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

Israel cover image

Israel

August 10, 2026

Tel Aviv 6:13 pm

33°C

Alex Wong/Getty Images

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

Latest News

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

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

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

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

Palestinians are seen through a damaged car window as they look at the scene of an Israeli air strike in the centre of the Gaza Strip February 9, 2014. An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on Sunday critically wounded a Palestinian whom the military said was responsible for launching rockets at southern Israel. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX18GBQ

Hamas deploys border patrol to prevent rocket attacks on Israel

A recent round of rocket fire from Gaza and IDF air strikes was followed by an exchange of messages between the two sides and reaffirmation of a commitment by Hamas to try to prevent future rocket fire.

Safeguarding Iraq’s Jewish Archive

Iraq has decided to repatriate some of the Jewish historical documents found in Baghdad after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, while others will go on international display, providing a window for the world into Iraq’s cultural heritage.

The beginnings of an Israel-Iran reset?

Israel may be reassessing the Iranian threat, as Iran shows its reach in Palestinian politics.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (3rd R) and Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter (4th R) speak to the media during a visit to an observation point that overlooks Gaza, near Kibbutz Zikim just outside the Gaza Strip, December 9, 2008. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL) - RTR22EZN

Former Shin Bet chief says Bibi needs back channel to Abbas

Avi Dichter, former Shin Bet chief and minister, tells Al-Monitor that although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has solid standing, he is not the last Palestinian leader who will be able to sign an agreement with Israel.

Israel 'National Singer' tainted by sex scandal

Israeli police has decided not to press any charges against singer Eyal Golan, but revelation of his conduct leave many of his admirers disheartened.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves while boarding his plane at Franz-Josef-Strauss Airport in Munich, southern Germany, February 2, 2014. Kerry was in the Bavarian capital to attend the Munich Security Conference. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX184TL

Kerry lets Europe play the boycott card with Israel

The United States and Europe are playing good cop-bad cop in the negotiations with Israel.

Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid gestures as he speaks during a Yesh Atid party meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem May 20, 2013. Lapid, whose new centrist party is the second largest in Israel's government, said on Monday thousands of Jewish settlers would have to be removed from occupied land under any peace deal with the Palestinians. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZTWQ

High Court's freeze on rabbinical funding: a wake-up call for Lapid

The Israeli High Court halted funding of rabbinical colleges until enlisting obligations of the ultra-Orthodox are defined by law, thus highlighting the failure of Finance Minister Yair Lapid to bring about this change.

Will the Iraqi Jewish archive be off-limits to Jews?

The restored Iraqi Jewish archive may soon leave the United States for Baghdad, making this piece of Jewish heritage almost inaccessible to Jews.

A Palestinian woman waits to receive food supplies at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in Gaza January 7, 2009. Israel and Hamas said they were temporarily holding their fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to ease the flow of humanitarian aid and both sides said they were studying an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA) - RTR234UE

UNRWA struggles to deliver as poverty rises in Gaza

UNRWA has again cut or halted food aid to thousands of Palestinians as it struggles to keep up with rising poverty rates due to the Israeli-Egyptian siege on Gaza and crisis situations elsewhere.

Tourists walk near evaporation basins in the southern Dead Sea December 16, 2008. Warnings continue that the Dead Sea is slowly but surely drying up, and could be gone completely in 50 years if no action is taken.The water level is dropping at close to one metre (three feet) per year due to a sharp decrease in inflow from the Jordan and other rivers whose waters now irrigate fields. Picture taken December 16, 2008. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL) - RTXCYP2

Israel-Palestinian peace requires realism on Jordan Valley

Trilateral cooperation projects to save the Dead Sea and the Jordan River must be accompanied by transferring parts of the Jordan Valley to Palestinian sovereignty.

Israeli Ariel Zilber plays the trumpet in front of a house occupied by Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron November 26, 2008. Hardline Jewish settlers hunkered down in the house in the West Bank flashpoint city of Hebron on Sunday, vowing to resist a court order to quit the property they insist they bought from a Palestinian. About 150 Jewish hardliners, mostly youths, moved into Hebron's settler enclave in the past week to support the 13 families that have been living in the house for a year an

Israeli singer with right-wing views denied lifetime award

Despite xenophobic statements by singer Ariel Zilber, the Israeli right blames the left of persecuting him over the decision to award him a lifetime achievement award.

MUNICH, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 2: (L-R) Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, US Senator Christopher Murphy and chairman and organizer of the 50th Munich Security Conference (MSC)Wolfgang Ischinger attend a panel discussion during the 50th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in the Bayerischer Hof hotel on February 2, 2014 in Munich, Germany. The Munich Security Conference is to open with

Iran, Israel and the politics of gesture

Iranian and Israeli officials are listening to each other at international conferences.