Senior White House official says ‘no imminent plans’ for Mideast peace proposal

Man arrested for taunting ultra-Orthodox protesters with pornography

Police arrest a man for distributing printed images containing “sexual content” during an ultra-Orthodox protest against conscription in Jerusalem yesterday.

Police say the suspect violated public decency laws by handing out the images.

He was apparently attempting to disperse the protesters, who would likely be offended by the images.

Abe projected sweeping win in Japan vote

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being projected a comfortable victory in today’s election, handing him a mandate to harden his already hawkish stance on North Korea and re-energize the world’s number-three economy.

Abe’s conservative coalition is on track to win 311 seats in the 465-seat parliament, according to a projection published by private broadcaster TBS, putting the nationalist blue blood on course to become Japan’s longest-serving leader.

A man holds an electoral leaflet of Japan’s Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Shinzo Abe during an election campaign in Saitama, October 18, 2017. (AFP Photo/ Behrouz Mehri)

The comfortable election win is likely to stiffen Abe’s resolve to tackle North Korea’s nuclear menace, as the key US regional ally seeks to exert maximum pressure on the regime in Pyongyang after it fired two missiles over Japan in the space of a month.

— AFP

Tillerson attends landmark Saudi-Iraq meeting

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attends a landmark meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iraq aimed at upgrading strategic ties between the two countries and countering Iran’s regional influence.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Saudi King Salman are holding the first meeting of the joint Saudi-Iraqi coordination council that aims to boost cooperation after years of tensions.

Abadi hailed the meeting as an “important step toward enhancing relations,” echoing similar comments from King Salman.

“We are facing in our region serious challenges in the form of extremism, terrorism as well as attempts to destabilise our countries,” the Saudi monarch says. “These attempts require our full attention.”

Iraq is seeking economic benefits from closer ties with Riyadh as both countries suffer from a protracted oil slump. Saudi Arabia is also seeking to counter Iranian influence in Iraq.

— AFP

Lifta named on 2018 World Monuments Watch

Lifta, a Jerusalem-area Arab village abandoned in 1948, is named as one of 25 endangered sites on the 2018 World Monuments Watch list.

Sponsored by the World Monuments Fund, the biannual list is made up of sites endangered by “human conflict and urbanization to natural disaster and climate change.” The list of sites — from ancient ruins to contemporary structures — is meant to be a call to action for conservation, community engagement, and sustainable development, according to WMF.

Lifta, located on hills just outside of Jerusalem, was chosen because “rhe ruins of a Palestinian village in Jerusalem are threatened by a redevelopment plan that has faced popular opposition,” according to the WMF website.

View of Lifta, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, December 17, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

In a recent feature on Lifta in The Times of Israel, it was described as a hillside hamlet that was completely emptied 70 years ago during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The occupants were never permitted to return, but in contrast to hundreds of other Arab villages that were left empty, bulldozed and subsequently built over after the war, Lifta has remained virtually untouched.

Female police officer investigated for kicking ultra-Orthodox protesters

The Police Investigations Department summons a female officer for questioning on suspicion of assault after she was filmed kicking Haredi protesters during an anti-conscription demonstration last week.

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters launched major protests against the arrest of draft-dodging community members Thursday, capping a week of road-blocking actions and scuffles with the police.

Dozens of Haredi demonstrators on Thursday afternoon blocked Jerusalem’s Shabbat Square, a key intersection leading to several ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in the capital. Police said protesters there burned trash and pushed it into the street.

British expats plan to celebrate Balfour Declaration centenary in Israel

The Association of British Immigrants announces plans to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration with a celebration for expat Brits in Israel.

The event will be held at the national event in the center in Zichron Yaakov on November 2, exactly 100 years to the day from when the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Walter Rothschild declaring support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

The event will feature internationally acclaimed Israeli opera singer Goni Knaani performing “a gamut of favorite Israeli songs,” according to a statement from the ABI. It will also include recorded video messages from former chief rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, Lord Jonathan Sacks, and Lord Jacob Rothschild, the great-nephew of Lord Walter Rothschild.

Hebrew University organizes Buenos Aires cannabis conference

Hebrew University announces that it will be organizing Argentina’s first international conference on medicinal cannabis.

