President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz shake hands at the memorial ceremony for the late president Shimon Peres, at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, on September 19, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A poll published Friday indicated that almost two-thirds of Israelis would rather see the country’s rival political parties backtrack on election promises and compromise, rather than be plunged into a third election in a year.

A narrow majority also say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should step down as Likud leader to enable a unity government. The rival Blue and White party has offered to partner Likud in a coalition, but only if Netanyahu, who is embroiled in legal difficulties, steps down.

According to the Channel 12 survey, only 23% favored further elections to break the current political deadlock, with 63% wanting the rival Likud and Blue and White parties to compromise on their positions to enable a unity government.

The poll comes after negotiating teams for Likud and Blue and White met Friday morning for ongoing talks over a potential unity government between the two parties, but made little headway, with each side appearing chiefly concerned with avoiding any blame for a collapse of negotiations.

Some 33% blamed Netanyahu for the deadlock, compared to 20% blaming Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, and 25% holding the rivals equally to blame, the survey found.

Likud is refusing to compromise on including its entire, 55-seat ultra-Orthodox and right-wing bloc in a unity government, while Blue and White insists it won’t serve with Netanyahu, who faces indictments in three corruptions cases pending a hearing set for next week.

The survey found that 52% believe Netanyahu should stand down as Likud leader to enable a unity government to be formed, while 34% said he should not.

That rises to 59% should the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit file an indictment against Netanyahu, the survey found.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit speaks at a farewell ceremony for Emi Palmor, the outgoing director-general of the Justice Ministry, at the Justice Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem on August 7, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Netanyahu faces looming indictments for fraud and breach of trust in three criminal cases and bribery in one of them. One case involves gifts from wealthy associates, while the other two concern quid pro quo deals with news outlet owners in which Netanyahu allegedly promised regulatory favors in exchange for positive media coverage. He denies the allegations in all three cases.

The same survey found that 32% of respondents believe Gantz won the elections, 19% think Netanyahu won and 49% think neither leader won.

Blue and White received 33 seats to Likud’s 32. Neither has a majority to form a government without the other.

It also found 40% thought Gantz should serve first as prime minister in a unity government, with 38% preferring Netanyahu.

If Israel did head to new elections, 64% said their vote would not change, 11% said it would, and 11% said they wouldn’t vote.

The survey questioned a representative sample of 505 Israelis with a 4.4% margin of error.

Israel held elections on September 17 after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition following elections on April 9. Then, as now, the fiercely secular Yisrael Beytenu party of Avigdor Liberman refused to join a coalition with ultra-Orthodox members. Netanyahu heads a 55-MK bloc of ultra-Orthodox and right-wing parties.

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz (right) meets with Yisrael Beytenu party head Avigdor Liberman on September 23, 2019. (Elad Malka)

Gantz heads a bloc of 54 centrist, left-wing and Arab politicians. Three other Arab politicians are backing no prime ministerial candidate and Liberman, who insists on backing only a “liberal, nationalist” coalition including both Likud and Blue and White, holds the balance of power between the Netanyahu- and Gantz-led blocs.

TV reports on Friday said the prospect of Israel being forced to a third round of elections within 12 months was growing increasingly realistic, with Netanyahu inclined to announce as soon as next week that he cannot form a majority.

Both of Israel’s main TV stations reported that Netanyahu, who was charged by President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday night with the task of trying to muster a Knesset majority, is set to announce as soon as next week that he cannot do so, blaming Gantz’s Blue and White for the failure.

Both Channels 12 and 13 said Netanyahu is set to “return the mandate” immediately after the Rosh Hashanah Jewish new year festival, which runs from Sunday evening to Tuesday night.

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-most-israelis-prefer-parties-to-compromise-rather-than-go-to-3rd-vote/

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Exactly one month after the 21st Knesset was sworn in, a majority of the Knesset voted late Wednesday night to disperse and initiate an unprecedented repeat election on September 17.

It was the first time in Israeli history that a candidate for prime minister failed to form a coalition after being given the task by the president after an election.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Likud faction ahead of the vote that he had not succeeded in reaching a compromise with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill, and that he had also tried unsuccessfully to woo MKs from the opposition to join his government.

