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As he publishes a dramatic memoir covering nearly 40 years of service to the U.S., former CIA chief John Brennan talks about Netanyahu, Biden – and voting Communist John Brennan’s first encounter with Israel left a distinctly unfavorable impression. On a cold winter night in December 1975, the 20-year-old, who had just visited Jordan, arrived at the Allenby Bridge to enter Israel as a tourist. Brennan, an American student at the American University in Cairo, wanted to see the Holy Land and learn about Israel and the region in depth. At passport control he asked an Israeli soldier who was...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the latest world leader to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden, hailing their relationship in a tweet Sunday. "Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris," Netanyahu tweeted. "Joe, we've had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel." Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Joe, we've had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning congratulated Joe Biden after US news outlets declared him the winner of the election. "Congratulations Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel," he tweeted. Netanyahu also thanked Trump for his friendship and actions taken during his presidency. "Thank you Donald Trump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and...

Israel owes more to former Vice President Joe Biden than it does to President Donald Trump, argues Conservative Rabbi Michael Beals, the man Biden dubbed “my rabbi”. Rabbi Beals, who leads Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware, spoke with Galei Tzahal’s Efi Triger in an interview broadcast Monday morning, discussing how he became ‘Biden’s rabbi’, and why he is more impressed with Biden’s record on Israel than that of President Trump. Rabbi Beals recalled the first time he met Biden, following the death of a congregant, Sylvia Greenhouse, in 2006. The rabbi was surprised to see then-Senator Biden, who had...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in winning 60 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday’s election, one less than he needed for a majority in the Knesset, according to exit polls on the three television networks. The first polls indicated that Netanyahu’s Likud won 36-37 seats. Its allies in Shas, UTJ and Yamina won 9, 7-8 and 6-7 respectively. The polls showed Blue and White with 33 seats, its ally Labor-Gesher-Meretz 6-7, the Joint List 14-15 and Yisrael Beytenu 6-8. When Channel 13 updated its numbers at around 1 a.m. Israel time, Gantz gained one seat...

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a personal salutation to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after his stunning win overnight in the UK general election. Netanyahu applauded his friend’s victory and the manner in which he triumphed over a hostile media to speak directly to voters. He said:....... "Congratulations to my friend Boris Johnson on your astonishing victory. This is more evidence that the people decide, not the media. It is past of a global tidal wave for secure borders, a free economy and sovereignty. I look forward Boris to working with you in coming years to strengthening even...

MainAll NewsInside Israel'No unity government with Netanyahu' 'No unity government with Netanyahu' Senior Blue and White official says party has 'no faith in Netanyahu, not even for a single day.' Arutz Sheva Staff, 27/11/19 12:32 Share Netanyahu and Gantz Netanyahu and GantzREUTERS Senior Blue and White officials told Israel Hayom that their party is no longer willing to form a unity government with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. "Blue and White's leadership has no faith in Netanyahu - not even for a single day," a senior Blue and White official told Israel Hayom. "You can't trust him and do business...

Sephardic Kabbalist (mystic) Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri could have predicted the political unrest surrounding recent struggles by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, according to a report by the Hebrew daily Israel Hayom on Sunday. Information alluding to Kaduri's predictions spread throughout social media and on the messaging application Whatsapp in recent days, as well. Kaduri reportedly wrote in And He Swore to Isaac, a "hidden book" that was recently found in the Kabbalistic school of Nahalat Yitzhak, that "On the eve of the year 5780 (the upcoming Hebrew year), the year of corrections, there will...

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that he has decided to indict Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000, and fraud and breach of trust in Cases 1000 and 2000. The decision was made after a four-day hearing on the prime minister's cases last month and after three weeks of marathon hearings in the Attorney-General's office. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will make an official announcement on the charges at 7:30 PM Israel time ...

Video Blue and White leader Benny Gantz returned the mandate to form the government to President Reuven Rivlin Wednesday evening, signalling the end of his attempts to form a coalition. Both Gantz and incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have failed to form a government more than two months after the last elections. Members of the Knesset will now have the opportunity to recommend a candidate for prime minister over the next three weeks, However, a third round of elections appears likely. "Gantz told the president that he is also committed in the remaining 21 days to continue to make every...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned the mandate to form a government to President Reuven Rivlin minutes after the end of the Simhat Torah holiday Monday night. President Reuven Rivlin received the message from Netanyahu. He will hold consultations with faction representatives and by law has three days to give the mandate to another candidate.

