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Israel

May 19, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:05 am

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Men gather around the husk of a destroyed pickup truck that was driven by a local shepherd who was reportedly struck by Israeli forces and buried by locals at a grave nearby, in the Najaf desert in southwestern Iraq, on May 12, 2026.

What we know about secret Israeli bases in Iraq

Iraqi authorities have said there are no longer any hostile forces operating in its territory.

Somaliland’s first ambassador to a foreign country formally, Mohamed Hagi, presented his diplomatic credentials in Jerusalem to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, on May 18, 2026.

Israel accredits Somaliland's first ambassador: What to know

Israel was the first country to recognize the breakaway region on the Horn of Africa last year.

talks

Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extended 45 days as US opens security talks

The Pentagon will host Israeli and Lebanese military delegations for a round of separate security talks later this month.

US President Donald Trump talks to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he departs the Al Bateen Executive Airport on May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Analysis

‘A reckless act’: Netanyahu sparks UAE fury by claiming secret visit

Just as UAE-Israeli relations were deepening through cooperation against Iran, the Israeli prime minister publicly embarrassed Abu Dhabi by revealing his March visit.

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

Latest News

Israel's Netanyahu suing New York Times over column on Palestinian rape

Analysis

Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front

Artillery units are positioned near the Lebanese border in northern Israel, May 4, 2026.

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

Why Netanyahu is ignoring growing Israeli-Palestinian tensions

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would typically convene his Security Cabinet and security chiefs to avoid violence with the Palestinians, but this election season has altered business as usual.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech at the launch of his Likud party election campaign in Ramat Gan, Israel March 4, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1F91530CC0

Netanyahu’s war against the ex-generals

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks with the same strategy that worked for him in the past: depicting his rival as a "leftist."

Newly released Palestinian prisoners wait to disembark from a bus upon their arrival to the West Bank city of Ramallah December 18, 2011. Israel released 550 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday in the second stage of a deal with Hamas that brought home soldier Gilad Shalit after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - GM1E7CJ0IXQ01

Will Israel release Palestinian prisoners re-arrested in 2014?

Thirty-one prisoners who were arrested in 2014, three years after their release in the Shalit prisoner-exchange deal, are now petitioning the Israeli High Court of Justice against their incarceration.

Is Netanyahu’s election campaign on the way to war?

Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in 2008 that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had no moral authority to launch peace talks in Palestinians, so he should now implement the same rule on himself and avoid generating a war.

Yemenis divided over Mideast peace deal, Iran

The controversy that ensued after a photo emerged of Yemen's foreign minister sitting next to the Israeli premier in Warsaw indicates that Arab states may be further divided by stances on Iran and a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.

Zarif’s stock rises with support from Soleimani

While Iran’s foreign minister carries the day against hard-liners, Israel hopes to exploit possible cracks in Tehran’s Syria policy.

Israeli ultra-Orthodox journalists in love with Twitter

Ultra-Orthodox journalists explain that the use of Twitter opened up their world to the general Israeli society, breaking several stigmas and misunderstandings.

The campaign to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism

Although some acts of anti-Semitism are perpetrated under the guise of anti-Zionism, anti-Zionists, a group that includes some Israelis, are not anti-Semitic despite a definition of anti-Semitism being promoted by the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance and Israeli governments under Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinians, Jordanians challenge Israel at Al-Aqsa over banned prayer space

Tensions are mounting between Jordan and Israel after the latter arrested members of the Islamic Waqf Council for entering a supposedly banned prayer room at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hamas prefers Netanyahu over other prime minister hopefuls

There's no love lost between Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the movement's leaders apparently think he is the best they can hope for in the upcoming elections.

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the media in his residency in Jerusalem February 28, 2019 REUTERS/ Ronen Zvulun - RC1A94DCC510

Netanyahu fights for his political life

Following the attorney general's announcement that he will be indicted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped up his desperate war against the legal system and the media.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) gives a thumbs up after being interviewed at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, DC, U.S., March 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder - RC144242BC60

Israeli elections pit Republicans against AIPAC

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral alliance with the far-right Jewish Power party has created yet another partisan cleavage over Israel.