Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-12-11 at 23:05 cover art

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-12-11 at 23:05

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report - Update from 2025-12-11 at 23:05

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 HEADLINESBarrack to visit Israel for Gaza fundingBeliever Meats shuts down amid funding droughtLeviathan gas export deal with EgyptThe time is now 6:00 PM in New York, I'm Noa Levi and this is the latest Israel Today: Ongoing War Report.This is the six o’clock briefing. Tom Barrack, the United States envoy to Turkey and Syria, is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, signaling ongoing high level engagement between Washington and Jerusalem as regional issues press for attention and coordination. In another strand of United States mediation, Israel has agreed to fund Gaza reconstruction for the time being at Washington’s urging, with the estimated bill running into the billions to repair two years of destruction from airstrikes and ground operations.A debate unfolding in public commentary reflects divergent voices on the conflict’s moral and religious framing. Tucker Carlson asserted that certain evangelical pastors provided theological cover for the Gaza war, saying he believes some figures have deviated from core Christian teachings in service of political agendas. The remarks touch on how religious rhetoric has intersected with ongoing debates over the war and its consequences.On the defense front, Ran Kochav, a former commander of the Arrow air defense system, described the Arrow three’s capabilities in protecting Germany in a way that he says defies imagination, recounting its place in the broader history of ballistic defense technology and its symbolic resonance given past European trauma. The remarks underscore how Israeli defense tech is viewed as relevant to security debates beyond the region, even as it remains part of a broader conversation about deterrence and alliance commitments.In the technology and business sector, Believer Meats, the Israeli-founded lab-grown meat startup, has announced a shutdown after funds dried up. The company, which operates in Israel and the United States, is facing a roughly thirty four million dollar lawsuit from a North Carolina contractor associated with a large-scale production facility. Believer Meats had been a leading example in the cultivated meat field, having secured substantial investment and regulatory clearance to begin commercial production in the United States, but the current funding environment for biotechnology ventures has grown tighter, and Believer Meats has not disclosed further details about the closure. The outcome highlights the challenges of scaling new food technologies from laboratory to market even as environmental and sustainability claims keep the sector in the public eye.Meanwhile, the broader regional diplomacy trajectory continues to unfold. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he would travel to Beirut for talks after Lebanon’s foreign minister declined to head to Tehran. Lebanese officials invited him to meet in Beirut, or in a neutral location, as discussions proceed about Lebanon’s path on regional security and the delicate question of Hezbollah’s disarmament. The Lebanese leadership has repeatedly signaled that state forces must hold exclusive rights to weapons and decisions on war and peace, even as Tehran seeks to shape alignments in the region. These exchanges come amid ongoing questions about the extent to which Iran, Lebanon, and their allies influence security arrangements along Israel’s northern frontier.In energy news, a long-awaited gas export deal involving Israel is expected to be signed in the coming days. The agreement, valued at about thirty-five billion dollars, would permit exports of gas from the Leviathan field to Egypt through 2040, representing a significant linkage between Israeli gas resources and Egyptian energy markets at a time of shifting regional energy dynamics. The arrangement also reflects how natural resource diplomacy remains a central component of regional stability and economic strategy in the Middle East.Domestically, Israel faces enduring questions over the structure of its draft laws for exemptions by the ultra-Orthodox community. Legal experts warn that the proposed framework could entrench social divisions and present long-term challenges for the economy and national security, highlighting the persistent tension between social policy and military readiness in Israeli society.Finally, families of hostages continue to speak publicly about the toll of more than two years of conflict. A new release of material from the families of six hostages killed in a tunnel raid in Rafah last August provides personal testimony and a call to action for accountability and for keeping their loved ones’ memories alive. The statements emphasize the human stakes at the heart of the conflict and the enduring demand for answers and redress from all sides.In sum, today’s developments illustrate a continuing pattern of high-level diplomacy and security concerns intersecting with legal, ...
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