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Israel

May 12, 2026

Tel Aviv 4:35 am

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Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

European foreign ministers have agreed to sanction extremist West Bank settlers, but are still discussing the list of names.

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not surprised by President Donald Trump’s suspension of Project Freedom and move toward talks with Iran, but analysts say Washington may not be fully weighing Israel's concerns in negotiations with Tehran.

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

The findings cast doubt on Israel’s wartime gains and put pressure on Netanyahu’s campaign strategy ahead of elections.

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

Latest News

Israel strikes Beirut in breach of Lebanon ceasefire

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs neighborhood of Haret Hreik on May 6, 2026.

Analysis

Israel fears Trump seeking Hormuz win while sidestepping Iran nuclear issue

Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images

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

Culture

Lebanon's churches, mosques and archaeological sites damaged in Israeli strikes

A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains among the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026.

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

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Bennett, Lapid shift stance on Gaza

Despite his past support for attacking Hamas, the meeting between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's plan to rehabilitate Gaza signal a very different policy.

Naftali Bennett

Israel's Bennett has lost his voter base

National-religious activists and settlers are abandoning Prime Minister Naftali Bennett because of his partnering with centrist and left-wing parties.

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Arab-Israeli soccer player booed by Jewish soccer fans

Despite the goals he scored against Faroe Islands and Austria, Israeli-Jewish soccer fans booed Israeli-Arab player Moanes Dabbur.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid (L) inspects the damage inside a house following a rocket attack by militants from the Gaza Strip on the southern town of Sderot, Israel, July 21, 2014.

Lapid unveils Israeli economic plan for Gaza

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid presented an outline for improving the lives of Gazans, offering them economic rehabilitation steps in exchange for Hamas halting its military build-up.

An ambulance arrives at the scene of an attempted stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City, on Sept. 10, 2021.

Palestinian shot dead after attempted stabbing in Jerusalem's Old City

Israeli police said the man tried to stab police officers stationed outside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Arab Israeli protesters lift Palestinian flags and spoons, reportedly the digging tool used by six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from Israel's Gilboa prison, as they demonstrate in the mostly Arab city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, on Sept. 10, 2021, to denounce punitive measures taken by the Israel Prison Service against Palestinian prisoners following the jailbreak.

Jailbreak unites Palestinians, confounds Israelis

And: required reading to understand the last two decades in the Middle East: the 'Axis of Evil' speech

Orthodox pilgrims at airport

Israeli prime minister cracks down after pilgrims falsify test results

New rules will be enforced after some Israelis with COVID-19 returned to the country from Ukraine using forged negative test results.

ALEXANDER NEMENOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

In Moscow, Israel’s Lapid warns against Iran nuke, presence in Syria

It was evident in the meeting in Moscow between Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the two countries do not see eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear agreement and Syria.

Israeli security forces patrol along the security fence in the village of Muqeibila near the West Bank town of Jenin on Sept. 6, 2021, following the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison.

Palestinian prison break embarrasses Israeli government

The last thing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett needed right now was a spectacular escape of six Palestinian prisoners from a high-security jail.

Pnina Tamano Shata, the first Israeli Jewish woman of Ethiopian origin to be elected to the Knesset, talks to AFP journalists during an interview, Hadera, Israel, Feb. 4, 2020.

Israeli female ministers introduce reforms, shake up agenda

With nine female ministers, the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett includes the highest number ever of women in an Israeli Cabinet.

Israeli-made Spike missiles, which are capable of striking North Korea's underground facilities with satellite-guidance system, are on parade during a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of South Korea's Armed Forces at an air base in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Oct. 1, 2013.

Why Serbia wants to buy SPIKE missiles from Israel

While prospects for actual conflict use are slim, Belgrade hopes that by buying Israeli weapons it can alleviate some of the pressure it may face from Washington over Kosovo and ties with Russia and China.

Isaac Herzog, a veteran of Israel's left-wing Labor party, delivers a speech after being sworn in before parliament as the Jewish state's 11th president, replacing Reuven Rivlin, in Jerusalem, on July 7, 2020.

Israel’s president takes lead on ties with Jordan, Palestinians

President Isaac Herzog has been busy these past few days on the Arab and Palestinian fronts, secretly visiting Jordan and speaking on the phone first with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.