“The State of Israel is going to elections because of the Likud’s refusal to accept our proposal,” Liberman said as he entered the Knesset plenum. “This is a complete surrender of the Likud to the ultra-Orthodox. We will not be partners in a government of Jewish law.”

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, head of the Likud’s negotiating team, told reporters “it’s over,” as he arrived at the Likud meeting after his last negotiation had failed.

Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin said that there was no choice but to hold new elections, due to Liberman’s intransigence and refusal to accept “1,000 compromises” that had been offered throughout the last week.

The vote – taken just after the midnight deadline by which Netanyahu needed to tell President Reuven Rivlin whether he had been able to form a governing coalition – was 74 to 45 in favor of dispersing.

Opposition MKs shouted “shame, shame, shame” in unison ahead of the vote.

The Likud initiated the bill to dissolve the Knesset rather than give Rivlin a chance to appoint someone other than Netanyahu to form a government.

In presenting the bill to the Knesset, Likud MK Miki Zohar said that he is “disappointed by the situation, but we were forced into it.” He admitted that the decision “would not be remembered positively in our history.”

“The Left asks us why we didn’t give [Blue and White leader] Benny Gantz a chance to form the coalition,” Zohar said. “Two and a half million people voted as if they had two votes, for their party and for [Netanyahu]… despite knowing about the [pre-indictment] hearing [for the prime minister on corruption charges]. They didn’t want Gantz.”

According to Zohar, those calling to let Gantz form the government are “saying to give the opportunity to the minority to form the government at the expense of the majority. The majority rules, while the minority has rights. That is the meaning of democracy.”

The bill called the election for September 17, but there were several other options the coalition was set to vote on in the second reading. Netanyahu asked the other parties to back September 17, because that is what Yisrael Beytenu preferred, and he needed them to have a majority in favor of dissolving the Knesset.

In the unsuccessful coalition talks, the Likud had proposed that as soon as the government would be formed, Liberman’s original conscription law would be presented, as written and in his language, for the approval of the Knesset plenum. After its approval, there would be more negotiations when the law would be prepared for its final readings.

If that agreement is not reached by the end of July, the party said, and in accordance with the decision of the High Court of Justice, the current arrangement that has exempted haredim from being drafted would expire, and the compulsory service law would apply to all. The ultra-Orthodox parties would therefore have to choose between Liberman’s version of the law or a return to the original law, which means full mobilization for haredim, the Likud said.

“The proposal has now been submitted to the parties, and we await their positive response in order to form a right-wing government tonight and prevent unnecessary elections,” the party wrote.

In response, United Torah Judaism said that it would back another party to lead the coalition.

“We won’t retreat beyond what we have agreed to,” UTJ leader Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman said in his initial response to the Likud statement. “I still believe that a government can be formed. I’m on my way to sign on the coalition agreement.”

Liberman also initially rejected the proposal, saying it was not exactly what he had said all along about the conscription bill needing to be passed into law as is.

The proposal was made after the Likud reported that it had secured agreements with 60 MKs from the Likud, Kulanu, UTJ, Shas and the Union of Right-Wing Parties, leaving it only one MK short of a majority coalition.

After Kulanu denied that it had signed any documents and insisted it won’t sign unless the coalition would include 61 MKs, the Likud said the deal with Kulanu was complete and ready to be signed, pending Liberman joining the government.

Hours ahead of the deadline, Liberman stood his ground on the matter of haredi conscription.

“We repeatedly said we want the original [haredi] conscription bill, nothing else,” Liberman said. “People claiming that there’s a compromise, when it was just 10 millimeters of movement, are not familiar with the bill.”

Liberman said that proposed compromises “empty the bill of all content,” and he will not agree to them.

The bill, which the Defense Ministry drafted under Liberman’s leadership, sets rising annual targets for haredi conscription in the IDF.

“The bill is good for the IDF, for the haredim and for Israel,” Liberman stated. “We have to be reasonable. I am appealing to the haredi MKs’ reason…. There is no better bill than this. Let it pass with you abstaining.”

