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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 28, 2026

Tel Aviv 4:41 am

24°C

Trump Netanyahu

On eighth visit, Israel’s Netanyahu seeks to repair ties with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to focus on Iran in his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump, while the US leader is more likely to want to discuss Lebanon and Syria.

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why US carriers unlikely to rush back to Beirut as Trump lifts Lebanon flight ban

The White House is set to allow US airlines to fly to Beirut for the first time in decades, but experts say the move is more about politics than planes as Washington creates new openings for Lebanon's battered economy.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Ahead of Trump meeting, Netanyahu lays groundwork for Israel to rejoin Iran war

Reports of an Iranian espionage ring and nuclear centrifuges movement could help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make the case to the Israeli public and Donald Trump to rejoin the war, ahead of a critical election in October.

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

Latest News

Explainer

As Turkey rivalry heats up, Greece to acquire $4B Israeli air defense system

David's Sling.

Trump says Saudi nuclear deal 'totally subject' to Israel normalization

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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

Palestinian protesters climb over a section of the Israeli barrier that separates the West Bank town of Abu Dis from Jerusalem, during an anti-Israel protest, November 16, 2015. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTS7CY7

Learning the language of occupation

The terms used by Israeli politicians and settlers to describe Israeli rule of the West Bank perpetuates the occupation, brainwashes Israelis and ignores Palestinian suffering.

Israeli co-leader of the Zionist Union party and Labour Party's leader, Isaac Herzog, gives a speech during a rally to mark the 21th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv plaza where he was shot in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on November 5, 2016.
Thousands of people attended a memorial rally for Rabin, despite earlier fears it would be cancelled, an AFP journalist at the event said.

/ AFP / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read

In Israel, battle for Labor leadership gets dirty

As the Israeli Labor Party prepares to chose its next leader, centrist leader Yair Lapid has already positioned himself as the front-runner against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next elections.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani enter a hall during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov - RTS12E5Q

Russia’s reading on what’s at stake in Qatar crisis

Moscow has pricked up its ears as Qatar’s diplomacy problems grow more raucous.

A man stands outside Qatar Airways office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 5, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser - RTX392F7

Saudi-Qatar rift could benefit Israel

Israeli officials estimate that the Saudi-Qatar rift could strengthen the Israeli-Saudi alliance against regional Islamic terror.

New chapter begins in Israel-Palestine water dispute

After a suspension of seven years, the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee is reconvening, but will Palestine finally get a fair share of water?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smiles the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool - RTX22Q2N

Netanyahu feels on top of the world

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu multiplies his meetings with Likud activists, as a sign to his rivals in the party that no one can challenge his leadership.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal gestures as he announces a new policy document in Doha, Qatar, May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon - RTS14OTL

New 'rules of the game' for Israeli-Hamas standoff

The expulsion from Qatar of Hamas leaders and the movement's reconciliation with Iran has potentially changed the "rules of the game" between Israel and Hamas.

Russian Subbotniks dream of coming to Israel

After joining the Jewish people two centuries ago, the Subbotnik community feels that Israel should recognize them as Jews and enable them to immigrate.

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump (L) participate in a wreath-laying with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) at the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial in Jerusalem May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RTX3794Q

Blocking embassy move to Jerusalem Trump's wisest decision yet

By signing the waiver against moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, President Donald Trump displayed responsibility and sound judgment.

A convoy of Israeli armoured military vehicles rolls through the Sinai peninsula during the 1967 Middle East War, widely known as the Six Day War, in this picture released on June 4, 2007 by Israel's Defence Ministry. Forty years ago this week, Israel swept to victory in six days in a war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan, capturing the Sinai peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem. REUTERS/Israeli Defence Ministry/Handout BLACK AND WHITE ONLY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT F

The story behind Israel’s atomic explosion plan

For many years, Israel tried to prevent Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Yaakov from revealing the story of the 1967 plans to detonate an explosive device in the Sinai Peninsula.

Palestinians take part in rally in support of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails who ended their hunger strike earlier in the day, in Gaza City on May 27, 2017.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails on hunger strike since April 17 have ended their mass protest after Israel agreed a deal following weeks of refusing to negotiate, sources on both sides said / AFP PHOTO / MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

'Dean' of prisoners appointed to top Fatah body

As the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended, Fatah named the longest-serving prisoner, Karim Younis, to its Central Committee.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) gestures as he speaks to incoming minister Aryeh Deri, party leader of the Ultra-Orthodox Shas party, in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem May 13, 2015. Netanyahu's emerging government scraped by its first parliamentary test on Wednesday, paving the way for the new cabinet to be sworn in after two months of difficult coalition building. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1CSJH

Ultra-Orthodox party risks shakeup as Israel's interior minister investigated

The criminal investigation into Interior Minister Aryeh Deri's finances could send the Shas Party he heads into another battle over its leadership.