Three months before Israel’s general elections, all the polls had the Likud becoming the largest party in the next Knesset and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a clear course to form the next coalition.

So why did Mr Netanyahu surprise even his closest cabinet colleagues last week by announcing that Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu would be running on a joint candidates’ list?

Criminal investigators from France will exhume Yasir Arafat's remains next month in order to examine the cause of his death.

The move to re-examine the circumstances surrounding the Palestinian leader’s death comes after a Swiss lab discovered traces of a deadly radioactive isotope on his clothes.

Former deputy prime minister Tzipi Livni is planning a return to the political arena at the head of a new centrist party, challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and her former party, Kadima, in the upcoming elections.

President Shimon Peres told Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Wednesday: “To stop the bloodshed here and to stop the danger in Iran are the two main calls of our time, for the sake of their people and of ours.”

Benjamin Netanyahu last night called for elections to take place eight months earlier than scheduled, after his coalition failed to agree on the 2013 budget.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering lie detector tests for his security cabinet after leaks of sensitive information from a meeting on Tuesday.