Rav Ovadia Yosef, the same rabbi who last month call national religious Rabbi Stav “evil,” now says he really loves knitted kippa Jews. Well, most of them. Their political leaders still are Amalek. Happy Tu B'Av.
Arab MK Zoabi calls Israel a Nazi-Apartheid state. MP TIbi says a suicide bomber is a martyr, not a terrorist. And Christian Arab Bashara Shlayan, fed up with them, is forming a pro-Zionist Arab party.
There are Haredim and there are Haredim. Some fight for IDF. Others fight against the state and, as on Tuesday, attack Haredi soldiers. Police rescued him and patrolled the streets of Mea Shearim.
The Knesset has driven the last nail in the once holy coffin of changing the clocks twice a year according to the timing of Passover and Yom Kippur. Daylight Time will remain until the end of October.
Big Lie, big explosion. Media spread a story yesterday that Kerry will be back in town this week. Today, the PA claims Bibi met with PA honchos. Abbas forgot that Kerry’s wife is in critical condition.
Keren Malki was created to honor the life of a child whose future was stolen from her by terrorists, by giving the ability to any who are in need to care for their severely disabled children at home
MK Eli Yishai, the former head of the Shas party has decided he will not be running for mayor of Jerusalem, according to a report in the Israeli, Chareidi La'Daat website. Yishai was the political head of the Shas party until Shas's spiritual leader, Rav Ovadia Yosef, kicked him out and replaced him with Aryeh […]
By Shalom Bear
Danon's victory is a next step to challenging PM Netanyahu's policies that most of the Likud party disagree with.
The Cabinet on Sunday approved a measure to extend Daylight Savings Time until the end of October. It also approved exporting 40 percent of natural gas, and the two decisions prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to remark, “Now we have a land flowing with milk and honey, gas and sunlight.” The latest change concerning when […]
Yisrael Beitenu Knesset Member Shimon Ohayon, on United Nations World Refugee Day, called on the Arab League to accept responsibility for the exodus of Jews from the group’s countries before and after the re-establishment of the State of Israel . “The Jews of Arab countries, starting in 1947, were used as weapons by the Arab […]
MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) responded strongly to Health Minister Yael German's (Yesh Atid) proposed legislation that would permit the state to automatically harvest organs from all dead Israeli without their explicit consent, unless the citizen previously signed a organ donor refusal card. Litzman said, according to an Arutz-7 report, "This disgusting proposal has no place […]
Knee-jerk leftists still are alive and sick. An equally sick mind posted on Yair Lapid’s Facebook page a picture of him dressed as Hitler. A PR agent immediately linked the fake posting with “the black days before the murder” of Rabin
“Price Tag” vandals who damage and burn Arab property and spray graffiti on mosques and churches are now official an illegal organization in Israel, thanks to a Security Cabinet decision. It is not quite clear how a group of people without any formal party or unit can be called an “illegal organization.” The Security Cabinet […]
Education Minister Shai Piron spent the night in Beilinson hospital after complaining of chest pains on his flight back to Israel with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He was rushed to the hospital as soon as the plane landed. A doctor on the flight took care of him until the plane landed. IBA news reports that doctors […]
On the return flight from Poland with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Education Minister Shai Piron complained of chest pains. He was given medication on the plane, by a doctor on the flight who suspected that Piron was suffering a heart attack. As soon as the plane landed in Israel, Piron was rushed in an MDA ambulance […]
The Knesset passed into law on Tuesday a requirement that at least four women be included on the committee that elects rabbinical court rabbis. Haredi Knesset Members voted against the bill. The committee automatically includes the Justice Minister, who currently is Tzipi Livni and who will sit on the committee in addition to the four […]
r Liberman said that unless the EU places Hezbollah on its terrorist organization list, Israel should stop allowing the EU to meddle in Israel's diplomacy
The Knesset Monday approved on the first reading a bill that would cut salaries of Knesset Members and the President of Israel by 10 percent. Salaries of ministers and judges would be cut by one percent. The measure passed by a margin of 38-15 but likely will be altered by Knesset committee that will discuss […]
By Mark Regev
We will continue to take all necessary steps to protect the right of every Israeli citizen.
By JTA
To passersby on Sunday, the crowd had a simple message, one that rings sympathetically to American ears.
Kerry’s June 7 deadline is long gone. Jewish housing starts in Judea and Samaria soar. So why is Kerry coming to Israel again? Nothing official, but you read it here first: Obama may be ready to give up.
The Jewish Home (HaBayit HaYehudi) party will be meeting Sunday afternoon to officially (and finally) announce their support for Rav Stav as Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi. The decision was made after it became clear that the law that would allow Rav Ariel to run, was not going to pass. Rav Ariel is the preferred choice for […]
The newly married MK made a decision to go custom.
