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

Israel cover image

Israel

May 14, 2026

Tel Aviv 5:24 pm

33°C

Artillery units are positioned near the Lebanese border in northern Israel, May 4, 2026.

Analysis

Israel’s drone dilemma: Hezbollah’s low-cost threat reshapes Lebanon front

While Israeli and Lebanese delegations are set to meet in Washington for the third time, the Israeli military faces a growing threat from Hezbollah’s cheap yet highly lethal drones.

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

Two men stand next to the burned remains of a Palestinian vehicle in the Wadi al-Rakhim area of Susya village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 1, 2026.

EU ministers agree to sanction violent West Bank settlers: What to know

European foreign ministers have agreed to sanction extremist West Bank settlers, but are still discussing the list of names.

Latest News

Netanyahu fears being left out as Trump pursues Iran diplomacy

Ronen Zvulun / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

CIA report on Iran missiles undercuts Netanyahu as war euphoria dissipates

Traffic passes a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service, with text in Arabic reading "the honest [person's] promise" and in Persian "Israel is weaker than a spider's web," Valiasr Square, Tehran, April 15, 2024. ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images.

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

Israel strikes Beirut in breach of Lebanon ceasefire

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs neighborhood of Haret Hreik on May 6, 2026.

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

Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman speaks at the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 19, 2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle - LR1ED2J0TAV4F

Liberman, politics and the death penalty

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing possible criminal indictment, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has introduced legislation allowing the death penalty for terrorism convictions to strengthen his own political standing in case of elections.

Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade take part in a military training exercise in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near the border with Syria on January 19, 2015. Iran confirmed today that a general of its elite Revolutionary Guards died in an Israeli strike on Syria that also killed six members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo credit should read JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Israel adapts to changing strategic reality in Mideast

The Israel Defense Forces believe that excellent intelligence capabilities will determine the fate of Israel’s next war.

No end in sight for Israel's political divide in 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's survival strategy has always been to drive a wedge between the right and the left, and we can expect more of the same in 2018.

Moscow mulls scenarios as Mideast mediator

The United States recently riled up the Middle East with its pronouncement on Jerusalem, giving Russia an opportunity to quietly step up its work in the background on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

A boy wearing a Santa Claus costume attends a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the northern town of Nazareth, the town of Jesus' boyhood, December 12, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION) - GM1E8CD0CSI01

Nazareth celebrates Christmas without usual glitter

Popular Nazareth Mayor Ali Salam first canceled, then uncanceled, the Christmas festivities at Nazareth, the city known as Jesus’ hometown, in response to Trump's Jerusalem declaration. While the festivities went on as usual, very few people joined the celebration.

Palestinian children look out through a bus window as they wait with their family to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing after it was opened by Egyptian authorities for humanitarian cases, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 27, 2017. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RC1E970E29C0

Children bear traumatic costs of Israeli-Palestinian gambits

Both Israeli and Palestinian children are paying a high price in lifelong trauma for politicians' violent and careless promises.

Abbas not adopting Turkish rage against US

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas consults Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan leaders concerning the Jerusalem proclamation crisis.

US, Israel isolated as UN votes in defiance of Trump on Jerusalem

The overwhelming vote at the UN General Assembly meeting against the US move on Jerusalem will not bring peace any closer, but it does restore a sense of integrity to the world body.

Why Hamas is offering Abbas Gaza on a silver platter

Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, admits that the movement has failed at managing the Gaza Strip.

Jordan-Israel ties languish in wake of Trump’s Jerusalem move

US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the US Embassy there has added a new twist to the already strained relations between Israel and Jordan.

Israeli right wing joins anti-corruption battle

Several members of the right-wing camp have recently joined the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is suspected of corruption.

How Israel enables discrimination against ultra-Orthodox women

Those praising Israeli democracy must remember that women are constantly discriminated against by ultra-Orthodox parties that are part of the ruling coalition.