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

Israel cover image

Israel

May 15, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:15 am

23°C

Israel's Netanyahu suing New York Times over column on Palestinian rape

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's accusations of systematic sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian prisoners, calling the claims a "blood libel."

Artillery units are positioned near the Lebanese border in northern Israel, May 4, 2026.

Analysis

Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front

While Israeli and Lebanese delegations are set to meet in Washington for the third time, the Israeli military faces a growing threat from Hezbollah’s cheap yet highly lethal drones.

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

Latest News

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

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.

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

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.

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

Israeli and Emirati rugby teams to play each other for first time

The rugby sevens match in Dubai is the latest example of the strengthening of relations between Israel and the UAE and shows a shift in Israel's sports relations with other regional states.

United Arab Emirates

An Israeli soldier stands near a parked Merkava Mark IV battle tank near Moshav Alonei HaBashan in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on March 1, 2021. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria reports new Israeli airstrikes near Damascus

The missile strike follows Israel reportedly hitting Iranian targets in Syria earlier this month following an explosion on an Israeli ship in the gulf.

Israel's foreign minister continues anti-ICC campaign in Russia

In his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi presented his stand against the International Criminal Court probe, a renewed Iran deal and the Iranian presence in Syria.

Netanyahu courts Arab voters as 'Abu Yair'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has adopted a new strategy for the Arab public: cynically rebranding himself as "Abu Yair."

Top general threatens Iran could ‘blow up’ Israel as rhetoric escalate

In a new cycle of escalating rhetoric between Tehran and Tel Aviv, Iran’s top general said his country already has what it takes to destroy Israel.

BERLIN, GERMANY - MARCH 16: President of Israel Reuven Rivlin speaks during a press conference with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not seen) at the Presidential Bellevue Palace during a visit to Germany on March 16, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

Israel’s president in Europe, campaigns against Iranian threat, ICC probe

President Reuven Rivlin arrived today in Germany, his first stop on a three-day European tour focused on the Iranian threat and the ICC probe of Israel.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) conservator Tanya Bitler displays recently-discovered 2000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the Bar Kochba period, after completion of preservation work at the authority's Dead Sea conservation lab in Jerusalem, on March 16, 2021. - Israel described the find, which includes a cache of rare coins, a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and basket it described as the oldest in the world, at over 10,000 years, as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dead Sea Scrolls unearthed by Israeli archaeologists in desert cave

The Israeli project also discovered the remains of a mummified child and what's believed to be the world's oldest basket.

A man walks past election billboards of the Israeli Likud party (R to L) showing the face of Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu with the tagline "leader", and another showing Netanyahu with political opponent Yair Lapid with text in Hebrew reading "the next prime minister: Lapid or Netanyahu", in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on March 15, 2021, ahead of the election due later in the month. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP) (Photo by HAZEM BADER/AFP via Getty Images)

Lapid’s discrete campaign for premiership gains momentum

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid has not declared himself a candidate for prime minister, but he is clearly positioning himself as the real threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during a weekly cabinet meeting in the Jordan Valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on September 15, 2019. - Netanyahu's cabinet agreed to turn the wildcat settlement of Mevoot Yericho in the Jordan Valley into an official settlement, the premier's office said. (Photo by AMIR COHEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by AMIR COHEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Unconstrained Netanyahu jeopardizes relations with Jordan

Desperate to achieve a photo-op in Abu Dhabi before the March 23 elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blows off against Jordan when delaying his Emirati trip.

Israeli air carrier requests to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh

In another sign of warming relations, Israel's Israir Airlines Ltd. wants to operate flights from Tel Aviv and Haifa to the Sinai Sharm el-Sheikh resort town.

Kosovo becomes third country to open embassy in Jerusalem

The Muslim-majority country opened an embassy in the contested city after Israel recognized its independence from Serbia.

Delegations from Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Italy, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, France, the US and Greece attend the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), in Cairo on January 16, 2020. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel, Cyprus, Greece advance underwater power cable project

Israeli, Greek and Cypriot energy ministers signed last week an agreement to advance the undersea Euro-Asia Interconnector electricity cable.