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Israel

August 5, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:06 pm

31°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

Latest News

Analysis

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

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)

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

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

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

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a statement to the press before a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem January 2, 2014. Kerry arrived in Israel on Thursday in his latest bid to resume peace negotiations and find scarce common ground between pessimistic Israeli and Palestinian officials. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1702V

Is US disengaging from Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

With a weak Palestinian leader and a peace-rejectionist Israeli prime minister, the Obama administration is reluctant to impose itself on the two parties and might prefer a disengagement doctrine.

Moshe Kahlon, Israel's new Finance Minister, attends a meeting at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem May 18, 2015. Boosting competition in Israel's banking system and the economy as a whole as well as bringing down property prices will be priorities for the country's new finance minister, he said on Monday. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1DH88

Kahlon's election promise blunder

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon won 10 Knesset seats after promising to dismantle monopolies and share more equally natural resources, but this promise is now questioned in view of his friendship with a leading Israeli businessman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) poses with his new government and the Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat (L) as he holds a meeting of his new cabinet, in honour of Jerusalem Day, at the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem May 19, 2015. REUTERS/Atef Safadi/Pool - RTX1DLKY

Two Israeli mayors consider leadership run

Two mayors, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, are contemplating challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog.

Palestinian protesters hold placards depicting their relatives during a demonstration to show their solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, outside the Red Cross building in Jerusalem June 12, 2014. Some 70 protesters took part in the demonstration on Thursday. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have joined a hunger strike since late April, in protest over an Israeli policy allowing indefinite detention without trial. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITI

Palestinian prisoners resort to hunger strikes

Hunger strikes by Palestinian detainees are sweeping Israeli prisons in protest of what looks like a pattern of abusive administrative detention rulings.

Jordanian protesters take part in a march against a government agreement to import natural gas from Israel, in Amman March 6, 2015. The red placards read "The enemy's gas is occupation". REUTERS/Majd Jaber (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY CIVIL UNREST BUSINESS) - RTR4SBDC

Jordanians protest Israeli gas deal

Jordanians continue to oppose the natural gas deal struck with Israel, arguing that it threatens the country’s economic and political independence.

A woman spins a hula hoop around her waist on a beach in Tel Aviv December 4, 2014.Unusually hot weather has hit Israel in the last few days with temperatures reaching 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at mid-day.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - RTR4GPUT

Existential threats don't diminish Israeli happiness

Although confronted with security threats, unemployment, high cost of living, discrimination against minorities and increased crime, Israelis' warm family and social ties make them feel happy.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) listens to Foreign Affairs and Defence committee chair Zeev Elkin during a committee meeting at parliament in Jerusalem June 2, 2014. Netanyahu warned on Sunday against any international rush to recognise a Palestinian government due to be announced under a unity pact between the Fatah and Hamas Islamist groups.REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RRU6

Netanyahu caves, hands Elkin Jerusalem portfolio

After assigning the Strategic Affairs portfolio to Gilad Erdan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compensated Immigration and Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin by handing him the delicate Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs.

Protesters, mainly who are Israeli Jews of Ethiopian origin, run at a main road in Tel Aviv as they block it during a demonstration against what they say is police racism and brutality, after the emergence last week of a video clip that showed policemen shoving and punching a black soldier May 3, 2015. Israeli mounted police charged hundreds of ethnic Ethiopian citizens and fired stun grenades on Saturday to try to clear one of the most violent protests in memory in the heart of Tel Aviv. Picture taken May

Center trains Ethiopian-Israelis for high-tech careers

A technology training center for Ethiopian-Israelis trains dozens of students every year for high-tech professions, but many graduates feel disappointed in a state that still sees them as manual laborers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) shows the way to European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini during their meeting in Jerusalem May 20, 2015. Netanyahu renewed his commitment on Wednesday to a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after backtracking on that pledge during a heated campaign for a March election. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool - RTX1DU9V

Netanyahu zigzags on two-state solution

Throughout his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has battled the 1993 Oslo Accord, backed it, objected to the two-state solution and then supported it again.

An Israeli border policeman fires a tear gas canister towards Palestinian stone-throwers as an Israeli settlement is seen in the background during clashes at a protest against Jewish settlements, in Jalazoun refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah March 27, 2015.
REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman - RTR4V6AH

No promises in Netanyahu's offer to negotiate settlement annexation

The Israeli prime minister’s overtures to discuss settlements to be annexed to Israel under a peace agreement is an effort to legitimize the settlements in the guise of a concession without making any commitments to the Palestinians.

Israel's President Reuven Rivlin (rear) walks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (front) before a group photo with ministers of the new Israeli government, in Jerusalem May 19, 2015. REUTERS/Nir Elias TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1DMGX

Israel's realpolitik embraces regional extremes

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin warmly eulogized the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, perpetuating Israel's approach to its neighbors that is based on common interest and alliances, not moral standards.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (3rd L) waits to hear his verdict at Jerusalem District Court March 30, 2015. Olmert, already facing a six-year prison term after a corruption conviction, was found guilty on Monday in a separate case of accepting illegal payments from a U.S. businessman. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTR4VF21

Israelis use technology to battle government corruption

On the backdrop of the recent exposure of several serious alleged corruption affairs, former minister Michael Eitan argues that social networks and technology are changing public norms and pressuring elected officials to respect the rule of law.