Free Republic

Likud-led bloc fast-tracks legislation crucial to incoming coalition, seeking to reshape ministerial authorities, prevent MK rebellions Hours after electing a new Knesset speaker from their camp, incoming coalition members won premliminary votes on four bills, some of them highly contentious, set down as political preconditions for finalizing the hardline government coalescing under Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu... Clearing its first of several legislative hurdles eight days out from the December 21 expiration on Netanyahu's mandate to form the new government, the incoming coalition is sprinting to wrap up voting early next week... In addition to Likud, the three far-right and two...

The State of Israel will be going to vote on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. This will be the fifth election in less than four years. The near parity is between the competing political blocs: the Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-of-center on one hand, and the anti-Netanyahu left-of-center bloc led by Yair Lapid. Netanyahu’s Likud bloc has nevertheless a noticeable advantage; it has a reliable bloc of 60 mandates in the polls, and it may have an even higher number in the real poll – on Election Day. Netanyahu has only to find a single defector to form a narrow coalition government of...

Australia started out as a prison colony and there's plenty of evidence to suggest that in Melbourne and the rest of Victoria state the country is returning to its "roots". The lockdown triggering a call for protest and the government's vow to prevent it with arrests of people organizing the protest in their homes in recent days. Americans are supposed to be angry about dictatorships in other countries and the US Marines are sent to defend this formerly free country that looks like the "Peoples Democratic Republic of Australia" to me. The protesters in Melbourne today were pounced on at...

According to Channel 13, 97.6% of the votes from Tuesday's elections have already been counted, Blue and White stands at 33 seats and Likud at 31 seats, with Blue and White leading by a narrow margin. It is important to note that these are still not the final results. Overnight, the committee was counting the near quarter of a million soldiers' votes cast by Israeli soldiers. The Central Election Committee (CEC) has been updating its website since the close of the polls at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The last update was at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday: 4,354,991 votes had been...

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. In addition to Netanyahu, the meeting saw the participation of Minister Yariv Levin and faction heads: Yaakov Litzman, Moshe Gafni, Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, and Bezalel Smotrich. Minister Aryeh Deri met with Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this morning, as he was unable to attend the meeting due to the memorial ceremony...

Israel has decided to bar Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering the country on Friday after fierce debates on the contentious matter involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and various ministers, Israel’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday. “The decision has been made, the decision is not to allow them to enter,” Tzipi Hotovely told Israel’s Reshet Radio, Reuters reported. The reason cited for their ban is reportedly “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS,” a reference to the anti-Israel boycott movement, according to the Times of Israel, which cited a report by local Channel 12. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri made...

Poll fever continues ahead of March 17 elections, and while results have shown Likud and Labor neck and neck, the latest survey by Channel 10 gives Labor a full four mandate gap over Likud. According to the poll, conducted by the Dialog Institute under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs, Labor - which erased the word "Zionism" from its Arabic ad campaign - would get 24 mandates, while Likud would only receive 20. Coming in at third Jewish Home stays at 16 seats, followed by a joint Arab list that would receive 12 mandates. Such a joint list - formed...