Israeli politics

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (left) speaks to Ra'am leader MK Mansour Abbas in the Knesset, on November 4, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

May 8, 2022, 1:27 pm

Ra’am MK calls for party to quit coalition as opposition plans bid to topple gov’t

Mazen Ghanaim says coalition membership hasn’t brought desired results for constituency; party leader Mansour Abbas has tied stay-or-go decision to Temple Mount discussions

By Aaron Boxerman

Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli speaks during a press conference in Ashdod port, southern Israel, on April 6, 2022. (Flash90)

April 25, 2022, 7:55 pm

Labor party chief: All factions trying to keep fragile coalition afloat

Minister Merav Michaeli expresses hope for government’s survival despite political ‘obstacles’ and amid heightened tensions in Jerusalem

By Ilan Ben Zion

Leader of the United Arab List Mansour Abbas, left, at the president's residence in Jerusalem, April 5, 2021; Leader of the Joint List party Ayman Odeh, right, gesture as he speaks during a conference in Jerusalem, March 7, 2021. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File); (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

April 11, 2022, 8:47 pm

Mansour Abbas slams Joint List’s Odeh: ‘Their politics don’t have a purpose’

After rival Arab politician urges Israeli Arab cops and soldiers beyond Green Line to throw down weapons, Ra’am chief accuses him of only seeking to disrupt the government

By Tobias Siegal

Clockwise from the top: Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (Erik McGregor/ LightRocket via Getty Images), Rabbi Jill Jacobs (courtesy, Jill Jacobs), Rabbi Angela Buchdahl (Michael Brochstein/ SOPA Images/ LightRocket via Getty Images). Background: Demonstrators gather at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem with flags of Israel during the controversial Flag March, organized by Israeli right-wing nationalists on June 15, 2021. (Ilia Yefimovich/ picture alliance via Getty Images. All photos via JTA)

April 11, 2022, 3:09 am

Rabbis go public with plea to cut off US Jewish funding of Israeli extremists

After rebuff, 19 clergy publicize letter to donor-advised Jewish Communal Fund asking it to stop support to Lehava group associated with far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir

By Asaf Shalev

Former PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a right-wing rally in Jerusalem on April 6, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)

April 6, 2022, 10:54 pm

At rally of supporters, Netanyahu calls on right to unite and ‘return home’ to Likud

Originally planned to address recent terror wave, Jerusalem event shifts to focus on coalition crisis; ‘Israel needs a strong government,’ former PM tells thousands of backers

By Tobias Siegal

Opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Menahem Kahana/AFP; Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

April 6, 2022, 8:54 pm

Bennett tells Yamina members Silman ‘broke’ under pressure, Israel needs stability

Attempting to rally his crumbling party at emergency meeting, PM says only alternative to current government is more elections; he reportedly comes under fire from faction members

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (left) speaks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2, 2021. (Haim Zach/GPO)

March 29, 2022, 10:54 am

Bennett postpones India trip after COVID diagnosis

The PM is isolating after contracting illness; had been set to travel this weekend to celebrate 30 years of full official relations

By TOI staff

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speak, during the swearing-in ceremony for President Isaac Herzog, on July 7, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 24, 2022, 10:14 pm

Stepping on each other’s toes, Bennett, Gantz schedule trips to India 4 days apart

Defense minister accused of ‘childish attempt’ to upstage PM by rescheduling his visit, but sources close to him say Bennett to blame

By Tobias Siegal and TOI staff

Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the opposition Religious Zionist Party, outside the Knesset, on July 13, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 4, 2022, 11:36 pm

Opposition parties boycott Knesset over fast-tracking of Electricity Bill

Statement claims move to skip debate over legislation that would connect illegally built homes to the power grid ‘severely damages Israeli democracy’

By TOI staff

Opposition Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu walks next to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during the vote on the state budget, in the Knesset on November 4, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

December 5, 2021, 11:39 pm

New poll shows Bennett-Lapid government unpopular, but no other viable options

A plurality of Israelis prefer the former coalition to the current one, but new elections would only produce fresh deadlock

By TOI staff

'Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical' tells the story of Kahane’s radicalism, from his critique of liberalism through his ever-changing Zionism. (Princeton University Press/ via JTA)

October 16, 2021, 3:59 am

How some of extremist rabbi, onetime MK Kahane’s ideas entered Jewish mainstream

Along with Kahane’s militancy and violent tactics, there was a social, national, religious critique that is surprisingly relevant today, says Shaul Magid, author of a new biography

By Emily Burack

George Birnbaum (right), an adviser to Naftali Bennett, appears on MSNBC with anchor Mehdi Hasan. (MSNBC/Screenshot)

June 7, 2021, 8:24 pm

Top Bennett adviser suggests he has ‘evolved’ beyond past inflammatory rhetoric

George Birnbaum, who worked on PM-designate’s most recent campaign, tells MSNBC the new government could change ‘the status quo’ with the Palestinians

By Amy Spiro

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves upon arrival at Queen Alia International Airport, in the Jordanian capital Amman, on May 26, 2021. (Alex Brandon/POOL/AFP)

June 7, 2021, 6:03 pm

US will work with any Israeli government, says Blinken

Pressed on would-be PM Bennett’s opposition to two-state solution, US secretary of state says ‘conditions are not there’ for peace agreement

By Amy Spiro

April 28, 2021, 2:45 pm

Daily Briefing Apr. 28 – What the what is happening in Israeli politics & COVID?

Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today

By TOI staff

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni arrives at a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset on March 3, 2020, a day after the general elections. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 4, 2021, 3:49 pm

UTJ head says party won’t join a coalition that doesn’t revoke conversion ruling

Referring to outrage over video implying non-Orthodox streams would even recognize dogs as Jewish, Gafni says he’d have made a ‘much worse’ clip featuring foreign workers

By TOI staff