Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Tsachi Miri/TPS)
Herzliya (TPS) – Education Minister and Chairman of the Jewish Home Party Naftali Bennett told a counter-terrorism conference Monday that Israel is the world’s “front post” in the battle against terror. “No nation is as threatened by terror as we are,” Bennett told the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism annual… Read more »
Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog speaking in the Knesset in Jerusalem at a memorial ceremony for Yitzhak Rabin, Nov. 5, 2014. Herzog is faring well in the polls since new elections were called in December. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) WASHINGTON (JTA) – Come early next year, there might be yet another world capital that opposes Israeli settlement expansion and sees Benjamin Netanyahu as principally responsible for Israel’s isolation: Jerusalem. Isaac Herzog, the Labor Party leader, is faring well in the polls since Netanyahu called for new elections earlier… Read more »
Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni has joined forces with Isaac Herzog of Labor to form a joint slate in the upcoming Israeli elections. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — In the latest episode of the satirical show “State of the Nation,” the zingers aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weren’t coming from the comedians. Tzipi Livni, who until last month was Netanyahu’s justice minister, called the prime minister a “zero” on the program… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading a Likud faction meeting at the Knesset, Dec. 1, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — For the second time in about two years, Israel appears to be headed toward elections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing Tuesday of two key Cabinet ministers, Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, increased the likelihood of a government collapse. “The people of Israel placed the responsibility on… Read more »
Israeli flags standing next to the Israeli state symbol in the Knesset, Nov. 6, 2014. (Nati Shohat/Flash90) TEL AVIV (JTA) — On Sunday, Israel’s Cabinet advanced a bill in a 14-6 vote that if passed by the Knesset would enshrine into law Israel’s status as a Jewish state. The nation-state law, as the controversial measure is being called, has sparked a crisis in Israel’s coalition, with… Read more »
HERZLIYA, Israel (JTA) — Naftali Bennett and Tzipi Livni don’t agree on much. Bennett, Israel’s economy minister, sees the West Bank as an inseparable part of the Jewish state and wants Israel to annex its settlements there. Livni, the justice minister, says Israel can remain a Jewish democracy only… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem on March 31, 2014. (Amos Ben Gershom/Israel Government Press Office/FLASH90) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Now that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have screeched to a halt, U.S. officials are apportioning blame, and a big share is going to Israel. In an interview with Nahum Barnea, a veteran diplomatic affairs writer for the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot, anonymous members of the U.S. negotiating team… Read more »
Israelis demonstrating against the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, Oct. 28, 2013. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s peace talks with the Palestinians remain mostly shrouded in secrecy, but one thing is certain: The Palestinian prisoner release that paved the way for their resumption is increasing tensions in Israel’s governing coalition. Israel completed the second stage of the four-part release on Tuesday, setting… Read more »
(L-R): Israeli negotiators Yitzhak Molcho and Tzipi Livni, Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama, and Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Mohammed Shtayyeh at an Oval Office meeting to discuss the formal resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, July 30, 2013. (U.S. State Department) WASHINGTON (JTA) — After 20 years of stops, starts and a bloody intifada in between, John Kerry believes he can pull out a final status Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in nine months. What clock is the U.S. secretary of state trying to beat? According to his aides, the one ticking… Read more »
Israel's President Shimon Peres (C, seated) sits next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L, seated) as they pose for a group photo together with the ministers of the new Israeli government, in Jerusalem, 18 March 2013. The new government comprises four parties - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist Likud-Beiteinu alliance, the pro-settler Jewish Home, the centrist Yesh Atid which advocates socio-economic reforms, and another centrist party of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally assembled a governing coalition following nearly six weeks of negotiations, the maximum time allowed under Israeli law. The Knesset approved the new government on Monday by a vote of 68 to 48, with four absent. The Israeli government coalition includes Netanyahu’s ruling… Read more »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, March 10, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90/JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — He’s had to bite a few bullets to get there, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lead Israel’s next government. Barring a last-minute surprise, Israel’s new governing coalition will be sworn in this week: a center-right grouping of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud-Beiteinu faction, the centrist… Read more »
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid hugging Jewish Home party chief Naftali Bennett following Lapid's first speech at the Knesset, Feb. 11, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash90.JTA) TEL AVIV (JTA) — When he emerged bruised but unbeaten following the Jan. 22 elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced some tough choices. Should he aim for a narrow, right-wing governing coalition comprised of haredi Orthodox, nationalist and religious Zionist parties that would give him a narrow majority… Read more »
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Tzipi Livni’s resounding fall in the leadership vote for Kadima, Israel’s largest political party, was as dramatic as her rise to political power. Ahead of last week’s vote, most polls were predicting that Livni would defeat Shaul Mofaz, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.… Read more »
Israeli President Shimon Peres visiting Gilad Shalit at the Shalit family home in the northern Israeli town of Mitzpe Hila, Oct. 24, 2011. (Ziv Binyonski/Flash 90) JERUSALEM (JTA) — A week after Gilad Shalit returned to Israel after being held in captivity for more than five years in Gaza, things were getting back to normal at the Shalit family home — sort of. The Israel Police said they would remove a barrier placed in front… Read more »
