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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 7, 2026

Tel Aviv 9:54 pm

26°C

Froun

Explainer

Lebanon's latest damage estimate outlines reconstruction challenge

More than 1 million Lebanese residents fled their homes after Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon intensified in March, when Hezbollah entered the conflict.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) welcomes US President Donald Trump (R) upon his arrival on Air Force One at Etimesgut Air Base near Ankara, on July 7, 2026, before attending the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Trump's F-35 push for Turkey runs into CAATSA — and Israel

Israel fears that Washington may be shifting its strategic options toward Turkey as the two rivals push for regional hegemony.

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

ABIR SULTAN / AFP via Getty Images

Israel, Greece conduct military drills ahead of NATO summit in Turkey

Photos published by the Greek military showed fighter jets from both countries flying side by side over the Aegean Sea.

Latest News

Interview

Ayman Odeh says Arab parties could back Bennett or Eisenkot to block Netanyahu

Joint List Party leader Ayman Odeh attends a meeting on April 5, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Ayman Odeh

Head of the Knesset's Hadash-Ta'al faction

Analysis

As US-Iran talks falter, Israel views war outcome as 'total strategic failure’

Motorists drive past a billboard bearing a picture of Iran's slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, ahead of his funeral in Tehran on July 3, 2026. Iranian leaders began paying their respects on July 3 before the coffin of the country's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that triggered the Middle East war, as Tehran prepared for a vast funeral. Khamenei's body arrived at Tehran's Grand Mosalla on July 3 ahead of ceremonies which are expected to draw millions. (Photo by AFP via Ge

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

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 mobile artillery unit fires towards the southern Gaza in this August 1, 2014 file photo. The July-August war in Gaza drew international condemnation for a number of reasons, but one episode proved more deadly than any other: an Israeli air and artillery bombardment on Aug. 1 that killed 150 people in a matter of hours.The events unfolded just as a three-day ceasefire was supposed to come into force. Hamas militants emerged from a tunnel inside Gaza and ambushed three Israeli soldiers, killing two

Palestinians prepare ICC files

Palestine is preparing files on Israeli settlement activity and the 2014 war on Gaza for submission to the International Criminal Court come April 1.

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, is pictured on a television screen as he delivers a televised statement on Hamas TV, in Gaza August 20, 2014. Hamas's military wing said on Wednesday an Israeli air strike in Gaza had failed to kill its military commander, Mohammed Deif. In a televised statement, Ubaida said Israel had missed its target. Deif's wife and seven-month-old son were killed in the attack. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITI

Mohammed al-Deif lives

Commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Mohammed al-Deif is responsible for some of the most murderous terror attacks against Israelis, yet during the Gaza war the IDF failed again to eliminate him.

A bulldozer works at a construction site in Pisgat Zeev, an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, August 13, 2013. A 10-minute drive from where negotiators will sit down on Wednesday to resume long-stalled Middle East peace talks, Israeli bulldozers are busy reshaping land that Palestinians want for their future state.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS CONSTRUCTION) - RTX12JQ0

Settlement funding: Likud betrays the poor

Over the years, the Likud Party has preferred to grant vast funds to settlements, instead of caring for the weak and poor sectors, which got it to power in the first place.

Palestinian political unity welcomed for Israeli elections

Palestinians in the occupied territories welcomed the decision by their brethren in Israel to form a joint list for the March elections.

An Israeli in King Arthur's court

Medieval re-enactments are catching on in Israel, including battles between knights and an annual event at the Horns of Hattin.

Could Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Syria spark Iran nuclear talks?

The latest Israel-Hezbollah confrontation might be a catalyst for a nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran; Iran can ease Saudi Arabia’s security predicament; Netanyahu sees electoral gain in snubbing Obama.

A labourer works on an apartment building under construction in a Jewish settlement known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim in an area of the West Bank that Israel captured in a 1967 war and annexed to the city of Jerusalem, October 28, 2014. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will expedite planning for some 1,000 settler homes in East Jerusalem, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to placate a restive coalition ally without further aggravating a dispute with

Europe determined to prevent Israeli settlement policy

While the Obama administration is reluctant to finalize its peace negotiations policy before Israeli elections, the European Union has already elaborated punitive measures in response to any future Israeli settlements.

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they sit down to meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington March 3, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3G01E

Obama snubs, Netanyahu scores

Despite the damage to his relations with President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coming congressional address is expected to strengthen his status within his Israeli right-wing electoral base.

A picture shows an Israeli army UAV landing in an airfield, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on January 20, 2015, two days after an Israeli air strike killed six Hezbollah members in the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights. The strike on Syria killed an Iranian general, Tehran confirmed on January 19, as thousands of supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah gathered to bury one of the six fighters killed in the same raid. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Image

Why Israel's Hezbollah strike didn't bother Turkey's Islamists

The latest Israeli attack on Hezbollah reveals Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s anti-Assad stance is stronger than his anti-Israel rhetoric.

Knesset (parliament) member Israeli Arab Ahmad Tibi campaigns seeking reelection ahead of Israel's general elections in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm on January 14, 2013. Arab-Israelis, descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who stayed on after the creation of Israel in 1948, make up 20 percent of the population. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD GHARABLI (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Will a united Israeli Arab party survive elections?

Despite huge ideological gaps, Arab parties in Israel are trying to form a joint list for the election, but their traditional voter base might not follow.

Israeli politician and popular former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon (L) shares a laugh with a fishmonger as he visits the Jerusalem outdoors Mahne Yehuda market on January 21, 2015 during his campaign for the upcoming general election. Kahlon, who in November 2014 announced a comeback, is at the head of a new centre-right party called "Kulanu" (All Of Us). AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)

Instead of reform, Israeli candidates offer gimmicks

The current Israeli election campaign is stocked with politicians visiting the Jerusalem market, populist declarations after the Tel Aviv terror attack and embarrassing video clips, but no proposals for reform or any consolidated agenda.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) (L) arrives with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address reporters after Netanyahu's speech before Congress at the Capitol in Washington May 24, 2011. Israel must seek peace with the Palestinians that will entail "painful compromises" including the handover of biblical land dear to Jews, Netanyahu said on Tuesday. Addressing the U.S. Congress after a testy exchange last week with President Barack Obama about the contours of a future Palestine state, the r

Congress blindsides Obama, inviting Netanyahu to speak

Inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Iran sanctions without the White House’s knowledge was seen as an unprecedented slap at President Barack Obama.