By Tzvi Fishman
The only thing preventing it from becoming a reality is the tragic fact that so many Orthodox Jews prefer living in the Diaspora.
Let's face it, people here don't vote for representatives. Party bosses and power players do.
Naftali Bennett goes on the offensive, questioning whether Netanyahu is planing another Expulsion/Disengagement based on his statements.
In depth analysis of the Likud's final list for the Knesset (part I in a series).
Danon came fifth in the primaries, which often means a ministerial position.
Party registration for running in the Israeli elections to Knesset finally closed, and the pollsters are busy.
Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin (Likud) criticized the practice of switching between parties by various Members of Knesset and Knesset candidates , calling on the next Knesset to regulate such behavior, Israel's Channel 10 website reported. "We need to ask ourselves what is transpiring in our political culture," Rivlin said. "To my regret, what […]
MK Aryeh Eldad (Strength to Israel) and Knesset candidate Moshe Feiglin (Likud) traded barbs today over ideological purity and compromise in politics.
JERUSALEM – While it is almost certain that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form the next Israeli coalition government, the country’s confusing electoral system has created another medley of instant political parties headed by a variety of media celebrities and scorned politicians.
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 […]
The Labor party, headed up by Shelly Yechimovitch, will be holding primaries on Thursday. Nana10 reports that senior staffers in Yechimovitch's office have set up white lists and black lists of who they want in the Knesset and who they don't want to see at all. Among those that Yechimovitch reportedly does not want running […]
It appear that Moshe Feiglin is going to Jerusalem.
Voting got off to a sluggish start with technical difficulties.
By Uri Bank
I will also work towards being your “Congressman” in the Knesset, with the level of connection and accountability that Anglos are accustomed to.
'Unofficial' Likud website attacked by Palestinian hackers.
All but Smoliansky are allies of Naftali Bennett who trounced MK Zvulon Orlev to become the new chairman of the party last week.
We may be in different parties, but Jeremy Gimpel is representative of the English-speaking community in Israel. His message represents the selfless Zionist commitment of the community in the political sphere. My hope is that all Anglos who are members of the Jewish Home should make sure they turn up at the polling station and support Jeremy Gimpel and help him get into the Knesset.
JERUSALEM – More than 100,000 American voters in Israel cast their ballots for a presidential candidate, with nearly 80,000 of them having submitted a ballot provided by iVoteIsrael, a local non-profit organization that spent the past few months aggressively encouraging American expatriates living in Israel to register and vote. The remaining registered voters cast their ballots via the absentee route.
By Adam Levick
The legal impunity Jamal Zahalka will continue to enjoy – the rights of citizenship, and special rights as an MK, afforded him by the very state whose existence he incites against – represents stubborn proof attesting to the continuing vitality of Israeli democracy.
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.
By Rafi Farber
It looks like Moshe Kahlon, the popular and vaunted Likud Minister of Communications, will be the second consecutive Likud Central Committee Chairman to leave the party looking for more power. The first one, Tzahi Hanegbi who left to Kadima and was charged with handing out jobs to cronies and nearly convicted of perjury, is now back in Likud because Kadima has entirely crashed. He’s looking for a slot on Likud’s Knesset roster.
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.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Knesset insider Jeremy Man Saltan to talk about upcoming Israeli elections along with the current situation in the Knesset.
The Central Elections Commission approved a budget for the upcoming elections on Sunday.
The Hulda Gate is the southern entrance to the Temple Mount, also known as the 'Double Gate.' I was there, on the inside, in 1986, with the Knesset's Interior Committee on its famous tour when we were later attacked by a mob of Muslims, throwing rocks and yelling Itbah El-Yahud ('Kill the Jews'). It was a melee and I had to rush/run Geula Cohen north to the Tribes of Israel Gate to get out safely:
After consulting with the various party leaders, the Prime Minister has set January 22nd as the date for elections, Yediot Aharonot and the Jerusalem Post have reported. The bill which will disperse the Knesset and set the date for early elections will pass through the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday and be brought before […]
By JTA
Likud Party lawmaker Tzipi Hotovely reportedly petitioned Israel's Central Elections Committee to prevent former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from running for office.
The prime minister announced his intention to hold elections in early 2013, after concluding that he could not pass a "responsible budget." He told the nation on Tuesday night: "I decided the good of the State of Israel requires elections now, and as soon as possible."
Recent anti-Christian acts are due to a culture of hatred of the goy (non-Jew) that permeates certain circles.
By JTA
The first Jewish Israeli male couple to marry has filed for divorce in a Tel Aviv rabbinical court that never recognized the marriage. It is unknown if the rabbinical court will provide a divorce for Uzi Even, the first openly gay Knesset member, and Dr. Amit Kama, Ynet reported.
