Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2026-06-23 at 14:03

HEADLINES
- IAEA retools Iran inspections post bombing
- Pakistan PM to Tehran for Khamnami tribute
- Bennett unveils New Covenant to rebuild Israel

The time is now 2:02 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.

In Direct Israel-Iran Clashes, the IAEA inspections in Iran must be approached differently after the regime was bombed, an analysis argues. The debate over whether inspectors should regain the full access they had in 2021 or even the broader access from the 2015 deal misses a key point: what is being investigated today is not the same as in 2015. Between 2015 and June 2025, Iran operated three major enrichment sites at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, with roughly 20,000 centrifuges located at those facilities, and dozens of smaller sites also in operation. The IAEA’s traditional task was to monitor enrichment levels and new centrifuge installations. But all of those major sites have been bombed, leaving zero or near-zero active centrifuges to monitor. As a result, much of the current effort is now to catalog what pieces of the program still function rather than gauge an active enrichment program. The report adds that retrieving and disposing of the 60% enriched uranium will probably take weeks if not months and will require specialized engineering machinery and protective suits, underscoring how the task on the ground has shifted.

In Regional Impacts, Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif says he will visit Tehran next week, God willing, to pay respects to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamnami and to reaffirm Pakistan’s solidarity with the Iranian people.

In US Policy Concerning Israel, Naftali Bennett warned that Israel’s relationship with the United States had entered a precarious period and urged a reboot of public diplomacy. He told an audience at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem that a nation cannot base its long-term strategy on a president who currently supports Israel, and that public sentiment in the United States has grown more negative toward Brand Israel for the first time since the state's founding. Bennett cautioned that while President Trump remains a strong supporter of Israel, policy cannot depend on the personal sympathy of any single leader.

In Israeli Domestic Politics, Bennett outlined his “New Covenant” plan to rebuild Israel from the ground up, describing it as a foundational effort to repair the state. He said the next government should be a founding government, modeled in some ways on David Ben-Gurion’s era, and that current state institutions had to be dismantled and rebuilt because they were damaged by the prior government. On education, Bennett proposed public schooling at the level of private schools, noting that the state currently spends about NIS 50,000 per child, which is the cost of a private school, but does not match private-sector quality. In another development, Degel Hatorah and Shas leaders Moshe Gafni and Arye Deri said they would back dissolving the Knesset if progress stalls on the Basic Law on Torah Study, the Law to Stop the Arrests of Torah Students, and a kashrut measure. Netanyahu told them he would push the laws quickly, and the parties signaled willingness to trade support for other measures, including adjustments to daycare subsidies and changes to the attorney-general’s role, should the laws advance. Separately, the IDF Home Front Command says northern standby emergency squads will be significantly reduced starting Sunday following a Hezbollah ceasefire and new talks in Washington, though units will remain on standby in case of escalation; one emergency responder described the move as unsettling for residents who have protected the area for years.

In Israeli Economy and Business, Israeli AI firm BARY, based in Tel Aviv, has been acquired by French media and technology group Netgem. Netgem will integrate BARY’s TheSubtil.ai platform, which translates, subtitling, and dubs film and TV content, along with BARY’s Israel-based R&D unit. The technology is said to cut localization costs by about half, bringing per-minute localization costs down from roughly 18 euros to about 9 euros and accelerating turnaround times, marking another notable exit in Israel’s evolving AI sector.

In Uplifting News, New York City horse-drawn carriage rides have resumed in Central Park on Tuesday, nearly a week after an 18-year-old Indian tourist was killed in a fatal accident involving a runaway horse. City officials say safety teams will be stationed in the park as drivers return to service to provide oversight and retraining aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future.

Thank you for tuning in to this Israel Today: Ongoing War Report update.
I'm Noa Levi. Stay safe and informed.
Keep in mind that this AI-generated report may contain occasional inaccuracies, so consult multiple sources for a comprehensive view. Find the code and more details in the podcast description.

SOURCES
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-900297
https://t.me/newssil/205109
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-900306
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-900302
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-900296
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-900292
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-900290
https://t.me/JewishNews24/56179