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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 4, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:07 am

24°C

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

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

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Kiros has taken a hard stance against Israel and opposes all aid to the country as pro-Palestinian candidates make further inroads in the party.

Latest News

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

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

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

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

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

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

Palestinian women watch the funeral of Moataz Sharawneh in the West Bank village of Dura, near Hebron July 2, 2013. Israeli soldiers shot dead Sharawneh during a confrontation in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers who were on routine duties in Dura. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX11A6N

Return of Palestinian Bodies Essential To Peace Process

Accompanying peace talks is a vocal call for the return of Arab bodies killed during the Arab-Israeli conflict and withheld by Israel.

A Palestinian boy burns an Israeli flag as he performs a scene simulating clashes with Israeli soldiers, in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, in Gaza City April 14, 2013. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXYL66

Can Palestinians Accept Existence of Jewish State?

As long as Palestinians consider the conflict with Israel as an existential question — denying Jews the right of their own state — there can be no solution based on land repartition.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands near a display of pictures of Rabbis and religious leaders for sale outside a shop in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood June 4, 2013. Often living in de-facto ghettos of their own making, the majority of Haredi men are allowed to shun the army and dedicate their life to religious study, living off donations, state benefits and the often meagre wages of wives. In a country where most 18-year-old Jewish men and women are conscripted such treatment is causing growing res

Sex Scandal Leads To Star Israeli Rabbi's Fall

The conviction of Rabbi Motti Elon for sex offenses has generated a profound crisis of confidence from which the nationalist-religious community will find it hard to recover.

Cancer patient and blind Palestinian girl Aseel al-Haj Ahmed, 9, holds her mother's hand as she receives a regular treatment in a hospital in Gaza City April 29, 2013. Al-Haj Ahmed was afflicted with cancer when she was four months old, when doctors had to remove both her eyes and replace them with ocular prostheses as a result of a malignant tumour that struck her spinal cord. The schoolgirl is looked after by her unemployed father whose impoverished family includes his wife and four other children. Al-Haj

Israeli Doctors Fight to Save Palestinian Child in Hebron

The Israeli medical staff of Tel Hashomer Hospital is fighting for the life of a 6-month-old Palestinian infant abandoned by her parents.

Ultra-Orthodox protesters pray during clashes in the town of Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem August 14, 2013. Ultra-Orthodox protesters clashed on Wednesday with police and other security forces in the town of Beit Shemesh after a group of them broke into a construction site to prevent work from taking place at the site they believe contains ancient graves. REUTERS/ Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION CIVIL UNREST POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX12L8W

Israeli Ultra Orthodox Parties Split From Settlers

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties are forming their own distinct political bloc.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announces further peace talks at a news conference with Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (L) and Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (R) at the State Department in Washington July 30, 2013. Israel and the Palestinians will seek to reach a peace agreement within nine months and negotiators will meet again within two weeks after holding a "positive" first round of talks, Kerry said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1250G

Will US 'Strategic Imperative' Guide Israeli-Palestinian Talks?

While the Egypt crisis deepens, the Obama administration continues to give priority to an Israel-Palestinian agreement.

Palestinians wait to cross into Jerusalem at an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank town of Bethlehem July 7, 2013. There are two ways for Palestinian workers to cross into Israel every day. Those with work permits can pass through a military checkpoint. Those without have to find a way through the separation barrier, which is made up of mostly fences and some cement walls, snaking its way through the West Bank. Those caught entering illegally risk a fine or imprisonment. Both ways are time consuming but th

Israel’s Cynical Concern For Palestinian Workers

Israel is claiming that boycotting settlement products harms the Palestinian economy, while the Israeli administration disregards Palestinian workers' rights.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) holds hands with Palestinian prisoners who were released from Israeli prisons during celebrations in the West Bank city of Ramallah early August 14, 2013. Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday to keep U.S.-sponsored peacemaking on course for a second round of talks, but diplomacy was dogged by Israeli plans for more Jewish homes on occupied land the Palestinians claim for a future state. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF T

Hamas Downplays Israel's Prisoner Release

Hamas fears that Fatah's ability to secure a prisoner release via negotiations may undermine its resistance-only approach to freeing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Jamil Nabi Annatsheh, a Palestinian prisoner freed by Israel, stands beneath a banner depicting him and hung outside his house in the West Bank city of Hebron August 14, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were due to reconvene U.S.-brokered peace talks in Jerusalem on Wednesday amid little fanfare and low expectations, dogged by plans for more Jewish settler homes on occupied land. The resumption of negotiations, after a first round in Washington last month that ended a three-year standoff over Jewis

The Twisted Symbolism Of the Palestinian Prisoner Release

While the Palestinians take pride in the release of prisoners, the Israeli government is taking pride in its decision to build houses.

Apartment blocks under construction (front) are seen in Pisgat Zeev, an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, August 12, 2013. Israel on Monday named 26 Palestinian prisoners to be freed this week under a deal enabling U.S.-backed peace talks to resume, although Palestinians said these had been undermined by newly announced plans to expand Israeli settlements. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) - RTX12IKF

Israeli Settlement Authorization Is Pre-Emptive Strike

Israeli is striking a blow against the peace process by authorizing further settlement expansion.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) speaks to Moshe Shahal, a member of the Israel Peace Initiative and a former Israeli cabinet minister, during a news conference after Abbas met members of the Israeli Peace Initiative in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 28, 2011. The Israel Peace Initiative, a private group that includes former politicians and security officials, wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to renew peace talks, which the Palestinians have frozen over his refusal t

Former Israeli Minister Blasts Palestinian Prisoners Release

Former Labor Minister Moshe Shahal, who chaired the Prisoner Release Committee in the Rabin government, criticizes the decision to release prisoners instead of freezing the construction in the West Bank.

Israel's armed forces chief Major-General Benny Gantz (R) speaks to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey before an honour guard ceremony at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv August 13, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX12JHT

Egypt, Iran Top Dempsey's Agenda in Israel

Visiting Israel again, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey will urge Israel not to attack Iran while his counterparts will press Washington to deepen their involvement in Egypt.