News Digest — 7/23/26
Thousands Gather At Western Wall For Tisha B’Av Lamentations
Thousands of people gathered at the Western Wall on Wednesday night (22nd) to mark Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and of several other calamities in Jewish history.
Among those who gathered at the Western Wall were National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Yahar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot.
Tisha B’Av is first and foremost a fast day, during which Jews abstain from all food and water for approximately 25 hours from sunset to nightfall the next day.
It is also the time the Jews read the Book of Lamentations, in which the biblical prophet Jeremiah laments the destruction of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile from the Land of Israel.
A number of other events are often cited as being calamities befalling the Jewish people that occurred on or near the ninth of Av.
These include the Roman destruction of Betar and crushing of the Bar Kohba revolt; expulsion of the Jews from England, France, and Spain; the beginning of World War I; the formal approval of the Nazis Final Solution; the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps; the First Crusade; the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Argentina by Hezbollah, and Israel’s 2005 Disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
PM Netanyahu’s Tisha B’AV Message: ‘Baseless Hatred Destroyed Us, Love Rebuilt Us’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the citizens of Israel on Wednesday (22nd) ahead of the onset of Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av), the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.
“My brothers and sisters, dear citizens of Israel. On the eve of Tisha B’Av, we remember the destruction of the Temple. We remember the terrible price of hatred and boycotts within us,” the Prime Minister opened.
He listed the various events and challenges Israel faced in recent years and stressed the value of mutual responsibility and camaraderie seen among the public and the soldiers in the field. “In the past three years, together, we prevented the destruction of the Third Temple. Instead of a civil war, we were brothers who fought shoulder-to-shoulder to repel those who sought to harm us. We joined forces, we fought like lions, and together, we saved the State of Israel. We showed the world that the people of Israel are a brave people with a brave army, a generation of heroes. We repelled the terror of destruction, and we achieved great achievements.”
Together with the achievements, Netanyahu also noted the missions that lay ahead and the complex security and political reality. He clarified that “even though the work is not complete, even though many challenges lie ahead, I am certain with every fiber of my being that we will succeed.” The Prime Minister declared his goals for the future. “As the Prime Minister of Israel, I intend on increasing unity among us. Therefore, I will work to form a broad national government, a stable government that will care for our security and future.”
Additionally, Netanyahu addressed the tense atmosphere surrounding the election period and emphasized his faith in the social resilience of the country’s citizens. “I know that during the election period there will be arguments that will make it harder for us to see, but also know that we are more united than it seems. How do I know? Because I have seen you at the moment of truth. Because I met with our heroic soldiers. Because I have seen the entire nation of Israel in all its glory, a nation that lends a hand to its friend.”
He concluded his remarks by calling for unity. “The great lesson to be learned: with baseless hatred, we were destroyed. With love of one’s fellow Jew, we got up. Together, with G-ds help, we will ensure Israel’s eternity,”
Tisha B’Av began Wednesday (22nd) at sunset and will end on Thursday evening (23rd).
Lebanese PM Plants Flag In Southern Village, Hailing Start Of ‘Complete Israeli Withdrawal’
Lebanon’s prime minister on Wednesday (22nd) visited a battered southern village that was vacated by Israeli troops, planting a Lebanese flag at the scene and declaring that it marked the beginning of a complete Israeli withdrawal.
Nawaf Salam’s appearance in Zawtar Al-Gharbiya came a day after President Joseph Aoun’s landmark White House meeting with US President Donald Trump, who promised to back the Lebanese government in its bid to claim state control across the country.
Lebanon and Israel in late June signed an agreement that called for the Lebanese military to deploy in areas in southern Lebanon where the Hezbollah terror group had a military presence and influence, and for Israel to withdraw from its declared security zone after having occupied dozens of villages
Both sides later agreed on a pilot zone made up of a series of villages to test the implementation of the agreement. While Israeli troops have struck and conducted ground operations in those areas, they have not occupied them, but the Lebanese Army has also not been there in large numbers.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah started March 2, after the Lebanese terror group fired rockets into Israel to support Iran, its main backer. In response, Israel launched an aerial campaign and ground invasion in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s top political leadership criticized Hezbollah for dragging the country into another war, but also condemned Israel for its strikes and ground invasion.
Hezbollah has condemned the Lebanese government for holding direct talks with Israel and rejected the agreement, but has not tried to sabotage it through military means. Its leadership believes Israel cannot be pressured to withdraw its troops by diplomatic means only, and that Lebanon lacks the leverage of its key ally Iran in negotiations.
Trump, in his meeting with Aoun, did not speak much abbott the pilot zone going into its implementation phase, but pledged to support Lebanon without going into details.
Aoun and the Lebanese government have urged the international community to invest in the country and its army to help rebuild its infrastructure and military capacity. Following the meeting, Aoun told US Congress members and Trump administration officials that Lebanon can disarm Hezbollah, but that Israel’s military must pull out of the south of the country for it to happen, the Lebanese president’s office said.
Speaking at a dinner in his honor hosted by Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad, Aoun said that his country cannot be secure or united until it is “one state with one army that protects all Lebanese.”
