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Israel

August 12, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:44 am

34°C

lia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza plan while quietly implementing it

Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he rejects US President Donald Trump’s Gaza reconstruction plan, Israel is advancing its implementation.

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

Sharren Haskel speaks at an event marking 60 years of diplomatic ties between Germany and Israel hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin, Oct. 16, 2025.

Interview

Israel's deputy FM, Sharren Haskel, bets on a new right after breaking with Netanyahu

Former Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel resigned from her position shortly before the Knesset dispersed and has formed a new party opposed to exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

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

Latest News

Analysis

As US rethinks regional presence, Israel shifts focus to destabilizing Iran

Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images

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

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

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

Apartment blocks under construction (front) are seen in Pisgat Zeev, an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, August 12, 2013. Israel on Monday named 26 Palestinian prisoners to be freed this week under a deal enabling U.S.-backed peace talks to resume, although Palestinians said these had been undermined by newly announced plans to expand Israeli settlements. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) - RTX12IKF

Israeli Settlement Authorization Is Pre-Emptive Strike

Israeli is striking a blow against the peace process by authorizing further settlement expansion.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) speaks to Moshe Shahal, a member of the Israel Peace Initiative and a former Israeli cabinet minister, during a news conference after Abbas met members of the Israeli Peace Initiative in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 28, 2011. The Israel Peace Initiative, a private group that includes former politicians and security officials, wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to renew peace talks, which the Palestinians have frozen over his refusal t

Former Israeli Minister Blasts Palestinian Prisoners Release

Former Labor Minister Moshe Shahal, who chaired the Prisoner Release Committee in the Rabin government, criticizes the decision to release prisoners instead of freezing the construction in the West Bank.

Israel's armed forces chief Major-General Benny Gantz (R) speaks to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey before an honour guard ceremony at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv August 13, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX12JHT

Egypt, Iran Top Dempsey's Agenda in Israel

Visiting Israel again, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey will urge Israel not to attack Iran while his counterparts will press Washington to deepen their involvement in Egypt.

Fatah strongman and lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan (C) arrives at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 16, 2006. Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan accused Fatah strongman and lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan of being behind the attack on Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's convoy. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel (WEST BANK) - RTR1KH1X

Exclusive: Dahlan Family Visits Gaza

Despite the animosity between former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan and the Hamas leadership, his family was granted permission to visit the Gaza Strip.

A Bedouin boy rides a donkey near a sign in the West Bank village of Wadi al-Maleh, near the border with Jordan April 29, 2013. Israeli soldiers on Monday evicted several hundred Bedouins from the village in the occupied West Bank after the army declared the area a live-fire training zone. The residents of Wadi al-Maleh, a village mostly inhabited by shepherds in the arid area, had almost all left their homes by an evening curfew and retreated to neighbouring villages, a local leader told Reuters. REUTERS/M

Israeli Army Seeks to Evict Villagers to Expand Firing Zone

The Israeli army wants to evacuate the Palestinian West Bank villages of Masafer Yatta to accomodate its live-fire training area.

AppleMark

US Rep. Keith Ellison Calls For Obama-Rouhani Summit

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Ellison says, “If the United States had direct negotiations with Iran, the first item should be stopping the bloodshed in Syria.”

Gila Molcho, sister of Ian Feinberg, who was killed in 1993 by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, speaks on the phone while holding a framed portrait of Feinberg, during a protest against the government's plan to free Palestinian prisoners, in Tel Aviv August 12, 2013. Israel on Monday named 26 Palestinian prisoners, one of them convicted of killing Feinberg, to be freed this week under a deal enabling U.S.-backed peace talks to resume, although Palestinians said these had been undermined by newly announced pl

Will Release of Palestinians Who Killed Israelis Bring Peace?

How can the release of the Palestinian prisoners who murdered Israeli peace activist Ian Feinberg promote peace negotiations between the two sides?

Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel speaks to reporters at a ceremony announcing the resumption of construction of an Israeli neighbourhood in East Jerusalem August 11, 2013. Israel moved forward on Sunday with plans to build nearly 1,200 new homes for Jewish settlers holding fast to a defiant settlement policy just days before its expected release of Palestinian prisoners. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX12HFR

New Housing Units No Obstacle To Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations

The new tenders for construction in the settlements were intended to provide the Israeli right with an imaginary achievement, allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue negotiations.

Israeli parliament employees set up a Palestinian flag (L) next to an Israeli one as they prepare ahead of a meeting between Israeli parliament members and a delegation of Palestinian politicians and businessmen, aimed at encouraging Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem July 31, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Tuesday gave themselves about nine months to try reach an agreement on ending their conflict of more than six decades in U.S.-brokered pe

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Faces Enormous Challenges

As long as the US is not playing a forceful role, there will be numerous difficulties that could prevent the Palestinian-Israeli negotiation process from successfully moving forward.

Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel speaks to reporters at a ceremony announcing the resumption of construction of an Israeli neighbourhood in East Jerusalem August 11, 2013. Israel moved forward on Sunday with plans to build nearly 1,200 new homes for Jewish settlers holding fast to a defiant settlement policy just days before its expected release of Palestinian prisoners. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX12HFR

Israel's Settlement Plan Threatens Talks Before They Begin

Israel's decision to approve more settlements only adds to the widely held view that it is not interested in peace with the Palestinians.

A man hangs pictures of (from R to L) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, near
the site of an explosion in Beirut's southern suburbs, July 9, 2013. A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in a Beirut stronghold district of the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group that has been fighting in Syria's civil war, wounding at least 38 people, a hospital official told Reuters. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan (L

Iran's Ties to Hezbollah Unchanged

Although there are expectations of a more moderate approach to foreign affairs under Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Iran's relations with Hezbollah will remain the same.

An Israeli soldier cleans the barrel of a tank near the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights July 17, 2013. Syria's civil war has brought an end to decades of calm on the Golan Heights, a strip of land which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Battles between rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syrian villages nearby are being watched intensely by Israel's military. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX11P94

Israel Prepares for Next War With Hezbollah

The Israel Defense Forces is watching with concern as Hezbollah improves its military capabilities in Syria.