Archiv: Times of Israel (media)


06.03.2026 - 14:56 [ Times of Israel ]

Will the war with Iran boost Netanyahu’s prospects at the ballot box?

An Israeli victory in the war against Iran would likely give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bump in the polls but may not guarantee him a win in the upcoming national elections, in the assessment of several veteran political analysts. But were the regime to fall, it would significantly boost his prospects.

Since the outbreak of the war over the weekend, the opposition has set aside its criticisms and rallied behind the government, which a majority of Israeli Jews have told pollsters they believe can handle the conflict effectively.

08.02.2026 - 19:53 [ Ron Kronish / Times of Israel ]

A political party with a vision for our future

(February 5, 2026)

Among other things, he told us that the Democrats already have 60,000 members registered in the party, and are shooting for 100,000 now, which will make us the second-largest political party in Israel in terms of numbers. In addition, he stressed the need to reach out to the Arab citizens of Israel, who make up 22 percent of our population:

There is no future for Israel without Jewish-Arab cooperation in Israeli politics.

This is a critical issue in the political discourse right now, since it is obvious that a new government will not be able to be formed if the so-called “centrist” political parties don’t agree to welcome Arab political parties into the next coalition. So far, only The Democrats have agreed to do so!

07.02.2026 - 23:38 [ Times of Israel ]

Netanyahu: Ties to former PM Barak prove Epstein didn’t work for Israel

“Jeffrey Epstein’s unusual close relationship with Ehud Barak doesn’t suggest Epstein worked for Israel. It proves the opposite,” wrote Netanyahu, in English, on X.

“Stuck on his election loss from over two decades ago, Barak has for years obsessively attempted to undermine Israeli democracy by working with the anti-Zionist radical left in failed attempts to overthrow the elected Israeli government,” Netanyahu claimed.

27.02.2025 - 20:48 [ Times of Israel ]

Faced with impeachment, far-left lawmaker slams attempts to silence him

(February 23, 2025)

And by the way, that [in no way] means that there is any justification for the war crimes and crimes against humanity of October 7 whatsoever. Not even the ongoing occupation and persecution and oppression of the Palestinian people. What happened on October 7 must be rejected 100%.

The second thing is that the Palestinian people didn’t launch a war against Israel. Those who are guilty of the crimes of October 7 are Hamas and some other elements of course. That’s not the Palestinian people. The Israelis, in general, are innocents, and the Palestinians, in general are innocents. There are those who are guilty of war crimes here and there and everywhere. In my view, [they] should be caught and brought to justice in The Hague.

The Times of Israel: Does that include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant?

Ofer Cassif: Yes.

27.02.2025 - 20:46 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

MK Cassif: There’s a Fascist Atmosphere in Israel

(February 24, 2025)

“There are attempts to silence us and to pursue and to create an atmosphere of chilling effect to terrorize us. There are attempts, again, to silence us, to prevent us from raising our political voice. We were not elected to represent those who disagree with us. It’s our right and obligation to represent as firmly as possible our values for which we were elected. Since October 7, people have been arrested because of tweets [in which] they simply expressed sympathy for the children of Gaza, not for Hamas, perish the thought…There’s a fascist atmosphere,” Cassif said to The Times of Israel. Above excerpts from the interview.

04.09.2024 - 15:06 [ Times of Israel ]

Biden, Harris to huddle with US negotiators for Gaza deal push after hostage killings

(2 September 2024)

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were scheduled to hold a meeting Monday with hostage negotiators, …

01.05.2024 - 08:45 [ Times of Israel ]

Palestinians want UN General Assembly to seek reconsideration of full membership

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding — as Security Council resolutions are — but they are a reflection of global opinion.

The United States is scheduled to defend its veto of the widely backed Security Council resolution Wednesday morning in the General Assembly. It would have paved the way for Palestine to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

15.04.2024 - 15:23 [ Times of Israel ]

With its aerial attack, Iran could break Israel’s isolation and reframe the Gaza war

It’s hard to imagine Iran’s much-anticipated attack on Israel going any worse for the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has been displaying weakness for months. On January 3, Islamic State terrorists killed at least 84 people in two explosions near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, as they marked the fourth anniversary of his death in a US drone strike in Iraq four years earlier.

