Free Republic

The celebrations of hate against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the right-wing camp since the elections are disgusting, ungrateful, and lack any factual basis. People of the national camp, raise your heads! First of all, Binyamin Netanyahu has invested his life for the sake of the existence and fortification of the State of Israel. 18 hours a day for years. Tirelessly. You can argue with him, you can disagree (believe me, I was one of those, and we have disagreements), but his being trampled by the left ("What pardon? Death sentence!" wrote a journalist for Ma’ariv) is delusional at all levels....

With political machinations and intrigues in full swing following Tuesday’s election, both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz have said they want a national unity government. Netanyahu,however, said that he wants such a government to include his ultra-Orthodox and religious-Zionist allies, which Gantz and his party oppose. Support for a national unity government without the ultra-Orthodox parties is actually widespread, with some two-thirds of the Jewish Israeli public backing such a coalition, including half of all Likud voters.

The last one, held in April, looked like a victory for Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party. But when Netanyahu failed to get enough support from smaller parties to form a government, he was forced to call new elections. So here we are. The polling for the new election is too close to call. Likud is locked in a tight race with the centrist Blue and White party, which is leading the opposition. The ultimate outcome depends on a lot of things that are really hard to predict, ranging from minor party vote share to post-election parliamentary haggling.

The District Court of the Hague will hold a hearing on Tuesday about whether a war crimes case against Benny Gantz is admissible relating to his command decisions during the 2014 Gaza War. Israeli soldiers and commanders may also be on the hot seat at The Hague before the International Criminal Court, but Tuesday’s hearing, which also happens to be Election Day, is a local Dutch court proceeding that is unrelated to that. In fact, the ICC preliminary probe of Israel’s conduct of the 2014 war is moving slowly and is not expected to come to any conclusion earlier than...

US President Donald Trump told Jewish Republicans on Saturday that Israel’s election on April 9 is a close contest between “two good people,” a reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. Trump’s mention of the election came as he regaled the Las Vegas gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition by ticking off conservative victories of his first three years in office, including his decision to recognize Israel’s control over the Golan Heights two weeks ago, which many called a major boost to Netanyahu’s reelection campaign. “How’s the race going, by the way?,” he asked...

MSNBC host Chris Matthews blasted President Donald Trump for playing the “political sidekick” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and declared Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. President Trump also welcomed Netanyahu to the White House in late March. Matthews accused the president of breaking tradition with his predecessors by staying out of Israeli politics, but as Newsbusters pointed out, he overlooked the Obama State Department’s financial contribution of taxpayer money to OneVoice, an Israeli political group and opponent of Netanyahu.

(Reuters) - Benny Gantz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's toughest rival in Israel's upcoming parliamentary election, dismissed as "political gossip" on Friday media reports of allegations that his mobile phone had been hacked by Iranian intelligence. The former Israeli armed forces chief was speaking near the border with Gaza following a day which saw the most serious escalation in months between Israel's military and Palestinians in the coastal enclave. "We're in the middle of an ongoing security event...and someone's putting out a political gossip story," Gantz said. "I do not think Benny Gantz is the story here. There's no security issue...

A former Israeli armed forces chief who opinion polls show poses the toughest challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bid for re-election next year formally established a political party on Thursday. Details about Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience Party, leaked to local media after it was registered, give little indication of its ideological tilt. Along with preserving Israel as "a Jewish and democratic country", the party pledged unspecified changes to priorities in national security and the economy. Polling has predicted an easy win for Netanyahu in the April 9 election, with his rightist Likud party taking around 30 of parliament's 120...

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz estimates that after Bashar Assad's fall, Syria rebels will fight each other and also fight Israel. Speaking on IDF Radio, Gantz described the scenario for what he called "Round B" of fighting in Syria. "You can see that the rebels in Syria are fighting the army and the Assad regime," he said, "but it is clear that there will be another war there. It could be between themselves, but also could be turned against us. I have the impression that we will see both." .....

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, over Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. Earlier, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart and apologized for the deaths of nine Turks in a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla. In response, Lieberman said in a statement, “Anyone who saw the photos taken on the Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Europe. "Such an apology harms IDF soldiers' motivation and their willingness...

Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, IDF Chief of Staff, warned Israel's enemies Wednesday that any attempt to harm Israel will be met with a painful response. "The IDF draws from the memory of Holocaust Remembrance Day military strength and moral resilience that directs it in every crossroad and leads it to victory time after time," Gantz said, in a ceremony at the Masua Institute at Tel Yitzchak. "This strength of both body and soul is with us at all times and especially now – when the winds of revolution undermine the stability of the Middle East and create an extremely complicated,...

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz condemned on Tuesday the incident at the Ephraim base in Samaria on Monday night. Speaking to graduates of the National Security College, Gantz also mentioned the incident in which right-wing activists jumped the fence near Qasr Al Yehud to protest Jordan's interference on the Temple Mount. He said both incidents were serious. “These initiated disturbances are violent,” Gantz was quoted by Channel 10 News as having said. “The IDF, which protects its people, found itself defending itself from them. It’s absurd and unbelievable, and I hope that justice is done with the perpetrators.” He...