Skip to content Israel Under Fire — Missiles, Terror & a Global Food Crisis Jun 15 · 29 min ...more
Israel Under Fire — Missiles, Terror & a Global Food Crisis
June 15, 2026 · 29 min
Israel Under Fire this week — ballistic missiles over the Galilee, a terror attack in central Israel, and a global food crisis nobody is talking about. Here's everything you need to know.
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
June 15, 2026 · 29 min · VFI News
Israel Under Fire this week — ballistic missiles over the Galilee, a terror attack in central Israel, and a global food crisis nobody is talking about. Here's everything you need to know. ...more Show the full description Show less Israel Under Fire this week — ballistic missiles over the Galilee, a terror attack in central Israel, and a global food crisis nobody is talking about. Here's everything you need to know.
Series VFI News Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
In this video 0:00 Violence Erupts: Attacks and Air Alerts8:00 Global Food Crisis via Strait of Hormuz14:00 Economic Strains and Family Aid19:54 Rising Threats: Turkey and Internal Divisions28:00 Haredi Violence and Glimmer of Hope
Violence Erupts: Attacks and Air Alerts 0:00 This week saw violence on Israel's northern border, in the skies over the country, in the Persian Gulf, and within Israeli society, both the Arab and Jewish sectors. It is a very difficult time0:12 here in the Holy Land, almost as difficult as anything we've experienced over the last 2 and a half years of kinetic battles with our terrorist enemies. Furthermore, the economy is making us all0:23 dizzy with its mix of good and bad news. All that and much more is just ahead on this week's edition of VFI News from Israel.0:44 Shalom. I'm Barry Siegel from the Israel desk. Regular viewers of this weekly report will know that I like to end with some good news, and we're going to continue that tradition this week. But I'm afraid that before0:56 we get to that point, I have a lot of news to report to you that is not so cheerful, and some of it is actually quite dreadful. We'll start with the terrorist attack in Central Israel on Sunday,1:08 which took the life of 1 Israeli and left 5 others wounded. This was the result of a string of drive by shooting attacks on people filling up at a gas station and other public places near the1:20 central Israel community of Kochav Yair. The attacker, an Arab citizen of Israel, was neutralized by security forces, and another man was later arrested on suspicion of1:31 involvement in the attack. Now a few hours later, we got the news that in response to Hezbollah rocket fire into the Galilee, the air force had struck a Hezbollah headquarters in the Dahya1:43 neighborhood of Beirut. Iranian officials vowed that Israel will pay dearly for this strike. And late on Sunday evening, they fired a barrage of 10 ballistic missiles into the Galilee
1:55 region. All the missiles were intercepted or landed in open areas, thank God, causing no damage or casualties. However, the government had already canceled school and many other things
2:07 for the next day. So many people stayed up late to see what might happen next, figuring they could sleep in the next morning since the kids didn't have school and maybe work was canceled too. However,
2:19 at 6 AM Monday morning, the alerts came over our phones. And a few minutes later, the sirens wailed telling us to go down into the shelters. Now those who had stayed up late had to shake
2:31 the cobwebs out of their heads and get moving as best they could. And perhaps because of this, a few injuries were reported of people who tripped and fell while on their way to the shelters resulting in
2:43 minor injuries. Now for the rest of the week, there were many more alerts especially in the Galilee as the battles are continuing with Hezbollah, Iran, and the Houthis. Now these events remind
2:55 us here at Vision for Israel why we continue and so seriously endeavor to provide bomb safety shelters to Israeli communities as well as equipment to civilian 1st
3:07 response teams such as the ones who responded to this terror attack. Israel has been at war for almost 3 years now, and it's not over yet. Bomb safety shelters are
3:18 still needed, and so is equipment for civilian 1st responders. The government is spending a great deal of money on replenishing stocks of ammunition, fuel, and all the other stuff that have been used up by
3:30 the IDF during this war. The budgets for civilian disaster response agencies are not so big, and that's why organizations like Vision for Israel are stepping into the
3:42 gap. So if you wanna know more about how you can be part of this project, visit our website vision for israel dot com, and please watch this short video.
