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ANALYSIS:▪ Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed his efforts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia. ▪ Pro-Russia commentators have focused on his saying that a peace deal was "blocked" by the West. ▪ But Bennett has clarified that no such deal existed — and said talks broke down because of apparent Russian war crimes.A former Israeli prime minister is walking back his suggestion that the United States may have "blocked" an agreement last year to end the war in Ukraine, a claim that had been amplified by Russian state media and Kremlin sympathizers in the West.But a reader...

It was predictable given the fervor of the left-wing demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu that talk of assassination would arise sooner or later. Despite their own calls that right-wing Israelis accept the results of the previous election that propelled Yair Lapid and his center-left allies to power, left-wing Israelis have largely refused to pay the same courtesy to Netanyahu and his new coalition, which won a firm majority in the most recent vote. It’s not just that they oppose his proposed policies. They insist Bibi is an unrepentant criminal and a danger to democracy who must be removed from power. Since...

The Pegasus Affair: This is how the right-wing government was overthrown They had a problem. The majority of the people in Israel vote right. The national camp has been in power for too long and they had no democratic way to replace it, so they found a solution Yehuda Vald, 10.02.22 The revelation this week [https://www.srugim.co.il/?p=645212] in the Calcalist newspaper about the activation of spy software against senior officials in the economy, including those close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is the tip of the iceberg that has been revealed about the anti-democratic revolution led by influential people in the police...

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised not to assassinate his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky when he met with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last year in the early days of the war.“Do you intend to kill Zelensky?” Bennett recalled asking Putin, during an almost five-hour interview he gave to Israel’s Channel 12, that was posted on YouTube on Saturday night.Putin assured Bennett, “I’m not going to kill Zelensky.”Bennett called Zelensky while he was still in Moscow on his way to the airport from the Kremlin to tell him that he was not under a death threat.“Are you sure?” Zelensky asked.“One...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has told the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog that the Jewish state is ready to use its “right to self-defense” to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons. In a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi on June 3 in Jerusalem, Bennett accused Tehran of deceiving the world about its atomic activities. Bennett “expressed Israel’s deep concern regarding Iran’s continued progress toward achieving nuclear weapons while deceiving the international community by using false information and lies,” his office said in a statement. The Israeli leader “emphasized the urgent need in mobilizing the international community to...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is working to officially dissolve his own government. In a move seen by many as the climax of one of the most bizarre sagas in Israeli political history, the political coalition that has held a very slim majority in the K’nesset (Israeli parliament) for the past year is seeking to abruptly end its own rule and bring the Jewish state to yet another round of elections in three months. But why on earth would the Israeli parliamentary coalition do that? The answer is simple: because Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and his political allies are poised to...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has not ruled out sitting with MKs Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism), and Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), but opposes the formation for a "fully" right-wing government. In an interview with Channel 13 News, Bennett said, "A fully right-wing government, in the current sense, is, in my eyes, a disaster, because it does not have the balances." He added, "Netanyahu, Bezalel, and Ben Gvir...in a different constellation, can be fine, but a government trapped in the hands of the extreme is horrible and awful, even if it is the other side." .....

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar (New Hope) have requested that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett remove his veto of an anti-Netanyahu bill, and allow them to attempt to pass it. The bill would prevent anyone charged with criminal offenses from serving as prime minister. A senior coalition official told Israel National News - Arutz Sheva that the bill could pass within a week, and that thanks to the Joint Arab List, there is a majority in the Knesset which supports it, even if Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) vetoes it. According to the report,...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, as Jerusalem, Cairo and Brussels make strides toward a natural-gas export deal. The European Union Embassy in Israel said von der Leyen was arriving “to advance relations between the EU and Israel, especially cooperation in the area of energy. The president will also discuss with Israeli government representatives the global reaction to the food crisis and the situation in the Middle East.” During her two-day visit, von der Leyen is expected to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Yair...

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited a Rafael facility in northern Israel Tuesday to inspect the new 'Iron Beam' laser defense system. During his visit, Bennett received an extensive briefing from the Rafael's senior management – led by President and CEO Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yoav Har-Even, Chairman Dr. Uzi Landau – on the Iron Beam laser system. Rafael President and CEO Har-Even and members of its senior management also presented the heart of the classified systems that serve the Israeli defense establishment. The Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister's Military Secretary and other senior officials also participated...

