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Israel

June 20, 2026

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Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot gives a press conference in Tel Aviv, on December 4, 2018.

Can political novice Eisenkot defeat Netanyahu in upcoming elections?

The former military chief of staff is emerging as the prime minister's strongest rival in upcoming elections, overtaking former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in recent polls.

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 29, 2025.

Analysis

How Netanyahu used Lebanon strikes to push back on Trump’s Iran deal

The latest ceasefire in Lebanon leaves Netanyahu squeezed between Washington and domestic pressure.

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

Latest News

'Let Syria take care of Hezbollah': Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries convened in Evian, France, near the Swiss border, for their annual summit to discuss challenges to peace and security for Ukraine and Europe, the situation in the Middle East, and other geopolitical issues. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Get

Explainer

Ben-Gvir's move to run separately in Israel elections revives debate over party alliances

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir takes part in the Jerusalem Day celebrations on May 14, 2026, in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Analysis

'He knew it was over': Inside Netanyahu’s response to Trump’s Iran deal as Israel recalibrates

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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

Analysis

Erdogan-Netanyahu war of words signals deeper rivalry for regional influence

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

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Former IDF chief takes position as Netanyahu's top rival

In his well-rehearsed first speech former IDF chief Benny Gantz presented himself as the primary challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Benny Gantz, a former Israeli armed forces chief and head of Israel Resilience party, delivers his first political speech at the party campaign launch in Tel Aviv, Israel January 29, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RC1F37BEDD60

Former generals join forces ahead of Israeli elections

In a recent speech, former IDF chief Benny Gantz announced himself as a viable alternative and worthy challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Pressured by settlers, Netanyahu ejects Hebron observers

With elections right around the corner, it has become much easier for the settlers to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do their bidding and let them rule downtown Hebron.

Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib canvasses a neighborhood before Election Day in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook - RC1D480CE1E0

Top Democrat on foreign affairs shoots down pro-Palestinian trips

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., is unwilling to approve a proposed congressional delegation to the West Bank.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a bilateral meeting during the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1720F3A620

Netanyahu plays Iran threat at his convenience

Guided by election campaign considerations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Russian-American deal for pulling Iranian forces out of Syria.

Demonstrators take part in a rally against Israel's offensive in Gaza, at Plaza Bolivar in downtown Caracas January 8, 2009. The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Thursday but Israeli warplanes kept up attacks. REUTERS/Edwin Montilva (VENEZUELA) - GM1E5190U8901

Intel: Why Israel is recognizing the opposition in Venezuela

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from the Jewish Home party, deliver statements in Tel Aviv, Israel December 29, 2018. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC15EB02E090

Will the ultra-right seize control of religious Zionism in Israel?

With Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked having left HaBayit HaYehudi to start a new party, ultra-right parties are angling to take control of Israel's religious Zionist movement.

Rare book exhibit draws crowds in Jerusalem

The "Maimonides: A Legacy in Script” exhibit, a collection of rare manuscripts by a renowned Jewish scholar, is drawing unusually large crowds of Orthodox Jews to Jerusalem’s Israel Museum.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement together with Chad's President Idriss Deby, during their meeting in N'Djamena, Chad January 20, 2019. Kobi Gideon/Government Press Office/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC13B14BBC20

Foreign Minister Netanyahu sidelines own ministry

As reflected in his conduct, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees himself as an airborne Foreign Ministry that does all the work and does not need hundreds of professionals working under him.

Freed Palestinian prisoner Mohammed al-Bashiti, who served 12 years in an Israeli jail after he was convicted of being a member of Hamas' armed wing, is kissed by his aunt upon his release, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - S1BETRQHDIAA

Hamas denies Arab media talk about new prisoner swap negotiations with Israel

Qatar’s Al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that talks between Israel and Hamas were renewed through European intermediaries, but the Islamic movement’s spokesman denies it.

Jewish settlers stand at an observation point overlooking the West Bank village of Duma, near Yishuv Hadaat, an unauthorised Jewish settler outpost January 5, 2016. Steeped in messianic Jewish mysticism and rebelling against what they see as adulterated modern Zionism, the "Hilltop Youth," a new generation of ultra-religious settlers whose resentment of the secular Israeli state rivals their hostility toward Arabs, number in the hundreds, by most accounts. But they pose a deep-rooted challenge even for the

Can the Shin Bet stop hilltop youths' march to Armageddon?

Shin Bet sources admit that they have little means to tamp down the young extremist settlers known as hilltop youth, who carry out violent attacks against Palestinians in the hopes of sparking a conflagration.

Qatar sinks into Gaza quagmire

Qatar wanted to please the United States and help Gaza residents with aid money, but has found itself trapped in a standoff between Hamas and Israel.