it as something like the Marshall Plan after World War II, only the Nazis remained in power. There are no missiles, there are no proxies, but the regime remains in place,” he said.

The vast majority of the IDF and the Mossad oppose the current Iran nuclear deal as insufficient in light of the power dynamics between the parties, the “blood and treasure” invested, and the threats confronting Israel, the Jerusalem Post has learned.

While that view is not unanimous and top Israeli officials understand the need to defer to Israel’s political echelon and to the Trump administration on certain matters, it is nearly unanimous, and officials are making their views heard in private forums.

While the Trump administration has been almost entirely focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear issue, the Post understands that IDF and Mossad officials had hoped for progress on the ballistic missiles and proxy threats, which they are stuck dealing with on a day-to-day and year-to-year basis.

These issues have been left out of the deal.

Further, many Mossad officials and even some IDF officials believed it was important to keep Iran under sanctions until the Islamic regime changed its tune in a broader way to stop threatening Israel, or even until it was toppled.

Officials betting on sanctions pressure

Some Mossad officials, though fewer IDF officials, even believed that it was likely that the Islamic regime would fall within the year if financial sanctions pressure remained, given that the country lost over $300 billion from being bombed and has been losing huge additional sums daily since the US counter-blockaded Iran at Hormuz, the Post has learned.

These officials believed, the Post understands, that even if Iran held out against financial sanctions from 2018 to 2026, the combined new pressure of the damages to the regime from the 2026 war, along with the Hormuz blockade, would have finally pushed Iranians enough over the threshold to be willing and able to topple the regime.

In light of the billions of dollars expected to stream to the regime once the new deal is signed, many in the IDF and the Mossad now fear that any prospect of regime change could be delayed far past a year from now, missing a unique opportunity to make Israel and the world safer for generations.

Béla Guttmann may be the most consequential soccer coach you’ve never heard of. But if it weren’t for Guttmann, you may never have heard of Pelé.

And Brazil may never have become the greatest soccer-playing country on Earth.

That’s because Guttmann changed the shape of modern Brazilian soccer – and changed the sport forever – when he imported the revolutionary 4-2-4 system from Hungary to Sao Paulo in 1957. A year later, Brazil won the first of five World Cups, and the joga bonito was born.

But what Guttmann brought to Brazil isn’t nearly as interesting as how he got it there. That’s just one of the fascinating stories in “The Beautiful Game… The Untold Story,” the exhibit that will open the Holocaust Museum LA on Sunday at the Goldrich Cultural Center, a $70-million expansion that will double the size of the Pan Pacific Park museum’s campus to 70,000 square feet.

The exhibit was unveiled during a private reception on Saturday, followed by a free preview day open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The grand public opening will take place in August.

Exhibit to launch alongside World Cup

The show’s launch coincides with eight local World Cup matches, which kicked off with the United States’ 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday at SoFi Stadium, and it shines a light on the important but largely overlooked relationship between Jewish life and the global game, as well as how Jewish innovators like Guttmann shaped the modern rhythm, style, and culture of the sport.

“It was in the same intellectual level as jazz, as art and everything modern and progressive,” journalist Allon Sander, who helped curate the exhibit, said of Jewish participation in European soccer in the years before World War II.

“The origin of the game and how it intersects with Jews and the Holocaust and the impact that these Jewish footballers and coaches had to shape the game and help popularize the sport is so fascinating,” added Beth Kean, the museum’s CEO. “And it’s an unknown history.”

Much of that story can be told through Guttmann, who was born in Budapest in the final year of the 19th century and developed into one of the sport’s first Jewish stars, representing Hungary in the 1924 Olympics and playing for nine teams in two countries before retiring to become a coach.

But none of that success mattered when the Hungarian government began introducing anti-Jewish laws in 1938, costing Guttmann his job and nearly his life when he was sent to a Nazi forced-labor camp, where he was tortured. Just days before he believed he would be shipped to Auschwitz, which meant certain death, he escaped alongside Erno Erbstein, another Jewish coach.

Erbstein revolutionized soccer in Italy before dying in 1949, along with the entire Torino team, when their plane crashed into a hilltop outside Turin. Four years ago, he was inducted into the Italian soccer hall of fame. Guttmann, meanwhile, who lost much of his family in the Nazi death camps, would go on to coach for 42 years in 14 countries, winning championships in six of them, yet only staying in a single place for more than two years just once.

