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

Israel cover image

Israel

September 26, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:06 pm

27°C

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

The absence of a Trump meeting would have been awkward for Netanyahu, who has long portrayed himself to Israeli voters as uniquely close to the US president.

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

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu waves to delegates leaving before his UN speech

Delegates walk out as Netanyahu touts Iran war, slams Qatar and Turkey at UN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's statement that the Golan Heights will "remain Syrian territory," while praising US President Donald Trump, whom he did not meet on the trip.

Leader of the Arab Israeli party Ra'am (United Arab List) Mansour Abbas (R) and Israeli politician Yoav Segalovitz (L) attend a news conference in Nazareth on August 31, 2026. Abbas announced that Segalovitz, an Israeli Jew, will join his party for the upcoming Israeli elections. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images)

Israel election committee bars two Arab lists from upcoming vote: What to know

Israel's Central Elections Committee barred the Arab-majority Raam party, the Arab joint list party and two Arab politicians from participating in the Oct. 27 elections.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Netanyahu is distancing himself from Trump ahead of Israeli election

No meeting has been announced between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit in New York.

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

Latest News

UAE's Gargash expects 'prolonged' war, calls for Iran-Gulf security talks

Gargash

United Arab Emirates

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

How Netanyahu is leveraging Houthi threat in secret Saudi normalization push

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on August 24, 2026. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Serbia opens factory to assemble Israeli-made drones: What to know

OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

A view of the rubble of destroyed buildings and homes in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City on July 26, 2014. The bodies of at least 35 Palestinians were recovered from rubble across Gaza in the three hours since a humanitarian truce came into effect, raising to over 900 the overall death toll of Israel's onslaught on the territory since July 8, medics said. Thirteen bodies were recovered in Shejaiya in eastern Gaza City, 13 more in Deir al-Balah and Nusseirat in central Gaza, and nine in north

Who won Gaza's Shajaiya battle? Depends on whom you ask

Hamas activists keep proclaiming victory by presenting the Shajaiya battle as a deterrent against a future Israeli ground invasion, ignoring the Israeli decision not to take over Gaza and the tremendous destruction suffered by Gaza residents following that battle.

An Israeli soldier throws a gas grenade towards a Hizbollah bunker that was uncovered in southern Lebanon August 27, 2006, in this picture released by the Israeli Defense Forces August 28, 2006. Israeli special forces have been exploiting the end of fighting with Hizbollah to uncover and destroy the guerrilla group's tunnel and bunker networks in southern Lebanon, military officials said on Monday. Picture taken August 27, 2006. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/IDF/Handout (LEBANON) - RTR1GRL7

New IDF strategy dismisses Iran nuclear threat

The IDF's new strategy document declares Iran's nuclear program non-threatening and instead prepares to deal with attacks by Iranian proxies and other armed organizations in the region.

Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon (L), a deputy parliament speaker, stands near an Israeli police officer in front of the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City July 20, 2010. Danon, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing party, on Tuesday visited the flashpoint religious site in Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims, a move that has sparked violence in the past. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLIT

Getting to know Israel's next ambassador to the UN

Instead of rewarding one of his associates, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Minister Danny Danon as Israel's next UN ambassador, hoping that a happy Danon in New York is preferable to a strong Danon in Likud's headquarters.

A masked Palestinian villager keeps guard with other Palestinians as they tighten night guards against Jewish settler threats, at Qusra village near the West Bank city of Nablus August 10, 2015. Fears of attacks by far-right Jews have increased since a Palestinian man and his 18-month-old son were killed when their house in Duma village was set ablaze on July 31, giving Palestinian farmers-turned-volunteer watchmen patrolling their own villages a renewed sense of urgency. Picture taken August 10, 2015. REUT

'Night guards' aim to deter settler attacks in West Bank

With attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian villages in the West Bank reaching 11,000 since 2004, the residents decided to form night guard committees to defend themselves.

Palestinian official denies Abbas resignation rumors

In an interview with Al-Monitor, senior Palestinian official Mohammad Shtayyeh said the Palestinian leadership is focused on establishing a "healthy relationship" with Iran and denied the rumors surrounding the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (L) welcomes Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif before a meeting in Damascus January 15, 2014, in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY. AN UNPROCESSED VERSION W

Zarif presses diplomacy on Syria

Iran brokers humanitarian cease-fires in Syria; Yair Lapid discusses “dreadful gamble” in US-Israel relations; Turkey’s Stone Age temple may predate Stonehenge and Egyptian pyramids by thousands of years.

An Israeli naval officer walks on the pier at a naval base in the northern city of Haifa as INS Tanin, a Dolphin AIP class submarine, docks after its arrival in Israel, September 23, 2014. Tanin is the fourth submarine Israel has acquired, and is the first of three German-built Dolphin AIP class vessels ordered by Israel, an Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY) - RTR47EHT

Rethinking the Middle East's nuclear balance

Following the Iran nuke deal, the US and the regional powers must strive for a regional security agreement, either based on a mutual deterrence verification system or a nuclear-free Middle East.

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid attends a women's committee convention in Tel Aviv March 1, 2015. The era of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ending, with Israeli voters clearly more concerned about economic and social issues than about security or fears over Iran, a leading election candidate said on Monday. Lapid, a telegenic former news anchor and TV host, leads the centrist, secular Yesh Atid party ("There's a Future"), which emerged out of the cost-of-living protests that swept Israel in 2011. Picture

Lapid: Israel has the right to criticize Iran deal

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid argues that as the prime target for an Iranian bomb, Israel has more justification to speak up against the nuclear agreement than other countries.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish boy stands among worshippers covered with prayer shawls during a special priestly blessing for Passover at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City April 6, 2015. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTR4W8AK

New conversion initiative splits Israel Orthodox rabbis

Modern Orthodox rabbis remain dedicated to implementing the conversion law adopted in 2014 — repealed by the current government — which aims to facilitate the process of converting minors.

Egyptian air force planes trace a heart during the inauguration ceremony of the new Suez Canal, in Ismailia, Egypt, August 6, 2015. Egypt staged a show of international support on Thursday as it inaugurated a major extension of the Suez Canal which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes will power an economic turnaround in the Arab world's most populous country. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1NCFA

Egypt and Israel: A lover and his mistress

Like a lover and his mistress, Egypt and Israel intimately collaborate on the security front, but their relations do not extend much beyond this.

A Palestinian woman holds a picture of a Palestinian jailed in an Israeli prison during a protest calling for the prisoner's release outside the Ayalon prison, in the city of Ramle, near Tel Aviv May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3QJ6R

Israel's prison service denies jails on verge of 'explosion'

The Israel Prison Service claims that escalating tensions in prisons are not related to changes in the incarceration conditions of the Palestinian prisoners, but the impending shakeup of a new Prison Service chief and the lack of a diplomatic horizon.

Congressional Democrats visiting Israel get earful about 'bad' Iran deal

Instead of adopting the assessment of several top security chiefs that the Iran deal is better than none, Zionist Camp leaders Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog have chosen to imitate the prime minister and deride the agreement in talks with Congressional Democrats visiting Israel.