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

Israel cover image

Israel

August 4, 2026

Tel Aviv 1:51 am

27°C

US President Donald Trump (C) is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on Oct. 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Analysis

Lacking leverage over Trump, Israel stays quiet on US-Iran talks

Realizing it has little to no influence over President Donald Trump’s decision-making, the Israeli government has remained silent on the possibility of the United States and Iran resuming negotiations.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

An Egyptian man looks at the Qatari Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier "Duhail" as its passes through the Suez Canal near the Egyptian port city of Ismailia on April 1, 2008. The vessel has a capacity of 210,100 cu.m making it one of the largest LNG carriers constructed to date. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How strike on Damietta port exposes Egypt's energy infrastructure risks

The unclaimed attack on the port of Damietta could draw Egypt further into the US-Iran conflict as experts point to growing threats to critical infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

US President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2026. President Trump is traveling to Camp David in Maryland to hold a cabinet meeting and later to Bedminster, New Jersey to spend the weekend at his golf club. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

No Iran commitment, no Trump endorsement: Netanyahu leaves US empty-handed

The Israeli prime minister described Tuesday's meeting with US President Donald Trump was the "best ever," but diplomatic sources say he left the Washington with little tangibles.

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

Latest News

Analysis

Katz riles Iran, US as Netanyahu-Trump meeting raises questions

Win McNamee/Getty Images

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

Netanyahu lauds 'excellent' Trump meeting as Israel pushes harder Iran line

Israel PM office

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

The Israeli justice minister's 'transparency law'

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's transparency bill is actually aimed at delegitimizing left-wing NGOs and damaging their ability to operate, and helps her score points with her supporters as well, as these NGOs by law already have to submit the requested data.

A Palestinian protester pushes a burning tyre during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron October 31, 2015. Israeli security forces shot and killed a Palestinian who ran at them with a knife in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, police said, as a month-long wave of violence showed no signs of abating. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTX1U4BU

How the Islamic State is looking to capitalize on Israeli-Palestinian unrest

The Islamic State's recent threats against Israel could be designed just to gain support among Palestinians.

A relative of Palestinian Khalil Obeid, 25, who died on Saturday from a wound he sustained during clashes with the Israeli troops, mourns during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 25, 2015. Palestinian officials reacted warily on Sunday to what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed as Jordan's "excellent suggestion" to calm Israeli-Palestinian violence by putting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site under constant video monitoring. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX1T61F

How will relations between Jews and Palestinians in Israel be restored?

Israelis can't rely on politicians to help repair fraught relations between Jewish and Arab citizens, because they are in part responsible for the incitement highlighted by the recent wave of stabbing attacks.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags during an anti Israel protest near the border between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX1TLBI

The Palestinian uprising's blurred lines

It is difficult to determine whether the events in the Palestinian territories are a limited and temporary uprising or a full-blown intifada.

Israeli-Arabs hold Palestinian flags during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin October 13, 2015. Israel's leading Arab politician was in the middle of a television interview on a street in its biggest Arab city when the mayor, also an Arab, pulled up in his car and started shouting at him to leave. With Palestinian knife attacks on the rise, the live TV encounter illustrated a conflict within Israel's Arab minority between sympathy for Palestinian brethren in Jerusalem,

Is Israel headed to a civil war?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has destroyed one of Israel's major achievements: the basic allegiance of Israeli Arabs with Israel, including their participation in the electoral process and their at least partial integration in the economy and in academic life.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem October 18, 2015. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTS4XKV

Netanyahu's short-term thinking

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels threatened by Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Liberman's rising popularity over his management of the current wave of violence, which is why he keeps coming up with short-lived security ideas.

Israeli paramilitary police walk on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City October 26, 2015. Monday's visit to the compound was low-key by most standards - no fighting broke out, no one was ejected by the police, everyone left calmly and life returned to normal. But in critical ways it cut to the heart of an issue fuelling the worst violence between Palestinians and Israel in years: whether the status quo at the site, also known as the Al-Aqs

My visit to Temple Mount

With hundreds of tourists, I visited the Temple Mount, and contrary to Palestinian accusations, Israel is not trying to change the status quo but cooperates with the Waqf guards during visits at the site.

How to bring peace to Israel

Palestinian Knesset member Ahmad Tibi talked with Al-Monitor about the latest uprising in the Palestinian territories, saying though he advocates nonviolent resistance, peace will remain elusive until Israel ends the longest occupation the world has known.

Lightning strikes over a power station during a storm in the city of Ashkelon October 28, 2015. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1TPK2

Israeli politicians wary of being shocked by electricity union

Even with the mass power breaks following the flash floods this week, Israeli politicians didn't dare confront the mighty electricity labor union.

Children sit on bales of hay at the annual harvest festival in Kibbutz Degania Alef on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, northern Israel May 23, 2015. Twenty-five years ago kibbutzim, collective communities traditionally based on agriculture, seemed all but doomed. But the last few years have seen a surprising turnaround, with young families seeking to escape the high cost of living and alienation they find in cities for a cheaper, rural lifestyle in a closely knit community. Picture taken May 23, 2015. REU

Is kibbutz lifestyle sustainable?

Israeli students who grew up in a kibbutz intend to leave their communities in favor of city life and a profitable career.

Will Big Brother be able to bring peace to Temple Mount?

Instead of installing cameras at the Temple Mount compound to discourage security violations, religious leaders should advocate turning the place into a global center of peace and human solidarity.

Israel goes back to business as usual in post-Iran deal era

The visit of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon this week to Washington and the upcoming visit there of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will both focus on Israeli demands for US military support.