Israel news summary

Israel News for 11-7-2022

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News Update

Security forces arrested 11 terror suspects in overnight raids in several villages in the West Bank.

According to Syrian reports, 4 Hezbollah members were killed in an explosion near Quneitra, not far from the Israeli border.

Hamas reportedly arrested two people suspected of firing rockets at Israel last week. Hamas claims that it, or any other militant group in Gaza, took part in the rocket firing. It also claims that the rockets were not loaded with explosives.

With a clear majority of 64 seats, former, and soon to be again, Prime Minister Netanyahu should have an easy job setting up a new government. First he has to appoint his ministers, and that isn’t proving to be so simple.

The main ministerial portfolios are the foreign, defense, finance and justice. Netanyahu’s own Likud party leaders would like all, or at least most of those, as well as other important posts. But Religious Zionism leader Smotrich has his eye on the Finance Ministry or Defense, and he feels that given his party’s 14 seats, he should get what he wants. Netanyahu isn’t very keen on giving Smotrich finance or defense, and he usually ends up figuring out how to get his way. In the past Netanyahu has even held the main ministerial portfolios himself.

Itamar Ben Gvir, who joined his Otzmah party with Religious Zionism for election and who brought in a significant amount of new votes for the right wing block, is demanding the Internal Security Ministry, which oversees the security services and police. Netanayhu is meeting with him today and will most likely give him the portfolio, which no one else really wants anyway.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in the wake of the right-wing victory in last week’s election.

Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are due to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today to accelerate implementation of a project involving water in exchange for electricity that was agreed to a year ago. For more, click here.

Israel news summary

Israel News for 11-4-2022

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News Update

The final elections results:

Likud (Netanyahu) – 32
Yesh Atid (Lapid) – 24
Religious Zionism (Smotrich and Ben Gvir) – 14
National Unity (Gantz) – 12
Shas (Deri) – 11
United Torah Judaism – 7
Yisrael Beiteynu (Liberman) – 6
Ra’am (Arab) – 5
Hadash-Ta’al (Arab) – 5
Labor – 4

That gives a Netanyahu led coalition of Likud, Religious Zionism, Shas and UTJ a 64 seat majority. It is highly unlikely that the secular right leaning parties, including National Unity or Yisrael Beiteynu, will join a Netanyahu led government. Meretz and Jewish Home (Ayelet Shaked) did not cross the voter threshold.

Current Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulated Netanyahu on his victory. Netanyahu also received congratulatory calls from various world leaders.

Several rockets were launched from Gaza last night. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome. Three other rockets exploded in Gaza. In response, IDF jets attacked a Hamas underground rocket factory.

A 14 year old Israeli girl was shot in the head in Kiryat Arba yesterday afternoon, while walking on the street. Security personnel are investigating the possibility that the teen was struck by a shot fired by a Palestinian Arab from the neighboring city of Hebron. She is in very serious condition.

Security forces shot and killed a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist during an attempt to arrest him in Jenin on Thursday. He was involved in the murder of an Israeli commando officer and in a number of shooting attacks against IDF soldiers and was suspected of planning additional attacks. The security forces also arrested 5 other terror suspects.

Thursday morning, a terrorist stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City. Other officers opened fire, killing the terrorist. Two other policemen were lightly wounded in the gunfire.

The first 7-Eleven convenience store is set to open in Tel Aviv next month. The company that owns the franchising rights in Israel plans to open 200 stores by 2025.

 

Israel news summary

Israel News for 11-2-2022

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News Update

With 97% of the votes in the largest voter turnout in Israel since 1999, a right wing coalition with at least 65 Knesset seats, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, will be forming a new government.

Here are the [almost] final results:

Likud (Netanyahu) – 31
Yesh Atid (Lapid) – 24
Religious Zionism (Smotrich and Ben Gvir) – 14
National Unity (Gantz) – 12
Shas (Deri) – 12
United Torah Judaism – 8
Yisrael Beiteynu (Liberman) – 5
Ra’am (Arab) – 5
Hadash-Ta’al (Arab) – 5
Labor – 4

Meretz and Jewish Home (Ayelet Shaked) did not cross the voter threshold.

The new government coalition will most likely include Likud, Religious Zionism, Shas and UTJ. In other words, the majority of the government will be religious. [that would seem to imply that any law proposed by the government would have to be in line with Jewish religious law in order for the majority of the government to approve it. It also implies that existing laws that contradict Jewish religious law would be potential candidates for repeal. If you are a religious person, this is a dream come true. If you aren’t, it’s a potential nightmare.]

To see a breakdown of votes in some major cities, click here.

A terrorist rammed his vehicle into an IDF officer near Maccabim. He then got out of the vehicle and attempted to attack the officer with an axe. The officer managed to shoot and kill the terrorist. The officer, in his 20’s, was seriously injured and evacuated to hospital.