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Jewish Violence, Haredi Chaos & Israel's Election Crisis - VFI News
September 7, 2026 · 29 min
Israel is fracturing from within — settler violence, Haredi protests, and a looming election that nobody can call. Here's what's really happening on the ground this week.
Series VFI News
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
September 7, 2026 · 29 min · VFI News
Israel is fracturing from within — settler violence, Haredi protests, and a looming election that nobody can call. Here's what's really happening on the ground this week. ...more Show the full description Show less Israel is fracturing from within — settler violence, Haredi protests, and a looming election that nobody can call. Here's what's really happening on the ground this week.
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In this video 0:00 Jewish Violence and Haredi Protests4:06 New School Year and Vision for Israel's Pack to School Program8:28 Israel's Upcoming Election Uncertainty13:28 International Criticism and Iran's Economic Crisis21:04 Security Threats, Shelters, Antisemitism, and Good News
Jewish Violence and Haredi Protests 0:00 This week, we have more early rains and about 2000000 Israeli children went back to school. Although, thankfully, those 2 events didn't happen at the same time. We also had another dust up with Turkish president Recep0:12 Erdogan even as the ongoing tensions with Iran appear to have entered a new phase. Tensions with Hezbollah and Lebanon also continue at a low boil, and there's been some new developments in the Gaza Strip. All that and0:24 much more is just ahead on this week's edition of VFI News from Israel.0:39 Before we get into the big news stories from Israel this week, I have to talk about 2 stories which are getting a lot of attention in the international media despite being very localized. The 1st story is0:51 about the shameful attacks against Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, occasionally abetted by IDF troops. It's gotten so bad that in a1:03 Palestinian village named Khusra, Palestinian families, including children, were besieged inside their own homes. Despite condemnations from Israeli officials as well as the usual suspects1:15 at the UN, EU, etcetera, this situation was not sorted out for many days. This is truly atrocious, and it is a bad situation, and it's part of a larger trend of Israeli1:27 Jews who are more like zealots carrying out acts of violence against Arabs in Judea and Samaria. Although I am reliably informed that acts of violence against these Jewish communities is also a regular1:39 occurrence and it rarely gets reported on, that's for sure, this does not justify random attacks of violence against Arabs in Judea and Samaria. It is also very foolish to do
1:50 this no matter what anyone's reasons might be because there are a lot of people looking for excuses to hate Israel, and we don't need to be handing them more excuses on a silver
2:02 platter. A related story is about the seemingly endless protests against anything and everything by crowds of mostly young and male ultra Orthodox or Haredi Jews. This last week,
2:14 there were crowds of Haredi youth standing on the light rail tracks in Jerusalem to protest a new line being built. There were also crowds of young Haredi men standing in the streets at the entrance to Jerusalem
2:26 to block buses coming into the city from other cities an hour before Shabbat officially ends on Saturday evening. Other Haredi young men were out in the streets this week protesting other
2:38 things, some of which almost made some kind of sense, many others of which did not at all. What these often absurd acts of protest had in common with the shameful attacks by Jewish young
2:49 zealots on Palestinians in Judea and Samaria is that the international media talked about them nonstop all week. The reason is painfully obvious. It's because these international
3:01 media agencies and networks know that there's a huge audience out there for people who love to hate this country of Israel. These people want to hear stories that make this country look bad and or
3:13 which make it look like this country is falling apart. And these stories about religiously observant Jewish young men behaving badly fit the bill. It's like if the media knew that their consumers really didn't
3:25 like Great Britain, so they just endlessly talked about the soccer hooligans who like to drink lots of beer and start riots whenever their favorite team either wins or losses. There are
3:36 10000000 Israelis, and only a few thousand of these delinquents are engaging in this bad behavior. Although we must admit that the government and the IDF are not stopping them enough, which is
3:48 also a problem. But to give it round the clock coverage and endless negative commentary is not journalism. It is something else entirely. Once again, if you're a praying
4:00 person, I would ask you to join me in praying into these issues because they've already caused Israel all kinds of problems, and it's just getting worse by the day. Let's move on to something
New School Year and Vision for Israel's Pack to School Program
4:11 more cheerful because this week, over 2000000 Israeli children had their 1st day of the new school year. Well, my grandchildren were among them, and I enjoyed the day along with many other parents and
4:23 grandparents. Of course, grandparents might enjoy it a little bit more than parents because because most of the time, it was the parents and not so much the grandparents that paid for all the backpacks, lunch boxes,
4:35 notebooks, pencils, and all the rest. Jokes aside, there are quite a few children who arrive at school on the 1st day and many subsequent days without all these things. This causes them to not be
4:47 able to take full advantage of educational opportunities in the short term, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that the embarrassment and shame this can cause often leaves emotional and
4:59 even psychological scars, which can haunt children for the rest of their lives. Quick side note here. I really hate it when I hear someone talking about how
5:11 ugly lies anyone ever told. The truth is that children are very vulnerable and fragile, and the traumatic experiences children suffer almost always stay with them and cause them problems well
5:23 into adulthood. If you search your memories for just a few moments, you can probably think of something that happened to you when you were a kid that you're still hurt, angry, or otherwise unhappy
5:35 about even at this very moment. In fact, in kindergarten, I was chosen to be 1 of the 3 little pigs in a little play, and I cried. So they gave me the acting part of Peter
5:47 the rabbit. Well, here at Vision for Israel, we want to do everything we can to protect and nurture children and their families as much as possible. And that's why we have several programs to help
5:58 families and communities in distress. That includes our pack to school program, which provides hundreds of children with the school supplies they need to walk into school with confidence. So if you wanna
6:10 know more, visit our website at vision for israel dot com, and please watch this short video.
