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August 9, 2026

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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

Israeli soldiers look towards Gaza from Israel August 3, 2014. The fighting on Sunday pushed the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials to 1,726, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian rockets have also killed three civilians in Israel. Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating the operation into ground incursions. RE

Poor Israelis suffer from war, support it anyway

In the Israeli paradox, those suffering from economic insecurity support the parties that promise to stand firm against security threats, while actually contributing to social inequality.

An Israeli soldier lifts a shell at a site where mobile artillery units are deployed, outside the Gaza Strip July 21, 2014. The Palestinian death toll in an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip jumped to more than 500 on Monday, as the United States, alarmed by escalating civilian bloodshed, took a direct role in efforts to secure a ceasefire. Israel's losses also mounted. Following the death of 13 soldiers on Sunday, Israel said seven more troops had died on Monday, including four killed when a group of mil

Leftist Knesset member blames Netanyahu for Gaza war

“The security situation of Israeli citizens only gets worse from round to round,” says Knesset member Dov Khenin in an interview with Al-Monitor, blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “is responsible for this war in every imaginable way.”

Israeli soldiers take off their jackets as they stand atop a tank after returning to Israel from Gaza August 5, 2014. Israel pulled its ground forces out of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR41AVX

Hamas pressured to accept Egypt’s cease-fire demand

The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was announced after heated exchanges between the Egyptian and Hamas delegations during negotiations in Cairo, where Hamas reluctantly accepted Egypt’s demand for a cease-fire without preconditions.

An overturned bus lies at the scene of a suspected attack in Jerusalem August 4, 2014. A construction vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian and overturned the bus on a main street in Jerusalem on Monday in what police suspect was a Palestinian attack, which ended when policemen shot dead the driver of the yellow excavator. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR41625

Israel fears terror spillover from Gaza to West Bank

The growing economic crisis in the West Bank coupled with Hamas assaults on Israel and the destruction in Gaza risk provoking more terror attacks in the West Bank.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon sit in front of a display of M302 rockets, found aboard the Klos C ship, at a navy base in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat March 10, 2014. Netanyahu, displaying on Monday what Israel said were seized Iranian-supplied missiles bound for militants in Gaza, called on the West not to be fooled by Tehran's diplomatic outreach over its nuclear programme. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3GGUG

Israeli defense minister rejected demands to retake Gaza

The pragmatic line advocated by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on the Gaza incursion has earned him the esteem of many in the general Israeli public but might have cost him the support of the far right.

Israeli parliament members Isaac Herzog (L) and Hilik Bar (C) shake hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as they attend a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah October 7, 2013. Abbas held a rare meeting with the group of Israeli parliamentarians on Monday, warning that this could be the last chance to reach a deal to end decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict and create two independent states living side-by-side. REUTERS/Abbas Momani/Pool (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX142QP

Herzog stands by Netanyahu on Gaza

In an interview, Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog explains that he backed the operation in the Gaza Strip in the interest of solidarity, but when the dust settles, nothing will have changed between him and the prime minister.

An Israeli soldier launches a drone outside the Gaza Strip July 22, 2014. Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as top U.S. and U.N. diplomats pursued talks on halting fighting that has claimed more than 600 lives. With the conflict entering its third week, the Palestinian death toll rose to 603, including nearly 100 children and many other civilians, Gaza health officials said. Israel's casualties also mounted, with the military announcing the deaths of two m

Did an Israeli drone strike militants in Egypt?

Eyewitnesses say an Israeli drone struck Egyptian militants in the Sinai Peninsula on July 23, despite Egypt’s official assertions that it was responsible for the strike.

An armoured military ambulance damaged in a Palestinian mortar strike is seen near the border with the Gaza Strip August 4, 2014. Palestinians accused Israel of breaking its own ceasefire on Monday by launching a bomb attack on a refugee camp in Gaza City that killed an eight-year-old girl and wounded 29 other people. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR415KM

Only Israel can break through diplomatic impasse

The continued conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not due to an Arab rejection of Israeli existence, but to Israel’s rejection of Arab acceptance.

Israel’s agreement on Gaza must come from Abbas

Four conditions are indispensable to ending Gaza's agony that, if met, will make it “obvious that Hamas’ way of terror brought nothing but devastation” and the way of Ramallah, negotiation and not violence “is the way for the Palestinian people to achieve its rights.”

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon (L) attend a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv July 31, 2014. Netanyahu, facing international alarm over a rising civilian death toll in Gaza, said on Thursday he would not accept any ceasefire that stopped Israel completing the destruction of militants' infiltration tunnels. Gaza officials say at least 1,372 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the battered territory and nearly 7,000 wounded. Fifty-six Israeli s

Does Netanyahu's political future depend on Hamas?

The Israeli prime minister is on shaky ground after acting against the will of his electorate concerning Gaza, but he has a historic opportunity to recreate himself as a leader by spearheading fresh new diplomatic moves that appeal to the Israeli center.

A right wing activist waves a flag during a protest in support of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv July 29, 2014. An Israeli television station retracted its report on Tuesday that a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict had been agreed, saying instead there was "movement" toward a truce between Israel and the Palestinian territory's dominant Hamas Islamists being brokered by Egypt. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR40KAT

Gaza war stifles democracy in Israel

The current Israel-Hamas conflict has generated an aggressive political patriotic discourse in Israel that has taken a heavy toll on Israeli democracy, in which those who dare to oppose the operation are expected to keep silent.

New alliances for a 2015 Middle East peace conference?

The Gaza conflict demonstrates that Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Saudi Arabia share common regional interests, which could lead them to an international peace conference based on the Arab League's peace initiative.