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Israel

May 15, 2026

Tel Aviv 7:13 am

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Israel's Netanyahu suing New York Times over column on Palestinian rape

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's accusations of systematic sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian prisoners, calling the claims a "blood libel."

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

Latest News

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

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.

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

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

Hamas backtracks on charter changes

Bellicose statements by some Hamas leaders appear to suggest the organizations' new leadership is tossing aside recent changes to its charter.

Can Meretz Party change Israeli left?

With Labor head Avi Gabbay veering to the right, Meretz faces both handicaps and opportunities leading the center-left political bloc.

Why Israel's ultra-Orthodox mainstream worries about its image

Leaders of the mainstream ultra-Orthodox community object to anti-draft demonstrations championed by an extreme ultra-Orthodox minority.

Are Netanyahu, Liberman pushing Israel to war?

Instead of Israel’s traditional discrete approach on retaliating fire from the north, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman are multiplying their provocative declarations.

Knife fight at the Knesset

President Reuven Rivlin dispensed with tradition in lamenting the loss of tradition in Israeli politics, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opted for an unstately tone at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session.

Why Netanyahu loses no sleep over European uproar

Though Israeli leftists may welcome eight European countries' demand that Israel repay them for destroyed and confiscated aid for Palestinians, they may be playing right into the prime minister's hands.

Can animated film sensitize Israelis to suffering in Gaza?

A human rights organization has produced a short animated film about a girl in a candy factory to explain the conditions in Gaza caused by the blockade.

Israel, US coordinated on settlement construction

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be able to walk between the raindrops by approving hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank without upsetting the Americans.

Can Netanyahu say 'no' to Trump?

Israeli right-wing ministers forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject a Palestinian reconciliation, even though the Trump administration is determined to support it.

Where is Israel's left heading?

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On and Labor chief Avi Gabbay are well-aware that the left camp is shrinking and are each taking actions in an attempt to change this.

Egypt key to Palestinian reconciliation

The future of Palestinian reconciliation depends more on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi than it does on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Past meets future at Jerusalem's Tower of David

The Digital Innovation Lab at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem aims to use augmented reality to create an enhanced visitor’s experience.