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September 29, 2026

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Ronen Bar, former chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency

Ex-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to sue Netanyahu over Oct. 7 accusations: What to know

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar of withholding information in the hours before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, but the former security chief rejected the claim, saying he intends to file a defamation suit.

Israeli PM

On secret UAE visit, Netanyahu asked MBZ to deny pre-Oct. 7 warnings

During his trip to Abu Dhabi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked President Mohamed bin Zayed to deny reports that he had been warned ahead of the Oct. 7 attack that Hamas was preparing a major assault.

A general view of the damaged building housing Tigray TV, the state broadcaster of the Tigray region, following a drone strike in Mekelle, Ethiopia, Sept. 27, 2026.

20 Israelis stranded in Ethiopia seek evacuation as fighting resumes: What to know

Twenty Israeli tourists are asking the Foreign Ministry to arrange their evacuation from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, where fighting resumed on Tuesday.

ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Can Netanyahu turn Israel's UN isolation into strength at home?

The absence of a Trump meeting would have been awkward for Netanyahu, who has long portrayed himself to Israeli voters as uniquely close to the US president.

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

Latest News

Delegates walk out as Netanyahu touts Iran war, slams Qatar and Turkey at UN

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu waves to delegates leaving before his UN speech

Israel election committee bars two Arab lists from upcoming vote: What to know

Leader of the Arab Israeli party Ra'am (United Arab List) Mansour Abbas (R) and Israeli politician Yoav Segalovitz (L) attend a news conference in Nazareth on August 31, 2026. Abbas announced that Segalovitz, an Israeli Jew, will join his party for the upcoming Israeli elections. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Why Netanyahu is distancing himself from Trump ahead of Israeli election

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

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

UAE's Gargash expects 'prolonged' war, calls for Iran-Gulf security talks

Gargash

United Arab Emirates

Samuel Wendel

Senior Analyst, Middle East Business & Tech

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 pedestrian walks under a Labour party campaign billboard depicting party leader and Defence Minister Ehud Barak (C), Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv February 8, 2009. Surveys predict a narrow win in Tuesday's vote for hawkish ex-premier Netanyahu, his comeback fuelled by the inconclusive wars in southern Lebanon and Gaza, formerly areas under Israel's control and now bastions of hostile Islamists. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL) - RTXB

Unity government a recipe for diplomatic disaster

Zionist Camp co-chair Isaac Herzog has refused to reject joining a unity government with the Likud, although the leftist parties in such governments typically end up serving as "defense attorney" for right-wing policies.

Obama: 'Iran’s program has not advanced'

US allies puzzled by March deadline for consideration of Senate sanctions bill; Iran’s gesture to Saudi Arabia; Iran’s man in Beirut; Erdogan’s anti-Western pivot; Aleppo’s fuel shortage; Israel reconciling to Hamas?

A man is reflected in a window at the entrance to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem January 5, 2011. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has had to cancel a rare visit to Israel due to a strike at the Israeli foreign ministry, but the strike over pay and working conditions at the ministry, which has foiled three official visits by foreign leaders so far, seems to be having no direct impact on diplomacy aimed at resuscitating Israeli-Palestinian peace. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags

Liberman suspends Israeli diplomats for Twitter criticism

Three Israeli diplomats have been suspended after criticizing the government on their personal Twitter accounts, revealing the despair felt by many of their colleagues vis-à-vis Israel's current foreign policy.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (C) meets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri in Cairo 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 500 lives. Dispatched by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Middle East to seek a ceasefire, Kerry held talks on Tuesday in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri. REU

US-Israel relationship at lowest point

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's acceptance of US House Speaker's invitation to speak is viewed by some as a direct affront to President Barack Obama's international domestic interests.

A US-made Apache Longbow helicopter flies in front of a control tower at Ramon Air Base in southern Israel. A U.S.-made Apache Longbow helicopter flies in front of a control tower during a presentation to the media at the Israeli Ramon Air Base in southern Israel April 10, 2005. REUTERS/Pawel Wolberg/Pool - RTR7PVR

Congress may re-examine special arms deals with Israel

The US policy of giving Israel a Qualitative Military Edge policy over its neighbors has been called into question now that they are fighting on the same side against the Islamic State.

