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

Israel cover image

Israel

August 12, 2026

Tel Aviv 4:46 pm

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.

Latest News

Analysis

As pro-Palestinian candidates gain ground, will AIPAC's influence wane?

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

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

A Palestinian woman rests as she waits to fill her gas canisters at a gas filling station in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 10, 2013. An Egyptian army crackdown launched months ago on the tunnel network has led to a severe fuel and gas crisis in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11IKG

The Silence on Gaza

The crisis in Gaza doesn’t interest anyone when they can’t blame Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem July 14, 2013. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11MDX

For Netanyahu, Peace Talks Revolve Around Iran

The overlapping Israeli-Palestinian talks with negotiations between the West and Iran might offer a hint as to what really motivated Prime Minister Netanyahu to return to negotiations.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands beneath campaign posters depicting Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, in the southern city of Ashdod January 17, 2013. A fixture in successive governments, Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party draws its support from the fast-growing community of religious Jews of Middle Eastern origin whose spiritual leader is the 92-year-old, Iraqi-born rabbi Ovadia Yosef. According to opinion polls, it will maintain its 11 seats in parliament. REUTERS/A

Israelis Disappointed By New Chief Rabbis

The election of the new chief rabbis has provoked disappointment and debate from Israel to North America.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets Israeli lawmaker Zahava Gal-On, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 26, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3753Y

Israel's Left Wing Revives the Meretz Party

How is it that a party that practically disappeared from the Israeli political map for years has become a hot commodity among left-wing voters, and what does it say about the Israeli public?

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (L) shakes hands with Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni near U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after announcing further talks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington July 30, 2013. Israel and the Palestinians will seek to reach a peace agreement within nine months and negotiators will meet again within two weeks after holding a "positive" first round of talks, Kerry said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX

The Kerry Talks:Why the US Needs to Be in the Room

Having US officials involved in every step of the negotiations might pressure Israel to compromise.

Israelis wearing keffiyehs hold up hands covered in fake blood protest outside the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, against the release of Arab prisoners as a step to renew stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, July 28, 2013. Netanyahu on Sunday urged divided rightists in his cabinet to approve the release of 104 Arab prisoners in order to restart peace talk with the Palestinians. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX122BK

Israel’s prisoner dilemma

Qadri Abu Wassel, a member of the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee charged with overseeing Palestinian prisoners, expects the government to release Israeli Arab prisoners, whom he regards as political prisoners.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of late Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin July 21, 2013. Netanyahu's tentative agreement to revive U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians met scepticism and scorn on Sunday from some members of his rightist coalition government, including within his own party. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11TOJ

Netanyahu as Decider: Will He Go All the Way?

Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ready to make difficult compromises on the Palestinian issue?

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (C) arrives for talks with Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department in Washington, July 30, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first peace talks in nearly three years on Monday in a U.S.-brokered effort that Kerry hopes will end their conflict despite deep divisions. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX124QA

Peace Talks in Need of Clarity

Legal clarity will be crucial as the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resume.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem July 28, 2013. Netanyahu on Sunday urged divided rightists in his cabinet to approve the release of 104 Arab prisoners in order to restart peace talk with the Palestinians. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX122AK

American Jewry Embraces Netanyahu's Decision on Peace Talks

Senior leaders from the American Jewish community have sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a letter congratulating his decision to hold negotiations with the Palestinians.

Naftali Bennett (C), leader of the Bayit Yehudi party, gestures as he leaves the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City ahead of Israel's parliamentary election on Tuesday, January 21, 2013. Bennett, leader of this far-right party, has emerged as the surprise success story of the country's election campaign. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS RELIGION) - RTR3CQYX

Hypocrisy and Theatrics Over Palestinian Prisoner Release

Seven ministers opposed the decision to release Palestinian prisoners without endangering the prime minister's majority, and without leaving the government about to jump-start negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in front of U.S. President Barack Obama (C) during a trilateral meeting at President Obama's hotel in New York September 22, 2009. Obama, making his most direct foray into Middle East diplomacy, on Tuesday called Israelis and Palestinians to act with a sense of urgency to get formal peace negotiations back on track. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES POLITICS) - RTR285E9

Netanyahu Crosses Red Line With Prisoner Release

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to release Palestinian prisoners as a token of good will toward the Palestinians, instead of a settlement freeze.

A view of the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City is seen from the Mount of Olives January 24, 2011. Palestinian negotiators secretly told Israel it could keep swathes of occupied East Jerusalem, according to leaked documents that show Palestinians offering much bigger peace concessions than previously revealed. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXWZNK

US Courts Will Not Determine Jerusalem's Fate

The latest US decision on the legal status of Jerusalem citizenship is just another round in the American political and legal battles over Jerusalem's fate.