News Digest — 6/1/26
US Does Not Expect Israel To Absorb Hezbollah Attacks, Signals Green Lights For IDF Escalation
The United States “does not expect Israel to absorb ongoing attacks on its civilians by terrorist organizations,” a US official told The Jerusalem Post on Monday (1st) following reports that Israel was seeking US approval for an expanded operation in Beirut, Lebanon.
“The fastest way to de-escalate and protect civilians on all sides is for Hezbollah to stop firing immediately,” the official said.
He told the Post that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed a framework to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun for de-escalating hostilities.
According to the official, the framework called on Hezbollah to stop all its attacks on Israel, with the IDF avoiding an escalation in Beirut, but only in return for that initiative.
The framework would create the conditions for a gradual de-escalation of tensions and an effective cessation of hostilities, the official said.
Aoun attempted to advance the proposal and secure an agreement. However, the response from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was evasive and disappointing.
Beeri claimed he could “guarantee Hezbollah’s commitment to a ceasefire, but placed the burden on Israel to cease fire first, despite the fact that Hezbollah initiated the current round of fighting on March 2, just as it initiated the previous war in 2023.
On Sunday (5/31), two sources told the Post that senior Israeli officials had appealed to senior US officials to allow the IDF to expand its operations in Beirut.
According to the sources, Israeli officials were hopeful that the US response would be favorable, given the lack of progress in both the negotiations between Washington and Tehran and the talks between Israel and Lebanon.
Car-Ramming Attack Wounds Several At Gush Etzion Junction, South Of Jerusalem
A terrorist was killed on Sunday evening (5/31) after a car ramming attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, West Bank. Magen David Adom said that the vehicle hit several pedestrians, with paramedics providing treatment for three wounded, including two in serious condition who remained unconscious.
One of them was a 17-year-old girl who was transferred to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in serious condition with injuries to her limbs.
Another 15-year-old girl, who is in moderate condition with facial injuries, was also transferred to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, MDA said.
The military said it had previously dispatched soldiers to the area of the attack, with one of them being the one who killed the terrorist. Israel Police and the military are conducting additional searches in the area to rule out the possibility of other suspects being present at the scene of the attack.
A spokesperson from the Gush Etzion Regional Council confirmed the attack and said that the road southward towards Kiryat Arba was closed to traffic, asking people to please avoid the area.
“A terrorist tried to run over a group of boys and girls, leaving a number of them injured. The terrorist was killed very quickly by military forces in the area,” said Yaron Rosenthal, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council.
The soldier who killed the terrorist also provided emergency medical treatment to one of the wounded, “saving a life,” a spokesperson for the Gush Etzion Regional Council said.
Immigration Minister: ‘Aliyah During Wartime Is A Powerful Expression Of Faith’
Israeli Minister of Immigration and Integration Ofir Sofer said that from the moments of grief during the war, he has moved to create an easier and broader path for Jews wanting to return to Israel.
Speaking at a NYC Summit held in Queens, Friday (5/29) in partnership with Chazaq, Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer said that maintaining a broader perspective helped him endure moments of profound grief since the war began.
“Since October 7, there have been many difficult moments: I told myself, ‘Look upward,’ we must look upward. We must lift our eyes toward the vision and toward the larger perspective. To look on the horizon.”
The minister described the recurring heartbreak of receiving notifications announcing fallen soldiers and victims. “I remember a lot of difficult mourning. When I opened my phone and I saw a name was ‘cleared for publication,’ when we faced painful moments and tremendous challenges, it was our belief in the eternity of the Jewish people that strengthened us.”
“But the people of Israel are unique, and the state of Israel is a miracle. After 2,000 years of exile, we have come back to Israel. We came back to our homeland. By looking upward and forward, we look beyond the immediate difficulties toward the larger destiny of our people, and that gives us strength during these times.”
“I believe that immigration plays a major role in strengthening this belief,” he told the audience. “The inspiring actions during the war, where people went back to Israel to serve in the IDF or to volunteer in the south, in the north, in our agriculture, in hospitals, showed our sense of mutual responsibility.”
Minister Sofer praised those who chose to immigrate to Israel during wartime, calling their decision a powerful expression of faith. He also outlined efforts to improve immigrant absorption and create long-term success for the arrivals. “Our goal is not only to bring people to Israel, but to help them build independent, strong and meaningful lives in Israel, so we create the conditions that allow every immigrant to succeed on their own. That is why we are working to make the Aliyah process smoother, more streamlined, and more supportive.”
Sofer also highlighted cooperation with major Aliyah organizations. “We do that with Nefesh B’Nefesh and other organizations, and we want all the Jews to come home. We want to see the vision of the Jewish people fulfilled and realized. All of this is part of our mission – to strengthen immigration, to strengthen Israel, and to strengthen the future of the Jewish people.”