10.04.2024 - 16:32 [ Times of Israel ]

Of course Netanyahu should go – in an orderly process that gives our enemies cause for fear

(today)

And therefore, as was the case when he insisted on continuing to run the country while in the midst of a corruption trial, and as was the case when he pressed on with his assault on Israeli democracy and briefly fired that defense minister, so too, now, it falls to a potential few good men and women within his own coalition base to tell him that his presence is harming Israel, that his policies empowered and emboldened Hamas, and that far from being uniquely capable of ensuring Israel has the practical and diplomatic room to destroy Hamas, he is almost uniquely incapable of doing so.

10.01.2024 - 10:37 [ Times of Israel ]

‘We should be worried’: Israel faces peril at The Hague in Gaza ‘genocide’ case

Although a final ruling will likely take years, South Africa has requested the court issue provisional orders against Israel that could range from demanding a total and immediate ceasefire — which Israel and the US firmly oppose because Hamas has yet to dismantled — to more moderate orders such as insisting that more humanitarian aid be allowed in.

But it would be the interim ruling itself, that there is even plausibility to South Africa’s allegations, that would be the most damaging to Israel’s standing.

16.10.2023 - 12:30 [ Times of Israel ]

Israel at War: Moral Red Lines

As we enter into week two of this horrifying war, Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi struggle with the question of if there are moral red lines when responding to absolute evil and if there are, how do we define them. Noting that Israelis are entering this discussion wounded, grieving, enraged, and scared, they acknowledge our need to fight the war fully while grappling with who we want to be not just who we are at this moment.

11.10.2023 - 17:09 [ Times of Israel ]

For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces

Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015.

According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2018, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

13.09.2023 - 17:40 [ Times of Israel ]

With Israel’s ethos at stake, 13-hour court hearing proves riveting, fateful TV drama

In addition to the precedent of having the entire 15-strong Supreme Court bench convened for the first time in the nation’s history, the extensive, live coverage was itself somewhat historic: TV channels are in the ratings business, and evidently recognized that the sight of a room full of largely drearily dressed middle-aged people discussing complex principles of law, without even the prospect of a definitive conclusion in the near future, would nonetheless prove a more riveting must-watch for a substantial proportion of the Israeli public than the usual non-primetime daily fare of singing, dancing and dating shows, cooking contests and sitcoms.

10.09.2023 - 15:42 [ Times of Israel ]

Judiciary vs executive: Israel’s branches of government set for unprecedented clash

Although the High Court has heard petitions against Basic Laws before, it has never heard a case against a law specifically designed to limit the High Court’s own powers, and the powers of the judiciary more broadly, nor has it done so amid such internal political turmoil over the balance of power between the branches of government.

Because of the extremely sensitive nature of the case and the highly explosive impact the court’s ruling may have, the entire bench of 15 High Court justices will hear the petitions, a judicial panel unprecedented in size in Israel’s history.

10.09.2023 - 15:20 [ Times of Israel ]

Gallant and two other ministers say government must respect High Court rulings

That sentiment was echoed by Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, also of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party: “Of course.”

Interior and Health Minister Moshe Arbel of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party took a similar tone. “Yes, unequivocally,” he responded when asked if High Court rulings need to be followed.

09.09.2023 - 18:22 [ Times of Israel ]

Masses expected at 36th week of anti-overhaul protests ahead of key court showdown

An unprecedented full 15-justice panel of the High Court is slated to hear the petitions against the law on September 12. A variety of government ministers and other figures have warned of the potential for chaos if the court strikes down the law passed by the Knesset to curb the court’s authority, setting up a potential constitutional crisis.

Demonstrations are to be held at dozens of locations across the country. The Tel Aviv protest begins with a march from Habima Square to the central rally at Kaplan Street at 8 p.m.

