Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Analysis

What’s at stake for Turkey as Israel heads to the polls?

Israel’s Oct. 27 election could offer a chance to ease tensions with Ankara, but competing ambitions in Syria and beyond threaten to push the two US allies toward a dangerous confrontation.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Feature

50,000 Israeli expats fly home to vote in potential boon to Netanyahu rivals

Israel prohibits voting from abroad with limited exceptions, and Israelis who spoke to Al-Monitor said they are especially motivated to fly home this year.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

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

Pedestrians cross a street in front of a banner featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Analysis

How Israel opposition infighting is boosting Netanyahu days before election

Discord within the opposition, including its reluctance to name a single candidate for prime minister ahead of the Oct. 27 election, is working in Netanyahu’s favor.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

It is the first publicly disclosed contact between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which lack formal relations and have fought several wars. Sharaa’s government began US-mediated talks with Israel in 2025.

Latest News

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sues Netanyahu for nearly $1M over Oct. 7 claims

Israel's Chief of the Mossad David Barnea (R) and Security Agency director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Israel-UK relations hit new low over settlements, Gaza: What to know

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during a protest against the recently announced British sanctions, aimed at economic activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on Sept. 14, 2026, in Jerusalem.

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

An elderly Palestinian walks through a cemetery in Hebron, with in the background an old market building along al-Shuhada Street that was designated by Israel to be a new settlement, with existing settler buildings behind, West Bank, Jan. 28, 2020.

Israel buries Palestinians in numbered graves

Three years after he was killed by Israel near the Gaza border, the body of a 16-year-old Palestinian was returned to his family, reviving controversy of Israel’s so-called cemeteries of numbers.

Shored Gaza fishing boats

Israel reopens Gaza fishing zone closed over rocket fire

Israel shut civilian access to the fishing zone after several nights of rocket attacks.

Israeli human rights activist Adi Dagan listens to an Israeli soldier as she waits for troops to allow Palestinian schoolchildren home through a gate in the security fence March 2, 2004, at the village of Jubara near the West Bank town of Tulkarem. The 300 Israeli women volunteers of the Machsom Watch group have appointed themselves to the task of monitoring the Israeli army, which operates about 65 manned and hundreds of unmanned checkpoints in the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of 'apartheid'

The leading international human rights watchdog cited Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza vis-a-vis Jewish Israelis. The Israeli government dismissed the report.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

How Israeli hurdle in Palestinian elections may benefit Abbas

Israel dragging its feet on allowing Palestinians in east Jerusalem to vote could be just the excuse President Mahmoud Abbas needs to postpone the elections and stop Hamas' likely progress.

HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images

UAE condemns 'right-wing extremist groups' for violence in Jerusalem

The Emirati statement referred only to Jewish groups in "occupied" east Jerusalem in a relatively rare public criticism of its new Israeli ally.

HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images

Tensions spiral in Jerusalem, Israel’s southern front

Israel is seething with conflict between Jews and Arabs with increasing tension in the West Bank, rocket fire from Gaza and with fear of escalation on the northern border.

Palestinian students gather in front of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, on the first day of school after local authorities eased some of the restrictions that were imposed in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, on Aug. 8, 2020.

Senate Republicans: condition aid to Palestinian refugee agency on reforms

A group of 21 senators called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to tie funding to UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, to "much-needed and meaningful reforms."

police deploy in Jerusalem

Protests by Jews and Arabs continue in Jerusalem

Both communities have attacked each other during violent protests in the holy city this week.

Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House on September 15, 2020, in Washington, DC. Prime Minister Netanyahu signed a peace deal with the UAE and a declaration of intent to make peace with Bahrain.

Could Abraham accords work in favor of Israeli left?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intended for the Abraham Accords to serve him politically, but Israeli left may have also gotten a boost.

checkpoint near Bethleham

Palestinians attend prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque amid Israeli virus restrictions

Israeli officials controlling access to the mosque had limited the number of Palestinians able to worship on Friday, citing coronavirus concerns.

MMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

Israel targets Hamas sites after rocket attack

The Israeli military said its warplanes struck a Hamas weapons manufacturing site, a tunnel and a military post.

Betty McCollum

Congresswoman introduces bill to condition US aid to Israel

The legislation from a progressive representative reflects a trend in the Democratic party toward pro-Palestinian positions and criticism of Israel.