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The left-wing Labor and the center-left Yesh Atid parties are mulling mass resignations from the Knesset to protest passage of the government’s judicial reform plan, and in the hopes of disrupting the completion of the legislative process. Rumors circulated Monday evening, following the Knesset vote backing two key measures of the judicial reform plan, that the Yesh Atid party is currently considering terminating its own representation in the Knesset via a mass resignation. MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) confirmed that the party is indeed weighing such an option. Speaking with Galei Tzahal Tuesday morning, Stern said Yesh Atid is considering...

Former prime minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become Israel's next prime minister, according to Tuesday night's exit polls. According to the polls, Netanyahu's bloc, which includes Likud, Religious Zionist Party (RZP), United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, crossed the 61-seat threshold and will be able to form the next coalition. In some of the polls his bloc reached 62 seats. What do the exit polls say? Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to receive 30 seats according to Channel 12 and 31 seats according to Channel 13, while Lapid's Yesh Atid party is expected to get 24...

The State of Israel will be going to vote on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. This will be the fifth election in less than four years. The near parity is between the competing political blocs: the Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-of-center on one hand, and the anti-Netanyahu left-of-center bloc led by Yair Lapid. Netanyahu’s Likud bloc has nevertheless a noticeable advantage; it has a reliable bloc of 60 mandates in the polls, and it may have an even higher number in the real poll – on Election Day. Netanyahu has only to find a single defector to form a narrow coalition government of...

Evangelical Christians who have become used to the effective leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, may have grave concerns about the newly formed coalition government. But I believe there is good reason to hope that this new government might be just what Israel needs. When I was asked by the New York Times about evangelical reaction to the potential ouster of Netanyahu, I replied, “Your average American evangelical would think it’s a tragedy if Netanyahu is out. It will be similar in many of their minds to Trump losing to Biden.” Despite those concerns, however,...

As Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid was reportedly set to formally announce Tuesday that he had managed to put together a coalition after marathon overnight talks, the legal adviser to the president pushed back against a claim by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party that the nascent government could not have Yamina’s Naftali Bennett serve as its first premier. The legal adviser to the office of President Reuven Rivlin, Udit Corinaldi-Sirkis, said in a statement that there was no legal reason why the MK entrusted with forming the coalition should not serve as alternate prime minister during the...

All Yamina MK's but one say they will back leader in joining bloc parties seeking to oust Netanyahu; unapologetic Bennett insists coalition won't be leftist. Yamina leader Naftali Bennett told his party's lawmakers Sunday that he intends to join with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in forming a coalition, a move that, if completed in the next few days, would end more than 12 consecutive years of rule by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett agreed to forming a coalition government with Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, N12 reported. The two sides agreed that Bennett will serve first as prime minister until September 2023, when Lapid will take over until November 2025, according to N12. The swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place in 10 days, following an announcement of the new government either on Saturday night or Sunday.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will tap Likud Chair and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the task of forming a ruling coalition, after meeting Wednesday evening with Netanyahu and his main challenger, Blue and White Chair Benny Gantz. The announcement comes after Rivlin received the official election results earlier Wednesday and as he encourages Gantz and Netanyahu to form a unity government.

The new Blue and White alliance of Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction would become the largest party in the Knesset if new elections were held today, a new poll shows – but the right-wing – religious bloc would retain a narrow majority. According to the poll, conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by i24NEWS and Israel Hayom Sunday evening, if new elections were held today, the Blue and White party of Gantz and Lapid would win 36 mandates. The Likud, by contrast, would gain a single mandate over its 2015 performance, winning a total...

JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will easily win a snap election set for April 9, according to an opinion poll on Dec. 25, the first to be published since the ballot was announced. Netanyahu announced the early election on Dec. 24, appealing directly to voters for a fresh political mandate that could help him weather possible charges in corruption investigations. An election had not been due until November 2019. The survey, published in Israel’s Maariv newspaper, showed Netanyahu’s Likud party winning 30 of parliament’s 120 seats, the same number it took in the last election in 2015, and a governing...

