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amina Chairman Defense Minister Naftali Bennett read today at the Knesset plenum embarrassing and confused quotations by Blue and White leaders from cabinet hearing minutes during Operation Protective Edge. Among other things, the words of Benny Gantz and Moshe (Boogie) Ya'alon, who served as IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister respectively, were cited from the State Comptroller's report. Bennett cited in this connection statements by Defense Minister Ya'alon at the time, calling for no action against the Gaza Islamic attack tunnels while cautioning against "miscalculation". Bennett also quoted a statement by Gantz that he called unintelligible: "Gaza has an...

New polls taken Wednesday in the wake of former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz’s first speech in politics and his bond with former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon found that he poses a threat to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The polls indicated that the address and the deal with Ya’alon elevated Gantz into a serious alternative to Netanyahu and his Likud Party. When asked who is most fit to be prime minister, a survey taken by pollster Camil Fuchs for Channel 13 found that an equal number of Israelis, 42%, consider Netanyahu and Gantz fit to be prime minister. A...

"The new right-wing party is on the right, period, for the land of Israel, without compromises, against a Palestinian state" Education Minister Naftali Bennett Announces A New "Right" Party In Israel 12/29/2018 Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced Saturday night the formation of "The New Right" party to contest the April 9th elections. They are leaving the "Jewish Home" party where Bennett served as its leader. Bennett and Shaked will be co-leaders of the new party. The party will 'represent secular and religious Israelis'. Bennett said religious Israelis have been used for too long by politicians...

U.S. political leaders of both parties argue that destroying Islamic State is America’s top priority in the Middle East. In reality, that’s not nearly as important as confronting the challenge posed by Iran. The nuclear deal that went into effect a year ago may have postponed the danger of an Iranian nuclear bomb, but the multifaceted threat of a militaristic, messianic Iran — 80-million strong — is much more menacing to Western interests than the Sunni thugs and murderers of Raqqah and Mosul. […] From Tehran’s perspective, it gained much more than it gave up. In exchange for postponing its...

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) announced on Friday morning that he is quitting politics, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to hand his portfolio over to Yisrael Beytenu head MK Avigdor Liberman so as to bring his party into the coalition. "This morning I let the Prime Minister know that due to his conduct and recent developments, and due to a lack of confidence in him, I am resigning from the government and from the Knesset and taking a timeout from political life," said Ya'alon. Ya'alon's resignation is particularly dramatic as Liberman has not yet formally been given his portfolio...

Israel’s defense minister announced his resignation on Friday, saying the governing party had been taken over by “extremist and dangerous elements” and that he no longer trusted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following reports that he was to be replaced. Moshe Ya’alon’s departure removes a strong voice of moderation in the Cabinet and deepens the rift between the security establishment and the hardline politicians. Ya’alon told reporters that “Israel is a healthy society” with a “sane majority” that is tolerant of minorities and strives for a liberal and democratic society. “But to my great dismay extremist and dangerous elements have taken...

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has accepted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s offer to join the coalition in return for the Defense and Immigration ministries, senior Yisrael Beytenu officials said on Wendesday. According to senior officials, the Prime Minister’s meeting Wednesday afternoon with Liberman has already laid the groundwork for Yisrael Beytenu’s entry into the government. Shortly after the meeting, Netanyahu reportedly called Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, informing him that Liberman had requested the Defense Ministry in exchange for his support of the Likud government. Senior officials have leaked details of the meeting, including Netanyahu’s offer to Liberman, which includes two...

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...

Hamas helped the ISIS-affiliated group in Sinai to carry out the latest attacks against Egyptian troops and supplied them with weapons and other support, an Israeli general told Al-Jazeera on Thursday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered condolences over the attacks that claimed the lives of dozens of people. Israel has "clear information that Hamas is supporting the Wilayat Sinai, which belongs to Daesh," Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, claimed, referring to the Islamic State group in one of its acronyms. He added that Hamas provided the Islamist group weapons and logistical support,...

