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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu trounced challenger Moshe Feiglin, as both expected, in the vote on Tuesday for the leadership of the Likud party, but both men also said they won. Netanyahu won 75 percent of the vote, while Feiglin won 25 percent, with Feiglin gaining 5% compared to the results in the previous leadership race. “We did something that was almost impossible” by winning one quarter of the vote, said Feiglin, who maintained his supporters voted “for me and for a Jewish state." The low turnout was a favorable factor for Feiglin, and Netanyahu spread the message during the evening...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to inform Likud ministers on Sunday that any Likud minister who votes for the Outpost Law will be fired from government. The bill, authored by Minister Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), would forbid eviction and demolition orders for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that have stood for four years and have at least twenty families. It also stipulates that all petitions disputing land claims must be proven through accepted evidentiary means in a court competent to hear the case. Should such a claim be found valid the court would be directed to order monetary...

Moshe Feiglin, head of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction, will launch his bid to lead the ruling Likud Party on Tuesday at the Ramada Renaissance Jerusalem Hotel. Feiglin's campaign will make use of social media and networks to distribute a series of videos calling for judicial reform in Israel and highlighting the close relationship between sitting Likud leader Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his former IDF commander, Defense Minister Ehud Barak. His platform is based on ensuring that Israel is a clearly Jewish state, with Jewish values and mores. The campaign will hammer away at the irony of a...

MK Danny Danon (Likud) says he intends to fight any attempt to induct Defense Minister Ehud Barak into the Likud. Video "In February I will run for the presidium of the convention in order to stop Defense Minister Barak from joining the Likud," Danon told Arutz Sheva during an interview about the upcoming Likud primaries. "We don't want Barak in the Likud," Danon said. "The same defense minister who said he would have joined Hamas if he was a Palestinian - his place is not in the Likud." "I will do everything in my power to stop Barak from joining...

(Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Monday for a snap leadership vote in his Likud party, a contest he is expected to win and which could pave the way for an early national election in Israel. Some commentators said Netanyahu was quietly preparing for the possibility that President Barack Obama, with whom he has had a testy relationship, will win a second and final term in November, a year before Israel's currently scheduled ballot. Freed of campaigning interests if he wins, the Democratic president could redouble pressure on the rightist premier to accommodate the Palestinians in peacemaking, deepening...

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) responded Saturday to Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor's threat to resign if recent judicial reform bills pass saying Meridor belonged in the radical leftist Meretz party. "We always knew Meridor belonged in Meretz along with Zahava Gal On and Nitzan Horowitz," Ben Ari said. "Meridor was a part of the legal junta alongside Dorit Benisch that enacted the antidemocratic disqualification of Rabbi Meir Kahane for the Knesset." "We have not forgotten how, all these years, he has been a lawmaker and minister with the Likud, but advocated left-wing positions," Ben Ari added. According to Ben Ari,...

Minister of Science and Technology Daniel Hershkowitz (Jewish Home) used uncharacteristically blunt words to condemn Likud ministers who opposed the bill that would make Supreme Court nominees subject to parliamentary hearings before confirmation. He said they were "serving the Left" by opposing the vetting process. The bill, which was initiated by MKs Yariv Levin and Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), will be debated at the Ministerial Committee for Legislation next week. It was supposed to be debated today (Sunday) but the controversy around it caused the discussion to be postponed by one week. "It is strange that ministers from the Likud are...

Popular conservative politician Sarah Palin understands the importance of the Temple Mount to the Jewish people, according to MK Danny Danon (Likud), who accompanied her on a visit to the Kotel Sunday. Danon told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language service: "When we toured near the Kotel and in the tunnels near the Holy of Holies, she told me clear things without hesitating. She understands the importance of the place for the Jewish People and even asked me 'Why do you keep apologizing to the Muslims all the time?'" "I explained to her the mistakes made by [then-Defense Minister] Moshe Dayan in 1967...

Members of Likud's National Headquarters have called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to immediately dismiss Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whom they accuse of advancing policies that directly contributed to the heinous murder of the Fogel family in Itamar. In an interview with Israel National Radio, Shevach Stern of the Likud National Staff said the Prime Minister cannot back-peddle from his government's positions to save Ehud Barak, "We hear this call from many Knesset members. They say it off the record and not for attribution. But everyone understands that Barak has taken over as head of government in various fields, and...

