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

Israel cover image

Israel

August 27, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:25 pm

32°C

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference with US President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club on Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. — Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Netanyahu trails Eisenkot in new poll as Israel's right-wing bloc weakens

Israelis prefer former defense minister over the current prime minister to lead country, while the religious-nationalist People of Israel party is projected to win six Knesset seats.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (C) watches as US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack prepares to sign an agreement in Damascus on September 16, 2025. Shaibani announced on September 16 a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly violence in July. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP) (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Exclusive

Israel recalibrates Syria policy, explores path to security deal

Israel is rethinking its hard-line Syria policy and seeking to repair ties with US envoy and Donald Trump's confidant Tom Barrack amid a push for a security agreement with Damascus.

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

Palestinian militant group Hamas police officers stand guard as people attend the opening of the Fatah party's eighth general conference at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City on May 14, 2026.

Ex-defense minister: Israel in ‘worst possible’ Gaza situation as Hamas gains strength

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant criticized the Israeli government for allowing Hamas to retain control over half of the Gaza Strip.

Latest News

Wreck of ship sunk by Israeli military in Irgun clash found after 78 years

A merchant ship "Jabotinsky" (former "Altalena"), chartered by Jewish military group Irgun Zvaei Leumi to carry weapons for Israeli fighters, burns near Tel Aviv beach, after being shelled by the Haganah, Israel, June 27, 1948.

Israel tightens election safeguards as public distrust surges: What to know

ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Turkey sees Israeli strikes in Syria as warning over its military role, Mecca Pact

A Turkish soldier from the 1st Border Regiment Command looks out over the border wall to Syria during alert drills at a military outpost on the Turkey/Syria border on March 2, 2017 in Kilis, Turkey.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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

A man checks on his phone the Moovit mobile transport application in the central Israeli city of Ness Ziona on May 4, 2020. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s controversial cyber surveillance gets three-week extension

A parliamentary subcommittee approved Israel's use of the phone-tracing technology through May 26.

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on May 1, 2020, shows smoke billowing above buildings in Syria's central city of Homs. - SANA said that the explosions ringing out of a Syrian army position in Homs resulted from a "human error during the transport of some ammunition, which led to human and material losses", while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor relying on sources inside Syria, said Israeli air strikes hit a missile depot belonging

Alleged Israeli strikes target northern, eastern Syria

Iranian militia targets were bombed near Aleppo and in the Deir ez-Zor countryside.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks next to Likud party election campaign banners, one depicting party leader Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the other depicting Benny Gantz, head of Blue and White party and Ahmad Tibi, co-leader of the Joint List, an Arab party, in Jerusalem February 20, 2020. Picture taken February 20, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC297F9OEC8G

Gantz-Netanyahu unity deal revised after High Court warning

Eager to see their government unity agreement approved by the High Court, Likud and Blue and White announced several changes to their pact.

Iranian and Syrian flags flutter on a truck carrying humanitarian aid in Deir al-Zor, Syria September 20, 2017. Picture taken September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki - RC1C8E382200

Iran seems to reconsider military entrenchment in Syria

According to Israeli assessments, Iran has begun giving up on its tremendous military investment in Syria.

BNEI BRAK, ISRAEL -APRIL 7: Israeli soldiers distribute food and basic necessities to people within precautions against coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Bnei Brak, Israel on April 7, 2020. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Arab mayors in Israel strike against unfair distribution of pandemic funding

The heads of Arab Israeli localities are leading a strike in protest of their communities receiving a tiny share of state compensation for losses due to the novel coronavirus.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 30: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden addresses the 4th National J Street Conference at the Washington Convention Center September 30, 2013 in Washington, D.C. J Street is a nonprofit advocacy group made up primarily of Jews based in the U.S. which says it aims to promote American leadership in ending the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts through diplomacy. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

Intel: J Street launches push to include Palestinian rights in Democratic Party platform

The left-leaning lobby group J street endorsed a letter today featuring 32 foreign policy professionals urging the Democratic National Committee to make Palestinian rights part of its 2020 platform.

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduces Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S., December 13, 2019. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz - RC2PUD9RWMHC

Ilhan Omar signs onto AIPAC letter siding with Trump on Iran

After clashing repeatedly with AIPAC, Rep. Ilhan Omar has signed onto one of their key lobby agenda items for this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an speech at his Jerusalem office on March 14, 2020, regarding the new measures that will be taken to fight the Corona virus in Israel. - Netanyahu said Israel would shut down eateries, shopping centres and gyms in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus. Netanyahu also said he would ask the government's approval in the upcoming cabinet meeting set to be held via video conference to allow "technologies used in the war against terror" to be used to track the

Netanyahu, Foreign Ministry engaged in international campaign to fight COVID-19

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participated in the Coronavirus Global Response pledging event and Israel’s Foreign Ministry is also on the front line against the spread of COVID-19.

A panel of judges of the Israeli Supreme Court wear face masks as they address a discussion on a petition asking whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can form a government legally and publicly when indictments are filed against him on a charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust, at the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem May 4, 2020. Abir Sultan/Pool via REUTERS - RC2OHG9WN0SQ

Israel’s top court weighs Netanyahu-led unity government

The High Court of Justice heard arguments Monday over a coalition unity deal that would put an end to a year of political deadlock in Israel.

A demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag stands amongst Israeli border police members during a protest against Israeli settlements and the U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, in Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta - RC2O7F96E3FQ

Can Jordan stop Israeli annexation?

The next two months will be politically fraught if the Israeli coalition agreement allows a vote on annexation, but how much can Jordan do?

Participants hold flags during the gay pride parade in Jerusalem July 29, 2010. This year's parade marks the one-year anniversary of a shooting attack in a gay and lesbian youth center in Tel Aviv, in which two people were killed and 13 were injured. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY) - GM1E67U04VD01

Israel’s unity government to help gay couples become parents

Into the outline of the new government, Knesset member Itzik Shmuli has succeeded in introducing a clause by which the state will financially assist same-sex couples undertake surrogacy procedures abroad.

Coronavirus crisis highlights Druze discrimination in Israel

Faced with problems brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and delays in the transfer of funding because of the yearlong political imbroglio, Druze and Circassian local authorities are already on the verge of bankruptcy.