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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

In shadow of war, Israel starts to return to normal

The fraught mood that characterized Israeli society since the abduction of the three teens and throughout this war seems to be dying down, with Jews returning to the Arab towns and social media interactions becoming more moderate again.

A photo taken on September 29, 2011 shows US freelance reporter James Foley resting in a room at the airport of Sirte, Libya. Foley was kidnapped in war-torn Syria six weeks ago and has been missing since, his family revealed on January 2, 2013. Foley, 39, an experienced war reporter who has covered other conflicts, was seized by armed men in the town of Taftanaz in the northern province of Idlib on November 22, according to witnesses. The reporter contributed videos to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in recent

When will the US, Europe wake up to the threat of radical Islam?

With the murder of James Foley the West starts understanding the danger of radical Islam, internalized already by Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and even by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A Palestinian firefighter participates in efforts to put out a fire at Gaza's main power plant, which witnesses said was hit in Israeli shelling, in the central Gaza Strip July 29, 2014. Israeli tank fire hit the fuel depot of the Gaza Strip's only power plant on Tuesday, witnesses said, cutting electricity to Gaza City and many other parts of the Palestinian enclave of 1.8 million people.An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment and said she was checking the report. Israel launched its Gaza

To stop Hamas, Israel should cut electricity and supplies to Gaza

If Israel still wishes to regain its deterrence vis-a-vis Hamas without entering Gaza, it will be left with one option only: shutting off Gaza electricity and closing the crossing points to the 400 daily supply trucks entering the Strip.

A Palestinian man selling fruits and vegetables reads a copy of a pro-Hamas newspaper, Palestine, at a market in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 10, 2014. The Palestinian authority had allowed the distribution of the pro-Hamas Palestine newspaper in the West Bank on Saturday after the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday it had relaxed a ban on Palestinian newspapers published outside the enclave as a gesture of reconciliation to rival group Fatah after their unity deal last month. RE

Sales of Israeli goods in West Bank down 50% due to boycott

Palestinian businesses are seeing a spike in activity as locals are increasingly searching for Palestinian alternatives to Israeli products.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend an event about the Middle East peace talks in the East Room at the White House in Washington September 1, 2010. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR2HTCQ

Did Bibi choose to preserve Hamas to avoid talks with Abbas?

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Knesset member Israel Hasson, a former deputy head of Shin Bet, charges that Prime Minister Netanyahu has chosen to preserve Hamas as part of a strategy to keep Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas weak and unable to negotiate.

An Israeli border police officer speaks with a Palestinian man as he waits to cross into Jerusalem to attend the first Friday prayer of Ramadan in al-Aqsa mosque, at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah July 4, 2014. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR3X1TV

Israel must end Gaza-West Bank separation policy

The failure of the current talks with Hamas emphasize the urgent need for Israel to end its ''separation policy'' of isolating Gaza from the West Bank.

A Palestinian fighter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, is seen inside an underground tunnel in Gaza August 18, 2014. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel's claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group's border infiltration tunnels in the Gaza war. Picture taken August 18, 2014. To match Exclusive MIDEAST-GAZA/TUNNELS REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags:

The new Gaza state

Hamas soon can pride itself on imposing an agreement on Israel, which actually opens the way for a future Gaza state — when in fact it only is obtaining what was reasonable to give the Gazans many years ago.

A worker walks through the vineyard of the Golan Heights Winery in the northern Israeli village of Merom Golan August 20, 2006. The harvest began on August 16 -- two days after the guns fell silent following a conflict in which Israeli troops pushed into south Lebanon and Hizbollah rockets rained on northern Israel. Israel's best grapes, all the experts agree, come from the north where the shelling and rocket fire were heaviest. To match feature LIFE-ISRAEL-WINE REUTERS/Yonathan Weitzman (ISRAEL) - RTR1GJ9

Israel lost on all fronts of the Gaza war

Not only did Israel lose its deterrence edge against Hamas, it also severely exposed its frayed ties with the US and the international community and faces a more comprehensive European boycott of settlement products.

Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid (L) inspects the damage inside a house following a rocket attack by militants from the Gaza Strip on the southern Israeli town of Sderot, on July 21, 2014. More than 10 militants from Gaza were shot dead after infiltrating southern Israel, the army's official spokesman said, as the UN Security Council called for an "immediate ceasefire" as Israel pressed on with a blistering assault on Gaza on Monday taking the Palestinian death toll above 500. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ

Lapid tries to become a statesman

The Gaza war tampered with Finance Minister Yair Lapid's plan to pass a bill on housing prices, but did not delay his initiative for a regional conference.

A Palestinian woman, hoping to cross into Egypt, cries as she waits with others at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip August 12, 2014. Under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Cairo has secured closures on the Gaza border, increasing economic pressure on Hamas from a long-running Israeli blockade. Talks to end a month-long war between Israel and Islamist militants in Gaza have made no progress so far, an Israeli official said on Tuesday, as a 72-hour ceasefire in the shattere

Rafah crossing used as a bargaining chip in Gaza crisis

The economic and humanitarian interests of the people of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula are relegated to the political game that will determine whether the Rafah crossing is reopened or not.

A man holds up a flag during a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square August 16, 2014. The protesters were demonstrating in favour of a peaceful political agreement, to end the month-long conflict in Gaza, between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR42O64

Stuck in the '90s: Israel’s peace camp is losing public interest

After weeks of rocket fire, the Israeli public, including many in the left, feel that the peace camp has no adequate proposals and can offer no updated paradigm for a diplomatic solution.

Fishing boats are seen at Gaza Seaport in Gaza City November 24, 2012. Israel eased restrictions on Gaza fishermen on Saturday, further implementing a three-day-old truce brokered by Egypt after a week of fierce fighting, Palestinian officials said. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTR3ATKD

Gaza cease-fire talks hit snag over sea, air ports

Egypt has proposed that discussions of sea and air ports for Gaza be postponed until September, a move that is unlikely to receive a warm response from Hamas.