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Hezbollah Escalates, Trump Halts Beirut Strike — War Update VFI News
June 8, 2026 · 29 min
Hezbollah's "ceasefire" is over — rockets are hitting Galilee communities again, and the IDF was minutes from striking Beirut before Trump personally intervened. Here's everything that happened this week.
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Barry and Batya Segal are among Israel’s leading praise-and-worship artists, known for blending ancient Yemenite Jewish melodies with modern world music rooted
June 8, 2026 · 29 min · VFI News
Hezbollah's "ceasefire" is over — rockets are hitting Galilee communities again, and the IDF was minutes from striking Beirut before Trump personally intervened. Here's everything that happened this week. ...more Show the full description Show less Hezbollah's "ceasefire" is over — rockets are hitting Galilee communities again, and the IDF was minutes from striking Beirut before Trump personally intervened. Here's everything that happened this week.
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In this video 0:00 Hezbollah Escalation and Trump Halts Beirut Strike11:03 Critiquing Global Hypocrisy and Iranian Cracks13:48 Gulf Tensions, Oil Crisis, and Bomb Shelters14:54 Ultra-Orthodox Draft Protests and Elections23:20 Economic Strains, Global Antisemitism, and Positivity
Hezbollah Escalation and Trump Halts Beirut Strike 0:00 The ceasefire that wasn't really a ceasefire on Israel's northern border completely broke down this week with large volumes of Hezbollah fired rockets and drones hitting IDF troops and civilian0:11 communities all over the Galilee. The IDF responded with large scale strikes on Hezbollah targets all over Lebanon and was about to hit Beirut when president Trump intervened. Despite the called0:23 off attack, Iran used this as an excuse to break off negotiations with the United States over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Although exchanges of fire between Iranian and US forces in the0:35 Persian Gulf had already made those negotiations seem like a moot point. Speaking of moot points, the Knesset held votes this week to try and move to early elections. And by early, I0:47 mean the elections might now happen a few days before they would have had to be held anyway. All that and much more is just ahead on this week's edition of VFI News from Israel.1:08 The news can change at any time, so I apologize if anything I'm saying in this report is out of date by the time you watch it. But as of now, this is how things stand. In the last week, there have been1:19 several fatalities and many more injuries among IDF troops from Hizbullah rocket and drone attacks. Several Hezbollah weapons have also hit civilian communities in the Galilee, a place I love1:31 so dearly. Now the IDF has responded to these attacks with air strikes, and last Monday evening, the IDF was minutes away from an attack on the Dafya neighborhood of southern Beirut.1:43 But this strike got called off at the very last possible moment by president Trump. He and Netanyahu had a call in which according to reports in the news site, Axios, Trump told
1:55 Netanyahu he was crazy and that he, Trump, was the only reason Netanyahu was not in prison. He also said that he was saving Israel as the whole world hates us because they blame us for
2:07 the Strait of Hormoz still being shut and the resulting economic damage. Now let's switch to commentary mode now and go over this 1 step at a time. Prime minister Netanyahu and
2:19 defense minister Katz ordered the strike on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut in response to increased rocket and drone attacks on civilian communities all over the north of Israel,
2:30 including the Galilee. Now I don't agree with president Trump's assertion that this is, quote, unquote, crazy. Iran's conditioning, its willingness to continue negotiations on Israel,
2:42 not attacking Hezbollah while Hezbollah must be allowed to attack Israel all at once and kill our civilians, wound our soldiers and civilians, really is crazy, and it's also deeply
2:54 unreasonable. Don't forget our IDF troops are suffering, and many times they are dying because of this. The way several Western allies have spoken up, including faraway Australia and New
3:06 Zealand, to say that Iran has a legitimate point is even crazier. I believe it's also an indication of how far down the tubes what I'm old enough to remember was once again
3:17 called, quote, unquote, the free world has gone. Yeshua warned us that as the end of this age and the time of Yeshua's 2nd coming nears, confusion and deceit will be everywhere,
3:29 and that includes moral confusion. The moral clarity that was a major asset to the western world during the great ideological struggles of the 20th century, including 2 world
3:41 wars and a very long cold war, is rapidly breaking down here in the 21st century. Speaking of which, and getting to the last point, president Trump made in his phone call with prime minister
3:53 Netanyahu, I'm afraid he's not wrong when he says that he's all that stands between Israel and the hatred and contempt of much of the world. It is absurdly illogical and unfair
4:05 that Israel is being blamed for all the damage that Iran is doing to the world economy by preventing normal traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has a very sophisticated online public
4:17 relations machinery that it uses to communicate directly with the voting public in many Western countries with a message that Iran is the victim and Israel is the villain. Large numbers
4:29 of people in the United States and many other western countries are sadly all too ready to believe this Iranian deceptive message. Thus, although Iran has lost this war badly on the
4:40 kinetic battlefield, they're somehow able to find a path to geopolitical victory because the center of gravity in this war is the hearts and minds of the voting public in western democracies.
