Free Republic

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...

Released on the heels of Israel's fourth election in two years, the survey found that among the Jewish public, division still remains as to the potential roles of Israel's Arab parties in the government coalition-forming process. According to the survey, some 44% of the Jewish public support a government propped up by the Arab parties, in contrast to 41% who oppose it.This is in stark difference to a similar poll taken more than a year earlier in February 2020, when only 23% of Israeli Jews supported Arab parties propping up a government coalition. Among the Arab populace, the survey found...

Although Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu is facing a long-delayed trial, his party - the Likud - is rising in the polls. Six weeks to Election Day, on March 23, 2021, is a long time in Israeli politics, and it has the potential for many surprises. The discernible trend has been an upward climb for the Likud, which remains the largest party with a wide margin between it and the next party. Netanyahu, moreover, has been polled consistently as the most qualified to serve as prime minister. The Irony about the upcoming election is that it is more than...

The Arab Ra’am party came under fire on Thursday over the State Comptroller’s report, which found that the faction used public taxpayer funding to pay for engraved plaques, which it awarded to six terrorists who took part in the assault on IDF soldiers on board the Mavi Marmara. The 5,000 shekel payment was placed under the item for "expenditures for maintaining contact with the party's supporters and voters," according to a State Comptroller report on Knesset members' expenditures which was released earlier on Thursday. The faction is represented by MKs Ibrahim Sarsour and Masoud Ghanayem, and constitutes half of the...