Israeli and Palestinian soccer players will join the same team for a peace-fueled soccer game with FC Barcelona. [Jerusalem Post] Collegiate Hillel leader discusses how to redefine Jewish life for college population. [Huffington Post] Netanyahu works to maintain alliance between Yesh Atid and Jewish Home. [Times of Israel] A Jewish day school’s basketball team returns to tournament, after forfeiting last years due to a Shabbat scheduling conflict. [Times of Israel] A hard-left NGO leaked an EU report …More

A 10-year-old girl is the source of a current gender controversy in Israeli basketball. Shira Greenboim just wants to play ball, but there isn’t a girl’s team in her age group where she lives in Alfei Menashe, so she practices and plays with the boys. Recently, some teams have refused to play against her team on the grounds that she is a girl. A couple of months ago, when Israel was still in the midst of the Knesset elections, Tzipi Livni met with the family and discussed the ordeal. Free Israel also …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

Tensions are growing between controversial Yisrael-Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman and the newly empowered Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid. According to Israeli television station Channel 10, Lapid has expressed serious interest in assuming the Foreign Ministry portfolio, stating that he feels unqualified for the other two offered to him, defense and finance. “I am not appropriate for the finance portfolio, so I will not take it… For the same reason, I won’t take the Defense Ministry,” he …More

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to form the next government’s coalition, but that has not stopped some political parties from stating their positions. Shas leader Eli Yashai has said that he and his ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party would rather be in the opposition than part of a coalition that includes Yair Lapid and the Yesh Atid Party. Shas is also in negotiations with United Torah Judaism to create a major ultra-Orthodox bloc that would include 18 seats in the Knesset. Yishai criticized …More

Yair Lapid, head of the new 19-seat strong Yesh Atid party in Israel, recently spoke with TIME magazine to discuss the two-state solution, religious politics, and his meteoric ascent into government. Lapid, who worked previously as a popular television journalist, told TIME that he sees a way forward in the Palestinian crisis, and he thinks Israel is primed to get there. "Israelis convinced themselves that there is no use in talking to the Palestinians because they’re not to be trusted," he said. "I think …More

The surprise of Israel’s 2013 election was the rapid ascendance of the new Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, led by former television celebrity Yair Lapid, at the expense of Israel’s known political entities. The party surpassed all polling estimates to be come the nation’s second-most powerful party in Israel’s 19th Knesset. With 19 out of 120 parliamentary seats, Yesh Atid is in prime position to dictate many of the terms of Israel’s next ruling coalition, to be led by …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. Last week I was having a drink in Washington DC with a colleague at the well-known bar, and former employer of Congressman Paul Ryan, Tortilla Coast. While deciding what to order I overheard two Hill staffers talking about …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. The final results are in: Likud-Beiteinu 31, Yesh Atid 19, Labor 15, Jewish Home 12, Shas 11, United Torah Judaism 7, Hatnuah 6, Meretz 6, Hadash 4, Ta’al 4, Balad 3, and Kadima 2. The big winner is Yesh Atid as its 19 …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. There are misconceptions that the rise of Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, which is now the second biggest party in the Knesset, will somehow result in a renewed liberal conviction in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. On …More

Israel’s voting committee announced final results for the national election this morning, awarding a right-leaning group one more seat than was expected and upending the supposed even split between conservatives and liberals. Jewish Home walked away with 12 seats, despite pundits claiming since Tuesday that the right-wing party would take 11. When exit polls put the party at the lower figure, the Knesset looked to be split 60/60 down the middle, meaning trouble for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s …More

As political analysts scurried to prophesize what the Knesset’s new coalition might look like, the government leaders themselves came out in force to remark on yesterday’s Israeli election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s Likud-Beiteinu took 31 seats, maintained a positive air today, despite speculation over his chances of forming a successful coalition. “We woke up this morning to a clear message from the public: it wants me to form a government that will bring about great …More