Israeli Meretz party members Nitzan Horowitz (2nd from R), Zehava Galon (C) and Issawi Frej (c-L) take part in a visit of the "Al-Shuhada" street in the West Bank city of Hebron on February 25, 2014 in support of Palestinians who were forced out of the old quarter at the outset of the second Palestinian intifada by the Israeli army to allow for Jewish settlers to move securely in the area. Today also marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre of 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers by Jewish extremist Baruch Go

Zionist Camp, leftist Meretz battle over base

Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On is campaigning to preserve her party's constituency, which is turning toward the Zionist Camp list in hopes of an electoral upset.

The head of the Israel Police, Major General Yohanan Danino, attends the Interpol European Regional Conference on its opening day in Tel Aviv on May 9, 2012. Israel, which is hosting the May 8-10 Interpol European parley for the first time, joined the France-based organisation in 1949, a year after the foundation of the Jewish state, initially as part of the Asia region, where it is geographically located. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/GettyImages)

Sex scandals shake Israeli police

In the last 18 months, seven top Israeli police commanders have been forced to resign — four under sexual misconduct charges — leaving the police force shattered and leaderless.

Bedouins of the Jahalin tribe watch television at their encampment, al-Khan al-Ahmar, in the Judean desert close to the road between Jericho and Jerusalem June 16, 2012. Bedouin tents and wandering goats dot the barren hills on the drive from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea. But the Bedouin tradition is slowly dying out as Israel clears the camps to make way for expanding Jewish urban settlements. Picture taken June 16, 2012. To match Feature PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/BEDOUIN .REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (WEST BANK -

Israel's deadliest roads

Despite well-documented fatalities on roads in the Negev, successive Israeli governments have turned a blind eye, choosing instead to allocate funds to build and expand settlement infrastructure.

A general view of the Gaza Seaport March 30, 2011. Israel is considering building an artificial island with sea and air ports off blockaded Gaza, as a long-term solution to shipping goods into the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, the transport minister said. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS TRANSPORT) - RTR2KLWL

Hamas declares opening of Gaza seaport

Hamas is working to open and operate its Gaza seaport, especially since countries such as Turkey, Cyprus and Greece apparently have agreed to send and receive ships from Gaza.

Crushed plastic bottles are seen at a recycling centre in Paris May 4, 2011. The recycling centre, which is the first one in Paris, has a capacity to treat around 15000 tons of wastes per year. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer (FRANCE - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT) - RTR2LZ8C

'Bottlegate' and corruption rank low on Israel's political agenda

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to lead in polls despite the "Bottlegate" scandal surrounding his wife, suggesting that fighting corruption holds little importance in the eyes of the Israeli voter.

Palestinian workers participate in efforts to clear the rubble of a school, that witnesses said was destroyed by Israeli shelling during the most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the east of Gaza City, December 3, 2014. According to housing minister Mufeed al-Hasayna, Gaza needs 8,000 tonnes of cement a day to meet demand. A new system set up with the United Nations to comply with Israeli requirements lets through at most 2,000, he said. At that rate, reconstruction would take more than 30 years

Fate of Gazans is in Hamas' hands

The Hamas movement is at a decisive crossroads: either it relinquishes its military control and concentrates on rehabilitating the Gaza Strip or it risks destroying all of Gaza's residents.

Palestinians, hoping to cross into Egypt, climb a wall as policemen loyal to Hamas stand guard at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip January 20, 2015. Egyptian authorities opened Rafah crossing, Gaza's main window to the outside world, on Tuesday for three days, officials said. Egypt shut the crossing over violence with Islamist militants in Egypt's adjacent Sinai region last October. Since then, it opened the crossing partially and on a few occasions to allow thousands of Palestin

Israel reluctantly accepts Hamas rule

Israel has quietly changed its stance toward Gaza with a loosening of the blockade to improve the transfer of goods and movement of people in the hope of averting another explosion in the enclave.