Remember Hamas missiles on Israeli cities? Remember last year’s bloated deficit? Haredi MKs don’t. Everything was great, they say, until Lapid’s universal draft, which turned Syria against Israel.
Lapid’s sounds like Bibi on the “peace process.” He has no trouble raising a regressive tax that hurts the middle class. But give the Haredim a break from the draft? Not in this government. We’ll see.
By JTA
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid will grant nearly $14 million in aid to Ariel University. The money, which was pledged by the previous finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, will be transferred in two stages, Haaretz reported Sunday. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein earlier this year blocked the transfer of the money, which had been approved during the […]
Likud Knesset Member Tzipi Hotovely ascended the Temple Mount Sunday in what she was a personal and not a political visit prior to her wedding Monday night. The visit was coordinated with the police, and no incidents were reported. Hotovely, 34, was engaged to attorney Ohr Alon, who is orthodox, two days before the new […]
Lapid is beginning to smell like a rose thanks to Haredi tycoons. He is taking yeshivas off the government dole and balancing the budget. How will yeshivas survive? The tycoons have an answer - money.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Religious Affairs Minister Yair Lapid, who doubles as Finance Minister, are arguing via Facebook over the issue of a women’s minyan at the Western Wall. Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky has proposed that a Women of the Wall demand for the minyan be allowed at the southern part of the […]
The Cabinet Monday evening passed a two-year budget, nearly five months late, with tax hikes and across-the-board cuts in spending, Only one minister voted against the budget, the second and last time it will cover two years instead of one. Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who is chairman of the Yesh Atid party, said after the […]
By JTA
Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni ordered her ministry on Thursday to draft legislation that would make the gender-based segregation of women illegal. "Discrimination against women in public places, in public services, cannot be allowed," she said in a radio interview. She wrote on her Facebook page, "Removal of women from the public sphere is damaging […]
Netanyahu again plays chess, or poker, with the United States. Kerry wants a building freeze to satisfy Abbas’ conditions for resuming talks. Netanyahu reportedly agreed – but for only five weeks.
A bill to increase the minimum number for a political party to be represented in the Knesset has passed a ministerial committee and will be brought to the Knesset for a first vote. If it passes, it will be discussed in a Knesset committee for returning to the Knesset for further votes. The bill is […]
Hitler wanted to exterminate Jews. Lapid only wants to exterminate the Haredi habit of not to work or serve in the IDF. That is enough for a Haredi columnist to compare Lapid’s and Hitler’s speeches.
On Saturday Night, Rav Ovadiah Yosef, the spiritual head of the Shas party said that he had to return political control of the Shas party back to Aryeh Deri, as it was promised to be returned to him (Deri) when he was sent to prison. Eli Yishai, the successful, but now displaced Shas party head, […]
Likud MK Miri Regev really sounded tough. She vowed to visit the Temple Mount to find out why Jews can’t pray there, although everyone else knows why. Now she says she doesn’t want to make a fuss.
The absence of Haredi parties in the government is already being, and women probably will be among those nominating Israel’s next rabbinic judges and chief rabbis.
Avigdor Lieberman’s political future will be decided by the outcome of his bribery trail that opened Thursday. If the first day is an indication of what will come, the trail will be a three-ring circus.
If Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has any hopes of gaining one or even two Haredim as his fans, his deputy Finance Minister blew it “on air” when he called Haredim “parasites” on a Haredi radio program.
The Holocaust “cries from the prayer shawls the hair, the shoes that we see with our own eyes, resonates as we step on the stones of the ghettos, [and] it floats like a ghost in the barracks of the camp, President Shimon Peres said at the beginning of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day Sunday night. […]
JERUSALEM – After almost two months of tense negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government was sworn in on Monday evening, less than 48 hours before the much-anticipated arrival of President Obama.
Newly-appointed Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin has warned one of former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin’s grandchildren that her remarks about him are grounds for libel. Noa Rotman, after hearing that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed Feiglin as of one several deputy speakers, wrote on Facebook, “Feiglin is the man who established Zu Artzeinu, the movement […]
The “Likud Beiteinu” party, a merger of the Likud and the Yisrael Beiteinu party headed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, will remain, he told reporters on Monday. Israel Beiteinu had the option of backing out of the agreement for a period of time after the elections, but Lieberman said he is sticking with Likud. He […]
The 33rd Knesset is off to a flying start. MKs kissed and hugged each other, Haredim walked out, and Arabs called the coalition”racist.” Tomorrow, the Knesset return to more bickering.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu surprised many Likud followers Monday by naming his long-time nemesis Moshe Feiglin as of one several Deputy Knesset Speakers. The Knesset elected Knesset Member Yuri Edelstein as Speaker, replacing Reuven Rivlin. Feiglin heads the Jewish Leadership faction that for years has been trying to become the dominant influence in the Likud […]
An Israel Channel 10 report speculated on Sunday that Likud and Yisrael Beytenu are headed their separate ways. Avigdor Liberman will be holding a press conference at 11:00 AM on Monday, where it is believed he may announce the split between the two parties. If the parties do split, then the Likud will remain the […]
After a month of poker, chess and blind man’s bluff, a coalition is in place. Netanyahu played miserably, Lapid refused to move, and Bennett was the kingmaker, proving that politics is compromise.
Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett has mediated a compromise between Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that will enable a new coalition government to be formed, Israeli media reported Wednesday evening. Lapid's party apparently hold the position of Minister of Education, in place of Gideon Sa'ar, but Lapid will give up […]
JERUSALEM – Less than a week before President Obama’s arrival in Israel for a much-anticipated visit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was working round the clock to present a new coalition government to President Shimon Peres and the Knesset.
The attorney general returns to Netanyahu a piece of the coalition puzzle and approves a deal reserving the Foreign Ministry post for Lieberman. Lapid will have to settle for something else, at least for now.
JERUSALEM – Faced with the grim prospect of President Obama canceling his March 20 visit to Israel due to government instability, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is racing to meet a March 16 extended deadline granted by President Shimon Peres to cobble together a stable coalition government.
The Hareidi party, UTJ, proposed a bill in the Knesset calling for new elections to be held within 90 days. The bill, drafted by MK Uri Maklev, and signed by all the UTJ members, stated that the results of the elections were too inconclusive, the current configuration is not governable, and too many inexperienced newcomers […]
Netanyahu’s ground gets shakier every day. He promised to hold the Foreign Ministry for Lieberman during criminal proceedings. The Attorney General now orders a probe of the legality of the deal.
Two Knesset Members from the last Knesset’s Labor party were involved in vote-buying in the party’s 2012 primaries, according to Yediot Acharonot. Labor leader Shelly Yechimovich named one of them as Amir Peretz, who ditched Labor to run with Tzipi Livni’s party in the January general elections. She told Army Radio Tuesday that she knows […]
Michael Ben-Ari has provided great copy for the media since he was a National Union MK. His new party to counter the “leftist” Jewish Home lost out. Now he knows what Israel needs – another party.
No coalition? No ticket on Air Force One. Israel television says that if Netanyahu cannot form a government by the final March 16 deadline, Obama will tear up his March 20 ticket.
Someone when to great lengths to forge a letter to try to force out Gideon Sa'ar.
Mofaz asked for the Defense Ministry during coalition talks.
Netanyahu wheels and deals, Livni sacrifices herself on the altar of a Cabinet post, Shas plays cute and the public is fed up. A new poll shows that if elections were held today, Lapid would win.
Talks on a new government coalition have turned into spin after spin and bluff after bluff, with “everyone on first” and no one at home. Everyone is wearing masks to the point that some people, like Livni, already have lost their identities. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s deal with Tzipi Livni to appoint her in charge of […]
By Shalom Bear
Who's to blame for there being no religious bloc in the negotiations with the Likud?
Shas and UTJ claim that they're joining the coalition. The question now is, who will be the last party to join?
It only took a month, but Likud-Beteinu finally managed to close a deal with its first coalition partner, Tzipi Livni's HaTnua party. Livni will reportedly receive the Justice Ministry and be an inner cabinet member. Amir Peretz will serve as environmental protection minister, and Amram Mitzna will be chairman of the Knesset House Committees. It […]
Future (Yesh Atid) party chairman Yair Lapid, who recently said he will be Prime Minister one day, has assured Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu he will not to bring down the next coalition before its term runs out, according to party sources. The latest report follows rumor after rumor, many of them planted as part of […]
Nasty threats, mistreatment, rumors, and a general lack of trust define this government's coalition building attempts.
Following a 5 year estrangement, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu finally met in Tel Aviv. The meeting, held in the government's offices in the Kirya, took place just after noon, and lasted for 2 hours. The meeting was described as businesslike, and all the issues on the table were discussed. […]
Netanyahu chose an Israeli satirist as his double for Facebook’s annual Doppelganger week. If Yair Lapid would double as Rabbi Lau and Bennett as Obama, Israel would be ready for Moshiach.
When the Shas Sephardi Haredi religious party is really to give up a Cabinet post for the sake of funding for yeshivas, you know they are really getting nervous.
Tzipi has a lot more important things to celebrate now!
By Shalom Bear
Tasked with the job of forming the next coalition government, Netanyahu sets out his goals for this term.
