News Digest — 6/29/26
Herzog Warns Of ‘Alarming’ Surge Of Antisemitism At Romanian Pogrom Memorial Ceremony
President Isaac Herzog attended a Romanian state ceremony on Sunday (28th) marking the 85th anniversary of the last pogrom, where he delivered a speech warning of the dangers of antisemitism in the present day.
In June of 1941, more than 13,000 Jewish inhabitants of Iasi, constituting around one-third of the city’s Jewish population were massacred by the Nazi-aligned Romanian authorities. Today the community numbers in the hundreds.
The ceremony was held at the last Jewish cemetery and included representatives of the Romanian government, city leadership, and members of the Jewish community.
Chief Rabbi of Romania Rafael Shaffer, opened the ceremony with the recitation of Kaddish, followed by Herzog’s speech. Afterward, a reburial ceremony for newly identified victims of the massacre took place.
“It is no coincidence that in this very town, decades before the last Iasi pogrom and massacre, Naftali Herz Imber wrote the first draft of what would become the Israel national anthem: Hatikvah, The Hope, he said.
“Imagine as we stand here, in this somber, sobering place, we note that our nation’s hope emerged from Iasi. Naftali Herz Imber’s words became the anthem of that great human movement, Zionism, that saw Jews take their destiny into their own hands and establish a Jewish national home in the Land of Israel,” Herzog said.
In his speech, Herzog also made a connection between the antisemitism of the Holocaust and the antisemitism Jews experience in the present day.
“This act of remembrance for the many thousands of Jewish women, men, children, and elderly murdered on this soil, in Iasi and its surroundings between June 28 and July 6, 1941, does not ‘erase’ the suffering of the victims.”
“Nor does it lessen the ethical stain of the perpetrators. It does not undo the murder, the humiliation, the beatings, or the death trains, orchestrated high up, but unleashed across every level of society, during those infernal summer days, 85 years ago.”
“Nor does it help us make sense of this simple but burning question: How? How can the cruelty of this scope, across an entire society, possibly be comprehended?”
Herzog directed focus to the achievements of Romanian Jews, such as the founding of Rosh Pina in northern Israel and Naftali Herz Imber’s composition of ‘Hatikvah,’ Israel’s national anthem.
“It is therefore all the more alarming that in too many places across Europe, and through the sinister influence of an evil empire that traffics in hatred,” Herzog remarked, “antisemitism is again rearing its ugly head.”
“The moral infrastructure that humanity established in response to the moral destruction of the Holocaust is weaker than it has been for eighty years,” he continued.
“This is a danger for Jews, this is a danger for all people of goodwill. It is therefore our shared responsibility to recognize and name this danger, to actively embrace the moral calling it invokes, and to fiercely combat it. Let that be the lesson of Iasi,” he concluded
Herzog is set to address the Romanian Parliament on Monday (29th).
IDF Soldier Killed By Hezbollah Terrorist In Southern Lebanon
An Israeli Defense Forces soldier was killed and another was lightly wounded during operations against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the military said on Sunday (28th).
Capt. David Hazutt, 21, from the southern city of Ashkelon , served as a platoon commander in the 12th Battalion of the Golani Infantry Brigade.
The soldier who was injured “was evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital, and his family has been updated,”the IDF stated.
An IDF official told JNS that Hazutt was killed around 2: a.m. on Sunday (28th) after soldiers encountered a Hezbollah terrorist who entered a “suspicious structure” in Southern Lebanon’s Deir Siryan area.
Following the incident, the soldiers began searching for the terrorist and struck targets in the area,” the military official said.
The total death toll among Israeli troops since the start of the War of Redemption – which was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre – now stands at 964, according to official IDF data.
Hazutt is the first soldier to be killed by Hezbollah since Jerusalem and Beirut signed a framework agreement on Friday (26th) aimed at removing the Iranian proxy from southern Lebanon.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday (27th) that Jerusalem had instructed the IDF to prepare a “prolonged stay” in the security zone in South Lebanon.
“The key principle established in the framework is that there will be no Israeli redeployment from Southern Lebanon, no withdrawal whatsoever, as long as the Hezbollah terrorist organization has not been disarmed throughout Lebanon, and the safety of northern residents is guaranteed,” the defense minister said.
Hezbollah renewed its rocket and drone attacks from Southern Lebanon on Israel March 2, following the targeted killing of Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of “Operation Roaring Lion” on Feb. 28.
In response, Jerusalem launched a broad aerial campaign against Hezbollah targets and expanded military operations in Lebanon aimed at preventing cross-border attacks on Israeli communities.
Following the resumption of hostilities Lebanon President Joseph Aoun vowed to do “the impossible” to stop cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, and moved to outlaw the Iranian proxy.
Israel and Lebanese officials subsequently held five rounds of historic direct talks at the U.S State department, resulting in the framework of understandings that was reached on Friday (26th).
It was reported Sunday evening that the terrorist who killed Capt. David Hazutt, 21, early Sunday (28th) was located and eliminated Sunday evening.
House Urges Trump To Halt F-35 Sale To Turkey Over Israel Partnership
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is urging the Trump administration not to approve the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey, warning that Ankara’s continued possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system poses a serious threat to US military technology.
