Israel will go to the polls with an open institutional wound. In the final hours before the dissolution of Parliament, the government has pushed through a package of laws that reactivates a conflict that marked the beginning of the legislature: the struggle between the government and the Supreme Court for control of the state's main power mechanisms.

The West Bank has experienced one of the most explosive days in recent months. A shooting in the village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, in which at least four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers died, triggered a massive wave of settler attacks against several Palestinian communities early this morning. Israeli authorities have arrested seventy Palestinians, who have been taken to an interrogation center set up in a house in the village where the incident took place. The army and settlers have organized raids in which they have carried out more arbitrary arrests, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised "forceful measures," such as demolishing the house of one of those involved in the riots and building new settlements in the area. Israeli settlers have attacked several Palestinian villages, including Urif, Surra, Far'ata, Jit, Imatin, Khirbet Imreiha, Iraq Burin, and the Masafer Yatta area, in the north and center of the West Bank. In Urif, a home was set on fire and at least one Palestinian was injured. In Far'ata, settlers burned agricultural land and shot a man in the chest, who is in critical condition. Other videos shared by residents of various localities show homes, businesses, and vehicles on fire, excavators uprooting olive trees, as well as the word revenge painted on the walls. In some of the incidents, according to local sources, Israeli troops dispersed Palestinian residents with tear gas.The incident that precipitated the escalation occurred after a group of Israeli settlers entered a restricted military zone without authorization or coordination with the army, according to the Israeli army. From here, the versions diverge. The army maintains that the settlers were on an unauthorized excursion when they were attacked and that a Palestinian snatched the weapon from one of the security members before opening fire. Palestinian witnesses, on the other hand, assure that it was the settlers, with the support of the soldiers present, who began to shoot at the inhabitants of the village.A video recorded during the events shows an armed settler trying to push two Palestinians away by pushing them with his rifle. A struggle for the weapon then ensues, while shouts of revenge in Hebrew are heard in the background. Moments later, one of the Palestinians appears holding the rifle and at least a dozen shots are heard coming from different points. Be that as it may, the result was four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers dead, one of whom was also a settler, according to the Efe agency.A pretext to intensify the offensive

After the events in Tell, the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced that they would intensify military operations in villages that Israel considers "a hotbed of terrorism." They announced new military deployments, the demolition of homes of suspects who may have participated in the Tell incident, the confiscation of weapons, and the withdrawal of work permits for the inhabitants of this village.Netanyahu also ordered the acceleration of the construction of new settler outposts in the area where the events occurred and the legalization of those that already exist, even though the settlements are considered illegal, according to international law and by the majority of the international community.

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The United States and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday closed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that would open the door to the development of a Saudi nuclear program without some of the safeguards traditionally required by Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump has assured that "there will be no enrichment of nuclear material" and that the program will be exclusively for civilian uses. He also specified that the pact will only go ahead if Saudi Arabia adheres to the Abraham Accords, promoted by the United States in 2020, and if it normalizes relations with Israel. Riyadh has not yet reacted publicly.

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With only a few months left until the elections, the trial against Benjamin Netanyahu has entered a new phase. The Israeli prime minister concluded his testimony before the court at the end of June, after 98 sessions that lasted a year and a half. But the process is still far from over: defense testimonies, final reports from the parties, and the judges' deliberations are still pending before a verdict. What future awaits a case that has marked Israeli politics in recent years and that will mark the country's electoral pre-campaign?The process that began in 2020 has advanced through marathon declarations, postponements for political and security reasons, constant calendar changes due to the different wars Israel has experienced in recent years, and an increasingly open confrontation between the prime minister and the country's judicial system. This is an unprecedented episode in Israeli judicial history: it is the first time that a prime minister in office has faced a criminal trial and has testified for so long in court. True to the strategy he has maintained since the beginning, Netanyahu has denied all accusations and has once again presented the case as a political persecution.The judicial proceeding focuses on three open cases, known as cases 1000, 2000, and 4000, in which the prosecution alleges there are indications of bribery, fraud, and abuse of power. Case 1000 investigates the receipt of gifts valued at approximately 260,000 euros from businessmen such as Arnon Milchan and James Packer, in exchange for possible political favors. For now, Netanyahu has admitted they were friends, but argues that the gifts were part of a personal relationship and not an exchange of favors.Case 2000 analyzes the conversations held with Arnon Mozes, editor of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, about a possible improvement in media coverage in exchange for limiting the influence of the rival newspaper Israel Hayom. The legal discussion now focuses on whether those conversations constituted a real negotiation or a political maneuver without intention of materializing.Case 4000, the most serious, focuses on the alleged granting of regulatory favors to businessman Shaul Elovitch in exchange for favorable coverage on the Walla portal. It is the only case in which Netanyahu is accused of bribery, but where the judges have reiterated that they have difficulty seeing where this crime lies. The prosecution maintains the accusation.

