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Israel approved building permits on Sunday for hundreds of homes in three East Jerusalem settlements in expectation that U.S. President Donald Trump will row back on the previous administration's criticism of such projects. The housing projects, on land that the Palestinians seek as part of a future state, had been taken off the Jerusalem municipality's agenda in December at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid further censure from the administration of Barack Obama. However, Israel's right wing believes that Trump's attitude towards settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem—areas Israel captured in a 1967 war—to...

Despite a host of investigations and allegations against the Prime Minister and his wife, Sara, a majority of Israelis believe Binyamin Netanyahu should not resign. A police investigation probing gifts allegedly given by media mogul Nuni Mozes to the Prime Minister, as well as claims of a conflict of interest in a purchase by Netanyahu’s government of ballistic missile submarines and allegations that public funds were diverted to Netanyahu family’s private residence have all fueled speculation Netanyahu could be forced to resign, making new elections all but inevitable. Earlier this week a veteran Shas MK warned that Netanyahu’s resignation was...

Originally published by the Jerusalem Post. It is not in the least surprising that the PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority did not condemn the terrorist attack on Sunday. It is not surprising because the PLO-controlled PA encouraged the attack. As Khaled Abu Toameh wrote for the Gatestone Institute, in the aftermath of last month’s US-enabled passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which criminalizes Israel, the PA went on the warpath. . Among other things, Muhammad Abu Shtayyeh, who serves as a close adviser to PLO chief and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas called for an intensification of terrorist attacks against Israelis. Shtayyeh...

The State of Israel is preparing for a new diplomatic battle, this time in Paris. In less than a week the Paris International Conference will convene with participation of delegates from 70 countries. Participants at the conference will call on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to disassociate from Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett due to his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The world leaders will call on Israel to endeavor to establish such a state in order to reach an agreement with the Palestinian authority. The leaders maintain that there is no possibility of implementing such a solution...

JERUSALEM – President Barack Obama on Monday denied betraying Israel by not using the U.S. veto against an anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations Security Council last month. Obama said it was his duty as president “to do what I think is right,” according to an interview he gave on Israeli television. “I did believe it was important to send a signal and to lift up the facts that so often get buried under other news in terms of what is happening with settlements in the West Bank,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that I’m president until...

The P.M.'s official Youtube channel - PMO.gov.il

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interrogated under caution today on suspicion of alleged corruption. The interrogation lasted for three hours and was conducted at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu pointed out that in 1929, the Arabs massacred the Jews in Hebron; in 1948, Jews were expelled and murdered in Gush Etzion, Kalya (near the Dead Sea) and Atarot, north of Jerusalem. Funeral of a Jewish victim of the 1929 Hebron Massacre Not Israel but the Arabs are responsible for “altering the demographic composition” of the West Bank by ethnically cleansing the area of Jews in 1948, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, continuing his aggressive rhetoric against Friday’s anti-settlement resolution at the UN. “The anti-Israel resolution that just passed in the UN Security Council is based on...

President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers want to invite Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to the inauguration or arrange a meeting of the two leaders before then, a source close to the transition said. Transition leaders led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner have been aggressively courting Netanyahu and want him to attend the Jan. 20 festivities, the source said. “There’s a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu,” the source said. “They’re talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration.”

As the Obama administration shunned Israel last week, we warned that police were calling on Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to allow them to open a full criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Today, as Channel 2 reports, Israeli police entered Bibi's home for questioning. The prime minister was quick to react, blasting "don't celebrate too soon over corruption probe." As we detailed last week, on Monday, December 26th, Israeli police announced that they are absolutely convinced that a criminal investigation will be opened in the next few days due to new documents that were recently received in a...

US President-elect Donald Trump's team has "aggressively courted" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the incoming president's January 20 inauguration, according to a report on Saturday by the New York Post. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, led by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been pushing for Netanyahu to attend the January 20th festivities and for the two world leaders to meet before then, a source told the Post.

It took eight years of backbiting and pretending they got along for relations between President Barack Obama’s administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to finally hit rock bottom. Though they’ve clashed bitterly before, mostly notably over Iran, the two governments seemed further apart than ever after a speech Wednesday by Secretary of State John Kerry and last week’s United Nations resolution. The key question for the Obama administration, newly willing to air grievances with Israel on live television, is why now? …

We all remember Barry’s first historic World Apology Tour: "There have been times where America's shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" ... Obama, Strasbourg April 3, 2009 Followed by this: “We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.”  Obama, Summit of the Americas April 17, 2009 Of course he was referring to George W. Bush’s America, not the new-improved-transformed-by-Obama-America. In this America don’t even think about criticizing the Obama Agenda. Any and all resistance will be considered an unprovoked personal attack on Obama by a hostile enemy and will be treated accordingly....

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded earlier today to the hour long speech by Secretary John Kerry and the clarified stance of the U.S. position toward Israel as outlined in the past several days.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said Israel's building of settlements on occupied land was endangering Middle East peace, voicing unusually frank frustration with America's longtime ally. In a swiftly issued statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Kerry of bias. He said Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign leaders and looked forward to working with incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to pursue more pro-Israeli policies.

Netanyahu on Wednesday thanked Trump on Twitter for his "warm friendship" and "clear-cut support for Israel" after the president-elect tweeted that Israel should "stay strong" as his administration approaches. Netanyahu said Kerry's speech was "almost as unbalanced" as the U.N. resolution, which he harshly criticized. He said that peace will not be achieved through speeches or U.N. resolutions but through direct talks. "Israel remains committed to resolving the outstanding difference between us and the Palestinians with direct negotiations," Netanyahu said. He also contended that Kerry spent "most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace."

Israel fired back at Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasting Kerry’s lengthy televised rebuke of the Middle Eastern democracy and the United States’ abstention from an anti-Israel United Nations vote last week. Netanyahu, speaking in Jerusalem just over an hour after Kerry’s speech had ended, said the speech was “as unbalanced as the anti-Israel resolution passed last week.” “Secretary Kerry paid lip service to the unrelenting campaign of terror that has been waged by the Palestinians against the Jewish State,” Netanyahu said. He later added: “Israelis do not need to be lectured about...

Did the community organizer from Harvard Law just deliver some personal payback to the IDF commando? So it would seem. By abstaining on that Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal and invalid, raged Bibi Netanyahu, President Obama "failed to protect Israel in this gang-up at the UN, and colluded with it." Obama's people, charged Bibi, "initiated this resolution, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed." White House aide Ben Rhodes calls the charges "falsehoods." Hence, we have an Israeli leader all but castigating an American president...

Netanyahu: "Israel has national pride. We do not turn the other cheek" NEW YORK - With President Barack Obama's direction, last Friday the United States departed from its long-held position of vetoing a United Nations resolution that condemned Israel's settlements. The action outraged lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Prime Minister Netanyahu strongly condemned the United Nations resolution and expressed disappointment that the United States abandoned its previous support. Monday he said "Israel has national pride. We do not turn the other cheek." He suggested over the weekend that Israel may consider pulling out of the U.N. U.S. Senator...

The UN resolution could subject settlers and Israel officials to criminal sanctions, while creating pretexts for more terrorist attacks Everyone has heard by now that Obama “threw Israel under the bus” or whatever expression you want to use, by refusing to veto Friday’s UN resolution condemning settlements in the West Bank and other territories captured from the Palestinians. Indeed he did, but it’s worse than that. This is not a mere resolution of condemnation. This is a theoretically enforceable piece of international law that the UN has been trying to pass for decades, always coming up short because of the...