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Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has signed a deal to give an Israeli government post to an openly homophobic ultra-nationalist party leader. It is the latest development set to give far-right parties unprecedented power within Israel's ruling coalition. Avi Maoz will be a deputy minister and run a "Jewish identity" authority. He heads Noam, a religious-nationalist, anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ party that argues for a strict interpretation of Jewish religious laws in Israel. The agreement has added to a growing sense of alarm over the composition of Mr Netanyahu's likely government. Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid has described it as "full-on crazy",...

Polticians from outgoing coalition say Likud chief's agreement to put Avi Maoz in charge of Israel's Jewish identity is a 'slap in the face,' could 'plunge Israel into the abyss' The prospect of a hardline, ultra-conservative, anti-pluralistic, homophobic nationalist being appointed as the next government's head of "Jewish identity" was met with staunch rebuke from politicians from the outgoing coalition on Sunday, with lawmakers slamming the move by prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu as "insanity," "racist" and "unreal". Avi Moaz, the single lawmaker of the fringe Noam party, is one of the Knesset's most far-right politicians, holding non-pluralist Jewish views and...

Survey shows 41% of secular Israelis support municipal religious leaders' call not to rent apartments to non-Jews, as do 64% and 88% of Israel's traditional and haredi Jews, respectively A significant segment of Israel's adult Jewish population agrees with a religious ruling forbididng Jews from selling or renting apartments to Arabs or other non-Jews, according to a recent survey commissioned by Ynet and the Gesher organization. The controversial ruling was issued by a group of 50 municipal rabbis. Some 55% of those polled said they agree with the ruling; 26% of the respondents said they agree with it for the...

Poll: Palestinians Losing Favor Among Europeanshttp://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/06/06/171049.php European Support for Palestinians "Crashes"http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014293.php Poll: Europe Easing Anti-Israel Sentiment Post Chroniclehttp://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21221650.shtml Pro-Arab Views in Europe Weakeninghttp://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=104922

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Violence on the streets of Sydney spilled into a second night Monday, as scores of youths drove through beachside suburbs smashing windows of stores, homes and apartments, police said. Any hopes that a race riot Sunday would be an isolated incident were shattered after dark when car loads of youths rampaged through southeastern Sydney chased by hundreds of police vehicles and a helicopter. A police spokesman said the violence first broke out in Cronulla, where Sunday's riots also started.

Police dispersed dozens of protesters who chanted anti-Arab slogans at the site of the bomb attack in Jerusalem Wednesday. Protesters of the outlawed Kach movement were blocked by police from reaching the Mahane Yehuda marketplace, just up the street from the site of Wednesday's bombing, for fear they would seek to attack Arabs working there, media reports said. Israel Radio said that in all 150 demonstrators showed up at the site as rescue workers were clearing up after the attack in which 16 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. Shortly after the attack, a small group of...