The “International Conference on Cannabis’ Endocannabinoid and Medicinal System,” will take place October 24-25 at NH Tango Porteño Hotel in Buenos Aires.

In August, the Argentine government passed a law on the Medicinal Use of Cannabis and its Derivatives after it was sanctioned by Congress in late March.

“Motivated by Argentina’s privileged potential, thanks to its land’s extension and climatic variations, its prestige in agricultural and technological methods, its undeniable scientific capacity and endowment, that includes two Nobel prizes in medicine and one in chemistry, by the regional and international standing of its universities, and by its leadership in the expansion of its citizens’ rights, interested in and concerned for generating serious discussion, worthy of the principal protagonists on the subject, we, members of the Argentinean Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem together with LatinoameriCANNA Consultora, muster our best efforts to bring to our continent the principal cannabinoid researchers so that, together with local professionals of recognized accomplishment, we can position Argentina and the region within this fascinating world of scientific progress and economic development,” reads a statement on the conference’s website.

— with JTA

PM announces UK trip to mark Balfour Declaration centenary

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces plans to travel to London next month to celebrate the Balfour Declaration’s centennial on November 2, exactly 100 years to the day from when the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Walter Rothschild declaring support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

During his four-day trip to the British capital, Netanyahu will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May and other top UK officials, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Palestinian teen arrested in Hebron after saying she wanted to carry out attack

Border Police detain an unarmed Palestinian teen at a checkpoint outside of Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs after the 16-year-old girl told officers that she wanted to carry out an attack.

Police said they do not believe the girl was actually planning on injuring others and that her distress appeared to be the result of troubles at home.

— Jacob Magid

WHO reverses Mugabe goodwill ambassador appointment

The head of the World Health Organization reverse his decision of last week to name Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador, saying the retraction is in the “best interests” of the UN agency.

Mugabe, 93, the world’s oldest head of state, has long been criticized at home for going overseas for medical treatment as Zimbabwe’s once-prosperous economy falls apart. Mugabe also faces US sanctions over his government’s human rights abuses.

“Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert Mugabe as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for (non-communicable diseases) in Africa. As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says in a statement.

The statement came the day after Tedros said he was “rethinking” the appointment following international opposition to the move.

The United States had called the appointment of Mugabe by WHO’s first African leader “disappointing.”

— AP and AFP

Thousands march in Berlin against far-right AfD

Thousands of demonstrators march in Berlin in protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany’s debut in parliament this week.

Bearing posters with slogans like “Stop AfD,” “My voice against incitement” or “My heart beats for diversity,” the demonstrators rally two days before AfD lawmakers will join other MPs at the first sitting of Germany’s newly elected parliament.

Supporters of the Alternative for Germany party react after exit poll results were broadcast on public television at an election night event in Erfurt, eastern Germany, during the general election on September 24, 2017. (AFP Photo/dpa/Martin Schutt)

The anti-migrant AfD garnered 12.6 percent of the vote in the watershed general election last month and became the country’s third biggest party.

Its arrival in the Bundestag is a political earthquake for post-war Germany, as the AfD’s top figures have repeatedly smashed taboos with their claims on German identity or by challenging Germany’s culture of atonement over World War II.

— AFP

Likud, Kulanu lawmakers spar over PM immunity bill

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) and coalition chair David Bitan (Likud) trade barbs over a bill that would give serving prime ministers immunity from criminal prosecution.

The legislation, proposed by Likud MK David Amsalem, would amend Israel’s Basic Laws in such a way as to prohibit police from investigating an incumbent premier for fraud, bribery or breach of trust. In its current form, however, the bill would likely not help Netanyahu, as it specifies it would not apply to ongoing investigations.

But several coalition lawmakers have said that Likud MKs are pushing the bill through the legislative process without proper deliberation and plan to change the wording later so as to provide cover for the prime minster. Kulanu, among other parties, have called to delay a vote on the bill until next week.

Bitan, a staunch Netanyahu ally, reportedly threatened to freeze all government legislation until the bill is passed by committee. He reportedly told Kahlon during a meeting of coalition heads: “We let your proposals pass” — so you should let ours.

Kahlon is said to have responded: “We do everything according to the coalition agreements. You want me to stop coming to these meetings? You are trying to cause a crisis.”

