Joshua Davidovich

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with Education Minister Naftali Bennett (L) at the Knesset on March 12, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

April 9, 2021, 4:14 pm

Brotation speculation: What the press says about the bizarre coalition bazaar

The number of ideas for various parties to find a way to build a coalition are more numerous than stars in the sky, but few think any of them are truly realistic

By Joshua Davidovich

Yair Lapid (R) seen with Naftali Bennett during a plenum session in the Israeli parliament, March 2013 (photo credit: Isaac Harari/Flash90)

March 30, 2021, 4:56 pm

The bloc-less monster: What the media is saying about infighting and outflanking

The political mess is getting messier with the anti-Netanyahu bloc splitting in two, and nobody sure if anybody is in anyone’s camp anymore

By Joshua Davidovich

A medic prepares a vaccine at Meuhedet COVID-19 vaccination center in Kfar Habad, central Israel, on February 16, 2021. (Flash90)

March 30, 2021, 2:10 pm

Netanyahu emerges after week-long silence to push Gantz on vaccine budget delay

Prime minister joins health officials warning that Israel could lose its place in line if government doesn’t shell out the money to pharma companies fast

By Joshua Davidovich

Party leaders in Israel's March 23, 2021 elections. Top row left to right: Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit, part of the Religious Zionism party); Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism); Naftali Bennett (Yamina); Aryeh Deri (Shas); Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism). Middle row left to right: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu); Gideon Sa'ar (New Hope); Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud); Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid); Merav Michaeli (Labor). Bottom row left to right: Benny Gantz (Blue and White); Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz); Ayman Odeh (Joint List); Mansour Abbas (Ra'am); Yaron Zelekha (New Economy party). (All photos: Flash90)

March 25, 2021, 12:16 pm

Final election results confirm deadlock, offering no clear path to coalition

Central Elections Committee delivers result, which means neither Netanyahu nor his rivals have straightforward Knesset majority and possibly heralds 5th vote in 2.5 years

By Joshua Davidovich and Michael Bachner

A ballot station in the Knesset elections, March 23, 2021. (Avi Roccah/Flash90)

March 24, 2021, 3:52 pm

Israel pleads the fifth: What the press is saying after another indecisive vote

As ballots are counted, pundits are laying out various scenarios based on math that will likely change and may not matter anyway, with many already gearing up for round 5

By Joshua Davidovich

Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir arrives for a court hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on February 24, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 24, 2021, 3:40 am

As votes tallied, coalition math confounded by aversion to extremists, Islamists

Ra’am says it won’t sit with Itamar Ben Gvir, who says he won’t join a coalition with Ra’am anyway, as rightists squabble and Netanyahu takes fire for reliance on zealots

By Alexander Fulbright, Michael Bachner and Joshua Davidovich

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for Knesset elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

March 23, 2021, 9:38 am

Election day as it happened: After 4th election, Israel still deadlocked

Netanyahu hails ‘great accomplishment’ of finishing as largest party despite losing seats, extends hand to rivals, warning of 5th election otherwise

By Michael Bachner, Joshua Davidovich and Alexander Fulbright

People walk past an electoral billboard for the Likud party bearing a portrait of its leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L), and opposition Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, in Tel Aviv, on March 12, 2021, ahead of the March 23 general election. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

March 17, 2021, 3:36 pm

What’s left? What the press is saying about campaigns, coronavirus and caves

The media looks at what’s going on among the possibly anti-Netanyahu right and if they are really right, vaccine transfers that aren’t, and a race against looters in the desert

By Joshua Davidovich

Head of the Yesh Atid party MK Yair Lapid in Jerusalem on March 7, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 15, 2021, 4:00 pm

Et tu? What the press is saying about ‘drinking’ votes and a royal rumble

The home stretch before the election has parties turning on potential or former allies as they jostle for position within their blocs; and a grim threshold inspires a look back

By Joshua Davidovich

Naum Koen in Israel on November 27, 2020. (Courtesy of Moshe Hogeg via JTA)

March 14, 2021, 12:13 pm

From bankruptcy to the Burj: The mysterious rise of Dubai macher Naum Koen

Ever since Israel and the United Arab Emirates normalized ties, the Israeli-Russian businessman has seized the spotlight. But who is he and how did he make his money?

By Simona Weinglass and Joshua Davidovich

Customers sit at a cafe in Jerusalem on March 7, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

March 8, 2021, 3:26 pm

Open to whatever: What the press is saying about getting back to business

As the lockdown lifts, questions revolve around whether the good times can last, or what it will take to reach normal; and female empowerment takes center stage, at least for a day

By Joshua Davidovich

Ultra-Orthodox Hayat brothers practice Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics and music, in the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. (Nati Shohat /FLASH90)

March 2, 2021, 12:31 pm

Preaching to the converted: What the press is saying about an unorthodox ruling

A decision forcing Israel to recognize non-Orthodox conversions here is seen as affecting few actual converts or voters’ minds, but could still shake up the political calculus

By Joshua Davidovich

People wearing costumes in Jerusalem on February 24, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

February 25, 2021, 3:18 pm

Party’s over: What the press is saying about bash-crashing and shot-sharing

A night of carousing in Tel Aviv has the grownups up in arms and cops vowing to crack down, and some have questions about Israel becoming the world’s drug dealer

By Joshua Davidovich

Tar washed up onto Tel Shikmona beach in northern Israel, February 21, 2020. (Tomer Ofri, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)

February 22, 2021, 2:44 pm

No safe harbor: What the press is saying about tragedies and mutinies

Death of a pregnant woman brings the issue of vaccinating those expecting to the fore, while cities go rogue to get more kids in school and a tar spill blackens Israel’s beaches

By Joshua Davidovich

Illustrative: Israeli soldiers guard at the Israeli side of the Quneitra Crossing, on the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights on March 23, 2019. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

February 19, 2021, 2:50 pm

Hidden costs: What the press is saying about swap-stakes and green pass payouts

Not everything is necessarily as it seems regarding the return of a woman held in Syria, and Israel’s vaccinated prepare for a brave reopened world thanks to a Very Important Pass

By Joshua Davidovich