7:22 For most children, the 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.
7:33 For some children, even a 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
7:45 need. This is the 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.
7:57 45 dollars provides a 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
8:09 just providing supplies, you're providing confidence. A simple backpack can change how a child feels walking into school. Prepared, confident, ready. Every
8:21 child deserves a strong start. Give today. Help a child walk into school ready to succeed. Sponsor a child today. Vision for Israel dot com.
Israel's Upcoming Election Uncertainty
8:46 Welcome back. Now we're going to talk briefly about domestic Israeli politics because it is now close enough to the elections that our viewers are asking us what we think will happen. The short
8:57 answer to that question is that I don't know what will happen and neither does anyone else, with the obvious exception of God himself. There are all kinds of things being said by various politicians,
9:09 pundits, faction leaders, and grassroots activists that could easily sway many votes between now and election day, which in Israel will be on October 27th. Although as I've said
9:21 many times, political polls are notoriously unreliable in this country. For what it's worth, most of the polls show that a block of right wing political parties led by incumbent prime minister Benjamin
9:33 Netanyahu will not win enough seats to form a majority governing coalition. However, that doesn't mean a block of left or left of center parties would necessarily be able
9:45 to form a majority government either. To briefly explain how we do things in Israel, there are no names of candidates on the ballots we cast for the Knesset, only the names of political parties.
9:57 Also, we don't have districts or anything like that. There are 120 seats in the Knesset, and every single 1 of them is at large for the whole country. This made sense in the
10:09 past when the population of this country was relatively small. But in my humble opinion, there needs to be some kind of reform to account for the much larger population we have today, which is
10:21 over 10000000 people. That having been said, there have been some reforms to the way elections are run, including the fact that a political party must now get at least
10:32 3.25 percent of the vote, which usually means around 4 seats. In order to pass the electoral threshold and enter the Knesset, which is the Israeli parliament, by the way, in the
10:43 last elections in 2022, around 4800000 votes were cast, and it's likely that roughly that many will be cast in the upcoming elections. Now 3.25 percent of
10:55 4800000 votes is 156000 votes. So that's about what every party must get in order to enter the Knesset. Of course, they all want to get as many
11:07 votes as possible and thus seats. And for every additional seat in the Knesset, each party will have to get around 40000 votes. Now those numbers I just gave you are approximate because something unexpected could happen,
11:18 and there could be far more people who substantial demographic
11:31 changes in this country in the last 4 years. Many people who voted in the last election are no longer Many people who voted in the last election are no longer with us, while others have emigrated for different reasons.
11:42 Now new immigrants have also arrived, and many young people have turned 18 and will be eligible to vote for the 1st time in these elections. So it's very difficult to get any kind of clear idea
11:54 how these people will vote, so we'll just have to wait and see. There are many reasons to believe or hope or fear or maybe a combination of all the above that this coming election will produce
12:06 very different results than the last 1 did in 2022. A lot has changed in the last 4 years, for better and for worse. This might be Netanyahu's swan song, but his
12:18 political obituary has been written many times, and later, it had to be retracted. Of course, he won't live forever, and his age is beginning to be an issue for some voters along with the
12:30 reports about his health issues. The man who has the best chance of replacing him as Israel's prime minister is according to those notoriously unreliable polls, former IDF chief
12:42 of staff Gadi Isengcutt. He's been in the Knesset for a while now, So if he manages to get in as prime minister, he won't be coming in cold. The other possible replacement for Netanyahu,
12:53 although at this point, it seems to be much less likely, is former prime minister Naftali Bennett. So if you're 1 of our viewers who is worried about the elections of the upcoming election, I can tell you
13:05 with some degree of confidence that you don't need to worry too much. Bibi might stay in office for another few years or he might not. But even if he doesn't, the guys who might replace him are qualified,
13:17 competent, and they have experience which will help guide them. In any case, I will ask you to join me in praying for these upcoming elections and all the candidates who are running. Remember that
International Criticism and Iran's Economic Crisis
13:29 the Bible commands us to pray for all those in positions of authority, not just the ones we voted for. Our next story is about Turkish president Recep Erdogan, who gave
13:41 a speech last Friday in which he said among other things that, quote, the current government in Israel addicted to war is trying every kind of provocation to destabilize the region. He went on to
13:53 say that in his humble opinion, quote, the extremist occupying and murderous ideology called Zionism was the biggest problem countries in the region had because it is preventing them from defending
14:05 regional peace and promoting humanitarian values. Finally, he said that the genocide network has turned Gaza into the world's largest cemetery for children, and so on and so forth.
