Bezalel Smotrich

Negev Forum participants hold a meeting in Abu Dhabi on January 10, 2022. (UAE Foreign Affairs Ministry)

Morocco confirms US-Israel-Arab ministerial forum delayed, cites ‘political context’

Foreign minister says timing not right to move forward with second Negev Forum meeting of top diplomats, after officials told ToI postponement prompted by settlement boosts

Inside story‘Not alone in the driver’s seat’: US thinks Netanyahu has lost control of coalition

By Jacob Magid

Incoming Israel Securities Authority chairman Yosef (Seffy) Zinger. (Courtesy)

Seffy Zinger to be appointed head of Israel securities watchdog

By Sharon Wrobel

File: Itamar Ben Gvir (right), head of the Otzma Yehudit party, and chairman of the Religious Zionism party Bezalel Smotrich at an election campaign event in Sderot, October 26, 2022. (Flash90)

June 25, 2023, 3:59 am

Ministers slam security chiefs for calling settler attacks on Palestinians ‘terror’

Ben Gvir orders probe into ‘collective punishment’ at settlement of Ateret after assault on nearby Palestinian village; Smotrich rejects security chiefs’ denunciation of attacks

By ToI Staff

June 23, 2023, 7:03 pm

Morocco confirms US-Israel-Arab ministerial forum delayed, cites ‘political context’

Foreign minister says timing not right to move forward with second Negev Forum meeting of top diplomats, after officials told ToI postponement prompted by settlement boosts

By Jacob Magid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, May 28, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

June 23, 2023, 4:00 pm

‘Not alone in the driver’s seat’: US thinks Netanyahu has lost control of coalition

Biden officials tell ToI moves to expand settlements at the expense of normalization with Saudi Arabia prove far-right coalition partners are the ones steering government policy

By Jacob Magid

A field of fire during clashes between Palestinians and settlers near the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank on June 22, 2023. (Flash90)

June 22, 2023, 8:19 pm

IDF spokesman slams settler riots that ‘create terror’; far-right MK: It was a protest

MK Simcha Rothman compares rioters in Turmus Ayya to demonstrators against judicial overhaul

By ToI Staff

Construction equipment and caravan houses are seen at an illegal outpost built near the West Bank settlement of Maale Levona on June 22, 2023, following a deadly terror attack at a nearby gas station two days before. (Courtesy)

June 22, 2023, 5:05 pm

Illegal outpost set up near Eli settlement, while no orders come to evacuate Evyatar

Five new buildings and an access road are built overnight in the West Bank without army or Defense Ministry intervention, near where Palestinian terrorists killed 4 Israelis

By Jeremy Sharon

Druze community members protest against the construction of a new wind farm in the Golan Heights, June 21, 2023 (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

June 22, 2023, 2:58 pm

Ben Gvir overrules police on freezing wind farm project, despite riots – reports

Far-right minister vows work will continue despite two days of protests, violence; police chief reportedly wanted contentious work paused until after next week’s Eid al-Adha

By ToI Staff and Michael Bachner

View of the Jewish settlement of Eli, in the West Bank on January 17, 2021. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90

June 21, 2023, 5:04 pm

‘Our response to terror’: PM okays 1,000 new homes in West Bank settlement of Eli

Prime minister, defense and finance ministers agree on plan as response to killing of four Israelis in Palestinian terror attack in community the day before

By ToI Staff

Settlers seen at the illegal outpost of Evyatar in the West Bank on June 29, 2021. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

June 21, 2023, 8:06 am

Settlers mass at Evyatar, vow to reestablish outpost in response to deadly attack

Hundreds ascend West Bank hilltop demanding government make good on its promise to legalize the settlement and expand building in response to Palestinian terror

By ToI Staff and Jeremy Sharon

The Negev Forum steering committee poses for a photo in Abu Dhabi on January 10, 2022. (Foreign Ministry)

June 20, 2023, 8:37 pm

Morocco cancels next month’s Negev Forum over Israeli settlement announcements

Second ministerial meeting was supposed to take place in July after several delays; US official says West Bank expansion moves also ‘taint’ Saudi normalization effort

By Jacob Magid

(L) Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 1, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) (R) President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, June 14, 2023 (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

June 20, 2023, 11:16 am

Smotrich: ‘Leftist’ Herzog can’t act as fair mediator in judicial overhaul talks

Far-right minister says president ‘100% aligned with the left’; Gantz: Herzog working day and night to prevent ‘destruction of democracy’

By ToI Staff and Carrie Keller-Lynn

Construction work is seen in the West Bank settlement of Yakir, on June 11, 2020. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

June 20, 2023, 5:25 am

UN chief ‘troubled, alarmed’ by Israeli decisions to beef up settlement building

Guterres says settlements driving violence, urges Jerusalem to halt expected approval of over 4,000 homes and reverse resolution handing Smotrich control of West Bank planning

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

An Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache attack helicopter releases flares during an Israeli army raid in Jenin in the West Bank on June 19, 2023. (Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

June 19, 2023, 1:58 pm

Far-right minister calls for use of tanks, airpower after heavy clashes in Jenin

Finance Minister Smotrich urges ‘broad operation’ in West Bank; Egypt accuses Israel of inflaming violence, raising regional tensions; Palestinians threaten unprecedented response

By ToI Staff and AP

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Intel's Kiryat Gat plant on November 14, 2016 (Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO)

June 19, 2023, 1:45 pm

Daily Briefing June 19: Tension before Israel Bar election; Intel vote of confidence

ToI editor David Horovitz discusses Smotrich and US-Iran talks, as Knesset correspondent Tal Schneider explains why choosing the bar association’s chief matters so much now

By ToI Staff

Screen capture from video of Border Police officers clashing with protesting settlers near the settlement of Hermesh in the West Bank, June 18, 2023. (Twitter. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

June 19, 2023, 8:34 am

Two Border Police officers suspended after violent clash with protesting settlers

National Security Minister Ben Gvir demands clarification after officers punch, shove, demonstrators who set up makeshift roadblock outside Palestinian town to protest attacks

By ToI Staff

Pro-settlement activists march to the illegal Evyatar settlement outpost in the northern West Bank during Passover to demand it be repopulated, April 10, 2023. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

June 19, 2023, 4:39 am

‘An obstacle to peace’: US lambasts Israeli moves to expand West Bank settlements

State Department issues swift condemnation after Jerusalem announces it’ll green-light 4,500 settlement units, hand Smotrich more control over settlement policy

By Jacob Magid