“He’s running away from his demons,” said Ronen Dorfan, a journalist and sports historian based in Budapest whose research was instrumental in putting the exhibit together. “His father was murdered, his sister was murdered. You never know how you survived in Budapest during the war, so he had guilt feelings.”

The exhibit was designed in three sections: the first devoted to the years before World War II, the second is about the Holocaust, and the third is the postwar years. And while it details Jewish participation in, and influence on, global soccer, it also challenges the cliché that Jews were intellectuals, artists, and laborers but not athletes.

“We are always trying to challenge stereotypes. Stereotypes that we might have about ourselves and even stereotypes that we believe about others,” said Jordanna Gessler, the museum’s vice president of education and exhibits, who helped curate the show. “It’s crucial to help people find their place and their voice and really see the unity, the similarities between people.

“This is a story that was lost in time, and we’re really bringing it out,” Gessler added. “To really have this conversation and encourage people to explore stories that they might not know.”

One thing people might not know is that in the 1920s and ’30s, Europe’s best teams weren’t in England, Germany or France, but in Austria and Hungary, where they were led by Jewish players and coaches such as Hugo Meisl, Jozsef Braun, Arpad Weisz, Marton Bukovi, Gusztav Sebes, and Gyula Mandi. Weisz and Braun were both killed by the Nazis.

The surge of antisemitism and fascism in Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe helped spread the influence of those revolutionary players and coaches around the world.

“With the rise of the Reich and the Holocaust, the coaches ran away,” Dorfan said. “And they ran to every corner of the world, to Brazil, to Argentina, to Portugal [and] provided coaches to Real Madrid, to Barcelona, to Benfica, to Flamengo.

“There isn’t one of these clubs that doesn’t owe its tactical development in the ’40s and ’50s to the Jewish coaches, which came primarily from Hungary.”

The primary tactical development was the shift from the popular but rigid 2-3-5 formation, which required immense physical endurance and tactical discipline, to the fluid 4-2-4, which spread the wingers to the touch line and allowed for improvisation and creativity on the attacking end, a formation pioneered in Budapest in the 1920s.

Guttman brought the 4-2-4 spread formation to the New World

“They developed a more refined game of passing the ball, keeping it on the carpet rather than the English kick and run, and really put thought into tactical thinking,” Dorfan said.

Guttmann, who played or coached for more than two dozen teams in his career – including one in Romania that paid him in vegetables during the postwar period – brought the Hungarian approach to Brazil in 1957, when he coached São Paulo to a championship. After Vicente Feola, the manager Guttmann replaced at Sao Paulo, took over the national team a year later, he brought the formation with him, popularizing many of the tactics still used in modern soccer, such as fluid defensive wingers, overlapping full backs, the use of a withdrawn striker, and an attacking midfield.

“He is the whole exhibition in one man,” Dorfan said of Guttmann.

“Obviously if we wouldn’t have had the Holocaust, those [coaches] wouldn’t be kept out of Europe, Europe would be much stronger, much more developed. [And] then the development of Brazil or the success of Brazil would be coming much later,” Sander said.

Dorfan spent the better part of two years tracking down many of the more than 100 trophies, uniforms, photos, and trinkets that make up “The Beautiful Game” exhibit, a search that required determination, perseverance, and more than a little luck. Many of the items, because of their ties to Jewish athletes and teams, were hidden during the war and presumed lost. Others resurfaced only through detective work that sent Dorfan following leads that spanned decades and crossed more than a dozen borders.

That also costs money. So Alan Rothenberg, the man who, as president of the US Soccer Federation, first brought the World Cup to Los Angeles 32 years ago, stepped up to lead an effort that raised more than $1 million to fund the exhibit.

“The story really needs to be told, particularly with what’s going on right now with respect to antisemitism,” Rothenberg said. “It’s really important for people to realize what can happen. And soccer is a great vehicle to draw them in. The one main thing in the museum is bringing schoolkids in.”

The Nazis and their collaborators failed in their attempt to erase the history of Jewish soccer pioneers; in fact, they inadvertently popularized both the men and women and their ideas. But the sport also helped other Jews survive a dark period, and Kean said that may be the most beautiful and uplifting part of “The Beautiful Game.”

“The main reason we decided to do this exhibition in the first place is because for years so many survivors, when they talk about their life before the war, so many of them talk about soccer. So many of them were passionate and fond of the sport,” she said.

“We knew the exhibit opening was going to coincide with the World Cup. LA is going to be on the world stage. This is a great opportunity for the museum to get these stories out.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have to swallow the bitter pill of the United States’s agreement with Iran in order to say “I told you so” later on, the prime minister’s former communications adviser, Aviv Bushinsky, said in an interview with 103FM on Monday.