14:17 Israel's foreign ministry responded by pointing out that Erdogan is presiding over a regime which has imprisoned political opponents, journalists, and academics, making democracy in
14:29 Turkey impossible. It has also launched multiple military campaigns in neighboring countries and is hosting a major Hamas headquarters on its soil. The following day, Turkey's foreign
14:41 minister issued a reply saying that, quote, the lies and slanders targeting president Erdogan in the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel reflect the cowardly and corrupt
14:52 mindset of the criminals within the Israeli government foremost among them Netanyahu. It went on to say that the efforts of Israeli institutions operating in a manner similar to Nazi
15:04 Goebbels propaganda machine are no longer sufficient in the international community, no longer believes the lies of the Netanyahu government. In a related story, another person in a position of authority,
15:16 Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in a radio interview over the weekend that reports of a large influx of migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta last month were
15:28 actually exaggerated. Really? Well, specifically Sanchez said that, quote, after July 30th and 31, there was a spread of rumors and disinformation from social networks
15:40 linked both to Russia and to Israel and to an ultra right international that always uses migration not only to attack Spain, but also to attack Europe and divide it, unquote.
15:52 Well, that's interesting because I just came back from Europe. And everywhere I went in Poland and Germany, people are absolutely upset about the immigration issue that has not been
16:04 plugged up and stopped. Well, as absurd and absurd and infuriating as all of this might be, it is my sad duty to inform you that there are many people in this world who love to hate Israel and are
16:16 ready to believe anything negative anyone has to say about it, no matter how untrue, hypocritical, or even absurd it might be. I'm afraid many people want to be gaslighted and
16:28 deceived, and that reminds us of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 9 to 12. Here's what it says, everybody. The coming of the lawless 1 is according to the working of
16:39 Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.
16:52 And for this reason, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
17:04 That is a heartbreakingly accurate prophetic description of the world we live in, friends, and I'm afraid it's just going to keep getting worse until Yeshua returns and sets everything right. Come,
17:16 Yeshua, quickly. In the meantime, there's some more news this week about another country which has been the source of a great deal of hateful and dishonest rhetoric about Israel, and that's, guess who,
17:28 Iran. Iranian president, Masoud Baseshkian, gave an interview this past week in which he, as visibly frustrated and, to use an old fashioned metaphor, at the end of his rope, he
17:40 declared in the interview that the United States campaign of economic sanctions on his regime certainly is having an effect, but that, quote, some say sanctions have no effect at all to those people.
17:52 I really don't know what to say. We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions, unquote. He added that this includes austerity measures, including raising the price of gasoline,
18:04 but Iranian consumers are already suffering under crushing inflation and a real currency that is trading at over 2000000 to the dollar, which means it has hardly any
18:16 purchasing power whatsoever. Scattered reports of protests are already beginning to emerge, and supreme leader Ayatollah Mushtaba Khomeini, who may or may not still be alive, nevertheless,
18:28 issued a statement this week blaming Pazeshkian for the bad economic situation. According to a written statement released in Khomeini's name, there is the need to seriously address the chain of
18:40 economic and livelihood challenges such as inflation, unemployment, management of prices, and the market for goods and services. This news flash style statement also breathlessly
18:52 declared that Pezeshkian and the secular administration must do something about the terrible situation. This was followed up on Sunday by another letter attributed to Khomeini, which he cried out to his
19:04 fellow heads of state in the Middle East to stand together with Iran against Israel and the United States. In a message posted to his official Telegram account and ostensibly in honor of Islamic
19:15 Unity Week, Khamenei declared that, quote, the solution to the problems of the Islamic nations is unity of words, friendship, and cooperation on the path of goodness. Anyone
19:27 in any position who does anything that leads to division among Muslims and creates conflict in the Muslim community, knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, has served the
19:39 purpose of the enemies of Islam. My emphatic and repeated recommendation to the rulers of Islamic countries, especially the countries of West Asia and the Gulf, is to identify your real
19:51 enemy, understand his plan, and confront it, unquote. Then on Monday morning, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired several ballistic missiles at Jordan and the UAE
20:02 in response to an American strike on 1 of their missile launching sites on an island in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the only latest Iranian attack on its brothers in the Muslim dominated
20:14 nations of the Middle East. To make a brief comment, it seems that when Iran's leaders say that Muslims should unite against a common enemy, what they mean is that they should submit themselves to the