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Hamas announced on Monday the name of the man who will politically lead the Islamist organization after the internal election process to replace the last leaders killed by Israel. It is Khalil al-Hayya, a hawk from the old guard who participated in the founding of the organization in Gaza, on the eve of the First Intifada, in 1987. Al-Hayya was already part of the five-man council that was provisionally appointed after in 2024 Israeli soldiers killed Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Islamists within the Strip, considered the mastermind of the October 7 attacks. In turn, Sinwar had replaced Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the movement who died in an Israeli attack in Tehran in 2024, a few months before his successor.

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Lawyer Khaled Quzmar(1964) has been working for almost four decades to defend the rights of the Palestinian population. Executive Director of the Palestinian Centre for Child Rights (PCCR), a few days ago he visited Barcelona at the invitation of the NGO Mundubat to denounce the impact of the occupation and genocide on children in Gaza and the West Bank. He spoke to ARA before meeting with representatives of the Parliament and travelling to Madrid to meet with the Minister of Youth and Children, Sira Rego.Since October 7, 2023, more than 20,000 Palestinian minors have been killed in Gaza, 44,000 have been injured, and 58,000 have been orphaned, according to UN data.

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Half of the Democratic congresspeople in the United States voted on Thursday to end aid to Israel. Previously, sixty had boycotted Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the Capitol in Washington in 2024, an action that was supported by Democrat Ro Khanna. Khanna is, in fact, one of the most critical US politicians regarding Israeli policies in the occupied territories and has often denounced the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government towards Palestinians.

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The explosions continue to set the pace in southern Lebanon while in the negotiation rooms, attempts are being made to shape the future of the border. In Washington, they are talking about taking steps towards the first "pilot zones" foreseen in the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel. But just a few kilometers from the demarcation line, the reality is very different: the Israeli army maintains its positions and continues operations against what it considers Hezbollah infrastructure, and the border towns are still waiting for a withdrawal for which no date has been set.

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The Israeli parliament approved this Tuesday, by 58 votes in favor and 54 against, the law that freezes, de facto, the recruitment of young ultra-Orthodox Jews and shields them from possible criminal consequences for not enlisting in military service.The new legislation grants immunity to the ultra-Orthodox who have not responded to recruitment orders, freezes criminal proceedings already opened against current military service evaders and extends this protection to those called up in the future. In addition, it eliminates the possibility of financially sanctioning those responsible for yeshivas, the schools where the Torah and Talmud are studied, who submit false declarations about the situation of their students to prevent them from going to the army. At least those who dedicate a minimum of 45 hours per weekto studying the Torah will be considered exempt.In practice, the law also freezes the recruitment of young ultra-Orthodox men for at least seven months, as reported by various Israeli media outlets. The text sets November 30 as the expiration date for immunity. Israel will hold elections on October 27, and the law stipulates that any law that expires during the first three months of the constitution of a new Parliament remains in effect for three more months, automatically extending its effects."The law gives the Haredi parties an important political victory and reduces the chances of a coalition breakdown before the elections," Neil Quilliam, analyst for the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House research center, explains to ARA. "It does not resolve the fundamental issue of military service or equality before the law, but it offers Netanyahu enough political leeway."The approval has triggered a strong political and legal controversy. For the opposition and a significant part of Israeli society, the law consolidates an unequal system in which a part of the population remains exempt from military service while the rest bears the burden of war. In fact, the legal services of the chamber themselves had opposed it. During the session, an opposition MP called Netanyahu, who was not present during the vote, a "traitor". Just minutes after the approval, several parties have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the law.The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, has denounced that the executive "spits in the face of the soldiers again" and prioritizes "political interests over the good of the country". On the other hand, the ultra-Orthodox deputy Meir Porush has assured that, if the Supreme Court ends up annulling the norm, the decision "will have no legal validity". Criticisms have also come from the army. The chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, has described the proposal as "inconceivable" and assures that it is "clearly and unequivocally incompatible with the needs of the Israel Defense Forces".With an eye on the elections

