Free Republic

Jerusalem (CNN)Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to eight months in prison for taking cash from an American businessman. He was also fined $25,700. Police said Olmert received the money from 1993 through 2006, during his tenure as Jerusalem's mayor and while holding ministerial positions under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He took over as prime minister in 2006 after a stroke incapacitated Sharon. The new sentence is in addition to the six years in prison Olmert is already facing for taking bribes related to a controversial Jerusalem housing project -- also while he was mayor. Olmert was...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on Tuesday night shortly after 8 p.m., less than two hours after firing coalition members Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), effectively disbanding the government. "I turn to you tonight because in the current situation, in the current government, it is impossible to lead the nation," said Netanyahu, saying the impasse is preventing him from fulfilling his role as prime minister. While Netanyahu called it "one of the best governments, one of the most stable governments in the history of Israel," adding it was "a true unity...

PM says he took a 'personal risk' firing Lapid and Livni, but said they had made it impossible to govern; calls for snap elections. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on Tuesday night shortly after 8 p.m., less than two hours after firing coalition members Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), effectively disbanding the government. "I turn to you tonight because in the current situation, in the current government, it is impossible to lead the nation," said Netanyahu, saying the impasse is preventing him from fulfilling his role as prime minister. While Netanyahu...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Tuesday let loose at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the impending elections will "not be over zero value added tax," but over replacing a government she accused of "extremism, provocativeness and paranoia" without knowing how to fight terror while also "upholding freedom and Zionism."

ustice Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the Hatnua party, welcomed on Tuesday evening President Reuven Rivlin’s criticism of the controversial Jewish State Law. Rivlin, who spoke at a conference earlier Tuesday, said, "The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people. A small, abhorred minority, undermine this fact, both from within our own and from outside, and so, we must ask ourselves seriously, what is the point of the proposed law - Israel: The National State of the Jewish People." "Does the promotion of this law, not in fact, question the success of the Zionist enterprise in...

Justice Minister tells US secretary of state that his one week truce proposal would strengthen extremists in region. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday that his proposal for a week long cease-fire of Israel's Gaza campaign was "completely unacceptable" and that it "would have strengthened extremists in the region." The justice minister told Israel Radio on Sunday that over the course of the day on Friday, Kerry's proposal had improved. By Friday afternoon, just before Shabbat, the security cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry's proposal which the ministers believed did not sufficiently ensure either...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni sharply criticized Economics Minister Naftali Bennett Monday, after the Jewish Home party leader remarked at a faction meeting that a Palestinian state would "crush" the Israeli economy. "The Economics Minister must decide if he represents the Israeli people, or just the residents of isolated settlements," Livni insisted. "In these trying times, when both left-wing and right-wing businessmen are deeply concerned about the future of the Israeli economy, the person in charge of that economy actually prefers to listen to extremist Rabbis," Livni claimed. "The role of a responsible, Zionist leader is not to side with policies...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is heading the Israeli team for peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, said Sunday that Israel should ignore the terrorists who carried out the bus bombing in Bat Yam and continue with the peace process. Livni, who spoke at a special conference marking Quality Government Day, said that the Palestinian Authority with whom she is negotiating is not behind the terror attack. "Those who tried to harm us today are not those with whom we are conducting or will conduct negotiations," she insisted. “We will not allow criminal terrorists to determine Israel's future. Israel continues...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni warned on Monday that Israel runs the risk of a European economic boycott if it fails to advance peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. "You cannot deal only with economic issues and ignore the political issue and the importance of a two-state solution," she told delegates at an accountancy conference in Eilat, according to AFP. "Europe is boycotting products. And, true, it is starting with the settlements but their problem is with Israel, which is perceived as a colonial state, so it won't only stop with the settlements, but will (reach) Israel as a whole," warned...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni fears the potential disaster facing Israel if nothing is done to combat the European boycott of Israeli goods, she told an accountant's conference in Eilat on Monday. "If we do not take action regarding the European boycott of goods coming from the settlement areas, the boycott will eventually extend to all of Israel," Livni warned. Livni claimed that some European countries see Israel as a colonizing nation, and this has affected economic relations with those countries. Recently the fast food chain McDonald's made headlines for refusing to allow its restaurant to be built in an up-and-coming...

