Tag Archive for elections

Anticipating loss, autocrat Abbas likely to cancel Palestinian elections

Some Palestinians believe that Abbas, who is well into the 16th year of his elected 4 year term, is grasping for a reason to cancel the long awaited election based on a split within his ruling Fatah faction.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

The Palestinian Authority is “very likely” to postpone the Palestinian elections in wake of Israel’s failure to respond to the Palestinians’ request to hold the vote in Jerusalem, Nabil Sha’ath, a senior adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Tuesday.

Sha’ath told the Palestinian news website al-Jadeed al-Falastini that if Israel does not reply to the request, “the elections will be postponed.” Continue Reading »

PLO vs. Hamas in West Bank elections or ‘Old Guard’ PLO vs. Fatah

Whether or not the elections Abbas has planned in May will actually happen, the demon is out of the bottle, and with the infighting between the ‘Old Guard’ PLO members from Tunisia vs the local Palestinians, the end of PLO’s political supremacy in the West Bank seems near.

By Pinhas Inbari

 

When Palestinian elections were first discussed, the spotlight immediately turned to the struggle between Fatah and Hamas and the fear that under cover of the elections, Hamas would infiltrate the West Bank. But it soon became clear that the story was not Fatah against Hamas, but Fatah against Fatah. Continue Reading »

Likud bumped up to 32 seats, keeps right-wing bloc at 55 seats

United Torah Judaism, the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party loses one seat to Likud, but right-wing bloc remains unchanged at 55, while the Blue & White remains at 32 with its left-wing bloc unchanged at 44 mandates.

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN

 

The Central Election Committee announced 1 a.m. Wednesday that Likud won an extra seat compared to what they previously stated, bringing the total seats obtained by Benjamin Netanyahu’s party to 32, just one less than Benny Gantz’s Blue and White.

Moreover, the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism moved from eight seats to seven seats.

The CEC released the “almost final” results on Friday. Continue Reading »

UPDATED: With 99.8% of votes counted, Netanyahu establishes “right-wing bloc”

Right-wing faction heads established “right-wing parties bloc” headed by Netanyahu to hold joint coalition negotiations to form government.
– Gantz may have ‘won’, but a Blue & White gov’t can not be formed.

By Ido Ben Porat

 

Right-wing factions convened at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon, deciding to establish a “right-wing bloc” headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, that will work for the establishment of the next government.

It was decided to form a joint coalition negotiations team for all factions in the bloc.

Party heads with Netanyahu – Photo: Likud

In addition to Netanyahu, the meeting saw the participation of Minister Yariv Levin and faction heads: Yaakov Litzman, Moshe Gafni, Naftali Bennett, Rabbi Rafi Peretz, Ayelet Shaked, and Bezalel Smotrich. Continue Reading »

Israeli Christian Zionist urges fellow Arabs to not vote for the Arab Party

Referring to past Arab Knesset members, Yoseph Haddad reminds his fellow Israeli Christians, “They do not care about us; they are only involved in the provocations promoting the Palestinian cause… It is time to start building the bridges that will lead to a united society (of Jews and Arabs together) in the State of Israel, in our home.”

By David Lazarus

 

Yoseph Haddad, a Christian Arab Israeli and wounded IDF veteran is appealing in an open letter to all Arab citizens in Israel not to vote for the United Arab List next week, but to go out and elect representatives “who will work with us in the Knesset for the next 4 years.” Continue Reading »

REVEALED: Arab Israelis voted for party of ultra-Orthodox Jews

Surprising as it sounds, a number of Israeli Arabs from a few different Arab towns voted for the United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party, in appreciation for receiving assistance from its party head and Deputy Health Minister, Yakov Litzman.

By Yehuda Shlezinger

 

At a polling station in the Arab town of Arara in Wadi Ara, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party garnered 224 votes. In the Arab local council Bu’eine Nujeidat in Israel’s north, UTJ received 156 votes, as compared to just two votes in the last elections.

View of the Druze town of Sajur in the Galillee. – Photo: Wikimedia/אריאל פלמון

In Kafr Kanna, an Arab town in the Galilee, UTJ did not win any votes in the last elections. Continue Reading »

Benjamin Netanyahu wins, 5th consecutive term as Prime Minister

Benny Gantz had also claimed victory hours earlier, as the exit polls showed his Blue and White party leading, but with 97.3% of the polling stations now counted, Benjamin Netanyahu has a clear win to form the next government.

By Ynet

 

Benjamin Netanyahu heading into his 5th consecutive term as Prime Minister, has a clear majority of support to form a right wing coalition government.

“This is an unimaginable achievement,” Netanyahu said, at around 2am. “I am very moved tonight, a night of tremendous victory. I am very excited that the people of Israel once again trusted me for the fifth time, and with greater confidence.” Continue Reading »

Amid IDF impasse, Netanyahu coalition calls to dissolve Knesset, call for elections

As Lapid backtracks on past support “in petty politics at the expense of the IDF and Israeli public” in a last-ditch effort to exploit the ultra-Orthodox draft impasse, Netanyahu’s gov’t decides to dissolve the parliament and call for early elections.

