A7News: Likud loses seat - as haredi faction rises to 8

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Monday, Apr. 15 '19, י' בניסן תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. LIKUD LOSES SEAT - AS HAREDI FACTION RISES TO 8
2. NETANYAHU MEETS WITH HAREDI LAWMAKERS
3. SHAS CANDIDATES BACK NETANYAHU FOR PM
4. BLUE AND WHITE: WE WON'T JOIN UNITY GOVERNMENT
5. REPORT: TRUMP PLAN WON'T INCLUDE PALESTINIAN STATE
6. NEW RIGHT'S VOTE RECOUNT REQUEST APPROVED
7. RIVLIN REQUESTS NOT TO SIT NEXT TO NETANYAHU
8. MEET ISRAEL'S NEWEST ELITE POLICE UNIT: YASAM EILAT


1. LIKUD LOSES SEAT - AS HAREDI FACTION RISES TO 8
by David Rosenberg

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261875

The provisional results for last Tuesday's Knesset election now show the Likud with 35 seats, down one from the initial results released last week by the Central Elections Committee, while the haredi United Torah Judaism party gained a seat, rising from seven to eight mandates.

While the final results will not be ready until Wednesday, the latest vote count update released by the Central Elections Committee shows the United Torah Judaism faction with eight mandates, at the Likud's expense.

The actual shift in votes was minor, however, and leaves the UTJ's eight seat with only an 80-vote margin for the time being. The seat could thus be 'lost' by another minor shift in the vote total.

The Likud remains the closest party to another seat, requiring just 202 more votes – if the remaining vote count remains unchanged – to regain its 36th seat. If the UTJ gains additional votes, however, the Likud will also require more additional votes beyond the 202 it currently lacks, at a rate of 2.5 votes for every additional vote counted to the UTJ.

Because the seat change on Monday occurred between the Likud and UTJ, the balance of power between the right and left blocs remains unchanged, with 65 seats for the right-wing – religious bloc, and 55 seats for the left-wing – Arab bloc.

On Monday, United Torah Judaism representatives met with President Rivlin for consultations prior to the president's selection of a candidate for the premiership.

UTJ recommended Netanyahu be tapped for a fifth term as prime minister.

"We recommend Netanyahu as candidate for the premiership," said Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.

"We worked with him during the previous term. We did everything we could for the Jewish people, and so we think that he is the right candidate for prime minister."


2. NETANYAHU MEETS WITH HAREDI LAWMAKERS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The heads of Israel's haredi parties on Monday morning met Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem home, Kikar Hashabbat reported.

Netanyahu's meeting with Shas leader Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and UTJ's Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman came just before the two met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to recommend Netanyahu continue in his position as PM.

The meeting is believed to have focused on coalition negotiations, including the parties' goal of passing an amended Draft Law within the first month of the next government, and Deri's bill to ban the recognition of private conversions.

Former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) opposes both, and has promised not to join the coalition unless the Draft Law is passed as is.

"This was a maintenance discussion," a source told Kikar Hashabbat. "Netanyahu wants to make sure there won't be any surprises."


3. SHAS CANDIDATES BACK NETANYAHU FOR PM
by Hezki Baruch

The Sephardic-haredi Shas party's delegation to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin recommended that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party, be tasked with forming the next government.

Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) wished Rivlin's wife Nechama a speedy recovery and said, "I think that the Netanyahu-led government did its job properly. He is worthy of continuing to run the State of Israel."

Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) said, "From the start of the campaign, we were completely transparent and we said we recommend Binyamin Netanyahu for the next Knesset's prime minister. We believe Netanyahu can lead the country as he has previously, so our recommendation is to task Binyamin Netanyahu with the formation of the next government. We hope that this will bring Israel only good."

Shas MK Meshulam Nahari told Rivlin: "We recommend Binyamin Netanyahu for Prime MInister. That was our message before the elections. This last term was good and we want to continue on the same path, and therefore we recommend Netanyahu for Prime Minister."

Shas MK Yakov Margi echoed Nahari's words: "We've been through a difficult election, and it's behind us now. We have one nation and one state. We want the work done in the previous government to continue along the same lines, and like we said during the elections, we recommend Netanyahu for Prime Minister."

