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Israel

August 5, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:06 pm

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Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Netanyahu’s Gaza double game: Back Trump, reassure Israel’s right

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to both give the impression that Israel retains total freedom of action in Gaza while allowing the Board of Peace to move ahead with President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

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

Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images

What to know about Lebanon-Israel 7th round of talks held in Rome

The US, Israel and Lebanon have sent expanded delegations to the talks, set to continue for three days and expected to focus on security arrangements, border issues and reconstruction.

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

Latest News

Analysis

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

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)

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

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

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

An Israeli naval vessel is seen in the Mediterranean sea outside the port of Ashdod, Israel June 29, 2015. Israel said on Monday it had blocked a boat leading a four-vessel protest flotilla of foreign activists from reaching the Gaza Strip and forced the vessel to sail to the Israeli port. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTX1I9PS

Marianne flotilla reflects Turkey's changed Israel stance

With a new geopolitical setup in the Middle East and the regional focus on Syria rather than on Gaza, the Marianne flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy without "significant media coverage" for this protest.

Jerusalem youth chorus bridges Israeli-Palestinian divide

A rare group of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers brings a mixture of musical styles and political grievances to a 3-year-old choir that is just completing its first tour in the United States.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths watch as a man dips cooking utensils in boiling water to remove remains of leaven in preparation for the Jewish holiday of Passover, in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood April 1, 2015. Passover, which starts on Friday, commemorates the flight of Jews from ancient Egypt, as described in the Exodus chapter of the Bible. According to the account, the Jews did not have time to prepare leavened bread before fleeing to the promised land. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTR4VREJ

Ultra-Orthodox now willing to wait tables

After years of shunning jobs like waiting tables and sales, traditionally viewed as "undignified" by the ultra-Orthodox in Israel, many members of the community who recently entered the labor market have joined the service industry.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (2nd R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd L) at a hotel in Vienna, Austria June 27, 2015. Senior U.S. and Iranian officials said much hard work still needs to be done to bridge significant differences on an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear programme. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RTX1I13O

Did Khamenei blur his own red lines on sanctions?

Supreme Leader Khamenei gives strong backing for Iran’s negotiating team heading into Vienna talks; Assad holds off on hitting Islamic State, for now; Israel forced to clarify position on Jabhat al-Nusra; Egypt seeks to counter Turkey’s role in Syria.

A Palestinian man carrying his daughter shows his identity card to Israeli border policemen as he makes his way with other Palestinians to attend the second Friday prayer of Ramadan in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, at an Israeli checkpoint in the West bank city of Bethlehem June 26, 2015. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RTX1HV74

What's behind Israel's easing of travel restrictions?

As Israel eases restrictions on Palestinian Muslims visiting Jerusalem during the month of Ramadan, some see it as an extension of the occupation while better managing the crisis.

An officer points as he stands on a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas in the Mediterranean, some 10 km (6 miles) from the coastal Israeli city of Hadera January 22, 2014. Permanently anchored in the choppy waters of the eastern Mediterranean, the tanker Excellence is in a constant state of alert, waiting for the emergency phone call that Israel needs fuel. The gas, imported and stored in liquid form on the tanker, can be "regassified" and pumped through a special buoy into an underwater pipeline, provid

Herzog hangs his hat on natural gas issue

During the election campaign, Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog concentrated on a diplomatic agenda, but now, following the electoral failure, he tries to position himself at the forefront of the natural gas debate.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) is welcomed by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki upon Fabius' arrival at 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, was due to meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank before seeing Netanyahu later in the day. REU

France prepares sanctions against settlement policy

France is considering sharp economic measures against Israeli goods and businesses east of the Green Line, and might implement these measures once the agreement with Iran is signed.

A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) works at an excavation site where a compound containing an oil press, a wine press and mosaics was exposed near the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh September 18, 2014. The compound, dating to the Byzantine period, was very likely a monastery, Excavation Director of the IAA archaeologist Irene Zilberbod said in a statement on Thursday. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR46QDX

Israeli archaeology unearths controversy

The discovery of an ancient architectural structure from the Hasmonean era in Jerusalem, the latest in a series of archaeological findings that connects the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, has become an ideological tool for Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, among others.

A Palestinian woman holds a picture of a jailed relative during a rally in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, in Gaza City June 11, 2014. Israel's parliament has given initial approval to a law to enable the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, drawing defiance from activists who said on Tuesday it would not deter the inmates. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3T6PC

Israeli doctors against 'force-feeding' Palestinian prisoners

Israeli medical associations claim that the "force-feeding" bill promoted by the government is unethical, but the authorities are still pushing the proposal forward to avoid image-damaging Palestinian prisoner deaths.

A Palestinian woman buys candies from a vendor at a market ahead of Eid al-Adha in the West Bank city of Nablus September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR48DQO

Sense of belonging draws Palestinians to West Bank

Growing numbers of Palestinians living in Israel prefer shopping and conducting other business in the West Bank because of a sense of belonging and to bolster the economy.

Israeli soldiers walk near the frontier with Syria near Majdel Shams in the Golan Heights April 27, 2015. An Israeli air strike killed four militants on Sunday as they placed an explosive on a fence near Israel's frontier with Syria in the annexed Golan Heights, an Israeli military source said. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1AIJ3

IDF denies ties between Israel, Jabhat al-Nusra

Following growing concerns in the Israeli Druze community over the fate of their Syrian brothers, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz tells Al-Monitor that Israel does not collaborate with Jabhat al-Nusra.

Members of the Druze community watch the fighting in the Druze village of Khadr in Syria, as they stand on the Israeli side of the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near Majdal Shams, June 16, 2015. Israel's president expressed his concern to the United States last week about the fate of the Druze minority in Syria, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in an area near the Israeli border. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1GRM4

Does Israel have moral obligation to defend Syrian Druze?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee expresses concern about his Syrian Druze brothers.