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Hailing his own achievements on the coronavirus pandemic and forging new peace deals, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he did everything to prevent fresh elections but promises his party will have “a huge win.”
“I didn’t want elections. Likud didn’t want elections. We voted again and again against elections,” he asserts. “Benny Gantz walked back his agreements with us.”
The prime minister, who is on trial on corruption charges, says Gantz “insisted on letting [Justice Minister Avi] Nissenkorn continue the dictatorship of leftist officials” in the justice system.
Gantz reportedly walked back an agreement to curb Nissenkorn’s powers after realizing his party would not back the move.
LIVE FROM RABAT: SA Jared Kushner, Israeli NSA Meir Ben Shabbat & Morrocan FM Nasser Bourita deliver statements recapping historic day in Morocco.שידור ישיר מרבאט: היועץ לנשיא ארה״ב ג׳ארד קושנר, ראש המל״ל מאיר בן שבת ושר החוץ המרוקאי נאסר בוריטה מסכמים יום היסטורי.مباشرة من قصر الضيافة بالرباط، في استضافة الملك محمد السادس. مسؤولون أمريكيون، مغاربة و اسرائيليون يقفون جنباً إلى جنب، في لحظة تاريخية هامّة.
Posted by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it s full of beauty and meaning.
I m proud to work at The Times of Israel alongside colleagues who pour their hearts into their work day in, day out, to capture the complexity of this extra
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As if the economic waste of a fourth election within two years weren’t enough, Channel 12 is reporting that the next election is expected to cost NIS 80-100 million ($25-$30 million) more than a regular one due to the need to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic, adding health precautions and ensuring voter safety.
All in all, the cost to the economy is expected to stand at some NIS 2.6 billion ($800 million) with most of the sum being a result of the loss of a national workday. I m proud to work at The Times of Israel
I’ll tell you the truth: Life here in Israel isn’t always easy. But it s full of beauty and meaning.
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Visitor numbers at Israel’s national parks and nature reserves almost halved this year, thanks to the coronavirus, the Nature and Parks Authority reports in its annual summation.
Total visits dipped 49 percent, from 10.6 million between January and October last year to 5.4 million over the same period this year. Visits by foreign tourists were down by 77% and those by Israelis decreased by 37%, with nationwide lockdowns during the peak visitor periods of Passover and the Fall High Holy Days and limits on visitor numbers outside of lockdowns compounding the hit taken by the tourism industry.
But while humans stayed away, wildlife thrived, with 220 vultures counted this year, compared with 180 last year, and 48 vulture nests counted in 2020, up slightly from 45 in 2019. The year also saw an all-time record number of turtle nests identified along the Mediterranean coast 380, compared with 230 last year.
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Liaison offices between Israel and Morocco will reopen within the next few weeks in Rabat and Tel Aviv, respectively, after being closed roughly 20 years ago, officials from the countries say.
Senior Adviser to US President Donald Trump Jared Kushner praises the efforts of Morocco and Israel to normalize ties, saying “huge strides” were made with a number of bilateral and trilateral agreements that will be signed in the coming days. Six of them will be signed today.
Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, the son of Morocco-born parents, says first in Arabic and then in Hebrew that normalized ties with Rabat have more than just diplomatic value to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis of Moroccan descent.