Tag: Benjamin Netanyahu

Central European leaders view Mr. Netanyahu as a close ally. For his part, Mr. Netanyahu has cultivated relationships with Central European populist leaders. It is widely believed in the region that in order for a leader of a small Central European country to get an invitation to visit the White House, he should either buy a lot of American military equipment or Mr Netanyahu should lobby for the visit. Many of the founders of the Jewish state were from Central and Eastern Europe and their political imagination was shaped by the politics of the newly independent states that emerged in the region after World War I. It has preserved the heroic ethos of sacrifice in the name of the nation that nationalist politicians covet for their own societies. Central and Eastern Europeans see Israel as the only Western society that is winning the population war by reversing the trend of demographic decline. Central European nationalists’ fascination with Israel East European populists also share Mr. Netanyahu’s mistrust in anything that appears post-national or hints of cosmopolitanism. They agree with Yoram Hazony, a conservative Israeli political philosopher and Netanyahu supporter who is the author of the influential ‘The Virtue of Nationalism,’ who says that the major political clash in world history is neither between classes nor nations, but between nationalists who believe that the nation state is the best form of political organisation and imperialists who advocate for universal empire. Mr Orban sees much to admire there. Populist leaders in Central Europe view Israel as the model of how a small state could be sovereign and heroic.

High-ranking former European politicians have condemned the Trump administration’s one-sided Israel-Palestine policy and called in a letter for Europe to reject any US Middle East peace plan unless it is fair to Palestinians. The letter, sent to the Guardian, the EU and European governments, was signed by 25 former foreign ministers, six former prime ministers, and two former Nato secretary generals. Europe must stand by the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine | Letter Read more Europe, it said, should reject any plan that does not create a Palestinian state alongside Israel with Jerusalem as the capital for both countries. Since taking office, and amid praise from Israel’s government, Trump has taken measures seen as both punishing to Palestinians and which also stifle the viability of a Palestinian state. Friedman told the pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington last month that Trump was “Israel’s greatest ally ever to reside in the White House” and now was the time to push through a plan as his administration understood Israel should have permanent military control over the Palestinian territories. On Tuesday, Netanyahu won the Israeli election and is expected to secure a fifth term in office by forging a coalition government from rightwing and pro-settler parties. A few days before the polls, the prime minister said that, if he won, he planned to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move Palestinians see as the end of their hopes for a state as there would be no unbroken land on which to build it. There aren’t going to be any settlers or settlements that are going to be torn. Queried about Netanyahu’s annexation plans, Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said they would not damage the undisclosed peace plan, hinting the US proposal did not envision Palestinian statehood. “I think that the vision that we’ll lay out is going to represent a significant change from the model that’s been used,” said Pompeo, who has previously stated he believes, as a Christian, it was possible God made Trump president to save the Jewish people.

One showed that the opposition Blue and White party of Benny Gantz had a clear lead. Two others showed it was tied with Likud, the party of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. This fragmentation is partly because of the sheer diversity of a country made up of Jews and Arabs, Jews of European and Middle Eastern origins, and Jews of varying degrees of piety. The next prime minister will be the leader of the party who can form a majority coalition. Despite its ever-shifting political landscape, Israel has known some form of two-party alternation. In 1977, though, the more nationalist Likud party dethroned Labour and formed its own coalition of right-wing and religious parties. Especially in the 1990s, power passed between Labour and Likud every few years. If he wins a fifth election victory, Mr Netanyahu may yet become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, beating the record of the country’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion. Israel’s last Labour prime minister, Ehud Barak, left office in January 2001. In today’s election, for the first time, some young Israeli voters will have never have known a Labour prime minister.

The impact on the race of the prime minister’s friendship with President Trump. FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation.…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back Tuesday at Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) weeks after her remarks deemed anti-Semitic triggered controversy. Omar drew condemnation from members of both parties last month after she suggested in the tweet that AIPAC has been paying members of Congress to support Israel. She later apologized for the tweet — and for other comments — but also insisted on what she called “the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics.” The Minnesota Democrat responded Tuesday to Netanyahu in a tweet: “This from a man facing indictments for bribery and other crimes in three separate public corruption affairs. "It’s because America and Israel share a love of freedom and democracy. It’s because we cherish individual rights and the rule of law," Netanyahu told AIPAC, as USA Today reported. Netanyahu on Monday visited the White House, where President Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981. The document reverses more than a half-century of U.S. policy. Trump had previewed the move last week saying that it was time for the U.S. to take the step after 52 years of Israeli control of the strategic highlands on the border with Syria. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Good Tuesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ • President Trump and his Republican allies vowed to pursue and even punish those responsible for the Russia investigation now that the special counsel’s inquiry has concluded without implicating him. Mr. Trump said some of them had done “treasonous” things. • The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, reached no conclusion about whether Mr. Trump had obstructed justice — it was Attorney General William P. Barr who cleared him of that offense. Democrats seized on that, portraying Mr. Barr’s decision as a hasty, dubious intervention on behalf of the president who installed him. • The tight-lipped Mr. Mueller is poised to return to civilian life, still a figure of mystery and fascination. • The outcome of the special counsel’s inquiry means the 2020 race is likely to revolve around Mr. Trump’s performance in office, not how he won in the first place. • Democrats won control of the House largely by arguing that Congress needs to protect people with pre-existing medical conditions and lower the cost of health care. Today, Democratic leaders are set to unveil an incremental approach to fulfilling those promises.

