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Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) has attacked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) over their support for a Palestinian state and the need for a political process with the Palestinians. "We will take down the government over anything that would lead to a division of the Land of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state. We will fight it," he said during an interview on Meet the Press. "There will be no Palestinian state here. I will do anything to stop it," he promised. "We are in a government whose basic principles include...

Recent comments by Opposition head Yitzhak Herzog (Zionist Union) and Shelly Yachimovich (Zionist Union) suggest that their party may still join the government coalition. On Saturday, both politicians said that they would reconsider joining a unity government, should there be any diplomatic initiatives. MK Herzog presented new conditions to joining. "If Netanyahu kicks the Jewish Home out of the coalition, we will meet as a party and we will consider the issue," he told Shabbatarbut in Modi'in. "Netanyahu chose to go with the extremists," he added. "It doesn't look like he is breaking up with them. I lead a strong...

Opposition leader and Zionist Union chairman MK Yitzhak Herzog confirmed "the door is closed" regarding his party joining the coalition Monday, rejecting via Twitter an offer from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resume talks. "Netanyahu, in response to your inquiries in recent days about resumption of negotiations on joining your government, I want to clarify publicly what I told you verbally: that door is closed," Herzog wrote. "This chapter is finished. You are a prisoner in the hands of the most extreme and we will fight you - and them," he added, referring to the addition of Yisrael Beytenu. ......

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has accepted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s offer to join the coalition in return for the Defense and Immigration ministries, senior Yisrael Beytenu officials said on Wendesday. According to senior officials, the Prime Minister’s meeting Wednesday afternoon with Liberman has already laid the groundwork for Yisrael Beytenu’s entry into the government. Shortly after the meeting, Netanyahu reportedly called Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, informing him that Liberman had requested the Defense Ministry in exchange for his support of the Likud government. Senior officials have leaked details of the meeting, including Netanyahu’s offer to Liberman, which includes two...

Opposition leader and Zionist Union party chief Yitzhak Herzog has announced he is suspending unity government talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after the premier issued an invitation to begin talks with Yisrael Beytenu party head Avigdor Liberman. n a markedly abrupt, pithy press conference, Herzog said Netanyahu faced a choice between "going to war and funerals, and the victory of (Avigdor) Liberman and (Naftali) Bennett, or the track of hope" - namely, inviting the Zionist Union party to join the coalition instead. "These are the choices - there are no other options," he added. "We won't continue negotiations at...

Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog admitted on Wednesday that the "two-state solution" is not feasible at this time. "I look at the reality, and the reality as I read it is a complex one. I cannot see in the current reality how the two-state solution could be implemented," the Zionist Union chairman told Army Radio in an interview. "I want to aspire to it, I want to negotiate it, and I am committed to it, but I do not see the ability to do that now," added Herzog, who continued, "In the absence of the ability to do that right...

Netanyahu urges nationalists to vote Likud, stave-off leftist gov't of 'submission and capitulation'; 'they'll retreat along every front.' Ahead of tonight's major nationalist rally in Tel Aviv, and just two days before general elections, Prime Minister and Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu spoke exclusively in English to Arutz Sheva, and appealed to right-wing voters to cast their ballots for Likud - saying only his party could prevent the establishment of a leftist government which would be essentially controlled by outside powers. "The possibility is that if we don't close the gap between Labor and Likud, then Buji [Yitzhak Herzog] and...

Tzipi Livni, head of Hatnua and possible prime minister of Israel if her "Zionist camp" union with Labor wins in elections, after which there would be a rotation between her and Labor head Yitzhak Herzog, made a campaign promise on Saturday of same-sex marriage. Livni was at a "Dreck" party at the Oman 17 club in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, where she was dancing with gay couples before taking the stage and the microphone. "Good evening Dreck. There's a chance that on March 20 (after elections - ed.) we'll come to celebrate the end of the period of darkness,...

Despite essentially boycotting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress by planning to be abroad when it takes place, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday met with another Israeli official. Biden and Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog, head of the Labor party, met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Likud party was incensed at the meeting between Herzog and Biden, which also came as leaders from the left, including Herzog himself, were busy attacking Netanyahu and blaming him for Biden’s boycott of the speech. “Buji’s behavior in Munich is an irresponsible crossing of red lines,” the party...

<p>President Barack Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he travels to Washington in March, the White House said Thursday, one day after being caught off-guard by Republicans' invitation for the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress.</p>

Labor leader Yitzhak Herzog has vowed to shut down the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division, which functions as an operational arm of the government to build and establish communities and infrastructures in Judea and Samaria - leaving hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the region without governmental representation. "As Prime Minister I will close the Settlement Division and open it later to serve the Negev and the Galilee," Herzog stated during an interview on "Meet the Press" Saturday night. "We see again and again the same group takes over the interests of the state and Netanyahu gave in to it."...

Opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog (Labor) was assured by officials in Washington on Tuesday that the United States will not compromise on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. Herzog met at the White House with President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, and told them that the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) is just as important as trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli media reported that the two officials assured Herzog that alongside the common global struggle against the IS, the United States does not intend to change...

Opposition Chairman and Labor leader, MK Yitzhak Herzog, accused Prime Binyamin Minister Netanyahu of "insensitivity or plain stupidity" over his decision not to attend Nelson Mandela's funeral. In a Facebook post, Herzog said that he has spoken with the heads of the Jewish community in South Africa and that they are incensed by Netanyahu's behavior. "We learned this week that the prime minister does not necessarily understand when it is proper to save money and when it is not," he explained. "I wonder if his behavior and that of his bureau regarding Nelson Mandela's funeral stems from insensitivity or plain...