Israeli ex-leaders discussing campaign to defeat Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Former leaders Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni announced on Wednesday they were discussing a partnership that could shake up Israeli politics and lead to a joint campaign to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a January election. Olmert, a centrist, was forced to quit as prime minister in 2008 over corruption charges of which he was largely acquitted. Were he to make a comeback, he is seen as possibly the most likely candidate to beat Netanyahu, the right-wing Likud party leader, who polls now predict will win re-election.

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Netanyahu's Move to Right Leaves Opening for Olmert at Center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

This was supposed to be a Seinfeld election in Israel: no real agenda, no real visions, no big narratives except for "Iran" and all those urgent issues that the political system conveniently defers to the next generation. But these elections are in fact historic for one reason: the first time ever not dealing with Israel's relations with the Arab world, or with the future of our cohabitation with the Palestinians. "Peace" is a T-shirt, and Palestinians exist is a parallel universe.

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Israeli rightists unite while center-left remains in disarray as elections near
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 31, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Israel's governing Likud party approved teaming up with Yisrael Beiteinu in a move that united the country's right-of-center forces and left contenders on the left treading water ahead of the elections slated for early next year.

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Bibi's Mistake
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

In an announcement last Thursday that shocked the Israeli political establishment, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated their intention to merge Netanyahu's Likud Party with Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu. Despite the contention made by some -- notably Haaretz editor Aluf Benn -- that this move creates a war cabinet that will make it easier for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, it's more likely the two men had domestic politics at the forefront of their minds.

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Isreali PM Netanyahu to visit Paris on Wednesday
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
(Analysis) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

  Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Paris from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 for bilateral talks, the French foreign ministry announced here on Monday.

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Settler leaders lobby PM to pass Levy report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - (Analysis) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu weighs bringing the Levy Report on legalizing West Bank outposts to the cabinet, settler leaders on Monday held a small protest outside the Knesset. The leaders plan to sit there throughout the week, as part of their lobby to get Netanyahu to approve the report, which states that West Bank settlements are legal under international law.

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Demonizing Israel Will Get Us Nowhere
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Ben-Dror Yemini - (Opinion) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

After it became clear that the apartheid headline was a canard, Gideon Levy has chosen to explain that even if he made a mistake, he was still correct in essence. Yesterday [Oct. 29], Haaretz published a clarification with regard to a headline that claimed Israel was an apartheid state. This was not an apology; barely a clarification. It was on the bottom of the fifth page. Yesterday came the turn of the guest of honor [the apartheid article's author, Gideon Levy].

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Netanyahu: Israeli strike on Iran nuclear plants will only serve to calm Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities won't destabilize the Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview to a French magazine on Tuesday, adding, moreover, that such a move would only serve to restore security in the region.

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Israel's Barak hopes to extend political career
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Aron Heller - (Analysis) October 29, 2012 - 12:00am

 

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Israel to limit cluster bombs in possible war with Hezbollah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - (Analysis) October 29, 2012 - 12:00am

   Israel would use a lot fewer cluster munitions in any future war with Hezbollah than it did in their 2006 conflict, even though it would go into southern Lebanon earlier and harder, a senior Israeli military officer said on Monday.

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