News Digest — 6/19/26
Israel Will Not Withdraw From Southern Lebanon Until Security Restored, Netanyahu Vows
The IDF will not withdraw from Israel’s security strip in southern Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday (18th), as tensions escalated between Jerusalem and Washington over a US-Iran agreement that calls for an end to hostilities in Lebanon and a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
Speaking during a ceremony for the re-inauguration of Route 60 in Israel’s North, the prime minister vowed that Israel “will restore security to the north,” adding that “this requires maintaining the security strip in southern Lebanon, and that requires that we not withdraw as long as Israel’s security needs require it.”
Netanyahu’s statement came after IDF Arabic Spokesperson col. (res.) Avichay Adraee published an infographic map of the security zone in southern Lebanon, within 10 km. of the Lebanese border on X.
The IDF is deployed in the security zone, around 10 km. inside Lebanese territory, for operational reasons.The military stated that the ceasefire does not mean that it will fully withdraw from its security zone in southern Lebanon.
The army did not present a timetable for withdrawal or clear conditions for ending its presence in the territory.
The military also noted that the maritime security zone is a continuation of the land-based buffer, extending into the sea along a 280-degree course, in accordance with a political-level decision. According to Channel 12, the expansion of the maritime zone shows that Israel is committed to preventing threats and snuggling efforts along the coast.
“The IDF is acting to remove threats and improve the defense for citizens of northern Israel,” Adraee added.
Ambassador Leiter Affirms Commitment To Lebanon Truce But Vows To Thwart Threats
US President Donald Trump said earlier on Thursday (18th) that he expects “complete ceasefire,” including between Hezbollah and Israel.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote,”The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold. The Markets are loving what is happening with Oil Prices way down, and stocks way up.”
We expect a complete ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US says that the signing of the agreement declares “the immediate and permanent termination “of all fighting, including in Lebanon, and “ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.”
At the same time, it adds that, “the final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and other provisions of this paragraph.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, stated on Thursday (18th) that Israel remains committed to the ceasefire in Lebanon, but reserves the right to respond to any attacks by the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
“Israel remains committed to the ceasefire agreement between Israel, Lebanon and the US. If Hezbollah does not violate the agreement, it will be kept,” Leiter stressed in a post on social media.
He added, “Under all circumstances, Israel retains its right to respond to attacks against it and to thwart threats to its territory, citizens and soldiers.”
Leiter’s comment came after the Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that Hezbollah will remain committed to a ceasefire agreement with Israel as long as Israel also “fully and comprehensively” adheres to the deal.
“I reaffirm Lebanon’s position and Hezbollah’s commitment to the ceasefire as long as Israel fully and comprehensively adheres to it,” Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, said in a statement.
The position “aims to facilitate the success of the Iranian-US negotiations in Switzerland,” it added.
Poll Shows Declining Lebanese Opposition To Normarization With Israel
Lebanese opposition to normalization with Israel has fallen sharply since the start of the year, while a plurality of Syrians support normalization if the Palestinian issue is resolved, according to new polling by the Council for a Secure America.
The surveys conducted in Arabic by YouGov and released on Tuesday (16th) found that only 19% of Lebanese respondents said they opposed normalization of diplomatic or economic relations with Israel following a long-term resolution of the Palestinian issue.
Support for such normalization in Lebanon rose to 32%, putting supporters ahead of opponents for the first time in the group’s tracking. Another large share of respondents remained undecided or did not give a position.
The Lebanese results mark a significant shift in a country where contact with Israel is criminalized and where Hezbollah has long held major military and political power.
The poll found that 28% of Lebanese respondents said the country should repeal laws criminalizing dealings with Israel, while 32% said those laws should remain in place. Forty percent did not answer.
The survey also found that 40% of Lebanese respondents believed normalization would help the country’s economy compared with 22% who said it would harm it.
“For years, the conventional wisdom held that Lebanese society was immovably opposed to any relationship with Israel. This data demolishes that assumption,” Jennifer Sutton, executive director of the Council for a Secure America said.
“Opposition to normalization has been cut nearly in half since January, a clear plurality now wants the laws criminalizing contact with Israel off the books, and a majority sees Hezbollah’s arsenal as a threat to Lebanon’s own security. That is not a marginal shift, it is a public laying the groundwork for a different future,” she added.
The decline in opposition was also visible among Lebanese Muslim respondents. According to the survey, Muslim opposition to normalization fell from 31% in January to 23% in June, while Muslim support rose from 19% to 28%. Among Christians support increased from 37% to 43%.
The poll also showed broad concern over Hezbollah’s role inside Lebanon. Fifty-nine percent of Lebanese respondents said Hezbollah’s military presence has a negative effect on national security, compared with 11% who said it has a positive effect.
Fifty-eight percent said they supported President Joseph Aoun’s efforts to strengthen the Lebanese Army and negotiate Hezbollah’s disarmament so that all armed forces operate under government authority.