20:26 gentle mercies of Iranian domination of the region. It's kind of like a small business owner who pays taxes to the city so the police will protect him from criminals, But then the criminals
20:38 themselves show up and tell him that they're taking donations for a neighborhood watch program to protect everyone from crime. The technical term for this is a shakedown, and
20:50 that's what Khamenei's alleged letter is really doing. The leaders of these Arab Gulf countries are many things, but stupid isn't 1 of them. And I hope they're not stupid enough to buy this load of rubbish
21:01 Khamenei is trying to sell them. Now back to the news and staying on the topic of ballistic missiles and rockets, the Iranian terrorist proxy army in Lebanon, Hezbollah was back in the headlines this
Security Threats, Shelters, Antisemitism, and Good News
21:13 past week because it attacked IDF positions with drones, violating the ceasefire and drawing a quick IDF response. Hezbollah has made it very clear that it is not ready to disarm
21:25 and become an ordinary Lebanese political party as the internationally recognized government of Lebanon, the United States, European Union, France, and most Sunni countries in the Middle East are demanding
21:37 that Hezbollah do. Despite taking a severe beating from the IDF over the last couple of years, remember the pagers and the walkie talkies, and losing their overland supply routes from Iran through Syria,
21:49 they've still got a substantial arsenal of rockets and drones with which they can menace northern Israel. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas has also continued rebuilding their capacity to attack Israelis,
22:01 And the same can be said about Houthis in Yemen and various Shiite militias in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. With all that in mind, as well as what I said before about the continuing threats from Iran and even
22:13 Turkey, Here at Vision for Israel, we are continuing to supply bomb safety shelters and other life saving equipment to civil defense teams in communities all over the country. If you
22:25 wanna know more how you can help, visit our website at vision for Israel dot com and partner with us. So please watch this short video.
23:34 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
23:46 came into southern Israel, particularly by the terrorist group known as Hamas. And Israel had to find a way further in order to protect its citizens, its residents
23:58 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
24:10 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
24:22 being killed instantly, but also there's tremendous collateral damage and and people that get wounded even from shrapnel. And so if you place a safety
24:34 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
24:45 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
24:57 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
25:09 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
25:20 that it's important for us to refer to scripture and Psalm 91, the whole chapter talks about, God providing us a shelter. And we have seen amazing,
25:32 amazing deliverances from enemy rockets as a result. And now we've installed over 400 shelters across the southern and northern borders of Israel.
25:44 And they weigh 30000 kilos each, or that's 30 tons. And it's a lot of weight, and rebar and concrete that's been specially mixed. And also with
25:56 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
26:08 longer than between 5 seconds to maximum 45 seconds to get into a shelter to be protected. Welcome back, friends. We're almost out
26:20 of time for this week's story report. So I'll just quickly mention a couple of other items starting with the news from the diaspora, which is mixed. Antisemitism continues to be a major concern in
26:32 several western countries, including the United States, UK, France, Canada, and Australia. Major incidents of violence against Jewish people and institutions have been reported in all of these
26:44 countries recently, and it's sparking 2 similar but separate phenomena. The 1st is a growing interest in Jewish communities in those countries in making aliyah to Israel. In other words, people
26:56 immigrating to Israel. But the 2nd is that a growing number of Jewish young people are simply checking out. They're no longer wearing traditional Jewish clothes, withdrawing from Jewish communal institutions,
27:08 and otherwise trying to just blend in with their surrounding culture. Now I can't judge anyone who makes that decision because I see how hard it is to be Jewish in Western countries today. But I
27:20 will offer this small piece of advice to anyone who is considering taking this step. Simply put, it won't do you any good. The hatred of Jews in Israel is not natural. It is a
27:32 spiritual issue at root. These demonic forces don't hate you because you're wearing a kippah and going to Hebrew school. They hate you because of the destiny God created you to live out.
27:44 If you take off the kippah or stop going to Hebrew school, the demonic spiritual forces won't stop hating you because you can still live out your God ordained destiny. I know that's kind of heavy, but
27:56 it's the truth and part of you probably already knows it. Now we've come to the end of our program, and I wanna continue the tradition of ending with some good news. So here it is. This week, we got some more
28:08 rain in parts of Israel after the long baking hot summer. Temperatures are beginning to cool off in the evenings. It's a very welcome change and badly needed as we prepare for the fall high holy
28:19 days or the feast of the Lord. With that, I'm Barry Siegel, and this has been another edition of VFI news from Israel. I love you all out there. God bless you. Thank you.
Barry & Batya Segal4.55K followers