Chilean diplomat who saved over 1,200 Jews honored as Righteous Gentile

A Chilean diplomat who saved over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust is being honored as a Righteous Gentile.

Samuel del Campo, who served as chargé d’affaires at the Chilean embassy in Bucharest, assisted Jews by issuing them Chilean passports – mainly to Polish Jews in Czernowitz – between 1941 and 1943.

A relative of del Campo received a medal and certificate of honor from Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial officials during a ceremony held on Sunday in Jerusalem. Milenko Skoknic, director general of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also attended.

The diplomat began to issue Chilean passports for Jews of Polish nationality in October 1941, when a ghetto was established in the city of Czernowitz, and deportations to ghettos and camps in Transnistria began. In the absence of an official Polish representation in the country, the representation of the interests of Polish citizens in Romania was transferred to Chile. Members of the Kiesler family of Czernowitz and the Rosenthal family from Bucharest were saved by del Campo.

— JTA

Tillerson demands Iranian militias leave Iraq

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demands that Iranian “militias” leave Iraq at a press conference in Riyadh, where the US diplomat is holding talks with top Gulf officials.

“Certainly Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fighting against (the Islamic State group) is coming to a close, those militias need to go home,” Tillerson says at a press conference in Riyadh. “All foreign fighters need to go home.”

Tillerson’s Gulf visit comes as part of concerted efforts to curb Shiite Iran’s influence in the region including boosting the clout of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia in Iraq, where Iran backs Shiite militias fighting in the north.

Tillerson’s visit also follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement of an aggressive strategy against Tehran and his decision to decertify the Iran nuclear deal.

— AFP

Einstein’s theory of happy living emerges in Tokyo note

A note that Albert Einstein gave to a courier in Tokyo, briefly describing his theory on happy living, has surfaced after 95 years and is up for auction in Jerusalem.

The year was 1922, and the German-born physicist, most famous for his theory of relativity, was on a lecture tour in Japan. He had recently been informed that he was to receive the Nobel Prize for physics, and his fame outside of scientific circles was growing. A Japanese courier arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to deliver Einstein a message. The courier either refused to accept a tip, in line with local practice, or Einstein had no small change available. Either way, Einstein didn’t want the messenger to leave empty-handed, so he wrote him two notes by hand in German, according to the seller, a relative of the messenger.

A picture taken on October 19, 2017, shows Gal Wiener, owner and manager of the Winner’s auction house in Jerusalem, displays two notes written by Albert Einstein, in 1922, on hotel stationary from the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo Japan. (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)

“Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip,” Einstein told the messenger, according to the seller, a resident of the German city of Hamburg who wished to remain anonymous. One note, on the stationary of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo, says that “a quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”

The other, on an otherwise blank piece of paper, simply reads: “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

The two notes will go on sale on Tuesday at the Winner’s auction house in Jerusalem, alongside other items including two letters Einstein wrote in later years.

— AFP

Trump says US ‘totally prepared’ for potential North Korea threat

The United States is “totally prepared” to respond to threats from Pyongyang, US President Donald Trump says in an interview, while also emphasizing his “exceptional relationship” with China’s leader.

“We’re so prepared like you wouldn’t believe,” Trump tells the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” while discussing tensions with North Korea, which have soared over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

“You would be shocked to see how totally prepared we are if we need to be,” says Trump, who has in recent months engaged in a fiery verbal tit-for-tat with North Korea’s leader.

“Would it be nice not to do that? The answer is yes,” Trump goes on, appearing to allude to potential conflict. “Will that happen? Who knows.”

— AFP

Anthony Scaramucci Twitter account doubles down on Holocaust deaths poll

A Twitter account associated with Anthony Scaramucci, the colorful investor who was briefly President Donald Trump’s communications director, reposts a survey about the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, saying it was an educational exercise.

The original tweet posted on the Scaramucci Post account October 17 asked, “How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?” and offered multiple choices: “Less than one million, between 1-2 million, between 2-3 million, more than 5 million.” The historical figure, 6 million, was not offered. That tweet drew widespread outrage and was withdrawn hours later.