The Lebanese survey included 260 respondents from May 26 to June 1,
Florida Man Indicted For Plotting Mass Shooting At South Florida AIPAC Office
A federal grand jury in Florida has returned an indictment against a Gainesville resident for allegedly planning a mass shooting aimed at Jewish individuals last year, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday (18th), according to local media.
The US Department of Justice secured the indictment in the southern District of Florida against 27-year-old Forrest Kendall Pemberton. He faces federal hate crime and firearm charges stemming from an incident where investigators say he armed himself with a suppressed AR-15 rifle and staked out an American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) office in Plantation, Florida.
According to prosecutors, Pemberton specifically chose the target to execute a mass casualty event against the lobbying group’s personnel because they were Jewish. The hate crime charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, while the two accompanying weapons violations could tack on an additional 35 years behind bars if he is convicted.
The plot was uncovered after Pemberton’s relatives contacted law enforcement to report him missing. Family members alertly provided authorities with a highly alarming letter alongside a history of digital searches indicating he intended to perpetrate a violent crime at the AIPAC facility. Following a multi-agency tracking effort, police apprehended Pemberton in Tallahassee.
Federal court records show that no upcoming judicial hearings have been scheduled for the defendant at this time.
Don’t Mistake Friction For A Broken Alliance With Israel – Michael Singh
President Trump has been publicly pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in recent weeks, trying to get Israel to pull back from its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon – a key demand of Iran. The U.S. and Israel have complementary but not identical interests.
For the Americans, success in the war with Iran may mean lower gas prices and the elimination of the nuclear threat. For the Israelis and for the UAE and Kuwait, success also means safety from Iranian and Hezbollah missiles and drones that pose little direct threat to the U.S.
Such dynamics are common between allies. Large states are perennially frustrated by their smaller partners who fail to do as they are told. Meanwhile, the smaller states will feel it contributed blood and treasure but was denied a seat at the decision-making table.
Yet such frustrations obscure a remarkable reality. The war with Iran is the first in decades in which the U.S. military has operated in tandem with a partner as a near-equal. Israel took on a significant share of the work of striking targets in Iran. And elsewhere in the region, Israel has operated largely solo against mutual enemies of the U.S.,like Hezbollah, which prior to 9/11 has been responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist group.
President Trump should not be too quick to claim the ability to rein in Israel. Diplomacy often works best when backed by credible threats, and Israel offers a threat that can enhance rather than endanger Trump’s diplomatic efforts.
In addition, U.S. officials should avoid scapegoating Israel. Weakening America’s most capable ally in the Middle East may mean fewer opportunities to shift burdens and thus more work, not less, for the U.S. in the region. As Winston Churchill astutely observed, the only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without them.
The writer is managing director and a senior fellow at the Washington Institute.
Someone Taught Him To Hate – Shai Davidai
I was walking to synagogue with my wife and our two children when a car slowed beside us. A man in the back seat shouted, “Are you that guy from Twitter?” I nodded. Then he screamed, “baby killer, fascist, Nazi, scum” including anti-Israel remarks. How did this man become so consumed by hatred that he could not hold it in any longer? How did we get to a point where screaming obscenities at strangers and their children became acceptable behavior?
Hatred at its core, begins with ignorance, It begins with lies, repeated often enough to sound true. It begins with a preference for certainty over curiosity. Eventually, ignorance hardens into conviction. Conviction hardens into contempt. And contempt hardens into hatred.
The man in the car did not invent the idea that Israel, as the homeland of the Jewish people, is uniquely evil. Nor did he invent the idea that violence against Jews and Israelis is morally justified or that Jews are responsible for everything wrong in the world. Someone taught him these things, normalized them, and made them seem righteous. Someone taught him how to hate.
When my 10-year-old-son asked me how some people can be so bad, I answered, “I do not think the man in the car was a bad person. I’m sure he loves his family, is kind to his friends, and believes in many of the things that we do.” What made him the way that he is was the ideas he had been taught to believe.
If hatred can be taught, it can be also untaught. Education remains our most powerful defense against hatred – not teaching students what to think, but teaching them how to do so. We must demand that our institutions of higher education return to their most basic purpose and become places where curiosity, dialogue, and empirical evidence matter more than ideological conformity, dogma, and emotional reactions.
They must become places where students learn to question assumptions, weigh evidence, and grapple with complexity – places where disagreement is treated as an opportunity for learning, and intellectual courage matters more than ideological certainty. We need institutions that cultivate curiosity rather than certainty, inquiry rather than indoctrination, and education rather than ignorance.
The writer is an Israeli former assistant professor of business at Columbia Business School known for his advocacy for Israel and against pro-Palestinian campus protests. He is the author of American Intellectual Antisemitism: The Anti-Jewish Movement Tearing Through Our Universities. (October 2025)