Following Naftali Bennett's reported statement that he won't allow three-fourths of the National Union party to run with the Jewish Home, American-born candidates for the Jewish Home party’s Knesset list Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel say they would rather see a merger of the two National Religious parties even if it costs them their chance at the Knesset.
Who is Anastasia Michal Michaelevski Samuelson? Fashion model, electronics engineer, Beauty Queen, Knesset Member, devoted mother of eight, champion of the underdog, passionate Israeli, committed Jew? Would you believe that she is all of the above – and more?
A renewed outcry for “Temple consciousness” has arisen with a flurry of political, religious, and social activity.
By Alex Abel
A spokesperson for Yisrael Beytenu said, “We’ve had 64 years to evolve,” he said. “Demographically, it will be impossible to pass this bill 20 years from now.”
By Alex Abel
Despite demands for fairness and equality, the Knesset overwhelmingly voted down Yisrael Beytenu's bill for Universal Service.
Saltan: "A big reason why I started the 'Knesset Jeremy' blog was to help Anglos learn about the political process by giving them information in English on every bill and every MK’s speech. I hope this will lead to Anglos learning more about the Israeli political process and help them take an active part and integrate."
By Moshe Herman
Jewish Press Columnist, Yishai Fleisher, is joined by Knesset insider Jeremy Man Saltan to discuss the current situation in the Knesset along with a discussion talking about Jewish Americans living in Israel voting in US elections.
As the deadline for the renewal of the Tal Law approaches and tens of thousands of people rallied to demand that all citizens of Israel perform national service, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of the Likud Knesset faction to discuss ways to include Hareidim in national and military service. With his party in agreement, the prime minister is on his way to drafting new legislation.
By Alex Abel
Jeremy Gimpel and Ari Abramowitz gave a Bayit Yehudi Party and many "Anglos" showed up. It started up looking too much like a late-night TV show, but then it got more interesting when they brought out two of the candidates running for head of the party: Naftali Bennett and Daniel Hershkowitz took the stage and started dreaming in earnest.
I don't need to tell you how important the upcoming US presidential elections are, and you can be a part of that! Don't look at the numbers. Don’t ask: "Will my vote really matter??" Simply register, with no cost involved, and let the powers in America see how many expats voted.
Former Prime Minister Yithak Shamir passed away on Saturday night at age 96. As member of the Mossad Shamir directed the assassinations of former Nazi rocket scientists working on the Egyptian missile program.He served several terms as prime minister throughout the 1980s. He maintained a hard political line, which strained his relations with the U.S.
By Dov Shurin
Prior to the Knesset vote on the Regulation Law, which was defeated on June 6, I visited the protest tent where people were on a hunger strike and I realized we are again going through what we went through in the days before the destruction of Gush Katif.
By Moshe Herman
Jeremy Man Saltan, Knesset insider, Joins Yishai to talk about the situation in Givat Ulpana and some potential solutions.
Russian Independence Day celebration at Tel Aviv’s Hilton Hotel were dampered by the arrival of a group of demonstrators protesting Russian military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s harsh crackdown on civilians and armed opposition.
Israeli immigration police arrest dozens of South Sudanese illegal immigrants in Eilat on Monday morning in a raid intended to curb the influx of unauthorized entrants from Africa.
In line with the government’s plan to destroy 5 buildings in the Ulpana Hill neighborhood of Beit El, six caravilla mobile homes were delivered on Monday to house evicted families. Community leaders hope out of the ashes may come the biggest development in years.
Following a Knesset vote on the “Regulation Law” intended to prevent the evacuation of the Ulpana Neighborhood in Beit El, Ulpana residents and others supporting the law broke up in angry protest. Police, on horseback and on foot, acted brutally to subdue what was, essentially, a loud protest.
Israeli Knesset members cover their eyes and play Goalball (a team sport designed for blind athletes) with blind people at the Knesset. June 05 is a day of solidarity with the blind. As of 2011 there were more than 27,000 visually impaired people living in Israel. The organization "Blind Day" marked the day with activities […]
By Meir Indor
Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook used to refer to Rabbi Yehuda Hazani affectionately as "the assembler of great assemblies." Hazani was one of the people who nurtured Gush Emunim, the grassroots movement that worked to resettle Jews in the territories liberated from Arab occupation in 1967, but always behind the curtain. He was an unknown figure to most of the public, a person who took care to be known only by those who had to know him.
By Moshe Herman
An inspiring talk by Yishai Fleisher at the Knesset for AmShalem, an organization dedicated to restoring a moderate and Zionistic view to Judaism. Yishai talks about his move to Jerusalem from Beit El, the significance of his Jerusalem apartment, and the importance of Jerusalem to the Jewish People.
The intensifying focus on legislating an alternative to the Tal Law has the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Likud-led coalition defensive yet intractable. Shas and UTJ - representing 15 seats in the government - have declared that they will not participate in the coalition committee on finding an alternative.
