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

Israel cover image

Israel

November 12, 2026

Tel Aviv 9:04 am

21°C

Marco Longari / AFP via Getty Images

France denies entry for Israeli settler leader: What to know

The head of Israel's Samaria Regional Council settler organization claims that France turned him back at the Paris airport.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) casts his ballot, next to his wife Sara

Explainer

From Oct. 7 inquiry to blocking Netanyahu: Eisenkot's bloc maps out Knesset agenda

Israel's opposition to advance anti-Netanyahu government measures as soon as Knesset convenes Tuesday, without waiting for a new cabinet to take shape.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Analysis

Trump officials look past Netanyahu, push Eisenkot to form government quickly

Associates of President Donald Trump are urging opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a government, but one of his partners, Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, is blocking the path to resolving the political deadlock.

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

Former Israeli army chief of staff and Yashar Party leader, Gadi Eisenkot, greets supporters

Explainer

Uphill battle: Gadi Eisenkot's 3 paths to forming Israel's next government

When President Isaac Herzog tasks Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming a government, he will have three options for building a coalition, each fraught with obstacles.

Latest News

Explainer

Arab parties' backing gives Eisenkot edge over Netanyahu for PM: What to know

Tomer Neuberg / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Democrats’ midterm sweep tests US-Israel ties as Eisenkot vows reset

An aerial view shows a campaign billboard depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party and President Donald Trump in Tel Aviv, on Oct. 26, 2026, on the eve of Israel's legislative elections.

From Tehran to Tel Aviv, Democrats’ midterm triumph sparks Middle East reactions

The sun sets on the US Capitol on Election Day evening on Nov. 3, 2026 in Washington.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

A Palestinian woman collects barley during harvest on a farm in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX2BJRS

Gaza agriculture on brink of collapse

With new Israeli encroachment in the name of security and restrictions on the importation of chemicals and fertilizers, even more of Gaza's farmers are being forced to abandon their lands despite a near-total lack of other employment options.

A Palestinian supporter of former head of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, holds a poster depicting Dahlan during a protest against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City December 18, 2014. Dahlan, who lives in exile in the Gulf, is a powerful political foe of Abbas.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4IJ7B

Will these Palestinian and Israeli leaders achieve peace?

A re-entry into politics of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan could bring about pragmatic moves towards a two-state solution.

Haim Saban (R) and Cheryl Saban (L) arrive for a State Dinner honoring Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the White House in Washington October 18, 2016. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan - RTX2PFE5

The American billionaires influencing Israeli policy

Israeli-born American billionaires like Haim Saban and Dr. Miriam Adelson influence Israeli politics and the fate of the country, without assuming the consequences.

Frecha Amar, 84, from a Moroccan descent, poses with a picture of her baby, who she says was abducted in 1958, on June 29, 2016 at her home in Kfar Chabad, near Tel-Aviv.
Amar is one of the thousands of Israelis, mainly from Jewish Yemenite families, who claim their babies were abducted more than 60 years ago and handed to adoption. Such stories of babies from immigrant families disappearing have been told in Israel for decades, but growing calls to unseal official documents on the allegations mean new lig

Do DNA samples hold key to Israel's missing children mystery?

As one Likud minister combs through long-classified documents, another Knesset member is advancing a DNA collection project that could shed light on the six-decades-old mystery of missing Yemenite children, but it's a race against time as their parents age.

Palestinian official Mustafa Barghouti, speaks to reporters during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 24, 2015, on the file being prepared for the International Criminal Court (ICC) providing proof of what Palestinian authorities say are Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Abbas' former opponent speaks out on postponed elections

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti wants to see agreement between Fatah and Hamas and local elections held in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Israeli left wing demonstrators march holding placards protesting the right wing incitement against President Reuven Rivlin and human rights activists in Tel Aviv. December 19, 2015. An ultra-nationalist Israeli group has published a video accusing the heads of four of Israel's leading human rights organisations of being foreign agents funded by Europe and supporting Palestinians "involved in terrorism". The sign (C) reads, "The right will not silence me." REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1ZETU

Why human rights NGOs are losing support of Israeli public

Human rights nongovernmental organizations are confronted by an increasingly difficult battle over Israeli public opinion, which often considers them illegitimate or hostile as they criticize the elected government.

United Nations cultural organization UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria speaks during a debate in the United Nations General Assembly between candidates vying to be the next U.N. Secretary General at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar - RTSHN99

UNESCO head's attempt to ease Israeli outrage backfires

An attempt by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova to ease Israeli anger over a recent resolution has infuriated Palestinians.

Why Israelis flock to small tomb in Nablus at night

Despite the fact that Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus has been the site of recurring clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews keep coming to the site for nocturnal prayers.

Temporary houses (front) are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ofra, north of Ramallah July 18, 2013. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which have ebbed and flowed for two decades, last broke down in late 2010, after a partial settlement halt meant to foster talks ended and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend it. Palestinians familiar with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' thinking speculated he might now forgo the demand for a settlement moratorium given

More Palestinian lands threatened with confiscation

Sixty percent of Palestinian lands in the West Bank risk confiscation by Israeli authorities under the absentee property and abandoned lands laws, which some Palestinian activists say were issued with the aim to expand Israeli settlements.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands at a view-point overlooking a wooden ramp (C) leading up from Judaism's Western Wall to the sacred compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, where the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand, in Jerusalem's Old City December 12, 2011. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo - RTSS5BJ

Netanyahu faces off against UNESCO over Jerusalem resolution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers to ignore the fact that from a diplomatic-international standpoint, the Jewish holy sites in the Old City are under occupation.

Why Israeli NGO’s UN testimony against occupation backfired

The decision by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem to testify to the UN Security Council against the occupation has weakened its own camp and played into the hands of the Israeli right.

Jordanian protesters chant slogans during a protest against a government agreement to import natural gas from Israel, in Amman, Jordan, October 14, 2016. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RTSS8YO

Is Jordan Israel’s new best friend?

Jordan is boosting its strategic ties with Israel based on their mutual economic interests, while Palestinians sound the alarm against normalization of relations with their enemy.