4:53 That having been said, it's not all good news for the Iranian regime. This past week, a resignation letter from president Masoud Baseshkin to supreme leader Moshe Tabak
5:04 Khamenei was leaked to the media. Apparently, Baseshkin thinks it's a futile waste of time to continue pretending there's any such thing as a civilian government in Iran when actually
5:16 the IRGC has taken such firm control of everything. This reminds us of that famous quote by George Orwell that in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a
5:28 revolutionary act. President Pezeshkin certainly has done something extraordinary here by saying something publicly that everybody already knew. Maybe the entire structure of
5:40 lies, deceit, gaslighting, and hypocrisy that the IRGC have built in Iran will finally come crashing down because this 1 man had the courage to tell the truth and shatter the
5:52 entire structure. It's worth praying for and please join me in praying for safety. I'm sure this isn't making him very popular with the IRGC leadership and those guys
6:04 play rough as we saw in January when they massacred tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians who were protesting against them, and they continue to do so, by the way. Now staying on the topic
6:16 of the lies and deceit this regime keeps pumping out, even before the flare up in Lebanon, they were making other excuses for their refusal to be flexible in the negotiations with America.
6:28 Specifically, they accused the Trump administration of contradictory demands in the negotiations. At the same time, the US military continued to carry out what it called
6:39 self defense operations targeting IRGC missile launchers and speed boats in the Persian Gulf, which they say are getting ready to put mines in the water. The IRGC has also,
6:51 according to leaked intelligence reports, moved the rubble away from many of the entrances to their underground missile cities, which were bombed during the war. Now I must admit, I was among those
7:03 who thought it would take them much longer to do this. I saw the satellite pictures showing these entrances after the b 50 twos dropped thousands of tons of high explosives on them. It looked like they were shut
7:15 up for good, and the missiles inside those caverns would never be fired from again. But I guess it doesn't take as long as you might think to clear such rubble away. And the intelligence reports
7:27 also say that almost all the missiles inside those caverns are also still usable. In the last few days, Iran has indeed fired ballistic missiles at some of its Arab
7:38 neighbors using the pretext that it is targeting American military bases in those countries. The Pentagon says all these missiles were intercepted, but this was the 3rd such
7:50 exchange of fire between United States and Iranian forces since the ceasefire began on April 8th. An Iranian regime spokesman said this week that communications, but not
8:02 necessary, negotiations with Washington were continuing, quote, under extreme skepticism and pessimism, unquote, as the other party is constantly changing its views and putting
8:14 forward new or contradictory demands. That's what he said and although I said a moment ago that the regime like to lie, I'm afraid on this point they might be telling the truth. The Trump administration's
8:26 approach to these negotiations has not been very well organized and has to take some of the blame for the lack of success so far. The Iranians are lying as always, but at least they're being consistent.
8:38 Meanwhile, the other big issue regarding this conflict is impossible to ignore. And I'm talking, of course, about the rapidly rising price of crude oil, natural gas, and all the other commodities
8:50 essential to the global economy that are being squeezed by the closure of Hormuz. The price of a barrel of oil is hovering around hundred dollars this week, and it could rise sharply with little
9:02 warning. Speaking of little warning, the residents of Northern Israel usually don't have very much time to run to a protected space when the alert comes in that there are Hezbollah fired rockets
9:14 heading their way. Sometimes it's 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, not much more. The rocket and drone attacks are continuing despite the renewed truce that president Trump announced on Monday
9:26 evening, and that should not be a surprise to anyone. This is why here at Vision for Israel, we have not stopped our efforts to provide portable bomb safety shelters to communities all over Israel,
9:37 especially in the Galilee. And I know you've seen this video, but it's very important. These shelters have saved many lives in this war, and they will continue to be needed going forward. So if you wanna
9:49 know more, you can visit our website vision for israel dot com, and please once again watch this video and pray with us.
