A7News: Poll: Union of right-wing parties would receive 15 seats

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Friday, Jul. 26 '19, כ"ג בתמוז תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. POLL: UNION OF RIGHT-WING PARTIES WOULD RECEIVE 15 SEATS
2. WHO IS BEHIND MURDER OF TWO ISRAELIS IN MEXICO?
3. SMOTRICH: ZERO CHANCE UNITED RIGHT WON'T JOIN NEW RIGHT
4. IS RESISTANCE TO ALIYAH TIED TO DENIAL OF ONE'S JEWISH IDENTITY?
5. LIBERMAN: WE WON'T BACK FORMATION OF A RIGHT-WING GOVERNMENT
6. 6-YEAR-OLD STABBED IN PLAYGROUND
7. US BLOCKS ATTEMPT TO CONDEMN ISRAEL AT UN
8. BERNIE MADOFF ASKS TRUMP TO COMMUTE HIS 150-YEAR SENTENCE


1. POLL: UNION OF RIGHT-WING PARTIES WOULD RECEIVE 15 SEATS
by Arutz Sheva Staff

A survey conducted by the Kantar Institute for News 11 examined the possibility of unification between the right-wing parties.

According to the data, the unification of the New Right and the United Right would result in a joint list that would receive 15 Knesset seats and the unification of the Democratic Israel and Labor parties would result in a list that would receive 14 seats.

In such a situation, the Likud and Blue and White parties would receive 29 seats each, the joint list 10, Yisrael Beyteinu 8, United Torah Judaism 8 and Shas 7.

The right, without Yisrael Beyteinu, would receive 59 seats in total, just below the majority needed to form a coalition. The left-wing and Arab parties would receive a combined 53 seats.

The poll found that if the right-wing parties do not merge, the Likud and Blue and White parties would win 30 seats, followed by the joint list with 10 seats, Yisrael Beyteinu with 9 and the New Right with 9 seats.

The Democratic Israel Party would receive 8 seats, United Torah Judaism 8, Shas 7, Labor and Gesher 5, and the United Right would receive 4 seats.

The Zehut party remains below the electoral threshold.

The right would receive a total of 54 seats without Yisrael Beyteinu, while the left-wing and Arab parties would receive a combined 53 seats.


2. WHO IS BEHIND MURDER OF TWO ISRAELIS IN MEXICO?
by Sara Rubenstein

The suspect in the murder of two Israeli criminals in Mexico City on Thursday admitted to the murders but didn't reveal that there was a second person involved in the shooting. Footage of the incident from security cameras revealed that another assassin was involved, who has not yet been apprehended by the police.

Two Israeli criminals who have been identified as Alon Azulay and Ben Sotchi were shot to death while eating in a café in a Mexico City shopping center. Following the murders, a female was arrested by security guards, who originally told the police that she murdered the Israelis due to "betrayal and desire," i.e. that she was romantically involved with one of the men and he betrayed her.

However, the police were skeptical of her story and she later admitted to the police that she was paid 5,000 pesos (about NIS 1,000) for the murders. Mexican media outlets published footage of the incident from the café's security cameras, which showed the second assassin - a male - hiding his gun in a napkin prior to shooting the two men.

One of the Israelis died immediately and the other one succumbed to his wounds after he was transported to a hospital.

Prior to the shooting, two men distracted the security guards, which reinforced the police's belief that the murders were committed on the orders of a criminal organization, according to a report on Ynet on Friday. The two men opened fire outside the café and forced a policeman to lie on the ground. One of the men grabbed the policeman's gun, fired in the air, and then joined the other man who had meanwhile entered a car.

According to the Mexican authorities, the aim of the operation was to distract the security guards from witnessing the murder of the two criminals - which took place minutes later.


3. SMOTRICH: ZERO CHANCE UNITED RIGHT WON'T JOIN NEW RIGHT
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Transportation Minister and National Union chairman Bezalel Smotrich denied reports that the Union of Right-Wing Parties will merge with Otzma Yehudit rather than the New Right on the urging of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Kan News journalist Ze'ev Kam reported on Thursday that "senior right-wing officials in the Union of Right-Wing Parties claim that Netanyahu promised Peretz and Smotrich a generous plan in exchange for a merger with Otzma Yehudit without the New Right. The two would remain the education and transportation ministers, both will be in the cabinet, and Ben-Gvir will receive a position such as deputy minister or chairman of a committee."

Smotrich responded to Kam's report on Twitter on Friday morning, writing, "Hello Ze'ev. I would be happy to know who these senior officials are? Of course, I'm not a senior official so maybe it doesn't count, but I'm not familiar with this."

"There's no way in the world that we won't join together with the New Right. This would be an irresponsible risk to the state of Israel and I'm convinced that both Netanyahu and our partners in Jewish Home understand this, as well as the New Right," Smotrich concluded.

According to a Kan News poll published on Thursday night, the Likud and Blue and White would each lose one seat if the right-wing parties unite under the leadership of Ayelet Shaked, with Likud winning 29 seats. The entire right-wing bloc to the right of the Likud would receive 15 seats, which is two more seats than if each party would run separately.

One of the mandates comes at Liberman's expense, with Yisrael Beyteinu falling to eight seats. The left-wing bloc would receive 14 Knesset seats according to the poll, but at the expense of Blue and White. If the mergers indeed happen, the right-wing bloc will rise to 59 seats, compared to 53 for the left-wing bloc.


