Bezalel Smotrich

Israeli soldiers patrolling through the Old City of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, 4 July 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

‘Like walking into a cage’: Israel tightens its grip on Hebron

By taking over planning jurisdiction, unilaterally modifying religious sites, and erecting new checkpoints, Israel is accelerating its annexation of the Old City.

By Basel Adra July 14, 2026

Israeli military vehicles and tanks are seen along the Israeli border with Lebanon amid the ongoing war with Iran and Hezbollah, March 8, 2026. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Israel’s renewed war on Lebanon is about more than just Hezbollah

After violating the ‘ceasefire’ 10,000 times, Israel is once again pounding Lebanon as its enduring thirst for war drives ever expanding ambitions.

By Elia Ayoub March 11, 2026

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference with Israeli settler leaders, at the Finiance Ministry, in Jerusalem, September 3, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Has Israel crossed the annexation threshold in the West Bank?

Six ‘game-changing’ recent cabinet decisions may push the occupation past a tipping point toward permanent Israeli rule, says Yesh Din director Ziv Stahl.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman February 18, 2026

Latest

Palestinians walking near an aid distribution point in the Netzarim Corridor, in the central Gaza Strip, June 9, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

The planned expulsion of Gaza’s population is already underway

Israel is conditioning aid delivery to force Gazans south into 'concentration zones.' This plan has begun to stall, but that only portends greater brutality.

By Gadi Algazi June 13, 2025

Daniella Weiss at the Nachala Hanukkah celebration, calling to resettle Gaza, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, Dec. 26, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Inside the Israeli movement to recolonize Gaza

Capitalizing on the Gaza war, Nachala has pushed to rectify what it sees as the 'historical injustice' of Israel's 2005 disengagement. If the ceasefire falters, the group is ready to pounce — with little standing in its way.

By Joshua Leifer February 11, 2025

Israeli youth attack journalists at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, during Jerusalem Day celebrations, June 5, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Chanting ‘burn Shu’afat’ and ‘flatten Gaza,’ masses attend Jerusalem Flag March

Israeli ministers joined the annual celebration of East Jerusalem’s conquest, where racist slogans and attacks on journalists have become mainstream.

By Oren Ziv June 6, 2024

Israeli soldiers from the 8717 Battalion of the Givati Brigade operating in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, during a military operation, December 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The ‘second Nakba’ government seizes its moment

Israeli leaders are explicit about reusing the methods of 1948 in Gaza today. But what didn’t quell the Palestinians then will not do so now.

By Meron Rapoport January 2, 2024

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich arrives at a government conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Israeli public has embraced the Smotrich doctrine

The internalization of the far-right minister's 'Decisive Plan' is evident in the popular support for a new ultimatum for Gaza: emigration or annihilation.

By Orly Noy November 10, 2023

Right-wing Israelis attend a rally in support of the government's planned judicial overhaul, outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

The settlers wanted supreme power. They got a rebellion instead

The religious-Zionist movement has made vast inroads in Israeli state and society for two decades. The judicial overhaul may bring it all crashing down.

By Meron Rapoport August 15, 2023

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a discussion and vote on the state budget in the Knesset assembly hall, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans

As protests escalated last week over the judicial overhaul, Israel's finance minister declared the end of the Oslo Accords in all but name.

By Roni Pelli July 27, 2023

Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement set up tents near Kiryat Arba, with the intention to establish illegal outposts in the West Bank, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched

Seeking to double the settler population, Israel's far-right government is expediting infrastructural plans that were — often literally — laid decades ago.

By Ben Reiff July 12, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by members of his government, seen after a hearing and a vote on the state budget in the Knesset, Jerusalem, May 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Israeli government enters its most dangerous phase yet

While the judicial overhaul is widely seen as the central attack on democracy, it is paramount to show how it is directly linked to rising attacks on Palestinians.

By Haggai Matar June 3, 2023

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen during a vote in Knesset, Jerusalem, March 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Israeli right’s arrogance has made a new struggle possible

The mass protests have opened the possibility, however slight, that Israelis will begin to demand fundamental changes we haven't seen since 1948.

By Meron Rapoport March 29, 2023