To see what is actually happening in the Middle East, it's beneficial to look at many signs, especially private businesses. British Airways announced on Monday that it is significantly extending its flight cancellations to Israel and will not return to Ben Gurion Airport until October 24. Air France had scheduled an announcement that it would reopen flights to Israel on June 3, so it is important to see what they actually do tomorrow, as Air France is partners with KLM, Virgin, and Delta.
Iran is now tying any ceasefire to events in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and, according to some reports, Gaza. Trump again said on Monday that a deal is close and claimed to have stopped both Hezbollah and Israel from attacking each other. This is not true, as Hezbollah continues to attack, and Israel intends to respond. What is true is that Israel announced their plan to attack a suburb of Beirut, and then decided not to, possibly because of American pressure. Nonetheless, Netanyahu said, "I spoke this evening with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and citizens — Israel will strike terror targets in Beirut. Our position remains unchanged. At the same time, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon."
Iran spent Monday making threats that:
- If Lebanon and Hezbollah are not part of the deal, they will consider the ceasefire over (a new demand from them),
- That Israelis in the north should evacuate as Iran is being threatened and will retaliate, and
- That Iran will shut down both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait if Israel attacks Beirut.
The entire situation is upside down, and American media is buying into Iran's narrative. As a number of Israeli commentators have said, Israel always wants peace, and the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon is because of the constant attacks from Hezbollah into Israel. Hezbollah has fired over 19,000 rockets and projectiles at Israel since Oct 7, 2023, and over 6000 just since March 6, 2026.
That is an average of almost 70 rockets being fired each day for the last 88 days. Really pause and contemplate that, and then think about how you would want to respond if that many rockets were being fired at the U.S. from Mexico?
Israeli commentators, most of whom are fed up with again being forced by the world, especially America, to fight a war front with one hand tied behind its back, have described the situation succinctly and clearly. This is the actual order in which things have been happening with Hezbollah:
- Hezbollah attacks.
- Israel responds.
- Iran claims that Israel's response is a violation of the ceasefire.
- Washington feels pressured by Iran (through American media) to put pressure on Israel.
Iran has reframed the sequence of events (supported by Western media) to be backward, that Iran and its proxies just want peace, and if only Israel would lay down its weapons, the entire region would be at peace. This is not only a fallacy, but by presenting this sequence as if Israel is the aggressor (which they are not), Iran also gets to stall Washington from attacking it for more and more time, which allows Iran to re-arm.
Always remember: Iran and its proxies have, for 47 years, consistently said that they intend on destroying the Little Satan of Israel and the Great Satan of the United States (which makes sense given that the death/conversion/enslavement of the infidel is a command repeated in the Quran over 120 times, depending on whom you ask and their translation). Iran's reframing of the truth is part of their goal of delaying the U.S. from attacking them, and putting American pressure to bear on Israel.
Especially in troubling circumstances as we have right now, we need to return to our foundation stones: faith and action. We must have faith in the covenant that God made with us and pray that He keeps that covenant, and we must act. Act by giving charity, by educating ourselves and others, and especially by standing up and calling out the propaganda that is being spread (rather than just listening to those fallacies and remaining quiet).
Mark Twain (and some say Winston Churchill or Jonathan Swift) is attributed as saying, "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has put its boots on." Whoever said it, it is our responsibility to counter the lies being told about Israel, Iran, et al as soon as we hear them. And to never remain silent, for when we do, we are giving our tacit approval to those anti-Israel propaganda lies.
May we all have the courage to have faith and to act against the antisemitic propaganda that is permeating the world.
Chazak u'Baruch
Rabbi Michael Barclay
June 2, 2026
17th of Sivan, 5786
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