‘You Will No Intimidate US:’ Knesset Speaker And Delegation Attend Israel Parade Amid Mamdani Boycott
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Sunday (5/31) accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “despicably fueling the flames of hatred in the city against Israel and its Jewish residents” as he led an expanded Israeli parliamentary delegation at the annual Israel Day Parade in New York.
Ohana, a member of Likud, attended the event alongside 13 lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition after Mamdani chose not to attend the parade, the first time a New York City Mayor has done so since 1964.
According to the Knesset, the decision by the mayor led Ohana to increase the size of the delegation and participate personally in order to “express complete and uncompromising unity in Israel’s strength against its enemies at home and abroad.”
Mamdani has expressed support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and has said that Israel should not continue to exist as a Jewish state.
“You will not intimidate us. The attempt to uproot our connection to this space through lies and violence will not succeed and will be met here and everywhere with a powerful, united Zionistfist,” Ohana said in a statement.
The Israel delegation included MK Afif Abed of Likud, MK Meir Cohen of Yesh Atid and MK Oded Forer of Yisrael Betenu. Heritage MInister Amichai Eliyahu and Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of Otzma Yehudit also took part in the march.
Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kreuzer said the delegation joined supporters of Israel at the event.
“We were here with supporters of the State of Israel, holding our heads high and marching with Israeli flags with great pride,” Keuzer said.
The annual Israel Day Parade is organized by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council. The event brings together Jewish participants and people of different faiths.
It was estimated that 50,000 marchers joined in the parade.
ICC Prosecutor Khan Undercuts Gaza Genocide Narrative Against Israel – Joan Leslie Mcgill
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was recently asked why he hadn’t charged Israel with genocide. The answer: “It would be a reckless prosecutor to move simply because of clamor. You move based upon evidence.” The interviewer pressed him. Hadn’t there been evidence in Gaza? “There is no evidence”, he said.
What makes this especially significant is that Mr. Khan is no friend of Israel. He rushed to prosecute Israeli leaders after October 7, 2023. Moreover, Alice Wairimu Nderitu , the Kenyan jurist who served as the UN’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, explicitly stated that Israel’s operations in Gaza did not meet the definition.
In the summer of 2025, I led a congressional delegation to Israel, traveled to the Gaza border, and met the senior IDF official for humanitarian aid. He provided evidence that the Israelis allowed 600 aid trucks into the Strip everyday, while the Gaza population could comfortably survive on 300 trucks. The tragic truth is that any Gaza residents going hungry were doing so because their Hamas government stole their aid and profited from it.
For two years influencers irresponsibility hurled “genocide” to generate viral content, and no one bothered to fact-check.
The writer is executive director of the U.S.-Israel Education Association. (USIEA) (Washington Times)
Israel Is America’s Forward Defense Partner – Lt.-Col. (res.) Or Horvitz
On Nov. 23, 2025, Israel eliminated Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haythem Ali Tabataba’i. The US State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Tabataba’i, citing his responsibility for operations that killed Americans. For years, Israel has directly advanced American interests and helped protect the U.S., Israel and the Free World from some of the most dangerous terrorist organizations on earth that were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. The U.S. benefits from an ally that actively removes direct threats to American interests – often without requiring American forces to fight.
Many countries shared the assessment that Iran posed a grave strategic threat. But only one country had both the capabilities and the willingness to act shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. in carrying out the campaign, while assuming significant risk. The military and intelligence cooperation with Israel enabled exceptional operational results that could not have been achieved in the same way without it.
Israel’s unique and diverse intelligence capabilities have served American security in countless ways. Israeli intelligence has helped thwart terrorist activity on U.S. soil, systematically weakened terrorist organizations, and protected Americans in the Middle East. Cooperation between two of the world’s leading intelligence communities creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts – making both nations safer.
Israel is also one of the most effective real-world testing grounds for American military systems. Israel’s extensive use of the U.S.-made weapons creates an unparalleled learning laboratory in which American systems are tested in combat against Soviet-Russian and Iranian-made weapons. When Israeli F-35s successfully operate against Russian or Iranian air defense systems,the U.S. gains critical lessons, and the world sees the superiority of American military technology over its competitors.
Israel’s start-up culture, when integrated with the scale and depth of the American defense ecosystem, has helped produce some of the world’s most advanced missile defense layers. American access to Israeli defense innovation directly serves the U.S. effort to preserve its military and technological edge over its rivals. My American colleagues understood well that the U.S. has few partners as effective, useful and proactive as Israel. Israel’s willingness to defend itself by itself makes it one of the highest-return security investments the U.S. can make.
The writer served as Head of the Hezbollah and Lebanon Branch of Israel Defense Intelligence (2022-24) (Los Angeles Jewish Journal,)