4:53 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
5:04 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
5:16 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
5:28 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
5:40 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
5:52 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
6:04 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
6:15 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
6:27 street, outside of the 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
6:39 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,
6:51 amazing deliverances from enemy rockets as a result, and now we've installed over 400 shelters across the southern and northern borders of Israel.
7:03 And they weigh 30000 kilos each, or that's 30 tons. And it's a lot of weight on rebar and concrete that's been specially mixed. And also with
7:15 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
7:26 longer than between 5 seconds to maximum 45 seconds to get into a shelter to be protected. Now we're staying on the topic of
7:38 the ongoing conflict with Iran, but switching to the news coming out of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz because every single human being walking this Earth's surface is being directly impacted
7:50 by what's going on there, and even more so by what is not going on there. What's still not going on in the Strait of Hormuz is the orderly and consistent passage of ships carrying crude
Global Food Crisis via Strait of Hormuz
8:02 oil, liquefied natural gas, helium, components for agricultural fertilizer, and many other raw materials that are needed for the global economy. Farmers in many parts of the
8:14 world have already missed a critical fertilization period for the spring planting season. Now the price of diesel fuel, which is what most heavy machinery runs on, including the massive
8:26 tractors farmers use to plant, tend, and harvest their crops, is also rising fast, and there are already shortages in many places. Between the higher prices and lower
8:37 availability of both fertilizer and diesel fuel, many farmers have been forced to cut back on their operations. That means smaller harvest in a few months are now unavoidable. As I've reported
8:49 previously in this and other venues, the World Food Programme estimates that almost 30 percent of the world's population is already food insecure, and that number will surely go
9:01 up. To use some more old fashioned terms, famine and starvation on a very large scale are already happening in many parts of the world, and they're going to get much worse.
9:13 Wherever you're watching this, I urge you to take this issue seriously. The prices at the gas pump and the grocery store are not coming down at any time soon. And at some point, there will be
9:25 less of these commodities available to anyone at any price. So if you haven't already tried to find ways to use less fuel, I know some people have already parked their automobile and started taking a
9:37 bicycle to work. Now if the stores you patronize are within walking distance, get a wagon to haul stuff instead of taking the car. Another thing I advise everyone to do is plant a vegetable
9:49 garden or maybe buy an electric car. I don't know. You have to find a way for each and every place that you are at wherever you are watching this in the world. Friends, it is really time to start thinking about
10:01 these things. You'll thank yourselves later for whatever steps you take today. And 1 of these influencers who I follow recently said, quote, the moment you stop thinking things are going to go back
10:13 to normal soon is the moment you start making better decisions, unquote. Here in Israel, the politicians and others in positions of authority really need to start making some better
10:24 decisions. But until they do, it's up to ordinary people like you and me to do our best to look after ourselves and our own families and communities. So plant a garden, get a bike, and pray
10:36 every day for these things. Now getting back to the Strait of Hormuz, there is no indication that the standoff between the United States and Iran is going to end, and this waterway is not
10:48 going to open up again anytime soon. President Trump and members of his administration make regular comments saying a deal is imminent, and maybe it is. But those pronouncements just don't sound
11:00 very convincing anymore, and I'm a little worried that Israel is going to be blamed for the ongoing hardships we're seeing all over the world. Needless to say, Iran should be blamed for this situation.
