MKs Ayman Odeh (Hadash, left) and Ahmad Tibi (Ta'al, right) during a meeting with MK Yair Lapid, April 19, 2021

5 of 6 Joint List MKs Recommend That Lapid Form Next Government

President Reuven Rivlin announced Wednesday evening, May 5, he has decided to task Yesh Atid leader, MK Yair Lapid, with forming Israel’s next government. Far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s deadline for forming a government expired at midnight, with the country’s longest-serving prime minister having failed again to break more than two years of political deadlock. “It…

"Mourning and United"

Balfour Street Protesters Urge State Investigation into Meron Disaster

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence on Jerusalem’s Balfour Street on Saturday evening, May 1, demanding the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Mt. Meron festival crush that left 45 dead two days earlier. Police closed several roads in the vicinity as demonstrators filled the streets near the premier’s…

Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Gaza

Israel Lifts Ban on Gazans’ Access to Sea, Illicit Collective Punishment

On Tuesday, April 27, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced it was lifting the total prohibition on Gaza’s fishermen from accessing the sea off the coastal enclave, thereby reversing the restrictions it implemented in two stages beginning only 48 hours earlier. On Sunday, April 25, COGAT had reduced the Gaza “fishing zone” from…