Bushinsky explained that despite the current disagreements between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that are visible and out in the open, Netanyahu would not easily give up Trump’s support:

“On the one hand, Netanyahu remembers and bears grudges, but on the other hand, he is very practical,” Bushinsky said. “One of his bitter rivals in Israeli politics, the man who also defeated him in an election, Ehud Barak, who said harsh things about Netanyahu, later served alongside him. He was his defense minister, and they were very close.”

“Netanyahu is much more instrumental in these matters. For example, yesterday the president rushed to congratulate Trump. Netanyahu, despite all the anger and bitterness, also congratulated Trump.”

“I think that, despite all the harsh words and the well-known ‘Trumpism,’ Netanyahu is very instrumental. He needs Trump, and despite these words, I still think there is a strong partnership there,” Bushinsky said.

He later said that the many interests within Trump’s administration, including the “evangelicals and many members of the Republican Party,” would prevent the alliance between Netanyahu and Trump from falling apart.

According to Bushinsky, the question now is whether Trump will provide Netanyahu with something.

“There are elections in another 100 days. Let us assume that nothing happens for another 60 days. So what, will we go to war three months before the elections?” Bushinsky asked. “Maybe that is Netanyahu’s dream, but Trump is somewhere else. He sees the stock markets rising, he sees the price of a barrel of oil falling, why does he need this again?”

Changing dynamics of Trump admin.

Bushinsky also drew attention to the changing dynamics within the US administration under Trump.

“At the beginning, Witkoff was supposed to be the negotiator; he disappeared, and suddenly, the prime minister of Pakistan is conducting the entire event. This has implications within the US administration,” explained Bushinsky.

“JD Vance is more dominant, and he said that Israel would not like this agreement. Beyond the personal issue, I think Netanyahu made something of a mistake in his gamble. Do you remember Paul the Octopus from the World Cup? Maybe he should have asked him.”

Bushinsky also criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war with Iran and the ceasefire negotiations, noting that it is “not a matter of him putting all his chips on Trump and Trump suddenly turning around: Netanyahu should have seen that the agreement was heading in this direction and either embraced Trump and said it was a tremendous agreement, or said it could be marketed, especially regarding nuclear weapons, which is the heart of the matter.”

“He did not go in that direction. He tried, in a creative way, perhaps even to blow up the agreement, with the bombing in Dahiyeh yesterday, in the hope that Iran would respond, and then there would be an escalation. It was the wrong gamble, and now Netanyahu himself has been left bitter.”

Bushinsky further analyzed how this strategic loss could affect Netanyahu ahead of the upcoming elections.

“I have this obsession with looking at past speeches. Netanyahu’s ‘sourpusses speech’ was in 2017. It is very interesting. Netanyahu talks about the ‘industry of gloom’ and says that everyone is upset by the results. What does he say there in that same speech? ‘Well done to Trump for withdrawing from the nuclear agreement.’ I think today’s bitter Netanyahu misses that Netanyahu of 2017,” said Bushinsky.

No news regarding Lebanon

He argued that Netanyahu is currently in an uncomfortable political position, having been “humiliated” with the announcement of the deal, adding that there is no news regarding the situation in Lebanon. 

“Will the IDF begin withdrawing from Lebanon? What achievements do we have against Hezbollah?” he asked. “At the moment, the situation is not good. In this position, Netanyahu does need Trump so that perhaps he can provide him with something on another front.”

“Less realistic is the idea that this whole agreement will collapse, and then Netanyahu will come out looking great,” Bushinsky noted. “He will say, ‘I told you so,’ and that would be right before an election.”

“In my assessment, if [Netanyahu] sees that he is trailing in the polls and that the opposition has a chance of securing a majority, I think he will retire. I think the thing that would embarrass Netanyahu most would be losing to his former aide, Naftali Bennett, or to some pathetic figure like that.”

The Knesset’s House Committee voted in favor on Monday of granting Likud MK Tally Gotliv immunity after she was indicted for disclosing and publishing classified confidential information in violation of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) law.

Eleven lawmakers voted in favor, while three voted against after three days of discussions on the matter that spanned from the early morning into the afternoon.

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who filed the indictment, had attended two of the lengthy debates last week. She did not join the Monday panel, sending representatives from her office instead to present its stance. The Knesset plenum is still required to hold a vote on Gotliv’s immunity to finalize the decision.