Delaying the so-called “two-state solution” is an historical mistake, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni claimed on Monday. Livni, who is in charge of the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, spoke at the American Jewish Committee 2013 Global Forum in Washington, D.C. She warned in her speech of “devastating consequences” for Israel in case U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest attempt to renew peace talks fails. “Time is working against those who believe that two states is the only Zionist way to maintain our identity,” Livni said. “There are those who want to postpone this decision, but it would be...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is considering the release of terrorist murderers and has received, for this purpose, the files of 120 Arab terror prisoners currently held in Israel. There is international pressure on Israel to carry out “gestures” toward the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a prelude to “peace talks” with it. The Almagor terror victims' organization has asked Livni to meet with its representatives before she decides on recommending the release of any terrorists. Almagor head Meir Indor voiced concern that a release is becoming more likely, following an interview in which President Shimon Peres said that he favors a...

In a further indication of stirrings in the long-stagnant Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni met Thursday in Washington with US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said for the second time in a week that he supports a public referendum on any agreement with the Palestinians. Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s envoy on the Palestinian issue, accompanied Livni to her meeting with Kerry, where they discussed the peace process as well as regional developments, particularly Syria. The meeting came three days after an Arab League delegation met with Kerry and US Vice President Joe Biden. Kerry...

The Palestinian Authority is fuming after Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, met Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in her eastern Jerusalem office this week. Such a move is normally avoided by visiting diplomats since world countries do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, which it liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. "The visit is a slap in the face to the Palestinian people," former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Nabil Shaath wrote in a commentary published by Canada's daily Globe and Mail on Friday.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is also in charge of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, is going behind Prime Minister Netanyahu's back and expressing positions that undermine his conditions for negotiations, according to Maariv. Livni has shown willingness to retreat from Netanyahu's position, that in order for negotiations to begin, the Palestinian Authority (PA) must accept that Israel has a right to exist as the Jewish state. The newspaper quoted a Western source who is well-versed in the diplomatic contacts as saying that Livni "has become convinced that Israel's insistence on this condition could prevent the resumption of negotiations, and...

The intended Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, attacked the partnership between Bayit Yehudi head MK Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid head MK Yair Lapid at week's end. "The disagreements between me and the Bayit Yehudi are very deep," Livni told Channel 10. "Regrettably, the pact between Lapid and Bennett inserted those elements into the government." "I hope that on the diplomatic subjects, Lapid won't adopt Bennett's views," she added. "I expect that in this government, at least on diplomatic matters, we will receive support from Bayit Yehudi and the pact will not lead to substantive issues being blocked. It is not...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will allow Hatnua chairwoman Tzipi Livni to lead the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, as part of the coalition agreement between the two, but just several months ago Netanyahu made statements that said exactly the opposite. During the election campaign, Netanyahu had reportedly made clear to several of his senior staff that no talks were taking place with Livni or other members of her party, and that the chances of her joining the next government with him as Prime Minister were nil. “Livni managed the negotiations with the Palestinians poorly,” Netanyahu was quoted in December...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni appealed a bill declaring donations to anti-Israel non-governmental organizations from foreign governments no longer exempt from tax, after it was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday. Eight ministers from Likud, Yisrael Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi approved the bill in the ministerial committee, while Hatnua and Yesh Atid ministers voted against it. The legislation proposed by Bayit Yehudi faction chairwoman Ayelet Shaked and MK Robert Ilatov (Likud Beytenu) amends the Income Tax Law so that NGOs will have to pay 45 percent tax on donations from foreign governments if the organization or members of...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will meet on Tuesday with representatives of the Almagor terror victims’ organization. The meeting comes ahead of the next scheduled release of terrorists as a “gesture” the Palestinian Authority (PA). Lt. Col. (ret.) Oren Tamam, brother of Moshe Tamam who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists, said on Monday that the meeting was finally scheduled after months of repeated requests. “We're going with a broken heart and hopefully she will listen to us willingly,” said Tamam, adding, "The past few months have created among us a distrust in the justice system for which she is responsible,...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the meeting last Thursday in London, held between Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stating that Livni represented only herself. Livni, who was chief negotiator for Israel in the talks that failed after the PA unity deal with Hamas last month, told Netanyahu about the meeting last week two days before it took place. Sources in the prime minister’s office said Saturday night that Netanyahu made it clear to Livni that she would be representing only herself, and not the Israeli government. …