2021 Israeli elections

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives a coronavirus vaccine at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, on December 19, 2020, becoming the first in Israel to get the vaccine (AMIR COHEN / POOL / AFP)

Facebook suspends Netanyahu’s chatbot for seeking to ID unvaccinated Israelis

Social media giant also deletes post by PM over privacy violation, says its platform cannot be used to request medical information

Labor MK Merav Michaeli casts her vote for party leader at a polling station in Tel Aviv, on January 24, 2021. (Miriam Alster/ Flash90)

Labor’s new leader says her party is exiting coalition, orders ministers to quit

By TOI staff

Merav Michaeli elected new Labor leader, vows to rebuild beleaguered party

By TOI staff

January 25, 2021, 8:50 pm

Labor’s new leader says her party is exiting coalition, orders ministers to quit

Merav Michaeli, who opposed entry into Netanyahu-led government, says center-left faction starting new chapter ahead of March elections

By TOI staff

January 25, 2021, 6:38 pm

Facebook suspends Netanyahu’s chatbot for seeking to ID unvaccinated Israelis

Social media giant also deletes post by PM over privacy violation, says its platform cannot be used to request medical information

By TOI staff

Fake money bills with pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shaul Elovitch at a protest against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside PM Netanyahu's house in Jerusalem, July 3, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 25, 2021, 6:25 pm

Bank of Israel criticizes Netanyahu’s proposed cash handouts to Israelis

PM’s stimulus plan wasn’t coordinated with Treasury and is opposed by attorney general, who says it’s illegal due to proximity to March elections

By TOI staff

Blue and White MK Yair Lapid speaks at the Maariv conference in Herzliya, on February 26, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

January 25, 2021, 6:19 pm

Lapid jets back from US after pre-election parley with Democrat advisers

Unclear why Yesh Atid head, now fully vaccinated, traveled to Washington instead of making do with online meetings; returns hours before airport shuts down

By Tal Schneider

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 11, 2020 (left); Yesh Atid-Telem leader Yair Lapid in December 2019. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

January 25, 2021, 10:50 am

Netanyahu, Lapid both strengthen and Michaeli-led Labor crosses threshold — poll

Survey shows that even if rival Yamina were to rejoin the fold, PM would still be short of the 61 seats needed for a ruling majority

By TOI staff

January 24, 2021, 10:22 pm

Merav Michaeli elected new Labor leader, vows to rebuild beleaguered party

MK takes 77% of leadership vote, urges storied party’s supporters to’ come home’; fellow center-left faction heads call for alliance

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, speaks with then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, September 21, 2014. (AP/Menahem Kahana, Pool/File)

January 24, 2021, 9:20 pm

Netanyahu pledges cash handouts during election campaign, despite AG’s objection

PM unveils stimulus plan without coordinating proposal with Treasury; Gantz: Israel needs a state budget, which premier prevented

By TOI staff

Joint List MK Sami Abou Shahadeh, on September 25, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

January 24, 2021, 11:06 am

Balad faction elects new leader as future of Joint List hangs in balance

MK Sami Abou Shahadeh wins primary vote in Arab nationalist faction, with alliance of Arab parties reportedly considering expelling conservative Ra’am faction

By Raoul Wootliff and Aaron Boxerman

Labor MK Merav Michaeli votes in the party primaries, January 24, 2020 (Courtesy)

January 24, 2021, 9:25 am

Labor to pick new leader as frontrunner Michaeli looks to renew struggling party

37,104 party members will choose between 7 candidates seeking leadership of the once-venerable political force that faces oblivion in March election

By Raoul Wootliff

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement to the media in the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on November 2, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 23, 2021, 12:27 pm

Netanyahu said planning new aid to small businesses ahead of election

TV network says PM preparing blitz of diplomatic and economic moves in March to boost his chances in national vote

By TOI staff

Amal Abo Alqom, resident of the Bedouin village of Segev Shalom and founder of the non-profit Women for Themselves. (Shmuel Bar-Am)

January 21, 2021, 10:09 pm

Bedouin women’s activist who backed polygamy joins Ya’alon’s Telem

Ex-defense chief’s party denies Amal Abo Alqom supports plural marriages, after clip surfaces in which she said she wouldn’t mind her husband taking a second wife

By TOI staff

New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar (left) welcomes Benny Begin to his party, January 21, 2020 (Courtesy)

January 21, 2021, 2:45 pm

Former Likud MK Benny Begin, son of late PM, joins Sa’ar’s New Hope

Iconic Likud founder Menachem Begin’s son, who himself was party MK for 18 years, says Netanyahu government carrying out ‘nasty, crude’ attacks on state bodies, must be replaced

By TOI staff

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid arrives at the Blue and White party headquarters in Tel Aviv, on election night, March 3, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

January 21, 2021, 10:33 am

Netanyahu needs Lapid as his chief rival, or he’ll really be saying ‘gevalt’

The better the Yesh Atid head does on election day, the more likely Netanyahu is to win; but if Sa’ar leads the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Likud will lose a potent election-day tactic

By Haviv Rettig Gur

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) leads a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset alongside MK Yoav Kisch, January 2, 2017. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

January 20, 2021, 2:02 pm

Deputy health minister: Elections could be delayed if virus cases stay high

Yoav Kisch, of Netanyahu’s Likud party, likens pandemic to war; but top health official says move ‘not on the table’; opposition MKs seethe at suggestion

By TOI staff

Combo photo (from left): New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yamina leader Naftali Bennett. (Flash90)

January 20, 2021, 7:26 am

Netanyahu’s Likud widens lead over Saar’s New Hope to 15 seats — poll

PM’s party leads survey with 30 seats; his challenger’s right-wing faction slides 6 seats to 15 in past month

By TOI staff