The Knesset House Committee on Monday approved a request by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to split from the Labor party and form a new faction called 'Independence' (Atzmaut). The split was approved with a majority of 11 MKs voting in favor. Shortly after the announcement, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a request to begin coalition negotiations the newly-formed faction. Representatives from Netanyahu's office are expected to meet with Labor breakaway representatives MK Einat Wilf and Agricultural Minister Shalom Simhon. Speaking at a press conference at the Knesset after he and four other Labor MKs submitted the request, Barak said that...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to fire the Labor Ministers in the government: Braverman, Herzog and Ben-Eliezer.

JERUSALEM – Israel's leader on Sunday dismissed a call from a key government partner to share the holy city of Jerusalem with the Palestinians, a reminder of the obstacles facing already troubled peacemaking efforts. Conflicting claims to east Jerusalem lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The dispute over the area, home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has derailed past peace talks and spilled into violence. Palestinians claim the sector as the capital of their future state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaffirmation of his intention to hold on to east Jerusalem drew criticism from the...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is playing with fire. And Israel is getting burned. Over the past week, it has been widely reported that the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government are conducting secret negotiations regarding future Israeli land surrenders to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. According to the reports, the Obama administration has presented Netanyahu with a plan whereby Israel will cede its rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and then lease the areas from the Palestinians for a limited period. The reports on the length of the lease vary. Some claim...

No sooner than Kadima Knesset Member Ronit Tirosh said this week that over taxation will spawn an Israeli version of the anti-big government American Tea Party, English-speaking Israelis were sooner than Kadima Knesset Member Ronit Tirosh said this week that over taxation will spawn an advancing plans to open an American branch in Tel Aviv. The grass roots Tea Party has rocked the American political system, dividing the Republican party and attracting former GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as its undeclared candidate to run in the 2012 presidential election.

Not surprisingly, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's speech to the UN General Assembly this week drew condemnations, with Palestinian delegates walking out on the speech. Israel's left-wing daily Haaretz ran an article claiming U.S. Jews were "outraged." It quotes extreme-dovish activist Seymour Reich as saying, "If Lieberman can't keep his personal opinions to himself, he ought to resign from the cabinet," and an unnamed "leader" as saying, "Every time…Lieberman voices his skepticism about achieving peace, he undermines Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's credibility

We explained, we shouted, we cried - nothing helped. The Likud Central Committee essentially erased the Likud and concentrated all the power in Netanyahu's hands as he heads toward the partition of Jerusalem. The national values that once motivated the fledgling state's magnificent underground movements have dissipated and can no longer head off trouble before it comes our way. For those to whom the concepts of holiness are foreign, the Land of Israel remains simple real estate. Including Jerusalem. "Actually, why not partition Jerusalem and bring peace?" veteran broadcaster Chaim Yavin asked me in a radio interview last Friday. "Because...

(JERUSALEM) — A poll released Friday shows that Israelis overwhelmingly have a favorable impression of President Barack Obama, despite a grave diplomatic feud with the U.S. over east Jerusalem construction. Between a total of three polls released Friday, Israelis sent mixed signals about their own leader. Thirty-six percent of those questioned for one poll thought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was best suited to lead Israel, versus 26% for his closest challenger, opposition leader Tzipi Livni. But another poll showed Livni's Kadima Party would overtake Netanyahu's Likud by a wider margin if elections were held today.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will return from his European trip to find that two Likud rallies have been organized to express opposition to the settlement freeze he reportedly negotiated with US envoy George Mitchell in London. The first, scheduled for Tuesday at Tel Aviv's Azrieli Tower, was organized by Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled. It is not officially an anti-Netanyahu rally but rather a "pro-Jerusalem event," and yet MKs who attend are expected to bash the deal the prime minister is negotiating with the Americans. The second, set for September 9 at the Likud's Tel Aviv headquarters, openly opposes any freeze on...

Benjamin Netanyahu's second cabinet will complete its 100th day in power next week, ending what is known as its 'period of grace.' In a private discussions with his associates, the prime minister said that not only was he being denied a grace period, but that he had to deal with a 'media onslaught' that began hours into his term. This onslaught relented only after his address at Bar-Ilan University last month, when he said he accepted the prospect of a future Palestinian state, he said. In the same private discussion, the premier recounted what he considers his cabinet's achievements over...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's vice prime minister and a number of lawmakers from the ruling Likud party have proposed alternatives to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. They say Israel should annex parts of the West Bank, while turning over Palestinian population centers to Jordanian jurisdiction. This idea is a nonstarter with Israel's Arab neighbor. The position also conflicts with President Barack Obama's support for a Palestinian state.