"Is your recommendation conditional on the next government working along the same lines the previous government did?" Rivlin asked the MKs.

"The previous government emphasized retaining the status quo on issues rife with conflict," Vaknin answered. "We will not help another government which will harm that which is holy to Israel, such as Shabbat (the Sabbath), which is important for the unity of Israel."

At the end of the meeting, Rivlin noted that 44 of the required 61 MKs have recommended Netanyahu continue as Prime Minister.

"On Wednesday afternoon, I will decide who to task with forming the government," Rivlin said.


4. BLUE AND WHITE: WE WON'T JOIN UNITY GOVERNMENT
by Hezki Baruch

The Blue and White party has rejected calls on Monday for it join a unity government with the Likud.

A delegation of party officials met with President Reuven Rivlin, as part of the post-election consultations to determine which candidate is best able to form a governing coalition.

"This was a stormy election cycle," said Knesset Member-elect Gabi Ashkenazi, a former IDF Chief of Staff who ran with the Blue and White ticket in last week's election.

"We respect the decision the people made. In what should come as no surprise, we recommend Gantz. We are proud of the achievements we made in such a short period of time. We will continue to serve our voters and the public as a whole."

During the meeting, President Rivlin urged the Blue and White party to consider forming a unity government with the Likud.

"Many in Israel want to see people brought together. I don't want to use the word 'unity', because that has political connotations. But we're facing political, security, domestic, and economic challenges, along with social questions which need to be handled with sensitivity. My question is, if you were invited, with no pre-conditions, to join a unity government led by someone other than the person you're recommending [for prime minister], would you consider it?"

Rivlin meets with Blue and White reps Mark Neiman (GPO)

Party representatives rejected the proposal, however, saying they recommended that Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz be tapped to serve as Prime Minister.

"After carefully considering the idea, we think that given the current circumstances, we would be unable to serve in the kind of government you are proposed," responded Ashkenazi.

"We will work on behalf of the Israeli people, but not from within government that is not led by Benny Gantz."

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261873


5. REPORT: TRUMP PLAN WON'T INCLUDE PALESTINIAN STATE
by Elad Benari

US President Donald Trump's proposal for a "Deal of the Century" to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict promises practical improvements in the lives of Palestinian Arabs but is likely to stop short of ensuring a separate, fully sovereign Palestinian state, people familiar with the main elements of the effort told The Washington Post on Sunday.

The White House is expected to roll out its long-anticipated peace package later this spring or by early summer, after more than two years of effort by Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Officials have kept details of the plan secret, but comments from Kushner and other US officials suggest that it does away with statehood as the starting premise of peace efforts as it has been over the past two decades.

The plan is likely to focus heavily on Israeli security concerns, according to The Washington Post. Trump has told friends he wants to upend traditional assumptions about how to resolve the conflict, but unlike in his unorthodox personal diplomacy with North Korea, Trump has largely outsourced the Middle East peace effort to his son-in-law.

Arab officials familiar with Kushner's sales pitches said he has offered no specifics but suggested that the plan turned on economic opportunities for Palestinians and an enshrining of Israeli control of disputed territory.

Kushner and other US officials have linked peace and economic development to Arab recognition of Israel and acceptance of a version of the status quo on Palestinian "autonomy," as opposed to "sovereignty," people who have spoken with the Kushner team said.

"We believe we have a plan that is fair, realistic and implementable that will enable people to live better lives," a senior White House official said Friday. "We looked at past efforts and solicited ideas from both sides and partners in the region with the recognition that what has been tried in the past has not worked. Thus, we have taken an unconventional approach founded on not hiding from reality, but instead speaking truth."

Aides to Trump said last week they expect the president to release his peace plan once Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu forms a coalition in the wake of his election victory. These officials added that despite criticism of the administration's moves to date, the plan will demand compromises from both sides.

While the contents of the Middle East peace plan have remained a secret thus far, Kushner recently discussed it in an interview with Sky News in Arabic.

While Kushner did not get into many specifics, he did say the plan "is very detailed and will focus on delineating the border and providing solutions to the main issues that are controversial and will be appropriate for the current situation on the ground."

