Friday, November 6, 2026

What You Need to Know:

Israel’s leaders are now working to form a government after the October 27 election. Final results gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc 53 of the Knesset’s (Parliament’s) 120 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority, while the opposition bloc won 48 and the Arab parties 19. President Isaac Herzog urged party leaders to come to consultations with “an open heart” and pledged to do all he can to avoid another election. He scheduled meetings with every faction beginning Wednesday, starting with the smallest, and then will decide who gets the first chance to build a coalition, with 28 days to do so. The new Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on November 10. 

Leaders also face an unexpected question from Washington. President Donald Trump said on Fox News on Tuesday that he and Netanyahu agreed months ago to end the United States’ US $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel, adding that the United States would help if Israel needs it. Israel has not confirmed such an agreement, and the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment. The current agreement provides $38 billion over 10 years, through fiscal year 2028. AIPAC said it backs the existing deal and negotiations on a new security agreement, and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America said it was unaware of any agreement to end aid this year. Netanyahu has previously said he wanted to taper off aid over 10 years.

Dig Deeper:

Herzog Urges Factions to Seek Solutions to Avert another Election

Eisenkot Poised to Get First Shot at Government as Herzog Set to Meet Party Leaders | What Happens Next

AIPAC Backs new US-Israel Security Talks, Reaffirms Aid Support

The End of the US Military Aid Era: What Happens to the IDF now?

What You Need to Know:

Judea/Samaria: In Samaria, Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security agency) said a months-long investigation led them to a Jenin-area cell that was making rockets and had conducted three test launches. Six suspects in their thirties were arrested, and an indictment is expected within days. Authorities say the men built a rocket body and explosives, kept an M16 rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and received guidance through a messaging app on obtaining bomb-making materials. 

The Judea and Samaria Situation Room reported that a poster on a Telegram channel tied to Hamas propaganda urged more attacks on civilians and security forces in Judea and Samaria and elsewhere in Israel, which was designed to make Israelis feel unsafe. Retired IDF Lt. Col. Maurice Hirsch told JNS that Hamas runs a well-funded network in Judea and Samaria and that the Palestinian Authority does nothing to confront it. 

Lebanon: In southern Lebanon, IDF troops found weapons in a civilian home, a children’s room decorated with Hezbollah imagery and a storage facility for explosive drones. On Wednesday, an IDF drone strike killed one man and wounded another in southern Lebanon, the first targeted strike of its kind in weeks, Ynet reported. The IDF said the two had been observing and approaching troops, and security officials said they “may have posed an immediate threat” according to Ynet. Local reports identified the dead man as a medical worker tied to the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally.

Dig Deeper:

Israeli Forces Arrest Palestinian Rocket Cell in Samaria

Hamas Calls for Escalation of Terror Attacks in Judea and Samaria

IDF Finds Hezbollah Weapons, Explosive Drones in Home in Southern Lebanon

IDF Strikes Suspects Approaching Troops in Lebanon for First Time in Weeks

What You Need to Know:

The IDF expects reserve duty days to fall by 30–40% in 2027 compared with 2026, depending on security developments, and has adjusted benefits so student reservists who serve fewer days keep their eligibility. The IDF has also reported a roughly 30% reduction in training exercises and operational deployments planned for December through February. Still, similar promises have gone unfulfilled since the war began, as operations against Iran, deployments along the Yellow Line in Gaza and the ground offensive in southern Lebanon have kept the same reservists on open-ended call-up orders, deepening their exhaustion. 

Support for lone soldiers, who serve without family nearby, is growing. More than 9,200 gathered at Expo Tel Aviv for Yom Siddurim (Errands Day), where they could renew passports and driver’s licenses, get legal and academic advice and receive free haircuts and uniform alterations. One soldier said it felt like “Israel’s helping us back.” 

The Michael Levin Base, a nonprofit named for a lone soldier killed in the Second Lebanon War, now serves about 3,600 young men and women with meals, counseling and community. Demand for the organization’s services has grown since October 7, especially for trauma counseling. It opened a Tel Aviv branch in June and a program for female lone soldiers as well as religious lone b’not sherut (lone young women who volunteer for Israel’s National Civic Service) in September. The Michael Levin Base will move to a larger Jerusalem center in January 2027.

Dig Deeper:

IDF again Promises Drop in Reserve Duty Days in 2027, but Security Concerns Remain

Lone Soldiers, B’not Sherut Find a True Home at the Michael Levin Base

One Day, 9,200 Lone Soldiers: How Israel is Lending a Helping Hand far from Home

What You Need to Know:

With life returning to routine for many Israelis, families of IDF reservists say they are carrying a burden others have begun to forget. Avigail Greenberg Brand of Jerusalem, whose husband, Alon, serves in the 11th Brigade, said his deployments have grown more frequent over the past year, and their young children keep asking why their father has to leave again. Tsofnat Shechter, a mother of four whose husband has served 450 days in the reserves since the war began, said families left at home feel invisible. Despite the strain, Brand said her family is proud to be part of the reservist community. 

However, Israelis are facing other serious effects from the attack and subsequent war. Doron Mizrahi, 28, survived the Nova music festival massacre on October 7 and reported for reserve duty the same evening. Over more than 350 days of service, his use of alcohol and drugs escalated until he realized, he said, that he was wasting the life he had narrowly saved. With help from the Nova Tribe Community Association and Narcotics Anonymous, he has been sober for more than two years and now works as a rehabilitation counselor. A new report from the Israel Center on Addiction found that one in four Israelis ages 18 to 34 struggles with problematic substance use or addictive behaviors, a rate that dipped slightly from 28.5% last year to 25.4%. Nearly half of those with significant post-traumatic stress symptoms reported problematic use.

