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June 19, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:49 pm

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EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries convened in Evian, France, near the Swiss border, for their annual summit to discuss challenges to peace and security for Ukraine and Europe, the situation in the Middle East, and other geopolitical issues. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Get

'Let Syria take care of Hezbollah': Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon

President Donald Trump insisted he has a great relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but criticized the scale of Israel’s strikes in Lebanon.

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir takes part in the Jerusalem Day celebrations on May 14, 2026, in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Explainer

Ben-Gvir's move to run separately in Israel elections revives debate over party alliances

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Jewish Power party, has refused to merge with the far-right Religious Zionism party ahead of the elections.

Latest News

Analysis

'He knew it was over': Inside Netanyahu’s response to Trump’s Iran deal as Israel recalibrates

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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

Analysis

Erdogan-Netanyahu war of words signals deeper rivalry for regional influence

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York on Sept. 19, 2023.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Analysis

Squeezed by Trump and Iran war, how vulnerable is Netanyahu in polls?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House, Washington, DC, July 7, 2025.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

'Pilot zones' offer litmus test for Lebanon to clear Israel border of Hezbollah

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon close to the Beaufort Castle as seen from a position across the border in the Upper Galilee, in northern Israel on June 4, 2026.

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

Ayman Odeh (5).jpeg

Odeh: racist Israeli laws to benefit joint Arab list

The unified Arab list is expected to see success in the next Knesset elections as a result of discriminatory Israeli laws, according to the head of the joint list of all Arab parties.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attend a Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo October 12, 2014. Egypt, which brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza after a 50-day war, used a reconstruction conference in Cairo on Sunday to call for a wider peace deal based on a 2002 Arab initiative. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR49UU5

Palestinians prepare 'diplomatic intifada'

With Israel preoccupied with elections and the Arab world preoccupied with fighting the Islamic State, the Palestinians feel sidelined and are looking to launch a "diplomatic intifada."

Men take down a picture of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in the mainly Sunni Beirut neighbourhood of Tariq al-Jadideh February 5, 2015. Lebanon has begun removing political posters and party banners from neighbourhoods of the capital in a move to unify a country still divided from a civil war, following an agreement between the militant and political Hezbollah party and its rivals. Picture taken February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR4OHK4

Hezbollah, Future Movement find 'delicate stability' for now

The dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement continues despite the limited results it has yielded so far.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the launch of his Likud party election campaign in Tel Aviv January 5, 2015. Netanyahu was re-elected head of the right-wing Likud party last week, overcoming his first hurdle toward winning a fourth term in office in a March general election. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4K5IO

Netanyahu drops diplomacy in re-election bid

Sensing the disillusionment of the Israeli public over the Palestinian issue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has focused his campaign agenda elsewhere.

Israeli-Arab lawmaker Hanin Zoabi speaks at a news conference announcing a joint political slate of all the Arab parties which will be running in the upcoming elections, in the northern city of Nazareth, January 23, 2015. Four political parties that mostly represent Israel's Arab minority have decided to run together in elections on March 17, creating a potential counter-weight to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies. Opinion polls suggest the united Arab list could secure 11 seats in

Arab list is stronger without Zoabi

The removal of Knesset member Haneen Zoabi, known for her provocative anti-Israeli stance, may make it easier for Israelis to vote for the new joint Arab party.

A Palestinian inspects al-Awdah food factory, which witnesses said was shelled and torched by the Israeli army during the offensive, in Deirl al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip August 14, 2014. A renewed truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to be holding on Thursday despite a shaky start, after both sides agreed to give Egyptian-brokered talks more time to try to end the Gaza war. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR42EJW

Palestinian government allows entry of Israeli goods into Gaza

The Palestinian government has said that the decision is a temporary measure made necessary by the destruction to factories during the last Gaza war.

A man holds a mock Qassam rocket during a rally organised by Lebanese and Palestinian supporters of the Islamist movement Hamas and the Islamic Group, Jamaa Islamiya in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza strip where Hamas is engaged in a major confrontation with the Israeli army on July 11, 2014 in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike, raising the toll in four days of violence to 100, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. AFP PHOTO / MAH

Is Hamas planning a strike from Lebanon's refugee camps?

A senior Hamas leader's call to open new fronts against Israel from Lebanon was neither confirmed nor denied by the movement, raising questions about the possibility of forming cells on the ground.

The head of the northern Israeli command, Gadi Eisenkot, delivers a briefing to the press on August 3, 2010 in Kiryat Shmona along the tense border between Israel and Lebanon, following clashes between troops on both sides that left 3 Lebanese soldiers, a journalist and a a senior Israeli officer killed. AFP PHOTO/JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Bennett, Liberman battle for defense portfolio

The next Israeli defense minister, be it Moshe Ya'alon, Avigdor Liberman or Naftali Bennett, will have to cope, together with new IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, with a new reality in which Hezbollah targets Israel from the Syrian border.

Palestinians watch as Hamas militants execute Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel, in Gaza City August 22, 2014. Hamas militants killed seven Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel in a public execution in a central Gaza square on Friday, witnesses and a Hamas website said. The victims, their heads covered and hands tied, were shot dead by masked gunmen dressed in black in front of a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque after prayers, witnesses and al-Majd, a pro-Hamas website,

Spies' families marginalized in Gaza

As the Palestinian resistance publicly executes Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel, the families of the spies suffer marginalization and shame.

Israel's Environment Minister Amir Peretz speaks during the 18th ordinary meeting of contracting parties to the Barcelona convention and its protocols on December 5 2013 in istanbul. It is the first such trip of an Israeli cabinet minister in Turkey since the rupture of relations between the two former allies over a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. Ties between Israel and Turkey hit an all-time low in May 2010 when Israeli commandos staged a pre-dawn raid on a flotilla of ships trying to taking aid to

Peretz: Netanyahu speech won't stop agreement with Iran

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Defense Minister Amir Peretz argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech to the US Congress will not stop an agreement with Iran because it will turn it into an internal political dispute.

Palestinian labourers from the West Bank illegally cross Israel's controversial barrier in the southern West Bank June 22, 2013. There are two ways for Palestinian workers to cross into Israel every day. Those with work permits can pass through a military checkpoint. Those without have to find a way through the separation barrier, which is made up of mostly fences and some cement walls, snaking its way through the West Bank. Those caught entering illegally risk a fine or imprisonment. Both ways are time con

Palestinian saves Israeli doctor

In an interview with Al-Monitor, a day laborer from the West Bank talks about saving the lives of an Israeli doctor and his son from an angry mob in his village.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media while standing in front of a portrait of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, during a visit to the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv October 14, 2010. The building was where Israel's declaration of independence was first read by its first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. REUTERS/Lior Mizrahi/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXTG5P

What does it mean to be a modern Zionist?

The term "Zionism" has been used and abused by Israeli politicians for decades, especially before election time, so perhaps a new civic perspective on the concept is in order.