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Israel

January 18, 2026

Tel Aviv 2:44 pm

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US President Donald Trump (R) greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 29, 2025.

Analysis

Israel 'frustrated' by Trump’s Iran backtrack, unsure if strategy or cold feet

Israeli leaders had hoped that the US president would order attacks to help topple the government in Tehran and perhaps target Supreme Leader Khamenei.

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

Retired Israeli General and Executive Director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Amos Yadlin attends a session at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Bahraini capital, on Dec. 5, 2020.

Interview

Yadlin: Israel’s regime-change goal in Iran remote without US 'boots on the ground'

The former head of Israel's military intelligence directorate told Al-Monitor that Israel must prepare itself for a possible Iranian response if the US follows through on its threat to hit the Islamic Republic.

Amos Yadlin

Amos Yadlin

Former head of Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate

Men pass by the destroyed Haifa Bakery in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, on Nov. 6, 2025.

US to launch Gaza governance plan amid Hamas disarmament doubts

US envoy Steve Witkoff warned that Hamas' failure to comply with the plan's next phase would "bring serious consequences."

Sheikh Hikmat Salman al-Hijri is pictured at Qanawat, the headquarters of the Druze spiritual presidency, on Dec. 28, 2024, in Suwayda, Syria.

Syria Druze leader Hijri calls for independent entity, says country ‘heading toward partition’

Controversial Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri, in Syria’s southern province of Suwayda, praised Israel as the only party he said intervened to stop the killing of Druze during a wave of unrest last summer.

Latest News

Analysis

Israel assesses Trump may opt for Iran strike despite protest crackdown

TEHRAN, IRAN - JANUARY 10: The heavily damaged Tax Affairs building is pictured on January 10, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Some areas of Tehran sustained heavy damage during ongoing protests that came to a head on January 8, amid a growing economic and political crisis sweeping the country. (Photo by Stringer/Getty Images)

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

Israel holds drills, prepares missile defenses for possible Iran attack: What to know

This picture shows a battery of Israel's Iron Dome air defence system in the southern city of Ashdod on May 12, 2023, as Israel's army and Gaza militants traded heavy cross-border fire. Israel and Gaza militants traded heavy fire today as hopes faded of securing a truce to end days of fighting that have killed dozens, all but one of them Palestinian. (Photo by Jack Guez / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

What Syria and Israel’s new communications cell really signals

Israel military vehicles drive along the border fence into Israel, near the town of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, on July 17, 2025. Syrian government forces have withdrawn from the whole of Sweida province after days of sectarian bloodshed in the heartland of the Druze minority, a war monitor and witnesses said July 17, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)

Rina Bassist

By Rosaleen Carroll , Rina Bassist

Interview

Gaza calm could revive East Med Forum, Israel-Jordan projects: Cohen

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen gives a press conference in Larnaca on December 20, 2023 talking about a humanitarian aid corridor from the Mediterranean island to war-torn Gaza. (Photo by Elisa AMOURET / AFP) (Photo by ELISA AMOURET/AFP via Getty Images)

Eli Cohen

Eli Cohen

Israeli Energy Minister

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

MAYA ALLERUZZO/AFP via Getty Images

Ousted Israeli minister still holds sway in Netanyahu's coalition

Until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds a way to reinstate Shas leader Aryeh Deri to his ministerial positions, the ousted minister will wield much of his influence from outside the government.

US army officers stands in front a US Patriot missile defence system during a joint Israeli-US military exercise "Juniper Cobra" at the Hatzor Airforce Base on March 8, 2018.

US, Israel kick off largest ever military exercise as Iran nuclear talks falter

As Iran turns to Russia for advanced fighter jets, the race is on to ensure the United States can actually stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — and to dissuade the new Israeli government from acting unilaterally.

A picture taken from the northern Israeli town of Metula near the border with Lebanon shows a member of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon talking with Israeli soldiers through the border fence, on the outskirts of the southern village of Kfarkila, Lebanon, Jan. 19, 2023.

Lebanon's army 'on alert' following border tension with Israel

The Lebanese army is on alert following rising tensions with Israeli forces at the border.

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Knesset member Aryeh Deri of the Shas party during a session to elect the new speaker of the assembly at its Plenum Hall, Jerusalem, Dec. 13, 2022.

Top Israeli court ruling forces Netanyahu to sack ally

The Supreme Court left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu little choice but to fire his longtime ally Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Jerusalem, Jan. 19, 2023.

Iran, expanding Abraham Accords top Netanyahu's meeting with Jake Sullivan

Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in a bid to coordinate positions on Iran and prepare for a trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Deri

Breaking | Last Updated: January 18, 2023, 3:33 pm

Protests in Israel as Supreme Court tells Netanyahu to fire minister

Hundreds of supportive Shas party members are gathered outside the home of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, calling to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that his prior convictions bar his appointment.

An undated image of Ronen Levy.

Analysis

Who is Ronen Levy, Shin Bet’s shadow man and Israel’s new foreign ministry chief?

Ronen Levy, previously known only as "Maoz," is emerging from his career as a shadowing intelligence figure and conduit to Arab leaders, to become director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Mazal Mualem

By Mazal Mualem

In Tel Aviv, reporting on politics

THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images

Israel approves $33 million for quantum computing consortium

Building on its technological knowhow and entrepreneurship, Israel hopes to become a major player in quantum computing.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Jordan envoy's visit to Temple Mount delayed by Israeli police

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry has summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman after its envoy in Israel was briefly prevented from entering the Temple Mount compound.

MAYA ALLERUZZO/AFP via Getty Images

Israel's new army chief Herzi Halevi forced to navigate multiple bosses, far-right whims

Israel's incoming IDF Chief of Staff Hezri Halevi will have to deal with the fallout from the whims of a new government run by Israel’s most right-wing, regressive and ultra-nationalist forces.

SERGIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images

Brazil’s Lula fires Israel ambassador as part of pro-Palestine shift

Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was a strong supporter of Israel and friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A man holds a sign with writing in Hebrew reading "we won't let you go back to the old days of the British Mandate" during a demonstration by lawyers against the Israeli government's controversial plans to overhaul the judicial system, outside the Tel Aviv District Court of Justice on January 12, 2023. (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel faces internal threat in Netanyahu’s judicial reforms

After warning from Israel’s top opposition leaders, President of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut warns that the Netanyahu government judicial reform could crush Israel’s democracy.