Smotrich: IDF will remain in Lebanon for years, won’t withdraw even if US demands it

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they unfold.

Iran soccer team’s travel restrictions to World Cup games in US to be eased, says coach

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei says he has been told US travel restrictions on his World Cup team will finally be eased for its third group game, but blasts the treatment it has received so far, saying it damaged the team’s on-field performance.

The Iranian squad arrived at the World Cup with its country still at war with co-hosts the United States, and has been based in Mexico while playing all its games in the US.

That has required frequent cross-border travel, and US authorities have only permitted the team to remain in the country for a few hours after each game, with restrictions frequently shifting last-minute.

After playing Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday, Iran’s final group game will take place in Seattle on Friday against Egypt.

Ghalenoei says he has been told his team will have more flexibility for its final match, before quickly adding that it would have been “justice” for his team to have the same treatment for its first two games.

“They said in Seattle, you can do what you want, you can act the way you want to, and you can come earlier,” he tells a press conference, without specifying who exactly the information had come from.

“But what I want, my problem is, why didn’t they let us come earlier for the first two games as well?

“I just know for the last game, yes, they’ve allowed us to decide, to make our own decisions with regards to planning the travel.

“But unfortunately, for the first two games, others made these travel arrangements for us, and the timing for us.”

Pakistan’s PM and military chief arrive in Switzerland for US-Iran deal talks

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the head of the military, Asim Munir, arrived in Switzerland for talks over the Middle East war, Sharif’s office says.

“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will participate in the High-Level Talks on the implementation of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,” the Prime Minister’s Office writes on X, referring to the US-Iran deal to end the war.

Poll: 92% of Israelis believe Iran emerged as winner after war and deal with US

Israelis overwhelmingly view the war with Iran and subsequent deal with the United States in a negative way, with 92.1 precent of respondents to a poll believing Tehran is the winner.

According to the Hebrew University survey, 82.9% say the campaign weakened Israel’s long-term security and 86.0% have a negative attitude toward the outcome.

Furthermore, 72.5% do not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he says that Israel achieved significant gains and removed an existential threat, with 87.8% of Israelis believing the country failed to achieve its objectives or fulfilled only some of them.

With regards to Netanyahu’s performance, 56.4% say the premier’s management of the campaign was poor or failed.

Meanwhile, the poll finds 48.2% of Israelis support renewed major military action against the Hezbollah terror group, even at the risk of a clash with US President Donald Trump.

The poll was conducted by the Agam Institute in collaboration with Hebrew University between June 17 and 20. The survey questioned 3,644 Israelis aged 17 and over in a weighted sample to reflect the population. The maximum sampling error is 2.2% at a 99% confidence level, the pollsters say.

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Hamas moneymen who transferred $169 million to terror group killed in Gaza strike, IDF says

Two Hamas moneymen responsible for transferring half a billion shekels (approximately $169 million) to the terror group were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip last week, the military announces.

The strike in southern Gaza on Wednesday killed Hussein Qadra and Mohammed Farra, who the IDF says served in the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group but operated under a “Hamas-run financial network responsible for transferring funds into the Gaza Strip.”

“Qadra, who headed the network, together with Farra and other operatives, acted under the direction of Hamas leadership and facilitated the transfer of more than NIS half a billion to Hamas’s military wing by operating a network of dozens of couriers and money exchangers in Turkey and the Gaza Strip,” the military says.

“Through these funds, the Hamas terror organization continued, especially in recent months, to pay salaries to its terrorists and finance terror activities against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the military says.

In recent months, the IDF has struck and killed several Hamas financial operatives in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

סייעו בהעברה של יותר מחצי מיליארד ש״ח לידי חמאס: צה"ל חיסל מחבלים בתשתית העברת הכספים של ארגון הטרור חמאס ברצועת עזה

צה"ל תקף במהלך השבוע שעבר בדרום רצועת עזה וחיסל את המחבלים חסין קדרה ומחמד פרא – מחבלים בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס והגא״פ.

המחבלים פעלו תחת תשתית המופעלת… pic.twitter.com/Blbzhx6Iix

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 21, 2026

IDF carrying out preplanned drill in Jaffa area

The military says it is conducting a preplanned drill in the Jaffa area until Tuesday morning.

The IDF warns that as part of the military exercise, there will be increased movement of security forces and vehicles, along with “construction work” in the area. It is unclear what the military means by “construction work.”

High Court begins hearing on law increasing political power over judicial appointments, a key part of the overhaul

The High Court of Justice begins a hearing on the legislative cornerstone of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, as it it hears petitions against a law passed in March 2025 that will greatly increase the power of politicians in the appointment of judges.

The petitions are being heard by all 11 justices currently serving on the court, which only happens for the most constitutionally significant cases.

Several government watchdog groups and civil rights organizations have petitioned against the legislation, arguing that increased political control over all judicial appointments, especially to the Supreme Court, will undercut the independence of the judiciary and poses a severe danger to Israeli democracy as a result.

They also argue that the changes dramatically reduce the influence of professional legal input in the judicial selection process in favor of political influence, which will eventually politicize the entire judiciary.

The coalition argued in passing the law that the judiciary itself has too much control over judicial appointments, and that the political echelon has a right to greater influence over the process, especially when the High Court has the authority to annul legislation.

The law itself was passed as an amendment to Basic Law: the Judiciary, meaning that it has quasi-constitutional status. Such laws are especially controversial for the High Court to review, with the right wing arguing that the court has no authority to intervene over them given their constitutional nature.

Jewish man spat on, threatened in front of children while walking in Berlin

A Jewish man and his children were spat at and verbally assaulted as they walked down a street in Berlin yesterday, Bild reports.

According to the German outlet, the 48-year-old was wearing a kippah as he walked with two children on Uhlandstrasse in Charlottenburg, when the 31-year-old suspect began threatening and insulting him. The newspaper does not detail what was said.

Berlin Police say in a statement that the suspect then spat in the face of the victim and toward the children.

He was arrested on the scene and taken for a blood test, police say.

Bild says police are investigating whether the motive for the assault was antisemitism.

Woman found dead in Ashdod home, husband arrested

A woman was found dead in her home in Ashdod, the Magen David Adom emergency service says.

Police say they have arrested the husband of the victim, who was in her sixties, and that there were signs of violence to the woman’s body.

Fourth IDF fatality in Friday’s Hezbollah attack on tank named as Staff Sgt. Nave Habshoosh

Staff Sgt. Nave Habshoosh, 20, from Geva Binyamin, is named by the Israel Defense Forces as the fourth soldier killed in a Hezbollah attack on a tank in southern Lebanon early Friday morning.

On Friday, the IDF said Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, the commander of the 52nd Battalion, and three members of his crew were killed after a Hezbollah drone or anti-tank missile struck their tank.

Yesterday, Staff Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, and Staff Sgt. Liav Kababia, 20, were the second and third troops killed in the attack to be publicly named.

Emergency session on Israel-Hezbollah conflict added to schedule of US-Iran talks in Switzerland – report

A special session to discuss the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has been added to the schedule for the talks on the US-Iran deal in Switzerland, CBS News reports.

The outlet, citing a diplomat attending the talks, says the special discussion is the first thing on the agenda.

Neither Israel nor the terror group are represented at the talks.

The talks in Switzerland were scheduled to begin on Friday, after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday. But they were delayed amid friction over ongoing fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, with Iran yesterday claiming it had re-closed the Strait of Hormuz.

That crisis has been resolved, at least for now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructing the IDF to “hold its fire” in Lebanon, Channel 12 reported yesterday.