The law comes after months in which the army warns of a serious personnel crisis. After more than two years of sustained war in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, Syria and Iran, the Israeli military system, heavily reliant on reservists, is showing increasing signs of exhaustion. At the end of May, Zamir himself warned that he is short of at least 12,000 soldiers, a figure that could reach 17,000 in the coming months. According to the latest official data, around 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men between 18 and 24 years old could be recruited, but they have not joined the ranks.The proponents of the law, on the other hand, have argued that the arrests of ultra-Orthodox youths who do not report for military service have further reduced the willingness to enlist within this sector and that a political solution was needed to avoid an escalation of the conflict. Some ultra-Orthodox sectors do accept fighting within their own units, which make it easier for soldiers to follow religious precepts.For experts, the law is part of a pact reached with Netanyahu to secure the support of his religious partners for the coalition's legislative agenda and to reach elections on October 27 this year with stability, after an early election has been definitively ruled out. "Although Netanyahu remains the dominant player in the coalition, this episode shows that the ultra-Orthodox parties have great pressure capacity because they can credibly threaten the government's survival when their essential interests are at stake," says Quilliam.However, the controversy will hardly disappear with the approval of the norm. On the contrary, everything points to it becoming one of the main axes of the electoral campaign. "It is very likely that the opposition will argue during the campaign that the government has prioritized the survival of the coalition over the needs of the army and the principle of equality in national service," concludes the expert. In his opinion, the debate on ultra-Orthodox recruitment "can become one of the defining issues of the next elections because it concentrates much broader debates about the identity, citizenship, and future of Israeli society".

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The European Union remains deadlocked on sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It is one of the pressure measures that has been on the table of the EU Foreign Affairs Council for the longest time and is gaining increasing support among member states. In fact, as the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, explained at a press conference, a "majority" of European Foreign Ministers have expressed their support for prohibiting trade with the occupied territories of the West Bank at this Monday's meeting in Brussels, but she did not announce any legal proposal or forecast for its realization.

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Let's think about the man sentenced to thirty years in prison who looks out the window and sees, beyond, through the bars, the green meadow where he thinks he can go, free, one day. It is hope that sustains him. But thinking that something desired will happen, although it alleviates the suffering of waiting, is not enough: the wait must be active, actions must bring hope closer to reality.The actors are the ones who can change the plot. For the world's geostrategy, it is the citizens of the United States, Israel, and Europe, who vote, who can most actively influence the historical moment we are living in; not those of China or Russia, to whom their states do not grant this possibility. The weight of the BRICS in world politics – that is, of the Global South – is growing, but it is not yet decisive.In November, the midterm elections will be held in the USA, and it is possible that the majorities in the chambers of Congress and the Senate will shift from Republican to Democratic. More possible in Congress, more difficult in the Senate. There are reasons for the American voter to feel deceived: the unnecessary war in Iran, growing inflation – after Trump criticized Biden's – the president's abuse of power – which the Supreme Court has corrected – in attempting to suppress the right to citizenship for those born in the USA... And also the failure of immigration policies: in what way has ICE, the US border police, improved them, beyond reducing the rights of American citizens and causing suffering and anguish to immigrants, more or less in an irregular situation, but settled in the country? And tariffs, what has changed? And in Ukraine, the war that Trump said he could end in a day, where are we now? The conflict created with NATO and the EU, what has it served? Member states are backing out, actively or passively, of investing 5% of their GDP in defense, as Trump demanded. More than a state policy, it was a business.Now Trump is talking about the communist threat. Is he inventing a problem again to later claim he has solved it, as he did with Iran? The president can claim that in Central and South America – in Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Argentina – he has friendly governments that are stable. Or are they stable because they are his friends? Isn't this practicing the interventionism he denigrated before winning the elections two years ago? He has taken on a burden he didn't have. It is true that the voter's memory is short, but, so much so? If citizens have a thread of memory, Trump and the Republican Party could lose this November. The distance between what he promised and what he has achieved is great.Elections in Israel could cause Netanyahu to lose his majority. The reason? Citizen fatigue with a war that has been changing objectives – eliminating Hamas terrorism in Gaza, protecting northern Israel and ending Hezbollah in Lebanon, stabilizing Syria, defeating Iran...–, the end of which is not on the horizon and which makes one think it is being maintained to postpone the prime minister's trial. This is a difficult argument to refute for the Israeli voter, right and left, and highly destructive for Netanyahu. Who should they vote for? And why? If maintaining the war distances them from collaboration and understanding with the states in the region – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Emirates, etc. –, if the Abraham Accords are dead with this policy, why don't they move to the next phase of the conflict and extract benefit from the war they have supposedly won? What is the "eternal" war for? Changing the government could prevent the problem they already have from getting bigger, after the extermination war in Gaza and the apartheid in the West Bank, which have changed the international perception of Israel: from victims they have become seen as perpetrators. But, above all, the US no longer monolithically supports Israel as before; their interests are beginning to diverge.