11:12 But somehow, most of the world's media ecosystem and many world governments have a difficult time getting their heads around that fact. However, just over the last weekend, Mohsin Rezai, the
11:24 senior military adviser to Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, told CNN that the Islamic Republic is demanding that 24000000000 dollars in frozen Iranian assets be
11:36 released to them as a condition for any ceasefire deal. The sheer brazen audacity of this demand should take our breath away, but the regime seems to think it's perfectly
11:47 reasonable for them to make it. Not everyone agrees. And a few hours after Rezai spoke to CNN, reports surfaced that the US Treasury is considering the idea of releasing
11:59 those frozen assets, but not to Iran. Rather, they might be sent to Gulf Arab countries like Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia so that these countries can use the
12:11 money to repair damage done to them by Iranian drone and missile attacks. Bravo. I like the idea. You have my vote. Iranian officials reacted with great anger to these reports, saying
12:23 the proposal was a violation of international law among other things. I'll leave it to others to make comments about all this, but these reports make it pretty clear that when president Trump says a deal
12:35 is just around the corner, he's either trying to keep the oil markets calm or he just isn't being given very good information by the just isn't being given very good information by his subordinates. In any case, the
12:45 exchange of military attacks by Israel, Hezbollah, and around this week is a clear indication that this war is far from over. On top of that, there's another minor detail in the form of
12:57 Iran continuing to fire ballistic missiles and drones at its neighbors, including several attacks against Kuwait and Bahrain over recent days. Most of these incoming weapons were shot down by
13:09 US forces, but debris from the intercepted missiles fell in populated areas and caused widespread property damage. American forces also attacked numerous Iranian missile
13:21 silos and other military infrastructure in the Persian Gulf over this past week. Now friends, I don't know what to tell you except to continue praying for the safety of all the people just trying to live their
13:33 lives in this part of the world, including the tens of millions of Iranian civilians and Christians who have all been taken hostage by this jihadist regime. Now on that note, there were renewed
13:45 protests in Iranian cities this past week by university students who are angry about the changes that have been made to their end of term exam schedules. Candidly, I think these kids are
13:56 more than a little ridiculous to expect their test schedules to be normal under the circumstances, but maybe that's just a pretext they're using to galvanize street demonstrations, and those
Economic Strains and Family Aid
14:08 demonstrations will eventually lead to something more serious. It's worth praying for the Iranian Christian churches and the underground churches and to pray for the normal Iranian
14:20 civilians. It's worth praying for the whole Middle East, in fact. In the meantime, students in Israel are also having end of term tests and graduation ceremonies this month. Although school was canceled
14:32 nationwide after the Iranian missile strikes on Sunday. However, the school year is almost over, guys, and hundreds of thousands of Israeli children are headed to summer camps. Or if they're really
14:44 lucky, they'll get to sit around and do some more studying on something they're interested in, like sports or skateboarding. I don't know. I did those things when I was that age. Now those were some of my
14:55 happiest, childish memories, to tell you the truth. But soon enough, it'll be time to go back to school. It comes so quickly, and that's the time when a lot of kids won't be so happy again. Who knows? The
15:07 parents need to in order to go back to work. Now that's because it costs a lot of money to get a child all the school supplies they need to have a successful school year, and many families in Israel these days are
15:19 really struggling. The rise in value of the shekel sounds like good news, and for some sectors of the economy, it is good news. I'd sure rather be in Israel and have my currency trading at 2.9 to 1
15:31 US dollar rather than be in Iran and have my currency trading at around 2000000 rial to 1 US dollar. But having too strong a currency also causes problems for a small
15:43 country like Israel, including the fact that some large corporations that set up operations here specifically to take advantage of the weak currency and highly skilled workforce are now
15:55 shutting down their factories, research centers, and other infrastructure here and moving them elsewhere. The jobs this infrastructure provided are disappearing, of course, but many of the highly
16:06 skilled engineers and other specialists are also leaving the country, going to where the new operations are being set up. In May, the Bank of Israel began buying large amounts of foreign
16:18 currency, including around 801000000 dollars. Oh, that extra 1 could have come to vision for Israel, which has had the effect of reversing the overvaluation of the shekel. A
16:30 Bank of Israel official said that wasn't the primary reason they did it, but they're fine with this side benefit for the economy. Don't ask me to explain how all this works. I just know this is how they
16:42 do it. And the sooner the value of the shekel starts coming back into a more normative range, the better it will be for the most ordinary working class Israelis. Now I'm sure some high rollers are
16:54 making money off this situation, but I'm not certainly 1 of them. In fact, as I said before, many Israeli families are in financial distress. Reports this week brought some more grim news
17:06 as tens of thousands of IDF reserve soldiers who fought in these wars over the past nearly 3 years need counseling services, and the government is struggling to find budgets for these needs.
