Likud News

Ami Pedahzur and Arie Perliger have written an interesting book called a oeJewish Terrorism in Israela .

Shaul Mofaz, shown at a Knesset session in April 2009, says his proposal aims to change the atmosphere between Israel and the Palestinians, so the gaps on the final-status issues can be bridged.

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Monday there was no deal yet on a prisoner swap with Hamas, as efforts appeared to gather pace on an accord that could see a Gaza-held soldier exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians.

The Palestinian leadership is making medium-term preparations to go to the United Nations to ask for a declaration of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders .

Israel would be in violation of an international agreement barring smoking in all public areas if the Knesset abrogates an existing law, thus allowing unlimited smoking in "neighborhood pubs" and removing responsibility for enforcement from owners of public establishments.

Lawmakers from Likud and the right-wing National Union have proposed a bill to prevent the Israel Defense Forces from forcing its soldiers to evacuate West Bank settlements against their will.

Last August, PM Salam Fayyad released a Plan to 'establish Palestine as an independent, democratic, progressive, and modern Arab state, with full sovereignty over its territory in the West Bank and Gaza, on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.' within two years.

The Israeli education minister has unveiled plans to take teams of senior army officers to high schools across the country to help teachers "foster the motivation" of pupils to serve in combat units following a decline in conscription rates.

The United States voiced its opposition on Monday to unilateral Palestinian moves to seek recognition for an independent state, saying negotiations with Israel were the best way forward.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Palestinian leadership once again on Monday, claiming it was not interested in resuming peace negotiations.

Where is the Left in Israel? asked French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on November 10, ahead of the visit by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz could easily have been prime minister right now. Mofaz only lost the September 17, 2008, party leadership race to Tzipi Livni by 431 votes.

In a few words, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was able to encapsulate the political situation in Israel: "There is no more peace camp." New survey numbers appear to prove him right.

Five Israeli Knesset members visited London this week on behalf of a group promoting Israeli-British relations.

MKs representing Eastern European communities in Israel gathered for a special meeting Tuesday in order to discuss a new type of stereotype said to be growing in Israel following the ghastly murder of six members of the Ushrenko family.

Coalition Chairman Knesset Member Zeev Elkin harshly criticized Raanana's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz for linking between the Ushrenko family murder and the immigration of non-Jews. "I regret Rabbi Peretz's remarks," said Elkin.

The election was two days away, and pollsters were calling it a deadlock between two candidates clearly representing the nation's left and right wings.

The state should combat obesity among the young by better monitoring of the food served in schools, community centers and youth clubs and banning vending machines in schools that offer sweets and carbonated drinks, according to a bill proposed by Likud MK Danny Danon.

Since taking the helm of the Jewish Agency, Natan Sharansky has made stopping assimilation of Diaspora Jews a focus of his office, sometimes breaking with the line set by his predecessor Zeev Bielski.

A year ago, I wrote a post for Comment is Free expressing my hopes and dreams for an Obama presidency .A Most of my comments revolved around the then upcoming Israeli elections.A The editors asked the same authors to follow up a year later with an appraisal of Obama's first year in office.A What follows are excerpts of my post from a year ago ...