We have a prime minister in Israel who has openly sided with racists,” he charged. O’Rourke also jabbed at Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. “On the Palestinian side, we have an ineffectual leader. The candidate was asked during a question and answer session with the crowd about accepting large sums of contributions from pro-Israeli lobbyists during his 2018 Senate election in Texas. O’Rourke once again called for a “two-state solution” between Israel and the Palestinians to achieve peace in the Middle East. During Wednesday's New Hampshire stops, meanwhile, O’Rourke targeted sales of assault weapons, skirted his stance on late-term abortions, called for pre-K starting for four-year-olds, and acknowledged that he has a learning curve as he runs for president. I don’t want to take anyone’s guns from anyone in the country.” But he said the AR-15, “which is a variant of something that was designed for battlefield use, I see no reason for it to be sold into our communities.” Speaking with reporters, O’Rourke was asked by Fox News how he would have voted on a controversial GOP-sponsored Senate bill that would have required doctors to provide medical care to newborns, including those born during failed abortions. The candidate gave a hint of his support for abortion rights by adding that “I’ve seen the effects of regressive women’s health care policies in Texas, the inability to get much needed medical care… I want to make sure at a national level we don’t make those mistakes.” As a three-term congressman representing El Paso in the House, O’Rourke supported a bill in 2017 that would have lifted most state restrictions on abortion, including waiting periods. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who raised $5.9 million in the day after he announced his candidacy last month, had contributions from 223,000 people, with the average donation standing at $27. Discussing the comments – which critics said spotlighted unwelcome gender stereotypes – O’Rourke promised “not only will I not say that again, but I’ll be more thoughtful going forward in the way that I talk about our marriage.” On Wednesday, O’Rourke told the crowd that “Amy and I are raising those kiddos.” Asked if there’s a learning curve on the presidential campaign trail, he quickly answered: “Yeah.

Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today. _____________________ • President Trump plans to begin a fresh effort on Monday to pressure Congress to pay for a border wall. But with Democrats in control of the House, his plan is likely dead on arrival. • The relationship between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has no precedent in their countries’ history, but it has deep parallels in their politics and struggles with scandal. As an Israeli election approaches, is this the last hurrah? • After last week’s intraparty fight over Representative Ilhan Omar, many Democrats worry that a major response will now be required every time a member transgresses the ill-defined rules of rhetorical decorum. • The leading Democratic candidates for president have largely embraced progressive ideas on health care, taxes, the environment and Middle East policy. That has unnerved moderates, who fear the party could fritter away its chances of beating Mr. Trump by careening over a liberal cliff. • A poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers released this weekend found Joe Biden atop the field of potential 2020 candidates, followed closely by Senator Bernie Sanders. In the first two months of 2019 alone, they have killed 225.

State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan hit back Sunday at claims that political considerations motivated Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to recommend charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his three corruption investigations. The attorney general made a decision in which he believed according to his conscience and his best judgment, and not because of any pressure." News website in return for regulatory benefits to telecommunications giant Bezeq, which owns the site. Netanyahu lashed out at the attorney general following the publication of his recommendations, calling the timing of the announcement "outrageous" and accusing members of the judiciary and his political opponents of carrying out an "unprecedented witch hunt." Nitzan stressed Sunday that the prime minister will have the opportunity to present his case at a hearing before any final decision on indictments is reached. "Last Thursday the attorney general decided to consider putting the prime minister on trial in three cases for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, subject to a hearing," Nitzan said. Considerations on whether to put the prime minister on trial and the final decision will be made only after the prime minister has made his case to the attorney general and the State Prosecutor's Office." He added: "It is important to clarify that the final decision is made by the attorney general. I have a great deal of respect for the attorney general, who has led this process thoroughly and deeply over the last few months. "There were no political considerations with the decision to indict (Ehud) Olmert, the former prime minister who was the head of the Kadima party on the other side of the map, and in exactly the same way there were no political considerations with the Netanyahu case," Nitzan said as he ended his remarks on the affair.