4. IS RESISTANCE TO ALIYAH TIED TO DENIAL OF ONE'S JEWISH IDENTITY?
by Dr. Sam Minskoff

[audio:2061001]

Dr. Sam Minskoff, a member of the Aliyah Team at Arutz Sheva, Talks about resistance to Aliyah as depriving the very soul of its' vital existence and prosperity by cutting off the precious oxygen of Kiddusha (Holiness) that is in The Land of Israel from the souls 'lungs'.

Dr Minskoff discusses that this state of affairs is extremely damaging to those Jews whether or not they are aware of it.

[קישורים:15:Radio]


5. LIBERMAN: WE WON'T BACK FORMATION OF A RIGHT-WING GOVERNMENT
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman said Friday that his party would not support a right-wing government, condemning the Likud party for ruling out a unity government with the center-left Blue and White party.

"The cat is out of the bag," Liberman said, after a Likud internal party memo was published by Israel Hayom Friday morning, telling party officials not to speak in favor of a unity government.

"Netanyahu…made the headlines this morning with his declaration that he will not form a unity government. The assumption is that he will be able to form a narrow Netanyahu-led government with the support of Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, Rabbi Peretz, Deri, and Litzman, who are pushing for a theocratic state," Liberman continued, alluding to reports Thursday that Netanyahu has offered two ministries to the United Right, and a senior position to Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir, if the United Right allies itself with Otzma Yehudit – and not the New Right.

Liberman recommended Netanyahu as premier to President Rivlin after the April 9th election, only to refuse to join a new Netanyahu-led government unless it agreed to pass his haredi draft bill.

Since then, the former Defense Minister has accused Netanyahu of allowing haredi and right-wing lawmakers to turn Israel into a theocratic state based on traditional Jewish law (Halacha), rather than civil law.

"On the 17th of September," Liberman continued Friday, "every Israeli citizen will need to ask himself one question: What kind of state do I want to live in: A Jewish state, or a theocratic (halachic) state in which a crazy group of rabbis will impose religious coercion, will extort the government, and force upon us a way of life based on the rules set in the time of King David and King Saul? A narrow government would be a great misfortune, and we won't enable it."


6. 6-YEAR-OLD STABBED IN PLAYGROUND
by Arutz Sheva Staff

A six-year-old boy was stabbed in a playground in Rehovot Thursday. He was evacuated to the Kaplan Hospital in the city for medical treatment. The circumstances of the incident are under investigation.

MDA paramedic Alexander Shary said: "When we arrived, we saw the boy sitting on a bench in the park with his hand wrapped in a shirt that the passersby had put on. We performed a medical examination and bandaged the wound with a sterile bandage and evacuated the child accompanied by a family member to the hospital where his condition was listed as mild to moderate."

The Israel police released a statement saying: "The police received a report about a 6-year-old boy who was allegedly injured as a result of stabbing in the HaMeginim Garden in Rehovot. The situation is under investigation and the child is in moderate condition."

Last night, a nine-year-old girl was wounded in the back by a stray gunshot in the city of Lod. She was evacuated to the hospital in moderate condition.


7. US BLOCKS ATTEMPT TO CONDEMN ISRAEL AT UN
by Elad Benari

The United States on Wednesday blocked an attempt by Kuwait, Indonesia and South Africa to get the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israel's demolition of illegal Palestinian Arab homes on the outskirts of Jerusalem, diplomats told Reuters.

Israeli forces on Monday morning sealed off and began demolishing ten of the over 100 illegally-built structures erected in defiance of a 2011 Israeli Civil Administration order barring construction near the security fence.

The apartment buildings were built in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood of Sur Baher, an Arab enclave located almost entirely in Jerusalem.

The strip of land in Wadi al-Hummus area where the illegal structures are located, however, is just outside of the municipal borders of Jerusalem, but on the Jerusalem side of the security fence.

Kuwait, Indonesia and South Africa had circulated a five-paragraph draft statement, seen by Reuters, to the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday that expressed grave concern and warned that the demolition "undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for just and lasting peace."

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus and on Wednesday the United States told its council counterparts it could not support the text, diplomats said.

A revised three paragraph draft statement was circulated, but the United States again said it did not agree with the text, added the diplomats.

The move was condemned on Monday by the European Union, which said the demolitions undermine the "viability of the two-state solution".

On Tuesday, Britain and Germany added their voices to the condemnation of Israel, saying the destruction was "particularly egregious".

The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, accused Israel of carrying out a massacre and called on the international community "to intervene immediately and bring an end to Israeli aggression."



8. BERNIE MADOFF ASKS TRUMP TO COMMUTE HIS 150-YEAR SENTENCE
by Marcy Oster/JTA

Bernie Madoff has asked President Donald Trump to commute his sentence.

Madoff, 81, filled a request with the Justice Department between one and three months ago, The Hill reported.

The Justice Department's website lists the request as "pending," and says it is updated to July 1. The request is for clemency, not a pardon.

Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison in Butner, North Carolina for his $19 billion Ponzi scheme, which began in the early 1970s and lasted until his arrest in 2008. He pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges related to money laundering, perjury, and falsifying financial documents.

The uncovering of the Ponzi scheme revealed the tens of billions of dollars in fake profit that victims believed they had earned through Madoff. Many prominent Jewish nonprofits also suffered big losses, with Yeshiva University taking a $140 million hit, Hadassah $90 million and Elie Wiesel's foundation losing $15 million.