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Israel

August 9, 2026

Tel Aviv 3:56 pm

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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

Hamas' armed wing spokesman speaks during a news conference in Gaza City July 3, 2014. The spokesman said Israel was breaking the 2012 ceasefire agreement and the group would act according to developments on the ground. He said Israel would pay a heavy price in any upcoming war. Israel said on Thursday it was beefing up its forces along its frontier with the Gaza Strip, in what it called a defensive deployment in response to persistent Palestinian cross-border rocket attacks. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA -

Hamas denies link to murders of Israeli students

A senior Palestinian officer working on the case of the murdered Israeli settlers said it was likely that they were killed shortly after being kidnapped.

Israeli social media becomes venue for incitement

The murder of the three Israeli youths has led extremist groups to call for revenge over social media.

Bedouin take part in land raffle in Israeli town Yeruham

The organizers of the land plot raffle for the new Yeruham neighborhood did not expect to receive applications from central residents hoping to relocate to the south nor from neighboring Bedouins.

Israelis attend the joint funeral of three Israeli teens, Gil-Ad Shaer, U.S.-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, who were abducted and killed in the occupied West Bank, in the Israeli city of Modi'in July 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of mourners joined in an outpouring of national grief on Tuesday at the burial of three Israeli teenagers whose kidnapping and killing Israel blamed on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The Islamist group has neither confirmed nor denied involveme

Was Israeli public misled on abductions?

A full recording of one of the murdered youth's emergency call to Israeli police has led to speculation that Israeli government leaders believed the students were murdered soon after their kidnapping.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood party chief Saad al-Katatni (L) meets with Palestinian Hamas member Bassem Naim after his arrival through the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Said Khatib/Pool (GAZA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3AM7C

Hamas committed to unity deal despite Israeli pressure

Hamas believes Israel is trying to exploit the murders of three settlers in the West Bank to destroy the Palestinian reconciliation deal.

A Palestinian prepares to hurl a stone as he stands in a cloud of smoke from tyres set ablaze during clashes with Israeli police in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 2, 2014. The discovery of a body in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday raised suspicions that a missing Palestinian youth had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens. Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem after the news, but no serious injuries were reported. REUTERS/Baz Ratn

Palestinian unity may not survive fallout from Israeli youth murders

Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders are warning the reconciliation deal might collapse, as pressure from Israel mounts after the death of three Israeli teen settlers.

Undated file picture of three Hamas militants Ahmad Bader (L) Basel
Qawasmeh (C) and I'zzedin Misk (R). Basel Qawasmeh was killed September
22, 2003, during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city
Hebron while Ahmed Bader and I'zzedin Misk were killed on September 9,
2003. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun REUTERS

EG/NH - RTR3CT5

Hebron branch of rogue Hamas wing has dark history

The abduction and killing of the three Israeli students is not the first terrorist incident associated with the Hebron-based group.

JERUSALEM:Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh shows journalists in Jerusalem 19 March 2000 the planned Israeli withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the occupied territoris in the West Bank. The Israeli cabinet approved earlier in the day the long-due handover of land to full Palestinian control. (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

ISIS should be catalyst for new Middle East alliance

The author, who served as a minister in several Israeli governments and as a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces, makes the case for an Israel-Saudi Arabia-Egypt alliance, anchored in an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Palestinian farmer Basem Bani Jaber gestures to members of the media in front of Hebrew graffiti which Palestinians said was sprayed by Jewish settlers after burning his property in the West Bank village of Aqraba, near Nablus July 2, 2014. During so-called "Price Tag" incidents, mosques and Palestinian property are torched or damaged - a reference by ultranationalist Jews to making the government "pay" for any curbs on Jewish settlement on Palestinian land. The graffiti reads, "price tag" (top) and "Jewish

Netanyahu silent on right-wing calls to avenge youths

Unlike former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who called for restraint after the Dolphinarium terror attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not silenced his far-right ministers who are calling to avenge the murder of the three youths.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3W9I3

Netanyahu's 'diplomatic solution' another dead end

Denying the occupation to be the cause of the triple kidnapping-murder, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames the dismantling of the Sykes-Picot Middle East and suggests more self-imposed isolation.

A Palestinian militant inspects a crater caused by what police said was an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 29, 2014. Israeli army said on Sunday it targeted "terror sites" including, concealed rocket launchers and weapon manufacturing sites in response to earlier rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a factory in southern Israel on Saturday, setting it on fire, but Israeli officials said there were no serious injuries. REUTERS/Ibrah

Hamas, Islamic Jihad warn Israel about retaliation in Gaza

Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are expressing confidence in the event of an all-out Israeli attack, while also exercising restraint to prevent a military escalation.

An Israeli border police officer takes up position during clashes with Palestinian stone-throwers in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 2, 2014. The discovery of a body in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday raised suspicions that a missing Palestinian youth had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens. Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem after the news, but no serious injuries were reported. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS

Can Israel deter Hamas?

Past experience should teach Israel that the most efficient deterrent against Hamas terror is to threaten its hegemony in the Gaza strip — and point out that this time around, no Arab country will come to its rescue.