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Coalition deals finalized in final step before far-right Israeli government is sworn in
(JTA) — Benjamin Netanyahu has signed agreements with the leaders of three far-right political parties that, together with his own Likud party, will form the next Israeli coalition government.
On Twitter, Netanyahu, the incoming prime minister, also released his own list of principles for the next government, including among them indications of the governing partners’ widely known ambitions to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court and bolster “Jewish identity.”
The agreements were a final step required before Netanyahu could be sworn in, and negotiations were underway until shortly before the deadline to reach them. While their contents are not legally binding, the agreements offer a window into the agenda that will drive the country’s leadership for as long as the government holds.
Netanyahu signed deals with three parties late Tuesday and early Wednesday, including one with with the far-right Otzma Yehudit party and its leader Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir, the incoming national security minister, had made a condition of his agreeing to work with Netanyahu that he would get unprecedented authority over the country’s police, and the Knesset passed a law early Wednesday granting just that, though without some of the powers that Ben-Gvir had sought.
Many of the other agreements made among the coalition partners have been reported during the weeks of negotiations, and others are becoming clear as the coalition agreements are published. Legislation is expected to permit more gender-segregated events as the result of Netanyahu’s agreement with the haredi Orthodox United Torah Judaism alliance, for example, and the right-wing party Noam will get 70 million NIS annually (almost $20 million) to create and operate a new “Department of State Jewish Consciousness.” That party’s leader, Avi Maoz, has described himself as a “proud homophobe.”
The alliance between Netanyahu and Israel’s far-right parties has alarmed many, including hundreds of U.S. rabbis who have pledged to block the parties’ leaders from their communities; longtime Jewish leaders who are questioning their unconditional support for Israel; Israeli liberals and moderates who fear that civil rights will be limited; and even the outgoing leader of the Israel Defense Forces, who urged Netanyahu not to insert extremists into the military chain of command.
Aiming to calm the fears of Americans, Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionist party, took to the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal late Tuesday in a column titled “Israel’s New Government Isn’t What You’ve Heard.” The column was published hours before the Knesset paved the way for Smotrich, who will be finance minister, to take unprecedented authority over construction in the West Bank, his demand to enter a government with Netanyahu.
“They say I am a right-wing extremist and that our bloc will usher in a ‘halachic state’ in which Jewish law governs,” Smotrich writes. “In reality, we seek to strengthen every citizen’s freedoms and the country’s democratic institutions, bringing Israel more closely in line with the liberal American model.”
Netanyahu has also sought to quell the concerns of those, including U.S. leaders, who are alarmed by the coalition that he is firmly in control.
“They’re joining me, I’m not joining them,” he said earlier this month. “I’ll have two hands firmly on the steering wheel. I won’t let anybody do anything to LGBT [people] or to deny our Arab citizens their rights or anything like that.”
Late Tuesday, Netanyahu’s party picked Amir Ohana, a close ally and Israel’s first openly gay government minister, to be the Knesset speaker in the next government.
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The post Coalition deals finalized in final step before far-right Israeli government is sworn in appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief”
מזל־טובֿ! דעם 20סטן יאַנואַר 2026 איז געוואָרן 120 יאָר זינט דער גרינדונג פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“ — דער עצות־רובריק פֿונעם פֿאָרווערטס. די רובריק איז פֿאַרלייגט געוואָרן פֿונעם גרינדער און לאַנגיאָריקן שעף־רעדאַקטאָר אַב קאַהאַן אין 1906.
כּדי אָפּצומערקן דעם יום־טובֿ ברענגען מיר אײַך צוויי זאַכן:
• ערשטנס, אַן אַרטיקל וועגן אַ טשיקאַווען בריוו וואָס איז אָנגעקומען אין דער פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקציע אין יאַנואַר 1949, פֿון אַ לייענער וועמעס זון האָט חתונה געהאַט מיט אַ קריסטלעכער פֿרוי
• צווייטנס, אַ פֿאָרווערטס־ווידעאָ אויף ייִדיש וועגן דער געשיכטע פֿון „אַ בינטל בריוו“, מיטן געוועזענעם פֿאָרווערטס־רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלער און דער פֿאָרווערטס־אַרכיוויסטקע חנה פּאָלאַק.
The post 120th anniversary of the Forverts advice column “Bintel Brief” appeared first on The Forward.
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Report: Khamenei Moved to Underground Bunker in Tehran
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a televised message, after the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Amid tense expectation of US strike on key assets of the Islamic regime, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was moved into a special underground bunker in Tehran, the Iran International website reported on Saturday.
The report further added that the supreme leader’s third son Masoud Khamenei has taken over day-to-day management of the leader’s office, functioning as the de facto main channel for coordination vis-à-vis the executive branches of the government and the security forces.
The report describes Khamenei’s hideout as a “fortified site with interconnected tunnels.”
On Thursday US President Donald Trump said that a “massive” naval force was heading toward Iran.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see,” Trump added.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, along with three destroyers, was spotted making its way to the Middle East from Asia, according to ship-tracking data.
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Israel, Syria to Finalize US-Brokered Security Deal ‘Soon,’ as ‘Developments Accelerate Noticeably’
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, March 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
i24 News – Syrian and Israeli officials are expected to meet soon under US mediation, perhaps in Paris, to finalize a security agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem, a source close to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told i24NEWS on Saturday.
According to the Syrian source, the talks will also focus on various potential joint strategic and economic projects in the buffer zones between the two countries.
“There is very optimistic talk suggesting the possibility of even opening an Israeli embassy in Damascus before the end of this year, given the significant progress in the prospect of Syria joining the Abraham Accords,” the source said.
The original Syrian plan was limited to a security agreement and the opening of an Israeli liaison office in Damascus without diplomatic status, the source tells me. “But developments are accelerating noticeably under pressure from the United States, and specifically by President Trump, and amid growing Syrian openness.”
If Damascus manages to reach an integration agreement with the Druze in southern Syria, similar to its agreement with the Kurds in the northeast, and Israel commits to respecting Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, then al-Sharaa would be open to elevate the status of the agreement with Israel to more than just a security agreement, to also include diplomatic relations and an Israeli embassy in Damascus.
“The al-Sharaa government believes that a viable compromise to advance a peace process with Israel would include a 25-year lease for the Golan Heights, similar to the one Jordan previously signed with Israel over the border enclaves, turning it into a ‘Garden of Peace” of joint economic ventures,” the source said.
The source close to al-Sharaa also tells me that US President Trump is seeking to bring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sharaa together for a peace agreement signing ceremony.
It should be noted that Israel has repeatedly rejected returning any part of the Golan Heights, let alone the entire territory.
On another front, the source stated that Damascus intends to adopt a new local administration system based on expanded administrative decentralization to enhance participation in local communities across all Syrian governorates.
According to the source, this solution would resolve persisting disputes with the Druze, Kurds, Alawites, and other minorities. A new Syrian government is expected to be formed within the next three months, the source added.