Critiquing Global Hypocrisy and Iranian Cracks
11:03 Vision for Israel has been installing bomb safety shelters since actually around the fall of 2021. During that year, there was a barrage of rockets that
11:15 came into southern Israel, particularly by the the terrorist group known as Hamas. And Israel had to find a way further in order to protect its citizens, its residents
11:27 across the southern part of Israel. And so we sprung into action. We felt like this was a project that we had a personal invitation to fulfill. And it's important
11:39 because when these projectiles, these missiles, these rockets, whatever that is that's, thrown at Israel by its enemies, there is not only the potential for somebody
11:50 being killed instantly, but also there's tremendous collateral damage and and people that get wounded even from And so if you place a safety
12:02 shelter at a bus stop or in front of a high school or community center or a kindergarten or any kind of facility that's publicly accessible, the people can run into
12:14 these shelters. The children can run and find safety in them and be protected from a rocket that lands and shrapnel is scattered, which could be mortally wounding
12:26 people. So it gives not only a physical protection of security, but also an emotional sense of security that you know having a shelter that you can run to in the
12:37 street, outside of a store, somewhere publicly accessible, not just in someone's home, but out in the open, gives a sense of security. And I always believe that
12:49 it's important for us to refer to scripture in Psalm 91, the whole chapter talks about, God providing us a shelter. And we have seen amazing,
13:01 amazing deliverances from enemy rockets as a result. And now we've installed over 400 shelters across the southern and northern borders of Israel.
13:13 And they weigh 30000 kilos each, or that's 30 tons. And it's a lot of weight, rebar and concrete that's been specially mixed, and also with
13:25 a special metal ramp that allows physically impaired people to be able to come up in a walker or a wheelchair on a moment's notice. In many of these areas, residents don't have any
13:37 longer than between 5 seconds to maximum 45 seconds to get into a shelter to be protected. Now there's a word I
Gulf Tensions, Oil Crisis, and Bomb Shelters
13:48 haven't mentioned in these reports very much in the last few weeks, and that's Hamas. This terrorist group, which is supported by Iran and which struck the opening blow in this present war
14:00 with their massacre of Israelis on October 7th 2023, is still in control of a bit less than half of the territory in the Gaza Strip. They're still ignoring the needs of the ordinary
14:12 people who live in the areas they control while devoting all their resources once again to building themselves back up in preparation for another round of hostilities with Israel. This
14:24 week, it came to light that IDF Southern Command Chief, Yaniv Assur, is recommending a renewal of offensive operations in Gaza to push back against this threat. I hope that won't be
14:36 necessary, but if it is, we'll be sure to bring you all the details here at VFI News. Now I wanna move on to some internal Israeli issues not directly related to the kinetic battles we're
14:48 fighting and might soon fight. This week, the Knesset voted on measures that could lead to early elections despite the fact that they were just a few weeks short of the mandatory triggering of the
Ultra-Orthodox Draft Protests and Elections
15:00 process anyway. The 4 year term of the current Knesset is coming to an end, and the next elections must take place no later than late October. This would be more or less okay
15:12 for most Israeli voters, but for some ultraorthodox parties in the Knesset, it would be better to have the elections around the beginning to the middle of September. It would take a long time to
15:23 explain all the reasons why, but just take my word for it. This is what the ultra orthodox parties want, and prime minister Netanyahu is not trying very hard to talk them out of it. This is despite the
15:35 fact that early September is very inconvenient for most everyone else in Israel who is not ultra orthodox. It's the beginning of the school year for 1 thing, as many Israelis like to take
15:47 their summer vacations in August. So they'd just be getting back and trying to get themselves organized with work and school and everything else as the polls were opening up again. There's a lot more to it
15:59 than that, but these are some of the political issues facing Israelis this week. The ultra Orthodox held street demonstrations all over the country Monday evening, including an attack
16:11 on the private home of a police commander in Jerusalem. They smashed windows in at least 1 police building, sat down in the middle of highways in front of trains so they couldn't move, and so on and
16:22 so forth because I was stuck in the traffic jams. As bad as that was, there was something much more worse on Monday evening. The mayors of several ultra orthodox communities publicly
16:34 declared they would no longer cooperate with the police who they accused of being out of order by following the orders of Israel's attorney general to arrest ultra orthodox young men who
16:46 refused to enlist in the IDF. Good for the police if you ask me. Now this included kicking the police out of their own police stations in several cities and suburbs of Jerusalem.
