Likud Party
Israel lawmakers to vote Sunday on anti-Netanyahu government
After weeks of political wrangling, the Israeli parliament is set to vote Sunday on whether to install a “change” coalition and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record 12 consecutive years in power. Announcing the date for the confidence vote, speaker Yariv Levin, a Netanyahu ally, said on Tuesday “a special session of parliament” would debate and vote on the fragile eight-party alliance, after the country’s fourth inconclusive election in two years back in March. Later in the day, the prime minister’s office announced that a march by Jewish nationalists through Jerusalem would go ahead in a week’s time, potentially de-escalating tensions with Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group which went to war with the Jewish state for 11 days last month. Israeli right-wing groups had the day b...
Israeli court limits use of spy agency to track coronavirus cases
Israel’s top court ruled Tuesday the government must curb its use of the domestic spy agency to track coronavirus infections, saying “draconian” surveillance constituted a blow to democracy. The government began using the Shin Bet’s surveillance technologies in March 2020, when Covid-19 infections began to spike. But the supreme court quickly blocked such practice, saying legislation was needed to authorise the programme. Tracking was discontinued in June but the following month, amid another infection surge, parliament passed a law allowing the surveillance when “an epidemiological investigation cannot be completed otherwise”. Initially approved for three weeks, that has measure has been repeatedly extended since while details of how information was obtained were kept secret. Critics crie...
