Benjamin Netanyahu’s decade-long spell in power may be coming to an end. A pre-indictment hearing into charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust levelled against the Israeli prime minister commenced in Jerusalem today, as his attempts to form a government following inconclusive elections last month appeared close to collapse. Read more…
For once, the polls were right. They had suggested for months that Israel’s general election yesterday would end in stalemate. While counting is not yet complete, exit polls and the current official tallies point to the same deadlock which followed April’s inconclusive general election. The results represent a massive blow Read more…
A desperate Benjamin Netanyahu was this week thwarted in an attempt to push through the Knesset a controversial bill allowing party workers to bring cameras into polling stations. With polls showing the opposition Blue and White party narrowly edging ahead of the prime minister’s Likud party ahead of next week’s Read more…
With less than two weeks to go until polling day, Israel appears to be heading towards another general election stalemate – the second in less than six months. Polls this week show neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his principal rival, Benny Gantz, have succeeded in opening a decisive lead. Instead, they Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel took a group of centre-left parliamentarians on delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories at the end of July. The group was led by LFI chair Dame Louise Ellman MP, and included LFI honorary president Joan Ryan MP, Rosie Cooper MP, Steve McCabe MP, and Phil Read more…
With only days remaining until Israel’s political parties must present their finalised slates for September’s general election, there has been further maneuvering on the left and right, and between Arab parties. Two weeks ago, the Labor party announced that it had agreed a merger with Orly Levy-Abekasis’s Gesher party. The Read more…
With less than two months to go until polling day, the contours of the battlefield for Israel’s general election on 17 September have begun to look a little clearer. Over the past week, Labor leader Amir Peretz announced a deal between his party and centrist Gesher party. Its leader, Orly Levy-Abekasis, will Read more…
Six weeks after the Knesset voted for new elections in September, the Israeli political landscape looks no more certain than it day after Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprising failure to form a government. The Israeli prime minister had appeared to emerge victorious from April’s general election, but weeks of talks failed to Read more…
In a back to the future move, Amir Peretz last night succeeded Avi Gabbay as the next leader of the party that built the modern State of Israel. 67-year-old Peretz – who led Labor from 2005 to 2007 – beat two younger candidates famed for leading Israel’s 2011 social justice protests, Read more…
The first part of Donald Trump’s much-delayed plan to secure “the ultimate deal” – peace between Israel and the Palestinians – was published on Saturday. The document, entitled Peace To Prosperity, outlines a $50bn investment plan ahead of an “economic workshop” in Bahrain this week. The Palestinian Authority, which is Read more…
An estimated 250,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv last Friday to celebrate the city’s 21st annual Pride parade. The event is one of the few Pride events in the Middle East outside of Israel, and is the eighth largest in the world. The parade marked the culmination Read more…
Israel is undoubtedly a pioneer in the region of LGBT rights in the region with leading LGBT members of the Knesset such as Labor’s Itzik Shmuli playing a prominent role in public life. Similarly, Tel Aviv pride, which takes place this week, has grown from a few dozen protesters to Read more…