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Israel

July 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:54 pm

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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

A woman lays a flower on the name of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz during a ceremony entitled "Unto Every Person There is a Name" in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, marking Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance April 19, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) - RTR30XQZ

Israel debates legality of 'Nazi'

A new bill prohibiting the inappropriate use of the word "Nazi" brings into Israeli public debate the limits of free speech in a country dedicated to spreading the lessons of the Holocaust.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a memorial ceremony for former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem January 13, 2014. Israel paid homage to Sharon at the first of two funeral services to be held on Monday for a man hailed as a war hero at home but seen by many in the Arab world as a war criminal. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS OBITUARY) - RTX17C56

Israel in 2014: The Knesset

Al-Monitor presents an in-depth guide to understanding of the key figures, alliances and issues likely to define Israel in the coming year.

A protester waves an Egyptian flag above a Star of David symbol painted on the road during a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo August 19, 2011. Protesters gathered in front of the Israeli embassy to protest against Israel over the death of an Egyptian army officer and two security personnel who were killed during an Israeli raid on militants along the Egyptian Israeli border on Thursday. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR2Q3SX

Egyptian intellectuals call for fresh thinking about 'Jewish question'

Writer Youssef Zeidan, with other Egyptian intellectuals, criticizes the institutionalized demonization of Jews and of Israel, calling to mend the relations between the two peoples, since this fracture affects Egypt first and foremost.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) gestures as Fatah strongman and lawmaker Mohammed Dahlan looks on (R) after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah December 18, 2006. Abbas told Blair on Monday he would push on with plans for early elections despite bitter opposition from the Hamas government. Blair said it was critical that the international community supported the moderate Abbas in the coming weeks. REUTERS/Eliana A

Dahlan works Palestinian street to prepare comeback

Exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan prepares for the day when negotiations with the Israelis fail, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will be forced to vacate his seat and step down.

Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jarrisi bids farewall to Pope John Paul II, as the pontiff departs after giving mass at the Basilica of the Annunciation, in the birthplace of Jesus March 25. The pontiff was on the penultimate day of a six-day pilgrimage.

EH/GB - RTR2KBD

Battle for Nazareth mayor a loser for Christian-Muslim relations

Ever since local elections in Nazareth three months ago, a fierce legal battle has been taking place between the Muslim candidate and his friend, the incumbent Christian mayor, over the latter's seat.

Paul Hansen of Sweden, a photographer working for the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, poses holding his picture that won the World Press Photo of the year for 2012, at Dagens Nyheter's office in Stockholm February 15, 2013. The photograph, which Hansen took on November 20, 2012, shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children, who were killed in an Israeli missile strike on Gaza City, and won the top World Press Photo prize on Friday. REUTERS/Fredrik Sandberg/Scanpix (SWEDEN - Tags: ME

Israel's media at war

Israeli media scholars Tamar Liebes and Zohar Kampf point to a dramatic change in the coverage of conflicts in the West: from focusing on politicians and generals to coverage of human stories of enemies and victims.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - OCTOBER 12: (ISRAEL OUT) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman waits for the arrival of the Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb outside his office on October 12, 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel. During their meeting to discuss developments in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Lieberman told his Finnish counterpart, who is on a tour of the region, that the refusal by the Palestinian Authority to recognise Israel as a Jewish state is a threat to the talks. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Ge

Liberman a firestarter with land swap proposal

Arab-Israelis have constructed lives coexisting with their Jewish neighbors, only to find that some Israeli politicians would like to swap them in a future agreement with the Palestinians.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reacts following his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, November 6, 2013. Kerry urged Israel on Wednesday to limit settlement building in occupied territories to help push peace talks with the Palestinians back on track. REUTERS/Jason Reed (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX152FN

Israeli deputy minister: Kerry's proposals 'move us further apart'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Ofir Akunis says he agrees with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon about US Secretary of State John Kerry's approach to the peace process, but would have said it differently.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) stands next to Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon (2nd R) and Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz (R) during an air force pilots' graduation ceremony at Hatzerim air base in southern Israel December 26, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTX16UGX

Israel in search of a leader

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe "Bogie" Ya’alon tries, and fails, to pick up the mantle of Sharon.

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the liberation of villages from Islamist rebels near the city of Ras al-Ain in the province of Hasakah, after capturing it from Islamist rebels November 6, 2013. Redur Xelil, spokesman for the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said Kurdish militias had seized the city of Ras al-Ain and all its surrounding villages. Syrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria

Israel should reach out to separatist Syrian Kurds

Israel should consider the Kurdish achievement of establishing an autonomous region in Syria and reach out to those groups which fight extremist Islamic powers in the country.

Palestinian labourers work on 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, July 28, 2013. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged divided rightists in his cabinet to approve the release of 104 Arab prisoners in order to restart peace talk with the Palestinians. The prisoner release would allow Netanyahu to sidestep other Palestinian demands, such as a halt to Jewish settlement expansion. REUTERS/Baz R

Netanyahu's puzzling settlement strategy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to publish construction tenders, whether real or not, is likely to frustrate US policy-makers.

Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon stands on the banks of the Suez Canal following an official visit to Egypt January 21, 1982 in this handout photo by the Government Press Office. Surgeons battled to keep Sharon alive on January 5, 2006 after a massive brain haemorrhage felled the Israeli prime minister in the midst of his fight for re-election on a promise to end conflict with the Palestinians. ISRAEL OUT BW ONLY REUTERS/Moshe Milner/Government Press Office/Handout - RTR17SNX

Palestinians may be missing the point on Sharon legacy

The Palestinians consider him a war criminal, while the settlers have not forgiven the Disengagement, but these contradictory opinions testify their inability to grasp the leadership and complex personality of late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.