Hezbollah Satisfied With Israeli Election Results
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Nasser Chararah - (Opinion) January 25, 2013 - 1:00am

Hezbollah has several departments that specialize in monitoring events in Israel. They monitor everything that happens in Israel, then analyze that information by cross-checking it with privately-collected information. Inside these departments is a unit whose roots in monitoring Israeli events go back the 1975-1981 era, when the Palestinian Fatah movement was a state within a state and had its various institutions stationed in Lebanon.

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The Peace Process After the Election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Shlomo Avineri - (Opinion) January 25, 2013 - 1:00am

Despite losing about a quarter of its seats in Tuesday's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu will remain the largest faction in the next Knesset. And although he is weakened, Netanyahu will almost certainly retain the premiership. Nevertheless, in the days ahead, he will struggle to build a governing coalition -- the meteoric rise of Yesh Atid, the party led by the populist anchorman-turned-politician Yair Lapid, left the Knesset almost equally divided between a right-wing and a center-left bloc.

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Israel Closes Its Eyes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Elias Harfoush - (Opinion) January 25, 2013 - 1:00am

"Live in Israel as if you are living in Europe or the United States." This was the slogan that Yair Lapid used to lure Israeli voters, leading him to second place in the country's recent elections, becoming the kingmaker who will determine the rules of the game in Israel in the coming future.

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No, Israel Did Not Just Vote for the Center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) January 23, 2013 - 1:00am

By the time Israeli voters went to the polls on Tuesday, the nearly universally accepted wisdom held that the right was ascendant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's faction -- which comprises his own conservative Likud Party and Avigdor Lieberman's even-more-conservative Yisrael Beiteinu Party -- was poised to win almost twice as many seats as its closest challenger.

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Indictment of Israeli FM to have limited political ramifications
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein on Thursday announced that he would charge Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman on accounts of fraud and breach of trust. However, Weinstein dropped the more severe charges of money laundering and obstruction of justice. The decision by Weinstein marks the end of the 12 year process during which Lieberman has been under investigation for allegedly pocketing millions of U.S. dollars from foreign businessmen via shell companies.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Faces Indictment on Lesser Charges
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s blunt-talking and polarizing foreign minister, will be charged with breach of trust but not with fraud and money laundering, prosecutors announced Thursday, ending an investigation lasting years and throwing a curve into Israel’s coming elections.

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Feiglin: Israel's clear and present danger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sara Hirschhorn - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

This is the story of Moshe Zalman Feiglin, an Israeli ultranationalist activist who “had a dream” to lead the government of the Jewish state  - and that day may well arrive soon. On January 22, Israelis will go the polls to elect, in all likeliness, a new Likud-Israel Beiteinu slate that some consider the most right-wing in the party’s history - a candidate list where even MK Benny Begin, the heir of the Revisionist movement, has now been edged out in favor of a new identity politics and ideological orientation.  

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Distortion of 'defensive democracy'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

It's a recurring pre-election ritual: The Central Elections Committee invalidates the candidacies of Arab parties and candidates, and the Supreme Court voids the disqualifications. Since 1965, not a single Arab party has been disqualified from running for the Knesset.

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Feiglin and his donkeys
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Where were you on January 22? That question will be asked long after this election, which may be the last one in Israel. As we sit at the edge of the volcano, small personal details are being covered as if they were the main issues. Perhaps repression is natural in the face of such a dramatic revolution.

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How Khaled Meshal's call for Israel's destruction played into Netanyahu's hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Blog) December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu’s most reliable ally is Hamas. That may sound like a strange proposition, but let me explain.     In the last weeks, Benjamin Netanyahu has pulled two of his more expectable stunts.

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