Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

May 18, 2026

Tel Aviv 9:37 am

28°C

talks

Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extended 45 days as US opens security talks

The Pentagon will host Israeli and Lebanese military delegations for a round of separate security talks later this month.

US President Donald Trump talks to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he departs the Al Bateen Executive Airport on May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Analysis

‘A reckless act’: Netanyahu sparks UAE fury by claiming secret visit

Just as UAE-Israeli relations were deepening through cooperation against Iran, the Israeli prime minister publicly embarrassed Abu Dhabi by revealing his March visit.

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

Israel's Netanyahu suing New York Times over column on Palestinian rape

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's accusations of systematic sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian prisoners, calling the claims a "blood libel."

Latest News

Analysis

Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front

Artillery units are positioned near the Lebanese border in northern Israel, May 4, 2026.

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

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

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

Demonstrators take part in a rally against Israel's offensive in Gaza, at Plaza Bolivar in downtown Caracas January 8, 2009. The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Thursday but Israeli warplanes kept up attacks. REUTERS/Edwin Montilva (VENEZUELA) - GM1E5190U8901

Intel: Why Israel is recognizing the opposition in Venezuela

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from the Jewish Home party, deliver statements in Tel Aviv, Israel December 29, 2018. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC15EB02E090

Will the ultra-right seize control of religious Zionism in Israel?

With Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked having left HaBayit HaYehudi to start a new party, ultra-right parties are angling to take control of Israel's religious Zionist movement.

Rare book exhibit draws crowds in Jerusalem

The "Maimonides: A Legacy in Script” exhibit, a collection of rare manuscripts by a renowned Jewish scholar, is drawing unusually large crowds of Orthodox Jews to Jerusalem’s Israel Museum.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement together with Chad's President Idriss Deby, during their meeting in N'Djamena, Chad January 20, 2019. Kobi Gideon/Government Press Office/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC13B14BBC20

Foreign Minister Netanyahu sidelines own ministry

As reflected in his conduct, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees himself as an airborne Foreign Ministry that does all the work and does not need hundreds of professionals working under him.

Freed Palestinian prisoner Mohammed al-Bashiti, who served 12 years in an Israeli jail after he was convicted of being a member of Hamas' armed wing, is kissed by his aunt upon his release, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - S1BETRQHDIAA

Hamas denies Arab media talk about new prisoner swap negotiations with Israel

Qatar’s Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that talks between Israel and Hamas were renewed through European intermediaries, but the Islamic movement’s spokesman denies it.

Jewish settlers stand at an observation point overlooking the West Bank village of Duma, near Yishuv Hadaat, an unauthorised Jewish settler outpost January 5, 2016. Steeped in messianic Jewish mysticism and rebelling against what they see as adulterated modern Zionism, the "Hilltop Youth," a new generation of ultra-religious settlers whose resentment of the secular Israeli state rivals their hostility toward Arabs, number in the hundreds, by most accounts. But they pose a deep-rooted challenge even for the

Can the Shin Bet stop hilltop youths' march to Armageddon?

Shin Bet sources admit that they have little means to tamp down the young extremist settlers known as hilltop youth, who carry out violent attacks against Palestinians in the hopes of sparking a conflagration.

Qatar sinks into Gaza quagmire

Qatar wanted to please the United States and help Gaza residents with aid money, but has found itself trapped in a standoff between Hamas and Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L) and Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit (L) arrive to the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem November 16, 2014. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - GM1EABG1G1D01

Netanyahu’s archrival before elections: the attorney general

To save himself from an indictment before the April elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that the political left is pressuring Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to indict him.

An Israeli man looks on as an Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon July 14, 2018 REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1E436675A0

Pentagon’s Iron Dome buy raises questions on US troop protection

The Pentagon has agreed to acquire Israel’s Iron Dome to intercept cruise missiles, but experts are questioning whether the system can effectively defend US troops.

Israel’s president hails interfaith dialogue

President Reuven Rivlin has become the one voice that Europeans refer to when they seek Israeli figures ready for Mideast religious coexistence.

Will seven politicians 'Unite4Israel'?

An election campaign to unite seven Israeli public figures to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates reflects the current distress of the liberal peace camp.

Missile fire is seen over Damascus, Syria January 21, 2019. SANA/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE - RC16C31A91C0

Israel wins this round against Iran in Syria

According to security sources, the Iranians, headed by Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani, prepared its recent attack from Syria against Israel for weeks.