Courts and the law

Ahmed Shihab‑Eldin attend "Palestine 36" red carpet during the Doha Film Festival 2025 on November 24, 2025 in Doha, Qatar.

Kuwait detains American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin: What to know

Kuwaiti authorities have been cracking down on alleged violators of the country's media law during the Iran war.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu review a military honor guard on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary in defiance of the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Hungary has long-standing ties with Israel, and they been further bolstered up since the start of the war in Gaza, sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas's attack on Oct

With Orban’s defeat in Hungary, Israel loses European shield

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cultivated a strong relationship with outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who even withdrew from the International Criminal Court because it issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader.

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in Hebron's Old City in the occupied West Bank on January 23, 2026, deployed as settlers entered the area under army protection. (Photo by Mosab Shawer / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Four Israeli soldiers arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: What to know

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, several Israelis have been prosecuted for spying for Iran, but this is the first case involving active-duty soldiers.

MOJAHID NAW/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

'Apartheid': Arab countries including UAE, Jordan decry new Israeli law

A group of foreign ministers struck out at a new Israeli law requiring the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism in military courts.

Latest News

Meet Mojtaba Khamenei, hard-liner with IRGC ties, likely Iran’s next supreme leader

Rouzbeh Fouladi / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images

Kuwait amends citizenship law amid revocation spree: What to know

Kuwaiti members of parliament attend a special session for the swearing in ceremony for the prime minister and his cabinet ministers, at the National Assembly in Kuwait City on Jan. 29, 2024.

Turkey backs Libya in legal challenge to Greece-Chevron offshore deal

A general view taken on April 4, 2014, shows oil tanker Morning Glory, during the unloading of oil in the Libyan seaport of Zawiya.

Interview

Treated as 'enemies’: Ahmad Tibi accuses Netanyahu government of indifference to Arab Israeli lives

Arab-Israeli parliament member Ahmad Tibi poses for a picture during an interview with AFP at his office at the Knesset (Israeli parliament) building in Jerusalem on June 25, 2024. The 65-year-old leader of an Arab-majority party told AFP that after October 7, "hundreds of Arab citizens were hunted down, chased by the Israeli police for writing a post or a story empathising with the children of Gaza or saying no to the war." (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi

Knesset member and Ta'al Party leader

Former US President Donald Trump gestures as US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) addresses the crowd during a 2024 election campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, on January 28, 2023. Trump hits the campaign trail Saturday for the first time in a third bid for the US presidency overshadowed by intensifying criminal investigations and a firestorm of political controversy. The twice-impeached Republican, whose party lost the White House and both chambers of Congress during his term, makes his case for anoth

Analysis

How criticism of Trump may have sunk Netanyahu's Shin Bet nominee

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s objection to Eli Sharvit’s nomination as the new Shin Bet chief may have been a key factor in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to rescind the appointment on Tuesday.

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

A picture taken on Oct. 17, 2017, shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multiethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Exclusive

Iraq seeks more compensation from Turkey, 'blocks' reopening of Kurds' oil pipeline

Disputes over oil revenues and arbitration claims have kept the Kurdish pipeline closed.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Sharvit

Meet Eli Sharvit, Trump critic and Netanyahu's outsider nominee to lead Shin Bet

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated former Israeli naval commander Eli Sharvit to become Shin Bet chief despite his lack of intelligence experience.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

What does Netanyahu's judicial law mean for Israel's separation of powers?

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Yesh Atid's Karin Elharar slammed the new composition of the nominating committee for judges, a move, she said, toward the government’s goal of eroding the judiciary's power.

Ballot papers are counted after members of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipal Council cast their votes to elect an interim deputy mayor.

Turkey deports BBC reporter as detentions near 1,880 amid protest crackdown

A BBC journalist was deported as Turkish authorities widened their media crackdown, with around 250 people having been detained pending trial during protests.

Newly elected interim mayor of Istanbul, Nuri Aslan of CHP, waits to speak to the media on March 26, 2025, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkey's opposition elects acting mayor as Imamoglu remains detained, protests persist

The Turkish president accuses opposition of sabotaging the economy amid ongoing detentions against protestors over the arrest of the Istanbul mayor.

US President Donald Trump, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, Feb. 4, 2025.

Analysis

Emboldened by Trump, Netanyahu is driving Israel into judicial crisis

Empowered by moves in Washington, Prime Minister Netanyahu fired Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and is pushing for the sacking of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

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

Ronen Bar, chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency, attends a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery, on May 13, 2024.

How Netanyahu's sacking of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar could backfire on Israel

The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar is likely to further erode Israel’s rule of law and democratic principles.

Turkey

Turkey suspends Imamoglu’s mayoral duties, keeps him under arrest as more protests expected

The Istanbul mayor was temporarily suspended from his duties after his formal arrest by an Istanbul court on Sunday.

Pedestrians walk in front of the Istanbul Municipality headquarters in Istanbul on March 19, 2025. The mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, the main opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested on March 19, 2024 in the morning along with dozens of his aides, elected representatives and members of his party, accused of 'corruption', according to the city's public prosecutor. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP) (Photo by YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey bans protests in Ankara, Izmir as crowds grow over Imamoglu's arrest

As protests widen in Turkey over the Istanbul mayor’s detention, authorities issue fresh bans and take legal action against protesters.

A protester waves a Turkish national flag and chants slogans as university students gather in protest in Besiktas district in Istanbul on March 20, 2025 following Istanbul metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's detention over a corruption probe. Istanbul's powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, remained in police custody on March 20, 2025 over graft and terror allegations after being held the day before, as his party called for more protests in Turkey's largest city. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP

Turkey arrests 37 more as protests continue over Imamoglu's detention

As Turkey’s opposition parties rally in solidarity with Istanbul's mayor, Turkish authorities have moved forward with more detentions.

Supporters of Istanbul metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu take part in a demonstration outside Istanbul municipality against his detention over a corruption probe in Istanbul on March 19, 2025.

Protests in Turkey as Imamoglu, key Erdogan rival, is arrested

As the detention of Istanbul's mayor and the arrest of more than 100 raise alarms over an escalating crackdown on opposition, internet access across Turkey has slowed and protests are banned in Istanbul.