Oded Forer

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) with Likud MK Miki Zohar at a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on February 26, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

July 5, 2019, 2:44 pm

Netanyahu ally: There won’t be 3rd elections if PM again fails to form coalition

Miki Zohar says Blue and White’s Gantz would get a crack at assembling a government if Likud unable to do so after September polls, didn’t believe Knesset would really dissolve

By TOI staff

Ron Cobi, mayor of Tiberias seen outside Tiberias municipality building in northern Israel, April 1, 2019. (David Cohen/Flash90)

June 19, 2019, 6:58 pm

Yisrael Beytenu says PM illegally pushing Tiberias mayor as secularist rival

Avigdor Liberman-led party claims conspiracy, alleged quid pro quo, as Ron Cobi launches long-shot Knesset bid to compete for same voters; Likud denies claim

By Marissa Newman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, right. (Flash90)

May 29, 2019, 10:45 am

Snap elections loom ahead of midnight deadline for coalition efforts

Compromise seems off the table as Knesset session on dissolution bill begins; Likud minister says Liberman no longer part of the right; Meretz chief plans filibuster

By Stuart Winer and TOI staff

Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer seen during a faction meeting in the Knesset, on December 31, 2018. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

May 27, 2019, 12:21 pm

Yisrael Beytenu negotiator slams Netanyahu’s coalition compromise as ‘fake’

MK Oded Forer says PM is caving to ultra-Orthodox whims, forcing new polls; Likud’s Elkin accuses Yisrael Beytenu of ‘deceit’

By TOI staff

Then-Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (R) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit the IDF's West Bank Division, near the Israeli settlement of Beit El, on January 10, 2017. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

May 23, 2019, 8:27 am

Yisrael Beytenu said poised to join coalition, Liberman to return to defense job

Despite party’s reported understandings with LIkud, gaps remain on ultra-Orthodox conscription bill and other issues

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his then-aide Natan Eshel, on August 28, 2011. (Amit Shabi/pool/Flash90/File)

April 21, 2019, 10:38 pm

Despite protests, PM aide who quit over sexual misconduct joins coalition talks

No legal impediment to Natan Eshel participating in negotiations, says deputy AG, after women’s groups say it’s ‘spitting in the faces of women’

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and leader of the Yisrael Beytenu political party Avigdor Liberman sign a coalition agreement in the Knesset on May 25, 2016 (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

April 21, 2019, 2:26 pm

Yisrael Beytenu, Likud officials powwow as coalition talks kick off

No agreement reached on ultra-Orthodox enlistment; Netanyahu associate previously embroiled in sexual misconduct scandal allowed to join talks

By TOI staff

Aryeh Deri speaks in front of a picture of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef during a conference of the Shas party in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on March 5, 2019. (Flash90)

March 6, 2019, 2:37 am

Deri rapped as racist for tirade, threats against Russian-speaking immigrants

Shas leader says many ‘olim’ from the former Soviet Union are not Jewish and he regrets they were let into Israel; vows to change Law of Return and threatens DNA tests

By Michael Bachner

Illustrative: Gallows (CristiNistor/iStock)

November 16, 2018, 1:39 am

As Knesset advances death penalty bill, Israel at UN joins calls to end practice

Jerusalem one of 123 nations voting for resolution hailing the ‘possibility of moving away from capital punishment through domestic decision-making’

By Raphael Ahren

Illustrative image of security prisoners in the Ofer Prison facility near Ramallah, August 20, 2008. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

October 31, 2018, 4:24 pm

Knesset advances law preventing early release of convicted terrorists

New legislation exempts security prisoners from recently passed bill that will shorten sentences for certain inmates to reduce prison overcrowding

By TOI staff

MK Oren Hazan (c) takes a selfie while trapped in an elevator with three other lawmakers and several others on April 25, 2018. (Screen capture: Twitter video)

April 25, 2018, 10:40 pm

3 out of 4 MKs can’t stop laughing while trapped in an elevator

Stuck with Oren Hazan and others, Knesset’s Rescue committee head Nava Boker doesn’t see the funny side

By TOI staff

Yisrael Beytenu MK MK Oded Forer attends a committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 28, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

March 17, 2018, 2:49 pm

After car attack, coalition MK vows to pass bill on death penalty for terrorists

Oded Forer states Yisrael Beytenu will push law during next Knesset session; says Friday’s West Bank killer ‘should not have been alive’ at end of incident

By TOI staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (R) attend a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on January 21, 2018. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)

March 12, 2018, 11:19 am

Ministers approve conscription bill as Yisrael Beytenu tries to halt move

In bid to prevent early elections, committee gives initial approval to law demanded by ultra-Orthodox; Yisrael Beytenu minister appeals against measure

By Michael Bachner

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on July 5, 2015. (Emil Salman/Pool/Flash90)

March 12, 2018, 9:57 am

AG expected to shoot down IDF conscription bill compromise — report

Coalition sources quoted saying Mandelblit will reject deal between PM and ultra-Orthodox parties since legislation is different from the law he had approved

By Michael Bachner

Lawmakers from the Joint (Arab) List hold signs reading "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine," at the start of US Vice President Mike Pence's speech before the Knesset, on January 22, 2018. (Courtesy: Joint List)

January 22, 2018, 11:46 pm

Hamas praises Arab Israeli MKs for ‘Jerusalem is Palestine’ anti-Pence protest

Jewish lawmakers brand Joint List MKs disloyal to Israel, and one calls to suspend paying the salaries of ‘unruly’ legislators

By TOI staff