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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 569

Shalom Yerushalmi

Shalom Yerushalmi

Shalom Yerushalmi is the political analyst for Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew current affairs website
Kiryat Shmona mayoral candidate Eli Zafrani (left) speaks with two residents of the city outside his campaign HQ on election day, February 18, 2025 (Shalom Yerushalmi/Times of Israel)
February 19, 2025, 4:25 pm
In Kiryat Shmona, a city with no residents holds elections with no voters
Mayoral race, delayed for 15 months due to the war, takes place with almost 80% of northern border city’s uprooted residents scattered across Israel. Many of them won’t return
By Shalom Yerushalmi
US President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive for a news conference in the East Room of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
February 12, 2025, 12:13 pm
Trump’s ultimatum is directed at Hamas, but it’s also a direct rebuke of Netanyahu
US president openly rejects the phased framework for the hostages’ release — an approach initiated by the PM, who sought to avoid confrontation with the far right
By Shalom Yerushalmi
US President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, in the Oval Office of the White House, as Ambassador Ron Dermer looks on, Monday, January 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP/ Evan Vucci)
February 3, 2025, 7:20 pm
As Netanyahu and Trump to meet, Ron Dermer has to find ‘the formula of the century’
PM has elevated his closest confidant to the key role of managing the ongoing hostage-ceasefire talks. That’s because the implications are now broader – politically and regionally
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Head of the National Unity party Benny Gantz and head of Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid in a joint press conference at the Knesset. 6 November 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
January 31, 2025, 11:47 am
Netanyahu’s offer to Lapid and Gantz: Early elections in a year’s time
PM wants opposition leaders to back his government through the hostages’ release, in exchange for holding early elections one year after the last captive returns
By Shalom Yerushalmi
An ultra-Orthodox man walks by photographs of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, posted in Tel Aviv. December 21, 2023. (Photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
January 29, 2025, 4:53 pm
The Haredim are now advocating for the hostages – too little, too late, too selfish
After 15 months of indifference, ultra-Orthodox politicians are now demanding that the hostage-ceasefire deal be implemented in full. They have a wider agenda
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Displaced Palestinians return to Rafah, as a ceasefire deal between Israel and terror group Hamas went into effect, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, January 19, 2025. (Mariam Dagga/AP)
January 27, 2025, 12:37 pm
Senior cabinet minister: Trump’s Gaza migration idea could save Netanyahu’s government
US president’s bombshell proposal to ‘clean out’ Gaza and encourage Arab states to take in its populace could keep Smotrich’s party in the coalition, perhaps prompt Ben Gvir’s return
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Illustrative: An IDF soldier walks among Haredi Jewish men during a protest against a potential new draft law that they fear could end their exemptions from military service in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
December 27, 2024, 9:09 pm
As coalition falls into line, law maintaining Haredi exemption from IDF service will pass
Defense Minister Katz is working tirelessly to ensure majority support for a law to keep most ultra-Orthodox males out of the army, and keep the ultra-Orthodox parties in government
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem on November 6, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
November 30, 2024, 4:27 pm
Levin does not seek to succeed Netanyahu. His life mission remains the judicial coup
Fueled by deep ties to Likud activists and a vision to reshape the country, the justice minister is unwavering in his pursuit of an overhaul, no matter the cost
By Shalom Yerushalmi
The Tomb of the Patriarchs, in the West Bank city of Hebron, July 3, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
November 27, 2024, 6:36 pm
Seeing opportunity under Trump, some settlers hope to take over Tomb of the Patriarchs
Right-wing ministers and MKs believe time is ripe for scrapping a longstanding status quo dividing the Hebron holy site between Jewish and Muslim worshipers
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Yoav Gallant attends a plenum session on the opening day of the Knesset's winter session, in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
November 10, 2024, 12:57 am
Gallant’s firing isn’t the end of Netanyahu’s campaign against his ex-defense minister
Dismissed minister wants to stay in the ruling Likud party, but PM’s loyalists, who view him as part of the opposition, will be seeking a pretext to declare him a defector
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf attends the plenary session of the opening day of the winter session at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on October 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
October 31, 2024, 11:30 am
In his blusterous fight for Haredi draft exemptions, Goldknopf is increasingly isolated
UTJ leader is confident his ultimatums will shield his constituents from army service, even as he antagonizes more pragmatic colleagues and casualty-weary national-religious leaders
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and his hostages pointman Gal Hirsch, pictured at the start of the Sukkot holiday, October 16, 2024. (Courtesy)
October 19, 2024, 1:36 am
Netanyahu couldn’t let Sinwar emerge victorious from a hostage deal. Now he doesn’t have to
The elimination of the Hamas terror chief provides the PM with compelling reasons to push for a deal, even at the cost of withdrawing the IDF from Gaza for a while
By Shalom Yerushalmi
A ceremony at Netiv Ha'asara on October 6, 2024, commemorating the 20 residents who were slain by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Shalom Yerushalmi / Times of Israel)
October 7, 2024, 1:09 pm
One year on, depths of despair and mountains of hope in the Gaza border communities
On the first anniversary of the October 7 massacre, residents of the ‘Gaza envelope’ mourn their dead while pledging to rebuild a better, safer home
By Shalom Yerushalmi
Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) at a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 16, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 16, 2024, 3:29 pm
Yuli Edelstein, once a Soviet Prisoner of Zion, now a supporter of political arrests
He should have been at the forefront of support for the three women who placed ‘Let My People Go’ hostage flyers on the seats at his synagogue. Instead, he backed their detention
By Shalom Yerushalmi
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a ceremony for the incoming police commissioner at the National Security Ministry in Jerusalem, August 25, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 26, 2024, 6:19 pm
By exploiting Netanyahu’s weakness, Ben Gvir is raking in political capital
PM apparently fails to realize that by attacking Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Ben Gvir is asserting himself as the master of the house, and eating into Netanyahu’s own support
By Shalom Yerushalmi
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