Held fruitful negotiations with the Prime Minister 🇮🇱 @naftalibennett. Congratulated him and the people of Israel 🇮🇱 on Independence Day! Have informed him about countering the aggressor and about the critical situation in Mariupol.— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 4, 2022

Lavrov got the "idea" to utter the sad sentence to make distorted and cynical use of historical Nazism, some time after the "talks" between Russia and the "moderate" Abu Mazen --infamous Holocaust distorted since the 1980s-- on the Temple Mount, as a payback for denouncing Bucha and other massacres _______________ CHRONOLOGY: "Russia's message to Israel: a telephone conversation between Putin and Abu Mazen," Elior Levy, Reuters. While Israel is facing riots in Jerusalem, preparing for a political crisis with Jordan and exchanging stings with the Kremlin, the Russian president spoke by telephone with the Palestinian Authority chairman. According to...

The Prime Minister of Israel said that the country stands on the side of Ukraine. Israel has created a field hospital to care for the wounded and is doing everything possible to help stop Russia's war against Ukraine. Israel has created a humanitarian air bridge to Ukraine. It is planned to deliver 6 air shipments within the next few weeks. According to him, over the next few weeks, six cargo planes will bring medicines, medicines, food and the like. The first batch has already been delivered to Ukraine, - he wrote. Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that the...

Israel sees the likely U.S. decision to refuse Iran’s demand to remove its Revolutionary Guards from its terror blacklist, as reported Saturday by the Washington Post, as a sign of success of concentrated lobbying efforts in recent weeks, led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. While U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are leading talks in Washington to reach a final decision on the matter, an informed Israeli source told Haaretz that Israel expects Biden to make the announcement soon. "It's not final, but that's where it's headed," the source said. The...

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suddenly the favorite to mount a comeback after current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lost the majority he needs to hold his coalition together with a key defection on Wednesday. Israel’s government looked set to crumble Wednesday after coalition whip Idit Silman announced she is quitting to form a new government, causing the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to lose its majority. … Silman, who is a member of Knesset in Bennett’s Yamina party, chose to defect after she clashed with Israel’s Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over his order to hospitals...

JERUSALEM - A key member of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Yamina party said Wednesday she was quitting his coalition government, in a surprise move that leaves him without a parliamentary majority. Idit Silman's announcement left Bennett's coalition, an alliance of parties ranging from the Jewish right and Israeli doves to an Arab Muslim party, with 60 seats -- the same as the opposition. Although Silman's defection does not mean the fall of the coalition, it raises the spectre of a potential return to office by veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu, less than a year after he lost the premiership to...

The foreign ministers of countries under Iran’s guns seemed more intent on cooperation among themselves than on backing America’s pursuit of reviving a failed nuclear deal. Beefed up military and intelligence cooperation among regional allies to confront Iran is the most positive outcome of the Negev summit — even as America inexplicably remains determined to appease the mullahs. Foreign ministers of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Egypt today ended a summit hastily organized by Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, at the Negev town of Sde Boker. They decided to boost security cooperation and vowed to meet periodically in...

Bennett's office said that the prime minister feels well and will work from home while quarantining......Israel's Police Chief Kobi Shabtai also tested positive, according to a report this morning. Because he tested positive, Bennett is required to be in quarantine for five days or until symptoms subside which means he will miss in-person meetings over the next few days.... Bennett has had at least three doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. Currently, a historic summit is taking place in the Negev at Sde Boker with the foreign ministers of six nations. Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is hosting Blinken and...

BNEI BRAK, Israel (Reuters) — An Arab gunman killed at least five people in a Tel Aviv suburb on Tuesday before he was fatally shot, the national ambulance service said, in the third deadly attack in Israel in a week. "Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terror," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted after the shootings in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Israel's commercial capital. The shooting raised to 11 the number of people killed by Arab gunmen in Israel over the past week, the sharpest spike in attacks on city streets in years....

An Arab assailant killed at least four people in Israel’s southern city of Beersheba on Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in years, before he was fatally shot by a Police identified the attacker as an Arab citizen of Israel, a former high school teacher who had been imprisoned over alleged links to Islamic State. Police spokesman Eli Levy said “a civilian took the initiative and shot and killed” the knife-wielding assailant, a confrontation on a busy city street that later played out in videos filmed by onlookers and broadcast on Israeli television. Tensions have been on the rise in...