16:58 To switch briefly to commentary mode, friends, this situation whereby the ultra Orthodox are allowed to avoid service in the IDF while every other sector of the Jewish population of this country
17:10 gets drafted, both men and women, should have been changed a long time ago, decades ago. It was part of the foundational laws of this country when it was 1st formed way back in 19
17:21 49, and it's 1 of those things that every Israeli dreams about. If they could go back in time and warn David Ben Gurion about it, they would, but let me set this up for you.
17:33 Back in 19 49, the ultra Orthodox population of Israel was small compared to the rest of the Jewish population in the country, while Ben Gurion and the rest of the founding generation of Israel were
17:45 culturally Jewish, but atheist or secular humanistic. Like atheists today, they arrogantly thought that they were ahead of their time and that people who believe in God were backward and primitive.
17:57 They also correctly predicted that as technology progressed, the economy would require workers who were more educated in math and science and that this was what everyone would want their
18:09 children to study so they could get better jobs and have a better life. They were also socialist, and like socialist today, they had a faith in their ideological worldview that many Christian
18:21 clergy wished their flocks had. They believed that the triumph of international socialism, which atheism was closely intertwined with, was inevitable in due time. They
18:32 believed that by the end of the 20th century, if not sooner, all religions would become extinct and everyone would be just like them, secular, atheist, and socialist. So with all that in
18:44 mind, when the leaders of the ultra Orthodox communities in Israel came to the newly formed government and asked that their 18 year old young men could be excused from being drafted into the IDF
18:57 so they could instead devote themselves to full time Torah study, the government looked at the small numbers of the young men in that community at that time, shrugged their shoulders, and essentially
19:09 said, sure, What could it hurt if this small group of people preserved this cultural identity so future generations of Jewish Israelis will have some idea of how so many
19:20 of their ancestors lived? Big mistake. So this system was set up where the ultra orthodox men don't get drafted into the IDF at 18 years old like the rest of the
19:32 Jewish 18 year old men do, and then later in life, most of them do not work in jobs that generate tax revenues for the government. Instead, they live on government welfare and charity from
19:44 various diaspora communities, mostly in the United States. Now it's important to point out that most ultra Orthodox women do work usually in schools and other service providing
19:56 industries that don't pay very high salaries. Once again, Ben Gurion and the rest of the founding generation of Israeli leaders thought this arrangement, which provides little in the way of material comforts to most
20:08 ultra Orthodox people in Israel, would fade in time. But the exact opposite happened. And far from fading with time, this community grew by leaps and bounds, and we are now at a
20:19 point where almost 1 baby out of every 4 born in Israel is born into an ultra Orthodox Jewish family. Very few of their young men voluntarily enlist in the IDF, although that
20:31 number is slowly growing. But even among those who do enlist, very few go on to work in regular jobs. The separate school system where ultra orthodox children study teaches a
20:43 curriculum that does not include subjects that prepare these children to work in the modern Internet driven economy. So if you're not confused already, they enter the yeshiva system at a young
20:55 age and they tend to stay there living off of welfare their whole lives because they don't know what else to do. The leadership of this community likes it just fine this way because it keeps these
21:07 men and their families dependent on their patronage system. But the rest of Israeli society does not like this arrangement 1 bit and neither do I. And it is a huge source of tension
21:19 in this society much more so in the last 2 and a half years when so many have been mobilized into the IDF reserves, what we call for hundreds of days at a time. The
21:31 calls for ultraorthodox men to be drafted into the IDF like everyone else so they can help carry this burden have grown steadily louder, and calls for them to also
21:42 participate in the economy and contribute to society more generally are also growing louder. However, the leadership of this particular community is pushing back hard against
21:54 these calls, stubbornly refusing to meet anyone halfway. It's a very bad situation and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea how it's going to be resolved. It's definitely a
22:06 great subject for you and me to be regularly praying about. Now this next story relates to the previous 1 because a report was published on Monday by the Israel Democracy Institute, a think
22:18 tank in Jerusalem which showed, among other things, that 1 in 3 Israelis has lost income since this war began. The hardest hit region according to this report is the Galilee, where
22:30 over 50 percent of residents reported a loss of income and declining employment prospects. Sadly, this makes perfect sense because this area is heavily dependent on tourism,
