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Israel

August 4, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:39 pm

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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

Israeli policemen patrol a street in the Arab east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber following clashes in Jerusalem September 18, 2015. Israel deployed hundreds of extra police around the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday after Palestinian leaders called for a 'day of rage' to protest at new Israeli security measures. In an effort to limit the threat of violence, Israel also banned access to al-Aqsa for all men under 40 on Friday, the Muslim holy day. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTS1S1V

Israel attempts to redefine terrorism, but is its definition too broad?

Some observers are concerned that a draft Israeli law's wide-ranging definition of what constitutes terrorism could outlaw opposition to the occupation and suppress political opposition in Israel.

Why Israelis are happier than ever

Recent surveys indicate that the average Israeli is happy, optimistic and likes having children despite existential security threats from near and far.

Palestinians learning Hebrew for strategic advantage

Increasing numbers of Palestinians in Gaza are studying Hebrew so they can follow Israeli media, understand Israeli thinking and, therefore, better manage the conflict between the two sides.

US offer of anti-Iran bomb lands as a dud in Israel

Some in Congress are keen to share the latest bunker-busting technology, but Israel is skeptical.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (L) attends a joint news conference with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 21, 2015. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefaced talks about a French-led peace initiative on Sunday by saying foreign powers were trying to dictate to Israel a deal with the Palestinians. Fabius, on a two-day visit to the Middle East, met Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank before seeing Netanyahu later in the day. REUTERS/Moha

EU has new plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but will it work?

The EU is contemplating a three-pronged plan that includes curbing settlement expansion though labeling goods, advancing a UN resolution and organizing a regional peace conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, September 21, 2015. Netanyahu said his visit to Moscow on Monday was aimed at preventing clashes between Russian and Israeli military forces in the Middle East. REUTERS/Ivan Sekretarev/Pool - RTS25BW

Israel fears return of Persian Empire

According to a senior IDF source, Israel's major concern should be the Iran-Shiite-Hezbollah axis and Iran gaining regional influence and power after the nuclear agreement.

Yehuda Glick, an activist of the "temple mount faithful" group, poses for a photo in Jerusalem June 30, 2011. Glick was shot and severely wounded in Jerusalem on October 29, 2014 as he left a conference promoting a Jewish campaign to permit praying at a compound in the Old City that that has become a flashpoint as both Jews and Muslims regard it as a holy site, Israeli officials said. Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian on Thursday after he fired at them resisting arrest in East Jerusalem hours after the

Glick continues his campaign to bring Jews to Temple Mount

Talking to Al-Monitor, activist Yehuda Glick, who preaches for Jews to ascend the Temple Mount, says that following his yearslong activity, thousands of Jews have visited the compound and many rabbis have stopped being opposed to it.

Temple Mount's contentious history

While some Palestinians use the Temple Mount for political means, denying its Jewish history, Jewish far-right extremists use the Temple Mount as a means of provocation.

Why more and more secular Israelis are fasting on Yom Kippur

Recent studies show that more Israelis are fasting on Yom Kippur not so much as a religious ritual, but as a way to reconnect with their Jewish identity or create their own spiritual space.

Transylvania-born Holocaust survivor Dov Yaacobovich, 84, sits in his home in Tel Aviv April 3, 2013. Some 192,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel and about a third have sought aid from the Foundation for the Benefit of the Holocaust Victims in Israel. According to surveys by the foundation, 19 percent of the survivors have admitted to going without adequate amounts of food and 14 percent had to forego medical treatment at least once a year due to financial hardship. The report said that another severe c

After escaping Holocaust, thousands of Israeli survivors struggle with poverty, loneliness

Reports indicate that many Holocaust survivors not only live in poverty, but also suffer from loneliness.

Al-Aqsa incursions strain Jordan-Israel ties

With Israel's daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Jordan's King Abdullah may have no choice but to press for diplomatic sanctions, threatening 20 years of peace between the two countries.

Bank Leumi's new CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach (R) attends a ceremony to open trading at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange February 13, 2012. Leumi, Israel's largest bank in terms of assets, named Russak-Aminoach as its new chief executive officer, a month after the bank's veteran head Galia Maor announced plans to resign. The appointment of Russak-Aminoach, 46, a senior deputy to Maor for the past eight years, is subject to regulatory approval and when confirmed would take effect once Maor steps down in May. REUTE

Is this Israeli banking's next 'iron lady'?

Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach was named one of Fortune Magazine's powerful women of 2015, though in Israel she is perceived as insensitive to social justice issues.