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Israel

July 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 8:06 am

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Israelis turn out to cast their ballots on election day for the 20th Knesset on March 17, 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Explainer

Israel's next election: Who's leading in polls and what's at stake?

After months of negotiations and speculations, the coalition announced that general elections will take place on Oct. 27.

Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As US-Iran fighting resumes, Israel weighs 3 options with restraint winning, for now

Despite Israel's military readiness to resume strikes on Iran, officials say looming elections make Netanyahu more likely to stay out unless Tehran forces his hand.

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

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.

Latest News

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

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)

Explainer

Lebanon's latest damage estimate outlines reconstruction challenge

Froun

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

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

The beginnings of an Israel-Iran reset?

Israel may be reassessing the Iranian threat, as Iran shows its reach in Palestinian politics.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (3rd R) and Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter (4th R) speak to the media during a visit to an observation point that overlooks Gaza, near Kibbutz Zikim just outside the Gaza Strip, December 9, 2008. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL) - RTR22EZN

Former Shin Bet chief says Bibi needs back channel to Abbas

Avi Dichter, former Shin Bet chief and minister, tells Al-Monitor that although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has solid standing, he is not the last Palestinian leader who will be able to sign an agreement with Israel.

Israel 'National Singer' tainted by sex scandal

Israeli police has decided not to press any charges against singer Eyal Golan, but revelation of his conduct leave many of his admirers disheartened.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves while boarding his plane at Franz-Josef-Strauss Airport in Munich, southern Germany, February 2, 2014. Kerry was in the Bavarian capital to attend the Munich Security Conference. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX184TL

Kerry lets Europe play the boycott card with Israel

The United States and Europe are playing good cop-bad cop in the negotiations with Israel.

Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid gestures as he speaks during a Yesh Atid party meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem May 20, 2013. Lapid, whose new centrist party is the second largest in Israel's government, said on Monday thousands of Jewish settlers would have to be removed from occupied land under any peace deal with the Palestinians. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZTWQ

High Court's freeze on rabbinical funding: a wake-up call for Lapid

The Israeli High Court halted funding of rabbinical colleges until enlisting obligations of the ultra-Orthodox are defined by law, thus highlighting the failure of Finance Minister Yair Lapid to bring about this change.

Will the Iraqi Jewish archive be off-limits to Jews?

The restored Iraqi Jewish archive may soon leave the United States for Baghdad, making this piece of Jewish heritage almost inaccessible to Jews.

A Palestinian woman waits to receive food supplies at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in Gaza January 7, 2009. Israel and Hamas said they were temporarily holding their fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to ease the flow of humanitarian aid and both sides said they were studying an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA) - RTR234UE

UNRWA struggles to deliver as poverty rises in Gaza

UNRWA has again cut or halted food aid to thousands of Palestinians as it struggles to keep up with rising poverty rates due to the Israeli-Egyptian siege on Gaza and crisis situations elsewhere.

Tourists walk near evaporation basins in the southern Dead Sea December 16, 2008. Warnings continue that the Dead Sea is slowly but surely drying up, and could be gone completely in 50 years if no action is taken.The water level is dropping at close to one metre (three feet) per year due to a sharp decrease in inflow from the Jordan and other rivers whose waters now irrigate fields. Picture taken December 16, 2008. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL ENVIRONMENT TRAVEL) - RTXCYP2

Israel-Palestinian peace requires realism on Jordan Valley

Trilateral cooperation projects to save the Dead Sea and the Jordan River must be accompanied by transferring parts of the Jordan Valley to Palestinian sovereignty.

Israeli Ariel Zilber plays the trumpet in front of a house occupied by Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron November 26, 2008. Hardline Jewish settlers hunkered down in the house in the West Bank flashpoint city of Hebron on Sunday, vowing to resist a court order to quit the property they insist they bought from a Palestinian. About 150 Jewish hardliners, mostly youths, moved into Hebron's settler enclave in the past week to support the 13 families that have been living in the house for a year an

Israeli singer with right-wing views denied lifetime award

Despite xenophobic statements by singer Ariel Zilber, the Israeli right blames the left of persecuting him over the decision to award him a lifetime achievement award.

MUNICH, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 2: (L-R) Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, US Senator Christopher Murphy and chairman and organizer of the 50th Munich Security Conference (MSC)Wolfgang Ischinger attend a panel discussion during the 50th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in the Bayerischer Hof hotel on February 2, 2014 in Munich, Germany. The Munich Security Conference is to open with

Iran, Israel and the politics of gesture

Iranian and Israeli officials are listening to each other at international conferences.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attends the annual Munich Security Conference February 2, 2014. REUTERS/Lukas Barth (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX184O6

Israeli security officials recognize change in Iran

Although Israel is keeping its military option on the table, Israeli defense officials privately acknowledge that Iran is undergoing a "historic" change.

SodaStream is wrong target for Oxfam’s Israel boycott

Boycott threats against Israel's SodaSteam company will achieve the opposite of advancing peace, by destroying an example of Israeli-Palestinian commercial cooperation and depriving hundreds of Palestinian families of their livelihoods.