Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Analysis

What’s at stake for Turkey as Israel heads to the polls?

Israel’s Oct. 27 election could offer a chance to ease tensions with Ankara, but competing ambitions in Syria and beyond threaten to push the two US allies toward a dangerous confrontation.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Feature

50,000 Israeli expats fly home to vote in potential boon to Netanyahu rivals

Israel prohibits voting from abroad with limited exceptions, and Israelis who spoke to Al-Monitor said they are especially motivated to fly home this year.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Pedestrians cross a street in front of a banner featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Analysis

How Israel opposition infighting is boosting Netanyahu days before election

Discord within the opposition, including its reluctance to name a single candidate for prime minister ahead of the Oct. 27 election, is working in Netanyahu’s favor.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

It is the first publicly disclosed contact between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which lack formal relations and have fought several wars. Sharaa’s government began US-mediated talks with Israel in 2025.

Latest News

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sues Netanyahu for nearly $1M over Oct. 7 claims

Israel's Chief of the Mossad David Barnea (R) and Security Agency director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Israel-UK relations hit new low over settlements, Gaza: What to know

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during a protest against the recently announced British sanctions, aimed at economic activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on Sept. 14, 2026, in Jerusalem.

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

Palestinian men gather to apply for work permits in Israel, at Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 6, 2021.

Israel announces 3,000 new Gaza work permits

The additional work permits for Gazans follows several Israeli measures aimed at easing border restrictions.

WEst Bank

Israel regularizes status of 4,000 West Bank Palestinians

Defense Minister Benny Gantz decided to legalize the status of some 4,000 Palestinians who live in the West Bank but are not properly registered.

DEBBIE HILL/AFP via Getty Images

Anger as Netanyahu skips Rabin memorial

In an unusual step, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu declined to attend the state memorial ceremony marking 26 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images

Palestinian Authority asks AU to revoke Israel's observer status

Israel gained observer status in the supranational African organization in July.

A general view shows a section of Israel's controversial separation wall near Qalandia crossing between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Israel-annexed East Jerusalem. The tarmac of the former Atarot airport, which has been closed to civilian traffic since the breakout of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000, can be seen in the center, July 28, 2016.

Palestinians alarmed by Israel settlement plan on Jerusalem airport

Israel's Greater Jerusalem Project is taking shape with the construction of thousands of new settlement units on the land of Jerusalem airport, setting off alarm bells with the Palestinians.

Likud spokesperson's office

Year of changes place Abraham Accords supporters on rockier ground

The Abraham Accords did much to sideline the Palestinian issue, but the current Israeli government is increasingly communicating with the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem attend a hearing at Israel's Supreme Court, Jerusalem, Aug. 2, 2021.

Israel offers Sheikh Jarrah residents to remain tenants for 15 years

Israel's Supreme Court gave four families facing eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem until Nov. 2 to respond to a settlement agreement.

Palestinian children wearing protective face masks as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus play video games in Rafah, Gaza Strip, March 22, 2020.

Palestinian video game strikes Israel’s nerve

A new video game developed by a Brazilian of Palestinian origin has raised controversy among Israelis who claim the game encourages the killing of Jews.

Pious Jews join prayers from a terrace overlooking the spot where Jewish priests covered with black and white Talit prayer shawls perform the Cohanim prayer at the Western Wall, with the Dome of the Rock shrine seen in the background, during the Passover holiday, Old City of Jerusalem, April 22, 2019.

Israeli court approves quiet Jewish prayer at Temple Mount compound

In a landmark ruling, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court allowed Rabbi Aryeh Lippo to pray silently at the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

WEst Bank

Israeli lawmaker praises 'two-state solution act' in Congress

The bill calls for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside a home for the Jewish people in Israel, which earned praise from a retired military commander in Israel's Knesset.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech remotely at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting at UN headquarters, New York, Sept. 24, 2021.

Abbas says PLO will not recognize pre-1967 borders unless Israel withdraws

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, amid declining popularity, gave Israel one year to withdraw from the occupied territories along the 1967 border, but appears to intensify meetings with Israelis in a bid to move the peace process forward.

MAZEN MAHDI/AFP via Getty Images

Iran says Israel FM's visit left 'stain' on Bahrain

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the damage could not be undone by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s recent visit to Bahrain.