A screen capture showed that within an hour of posting, 4,776 people had responded, with 68 percent answering more than 5 million, 21 percent saying less than 1 million and the rest split between the other two options.

Screenshot of an October 17, 2017 tweet posted by ScaramuciPost asking: “How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?” (Screen Capture: Twitter)

On Saturday, the poll was reposted on the Scaramucci Post account with the statement: “The correct answer is six million. Please fill in the proper answer and retweet this poll.” Laifer and Scaramucci both retweeted the same repost with the statement: “Please vote & retweet. Do not let Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites control this poll.”

— JTA

Egypt court sentences 11 people to death for ‘terrorism’

An Egyptian court sentenced 11 people to death on accusations they joined a “terrorist organisation” and attempted to kill two police officers, a judicial official says. The court sentenced 14 others to life in prison — 25 years in Egypt — and a juvenile to 10 years in prison, the official says.

They were accused of participating in “terrorist operations” and attempting to kill two officers in 2014, and of possession and manufacturing explosive material.

Of the defendants, 21 were in court, including seven of those sentenced to death. Five were sentenced in absentia: the juvenile and four of the defendants who were sentenced to death.

The defendants were accused of taking part in violence that followed the July 2013 military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

— AFP

Slain Vegas officer buried at veterans cemetery

An off-duty Las Vegas police officer who was killed by a gunman shooting from a hotel into a crowded country music concert is laid to rest at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

Charleston Hartfield was buried Friday following private graveside services. Hartfield was also a veteran of the US Army.

The burial came after a funeral that drew more than 2,000 family members, friends and police and military officers, with honors that included a motorcade down the Las Vegas Strip.

Pallbearers move the casket of Las Vegas police officer Charleston Hartfield during a funeral, October 20, 2017, in Henderson, Nevada. (Chase Stevens /Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

Central Christian Church Pastor Mike Ellingsen said the service held in Henderson was followed by the burial in Boulder City.

The 34-year-old Hartfield was a married father of two and an 11-year police veteran who had served in Iraq and the Nevada Army National Guard in Las Vegas.

He was off-duty and attending the October 1 concert where a gunman killed 58 people and injured hundreds of others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says Hartfield’s death was considered on-duty because he tried to shield, protect and shepherd people to safety.

— AP

Jordan’s king endorses Palestinian reconciliation deal

Jordan’s king has endorsed a fledgling Palestinian reconciliation agreement that is meant to end a decade-old political and ideological split between rivals Hamas and Fatah.

King Abdullah II expressed support for the Egyptian-brokered deal after meeting Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, receives Jordan’s King Abdullah II at his headquarters, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

The palace says that the king “affirmed Jordan’s full support for this agreement,” which it said would strengthen Palestinian unity. Jordan, which considers itself a key Mideast mediator, was not directly involved in reconciliation efforts.

Under an emerging deal, an Abbas-led government would run Gaza, but critical issues remain unresolved.

The US and Israel say an unrepentant Hamas cannot be part of a Palestinian government.

— AP

UK police warn public away from shopping center amid hostage reports

Police in central England are warning the public to stay away from a shopping center where British media report a man with a shotgun has taken hostages at a bowling alley.

The Warwickshire Police department said on Twitter that its officers were dealing Sunday afternoon with an “ongoing incident” in Nuneaton, near the city of Birmingham. It did not provide details about the nature of the incident.

Officers are currently dealing with an ongoing incident at Bermuda Park, #Nuneaton. Please avoid the area.

— Warwickshire Police (@warkspolice) October 22, 2017

Citing an eyewitness from a nearby restaurant, Sky News says the shopping center is on lockdown. The witness, Sarah Fleming, says she had been told a man with a gun had taken an unspecified number of hostages.

Palestinian festival drops film over director’s Israel trips

A Palestinian film festival says it has canceled the screening of a movie by a Lebanese-French director following pressure from activists because he had shot a previous film in Israel.

“The Insult,” the latest movie by director Ziad Doueiri, was set to be screened at the Palestinian Days of Cinema festival and was competing for its top award. But the screening was canceled Sunday amid pressure by activists who oppose the normalization of ties with Israel.

Doueiri’s previous movie “The Attack,” about a Palestinian surgeon living in Tel Aviv who discovers that his wife carried out a deadly suicide attack, was filmed in Israel and featured several Israeli actors.

