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.

Fall of Blue and White party leaves opening on Israeli political map

With Blue and White splitting and the Labor party declining, there is an opening for a new political alignment on the social-liberal side of the Israeli political map.

Israeli annexation talks threaten ties with Arab world

The Israeli annexation discourse bolsters radical elements in the Arab world and undermines the moderates, thus threatening Israeli aspirations for diplomatic relations and commercial ties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, March 8, 2020. Oded Balilty/Pool via Reuters - RC2MFF9EQO6E

Intel: Pro-Israel super PAC warns Netanyahu against West Bank annexation

The leaders of a prominent pro-Israel super PAC with close ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rivals against moving forward with plans to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported today.

KHAN YUNIS, GAZA - MARCH 30: Leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar greets Palestinians during a protest within the "Great March of Return" and "Palestinian Land Day" demonstrations at Israel-Gaza border in Khan Yunis, Gaza on March 30, 2019. (Photo by Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Israel passes ball of prisoner exchange deal back to Hamas

On the back of the coronavirus crisis, Israel is now examining a three-phased plan proposed indirectly by Hamas for the exchange of prisoners.

Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 20, 2020. Picture taken February 20, 2020. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC2R7F9HN66O

Intel: Netanyahu, Gantz strike West Bank annexation deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, struck a deal today to annex parts of the West Bank as part of their bid to form a unity government.

GAZA, Feb. 24, 2020 -- Militants in the Gaza Strip fire rockets to Israeli cities on Feb. 24, 2020. Israeli war jets on Monday struck posts that belong to Palestinian militant group in Gaza Strip for the second day in a row, according to Palestinian security sources. Israeli army said in a press statement that it has began targeting Islamic Jihad posts in Gaza. (Photo by Xinhua/ via Getty Images)

Rocket fired toward Israel amid coronavirus outbreak in Gaza

Hamas weighs escalating confrontation with Israel as COVID-19 cases grow.

Palestinian artists paint protective face masks to encourage people to wear them as a precaution against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Gaza City March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem - RC2DUF9EIP84

Israel suggests strings be attached to coronavirus aid for Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has urged that any aid to Gaza for the COVID-19 pandemic be linked to the recovery of soldiers' remains.

Are Netanyahu, Bennett preparing Jordan Valley annexation?

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz must beware of right-wing ministers such as Defense Minister Naftali Bennett trying to establish facts on the ground before the unity government is established.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - AUGUST 3: Arab feminist group Women Against Violence founder Aida Touma-Suleiman listens during a conference organised by Abp Asbl (Association belgo palestinienne) on September 3, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. The Knesset is the unicameral parliament of the State of Israel in Jerusalem where members are elected for a four-year term. Since its creation in 1949, of the 19 elected chambers, 12 have been dissolved. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, of the 120 seats in the 20th Knesset, 13

Arab legislator to chair Knesset committee, undeterred by incitement

The appointment of Arab Knesset member Aida Touma-Suleiman to head the Welfare and Labor Committee generated racist reactions and incitement to hatred, but she is not upset.

JERUSALEM - MARCH 15: Muslims perform prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque after the Islamic Waqf Department announced to close the enclosed prayer places as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Jerusalem on March 15, 2020. According to the statement, all prayers remain to be held in the [outdoor] courtyard and all doors will be open to worshipers. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Al-Aqsa Mosque closed to Muslim worshippers to protect their lives

The Jerusalem-based Islamic Waqf Council has managed to close Al-Aqsa Mosque because of the coronavirus outbreak, amid fears that Jewish extremists would take advantage of the crisis.

Is there a coronavirus peace dividend for Israelis and Palestinians?

Cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian leaders to contain the coronavirus sparks hope for deeper cooperation as Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz edge closer to a unity government.

An employee of the Islamic Waqf stands in front of the closed doors of Al-Aqsa mosque in the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, after Muslim clerics shut the mosque until further notice as a precaution against coronavirus March 15, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC2BKF9DQLY0

How coronavirus outbreak has boosted Palestinian-Israeli cooperation

While Palestinian-Israeli cooperation has been revved up to the highest level for some time due to the coronavirus outbreak, some problems persist.