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Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suddenly the favorite to mount a comeback after current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lost the majority he needs to hold his coalition together with a key defection on Wednesday. Israel’s government looked set to crumble Wednesday after coalition whip Idit Silman announced she is quitting to form a new government, causing the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to lose its majority. … Silman, who is a member of Knesset in Bennett’s Yamina party, chose to defect after she clashed with Israel’s Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over his order to hospitals...

JERUSALEM - A key member of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Yamina party said Wednesday she was quitting his coalition government, in a surprise move that leaves him without a parliamentary majority. Idit Silman's announcement left Bennett's coalition, an alliance of parties ranging from the Jewish right and Israeli doves to an Arab Muslim party, with 60 seats -- the same as the opposition. Although Silman's defection does not mean the fall of the coalition, it raises the spectre of a potential return to office by veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu, less than a year after he lost the premiership to...

Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz was caught on a hot mic disclosing the real reason for imposing “green pass,” a Covid-19 vaccine passport, for certain venues.Ahead of a weekly Cabinet meeting, Horowitz turned to Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked noting that " there is no medical or epidemiological justification for the Covid passport [green pass], it is only intended to pressure the unvaccinated to vaccinate." He was unaware Channel 12 News was recording behind him.Currently, he said, “there is a kind of universality to the ‘green pass’ system, other than at malls, where I think it should be imposed, [because] now...

Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz has said he believes so-called "gay conversion therapy" can work, triggering widespread condemnation. "I think it's possible," Mr Peretz, an Orthodox rabbi, told Israel's Channel 12 TV channel. He added that he had "a very deep familiarity with the issue". PM Benjamin Netanyahu said such remarks were "unacceptable". Other politicians and gay groups also voiced criticism. "Gay conversion therapy" has been widely discredited around the world. The practice attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation through psychological, spiritual and sometimes physical means. What did Mr Peretz say?"I think that it is possible to convert [someone's...