The decision to cancel the screening comes after Lebanese authorities briefly detained Doueiri last month because of his visits to Israel.

— AP

Saeb Erekat out of hospital after receiving lung transplant in US

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat leaves the Virginia hospital where he received a heart transplant a week and a half ago.

Via posted by his spokesperson Xavier Abu Eid, Erekat thanked well-wishers for “the tons of encouraging messages he received.”

Dr. Saeb Erekat left the hospital. He sent around a few pictures and a thank you note for the tons of encouraging messages he received. pic.twitter.com/zOJGzpy291

— Xavier Abu Eid (@xabueid) October 22, 2017

Erekat, 62, suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scarring on the lungs that inhibits breathing and blocks the body’s ability to absorb oxygen.

Erekat flew to the US on the private jet of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a September news report said. His wife and his eldest son, Ali, were with him.

Previously, Erekat had been receiving treatment in Israel.

Trump touts Twitter use as key to White House win

US President Donald Trump, known for his prolific and sometimes incendiary tweeting, defends his use of the social media platform saying without it he might not be president.

“I have friends that say ‘Oh, don’t use social media,'” Trump — who boasts 40.9 million Twitter followers and tweets everything from policy announcements to personal attacks to threats against foreign nations — tells the Fox News program Sunday Morning Futures. “But I doubt I would be here if it weren’t for social media, to be honest with you.”

“Tweeting is like a typewriter. When I put it out, you put it immediately on your show,” he says. “I mean, the other day I put something out. Two seconds later I’m watching your show — it is up.”

Tweets by realDonaldTrump

On Thursday, former secretary of state John Kerry slammed the president’s Twitter use for creating a destructive atmosphere of “chaos politics.” But Trump emphasized that by using Twitter, as well as the platforms Facebook and Instagram, he can bypass media outlets that he says treat him “unfairly.”

“When somebody says something about me, I’m able to take care of it,” he says. “The other way I wouldn’t be able to get the word out.”

Conjoined twins born in Gaza ‘in danger,’ doctor says

The lives of rare pair conjoined twins born in a Gaza hospital are in danger if they are given treatment outside of the Strip, a hospital official says on Sunday.

Shifa Hospital Neo-natal Care Director Alam Abu Hamda tells The Times of Israel in a phone call that the twins, conjoined at the abdomen and lower-body, were born on Saturday.

“Their lives are in danger. It’s a complicated case,” he says, adding that their situation requires more investigation.

ولادة توأم سيامي في مستشفى الشفاء بمدينة غزة، اليوم.
تصوير: محمد أسد pic.twitter.com/foy6R3J1A2

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 22, 2017

He said that one of the babies looks “okay,” but the other is “suffering” and had to be placed in chemical ventilation.

“The quicker they are transferred abroad, the better their chances are to be saved,” he says, adding that a request to be treated abroad was given to the Gaza Ministry of Health Sunday morning and they are now waiting for a response.

— Dov Lieber

Hamas says its Iran trip a ‘rejection’ of Israeli reconciliation conditions

Palestinian movement Hamas says that a visit by its delegation to Iran was a “rejection” of the Israeli conditions on reconciliation with rival faction Fatah.

The two largest Palestinian groups have agreed a deal that is supposed to see the Hamas terrorist group hand over control of the Gaza Strip to the Fatah-dominated West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Israel has said it will reject any deal in which Hamas does not disarm and cut its ties with Iran, the Jewish state’s longtime foe.

But a delegation of senior Hamas leaders arrived in Iran on Friday for meetings with government officials.

In a statement Hamas’s deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri, who led the delegation, says “the visit to Tehran is a rejection of the Zionist entity’s conditions to cut ties with (Iran).”

The statement reiterated that Hamas would not be forced to give up its armed wing.

— AFP

US soon to present ‘regional normalization’ Mideast peace plan — report

The Trump administration is planning on presenting a proposal for “regional normalization” that will include several Arab states and will encourage Israel and the Palestinians to restart peace negotiations, Channel 2 News reports.

The proposal is said to be based on the following principles:

— The US will not demand that Israel and the Palestinians return to the negotiating table in the spirit of “take it or leave it,” but rather encourage both sides to begin a dialogue supported by regional partners.

