Archiv: Israel election March 2021 / horsetrading / Hamas intervenes 10-05-2021 + saves Netanyahu / Yair Lapid resumes coalition talks / deal 02-06-2021 / Knesset votes out Netanyahu 13-06-2021


04.09.2024 - 10:45 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(December 16, 2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

31.03.2024 - 19:40 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Black Flags movement disbands after over a year: ‚Mission accomplished‘

(June 25, 2021)

„Our beloved country faced the greatest threat since its inception — The dismantling of the democratic system and it becoming a dictatorship,“ the statement reads.
The movement claimed that former prime minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu — which they refer to as the „criminal defendant“ due to his ongoing bribery trial — „kidnapped the state and embarked on a campaign in which he planned to dismantle the judicial authorities, use the Israeli police as an executive arm of his government and make us all his subjects.“

14.02.2024 - 12:49 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(16.12.2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

05.01.2024 - 16:22 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(16.12.2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

16.12.2023 - 16:00 [ Times of Israel ]

NYT: Israel had blueprint of Hamas’s financial infrastructure in 2018, but didn’t shut it down

However, the report says that even though the documents were shared in Jerusalem and Washington, nothing was done to disrupt the operations.

“Everyone is talking about failures of intelligence on Oct. 7, but no one is talking about the failure to stop the money,” Udi Levy, a former chief of Mossad’s economic warfare division, tells the paper “It’s the money — the money — that allowed this.”

The report says that the funds totaled some $500 million.

Levy says he briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 about Hamas’s finances.

16.12.2023 - 15:46 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

07.11.2023 - 18:15 [ CBC.ca ]

How Netanyahu‘s Hamas policy came back to haunt him — and Israel

(Oct 28, 2023)

This symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Hamas has been remarked on for years, by both friends and enemies, hawks and doves.

Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel‘s Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that „if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas‘s strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister.“

In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu‘s „strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.“

07.11.2023 - 17:03 [ Haaretz ]

With Netanyahu‘s Coup in Full Swing, His Trial Is Stuttering. Not by Accident

(05.03.2023)

The trial and the coup are now simultaneously underway, but while the first is lumbering along, the second is galloping forward. The hearings in the Jerusalem District Court will resume only after Passover. Until the judges return from their hiatus, the wings of the High Court of Justice might be clipped, the Judicial Appointments Committee might be under full control of the politicians, or Israel might be in the throes of a historic constitutional crisis.

07.11.2023 - 16:40 [ Haaretz ]

Mendelblit, Don’t Delay

(14.02.2018)

The police announcement Tuesday – that the investigations into two cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been completed – came 13 months after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit decided that a “preliminary examination” of the allegations, which itself took six months, should become full-fledged criminal investigations.

19.10.2023 - 22:15 [ CovertActionMagazine.com ]

Hamas’ Attack on Israelis Strengthens, Not Weakens, Israel’s Right Wing Political Elite

Hamas, for Zionist leaders, is controlled opposition. It’s not controlled like a puppet, but funded and kept in power by Israel because its aims, like those of the corrupt Palestine Authority, are to dominate and control ordinary Palestinians in the name of supposedly standing up against Israel while not doing anything that can actually defeat Israel.

The latter would require waging the class war against the billionaire ruling class of Israel. Hamas and Israel’s leaders need each other; each helps the other keep a grip on its own people, providing the other a perfect enemy with which to frighten its “own people” into obedience.

12.10.2023 - 14:49 [ Blake Allen / Twitter ]

Obviously we won’t know until more details come out but since the unity government is with Benny Gantz and not Yair Lapid that means that Ben Gvir and Smotrich will remain in government. That’s horrible for a host of reasons

12.10.2023 - 14:45 [ Louis Weijl / Twitter ]

It‘s not clear to me who is and isn‘t in it. Not Lapid (yet), Liberman, nor Michaeli, but Ben Gvir and Smuthrich? What kind of ‚unity‘ is that? We are used to Gantz immediately taking action. As soon as he can move up a step, he forgets principles and agreements.

12.10.2023 - 14:29 [ Prime Minister of Israel / Twitter ]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a joint statement with Defense Minister Yoav Galant and National Unity Chairman MK Benny Gantz: „Citizens of Israel, this evening we have formed a national emergency government. The people are united and today its leadership is also united.