By Mati Wagner
JERUSALEM – Israelis went to sleep Monday night expecting early elections in September for the 19th Knesset. They woke up to the news that elections would take place as planned in October 2013.
By Rafi Harkham
Danny Goldstein, founder and chairman of 'Calcala' ('Finance'): “We are focused on making Israel a better place to live and a better place to invest by merging the best of Israel and America - representing Israelis, but with an eye on the American perspective.”
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Monday submitted a bill to dissolve the 18th Knesset and call for early elections, which was passed by the House Committee vote of 13 to 4. The move was designed to undermine Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's attempt to promote his bill calling for drafting Haredi citizens.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud Party convention called for a four-month election campaign. Meanwhile, coalition partner Yisrael Beiteinu called for a delay of the Knesset dissolution to allow the government to pass its bill ordering mandatory enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces for all Israeli citizens.
By JTA
The Likud Party, which leads the ruling coalition, has submitted a bill to dissolve the current Knesset and is pushing for new elections on Sept. 4.
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Netanyahu, faced with the unlikelihood of his coalition government passing a new law to end haredi military draft deferment or ratifying the 2013 state budget with its austerity measures that affect nearly every government ministry controlled by coalition partners, will call for new elections on his return to the Knesset next week after sitting shiva for his father.
After being told that the Meretz activists who came to see their homes were looking to stop at a Palestinian store to buy water, residents of the Bet El neighborhood welcomed their guests with cold water and cookies.
Unless new elections are called, this year's Summer Session will last less than three months, ending on July 25, 2012.
Following Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's announcement that he is prepared to go to an early election in October, "Israel Today" published a poll Sunday morning, conducted by the Gal Hadash service, on the prospects of the different potential factions. On the question of who is best fitting to be the next Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu […]
Former journalist and rookie politician Yair Lapid's new party is off to a problematic start. Lapid's choice of the name 'Atid' for his new political party has created yet another controversy for the political neophyte; it is similar enough to Atid Echad - an immigrant party with mostly Ethiopian support - to cause confusion to voters, and possible legal action by its chair Yechezkel Stelzer.
As air raid sirens blared out across the country on Thursday, citizens of Israel stopped for a moment of silence to remember the victims of the Holocaust. Memorial ceremonies are taking place throughout the country. Prime Minister Netanyahu: Never Again means stopping Iran.
Vaknin has been a Knesset member representing the ultra-orthodox Shas party since the beginning of Prime Minister Netanyahu's first term in 1996. Considered a maverick, he distinguished himself in his party by holding that the thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews who don't learn in Yeshiva but are registered as such should be forced to serve in the military.
MK Aryeh Eldad held a meeting with dozens of activists and supporters of the Hatikva Party at its Tel Aviv headquarters on Monday night. MK Eldad represents Hatikva in the National Union Faction.
The National Union went on the road this week, despite the Knesset's recess. Faction members visited Naot Kedumim and pledged to increase awareness of the Biblical landscape reserve. They also visited Ateret, where they were shocked to see a new access road being built by Arabs in Area C, an area under Israeli civilian and military control.
Two bills that were shelved back in January will be discussed following Likud MK Danny Danon's success in attaining 25 MKs' signatures to call a special session during the Knesset's 39-day spring recess.
Hundreds of activists who had arrived to celebrate the Mimouna applauded the MKs announcements that there was no other option for their two factions but to run a united list in the next Knesset elections. MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzele) repeated his earlier announcement that if the two factions do not run as one, he would remove himself from the campaign.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin says elections for Israel's next government will be held this coming September. There's one major reason why Rivlin is interested in going to the voter soon: he hopes that the in the next Knesset he'll get the votes to pass his new bill, seeking to level the playing field between the High Court and the Knesset. He also believes Peres will bring Pollard home.
The White House on Monday rejected an emotional appeal by Israel's President Shimon Peres to commute convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard's life sentence. Peres based his appeal on Pollard's fast deteriorating health, after Peres' recent conversation with Pollard's wife Esther. Peres' appeal came after he had received a petition signed by 80 MKs, urging Obama to release Pollard.
Israel can play a role in undermining the radicals among its Arab community. The best way to weaken the radicals is by embracing the Arab citizens rather than alienating them. If Israel does not build a kindergarten or school in Nazareth, someone else will. And in this case, the someone else could be secular extremists or Muslim fundamentalists.
By JTA
Brandeis University students disrupted a panel discussion at a Boston-area synagogue featuring Israeli lawmakers and Jewish community leaders. The students, members of the Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine group, removed their shirts Monday night in Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass., to uncover T-shirts that read "apartheid" in Hebrew. They also chanted "Free, free Palestine" […]
Out of 95 thousand registered Kadima party members, only 40% voted by 10 p.m., when the polls closed. It was rumored that left-leaning Haim Ramon was planning to resign as Chair of the Kadima Council. Along with the Mofaz win, this may suggest that the party is moving to the right. It may also mean that Kadima could not be taken for granted as partnering with the left on issues such as religious vs. secular tensions.