Netanyahu has promised to consider the plan, but Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has rejected the US plan before it has even been unveiled and has been boycotting US officials ever since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December of 2017.

One of Abbas' chief advisers, however, said last week that the Palestinians will not reject the Trump plan out of hand, according to The Washington Post.

Trump lawyer Jason Greenblatt, who would be the lead US negotiator for talks, tweeted a direct appeal to Palestinian leaders last week.

"To the PA: Our plan will greatly improve Palestinian lives & create something very different than what exists," Greenblatt wrote. "It's a realistic plan to thrive/prosper even if it means compromises. It's not a 'sell out' — if the plan isn't realistic, no one can deliver it."

Although Trump had said in September that he expected a rollout within four months, US officials reset the timeline when it became clear that Netanyahu would call early elections. The plan will wait at least until after Netanyahu forms a government, and probably also until after both the Passover and Ramadan observances, according to The Washington Post.

"We are still weighing a variety of factors," one US official said. "Timing is still being worked out, and no decision has been made at this time as to when we are going to roll it out."

The US official requested anonymity to discuss plans for the still-secret package. Some Arab and Israeli officials familiar with discussions around the package also requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose contents of confidential meetings.


6. NEW RIGHT'S VOTE RECOUNT REQUEST APPROVED
by David Rosenberg

The New Right party of Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked will conduct a partial vote recount following last Tuesday's election, after receiving approval from the Central Elections Committee Sunday evening.

Judge Hanan Melcer, the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, green lighted a request by the New Right to conduct a recount of votes in 300 ballot boxes which were used for special votes – the double-enveloped ballots cast by Israeli citizens unable to vote at the ballot nearest to their home. These voters include voters who were hospitalized during the election, soldiers stationed at bases across the country, prisoners being held in correctional facilities, foreign service officials working overseas, and disabled voters unable to reach the polls.

Despite polls showing the New Right entering the Knesset with five to six seats, the party narrowly missed the electoral threshold in the initial vote count.

The Central Elections Committee has been correcting errors in the uploading of data into the system, which produced a number of irregularities in the turnout rate for certain towns, as well as votes for one party mistakenly credited to another party.

Nevertheless, as of Sunday evening, the New Right is still 1,344 votes short of the 139,898 votes required to enter the Knesset, out of a total of 4,308,446 valid ballots cast.

The New Right has claimed, however, that it has received reports of some hundreds of irregularities in the counting of votes, particularly with regards to the special double-enveloped ballots.

The party had hoped last week that the soldiers' votes would put the New Right over the top.

Earlier on Sunday, the Central Elections Committee pushed back on the New Right's allegations of widespread irregularities, calling the claim a "misrepresentation".

"The Committee views with great severity the dissemination of the misrepresentation by the New Right that there were irregularities in the counting of special votes and the failure to recognize the Committee's attempts to provide them with the necessary information."


7. RIVLIN REQUESTS NOT TO SIT NEXT TO NETANYAHU
by Hezki Baruch

President Reuven Rivlin refused to sit next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an event commemorating fallen IDF soldiers at the Jerusalem International Convention Center on Sunday night.

According to the Channel 12 News report, the president's office explained that these are "sensitive days" during which the president consults with the Knesset factions regarding the identity of the next prime minister. Bereaved family members of fallen IDF soldiers sat between Netanyahu and Rivlin.

The relationship between Netanyahu and Rivlin has been up and down over the years. There was tension between the two leaders just recently when Netanyahu claimed that Rivlin was "looking for an excuse to grant Benny Gantz the formation of the government."

The president's office responded strongly to Netanyahu's remarks, saying that "this is another attempt to discredit the president's discretion regarding the exercise of his legal authority. This time again, we'll clarify that the president will make his decision according to the law like all the previous presidents of Israel."

"This is another despicable attempt to undermine public trust in the president's decision following the elections. The president won't be swayed by flattery and won't fear these repeated irresponsible attacks which are motivated by cynical political considerations."


8. MEET ISRAEL'S NEWEST ELITE POLICE UNIT: YASAM EILAT
by i24News

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261832