Free Republic

An arrest warrant concerning the 2010 attack on the Gaza-bound aid ship Mavi Marmara was issued last week against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven current and former government officials, news outlets reported Monday.Netanyahu could be arrested if he sets foot on Spanish soil.Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman, former defense minister Ehud Barak, former interior minister Eli Yishai, former intelligence minister Dan Meridor, current defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, minister Bennie Begin and former head of the Navy Eliezer Marom were also named in the warrants filed by Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain’s National Court, according to the...

Tzipi Livni, who chairs the Hatnua party, slammed on Wednesday what she termed "the extremists" in her former party, the Likud. Livni, who visited a bar in Tel Aviv, warned that a coalition between these Likud extremists and the Jewish Home would be a threat to Israel. "Extremists are taking over our lives and if we do not stop them today - we'll end up in a situation that is dangerous for Israel," Livni said. "These extremists are now in the Likud in the form of (Moshe) Feiglin, (Tzipi) Hotovely, (Yariv) Levin and others - they are in the same...

Minister Benny Begin has told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he will only return to the cabinet if Ministers Dan Meridor and Michael Eitan come back too, according to a Sunday-evening report by Channel 10 Television. Begin's 21st-place finish in last week's Likud Knesset primary did not bode well for his return as a Knesset member. A number of local leaders and other Likud activists reportedly petitioned the party's election committee to place him in a higher position on the ballot that would see him more likely to be elected but he asked that they not do so...

While the government has thus far refused to apologize to Turkey over a clash aboard a Gaza-bound boat in 2010, senior cabinet ministers are divided on the matter. Foremost among them are Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak; the former staunchly opposes an apology, while the latter supports it. “This is not a legal matter, but rather a political issue, and is not a question of defending IDF soldiers but of neglecting them, of irresponsibility on the diplomatic level,” Lieberman said Thursday. “If there is an apology, that means admitting defeat on the battlefield and the political...