The Likud attacked Liberman fiercely throughout the day.

“Liberman continues to mislead,” the Likud said in an official statement. “He says ‘I will consider’ to every offer and stalls for a few days. His goal is to end Netanyahu’s career and replace him.”

The Likud mocked Liberman for portraying himself as the defender of secular people, after he prevented there being a secular mayor of Jerusalem.

“For a few seats and his hunger for power, he is dragging an entire country to elections,” the Likud concluded.

Yisrael Beytenu responded by condemning the Likud’s tone and reiterating that Liberman’s views on the conscription bill have been consistent.

Earlier, a Likud spokesman confirmed that offers were made to the Labor Party and the Blue and White Party. In talks with Labor head Avi Gabbay, Netanyahu offered him the Defense or Finance ministries and three other ministerial positions, in an effort to convince him to join his government.

A Labor spokesman confirmed that the party received an offer from the Likud that included stopping bills that the party believes would harm democracy, including the Immunity Law. But the spokesman said the offer was considered and rejected.

Labor MKs expressed outrage that Gabbay mulled the offer for a full day before telling them. By contrast, Blue and White said no immediately.

Opposition MKs took advantage of the nearly 12-hour debate to bring up their grievances against the government that was never formed.

Many lamented the estimated NIS 475 million that the election will cost, according to the Finance Ministry, saying that taxpayer money would be better spent elsewhere. In addition, industry experts estimated that the day off for Election Day will cost the economy NIS 2 billion.

“Likud MKs, you also have the option of showing some courage and saying no to Netanyahu,” Blue and White MK Miki Haimovich said.

Another MK from Blue and White, Yoaz Hendel, said: “Have an opinion. If you’re on the Right, then Right; Left, then Left. But say something other than ‘Bibi!’ Is that Right? When it comes to Hamas, you turn into Peace Now. When there are [corruption] allegations, you become defense attorneys. You turned into dishrags.”

Blue and White MK Ram Shefa hosted a trivia game from the Knesset stage, asking who said various quotes from politicians, and offering champagne, cigars and trays of take-out meals – references to Netanyahu’s corruption investigations.

Alon Einhorn and Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Elections-set-for-Sept-17-after-coalition-talks-fail-591044

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IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman discuss the confrontation with Iran and Syria on February 10 2018. Ariel Hermoni/Ministry of Defense

The post Israeli security cabinet set to discuss possible deal with Hamas on Gaza first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Israel was set to convene an emergency meeting of its political security cabinet at the government’s Tel Aviv headquarters on Monday, hours after massive explosions at Syrian military outposts killed 26 pro-regime fighters.

The security cabinet was expected to discuss recent events in Syria, including an overnight strike on military positions and weapons caches which a monitor group said was “likely” carried out by Israel.

Cabinet ministers were also reportedly expected to be presented with a new “development” regarding the Iran nuclear deal, the fate of which it set to be decided by US President Donald Trump in less than two weeks.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called for the deal with Israel’s main enemy to be altered or scrapped, though most world powers see it as key to preventing Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons.

Trump had given European co-signatories to the 2015 accord until May 12 to amend the deal with tougher inspections and measures targeting its ballistic missile programs.

Following a meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, newly-appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington was committed to “rolling back to the gull range of Iranian malign influence in Syria,” specifically mentioning “Iran’s missile systems, its support for Hezbollah, its importation of thousands of Shiite fighters into Syria.”

Israeli and US officials have in recent weeks drawn renewed attention to cargo flights between Syria and Iran and suspicions that they are carrying weapons bound for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on April 29, 2018.

Stern Matty/US Embassy Tel Aviv

Meanwhile, flight tracking data showed that a Syrian cargo flight from Tehran had landed at a military airport in the city of Hama on Sunday less than twenty-four hours before a powerful explosion rocked a Syrian military base there.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that 26 pro-regime fighters were killed in the blasts, describing them as a “likely” Israeli airstrike.

Iran backtracked on reports that 18 of its countrymen were killed in the overnight raids, following a now-deleted report from Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency confirming the deaths.

