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Israel

May 19, 2026

Tel Aviv 10:22 pm

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NICOSIA, CYPRUS - APRIL 24: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives for an informal meeting of European Union leaders on April 24, 2026 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The EU heads of state and government are meeting over two days to discuss the conflict in Iran and the Middle East, including freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the effects of high fuel prices, and how Europe may contribute to de-escalation and a peace agreement. (Photo by Byron Smith/Getty Images)

Syria's Sharaa renews ban on Israeli imports in customs law: What to know

The renewal comes even as Damascus pursues US-backed security talks with Israel aimed at reducing tensions along the border.

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.

Somaliland's first ambassador to Israel announces embassy in Jerusalem: What to know

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

A bride and group couple rides in a military jeep arriving for a public mass wedding ceremony at Imam Hossein Square in Tehran on May 18, 2026. Iran said on May 18 that it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that diplomatic exchanges continue despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive. Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict which the US and Israel launched on February 28, but they have held only a sin

Analysis

Israel pushes for full Iran blockade as it awaits Trump's next move

Israel’s preferred strategy, sources told Al-Monitor, calls for a comprehensive naval, economic, land and air blockade of Iran, alongside tighter sanctions and covert activity aimed at destabilizing the regime.

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

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.

Latest News

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

talks

Analysis

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

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.

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

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

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

Benny Gantz, a former Israeli armed forces chief and head of Israel Resilience party, delivers his first political speech at the party campaign launch in Tel Aviv, Israel January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1F37BEDD60

Former generals join forces ahead of Israeli elections

In a recent speech, former IDF chief Benny Gantz announced himself as a viable alternative and worthy challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pressured by settlers, Netanyahu ejects Hebron observers

With elections right around the corner, it has become much easier for the settlers to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do their bidding and let them rule downtown Hebron.

Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib canvasses a neighborhood before Election Day in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook - RC1D480CE1E0

Top Democrat on foreign affairs shoots down pro-Palestinian trips

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is unwilling to approve a proposed congressional delegation to the West Bank.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a bilateral meeting during the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1720F3A620

Netanyahu plays Iran threat at his convenience

Guided by election campaign considerations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Russian-American deal for pulling Iranian forces out of Syria.

Demonstrators take part in a rally against Israel's offensive in Gaza, at Plaza Bolivar in downtown Caracas January 8, 2009. The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Thursday but Israeli warplanes kept up attacks. REUTERS/Edwin Montilva (VENEZUELA) - GM1E5190U8901

Intel: Why Israel is recognizing the opposition in Venezuela

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from the Jewish Home party, deliver statements in Tel Aviv, Israel December 29, 2018. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC15EB02E090

Will the ultra-right seize control of religious Zionism in Israel?

With Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked having left HaBayit HaYehudi to start a new party, ultra-right parties are angling to take control of Israel's religious Zionist movement.

Rare book exhibit draws crowds in Jerusalem

The "Maimonides: A Legacy in Script” exhibit, a collection of rare manuscripts by a renowned Jewish scholar, is drawing unusually large crowds of Orthodox Jews to Jerusalem’s Israel Museum.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement together with Chad's President Idriss Deby, during their meeting in N'Djamena, Chad January 20, 2019. Kobi Gideon/Government Press Office/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC13B14BBC20

Foreign Minister Netanyahu sidelines own ministry

As reflected in his conduct, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees himself as an airborne Foreign Ministry that does all the work and does not need hundreds of professionals working under him.

Freed Palestinian prisoner Mohammed al-Bashiti, who served 12 years in an Israeli jail after he was convicted of being a member of Hamas' armed wing, is kissed by his aunt upon his release, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - S1BETRQHDIAA

Hamas denies Arab media talk about new prisoner swap negotiations with Israel

Qatar’s Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that talks between Israel and Hamas were renewed through European intermediaries, but the Islamic movement’s spokesman denies it.

Jewish settlers stand at an observation point overlooking the West Bank village of Duma, near Yishuv Hadaat, an unauthorised Jewish settler outpost January 5, 2016. Steeped in messianic Jewish mysticism and rebelling against what they see as adulterated modern Zionism, the "Hilltop Youth," a new generation of ultra-religious settlers whose resentment of the secular Israeli state rivals their hostility toward Arabs, number in the hundreds, by most accounts. But they pose a deep-rooted challenge even for the

Can the Shin Bet stop hilltop youths' march to Armageddon?

Shin Bet sources admit that they have little means to tamp down the young extremist settlers known as hilltop youth, who carry out violent attacks against Palestinians in the hopes of sparking a conflagration.

Qatar sinks into Gaza quagmire

Qatar wanted to please the United States and help Gaza residents with aid money, but has found itself trapped in a standoff between Hamas and Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L) and Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit (L) arrive to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem November 16, 2014. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - GM1EABG1G1D01

Netanyahu’s archrival before elections: the attorney general

To save himself from an indictment before the April elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the political left is pressuring Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to indict him.