In order to understand where someone may be heading, sometimes it makes sense to understand where they came from. In the case of the new Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, you can see those roots in everything he does. Benzion Netanyahu, Bibi's dad is a noted scholar of the history of Jews in Spain. He knows deeply the horrors that tends to happen to Jews when they don't have their own state. Benzion learned the Zionist ropes as an assistant to the Zionist philosopher Zeev Jabotinsky. And in Jabotinsky you can see one of the key reasons why you don't...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in late Tuesday to lead Israel 32nd government, after cobbling together a coalition amid rising tensions within his own Likud party and with other leading political figures. Lawmakers voted 69 to 45 with five abstentions in favor of Netanyahu's right-wing government after a six-hour debate, making Netanyahu prime minister for the second time in 10 years. The new coalition will comprise 30 ministers and seven deputy ministers. In addition to serving as premier, Netanyahu has also created a position for himself as financial strategy minister and appointed Yuval Steinitz (Likud) to serve as finance...

Once again, the Jewish majority won a clear victory in the elections, but is being forced to implement the self-destructive policies of Oslo. On the night that the results of the Likud primaries were publicized, there was electricity in the air. When the next morning's headline in Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper was "The Feiglin Party," even more people on Israel's Right decided to join the Likud. The feeling was that there was now hope for Israel to get off the suicidal Oslo track on which it has been speeding to its inevitable crash. There was a feeling that the Jewish majority...

Labor members voted in favor of Defense Minister Ehud Barak's proposal for the party to join a Likud-led government during Tuesday night's convention at Tel Aviv's Exhibition Grounds. 1,071 party members attended the convention, with 58 percent voting in favor of the decision and 42% voting against it - a margin of 165 votes. Before the vote, Barak vowed that his party would have a significant position in the coalition. "I am not afraid of [Prime Minister-designate] Binyamin Netanyahu. We won't be anyone's fig leaf or anyone's third wheel," the Labor leader said. We will act as an opposing force...

The problem, as we see repeatedly, with much media coverage of issues involving Israel is the way the story is defined. There need not be any sense of bias by a reporter. Merely copying what other journalists do or from a specific ideological framework—not because reporters have preconceptions but because they make far less effort than in the past to balance them—leads to a conception of the story that is skewed. This appears subtly in news stories but very openly in analysis pieces. Consider Steven Gutkin, “Analysis: Mideast peace up to interlocking deals,” March 16, 2009. The lead is innovative...

Israel's Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has signed a coalition deal with the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, officials say. Under the agreement, Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman would become foreign minister, said officials from Mr Netanyahu's Likud party. He is a strong supporter of the Israeli settler movement and opposes exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians. Likud still needs support from other parties to form majority in parliament. Yisrael Beiteinu would get five other cabinet posts, including internal security, infrastructure, tourism, and the integration of new immigrants. Mr Netanyahu has also been seeking the support of the centrist Kadima...

JERUSALEM — Israeli President Shimon Peres chose hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a new Israeli government on Friday, ending days of speculation and giving Netanyahu six weeks to put together a ruling coalition. The question now is whether Netanyahu will form a narrow government with his hard-line allies or a broad government along with his centrist rival, Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni. His choice will have serious ramifications for the Mideast peace process. Peres made his announcement early Friday afternoon after holding meetings with Netanyahu and Livni. An official ceremony appointing Netanyahu was to be held shortly afterward....

The Likud is confident it can meet the two demands on which Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman has conditioned recommending that President Shimon Peres designate Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu to be the next prime minister, Likud officials said Thursday. The Jerusalem Post reported exclusively Thursday that Lieberman was ready to endorse Netanyahu rather than Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, provided that Netanyahu pledged to push through his demands for civil unions and an eased conversion process, but that if those two demands were not met, he would back Livni. Lieberman is also seeking to be appointed defense minister or finance minister,...

The nationalist camp assumed the Likud would win, and voted for smaller parties. Will the bloc's win be enough to give Netanyahu the nod? With the apparent near-tie between Likud and Kadima, all eyes are now turned to the three venues in which the final determination of the elections will be decided: The soldiers’ votes, the preliminary negotiations among the parties, and President Shimon Peres. Though Kadima has apparently won 28 seats, compared to the Likud’s 27, past experience shows that this is likely to change after the votes of soldiers, diplomats, hospital patients and those who are ship-bound are...

