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Israel

August 9, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:58 am

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Analysis

As pro-Palestinian candidates gain ground, will AIPAC's influence wane?

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s influence has weakened in the Democratic Party and may also be at risk among Republicans.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As US rethinks regional presence, Israel shifts focus to destabilizing Iran

Uncertain how to interpret the American regional redeployment, Israel is focusing on efforts to destabilize the Iranian regime and stop its nuclear program.

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

Israeli battle tanks deploy in the village of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah (Eastern Zawtar) in southern Lebanon as pictured from the nearby village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyah (Western Zawtar) on August 2, 2026. Under a US-sponsored agreement signed in June, Lebanon's army is to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from "pilot zones" where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy. The deal came more than three months after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East with rocket fire at Israel in suppo

Israel-Lebanon talks suspended amid escalation, set to resume Thursday

The Israeli delegation asked the American representatives to suspend the direct talks with Lebanon for a few hours over alleged leaks by Beirut.

Latest News

Analysis

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

Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images

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

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

Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Lacking leverage over Trump, Israel stays quiet on US-Iran talks

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.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv August 10, 2014. Israel said on Sunday it would not return to Egyptian-mediated ceasefire talks as long as Palestinian militants in Gaza kept up cross-border rocket and mortar fire. The head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said earlier that it would pull out unless Israeli negotiators, who flew home from the Egyptian capital on Friday hours before a three-day ceasefire expired, came back to the talks. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Was Bibi's image damaged by cease-fire agreement?

The Israeli public does not seem convinced by declarations that the cease-fire agreement is an achievement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a defeat for Hamas.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014. Meshaal said he was ready to accept a humanitarian truce in Gaza where the Islamist group is fighting an Israeli military offensive, but would not agree to a full ceasefire until the terms had been negotiated. REUTERS/Stringer (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR3ZVT6

No winners in Israel-Hamas cease-fire

To justify the deaths and devastation in Gaza, Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal needed an achievement, and so did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose approval ratings continue to drop from one week to the next.

Gila (R) and Doron, the parents of four-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tregerman, sit on a bench before his funeral in a cemetery near the border with the Gaza Strip August 24, 2014. Tregerman was killed by a mortar attack from Gaza on Friday, the first Israeli child to die in the six-week conflict. Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to halt hostilities and return to talks. But there was no sign that negotiations, last held before a ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday, would resume any time soo

Israelis near Gaza again feel abandoned by their government

Despite evacuation plans elaborated two years ago, Israel has not decided to evacuate the residents near Gaza, who have come to feel that no one in the government assumes responsibility for their safety, while the government allocated huge resources for the West Bank settlers.

Despite reconciliation, Abbas in no position to negotiate for Hamas

With Israel ignoring his efforts and Hamas trying to topple him, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may issue a desperate ultimatum for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.

Smoke and sand are seen following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza August 25, 2014. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Palestinian civilians on Sunday to leave immediately any site where militants are operating, one day after Israel flattened a 13-storey apartment block in Gaza. Palestinian health officials say 2,115 people, most of them civilians and more than 400 of them children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with th

War of attrition pointless in Gaza

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Hamas with a war of attrition, he ignored that in such a war the winner is not the strongest army, but the side that has the least to lose.

New prefabricated homes are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, near Nablus May 7, 2014. Israeli lawmakers are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lift what they call unjustified secrecy over opaque - and rising - funding for settlements on West Bank land Palestinians want for a state. Picture taken May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT REAL ESTATE) - RTR3VEE5

Israel-Palestine, a binational state in the making

A formula for a binational state is de facto being implemented as undeclared policy by Israel, and the Palestinians are preparing for a binational state process.

A picture of Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli, who was killed Wednesday in an explosion in Gaza, is seen during his funeral ceremony at the Pitigliano Cathedral in Tuscany, August 15, 2014. Camilli, 35, a video journalist working for the Associated Press, was the first international journalist killed in the latest Gaza conflict. REUTERS/Riccardo De Luca/Pool (ITALY - Tags: MEDIA POLITICS OBITUARY CONFLICT) - RTR42L2M

Unexploded Israeli ordnance creates more danger for Gazans

An Israeli ordnance exploded on Aug. 13, killing six people, including an Associated Press journalist, highlighting the serious danger Israel’s war remnants pose to the local population.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) stands with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (R) and Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem January 21, 2013. Netanyahu made an election eve appeal to wavering supporters to "come home", showing concern over a forecast far-right surge that would keep him in power but weaken him politically. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3CQJU

Bibi faces challengers for prime minister position

A fresh change in Israeli politics emerges through five potential prime ministers, proposing challenging visions to the Israeli public, and some already campaigning by their growing criticism on the Gaza war and its handling by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In shadow of war, Israel starts to return to normal

The fraught mood that characterized Israeli society since the abduction of the three teens and throughout this war seems to be dying down, with Jews returning to the Arab towns and social media interactions becoming more moderate again.

A photo taken on September 29, 2011 shows US freelance reporter James Foley resting in a room at the airport of Sirte, Libya. Foley was kidnapped in war-torn Syria six weeks ago and has been missing since, his family revealed on January 2, 2013. Foley, 39, an experienced war reporter who has covered other conflicts, was seized by armed men in the town of Taftanaz in the northern province of Idlib on November 22, according to witnesses. The reporter contributed videos to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in recent

When will the US, Europe wake up to the threat of radical Islam?

With the murder of James Foley the West starts understanding the danger of radical Islam, internalized already by Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and even by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A Palestinian firefighter participates in efforts to put out a fire at Gaza's main power plant, which witnesses said was hit in Israeli shelling, in the central Gaza Strip July 29, 2014. Israeli tank fire hit the fuel depot of the Gaza Strip's only power plant on Tuesday, witnesses said, cutting electricity to Gaza City and many other parts of the Palestinian enclave of 1.8 million people.An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment and said she was checking the report. Israel launched its Gaza

To stop Hamas, Israel should cut electricity and supplies to Gaza

If Israel still wishes to regain its deterrence vis-a-vis Hamas without entering Gaza, it will be left with one option only: shutting off Gaza electricity and closing the crossing points to the 400 daily supply trucks entering the Strip.

A Palestinian man selling fruits and vegetables reads a copy of a pro-Hamas newspaper, Palestine, at a market in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 10, 2014. The Palestinian authority had allowed the distribution of the pro-Hamas Palestine newspaper in the West Bank on Saturday after the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday it had relaxed a ban on Palestinian newspapers published outside the enclave as a gesture of reconciliation to rival group Fatah after their unity deal last month. RE

Sales of Israeli goods in West Bank down 50% due to boycott

Palestinian businesses are seeing a spike in activity as locals are increasingly searching for Palestinian alternatives to Israeli products.