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July 5, 2026

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

Interview

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

In an interview with Al-Monitor, head of the Arab-Israeli Hadash-Ta'al Knesset faction, Ayman Odeh, said his party is prepared to make difficult decisions to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Ayman Odeh

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

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

Analysis

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

Israeli officials believe the US failure to attain the kind of agreement with Iran that it originally sought stems from the strategic mistakes made during and after the recent war.

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

Latest News

Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat?

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Analysis

For Israel, Lebanon deal 'historic' despite fears Hezbollah will rebuild

Shia Muslim devotees gather for a mourning ritual near the shrine of Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah who was killed in a 2024 Israeli-airstrike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 26, 2026 at the peak of Ashura, a 10-day period commemorating the seventh century killing of Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Turkey, Azerbaijan slam Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition as Yerevan mum

KAREN MINASYAN / AFP via Getty Images

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

Israelis hold placards during a protest calling for the release of Jonathan Pollard from a U.S. prison, outside U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's hotel in Jerusalem January 2, 2014. Kerry began his 10th visit to the region on Thursday in pursuit of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, has been serving a life sentence in the United States since he was caught spying for Israel in the 1980s. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX170

The case for releasing Pollard

US authorities deny any linkage between the Iran deal and the fact that it won't oppose the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard later this year.

Former Shin Bet chief: Diplomatic stalemate keeps Bibi in power

Yaakov Peri tells Al-Monitor that the Israeli government is stable since the outgoing US administration has formulated its legacy and there is no diplomatic initiative to be opposed by right-wing coalition members.

Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab List, poses before the filming of a television campaign ad in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2015. A political sideshow for much of the past six decades, Israel's Arab minority is hoping to gain much-needed muscle after next week's parliamentary election, with four Arab parties uniting under one banner for the first time. Surveys show the Joint Arab List could even finish third in the vote and become a factor in the coalition-building that dominates Israeli politics, where no party ha

Arab Knesset leader: Don't call me 'a demographic problem'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Joint List Chair Ayman Odeh argues that calling for the preservation of a Jewish majority in Israel excludes Arabs from public discourse.

A Palestinian family takes a selfie on a beach of the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan July 19, 2015. Thousands of Palestinians used permits given by the Israeli authorities allowing many to enjoy the beaches along Israel's Mediterranean shoreline during the Eid al-Fitr holiday. REUTERS/Baz Ratner TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1KXU4

Travel permits aim to manage, not solve, Palestine-Israel conflict

Palestinians were granted permits to travel to Israel for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, but larger issues remain.

A Turkish Air Force C-160D Transall transport aircraft takes off from Incirlik airbase in the southern city of Adana, Turkey, July 26, 2015. Kurdish militants killed two Turkish soldiers in a roadside bombing on Sunday, the military said, apparently retaliating for Ankara's crackdown on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched in tandem with strikes on Islamic State insurgents in Syria. Long a member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Turkey made a dramatic turnaround this week by granting t

Erdogan’s shift on Islamic State linked to Kurdish gains in Syria

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally takes on the Islamic State while attacking PKK bases in northern Iraq; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now the only US ally actively opposing Iran deal; Israel faces pressure to forgo demolition of Palestinian village.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew (L) listens to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) as they appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington July 23, 2015. U.S. lawmakers skeptical about the nuclear deal with Iran promised to press senior Obama administration officials to make more information about it public at a Senate hearing on Thursday as Congress begins its two-month review of the agreement.
REUTERS/Gary Cameron
- RTX1LJNB

Congress gets extra dose of Iran before summer recess

A look at the Middle East issues Congress will be addressing the week of July 27.

Dismissed PLO leader denies Dahlan coup plot

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former PLO secretary-general Yasser Abed Rabbo accused President Mahmoud Abbas of one-man rule over Palestinian institutions.

Israel defense minister refuses to consider IDF pension cuts

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon attacked a report calling for the cutting of IDF salaries and pensions despite public support for a more transparent IDF budget.

Israelis lack compassion for Gazans' suffering

The recent cancellations of screenings of a documentary on Gaza makes it seem that Israelis are incapable of acknowledging the trauma of war when those suffering are Palestinians.

Camp for handicapped youth seeks to overcome differences

Residents of the Rosh Tzurim settlement have been supporting and operating a summer camp for special needs children for many years now, welcoming Israelis and Palestinians.

Obama's foreign policy doctrine rejected by Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unequivocal rejection of the Iranian deal reflects his rejection of President Barack Obama's liberal doctrine, which embraces a strategy of diplomatic solutions to conflicts in cooperation with US partners.

Herzog plays the tough guy

Labor leader Isaac Herzog is convinced that to defeat the Likud Party at the next elections, Labor must embrace a more aggressive and assertive security image.