(IsraelNN.com) Voters gave Kadima 28 mandates in the next Knesset, one more than Likud, with almost all of Tuesday's ballots counted but not including votes of diplomats and soldiers, whose votes will be counted on Wednesday and Thursday. Their ballots are equal to five mandates. Following is the current number of estimated MKs for each party following the counting of 99% of the available votes: Kadima 28 Likud 27 Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) 14 Labor 13 Shas 11 United Torah Judaism (UTJ) 5 Ichud Leumi (National Union) 4 Jewish Home 3 Meretz 3 Arab parties 12 The votes of...

JERUSALEM – Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory in Tuesday's parliamentary election. Netanyahu told his supporters in a speech early Wednesday that he was proud of the gains by his hardline party. Exit polls show Likud coming in second, but in a better position to lead a coalition government because of a strong showing by other nationalist parties.

As soon as we’ve caught our breath regarding Kadima’s hairline win (according to exit polls only), the real story that emerges is the utter gutting of the Israeli Left, and the return of Likud. Of the four major parties today, three of them are Likud and its spin-offs: Kadima was founded by Ariel Sharon and is mostly made up of former Likudniks; Yisrael Beitenu’s chairman cut his teeth as the head of the Likud’s central committee.

Exit polls by Israel's three main television stations on Tuesday night showed Kadima as the clear winner in the 2009 general elections, with Likud coming a narrow second. Channel 1, Channel 2 and Channel 10 polling of voters as they left the ballot box all showed victory for Kadima, headed by Tzipi Livni.

Kadima wins elections, but will it form the next government? Kadima and its Chairwoman, Tzipi Livni, are the big winners of the 2009 general elections, according to a Rafi Smith exit poll commissioned by Ynet, with Likud finishing a disappointing 2nd. Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu delivered at crunch time to become Israel's third-largest party, while Ehud Barak's Labor party sustained a harsh blow. Exit polls by Israel's major television channels showed similar results

It can be hard for political junkies to live without polls until Election Day, but that’s exactly what Israel has had to put up with since Friday. The publishing of new election poll-results during the last days of the campaign is forbidden by law. Therefore the country is left in the dark until exit polls are published tomorrow evening: for now rumor and spin dominate public opinion.

Benjamin Netanyahu is pulling away from his rivals in the race to become Israel’s next prime minister, in a sign that the three-week war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has accelerated Israel’s shift to the political right. Polls show that Mr Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party opposition, would win at least 28 seats in the next parliament. His closest rival in the February 10 election, the centrist Kadima party, is expected to secure 24 to 25 seats. The gap has widened in recent days, suggesting the Gaza conflict provided only a limited boost to the parties in...

George Orwell once quipped, "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it." Since Tuesday it has become clear that the Olmert-Livni-Barak government has decided to end the war with Iran's Hamas proxy army in Gaza as quickly as possible. That is, the government has decided to lose the war. Most Israelis are unaware of this state of affairs. In an obvious attempt to bolster the popularity of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ahead of the February 10 general elections, the local media have spent the six days since the government launched Operation Cast...

Dec 31, 2008 23:54 | Updated Jan 1, 2009 4:07 Olmert, Barak and Livni say politics isn't influencing Gaza operation By GIL HOFFMAN Political considerations are not influencing the decision-making about the future of Operation Cast Lead, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed Wednesday. Though the February 10 general election is only 40 days away, Olmert and spokesmen for Livni and Barak said they were not considering the impact of military moves on the race. None of them denied that they disagreed about tactics for continuing the war, but they said the...

Winds of war blow Netanyahu's way A "Globes"-Geocartography poll finds the right-wing block has extended its lead. While Labor Party chairman and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, and Kadima Party chairwoman and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni quarrel about who deserves the credit for Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, which so far has been successful, it seems that the public is in no doubt: the winds of war are blowing the Likud's way. A "Globes" survey, in collaboration with Geocartography, predicts sweeping victory for the Likud if the elections were to be held today, giving it 38...

Israel has a crisis of leadership. Ever since the "Oslo process" began leaders have had their heads in the sand. They are so consumed with a desire for peace, that they refuse to recognize the real facts surrounding them. The Palestinian side has made NO move toward peace. The past 15 years have proved that the basic assumption and paradigms of the Israeli peace camp are wrong and are dangerous to Israel ’s existence. As Israel moves toward the next election the choice is clear, the Kadima/Labor side will give up anything for peace, the Likud side wishes peace also,...

You may remember that almost immediately after new elections were announced in Israel the polls showed that Kadima Nominee Tzipi Livni held the lead or was a close second to Likud candidate Binyamin Netanyahu. Since then there has been a major shift in Kadima strategy which has been a boon for their biggest competitors Likud and Labor, its called letting Tzipi open her mouth. Over the past few weeks almost everything that the Foreign Minister said, has gone beyond unpopular, she his promising change that goes against the grain if Israeli society. Maybe she is spending too much time listening...