But The New York Times cited an official from a regional alliance including Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria as saying that 16 people were killed in the attack, including 11 Iranians.

The source, who spoke anonymously, said that that the strike had destroyed some 200 surface-to-surface missiles. He added that regional leaders allied with Iran expected a retaliation against Israel for the strikes, likely following parliamentary elections in Lebanon slated for May 6.

The Tansim news agency cited an unnamed source as saying that reports of an attack on Iranian military bases and the deaths of Iranian personnel in Syria were “baseless”.

“All these reports over attack on an Iranian military base in Syria and the martyrdom of several Iranian military advisers in Syria are baseless,” the source said.

Details of the alleged strike were murky, with Syria’s official SANA news agency reporting a “new enemy aggression” on regime positions in Hama and Aleppo provinces, without alleging who was behind the raid.

A massive fireball seen after an alleged missile attack against a Syrian army arms depot in Hama, April 30, 2018

Screen Capture/Twitter

Some Syrian sources were quick to blame Israel, while the state-owned Tishreen news site said that the US and Britain had launched the strikes, firing nine ballistic missiles from a military base in Jordan.

A US military source denied to Israel’s Hadashot news that an American coalition was behind the attack.

A number of strikes on targets in Syria have been attributed to Israel, though it rarely confirms such raids.

Nevertheless, Israel and the United States received the indirect ire of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who spoke after the alleged attacks on Iranian targets in Syria, and said the time when Iran’s enemies could “hit and run” was over.

“They know if they enter military conflict with Iran, they will be hit multiple times,” he said.

Tensions have flared on Israel’s northern borders following an airstrike in Syria, widely attributed to Israel, on the Iran-operated T4 airbase.

Fourteen people, including seven Iranian personnel, were killed in the April 9 raid and Iran vowed repeatedly to retaliate for the attack sparking a tense standoff between the arch-foes.

That raid on the Iran-operated base was widely seen as its first direct attack on Iranian assets and a worrying sign of how Syria’s seven-year conflict could escalate into a wider regional war.

Israel and Iran have inched towards increasingly more direct confrontations since February 10, when Israel shot down what it says was an armed Iranian drone that had breached its airspace “tasked to attach Israeli territory.”

Israel immediately responded at the time with strikes against Syrian air defenses and Iranian “targets”, hailing it as “the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses” since the 1982 Lebanon War.

Further complicating matters, key Assad-backers Russia have indicated over recent weeks that they could soon deploy game-changing air defense capabilities to Syria in response to the Western raids in Syria.

Moscow has not explicitly indicated which systems it would send to Damascus, but has hinted that it could deploy the S-300, which would make Israeli jets far more vulnerable in any future operations it undertakes in the country.

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Source: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/173587-180430-israel-calls-emergency-security-cabinet-meeting-following-deadly-syria-strikes

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The post Israel calls emergency security cabinet meeting following deadly Syria strikes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday dismissed a UN vote to reject US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but said Israel was heartened by the large number of countries who did not vote for the resolution and stood by “the truth.”

“Israel rejects the UN decision and, in parallel, expresses satisfaction at the large number of states that did not vote for the resolution, countries that Prime Minister Netanyahu has visited in Europe, Africa and Latin America,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said after the vote.

“Israel is grateful to President Trump for his steadfast position on Jerusalem, and thanks the nations that voted with Israel, and with the truth.”

In an English-language video on Facebook, Netanyahu said, “Israel completely rejects this preposterous resolution. Jerusalem is our capital — always was, always will be. But I do appreciate the fact that a growing number of countries refuse to participate in this theater of the absurd.”

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday defied the United States and overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and calling on countries not to move their diplomatic missions to the city.

A total of 128 countries voted in favor of the text, defying the threats — that were forcefully reiterated in an address before the vote by US envoy Nikki Haley — to cut aid to countries that opposed the motion.

Nine countries — the US, Israel, Togo, Micronesia, Guatemala, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands and Honduras — voted against the resolution.

There were 35 abstentions, including a number of countries that had been widely expected to support the move, such as Colombia, Mexico, Malawi and Rwanda. A further 21 countries did not vote at all.