The Knesset Education Committee on Tuesday approved a second and third reading of the “Cultural Loyalty Law”, which was promoted by Culture Minister Miri Regev. The bill will be brought for a vote in the Knesset plenum next Monday. It would allow government budgets to be revoked from cultural institutions that deny Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, incite to racism, violence and terrorism. MK Ofer Shelah, chairman of the Yesh Atid faction, was furious at the Education Committee’s approval of the bill and claimed that “behind the Cultural Loyalty Law there is nothing but a personal whim...

On Sunday, Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid led a demonstration at Tel Aviv's Center train station against proposed amendments to the Draft Law proposed by haredi lawmakers. Together with dozens of Yesh Atid activists, Lapid castigated efforts by haredi MKs to extend army deferments for yeshiva students. "Nowhere in the Torah does it say that other people can die for you. Nowhere in the Torah does it exempt you from meaningful national service," said Lapid. Flanking Lapid was a demonstrator in haredi garb, who held a sign reading "Real believers (in God) do not dodge the draft". However, sharp-eyed...

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...

Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid promised to "work very hard" to be the "next Prime Minister" Monday, at the annual Anti-Defamation League convention in Washington, D.C. "This is the time for Israel to move forward, and we [will] offer the public a detailed plan which will propel Israel back on the right track," Lapid promised during an on-stage interview during the event. Lapid added that Israel currently faces a number of challenges - both internal and external. "We have to have leadership which knows how to deal with these challenges," he said. The former Finance Minister noted that Prime...

Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid took part in the Saban Forum in Washington, during a discussion under the title "How to restore order to the Middle East." MK Lapid presented his political plan for the region and called for US policymakers to adopt it. "About two months ago I presented Israelis with a plan to separate from the Palestinians. This is not a pretty separation." He continued: "It's difficult, not aesthetic. It's goal is limited: To set a regional council, with Western countries and the US at its head, that will start the process towards a regional arrangement that will...

How the senator from New York could change the game in Congress if he has the guts. In April 2010, following a series of deliberate slights and insults by the Obama administration directed at Israel and its prime minister, including a threat by the State Department that the depth of the US-Israel alliance would depend on the progress of peace talks, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s ranking Democrat and Obama ally placed a call to the White House. The senator had had just about enough. He informed White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in no uncertain terms that the...

Despite winning the majority of incoming MKs' support to form the next government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues to face suspicions he will abandon them for the Left. Likud, Jewish Home, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, and Yisrael Beytenu all recommended Netanyahu for the task - giving him a total of 67 MKs in his possible coalition. Still, MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) fears Netanyahu may take the President's mandate and instead of forming a narrow right-wing government, create a broad unity government. "We are opposed to a unity government. The nation made a definite choice," Shaked said during an...

With four weeks until elections for the 20th Knesset, Likud and Labor-Hatnua appear to be neck and neck. According to a survey conducted by the Midgam Institute for Channel Two, Labor, running under the moniker the "Zionist Camp" just barely inches by Likud with 25 seats. Likud is one behind with 24 mandates. It has been noted that even if Likud comes in behind, the party with the greatest chance of forming a coalition is given first crack, meaning the outcome of the close competition remains up in the air. The joint Arab list comes in as the third largest...

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid criticized the achievements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration on Monday. "Everything Netanyahu warned us about will eventually happen because of him. A responsible prime minister does not gamble with our national security. The former political ally said Netanyahu "invested billions of shekels in unnecessary preparations. Without the Iranian affair he would have gone home a long time ago; even his own faction members admit he is a humiliating failure."

Poll fever continues ahead of March 17 elections, and while results have shown Likud and Labor neck and neck, the latest survey by Channel 10 gives Labor a full four mandate gap over Likud. According to the poll, conducted by the Dialog Institute under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs, Labor - which erased the word "Zionism" from its Arabic ad campaign - would get 24 mandates, while Likud would only receive 20. Coming in at third Jewish Home stays at 16 seats, followed by a joint Arab list that would receive 12 mandates. Such a joint list - formed...