Free Republic

I reported this weekend on reports that the U.S. planned to move our Embassy from Tel Aviv, to Israel’s capital Jerusalem, by the end of 2019.This timetable, which was faster than the 3-4 years previously discussed for building a new Embassy, was based on renovating the existing U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the main location of which was built in 2010 and is actually larger than the Tel Aviv embassy. Those reports were confirmed today when VP Mike Pence addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Pence, the first American VP afforded that honor, was given a rousing welcome by Israeli Prime...

Vice President Mike Pence’s address to the Knesset Monday afternoon, the first by a senior American official in a decade, was praised by a number of Israeli officials from across the political spectrum, who noted the Vice President’s pledge to bar Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and a time-table for the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, however, expressed a more personal reaction to the speech, saying that he had been so touched by it as to have been moved to tears.

Following the demand of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, the leaders of the coalition parties on Sunday evening approved the Yisrael Beytenu party’s bill mandating the death penalty for terrorists. The bill will be brought to a preliminary vote in the Knesset plenum. MK Robert Ilatov, Yisrael Beytenu Parliamentary Group Chairman, said, "Today is a historic day in the State of Israel. After years in which the Yisrael Beytenu party has been promoting the death penalty for terrorists and after it was rejected by the Knesset and the government, today the death penalty bill for terrorists has finally been approved by...

Speaking at The Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center in Dallas last week, Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Joint Arab List) openly admitted that Jews do not have a right to self-determination, and that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state. “It’s an equality which challenges the definition of Israel as a Jewish state,” Zoabi said. “We use this democracy — of course, there is a question of why you…give legitimacy to Israel when you are within the Knesset. This is true. So remember, I am telling you now that now we have the ability to use these tools, the democratic...

The Knesset's Special Committee for the Rights of the Child will hold a meeting on alienating children from their parents - but will only invite women's organizations to take part. The meeting will be held in another six weeks. It will discuss the involvement of authorities in divorce crises for the children's sake, and how to deal with parental alienation. Participants will include Israel's Education Ministry; the Labor, Social Affairs, and Social Services Ministry; the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel; the Legal Aid Department; court management; Israel Psychological Associatoin; Bar Ilan University's Rackman Center; the women's organizations Naamat, WIZO,...

(IsraelNN.com) Security services suspect that former MK Azmi Bishara, a fugitive living abroad accused of providing aid to Hizbullah, is intent on recruiting agents for the Lebanese terrorist group among Israeli Arabs. In recent days, agents of the General Security Services (GSS) invited activist members of the Balad party from Wadi Ara to the agency's offices and warned them against contact with Bishara. Balad was led by Bishara until his flight from the country in 2007. A member of the Arab Coordinating Committee, Ashraf Kortam, was also questioned by security services about his relationship with Bishara. He was asked to...

MainAll NewsInside Israel'I brought down the government, no one should be lecturing me' Exclusive interview: 'I brought down the government, no one should be lecturing me' Likud MK attacks Jewish Home party, justifies voting against Regulation Law. Contact Editor Hezki Baruch, 08/02/17 12:40 Share MK Benny BeginMK Benny BeginYonatan Sindel, Flash 90 In an exclusive interview with Arutz Sheva, MK Ze'ev Binyamin "Benny" Begin (Likud) slammed the Jewish Home party for the Regulation law and and justified his vote against it, saying he'd "already brought down the government after it gave away Israeli land." "This coalition is all about threats...

...convening to discuss the legal aspects of applying Israeli law to Ma'ale Adumim.

Is Joint List MK Hanin Zoabi on her way out of the Knesset? Coalition Chairman David Bitan (Likud) revealed this afternoon (Monday) that a Prime Minister backed initiative is being promoted to pass legislation that will facilitate the expulsion of Zoabi from the Knesset. The Chairman explained that Likud leaders wish to enlist as broad a base of support as possible for the initiative, rather than push it through the Knesset against strong opposition. Bitan said that most of the Jewish parties have already pledged support, including opposition party Yesh Atid. He expressed hope that the support of the Zionist...

The Almagor terror victims organization on Sunday contacted ministers on the Security Cabinet and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, demanding that they not block a new death penalty bill for terrorist murderers. The bill is being requested by incoming Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman as a condition for his Yisrael Beytenu party to join the coalition. While Liberman reportedly may fold on the demand for a new law, it seems that new instructions will be given to facilitate the death penalty for terrorists. Almagor Director Lt. Col. (ret.) Meir Indor spoke to Arutz Sheva on Sunday about the new bill, and former...

