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Israel

September 16, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:38 pm

32°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

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Hatenuah party, during their joint statement at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 19, 2013. Netanyahu took his first step in forming a new government on Tuesday saying he had signed a coalition deal with Livni, who will handle efforts to renew stalled Middle East diplomacy. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3DZYL

Time for Livni to leave Netanyahu's government

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has been calling from every imaginable forum for a reboot of the negotiations, but given the Netanyahu government’s diplomatic stalemate, it is time for her to resign.

Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car, bearing an image of the trademark jihadist flag, which belonged to Islamic State (IS) militants after it was targeted by an American air strike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18,2014. Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by federal forces and US warplanes pressed a counter-offensive Monday against jihadists after retaking Iraq's largest dam, as the United States and Britain stepped up their military involvement. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Islamic State becoming ‘dominant voice’ among global jihadists

The United States intensifies military planning against the Islamic State; Syria’s new Cabinet; Israel faces "highly complex reality" in Syria; IS-linked group threatens more terror, beheadings in the Sinai Peninsula; what Egypt lost in the Al Jazeera trial.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki (R) arrive for an Arab League Foreign Ministers emergency meeting at the league's headquarters in Cairo September 7, 2014. Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday are expected to issue a resolution backing Iraqi efforts to confront militants who have overrun large areas of Iraq and Syria and declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate, diplomats said. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR458TQ

Adopting Arab Peace Initiative will take time

Though a full implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative is currently unrealistic, gradual progress toward the initiative could help establish a Palestinian state.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) speaks with Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon after an air force pilots' graduation ceremony at Hatzerim air base in southern Israel June 26, 2014. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3VXQB

Pushed aside by war, Israel's social justice agenda returns

Despite Operation Protective Edge, large swaths of Israeli society still consider their socioeconomic situation as priority No. 1 and the politicians are listening.

Goel Ratzon (R) sits in the dock at Tel Aviv's Magistrate's court during a hearing on extension of remand February 7, 2010. Israeli police detained last month the 60-year-old self-styled Jewish sage on suspicion of incest and abuse of women and children they allege he kept like slaves in various homes around Tel Aviv. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: CRIME LAW) - RTR29X9W

Cult or slavery? Israel watches the strange case of Goel Ratzon

A court is soon expected to deliver its verdict on Goel Ratzon, who is accused of holding dozens of women and children in slavery and committing sexual offenses against them.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they sit down to meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington March 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3G01E

Ignoring the Arab Peace Initiative could cost Bibi

Unlike Ehud Olmert, Benjamin Netanyahu ignores the Arab League initiative, which will cost Israel its US backing at a crucial moment in the near future.

Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car, bearing an image of the trademark jihadist flag, which belonged to Islamic State (IS) militants after it was targeted by an American air strike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18,2014. Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by federal forces and US warplanes pressed a counter-offensive Monday against jihadists after retaking Iraq's largest dam, as the United States and Britain stepped up their military involvement. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Europe blind to Islamic State's true threat

With the Islamic State drawing recruits from across Europe, the continent must act against the movement in Syria and Iraq before it's too late.

A Palestinian man holding a Palestinian national flag argues with an Israeli policewoman, during a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in the West Bank city of Hebron August 22, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR43D91

Muslim anti-Israeli views are not European anti-Semitism

While the roots of anti-Semitism in Europe are deep, anti-Israel attitudes in the Muslim world can be changed with a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Syrian army soldiers fire during a battle in Syria with rebels near the border fence with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights September 1, 2014. Heavy fighting between Syrian army forces and rebels erupted on the Golan Heights on Monday, a Reuters photographer said, but it was unclear if either of the two sides had gained an advantage to control a key frontier crossing. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR44GUY

Israeli Golan residents tell government to 'wake up'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Eli Malka, head of the Golan Regional Council, expressed concern that with violence in Syria spilling over into the Golan, inaction by the Israeli government might lead to residents there living under conditions similar to those of communities along the border with Gaza.

Haunted by war, Gaza residents try to rebuild

Residents in the Gaza border town of Khuza’a recall traumatic arrests and killings by the Israeli army as they begin to rebuild their lives and homes.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014. Meshaal said he was ready to accept a humanitarian truce in Gaza where the Islamist group is fighting an Israeli military offensive, but would not agree to a full ceasefire until the terms had been negotiated. REUTERS/Stringer (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3ZVSR

Why Abbas needs Hamas

Despite attempts by Hamas to topple Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the latter knows that he must preserve the Fatah-Hamas unity government at all costs, as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip risk becoming two Palestinian states.

A man stands in the middle of Grand Central Terminal as he speaks on a cell phone, as passengers face limited train service on the New Haven Line between Stamford Station and Grand Central Terminal due to a Con Edison power problem in New York, September 25, 2013. REUTERS/Zoran Milich (UNITED STATES - Tags: TRANSPORT ENERGY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTX13Z4Q

SMS-spamming by companies sparks vigilante texting in Israel

Israeli companies have been spamming their consumers with text messages, recalling a tactic Hamas used during the Gaza war.