By DAVID HOROVITZ, TIMES OF ISRAEL— President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel not only dramatically raised Israelis’ faith and trust in him, but also made a positive impact on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres said. Interviewed by The Times of Israel ahead of Israel’s 65th Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), Peres answered with a…
BY MICHAEL JOHNSON, inCONTEXT— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party announced a new coalition with the secular Yesh Atid party, the far-right Jewish Home party, and the centrist Hatnua. Just two days before the March 16th deadline to form a new government, Israel’s new coalition will control 68 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Yesh…
BY SHIRA SORKO-RAM, MAOZ— Nobody has a clue as to what our new government coalition is going to look like. Not the TV presenters, the Internet bloggers, the newspaper pundits. In fact, not even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself. (Although by the time you get this issue of the Maoz Israel Report, miracles may have…
By EARL COX— The White House has announced that Mr. Obama plans to visit Israel in late March. Everyone is wondering about the “real” reason for Obama’s visit because he has been lukewarm to cool toward Israel for a long time. According to some conjecture, Mr. Obama’s stopover is intended for working sessions on the…
By Rochel Sylvetsky & Gil Ronen, ARUTZ 7— One of the goals of U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel is to deliver a message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not to carry out any “military surprises” against Iran while the U.S. in engaged in negotiations with it. Voice of Israel public radio, which…
By EARL COX— Do those who continually attempt to bully and threaten Israel ever rest? Israel is moving forward with plans to build approximately 1500 housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank–all the while the European Union is condemning the construction decision as an obstacle to the peace process. Historically, there has been…
By HERB KEINON, JPOST— US Ambassador Dan Shapiro dismissed speculation on Wednesday that the timing of President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel is somehow aimed at impacting the coalition talks. “Obviously we don’t play a role and have no intention of interfering in Israeli coalition negotiations,” Shapiro told The Jerusalem Post, responding to claims…
By CAROLINE GLICK-— It is still difficult to assess how Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will govern in his next government. The public has little interest in begging the Palestinians to return to negotiations. But then the Israeli public has rarely had much interest in pursuing fruitless deals with unreformed Palestinian terrorists. The only reason we…
By RON JAGER, One week after Israel’s elections, it is fairly accurate to state that the public voted almost exclusively on alleviating the alleged plight of Israel’s middle class, ignoring issues pertinent to security and foreign policy issues. The only valid interpretation of the election results in light of what was on the voter’s mind…
By HOWARD LAFRANCHI, JWREVIEW— Elections can sometimes lead to new beginnings and bold initiatives, but few Middle East experts expect a rosy hue to suddenly color US-Israel relations after Tuesday’s national elections in Israel. Two key reasons explain why recent tensions in relations are likely to continue, analysts say: differences over the approach required to…