Melanie Swan

Latest from Melanie Swan

Netanyahu named in Time 100 Most Influential list

The magazine praised the prime minister's longevity’ but suggested his controversial legacy could ‘poison international attitudes toward his country’

1 min read

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking the annual Yom HaShoah at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 14, 2026 (Getty Images)

(L-R) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Lebanese Prime Minister Aoun (Getty Images)

Leaders of Israel and Lebanon to hold talks for first time since 1993

1 min read

Head of Mossad David Barnea attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025 (Flash90)

Iran mission not complete until regime change, says outgoing Mossad chief

1 min read

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C) speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (2R) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (2L) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026 (Getty Images)

Israel and Lebanon ‘on the same side’ after DC talks

2 min read

Hezbollah chief calls on Israel and Lebanon to abandon ‘pointless’ negotiations

The two nations will conduct their first direct talks in decades, with their US ambassadors set to meet in Washington

1 min read

April 14, 2026 15:24

Hezbollah’s secretary-general Naim Qassem appears on TV to address supporters on April 13, 2026, in Beirut, Lebanon (Getty Images)

Netanyahu trial delayed again after Shin Bet security warning

The service asked for the cancellation of the prime minister’s scheduled hearings due to the risk of an attack by Iranian agents

1 min read

April 14, 2026 12:05

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv, on March 12, 2025 (Getty Images)

‘You will not force us into ghettos again’: Israeli ministers hit out at Europe on eve of Yom HaShoah

Prime Minister Netanyahu said the continent was ‘afflicted by profound moral weakness’, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on the German chancellor to ‘bow his head and apologise a thousand times’

2 min read

April 14, 2026 10:58

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Yom HaShoah at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 14, 2026 (Getty Images)

IDF troops surround Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil

Israeli and Lebanese negotiators are due for peace talks this week

1 min read

April 13, 2026 14:40

Smoke rises from southern Lebanon following Israeli airstrikes, April 12, 2026 (Flash90)

IDF ‘preparing’ for return to Iran War after US talks break down

President Trump, meanwhile, has threatened to blockade Iran’s ports until a peace deal is achieved

2 min read

April 13, 2026 11:25

Members of the Iranian security forces stand guard under a large portrait of Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on April 9, 2026, in Tehran, Iran (Getty Images)

Netanyahu announces talks with Lebanese government as strikes continue despite Iran ceasefire

Hezbollah has continued to launch rockets at Israel, some reaching as far south as Ashdod, while the IDF bombards the terror group’s infrastructure

2 min read

April 10, 2026 11:24

A fireball rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in the area of Abbasiyeh, on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, on April 8, 2026 (Getty Images)

Amnesty calls for war crime probe into Beit Shemesh strike

The NGO said the munitions used by Iran in a civilian area was ‘wildly inaccurate and carried a massive warhead’

1 min read

April 1, 2026 11:57

The scene where a ballistic missile fired from Iran struck Beit Shemesh, central Israel, on March 2, 2026 (Flash90)

Four IDF soldiers killed in Lebanon

The UN and IDF are also investigating the deaths of three peacekeepers amid Israel’s expanding military operation in the country’s southern regions

1 min read

March 31, 2026 15:02

Loved ones of Sergeant Liran Ben Zion, 19, who was killed by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile in southern Lebanon, attend his funeral on March 30, 2026 in Holon, Israel (Getty Images)

Knesset passes bill introducing death penalty for terror offences

Critics have claimed the law is discriminatory as it imposes capital punishment for terrorists convicted of murdering Israelis, but not those who kill Palestinians

2 min read

March 31, 2026 10:36

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opens champagne in the Knesset to celebrate the passage of the death penalty bill on March 30, 2026 (Flash90)

Love conquers all! The Iranian-Israeli couple who became a symbol of hope

Meet Armia Pour and Yasmin Behar, a couple who transcend boundaries

3 min read

March 30, 2026 13:05

Yasmin Behar and Armia Pour (Image: Instagram)

IDF to expand ‘buffer zone’ in Lebanon to ‘thwart threat of invasion’

Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed last week that the military would occupy large swathes of the area south of the Litani River ‘until security for the residents of the north [of Israel] is ensured’.

2 min read

March 30, 2026 11:44