Israel Elections 5773

JERUSALEM – With one month to go before Israelis cast their ballots, religious and nationalist parties have engaged in highly negative campaigns against each other, claiming that only their party will be able to pressure the next prime minister into promoting their domestic, economic and religious agendas. According to all polls, those parties are likely to be the basis of the next governing coalition – expected to be led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The right of center parties continue to maintain their lead, albeit by a slightly smaller margin in eight polls released December 9-15.

Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely celebrated her victory in the Likud primaries.

The Jewish Home party announced the launch of its English-speaking campaign.

In depth analysis of the Likud's final list for the Knesset (part III in a series).

In depth analysis of the Likud's final list for the Knesset (part II in a series).

In depth analysis of the Likud's final list for the Knesset (part I in a series).

Knesset Jeremy's average of last week's polls.

Danon came fifth in the primaries, which often means a ministerial position.

Intrigue and rumor swirls around Danny Ayalon's exclusion from the Yisrael Beytenu list, as no one is officially saying a thing. There's nothing nature abhors more than a vacuum.

Party registration for running in the Israeli elections to Knesset finally closed, and the pollsters are busy.

Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin (Likud) criticized the practice of switching between parties by various Members of Knesset and Knesset candidates , calling...

Amir Peretz, former Histadrut union chief and former Defense Minister, is now a former member of the Avoda (Labor) party. He is moving over...

Speaker of the Knesset Rueven Rivlin (Likud) said Wednesday that he would be willing to be moved lower on the joint Likud Yisrael Beitenu...

MK Aryeh Eldad (Strength to Israel) and Knesset candidate Moshe Feiglin (Likud) traded barbs today over ideological purity and compromise in politics.

According to a report on Israel Channel 10, Shelly Yechimovitch, the head of the Labor party, said that if she is appointed Minister of...

This item in Hebrew from Israel's Channel 2/Mako informs us that: 49% of all first time voters define themselves as right-wing. 20% as center but right-leaning. 5% as...

Labor party primary results are in, and Shelly Yechimovitch did not come out a winner.

The Labor party, headed up by Shelly Yechimovitch, will be holding primaries on Thursday. Nana10 reports that senior staffers in Yechimovitch's office have set up...

The following poll result were reported on the Knesset TV Channel, after the Cease Fire announcement.

The average of 2 polls published last week, Channel 2 and Jerusalem Post. The Post poll was conducted November 12-13 and the Channel 2 poll was published November 14.

So far, the only candidates that I am 100% certain about are from the list from Mattot Arim.

All but Smoliansky are allies of Naftali Bennett who trounced MK Zvulon Orlev to become the new chairman of the party last week.

On Tuesday night, around 100 English speaking Likud members and supporters got to hear MK Tzipi Hotoveli, MK Gila Gamliel and Jerusalem City Council...

Eldad described a vacuum on the right, and a need for an ideological right-wing that will say things "that have been forgotten."

We may be in different parties, but Jeremy Gimpel is representative of the English-speaking community in Israel. His message represents the selfless Zionist commitment of the community in the political sphere. My hope is that all Anglos who are members of the Jewish Home should make sure they turn up at the polling station and support Jeremy Gimpel and help him get into the Knesset.

JERUSALEM – More than 100,000 American voters in Israel cast their ballots for a presidential candidate, with nearly 80,000 of them having submitted a ballot provided by iVoteIsrael, a local non-profit organization that spent the past few months aggressively encouraging American expatriates living in Israel to register and vote. The remaining registered voters cast their ballots via the absentee route.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu congratulated re-elected President Barack Obama.

TEL AVIV – Political pundits have long debated who is the real Benjamin Netanyahu. Is he a pragmatist handcuffed by his right-wing support base and fealty to his late father’s nationalist vision? Is he a true right-wing ideologue whose apparent concessions to Israeli-Palestinian peace are but feints?

Israel's political party conventions make the Knesset seem polite and tame. At the Likud Central Committee convention the other day, the vote for PM Netanyahu's proposal for the Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu to run together in the upcoming election was conducted by a "show of hands" popular vote. Not the best way to hold a vote.