— The US will not set a timetable for when talks are to begin or when conclusions are to be reached.

— The US believes that Mahmoud Abbas is, as opposed to statements by Israeli government officials, a serious partner for negotiations and is genuinely interested in reaching a negotiated agreement.

— The US is sensitive to Israeli security needs as presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

IDF Apache fleet returns to service 2 months after deadly malfunction

The IDF’s fleet of Apache helicopters is declared operational after two months of being grounded after a fatal malfunction caused the death of one pilot and the severe injury of his co-pilot, the army says.

While the air force will begin flying the helicopters again, they will not immediately be put to full service, but will instead have to go through a process of checks and evaluations, the IDF says.

This process is expected to take several weeks, if not several months.

Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Nurkin took part in the first flights of the Apache helicopter earlier in the day, the army says.

— Judah Ari Gross

High Court rejects settlers petition to save 6 of 15 outpost homes

The High Court of Justice rejects a petition from the residents of the illegal Netiv Ha’avot outpost to spare six of the 15 houses slated for demolition, and rules that all homes in the Gush Etzion neighborhood must be razed.

While none of the homes in the outpost on the outskirts of the Elazar settlement sits entirely on private Palestinian land, six of them do so for a matter of feet.

In their petition last month, for which the State Attorney’s Office indicated its support, the residents claimed that those six houses need not be razed. Instead, they presented an alternative solution, offering to demolish only the “problematic parts” of the homes that were found to have crossed over onto private Palestinian land, thereby allowing the remainder of those buildings to stay intact.

But the High Court sided against the state opinion, and ruled that all 15 homes must be demolished by March 8, 2018, as originally sanctioned.

— Jacob Magid

Netanyahu seeks to lower threshold votes for Knesset entry — report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to lower the electoral threshold a party needs to gain entry to Knesset, in a move apparently aimed at saving hundreds of thousands of right-wing votes, but news of the development angered coalition partners in the Shas party, Channel 2 reports.

The report, which does not cite a source, says Netanyahu wants to return the threshold back to two percent of the vote, the level it was at before the government in 2014 — under Netanyahu — raised it to 3.25%.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who leads the Shas party, responded angrily to the news, vowing that the hurdle will remain as it is, and saying he had already informed coalition secretary MK David Bitan of the Likud party of his objections.

“Netanyahu stabbed us with this broadcast,” he told Channel 2. “Shas will become stronger in the coming elections and it doesn’t need any favors from Netanyahu. Netanyahu had the support of Shas, and in response he initiates a move against Shas and without consulting with it. Already this evening, I have notified David Bitan and am notifying Netanyahu: Lowering the threshold level will not pass and don’t even try it.”

Lowering the level give smaller parties a better shot at winning Knesset seats, and for Deri, that could spell trouble in the form of rival Eli Yishai, a former top Shas politician, who broke away from the party after losing a bitter leadership battle with Deri. Yishai formed the Yachad party in December 2014 ahead of the 2015 national elections, but failed to beat the raised threshold, winning 2.97% of the vote.

Saudi Arabia denies report of diplomatic visit to Israel

Saudi Arabia denies that any of its officials visited Israel, after Israeli media reported that a senior prince had made a secret diplomatic trip there.

“Reports of a secret visit to Israel by a Saudi official which have appeared on some media are unfounded,” a spokesman for the Saudi foreign ministry says.

“Saudi Arabia has always been transparent as regards contacts and visits” to foreign countries, the spokesman says in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Israeli radio last month reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had secretly met officials in Israel. Israeli officials never confirmed the reports.

— AFP

Senior White House official says ‘no imminent plans’ for Mideast peace proposal

Responding to a Channel 2 news report that the US is soon to present “regional normalization” Middle East peace plan, a senior US administration official tells The Times of Israel: “It would be more newsworthy if we weren’t working towards an enduring peace. We are engaged in a productive dialogue with all relevant parties about an enduring peace deal but are not going to put an artificial deadline on anything. We have no imminent plans beyond continuing our conversations. As we have always said, our job is to facilitate a deal that works for both the Israelis and Palestinians, not to impose anything on them.”