Free Republic

In an address to the Knesset on Monday, Likud lawmaker Dan Illouz decried what he said was a “new enemy” rising within American politics: Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. “We are used to enemies from outside. We fight terror tunnels of Hamas. We fight the ballistic missiles of Iran. But today I look at the West, our greatest ally, and I see a new enemy rising from within,” said Illouz, who is originally from Canada originally, in an English address. “I am speaking of a poison being sold to the American people as patriotism. I’m speaking of the intellectual vandalism...

Witkoff and Kushner on one side, Rubio and Huckabee on the other: beneath the surface, the US administration is divided over who should be Israel's next prime minister… There was one moment in the Knesset speech on the day the war ended that particularly troubled Likud. It happened when the president spontaneously praised Yair Lapid. "He's a nice guy," he said to Netanyahu — and then jabbed the prime minister: "You don't need to be so tough now that the war is over." Was this a hint that the president intends, God forbid, to adopt neutrality in the upcoming election...

In the suitability for prime minister polls, former prime minister Naftali Bennett continues to emerge as the principal challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a direct head-to-head matchup, Channel 12 places Bennett within one percentage point of Netanyahu. In the multi-candidate Channel 14 poll, Bennett ranks second, holding a 12-point lead over the next closest challenger. The dominant topic this week was the fallout from revelations of betrayal within Netanyahu’s office, following reports that senior advisers received funds from Qatar. A Maariv poll shows that 60% of respondents with an opinion do not believe Netanyahu’s claim that he was...

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett warned that Israel’s status in the United States “has never been so bad” and that it is being seen as a “leper state” in a lengthy social media post on Tuesday. The post castigating the current government’s public diplomacy efforts came after Bennett, who plans to run in next year’s elections, spent 10 days in the US… “The Democratic party hasn’t been with us for some time. We’re also losing the Republican party, whose support for Israel could once be counted on,” he wrote, though he credited US President Donald Trump with retaining support for...

Thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets in the nation’s largest cities on Saturday night amid a series of damning reports about Qatar’s ties with aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The focus on Qatar, a key backer of Hamas, came after the publication this week of reports and interviews that appeared to tie Netanyahu to the so-called Bild and Qatargate probes in which his top aides have either been prime suspects or indicted. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Qatargate “the most serious act of treason in Israeli history.” The anti-government rallies are backed by a...

Majorities of Israelis oppose granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a presidential pardon in his criminal trial…according to a new survey conducted for Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, this week. In response to the question, “Do you support or oppose Netanyahu’s request for a presidential pardon without admitting guilt or expressing remorse?” 53.2 percent of respondents said they oppose it, while 42.4% said they support it, and 4.4% said they don’t know. On the issue of ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions, the respondents were asked if they support or oppose the law proposed by MK Boaz Bismuth: 53.8% said...

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says he will support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon if it is conditioned on the premier’s retirement from politics. “In recent years, the State of Israel has been led into chaos and to the brink of a civil war that threatens the very existence of the state,” Bennett writes on X. “In order to rescue Israel from the chaos, I will support a binding arrangement that includes a respectful retirement from political life alongside the end of the trial,” he says. “That way, we can let it go, unite, and rebuild the...

A new poll conducted by Shlomo Filber for Channel 14 News and published today (Thursday) shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition winning reelection.

The Likud Party has experienced a significant rise following the war with Iran…The survey reveals that Likud gained 4 seats, increasing its total to 26, up from 22 in the previous poll. This marks the first time since October 2024 that Likud has surpassed Naftali Bennett’s new party, which has dropped to 24 seats. Although Likud is strengthening, the shift primarily reflects changes within the coalition bloc. Otzma Yehudit, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, has lost two seats, dropping to 6. Meanwhile…the Democrats, led by Yair Golan, have gained ground, rising to 12 seats at the expense of Yesh Atid, the...

The Israeli government is exposing a malicious Deep State plot by the domestic security forces to bring down the Netanyahu government, similar to the US Deep State campaign against Donald Trump 2016-2024. At the center of the plot is the head of the Shin Bet security service Ronen Bar, who refuses to leave his post after being fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Observers had been mystified by the massive security failures of the vaunted Israeli secret service on October 7, leading to antisemitic conspiracy theories claiming Israel actually was responsible for the horrific terror attacks taht killed over 1200 people....

