Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

May 7, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:11 pm

22°C

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs neighborhood of Haret Hreik on May 6, 2026.

Israel strikes Beirut in breach of Lebanon ceasefire

Israel has continued to carry out strikes in southern Lebanon but had not targeted Beirut since the ceasefire took effect.

Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Israel fears Trump seeking Hormuz win while sidestepping Iran nuclear issue

While President Donald Trump keeps pressuring Iran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Israel fears the American leader will decide to cut his losses and sideline the nuclear threat.

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

A man sits watching as Lebanese first responders search for human remains among the rubble the day after a house was targeted in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, on May 1, 2026.

Culture

Lebanon's churches, mosques and archaeological sites damaged in Israeli strikes

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have damaged a growing number of cultural and religious sites, as sites in Israel have also sustained damage from Hezbollah and Iranian attacks.

Latest News

Analysis

Can Bennett, Lapid unite Israel’s opposition to unseat Netanyahu?

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid (L) speaks to outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, during a meeting at the Knesset (parliament), in Jerusalem on June 30, 2022. - Final approval of the parliament dissolution bill was initially expected by midnight but was postponed to June 30 as coalition and opposition lawmakers sparred over last-minute legislative details, several sources familiar with the parliamentary said. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Analysis

Iron Dome in Gulf: How Iran war turned UAE-Israel defense ties operational

AFP via Getty Images

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Analysis

Without exit strategy, Israel faces emboldened Hezbollah, limited options on Iran

Ibrahim AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

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

Turkey warns France over Cyprus troop deployment: What to know

Members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), from the British Army's 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, No. 2 Company, patrol along the buffer zone separating the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the divided capital Nicosia on Feb. 17, 2026.

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

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 President Isaac Herzog speaks at al-Wasl Dome at Expo 2020 Dubai during Israel's expo National Day in the gulf emirate, Jan. 31, 2022.

Israel's Herzog leads rapprochement with Turkey

Jerusalem is well aware that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a long list of own interests behind his rapprochement campaign.

LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

Israel freezes spyware exports

Israel's Defense Ministry has taken multiple steps to control the exportation of spyware, but the Pegasus affair continues to grow in Israel and abroad.

funeral of Omar Abdalmajeed Assad

Death of elderly Palestinian calls attention to notorious IDF unit

Israelis are shaken and embarrassed by an incident last month in which IDF soldiers arrested an almost 80-year-old man in the middle of the night and left him outside in the cold, where he died.

Israeli soldiers stand near a Merkava IV battle tank parked in a military post near the Syrian border in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Jan. 24, 2022.

Israel fears fire exchange with Syria could indicate strategic shift

Israel strikes military targets in Damascus amid increased concerns over Syria-Russia ties.

An elderly man wearing a protective face mask, walks past the Turkish flag on May 10, 2020, at Besiktas in Istanbul.

Israel considers improved ties with Turkey, Central Asia

Taking relations with Ankara one step at a time, Jerusalem could opt for a soft-diplomatic multi-national alliance with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Israel Pegasus

Netanyahu refers to Pegasus revelations as 'black day'

Allegations that the police used the Pegasus software to illegally spy on politicians, activists and journalists raise more concerns about privacy, civil liberties and democracy.

Israel technology

Israeli tech companies worry for their Ukrainian programmers

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensify, Israeli high-tech companies are worried over the safety of thousands of Ukrainian programmers.

A woman checks the website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office in the Cypriot capital Nicosia, July 21, 2021.

Netanyahu exploits Pegasus affair in Israel

With the Pegasus affair growing in Israel, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial for breach of trust and bribery, says his opponents used the spyware against him.

Israeli Minister of Public Security Omer Bar Lev arrives for a photo at the president's residence during a ceremony for the new coalition government, Jerusalem, June 14, 2021.

Israeli minister keeps up campaign against growing settler violence

Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev's efforts are being challenges by other Cabinet ministers and Knesset members.

Moussa Faki Mahamat (L), African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson, and Macky Sall (R), Senegal's President and Chairperson of the African Union, address the press during the closing session of the 35th ordinary summit of the organization, in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Feb. 6, 2022.

Efforts fail to revoke Israel's observer status in African Union

Attempts by Algeria and South Africa to present for a vote and to reject Israel's status as observer at the African Union organization failed, as the group decided to postpone for the year the leaders' debate on the issue.

Jewish Israeli settlers pose for a photo at the recently established outpost of Evyatar on July 2, 2021 near Jabal Subeih, West Bank.

Israeli attorney general regularizes West Bank outpost, infuriates left

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid sent Prime Minister Naftali Bennett an angry letter, protesting against the clandestine regularization of the illegal Evyatar West Bank outpost.

Chinese workers are seen at a construction site in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, where the first tunnel for the Tel Aviv underground subway system is being dug, Israel, Feb. 19, 2017.

Chinese companies lose tenders for Israeli light rail

Chinese companies lost tenders for light rail in the Tel Aviv area, apparently following American pressure against Chinese involvement in strategic projects in Israel.