Baharav-Miara filed the indictment against Gotliv in May for publishing the identity of the partner of protest leader Shikma Bressler, who, according to the indictment, was a Shin Bet employee. 

Under the Knesset Members’ Immunity Law, Gotliv was able to request that the Knesset grant her immunity from criminal prosecution before the case proceeded to court. The attorney-general has argued that Gotliv’s actions do not allow her to qualify for parliamentary immunity.

Gotliv said she revealed classified information knowingly

Last week, Baharav-Miara told the panel that Gotliv created a severe security risk by exposing the personal details of a Shin Bet agent during wartime.

Baharav-Miara presented the committee members with a top-secret document containing a professional opinion issued by the Shin Bet.

MKs who were shown the ultra-classified Shin Bet opinion said it stated that Gotliv endangered the life of an agent, as well as his children and family, according to a Channel 13 report.

The main part of the classified opinion detailed real examples of Shin Bet employees whose names were exposed, putting their lives at real and immediate risk, the report added.

Goltiv’s argument to the panel centered around the claim that sharing the identity was warranted, and she has not denied doing so. 

She told the panel that she did the act knowingly, arguing that it was justified and that she should receive immunity as an MK. Gotliv also focused for multiple hours on renewing claims that treason had taken place during the October 7 attacks and presented various theories on the matter.

Her remarks involved a lengthy personal attack against Baharav-Miara. She also screened a video last week to the panel with clips that she presented as “evidence of betrayal” during the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023. She made accusations of treason that she claimed took place during the attacks, presenting various theories to the panel and sparking outrage from opposition MKs.

The charge listed in the indictment against Gotliv is revealing and publishing confidential information under the Shin Bet law.

“Why are you indicting me? Because you do not know what to do with me. I acted under the authority of my immunity. I exposed [anti-judicial reform activist Shikma] Bressler’s partner,” Gotliv told last week’s panel.

Opposition coordinator Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari told the panel that “in all the hours Gotliv spoke, she did not once address the offense she is here for today.

“Not only did she take no responsibility, but she amplified the offense she committed. She provided no testimony or shred of evidence to support her claims,” she added.

Opposition lawmakers repeatedly spoke against committee chairperson Ofir Katz’s (Likud) conduct during the debates and penned a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) about it. They objected to the fact that he continuously kicked out MKs for interrupting Gotliv, while he allowed Gotliv to interrupt the A-G as she presented her stance to the panel.

Lawmakers were not permitted to make interruptions, or they would have been removed from the panel, and the rules stipulated that only MKs who participated in all meetings on the matter would be eligible to vote. Attendance for at least half the duration of a meeting would be considered participation. As a result, some opposition lawmakers were unable to partake in the deciding vote. 

The first debate also took place last week on Monday, despite the renewed conflict with Iran that had begun the evening before and continued throughout the day. This also led to sharp criticism from lawmakers.

Attorney General Baharav-Miara requested that MK Gotliv’s immunity be denied

Ahead of the first Knesset debate on Monday, Baharav-Miara wrote a letter to members of the panel, requesting that Gotliv’s immunity be denied.

She explained that the indictment against Gotliv was filed on the basis of “professional, objective, and good-faith discretion,” and that none of the grounds for parliamentary immunity applied in her case.

The indictment against Gotliv was filed in May, based on her publishing on January 24, 2024, a screenshot from the website Edna Karnaval that included the full name of Bressler’s partner and claims tying him to alleged contacts with then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar before the October 7 massacre.

Karnaval is described by the indictment as having a “critical and blunt” style, especially toward public officials.

The screenshot, according to the indictment, included a headline alleging that Mossad chief David Barnea had received information from the US that they had intercepted calls between Bressler’s partner and Sinwar four days before October 7. The article further claimed that Barnea had summoned Bressler to a meeting, and that the Prime Minister’s Office had later issued a denial of Gotliv’s earlier statements.

The indictment said that the post received in excess of 400,000 views, 1,000 comments, 1,000 likes, and 500 shares. It said that Gotliv’s X/Twitter account had over 65,000 followers at the start of the relevant period, and over 90,000 by the time the indictment was filed.

Prosecutors alleged that Gotliv revealed and published the name of the Shin Bet employee and his relationship with Bressler “knowingly, deliberately, continuously, demonstratively, and repeatedly.”

The indictment said that the post remained available online from the time of publication until the indictment was filed, and that Gotliv did not remove it from her account.

