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Shalom Yerushalmi

Shalom Yerushalmi

Shalom Yerushalmi is the political analyst for Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew current affairs website
Yisrael Beiteinu party chairman Avigdor Lieberman speaks during a conference organized by the Israel Democracy Institute in Tel Aviv, October 15, 2026. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
October 16, 2026, 7:00 pm
Liberman is risking another election to secure his right-wing political future
The Yisrael Beytenu chairman has ruled out a minority coalition dependent on Arab parties. He is banking on Likud defectors, but is actually erecting a roadblock for the center-left
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter gives a statement to the media at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, after his son Neria, an IDF reservist, was hospitalized in critical condition after being seriously wounded in a car-ramming attack the previous day, September 24, 2026. At right is Leiter's son Noam. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 2, 2026, 2:26 pm
Three years after October 7, Israel’s citizens and its leaders are worlds apart
The tragic story of Ambassador Leiter’s family reflects a society united in crisis, yet fundamentally betrayed by politicians who actively evade responsibility for their failures
By Shalom Yerushalmi
The change bloc leaders: Avigdor Liberman, Yair Golan, Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett (Official campaign photos, combo created by The Times of Israel)
September 28, 2026, 5:09 pm
By refusing to name a leader, the anti-Netanyahu ‘change bloc’ is making a fatal mistake
An intended reconciliation meeting exposed a critical flaw. In declining to rally behind Gadi Eisenkot, the opposition is inviting relentless, deeply damaging internal rivalry
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for a press conference in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool Photo via AP)
September 23, 2026, 5:26 pm
Netanyahu’s diplomatic and military miscalculations have helped make Israel an international pariah
The prime minister’s stealth trip to New York reveals the gulf between his self-image and reality, exposing a squandered legacy that underlines the urgent need for a state inquiry
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Gadi Eisenkot (second from right), chairman of the Yashar party, sits with party colleagues at the launch of Yashar's election campaign, in Rosh HaAyin, September 7, 2026. (Flash90)
September 18, 2026, 2:29 pm
Netanyahu’s anti-Arab campaign has found Gadi Eisenkot’s Achilles’ heel
PM is exploiting prospect of a political partnership with Arab parties to put his main rival on the defensive and drive a wedge between Eisenkot and Liberman; Eisenkot needs to urgently reclaim national agenda
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Directors Rachel Szor, left, and Yuval Abraham, winners of the special jury prize for the film ‘NAZA,’ pose for photographers at the awards photo call during the closing ceremony of the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on September 12, 2026. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
September 15, 2026, 4:12 pm
Storm over ‘NAZA’ doc is a massive boost to the Likud campaign
New film battering Israel over alleged Gaza atrocities, bitterly denied by the IDF, has been weaponized by Netanyahu and the right, linking center-left candidates to anti-Israel narratives and stoking conspiracy theories
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presents the new members joining the Likud party’s candidate list ahead of the upcoming general elections, in Jerusalem, from left to right: Amir Avivi (who relinquished his spot on the list), David Peter, Talik Gvili, Netanyahu, Jacob Bardugo (behind), Itzik Bonzel, Elisha Madan (in front), Eli Goldschmidt, Dr. Keren Assayag and Oron Dobronsky. (The last two are not on Likud's slate but have been promised ministerial posts if Netanyahu forms the next coalition. September 8, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 10, 2026, 4:43 pm
Netanyahu has got his Likud slate locked in, but fresh crises keep hampering his campaign
PM has slotted his handpicked candidates into his party’s Knesset list, notably including several representatives closely tied to October 7, even as the failures surrounding the Hamas-led massacre return to center stage
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Yesh Atid party chair MK Yair Lapid at a faction meeting in the Knesset, June 29, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 7, 2026, 4:47 pm
With his own hands, Yair Lapid dismantled his life’s work
Facing dismal polls and amid a desperate merger with Naftali Bennett, the centrist leader abruptly ended the careers of almost 20 sitting Yesh Atid lawmakers
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Moshe Feiglin attends a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, August 3, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 4, 2026, 2:56 pm
How far-right outcast Moshe Feiglin resurrected his political career
After years on the political fringes, the fundamentalist whom Netanyahu once pushed out of Likud has secured spot No. 2 on Smotrich’s slate, putting a senior ministerial post well within his reach
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and his wife Sara at a state ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
September 3, 2026, 4:51 pm
The horrific October 7 ‘betrayal’ libel is now central to Likud’s official election campaign
Instead of taking responsibility for the country’s greatest failure, Netanyahu and his colleagues are peddling a false and despicable conspiracy theory against the defense establishment
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Gadi Eisenkot speaks during a rally marking 30 years since the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, at Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on November 1, 2025. Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995 by a Jewish extremist during a pro-peace rally. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
August 29, 2026, 5:08 pm
The nightmare of the 1992 election is coming back to haunt Netanyahu
Allegations of stolen ballots in Likud’s primary highlight internal rot that, combined with the PM’s fear of right-wing splinter factions, mirrors the collapse of the party in 1992
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Ofer Winter at the launch of his new People of Israel party in Jerusalem, August 25, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 26, 2026, 4:43 pm
Ofer Winter’s disciplined political launch threatens to upend the right-wing bloc
The former IDF general’s new People of Israel party unveiled a surprisingly diverse slate on Tuesday, openly challenging Netanyahu and refusing to back down under fire
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot visits Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, as part of his election campaign, August 5, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
August 24, 2026, 11:47 am
Refusing security protection for Eisenkot is a dangerous gamble, detached from reality
After an abusive verbal assault at a campaign event and a vicious message on his son’s grave, leaving the leading candidate for prime minister exposed raises grave concerns
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Shas party chief Aryeh Deri (left) and Yashar head Gadi Eisenkot seen at the funeral of Lt. Col. Roee Yohay Yosef Mordechay at Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery, on January 7, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
August 21, 2026, 2:59 pm
Eisenkot threatens to siphon traditional voters away from a panicking Shas
Fearing a mass voter exodus over the draft crisis, Aryeh Deri staged a show of unity with Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to save his party from a humiliating collapse
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his vote at a polling station in Jerusalem during the Likud party primary on August 17, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 19, 2026, 4:16 pm
Netanyahu boasts of Likud renewal, but his new slate is a faded copy of the old
With voter turnout at a low 53%, the prime minister’s rigged primary sidelined independent voices in favor of loyalists and handpicked political functionaries
By Shalom Yerushalmi
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