Netanyahu "will make a last effort to realise the possibility of forming a government at this stage, before returning the mandate to the president," Likud said in a statement. It called the latest round of negotiations a "big disappointment Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Benny Gantz (left). Pic/AFP Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz traded blame Sunday over the failure so far of efforts to reach a unity government deal following deadlocked elections. A new round of negotiations between Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and Gantz's centrist Blue and White broke down Sunday and the...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After failing to secure a clear election victory twice in six months, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister now seems to be calculating that he can stay in power only by sharing it.Following a deadlocked parliamentary election last week, a weakened Netanyahu reissued an offer on Monday to his centrist rival Benny Gantz for a unity government, saying that neither had enough support from respective allies for a majority of 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. There was no sign Gantz, head of the Blue and White Party, would agree to a coalition with Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud. Gantz cited...

The celebrations of hate against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the right-wing camp since the elections are disgusting, ungrateful, and lack any factual basis. People of the national camp, raise your heads! First of all, Binyamin Netanyahu has invested his life for the sake of the existence and fortification of the State of Israel. 18 hours a day for years. Tirelessly. You can argue with him, you can disagree (believe me, I was one of those, and we have disagreements), but his being trampled by the left ("What pardon? Death sentence!" wrote a journalist for Ma’ariv) is delusional at all levels....

Unless he convinces Israeli lawmakers from outside his party to join him in a national unity government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-and-a-half-year run in office may soon end following inconclusive results inhis country’s parliamentary elections this week that appeared to deprive him of a governing majority in the Knesset. President Donald Trump took a hands-off approach when asked about the elections in America’s foremost ally in the Middle East. “Our relations are with Israel, so we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters while touring California. In Israel, Netanyahu has leveraged his ideological affinity with Trump as a selling point...

According to Channel 13, 97.6% of the votes from Tuesday's elections have already been counted, Blue and White stands at 33 seats and Likud at 31 seats, with Blue and White leading by a narrow margin. It is important to note that these are still not the final results. Overnight, the committee was counting the near quarter of a million soldiers' votes cast by Israeli soldiers. The Central Election Committee (CEC) has been updating its website since the close of the polls at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The last update was at 10:40 a.m. on Thursday: 4,354,991 votes had been...

Right-wing factions convened at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon, deciding to establish a "right-wing bloc" headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, that will work for the establishment of the next government. It was decided to form a joint coalition negotiations team for all factions in the bloc. In addition to Netanyahu, the meeting saw the participation of Minister Yariv Levin and faction heads: Yaakov Litzman, Moshe Gafni, Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, and Bezalel Smotrich. Minister Aryeh Deri met with Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this morning, as he was unable to attend the meeting due to the memorial ceremony...

The District Court of the Hague will hold a hearing on Tuesday about whether a war crimes case against Benny Gantz is admissible relating to his command decisions during the 2014 Gaza War. Israeli soldiers and commanders may also be on the hot seat at The Hague before the International Criminal Court, but Tuesday’s hearing, which also happens to be Election Day, is a local Dutch court proceeding that is unrelated to that. In fact, the ICC preliminary probe of Israel’s conduct of the 2014 war is moving slowly and is not expected to come to any conclusion earlier than...

US President Donald Trump told Jewish Republicans on Saturday that Israel’s election on April 9 is a close contest between “two good people,” a reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. Trump’s mention of the election came as he regaled the Las Vegas gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition by ticking off conservative victories of his first three years in office, including his decision to recognize Israel’s control over the Golan Heights two weeks ago, which many called a major boost to Netanyahu’s reelection campaign. “How’s the race going, by the way?,” he asked...

The office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has released a video that clumsily tries to edit out a gaffe where he calls the British prime minister by the wrong name. Netanyahu misspoke at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, referring to his UK counterpart Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president who died in 2007. “I’ve returned from a very pleasant visit in London, where I’ve met with Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin and the US defence secretary,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. Cabinet ministers immediately interjected, and Netanyahu gave a wry smile before correcting himself, saying...