Shas insiders: Deri may yet return
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeremy Sharon - May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Despite recent reports, Shas insiders are hopeful that former party leader Arye Deri will return to the party for the next general election and not form a separate one. Channel 2 reported on Monday that, according to associates of Deri, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef offered Deri the third spot on the Shas electoral list after current party chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias. According to senior Shas figures, Deri refused and demanded the top spot and the senior ministerial position.

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Israeli Opposition Chief Fears Binational State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dan Perry - April 24, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's new parliamentary opposition leader said Tuesday that the Jewish state faces the danger of being replaced by a binational Jewish-Arab entity if it fails to separate itself from the Palestinians. Former military chief Shaul Mofaz won leadership of the centrist Kadima Party last month. "The threat of us losing the Jewish majority and Israel becoming a binational state is the biggest threat to Israel, and time is working against us," he told Israel Radio. "The threat of a binational state that we are bequeathing to our children really keeps me awake at night."

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New man on Israeli scene
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The emergence this month of Shaul Mofaz on the Israeli political scene as the new head of the centre-left Kadima party is a welcome development. It carries with it the promise — still only a faint one, however — that a reinvigorated and politically-successful Kadima could bring about a softening, even a reversal, of the expansionist, war-mongering policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist, ultra-orthodox and right-wing Labour coalition partners.

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Defying an Image With a Tilt to the Left
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - April 6, 2012 - 12:00am

WHEN Shaul Mofaz took over as head of the opposition in Israel this week — having defeated Tzipi Livni to lead the Kadima Party — it was seen as further evidence of the country’s rightward shift. A former military chief of staff and defense minister, Mr. Mofaz was dismissed by many as a pale shadow of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a hawk who would try to join the governing Likud coalition.

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Netanyahu Wants Deal to Prevent ‘Binational State’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dan Perry - April 3, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister said Tuesday that he still hopes to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, because the alternative would be absorbing them into Israel and destroying the Jewish character of the state. "I want to solve the conflict with the Palestinians because I don't want a binational state," Netanyahu told a rare news conference. "For as long as it depends on me, we will ensure the Jewish and democratic character of Israel."

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Absentee Ballots Considered For Israelis Living Abroad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - March 27, 2012 - 12:00am

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM--It's easy to vote in Israel. No prior registration. No other paperwork. If you're a citizen, just show up at the polls and be at least 18 years old. At the same time, it's almost impossible for Israelis abroad to cast election ballots. Unlike many nations including the U.S., Israel does not allow expatriates to cast absentee ballots. Only those abroad on official business such as diplomatic service are allowed to participate in elections for parliament and prime minister without returning home to vote. In the last election, this amounted to 5,600 voters.

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Members of Israel’s Diverse African Community Join Forces to Lobby for Better Treatment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

DIMONA, Israel — For years, Israel’s array of African communities had little interaction, divided by religious, linguistic and cultural differences. That is changing. They are facing a common situation in Israel — relegated to bottom rungs, partly because of discrimination over their skin color. That has brought some members of a wide range of communities together, including Jewish Ethiopians, nomadic Muslim Arabs and migrants from Eritrea and Sudan.

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Jewish Donors Can Influence Israel’s War on Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ron Gerlitz - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week, I had to spend some time at the new children's wing of Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. The hospital serves Arabs as well as Jews, and it was my impression that all its patients are treated professionally and with equality. But Arabic-language signs are almost nonexistent in this brand-new and impressive wing.

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Arabs to Play Key Role Deciding Kadima Race
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - March 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Two weeks ahead of the March 27 Kadima leadership primary, sources close to opposition leader Tzipi Livni and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz said the race could be decided by the votes of Arab Israelis. More than 23,000 out of Kadima’s 95,000 members eligible to vote in the race are non- Jews. While there are no exact figures within the sector, party officials said it is split evenly among Arab Israelis and Druse.

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Iran and U.S. Election-Year Politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Aaron David Miller - March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Myths and facts conflate all too easily in our opinion-driven politics. One of the most dangerous these days is that President Obama’s Iran policy has been taken hostage by election year pandering to Israel and the pro-Israel community in America. It’s a pernicious trope that runs counter to reality. If anything, election year uncertainties will work far more to make Obama a cautious warrior when it comes to green lighting an Israeli attack against Iran or launching one of his own.

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