Gantz and Kahol Lavan member Moshe Ya’alon during a tour of the West BankElad Malka

Benny Gantz, chairman of Kahol Lavan, said Tuesday that he would work to advance Israel’s annexation of the Jordan Valley after Israel’s March 2 election, adding he is expecting the publication of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan. In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in the past has promised annexation not only of the Jordan Valley but of Area C territories comprising over 60% of the West Bank, said he will apply Israeli law to all Israeli settlements “without exception.”

Speaking during a tour of the region, Gantz said “The Jordan Valley is Israel’s eastern defensive barrier in any future conflict. Israeli governments that spoke of the possibility of returning the area [to Jordanian control] were making a grave strategic and security mistake, and we see this strip of land as an inseparable part of the State of Israel.”

>> Defense chief says Israel will apply sovereignty to West Bank ■ Whoever wins Israel’s next election will be a right-winger

When asked about the Trump administration’s plan for Middle East peace, Gantz said, “I hope that President Trump will hurry and release his plan. Several weeks have passed. Many dramatic things are happening in the Middle East, and I’m looking forward to the plan’s release.”

The post Gantz Vows to Annex Jordan Valley; Netanyahu Wants Sovereignty ‘Without Exception’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has made clear to both Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White that he wants at all costs to avoid a fresh do-over election (AFP Photo/MENAHEM KAHANA)

Joint List head Ayman Odeh (C) speaks to the press in the presence of Ahmad Tibi (R) and Mansour Abbas (L) following a meeting with Israel’s president (AFP Photo/MENAHEM KAHANA)

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel’s president tasked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming a new government Wednesday after last week’s deadlocked elections, but the premier faces a tough battle in negotiating a coalition deal to keep him in power.

President Reuven Rivlin mandated Netanyahu to try to form the government after his initial attempts at negotiating a unity deal between the prime minister and his main challenger Benny Gantz failed.

Netanyahu again called for a unity government when accepting the mandate from Rivlin, but the two sides appear a long way from a compromise.

The 69-year-old prime minister, noting security and diplomatic challenges, said a “broad national unity government … is needed now.”

“Everyone understands that there won’t be another opportunity,” Netanyahu said from Rivlin’s residence.

“That’s why I will do everything in my power to establish it with joint leadership.”

Gantz, however, criticized the negotiating tactics Netanyahu’s Likud had used so far and reiterated that his own Blue and White would not be part of a government with a prime minister facing indictment for serious crimes.

Netanyahu faces the possibility of a corruption indictment in the weeks ahead, pending a hearing set for early October.

Blue and White members have said he must deal with his legal issues and allow Gantz to take the post of prime minister, at least initially.

“Blue and White led by me will not agree to sit in a government with a leader against whom stands a severe indictment,” Gantz said in a statement.

Rivlin’s announcement followed a joint meeting between the president, Netanyahu, and Gantz, their second since the September 17 election.

In Rivlin’s remarks, the president said he had so far been unable to have the two work out a unity deal, which he has repeatedly said is needed to form a stable government.

Netanyahu will now have 28 days to form a government, with a possible two-week extension.

If all attempts fail, Rivlin can then assign the task to someone else.

Netanyahu pledged Wednesday to let Rivlin hand the mandate to someone else if he does not succeed — rather than move toward new elections as he did when he failed to form a coalition following April polls.

Final results from September 17 voting gave Gantz’s centrist Blue and White 33 seats, ahead of right-wing Likud’s 32 out of a total 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Neither has a clear path to a majority coalition.

Netanyahu received the endorsement of 55 members of parliament for the post of prime minister after the election, while Gantz received 54.

Ten of the parliament members endorsing Gantz, however, are from Arab parties and have said they will not serve in a government with the ex-military leader.

– ‘Broad governing coalition’ –

A rotation agreement has been floated, but there has been disagreement over who would lead it first.

Chief negotiators for Likud and Blue and White met Tuesday but emerged afterward with only vague statements.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and has shown no sign of willingly giving up the post he has held for a total of more than 13 years.

The timing in a rotation agreement is especially important for Netanyahu.

A prime minister does not have to step down if indicted — only if convicted with all appeals exhausted — while other ministers can be forced to do so when charged.

Rivlin has pledged to do all he can to avoid a third election in a year’s time after April’s inconclusive polls.

“While the elections highlighted the divisions within Israeli society — Jewish and Arab, religious and secular — it is now time to work together on building a shared vision for our common future,” Rivlin said at a Wednesday reception for foreign diplomats marking the Jewish New Year.

“I, therefore, believe that the right path for the state of Israel today is to build as broad a governing coalition as possible.”

Netanyahu has highlighted the fact that he has more support from smaller parties in parliament and pledged not to abandon them in a coalition deal.

Gantz says his party is the largest and he should be in the lead.

Separately, Israel’s Arab parties, running together under the Joint List alliance, finished as the third-largest force in parliament with 13 seats.

Should Likud and Blue and White succeed in forming a unity government, Joint List head Ayman Odeh could emerge as Israel’s first Arab opposition leader.

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-gantz-set-talks-israel-vote-deadlock-100806269.html

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the public at a campaign rally in Ashdod, September 10, 2019.Ofer Vaknin

• Netanyahu’s efforts to allow cameras at polling stations is a mere distraction

• Netanyahu’s camera bill is a gun at Israeli democracy’s head

“Arabs want to annihilate us all – women, children and men” – that is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new message to voters, which appears through an automated popup message that appears on the screen of anybody accessing his official Facebook page.

Followers are urged by the chatbot on Netanyahu’s Facebook page to convince undecided voters to vote for the premier’s Likud. The chatbot calls on users to tell the voters they will attempt to persuade that “Israel mustn’t have a left-wing government that relies on Arabs who want to destroy us all.”

>> Read more: Netanyahu is scaring out the vote using his most reliable weapon | Analysis ■ Fact check: Netanyahu’s fake news on Arab voter fraud

After Haaretz reported on the new message, Likud said the message originated in a staffer’s mistake and that Netanyahu did not see the message.

Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh said on Wednesday he reached out to Facebook to put a stop to Netanyahu’s “racist and dangerous incitement against the Arab population,” adding that the prime minister is “a psychopath with no red lines.” Facebook has yet to respond as to how it plans to tackle the issue.

Netanyahu’s full message to his Facebook followers reads:

***Attention! New scenario ***

Hello [name], my name is ____ and I am a volunteer on behalf of Prime Minister Netanyahu. I am calling you because on Tuesday, you can determine the future of our nation. Prime Minister Netanyahu brings a right-wing policy of a Jewish state, security, and a strong Israel. I am donating my time because we cannot have a dangerous left-wing government with Lapid, Odeh, Gantz, and Lieberman in a week’s time. A secular left-wing weak government that relies on Arabs who want to destroy us all – women, children and men, and will enable a nuclear Iran that will eliminate us. We cannot allow this to happen! I, therefore, ask you to be the envoy of the prime minister, and bring three friends and family members on Tuesday, and make sure they vote Likud. Thank you [name], I’m counting on you!”

Chatbots are controlled by computer and use preset scenarios. Likud used chatbots ahead of the April 2019 election. Similar arguments were used in 2015, when Netanyahu uploaded a video to Facebook to encourage voters, warning that the right-wing government was in danger.

The prime minister said that Arab voters were swarming the voting booths and were being bussed there by left-wing organizations. Text messages conveying similar warnings were sent to people in towns characterized by low voting rates.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-netanyahu-s-new-election-message-arabs-want-to-annihilate-us-all-1.7832283

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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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