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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 10, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:02 am

27°C

Former Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot speaks during the launch of the Yashar party's election campaign in Hod Aharon, in central Israel, on June 30, 2026.

New Israeli election poll puts Eisenkot ahead of Netanyahu: What to know

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party has now bypassed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud in the polls, cementing his status as Netanyahu’s main opponent.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not shown) for bilateral talks at Beştepe Presidential Compound during the NATO Summit on July 08, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. Leaders from NATO's 32 countries, plus NATO allies like Ukraine, gathered in the Turkish capital to discuss a range of issues involving spending targets, defense industrial production, and support for Ukraine, among other topics. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump declares MoU with Iran 'over' as Hegseth cancels trip to Israel

Trump said diplomacy with Tehran was “a waste of time” after renewed attacks around Hormuz, as US defense chief reportedly cancels Israel visit.

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.

Latest News

Analysis

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

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)

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

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

ABIR SULTAN / AFP via Getty Images

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

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 Finance Minister Yair Lapid gestures as he attends the opening of the summer session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem April 22, 2013. Lapid is seeking spending cuts of 18 billion shekels ($5 billion) and tax increases of 5 billion shekels as part of the 2013-2014 budget framework, a spokeswoman for Lapid said on Monday. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTXYVX6

Israel’s public agenda shifts back to security

Israeli citizens are experiencing their first real security threat since the social protests of 2011, threatening to turn the national priorities from socioeconomics and social justice back to security.

Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs for International Relations of Israel Yuval Steinitz attends a news conference after a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee during the 68th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX13ZWY

Israel Intel Minister: Not pessimistic about Iran deal

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz has said while he believes Iran wants a nuclear deal to save its economy, the US should not let up on economic pressure or close an interim deal with the Islamic Republic as it would lead to the sanctions regime crumbling.

Israeli shells fall on UN school during evacuation

The wounded from the bombed UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip describe a scene of chaos and horror as hundreds gathered to board buses.

Israelis look over the northern Gaza Strip from a lookout hill near Sderot July 13, 2014. Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people. Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip kept up rockets salvoes deep into the Jewish state and the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed in two years showed no signs of abating, a

Tweets from Gaza show Israel other side of war

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Israeli social media analyst Orit Perlov discusses how social media provides a look at Gazans' experience of the war and what they really think of Hamas and the Palestinian leadership.

An Israeli soldier from the Golani Brigade mourns during the funeral for fallen comrade Max Steinberg at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem July 23, 2014. Steinberg, a 23 year-old American from California's San Fernando Valley, was among 13 Israeli Defense Forces soldiers killed on Sunday during fighting in Gaza. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (JERUSALEM - Tags: CONFLICT POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR3ZTAC

Killed in Gaza, American 'lone soldiers' honored by Israelis

Thousands of Israelis came to the funerals of Sean Carmeli, Jordan Bensemhoun and Max Steinberg to show solidarity with the fallen soldiers who had immigrated to Israel alone.

A general view shows the newsroom at the headquarters of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera English-language channel in Doha February 7, 2011. The Egyptian crisis may provide the news channel its best chance yet to capture a larger share of the U.S. audience. REUTERS/ Fadi Al-Assaad (QATAR - Tags: MEDIA BUSINESS) - RTXXKR0

Al Jazeera's Israel problem

Al Jazeera's interviews with Israeli spokespeople are nothing more than a fig leaf, as its coverage of the conflict is far from neutral.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) joins Efraim Halevy (R) who succeeds outgoing Mossad chief Danny Yatom (L) in a toast in the prime minister's offices during the Mossad handover ceremony April 8. Yatom resigned as Mossad spy chief in February amid scandals over botched missions in Jordan and Switzerland. Halevy, was born in 1934 in Britain and immigrated to Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed the creation of the State of Israel. He served as a former deputy Mossad chief and is expecte

From cold war to cold peace? Ex Mossad chief sees possible opening

Former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy has said that if Iran and the US are able to reach a nuclear deal and the two nations reduce tensions on other fronts hostilities between the Islamic Republic and Israel could possibly be eased.

Tariq Khdeir (C), a 15-year-old American of Palestinian descent and a cousin of Mohammed Abu-Khdeir, the youth whom Palestinians believe was abducted and murdered by far-right Israelis on Wednesday, is escorted by Israeli prison guards during an appearance at Jerusalem magistrate's court July 6, 2014. The United States called for speedy investigation of an incident in which Khdeir appeared to have been badly beaten by Israeli paramilitary police during riots in East Jerusalem. A police spokesman said Khdeir

Israelis accused of torturing Palestinian child detainees

The Palestinian Prisoners Club says there has been an increase in the number of cases of Palestinian children tortured during interrogation by Israeli officers.

Gas deployed by the Israeli army gushes out of a hole in a tunnel, which was used by Hamas militants in an attack on July 21, during an operation to search for tunnels dug by the Palestinian militants, just outside the Gaza Strip July 22, 2014. Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as top U.S. and U.N. diplomats pursued talks on halting fighting that has claimed more than 600 lives.With the conflict entering its third week, the Palestinian death toll rose to 6

Tunnel intelligence failure a wake-up call for Israel

The magnitude of the Hamas tunnel network was not correctly assessed by the military and caught Israel by surprise, after which the Security Cabinet approved the ground operation, wishing the international community understood Israel's need to eradicate this threat.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, March 10, 2014. Lavrov told Putin on Monday that Russia's position on Ukraine was at odds with the West, and that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had declined an invitation to visit Russia for further talks. At a meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Lavrov described being handed proposals by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry which "did not completely satisfy us

Moscow treads lightly in Gaza

Though Moscow undoubtedly disapproves of Israel’s harsh actions in Gaza, it's being careful not to take an anti-Israel stance.

Arab-Israelis and Israeli left wing activists wave Palestinian flags as they protest against the Israeli offensive on Gaza, in the northern city of Haifa July 19, 2014. Israeli forces on Saturday pressed ahead with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants kept firing rockets deep into Israel's heartland, pushing the death toll past 300 in almost two weeks of conflict. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3ZCZH

The fine line between freedom of speech and treason in Israel

When voices flood Israelis from the full ideological spectrum — the radical left, the Arab Israelis, the incitement of the extreme right — the boundaries of free speech in a democracy need to be defined at times of war.

An Israeli soldier carries the flag-draped coffin of his fallen comrade Natan Cohen, killed during fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, during his funeral in Modi'in, a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, July 23, 2014. Gaza fighting raged on Wednesday, displacing thousands more Palestinians in the battered territory as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas had made some progress. Israel launched its offensive on July 8 to halt rocket salvoes by Hamas and its al

Israeli rumor mill replaces official information

In an interview with Al-Monitor, professor Aviad Kleinberg explains why Israelis tend to spread rumors through social networks as "a way of expressing distrust toward the authorities."