17:18 Well, here at Vision for Israel, we're doing everything we can to provide assistance to these families. So if you wanna know more about how you can help, visit our website vision for israel dot com, and
17:30 please watch this short video. During the holidays, most families gather around a full table. But for some families in Israel, the question is simple and painful. How will we afford it this year? With the
17:42 gift of 130 dollars, you provide a holiday grocery card directly into a parent's hands, allowing them to choose the food their household needs with dignity. Not a package, not leftovers,
17:54 but the freedom to shop for their own family. Last year, supporters like you helped provide holiday support to thousands of families across Israel. For over 30 years, Vision for Israel has worked
18:06 directly with local communities and social services to deliver trusted on the ground assistance. Before the holiday begins, cover 1 family, make sure 1 more table is full.
18:22 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.
18:34 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
18:46 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.
18:58 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
19:10 just providing supplies, you're providing confidence. A simple backpack can change how a child feels walking into school. Prepared, confident, ready. Ready. Every
19:22 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.
19:47 Now there's another story I need to tell you about, and it comes from Turkey, which many analysts, including myself, believe is going to be the next big strategic threat to Israel when this conflict with
Rising Threats: Turkey and Internal Divisions
19:59 Iran finally ends 1 way or the other. This Saturday, Turkey's interior minister gave us 1 more reason to believe this is the case when he gave a speech to the AK Party Quorum
20:11 Provincial Advisory Council meeting in which he told a little story about himself. According to this story, when he was the governor of Korem and Erzurum provinces, he would pray every
20:23 day, quote, oh, Lord, grant me the governorship of Jerusalem, unquote. He went on to explain that he hoped and believed that Jerusalem would be liberated in the same way that Damascus was liberated
20:35 by the jihadi forces led by Abu Mohammed al Jelani, who is rapidly turning into a Turkish puppet. Then he concluded speaking about both Damascus and Jerusalem by saying,
20:46 quote, god willing, they will come under our sovereignty and dominion once more because we have a global leader like Recep Tayyip Erdogan at our helm, a world leader, unquote.
20:58 Friends, to switch briefly to commentary mode, it is utterly absurd that Turkey is still a member of the NATO alliance. It is even more absurd that all the people who made such a big deal out of president Trump
21:10 being disrespectful to Denmark by casually talking about invading Greenland are thunderously silent when Turkish officials disrespect the sovereignty of other countries. This goes
21:22 way beyond the cabinet minister publicly praying to be the governor of Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel. Erdogan has openly threatened to attack fellow NATO member, Greece, and EU member
21:34 Cyprus. In the past, he talks about his dreams of retaking territory in Southeastern Europe, which was in centuries past part of the Ottoman Empire, but today makes up the
21:46 EU and NATO member states. Where is the outrage over this? Where is it, my friends, in the Western countries and throughout Europe? It's silence. Once again, no 1 should be surprised.
21:58 Just as Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 verses 37 to 39, This world is filled with wickedness, lies, deceit, double standards, violence, and evil, just as it
22:10 was in the days of Noah. Now moving on, I have to report some very sad stories to you about the internal dynamics in Israeli society. I'll start with the Arab sector, which is
22:21 experiencing a devastating crime wave that has already included 127 murders so far in 2026. This is a 19 percent increase from the 1st half of
22:33 2025, which ended with the highest number ever of murder victims in Israel. It was also the worst year in Israeli history for several other categories of serious crimes, which negatively
22:45 affects Arabs, Jews, and everyone else in this country. So please join me in urgent prayer for this situation because it is a serious problem for everyone in the nation of Israel.
22:57 Another problem, a serious 1 we all have is the escalating violence between different Jewish groups here, especially the ultra orthodox or Haredi groups and basically everyone else.
