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.

palestian airlines fokker wikipedia.jpg

PA shuts down Palestinian Airlines, shuttering hopes for airport

The Palestinian Authority decides to shut down the Palestinian Airlines, which is seen as a symbol of sovereignty, citing financial burdens and maintenance costs of its only two aircrafts.

New congresswoman criticizes Israel over vaccines for Palestinians

Illinois Democrat Marie Newman said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should ensure that Palestinians in the West Bank are also vaccinated. The Palestinian Authority is reportedly exploring getting vaccines from Israel.

Pro-Israel group criticizes Georgia Senate candidate for past sermon

Christians United for Israel slammed Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock over a 2018 sermon he gave on the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, but others have defended the candidate for a US Senate seat.

Fighters take part in military exercises by Palestinian armed factions, featuring mock Israeli military targets and vehicles, at a military site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 29, 2020. - Palestinian armed groups staged military exercises in Gaza, including firing rockets into the sea, to mark the anniversary of the start of the 2008 conflict with Israel. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Palestinian groups conduct first-ever joint military drill

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other groups held the exercise to prepare for a future conflict with Israel.

Moroccans celebrate in front of the parliament building in Rabat on December 13, 2020, after the US adopted a new official map of Morocco that includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara. - Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s. Morocco became the fourth Arab state this year, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, to announce it had agreed to norm

Kushner, Israeli delegation arrive in Morocco on first direct flight

Israeli and Moroccan officials are expected to sign the first of several accords cementing relations between the two countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on January 23, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian, Palestinian leaders discuss Israel-Palestinian peace process

Russia has voiced willingness to mediate between Israel and Palestine in its capacity as a member of the Middle East Quartet.

A Moroccan man walks next to a Palestinian flag during a demonstration against the US Middle East peace plan in the capital Rabat on February 9, 2020. - Morocco has warming but quiet relations with Israel, although they do not enjoy formal diplomatic ties. Israel and Morocco opened "liaison" offices in each other's countries in the mid-1990s but Rabat closed them after an escalation of Palestinian-Israeli violence in 2000. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Why Palestinians found Moroccan normalization easier to take

Unlike Israel's normalization deals with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, the most recent one with Morocco caused little anger among Palestinians.

Palestinians intensify efforts, action to counter UAE trade deals with Israeli settlements

Palestinians seek to launch international campaigns to boycott Emirati companies that deal with products from settlements built on occupied land in the West Bank, accusing them of violating international resolutions that criminalize settlements.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi gives a press conference on November 3, 2020 in Tunis, after his meeting with several economic experts. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP) (Photo by FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel-Tunisia normalization ‘not on the agenda,’ Tunisian PM says

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said that he respects Morocco's choice to recognize the Jewish state but that Tunisia is not considering doing the same.

Israeli police and firefighters stand at the entrance of the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane in east Jerusalem after an arson attempt, on December 4, 2020. - Israeli police said in a statement they were questioning a 49-year-old suspect who had "poured flammable liquid inside the church", causing damage. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli settler attacks on church sanctities in Palestine continue amid lax international response

The Israeli settlers continue their attacks against Palestinian Muslim and Christian places of worship, the latest of which has been the attempt to set on fire the Church of All Nations in Jerusalem.

Amnesty blasts Airbnb for settlement listings as company goes public

The London-based rights group called on Airbnb to unlist around 200 rental properties in the West Bank.

The Takeaway: Israel would prefer Assad rely on Gulf, not Iran

Israeli scholar Micky Aharonson says Israel can live with Assad, if Assad can live without Iran; Amberin Zaman gets the scoop, again, on Turkey-Israel ties; should we forget about Israel-Saudi normalization for now?