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Netanyahu has ended his tenure in a less than respectable way on many levels. I've written about that a lot as one who voted Likud/Netanyahu every election the past 20 years except for two, most notably the last one. He's got so many truly great achievements for which he deservingly can take credit. But he made it way too clear that his politics was about him, not the country. The last number of days leading up to the vote this week, he tried every trick in the book, and then made up some more, to do anything to stay in...

A friend asked recently how anyone who supports the right-wing in Israel could advocate for anything other than two right of center parties headed by Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar to join a government led by the Likud party with Benjamin Netanyahu remaining as Prime Minister. Combined with the two ultra-Orthodox parties and a further right-wing party, they could (easily) form a solid, stable, right-wing coalition, per what my friend posited, is the will of the majority of Israelis.This comes in light of deliberations and negotiations going on as to who will form the next government, with an understanding that...

This month, the state of Israel held its 3rd election in less than a year due to a handful of small parties failing to form a majority coalition. Meanwhile, in the U.S., pundits hysterically argue that a two-party political system divides and furthers polarization. In reality, the American system avoids much of the more extreme polarization and division often seen in other systems around the world. Like Israel, many European countries use some form of a proportional election system that almost always results in many different small parties entering parliament. Israel has 6 parties in parliament — a lot of...

Here’s a wacky idea. Let’s win the war against our jihadi enemies. Yeah, it’s certainly an outside the box idea. All we hear right now – in fact, all we’ve heard for decades – is about peace processes and negotiations and ceasefires. On and on they go, one after another, always crashing on the rocks of intransigence by people who hate our allies and who hate us. Maybe we need some fresh new ideas, some outside-the-box thinking. How about we and our allies destroy our enemies? After all, the best peace plan is victory.

Last week, The Washington Post's Tehran, Iran, correspondent was arrested. The charges are unspecified, but according to the paper, Jason Rezaian, 38; his Iranian wife, Yeganeh Salehi; and two other U.S. citizens were detained. State Department spokesman Marie Harf issued a protest that didn't even rise to the level of tepid, saying "Our highest priority is the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens abroad." Reassured? Rezaian and the others join a list of Americans held captive -- many for years and years. Former FBI agent Bob Levinson, 66, went missing after traveling to Iran in 2007. Warren Weinstein, 72, was...

Less than 100 days before the US presidential elections, the Obama administration is openly denying Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem. Can this be a vote-getter? Last week, the Emergency Committee for Israel released an ad titled, "O, Jerusalem." The commercial showed administration officials squirming when asked to name the capital of Israel, and highlighted the recent refusals of White House and State Department spokespeople to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel's capital city. The underlying message of the ad was that the administration's policy is out of step with the views of the majority of Americans. Barack Obama's position is certainly...

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity has plunged sharply after Israel's war with Hezbollah and he would likely be crushed by the right-wing opposition if elections were held now, according to a poll published Friday. The next vote is not scheduled until 2010. However, Olmert's government could be forced out earlier amid growing public anger over his performance during the war, which ended inconclusively after 120 Israeli soldiers and 39 civilians were killed. At least 854 people were killed in Lebanon. Olmert has faced increasing pressure in recent days. including calls by army reservists and bereaved parents that he...

Did - Yasser Arafat - the Palestinians murder Rachel Corrie?With all the revelations of Arab Muslim Palestinians killing their own (Rafah cave, Muhammad al dura, frequent sending kids as human bombs knowingly or unknowingly, Gaza beach 2006), it's not too fetched to believe that he murderd an American for that "high" goal of racist campaign to demonize Israel. If they kill their own for that purpose, Why wouldn't these Islamofascist Arab racists kill an infidel white American? Their highest goal is that dreadful "victimhood" side by side with demonization-of-Israel, they'd stop at nothing. After all, it's Arafat's guys that were...

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 You could be a minister too Netanyahu's government had 18 ministers. Sharon's began with 25 and waxed on to 28. Ehud Olmert's administration is set to kick off the new season with a record 27-29 posts. Many people seem bothered by this, but I say, the more the merrier. There's plenty of important work to be done in this country, and why should any elected official be left feeling inconsequential? I would suggest increasing the number of ministers as much as possible. There's no reason why every member of the Knesset can't have his very own...

Apr. 25, 2006 1:43 | Updated Apr. 25, 2006 19:12 Peretz, Olmert meet on ministers By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL AND JPOST STAFF Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz and Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the proposed reduction of ministers and the elimination of deputy ministers in the new coalition government. Senior Kadima officials said that they expected Olmert to reduce the number of Kadima ministers by one, for a total of 11 Kadima ministers in the government. Kadima sources saw the move as a way of encouraging the rest of the coalition partners to make...

The Promise of Kadima By Guardian Unlimited / World news 12:07pm The elections here are just under three weeks away. If the polls can be believed, Kadima, Ehud Olmert's party, will get the largest number of seats and form the next government. Since November, surveys have shown Kadima well in the lead, and it has remained there despite the seemingly incredible turns of event - from Ariel Sharon's debilitating stroke to Hamas's unexpected victory in the Palestinian elections. I, for one, am not surprised. I come from a long-time Labor family. During the '90s I supported the Oslo accords and...

