Tag Archives: Knesset

The Washington Post reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that he would ask the Israeli parliament to grant him immunity from three criminal charges, tying up further the lengthy legal proceedings against him in a political system that has been gripped by deadlock for the past year. Netanyahu’s immunity request to the Knesset would shield him from prosecution at …

The Times Of Israel reports: Israelis will return to the ballot box for the third consecutive national election in 11 months on March 2 after its top politicians again failed to build a governing coalition, in the latest twist in a sprawling and unprecedented crisis that has left the country in political limbo for a year. The Knesset was automatically …

Politico Europe reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies failed to garner a majority of seats in Israel’s legislature, as Israelis went to the ballot boxes for the second time in a year on Tuesday following an inconclusive election in April. With 92 percent of votes counted, the prime minister’s Likud party is set to take a total …

Haaretz reports: The Knesset voted Wednesday night to dissolve itself after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition, sending Israel to a new election mere seven weeks after the last one. At the heart of the impasse was the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students: Yisrael Beiteinu’s Avigdor Lieberman, without whom Netanyahu can’t form a coalition, refused …

The Associated Press reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urgently worked to break a deadlock in coalition negotiations Tuesday as the once far-fetched possibility of fresh general elections only months after April polls loomed ever larger. Netanyahu has until Wednesday night to reach a coalition deal, but he has been unable to convince ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman to abandon a …

TIME Magazine reports: Israel’s parliament approved a controversial piece of legislation on Thursday that defines the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people but which critics warn sidelines minorities. The government says the bill, passed in the early morning hours, will merely enshrine into law Israel’s existing character. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called its passage a “historic moment in …

Haaretz reports: A Knesset committee on Wednesday approved a draft law sponsored by the government itself, allowing single women who cannot conceive to obtain surrogacy services in order to build a family. With the approval of the Knesset’s Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, The bill can now proceed to its second and third readings into law. The committee rejected propositions …

Newsweek reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s speech to the Israeli parliament was disrupted Monday after Arab lawmakers held up placards and engaged in a brawl with security staff in a protest against the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The lawmakers from the Arab Joint List, Israel’s third-biggest party, were forcibly ejected from the speech that they had earlier …

Ynet News reports: Likud’s first openly-gay MK Amir Ohana, who entered the Knesset following the retirement of minister Silvan Shalom, was sworn in on Monday, while members of ultra-Orthodox faction United Torah Judaism decided to leave the plenum in protest. “I am here with everything that I am – the things I chose to be and those I didn’t – …

Via the Jerusalem Post: The Knesset voted down two bills regarding civil unions and marriage on Wednesday with a majority vote of 50 to 39 for each bill. The first bill, proposed by Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie sought to create civil unions, an alternative for those who could not have their weddings officiated by the rabbinate or other religious …

Via the Jerusalem Post: The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Monday voted down a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in any way. The legislation, proposed by MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid), would make any law prohibiting discrimination based on gender, age, country of origin, etc. apply to LGBT people as well. “Only Gila Gamliel …

Openly gay Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz has announced his intent to run for mayor of Tel Aviv. Horowitz, a second-term MK and former journalist for Channel 10 News, will be challenging former Labor member Ron Huldai, who has served as Tel Aviv’s mayor since 1998. If he wins, Horowitz (49) would be Tel Aviv’s first openly gay mayor, and the …