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Israel

August 5, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:00 pm

34°C

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

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (L) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 20, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RTX1DRH1

Palestinians see no reason to negotiate as Israeli settlements continue

As international efforts intensify to resume the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians feel that discussions will go nowhere as long as the Israeli government sticks to its policy of settlement expansion.

MK Jelin: Gaza Strip is a 'ticking time bomb'

Yesh Atid Knesset member Haim Jelin argues that following Operation Protective Edge, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have been part of a regional diplomatic initiative fighting radical Islam.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committe member, Hanan Ashrawi speaks during a press conference on February 24, 2015 in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a day after a verdict of a New York court was issued finding the Palestinian leadership responsible for six deadly attacks in Jerusalem that killed Americans. In a verdict issued late on February 23, a US jury found the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and the PLO responsible for six attacks which killed 33 people and wounded more t

Hanan Ashrawi: US must act quickly to save two-state solution

In this interview with Al-Monitor, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi speaks about the controversy surrounding Israel’s upcoming report on Gaza, current negotiations and potential solutions.

Israeli Meretz party members Nitzan Horowitz (2nd from R), Zehava Galon (C) and Issawi Frej (c-L) take part in a visit of the "Al-Shuhada" street in the West Bank city of Hebron on February 25, 2014 in support of Palestinians who were forced out of the old quarter at the outset of the second Palestinian intifada by the Israeli army to allow for Jewish settlers to move securely in the area. Today also marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre of 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers by Jewish extremist Baruch Go

MK Frej hopes to build bridges through Arabic prose

Arab-Israeli Knesset member Issawi Frej aspires to make Arabic literature accessible to the Israeli public and promotes an initiative for an annual public prize, to be given to Israeli authors writing in Arabic.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 7, 2015. REUTERS/Sebastian Scheiner/ Pool - RTX1FH4S

Netanyahu must prove 'good faith' to restart peace talks

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is genuinely interested in promoting a new diplomatic peace initiative, he must demonstrate his willingness with actions, such as releasing Palestinian prisoners and working to bolster the Palestinian Authority rather than Hamas.

Druze children look at an Israeli army mobile artillery unit in Buqata 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. Tensions have risen in the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in a 1967 war and later annexed in a move never recognised internationally, amid the civil war raging in Syria in the past four years.

Will Israel reach out to Syrian Druze?

Israel fears getting entangled in the Syrian civil war, but might find it difficult to categorically refuse to help the Syrian Druze community.

Likud legislator Miri Regev, a former brigadier general and political hardliner of Moroccan origin, looks out a car window during a campaign stop in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv February 25, 2015. Israel's Sephardic community, Jews of Middle Eastern descent, have traditionally been the Likud party's backbone. But political analysts say Sephardim, disproportionately poorer than Israel's Ashkenazi Jews with roots in Europe, may throw their support elsewhere in the March 17 election, angry over the high cost of

Is Israel's culture minister drunk with power?

Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev is fond of reminding artists and cultural institutions that she has the power to determine their fate, including withholding funds if they fail to meet her standards of patriotism.

Palestinian men take part in Friday prayers as the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City is seen in the background May 29, 2015. Picture taken May 29, 2015. To match Special Report ISRAEL-JERUSALEM/DOME REUTERS/Ammar Awad
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Arabs divided on visiting Jerusalem

Political and religious authorities in Palestine continue to disagree on visits by Arabs and Muslims from around the world to Jerusalem, split between seeing such trips as defiant support of Palestine and as normalizing relations with Israel.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during a graduation ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, June 11, 2015. President Erdogan on Thursday urged the country's political parties to work quickly to form a new government, saying egos should be left aside and that history would judge anyone who left Turkey in limbo. In his first public appearance since Sunday's parliamentary election, Erdogan said no political development should be allowed to threaten Turkey's gains. He said he would do his part in finding a

Will AKP's loss benefit Israel?

Many in Israel reveled over the AKP's loss in the parliamentarian elections, but their defeat might actually harm the normalization process between the two countries.

Netanyahu trapped by powerful Likud central party

Media accusations against newly elected Knesset member Oren Hazan did not prompt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sanction him, as he needs Hazan's support in the upcoming Likud Party central committee meeting.

UN envoy Mladenov: Absence of political process 'dangerous'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov stressed the UN's commitment to supporting peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

The U.S. Supreme Court is pictured in Washington June 8, 2015. The Court on Monday struck down a law that would allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to have Israel listed as their birthplace on passports. REUTERS/Gary Cameron - RTX1FO5Y

Why Israelis should pay attention to recent US Supreme Court decision

The US Supreme Court's rejection of a petition for a Jerusalem-born American to be registered as born in Israel in his passport should make Israelis realize that the only way to gain international recognition of its capital is a compromise with the Palestinians and therefore an end to the conflict.