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June 23, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:27 am

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Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot gives a press conference in Tel Aviv, on December 4, 2018.

Can political novice Eisenkot defeat Netanyahu in upcoming elections?

The former military chief of staff is emerging as the prime minister's strongest rival in upcoming elections, overtaking former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in recent polls.

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 29, 2025.

Analysis

How Netanyahu used Lebanon strikes to push back on Trump’s Iran deal

The latest ceasefire in Lebanon leaves Netanyahu squeezed between Washington and domestic pressure.

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

Latest News

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

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

Explainer

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

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.

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

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

A fisherman collects fish from a net on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the southern city of Ashdod April 6, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - RTR3K5XW

Israel launches all-out war against corruption

This week, Israeli police finally raided the Ashdod Port, targeting the members of the trade union, perceived by many as a symbol of corruption and nepotism.

Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Jose Angel Gurria (R) shakes hands with Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid at the end of a news conference in Tel Aviv December 8, 2013. The Bank of Israel should prepare for interest rate increases once the global economy returns to normal, the OECD said. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTX169RL

Lapid housing plan targets Israel's 'next generation'

The plan to reduce housing prices for young couples should earn back Finance Minister Yair Lapid's reputation as an ardent social activist, defending the rights of those who served in the army.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) stands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before their meeting in Jerusalem September 15, 2010. Clinton warmly endorsed Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday ahead of negotiations to try to break a deadlock over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank. REUTERS/Lior Mizrahi/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2IDB7

Will Netanyahu recognize new Palestinian government?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will be challenged if the new Palestinian unity government accepts the Quartet’s conditions and receives international backing.

Members of national Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas demonstrate their skills at a scene simulating breaking into an Israeli army post during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City April 17, 2014. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3LN47

Hamas will keep limited force in unity government

Hamas will accept, and not challenge, the PLO's agreements with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shakes hands with Yossi Beilin, a member of the Israeli Parliament and chairman of the Meretz-Yachad party, during their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 2, 2007. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel (WEST BANK) - RTR1P9FY

Beilin calls Obama 'serious disappointment' on peace talks

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Minister Yossi Beilin blames the Americans for insisting on a final status agreement instead of working on interim arrangements like former President George W. Bush’s road map.

Israel should take Prince Turki's offer on Arab Peace Initiative

Prince Turki Al-Faisal Al-Saud spoke in Brussels with retired Gen. Amos Yadlin about the Saudi initiative for ending the conflict, saying, "Israel has nuclear weapons. … The Arabs aren’t crazy. We want to talk peace."

Sign posts are seen in front of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem November 13, 2013. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday his peace negotiators had resigned over the lack of progress in U.S.-brokered statehood talks clouded by Israeli settlement building. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX15BNL

Israeli housing minister: 'No more' settlement freezes

The day commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem, Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel has announced further construction in East Jerusalem, driving closer the danger of a binational state.

An Israeli bride poses for her wedding photographer (not pictured) as graves are seen in the background at Nabi Musa Muslim Cemetery in the Judean desert near the West Bank city of Jericho November 28, 2013. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX15WJZ

Secular young Israelis want religious weddings

Living in a state which offers no civil marriage, most young Israelis opt for the religious ceremony, mainly because families cherish tradition more than the rabbis who officiate.

TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL: The crowd of Jews assembled in the streets of Tel Aviv 20 May 1948 a few hours before the British Mandate in Palestine ended, celebrate the proclamation of a new Jewish state of Israel. Israel was founded on 14 May 1948 by the Jewish National Council and was recognized by the United States and the Soviet Union 15 and 17 May. (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images)

Israel is a Jewish state; get over it

The Israeli demand that Palestinians recognize the Jewish state does not contradict the two-state solution, but it exposes the Palestinian reluctance to consider the Jews as a people instead of a religion.

A police tape is seen over the entrance of the Jewish Museum, the site of a shooting incident, in central Brussels, May 25, 2014. Two women and a man were killed and one person seriously injured during a shooting at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels on Saturday, with Belgian officials saying anti-Semitic motives could not be ruled out. REUTERS/Eric Vidal (BELGIUM - Tags: CRIME LAW) - RTR3QQRS

Israel prefers right wing over radical Islam in Europe

The shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels coupled with the rise of the extreme right in recent EU elections brings the “new anti-Semitism” into Israeli public discourse, though the context of these two events might hide another reality.

Israel's army chief Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi (front) sits before testifying at a state-appointed inquiry into the Israeli naval raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, in Jerusalem, August 11, 2010. Ashkenazi acknowledged on Wednesday that his troops were not ready for the violent resistance encountered when they boarded the Gaza-bound aid ship and ended up killing nine pro-Palestinian activists. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR2H8JL

Leviathan gas deal may be catalyst for Israel-Turkey reset

Is the Turkish court’s decision to indict former Israeli army chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi for the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid part of the reconciliatory diplomatic ballet by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, eyeing the “Leviathan” gas field?

Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz (C) leaves after convening a news conference in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv July 17, 2012. Israel's Kadima party quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition on Tuesday in a dispute over drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, but the government was not expected to collapse because it still had a majority in parliament. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY RELIGION) - RTR350PV

Mofaz: 'Strategic situation worse' on Iran

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz argues that US over-involvement in Israeli-Palestinian talks only alienated both sides, and the only feasible solution is a two-stage agreement with the Palestinians, even while talking with Hamas.