23:09 There have been outbreaks of violent street demonstrations on these fault lines many times over the past several years, but most of the time, the only victims were garbage bins that got burned up or maybe a street sign
23:21 or 2 that got knocked down. 1 of the favorite tactics of the Haredi groups when they want to protest something is to stand in the street or sit down on train tracks, I hope they don't get run over, So that
23:32 vehicles also can't move. Sometimes that gets boring. So someone sets a dumpster on fire, a garbage bin. And this happens more often when the demonstrations go into the evening hours after the sun
23:44 goes down. Maybe they're cold, they light a fire. I don't know. The fumes from these fires might make someone sick, but otherwise, people have rarely been seriously harmed by any of this nonsense. Recently, though,
23:56 this has changed as Haredi vigilantes have gathered outside the private homes of police officers and judges who are part of the effort to try to force the Haredi young men to enlist in
24:08 the IDF like everyone else has to. Last Wednesday, however, a riot broke out in the settlement of Alon Shvut at the home of Supreme Court deputy chief justice Noam Solberg,
24:20 who along with his wife was home at the time. The Haredi rioters broke windows in the house and did other damage in an effort to break in and physically confront the judge because they're not happy with
24:32 him for criticizing the government of Netanyahu for not enforcing laws against draft dodging. It's also important to point out that this judge was part of a panel that ruled in
24:43 2024 that the system of exempting ultra orthodox Haredi young men from IDF service was invalid and needed to be reformed. Now a statement by the judicial
24:55 authority said the incident was grave and unacceptable, and an attempt to harm the sense of security of judicial office holders and their families. The statement went on to say that efforts
25:07 to pressure, intimidate, or deter judges will not influence the fulfillment of their roles. Israeli judges will continue to carry out their work professionally, independently,
25:19 and without fear in accordance with the rule of law and their duty to the public. Several other political leaders and elected officials also issued statements condemning the riot, with many of
25:30 them blaming the governing coalition headed by Netanyahu in a transparent attempt to make use of this incident to score points in the upcoming elections this coming fall. Sounding a less dignified,
25:43 but in my humble opinion, more honest note, Solberg's wife spoke with journalists after the attempted break in of her home and said, quote, we are children of Holocaust survivors. How can
25:55 Jews hurt 1 another? Look at this devastation. It's a pogrom. What is this? Kristallnacht, unquote. To switch briefly to commentary mode, some might say her rhetoric
26:06 was overwrought, but I think she made a very valid point. And as a citizen of this country for over 5 decades now, I must say it is deeply painful for me to see that things have deteriorated
26:18 to this point. I also wanna say that it is deeply shameful that the leadership of the Haredi community, particularly the political leadership as represented by Shas leader and member of the Knesset
26:30 Aryeh Deri, who is a deputy prime minister, by the way. Instead of telling these violent young Haredi men that they should be ashamed of themselves for breaking the law, these elders of the Haredi community
26:43 are waging their fingers at the police saying, quote, shame on you for enforcing the law, unquote. This outrageous situation simply cannot be allowed to continue. To be very blunt,
26:54 the Haredi community in Israel wants to have all the benefits of living here and none of the responsibilities. They don't want to serve in the IDF or in social assistance services, even though this country has been at
27:06 war for almost 3 years now and it's very obvious that every able-bodied person is needed to help defend us. They also don't wanna work in regular jobs that generate tax revenue and other kinds of
27:18 value for the economy, although they are very aware that the welfare benefits most of them live on come from the taxes that are paid by others. This is only 1 of the many ways they demonstrate contempt for
27:30 everyone who isn't part of their group. And it's long past time for people of goodwill in the Haredi community, of which I'm sure there are many, to demand better from their leaders. As a footnote, the perennial
27:42 threat these leaders make that if the state tries to enforce them to serve in the IDF, they'll leave Israel on mass is a bad joke. There's no other country on this planet where they could go to and be allowed to
27:54 live the kind of lifestyle they've been allowed to live here. And I am sure many of them know this, at least on some level. Now as promised, we'll end this week's report with some good news. Israel's foreign
Haredi Violence and Glimmer of Hope
28:06 ministry announced this week that it will soon open a new embassy in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, which is a major diplomatic victory for the Jewish state given the long history of poor relations with this
28:18 Eastern European country. Well, with that, I'm Barry Siegel, and this has been another edition of VFI News from Israel. Love you all out there. God bless you, and see you next week.
Barry & Batya Segal4.55K followers