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The US President, Donald Trump, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, are two allies of Vox who have been a constant pain in the neck for the far-right party. Until now, Santiago Abascal's formation had responded timidly to the US president's outbursts, which had allowed the rebel former leaders or left-wing formations to accuse Vox of being Trump's "slaves". However, this week the party has slightly raised its voice to distance itself from the US president's threat to cut trade with Spain or Trump's harassment of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to whom, with an ironic tone, he said he wanted "a restraining order". The objective is to consolidate a shift that has been debated for some time in the Vox leadership to put an end to the meek image the party had projected until now. The culmination was between March and April, when Israel carried out attacks against Christians. It was then that the national leadership made a decision, according to sources familiar with the matter consulted by ARA: "We have to distance ourselves, like Meloni".

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A recently published survey in Israel shows that 60% of the Jewish population considers the danger of a civil war to be "real and tangible," a trend clearly on the rise amid radical polarization of which the population is aware. Other data revealed in the same study indicate that the sociological situation is, overall, the most problematic in the history of the country founded in 1948.

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The National High Court has admitted two lawsuits against two high-ranking Israeli military officials for alleged crimes of illegal detention in the assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla last October. The civil mission was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military when it was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Contrary to the criteria of the Public Prosecutor's Office, magistrate Francisco de Jorge, head of Central Court of Instruction Number 1, has admitted the lawsuits filed by the Communist Party of Spain, United Left Federal and other individuals against Eyal Zamir, head of the Armed Forces, and Ram Rothberg, commander of the Naval Forces.

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Israel has taken an unprecedented step in its institutional history. The government has announced that it will not obey a Supreme Court ruling that allows the Council of the Second Authority for Television and Radio, the regulatory body for private television and radio channels, to resume its activity. A decision that has reopened the tug-of-war between the executive and the judiciary with only a few months left until the elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing for his future.

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A week ago in Washington there were smiles, handshakes and an agreement presented as the beginning of the end of the war between Israel and Lebanon. However, the situation on the ground has barely changed. Israeli soldiers remain deployed in parts of southern Lebanon and thousands of residents are still displaced, waiting to return to their war-torn villages. The document, presented by the United States as the first step to stabilize the border and restore the authority of the Lebanese state, leaves the most important question unanswered: when will the Israeli occupation really end?