22:41 particularly Christian pilgrims, and it's also heavily dependent on agriculture. Both of these industries have been particularly hard hit by this war, while other parts of the country have also been
22:53 hit, and everyone is going through a very difficult period. It won't surprise regular viewers of this program that Vision for Israel is working hard to assist families, individuals, and communities in
23:05 financial distress all over Israel. So if you wanna know how you can help out, please visit vision for israel dot com, and please watch this short video. For most children, the
23:17 1st day of school is exciting. But for some families in Israel, it's overwhelming. Parents are doing everything they can, but school supplies are expensive. For some children, even a
Economic Strains, Global Antisemitism, and Positivity
23:29 backpack and basic supplies are out of reach. No child should start the school year feeling left behind. Without help, many children will walk into class lacking what they need. This is the
23:41 moment we can step in. For over 30 years, vision for Israel has provided practical support to families in need. Your gift equips a child for success. 45 dollars provides a
23:52 backpack with essential school supplies. 90 dollars equips 2 children. 180 dollars prepares 4 children for the year ahead. When you give, you're not just providing supplies,
24:05 you're providing confidence. A simple backpack can change how a child feels walking into school. Prepared, confident, ready. Every child deserves a strong
24:16 start. Give today. Help a child walk into school ready to succeed. Sponsor a child today. Vision for Israel dot com.
24:40 We're almost out of time for this week's report, so I'll just briefly touch on some other big stories making headlines in Israel this week. Most of these headlines actually come from the diaspora, where Jewish
24:52 people are being harassed and attacked in places none of us ever thought it would be an issue. This includes Canada where Prime Minister Mark Carney admitted this week that his government has failed
25:04 Jewish citizens amidst a massive wave of violent attacks on synagogues, Jewish community centers, schools, and Jewish owned businesses. A little known fact about the land of the maple
25:16 leaf is that it has the world's 4th largest Jewish population after Israel, America, and France. The Canadian Jewish community has made many contributions to its country over the
25:27 decades, but as is so often the case down through history, we are now in a generation that, quote, doesn't know Joseph, unquote. And this generation has been talked into believing that their Jewish
25:39 neighbors are a problem. To be fair, there are very few responsible adults in the room willing to stand up and tell them the truth about all the things they're being lied to about by their favorite social
25:51 media influencers, most of whom don't care about truth as much as they do about making money. If Iran or some other interested party is willing to pay them to say bad things about Jews and
26:02 Israel, they'll happily take this money to do it even though they know it's not true. That is something that a street smart, responsible adult will be very aware of, but a young person who hasn't
26:14 had much experience in life will not always be aware of it. I disagree with many of Mark Carney's policies, but I have to give him some credit for at least trying to be a responsible adult on this
26:26 issue. Good luck, Mark. I hope he can convince some of these younger people who don't know Joseph that attacking their Jewish neighbors because their favorite TikTok channel said Israel is being mean to the
26:37 Palestinians isn't a good idea. We should all be praying for him and the nation of Canada to have some success in this regard. Another piece of bad news for Israel this week came from
26:49 France, where Israeli defense companies have been barred from participating in the Paris Defense Expo, 1 of the largest such trade shows in the world that takes place annually. French president
27:01 Emmanuel Macron said this step was being taken in protest against Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon, but that's just an excuse. The truth is Israeli defense companies are in
27:13 competition with French defense companies, and the French don't want to give their Israeli competitors a platform to display their battle tested hardware in a venue where NATO defense ministers will be
27:25 able to see them. They'd rather these folks who have money to spend and are looking for stuff to buy will go to check out the displays at the French defense companies pavilions.
27:37 Still, this is yet another diplomatic setback for Israel. Now in that note, I want to continue the tradition of ending these reports with some good news because the Israel parade
27:49 in New York City last Sunday was a huge success with a massive turnout despite a boycott by mayor Zoran Mamdani. Several other elected officials, both Democrats and
28:01 Republicans, marched in the parade along with an estimated, but I believe much more than 50000 New Yorkers and people from New Jersey. There were no counter demonstrations or
28:12 violent attacks despite many threats against the parade in the days leading up to it. Well, with that, I hope maybe next year, I'll go to New York and join the parade myself. With that, I'm Barry Siegel, and
28:24 this has been another edition of VFI News from Israel. God bless you and shalom.
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