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

Israel cover image

Israel

August 28, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:41 am

25°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

How Netanyahu is turning Israel into a banana republic

Once the coronavirus crisis is over, Israelis will discover what Arab Knesset members warned a long time ago: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "stole" their democracy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech at his Jerusalem office, regarding the new measures that will be taken to fight the coronavirus, March 14, 2020. Gali Tibbon/Pool via REUTERS - RC2WJF9YZ20U

Coronavirus, not Iran, Netanyahu’s biggest test

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has focused his political career on battling the Iranian nuke program as the biggest threat to Israel, but his legacy ultimately hinges on the way he confronts the current coronavirus outbreak.

Netanyahu’s coronavirus strategy erodes Israel’s democracy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploits the coronavirus panic to erode Israel’s democracy, limit the Knesset, introduce emergency-mode regulations, and prevent Blue and White from implementing the majority garnered by the opposition bloc.

Israeli border policemen wearing protective gear as a precaution against the coronavirus, guard at an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC2MHF9K85OW

On near-national lockdown, Israelis ordered indoors unless ‘absolutely necessary’

Israel's new steps, which are aimed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, include further restrictions on Palestinian day laborers entering Israel.

Jerusalem alliance fills gap in coronavirus awareness

A group of Jerusalem-based activists launched an alliance to raise awareness and provide emergency needs to the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Banksy's hotel offers dark humor as Bethlehem becomes ghost town

Bethlehem's Walled Off Hotel painted its facade black in protest of US President Donald Trump's peace plan, but the situation is even darker with the coronavirus alert in the city.

Israel tightens grip on Palestinian workers to limit COVID-19

The Israeli authorities have decided to prevent Palestinian construction workers who are crucial for the Israeli construction sector from commuting from and to the West Bank for fear that this could help spread the coronavirus in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks as he chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, March 8, 2020. Oded Balilty/Pool via Reuters - RC2MFF9PND0I

Netanyahu’s habit of spying on his own citizens

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no qualms about exploiting the coronavirus crisis as a pretext to track phones, violate privacy, refuse to replace the speaker of the Knesset and postpone his own trial.

US Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, vice chair of the 98-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, holds a news conference during Web Summit, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 6, 2019. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes - RC2Q5D9AG2PF

Intel: House Democrats ask whether Israel violating US aid restrictions

More than 60 Democratic lawmakers are pushing the Donald Trump administration to clarify whether Israel uses American military equipment to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank, hinting that doing so could trigger military aid restrictions under US law.

Netanyahu’s chief rival promises 'broad' government 'within a few days'

Israel’s president has tapped Blue and White leader Benny Gantz with forming a new government after the third election in less than a year produced no clear winner.

A Palestinian worker wearing a mask sanitizes the hands of a customer amid coronavirus precautions, in a supermarket in Gaza City March 8, 2020. Picture taken March 8, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem - RC2EGF9PKI3K

Can blockade shield Gaza Strip from epidemic?

The Israeli security system is trying to head off a nightmare as the coronavirus menaces the uniquely vulnerable Gaza Strip.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City as a note advice not to kiss the stones of the Western Wall display March 16, 2020 REUTERS/ Ilan Rosenberg - RC21LF90G2FL

Ultra-Orthodox leaders ignore coronavirus threat, endanger Israelis

Ultra-Orthodox educational institutions continued to operate despite orders by the government to close all schools to try to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.