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Israel

September 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 3:12 pm

33°C

Jewish settlement of Kedumim, in the West Bank

Analysis

Europe’s West Bank trade ban fires warning shot at Israel’s economy

Weeks before key Israeli elections, a dozen nations announced new trade restrictions targeting settlements in the West Bank, delivering a sharp rebuke to Israel's government that could presage additional international pressure.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Erik Marmor

Analysis

Once Netanyahu’s top challenger, Bennett loses ground to Eisenkot: What to know

Facing the popular Gadi Eisenkot, the Together party of former premiers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid is sinking in Israeli opinion polls.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Nabatieh shows smoke as it rises from the site of Israeli strikes that targeted the hilltops of the mountainous area of the strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge on Aug. 14, 2026.

Israel says it destroyed Hezbollah tunnels in Ali al-Taher ridge: What to know

The ridge has become a flashpoint in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon due to its extensive tunnel network Israel says is utilized by the Iran-backed group.

Chaim Goldberg / AFP via Getty Images

Netanyahu threatens to sue Haaretz for reporting UAE warned Israel of Oct. 7 attack

The Emirati president reportedly warned that a planned attack could cause bloodshed, destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.

Latest News

Analysis

Israel braces for Iran attack as Trump’s economic squeeze on Tehran intensifies

TOPSHOT - Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system are pictured over Tel Aviv on February 28, 2026. The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, with Israel's public broadcaster reporting that the Iranian supreme leader had been targeted, as the Islamic republic retaliated with barrages of missiles at Gulf states and Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

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

12 countries including France, UK, Canada end trade with West Bank settlements

West Bank settlements

Katz warns PA against 'Oct. 7-style' attack as West Bank violence rises

Israeli soldiers take positions during a military operation in the town of Qalqiya, in the occupied West Bank, Dec. 4, 2025.

Lebanon says at least 12 killed in Israeli strikes as tensions rise in south

An excavator digs as rescuers search for survivors amid the rubble following an overnight Israeli airstrike on the village of Kfar Roummane, southern Lebanon, Sept. 7, 2026.

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

An officer points as he stands on a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas in the Mediterranean, some 10 km (6 miles) from the coastal Israeli city of Hadera January 22, 2014. Permanently anchored in the choppy waters of the eastern Mediterranean, the tanker Excellence is in a constant state of alert, waiting for the emergency phone call that Israel needs fuel. The gas, imported and stored in liquid form on the tanker, can be "regassified" and pumped through a special buoy into an underwater pipeline, provid

Herzog hangs his hat on natural gas issue

During the election campaign, Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog concentrated on a diplomatic agenda, but now, following the electoral failure, he tries to position himself at the forefront of the natural gas debate.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (R) is welcomed by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki upon Fabius' arrival at the West Bank city of Ramallah June 21, 2015. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefaced talks about a French-led peace initiative on Sunday by saying foreign powers were trying to dictate to Israel a deal with the Palestinians. Fabius, on a two-day visit to the Middle East, was due to meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank before seeing Netanyahu later in the day. REU

France prepares sanctions against settlement policy

France is considering sharp economic measures against Israeli goods and businesses east of the Green Line, and might implement these measures once the agreement with Iran is signed.

A worker for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) works at an excavation site where a compound containing an oil press, a wine press and mosaics was exposed near the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh September 18, 2014. The compound, dating to the Byzantine period, was very likely a monastery, Excavation Director of the IAA archaeologist Irene Zilberbod said in a statement on Thursday. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR46QDX

Israeli archaeology unearths controversy

The discovery of an ancient architectural structure from the Hasmonean era in Jerusalem, the latest in a series of archaeological findings that connects the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, has become an ideological tool for Minister of Education Naftali Bennett, among others.

A Palestinian woman holds a picture of a jailed relative during a rally in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, in Gaza City June 11, 2014. Israel's parliament has given initial approval to a law to enable the force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, drawing defiance from activists who said on Tuesday it would not deter the inmates. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3T6PC

Israeli doctors against 'force-feeding' Palestinian prisoners

Israeli medical associations claim that the "force-feeding" bill promoted by the government is unethical, but the authorities are still pushing the proposal forward to avoid image-damaging Palestinian prisoner deaths.

A Palestinian woman buys candies from a vendor at a market ahead of Eid al-Adha in the West Bank city of Nablus September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini (WEST BANK - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR48DQO

Sense of belonging draws Palestinians to West Bank

Growing numbers of Palestinians living in Israel prefer shopping and conducting other business in the West Bank because of a sense of belonging and to bolster the economy.

Israeli soldiers walk near the frontier with Syria near Majdel Shams in the Golan Heights April 27, 2015. An Israeli air strike killed four militants on Sunday as they placed an explosive on a fence near Israel's frontier with Syria in the annexed Golan Heights, an Israeli military source said. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1AIJ3

IDF denies ties between Israel, Jabhat al-Nusra

Following growing concerns in the Israeli Druze community over the fate of their Syrian brothers, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz tells Al-Monitor that Israel does not collaborate with Jabhat al-Nusra.

Members of the Druze community watch the fighting in the Druze village of Khadr in Syria, as they stand on the Israeli side of the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near Majdal Shams, June 16, 2015. Israel's president expressed his concern to the United States last week about the fate of the Druze minority in Syria, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in an area near the Israeli border. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1GRM4

Does Israel have moral obligation to defend Syrian Druze?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee expresses concern about his Syrian Druze brothers.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (C) shakes hands with a Palestinian man during his visit to the Seaport of Gaza City June 1, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

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Hamas, Israel take baby steps toward truce

The conduct of talks between Hamas and Israel about a truce has raised suspicions among Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials that Hamas hopes one day to establish a "State of Gaza," independent of the West Bank.

An Israeli soldier stands at a staging area after crossing back into Israel from Gaza July 28, 2014. Israel eased its assaults in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave declined sharply on Monday, the military said, with both the United States and United Nations calling for a durable ceasefire. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR40CN3

Former IDF lawyer finds UN report on Gaza war 'relatively balanced'

Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, the former head of the IDF’s Department of International Law, tells Al-Monitor in an interview that though the UN report on the Gaza war was fairly impartial, it cannot be used as the basis for a criminal indictment.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius deliver statements in Jerusalem June 21, 2015. Netanyahu prefaced talks about a French-led peace initiative on Sunday by saying foreign powers were trying to dictate to Israel a deal with the Palestinians. Fabius is promoting a French-led initiative that would see the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which collapsed in 2014, relaunched through an international support group comprising Arab states, the European Unio

Israel blames France for anti-Israeli approach

While Israeli leaders tend to be open to at least discussing US peace initiatives, European proposals, most recently a French effort, are perceived as anti-Israel.

Oren's Obama-bashing

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his associates have been forced to speak out about the attack by their colleague, Knesset member and former Ambassador Michael Oren, on President Barack Obama.

People pose in front of a display showing the word 'cyber' in binary code, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica December 27, 2014. A previously undisclosed hacking campaign against military targets in Israel and Europe is probably backed by a country that misused security-testing software to cover its tracks and enhance its capability, researchers said. Picture taken December 27, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY CRIME LAW) - RTR4JEYM

How Israel balances cyber security, privacy

In an interview with Al-Monitor, cyber security specialist Major Gen. (Res.) Isaac Ben-Israel explains that security must be balanced with civilians' right to privacy, which is why the new National Cyber Bureau will be independent and not under Shin Bet control.