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Israel

September 21, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:13 pm

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli diplomats say France’s decision to ban imports from West Bank settlements has brought bilateral relations to an unprecedented low point.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on August 24, 2026. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How Netanyahu is leveraging Houthi threat in secret Saudi normalization push

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to capitalize on Riyadh's need for intelligence assistance to make normalization headway ahead of the October elections.

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

OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images

Serbia opens factory to assemble Israeli-made drones: What to know

Serbian President Vucic said the factory will put together “state-of-the-art” Israeli-designed drones and employ around 100 workers.

Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-9 'Dreamliner' aircraft

Israel, Morocco agree to exchange ambassadors, open embassies

The move will mark the first time Morocco and Israel have exchanged ambassadors.

Latest News

Culture

Israeli show ‘Fauda’ tops Netflix in Lebanon, hits top 10 across Arab states

ISRAEL-ENTERTAINMENT-TELEVISION-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-MASS-MEDIA-D (L to R) Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, co-creators of the hit Israeli TV show "Fauda", attend a demonstration against the Israeli government's plans to shut-down public broadcaster KAN, in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 25, 2023. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Why France is pushing to keep UNIFIL in Lebanon beyond 2026

UN peacekeepers stand next to an armored vehicle during a patrol in southern Lebanon, Feb. 22, 2026.

Exclusive

Lacking deterrence, Israel’s security establishment opposes attacks on Houthis

Fighters loyal to the Houthi authorities, brandish their weapons during a rally to recruit more fighters, in Sanaa on September 10, 2026. The country relapsed into war in July after years of calm, drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the US-Israeli offensive against Iran that began at the end of February. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Analysis

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

Jewish settlement of Kedumim, in the West Bank

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

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

Two children carrying food and water walk in front of the shrine
containing the tomb of Jewish prophet Ezekiel in the Iraqi town of
Kifl, 140 km south of Baghdad, on Wednesday, July 16,2003. The town,
which has drawn visitors from across Iraq and beyond because of the
shrine and its picturesque ancient market, was the scene of a fierce
battle in which hundreds of people died during the Iraq war but it is
now bustling again. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini REUTERS

SR/CLH/ - RTRL2O

Israel's Iraq Channel

Exiled Iraqi Jews in Israel and elsewhere are convinced that the moment has come for Israel to build bridges to Iraq.

An Israeli flag flutters in the wind as a naval vessel (not seen) escorts the Mavi Marmara, a Gaza-bound ship that was raided by Israeli marines, to the Ashdod port May 31, 2010. Israeli marines stormed the Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza on Monday and 10 pro-Palestinian activists were killed, triggering a profound diplomatic crisis. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR2ELLI

Turkey Stalls on Reconciliation With Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted the Turkish conditions for restoring relations between the two countries, but is Ankara willing to move forward?

Rows of rubble cover ground after Israeli forces demolished houses in evacuated Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal in southern Gaza Strip. Rows of rubble cover the ground after Israeli forces demolished houses in the evacuated Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal, in the Gush Katif settlements bloc, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 22, 2005. Israeli troops marched unopposed into the Gaza Strip's last Jewish settlement on Monday to complete the evacuation of the territory after nearly four decades of occupation. Bu

Evacuation of Settlers Haunts Israeli Right

While diplomatic negotiations are again underway in Washington, the Israeli right vows never to repeat the mistake of withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli parliament employees set up a Palestinian flag (L) next to an Israeli one as they prepare ahead of a meeting between Israeli parliament members and a delegation of Palestinian politicians and businessmen, aimed at encouraging Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem July 31, 2013. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Tuesday gave themselves about nine months to try reach an agreement on ending their conflict of more than six decades in U.S.-brokered pe

Some Israelis Dread Peace Talks

The renewal of negotiations brings no guarantees, while the status quo of the last few years offered relative security to both Israelis and Palestinians.

Participants hold rainbow flags during the 12th annual gay pride parade in Jerusalem August 1, 2013. Some 2500 people on Thursday took part in the annual parade in Jerusalem. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTX127G3

Gay Pride Parade in Holy Jerusalem

As Jerusalem prepares for its annual gay pride parade, members of the city’s LGBT community speak of the importance of raising the rainbow flag to call for rights and show that religion and homosexuality can coexist.

A Palestinian woman rests as she waits to fill her gas canisters at a gas filling station in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip July 10, 2013. An Egyptian army crackdown launched months ago on the tunnel network has led to a severe fuel and gas crisis in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11IKG

The Silence on Gaza

The crisis in Gaza doesn’t interest anyone when they can’t blame Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem July 14, 2013. REUTERS/Abir Sultan/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11MDX

For Netanyahu, Peace Talks Revolve Around Iran

The overlapping Israeli-Palestinian talks with negotiations between the West and Iran might offer a hint as to what really motivated Prime Minister Netanyahu to return to negotiations.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands beneath campaign posters depicting Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, in the southern city of Ashdod January 17, 2013. A fixture in successive governments, Shas, the ultra-Orthodox party draws its support from the fast-growing community of religious Jews of Middle Eastern origin whose spiritual leader is the 92-year-old, Iraqi-born rabbi Ovadia Yosef. According to opinion polls, it will maintain its 11 seats in parliament. REUTERS/A

Israelis Disappointed By New Chief Rabbis

The election of the new chief rabbis has provoked disappointment and debate from Israel to North America.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets Israeli lawmaker Zahava Gal-On, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 26, 2012. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3753Y

Israel's Left Wing Revives the Meretz Party

How is it that a party that practically disappeared from the Israeli political map for years has become a hot commodity among left-wing voters, and what does it say about the Israeli public?

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat (L) shakes hands with Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni near U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after announcing further talks at a news conference at the State Department in Washington July 30, 2013. Israel and the Palestinians will seek to reach a peace agreement within nine months and negotiators will meet again within two weeks after holding a "positive" first round of talks, Kerry said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX

The Kerry Talks:Why the US Needs to Be in the Room

Having US officials involved in every step of the negotiations might pressure Israel to compromise.

Israelis wearing keffiyehs hold up hands covered in fake blood protest outside the office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, against the release of Arab prisoners as a step to renew stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, July 28, 2013. Netanyahu on Sunday urged divided rightists in his cabinet to approve the release of 104 Arab prisoners in order to restart peace talk with the Palestinians. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX122BK

Israel’s prisoner dilemma

Qadri Abu Wassel, a member of the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee charged with overseeing Palestinian prisoners, expects the government to release Israeli Arab prisoners, whom he regards as political prisoners.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of late Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin July 21, 2013. Netanyahu's tentative agreement to revive U.S.-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians met scepticism and scorn on Sunday from some members of his rightist coalition government, including within his own party. REUTERS/Uriel Sinai/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX11TOJ

Netanyahu as Decider: Will He Go All the Way?

Is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ready to make difficult compromises on the Palestinian issue?