Elections

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Israeli polling is suggesting that Binyamin Netanyahu’s party might get only 21 seats or less in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, with his rivals, the Zionist Union, getting 24 or 25. There is even the possibility of the gap between the two widening and Netanyahu doing even worse. The […]

Democracy

Tel Aviv: Tens of Thousands Rally against Netanyahu

contributors

By IMEMC News | – Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied on Saturday evening, in Yitzhak Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, calling for the current Israeli Prime Minister to be replaced in the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to Israeli and international media. The event’s organizers, Israel Wants Change, said that more than 35 thousand people attended, […]

Democracy

Top 5 Reasons Palestinian-Israelis Could shape the Israeli Election

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Israel, despite the attempts of current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cast it as a monochrome “Jewish state,” has a divided and complicated population. Some 21 percent or 1.7 million of the 8 million Israelis are of Palestinian heritage, the majority of those being Muslim. About 300,000 Israelis […]

Dissent

Israel bans Palestinian-Israeli Legislator Hanin Zoabi From Elections

contributors

By IMEMC News & Agencies | – The Israeli central election committee, on Thursday, passed a vote to exclude Palestinian MK Hanin Zoabi from the Arab list of candidates running for Knesset elections, next March. PNN reports that the petition was submitted by Avigdor Liberman, head of Yisrael Beytenu party, and Otzma Yehudit/Yachad, Ha’am Itanu […]

al-Qaeda

French Far Right Poised to Exploit Paris Attacks for Political Gain

contributors

By Thomas Scotto | (The Conversation) On the streets of France there is a strong public response to the murders of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. But we do not yet know the medium to long-term consequences the attack will have on the nation’s public mood. We conducted a representative […]

Corruption

“Anyone but Bibi’: Israeli PM popularity slumps as 90% of his Campaign Money Comes from US

contributors

RT | — “Israel’s Prime Minister has kicked off his re-election campaign, with a well-funded operation, much of which is coming from abroad. More than 230,000 dollars has come in from various donors in the United States. It makes up almost 90% of Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election funds, most of it coming just from three American […]

Democracy

Iran’s Rouhani & Direct Democracy: Wants Referendum to Sidestep Hardliners

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Iran’s system of government is a hybrid. One wing of it consists of a dictatorial theocracy, centered on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The other wing is elected and comprises the parliament and the presidency. President Hassan Rouhani, a reformer, is worried about being stymied in his economic and […]

Democracy

Tunisia: Nationalist Candidate’s claimed win in Presidential Poll Contested

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — The major political parties do fairly sophisticated exit polling in Tunisian elections now, and secular, nationalist warhorse Beji Caid Essebsi claimed a victory of some 52 or 53% on Sunday evening. His opponent, human rights activist and incumbent interim president, Moncef Marzouki, however, declined to concede. Formal results […]

Elections

Will the next Israeli Gov’t be even more Far Right & Colonial?

contributors

By Mitchell Plitnick (IPS) | — The Israeli government is headed for yet another round of elections. Although the official election date for the next Knesset is November 7, 2017, no one ever expected this government to last that long. The voting will likely take place in March of 2015. What do the new elections […]