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Israel

May 8, 2026

Tel Aviv 6:48 pm

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Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

The findings cast doubt on Israel’s wartime gains and put pressure on Netanyahu’s campaign strategy ahead of elections.

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

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs neighborhood of Haret Hreik on May 6, 2026.

Israel strikes Beirut in breach of Lebanon ceasefire

Israel has continued to carry out strikes in southern Lebanon but had not targeted Beirut since the ceasefire took effect.

Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel fears Trump seeking Hormuz win while sidestepping Iran nuclear issue

While President Donald Trump keeps pressuring Iran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Israel fears the American leader will decide to cut his losses and sideline the nuclear threat.

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

Latest News

Culture

Lebanon's churches, mosques and archaeological sites damaged in Israeli strikes

A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains among the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026.

Analysis

Can Bennett, Lapid unite Israel’s opposition to unseat Netanyahu?

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid (L) speaks to outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, during a meeting at the Knesset (parliament), in Jerusalem on June 30, 2022. - Final approval of the parliament dissolution bill was initially expected by midnight but was postponed to June 30 as coalition and opposition lawmakers sparred over last-minute legislative details, several sources familiar with the parliamentary said. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

Iron Dome in Gulf: How Iran war turned UAE-Israel defense ties operational

AFP via Getty Images

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

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

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett arrives for the weekly Cabinet meeting, Jerusalem, May 6, 2018.

Ahead of Bennett’s Washington visit, Israel prepares 'Raisi file'

Ahead of the trip of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to the United States, Israel’s security agencies are preparing a personal, revealing file on Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Munk School

Microsoft says Israeli company's malware used to hack dissidents, activists

Microsoft said around half of the victims were located in the Palestinian territories, and many of the remaining targets were based in the Middle East.

Ibtisam Mara'ana

Controversial Arab-Israeli woman appointed to Knesset security panel

Labor party legislator Ibtisam Mara’ana, lambasted over allegedly supporting Palestinian assailants, was appointed this week as member of the Knesset’s prestigious foreign and security affairs committee.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) shakes hands with European High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell (R) during a Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the European Union headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, July 12, 2021.

Israel’s Lapid, Herzog out to rehabilitate Israel’s global image

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog are working to boost Israel's diplomatic ties following some tensions under former PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Report reveals heavy impact of COVID-19 on Israeli Arabs

A new report quantifies disparities in how the coronavirus crisis has affected Israel's Arab population.

Waleed Taha campaign poster

Israeli prime minister's dysfunctional, fragile coalition hits reality

Trying to please all components of his coalition, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett now heads a government that is too large, too spread out and too geared on compromises.

ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images

Has Israel’s army become too small?

Outgoing IDF deputy chief of staff Eyal Zamir warned this week that Israel's army would struggle to manage the multiple threats facing the country.

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Erdogan, Herzog share rare phone call

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed their mutual desire for improving bilateral ties.

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli Supreme Court OKs surrogacy for same sex-couples, single men

Israel’s High Court of Justice said restrictions barring same-sex couples from using surrogate mothers to become parents must end in six months.

European Union

Israel’s Lapid pumps European hands in Brussels

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's enthusiastic connecting in Brussels clearly indicates he intends to reboot Israel’s ties with the European Union.

EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

Liberman takes on ultra-Orthodox

New finance Minister Avigdor Liberman is ending daycare subsidies for ultra-Orthodox families in which the husband studies rather than works.

A former Israeli Druze officer (R) holds a banner that reads in Hebrew, "Bibi, look at the absurdity that you have created with your law,"

Israel's top court upholds Jewish nation-state law

The 2018 law, which enshrines national self-determination as a unique right of the Jewish people, was denounced by critics who say it discriminates against Israel's Arab population.