Tag Archives: Benjamin Netanyahu

How did that happen? Notwithstanding the individual party count from the April 9thelections, the single outstanding overall result was that fully 65 members of the Knesset (out of 120), recommended to President Rivlin that Netanyahu be invited to form a government. With only 45 recommending Gantz. This in itself signalled …

And a source of sadness, as well. I refer, of course, to the current political situation in Israel. For days, I held off posting because I was waiting for resolution with regard to formation of a coalition. Now the time to write has come. ~~~~~~~~~~ I want to begin by …

Not the most dignified of titles, but one that best captures my mood – and the mood, I will note, of a whole lot of other people here in Israel. This will be a short posting, very directly to the point. When I wrote yesterday about the rocket attacks from …

Thirty-seven years ago, during the First Lebanon war, Israeli troops engaged in a fierce and bloody battle with Syrian and affiliated PLO units at Sultan Yacoub near the Syrian border. Tank Commander Sgt. First Class Zachary Baumel (pictured) went missing, along with Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz. The three were …

Purim is over, and we are back to “normal,” whatever that actually is. Last Tuesday, the terrorist who murdered Staff Sgt. Gal Keidan and Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger at the Ariel Junction a week ago, was caught and eliminated.  Security forces had tracked him to the Arab village of Abwein, near …

Despite claims to the contrary, the Palestinian-Arabs, territory and the fate of the Jewish settlements will permeate the agenda of the April elections, lurking below and hovering above all other issues.    Almost inevitably, elections in Israel revolve—one way or another—around one issue…even when everyone insists they don’t. This is …

A great many things have to come together over the next couple of months before we can say definitively that the political situation in Israel is really good. But I now feel a modest optimism that eluded me when last I wrote. “Modest,” because we never know what’s waiting for …

Prime Minister Netanyahu has stood head and shoulders above his political opponents for the past decade because he has managed to convince the electorate of two factors. Firstly that in effect he is Israel’s ‘security guard’ and secondly that notwithstanding any of his flaws, no-one else is really up to …

As a rule, on entering Israeli politics, senior military and security figures have played a troubling role, which has—almost uniformly—proved disastrous, both for the country and/or for themselves. Little could have reflected the perversity of politics in Israel more than the ten minute prime-time interview with former Prime Minister and …

Given the emerging realities in Israel’s political landscape, the danger to Right-wing incumbency entailed in early elections might well be considerably less than those entailed in postponing them.  The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry – Robert Burns (1759 – 1796). The “received wisdom”, as reflected in …

This will be a “catch-up” posting to keep my readers in the loop during a process with regard to Hamas that is still unfolding. During the night on Wednesday, two rockets were launched from Gaza. Hamas later said their people did not launch them. But the IDF rejected this out …

Liberman’s appointment as Defense Minister ignited expectations of a qualitatively different approach to that of his predecessor—one discernibly more robust and resolute… Sadly, this was not to be  Shortly after Avigdor Liberman was appointed Defense Minister, two Palestinian-Arab terrorists cut down almost a dozen customers at a well-known coffee shop …

 Don’t. Just don’t. Sometimes kindly meant words are the worst. On May 8th Trump pulled out of the disastrous Iran Deal. Almost immediately afterward Israeli citizens were warned that there would likely be an attack from Iranians based in Syria and communities in the Golan were instructed to make sure …

My, how the world has changed. I woke up and looked at the news. It’s an Israeli thing, especially because of nights like last night. Amazing things can happen in the night. This was the headline: https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5256257,00.html TWENTY rockets were fired at Israel. Big ones that go far and cause …

The perception of Liberman as an abrasive hardliner is due more to his blunt statements regarding the loyalty of Israeli-Arabs, rather than to any territorial intransigence regarding the Palestinian question Anyone who wants to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judaea and Samaria needs to understand that such a step will bring …

For anyone who believes that the US Constitution is not a Sharia-compliant document, the issue of large scale Muslim immigration to the US is a grave problem. In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it …

As the coming Paris conference looms closer, avid two-state proponents should understand what the prescription they advocate really means: Israel through the binoculars of a Palestinian “intelligence officer” If a Palestinian state is established, it will be armed to the teeth. Within it there will be bases of the most …

In the Australian Jewish News (6 January), Rabbi Stephen Boroda wrote an article  – “We must be the voice of the downtrodden”.  Quoting former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks  “Those who hope refuse to be comforted while the hoped-for outcome is not yet reached. Given their history of suffering, Jews …

As New Zealand prepares to finish its time on the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Murray McCully will be remembered for his complicity in making it illegal for Jews to pray at their holiest site, the Western Wall. In the last United Nations Security Council meeting of the year and …

Last week’s fires did little to illuminate much of the unknown still shrouding another conflagration that flared up, almost a year and a half ago.  I feel a sense of shame, and even more, a sense of pain…at the murder of a small baby. Pain that from my people, there …