In a statement, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman reminded Israelis of the longstanding Israeli disdain for such votes.

“Let’s just remember that this is the same UN about which our first ambassador to the organization, Abba Eban, once said: ‘If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions,’” Liberman said.

“There is nothing new in what just happened at the UN,” he added, and praised the US as “the moral beacon shining out of the darkness.”

Minister of Strategic Affairs and Public Security Gilad Erdan also blasted the UN vote.

“The historic connection between Israel and Jerusalem is stronger than any vote by the ‘United Nations’ — nations who are united only by their fear and their refusal to recognize the simple truth that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and the Jewish people,” Erdan said in a statement after the vote.

“While the US has recognized this simple truth, the UN has chosen once again to resort to lies and to ignore the reality that has existed for 70 years. Our response to the UN campaign by Abu Mazen [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] and his supporters against the US and Israel will be to strengthen our sovereignty, security, and construction in every part of Jerusalem. The Palestinians can threaten and the UN can vote – we will continue to build and strengthen our capital Jerusalem.”

The top Arab lawmaker in the Knesset, Arab Joint List chairman MK Ayman Odeh, said the vote was a wake-up call for Israel.

“In the international arena, there still exists a large and definitive majority that believes that the Palestinian people, like all other nations, deserve a place in this world and the right to self-determination,” he said in a statement.

“This evening’s vote by the majority of the world’s nations against Trump’s announcement, in spite of the pressure and threats, flies in the face of Trump’s and Netanyahu’s diplomatic policy and is a clear statement by the international community in support of peace and the right of the Palestinians to an independent state, whose capital is East Jerusalem.”

Other Israeli leaders took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the UN, with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein issuing a laconic tweet that reads, in full, “SHAME ON U(N).”

Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay said, “Jerusalem was our capital before the resolution and [will be] after it. I urge the UN to deal with issues it can actually influence for the better.”

Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-rejects-un-vote-but-grateful-for-nations-who-voted-for-the-truth/

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Mohammed Ali Jafri, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said it was clear Lebanon was Israel’s primary focus and as such Iran and its network of proxy forces would unite to intervene against an attack.

“It is a proven claim that today we say any new war will lead to the eradication of the Zionist regime,” Jafri said, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars.

Jafri’s comments were made against a backdrop of increasing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the rival nation’s proxy wars across the Middle East but particularly over internal strains in Lebanon.

A meeting of the Arab League in Cairo called by Saudi Arabia on Sunday condemned the powerful Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Iran, accusing both of supporting terrorism and extremist groups with advanced weapons and ballistic missiles.

In response the Lebanese president Michel Auon defended Hezbollah, saying his country was subject to Israeli aggression and, as such, had the right to protect itself.

On November 4 Lebanon was thrust to the forefront of Sunni Riyadh and Shiite Tehran’s power struggle when the country’s leader, Saad Hariri, resigned during a visit to Saudi Arabia. Since returning to Beirut Hariri has agreed to stay on in his role at the request of Hezbollah-backed Aoun, despite having said specifically that he would allow himself to become a pawn in Iran’s meddling in Lebanese affairs.

In a Thursday interview with the New York Times Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, said Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khameni, the Supreme Leader of Iran, was the “new Hitler of the Middle East.” He went on to further compare the sectarian power struggle in the region between Riyadh and Tehran to Europe in World War II.

Om Tuesday, the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, a lesser force to the battle-hardened Hezbollah militia, called for his troops to prepare to confront Israel amid the escalation.

According to the Times of Israel, General Joseph Aoun warned that Israel had hostile intentions against Lebanon, its people, and army. “I call upon you… to be fully prepared on the southern border to confront the Israeli enemy’s threats and violations,” he said in a s speech.

Israel has repeatedly intervened in the war in neighboring Syria to stop Hezbollah from establishing a foothold on the border. On Monday Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman requested a $1 billion over a three year period to boost the country’s defense in light of developments in Syria.

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/iran-israel-will-be-eradicated-next-war-hezbollah-721335

The post Iran: Israel will be ‘eradicated’ in next war with Hezbollah first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.