The "international community" is eagerly anticipating the incoming Obama administration's policy toward Israel. It is widely assumed that as soon as he comes into office, US President-elect Barack Obama will move quickly to place massive pressure on the next Israeli government to withdraw from Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in the interests of advancing a "peace process" with the Palestinians and the Syrians. Giving voice to these expectations this week was this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Martti Ahtisaari. The former Finnish prime minister used his prize ceremony to call on Obama to make contending with the Palestinian...

A far-right Likud party member has become a thorn in the side of party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, a frontrunner in the race to become Israel's prime minister, as media reprint comments he made praising the Nazi system and denigrating Arabs. Moshe Feiglin, 46, had a strong chance of winning a parliamentary seat after gaining significant support within Likud, at a time when Netanyahu is seeking to soften the image of the right-wing opposition party. But Likud's governing body on Thursday pushed Feiglin down to the 36th place on the election slate from the 20th slot following an appeal by a...

Polls show Netanyahu's Likud extending significant lead The latest pre-election poll in Israel has Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party extending its lead over the currently ruling Kadima Party, and keeping the lead for the past few weeks The results of the poll issued in the paper "Yisrael hayom" predicted Likud winning 35 Knesset seats to just 26 for Kadima in the February 10 general election. Ehud Barak's Labor Party continues its fall to just 8 seats in the latest poll. The poll showed Likud and other right-of-center parties winning a commanding bloc , more than enough for Netanyahu to form a...

The latest pre-election poll in Israel has Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party extending its lead over the currently ruling Kadima Party. Broadcast on Israel's Channel One News on Tuesday night, the results of the poll predicted Likud winning 37 Knesset seats to just 25 for Kadima in the February 10 general election. Ehud Barak's Labor Party fell to just 7 seats in the latest poll. The poll showed Likud and other right-of-center parties winning a commanding bloc of 68 seats in the next Knesset, more than enough for Netanyahu to form a stable majority coalition.

JERUSALEM: A pair of polls published Thursday showed opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline Likud party leading Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's moderate Kadima party in the run-up to Israel's Feb. 10 elections. The polls also indicated strong support for Netanyahu's hard-line allies. If that support stands through the elections, it would position Netanyahu to put together a hawkish coalition that would likely end peace talks with the Palestinians, at least in their current form. Netanyahu believes the U.S.-backed talks, which aim to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, have been a failure and thinks negotiations should largely be limited to...

Former cabinet minister and Likud MK Benny Begin will soon announce his return to politics and to the Likud Party, and his intention to run in the party primary for the next Knesset list. Begin, who dropped out of politics and public life in 1999, agreed in talks with Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu over recent weeks to return to the party, after having apparently been promised a ministerial appointment if Netanyahu should win the upcoming elections. The decisive meeting between the two was held late Saturday at the home of close Netanyahu associate Reuven Rivlin, also a Likud MK, in...

Kadima beats Likud in new pollDahaf-Yedioth Ahronoth survey published Monday morning points to close race, as Livni takes the lead with 29 Knesset seats, Netanyahu follows with 26 seats. Labor plummets to 11 seats, while Shas may lose power Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni appears to be enjoying the fruit of her declaration that she will not give in to extortion. A new Yedioth Ahronoth survey conducted by the Dahaf Institute and published Monday morning showed that had the Knesset elections taken place today, Livni would have led Kadima to victory with 29 Knesset seats, the same number of mandates it...

Kadima leader Tzipi Livni has failed to form a viable coalition and will recommend going to general elections when she meets President Shimon Peres on Sunday afternoon. The move came after Shas and Degel Hatorah, which constitutes half of the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset, announced over the weekend that they would not join a Livni-led government. "I'm sick of this extortion," Livni was quoted as telling her advisers. "We'll see all these heroes in 90 days." The most likely date for a national election is February 17, 2009. Livni is scheduled to inform Peres of her decision...

Give John McCain credit where credit is due. A so-called "maverick" and ideological Liberal-Independent in Republican clothing, his dance to the mythical Center (Left, in reality) was clearly not working and his campaign was floundering. In one bold stroke, he did what he needed to do. In picking Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain re-energized the core conservative base of the Republican party and suddenly vaulted ahead of Obama in the polls. You can talk all you want about Palin's appeal to women and her folksy style, but she is what McCain is not; a card-carrying conservative to the...