The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday rejected an appeal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents in Likud who asked to postpone the Likud leadership and Knesset primary that is set for Wednesday. The decision by Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen means that the race for both the Knesset and Likud leader will be that day, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. Agmon-Gonen wrote in her ruling that the decision to hold both races the same day was "reasonable" and would not cause significant harm to the democratic process inside the party. A source close to Likud central committee members who...

By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency(photo) The Pentagon wants to defend the US but has hands tied by the Obama White House. Jerusalem — October 26, 2014 … From Ebola to ISIS, it appears that almost every issue which is handled by President Barack Obama turns into total disaster. Obama’s policies with regard to the Middle East are either coming from a place of ignorance, negligence or just plain bias to the global Islamic agenda. For US Secretary of State John Kerry to draw a direct relationship between stability in the Middle East and the Israel Palestine peace process illustrates...

Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is being careful of voicing the facts publicly, but Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has stepped up to the plate and told the truth of reality for him. “The money is gone. The defense apparatus is in crisis, and we need to loosen up the defense budget now,” Ya’alon said. Military officials have been debating whether or not to go to the media to address the problem. Their fear was not only public confrontation in front of the political leadership, but primarily the possible harm to the IDF’s deterrence capability. …

The Obama administration on Wednesday vented its anger at the Israeli defense minister’s public criticism of the U.S. and his personal insults of Secretary of State John Kerry. In a new sign of tension between top officials of the two allies as Washington tries to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, Kerry called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protest recent remarks by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. Yaalon this week accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran and questioned its commitment to Israel’s security. Previously, Yaalon has criticized Kerry personally for...

Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) fired back at US pressure Wednesday, maintaining that there should have been no need for Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon to apologize for his harsh criticism of US Secretary of State John Kerry, in which Ya'alon referred to Kerry as "obsessive and messianic"... "I congratulate the Defense Minister on his courage; what he said was right." Hotovely stated, in an interview with Arutz Sheva. "The American stance is disconnected from the reality of the situation in the Middle East. They are trying to force a solution on us which is unacceptable to most members of...

As the State Department was lashing out at Israel’s defense minister for saying the secretary of State has a “messianic” complex, John Kerry was at the Vatican calling for the need to forge “reconciliation among peoples, to bring religions together, to bring people together, and to make peace.” “Secretary of State John Kerry – who has come to us determined and is acting out of an incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me a single thing about the conflict with the Palestinians,” newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon as saying behind closed doors. “The only...

The Lebanese army has arrested the soldier who shot and killed IDF soldier Shlomi Cohen near the border on Sunday night, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday evening. Yaalon’s comments were made during a tour of the Jordan Valley. "This is a serious incident and the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army are responsible for this," he declared, adding that there had been a meeting on Monday between the liaison officers of the Lebanese army and the IDF, attended by members of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), during which the Lebanese army reported the findings of its...

<p>JERUSALEM — Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon Tuesday signaled that his military is prepared to strike shipments of advanced Russian weapons to Syria, in a rare implied threat to Moscow.</p> <p>Yaalon issued his warning shortly after a top Russian official said his government reserves the right to provide Syria with state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missiles.</p>

DM Moshe Ya'alon chose Gilad Altman, of Kibbutz Maale HaHamisha as his advisor on Yesha towns. Altman served as an IDF commando, and later as Chief of the 'Green Commandos', responsible for preservation of national real estate against Arab land theft. Altman, of strong right wing affiliation, was preferred over Mt Hebron Council Chairman Tzviki bar-Hai...

Minister Moshe Yaalon (Likud) said Sunday that Israel does not intend to maintain restraint in the face of the intense rocket attacks from Gaza. "If the terror organizations do not cease their fire we will be prepared to toughen our response as much as necessary, until they say 'enough!'," he said. "There is a complicated war here, and in the end we will finish it," he said. "This is not a one-off move. But we will put an end to it. We do not intend to maintain restraint because the situation is unbearable for us." "We will bring quiet to...

US-Israeli discord over action against Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have every staged, ready to go in spring, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran's central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices..... DEBKAfile's military sources report that a third aircraft carrier and strike group, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is also on its way...