binyamin netanyahu

PM Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a right-wing election rally in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, March 15, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Election preview: Netanyahu’s moment of truth

The Israeli prime minister called elections hoping to strengthen his coalition, but he underestimated the personal resentment many Israelis feel toward him. One shouldn’t, however, confuse the fierce competition for power with a battle over ideas: even if Labor wins, the end of the occupation is not around the corner. When Benjamin Netanyahu decided to…

By Noam Sheizaf March 16, 2015

Speaker Boehner holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Congressional leaders following his address to a joint meeting of Congress. May 24, 2011. (Speaker Boehner / CC-BY NY 2.0)

Ahead of close elections, Congress gives Bibi a prime-time appearance

The senator from Jerusalem will take all the help he can get these days. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) today invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress on February 11. Coincidently, Netanyahu’s speech will take place a month and a half before the Israeli elections. According to most polls, Netanyahu…

By Noam Sheizaf January 21, 2015

Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Activestills.org)

What the polls say about Netanyahu’s election chances

Netanyahu has more paths to the Prime Minister’s Office than Herzog, but also more party leaders who oppose him personally. Seventy-one days ahead of Israel’s general elections, two major stories are dominating the political news cycle: the showdown between Shas’s former leaders – Aryeh Deri and Eli Yishai – and the corruption affair involving senior…

By Noam Sheizaf January 4, 2015

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The United Nations Security Council, December 30, 2014. (UN Photo/Loey Felipe)

Security Council’s election message to Israelis: Keep ignoring the occupation

Israel and Washington together blocked a UN Security Council resolution calling for the implementation of a negotiated two-state solution within a year. Abbas’s diplomatic efforts have hit a brick wall. The Israeli government came out with the upper hand yesterday at the United Nations Security Council: a joint effort by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S.…

By Noam Sheizaf December 31, 2014

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking in front of Israeli flags, July 20, 2014. (Photo by Haim Zach / GPO)

Israel’s elections: A referendum on Netanyahu

The coalition is falling apart, and the Knesset is likely to agree on early elections soon. Current polls suggest we are heading toward a fourth Netanyahu government, which will be even more right wing than the current one. Netanyahu’s third government has reached its end. New elections, which seemed likely when the Gaza war ended,…

By Noam Sheizaf December 2, 2014

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (photo: Koby Gidon / Government Press Office)

Racism, militarism and ultra-capitalism: The government’s real vision

Three major laws were passed in the Knesset this week: One against the Palestinians parties, the second against the ultra-Orthodox, and the third against the prospect of peace. Netanyahu’s coalition mobilized this week to pass its centerpiece legislation: the draft reform, the governance law and the referendum law. It’s not a coincidence that those three…

By Noam Sheizaf March 15, 2014

What Kerry whispered to Biden about Bibi meetings is more telling than any public statement

The diplomatic correspondent for IBA (Israeli public radio), Chico Menashe, stood next to Secretary of State John Kerry during the public part of the Obama-Netanyahu meeting at the White House on Monday. Check out his tweet: Obama in WH: “Kerry had productive meetings with BB”. Kerry, standing in the back, told Biden : “Productive!?״ pic.twitter.com/w9bWCvUYH7…

By Noam Sheizaf March 4, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (Photo: State Dept.)

According to Tom Friedman: Kerry plan gives Palestinians less than Olmert’s

Tom Friedman writes from Tel Aviv: The “Kerry Plan,” likely to be unveiled soon, is expected to call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines), with unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley. The Israeli withdrawal will not…

By Noam Sheizaf January 29, 2014

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during UN General Assembly speech, October 1, 2013. (Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Netanyahu steps up demands, wants settlers to remain in Palestinian state

The Israeli prime minister tells reporters he wouldn’t ‘uproot’ a single Israeli. Netanyahu’s office later explains that the object of the new demand is to score points against the Palestinian Authority by ‘exposing its real face.’ A couple of statements from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are adding to the confusion over the kind of solution…

By Noam Sheizaf January 27, 2014

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon looks over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's shoulder at a military exercise, (Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO)

The problem is Netanyahu, not Ya’alon

With his attacks on Kerry, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is positioning himself as the new leader of the Israeli right. I basically agree with those claiming that there is no daylight between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on the issues, only on style and timing. Netanyahu has surrounded himself with…

By Noam Sheizaf January 15, 2014

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (Photo: State Dept.)

John Kerry’s attack on liberal democracy

According to reports, the secretary of state has accepted Netanyahu’s demand that Israel be recognized as a ‘Jewish state.’ I added an important update to this post, see below. Haaretz’s Barak Ravid reported Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is demanding that Arab leaders pressure the Palestinians to recognize Israel as “a Jewish State,”…

By Noam Sheizaf January 8, 2014

File photo of Israeli PM Netanyahu with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton [cropped]. (Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO)

By refusing to drastically amend its settlement guidelines, EU reopens debate on occupation within Israeli elites

The EU’s new settlement guidelines, which were published last summer, put limits on loans to Israeli businesses operating beyond the Green Line and forbid EU financing of projects in settlements. Right-wing ministers are demanding that Israel reject the new terms, while centrists would like to avoid international isolation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two long…

By Noam Sheizaf November 26, 2013

Members of the Al Aqsa brigades shoot in the air as they stand in the grave yard in the Qalandiya Refugee Camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah August 26, 2013. (photo: activestills.org)

Between the murder of Israeli civilians and the ongoing violence of occupation

A settler in the Jordan Valley was killed in his yard Thursday night. This is the third such incident in the West Bank in less than a month. A retired Israeli colonel was killed in his home last night (Thursday) in the Brosh Habika settlement in the Jordan Valley. The incident brings the number of…

By Noam Sheizaf October 11, 2013