The indictment further said that Gotliv stood by the publication, repeatedly published similar statements in which she again identified Bressler’s partner as a Shin Bet employee, and publicly stated that she had no intention of removing, or apologizing for, what she had written.

The Mossad denied the claim at the time, calling it a “recycled falsehood” and saying Barnea had “never met, spoken to, or invited Shikma Bressler to a meeting.”

Earlier in May, Defense Minister Israel Katz signed a certificate of confidentiality ahead of the indictment filing, clearing a procedural obstacle that had delayed the case.

Gotliv has repeatedly framed the matter as a political and legal fight over her work as an MK. In her post ahead of the indictment, she wrote that the attorney-general had acted after Katz signed the confidentiality certificate, and said she had not yet received the indictment, adding that she expected to read it “soon at one of [Baharav-Miara’s] mouthpieces.”

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report. 

The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – announced on Monday that they would halt voting in favor of coalition legislation after the highly controversial daycare subsidies bill, which would expand state-funded daycare subsidies for draft evaders, was not placed on the plenum’s schedule as planned. 

The daycare bill has been pushed by the haredi parties and aims to change the eligibility criteria for daycare subsidies, basing it solely on a mother’s income, in a move that critics argue will encourage state subsidies for parents of draft evaders even amid the IDF’s severe manpower shortage.

“We have just informed the coalition chairman that, due to the failure to place the Daycare Bill on the Knesset agenda, we will not vote today in favor of coalition-sponsored legislation in the Knesset plenum,” Shas and United Torah Judaism stated in a joint message. 

The plenum schedule published shortly after the announcement did not include any coalition legislation. 

The haredi parties’ announcement comes as the coalition’s highly controversial bill to establish a political probe into October 7 failures was reportedly expected to be brought for its first reading vote in the plenum this week.

The coalition had reportedly lacked a majority to pass the daycare subsidies bill in its first reading, if the vote were to be held on Monday as planned. A group of lawmakers in the coalition have vowed to vote against the legislation, including MKs from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party.

Shas threatens to halt coalition over Torah Study, Basic Law bill

Last week, Shas also threatened to halt coalition voting if another contentious bill that seeks to enshrine Torah Study in the country’s Basic Law was not advanced. The legislation then passed its preliminary reading on Wednesday, after receiving government backing. 

The Basic Law: Torah Study legislation is part of a proposal pushed by haredi parties that seeks to encourage draft evasion and change the status of yeshiva students who do not serve, enabling them to continue receiving state benefits.

The move to enshrine Torah study into the country’s Basic Law would have sweeping implications on the status of haredim who evade service in the country and would, effectively, equate IDF soldiers to draft evaders.

Haredi party leaders have continuously pushed for Netanyahu’s coalition to advance legislation that would not increase haredi enlistment. The IDF has repeatedly warned of an urgent manpower shortage, notably after more than two years of war.

In March, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said the IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the manpower shortage.

There have also been reports of an agreement between Netanyahu and the haredi parties to move the election date to October 20, rather than hold it in September, as the haredi parties have sought. In return, they reportedly would receive advancement of the Basic Law: Torah Study and the haredi daycare subsidies bill.

The tensions come amid the coalition’s last Knesset session to advance its legislation before the upcoming elections, scheduled to take place no later than October 27.

Dozens of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) protesters blocked Gilat Junction near Ofakim on Monday in response to the arrest of a draft dodger by Ofakim police.

Police officers managed to disperse the protests, which blocked Highway 25 and Route 241 after dozens of protesters arrived at the junction and began blocking traffic lanes, according to Israel Police.

“Traffic at the junction has reopened and is operating as normal,” the police said.

“After a police officer called out to the protesters to clear the road and that this was an illegal protest, the protesters began to lie down on the road and next to the wheels of vehicles,” the police added.

Earlier on Monday, 17 haredi men were indicted by the state for breaking into the home of IDF Chief Military Police Officer Brig.-Gen. Yuval Yamin during a protest on April 28 against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Charges of rioting, trespassing, malicious damage

The indictment includes charges of rioting, trespassing, and malicious damage against the defendants, including four minors, who allegedly broke through the locked gate outside Yamin’s Ashkelon home while his wife and two children, one of whom is a minor, were inside the house.

According to the indictment, the Ashkelon protesters carried signs with slogans like “War on the draft law, in actions and not words,” and shouted phrases like “We will die and not enlist” and “Yuval Yamin is a traitor.”

The Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court received the indictment, which comes amid increasingly violent protests and riots against the arrest of draft dodgers and haredi enlistment in general.

Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.