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August 15, 2026

Tel Aviv 1:28 pm

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An Israeli rescue team arrives in Venezuela after the earthquake in June 2026. Israeli Foreign Ministry

Analysis

Why Venezuela is moving closer to Israel but stopping short of full ties

Israel and Venezuela have practical and strategic reasons for advancing their relations after years of hostility, but establishing full ties faces challenges.

Rina Bassist

Adam Lucente

By Rina Bassist , Adam Lucente

Israeli army vehicles move to a position in southern Lebanon, March 27, 2026.

Analysis

Israel defies Trump on Lebanon as Netanyahu, Katz prioritize elections

Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump face fateful elections this fall, but one needs progress in Lebanon while the other wants more of the same.

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

Latest News

Syria lodges UN complaint against Colombia’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Golan

Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after being sworn in, in Cali, Colombia, on Aug. 7, 2026.

Analysis

Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza plan while quietly implementing it

lia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

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

Interview

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

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.

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

An Israeli soldier fires towards the leg of a Palestinian detained during a protest against the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Nilin, in this frame grab from a video taken about three weeks ago and released on July 20, 2008, by Israeli rights group B'Tselem. The video footage of the Israeli soldier firing what appears to be a rubber bullet at point-blank range at a bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has led to an army investigation. REUTERS/B'Tselem via Reuters TV (WEST

Israeli Center Keeps Focus On Human Rights

Naela Khalil reports on B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights center that documents Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories.

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 5, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2YVND

Obama Should Re-Launch Peace Process

Some are expecting US President Barack Obama to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but this should not mean negotiations just for the sake of negotiations that eventually go nowhere, writes Nassif Hitti.

Samer al-Issawi, one of four Palestinians held by Israel who has been on an intermittent hunger strike, gestures as he leaves Jerusalem's magistrates' court February 19, 2013. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a one-day fast on Tuesday in solidarity with four inmates whose hunger strike has fuelled anti-Israel protests in the occupied West Bank. Gaunt and wheelchair-bound, Issawi appeared on Tuesday before the Jerusalem civil court, which deferred releasing him for at least another

Israel Offers Deportation To Samer Issawi

Israel has offered Samer Issawi deportation instead of release, which is a serious violation of human rights, Daoud Kuttab writes.

Yair Lapid, head of Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party attends the swearing-in ceremony of the 19th Knesset, the new Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 5, 2013. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DDXV

Golden Opportunity Awaits New Israeli Finance Minister

If Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid limits himself to only one or two structural changes, the new finance minister can succeed despite his lack of experience, writes Mazal Mualem.

Israelis use binoculars to see the fighting in the Syrian village of al-Jamlah, from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria March 7, 2013. Israel voiced confidence on Thursday that the United Nations could secure the release of U.N. peacekeepers seized by Syrian rebels near the Golan Heights, signalling it would not intervene in the crisis. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internati

Israel: Re-thinking Syria's Opposition

Shlomi Eldar writes that a film clip showing Syrian rebels shooting into the air along the Golan border offers an ominous signal to the world, and especially to Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a reception following the swearing-in ceremony of the 19th Knesset, the new Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 5, 2013. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DE06

Will Netanyahu Redefine Status Quo With Ultra-Orthodox?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a historic opportunity to redefine the status quo between the state of Israel and the ultra-Orthodox sector, writes Nadav Perry.

Children cross the street as residents of south Tel Aviv carry Israeli flags during a protest against African migrants living in their neighbourhoods May 30, 2012. Last week a similar protest held by residents of the low-income neighbourhoods where many of the border-jumpers from Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan live led to violence, including a rampage that an Israeli broadcaster dubbed a "pogrom". Fleeing poverty, fighting and authoritarian rule, some 60, 000 Africans have crossed illegally into Israel thro

Sudanese Refugees Face Harassment, Deportation in Israel

Sudanese and other African refugees fleeing persecution often do not find a welcome reception in Israel, writes Jillian Kestler-D’Amours from Tel Aviv.

U.S. President Barack Obama talks to the audience before he signs the Violence Against Women Act while at the Department of Interior in Washington, March 7, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3EPDP

Obama’s Visit to Israel Is All About Iran

US President Barack Obama will have a broad regional agenda when he visits Israel, including the peace process, but the trip is really all about Iran, writes Alon Pinkas.

Dr. Aliza Lavie (C), a Yesh Atid (There's a future) party candidate, celebrates exit poll results at the party's headquarters in Tel Aviv January 22, 2013. Israel's parliament, long heavy with retired generals, is getting a new look, with a freshman class that includes two youth protest leaders, an Ethiopian immigrant, a high tech millionaire and more women than ever. Thanks to the surprise second place finish of Yesh Atid, as well as the success of a new far-right group, the 120-member Knesset will have a

The Glass Ceiling Remains For Women in Israeli Politics

Israeli women are bold, assertive, and talented, writes Ben Caspit, but they face an insurmountable obstacle on their way to the highest echelons of political power because they lack a glorious military background.

Members of the Iranian delegation, led by Supreme National Security Council Secretary and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili (3rd L), sit at a table during talks in Almaty February 26, 2013. World powers began talks with Iran on its nuclear programme in the Kazakh city of Almaty on Tuesday, in a fresh attempt to resolve a decade-old standoff that threatens the Middle East with a new war. REUTERS/Ilyas Omarov/Pool (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTR3EAS0

World Powers Blinked First In Iran Nuclear Talks

Alon Ben David writes that the outcome of the nuclear talks in Kazakhstan has put the option of an Israeli attack back on the agenda in Jerusalem.

Labour party leader Shelly Yachimovich addresses supporters at her party's headquarters in Beit Berl, north of Tel Aviv January 23, 2013. Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel's election on Tuesday, claiming victory despite unexpected losses to resurgent centre-left challengers. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3CTBL

Feminists Empower Opposition In New Israeli Knesset

Mazal Mualem foresees the new Knesset opposition parties to be both diverse and formidable.

Palestinian women take part in a protest against the death of a Palestinian detainee in an Israeli jail, in Gaza City February 24, 2013. Palestinian officials on Saturday demanded an international investigation into the death of a Palestinian detainee who died in an Israeli jail hours earlier. A spokeswoman for Israel's Prison Authority said that the detainee, 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, had apparently died of cardiac arrest. An emergency service team had tried to resuscitate him but failed, she said. REUTE

Arab Women in Israel: From Oppression to Empowerment

Amal Abu Sayyaf, a doctoral candidate from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, levels some harsh charges against the tolerance shown by Israeli society toward the phenomenon of oppressed Arab women, writes Shlomi Eldar.