Free Republic

Although most of us know most of what he says on the current scene, and also on the Rapture, he is especially succinct and passionate today.

The French government was opposed to the idea of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending Sunday’s historic march in Paris, believing the Israeli leader’s presence at the rally would be “divisive,” Israeli media reported Sunday. Netanyahu did not initially plan to attend the event, which was organized in a show of solidarity and defiance after terrorist attacks in the French capital which claimed 17 lives. However, the Prime Minister changed his mind after Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett announced they would join the march, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported. In retaliation to Netanyahu’s sudden change of heart,...

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has led calls in Israel for French Jews to "come home to Israel" Saturday, after 17 people were killed in France during three days of Islamist attacks. "To all the Jews of France, all the Jews of Europe, I would like to say that Israel is not just the place in whose direction you pray, the state of Israel is your home," he said in a televised statement, referring to the Jewish practice of facing Jerusalem during prayer. "Unless the world comes to its senses, terror will continue to strike in other places," he added...

'They actually are achieving the opposite direction'The Obama administration’s criticism of the current Israeli government only serves to make Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party more popular with the electorate, charged Likud Knesset Member Danny Danon in a U.S. radio interview Sunday. Danon was speaking on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York’s AM 970 The Answer. Danon had been asked about some recent accusations the Obama administration may be trying to influence the March 17 general elections in Israel by repeatedly criticizing Netanyahu’s policies. The Likud politician charged “there are a few people in the administration who...

[1]On Tuesday the Palestinians tried to get the UN Security Council to adopt a draft resolution to shrink Israel down to indefensible borders.They failed to get the nine votes from the 15-member council that they needed. Even if they had, the U.S. had promised to veto the resolution. But the Palestinians would have succeeded in painting Israel as a country almost friendless, hanging by the thread of U.S. support.The draft resolution demanded that Israel and the Palestinians wrap up all their disputes and reach an agreement within one year; that a Palestinian state be set up along Israel’s 1967...

Interior Minister Gilad Erdan and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein won the top slots behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Likud’s Knesset candidates list in Wednesday’s party primary, the Likud’s spokeswoman announced after 18 hours of counting votes by hand that ended on Thursday night.

11:30 A.M. Yishai congratulates Netanyahu on primary win MK Eli Yishai, Shas breakaway and leader of the newly formed Ha'am Itanu party congratulated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on winning the Likud primary election. "There's no doubt that he's the right man to lead Israel," said Yishai.

Shai Galili, Likud's comptroller, disqualified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from running for the party leadership in the December 31 primary, a move that Netanyahu disputes and is likely to appeal. Galili says that Netanyahu must answer claims that he improperly used party resources in his leadership primary run.

"And so we encounter another oddity of Hanukkah: Jews know the fuller history of the holiday because Christians preserved the books that the Jews themselves lost. In a further twist, Jews in the Middle Ages encountered the story of the martyred mother and her seven sons anew in Christian literature and once again placed it in the time of the Maccabees."

Most Israelis would like to see Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu replaced after March elections but, paradoxically, he is seen as the most suitable for the job, an opinion poll said Thursday. Elections will be held on March 17, just over two years after Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition took office. The 19th Knesset broke up following a spat in which the premier fired two ministers. The survey conducted by the Dialog Institute and published by Haaretz newspaper, showed that 53 percent of those polled do not want Netanyahu to win a third consecutive term in office, for a total of four. Nevertheless,...

I have seen a video of PM Netanyahu lighting the first Hannukah candle with a group of IDF unit commanders. VIDEO HERE I have a question: why does he light the first candle and only then, somebody else (Yaalon?) lights the Shamash (servant) candle?

Rome - Emerging from a a three-hour meeting in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´ s first comments related to the siege on the cafe in Sydney Australia that ended shortly before. Netanyahu sent his condolences to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and the Australian people. He said that International Islamic terror does not know borders, and the struggle against it needs to be global. (Snip) Netanyahu then discussed the focus of his meeting with Kerry saying that Israel will “do everything possible” to make sure that the UN Security Council does not impose

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s upcoming talks in Rome on Sunday, during opening remarks for his weekly Cabinet meeting. “Tomorrow I will leave for Rome to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US Secretary of State John Kerry,” he said. “I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East.” “Until now, we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks and now we also stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, i.e....

While in most countries immigration moves the electorate to the left, in Israel immigration moved the country to the right. In the United States the left is counting on demographics to make it easier for them to win elections, but in Israel demographic shifts have made it easier for the right to win. But the biggest problem for the Israeli left is that it’s tethered to its own version of ObamaCare in the form of the Palestinian Authority which won’t make peace, won’t stop funding terrorism and won’t stop playing the victim. As with ObamaCare, the Israeli left teeters between...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may demonstrate foolishness regarding a great many things in public life, but no one ever accused him of demonstrating foolishness with regard to his own electoral prospects. His enemies are suddenly foaming at the mouth. In response to the remarkable jump in Likud popularity in the polls, they claim, Bibi has decided to pull a fast one and has decided to take the undemocratic decision of holding elections. That Netanyahu’s rivals claim it is undemocratic when elections are held is only the tip of their problems. What really has them worried is that the Israeli electorate...

President Barack Obama and his White House National Security team headed by Susan Rice have decided to seize on the political crisis besetting the Israeli government and the upcoming general election on March 17 for action to bar Binyamin Netanyahu’s reelection to a fourth term as prime minister. This decision reverberated through Future party leader Yair Lapid’s assertion Wednesday night, Dec. 3, after he was sacked as finance minister, that Binyamin Netanyahu would not be next prime minister. He laid claim to the premiership himself. The Obama administration has maintained close ties with Lapid during the foreshortened 22 month-life of...

Noting the "personal attack" directed towards him by Netanyahu - who accused Lapid and Livni of leading a "putsch" from within the coalition - Lapid insisted on issuing a response of his own. "Yesterday you stood in front of the entire nation and announced that you were dragged the State of Israel into unnecessary elections that no one but you wanted, because you are detached. You live in your own aquarium," Lapid fired. Lapid further accused the PM of preferring "to paralyze the economy" via snap elections, rather than to come to an agreement with him over the budget, and...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on Tuesday night shortly after 8 p.m., less than two hours after firing coalition members Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), effectively disbanding the government. "I turn to you tonight because in the current situation, in the current government, it is impossible to lead the nation," said Netanyahu, saying the impasse is preventing him from fulfilling his role as prime minister. While Netanyahu called it "one of the best governments, one of the most stable governments in the history of Israel," adding it was "a true unity...

PM says he took a 'personal risk' firing Lapid and Livni, but said they had made it impossible to govern; calls for snap elections. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on Tuesday night shortly after 8 p.m., less than two hours after firing coalition members Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua), effectively disbanding the government. "I turn to you tonight because in the current situation, in the current government, it is impossible to lead the nation," said Netanyahu, saying the impasse is preventing him from fulfilling his role as prime minister. While Netanyahu...

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Tuesday let loose at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the impending elections will "not be over zero value added tax," but over replacing a government she accused of "extremism, provocativeness and paranoia" without knowing how to fight terror while also "upholding freedom and Zionism."