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) announced on Friday morning that he is quitting politics, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to hand his portfolio over to Yisrael Beytenu head MK Avigdor Liberman so as to bring his party into the coalition. "This morning I let the Prime Minister know that due to his conduct and recent developments, and due to a lack of confidence in him, I am resigning from the government and from the Knesset and taking a timeout from political life," said Ya'alon. Ya'alon's resignation is particularly dramatic as Liberman has not yet formally been given his portfolio...

JNS.org – Israeli-Arab Member of Knesset Jamal Zahalka called on Palestinians to prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount holy site “in any way possible,” just a day after the Joint Arab List party lawmaker returned from a two-month suspension from the Knesset. “In light of the daily increase of [Jewish] ascent to the [Al] Aqsa mosque, it is up to us to stop it in any way possible,” he told the Palestinian site Dunya al-Watan on Wednesday. “Our people have the right to the mosque, and we must protect it with all of our power. The Palestinian nation is...

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Galon blasted Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and the Transparency Law at Monday evening's discussion of the bill in the Knesset. “This is not transparency; it is political persecution,” she charged. “Those who slander Israel are actually Ayelet Shaked and her settler friends. The world hates Israel not because of what the [leftist] organizations make public...

The Knesset on Monday night approved the first reading of the so-called “Transparency Law”, initiated by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. The bill would require Israeli NGOs who receive more than half of their funds from foreign states to disclose their sources of funding and identify themselves as "foreign agents" when lobbying MKs. 50 MKs voted in favor of the bill and 43 voted against. The bill has been criticized due to the fact that it will only affect left-wing organizations, who receive funding from European countries and the United States, as opposed to right-wing groups who are more likely to...

JERUSALEM, Israel, January 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The number of abortions in the nation of Israel continues to decline dramatically, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported that there has been more than a twenty-percent drop in abortions from 2000 to 2014. The report explained that of the terminations in 2014 (17,500), half were cases of rape or other criminal activity. The CBS report noted that the percentage of pregnant women who appeal for an abortion is diminishing, too. In 2013, 9.6 out of every 1,000 pregnant women appealed for an abortion –...

The Knesset held a tense discussion Wednesday afternoon over Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom's recent demand to investigate Israel for the alleged extrajudicial "executions" of Palestinian terrorists. Science Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) called Wallstrom's remarks "insane," and said they gave a boost to terrorism. An Israeli copywriter named Guy Ordever used humor to fight Wallstrom, creating a video based on a Swedish TV broadcast with Hebrew subtitles, that has received 730,000 views in four days. The huge number corresponds to about 9% of Israel's total population. A version of the video with English subtitles has been uploaded by a new...

Radical Arab MK Ahmed Tibi of the Joint List party on Wednesday asked Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) to block Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's impending visit to Israel, in a call later echoed by Arab MK Issawi Frej (Meretz). Tibi termed Trump a "neo-Nazi" over his controversial plan to ban Muslim entry to the US, and went on to say that "what Trump said isn't foreign to several people in the Knesset." Trump has announced his plans to visit Israel sometime this month, while announcing his intentions to force Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to hold more peace...

In 1981, Israel launched Operation Opera and directly saved millions of Israeli and Middle Eastern lives, while also making conditions far safer for Americans and for the western world. The task was clear and simple. Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak Nuclear Reactor and prevented Saddam Hussein from wreaking havoc in the Middle East. The strategy was reasonable and spoke to a reasonable era. Today's buffoonery is shameful and dangerous. The following is a possible solution and, at the very least, constitutes a sensible path. In 2006, those who opposed then President Bush yelled that he should have gone to war against...

Arab MKs livid as Knesset plenum passes bill that toughens the punishment handed out to rock throwers. Picture The Knesset on Monday evening approved the second and third readings of a bill that toughens the punishment handed out to rock throwers. 69 MKs voted in favor of the bill, while 17 voted against. The law stipulates that the offense of obstructing an officer by throwing rocks or other objects is punishable by five years in prison. The law also establishes a hierarchy of punishment for offenses involving the throwing of rocks or other objects at a vehicle in motion. .....

Polls scheduled to close 10pm local time / 4pm EDT. Turnout as of 9am was 7.4%, at 10am was 13.7%, and at 12pm was 26.5%. Exit polls will be released when polls close in less than 8 hours. For live coverage in English, click on link below: