Five possible scenarios for rivals Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu
Israelis have voted in a second election that has left the country in a political stalemate.
In the coming days, the president will consult party leaders before choosing the person he believes has the best chance of putting together a coalition.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu’s warnings that Arab parties would topple him may have backfired
It’s become a tired trope of Benjamin Netanyahu’s election campaigns: as the country draws closer to election day the leader ramps up his racist scaremongering suggesting Israel’s Arab minority are preparing to vote en masse.
Infamously in 2015 he said Arabs were “voting in droves”. This year the prime minister almost lost his voice on Tuesday as he shouted through a megaphone to his base. His political rivals in the Arab parties, he screamed, would gather enough parliamentary seats to topple him. “So go and vote!”
Continue reading...Rivals Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz both pledge to form coalition as counting continues
Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, Benny Gantz, have both vowed to lead Israel’s next government, despite early results and exit polls appearing to show neither had a clear path to form a coalition.
An inconclusive result from the country’s second election this year could plunge Israel further into political mayhem, with the prospect of weeks of tense political deal-making or even a third vote.
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Election day is always a national holiday in Israel and today it bright and sunny. Lots of people out on the beach in Tel Aviv and the streets were packed.
Just after midnight here and Blue and White are holding their election party in large hanger on the waterfront that appears to be a music venue. They are even playing trance music. But still pretty empty here, and reports suggest it’s the same at Likud. The exit polls have clearly concerned both parties.
Here’s a little more detail on the comments from the Israeli president, who has indicated a willingness to press party leaders to quickly form a new government.
Rivlin’s office said his nomination of a candidate would be guided in part by the need to avoid a third election after two votes in five months. It said he would meet with party leaders “after he receives a clear picture of the results, and as soon as possible”.
Continue reading...Government meeting is the first in Palestinian territories for almost two decades
Benjamin Netanyahu has held his final pre-election cabinet meeting in the Palestinian territories, in a clear appeal to hardline nationalists two days before a vote in which he is fighting for his political life and possibly his freedom.
Locked in a knife-edge race and facing the prospect of criminal corruption charges, the Israeli prime minister promised last week to extend Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and settlements in the occupied West Bank. The move would likely leave its Palestinian inhabitants completely encircled and largely trapped in isolated enclaves.
Continue reading...Donald Trump said on Saturday he had spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible mutual defense treaty between the two nations, a move that could bolster the Israeli prime minister’s re-election bid days before voters go to the polls.
“I had a call today with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of moving forward with a Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Israel, that would further anchor the tremendous alliance between our two countries,” Trump said on Twitter.
Continue reading...‘Nastiest, most racist campaign ever’ as Likud shores up vote with divisive pledges
Benjamin Netanyahu remains neck and neck with his main election challenger after a widely condemned vow to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, before a vote that could bring an end to his time as Israeli prime minister.
In the last polls before election day on Tuesday, neither Netanyahu’s Likud party or the opposition Blue and White alliance, run by his former army chief Benny Gantz, appeared to have a clear route to the premiership.
Continue reading...Moscow says proposal could increase regional tensions, as Israeli PM meets Putin
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, flies into Sochi on Thursday for talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that come after Moscow added its voice to criticism of his pre-election pledge to annex occupied Palestinian territories.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he would annex up to a third of the West Bank if he is re-elected in next week’s parliamentary polls. His announcement was condemned by the Palestinians, Arab countries, the UN and the EU.
Continue reading...Surveillance devices planted over past two years, says report citing former US officials
Israel is likely to have planted mobile phone spying devices near the White House and other sensitive locations in the US capital over the past two years, according to a report from Politico that cited three former US officials.
The miniature surveillance devices mimic telecommunications towers to gather information, including the contents of phone calls. The US government concluded Israeli operatives were most likely to have put them in place to spy on Donald Trump and his associates, the news website reported.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister’s proposal would ‘kill all chances of peace’, says Jordan
Arab leaders have denounced Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex large swathes of the Palestinian territories if he is re-elected next week as an election stunt that would “kill all chances for peace”.
The Arab League held an emergency session on Tuesday evening after the Israeli prime minister announced the plan in a live press conference.
