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.
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.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz were given a further 48 hours to try and reach a coalition deal, the Times of Israel reports. President Reuven Rivlin agreed the short extension minutes before the midnight-on-Monday deadline that Gantz had been given to form a government.
With talks between the two leading candidates for Prime Minister sputtering again, Israeli President Reuben Rivlin warned Sunday that a fourth election could be forthcoming.
Israel’s High Court ruled Sunday that a petition to disqualify Benjamin Netanyahu from forming a new government was filed too early. The petition claims Netanyahu should be barred from leading the country because of the corruption charges he faces. Justice Alex Stein dismissed the petition on the grounds that President Reuven Rivlin has not asked Netanyahu to form a government coalition this time around. Nevertheless, the Times of Israel reports, the Court said the application could be renewed should Rivlin give Netanyahu such a mandate in due course.
Rabbis in Israel are calling for the reinstitution of the temple service as a means of averting plagues, pointing to the Passover sacrifice that saved the Israelites in Egypt as a model for understanding current events.
Israel’s president on Sunday turned down a request from Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz for a two-week extension to form a new coalition government.
Israeli officials say the government wants to gradually reopen the country’s economy hit hard by a coronavirus pandemic that overshadowed the Passover holiday. But in a setback for the tourism industry, regular flights will only resume in September, Israeli media reported Saturday.
Blue & White and Likud on Wednesday accused each other of stalling the negotiations to form a unity government and backing out of agreements.
The Sanhedrin is anxiously awaiting a response from the Israeli government about whether it will be able to perform the Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount for the first time since the second temple in the first century AD.
Many Jewish leaders are making surprising comments about the imminent arrival of the messiah, even suggesting that a savior figure could arrive as early as Passover.
All Israelis must wear face masks while in public as a precaution against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.