Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he will resign from all ministerial positions by Jan. 1, 2020, but stressed he has no intention of stepping down as premier.
The Blue and White party is building a lead over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, according to a pre-election poll released Thursday, but neither would receive enough support together with their allies to break Israel’s months-long political stalemate.
Israel’s 22nd Knesset disbanded Wednesday at midnight, slating the country for third elections in under a year, and positioning neither Netanyahu nor Gantz for the 61-seat majority necessary to form a ruling coalition.
Knesset members on Wednesday began the process of passing a bill to dissolve parliament and hold an unprecedented third election in 12 months.
On the eve of a likely Knesset vote for yet another back-to-back election, a new poll by Channel 13 television news showed Blue and White increasing its lead on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
Blue and White will run Benny Gantz as the party’s sole candidate for prime minister if a third election is held, Gantz’s number two, MK Yair Lapid, announced at Monday’s faction meeting at the Knesset.
Blue and White and Likud have agreed that the next round of elections will be held on Monday, March 2, 2020, barring a last-minute coalition deal in the next two days.
The US House of Representatives approved on Friday a resolution expressing support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while also warning Israel against any attempts toward annexation of territory in the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Lisbon, Portugal Wednesday to discuss a mutual defense treaty between the US and Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is to begin discussions on holding a party leadership primary that is expected to see the first real challenge to the premier’s leadership in 14 years.
No agreement was reached Tuesday night between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, who finished coalition talks at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tel Aviv after only 45 minutes, and eight days before next Wednesday night’s deadline to form a government.
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran and other issues, the White House said in a brief statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly offered rival Benny Gantz the lion’s share of a rotating premiership.
Israel is taking six European nations to task for circumventing the Trump administration’s sanctions against Iran, pointing to the regime’s slaughter of protestors over the last few weeks.
Major meetings between US top military leaders and Israeli military in November seemed to presage an imminent conflict with Iran.
Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit said Monday that Benjamin Netanyahu can continue to hold office as a caretaker prime minister despite criminal charges against him, but left open the question of whether he can be tasked with forming a new government.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed support in a possible Senate move to ratify a narrow U.S.-Israel mutual defense treaty in 2020 on Wednesday. He spoke at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) gala event in Washington.
Around 650 Christian businessmen from 50 countries, including the US, Europe, China and India, are set to come to Israel early next month to learn how local technologies are impacting the world and to seek business opportunities.
Senior Likud lawmaker Gideon Sa’ar on Saturday castigated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for describing the charges against him as an attempted coup, demanded an immediate leadership contest in their ruling Likud party, and claimed he could ‘easily form a government.’
In a decision that drastically shakes up Israeli politics amid already ongoing chaos, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be charged with criminal wrongdoing in three separate cases against him, including bribery in the far-reaching Bezeq corruption probe.