Dig Deeper:

“Why Does Dad Have to Leave again?”: The Children Paying the Price of Israel's Endless Reserve Duty

“Inside, I Was still at War”: Nova Survivor’s Descent into Addiction and Road to Recovery

What You Need to Know:

Diplomats at the United Nations on Monday attended a screening of the documentary UNravelling UNRWA, which reportedly exposes corruption and Hamas infiltration at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, who initiated the screening, said Israel has presented extensive evidence of Hamas’s exploitation of UNRWA facilities and said that UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 massacre. US Ambassador Jeff Bartos said UNRWA “has no future in Gaza.” In June, UNRWA dismissed 70 employees after Israel and the group UN Watch accused them of having Hamas ties. 

The United Nations is choosing its next secretary-general, and Rebeca Gynspan, a Jewish economist from Costa Rica who heads the UN Trade and Development agency, won another Security Council straw poll last Friday. It was her sixth win in seven polls, but four of the 15 council members voted “discourage,” and a candidate needs at least nine votes and no veto from the five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Secretary-general António Guterres’s term ends December 31. 

At the UN in New York on Monday, October 26, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese presented a report accusing Israel of targeting Palestinian journalists and calling for Israeli media figures to be prosecuted for what she described as incitement to genocide. Ambassador Danon rejected the accusations, called her a liar and a fraud and a “stain on the United Nations,” and handed her a resignation letter drafted by Israel’s mission, urging her to sign it.

Dig Deeper:

Documentary Exposing UNRWA Corruption, Hamas Involvement, Screened for United Nations Diplomats

Jewish Candidate again Wins Straw Poll, but no Indication it’s Enough to Secure Nomination as UN Secretary-general

Watch: Danon Confronts Francesca Albanese at UN, Hands her Resignation Letter

Danon Tells Albanese She’s “Liar, Fraud, Stain on United Nations”

What You Need to Know:

In Phuket, Thailand, an AI-generated poster showing an ultra-Orthodox Jew swallowing banknotes and images of Thai public figures was displayed Saturday at an anti-Israel rally. One organizer had called for expelling Israelis and Chabad from the country. A Chabad representative said the imagery evokes the darkest periods of Jewish history. 

In Stockholm, a “Jude [German for “Jew”] Free Zone” sign, echoing Nazi-era language, appeared on a shoe store’s door beside an “Apartheid Free Zone” sign. Street artist Dan Park, who posted it, said it exposed the other side’s antisemitism. The owner removed both after an outcry, and Israel’s ambassador to Sweden called for zero tolerance for antisemitism. 

In Spain, the Federation of Jewish Communities condemned conspiracy theories blaming Israel for the October 28 train crash near Toledo that killed at least 69 people. It also criticized a fabricated AI video of Netanyahu threatening Spain. The federation said blaming an entire country for the world’s problems is antisemitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition. 

In Syria, researchers at the institute IMPACT-se reported that textbooks under the new government demonize Jews, deny Israel’s right to exist and justify violence against it. Syria’s Education Ministry said the curriculum follows no ideological direction, while lawmakers said parts would be revised. 

In Canada, university presidents met in Ottawa to adopt a five-point plan against campus antisemitism after a federal report found severe hostility toward Jewish students. The report noted that Jewish Canadians, about one percent of the population, accounted for 68% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes in 2024.

Dig Deeper:  

Canadian University Leaders Pledge Coordinated Action Following Damning Campus Antisemitism Report

Spanish Jewish Federation Condemns Conspiracy Theories Linking Israel to Fatal Train Crash

Israeli Researchers Expose Antisemitism, Religious Extremism in Syrian Textbooks

Antisemitic Imagery Displayed as Protests against Israelis Grow in Thailand

“Jude Free Zone” Sign at Stockholm Shoe Store Sparks Outrage

What You Need to Know:

British pop icon Boy George arrived in Israel last Saturday for two Tel Aviv concerts, despite widespread condemnation and boycotts over his outspoken support for Israel since October 7, 2023. Greeted at the airport by Sylvan Adams, president of the World Jewish Congress Israel, he said he had come “out of love, out of a belief in peace” and to dance and celebrate with Israelis again. 

On Monday, President Isaac Herzog thanked him for standing with Israel and gave him a sculpture of red anemones, the flower that blooms each winter at the Nova festival site. Boy George said his song “We Will Dance Again” had “forced me to grow up,” and he later prayed for peace at the Western Wall with Adams. Tomorrow, he is scheduled to give a performance for the Nova community, with 1,500 tickets donated to survivors and bereaved families. 

In Lima, Peru, tens of thousands marched against antisemitism and in support of Israel on Monday. The march, organized by the Germany-based March of Life movement, brought together evangelical Christians, Jewish leaders and Israeli Ambassador Gali Dagan. The Israeli Embassy called it a “massive and thrilling show of solidarity,” and Dagan thanked Peru’s government for its recent decision to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. March of Life was founded by German pastor Jobst Bittner, a descendant of Nazis.

Dig Deeper:

Boy George Arrives in Israel, “Out of a Desire for us to Dance, Live and Celebrate”

Herzog to Boy George: “Thank You for Standing with Us”

Tens of Thousands March against Antisemitism in Peru