Uri Cohen 12/23/2020
Israel’s parliament officially dispersed at midnight on Tuesday after failing to pass a budget, sending the country to its fourth election cycle in less than two years. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu refused to pass a budget for months, hoping to use it as a loophole to break for snap elections at a convenient time instead of passing the reins of government to Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz in November, as the two agreed. Yet the early election, scheduled for March 23, may prove to be costly for the veteran politician, as several challengers from his own camp seem to pose a viable threat to the throne and promise to outflank the prime minister from the right. Gantz, meanwhile, seems headed for the exits, and will in all likelihood not return to parliament, barely two years after entering politics with a bang. Recent polls show that Netanyahu, while slightly gaining seats in some surveys, faces an uphill battle in forming a coalition, as the number
4 elections in 2 years: Israeli government again collapses, triggering new elections
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Hamas terrorists. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24News – Israeli Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz signed Tuesday an order to seize four million dollars transferred from Iran to Gaza’s ruling faction Hamas, the Defense Ministry announced in a statement.
At the recommendation of the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF), Gantz signed the decree in the attempt to foil funds for developing terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, as well as paying salaries to Hamas members.
The order is aimed against Gazan businessman Zuhir Shamalch and his money-changing firm, “Al-Mutahadun.”
A similar order was signed in February, 2020. But following the move, the Gaza company began operating under the name, “Al-Markaziya Lil-Sirafa.”
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin vs. Supreme Court President Esther Hayut.
Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) on Tuesday morning sent a letter to Supreme Court President Esther Hayut ahead of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday in the High Court of Justice of petitions against Israel’s Nationality Law, warning against any judicial intervention in basic laws, which comprise Israel’s constitutional foundation.
“The Knesset is the legislature and it also holds the authority of the Constituent Assembly. The Supreme Court draws its authority from the Knesset and not the other way around,” Speaker Levin wrote. “The very debate in the Supreme Court on matters of basic laws is a challenge to the most basic democratic principles of the sovereignty of the people, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. Any ruling concerning an intervention in the Basic Laws passed by the Knesset would be given without authority and would therefore be invalid.”
Israel Heads to Elections as Parliament Fails to Extend Own Deadline Uri Cohen 12/22/2020
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, offered up yet another crazed spectacle late Monday night, with a crucial vote swinging unexpectedly and in dramatic fashion at the very last minute, sending the nation almost certainly to its fourth election in two years. The bill that was meant to extend the budget deadline once more and allow Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz one last opportunity to settle their differences and avoid elections was put up to a vote close to 1 am, after Netanyahu made certain it had the requisite number of yeas to pass. After the first roll call, it appeared the veteran prime minister had done it again, and was on his way to securing more concessions from Gantz and remaining in office for the foreseeable future. But during the final roll call, three lawmakers from Gantz’s Blue and White party who had been hiding in the parliame
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