Jan. 5, 2006 9:34 | Updated Jan. 5, 2006 9:41 Olmert convenes cabinet session By HERB KEINON Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chaired a cabinet meeting at 9 am to signal the orderly transfer of powers. "This is a difficult situation that we are not used to," Olmert said at the opening of a meeting that ended roughly half an hour later. He said that after receiving a briefing from Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz, "we will at the end of the meeting return to running the affairs of the state, and continue to pray and hope for good news from the...

ov. 26, 2005 23:20 | Updated Nov. 27, 2005 19:22 Sharon waits to appoint ministers By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepares to leave the Knesset. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was expected to appoint the six ministers who joined his new Kadima party to temporarily fill the vacancies left by the seven Labor ministers who quit the government last week, will continue to hold the portfolios of the Labor ministers who resigned for at least another 10 days. Attorney General Meni Mazuz recommended that the government be designated a government in transition...

Nov. 27, 2005 0:18 | Updated Nov. 27, 2005 20:15 Peres to decide party affiliation soon By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFFVice Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Photo: Ariel JerozolimskiLabor Chairman Amir Peretz talking to the press Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski Sources in the Labor Party told the Jerusalem Post that they believed Vice Premier Shimon Peres plans to join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima party in the coming days. "My impression was that Peres will decide to leave Labor," a senior Labor official who spoke to Peres on Sunday said. "It was clear from what he told me that he's...

Nov. 24, 2005 18:47 | Updated Nov. 24, 2005 21:25 Low turnout mars Sharon-less Likud committee event By GIL HOFFMAN The Likud central committee convenes Minister without portfolio Tzahi Hanegbi Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski The first Likud central committee meeting without Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was intended to be a showcase of party unity in the post-Sharon era, but instead it will be remembered for its low turnout. When the event was supposed to start at 5 p.m., the room was nearly empty. It started an hour late and finished shortly thereafter. Organizers said after the event that 911 central committee...

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to quit his ruling Likud party and run separately in next year's elections, Israeli army radio reports. r Sharon reportedly made the decision to leave the party he helped to found after lengthy talks with aides. Earlier, the moderate Labour party under new leader Amir Peretz voted to leave Mr Sharon's coalition. Many in Likud opposed Mr Sharon's decision to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank earlier this year.

Peretz ready to bolt coalition New Labor chairman asks party members to prepare resignation letters Attila Somfalvi Labor Chairman Amir Peretz is preparing resignation letters with the signatures of Labor party ministers, to be used as a bargaining chip during his scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday.Peretz and Peres Photo: Yaron Brenner Aides to Peretz say the move will prevent the prime minister from preemptively sacking Labor party ministers by citing any number of pretexts. A Peretz source also said the Prime Minister's Office has attempted to arrange a meeting between the newly elected Labor party chairman...

Jan. 11, 2005 18:32 | Updated Jan. 11, 2005 22:18 UTJ splits over rabbinical spat By MATI WAGNER A dispute over rabbinic allegiances tore apart on Tuesday Lithuanian Degel HaTorah and hassidic Agudat Yisrael, the two parties making up United Torah Judaism (UTJ). The preeminent halachic authority of the Lithuanian haredi community, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, ordered the Degel HaTorah Mks, Moshe Gafni and Rabbi Avraham Ravitz to split themselves from the three Agudah Yisrael Mks. Gafni and Ravitz placed the blame for the split squarely on the shoulders of MK Ya'acov Litzman of the hassidic Agudat Yisrael, who accepted...

Jan. 5, 2005 17:43 | Updated Jan. 5, 2005 18:51 Rabbi Elyashiv gives UTJ green light to join coalition By GIL HOFFMAN United Torah Judaism spiritual mentor Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv on Wednesday bestowed his approval for the haredi party to join the coalition, allowing a Likud-Labor-UTJ government to be formed, UTJ MK Avraham Ravitz said. The Ultra-Orthodox party's inclusion into the coalition is conditional however on a three-month "wait-and-see" approach relating to the Likud negotiating team's promise to provide funding to haredi educational institutions. UTJ MKs Avraham Ravitz and Moshe Gafni will not fill any positions in the government...

Dec. 19, 2004 23:40 | Updated Dec. 20, 2004 22:23 Labor, Likud to sign deal Tuesday By GIL HOFFMAN AND NINA GILBERT After nearly two days of delay since Likud and Labor reached a coalition agreement, the two parties have announced that they will finally sign on the deal Tuesday evening, after the Labor party's central committee meeting. The signing was enabled after a preliminary vote in the Knesset on the "double deputy prime minister" bill approved it 56 to 34 on Monday night. The bill, popularly dubbed the "Peres bill," was aimed at resolving the crisis in unity negotiations...