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

Israel cover image

Israel

May 18, 2026

Tel Aviv 10:52 pm

22°C

Somaliland’s first ambassador to a foreign country formally, Mohamed Hagi, presented his diplomatic credentials in Jerusalem to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, on May 18, 2026.

Israel accredits Somaliland's first ambassador: What to know

Israel was the first country to recognize the breakaway region on the Horn of Africa last year.

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.

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

Gazans thankful for Qatar funds, worry about the future

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the second transfer of Qatari funds to Gaza, while criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for generating a humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

A Palestinian farmer picks flowers from a farm to be sold on Valentine's Day, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip February 11, 2014. Valentine's Day falls on Friday. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY) - GM1EA2B1COD01

Why Gaza's flowers are no longer in bloom

Gaza's flower exports had continued to grow since the 1990s, until it ran into the winter of the Israeli siege.

US, Israeli, Palestinian leaders more hawkish than their peoples

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Palestinian leadership’s stance is more extreme than that of its public, the Israeli leadership’s stance is more extreme than that of the Israeli public and the Trump administration’s stance is far from the American public's position.

Why is Israel forging secret ties with Sudan?

Hamas condemns the current normalization of ties between several Arab countries and Israel, at a time the Israeli media is talking about efforts to stop arms reaching the Gaza Strip through Libya and Sudan.

United Arab Emirates

Israel won’t apologize for killing daughters of Gaza doctor

Ten years after the tragedy, an Israeli court has dismissed a lawsuit by a Palestinian doctor whose three daughters and niece were killed during Operation Cast Lead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a candle lightning ceremony on the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City December 6, 2018 Gil Cohen Magen/Pool via REUTERS - RC194FC2E670

Israel rejects international immigration pact

In rejecting the United Nations new convention on migration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made common cause with right-wing governments in the West but appears to remain at a loss about how to handle illegal immigrants in Israel.

Price changes for cooking gas puts heat on Gaza distributors

The Ministry of Finance in the Gaza Strip unilaterally decided to float the price of cooking gas, setting a new economic precedent.

Israelis raging over violence against women

For the first time ever, tens of thousands of Israelis protested against violence against women, forcing the government to react.

An Israeli commando from the engineering corps Yahalom ("Diamond") unit takes part in a tunnel-hunting drill in Sirkin special forces base, near Tel Aviv March 7, 2012. Israel, fearing a surge in tunnel and bunker construction by Hezbollah and Palestinian militants in neighbouring Lebanon and Gaza, is training crack troops to hunt below ground with the help of robot probes and sniffer dogs. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - GM1E83802EC01

Netanyahu raises doubts with operation against Hezbollah tunnels

The timing of Operation Northern Shield, to destroy Hezbollah tunnels leading from Lebanon into Israel, suggests that considerations other than security were behind the decision to launch it.

Netanyahu’s Israel is state in crisis

If there is any substance to the Israeli police's recommendations to indict Prime Minister Netanyahu for bribery, the State of Israel is more a model of government corruption than a "light unto nations."

Arab Israeli protesters clash with Israeli police during a demonstration in the northern Arab Israeli village of Arara, January 21, 2017 REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC16B2E41470

Israel boycott movement takes on US law enforcement

Several US police departments are ending training in Israel amid pressure from pro-Palestinian activists as pro-Israel groups explore legal countermeasures.

This picture taken on December 4, 2018 near the northern Israeli town of Misgav Am, shows Israeli machinery operating machinery (R) near the border wall with Lebanon. - Israel's army said on December 4 it had detected Hezbollah "attack tunnels" infiltrating its territory from Lebanon and had launched an operation called "Northern Shield" to destroy them, a move likely to raise tensions with the Iran-backed group. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP) (Photo credit should read JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images)

Israel destroys Hezbollah's border tunnels but missile threat looms

Israel has started uncovering and destroying Hezbollah's attack tunnels under the Lebanese border, but destroying the group's ambitious precision missile project will be much more difficult.