Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

July 9, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:53 am

23°C

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not shown) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump declares MoU with Iran 'over' as Hegseth cancels trip to Israel

Trump said diplomacy with Tehran was “a waste of time” after renewed attacks around Hormuz, as US defense chief reportedly cancels Israel visit.

Froun

Explainer

Lebanon's latest damage estimate outlines reconstruction challenge

More than 1 million Lebanese residents fled their homes after Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon intensified in March, when Hezbollah entered the conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes US President Donald Trump (R) upon his arrival on Air Force One at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026, before attending the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Trump's F-35 push for Turkey runs into CAATSA — and Israel

Israel fears that Washington may be shifting its strategic options toward Turkey as the two rivals push for regional hegemony.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

ABIR SULTAN / AFP via Getty Images

Israel, Greece conduct military drills ahead of NATO summit in Turkey

Photos published by the Greek military showed fighter jets from both countries flying side by side over the Aegean Sea.

Latest News

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

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

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Rina Bassist

Associate Editor (Israel)

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt’s embrace of Bennett highlights divisions in Israeli cabinet

While coalition partners from the center and left congratulated Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, figures on the right are busy criticizing him over Gaza.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Bennett, Lapid shift stance on Gaza

Despite his past support for attacking Hamas, the meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's plan to rehabilitate Gaza signal a very different policy.

Naftali Bennett

Israel's Bennett has lost his voter base

National-religious activists and settlers are abandoning Prime Minister Naftali Bennett because of his partnering with centrist and left-wing parties.

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Arab-Israeli soccer player booed by Jewish soccer fans

Despite the goals he scored against Faroe Islands and Austria, Israeli-Jewish soccer fans booed Israeli-Arab player Moanes Dabbur.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid (L) inspects the damage inside a house following a rocket attack by militants from the Gaza Strip on the southern town of Sderot, Israel, July 21, 2014.

Lapid unveils Israeli economic plan for Gaza

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented an outline for improving the lives of Gazans, offering them economic rehabilitation steps in exchange for Hamas halting its military build-up.

An ambulance arrives at the scene of an attempted stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City, on Sept. 10, 2021.

Palestinian shot dead after attempted stabbing in Jerusalem's Old City

Israeli police said the man tried to stab police officers stationed outside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Arab Israeli protesters lift Palestinian flags and spoons, reportedly the digging tool used by six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison, as they demonstrate in the mostly Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, on Sept. 10, 2021, to denounce punitive measures taken by the Israel Prison Service against Palestinian prisoners following the jailbreak.

Jailbreak unites Palestinians, confounds Israelis

And: required reading to understand the last two decades in the Middle East: the 'Axis of Evil' speech

Orthodox pilgrims at airport

Israeli prime minister cracks down after pilgrims falsify test results

New rules will be enforced after some Israelis with COVID-19 returned to the country from Ukraine using forged negative test results.

ALEXANDER NEMENOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In Moscow, Israel’s Lapid warns against Iran nuke, presence in Syria

It was evident in the meeting in Moscow between Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the two countries do not see eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear agreement and Syria.

Israeli security forces patrol along the security fence in the village of Muqeibila near the West Bank town of Jenin on Sept. 6, 2021, following the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison.

Palestinian prison break embarrasses Israeli government

The last thing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett needed right now was a spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners from a high-security jail.

Pnina Tamano Shata, the first Israeli Jewish woman of Ethiopian origin to be elected to the Knesset, talks to AFP journalists during an interview, Hadera, Israel, Feb. 4, 2020.

Israeli female ministers introduce reforms, shake up agenda

With nine female ministers, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett includes the highest number ever of women in an Israeli Cabinet.

Israeli-made Spike missiles, which are capable of striking North Korea's underground facilities with satellite-guidance system, are on parade during a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of South Korea's Armed Forces at an air base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Oct. 1, 2013.

Why Serbia wants to buy SPIKE missiles from Israel

While prospects for actual conflict use are slim, Belgrade hopes that by buying Israeli weapons it can alleviate some of the pressure it may face from Washington over Kosovo and ties with Russia and China.