“Hezbollah’s weapons can be disarmed if we are honest about what it truly requires,” he continued, “Namely, the removal of the occupation and the army taking full control.”
Israeli officials have expressed skepticism that Lebanon’s armed forces are strong enough to disarm Hezbollah by force on their own, and say IDF troops are needed in the south to provide a buffer zone keeping the Iran-backed terror group away from the border.
During the meeting with Trump, Aoun, a former army commander, said the military was “the backbone of security and stability” and the country’s most trusted institution.
Asked whether the US would provide assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces on disarming Hezbollah, Trump was noncommittal, saying that he would discuss the matter with Aoun privately.
Israel said late last month it had killed at least 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.
Thirty-eight IDF soldiers and one defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets.
US House Passes $1 Trillion Defense Bill Despite US Israel Concerns
The US House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a massive defense policy bill on Wednesday (22nd), despite the price tag, the Iran war and a provision that would boost Pentagon ties to Israel.
The fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, which authorizes an unprecedented $1.15 trillion in spending for the military , passed the House by 216 to 212.
The vote was largely along party lines, as all but seven Republicans voted in favor of the measure and all but six Democrats voted against it.
Republicans said the trillion-dollar spending is essential to support the military as it wages war in Iran, funds defense systems development and equipment purchases and provides benefits for the troops like raises of up to 7% and construction for barracks and family housing.
Democrats worried about a provision that would substantially expand military technology cooperation between the United States and Israel, despite calls from many Americans – particularly on the left – to roll back US support for Israel over concern about ‘the heavy toll’ on Palestinians in Gaza.
Historically seen by both parties as “must-pass legislation,” the NDAA is one of the few major bills that always gets through Congress, having become law for 65 straight years.
This year’s bill faces major challenges, given deep partisan divisions within Congress on issues ranging from the massive size of the military budget, to the Iran war, aid to Israel and Ukraine and “culture war” cases.
Senate democrats blocked the Senate’s version of the NDAA last week. The chamber’s Republican leaders have pledged to try again to advance the bill before leaving Washington for their August recess.
Each year, the House and Senate pass their own version of the NDAA, before Armed Services committee negotiators agree on a compromise version that then comes up for a vote in each chamber.
If the compromise version passes, it would be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto.
New Exhibit Exploring Relationship Between Jews, American Democracy Opens In NYC
A new exhibition at the Center for Jewish History in New York City explores 250 years of Jewish participation in American democracy from the Revolution era to the present.
“All We Have Standing Between Us: 250 Years of Jews and American Democracy,” which opened Tuesday (22nd), draws on the collections of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) and features commentary from 14 contemporary scholars.
Organized across seven thematic sections, the exhibition examines how American Jews have shaped, debated, and challenged the country’s democratic ideals.
The exhibition is presented by AJHS, the Center fro Jewish History, and Yeshiva University Museum to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Visitors will encounter prominent figures including poet Enna Lazarus, former US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. and author and activist Betty Friedan, alongside lesser-known activists, thinkers, and ordinary citizens who “pushed the boundaries of what American democracy could be,” according to AJHS.
Through rare objects, archival materials, and personal stories, the exhibition portrays an American Jewish community deeply committed to the country’s democratic experiment, even when divided over how its promises of freedom, equality, and justice should be realized.
AJHS has also launched a companion narrative podcast featuring previously untold stories from its archives about American Jews who lived through–and helped shape–pivotal moments in US history. The podcast is hosted by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R, Birnbaum.
“All We Have Standing Between Us” is on view through Dec. 31 at the Center for Jewish History. Admission is free.
Foreign Threats Breed Self-Sufficiency – Edward Luttwak
There are people who imagine that cutting American aid would irreparably damage the Jewish state. Yet Israel defeated the Arabs in June 1967, again, as it did in 1948, without any US-supplied weapons. Precisely because of Israel’s long history of denials and embargoes by the British and US governments, its nine million people are enough to support disproportionately large and diverse military industries. This state of nine million is one that can research, develop and manufacture the world’s heaviest battle tank, a full range of tactical and strategic missiles, and the interceptors that inaugurated humanity’s first instance of space warfare two years ago.
Israelis reacted to the US military aid after the Six-Day War with deep, genuine gratitude, eagerly pursuing any opportunity to reciprocate. Israel’s Mossad was inside the Soviet Union, which the CIA could only watch from afar, and offered up all it uncovered. After its October 1973 tank-warfare victories, Israel supplied the US Army’s tacticians with every bit of data for their, and NATO’s revolutionary “fight outnumbered and win” manuals, explicitly based on the desperate Golan Heights fight in which 200 Israeli tanks destroyed four times as many Soviet-built Syrian tanks.
In my many encounters in Israel over the years, I have heard a great eagerness to contribute Israel’s research and development talents, whose fruits are now built into some of the most capable US weapons, most conspicuously in the F-35 fighter jet, whose innovative helmet-mounted piloting system was entirely developed in Israel. Israel’s pilots sat in their cockpits for hours to reach and bomb Iran’s distant missile launchers, which were attacking US bases and US allies, as well as Israel itself. Israel would never refuse any military help it could provide, as countless US officers have known for decades.
The writer is a contractual strategic consultant for the U.S. government. (Unherd)
