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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, May 30, 2019

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits before a vote on a bill to dissolve the Knesset on May 29, 2019, at the Knesset in Jerusalem. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Knesset votes for new elections on September 17 after PM fails to form coalition

By Tamar Pileggi and Raoul Wootliff

In a shocking turn of events, Netanyahu unable to secure a majority coalition in parliament; Likud-drafted motion to dissolve Knesset passes 74-45 in late-night vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 29, 2019. Netanyahu forced the dissolution of the Knesset that night, after it became clear that he was unable to win the support of Avigdor Liberman and thus could not form a majority coalition. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu slams Liberman: He deceived the voters, is part of the Left

By ToI Staff and Raoul Wootliff

Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman holds a press conference in Tel Aviv on May 30, 2019. (Flash90)

Liberman won’t say he’ll back Netanyahu for PM after elections, rules out Gantz

By Michael Bachner

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Israel's then-new Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman arrive at a joint press conference in the Knesset on May 30, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Analysis

Infuriating but not finishing Netanyahu, Liberman drags Israel back to the polls

By David Horovitz

The prime minister has long asserted that his enemies are pursuing a vendetta against him. Turns out he was looking in the wrong direction

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Reuven Rivlin in the President's Residence in Jerusalem on April 17, 2019, as Rivlin tasks him with forming a government (Haim Zach/GPO)

PM offers ministries, law changes, even presidency, in frantic bid for majority

Limor Livnat speaking in the Knesset on July 28, 2014. (photo credit: Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Former Likud minister: There is no Likud, just the Netanyahu party

US President Donald Trump talks with reporters before departing on Marine One for the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony, May 30, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump: Netanyahu’s a ‘great guy,’ it’s too bad what happened in Israel

‘They don’t need this,’ US president laments of PM’s inability to form government, which plunges country into elections that complicate White House peace plan

(L-R) Brian Hook, US special representative for Iran, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Mideast peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and Israel's US envoy Ron Dermer, at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, in Jerusalem, on May 30, 2019. (Ziv Sokolov/US Embassy Jerusalem)

Live updates (closed)

US says Mideast conference in Bahrain to go ahead despite Israel snap election

State Department says June 25 summit won’t be delayed by Knesset disbanding; Netanyahu emphasizes close friendship with Trump in bid to downplay political chaos

6:24 pm

Lawyers for Pittsburgh synagogue massacre suspect allege FBI meddling
6:17 pm

US: Mideast conference in Bahrain to go ahead despite Israel snap polls
6:06 pm

Trump says if Iran wants to talk he's available

(L-R) Brian Hook, US special representative for Iran, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Mideast peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and Israel's US envoy Ron Dermer, at a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, in Jerusalem, on May 30, 2019. (Ziv Sokolov/US Embassy Jerusalem)

Netanyahu assures Kushner Israel’s ‘little’ political ‘event’ won’t affect ties

By ToI Staff and AP

Trump’s Mideast team visits Jerusalem to promote US peace plan, but timing of its release again unclear after new Israeli elections called

US National Security Adviser John Bolton, left, is greeted by Russian Security Council chairman Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow, Russia, October 22, 2018. (Press Service of the Russian Security Council via AP)

Jerusalem to host ‘unprecedented’ Israel-Russian-US security summit

By Raphael Ahren

Jordan's King Abdullah II (center) meets White House adviser Jared Kushner (4th from left) and US special envoy Jason Greenblatt, (3rd from left) in Amman on May 29, 2019. (Petra News)

Jordan king tells Trump team a Palestinian state the only way to peace

By AP and ToI Staff

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting of his Yisrael Beytenu party at the Knesset on June 18, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Analysis

Russian roulette: How Liberman hopes to profit from Netanyahu’s defeat

By forcing new elections over ultra-Orthodox draft bill, Yisrael Beytenu chief aims to establish himself as new champion of secular Israel. It’s already gotten him lots of free PR

AnalysisWhy Israel will hold a second national election in 2019

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 29, 2019. Netanyahu forced the dissolution of the Knesset that night, after it became clear that he was unable to win the support of Avigdor Liberman and thus could not form a majority coalition. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel media reviewOy, what have they done? 6 things to know for May 30

Op-ed

Liberman is right to protest ultra-Orthodox coercion, but an election won’t help

There is a path to remaking the untenable relationship between the Haredim and the rest of Israel. It requires strategic planning and sensitivity, not opportunism and intolerance

Illustrative: Students in a Jerusalem yeshiva, August 16, 2018. (Aharon Krohn/Flash90)

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin arrives at a Likud party meeting on May 28, 2019, in Jerusalem (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud’s chief negotiator: Liberman’s demands were ‘insane, bizarre’

United Torah Judaism's Yaakov Litzman (left) and Moshe Gafni at a press conference in Bnei Brak on May 30, 2019. (Flash90)

UTJ launches its campaign, with leaders to weigh boycotting Liberman

Labor MK Stav Shaffir speaks at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 29, 2019 (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Labor MK: Party chief Gabbay ‘has ended his political career’

Stav Shaffir says party must regroup ahead of next election; Gabbay: It was ‘my duty’ to weigh Likud offer