There is certainly much to be learned from the events of 1970 and the nightmare that followed in 1973. Much that is extremely relevant to our own times. Israel paid dearly in 1973 for accepting the Egyptian violation of the 1970 agreement. And the Jewish State may yet again pay dearly if it continues to accept the ongoing security violations of Oslo in the Gaza Strip.
Following The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel's complaint, the Knesset's Ethics Committee rebuked MK Ahmed Tibi for praising "Shahidim" (martyrs) in one of his addresses.
Netanyahu was speaking at a special Knesset session, called after 40 MKs signed a bill requiring the prime minister to give an accounting to the legislature.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin announced that he has canceled a Knesset delegation's trip to the US after MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) was denied a US visa due to his past membership in Meir Kahane's political party Kach. MKs Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Einat Wilf (Independence), and Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) were scheduled to attend a women's empowerment […]
The Knesset's Jewish Home faction is in danger of splitting, following the internal political maneuvering that has taken place in the National Union.
The winter session, which started October 31, 2011, will end on March 21, 2012. The summer session will begin April 30, 2012, and end July 25, 2012. The fifth sitting of the 18th Knesset will start on October 15, 2012. * The May 28th session will be cancelled because of Shavuot. The Spring/Passover Break/Recess will […]
By Rafi Harkham
More than anything else, the likes of Arab MKs Hanin Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi frame the tension of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in stark terms, and reveal what is in store for the country should it shift more towards modern liberal democracy and away from a state that reflects a Jewish character culturally and politically.
Members of Knesset Taleb Al-Sana and Ahmed Tibi tell Arab League nations that Israel is systematically attempting to 'Judaize' Jerusalem, and is in breach of international law.
If certain elements of the charedi community have issues with the way women dress, let them figure out a way to alleviate their obvious spiritual and mental distress in a way that does not encroach on other people’s rights. It's their problem - they need to resolve it, instead of demanding that a huge segment of society change their lives and the way they do things just to accommodate them.
The American Jewish Orthodox community has probably been overwhelmed by the events of the past few weeks in Israel regarding the extremely hostile attacks that have been aimed at the haredi community by the secular press and politicians from across the political spectrum.
A few weeks ago I was asked by a friend in Likud to offer my services as a non-partisan ballot member for the upcoming Likud elections. I was a perfect fit since I have never been a Likud member and have never endorsed a candidate in any Likud primary election. So I stepped up and got the job.
The most dreaded status in Israeli society is to be considered a frier – a sucker, a boob, stupid and unable to withstand being taken advantage of.
JERUSALEM – Thousands gathered at Shaare Tzedek Medical Center, the Kotel and yeshivot across Israel Tuesday praying for Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv – Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Mousha – the 101-year-old leading contemporary authority on Jewish law who was in a medically induced coma after suffering kidney and lung failure.
The ban will last a month and is in response to his defiance of an earlier Knesset Ethics Committee decision to suspend him from the Knesset for a week.
Raam-Ta'al MK Ahmed Tibi recently made an inflammatory speech praising martyrdom.
The Jewish Press' Knesset Insider discusses the potential for electoral reform in Israel.
Recent poll found that almost 90% of Israeli Jews believe that the American Jewish community is crucial to Israel's security and continued existence.
By Sam Ser
Dozens of haredim stoned the car of a woman as she hung posters for a lottery; similar incidents have sparked debate over the treatment of women in haredi society
"Strong and quick" pressure on Iran is still necessary, Israeli PM insists.
Arab Knesset member "fears nobody".
Arab MKs Hanin Zoabi, Ibrahim Sarsour, and Masud Ghnaim all photographed meeting with Dr. Aziz Dwaik.
The following article by Professor Beres and Colonel (Israel Defense Forces) Yoash Tsiddon-Chatto was originally published in the April 18, 2007 issue of The Jewish Press. Its warnings and predictions concerning a nuclear Iran have been proven unassailable.
Knesset Speaker Rivlin heckled as he tries to enter main entrance.
The new initiatives come on the heels of the European Union's plan to invest in infrastructure in the Arab areas of Area C. According to the E.U.'s numbers only 5.8% of Judea and Samaria's Arabs live in Area C, which comprises 62% of Judea and Samaria.
Tibi makes comments at event honoring Palestinian 'martyrs'.
By Sam Ser
Tzipi Livni announces Kadima primaries; Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman faces indictment
Livni was under heavy pressure from Kadima party members.
Knesset Speaker Rivlin had sent letter expressing displeasure at participation of Hamas.