(11.10.2023)

07.10.2023 - 20:39 [ Benny Johnson / Twitter ]

BREAKING: Israeli Opposition Leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz are calling for the formation of a unity government to manage the war after meeting with PM Benjamin Netanyahu

(today)

07.10.2023 - 17:22 [ Yossi Melman / Twitter ]

Israel declared massive reserves recruitment. The protest movement announced that they cancelled all demonstrations tonight. Reserve Air force pilots and personnels said that they are ready for duty

07.10.2023 - 13:44 [ Monica Marks, Prof of Middle East Politics @NYUAbuDhabi / Twitter ]

If past is precedent, we could see 1000s of Palestinians die, accompanied by overwhelming disturbing images of violence involving children & other innocents. A ground invasion of Gaza is on the cards, too, given the scale of this attack & impulses of Bibi‘s right-wing coalition.

07.10.2023 - 13:30 [ Marc Polymeropoulos, Retired from three letter agency. @msnbc contributor / Twitter ]

A staggering intelligence failure. Hard to comprehend how this was missed. Expect a massive military response in Gaza, including possible ground invasion, and potential for further escalation. All eyes on Iran as well. Thoughts with friends in Israel.

07.10.2023 - 12:54 [ Times of Israel ]

‘A colossal failure’ as Gaza’s Hamas terrorists infiltrate, catch Israel unprepared

“All of Israel is asking itself: Where is the IDF, where is the police, where is the security?” agreed Eli Maron, the former head of the Israeli Navy, alongside him in the studio. “It’s a colossal failure; the hierarchies have simply failed, with vast consequences.”

Amos Yadlin, a former IDF intelligence chief, invoked echoes of the Yom Kippur War — another attack marked by “intelligence failure,” with the enemy initiating conflict.

07.10.2023 - 12:43 [ CNN ]

Netanyahu tells Israel ‘We are at war’ after Hamas kills at least 22 in an unprecedented attack

Six hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 22 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.

06.08.2023 - 09:23 [ Times of Israel ]

Masses protest overhaul, with toned-down Tel Aviv rally in shadow of terror attack

Tel Aviv municipal security officer Chen Amir, 42, was shot and killed by a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group after the terrorist raised officers’ suspicion in the bustling Nachalat Binyamin neighborhood. The terrorist was shot dead by Amir’s colleague, and a senior police source was later quoted by the Ynet news site as saying the gunman had possibly planned to target the anti-overhaul protesters at Kaplan.

16.07.2023 - 07:10 [ Haaretz ]

Protest’s Lesson for Anti-occupation Left: Mobilize Israelis, Not International Community

This has brought them deserved admiration in the small bubble of the Western human-rights industry and helped with much-needed funding, and has done absolutely nothing to change the dismal situation on the ground, which has steadily gotten worse.

The plaudits and platforms abroad have not resulted in any pressure on successive Israeli governments to change their policies. Not one foreign government or major financial body has changed its policies towards Israel as a result.

22.03.2023 - 18:52 [ Haaretz ]

Israeli Army Conducted Online Psy-op Against Israeli Public During Gaza War

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit also intended to use social media influencers in order to sway Israeli public opinion.

It is unclear if the IDF paid the Instagram account holders for their services. According to a source familiar with the inner workings of the unit, this is not the only time such cooperation has taken place.

10.03.2023 - 07:49 [ Nitter Search ]

Netanyahu, Hamas, coin

10.03.2023 - 07:29 [ OSINTdefender / Nitter ]

The Paramilitary Wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for the Terrorist Attack which Injured 3 Israeli Civilians in the City of Tel Aviv earlier tonight; the Shooter was identified as a 23-year-old Hamas Member.

04.11.2022 - 06:27 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

04.11.2022 - 06:14 [ Axios ]

Netanyahu assured Putin „I will be back soon“ after losing election

(Oct 13, 2021)

Days after being ousted as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu passed a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin promising a quick comeback, a source close to Netanyahu and a European diplomat told me.

Why it matters: Netanyahu and Putin had a close relationship that grew even closer after Russia began its military involvement in Syria in 2015.

24.10.2022 - 19:33 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

25.09.2022 - 17:35 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

13.09.2022 - 12:00 [ Haaretz ]

The Magic Number Aaron Judge, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid Are All Chasing

A few days removed from the hysteria of an impending nuclear deal with Iran, the political-media ecosystem is now obsessing about splits and mergers. 
On the right, there was a split in the minuscule, spare-parts junkyard party Zionist Spirit (formerly Naftali Bennett’s political home when it was named Yamina).