Continue reading...Israeli PM is a master of fiery rhetoric but Trump’s support could embolden him to action
Benjamin Netanyahu is an old hand at Israel’s equivalent of the “October surprise”, reliably making incendiary remarks on election eve designed to both rally the faithful in his Likud party and undercut any rivals on the right and the far right threatening his grip on the prime minister’s office.
The successful formula, repeated over the last decade in office, has always followed a reliable pattern: scare any wavering supporters with the idea that Arab voters might come out in force while grabbing any nationalist votes by promising settlement building, annexation or refusal to withdraw.
Continue reading...Israeli PM says he will seek to make move ‘in maximum coordination with Trump’
Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will annex large swathes of the occupied Palestinian territories if he is re-elected, a decision that for decades has been considered an endgame scenario for Palestinians’ aspirations of statehood.
The Israeli prime minister said on Tuesday that he planned to make the move, which would permanently seize up to one-third of the West Bank, after next week’s election and hinted it may have been approved by Washington.
Continue reading...Israel’s opposition says prime minister’s claims are an election campaign stunt
Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled what he claims was a previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear weapons facility and accused Tehran of destroying the site to hide the evidence.
“This is what I have to say to the tyrants of Tehran,” Netanyahu said. “Israel knows what you’re doing, Israel knows when you’re doing it, and Israel knows where you’re doing it.”
Continue reading...The ‘ultimate deal’ for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is due to come out after the Israeli elections on 17 September
Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.
Greenblatt may stay in the role until the publication of the long-delayed plan, which is now due to come out some time after Israeli elections on 17 September. However, if those elections bring about the fall of Donald Trump’s close ally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the plan could be shelved indefinitely.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s offer to talk peace with Iran sent a shiver of alarm through Israel’s political and security establishment last week. With a too-close-to-call general election looming on 17 September, Benjamin Netanyahu is counting on his hardline anti-Tehran alliance with Washington – and fear of conflict – to win him crucial votes. A North Korea-style Trump tryst with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was the prime minister’s “ultimate horror scenario”, one analyst noted.
Yet after a recent series of escalatory strikes against Iran-linked forces in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, Israel’s voters may reflect that if one thing is worse than peace with Iran, it’s war with Iran. Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, strongly backed by Netanyahu and fellow Tel Aviv hawks, is placing Israel squarely in the firing line. The intensifying confrontation is also sucking in regional states, notably Iraq.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister says Iran has ‘no immunity anywhere’ after military says Tehran drone plot thwarted
The Israeli air force struck in Syria to prevent an Iranian force from launching an attack on the Jewish state with drones armed with explosives, the army said on Sunday.
Although Israel operates regularly in Syria, it rarely acknowledges its actions so swiftly, with its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warning arch-foe Iran it had no immunity from his state’s military.
Continue reading...‘King Bibi’ beats David Ben-Gurion’s record, but with threatening clouds on the horizon
Benjamin Netanyahu has become Israel‘s longest-serving prime minister, snatching the title from the country’s founding father and first leader, David Ben-Gurion.
As of Saturday, the man referred to as King Bibi by both those who adore and detest him, has spent 4,867 days – more than 13 years – in office.
Continue reading...‘It will mean something for him, that there is a place in the world, far away from the States, with his name,’ says resident in community
It is a world away from the grandiose high-rises that bear his name.
A sleepy, crumbling hamlet of fewer than a dozen Israeli residents surrounded by sun-parched fields of crisp hay. Weeds punctuate the cracked asphalt of a basketball court, its rusted hoops leaning at angles.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s wife admits to lesser charge in plea bargain and pays £12,000 fine
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israel’s prime minister, has been convicted of illegally misusing thousands of pounds of public funds on lavish meals.
A Jerusalem court on Sunday accepted a plea bargain in which Netanyahu agreed to admit to a lesser charge than the original fraud accusations. She will pay about $15,000 (£12,000) in fines and reimbursements to the state.
Continue reading...Israeli PM’s wife to pay $15,000 to close case accusing her of running up large bills at luxury restaurants
Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister, has agreed a plea bargain to settle allegations that she overspent some $100,000 (£79,000) of state money on lavish meals, prosecutors said.
She will pay around $15,000 in fines to quietly close the case, which accused her of running up large tabs at luxury restaurants for friends and family while the official prime minister’s residence employed a full-time chef.
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