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

Israel cover image

Israel

September 29, 2026

Tel Aviv 8:45 am

24°C

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

Smoke from Israeli shelling covers the Lebanese town of Al-Majidiyah (L) on the Lebanese border with Israel as the town of Al-Ghajar is seen on the right on January 28, 2015. Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack against a military convoy in an Israeli-occupied border area. AFP PHOTO / ALI DIA (Photo credit should read ALI DIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Hezbollah's tactical shift against Israel

Hezbollah is opening another front against Israel in the Golan Heights, where it can blame other organizations for possible escalations.

Issac Herzog (L), leader of Israel's Labour party, and former Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni shake hands after their joint news conference in Tel Aviv December 10, 2014. Livni and the center-left parliamentary opposition leader formed a joint election ticket on Wednesday that polls show could pose a serious challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March. REUTERS/Stringer (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4HICW

Israeli candidates offer shallow slogans on security

The escalation on Israel's northern border should have driven Israeli politicians to explain their specific security approaches, but most of them chose to repeat the usual deterrence slogans, without any reference to other diplomatic options.

A wounded Israeli soldier lies on a stretcher near Israel's border with Lebanon January 28, 2015. The threat of a full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah increased on Wednesday after the Lebanese militant group fired a missile at an Israeli army vehicle along the frontier and wounded seven soldiers, the biggest escalation since a 2006 war. REUTERS/JINIPIX (ISRAEL - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) ISRAEL OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN ISRAEL - RTR4NB95

Hezbollah answers Israeli attack

Al-Monitor reports on the ground from the site of Wednesday's confrontation.

Palestinian youths hold weapons during a military-style graduation ceremony after being trained at one of the Hamas-run Liberation Camps, in Gaza City January 29, 2015. Hamas's armed wing organized "Liberation Youths Camps" for young Palestinians aged between 15 and 21 to prepare them to "confront any possible Israeli attack", Hamas officials said. According to organizers, some 17,000 youths graduated from these camps. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4NFQZ

Al-Qassam youth training camps open again

The Vanguards of Liberation camps, previously organized under the supervision of the Education and Interior Ministries in Hamas-run Gaza, are now under the control of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which some think might be using the camps to recruit young men as fighters.

U.N. peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Kfar Kila village in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel, January 28, 2015. Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel that has raised the threat of a full-blown conflict between the militant Islamist group and Israel. REUTERS/Aziz Taher (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4NCBP

Israel shows restraint in Hezbollah retaliation

Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli patrol in Lebanon’s occupied Shebaa Farms was expected to break into an all-out war on Lebanon, but sources told Al-Monitor that Israel was asked not to engage in such a war.

Palestinians hold flags during a rally in support of a Gaza-bound flotilla, at the Gaza seaport July 3, 2011. The pro-Palestinian flotilla hopes to leave Greece early this week to challenge Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, organisers said on Saturday. The convoy of cargo and passenger boats was due to depart at least a week ago but has been held up amid allegations of sabotage sponsored by Israel. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR2OEST

Greece election result brings hope to Palestinians

President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement welcomed the victory of the Syriza Party in the Greek elections, which promised during its electoral campaign to work on recognizing the Palestinian state.

A man from the minority Yazidi sect stands guard at Mount Sinjar, in the town of Sinjar, December 20, 2014. Iraqi Kurdish fighters flashed victory signs as they swept across the northern side of Sinjar mountain on Saturday, two days after breaking through to free hundreds of Yazidis trapped there for months by Islamic State fighters. REUTERS/Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR4IV2I

Yazidis ask Israel for help

Desperate Yazidis are reaching out to Israel, asking for understanding and assistance, especially in the military domain for their fight 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

Could Meretz Party amass more Arab votes?

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Esawi Frij says that the strong tribal or family identity of Israeli Arabs will not necessarily encourage them to support the United Arab Party, opening the way to support leftist Meretz.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a cornerstone laying ceremony for a new neighbourhood in the southern town of Sderot January 28, 2015. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4NAB3

Netanyahu's Iranian boomerang

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of an agreement with Iran will result in Israel losing the support of its Western allies and in Iran being legitimized as a nuclear threshold state by its Arab neighbors.

Israeli pollsters struggle to keep pace with social media

Following the unexpected results of the 2013 elections, can Israeli pollsters grasp the socio-economic concerns of young Israelis expressed online?

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), speaks during a news conference about the new political relations between Iran and Egypt after the newly elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi was sworn in, at the Iranian embassy in Cairo June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3SWSY

Iran warned US of 'consequences' for killing general

Iran's deputy foreign minister has said that Iran told the United States that there will be "consequences" for Israel over the Jan. 18 killing of an Iranian general.

$30 Apr 1997: Eli Ohana of Israel in action during the World Cup Qualifier against Cyprus in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel won 2-0. \ Mandatory Credit: Mark Thompson /Allsport$

Who wants to be a Knesset member?

The political arena has lost its attractiveness for people of substantial public service and achievement, opening the stage for media celebrities, and even for the world of soccer.