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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 6, 2026

Tel Aviv 1:29 pm

33°C

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

In an interview with Al-Monitor, head of the Arab-Israeli Hadash-Ta'al Knesset faction, Ayman Odeh, said his party is prepared to make difficult decisions to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

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

Latest News

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

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

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

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

Israeli tourists sit with the owner of a Kashmir houseboat (R) in Srinagar August 19, August 2004. Kashmir, once a tourist haven but now the centre of a bloody Islamic insurgency, seems like a most unlikely destination for Israelis who are themselves battling Palestinian Islamic militants at home. REUTERS/Danish Ismail FK/SH - RTR8W4T

Israeli Backpackers Celebrate Passover in Thailand

Young Israelis, just out of the army, routinely leave Israel for the Far East to “clear the head,” writes Ben Caspit, but gather for a massive Passover ceremony across Thailand, Nepal or India.

Snow boarders ride a ski lift on Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights near the Israel-Syria border February 7, 2010. The Golan Heights form a strategic plateau between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles). Israel captured it in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally.
REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL SOCIETY) - RTR29XGT

Land of Milk and HoneyFor Few Israelis

Successive Israeli governments have allowed international and Israeli companies to profit unfairly from natural resources that should benefit all Israelis, writes Idan Grinbaum.

An Israeli settler (front) and Palestinians demonstrators, one wearing a mask depicting U.S. President Barack Obama, scuffle during a protest against the continued closure by the Israeli army of Shuhada street to Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron March 20, 2013. Obama arrived in Israel on Wednesday without any new peace initiative to offer disillusioned Palestinians and facing deep Israeli doubts over his pledge to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. REUTERS/ Mussa Qawasma (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS C

Settlers in Hebron Celebrate 'Freedom' While Palestinians Suffer

As the Jewish people of the world celebrate Passover and their freedom, repression still stings in the streets of Hebron, where the conflict and discrimination epitomize the story of all Israeli settlement activity, writes Akiva Eldar.

A Palestinian fisherman prepares his net with his sons at the seaport of Gaza City March 22, 2013. Hamas complained to Egypt on Friday after Israel suspended part of a Cairo-brokered truce agreement by halving Palestinian access to fishing waters in response to a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3FBX0

Gaza Fishermen Outraged By Renewed Israeli Restrictions

Israel has again reduced Gaza's fishing zone to three nautical miles offshore, in violation of last November's cease-fire agreement with Hamas, Mohammed Suliman writes.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media before his flight to Denmark for an official visit at Esenboga Airport in Ankara March 19, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3F72Q

Erdogan's Good Fortune And Israel's Apology

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been Turkey's prime minister for over 10 years, and during that time he has had an incredible number of political victories; so many in fact that Cengiz Çandar writes that nobody is as lucky as Erdogan.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) chats with Jordan's King Abdullah (C) and his son Crown Prince Hussein during a meeting at Al-Hummar Palace in Amman in this March 22, 2013 handout photo by the Jordanian Royal Palace. REUTERS/Yousef Allan/Jordanian Royal Palace/Handout (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS ROYALS)

ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERV

Will Jordan Allow Syria's Palestinian Refugees to Resettle?

As the 2-year-old civil war in Syria drags on and refugees continue to stream from Syria into Jordan, Adnan Abu Amer asks whether Jordan will consider resettling Syria’s Palestinian refugees.

An Israeli tank is transported on a truck to the Israeli Syrian border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights March 24, 2013. Israel said it fired into Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (MILITARY POLITICS) -

Israeli Soldiers Enter Syrian Golan Heights

After Israel was forced to rescue UN forces in the Golan Heights, the UN warned of instability in the Syrian Golan and the danger posed by Syrian rebels affiliated with al-Qaeda, reports Inna Lazareva.

Palestinians wait for the return of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement activists at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip December 3, 2012. The Islamist Hamas group allowed the 10 activists, who fled Gaza into Egypt in 2007 during internal fighting between the two political rivals, to return home in what the group said was a sign of rapprochement, according to a Hamas official. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3B66N

Palestinian Activists Prepare For Refugee Return

Palestinian activists are taking practical measures to prepare for the return of refugees, Jillian Kestler-D’amours writes.

Pedestrians look at billboards with the pictures of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu (L), in Ankara March 25, 2013. Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout. The billboard reads, "Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister (Erdogan), We ar

Israel Apologizes; Turkey Steps Back

Kadri Gursel writes that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's acceptance of the Israeli apology, although a positive development, is more important than the actual apology.

U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) participates in a farewell ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) and President Shimon Peres (L) at Tel Aviv International Airport, March 22, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Reed (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3FBUJ

In Israeli Foreign Policy, Everything Is Connected

The apology and the reconciliation with Turkey, writes Akiva Eldar, teaches us that Israel cannot address only one threat and sweep the others under the rug.

Protesters hold Palestinian flags opposite Israeli security officers standing guard before Friday prayers on Land Day outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City March 30, 2012. Israeli security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to break up groups of Palestinian stone-throwers on Friday as annual Land Day rallies turned violent. Police said they had made five arrests at Damascus Gate. Land Day commemorates the killing by security forces of six Arabs in 1976 during protests against go

Why Palestinians Continue To Commemorate Land Day

March 30 is a reminder that Palestinian citizens of Israel are still enduring oppression and are irrevocably tied to their land, writes Dalia Hatuqa.

Deputy Defense Minister Ephriam Sneh in front of a large map of the West Bank during a press conference March 19 at which he announced the Israeli cabinet decision to go ahead with a further redeployment from 6.1% of West Bank land to be handed over to full Palestinian Authority. control. The dark brown areas show areas to be included in the redeployment in the northern part of the West Bank. The Palestinians will control 60% of their population but only a bit less than 20% of the West Bank land after the 6

Former Israeli Minister Calls Palestinian State Unavoidable

Ephraim Sneh, former Labor minister and today’s worried citizen, tells Mazal Mualem that whether Israel likes it or not, a Palestinian state will come.