Tagged Israel elections

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Liberman, who prevented Netanyahu from forming a coalition government following elections in April, will meet to discuss a unity government. The meeting, confirmed by Liberman in a social media post, is scheduled for Thursday morning in Jerusalem. Liberman said even… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israelis head to the polls for the second time this year on Tuesday. Exit polls from the country are notoriously fickle, so the real results of the election may leave onlookers in suspense for a bit. Here are some of the more important things to look… Read more »

Almost 6 million voters, over 11,000 ballots. Sept. 17 is national Elections Day for the 22nd Knesset. This is the second time in 2019 that the Israeli public is called to actively participate in the democratic process. First results of this 2nd round are expected to be published tomorrow… Read more »

(JTA) — Trying to understand next week’s Israeli elections can get confusing. Especially since we’re talking about the second election in one year. Longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is mired in a series of corruption scandals and again facing a serious challenge from former military chief of staff Benny… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — So just who is Avigdor Liberman, the man who single-handedly forced Israelis to go to the polls for an unprecedented second time in a year? And is he really the champion of secular right-wing Zionism that he would have voters believe? Last month, less than two… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu’s week had been carefully scripted: Less than one month away from Israeli elections, the prime minister was traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. A friendly photo op would become even friendlier when Trump announced that he wanted to recognize Israeli… Read more »

Yesh Atid chief Yair Lapid addressing party supporters in Tel Aviv following the release of exit poll results from the Israeli elections, Jan. 22, 2013. (Avishag Shaar Yashuv/Flash 90/JTA)

(JTA) — This week’s election in Israel was a watershed — but not in the ways one might think. In almost every election cycle, the campaign has been about one thing. To adapt James Carville’s famous adage: It’s about security, stupid. Except this time, it wasn’t. The reason is… Read more »

The American-born Rabbi Dov Lipman of the Yesh Atid party says there is no contradiction between working, serving the country and being haredi Orthodox. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – Last week’s Israeli election saw a major shakeup in the country’s government, with 53 new members elected to its parliament, the Knesset. Some already have received wide attention, including Yair Lapid, the middle class-focused chairman of Yesh Atid; Naftali Bennett, the high-tech entrepreneur who chairs… Read more »

TEL AVIV (JTA) — One day after the election, all of the Israeli news sites show an even pie chart: 60 Knesset seats for the left and 60 for the right. But the Knesset isn’t actually divided 60-60. It’s split four ways — 42 for the right, 48 for… Read more »

President Obama speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their meetings on May 20, 2011. (White House /Pete Souza)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With the Israeli election results split evenly between the right-wing bloc and everyone else, no one in Washington is ready to stake their reputation on what the outcome means for the U.S.-Israel relationship and the Middle East. Except for this: The next Israeli government likely will… Read more »

Likud-Beitenu supporters cheer after hearing the results of exit polls on the Israeli elections, Jan. 22, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) – His party shrunk, his opponents grew and his challengers multiplied. But with the results in, it seems Benjamin Netanyahu survived the Knesset elections on Jan. 22 to serve another term as prime minister. Netanyahu faces a bumpy road ahead. His Likud party, together with the… Read more »

(JTA) — A few observations about the Israeli election results: Right-left split changes, but not a game changer: From an outsider’s perspective, Israel would seem to a very politically unstable place. The biggest party in the previous Knesset, Kadima, crashed from 28 seats to two. The No. 3 party, Yisrael… Read more »

An Israeli man casts his vote at a polling station in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israelis are rarely shy about offering their opinions, especially on politics. This year, however, a good number of them aren’t sure what their opinions are. As Election Day approached, a large proportion of voters — 15 percent — were still undecided, according to polls. Some remained… Read more »

Yair Shamir, son of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, is second on the hardline Yisrael Beiteinu's Knesset list. (Courtesy Yair Shamir)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Yair Shamir says he doesn’t discuss hypotheticals. For the Israeli Air Force commander turned technocrat turned politician, these topics include how to respond to settlement evacuations or achieve Palestinian statehood, a fracture in the U.S.-Israel relationship or Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman’s departure from politics.… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poised to win re-election later this month, some critics of Israel’s peace and security policies worry out loud that Israel’s political cycle — its pattern of cycling alternately between the political left and right — is stuck on the right. “This… Read more »

Yair Lapid, founder of the Yesh Atid party, at an economy conference in Tel Aviv on Dec. 25, 2012 presenting a graph similar to the "bomb" graph shown by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly three months earlier. The Lapid graph shows the difficulties of the middle class. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90/JTA)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Uncertainty is an inherent condition of democratic politics, but one outcome is all but certain in next week’s Israeli elections: the right wing will win and the left wing will lose. Almost every party acknowledges that the merged Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu factions will take… Read more »

Left to right, Hanin Zouabi, Zehava Gal-on, Shelly Yachimovich, Tzipi Livni, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett and Aryeh Deri. (Graphics by Uri Fintzy)

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Remember the second U.S. presidential debate in October, when the incumbent Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney stood about six inches from each other, with one interrupting the other at every turn? Add about a dozen candidates, take away the formal rules of debate, switch… Read more »