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.

Portraits of Palestinian prisoners held by Israelis

Israel cracks down on Hamas as Palestinian election nears

Israel continues to pursue leaders of the Hamas movement in the West Bank, namely Hamas candidates in the legislative elections in a bid to undermine the movement's chances to win the vote.

Israeli Arab politician, leader of the United Arab List Mansour Abbas (R) attends consultations with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (L) on who might form the next coalition government, at the president's residence in Jerusalem, on April 5, 2021.

Survey: Increasing number of Israelis would support Arab party joining government

The survey by the Israeli human rights group also concluded that most Israelis and Palestinians believe the International Criminal Court's probe into alleged Israeli crimes will not affect policy.

Settlers and Palestinians

UN experts warn of uptick in settler violence against Palestinians

In the first three months of 2021, the UN human rights experts documented 210 incidents of violence against Palestinians.

Retired Israeli Gen. Benny Gantz, one of the leaders of the Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) political alliance, speaks at the Jordan Valley site of Naharayim, also known as Baqura in Jordan, east of the Jordan River and which has been leased to Israel as part of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, on Oct. 18, 2019.

Israel’s Gantz battles to preserve ties with Jordan

Defense Minister Benny Gantz labors to repair damages caused by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Israel-Jordan relations.

Gaza building damaged in 2014 war

Israel tells international court it has no jurisdiction for probe

Shortly before the deadline for responding, Jerusalem tells the International Criminal Court it has no jurisdiction to open a probe against Israeli soldiers or Israeli decision-makers.

Klos-C is escorted into the southern Israeli port of Eilat

Report outlines how Iran smuggles arms to Hamas

Israel reveals how weapons are being smuggled from Iran to Hamas in Gaza via Yemen and Sudan and then through Egypt.

Sudanese businessman Abu al-Qassem Bortoum

Sudan’s Cabinet votes to repeal 1958 Israel boycott

Once approved, the move could further open economic ties with Israel.

A Palestinian rides a bicycle past the closed gate of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 6, 2021, amidst a lockdown due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden restores US aid to Palestinian refugee agency

Along with providing $150 million to UNRWA, the US administration announced funding for economic and development assistance in the West Bank and Gaza.

A young boy holds a flag as people pray during a protest of Palestinian activists over confiscated lands by the Israeli army in Beit Iksa, West Bank, Jan. 25, 2013.

Palestinian village becomes prison for residents

The Palestinian village of Beit Iksa lies on the Palestinian side of the Israeli separation wall, and its residents feel trapped in a large prison surrounded by Israeli settlements.

US Vice President Joe Biden (L) holds a joint press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after their meeting at the presidential compound, Ramallah, West Bank, March 10, 2010.

Palestinian, international observers weigh Biden approach to Palestinian conflict

Although the Biden administration promised to reverse many of the previous US decisions, Palestinians-US relations are moving forward at a very slow pace.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Palestinian shot dead by IDF in checkpoint incident

The Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority reported the incident differently, as is often the case.

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian protester as an Israeli settler hurls rocks at Palestinians during a demonstration against the expansion of settlements in the town of Salfit, near the Israeli settlement of Ariel, West Bank, Nov. 30, 2020.

Palestinians in this village suffer daily settler raids of Muslim shrines

While the Israeli settlers stepped up their storming of Muslim shrines in Kifl Haris village in Salfit governorate, Palestinians perceive that such raids pave the way for the seizure of additional lands in the town.