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

Israel cover image

Israel

May 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:20 am

22°C

Artillery units are positioned near the Lebanese border in northern Israel, May 4, 2026.

Analysis

Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front

While Israeli and Lebanese delegations are set to meet in Washington for the third time, the Israeli military faces a growing threat from Hezbollah’s cheap yet highly lethal drones.

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

Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

European foreign ministers have agreed to sanction extremist West Bank settlers, but are still discussing the list of names.

Latest News

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

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

Israel strikes Beirut in breach of Lebanon ceasefire

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

An Israeli health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine, at the Clalit Health Services installed at the Pais Arena Sport Hall in Jerusalem, on January 21, 2021. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)

Privacy concerns mar Israeli deal with Pfizer

Some Israelis are worried that the agreement with Pfizer prioritizing Israel in its vaccine distribution involves the provision of personal information to the company.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) sits next to Israeli Public security Minister Gilad Erdan during the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem's office on April 10, 2016. / AFP / POOL / GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s UN envoy takes second role as ambassador to US

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan will start serving today also as the country’s ambassador to the US.

The city hall of the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv is lit up in the colours of the US flag as a sign of solidarity and support for democratic governance, on January 7, 2021. - The storming of the US Congress left America's image as a beacon of democracy severely tarnished, with allies unable to hide their shock and authoritarian regimes gleefully exploiting the unrest. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden offers Israeli left chance to regain relevance

With a new and friendlier US administration, Israeli progressives have an opportunity to promote their ideals, including the two-state solution.

The White House on US President Donald Trump's last full day in office, in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2021. - President Donald Trump began his final full day in the White House on January 19, 2021 with a long list of possible pardons to dish out before snubbing his successor Joe Biden's inauguration and leaving for Florida. On January 20, 2021 at noon, Biden will be sworn in and the Trump presidency will end, turning the page on some of the most disruptive, divisive years the United States has seen sinc

Trump issues pardons related to Israeli spying, Iran sanctions on last day in office

The now former president pardoned the Israeli handler of American spy Jonathan Pollard as well as an Iranian-American man who was charged with violating Iran sanctions, among dozens of others.

Hanna Nasir, head of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, gives a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on January 16, 2021. - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced yesterday dates for the first Palestinian elections in more than 15 years, setting legislative polls for May 22 and a July 31 presidential vote.
Abbas's Fatah party, which controls the Palestinian Authority based in the occupied West Bank, and the Hamas Islamists, who hold power in Gaza, have for years expressed int

Israel wrestles with allowing east Jerusalem Palestinians to vote in PA elections

With a new US administration in place, Israel must decide whether to allow Palestinians in east Jerusalem to vote in the legislative and presidential Palestinian elections scheduled for spring and summer.

A billboard by The Lincoln Project is seen in Times Square on October 25, 2020 in New York, depicting Ivanka Trump presenting the number of New Yorkers and Americans who have died due to Covid-19 along with her husband Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner, with a Vanity Fair quote. - The Lincoln Project, is defending its right to erect billboards in Times Square critical of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner,after an attorney for President Trump's daughter and her husband threatened to sue. (Photo by T

Netanyahu rival hires Lincoln Project for March election

Former Likud senior Gideon Saar hopes the veteran American strategists can help him win the next elections and topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Former Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau gets vaccinated against COVID-19 coronavirus at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, on December 20, 2020. - Israel has ordered 14 million doses of the vaccine -- covering seven million people, as two doses are required per person for optimal protection -- from Pfizer as well as US biotech firm Moderna. The vaccine will be rolled out at 10 hospitals and vaccination centres around Israel for healthcare workers from Sunday, ac

Israel’s chief rabbi calls for day of fasting, prayer for pandemic victims

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau has called on Jews in Israel and across the globe to fast tomorrow and to pray for the dead and infected.

Blinken: 'Vitally important' to engage with Israel, Gulf on Iran nuclear deal

Antony Blinken also said the administration would immediately review the terror designation of Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu stands in front of a screen showing the president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, during a video conference with European leaders in order to discuss challenges and cooperation between various countries in dealing with COVID-19 coronavirus, at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on March 9, 2020. (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu proposes international corporation to battle pandemics

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed to six other heads of states that they join forces to combat the current and future pandemics in a more coordinated manner.

A billboard depicting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and US President Donald Trump side by side with a slogan in Hebrew which reads "Netanyahu, a different league", in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, on January 10, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu’s campaign: a superhero challenged by small-time politicians

As rivals keep garnering low scores in polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu portrays himself as a mega statesman and his opponents as lightweights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wears a face mask against Covid-19, bearing the US and Israeli flags, during a meeting with US special representative for Iran at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on June 30, 2020. (Photo by ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Netanyahu lays out campaign for US to maintain course on Iran

Israel is hoping that the new US administration will conduct an intimate strategic dialogue with Israel’s allies in the region before making a final decision on the Iran nuclear issue.

A syringe and vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are pictured at the Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital, in Ramat Gan near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on January 14, 2021. - Israel's initial vaccination rollout appears to be unfolding successfully, with some two million citizens having received the first of two required injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, a pace widely described as the world's fastest per capita. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Image

Israel starts vaccinating prisoners after delay

After Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit warned that keeping them lower in the queue was illegal, Public Security Minister Amir Ohana ordered the prison services to start vaccinating elderly inmates.