Tag Archive for Israel Politics

| March 1, 2013
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Bayit Yehudi Vindicated as Coalition Planing Goes into Overtime

Political Analysis: Likud’s strategy reflects the reasoning behind Naftali Bennett’s decision to enter into a pact with Yair Lapid was appropriate.

By Gil Ronen

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet President Shimon Peres Saturday evening and ask him for a two-week extension in which to put together a coalition of parties and form a new government.

Peres will grant Netanyahu the two-week extension.

If Netanyahu fails to cobble together a coalition within a fortnight, however, he will be in serious trouble. Peres could decide to task someone else with creating a coalition, or new elections could be called.

We are, therefore, entering the “money time” of coalition crafting. Continue Reading »

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| March 1, 2013
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Obama may cancel Israel visit if no gov’t formed

U.S. President Obama’s visit was expected to take place after a new Israeli gov’t was in place, with the assumption that this would happen by mid-March.

PM is still struggling to form a gov’t.

By
 

President Barack Obama will cancel his planned visit to Israeli next month if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unable to form a coalition by March 16, Israel’s Channel 10 reported on Thursday.

Obama and Netanyahu meeting in Washington

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 5, 2012. – Photo: AP

After the Israeli elections on January 22, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked with forming Israel’s new governing coalition. Continue Reading »

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| February 27, 2013
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Netanyahu to ask Peres for 2 week extension for additional coalition talks

PM’s office schedules meeting with President Peres giving a clear message that the coalition will not be formed in the upcoming days.

Bayit Yehudi calls coalition deal with Tzipi Livni as a ‘traffic accident’.

 

Coalition talks will not end by their deadline on Saturday night, when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to meet with President Shimon Peres to ask for a two-week extension to form a government.

PM Binyamin Netanyahu accepts President Peres' invitation to form next government, February 2, 2013.

PM Binyamin Netanyahu accepts President Peres’ invitation to form next government, February 2, 2013. – Photo: Koby Gideon/GPO

Netanyahu’s office scheduled the meeting with Peres on Wednesday, a clear indicator that the coalition will not be finalized in the coming days, despite progress in talks with the Bayit Yehudi and negotiations with Yesh Atid planned for Thursday.

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| February 25, 2013
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Naftali ennett: Likud wants Habayit Hayehudi out of coalition

Naftali Bennett wrote on his Facebook page, that the alliance with Lapid meant to ‘prevent gov’t that will deal obsessively with peace talks’

By Moran Azulay

 

Against the backdrop of the difficult coalition negotiations, Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett offered his take on the complicated relations with the ruling Likud-Beiteinu party and his alliance with Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid.

Bennett wrote on Facebook Sunday that the alliance is meant to prevent the establishment of a government without the religious Zionists that would make concessions to the Palestinians during peace negotiations.

Without Habayit Hayehudi or Yesh Atid, which won a combined 31 mandates in the January elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have difficulties forming a new coalition. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 24, 2013
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Yesh Atid initiates a new Knesset Bible study group

Having been labeled anti-religious by some ultra-Orthodox leaders, Yesh Atid has since been the most dominant party getting  Israelis to study the Bible.

By  Israel Today Staff

 

We have already reported several times on Benjamin Netanyahu’s revival of the Prime Minister’s Bible Study group in Israel. Now the Knesset is getting in on the trend with the establishment of its own weekly sessions of scriptural enlightenment.

Bible – israeltoday.co.il

The initiative came from one of the new Knesset parties, the centrist Yesh Atid, which fields both secular and religious lawmakers.

Despite running an election campaign that emphasized an end to army exemptions for and exaggerated welfare payouts to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector, and subsequently being labeled anti-religious by ultra-Orthodox leaders, Yesh Atid has since the election been the most outspoken party about getting more Israelis to study the Bible. Continue Reading »

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| February 24, 2013
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Are the Haredim to ‘face the music’?

Is the Bennett-Lapid  alliance the revenge of the ‘knitted kippot’?

The Haredim annulled their conversions, called them “gentiles & heretics” and humiliated them at every possible opportunity.

The Haredim treated the national-religious sector like hired help for years, & systematically pushed them out of almost every state-religious institution.

By Yehuda Shlezinger

 

 

Yaakov Rivlin, one of the most respected commentators of the haredi system, recently expressed an insight that some would call historic. “The national-religious are about to take the place of the haredim in the religious and political systems of life in this country, and we must resign ourselves to that,” he wrote in the haredi newspaper BaKehila [In the community].

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| February 22, 2013
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Did Mofaz Switch Teams Because his Demand to be Defense Minister was Rejected?

Mofaz reportedly joined the pact between Bayit Yehudi & Yesh Atid because his demand to be Defense Minister in the next gov’t was not accepted by Likud Beytenu negotiators.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Kadima chairman MK Shaul Mofaz joined the pact between Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid because his demand to be appointed Defense Minister was rejected, Channel 2 News reported on Friday.

MK Shaul MofazAccording to the report, Mofaz’s representative, Attorney Alon Geller, arrived at the coalition talks with the Likud Beytenu negotiating team and presented Mofaz’s demand that he be appointed as Defense Minister in the next government.

The Likud Beytenu reportedly rejected the demand on the spot, leading to Mofaz deciding to join the pact with Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid and form a united front against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Continue Reading »

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| February 20, 2013
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After Hatnuah, Shas likely to be next to join Bibi’s coalition

Members of Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu suggested that Netanyahu may try to build a coalition of 57 MKS – including Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kadima & Hatnuah and then present Naftali Bennett with an ultimatum.