Relaunching campaign, Gantz says ‘political exploitation’ led to new elections

Labor chief admits weighing, then rejecting, last-minute offer to join coalition

By Raoul Wootliff

Likud tries in vain to break up Blue and White to gain Knesset majority

By Raoul Wootliff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks to a party meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 29, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Analysis

The final results of April’s election are in: No one won, Netanyahu lost

He may want the public to focus on Liberman, but the bottom line is that, for the prime minister, calling a new national vote is an admission of failure

Arab MK brings comic relief with Knesset speech mocking Netanyahu concessions

Liberman: Israel going to polls because Netanyahu surrendered to ultra-Orthodox

With temporary term up, Netanyahu makes Israel Katz official foreign minister

By Raoul Wootliff

Ta'al party leader MK Ahmad Tibi speaks during a discussion on a bill to dissolve the parliament, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem on May 29, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Four Arab parties seeking to reunite for coming elections

By Stuart Winer

Hadash, Ta’al, Ra’am, and Balad reportedly looking at re-forming the Joint List in an effort to win back seats lost in April vote

Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin is seen in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, during a campaign stop on April 4, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Feiglin says he’ll run again in September elections, will be ‘more modest’

By Michael Bachner

Then-Meretz party leader MK Tamar Zandberg at a Knesset faction meeting on May 27, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Meretz renews call for merger with Labor as new elections called

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, shakes hand with Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, February 14, 2010. (AP Photos/Ronen Zvulun, Pool)

Netanyahu’s son says his father appointed an AG to exonerate Liberman in 2009

By Michael Bachner

Yair Netanyahu appears to make shocking admission on Twitter; Yehuda Weinstein denies ‘nonsense’ claim he was appointed at Yisrael Beytenu chief’s demand

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau and his wife Sara attend the Jewish Moroccan celebration of Mimouna, in Or Akiva on April 27, 2019. (Flash90)

Sara Netanyahu strikes plea deal, will avoid fraud charge, pay $15k fine

Michael Hilkowitz

Depraved Bibi used Ethiopian Jews as bargaining chips

Israel’s prime minister offered an MK a galling ’Sophie’s Choice’: Betray your party or abandon your community.

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

A few pointers for the political parties of 2019

Elections 2.0 is a chance for parties to up their game, like, say, adding more women to the list, or ditching that sex offender

Be happy: We got a second chance

Israel was poised to swear in a government rife with corruption and extremism. With new elections, we dodged that bullet

Ordaining an openly gay Jew

Some lines can never be crossed no matter how much compassion one has for one’s fellow man. You cannot change Jewish law

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Interview

Top US Democrat downplays rift between his party and Netanyahu government

In Jerusalem, Congressman Eliot Engel dismisses concerns over colleagues Omar and Tlaib; says there is ‘nothing wrong’ with PM’s close alignment with Trump

With the Mediterranean Sea as a backdrop, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to reporters on May 27, 2019, ahead of the first full day of a Florida trade delegation trip to Israel. (Jeff Schweers/Tallahassee Democrat via AP)

Florida cabinet meets in Israel, brushing off threat of legal action

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON

More Headlines

The IDF reveals what it says is the longest cross-border attack tunnel dug by Hezbollah from Lebanon into Israel, May 29, 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF reveals ‘longest, most significant’ Hezbollah tunnel on northern border

By ToI Staff and Judah Ari Gross

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried plays Adolf Hitler in a controversial episode of Historical Roasts, a new Netflix comedy series, May 27, 2019. (YouTube screenshot)

Uproar over Netflix show in which Hitler ‘roasts’ Anne Frank

By JTA and Sue Surkes

Illustrative. Downtown Jerusalem on February 14, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Jerusalem negative migration slowing for first time in a decade – report

By Stuart Winer

Two pipe bombs a Palestinian suspect alleged tried to smuggle into the Samaria military courthouse, May 30, 2019. (Israel Police)

Palestinian caught smuggling two pipe bombs into West Bank military court

Books for sale at the annual Hebrew Book Week in Jerusalem (Courtesy: Nati Shohat/Flash 90)

Bookworms uniteTri-city storytelling hour launches Hebrew Book Week

By Jessica Steinberg

From the Iota Project, showing at this year's Fresh Paint art fair, which begins May 30, 2019, at the Tel Aviv Expo (Courtesy Fresh Paint)

Art news and viewsFresh Paint fair kicks off with exhibitions throughout Tel Aviv

By Jessica Steinberg

A couple takes photos around Odawara Castle, southwest of Tokyo, Japan, during the blooming of the cherry blossoms, March 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

El Al to launch direct flights to Tokyo in March

Szalai Kálmán (left), secretary of the Action and Protection League (TEV), at a conference of the organization, November 29, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. (Facebook)

Budapest Jews to establish their own security service amid anti-Semitism fears

A monkey, which escaped from a farm in southern Lebanon and crossed into Israel, encounters a puzzled dog in a sheep pen. (Twitter screenshot, May 26, 2019)

Monkey businessMischievous monkey escapes from Lebanese farm, enters Israel

Newly elected Latvian president, former European Court of Justice judge Egils Levits gives a press conference in Riga, Latvia, on May 29, 2019. ( Ilmars ZNOTINS / AFP)

MPs elect ex-Soviet dissident with Jewish roots as Latvian president

By AFP and ToI Staff

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April	May 2019					June
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