Category: Israel

CHICAGO (JTA) — It was 6 p.m. Monday night and the hallway of the Chicago hotel was suddenly filled with Israelis navigating suitcases through a throng of American Jews debating what to eat for dinner. They were headed to the airport for the last flight to Israel that would allow them to vote in Tuesday’s election […]

JAFFA, Israel (JTA) — Niji Abu Shehadeh sits outside a polling station a block away from Jaffa’s Givat Ha’Aliya beach, clutching a wad of white ballot slips. The slips contain a “Daled,” the Hebrew letter representing Balad, the party led by his father Sami Abu Shehadeh. The young Abu Shehadeh hands slips to two elderly […]

(JTA) — According to exit polls, Benjamin Netanyahu looks to have eked out a victory in Israel’s election on Tuesday, with a projected bloc of 61-62 seats, at or just above the 61 needed to form a majority in a 120-seat parliament. Those polls, taken at voting stations by local broadcasters and released at 10 […]

(JTA) — As most of the votes in Israel continue to be tallied on Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu looks assured of returning to power, as his far-right bloc of parties is predicted to win around 65 seats, well above the 61 needed in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. The official final results are not expected to […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Few of the American Jewish groups who would not speak out about the prospect of extremists in government before Israel’s elections have done so the day after, even though Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right provocateur, seems headed for a position of power. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden called Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on being reelected Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu said the two would work to expand the Abraham Accords. “President Biden called me to congratulate me on my elections victory and said the U.S.-Israel alliance is as resilient as ever,’ Netanyahu said Monday in Hebrew […]

(JTA) — As she walked along Tel Aviv’s long stretch of boardwalk Wednesday afternoon, the mounting returns making clear that Israel’s next government would be right-wing, Bridget Gottdank thought back to another time she cast a losing vote for a liberal candidate. “All day I’ve been thinking about 2016. When I found out [Donald Trump] […]

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called his rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to concede this week’s election as most of the votes were counted by the end of Thursday. “The State of Israel is above any political consideration. I wish Netanyahu luck for the sake of the people of Israel and the […]

(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had a homecoming of sorts on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Monday evening. Observing the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the final holiday of the Jewish fall festivals, Bennett visited Kehilath Jeshurun, the Orthodox synagogue he and his wife Galit attended when they lived in the neighborhood in the early […]

NEW YORK (JTA) — The first thing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, facing a room full of the leaders of the American Jewish community: “I wish my mom were here.” The son of American immigrants to Israel, Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks a fluent, nearly accentless English, and spent years living in […]