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

Israel cover image

Israel

June 30, 2026

Tel Aviv 4:17 am

22°C

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

Turkey, Azerbaijan slam Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition as Yerevan mum

Ankara accused Israel of weaponizing history as Armenia avoided public comment amid delicate regional diplomacy.

AFP via Getty Images

Traffic plummets through Strait of Hormuz after Iran, US trade fire

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had recovered somewhat before renewed fighting between Iran and the United States saw traffic drop sharply over the weekend.

A car drives past an United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) outpost in the village of Khan Arnabah, Quneitra, southern Syria, April 29, 2026.

Syria slams Israeli 'violations' in south as ground clashes intensify: What to know

In a rare incident, the Israeli military said it fired at armed men in southern Syria, without identifying the attackers.

Latest News

Explainer

Israel's Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey

Members of the Jerusalem Armenian community hold placards as they march during commemorations for the 94th anniversary of mass killings of their kin under the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem's Old City, April 24, 2009.

US brokers deal for limited Israeli withdrawal in south Lebanon

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C, back) looks on as (L/R, front row) Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh sign a framework agreement at the US Department of State in Washington, DC, on June 26, 2026. Lebanon, Israel and the United States on Friday signed a trilateral framework agreement aimed at paving the way for a peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP

Iran vows to respond to Israeli military using neighboring airspace: What to know

Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Vance turning us into 'punching bag': Israel fumes over alleged IRGC-CENTCOM channel in Doha

Vance

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

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

Undated file picture of three Hamas militants Ahmad Bader (L) Basel
Qawasmeh (C) and I'zzedin Misk (R). Basel Qawasmeh was killed September
22, 2003, during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city
Hebron while Ahmed Bader and I'zzedin Misk were killed on September 9,
2003. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun REUTERS

EG/NH - RTR3CT5

Hebron branch of rogue Hamas wing has dark history

The abduction and killing of the three Israeli students is not the first terrorist incident associated with the Hebron-based group.

JERUSALEM:Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh shows journalists in Jerusalem 19 March 2000 the planned Israeli withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the occupied territoris in the West Bank. The Israeli cabinet approved earlier in the day the long-due handover of land to full Palestinian control. (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

ISIS should be catalyst for new Middle East alliance

The author, who served as a minister in several Israeli governments and as a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces, makes the case for an Israel-Saudi Arabia-Egypt alliance, anchored in an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Palestinian farmer Basem Bani Jaber gestures to members of the media in front of Hebrew graffiti which Palestinians said was sprayed by Jewish settlers after burning his property in the West Bank village of Aqraba, near Nablus July 2, 2014. During so-called "Price Tag" incidents, mosques and Palestinian property are torched or damaged - a reference by ultranationalist Jews to making the government "pay" for any curbs on Jewish settlement on Palestinian land. The graffiti reads, "price tag" (top) and "Jewish

Netanyahu silent on right-wing calls to avenge youths

Unlike former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who called for restraint after the Dolphinarium terror attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not silenced his far-right ministers who are calling to avenge the murder of the three youths.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 29, 2014. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3W9I3

Netanyahu's 'diplomatic solution' another dead end

Denying the occupation to be the cause of the triple kidnapping-murder, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames the dismantling of the Sykes-Picot Middle East and suggests more self-imposed isolation.

A Palestinian militant inspects a crater caused by what police said was an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip June 29, 2014. Israeli army said on Sunday it targeted "terror sites" including, concealed rocket launchers and weapon manufacturing sites in response to earlier rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a factory in southern Israel on Saturday, setting it on fire, but Israeli officials said there were no serious injuries. REUTERS/Ibrah

Hamas, Islamic Jihad warn Israel about retaliation in Gaza

Leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are expressing confidence in the event of an all-out Israeli attack, while also exercising restraint to prevent a military escalation.

An Israeli border police officer takes up position during clashes with Palestinian stone-throwers in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 2, 2014. The discovery of a body in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday raised suspicions that a missing Palestinian youth had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens. Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem after the news, but no serious injuries were reported. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS

Can Israel deter Hamas?

Past experience should teach Israel that the most efficient deterrent against Hamas terror is to threaten its hegemony in the Gaza strip — and point out that this time around, no Arab country will come to its rescue.

Elders of the community walk near the flag-draped coffin of Israeli soldier Ihab Chattib during his funeral in the northern Druze-Arab village of Maghar February 11, 2010. A Palestinian police officer stabbed and killed Chattib in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the military said, in an attack that could place more strain on U.S. efforts to revive Middle East peace talks. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2A3K6

Druze Knesset member slams Arab leaders as 'weak'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Druze Knesset member Hamad Amar expresses his concern: ''I'm worried that radicalization among the Sunnis in the Middle East will penetrate the Israeli Arab community.''

Israeli border policemen detain a member of media during clashes at protest against a parade by Israelis marking Jerusalem Day, at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City May 28, 2014. Nine Palestinians were detained on suspicion of throwing stones at policemen and participants of the parade, an Israeli police spokesman said on Wednesday. Jerusalem Day marks the anniversary of Israel's capture of the Eastern part of the city during the 1967 Middle East War. In 1980, Israel's parliament passed a law declaring

Press freedom victim of Israeli military campaign

Israel’s military raids on the West Bank following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers have included violations against Palestinian journalists and media outlets.

Visitors walk inside a cave situated below the ancient towns of Maresha and Beit Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands June 24, 2014. UNESCO designated the caves of Maresha and Beit Guvrin as a world heritage site on Sunday. The site features expansive man-made ancient tunnel systems, some dating back as early as the first century BC. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY TRAVEL) - RTR3VIXK

Turks come to Israel in record numbers

The strengthening of business ties between the two countries results in an increase in Turkish citizens arriving in Israel, Israeli officials say.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) speaks with Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon after an air force pilots' graduation ceremony at Hatzerim air base in southern Israel June 26, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3VXQB

Netanyahu shows restraint in response to murders

The moderate reaction of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, espousing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cautious move, might signal Israel’s reluctance to embark on a large-scale military operation in Gaza, following the discovery of the bodies of the three kidnapped youths.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd L) attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv June 15, 2014. Netanyahu on Sunday blamed Palestinian militants from the Hamas Islamist group for the abduction of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, Army Radio reported. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3TUX1

Netanyahu considers challenges on left and right

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might decide to advance Likud Party primaries, to assure his position when facing a possible disintegration of the coalition whose partners challenge him from left and right.

A Jewish settler herds sheep in the unauthorized outpost of Havat Gilad, south of the West Bank city of Nablus September 13, 2011. A diplomatic showdown looms at the United Nations this month when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to seek an upgrade of the Palestinians' U.N. status. The Palestinians hope to establish a state in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank , where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to freeze Jewish settlement-building despite the Obama a

EU warnings to Israel remain unheard

Israel’s ties to the European Union still are complicated by settlement policies.