Six weeks after Israeli national elections and with just a day to spare before the deadline, Benjamin Netanyahu has finally secured himself a coalition. Bibi’s Likud-Beiteinu party will join with Yesh Atid, Jewish Home and Hatnua to make a 68-seat coalition, ensuring Netanyahu a majority rule in the Knesset and allowing him to retain his premiership. Hatnua joined the prime minister’s coalition early on, bringing just six seats to the table, making it ever more pressing that Netanyahu ink a deal with …More

The last surviving member of plot to kill Hitler died in Munich at the age of 90. [NY Times] American Freedom Defense Institute faces backlash after using a terrorist’s quotes to show the reality of jihad. [CBS] The Israeli government has reportedly formed a coalition with 68 members and four parties. [Times of Israel] President Obama will dine with the recently crowned Miss Israel during his three-day visit to the Jewish State. [Jewish Press] Austria threatens to withdraw peacekeeping troops from the …More

Yesh Atid and Jewish Home have joined a bloc alliance with Kadima, weeks after Israel’s January 22 elections. Yesh Atid and Jewish Home are two highly sought parties by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has just one week left to create a coalition and retain his premiership following the grant of an extension last week. Yesh Atid, which has 19 seats, and Jewish Home, which has 12, proved an unlikely alliance in the days following the election. Yesh Atid promotes itself as a moderate, left of center party, a jump …More

The ceasefire that ended Operation Pillar of Defense has been broken, as at least one rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel Tuesday morning. [New York Times] Israel's Likud and Jewish Home parties seem poised to strike a deal to join Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition after concluding their third meeting in four days on Monday. [Times of Israel] The Greek Jewish community has filed a complaint after stand-up comedian Tzimis Panousis used a graphic combining the Jewish Star of David and a …More

Tzipi Livni’s centrist Hatnua party has joined a coalition with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first party to do so in the weeks following the January 22 election. The announcement came Tuesday after late morning discussions, the first sign Netanyahu may be on his way to forming a broader government. “Livni and I need to put aside disagreements in order to address the problems,” Netanyahu said today, indicating Livni would take the lead on discussions with the …More

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today his political party would merge with another. Netanyahu’s Likud will join with Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. As part of the agreement, Lieberman will take the number two spot in the party. "This is the time to show strength to our enemies and unity among us," Netanyahu said. The new political group, called Likud Beiteinu, will make the largest party in the Knesset. As it stands, Netanyahu’s Likud holds 27 seats, …More

The Israeli Defense Forces experienced its largest influx of haredi Jews today, when 100 ultra Orthodox draftees lined up to enlist. The unprecedented numbers came after a July 31 expiration of the Tal Law, which previously exempted religious students from mandatory IDF service. Earlier this year, the Israeli high court declared new legislation should be adopted, imposing the deadline. The timetable came and went, however, without an agreed upon replacement law going into effect. The issue of military service …More

Rob Lattin is Jspace News' Foreign Affairs Correspondent. In addition to covering foreign affairs for Jspace, Rob is a blogger on Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for the Foreign Policy Association, as well as a freelance writer. He can be reached by email at rob@jspacecorp.com. It is official, Israel’s super coalition experiment was a failure. After just 70 days, Shaul Mofaz and the Kadima party voted to remove itself from the coalition over the inability of the government to come up with a …More

The Kadima Party voted to quit Israel's government coalition. The Knesset members from Kadima voted 24-3 on Tuesday night to leave the government after negotiations broke down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party over a universal draft bill. Kadima had joined the governing coalition just two months ago. On Tuesday, [Shaul] Mofaz reportedly rejected an offer from Netanyahu that would have drafted half of the age-appropriate haredi Orthodox men into the military and the other half into …More

Negotiations between the Kadima and Likud parties over a universal draft bill have broken down, Israeli media are reporting. The talks reportedly ended on Tuesday morning and Kadima scheduled a faction meeting for Tuesday evening to discuss its future in the government coalition, according to reports. It appears likely that Kadima will pull out of the coalition, some 70 days after joining it. Kadima Party head Shaul Mofaz reportedly rejected on Tuesday a compromise offer from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, …More

Rob Lattin is Jspace News' Foreign Affairs Correspondent. In addition to covering foreign affairs for Jspace, Rob is a blogger on Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for the Foreign Policy Association, as well as a freelance writer. He can be reached by email at rob@jspacecorp.com. Israel’s “super-coalition,” which makes up an unprecedented 94 seats in the Knesset, is not so super these days. The coalition is at risk of collapsing over attempted reforms of the Tal Law, which provides …More

Tzipi Livni, the former head of Kadima, said the centrist political party would not be in existence by the next Knesset elections. Livni, who stepped down as head of Kadima and of the opposition after losing in March's party primary, was asked if Kadima would be part of the next government, which is set to be elected in November 2013. "There will be no Kadima by the next election," she said Tuesday, according to Army Radio, at an Interdisciplinary Center conference in Herzliya. Livni did not elaborate on the …More