Free Republic

With more than a month before the Israeli elections scheduled for March 17, 2015, what emerges from recent polls is that a right-of-center coalition is more of an apparent outcome. It would leave Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister. The Knesset (Parliament) TV Channel poll, published on February 10, 2015 shows small variation from the previous week’s poll by the same channel.

Avigdor Yitzchaki, one of the founders of the Kadima party, expressed support, Monday, for Member of Knesset Meir Sheetrit's attempts to divide the party. Interviewed on Arutz Sheva, the former Knesset member said, "I wish him success." Referring to the other candidates for the party chair, he said, "Both Mofaz and Dichter crowned with glory and courage of their military service and security but they are not demonstrating it in politics." The Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office during Ariel Sharon's tenure as prime minister had harsh criticism for incumbent Tzipi Livni's conduct, saying she "has made very big mistakes....

While the government has thus far refused to apologize to Turkey over a clash aboard a Gaza-bound boat in 2010, senior cabinet ministers are divided on the matter. Foremost among them are Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak; the former staunchly opposes an apology, while the latter supports it. “This is not a legal matter, but rather a political issue, and is not a question of defending IDF soldiers but of neglecting them, of irresponsibility on the diplomatic level,” Lieberman said Thursday. “If there is an apology, that means admitting defeat on the battlefield and the political...