Free Republic

Israel’s political structure is a mystery to most Americans. They vote for parties instead of candidates. Thirteen parties received enough votes in last month’s elections to earn seats in the Knesset. A coalition must be formed with over 50% of Knesset Members backing a Prime Minister. The President is not like our President and has very little power other than helping to form the government. And these are just a few of the things that differ from our own electoral process. With that in mind, it’s understandable that supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including me, are not excited that...

Israel is heading to its fourth election in two years after its parliament failed to pass a new budget by the midnight deadline, the Israeli Knesset spokesman’s office confirmed early Wednesday.The failure to approve a budget by deadline is a technical reason for triggering an automatic dissolution of the country’s current government, as well as an automatic snap election, which is scheduled for March 23.The state budgets were advanced in the cabinet and Knesset but has not yet been passed into law.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, former military chief and current defense minister Benny Gantz, in May...

Video Blue and White leader Benny Gantz returned the mandate to form the government to President Reuven Rivlin Wednesday evening, signalling the end of his attempts to form a coalition. Both Gantz and incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have failed to form a government more than two months after the last elections. Members of the Knesset will now have the opportunity to recommend a candidate for prime minister over the next three weeks, However, a third round of elections appears likely. "Gantz told the president that he is also committed in the remaining 21 days to continue to make every...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suffered a serious defeat in his bid to stay on as premier by failing to form a new coalition government, but his rival faced similar difficulties as he set about the same task on Tuesday. Ex-military chief Benny Gantz will now be given the chance to try to negotiate a coalition, but a deadlock following polls held on September 17 remains -- and yet another election cannot be ruled out. It would be Israel's third vote within a year, after Netanyahu also failed to form a coalition following April polls. His decision to inform...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned the mandate to form a government to President Reuven Rivlin minutes after the end of the Simhat Torah holiday Monday night. President Reuven Rivlin received the message from Netanyahu. He will hold consultations with faction representatives and by law has three days to give the mandate to another candidate.

The New Right party said on Thursday night, "The results that were published are not final, and we continue to fight. We expect the media to show some more seriousness in its reports.” "Over the course of the day, a war room was established at party headquarters that gathered about 1,000 failures and flaws in the voting process. At the beginning of the week we will receive the protocols and our hundreds of volunteers will compare them to the computerized results.” "We will also address all the extreme irregularities discovered in the counting of the double envelopes. We will accept...

on't be fooled by misleading stories about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's disappointing showing in Tuesday's election in Israel. Even if the centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz were to eke out a very narrow victory over Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party, sending Bibi into retirement to face a near-certain indictment on corruption charges, the story of this election is not at all about the retreat of the right. On the contrary, the most far-reaching consequence of the 2019 Israeli election may well be that it verified, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there is functionally no left...

Israel has changed so much recently that even thinking back a few decades is like recalling an ancient past. We moved to Israel from upstate New York in September 1984. In those days it usually meant starting out in an immigrant absorption center, where a family could get a tiny apartment at a nominal cost and months of free, intensive Hebrew instruction. Although we’d wanted a certain absorption center near Jerusalem, no places were open that month and we couldn’t wait longer. So we agreed to go to an absorption center in Beit Eliezer, then a small, sleepy neighborhood of...

In a matter of hours on Wednesday, Netanyahu crushed the opposition, shored up his support in his narrow, rightist coalition and put himself more firmly on course to become Israel's longest-serving leader.

As usual, the world’s media have it wrong about Israel. The Jewish State remains a forward-thinking beacon of democracy, equality and justice. Witness Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s newly appointed justice minister who at the age of 39 is likely one of the few women anywhere in the world to hold such a senior government position. She’s a secular leader of a religious party, and lives in North Tel Aviv. The extremists are on the left, holding minimal influence or power, and thankfully, with Shaked’s Jewish Home party now holding senior roles in Netanyahu’s coalition, the radical fringe of the New Israel...

The agreement, which was struck just two hours before the final deadline for Netanyahu to cobble together a ruling government, paves the way for a narrow, 61-seat coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud faction on Wednesday reached an agreement with the religious Zionist Bayit Yehudi on the formation of a rightist coalition, Israel Radio reported. The agreement, which was struck just two hours before the final deadline for Netanyahu to cobble together a ruling government, paves the way for a narrow, 61-seat coalition. By law, if Netanyahu failed to form a government by midnight on Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin...

A senior source in the Jewish Home estimated Tuesday that White House pressure against a nationalist government is the real reason for the delay in the signing of a coalition deal between Likud and the religious Zionist party. The unnamed senior source was cited on Army Radio as saying that the Jewish Home has shown flexibility on numerous subjects, leaving very few disagreements between the parties, yet the prime minister is taking his time about signing the deal. The source estimated that the US is pressuring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to establish a unity government with the Zionist Union (Labor...

Likud Beytenu, the Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid reached the final stages of coalition talks Wednesday night, with Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett negotiating to break the impasse between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. After days of arguing over the Education and Interior portfolios, the number of ministries in the government, the Knesset Finance Committee, and changing Hatnua's coalition deal, the parties reached an apparent compromise brokered by Bennett on Monday evening, meeting late at night to iron out the final details. Shai Piron of Yesh Atid will be Education Minister, while the Likud's Gideon...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just two weeks left to forge a new coalition government, but the Obama administration is working feverishly to prevent him from succeeding and force him from office, according to Middle East expert Dr. Michael Evans. Evans is the author of numerous books about the various crises in the Middle East, including “Atomic Iran: Countdown to Armageddon” and the book he wrote with WND’s Jerome Corsi, “Showdown with Nuclear Iran.” He told WND it’s very clear why Netanyahu hasn’t put a new government together. “The biggest stumbling block is the Big O, Mr. Obama. Mr....

The Jewish Home and Yesh Atid parties have entered into a strategic alliance and notified Likud-Beytenu coalition negotiators that the two parties will either enter the government together or retire to the opposition. Both parties are intent on legislating the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Israelis into military or national service, a move rejected by the ultra-Orthodox parties, making coalition talks extremely challenging for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In response to the alliance, reported by the Hebrew media Sunday, a senior Likud source involved in the coalition negotiations accused the national-religious Jewish Home party of “voter fraud,” for forming an agreement with...

Elections may be imminent as the debate over the draft--and whether the ultra-orthodox are exempt--leads to the end of Netanyahu's grand coalition Well, that didn’t last long. The newest and largest member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition voted to leave it on Tuesday, ankling the government not quite 10 weeks after joining. Kadima, the center-right party that averted elections by joining Netanyahu’s coalition in May, voted overwhelmingly to return to opposition after Netanyahu chose to side with religious parties in the divisive question of a universal draft. Kadima’s departure does not guarantee new elections. Netanyahu’s remaining coalition members continue to...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition chairman MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) reached a surprise agreement early Tuesday morning to form a national unity government. The move came as the Knesset was preparing to disperse for early elections, which were expected to be scheduled for September 4. Under the agreement, Kadima will join Netanyahu's government and commit to supporting its policies through the end of its term in late 2013. Mofaz is expected to be appointed deputy prime minister, as well as minister without portfolio.

Israelis, Haters of Israel by Ari Bussel A two-day Arab Film Festival was held recently at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. The event was part of a yearlong program of USC’s Arts and Humanities Initiative called Visions and Voices. “Eyes on the Middle East” was focused on a very narrow area of interest: The Israeli Palestinian conflict. Dubbed, “complex and controversial” the “conflict” was depicted by “filmmakers on both sides, using cinematic media to express a variety of perspectives about the struggles and the quest for peace.” More accurately, the sixteen hours of movie...