At just 23 years old, he's hoping to secure a seat in Israel's Parliament! @JonathanShalev is running with Bennett's Beyachad party and, if elected, he could become the youngest member of Knesset in Israel's history. With so many young Israelis voting for the first time, Yonatan has an important message for his generation. Follow @buildersmideast for more stories like this.

A dentist, a banker and two pilots. An unlikely team that may have saved more than 170 lives today. When a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv suddenly plunged thousands of feet, passengers had just minutes to react. Here’s what happened aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073. #Dubai #TelAviv #SaudiArabia #MiddleEast

Suspected terror incident diverts Israel-bound flydubai flight to Saudi Arabia haaretz.com/israel-news/isra…

This video of the flight from Dubai plunging as the co-pilot appears to have tried to crash it is chilling. There were 174 passengers headed to Tel Aviv including 27 children. You can hear the kids scream. Thank goodness for the heroes on board.

Too Arab for Tel Aviv. Too Jewish for Sakhnin. With an Iranian Jewish mother and an Arab Muslim father, Jackline grew up between two worlds. She chose Islam as her religion, but never chose one community over the other. Instead, she chose to be a bridge between them. For Jackline, what matters most isn't whether someone is Jewish, Muslim or Christian. It's being human first.

Though most people never see him, thousands hear his music. Gaby Shefler is the carillonneur of the Jerusalem YMCA. For more than 50 years, he's been climbing into the bell tower to play one of the only functioning carillons in the Middle East. This is his story... Follow @buildersmideast for more. @HolyLandSpeaks1

Why are these political rivals sitting around a table with coffee and biscuits? Election campaigns are famously nasty. Candidates attack each other, compete for votes, and try to convince the public they deserve the top spot. But these five opposition rivals have just done the opposite. With less than a month to go, they’ve agreed to cooperate and let the voters decide. Follow @buildersmideast for more.

We put Jaffa to the test: can you tell which politicians said which quotes? 👀 We have to admit, we picked some tricky ones. Play along and see how many you get right! Follow @buildersmideast for more. #IsraeliPolitics #Jaffa #StreetPoll #IsraelElections

We met Israel’s youngest Knesset candidate, 23-year-old @JonathanShalev, to talk about young voters, politics, and what brought him into the race. What would you ask the youngest candidate on the ballot? 👀 Story coming soon.

We hit the streets of Jaffa to see if locals could guess who someone is voting for just from their photo. Let's just say… some of the answers caught us completely off guard. Which city should we take the poll to next? Drop your suggestions in the comments. Follow @buildersmideast for more.

She discovered that her great-grandfather had been a tea merchant. Until then, tea had simply been a hobby. But as that hobby grew into Kiani Tea, the discovery made it feel like something deeper: a connection to Iran that had been there all along. We visited Sara at Kiani Tea in London, where she created a space to celebrate the people, culture and beauty of Iran.

Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts, during their crackdown on anti-government protests that began in December 2025, Sara Hossain, chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday. The mission said the number of dead and injured was likely far higher than official figures of 3,038 killed and 25,000 injured. Iran's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, rejected the findings.

Have you ever wondered what the music of ancient Persia might have sounded like some 3,400 years ago? Listen to Sarah Parsaei play the Arjan harp in Tehran, Iran. A historic instrument dating back to around 1400 BC.

"We need to vote for a change." Palestinians are due to vote in elections on November 28. But there are already growing concerns that they could be cancelled. @SSinijlawi is a Palestinian political activist. In this conversation, he reflects on the internal and external forces that might benefit from stopping the vote and why, for that very reason, it must go ahead. What do you think? Follow @buildersmideast for more stories like this.

We’re back on the streets of Jaffa, hearing people’s political views and putting their knowledge to the test with quotes from Israeli politicians. And, of course, we had to hear from the most important voice on the street.

Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Fadel Ashour warns of a culture of violence that was normalised under Hamas rule He says: "Children are the greatest victims… Whoever governs Gaza next faces the daunting challenge of rebuilding the society from scratch."

Who said this? "We're prepared to have a Palestinian state next to a Jewish state." Watch the video to find out. The answer might surprise you... Ahead of the Israeli elections, let's put your political knowledge to the test! Follow @buildersmideast for more! @HolyLandSpeaks1