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rise in the polls continues, with his Likud Party reaching the key threshold of 30 seats (out of 120) in a new poll by Israel’s center-right Channel 14. The poll, published Thursday, is the first poll since the Hamas terror attack of October 7 and the war that has followed to show the Likud Party at or above 30 seats — near the 32 seats it won in the November 2022 election, when it led a right-wing bloc to victory. The two major opposition parties continued to fall behind, as did their leaders. Netanyahu was...

Former Justice Minister Haim Ramon spoke out against the proposed ceasefire-prisoner swap deal, saying that it is "the worst deal" that Israel could possibly agree to. In an interview with 103 FM Radio, Ramon said, "The deal proposed today is the worst of all worlds. In practice, we will end the war. Anyone who thinks that after 42 days, by pressing a button, we will restart the war - is making a mistake. People will return to the Gaza border area, to the north, and it will be very hard to continue the war." "Because it is this way, and...

18 May Golan, Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women of Israel, said Saturday that she had approached former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama to condemn attacks on Israeli women by Hamas on October 7 — and been met with complete silence. Golan, a member of the ruling Likud party, spoke to host Erel Segal on Israel’s Channel 14, in the course of an interview about the broader failure of women’s rights organizations to condemn allegations of sexual violence against women during the terror attack.

Arutz Sheva-Israel National News spoke to MK Dan Illouz (Likud) and asked about the world demanding a complete ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in exchange for the release of all hostages. “After what we've seen on October 7, we've been very clear to the whole world that Israel cannot continue living with Hamas on its border. Hamas needs to be completely eradicated. On October 7, we saw the face of evil. We saw Hamas not only murder a large number of our citizens, 1,200, but also we saw the tactics that they used. We saw them behead people, burn babies...

The Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced on Sunday that one of the newest entries on the organization's list of global heritage sites is Tel a-Sultan in Jericho. The UNESCO member states decided that the tel will be considered a "Palestinian world heritage site." The decision was made in a vote that took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The UN clarified that there are Jewish and Christian sites near the site that are not included in the list - but there is a value to protect them. Tel a-Sultan, also known as Tel Jericho,...

Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly pledged in a conversation yesterday (Monday) with the President of the United States Joe Biden that he will freeze construction in Judea and Samaria until the end of the year. According to Yaron Avraham's report on Channel 12 News, no more new towns will be approved and no new housing units will be planned or built throughout Judea and Samaria. In a conversation yesterday, Netanyahu told Biden that he would complete the final approval of the reduction of the reasonability clause. "Netanyahu informed the US president about the law that will be passed next week in...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, exactly a day after Gallant called for a stop to radical [sic] reforms to the judiciary that have divided the country and that the defense minister said posed security risks to Israel.The dramatic move could accelerate a crisis that Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who has also called for a stop to the legislation, has said could culminate in a bloody civil war. It could also further fray ties with the United States, where Gallant has been steering coordination on defense cooperation with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin...In a surprise...

If we are honest — which most of the world is not when it comes to Israel and Jews — we need to recognize that Jewish rioting in Huwara is against the law. But if we continue being honest, we need also to recognize that the blame for those riots must fall primarily on the past 50 years of Israeli governments who have failed to provide adequate security to the Jewish residents of Samaria and Judea. And, because there is little value in blaming the dead prime ministers and defense ministers who have been at fault, the focus of blame...

A leading Israeli rabbi, Meir Mazuz, said that openly gay Likud Party member Amir Ohana, the Speaker of the Knesset, is “infected with that disease,” according to Haaretz, a news outlet founded in Jerusalem in 1919. Mazuz also denounced Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade, describing it as a “parade of beasts.” Rabbi Mazuz is a Sephardic Haredi rabbi in Jerusalem and dean of the Kisse Rahamin yeshiva, a traditional school of Jewish learning. […] The minister in charge of policing during the annual pilgrimage to Mount Meron in May 2021 was Amir Ohana, then the Minister of Public Security. During that...

US Secretary of State congratulates Eli Cohen of the Likud on his new role, underscores commitment to Israel's security. .....