If you read the verbose stories with their endless gossipy details about who exactly instigated the dissolution, you’d think this was on the scale of the Southern secession in 1861 or the divisions of Germany and Korea in 1945. Of the 9.5 million Israelis, it is hard to imagine anyone – other than the immediate families of those involved, plus maybe another 500 politicians and journalists – caring about this split.

09.08.2022 - 15:17 [ Newsweek ]

Israeli Defense Minister Refutes Report That Netanyahu Urged Trump to Strike Iran After Losing Election

Benny Gantz, a retired Israeli army general and the country‘s minister of defense, told a local media outlet yesterday that a New Yorker report which said Netanyahu encouraged U.S. action against Iran was likely „not what happened.“

„I don‘t know of this story and I assume this is not what happened,“ Gantz said in an interview, according to the Jerusalem Post.

06.08.2022 - 20:42 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

31.07.2022 - 06:38 [ Haaretz ]

Gantz Is Expecting Lapid to Bow Out Gracefully Once Again

Gantz is expecting Lapid to be the silver platter on which his government will rest. He’s expecting Lapid to bow out gracefully a fourth time.

First, Lapid gave up on leading Kahol Lavan (back when it was a joint ticket). Then he gave up on a rotation as prime minister should it win. Then he let Naftali Bennett be the first prime minister in the outgoing rotation government. As far as Gantz and his supporters are concerned, that’s Lapid’s purpose – to be an indefatigable capitulator, the person who provides springboards and makes governments for others.

27.07.2022 - 19:10 [ Haaretz ]

Missing Intel, Unprepared Police Failed to Stop 2021 Violence, Israel‘s State Watchdog Finds

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman stressed in his report major shortcomings in the force‘s work to gather intelligence and anticipate the violence, specifically in mixed Jewish-Arab cities like Lod, Acre, and Jaffa.

Planned evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and tensions surrounding the city‘s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound spilled into violence across the country. On May 10, 2021, Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem, prompting an Israeli response, and the fighting lasted for 11 days. During that time, violence between Arabs and Jews in Israel intensified.

19.07.2022 - 18:30 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

03.07.2022 - 08:07 [ Haaretz ]

Israel Downs Unarmed Hezbollah Drones Believed to Be Heading for Gas Rig

Israeli military sources say …

03.07.2022 - 08:05 [ Haaretz ]

Israel Election: Netanyahu‘s Party Is Counting on Gantz

(Jul 1, 2022)

The second consensus – which is both more important and more interesting – is that absolutely no one in Likud, from the most junior member to the most senior, failed to cite Kahol Lavan Chairman Benny Gantz, the current defense minister, as the person they are counting on to complete the tally of 61 Knesset seats that Netanyahu needs to form a government.

01.07.2022 - 10:54 [ Haaretz ]

Travel Warning: Israel‘s Election Will Be Long and Dirty

It capped a week that symbolized everything that was bad about it during the little over a year it was in power: a fractured coalition, too many of whose heads were convinced they were destined to be prime minister and waged an endless campaign, mainly against one another; a coalition with too few responsible adults and too many opportunists. Above all, however, it was a coalition faced with an opposition the likes of which we have never seen: violent, vulgar, brutal, cynical, without a drop of empathy for human suffering, no matter where; that spits on the general public, including its own voters. An opposition without any red lines but with a personality cult; that is captive to a single person who seeks to escape his trial and who along the way turns every stone and scorches every bit of earth in order to completely destroy the young experiment known as Israeli democracy.

14.06.2022 - 05:18 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.

24.05.2022 - 03:59 [ Haaretz ]

A Warning From Israel‘s Left

We shouldn’t downplay the threat posed by a return to power by Netanyahu, a criminal defendant who caused great damage to the fabric of Israeli life, undermined its democratic institutions, eroded its values and is willing to cooperate with Kahanists to regain power. But this threat should not obscure the substance of Rinawie Zoabi’s arguments, which deserve serious attention. Not every abomination can be koshered by citing Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotric

16.05.2022 - 18:53 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Zelensky received PR advice from Netanyahu aides

(04.05.2022)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky consulted in recent weeks with a pair of public relations advisers to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to galvanize military support for his country as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion, according to a report Tuesday.

Walla news said Zelensky received advice from Srulik Einhorn, who was a senior adviser for Netanyahu’s Likud party during the last election. He also reportedly consulted with Jonatan Urich, a longtime Netanyahu aide who continues to serve as the former prime minister’s spokesman.