Jerusalem Report

Israel's overlooked challenge: Environmental damage from two years of war - from the editor

As the war winds down, Israel faces a quieter crisis – environmental damage from Gaza to the Dead Sea, alongside long-neglected ecological failures now demanding urgent attention

|ByRUTH MARKS EGLASH
Visitors walk across salt formations along the receding shoreline of the Dead Sea, a stark sign of the region’s growing environmental crisis.
Hikers trek past a cavernous sinkhole on the shores of the Dead Sea near Ein Gedi. PremiumPremium

Into the sinkholes: How the Dead Sea’s collapse became a tourist draw

How one of the region’s worst environmental disasters has become a popular tourist excursion

|ByRUTH MARKS EGLASH
A man searches through piles of garbage in Gaza City.PremiumPremium

Buried under the rubble: Gaza buried under 60 million tons of toxic war debris

As Gazans struggle to recover from the war – trash, sewage, and toxic debris are creating an environmental catastrophe

|ByDANA BEN-SHIMON
An aerial view of the Kinneret. To the casual observer, the lake, also known as the Sea of Galilee, appears to be a rare environmental success story in an era of climate uncertainty. PremiumPremium

Israel’s freshwater balancing act: The Kinneret under strain

Intensive management has saved the Kinneret from crisis, but rising salinity and ecological change pose growing risks

|BySAM HALPERN

Israel in the frame: How Local Testimony 2025 builds a public record

How an Israeli photography exhibition turns a year of war, protest, and hostage returns into a public record

JANUARY 13, 2026ByCHANI KAPLAN
Itai Ron’s image showing shadows of ultra-Orthodox men and soldiers on the wall of a house in the Palestinian village of Kifl Haris was selected as Photo of the Year by ‘Local Testimony 2025.’

How lies became weapons in the war on the West - opinion

From Soviet propaganda to Qatari petrodollars, the long campaign to destabilize the West has relied less on armies and more on narratives

JANUARY 13, 2026ByRUTH WASSERMAN LANDE
Palestinian women walk past a mural of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Hebron on the 21st anniversary of Arafat’s death. Ruth Wasserman Lande argues that the Palestinian narrative was created by the Soviet Union.

Between two worlds: Mohammad Magadli, an Arab voice in Israeli media

Israeli Arab journalist Mohammad Magadli is working to bridge the gap between Arab and Jewish media.

JANUARY 13, 2026ByDANA BEN-SHIMON
Israeli-Arab journalist Mohammad Magadli bridges the divide between Israeli and Arab media in Israel.

Global media coverage frames Israel as a criminal state - analysis

A comparative analysis of leading international media outlets shows how legal rhetoric is overwhelmingly applied to Israel – and rarely to Iran

JANUARY 13, 2026ByROBERT NEUFELD, SHLOMI BREZNIK
A civilian retrieves personal belongings from the rubble of his house in Tel Aviv after a ballistic missile fired from Iran struck the city on June 23, 2025.

Toward strategic self-reliance: Israel beyond US military aid - analysis

The next memorandum of understanding should be a transition – from reliance on Washington to strategic self-reliance and true partnership

JANUARY 13, 2026ByERIC R. MANDEL
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a press conference after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 29, 2025.

It’s time for Israel to allow journalists into Gaza - opinion

Independent, firsthand reporting is the best way to give the public the most complete picture of war and its consequences

JANUARY 13, 2026ByTANIA KRAEMER
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, foreign media reported from the devastated Israeli communities along the Gaza border under rocket fire.

Israel's recognition of Somaliland sends warning to Turkey, Iran, Syria - opinion

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has sent shockwaves through the region and chills down the spines of authoritarian leaders

JANUARY 13, 2026ByJONATHAN CONRICUS
Somaliland, a de facto state that has governed itself for more than three decades, holding elections, maintaining security, and building institutions, even as it remains largely unrecognized by the international community.

Gaza reveals future of urban combat western armies aren't prepared for - opinion

The war in Gaza was modern urban war, not genocide, writes Andrew Fox in his latest research paper for the Henry Jackson Society

JANUARY 13, 2026ByANDREW FOX
Israeli army soldier holding a mounted machine gun in front of destroyed buildings in the vicinity of the Jordanian Field Hospital in Gaza City.

When governments gag the press, democracies collapse - opinion

Why current government reforms threaten one of Israel’s last democratic safeguards – the media

JANUARY 13, 2026ByHANAN MELCER
Israeli journalists gathered last month for an emergency meeting to discuss the government’s proposed reforms to the media landscape.

Stone, arches and memory: Jerusalem's enduring Mediterranean architecture survives

Inside Jerusalem’s Arab houses, where architecture outlives empires and residents

JANUARY 13, 2026ByJAY GARFINKEL
Bisharat House, with its triple-arched veranda, is a feature of Jerusalem’s Mediterranean villa style.