By Ben Sales
TEL AVIV – Last week’s Israeli election saw a major shakeup in the country’s government, with 53 new members elected to its parliament, the Knesset.
His first wife is 8 years his senior, the younger is 22.
Rumors are flying in the Israeli media today that the other possible reason between the acrimonious relationship between Bibi and Bennett is the anonymous claim that Bennett leaked information that led to the Bibi-Tours investigation. The investigation into Netanyahu's financial relationships with certain donors is once again being talked about in the news. Bennett has […]
Still deciding who will get your vote? The Jewish Press team has interviewed several of this election's most newsworthy candidates - hear what they have to say about the issues affecting you most, and cast your ballot on January 22.
Politics junkies and sports fans alike will enjoy the new up-to-the-minute poll updates being made available for this Tuesday’s Knesset elections.
Shas party spiritual leader and former Sephardic chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef is urging Israelis not to vote for the party headed by Naftali Bennett, the Bayit HaYehudi Jewish Home party, calling it not a home for Jews but a home for gentiles.
Shouts and slurs erupted between Zoabi and MK Michael Ben-Ari of the new Otzma LeYisrael party and other nationalists who called her a terrorist and a traitor.
MK Haneen Zoabi has been banned from running for the 19th Knesset by the Central Elections Committee, which censured her for supporting terrorism and for denying Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.
Wednesday's poll shows the highest right-wing share in the vote to date – 68 seats against 52 to the right.
"In any conceivable political arrangement, Israel will not cede control of E-1."
With all the major charges against him dropped, FM Liberman debates whether the remaining charge is sufficient reason to step down. He probably won't.
Danon came fifth in the primaries, which often means a ministerial position.
Intrigue and rumor swirls around Danny Ayalon's exclusion from the Yisrael Beytenu list, as no one is officially saying a thing. There's nothing nature abhors more than a vacuum.
Avigdor Liberman's campaign to unload the "stars" of his party, Israel Beiteinu, continues full blast into Tuesday, the day of submitting all the lists of nominees to the Knesset, Israel's Channel 2 News reported. The list of Liberman's party is shared this election with Netanyahu's Likud. After the untimely "retirement" of Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov […]
Labor party primary results are in, and Shelly Yechimovitch did not come out a winner.
The right-wing block would receive 70 seats, vs. 50 to the center-left, including the Arabs.
It appear that Moshe Feiglin is going to Jerusalem.
Voting got off to a sluggish start with technical difficulties.
The following poll result were reported on the Knesset TV Channel, after the Cease Fire announcement.
The average of 2 polls published last week, Channel 2 and Jerusalem Post. The Post poll was conducted November 12-13 and the Channel 2 poll was published November 14.
On Tuesday night, around 100 English speaking Likud members and supporters got to hear MK Tzipi Hotoveli, MK Gila Gamliel and Jerusalem City Council member Yair Gabai address some of the major issues of the day, in English. The event, which was held at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, and lasted over two hours, was […]
Two months ago the Likud announced two major victories, yet since then, neither has made it over the finish line.
The hype over a potential independent Knesset bid by popular Likud Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon has been quashed with news that Kahlon is putting his name behind prime minister and Likud chief Binyamin Netanyahu and announced that he will not abandon the party.
Weekly poll average: Likud-Beitenu at 38 seats; Labor at 22; the Right wing parties a little over 66 seats and the left has just under 54. The Jewish Home-National Union list rose to 9 seats while Kadima continues its decline into oblivion.
Netanyahu said that the decision to run together won't change the Likud, but it would allow the Likud to change the State of Israel. But the new joint list will receive only 42 seats in the next Knesset elections next January, a Channel 2 News poll found on Sunday. It means that the parties will retain their current power.
The merger of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Yisrael Beiteinu party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Thursday has left-wing parties scrambling for a solution to the sudden show of solidarity on the part of the pro-nationalist camp.
The Central Elections Commission approved a budget for the upcoming elections on Sunday.
Last Sunday, Netanyahu told Likud ministers he plans on adopting part of the report without relating to broad legal interpretations, to avoid international criticism. Still, the proposal will add legal flexibility and remove bureaucratic obstacles, making Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria considerably easier.
The poll also shows that the Likud-Liberman-Haredi bloc would maintain its majority in any possible scenario, no matter what combinations of left and center parties it faces.
The method of the primaries for the Likud's Knesset list was drafted by the Likud's Constitutional Committee last night and is set to be approved by the party's Central Committee this evening in Ganei HaTa'aruchah in Tel Aviv. The scheme does not include the reserving of secure spots on the list - spots within the number of seats Likud is certain to win - for candidates chosen by Prime Minister and Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu. It was rumored that Netanyahu wanted such spots for Defense Minister Ehud Barak and possibly other members of Barak's Independence faction which broke off from Labor.