In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the lawmakers argued that moving forward with the sale would jeopardize American national security, weaken trust among key regional allies, and reward Turkey despite longstanding concerns over its defense with Moscow.
The letter from congressional representatives further warned that the Russian defense system “poses a direct threat to US military aircraft, including the F-16 and the F-35 by enabling Russian intelligence to gain insights into sensitive US technologies if these systems are operated alongside one another.”
The lawmakers also cautioned that approving the sale would undermine US credibility with allies that have consistently supported Washington’s strategic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Such a decision would also send the wrong message to America’s allies and partners… Key US partners in the Eastern Mediterranean including Greece, Cyprus and Israel, have consistently aligned with and supported US security interests,”
Granting Ankara access to advanced American fighter aircraft despite its conduct would undermine these partnerships and embolden Turkey to intensify its aggressive behavior in the region, thereby jeopardizing the regional stability that we have worked so hard to preserve.”
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump must remember Erdogan’s anti-Israel statements.
“Hardly a day goes by that Erdogan doesn’t call for the destruction of the State of Israel. .. We will also draw the attention of our American friends to these statements,” Netanyahu said, on Sunday (28th).
Israeli lawmakers also highlighted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s repeated threats against Israel, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned during this week’s cabinet meeting.
“”We take these words very seriously, because if we have learned one thing in the history of our people, when someone says he intends to destroy you, take him seriously. We take things seriously and we will also draw the attention of our American friends to these statements. We do not ignore them,” Netanyahu said.
Later on Sunday (28th), MK Amit Halevi called for the Turkish Consulate in Jerusalem to be shut down, He claimed that it had become a de facto embassy for Hamas.
“The Turkish Consulate must be expelled from Jerusalem,” he said. The extremist Islamist dictator (Erdogan), who hosted senior Hamas officials in Ankara and Istanbul both before and after the October 7th massacres, cannot be permitted to facilitate their agenda here.”
“What is happening inside this consulate is the direct, daily promotion and support of Hamas. We are dealing not only with historical atrocities from a century ago, but with a genocidal agenda against the Jewish state today that Turkey, under Erdogan’s leadership, fully and completely supports. This must end.”
US Announces Trilateral Framework Agreement With Israel And Lebanon
The governments of Israel and Lebanon, with the full support of the US, signed an agreement in Washington on June 26 in which “the two countries declare their ambition to end conflict between them, ensure the sovereignty and security of both countries, and establish peaceful neighborly relations between the two countries. Israel and Lebanon affirm the right of each state to exist in peace, and their mutual desire to live in security as neighboring sovereign states. Israel and Lebanon hereby declare their intent to conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes, and to therewith formally conclude any state of war between them.
The two governments “commit to a reciprocal, sequenced process,with clear conditions, whereby the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) will restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory. Pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups and dismantlement of associated infrastructure… The Framework will set out the requisite measures, security arrangements, and verification mechanisms to advance this process… The LAF will gradually assume full and effective security responsibility in pilot zones…Two initial zones have been agreed to by the IDF and the LAF.”
“The Government of Lebanon reaffirms its resolute and irreversible commitment to restoring and exercising full sovereignty over all its territory. The Government of Lebanon will rebuild the state’s monopoly on the use of force, achieve the complete and verified disarmament of all non-state armed groups, and ensure that such groups will have no military or security role and no armed capabilities anywhere in Lebanon.”
“The government of Israel stresses that its military actions in Lebanon are solely a consequence of the attacks, threat posed by, and hostile intent of non-state armed groups, particularly Hezbollah… The termination of this threat.. will eliminate any future need for IDF military action or presence in Lebanon… The Government of Israel declares that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon.”
“The government of Lebanon” recognizes “that any new US assistance will be strictly conditioned on verifiable milestones, full transparency, demonstrated results, and ongoing oversight.” (U.S. State Department.)
Israel Praises Slovenia For Moving Embassy To Jerusalem, Revoking Palestinian State Recognition
The new Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, plans to repair ties between Ljubljana and Jerusalem and relocate the Slovenian embassy from Tel Aviv to the capital of Israel.
Jansa revealed this in an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom over the weekend.
He also promised to reverse the previous government’s decision to recognize a Palestinian State, something Hansa said is in violation of Slovenian law.
“We will uphold the law and freeze their illegal decisions,” he told Israel Hayom. “We raised this as a condition to our participation in the coalition negotiations, and everyone agreed.”
Jansa has visited Israel on numerous occasions, including in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 massacre.
He said that Israel and Slovenia share “many of the same challenges,” including “terrorism, extremism, the erosion of national identity, and growing geopolitical pressures.”
“Instead of distancing themselves from one another, they must increase cooperation. Israel is not Europe’s problem; it is one of its most important allies.”
Energy and infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen congratulated Jansa on the “right and important decision to revoke Slovenia’s recognition of a Palestinian state and to move Slovenia’s embassy to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel.”
“This is a step that reflects true friendship and standing on the right side of history,” he said.
Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli called Jansa a “true friend of Israel.” He also noted that the relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem would make Slovenia the first country in the European Union to do so.
Soon after being reelected, Slovenia’s new government revoked a 2025 decision banning the export and transit of weapons and military equipment to Israel, as well as most arms imports from the Jewish state.
The government said the ban, introduced in July, was no longer necessary, as the arms trade is already governed by national law and European Union rules.
