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Israel

May 20, 2026

Tel Aviv 3:12 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

Latest News

What we know about secret Israeli bases in Iraq

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.

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

Members of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas survey a Hamas site after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip August 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa - RTX2MINM

Israel's defense minister sets out on his own path in battle against Hamas

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's carrot-and-stick plan for the West Bank and strong retaliation against Gaza rocket fire reflect an effort to set himself apart from his predecessor, Moshe Ya'alon.

Former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak and his wife Nili Priel arrive for the TIME 100 Gala in New York April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid - RTX19QSX

Why some think this former Israeli PM is planning a comeback

Accusations by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be part of Barak's political comeback strategy.

Arabs stand in Iqrit, northern Israel, May 10, 2008, as part of an annual pilgrimage to a village whose residents were ordered out by Jewish fighters during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The villagers, Arab citizens of Israel, have long demanded a right to return to the site to live. The visit coincided with Palestinian commemorations of the 1948 ?Nakba? or ?Catastrophe?, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes in what is now Israel. Picture taken May 10, 2008. REUTER

Knesset plans lobby for return of Palestinians to their villages

An effort to create a majority lobby to force the Israeli government to allow Palestinian citizens of Israel to return to their villages is being advocated.

An Israeli soldier uses his binoculars as he looks towards the northern part of the Israeli Gaza border in southern Israel January 13, 2016. An Israeli aircraft attacked a group of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday who the military said planned to detonate a bomb at the border with Israel, and a Palestinian militant faction said one of its men was killed. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTX227Q4

Is Israel planning all-out war on Hamas?

There has been a lot of talk lately about Israel launching one last war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to annihilate the group, and Hamas is preparing for this possibility.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen on monitors before the evening news bulletin at Channel 10's control room in Jerusalem November 18, 2015. Critics say Netanyahu, known as "Bibi," is hitting the wrong note when it comes to the media, weakening press freedom and holding sway over TV broadcasters in a country that bills itself as the Middle East's only true democracy. Picture taken November 18, 2015. To match Insight ISRAEL-NETANYAHU/MEDIA REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX1VG1F

Why are so few Arabs interviewed on Israeli TV?

Published ratings tracking the number of Israeli Arab interviewees on Israeli TV has got the media's attention.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (L) and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault attend a news conference in Paris, France, April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen - RTX2B772

Is EU giving up on Israel-Palestine conflict?

With the US preoccupied by elections, Egypt not committed, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas politically weak and Israel reluctant, the European Union is about to give up on the two-state solution process.

Students wearing costumes sits on a bench next to an elderly man during a parade for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim outside the Bialik Rogozin school in Tel Aviv March 3, 2015. At Bialik Rogozin, children of migrant workers and refugees are educated alongside native Israelis. Purim is a celebration of the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY EDUCATION) - RTR4RVY9

Israeli defense minister's next target: refugee children

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has ordered IDF soldiers to cease volunteering at kindergartens for refugee children.

Israeli booksellers uncover ‘grandpa and grandma’s Tinder’

The owners of a Tel Aviv bookshop are tracking down the clients of a matchmaker from the 40s and the 50s, whose romantic and nostalgic stories are captivating young Israelis.

A construction site is seen in Pisgat Zeev (R), an urban settlement in an area Israel annexed to Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, as the Shuafat refugee camp (rear) in the West Bank is seen behind a section of the controversial Israeli barrier, July 28, 2013. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged divided rightists in his cabinet to approve the release of 104 Arab prisoners in order to restart peace talk with the Palestinians. The prisoner release would allow Netanyahu to

Arab Jerusalemites priced out of own neighborhoods

Israel's policy of restricting Palestinian growth while encouraging Israelis to settle in Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods has always made it hard for the city's Arab population to find decent and affordable homes, and things are worse than ever.

A Hezbollah supporter shows off a picture of Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on her phone during a rally marking the 10th anniversary of the end of Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon August 13, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher - RTX2KKE3

Why Hezbollah won't open all-out front against Israel

Israel's arrest of activists recruited by Hezbollah through Facebook reflects the organization's current strategy of encouraging attacks in Israel orchestrated from afar.

Palestinians take part in a protest to demand Israel to return the dead bodies of Palestinians who allegedly stabbed Israelis in the West Bank city of Hebron November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RTS6BH6

Can release of Palestinians' bodies quell tensions?

Israel has decided to release the bodies of deceased Palestinian assailants to their families to avoid an escalation of already heightened tensions.

Palestinian women votes in the West Bank village of Bani Naim May 5, 2005. Palestinians voted on Thursday in municipal elections likely to strengthen Islamist faction Hamas against President Mahmoud Abbas's troubled Fatah movement and hint at the outcome of a planned parliamentary ballot. REUTERS/Ammar Awad AWA/GOT - RTRA7PE

Will Palestinian municipal elections increase tension with Israel?

Israel might be confronted in October with a new reality, where Hamas takes over some West Bank municipalities.