Secularism in Israel

Lapid said he wanted the creation of a "national reconstruction government", which could be led by Netanyahu's Likud party, but that it was important for Netanyahu to go, the BBC reported.

Türkiye and Israel have decided to start works for upgrading the level of mutual diplomatic representation by appointing ambassadors in a most concrete step of the joint efforts to normalize the bilateral ties.

Israel's weakened coalition government announced Monday that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock.

A coalition of ideologically divergent parties ousted on Sunday the hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and formed a new government in a seismic shift in the country's turbulent politics.

Leaders of the far-right Yamina and centrist Yesh Atid, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, and Ra''am (United Arab List) chairman Mansour Abbas have reached an agreement on a unity government whose deadline was midnight local time.
In a statement on Twitter, Lapid said that he informed the president of the country about the agreement.

A former ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 30 said he would seek to form a coalition government with the Israeli leader's opponents, taking a major step toward ending the rule of the longtime premier.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Dec. 26 called on French Jews to leave their country to protest a Paris-hosted conference planned for next month aimed at restarting Palestine-Israel peace talks, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth has reported, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. 

Final opinion polls published Friday put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party four seats behind its centre-left rival with four days to go before a general election.

Several polls released on Friday -- the last day opinion surveys can be released before Tuesday's vote -- showed the Zionist Union pulling further ahead of Likud after an intense campaign.

Six days before Israel votes in a snap general election, the centre-left Zionist Union opened a lead of several points over the ruling rightwing Likud party, a poll found on March 11.        

I can never forget that one sentence from Thomas Friedman’s legendary book on the Middle East, “From Beirut to Jerusalem.” It was something like this: “Jews would like to wake up in Israel but would like to live next to Switzerland and Belgium.” After 20 years of Likud governments and small immigrant parties holding politics hostage, unfortunately Israel is now no different from any s