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Israel

June 22, 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

Supporters of Beitar Jerusalem cheer for their team during a soccer match against Maccabi Umm el-Fahm at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem January 29, 2013. Hundreds of police officers and stewards secured the Israeli State Cup match on Tuesday in which Premier League Beitar Jerusalem, supported by a group of vehement anti-Arab fans, host Arab side Maccabi Umm el-Fahm. A racist element among Beitar fans caused uproar in the Jewish state on Saturday when they held up banners during a Premier League match to protest

Israel’s soft stance on incitement creates tragedy

Hate of Israeli Arabs has reached a peak with the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, reflecting the tolerance of Israeli society toward words and deeds of extreme-right activists.

Palestinian women watch from a rooftop as the body of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair is carried during his funeral in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 4, 2014. Palestinians infuriated at the kidnap and killing of Abu Khudair they blame on far-right Jews, clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem on Friday, while cross-border shelling in the Gaza Strip abated under Egyptian mediation. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY) - RTR3X41S

Will Palestinian unity fall victim to crisis over murders?

Al-Monitor’s Israel and Palestine Pulses cover the escalating crisis over the murder of three Israeli youths and a Palestinian teenager.

Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) chairman Yair Shamir talks during a press conference along with Spanish technology company Indra head of the operations Joaquin Uguet, French electronics firm Thales chairman Denis Ranque and France's Dassault Aviation chairman Charles Edelstenne in Paris June 6, 2008. Dassault Aviation, Thales and Indra signed on May 28, 2008 an industriel agreement covering Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance activities. The companies submitted an offer to the French

Minister Shamir criticizes Netanyahu inaction on Gaza

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir criticizes the government’s inactivity on Gaza whether militarily or diplomatically: “Hours and hours of Cabinet meetings without decisions, while the rockets from Gaza keep coming.”

A Palestinian stone-thrower takes cover behind a street pole during clashes with Israeli police in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem, July 3, 2014. Israel faced a second day of violent Palestinian protests in Jerusalem on Thursday after the discovery of the body of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy on Wednesday in a forest near the city. Police clashed with a few dozen stone-throwing Palestinians in Shuafat, but the violence was on a much smaller scale than on Wednesday. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags:

Israel misreads Hamas and Palestinians' will to attack

Despite Israeli assessments to the contrary, Hamas proved quite willing to step up rocket attacks, and the Palestinian street was more than ready for riot and revolt.

Hamas' armed wing spokesman speaks during a news conference in Gaza City July 3, 2014. The spokesman said Israel was breaking the 2012 ceasefire agreement and the group would act according to developments on the ground. He said Israel would pay a heavy price in any upcoming war. Israel said on Thursday it was beefing up its forces along its frontier with the Gaza Strip, in what it called a defensive deployment in response to persistent Palestinian cross-border rocket attacks. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA -

Hamas denies link to murders of Israeli students

A senior Palestinian officer working on the case of the murdered Israeli settlers said it was likely that they were killed shortly after being kidnapped.

Israeli social media becomes venue for incitement

The murder of the three Israeli youths has led extremist groups to call for revenge over social media.

Bedouin take part in land raffle in Israeli town Yeruham

The organizers of the land plot raffle for the new Yeruham neighborhood did not expect to receive applications from central residents hoping to relocate to the south nor from neighboring Bedouins.

Israelis attend the joint funeral of three Israeli teens, Gil-Ad Shaer, U.S.-Israeli national Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, who were abducted and killed in the occupied West Bank, in the Israeli city of Modi'in July 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of mourners joined in an outpouring of national grief on Tuesday at the burial of three Israeli teenagers whose kidnapping and killing Israel blamed on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The Islamist group has neither confirmed nor denied involveme

Was Israeli public misled on abductions?

A full recording of one of the murdered youth's emergency call to Israeli police has led to speculation that Israeli government leaders believed the students were murdered soon after their kidnapping.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood party chief Saad al-Katatni (L) meets with Palestinian Hamas member Bassem Naim after his arrival through the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Said Khatib/Pool (GAZA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3AM7C

Hamas committed to unity deal despite Israeli pressure

Hamas believes Israel is trying to exploit the murders of three settlers in the West Bank to destroy the Palestinian reconciliation deal.

A Palestinian prepares to hurl a stone as he stands in a cloud of smoke from tyres set ablaze during clashes with Israeli police in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 2, 2014. The discovery of a body in a Jerusalem forest on Wednesday raised suspicions that a missing Palestinian youth had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens. Rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem after the news, but no serious injuries were reported. REUTERS/Baz Ratn

Palestinian unity may not survive fallout from Israeli youth murders

Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders are warning the reconciliation deal might collapse, as pressure from Israel mounts after the death of three Israeli teen settlers.

Undated file picture of three Hamas militants Ahmad Bader (L) Basel
Qawasmeh (C) and I'zzedin Misk (R). Basel Qawasmeh was killed September
22, 2003, during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city
Hebron while Ahmed Bader and I'zzedin Misk were killed on September 9,
2003. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun REUTERS

EG/NH - RTR3CT5

Hebron branch of rogue Hamas wing has dark history

The abduction and killing of the three Israeli students is not the first terrorist incident associated with the Hebron-based group.

JERUSALEM:Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh shows journalists in Jerusalem 19 March 2000 the planned Israeli withdrawal from 6.1 percent of the occupied territoris in the West Bank. The Israeli cabinet approved earlier in the day the long-due handover of land to full Palestinian control. (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

ISIS should be catalyst for new Middle East alliance

The author, who served as a minister in several Israeli governments and as a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces, makes the case for an Israel-Saudi Arabia-Egypt alliance, anchored in an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.