About this episode
HEADLINES- Missed interceptions spark David’s Sling scrutiny- Israel widens Lebanon push against Hezbollah- Netanyahu spokesman resigns over Moroccan remarksThe time is now 3:01 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.In Direct Israel-Iran Clashes, authorities note that despite Israel’s claim of a 90% interception rate, there have been a number of deadly or serious injuries from Iranian or Hezbollah aerial threats during the current war. Ran Kochav, a former Air and Missile Defense Commander and IDF spokesperson, told the Post that several factors may explain missed interceptions, and attention has focused on recent hits at Dimona and Arad, where the failures were attributed to the David’s Sling system. The discussion underscores broader questions about why David’s Sling was deployed given the mix of threats, and it contrasts the roles of different defense systems: Arrow was originally designed for long-range ballistic missiles, Iron Dome for short-range rockets and drones, and THAAD is another US asset designed to shoot down ballistic missiles. The report notes that while Iron Dome is tasked with short-range threats, there have nonetheless been multiple major warnings and failures that have left Israelis wounded, pointing to a complex and high-pressure defense environment.In the Conflict with Iran and its Regional Proxies, Israel has laid out clear objectives for operations south of the Litani River while acknowledging potential difficulty to the north. Defense Minister Israel Katz described a border doctrine likening the approach to what was used in Rafah and Beit Hanun in Gaza: leveling problematic areas and moving residents out to establish a defensive zone, thereby reducing risk to border communities. Yet there is a key difference between Lebanon and Gaza: in Gaza, Israel dismantled a broad set of threats and Hamas retains limited rocket capability; in the north, the threat from Hezbollah remains active, and analysts say there is no current parallel to Gaza’s buffer scenario. Separately, the IDF is expanding its operations by sending two more divisions, the 162nd and 98th, to join the 91st and 36th Divisions in southern Lebanon to conduct counterterrorism sweeps for concealed Hezbollah weapons. This move broadens the campaign into a second line of villages as part of efforts to locate and remove hidden arms, following prior phases in which a larger force had been employed.In Israeli Domestic Politics, the political landscape shifted as Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Ziv Agmon, resigned after revelations of racist comments about Moroccan MKs. Agmon, who is of Moroccan origin, denied that the remarks were racist, calling the reports ridiculous and saying quotes were taken out of context as part of a broader character assessment of him as the PM’s spokesman. Separately, as Israel fights an Iran-focused war, Prime Minister Netanyahu is seeki