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While the United States tried to keep the diplomatic channel with Iran open, Israel would have considered assassinating the two main Iranian negotiators: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. This is revealed by The New York Times, which cites US officials according to whom Washington feared during April and May that any attack against these leaders would blow up negotiations that were advancing with extreme fragility.Araghchi and Ghalibaf are central figures in the talks between the United States and Iran to consolidate the ceasefire, guarantee the security of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, and open the door to future negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.Already in March, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that Araghchi and Ghalibaf were on a list of Israeli targets, although they would have been removed when Washington began to explore a diplomatic exit with Tehran. In the same vein, an American official cited by the New York Times assured that the Trump administration knew that, at least in Ghalibaf's case, Israel considered him a potential target and explicitly asked the Israeli government not to act against him.Washington's concern reached the point that the White House reportedly asked several countries in the region to warn Tehran of the risk that its negotiators could become Israeli targets.Tension became palpable in April, when Ghalibaf was due to travel to Islamabad to meet with the Vice President of the United States, J.D. Vance. Iranian authorities feared that Israel would take advantage of the trip to assassinate him and, for this reason, the Iranian delegation was escorted by Pakistani fighter jets both on the outward and return journeys. Despite these measures, two sources cited by the New York Times assure that, during the return flight to Tehran, Iranian intelligence services alerted that two Israeli fighter jets had penetrated Iran's airspace. Faced with the threat, the plane carrying Ghalibaf made an emergency landing and the delegation completed the last eight hours of the journey by road.Israel does not want the agreement

In recent months, the United States has held indirect talks to reach a negotiated exit to the conflict, but Israel continues to show deep skepticism towards any agreement with Iran. The most critical sectors consider that no deal will be sufficient if it does not also limit Iran's ballistic missile program and Tehran's network of allies.In this climate of mistrust, Ghalibaf warned this Thursday that Iran will respond “proportionately” if the United States and Israel fail to comply with the memorandum of understanding reached last month. His statements coincide with the preparations for the funeral of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who died in an Israeli attack on the first day of the war, February 28. The commemorative events will begin this Saturday and will last until July 9, and between 15 and 20 million people are expected to attend.

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Among the reasons for President Donald Trump to offer a memorandum of understanding to the Shiite Totalitarian Theocracy of Iran (STTI) were: saving the Soccer World Cup in the United States (he did not want to disturb this great business with the sound of missiles), lowering fuel prices before the November mid-term elections, and finding a dignified way out of the quagmireof the Persian Gulf after failing to overthrow the regime as an electoral asset.

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While everyone is focused on Iran, Israel, and Lebanon, the Gaza Strip is experiencing the worst moment in its history. The ceasefire of October 10, 2025, is only being implemented by Palestinian militias, as Israel continues to kill civilians and bomb at a rapid pace.

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The United Nations presented a report this Tuesday accusing Israel of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza for shooting children in the Strip with the intent to kill. Srinivasan Muralidhar, the president of the UN's International Independent Commission of Inquiry for the Palestinian Territories – the body responsible for the report – stated at a press conference that children are being killed "mainly in two ways": through aerial attacks with high-explosive ordnance with a wide radius of impact, or by the use of quadcopters, drones, and snipers "who specifically aim at the head and upper body to kill them".The report assures that it has enough evidence to state that “Israel attacks children to weaken demographic vitality and deny the Palestinian people the right to self-determination”, in the words of the president. Furthermore, Muralidhar has denounced that since October 2023, more than 20,000 children have been murdered in Gaza, in addition to the 44,000 who have been injured and the 58,000 who have been orphaned.The text also points out that Palestinian children, especially adolescents, are “detained, tortured, and mistreated in Israeli prisons and detention centers” and that cases of sexual violence against minors have been documented. On the other hand, it denounces that Israeli attacks against pediatric hospitals have “systematically deprived children of access to vital care,” and also notes the use of starvation as a method of warfare.Furthermore, the Indian jurist recalled that 97% of schools in the Strip have been destroyed, and alleged that Israeli authorities have “systematically disrupted children's ability to learn, sabotaging the intellectual and social foundations of Palestinian society”. On the other hand, Muralidhar reminded the UN member states that they have different options to hold Israel accountable: “they can exercise universal jurisdiction in their national courts, and we have asked them to arrest any Israeli official against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant”. He also reiterated the call to stop sending weapons to Israel.This Tuesday's is the second report accusing Israel of genocide, published by a Commission that does not officially represent the UN. Last September, a first report indicated that there are sufficient grounds to state that Israel has committed four of the five genocide crimes defined in the Geneva Convention of 1948.The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa'ar, has declared that he "categorically" rejects the report's conclusions and has called it a "defamatory farce" and "as scandalous a piece of propaganda as the previous ones." Since October 7, 2023, at least 73,305 Palestinians have died due to Israel's attacks in Gaza, according to the Strip's Ministry of Health.

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