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Ben Sales

Ben Sales

Ben Sales is a news editor at The Times of Israel
James Fishback (left) and Dan Bilzerian. (YouTube, Randy Shropshire / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
August 20, 2026, 3:19 am
Trounced in Florida GOP primary, antisemitic candidates believe ‘victory’ is still near
Heavy defeats of Dan Bilzerian and James Fishback show voters are turned off by classical antisemitic rhetoric, yet they may ‘have the wind at their back’ as young Americans increasingly turn against Jews and Israel
By Ben Sales
News editor Ben Sales appears on the Daily Briefing with host Jessica Steinberg on August 13, 2026 (Flash 90)
August 13, 2026, 12:27 pm
Daily Briefing Aug. 13: As election nears, can voters see extremism in their own camps?
News editor Ben Sales reviews Israelis’ concerns about political violence; he also marks 25 years since the Sbarro bombing and reports on the latest in the US political primaries
By Jessica Steinberg and Ben Sales
Police and medics surround the scene of a suicide bombing inside Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, Thursday, August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed, and 130 injured. A sixteenth victim died in 2023. (AP/Peter Dejong)
August 9, 2026, 11:17 am
25 years ago, the Sbarro bombing opened a wound in Israel that still hasn’t healed
Suicide attack at Jerusalem pizzeria killed 16, including 8 children; a quarter of a century later, a family reckons with its ongoing fight for justice — and a new wave of grief after October 7
By Ben Sales
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan, speaks during a primary election night event August 5, 2026, at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
August 6, 2026, 3:59 am
Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan primary win is a watershed moment for anti-Israel Democrats
Progressive in key swing state takes a step closer to the US Senate, after tens of millions of dollars spent by AIPAC, marking a huge victory for opponents of Israel in the party
By Ben Sales
Ultra-Orthodox protesters demonstrate against a cafe operating on Shabbat and clash with Israeli police, while secular protesters hold a counter-demonstration in support of the cafe in central Jerusalem, August 1, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 5, 2026, 5:53 am
Israelis are alarmed over the threat of political violence. Can it be averted?
Amid an ugly campaign season, scholars and officials are warning of a toxic political discourse across the spectrum — and fear things could get worse before they get better
By Ben Sales
US President Donald Trump (C) speaks during the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
August 1, 2026, 5:21 am
How the Gaza disarmament deal proves everyone right — but could spell trouble for Netanyahu
The deal may not be implemented, but its very signing gives Israel and its critics, and Netanyahu and his opponents, reason to both celebrate and worry; for the PM, it may prove especially problematic as the election nears
By Ben Sales
News editor Ben Sales joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's Daily Briefing podcast. (AP/ToI)
July 23, 2026, 12:31 pm
Daily Briefing July 23: Big whoop? Mamdani admits he can’t arrest Netanyahu
News editor Ben Sales on a new US agreement to help Saudi Arabia go nuclear and, as the House passes its defense bill, the controversy over funding Israel begins anew
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Ben Sales
(Left) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledges audience applause after his address to the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew); (right) Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a union rally on Park Avenue, in New York, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
July 20, 2026, 5:01 pm
Mamdani trying to arrest Netanyahu would give both men the exact headline they want
The New York City mayor likely can’t act on ICC warrant. But attempting to do so would bolster Mamdani’s left-wing political brand — and give Netanyahu an assist ahead of the election
By Ben Sales
US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, March 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
July 15, 2026, 5:17 pm
There’s a new Democratic consensus on aid to Israel — against it
Military assistance totaling billions annually used to get bipartisan support in Washington. Now, the question for Democrats, exemplified in a key vote on Wednesday, isn’t whether to send Israel money, but whether to still sell it arms
By Ben Sales
Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for US Senate, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, join hands at an event in Orono, Maine, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
July 11, 2026, 4:57 am
Why US politics feels like it’s all about Israel — and what that does and doesn’t mean for Jews
Israel has become the perfect wedge issue for progressive Democrats. That’s left many US Jews in an uncomfortable spot, regardless of how they feel about the Jewish state’s actions
By Ben Sales
Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot speaks at the launch of his party's election campaign in Hod Hasharon, June 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
July 6, 2026, 12:58 pm
Gruff and unpolished, Gadi Eisenkot is becoming the face of the anti-Netanyahu movement
The plainspoken ex-IDF head embodies a shift from the PM’s slick style, which has come to define Israeli politics. But after surging in the polls, he now faces a brutal campaign as Netanyahu’s chief foe
By Ben Sales
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
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