Israel News for 11-21-2019
News Update
Last night, Blue and White leader Gantz informed President Rivlin that he is unable to form a government. Now there will be a 21 day period during which any member of the Knesset can form a government. PM Netanyahu urged Gantz to join a unity government with, of course, Netanyahu as Prime Minister. That seems to be a dealbreaker for the Blue and White leadership, who refuse to have a PM who is under criminal investigation and could be indicted within the next few weeks on fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges. Even if he his indicted, that wouldn’t mean that he has to step down from his political role. But it could put a damper on his election prospects. Or not (it doesn’t seem to bother his voters very much).
More troubling for Netanyahu could be a challenge from within his own party by his primary rival Gideon Saar, who claims that he would be able to form a unity government and avoid a third round of elections. But it’s unlikely that Netanyahu will be unseated by his own party.
Russia condemned Israel’s attack against Iranian bases in Syria yesterday, and also revealed information about another 4 Israeli attacks that occurred in the last 10 days. They accused Israel of causing ‘increased tensions and the potential for conflict around Syria,’ and ‘counteracting our efforts to control the situation’.
The members of the UN Security Council strongly opposed the U.S. announcement that it no longer considers Israeli settlements to be a violation of international law and warned that the new American policy undermines a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Poland also released a statement reiterating that “all settlement activity is illegal under international law.”
