Israel - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Israel cover image

Israel

June 22, 2026

Tel Aviv 11:29 am

30°C

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

Palestinians sit outside their house as Israeli soldiers patrol near the West Bank City of Hebron June 15, 2014. Israel said on Sunday Hamas militants had abducted three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank, warning of "serious consequences" as it pressed on with a search and detained dozens of Palestinians. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR3TVDN

Would Israel cut a deal with Hamas for kidnapped students?

Contrary to the Gilad Shalit kidnapping, when 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, the right-wing community of the current kidnapped might not be ready to cut such a deal or give up land to bring the children home.

Iris and Uri Yifrah (foreground), Bat-Galim Shaer (back L), and Avi Fraenkel (back R), the respective parents of missing Israeli teens Eyal, Gil-Ad and Naftali, walk outside the Shaer family home in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Talmon June 23, 2014. Israel's army said it detained another 37 Palestinians overnight as it searched for the three missing teenagers and extended a crackdown on the Hamas Islamist group it accuses of kidnapping them. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (WEST BANK - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POL

Mothers of kidnapped Israelis get cold shoulder at UN

After speaking at the UN Human Rights Council, the mother of one of the kidnapped Israeli students lamented, "The world is indifferent; it does not heed our cries."

Ultra Orthodox students attend a religious studies class at Kehilot Yaacov Torah School for boys in Ramot, Jerusalem June 24, 2010. Israel's ultra-Orthodox minority has long been at odds with the Jewish state's highest judicial authority over edicts which some devout Jews say interfere with their religious lifestyle. Ultra-Orthodox Jews protested in Israel last week against a court order to desegregate a religious school and force Jewish girls of European and Middle Eastern descent to study together. REUTER

Gender segregation in Israeli schools a social 'disaster'

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former education minister, professor Amnon Rubinstein, criticizes both government and opposition for neglecting the issue of higher education accessibility as a tool to narrow social gaps.

A woman prays on one side of a partition at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City February 11, 2013. Israeli police detained 10 women at one of Judaism's most sacred sites on Monday for wearing prayer shawls, which Orthodox tradition sees as solely for men, a spokesman said.The incident at the Western Wall highlighted the divisions between the more liberal streams of Judaism and politically powerful Orthodox groups that traditionally limit the role of women in prayer. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags

Ultra-Orthodox women fight for their right to higher education

The religious ruling of Rabbi Shalom Cohen against higher education for women shook the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party Shas, at a moment when its political leaders are trying to regain traditional constituents and secular support.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 19, 2014. Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week. Abbas roundly condemned the kidnappers on Wednesday and promised to hold to account those responsible. His words in turn were denounced by Hamas and other factions, who accused hi

Hamas gains in backlash to Abbas speech

President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech in which he emphasized security coordination with Israel has seen a fierce backlash from the Palestinian street, givng Hamas a likely poll boost.

Masked Palestinians supporting Hamas gestures "three" as a reference to Israeli teenagers who went missing during a rally in support of Palestinians in the West Bank and against an arrest campaign by Israeli troops, in the central Gaza Strip June 20, 2014. Israeli troops killed a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday and arrested 25 people, pursuing a weeklong crackdown against Islamist militants and house-to-house searches for three Israeli teenagers who went missing eight days ago. REUT

Israel deputy minister: Abbas heads a terrorist government

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis blames Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the unsolved abductions of the three Israeli students.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (R) and Mohammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas leadership, speak to media after their meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah at the Royal Palace in Amman January 28, 2013. REUTERS/Majed Jaber (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3D30A

Israel blames Hamas political leaders for abductions

Israel is no longer buying the distinction between Hamas' political and military divisions.

The mother of Palestinian Mohammed Attallah mourns his death at a hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah June 22, 2014. Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Sunday, one of them Attallah, Palestinian medics and a militant group said, as Israel pressed on with its crackdown on Hamas, the Islamist group it accuses of abducting three Israeli teens. In Ramallah, the Islamic Jihad militant group said one of its members was killed by Israeli gunfire.The Israeli military said it was "not familiar" with th

Palestinians blame PA for Israeli crackdown in West Bank

The Israeli military response in the West Bank following the kidnapping of three teenagers has raised serious fears of a popular revolt in the occupied territories.

(L-R) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Francis and Israeli President Shimon Peres arrive in the Vatican Gardens to pray together at the Vatican June 8, 2014. REUTERS/Max Rossi (VATICAN - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR3SRQM

Israel should back Mahmoud Abbas to deter ISIS

While the United States and Europe try to strengthen moderate Arab countries as a counterbalance to global jihad extremists in Iraq and elsewhere, Israel continues to diminish moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Youths sit on a bench after a parade for the Jewish holiday of Purim at the Bialik Rogozin school in south Tel Aviv March 14, 2014. 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/Finbarr O'Reilly (ISRAEL - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY) - RTR3H3KV

Israel's Generation Y 'brainwashed' by social networks

Founders of an Internet site dedicated to Israelis in their 20s say that today's young people are reluctant to grow up, concentrating on self-fulfillment rather than on responsibility.

Israeli soldiers take part in searches for three Israeli teenagers believed to have been abducted by Palestinians near the West Bank City of Hebron June 21, 2014. Israel sent more troops to the occupied West Bank on Saturday to search for three missing teenagers it says were abducted by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
REUTERS/Baz Ratner(WEST BANK - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3UZBB

Palestinian officials fear 'regional crisis' with Israel over kidnappings

The kidnappers of three Israeli teenagers have successfully hidden their tracks, frustrating Israeli and Palestinian efforts to find them.

Jordanian military helicopters fly near Ruweished, near Jordan's eastern border with Iraq, east of Amman June 23, 2014. Sunni tribesmen took control of a border crossing between Iraq and Jordan after Iraq's army pulled out of the area following clashes with rebels, Iraqi and Jordanian intelligence sources said on Monday. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3V9QN

Israel sees Jordan as buffer against regional 'madness'

Most Israeli security officials wonder how much longer Jordan can cope with the threats on its other borders.