Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York, on Sept. 19, 2023.

Analysis

What’s at stake for Turkey as Israel heads to the polls?

Israel’s Oct. 27 election could offer a chance to ease tensions with Ankara, but competing ambitions in Syria and beyond threaten to push the two US allies toward a dangerous confrontation.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Feature

50,000 Israeli expats fly home to vote in potential boon to Netanyahu rivals

Israel prohibits voting from abroad with limited exceptions, and Israelis who spoke to Al-Monitor said they are especially motivated to fly home this year.

Adam Lucente

By Adam Lucente

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Pedestrians cross a street in front of a banner featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Analysis

How Israel opposition infighting is boosting Netanyahu days before election

Discord within the opposition, including its reluctance to name a single candidate for prime minister ahead of the Oct. 27 election, is working in Netanyahu’s favor.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

In first, Israel’s Netanyahu says he held call with Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa

It is the first publicly disclosed contact between the leaders of Israel and Syria, which lack formal relations and have fought several wars. Sharaa’s government began US-mediated talks with Israel in 2025.

Latest News

Sisi says Egypt has no ‘territorial ambitions’ after Israel’s Smotrich threatens Sinai

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends a joint statements and agreements during the EU and Egypt summit in Brussels, on Oct. 22, 2025.

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sues Netanyahu for nearly $1M over Oct. 7 claims

Israel's Chief of the Mossad David Barnea (R) and Security Agency director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Explainer

Israel-UK relations hit new low over settlements, Gaza: What to know

The British Consulate General in east Jerusalem represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza during a protest against the recently announced British sanctions, aimed at economic activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on Sept. 14, 2026, in Jerusalem.

West Bank olive harvest begins amid settler attacks on Palestinians, groves

Palestinian men sitting in and by a tractor look on after another man was injured by gunfire whilst being chased away by Israeli forces, in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Oct. 6, 2026.

Palestinian protesters clash with Palestinian security forces following the arrest of two members of Hamas, Nablus, West Bank, Sept. 20, 2022.

Palestinian Authority steps up arrests in Nablus under Israeli, US pressure

Clashes broke out between the Palestinian security forces and citizens in Nablus, in the wake of the arrest of a wanted person by Israel, in a move further deepening the popular anger against the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid gives a speech during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, New York, Sept. 22, 2022.

Israel's Arab voters unimpressed with Lapid’s UN speech on two-state solution

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Yair Lapid also addressed Israeli Arab citizens, boasting that his coalition included an Arab party and that his government included Arab ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid gives a speech during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, New York, Sept. 22, 2022.

Seeking US support, Lapid backs two-state solution at UN

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's address to the United Nations backed the two-state solution.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid gives a speech during the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, New York, Sept. 22, 2022.

Israel's Lapid praised by left, lambasted by right, over backing two-state solution

Prime Minister Yair Lapid took quite a lot of fire Sept. 22, after expressing his support for the two-state solution in his UN General Assembly speech.

Members of Israeli security forces and emergency services inspect the site of a reported attack on an Israeli bus.

How West Bank flare-ups could impact Israeli election

Confronted with a wave of terror attacks, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz adopt a more hawkish approach to security in the West Bank.

Avi Ohaion/GPO

Israel’s Lapid meets with Jordanian, Turkish leaders at UN General Assembly

Ahead of addressing the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid met in New York with two important allies of Israel: Jordanian King Abdullah II and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israeli Charge d'Affaires Irit Lillian is seen with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglo (C), Israel, May 2022.

Israel nominates first ambassador to Turkey since 2018

The nomination of senior diplomat Irit Lillian as Israel's new ambassador to Ankara clearly signals Jerusalem's commitment to rehabilitating bilateral ties.

Palestinians participate in a rally at the Gaza City seaport to demand their right to receive gas from maritime fields in the eastern Mediterranean and the lifting of the Israeli blockade, Gaza Strip, Sept. 13, 2022.

Hamas claims Palestinian right to offshore Mediterranean gas

Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip may be coordinating with Hezbollah, which could complicate Israel-Lebanon gas talks.

Mother (C) of slain Israeli Maj. Bar Falah, killed overnight during operational activity adjacent to the Gilboa crossing, mourns during his funeral, Netanya, Israel, Sept. 14, 2022.

Israel continues West Bank raids

Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz face a tough choice: How to avoid the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and at the same time prevent terrorist attacks on Israelis.

President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas speaks to the media with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured), following talks at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, Aug. 16, 2022.

Abbas to demand recognition of Palestinian state at UNGA

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly meeting with details of a new initiative defending the two-state solution.

A Palestinian family whose house is located in Area C of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was demolished by the military sit inside a cave.

Israeli demolitions force Palestinians to live in caves

The demolitions carried out by Israel since 2005 in the small village of Khirbet Tana, near Nablus, have forced hundreds of Palestinians to live in caves, lacking basic necessities.

A man walks past a mural depicting slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, on a street in the Arab town of Umm Al-Fahm in northern Israel, on Sept. 5, 2022.

Israeli report whitewashes Abu Akleh's killing, little hope for US intervention

The Israeli army investigation into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh stirred outrage among her family and rights organizations.