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

Israel cover image

Israel

September 23, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:38 pm

26°C

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)

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

Israel's Central Elections Committee barred the Arab-majority Raam party, the Arab joint list party and two Arab politicians from participating in the Oct. 27 elections.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Why Netanyahu is distancing himself from Trump ahead of Israeli election

No meeting has been announced between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit in New York.

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

Gargash

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

"We need a new mindset that these sort of discussions ... can happen at an Iranian-American level, it should also take place at an Iranian-Arab level," Gargash told Al-Monitor.

United Arab Emirates

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron arrive to hold a joint press conference in Jerusalem, Oct. 24, 2023.

Analysis

After France's settlement ban, Israel sees no warming of ties with Macron government

Israeli diplomats say France’s decision to ban imports from West Bank settlements has brought bilateral relations to an unprecedented low point.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Latest News

Analysis

How Netanyahu is leveraging Houthi threat in secret Saudi normalization push

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on as he attends a trade agreement signature ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on August 24, 2026. (Photo by LOU BENOIST / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

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

Serbia opens factory to assemble Israeli-made drones: What to know

OLIVER BUNIC/AFP via Getty Images

Israel, Morocco agree to exchange ambassadors, open embassies

Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-9 'Dreamliner' aircraft

Culture

Israeli show ‘Fauda’ tops Netflix in Lebanon, hits top 10 across Arab states

ISRAEL-ENTERTAINMENT-TELEVISION-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT-MASS-MEDIA-D (L to R) Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, co-creators of the hit Israeli TV show "Fauda", attend a demonstration against the Israeli government's plans to shut-down public broadcaster KAN, in Israel's Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on January 25, 2023. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

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

Israel 2019, at the mercy of the Chief Rabbinate

The Haifa rabbinical court decided to take children out of their mother's custody, because the mother was not keeping a religious lifestyle.

Interview

Saudi Arabia still awaiting signs of ‘goodwill’ from Iran

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud talks about the "dramatic effect" of the September attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields, and says there will be no official Saudi contacts with Israel until the Palestinian issue is resolved.

Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud

Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud

Former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks during a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in the 1973 Middle East War at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC164B9F1A90

As indictment deadline approaches, Netanyahu panics

The perfect storm is approaching: Not only will Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit decide soon whether or not to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leaks from police questioning of Yair Netanyahu make the picture even darker.

PSAGOT, WEST BANK - JULY 24: Evangelical Christian volunteers harvest Chardonnay grapes for Psagot Winery in a vineyard on July 24, 2017 in the Israeli settlement of Psagot in the West Bank. In a trend that started in recent years, Israeli wineries have begun to harvest earlier in the season, a move winemakers attribute to record-hitting hot summer months causing their grapes to ripen sooner. Some wineries harvest at night in order to preserve the freshness of the grapes while others harvest at dawn and rus

Top Netanyahu donors’ West Bank winery seeks Trump’s help fighting EU

The Psagot winery has hired a former US ambassador to the EU to lobby against “settlement” labeling regulations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas casts his vote for municipal elections at a polling station in Al-Bireh, next to the West Bank city of Ramallah, October 20, 2012. REUTERS/Abbas Momami/Pool (WEST BANK - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) - GM1E8AK1G8301

Abbas conditions PA elections on polling stations in Jerusalem

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has made East Jerusalem polling stations a requirement for elections for the Palestinian Parliament.

Netanyahu’s Israel: Safe-haven for criminals

Israel’s ill repute for political corruption has an additional aspect: Capitalizing on their Jewish origins, criminals from other countries are finding a safe haven in Israel from law enforcement authorities abroad who prefer these criminals remain in Israel.

How to protect judges who would preside in Netanyahu case

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been loudly claiming that the police, the state prosecution and the attorney general have been persecuting him; he likely would try to undermine and even attack his judges if and when brought to trial.

Israel's far right advances conspiracy theory on Rabin’s murder

The statement by professor Mordechai Kedar about Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin not being assassinated by Yigal Amir should sound the alarm over the radicalization of the Israeli right wing and the proliferation of conspiracy theories.

Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party looks on during his party faction meeting at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem October 3, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC12E38F45B0

Is a minority government in Israel a real option?

The meeting between Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and Arab Joint List leader Ayman Odeh marks a historic change, even if it will probably not lead to a joint minority government.

An Israeli soldier walks near the area where the Israeli army is excavating part of a cliff to create an additional barrier along its border with Lebanon, near the community of Shlomi in northern Israel April 6, 2016. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Lieutenant-General Eli David, who serves as an engineering officer in a northern division, told Reuters on Wednesday that the army began work on the new barrier by exposing the cliff in January 2015, to help protect communities located close to the Lebanese border

Israel’s dilemma over its ‘war between wars’

Iran's transfer of its activity center from Syria to Lebanon and the American withdrawal from Syria have created for Israel a new, complex strategic challenge.

Israel's Oscars pick explores mind of Rabin's assassin

Nearly a quarter century after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was felled by an assassin’s bullet, a new film exploring his killer’s motives is generating controversy, and garnering acclaim, in Israel.

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders holds a campaign rally in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. October 27, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook - RC1F1686AC20

Sanders runs to left of J Street and 2020 opponents on aid to Israel

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is calling for broad conditions on US military aid to Israel as many of his opponents come out in favor of more limited restrictions.