Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

June 23, 2026

Tel Aviv 1:22 pm

31°C

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

Palestinian women hold pictures of jailed relatives during a protest marking "Palestinian Prisoners Day" in the West Bank town of Ramallah April 17, 2007. The women were calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian uprising leader, is on a list of prisoners the Hamas movement demands Israel release in exchange for a captive soldier. REUTERS/Oleg Popov (WEST BANK) - RTR1OPVW

Both Pollard, Barghouti should be released

Jonathan Pollard should be released on humanitarian grounds, but the release of prominent Fatah member Marwan Barghouti could resuscitate negotiations with the Palestinians.

The illusion of Ehud Olmert

Ehud Olmert's conviction is a blow to Israel's center-left and an illustration of the moral relativism of Israeli politics

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) speaks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Jerusalem January 8, 2008, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO). Olmert and Abbas met on Tuesday, the eve of a visit by President George W. Bush, to try to get peace talks moving. REUTERS/Moshe Milner/GPO/Handout (JERUSALEM) ISRAEL OUT. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. - RTX5C98

The tragedy of Ehud Olmert

The chance for a peace agreement with the Palestinians disappeared with the former Israeli prime minister, who has been sentenced to prison for bribery.

Israeli soldiers and border policemen stand in front of a section of Israel's controversial barrier at Aida refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem March 24, 2014, where witnesses say Israeli forces confronted stone-throwing Palestinian protesters on Monday. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3IE2E

Netanyahu weighs collapse of peace talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must manage a right-wing coalition that has no interest in a release of Palestinian prisoners to keep the peace talks going.

A Palestinian woman stands at the entrance to her house in the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank near Jerusalem November 26, 2013. Marooned behind the wall, Israel's controversial barrier, the Shuafat refugee camp reveals the state's uneven treatment of Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods, creating a de facto partition of Jerusalem, which is the epicentre of the Middle East conflict. Picture taken November 26, 2013. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTX16PGL

Jerusalem’s water crisis

Because Israeli authorities are neglecting East Jerusalem residents by failing to ensure a constant water supply, both Israelis and Palestinians have to cooperate on water management as a pollution catastrophe nears.

The twilight of Maariv in Israel

The Israeli daily Maariv, currently on life support, was once "the most widely read paper in the country."

1980: President Sadat of Egypt (1918 - 1981) meets Prime Minister Menachem Begin (1913 - 1992) of Israel for talks on the normalisation of relationships between their two countries. The meeting took place in Aswan in Upper Egypt. In 1978 both men were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Netanyahu and Abbas are not Begin and Sadat

Documents released from Israel's State Archives this week on the Israel-Egypt peace negotiations reveal the commitment of both leaders to achieve such an agreement, unlike current negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) speaks to his attorney during his hearing at Jerusalem's District Court September 24, 2012. An Israeli court spared Olmert a prison term over a conviction for breach of trust on Monday, potentially paving his way to a political comeback. REUTERS/Sebastian Scheiner/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CRIME LAW) - RTR38CUK

Olmert soap opera tries Israeli judicial system

Charges against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and a complaint of sexual harassment against Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom emphasize the freedom of the Israeli legal system to act.

The Turkish-owned cruise liner Mavi Marmara is seen under maintenance at a shipyard in Istanbul April 21, 2013. An Israeli delegation will visit Turkey for the first time in three years in another sign of thawing relations since the U.S. brokered a breakthrough in March, but any further advancement in ties was expected to be incremental. Israel apologised to Turkey over the killing of nine Turks in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which included the Mavi Marmara, and the two agreed to normalise r

Is Turkish-Israeli reconciliation back on track?

The shifting regional picture may be forcing Israel and Turkey to rebuild ties, but only after Turkey’s elections on March 30.

Supporters listen as Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas Gaza government, speaks during a Hamas rally marking the anniversary of the death of its leaders killed by Israel, in Gaza City March 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTR3I86Q

Hamas takes Israeli threats seriously

Hamas is paying close attention to Israel's latest threats of military retaliation and a possible re-invasion of Gaza.

Labour party candidate Stav Shaffir poses on Rothschild Avenue in Tel Aviv, the site of a 2011 protest against high housing costs, December 5, 2012. The leaders of a grassroots social protest movement that swept Israel in 2011, one of them Shaffir, have shot to the top of a rejuvenated Labour party that polls say will at least double its power in a Jan. 22 general election that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud is forecast to win. Picture taken December 5, 2012. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAE

Secrets of the Israeli treasury

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Stav Shaffir of the Labor Party reveals the treasury’s concealed budget transfers to the settlements, but her Google generation isn’t fooled by lack of government transparency.

MIAMI BEACH, FL - MARCH 25: A table is set for a community Passover Seder at Beth Israel synagogue on March 25, 2013 in Miami Beach, Florida. The community Passover Seder that served around 150 people has been held for the past 30 years and is welcome to anyone in the community that wants to commemorate the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Seder can be inconvenient for gentile guests

Jewish law does not prohibit hosting non-Jews for the traditional Passover dinner, but does render such invitations very inconvenient.