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Israel

September 26, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:33 pm

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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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 39th anniversary of the Entebbe or Yonatan operation at the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv July 9, 2015. Netanyahu's brother Yonatan was killed while leading the 1976 raid to rescue hijacked Israeli hostages from Entebbe, Uganda. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1JSBJ

Bibi no Rabin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for his courage in launching the 1976 Operation Entebbe, though he himself has never followed him in making historic decisions.

Barbed wire is seen on Zikim beach, Israel near the border with northern Gaza (seen in background) July 9, 2015. Two Israeli citizens are being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, a situation that could lead to demands for a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Islamist militant group. Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian coastal enclave in 2007 and fought three wars with Israel since then, declined to confirm or deny it had the captives. REUTERS

Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange deal hits snag

Public acknowledgment that an Israeli man is allegedly being held in Gaza has complicated negotiations between Israel and Hamas for his return, along with the remains of two IDF soldiers, in exchange for Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails.

Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat (C) and Maen Rashid Areikat (2nd R), chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) delegation in Washington, arrive to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department in Washington September 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR44TZ1

Palestinian leadership faces foggy future

A lack of progress in the peace talks, the absence of reconciliation and an aging president have once again forced discussion on the future of Palestinian leadership.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius talks to journalists outside Palais Coburg, the venue for nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria, July 7, 2015. Iran and six major powers will keep negotiating past Tuesday's deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement as they tackle the most contentious issues, including the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, the big powers said. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger - RTX1JEIQ

Why France believes Abbas is part of the peace problem

France has long understood that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects its UN initiative, but has only recently realized that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is no longer a part of the solution, but part of the problem.

Former Israeli president Shimon Peres speaks during the An Insight, An Idea with Shimon Peres event in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos January 22, 2015. More than 1,500 business leaders and 40 heads of state or government attend the Jan. 21-24 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to network and discuss big themes, from the price of oil to the future of the Internet. This year they are meeting in the midst of upheaval, with security forces on heightened alert after attacks in Paris, the European Cent

Shimon Peres outlines his vision for Israel, the region in 2048

Former President Shimon Peres argues that despite the current dire situation, Israel's future is not bleak.

An Israeli gas platform, controlled by a U.S.-Israeli energy group, is seen in the Mediterranean sea, some 15 miles (24 km) west of Israel's port city of Ashdod, in this file picture taken February 25, 2013. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won more time to overcome a political hurdle after parliament postponed a vote on authorising the government to secure a deal on developing Israel's natural gas fields. Picture taken February 25, 2013. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/Files - RTX1IDQI

Netanyahu, Cabel battle over natural gas outline

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Zionist Camp Knesset member Eitan Cabel said he will fight to ensure that any deal to exploit Israel's offshore natural gas will be in the public's best interest.

An Israeli special forces member looks on during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (not pictured) to a military K-9 unit training site at an army base near Tel Aviv April 23, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Watson/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTXYWQZ

Is IDF gearing up to fight the Islamic State?

Israeli military personnel disagree on whether a decision to unite commando units into a single brigade is driven by the Islamic State threat or the need to adapt to the changing reality of the battlefield.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures as leaves his office as a former Hamas government Prime Minister, in Gaza City June 2, 2014. President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a Palestinian unity government on Monday under a reconciliation deal with Hamas Islamists that led Israel to freeze U.S.-brokered peace talks with the Western-backed leader. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RTYV

Hamas official: Rumors of talks with Israel exaggerated

A senior Hamas source claims that rumors about negotiations with Israel for a long-term truce are exaggerated, saying that the only issue seriously on the table is an exchange of Hamas prisoners and the bodies of two IDF soldiers.

Members of the Druze community stand behind Syrian (R) and Druze flags during a protest in the Druze village of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights, June 15, 2015. Several hundred members of the Druze community on Monday called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to protect their Syrian kin following last week's killing of 20 Druze villagers by the Nusra Front, Syria's al Qaeda branch, during fighting in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and

Israel should support Syrian 'Druzistan'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser argues that if and when the Assad regime falls in Syria, Israel should support self-rule by the local Druze population.

Mixed reviews for TV show on Egyptian Jews

A period TV series set in a historic multicultural neighborhood in Cairo is a departure for Ramadan television programming in the country.

An Israeli naval vessel is seen in the Mediterranean sea outside the port of Ashdod, Israel June 29, 2015. Israel said on Monday it had blocked a boat leading a four-vessel protest flotilla of foreign activists from reaching the Gaza Strip and forced the vessel to sail to the Israeli port. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTX1I9PS

Israeli MK recounts his time on Gaza flotilla

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Israeli-Arab Knesset member Basel Ghattas says that contrary to claims by right-wing Knesset members, the Marianne flotilla was not an act of violence, but a political one, drawing international attention to Gaza by peaceful means.

An SPLA soldier is pictured behind a South Sudan flag as he sits on the back of a pick-up truck in Bentiu, Unity state January 12, 2014. South Sudan's army said on Friday it had regained the rebel-held town of Bentiu, restoring government control of Unity state where oil production had been halted by fighting. The rebels said they made a "tactical withdrawal" from Bentiu to avoid civilian casualties. REUTERS/Andreea Campeanu (SOUTH SUDAN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTX17AO2

Why is Israel turning a blind eye to South Sudan arms sales?

Meretz Knesset member Tamar Zandberg accuses Israel of facilitating the sales of weapons to countries at war with an army accused of perpetrating war crimes, such as South Sudan.