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June 21, 2026

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Former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot gives a press conference in Tel Aviv, on December 4, 2018.

Can political novice Eisenkot defeat Netanyahu in upcoming elections?

The former military chief of staff is emerging as the prime minister's strongest rival in upcoming elections, overtaking former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in recent polls.

US President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Florida, Dec. 29, 2025.

Analysis

How Netanyahu used Lebanon strikes to push back on Trump’s Iran deal

The latest ceasefire in Lebanon leaves Netanyahu squeezed between Washington and domestic pressure.

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

Latest News

'Let Syria take care of Hezbollah': Trump criticizes Israel, leans on Sharaa to help in Lebanon

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the G7 summit, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries convened in Evian, France, near the Swiss border, for their annual summit to discuss challenges to peace and security for Ukraine and Europe, the situation in the Middle East, and other geopolitical issues. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Get

Explainer

Ben-Gvir's move to run separately in Israel elections revives debate over party alliances

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir takes part in the Jerusalem Day celebrations on May 14, 2026, in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Analysis

'He knew it was over': Inside Netanyahu’s response to Trump’s Iran deal as Israel recalibrates

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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

Analysis

Erdogan-Netanyahu war of words signals deeper rivalry for regional influence

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Turkish House in New York on Sept. 19, 2023.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

An Israeli policeman surveys a building damaged from a Palestinian mortar salvo in a community outside the central Gaza Strip August 21, 2014. Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in an air strike on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the clearest signal yet that Israel is intent on eliminating the group's military leadership after a failed attempt on the life of its top commander this week. After six weeks of conflict in which more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them civilians, Israeli a

After Gaza, Israel sees new type of war, diplomacy

A changing Middle East reality confronts the Israel Defense Forces with new fighting methods and targets while diplomatic opportunities have emerged with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor (L) during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem January 17, 2010. REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR28YSN

Meridor: Israelis will back diplomatic initiative

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Likud Minister Dan Meridor contends that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes the diplomatic route instead of the status quo, 70% of the Israelis will back him.

Hamas Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh holds a gun as he appears for the first time since the start of a seven-week conflict during a rally by Palestinians celebrating what they said was a victory over Israel, in Gaza City August 27, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in Israel over a costly conflict with Palestinian militants in which no clear victor emerged. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT

Zahar, Haniyeh pressured Meshaal into cease-fire

The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas signals the opening of a great battle over the movement's leadership, between Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal in Qatar and Gaza leaders such as Mahmoud al-Zahar.

Protesters chant during a pro-Gaza demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in London August 1, 2014. Israel launched its Gaza offensive on July 8 in response to a surge of rocket attacks by Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists. Hamas said that Palestinians would continue confronting Israel until its blockade on Gaza was lifted. REUTERS/Neil Hall (BRITAIN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR40YDH

Anti-Israelism, not anti-Semitism, voiced in Europe

Does the sometimes virulent criticism of Israel in Europe, and around the world, reflect a rise in anti-Semitism or anti-Israelism?

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv August 10, 2014. Israel said on Sunday it would not return to Egyptian-mediated ceasefire talks as long as Palestinian militants in Gaza kept up cross-border rocket and mortar fire. The head of the Palestinian delegation in Cairo said earlier that it would pull out unless Israeli negotiators, who flew home from the Egyptian capital on Friday hours before a three-day ceasefire expired, came back to the talks. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Was Bibi's image damaged by cease-fire agreement?

The Israeli public does not seem convinced by declarations that the cease-fire agreement is an achievement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a defeat for Hamas.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23, 2014. Meshaal said he was ready to accept a humanitarian truce in Gaza where the Islamist group is fighting an Israeli military offensive, but would not agree to a full ceasefire until the terms had been negotiated. REUTERS/Stringer (QATAR - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR3ZVT6

No winners in Israel-Hamas cease-fire

To justify the deaths and devastation in Gaza, Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal needed an achievement, and so did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose approval ratings continue to drop from one week to the next.

Gila (R) and Doron, the parents of four-year-old Israeli boy Daniel Tregerman, sit on a bench before his funeral in a cemetery near the border with the Gaza Strip August 24, 2014. Tregerman was killed by a mortar attack from Gaza on Friday, the first Israeli child to die in the six-week conflict. Egypt called on Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to halt hostilities and return to talks. But there was no sign that negotiations, last held before a ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday, would resume any time soo

Israelis near Gaza again feel abandoned by their government

Despite evacuation plans elaborated two years ago, Israel has not decided to evacuate the residents near Gaza, who have come to feel that no one in the government assumes responsibility for their safety, while the government allocated huge resources for the West Bank settlers.

Despite reconciliation, Abbas in no position to negotiate for Hamas

With Israel ignoring his efforts and Hamas trying to topple him, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may issue a desperate ultimatum for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.

Smoke and sand are seen following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza August 25, 2014. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Palestinian civilians on Sunday to leave immediately any site where militants are operating, one day after Israel flattened a 13-storey apartment block in Gaza. Palestinian health officials say 2,115 people, most of them civilians and more than 400 of them children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with th

War of attrition pointless in Gaza

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Hamas with a war of attrition, he ignored that in such a war the winner is not the strongest army, but the side that has the least to lose.

New prefabricated homes are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, near Nablus May 7, 2014. Israeli lawmakers are pressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lift what they call unjustified secrecy over opaque - and rising - funding for settlements on West Bank land Palestinians want for a state. Picture taken May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT REAL ESTATE) - RTR3VEE5

Israel-Palestine, a binational state in the making

A formula for a binational state is de facto being implemented as undeclared policy by Israel, and the Palestinians are preparing for a binational state process.

A picture of Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli, who was killed Wednesday in an explosion in Gaza, is seen during his funeral ceremony at the Pitigliano Cathedral in Tuscany, August 15, 2014. Camilli, 35, a video journalist working for the Associated Press, was the first international journalist killed in the latest Gaza conflict. REUTERS/Riccardo De Luca/Pool (ITALY - Tags: MEDIA POLITICS OBITUARY CONFLICT) - RTR42L2M

Unexploded Israeli ordnance creates more danger for Gazans

An Israeli ordnance exploded on Aug. 13, killing six people, including an Associated Press journalist, highlighting the serious danger Israel’s war remnants pose to the local population.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) stands with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (R) and Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem January 21, 2013. Netanyahu made an election eve appeal to wavering supporters to "come home", showing concern over a forecast far-right surge that would keep him in power but weaken him politically. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3CQJU

Bibi faces challengers for prime minister position

A fresh change in Israeli politics emerges through five potential prime ministers, proposing challenging visions to the Israeli public, and some already campaigning by their growing criticism on the Gaza war and its handling by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.