Thomas Bach is set to make his first visit to Israel as International
Olympic Committee President to attend a commemorative event marking
the 50th anniversary of the Munich Massacre in Tel Aviv next month.
Israeli swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko made history by winning Israel’s first-ever gold at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Competing in the 50-metre breaststroke, Gorbenko, 18, won with a time of 29.34 seconds. Italy’s Benedetta Pilato came in second with a time of 29:50. “With perseverance and determination, you have proven how…
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Feb. 26, 2021
For many long weeks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates have been toiling to persuade the heads of the ultra-Orthodox parties and Religious Zionism Chairman Bezalel Smotrich to revive the rightist-Haredi bloc. With the exception of Interior Minister Arye Dery (Shas), who agreed enthusiastically and for entirely self-interested electoral reasons, all the others turned up their noses. Netanyahu did not give up. He hounded them. “Even Sara got involved,” said one of the partners. “She made phone calls.”
Lengthy and tedious negotiations ensued. Netanyahu demanded a cut-and-paste of the original loyalty oath from February 16, 2020: At that time the party heads signed off that they would not participate in any coalition except one headed by Netanyahu, and would not conduct separate negotiations with anyone else, only via Likud.