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Israel

June 23, 2026

Tel Aviv 12:27 am

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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 ultra Orthodox Jewish man dances with a flag during celebrations for Israel's 63nd Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv May 10, 2011. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: ANNIVERSARY MILITARY) - RTR2M7S6

Israel's halfhearted independence celebration

Israel is losing its modest and secular character in favor of a more religious and material society.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem May 4, 2014. REUTERS/Oliver Weiken/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3NQ5V

On Independence Day, Netanyahu caves to right wing

To ensure his seat and his political future, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adopts the bill defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, raising “a white flag of surrender to the right wing and the settlers.”

An Israeli soldier stands beside a memorial wall, engraved with names of fallen soldiers from the armoured corps, during a Memorial Day ceremony in Latrun near Jerusalem May 5, 2014. Israel on Monday marks Memorial Day to commemorate its fallen soldiers. REUTERS/Nir Elias (ISRAEL - Tags: ANNIVERSARY MILITARY) - RTR3NTG1

Fallen soldiers memorial and the Israeli ethos

On the eve of Israel's memorial day for its fallen soldiers, a cornerstone was laid for a national memorial hall, evoking once more the debate over a common narrative of Israeli wars.

TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL: The crowd of Jewish immigrants waving from the deck of trawler "Andria" as they arrive 20 May 1948 at Tel Aviv harbor. Israel was founded on 14 May 1948 by the Jewish National Council and was recognized by the United States and the Soviet Union 15 and 17 May. (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images)

Israel, at 66, losing its creative national spirit

Once a young, creative and peace-aspiring country, Israel is missing the spirit that animated its founders.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he arrives for a ceremony marking Memorial Day in Jerusalem May 4, 2014. Israel commemorates its fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, which begins Sunday night. REUTERS/Nir Elias (JERUSALEM - Tags: ANNIVERSARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3NQKA

Netanyahu, unscathed by peace talks collapse, finds new agenda

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launches a bill defining Israel as the Jewish homeland, composing a new public agenda after the collapse of diplomatic talks and the fading away of the Iranian issue.

A Palestinian man stands near a door and wall of a mosque which were vandalised in the West Bank village of Deir Istiya, near the Jewish settlement of Ariel January 15, 2014. The mosque in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank was partly set on fire on Wednesday, in what Palestinians residents said was an attack by Jewish settlers living nearby. The main gate of the mosque and some of the carpeting inside were charred by the flames. Graffiti in Hebrew, reading "Revenge for spilled blood" and "Arabs Ou

US terror report details 'price tag' violence by Israeli settlers

The State Department's annual report on terrorism includes acts of violence by Israeli settlers along with terrorism by Palestinians.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement in the Independence Hall of Israel in Tel Aviv May 1, 2014. Netanyahu said on Thursday he would seek to enact a law to define Israel as a Jewish state, a step certain to raise opposition from Arab citizens who make up a fifth of the population. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3NETY

Israeli sanctions on Palestinians could backfire

The Israeli assumption that economic pressure will return the Palestinians to "the straight and narrow path," has already proven to be ineffective and might endanger the motivation for successful security cooperation.

Israelis hold a sign depicting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a protest outside his hotel in Jerusalem, against the release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners as a confidence-building gesture, March 31, 2014. Kerry broke from his travel schedule for the second time in a week and rushed back to the Middle East on Monday to try to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3JD9P

Kerry's warning to Israel lost in furor over 'apartheid'

Instead of internalizing the warning from US Secretary of State John Kerry about a single-state solution, pro-Israel advocates in the United States and the Israeli right focused instead on his choice of words.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz (C) and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (L) attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem September 14, 2008. Israel's cabinet debated for the first time on Sunday a proposal to offer compensation to Jewish settlers who volunteer to leave parts of the West Bank that would be handed to the Palestinians in a future peace deal.
REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool (JERUSALEM) - RTR21VED

Israeli presidential hopeful supports Palestinian deal

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Meir Sheetrit supports Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, even though this might not be the most popular stance with the Israeli public for a presidential hopeful.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) talks with Palestinian lead negotiator Saeb Erekat (L) and State Department Mideast advisor Martin Indyk as he departs Joint Base Andrews in Washington enroute to Ukraine March 3, 2014. In remarks today, U.S. President Barack Obama said Kerry will propose ways in which a negotiation between Russia and Ukraine could be overseen by a multilateral organization when he goes to Kiev on Tuesday. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3G08L

Israel worried Indyk will walk

US Secretary of State John Kerry should table an American peace proposal and step away.

People stand still as a two-minute air raid siren is sounded marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Jerusalem April 28, 2014. Israel on Monday marked the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War Two. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: ANNIVERSARY CONFLICT) - RTR3MVOX

Alternative Holocaust ceremonies draw young Israelis

Young Israelis prefer the alternative Holocaust ceremony over the state one, where suffering is not reclaimed by Jews only and the trauma is a basis on which to rebuild the society.

Children play at the Hagar pre-school and kindergarten in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba January 29, 2009. The school, which was closed for three weeks during the fighting in Gaza, is located within the range of rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Beersheba was the target of several rocket strikes during the conflict. But this school is attempting to bridge some of the cultural chasms which split the region. 25 of the school's pupils are Jewish and 25 are Arab. Picture taken January 29,

Are preschoolers ready to learn about the Holocaust?

The new initiative by the Education Ministry to introduce the Holocaust into the preschool curriculum has provoked a heated debate as to whether its motives are educational or nationalist.