Israeli Elections
If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to negotiate coalition agreements before May 29, he may lose the chance to form the next government. Also crucial is consideration of a clause that would give a Knesset majority the power to overturn a Supreme Court decision.
The low turnout in the April 9 elections have led voices in the Israeli-Arab community to call for a new generation of leaders focused on issues important to the Arab public.
“After Passover, I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Moshe Kahlon was finance minister in the outgoing unity government, and it has been speculated that he is intent on retaining that role.
Former Education Minister Amnon Rubinstein discusses the results of the April 9 elections, the possibility of the far-right securing the education portfolio and praises Meretz as the only party that fights for Israel’s secular majority.
Labor leader Avi Gabbay is trying to evade responsibility for the party’s April 9 disaster, but Israel’s oldest political party was on the skids long before he was even elected chairman.
After days of conflict with the Central Elections Committee and demands for vote recounts, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked close the book on Israel’s 2019 elections.
Though coalition talks are still underway, Netanyahu is believed to be likely to form a government comprised of the Likud (35), Shas (8), United Torah Judaism (8), Union of Right-Wing Parties (5), Kulanu (4) and Yisrael Beytenu (5).
“In many ways, liberal journalists are recycling the scripts they used in covering the 2015 Israeli elections. Back then, they scolded Netanyahu for ‘hardline’ or even ‘racist’ rhetoric that “went for the gutter,” said Rich Noyes, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center.
“With the end of the vote count and the announcement of final results, I congratulate you on the achievement in the elections,” Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The American Jewish community on both sides of the political coin reacts to the victory of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud in Israel’s national elections on April 9.
Confusion around the possibility that the New Right Party passed the minimum threshold to enter the Knesset increased as announcements that the party succeeded were quickly followed by saying it had failed.