By i24NEWS

 

An emergency meeting of the heads of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition partners on Monday in a last-ditch effort to resolve an impasse over contentious legislation regulating military conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews ended in a decision to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

The meeting, which got underway shortly after 1:00 p.m. local time at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, was called a day before Israel’s parliament was due to begin preparing a bill on the contentious issue for its final readings with less than a month left to pass a law on the matter under a Supreme Court-imposed deadline. Continue Reading »

5 Democrat contenders for POTUS in 2020 are against anti-BDS legislation

Pro-Israel U.S. Voters, WAKE UP!
Poll conducted this year found a mere 27% of Democrats sympathize with Israel than Palestinians, as compared with 79% of Republicans.

BY MICHAEL WILNER

 

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement making its way through Congress has earned the support of a majority of senators, save for a handful that share one thing in common: plans to run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.


No senator who has expressed an interest in running for president this cycle – Senators Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York – has joined 57 of their colleagues to cosponsor the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. Continue Reading »

Facebook, Twitter delete hundreds of fake Iranian & Russian accounts

Amid worries of foreign attempts to influence U.S. midterm elections, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have remove hundreds of accounts used to push Iranian and Russian agendas, citing, “coordinated inauthentic behavior” and “manipulation.”

News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet have collectively removed ‎hundreds of accounts tied to Russian and Iranian ‎users that cybersecurity firm FireEye‎ said were ‎promoting Russia’s and Iran’s ‎geopolitical agendas around the world.‎

Some of the Twitter and Facebook accounts were designed to ‎appear as if they belonged to real people in the United States, ‎Britain and Canada, according to FireEye. Continue Reading »

Palestinian religious leaders issue fatwa forbidding participation in J’lem elections

Determined to remain ‘occupied’ and ‘stateless’ the Muslim religious jurists of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority forbids all of the 300,000 Palestinian Arab residents of East Jerusalem from holding office, or even voting in Jerusalem’s municipal election.

By i24NEWS

 

The highest Muslim religious authority in the Palestinian territories issued a fatwa, or directive, on Monday forbidding participation in Jerusalem’s upcoming municipal election.

The some 300,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have traditionally boycotted local elections in the city because they do not want to legitimize Israel’s 1967 annexation of its eastern neighborhoods.

Jerusalem, East and West meet. – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

However this year at least two Palestinian residents have said they want to stand as candidates and a recent poll by found nearly 60 percent of Arab East Jerusalemites wanted to take part in the vote, scheduled for October 30. Continue Reading »

Khaled Mashal replaced, Ismail Haniyeh ignored after Hamas elections in Gaza

 

Following elections for the terror organization’s internal leadership, Yahya Sanwar, a renowned radical in Hamas who was released as part of the Shalit deal, will rule the strip replacing Khaled Mashal, despite Ismail Haniyeh having been slated to hold the top position.

By Elior Levi

 

Yahya Sanwar has been elected to lead Hamas in the Gaza Strip after internal elections were held for the organization’s institutional and leadership positions, according to reports from Al Jazeera.Sanwar was on the most senior officials released by Israel in the Shalit deal in which hundreds of terrorists and political prisoners were released in exchange for the return of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Continue Reading »

Trump wins over Clinton by 5% in Israeli absentee-voter exit poll

 

The research poll has the number of actual voters from Israel at 30,000, which is significantly lower than Israel’s voter turnout in 2012, which analysts suggest is because of who the candidates are this time.

By LAHAV HARKOV

 

If American citizens in Israel were to choose the next president of the United States, Republican nominee Donald Trump would win the election, according to the results of an exit poll taken among absentee voters in Israel obtained exclusively by The Jerusalem Post.

An Israeli soldier walks past members of the US Republican party's election campaign team near a mall in Modi'in, Israel. - Photo: REUTERS

An Israeli soldier walks past members of the US Republican party’s election campaign team near a mall in Modi’in, Israel.

Continue Reading »

2016: 120,000 Americans registered to vote in US elections from Israel

 

Media campaign to register absentee voters by Republican supporters in Israel contributed to about a 60% spike in registration of Israeli-American citizens, compared to 2012.

By Reut Hadar

 

The Republican campaign to register American voters in Israel has brought about a 60% rise in voter registration compared to 2012. According to party statistics, about 120,000 voters currently in Israel have registered to vote in the US presidential race, and some have already cast their ballots.

 PM Benjamin Netanyahu with Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York, Sunday, September 25, 2016. - Photo: Israel's Gov't Press Office/Kobi Gideon

PM Benjamin Netanyahu with Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York, Sunday, September 25, 2016. – Photo: Israel’s Gov’t Press Office/Kobi Gideon

In 2012, that number was about 75,000. Continue Reading »

Clinton running mate Kaine misrepresents IDF chief Eizenkot during TV debate

 

During Tuesday’s televised vice presidential debate, democratic nominee Sen. Tim Kaine fabricated comments he attributed to Israeli CoS Lt. Gen. Eizenkot, about US-Iranian nuclear deal.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Clinton’s nominee for Vice President claimed in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate that Gadi Eizenkot, the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said that the the Iranian nuclear deal prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear arms.

IDF Chief of Staff, Rav Aluf (Lt Gen) Gadi Eizenkot, at the IDF HQ – Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Kaine was apparently referring to remarks Eizenkot made in January when he said,“Since the end of 2005, Israel’s central threat was Iran,” he stated. Continue Reading »