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Israel

May 9, 2026

Tel Aviv 9:21 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

Lisa Peterson

US rights report keeps Trump language on Israel, Palestinian territories

The Israel section of the annual rights report included a section on “Israel, West Bank and Gaza," rather than "Israel and the Occupied Territories."

Palestinians who work in Israel wait in line to receive the first dose of a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine by Israeli medical workers in Meitar crossing checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel on March 9, 2021 in Meitar, Israel. More than two months after starting a world-leading COVID-19 vaccination campaign for its own citizens, Israel began administering the Moderna vaccine to Palestinian laborers from the West Bank who enter Israel or Israeli settlements for work.

Israel endorses international plan to vaccinate 7,000 Gaza traders

Israel has greenlighted an international operation to vaccinate against the coronavirus 7,000 Palestinian traders from the Gaza Strip who regularly travel through Israel and the West Bank.

Tikun Olam

Stars help peel back curtain from Israeli cannabis industry

Former Minister Tzipi Livni is the latest in a long list of public figures and celebrities joining the rapidly growing medical cannabis industry in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, addresses supporters at the party campaign headquarters in Jerusalem early on March 24, 2021, after the end of voting in the fourth national election in two years.

With Netanyahu vulnerable, Israel again ignored by Washington on Iran

Knowing he is politically vulnerable, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is silent on Washington’s intention to return to the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Yemeni Jew Said Ben Yisrael (C) stands with members of his family after arriving to Israel at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, on Feb. 19, 2009, after leaving Yemen for fear of attack.

Houthis deport some of Yemen's last remaining Jews

Thirteen Jews have been forced by the Houthis to leave their homeland, leaving behind the last four elderly Yemenite Jews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, where he is ramping up his mission to foil an emerging White House-backed nuclear deal with Iran, in Washington, March 2, 2015.

Chances for Israeli alliance with Saudis against Iran fading

Saudi Arabia is reluctant to showcase any cooperation with Israel, including security cooperation against the Iranian regional threat.

Netanyahu

Once again, Netanyahu could win with a draw

Facing a corruption indictment and seemingly boxed in, Netanyahu is still standing.

Amos Yadlin

Iran suspected of being behind missile that hit Israeli vessel

An unnamed senior Israeli security official suggests that a missile that hit a container ship owned by an Israeli company may have fired by Iran.

Gideon Saar, head of Israel's New Hope party, works at the party's headquarters, a day ahead of the election, Tel Aviv, Israel, March 22, 2021.

Bittersweet victory for Israel’s Gideon Saar

Gideon Saar’s New Hope party garnered only six Knesset seats, but has managed to seriously destabilize the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz attends a Cabinet meeting of the new government at Chagall State Hall in the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 24, 2020.

2021 elections in Israel: The revival of Benny Gantz

Pre-election public opinion polls estimated that Blue and White under Defense Minister Benny Gantz would fail to pass the Knesset-entry threshold, but in reality the party has apparently garnered 8 Knesset seats.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Arab-Israeli legislator emerges as kingmaker

If the current numbers hold and the Raam Party gets four Knesset seats, its leader Mansour Abbas could hold the key to choosing the country’s next prime minister.

Golan Heights

Israel disappointed over UN Human Rights Council resolutions

As happens every year in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted in favor of resolutions condemning Israeli actions.