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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:39 pm

30°C

Israelis turn out to cast their ballots on election day for the 20th Knesset on March 17, 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Explainer

Israel's next election: Who's leading in polls and what's at stake?

After months of negotiations and speculations, the coalition announced that general elections will take place on Oct. 27.

Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As US-Iran fighting resumes, Israel weighs 3 options with restraint winning, for now

Despite Israel's military readiness to resume strikes on Iran, officials say looming elections make Netanyahu more likely to stay out unless Tehran forces his hand.

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

Latest News

New Israeli election poll puts Eisenkot ahead of Netanyahu: What to know

Former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot speaks during the launch of the Yashar party's election campaign in Hod Aharon, in central Israel, on June 30, 2026.

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

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)

Explainer

Lebanon's latest damage estimate outlines reconstruction challenge

Froun

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

An Israeli girl picks Ranunculus flowers in a cultivated field in the southern Israeli Kibbutz of Nir Yitzhak, located along the Israeli-Gaza Strip border, on April 20, 2015. The flower bulbs will be mostly exported to Europe. AFP PHOTO / MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Winning Israeli idea helps urban agriculture take root

The Forest City initiative is taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis by encouraging urban agriculture while Israelis stay home and garden.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on January 19, 2020, near the northern Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am, shows a general view of the Israel-Lebanon border as Israeli army forces begin deployment of infrastructure for a ground "defensive system" along the fence. - Israel's army said it would start drilling to install ground sensors along its border with Lebanon on January 19, a year after a weeks-long operation to destroy tunnels dug across the frontier that it had accused Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah of buildin

Israel upping alert on tensions with Hezbollah

According to the latest reports, Israel has decided to up the level of alert on its borders with Lebanon and Syria; several roads near the borders will be closed for civilian vehicles as of this evening.

Settlement sprawl forces Hebron's Palestinian families to live in caves

Dozens of Palestinians are living in caves in Hebron as the Israeli authorities repeatedly demolish their homes built without impossible-to-obtain permits.

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 21: Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, listens during a UN Security Council meeting concerning nuclear non-proliferation, during the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, September 21, 2017 in New York City. The most pressing issues facing the assembly this year include North KoreaÕs nuclear ambitions, violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, and the debate over climate change. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Egypt heads to Amman, Ramallah to revive peace efforts

The Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Jordan and the Palestinian city of Ramallah to declare Egypt’s rejection of the Israeli intentions to annex parts of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken early on April 10, 2019 shows Israeli Likud Party campaign material and posters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strown on the floor following election night at the party headquarters in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu sees last, best chance in fourth round of elections

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly feels that new elections are his best option, but don't expect him to make his move until the Aug. 25 budget deadline.

Progressives push Democrats to acknowledge West Bank occupation in party platform

Democrats made a series of compromises between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel camps in the 2020 party platform, but progressives want to amend it with a reference to the occupation of the West Bank.

Why Israeli Bedouins reject tree planting in their villages

Plans to plant trees near Bedouin villages are opposed by local residents and environmental groups.

Israel-Hezbollah tensions escalate, IDF sends more troops to the north

Following the killing on Monday of a Hezbollah operative and Hezbollah retaliation threats, the IDF decided to send reinforcement to the country’s northern borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and his wife Sara Netanyahu cast their ballots during the Israeli legislative elections, at a polling station in Jerusalem on March 2, 2020. - Netanyahu urged people to vote despite widespread concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, as the longest-serving leader in the Jewish state's history cast his ballot. Israelis were voting for a third time in 12 months today, with embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to end the country's political crisis an

Conversion therapy vote marks beginning of end for Israel's unity government

The vote to ban conversion therapy in Israel has exposed the depth of the crisis between the Likud and Blue and White.

Baptismal relic latest focus of opposing narratives

The Israeli authorities have stolen an archaeological stone relic from the home of a Palestinian official in the West Bank, claiming it was Israel’s in the first place.

Members of the LGBT community hold a banner reading in Hebrew "A homophobic Racist Has to Quit" during a rally against Israel's Education Minister Rafi Peretz following his remarks on gay conversion therapy, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on July 14, 2019. - Members of the LGBT community hold a banner reading in Hebrew "A homophobic Racist Has to Quiet" during a rally against Israel's Education Minister Rafi Peretz following his remarks on gay conversion therapy, in the Israeli coastal city of Tel

Knesset moves to outlaw conversion therapy in Israel

Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties are angry with their coalition allies in the Blue and White for supporting a bill criminalizing conversion therapy for homosexuals.

Israelis protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, on July 21, 2020. - Netanyahu, 70, was indicted in January for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. He denies all the charges and accuses the media and legal officials of a witch hunt. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli Arabs absent from anti-Netanyahu, COVID-19 crisis protests

Years of exclusion from the social and political arenas might explain the fact that almost no Arab citizens have been seen taking to the streets to protest this government and its prime minister.