01.09.2023 - 12:05 [ Ghadir Hani / Times of Israel ]

Don’t leave me to bear this alone

A few weeks ago, I was among the organizers of the March of the Dead in Tel Aviv. 147 coffins signifying all the Arabs killed this year were carried by young Arab men and women. Many Jews marched with us and along with great sadness we had hope that we were not alone. But for the members of the families – the orphans – this is not enough. In many of these murder cases, the victim’s family live next to the murderer who is not charged by the police because there is a lack of evidence or proof. Imagine a situation where a despicable murderer walks free alongside relatives of the murdered. What human society could allow this to occur?

02.08.2023 - 11:10 [ Times of Israel ]

In sign of increased tensions with Iran, US forces build up presence in Persian Gulf

Washington has sent ships, planes and marines to boost security around Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has resumed harassing and seizing ships trying to pass through vital waterway

24.07.2023 - 10:54 [ Times of Israel ]

Protester hurt outside Knesset after being struck in head by police water cannon

A protester near the Knesset is injured after being struck in the head by a police water cannon.

There is no immediate word on the demonstrator’s condition as an ambulance is called to the scene.

24.07.2023 - 10:42 [ Tmes of Israel ]

Police deploy water cannon against anti-overhaul protesters blocking access to Knesset

Police deploy water cannons in Jerusalem to clear protesters blocking roads leading to the Knesset, where lawmakers are deliberating the coalition’s contentious “reasonableness” bill ahead of the final votes.

16.07.2023 - 08:03 [ Times of Israel ]

‘Unprecedented civil resistance’: Mass rallies Saturday open 28th week of protests

(15 July 2023)

On Friday they were joined by the Israel Medical Association, which warned that hospitals and doctors could strike in opposition to the bill.

The association held emergency discussions Thursday to discuss the ramifications of the law and members agreed that “it will devastate the healthcare system and is not just a theoretical concern,” said IMA Chairman Prof. Zion Hagay.

16.07.2023 - 07:39 [ Times of Israel ]

Public health staff plan strike if overhaul not halted – report

(13 July 2023)

Over a thousand doctors on Thursday penned a letter to the union’s chair, Zion Hagay, urging him to declare a strike until the “complete trashing of the overhaul,” charging that the plans will harm “the quality of medicine in Israel, will harm patients, and undermine the great achievements of Israeli medicine.”

“We are not ready to turn into the intellectuals, scientists, and educated of Germany in 1933,” the letter read, likening potential consequences of the overhaul to the Nazis’ purge of intellectuals during their rise to power.

10.06.2023 - 19:19 [ Washington Post ]

Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

(September 6, 2022)

A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.

10.06.2023 - 19:15 [ Times of Israel ]

Indictment says Trump took nuclear docs and revealed a Pentagon attack plan

(9 June 2023)

“The classified documents Trump stored in the boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries,” the indictment said.

02.04.2023 - 15:57 [ Times of Israel ]

To okay overhaul delay, Ben Gvir gets promise for ‘national guard’ under his control

(28.03.2023)

Deal cut after national security minister reportedly threatened to quit coalition over decision to halt judicial legislation; critics slam move as handing Ben Gvir private militia

16.03.2023 - 14:02 [ Times of Israel ]

A last, desperate, long-shot plea: Prime Minister Netanyahu, stop this madness

Some say you’ve unleashed this revolution to evade your trial. That makes no sense. You could drag it on for years or subvert it with less drastic legislative initiatives.

Others posit that you are intimidated by the extremists — those you have empowered politically, and the toxic commentators on TV, radio and social media, including some very close to home.

I hear that some people who know you well think you have convinced yourself that you are truly King Bibi, a great, historic national figure, wiser and more capable than all.

01.03.2023 - 13:00 [ Times of Israel ]

Knesset committee okays bill sharply limiting judicial review; opposition: ‘Putsch’

Opposition lawmakers boycotted the final votes in committee approving the bill for its first reading in the Knesset plenum, after Rothman granted only one MK from each Knesset faction the right to speak for five minutes.

“This is a dictatorship and the silencing of people’s opinions, we won’t be part of it. Vote among yourselves” shouted Hadash MK Ofer Cassif at Rothman.

“This is a regime putsch!” Yisrael Beytenu Yulia Malinovsky fumed before leaving the committee room.