A $38 billion military aid package for Israel is moving to the Senate after being approved in the chamber's Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. The bill (S.B. 3176) provides Israel, which currently receives more American aid than any other nation, an additional $3.8 billion a year over the next decade....
Israel’s Coalition Talks Falter Ahead of Midnight Deadline
JERUSALEM — Israel was bracing for more political turmoil Monday as talks between the country's rival political leaders faltered ahead of a midnight deadline to form a coalition government. Israel is in the throes of a political crisis that has left the country with a caretaker government and paralyzed legislative...
Netanyahu Rival Becomes Parliament Speaker, Signaling Deal
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival was chosen on Thursday as the new speaker of parliament, an unexpected step that could pave the way to a power-sharing deal between the two men as the country grapples with a worsening coronavirus crisis. The sudden turnabout by Benny Gantz,...
Aid Group Says Mideast Lockdowns Hinder Humanitarian Efforts
CAIRO — An international aid group said Wednesday that closures aimed at containing the coronavirus pandemic are preventing it from reaching 300,000 people in conflict zones across the Middle East, as the coronavirus arrived in war-torn Libya and three more cases were detected in Syria. The Norwegian Refugee Council said...
Arab Voters Key to Blocking Netanyahu-Led Hard-Line Majority
TIRA, Israel — A surge in Arab voter turnout was key to depriving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist allies of a parliamentary majority in this week’s Israeli election. Undercutting Netanyahu’s ambitions was celebrated as sweet payback in the nearly 2 million-strong minority that the hard-line leader had relentlessly...
Israeli Exit Polls: Netanyahu Ahead, but Short of Majority
JERUSALEM — Israel's embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced an uncertain path to staying in office on Tuesday, even as preliminary results showed his Likud party pulling ahead of its opponents in the country's third election in less than a year. Exit polls on Israeli TV stations showed Likud and...
Weary and Divided, Israel Goes Back to the Polls
JERUSALEM — For the third time in under a year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking re-election, and once again the Israeli leader is on the ropes. After two inconclusive elections last year, opinion polls forecast another stalemate — a troubling scenario for Netanyahu, who will go on trial on...
Israel's Lieberman Stills Holds Keys to Future Government
JERUSALEM — Israel finds itself in a familiar place after a tumultuous election campaign — with maverick politician Avigdor Lieberman still seemingly in control of the country’s fate. The run-up to Israel's third election in less than a year saw criminal charges filed against the prime minister, an American Mideast...
Here's How America's Allies Are Viewing U.S. Politics Right Now
For American politics, it’s been a week for the ages: a bungled start to the 2020 presidential primary season, a State of the Union speech with partisanship on full display and a conclusion to the most contentious chapter of all — the nation’s third-ever impeachment trial. Watching all this from...
In Blessing Annexation, Trump Erodes an International Norm
Annexation, at its heart, is a byproduct of conflict. Almost never is it an act of peace, though it has been cast that way at times throughout human history. Certainly not under international law, which describes it as the forcible acquisition of territory by one state at the expense of...