Pfeffer's Israel

Will Bibi and Likud be in office or in power this time around?

With a very different coalition from the ones he led in the past, and he himself still on trial for bribery and fraud, it’s anyone’s guess which Netanyahu we will get this time around

By Anshel Pfeffer

4 min read

Will Bibi and Likud be in office or in power this time around?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opens the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office on February 10, 2019. - Nudged by rightwing political rivals after a deadly Palestinian attack on a young Israeli woman, Netanyahu who seeks re-election pledged today to freeze money transfers to the Palestinian Authority. (Photo by GALI TIBBON / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)

By Anshel Pfeffer

Bibi-time is coming — pending the deal on cabinet convicts

5 min read

Israel could be threatened by a new generation of bombers

By Anshel Pfeffer

Israel could be threatened by a new generation of bombers

6 min read

Likud leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu with Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri, Religious Zionist party head MK Bezalel Smotrich and Party leaders at a swearing-in ceremony of the 25th Knesset, at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, November 15, 2022. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** ראש הממשלה יאיר לפיד כנסת בחירות פתיחת מושב חברי כנסת חדשים משמר הכנסת השבעה טקס בנימין נתניהו אריה דרעי בצלאל סמוטריץ

By Anshel Pfeffer

Coalition building is not proving a simple task for Bibi

5 min read

Likud party chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu seen after coalition talks at a hotel in Jerusalem on November 6, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** יו"ר הליכוד בינימין נתניהו פגישה ההסכמים הקואליציוניים

Pfeffer's Israel

Bibi’s deal with the far right will come at a price

By Anshel Pfeffer

5 min read

Campaign posters in Tel Aviv, prior to the upcoming Israeli general elections, October 26, 2022. Photo by Jamal Awad/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** ?????? ????? ??? ?? ????

By Anshel Pfeffer

If the  far right get in, Netanyahu will get them out

4 min read

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on March 16, 2020. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

By Anshel Pfeffer

Netanyahu debates how close to work with religious far-right

4 min read

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By Anshel Pfeffer

Lebanon agreement talks take shine off politicos’ holidays

Timing of election should have afforded them a lengthy break but they got called in to study the new gas-field treaty

4 min read

October 13, 2022 11:56

Israeli sightseers climb the rock cliff as navy vessels patrol the Mediterranean waters off the coast of Rosh Hanikra, an area at the border between Israel and Lebanon (Ras al-Naqura), as indirect talks on maritime borders between the two countries, still technically at war, resume under UN and US auspices, on May 4, 2021. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

A Bibi plea bargain may end the political deadlock

Go-betweens have been testing the waters for a potential way to bring an end to the former PM's trial and allow a broader coalition that both Likud and at least one of the centrist parties can be part of

By Anshel Pfeffer

5 min read

October 6, 2022 11:14

Leader of the Opposition and head of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media in Tel Aviv on October 3, 2022. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** יו"ר הליכוד מצודת זאב מסיבת עיתונאים בנימין נתניהו מדבר

By Anshel Pfeffer

Lapid tries to charm the world as West Bank burns

While the PM talked of a two-state solution at the UN, an Israeli raid on Jenin on Tuesday, in which at least four Palestinian militants were killed, was a reminder that Operation Breakwater is still ongoing

4 min read

September 29, 2022 11:24

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - MAY 06: Yesh Atid Party leader, Yair Lapid, speaks at a press conference on May 6, 2021 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin asked Lapid to form a new Israeli government after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to form a new government. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

By Anshel Pfeffer

Israelis may miss their unremarkable year, with so many crises now arriving

The country may look back on 5782 as an comparatively uneventful period

5 min read

September 22, 2022 10:35

Head of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu attends Kikar HaShabbat conference at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem Hotel, September 12, 2022. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 *** Local Caption *** בחירות 2022 מפלגת הליכוד בנימין נתניהו ביבי נתניהו ראש מפלגת הליכוד בנימין נתניהו נואם בכנס "כיכר השבת" בוולדורף אסטוריה ירושלים

Clarence House changed the mood in Israel

Israeli officials say a change in UK relations was immediately felt when the Queen, due to her age, began to travel abroad much less and the international face of the royal family became Prince Charles

By Anshel Pfeffer

5 min read

September 16, 2022 13:49

12th July 1967: General Chaim Herzog, the first military governor of the West Bank of Jordan, arriving at London Airport. (Photo by J. Wilds/Keystone/Getty Images)

Is Iran happy with 'zombie' nuclear deal ?

The current situation where negotiations continue indefinitely while Iran continues to enrich uranium to threshold of what it would need for a nuclear weapon works well for Tehran

By Anshel Pfeffer

4 min read

September 13, 2022 09:27

TEHRAN, IRAN - DECEMBER 15: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a sermon at Tehran University's weekly Friday prayers 15 December 2000, with a portrait of his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the background. Khamenei described in his sermon Israel as a "cancerous tumor" that should be eradicated, as fresh violence erupted in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, leaving five more Palestinians dead. (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images)

Will new kid on the block Eisenkot rise to the top of the political tree?

Every former chief of staff is hot political property but Mr Eisenkot's also that rare candidate who can appeal to more right-leaning predominantly Mizrahi voters

By Anshel Pfeffer

5 min read

August 19, 2022 11:11

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkott speaks at a conference at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on January 02, 2018. Photo by FLASH90 *** Local Caption *** תמונות של הרמטכל אייזנקוט ואהרון ברק בכנס צה"ל והחברה הישראלית שהתקיים במרכז הבינתחומי בהרצליה

By Anshel Pfeffer

Islamic Jihad is decapitated... but wider war with Iran and its allies goes on

As a text was being sent to thousands of reservists on Saturday night, a guided missile was launched at a secret safe-house in Gaza City, killing PIJ leader Kahled Mansour and two of his deputies

6 min read

August 11, 2022 12:03