Yair Lapid - The African Mirror

Jul

2022

Explainer: Can Netanyahu regain Israel’s premiership?

ISRAEL called a November election after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stepped aside and parliament was dissolved, while former premier Benjamin Netanyahu promised he would return to power. Here is a quick look at why Israel is holding yet another election and what the chances are of a Netanyahu comeback: HOW DID WE GET HERE ... AGAIN? Bennett and his partner Yair Lapid, who at midnight will assume the role of caretaker prime minister, took power last June, ending the record 12-year tenure of Netanyahu along with almost three years of political stalemate. Bennett and Lapid wrangled up a broad range…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel blames Iran for attack on tanker off Oman that killed two

WORLD

LISA BARRINGTON, JONATHAN SAUL and DAN WILLIAMS A Briton and a Romanian were killed when an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker came under attack off the coast of Oman, the company said, in an incident that Israel's foreign minister blamed on Iran and said deserved a harsh response. There were varying explanations for what happened to the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship, with Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime describing the incident as "suspected piracy" and a source at the Oman Maritime Security Center as an accident that occurred outside Omani territorial waters. Iran and Israel have traded accusations of attacking each other's…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt, Israeli foreign minister meet

NEWS

EGYPT’S Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has met his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid in Brussels, for the first time since Israel's new cross-party coalition took office last month. Shoukry stressed "the need to resolve the current stalemate between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, leading to just and comprehensive peace negotiations," Egypt's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Twitter.

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Netanyahu out, Bennett in as Israel marks end of an era

WORLD

JEFFREYHELLER and MAAYAN LUBELL BENJAMIN Netanyahu's record 12-year run as Israel's prime minister ended on Sunday with parliament approving a new "government of change" led by nationalist Naftali Bennett, an improbable scenario few Israelis could have imagined. But the razor-thin 60-59 vote of confidence in a coalition of left-wing, centrist, right-wing and Arab parties with little in common except for a desire to unseat Netanyahu, only underscored its likely fragility. Addressing parliament before Bennett was sworn in, a combative Netanyahu said: "If we are destined to go into the opposition, we will do so with our heads held high until…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel’s ‘magician’ Netanyahu faces final curtain after record run

WORLD

JEFFREY HELLER LONG the familiar face of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has held on as prime minister for more than a decade, clinging to power through a criminal indictment and four elections in the past two years alone. Now, the question is whether the 71-year-old Netanyahu, dubbed "the magician" by his admirers, has any cards left up his sleeve. After years in which he exerted near-complete hegemony over Israeli politics, an emerging broad coalition of opponents could be about to unseat him. "Fraud of the century," an indignant Netanyahu declared on Sunday, after fellow right-winger Naftali Bennett turned against him and…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel’s odd couple: rivals who could topple Netanyahu together

WORLD

MAAYAN LUBELL ONE is a centre-left avowed secularist who says the Palestinians should get a state. The other is a firebrand of the religious hard right who wants to annex most of the occupied West Bank. Meet the men from Israel's opposite political poles who could topple Benjamin Netanyahu. If Israel's longest serving prime minister is brought down after four inconclusive elections in two years, it will not be because his opponents rallied the nation behind a new political programme. It will be because two men who agree on little else have decided to make a deal. After Netanyahu failed…