The incoming Israeli government has “the right and the obligation” to decide if and how it wants to apply sovereignty over the West Bank, visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday at the conclusion of a whirlwind visit to Jerusalem.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting criticism over his proposal to “microchip” children who return to schools and kindergartens as the national coronavirus lockdown ends.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is slated to visit Israel on Wednesday, the State Department officially announced on Friday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment on corruption charges does not disqualify him from forming a government, Israel’s top court ruled unanimously on Wednesday, paving the way for the veteran leader to remain in power.
S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel next week and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz, several Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday.
A parliamentary panel on Tuesday authorized Shin Bet security service to continue using mobile phone data to track people infected by the coronavirus until May 26, prolonging an initiative described by critics as a threat to privacy.
The High Court of Justice reconvened Monday for the second day of hearings on petitions against allowing indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government, as well as against the unprecedented rotational unity deal he inked with Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz which demands significant changes to Israel’s semi-constitutional Basic Laws.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that the High Court of Justice should not interfere with his efforts to form a government between his Likud party and Blue and White, and warned that if it did so it would increase the chances of a fourth election.
The High Court on Sunday heard petitions against the tasking of Netanyahu with forming a government, due to his indictment on graft charges, and on Monday considered petitions against the Likud-Blue and White coalition deal, which stipulates profound changes to Israel’s constitutional order.
The US State Department said Monday it was prepared to recognize actions taken by Israel to extend Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank. However, this recognition would be ‘in the context of the Government of Israel agreeing to negotiate with the Palestinians along the lines set forth in President Trump’s [peace plan],’ a State Department spokesperson told The Times of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he was ‘confident’ US President Donald Trump would let him fulfill his election promise to apply Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank “a couple of months from now.”
Constitutional scholars in Israel are crying foul about the new unity agreement signed by alternating Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, saying it destroys the separation of powers necessary to democratic governance.
Concerning Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said: ‘The Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That’s an Israeli decision,’ the Times of Israel reports. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Pompeo added that the US would share its views on the issue in a private setting.
Prophecies from rabbis about the coming of the Messiah and a third World War are coalescing with the timing of the implementation of the ‘Deal of the Century’ peace plan this summer under a new Israeli unity government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country to go into lockdown for the country’s Independence Day scheduled for April 28, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The unity government agreement inked on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz will allow Israel to initiate legislation to annex large parts of the West Bank starting in the beginning of July.
The ’emergency national unity government’ that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz agreed to promises to finally put an end to the political deadlock that has afflicted Israel since the Knesset dissolved at the end of 2018.
With the deadline to call new elections inching closer, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is weighing carefully his demands of, and threats against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the two jockey over forming a unity government.
Adhering to social distancing regulations aimed at stemming the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv’s emblematic Rabin Square on Sunday night for the latest ‘black flag’ demonstration against an alleged erosion of Israeli democracy under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership.
President Reuven Rivlin has set August 4 as the date for an unthinkable round of fourth elections should the Likud and Blue and White fail to form a unity government, as negotiations between the two sides was deadlocked Thursday night.
Negotiating teams for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party continued their talks to form a unity government late Wednesday night and into Thursday, and agreed to meet again later Thursday, even as the latter’s presidential mandate to form a coalition expired at midnight.