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Ben Sales

Ben Sales

Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of Israel
News editor Ben Sales appears on the Daily Briefing podcast with host Jessica Steinberg (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
June 30, 2026, 2:41 pm
Daily Briefing June 30: Why Netanyahu won’t publicly take on Trump over Iran
News editor Ben Sales reviews PM’s status during 2015 Iran deal and now, Israel-opposition as a unifying factor in NYC primaries, and new details about the 1976 raid on Entebbe
By Jessica Steinberg and Ben Sales
A cheering crowd at Ben-Gurion Airport raises a soldier in the rescue squad that freed the hijacked hostages from Uganda earlier in the day, July 4, 1976. In the background is the C-130 transport plane which took part in the raid. The rescuer's face is obscured for security reasons. (AP Photo/Pool)
June 26, 2026, 6:00 am
‘Zero hour is coming’: How Israel went from negotiating over hostages to the daring raid at Entebbe
The Entebbe rescue operation, whose 50th anniversary is approaching, is the stuff of Israeli legend. A new trove of archival documents shows how the government took the fateful decision — despite the risks
By Ben Sales and Stav Levaton
Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks to her supporters during an election night watch party, June 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
June 25, 2026, 7:39 am
American pro-Israel activists may have just had their worst week ever
One party is voting for the loudest critics of Israel; the other is cutting a generous deal with Jerusalem’s top adversary; after years of bipartisan support, a new era is dawning
By Ben Sales
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands as he leaves the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 3, 2015, after addressing a joint meeting of Congress in a speech opposing the imminent Iran nuclear deal. (AP/Andrew Harnik)
June 23, 2026, 10:49 am
Netanyahu can’t run the playbook he used to fight the 2015 Iran deal — and Trump knows it
Faced with Obama’s deal, the PM addressed Congress and pro-Israel groups waged a fierce battle. That effort failed, and changed times make a repeat impossible
By Ben Sales
News editor Ben Sales joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing podcast. (ToI / AP)
June 21, 2026, 1:10 pm
Daily Briefing June 21 – Can a critical Vance have Israel’s back in Iran talks?
News editor Ben Sales weighs in on today’s US-Iran negotiations in Switzerland and explores the question of whether the golden age of American Jewish travel to Israel is ending
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Ben Sales
US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit, June 16, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
June 18, 2026, 11:46 am
Trump’s unfiltered commentary on Lebanon is leaving Israel with an impossible choice
Clearly tired of what Israel sees as an urgent fight, the US president is making the contradictory claims that the war on Hezbollah is both not speedy enough and not careful enough
By Ben Sales
Young Jewish adults participate in the Tel Aviv Urban Experience track of Birthright in an undated photo (Courtesy)
June 17, 2026, 10:38 pm
Canceled flights, high prices: Is the golden age of American Jewish travel to Israel ending?
Trips to Israel were long seen as the best defense against declining rates of Jewish affiliation and support for the Jewish state. But for years, getting here has been an ordeal — and it’s unclear how many people still want to come
By Ben Sales
US President Donald Trump greets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago club, December 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
June 15, 2026, 7:00 pm
We don’t know if Trump loves or hates Netanyahu, and there’s the rub for the PM
The premier long claimed, credibly, that he had a keen understanding of the US. Now his greatest American ally ever is belittling him over and over, right as an election approaches
By Ben Sales
US President Donald Trump (left) talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, October 13, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)
June 10, 2026, 4:39 pm
Trump might just be getting tired of Netanyahu — and so might Israel
The US president’s musing that Netanyahu might not run for reelection may have been wishful thinking, as a poll shows many Israelis would also welcome a fresh face in charge
By Ben Sales
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during a 40 signatures debate in the Knesset, November 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
May 30, 2026, 9:38 am
Ben Gvir drew fire from fellow right-wingers for his flotilla video. Was that the point?
Footage of the far-right national security minister taunting activists served to differentiate him from more moderate elements of his camp — even as it provoked horror at home and abroad
By Ben Sales
Children play beside a fragment of an Iranian ballistic missile that landed in a schoolyard in Peduel in the West Bank, March 23, 2026. The Hebrew graffiti on the missile chunk reads: 'The people of Israel live.' (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
May 27, 2026, 10:56 am
Low test scores, interrupted studies, diverging values: How dire is Israel’s school system?
The poor results of a national science test are raising alarm bells. Experts say the problems run far deeper, are more urgent and are harder to solve
By Ben Sales
News editor Ben Sales joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing. (ToI)
May 26, 2026, 2:31 pm
Daily Briefing May 26: Trump sidelines Netanyahu as Israel eyes Iran
News editor Ben Sales reviews Israel’s stance as US aims to complete talks with Iran, without Netanyahu by Trump’s side, and how Israelis are faring during what is meant to be a ceasefire
By Jessica Steinberg and Ben Sales
US President Donald Trump (right) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leave at the conclusion of a joint press conference at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 29, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)
May 25, 2026, 9:28 am
Israel began the Iran war as a partner of the US — and is ending it on the sidelines
Netanyahu said the war was meant to halt the Iranian threat and suggested it brought the US and Israel closer than ever. Now Trump has frozen the PM out of talks that may leave that threat intact
By Ben Sales
US Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, pictured at the US Capitol in Washington, DC,, April 29, 2026. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
May 19, 2026, 6:02 am
A GOP primary has become a costly battle over Israel. Will it matter in the long run?
Pro-Israel groups are spending millions to unseat Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, but even if he loses, it may not be dead end for his fellow Republican opponents of Israel, whose numbers seem to be growing
By Ben Sales
People stand on the beach during Independence Day celebrations in Tel Aviv, April 22, 2026. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
May 15, 2026, 5:15 am
Ceasefire nation: Caught between war and peace, can Israelis move forward?
Day to day, most Israelis aren’t living in wartime, but with shaky truces on 3 fronts and the possibility of conflict around the corner, psychologists say that isn’t enough to heal
By Ben Sales
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