Photo: Anan Maalouf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent effort to make the fear of Arab-Israelis a central part of his re-election campaign came under heavy attack from the country’s president this week. Reuven Rivlin did not name the prime minister, but few would have been unaware of the target of his remarks made…

Israel’s general election campaign has been thrown into flux by legal and political developments which may put Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-term future as prime minister at risk. On Thursday, attorney general Avichai Mandelblit announced he was indicting the Israeli leader in relation to three police investigations into alleged corruption. The indictments – for fraud, bribery and breach of trust –…

Seemingly out of nowhere, Benny Gantz’s newly formed Israel Resilience party has risen to second place in the opinion polls, representing the biggest barrier to Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of re-election in April. But the former IDF chief of staff’s surge has thus far been predicated on silence. By barely uttering an opinion about politics, he’s allowed…

It has been dubbed the most consequential election in Israel’s 70-year history, but, only two weeks since the firing gun was pulled on a 9 April poll, a series of bewildering moves have shaken the country’s political landscape. The election – not officially due until November – was called on 24 December when the leaders of…

Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal difficulties deepened further on Saturday with police recommending new bribery charges against him. In potentially the most serious of several cases involving the prime minister – known as “Case 4000” – police have recommended that he face charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust, and fraudulently accepting benefits. In February, police announced that they had recommended…

Thirty years ago this month, Yitzhak Shamir eked out a narrow win in Israel’s general election. That election marked the last occasion when an Israeli government has managed to serve out its full term. Coalition crises and prime ministers “cutting and running” in a bid to capitalise on political opportunities to win early re-election have shortened…