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

Israel cover image

Israel

July 5, 2026

Tel Aviv 10:01 pm

27°C

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

A view shows a checkpoint used by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the northwestern city of Ariha, after a coalition of insurgent groups seized the area in Idlib province May 29, 2015. Insurgents who captured the last government-held town in Syria's Idlib province celebrated inside on Friday and made more advances in surrounding areas, in a further blow to the stretched army and allied militia. REUTERS/Abed Kontar - RTR4Y2JU

Israel fears breakup of Syria

Israeli experts are cautious about predicting events in Syria, but concede that despite losses by Hezbollah there, the organization might attack Israel unexpectedly from the Lebanese border.

New Likud MK: BDS is 'form of terrorism'

Likud Knesset member Anat Berko says that the bid to suspend Israel from FIFA ''is terrorism in every sense of the term,” calling on the government to fight the BDS movement, “just like we fight against terrorism.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks during a joint news conference with Avi Luzon, Israeli Football Association Chairman (not pictured), in Jerusalem July 9, 2013. Blatter will establish a task force to address Palestinian concerns over travel restrictions for soccer players and officials through border crossings controlled by Israel, he said on Tuesday. REUTER/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS SPORT SOCCER) - RTX11HMA

Israeli leadership ignores international warning signs

The Vatican's recognition of Palestine and the large support for a committee on Israel's approach to Palestinian soccer, should serve as warning signs before Israel becomes isolated in the international arena.

Israel's Christian schools demand equality with Jewish schools

Christian schools in Israel do not receive the same financial support as their Jewish counterparts, burdening parents with higher tuition costs.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem May 26, 2015. Netanyahu has proposed resuming peace negotiations with the Palestinians but with the initial focus on identifying those Jewish settlements that Israel would keep and be allowed to expand, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1EKJI

Netanyahu increasingly exposed to political extortion

The precedents of Ministers Gilad Erdan and Zeev Elkin receiving the portfolios they were after encourage Likud central committee members, who seek to weaken Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hold on the party.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a statement to the press before a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem January 2, 2014. Kerry arrived in Israel on Thursday in his latest bid to resume peace negotiations and find scarce common ground between pessimistic Israeli and Palestinian officials. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX1702V

Is US disengaging from Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

With a weak Palestinian leader and a peace-rejectionist Israeli prime minister, the Obama administration is reluctant to impose itself on the two parties and might prefer a disengagement doctrine.

Moshe Kahlon, Israel's new Finance Minister, attends a meeting at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem May 18, 2015. Boosting competition in Israel's banking system and the economy as a whole as well as bringing down property prices will be priorities for the country's new finance minister, he said on Monday. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1DH88

Kahlon's election promise blunder

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon won 10 Knesset seats after promising to dismantle monopolies and share more equally natural resources, but this promise is now questioned in view of his friendship with a leading Israeli businessman.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) poses with his new government and the Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat (L) as he holds a meeting of his new cabinet, in honour of Jerusalem Day, at the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem May 19, 2015. REUTERS/Atef Safadi/Pool - RTX1DLKY

Two Israeli mayors consider leadership run

Two mayors, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, are contemplating challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog.

Palestinian protesters hold placards depicting their relatives during a demonstration to show their solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, outside the Red Cross building in Jerusalem June 12, 2014. Some 70 protesters took part in the demonstration on Thursday. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have joined a hunger strike since late April, in protest over an Israeli policy allowing indefinite detention without trial. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITI

Palestinian prisoners resort to hunger strikes

Hunger strikes by Palestinian detainees are sweeping Israeli prisons in protest of what looks like a pattern of abusive administrative detention rulings.

Jordanian protesters take part in a march against a government agreement to import natural gas from Israel, in Amman March 6, 2015. The red placards read "The enemy's gas is occupation". REUTERS/Majd Jaber (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY CIVIL UNREST BUSINESS) - RTR4SBDC

Jordanians protest Israeli gas deal

Jordanians continue to oppose the natural gas deal struck with Israel, arguing that it threatens the country’s economic and political independence.

A woman spins a hula hoop around her waist on a beach in Tel Aviv December 4, 2014.Unusually hot weather has hit Israel in the last few days with temperatures reaching 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at mid-day.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - RTR4GPUT

Existential threats don't diminish Israeli happiness

Although confronted with security threats, unemployment, high cost of living, discrimination against minorities and increased crime, Israelis' warm family and social ties make them feel happy.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) listens to Foreign Affairs and Defence committee chair Zeev Elkin during a committee meeting at parliament in Jerusalem June 2, 2014. Netanyahu warned on Sunday against any international rush to recognise a Palestinian government due to be announced under a unity pact between the Fatah and Hamas Islamist groups.REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3RRU6

Netanyahu caves, hands Elkin Jerusalem portfolio

After assigning the Strategic Affairs portfolio to Gilad Erdan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compensated Immigration and Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin by handing him the delicate Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs.