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In the weeks before the first Gulf War, Noah Efron, a young American graduate student at Tel Aviv University, was standing in the cafeteria line when he overheard two female students in front of him. One said to her friend: "The best thing for the country would be if there was a chemical attack in Bnei Brak now, before they get new gas masks." Her friend replied that it would be "amusing" to forcibly shave the beards of all the "little Jews." That conversation inspired Efron, today a Bar-Ilan University professor of history and philosophy, to conduct a decade-long inquiry...

Avraham Poraz, our secular "Zionist" minister of the interior, is a modern man untrammelled by bigotry and superstition. His revulsion to religious values is directed against his own people's faith, Judaism; one does not recall him expressing offensive remarks about the religious rituals of other people. His contempt for Jewish ritual was manifested even before his appointment as interior minister. How else would one judge an Israeli politician congratulating the Dutch government for moving toward a ban on Jewish ritual slaughter - shehita? The ban was never imposed because, unlike Poraz, the Dutch authorities concluded that such a move would...

A political storm raged following a report last Thursday that before joining the coalition the Shinui Party demanded NIS 123 million for distribution at its own discretion. Party Chairman Minister Yosef Lapid recently received control of these funds and decided to grant NIS 45 million to actors, clowns, entertainers and theaters, NIS 55 million to university tuition fee subsidies and NIS 23 million to the collapsing high-tech industry. At a press conference, Lapid said during the approval process for the 2003 state budget cuts, which totaled NIS 9 billion, he agreed to vote in favor of the cuts in exchange...

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Security Minister Mohammed Dahlan were invited by the Shinui faction Monday to visit the Knesset at the beginning of next week. The visit - which would be the first ever by a Palestinian leader to the Knesset - was proposed Monday by Palestinian Authority ministers during a meeting Monday with Shinui Chairman and Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid. Lapid has not yet received an official response from Abbas and Dahlan. Lapid informed Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin of the planned visit and requested his agreement. Abbas and Dahlan will not be official guests of the...

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came out in support of the status quo and against Shinui Minister Avraham Poraz when he concluded Thursday that the Interior Ministry must recognize conversions performed by the Israeli Rabbinical Court as a basis for citizenship. "Israel is a Jewish state and we have to preserve its Jewish identity. Citizenship should be granted automatically to conversions authorized in Israel by the rabbinical court. It will be a harsh blow if a Jew cannot get citizenship when he converts in Israel," Sharon said. He added that failure to give converts the same right to automatic citizenship as...

Jewish Nazis raise heil in Israel By CORKY SIEMASZKODAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Hamas, Islamic Jihad - and now Jewish Nazis. As if they didn't have enough trouble with Palestinian militants, Israelis now have to contend with threats from a homegrown neo-Nazi group called Israeli White Unity. And they don't just hate Arabs - they hate their fellow Jews as well. Worse, they've infiltrated the Israeli Army and operate a Russian-language Web site on which they deny the Holocaust, make concentration camp jokes - and maintain links to other neo-Nazi groups elsewhere. "It's not a big group, but unfortunately it's...

May. 20, 2003 Eitam calls on PM to revoke Int. Minister's authority on conversions (UPDATE) By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF</P< Construction and Housing Minister Effi Eitam (NRP) on Tuesday called on the prime minister to revoke Interior Minister Avraham Poraz's authority on conversions to Judaism and the granting of Israeli citizenship, after Poraz announced he would stop the automatic granting of citizenship to converts to Judaism in Israel. "Citizenship will be granted based on humanitarian concerns such as uniting families, identification with Israel, or an ability to concretely contribute to Israeli society, in the case of artists, scientists or...

Feb. 27, 2003 Mitzna: We will be a responsible, firmly committed opposition By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF Labor Chairman and opposition leader Amram Mitzna on Thursday criticized the projected political and economic policies to guide Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new government, as they were reflected in the latter's earlier inauguration speech, saying the opposition under his leadership would be a "responsible, firmly committed" one. In a speech before the Knesset, Mitzna said a coalition comprising the three large parties the Likud, Shinui and Labor was within Sharon's grasp, but he decided not to pursue it. He criticized Shinui's chairman,...

The Continuing NRP Controversy Rabbi Yehuda Zoldan, a rabbi in the yeshivat hesder in N'vei Dekalim, spoke to Arutz-7 yesterday. "As someone who publicly supported NRP in election campaign," Haggai Segal said, "we're curious to know your opinion on what could be called the 'historic' agreement between the NRP and Shinui redefining the religious-secular status quo in Israel." Rabbi Zoldan responded: "I think that the general direction is positive, even though there are of course some concerns - even some weighty concerns. I'm not sure that the agreement will last for the full 4 yrs and 9 months [until the...

Feb. 24, 2003 Shas accuses Sharon of betrayal, excommunicates NRP By GIL HOFFMAN Shas officials reacted angrily to being left out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government on Monday, issuing scathing criticism of Sharon and his coalition partners, Shinui, and the National Religious Party. The party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, called Sharon, "the king of garbage cans," and compared Shinui to garbage and refuse. On the verge of tears, Yosef said that the National Religious Party behaved worse than anti-Semites by bringing a secularist party like Shinui into the government. Yosef called upon his MKs to do everything possible...

Likud in ferment Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is giving important portfolios to other parties, leaving none for the Likud. Yoav Yitzhak 24 Feb 03 15:41Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s new coalition, consisting of the Likud, Shinui, and the National Religious Party, with the possible addition of the National Union Yisrael Beitenu, is likely to lead to the formation of a government enjoying the support of 68 Knesset members (MKs). This coalition is oriented towards the center, with an extreme right wing element. Sharon, however, cannot even count on the support of his own party. The Likud members are storing up resentment...

No progress in Likud-National Union coalition talks By Yossi Verter and Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service Shinui chairman Yosef Lapid at talks with the Likud on Sunday. (Photo: Nir Keidar) Coalition talks between the Likud and the far-right National Union, which vociferously opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, ended without any progress Monday afternoon. The two sides were deadlocked over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's commitment to include the notion of Palestinian statehood in the guidelines of his new government. The Likud coalition team presented a document at the meeting stipulating that the government would operate on the...

Analysis / Sharon in the center, with Shinui on the left and settlers on the right By Yossi Verter On Saturday, before the Sabbath was over, Ariel Sharon made his decision. He ordered his loyalist, Uri Shani, to close the deal with the National Religious Party and shower it with goodies: two ministers, a deputy minister, chairman of a committee and deputy speaker of the Knesset. The prime minister only forgot to tell Amram Mitzna. Yesterday morning, five hours after the media was reporting the sealed deal with the NRP, Sharon called Mitzna and ended their brief affair. Sharon knows...

UTJ & Shas Oust NRP From Orthodox Lobby (IsraelNN.com) The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism and Shas parties have decided to oust the National Religious Party from the Knesset Orthodox lobby as a result of the NRP entering the national coalition government with Shinui. Rabbi Eliyahu Objects to NRP Agreement (IsraelNN.com) Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu expressed his opposition to the coalition agreement reached by the National Religious Party. The former chief rabbi is seen as an unofficial spiritual leader of the NRP. Persons close to Rabbi Eliyahu explain that he is opposed to the dismantling of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, changing...

Shinui and NRP deals seal 61-seat coalition for PM (UPDATE) ------------ Gil Hoffman Feb. 24, 2003 ------------ The Likud signed coalition deals with Shinui and the National Religious Party on Sunday, giving Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the 61 MKs needed to form a coalition. Talks began late last night with the seven-member National Union faction in an effort to widen the coalition. The faction was expected to be offered the Transportation and Immigrant Absorption portfolios. If Histadrut chief Amir Peretz's Am Ehad Party joins the coalition, it will reach 71 MKs. Sharon ordered the coalition talks accelerated after it became...

"Unsuccessful" Talks Help Diffuse Tensions MKs Zevulun Orlev of the NRP and Tommy Lapid of the avowedly secular Shinui party met today, but disagreed on topics such as Shinui's demand for civil marriages and public Shabbat transportation in Israel. Shinui also wishes to have Reform conversion recognized. NRP leader Effie Eitam said afterwards that though he does not rule out the possibility of sitting in the same government as Shinui, it does not appear workable under the current circumstances. Although Shinui and the NRP failed to come to a mutual understanding on many of the issues facing Israeli society today,...

Coalition Talks Coalition negotiations limp along in the Kfar Maccabiah complex in Ramat Gan, and no one appears to be in any rush to complete them. After the Likud negotiating team met with its counterpart in the National Religious Party today (see next article), Meretz, United Torah Judaism, and Am Echad were next. At least one UTJ representative predicted afterwards that a right-wing/religious government would be established. The talks with Meretz were, predictably, unproductive - although Arutz-7's Effie Meir reports that the Likud team promised Meretz "pleasant surprises" in the future government's policies. Am Echad's incoming MK Ilana Cohen told...

Sharon, Mitzna, And Lapid - All Disagree After Ariel Sharon met with Labor head Amram Mitzna this morning, it appears that a unity government with Labor is less and less likely. Sharon did not succeed in convincing Mitzna to join the coalition, though the latter said afterwards hat he would support the government on issues that "are in the national interest." Mitzna also said that "contrary to Sharon's public statements, what he told me leaves absolutely no room for us to join his government." Sharon was reported to have told Mitzna that "Netzarim [in Gaza] has strategic value, and Hevron...

Feb. 3, 2003 Shinui: We don't mind religious partners in coalition, but not in cabinet By GREER FAY CASHMAN Stepping out of a half-hour meeting with President Moshe Katsav, Shinui Party representative Eliezer Zandberg said his centrist party would agree to join a governing coalition with religious parties, but not with cabinet ministers from these factions. Zandberg said he told Katsav his party favors setting up a broad-based secular coalition under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with the Labor Party and "any other Zionist party" that chooses to join. He said Shinui "has no bias against Shas or United Torah Judaism,"...

Shinui demands tax cut as condition for joining gov't By Yossi Verter, Ha'aretz Correspondent, and Ha'aretz Service The Shinui Party is demanding a tax cut for the middle class and a ban on foreign workers entering the country - unless they work in agriculture and food services - as conditions for joining a government under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.The demands were delivered Sunday morning by MK Avraham Poraz, No. 2 on the Shinui list, in a meeting with the director of the Prime Minister's Office, Avigdor Yitzhaki. Poraz presented Shinui's demands in the economic and social spheres as part of...