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July 8, 2026

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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

Israeli parliament member Gilad Erdan attends a news conference in Tel Aviv January 19, 2006. Erdan, a member of the Likud party who is chairman of the Israeli parliament's sports subcommittee, has written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, urging her to prevent Iran from taking part in the soccer World Cup unless it retracts inflammatory statements about Israel and the Holocaust. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen - RTR18GH1

Controversial Knesset bills could revoke citizenship

Parallel to several bills proposing to revoke the residency or the social rights of people convicted of terrorism, Israeli Interior Minister Gilad Erdan decided to revoke the residency of a man convicted of driving a suicide bomber in 2001, even after he served his jail time.

Drivers take cover beside their cars on a highway as an air raid siren, warning of incoming rockets, sounds in Tel Aviv July 9, 2014. Israeli air strikes shook Gaza every few minutes on Wednesday, and militants kept up rocket fire at Israel's heartland in intensifying warfare that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 47 people in the Hamas-dominated enclave. REUTERS/Stringer (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3XVPQ

Insecurity strengthens Israeli right

A poll after the attack on the Har Nof synagogue and an academic study indicate that when Israelis feel threatened, it plays into the hands of the right-wing parties, at the moment benefiting first and foremost the Likud Party.

Palestinian riot police take position as they try to stop Palestinians from clashing with Israeli troops, during a protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, in the West Bank City of Hebron August 22, 2014.
REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY CONFLICT) - RTR43D07

Despite Netanyahu, PA continues security cooperation with Israel

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Adnan al-Damiri, the Palestinian Authority security services spokesman, claims that the Israeli leadership chooses to ignore the tight security cooperation in the West Bank for political reasons.

Members of Palestinian security forces take position as Palestinian women take part in an anti-Israel protest against what organizers say are recent visits by Jewish activists to al-Aqsa mosque, in the West Bank city of Hebron November 7, 2014. In recent months, a campaign for the prayer ban on Jewish worshippers at the site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, to be overturned, led by settler activists, has gathered momentum, raising alarm among Palestinians and Muslims fur

Despite Jerusalem unrest, West Bank remains quiet

The Palestinian Authority’s grip on the West Bank, in coordination with Israel, is preventing any opportunity for the unrest to spread.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (L) and Abbas Araghchi, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, stand on the balcony of Palais Coburg during a meeting between Iran and six world powers in Vienna November 22, 2014. Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China began the final round of negotiations on a nuclear deal on Tuesday. Officials close to the talks have said the two sides are unlikely to secure a final agreement and may need to extend the negotiations. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Israel views extension of Iran talks as lesser of two evils

Israel's attitude, favoring no nuclear agreement with Iran over a bad one, resulted in it being denied any direct influence on this phase of the negotiations, even if some of its worries are legitimate and shared by the US Congress.

Children look out of their house window as they watch the funeral of 32-year-old Palestinian man Fadel Halawa, whom medics said was shot dead by Israeli forces, in Gaza City November 23, 2014. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces shot dead Halawa in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, the first such fatality since a 50-day Gaza war ended in August. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. One of Halawa's relatives said he had been searching for song birds, which nest in trees near the I

Israel violates terms of Gaza cease-fire

Israel is still not abiding by the terms of the cease-fire deal that ended the Gaza war in August, and still harasses and fires at Palestinian farmers and fishermen.

Member of the Kadima party Yohanan Plesner attends a session of Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem. Jan 23, 2012. to discuss 'Tal Law,' which deals with exceptions from compulsory military service granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews. Photo by Kobi Gideon / Flash90

Does nationality bill threaten Israeli democracy?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Israeli Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner argues that the proposed nationality bill would project the image of a state where democratic values are eroded and non-Jewish citizens are not seen as equal to Jewish ones.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the media in Jerusalem November 18, 2014. Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to respond with a "heavy hand" and accused Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting violence in Jerusalem. REUTERS/Baz Ratne

Netanyahu unpopular, but still alone at top

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provoked a coalition crisis this week, signaling that though normally he shies away from elections, with his sinking popularity, his best bet might be running to the voting booth now.

Labourers work near kindergarten surrounded by concrete blast walls, erected to protect against Palestinian rocket and mortar salvoes, on the first day of the school year in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the Gaza strip, September 1, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war has held since August 27. Many families with small children from Nahal Oz have not returned to their homes yet as they fear the ceasefire will not hold. A four-year-old Israeli boy from Nahal Oz was killed by a mortar attack from Ga

Israeli mayor responds to racism charge

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni argues that the decision to halt work by Arab Israeli construction workers in his city was intended only to allay tensions, saying, "I believe that Arab Israelis are part of us."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem November 23, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Hollander/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4F81N

Iran talks: Obama’s legacy, Netanyahu’s failure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's focus this week on a coalition crisis and not on the nuclear talks in Vienna indicates the loss of his influence as much as the lack of US interest in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, now that Iran talks with the United States.

Russia's Middle East policy after the G-20 summit

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, ever skeptical of US intentions, elaborates on Russia's policies in the Middle East — and risks alienating the West.

A Palestinian woman walks past copies of a pro-Hamas newspaper, Palestine, displayed outside a shop in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 10, 2014. The Palestinian authority had allowed the distribution of the pro-Hamas Palestine newspaper in the West Bank on Saturday after the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday it had relaxed a ban on Palestinian newspapers published outside the enclave as a gesture of reconciliation to rival group Fatah after their unity deal last month. REUTERS/Moha

How rumors hurt the Palestinian cause

Publishing rumors about the death of a Palestinian bus driver is damaging the credibility of the Palestinian press, delegitimizing the legitimate claims of the Palestinian people and fanning the flames of hatred.