 

Likud officials in charge of coalition negotiations said that Hatnuah Chairman Tzipi Livni‘s consent to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government was the “first domino” to fall, believing that more parties would now follow.

Yishai, Netanyahu, and Bennett

Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett. – Photo by Archive

Shas and Kadima are expected to join the coalition quickly, but the Likud officials also expect that Livni’s move will apply pressure on Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi, as well. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| February 19, 2013
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Knesset Legal Counsel warns MKs: Leak secrets & be prosecuted

After 3 MKs exposed ‘Zygier affair’ during live broadcast from plenum, Knesset’s Legal Counsel says immunity won’t protect lawmakers disclosing state secrets.

Moran Azulay

 

After a number of Knesset members urged Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman to address allegations that an Australian national committed suicide in an Israeli prison, thereby blowing the cover off the “Prisoner X” affair, the issue of parliamentary immunity upon revealing State secrets has become a sensitive matter.

MK Ahmed TibiKnesset Legal Advisor Eyal Yinon determined Monday that Knesset members cannot disclose state secrets to the Knesset plenum and then utilize their parliamentary immunity.

Immunity for revealing State secrets would be applied to an MK if he or she spoke without preplanning, “in the heat of an argument or in response to things said,” Yinon said, but “preplanning a statement – that is in fact a felony that cannot be protected by immunity and a member of Knesset can be prosecuted for the said felony, as can any other person.” Continue Reading »

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| February 18, 2013
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Habayit Hayehudi MKs say they want to start afresh with Likud

Habayit Hayehudi MKs say that if Bennett keeps us out of coalition, he will have no more support, & that the main goal of coalition talks should be joining the gov’t, with or without Yesh Atid.

By Mati Tuchfeld & Yehuda Shlezinger

 

Some Habayit Hayehudi MKs have called on their party leader Naftali Bennett and Likud-Beytenu officials to put aside past inter-party rivalries and conduct “serious coalition negotiations.”

Habayit Hayehudi head Naftali Bennett. – Photo: Yakov Felbergaum

These Habayit Hayehudi MKs emphasized that they still trusted Bennett to manage the coalition talks, but said that the main goal of these talks should be to join the government, “with or without [Yesh Atid leader] Yair Lapid.”

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 18, 2013
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Tzipi Livni to be Justice Minister

Hatnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni, will reportedly be appointed as Justice Minister in Netanyahu’s new coalition & will hold a key position in peace talks with the Palestinians.

By Elad Benari

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, frustrated with the Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid parties, has reportedly once again turned to Hatnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni. Reports several weeks ago indicated that the two had been holding talks.

Channel 10 News reported on Sunday that Livni’s party is probably the closest to joining Netanyahu’s coalition. The report indicated that Livni is in constant touch with the Likud Beytenu’s number 2, Avigdor Lieberman, and that understandings between the two parties are beginning to emerge. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 17, 2013
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Ex-FM Lieberman’s trial to begin

3 judge panel to preside over Yisrael Beiteinu chief’s fraud trial.

State prosecutor will also pursue a moral turpitude conviction, that may bar him from politics for 7 years.

Lieberman pleaded ‘not guilty’ on all charges.

Aviel Magnezi

 

Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman and former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman‘s trial began Sunday at the Jerusalem District Court.

Israel's previous Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

Israel’s previous Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

The former minister faces fraud and breach of trust charges over his alleged involvement in the promotion of former Israeli Ambassador to Belarus Zeev Ben Aryeh within the Diplomatic Corps – to the post of ambassador to Latvia. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| February 17, 2013
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Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu plans to draft 60% of Haredim up to age 24

Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu proposal submitted to  Habayit Hayehudi & Yesh Atid as part of coalition negotiations.

Prof. Eugene Kandel on Saturday publicly presented the main points of his proposal for distributing the burden of military service more equally. The proposal was submitted last week to Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi by Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu during the latter’s coalition negotiations with the two parties.

Ilan Assayag

Eugene Kandel – Photo by Ilan Assayag

The program calls for drafting more than 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox men up to the age of 24, while offering government incentives to these conscripts and the yeshivas from which they they were drafted. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| February 17, 2013
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Minister Yaalon: Steps against “Prisoner X” Saved Lives

Yaalon condems left wing MKs who irresponsibly exposed the affair, says they knew they could have employed more discreet channels.

By Gil Ronen

 

Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon (Likud / Yisrael Beytenu) said Saturday evening that the steps taken against “Prisoner X” Ben Zygier were necessary in order to save lives.

“We are a unique country in terms of our security situation,” Yaalon told Channel 2‘s Meet the Press.”

Asked why Zygier was arrested, he said, “Out of considerations of pikuach nefesh [the halakhic precept that refers to the saving of lives], we needed to take such a step.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| February 14, 2013
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Lapid and Bennett Become a Package Deal

Bennett & Lapid have a 31-seat bloc, & reportedly agreed to join the coalition together, or be left out together.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid have created a pact between their two parties, agreeing that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will have either both of their parties in his coalition or neither, political sources have told Arutz Sheva.

Together, the two have 31 seats. Netanyahu’s chances of putting together a coalition without either party are not considered good.

Bennett and Lapid banded together due to a shared interest in preventing Netanyahu from creating a coalition that excluded one of them in favor of hareidi-religious or left-wing parties. Continue Reading »

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