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Israel

May 19, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:48 pm

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NICOSIA, CYPRUS - APRIL 24: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrives for an informal meeting of European Union leaders on April 24, 2026 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The EU heads of state and government are meeting over two days to discuss the conflict in Iran and the Middle East, including freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the effects of high fuel prices, and how Europe may contribute to de-escalation and a peace agreement. (Photo by Byron Smith/Getty Images)

Syria's Sharaa renews ban on Israeli imports in customs law: What to know

The renewal comes even as Damascus pursues US-backed security talks with Israel aimed at reducing tensions along the border.

Somaliland’s first ambassador to a foreign country formally, Mohamed Hagi, presented his diplomatic credentials in Jerusalem to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, on May 18, 2026.

Somaliland's first ambassador to Israel announces embassy in Jerusalem: What to know

Israel was the first country to recognize the breakaway region on the Horn of Africa last year.

A bride and group couple rides in a military jeep arriving for a public mass wedding ceremony at Imam Hossein Square in Tehran on May 18, 2026. Iran said on May 18 that it had responded to a new US proposal aimed at ending the war, adding that diplomatic exchanges continue despite Iranian media reports describing Washington's demands as excessive. Washington and Tehran have been swapping proposals in an effort to end the conflict which the US and Israel launched on February 28, but they have held only a sin

Analysis

Israel pushes for full Iran blockade as it awaits Trump's next move

Israel’s preferred strategy, sources told Al-Monitor, calls for a comprehensive naval, economic, land and air blockade of Iran, alongside tighter sanctions and covert activity aimed at destabilizing the regime.

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

Men gather around the husk of a destroyed pickup truck that was driven by a local shepherd who was reportedly struck by Israeli forces and buried by locals at a grave nearby, in the Najaf desert in southwestern Iraq, on May 12, 2026.

What we know about secret Israeli bases in Iraq

Iraqi authorities have said there are no longer any hostile forces operating in its territory.

Latest News

Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extended 45 days as US opens security talks

talks

Analysis

‘A reckless act’: Netanyahu sparks UAE fury by claiming secret visit

US President Donald Trump talks to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he departs the Al Bateen Executive Airport on May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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

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

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

People take part in a rally, the closing event of the March of Hope, a 2-week-long event organised by Women Wage Peace, a non-political movement calling for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and women's participation in such a solution, outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem October 19, 2016. REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX2PJST

Why the March of Hope inspired few Israeli politicians

Many Israeli politicians chose to ignore the March of Hope for fear of being branded "leftist," although participants spanned the spectrum.

A Palestinian woman collects barley during harvest on a farm in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX2BJRS

Gaza agriculture on brink of collapse

With new Israeli encroachment in the name of security and restrictions on the importation of chemicals and fertilizers, even more of Gaza's farmers are being forced to abandon their lands despite a near-total lack of other employment options.

A Palestinian supporter of former head of Fatah in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, holds a poster depicting Dahlan during a protest against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City December 18, 2014. Dahlan, who lives in exile in the Gulf, is a powerful political foe of Abbas.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR4IJ7B

Will these Palestinian and Israeli leaders achieve peace?

A re-entry into politics of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan could bring about pragmatic moves towards a two-state solution.

Haim Saban (R) and Cheryl Saban (L) arrive for a State Dinner honoring Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the White House in Washington October 18, 2016. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan - RTX2PFE5

The American billionaires influencing Israeli policy

Israeli-born American billionaires like Haim Saban and Dr. Miriam Adelson influence Israeli politics and the fate of the country, without assuming the consequences.

Frecha Amar, 84, from a Moroccan descent, poses with a picture of her baby, who she says was abducted in 1958, on June 29, 2016 at her home in Kfar Chabad, near Tel-Aviv.
Amar is one of the thousands of Israelis, mainly from Jewish Yemenite families, who claim their babies were abducted more than 60 years ago and handed to adoption. Such stories of babies from immigrant families disappearing have been told in Israel for decades, but growing calls to unseal official documents on the allegations mean new lig

Do DNA samples hold key to Israel's missing children mystery?

As one Likud minister combs through long-classified documents, another Knesset member is advancing a DNA collection project that could shed light on the six-decades-old mystery of missing Yemenite children, but it's a race against time as their parents age.

Palestinian official Mustafa Barghouti, speaks to reporters during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah on June 24, 2015, on the file being prepared for the International Criminal Court (ICC) providing proof of what Palestinian authorities say are Israeli crimes committed against Palestinians. AFP PHOTO / ABBAS MOMANI (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Abbas' former opponent speaks out on postponed elections

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti wants to see agreement between Fatah and Hamas and local elections held in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Israeli left wing demonstrators march holding placards protesting the right wing incitement against President Reuven Rivlin and human rights activists in Tel Aviv. December 19, 2015. An ultra-nationalist Israeli group has published a video accusing the heads of four of Israel's leading human rights organisations of being foreign agents funded by Europe and supporting Palestinians "involved in terrorism". The sign (C) reads, "The right will not silence me." REUTERS/Baz Ratner - RTX1ZETU

Why human rights NGOs are losing support of Israeli public

Human rights nongovernmental organizations are confronted by an increasingly difficult battle over Israeli public opinion, which often considers them illegitimate or hostile as they criticize the elected government.

United Nations cultural organization UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria speaks during a debate in the United Nations General Assembly between candidates vying to be the next U.N. Secretary General at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar - RTSHN99

UNESCO head's attempt to ease Israeli outrage backfires

An attempt by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova to ease Israeli anger over a recent resolution has infuriated Palestinians.

Why Israelis flock to small tomb in Nablus at night

Despite the fact that Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus has been the site of recurring clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews keep coming to the site for nocturnal prayers.

Temporary houses (front) are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ofra, north of Ramallah July 18, 2013. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which have ebbed and flowed for two decades, last broke down in late 2010, after a partial settlement halt meant to foster talks ended and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend it. Palestinians familiar with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' thinking speculated he might now forgo the demand for a settlement moratorium given

More Palestinian lands threatened with confiscation

Sixty percent of Palestinian lands in the West Bank risk confiscation by Israeli authorities under the absentee property and abandoned lands laws, which some Palestinian activists say were issued with the aim to expand Israeli settlements.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man stands at a view-point overlooking a wooden ramp (C) leading up from Judaism's Western Wall to the sacred compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, where the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand, in Jerusalem's Old City December 12, 2011. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo - RTSS5BJ

Netanyahu faces off against UNESCO over Jerusalem resolution

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers to ignore the fact that from a diplomatic-international standpoint, the Jewish holy sites in the Old City are under occupation.

Why Israeli NGO’s UN testimony against occupation backfired

The decision by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem to testify to the UN Security Council against the occupation has weakened its own camp and played into the hands of the Israeli right.