'Mofaz mulling departure from coalition today'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz will remove his party from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition as early as Tuesday if gaps between Likud and Kadima on how to equalize the burden of IDF service are not bridged, sources close to Mofaz said Monday.

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Unity Government in Israel Disbanding Over Dispute on Draft
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The broadest unity coalition Israel has seen in many years broke apart Tuesday evening, rent by irreconcilable differences over how to integrate ultra-Orthodox men and Arab citizens into the military

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Israel nabs suspect in attack on activist's home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli police say they have arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly spraying hate graffiti on the home of a prominent anti-settlement activist. Activist Hagit Ofran said she found messages on the stairwell of her Jerusalem apartment building on Monday reading "Hagit — you're dead." Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the suspect admitted to vandalizing the home, as well as the office of Ofran's employer, the Peace Now group.

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Israeli Lawmaker Destroys New Testament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

He’s not exactly known for his sensitivity, but Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben-Ari has rarely made a statement that has the potential to offend quite so many people.

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The Levy Committee: Who Are the Real Winners?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Hannah Weisfeld - (Blog) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week the Levy Committee, set up by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine the legal status of outposts in the West Bank, announced its findings. According to the committee the IV Geneva Convention does not apply to the West Bank and, therefore, Israel cannot be deemed to be occupying this piece of land. On that basis the 'illegal outposts' in the West Bank, built on what Israel recognizes as state land, should be made legal, and zoning policies should be amended to make it easier for Jews to build in this area.

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Analysis: The bigger they are, the softer they fall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - (Analysis) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Since George Berkeley in 1710, philosophers have pondered whether a tree makes a sound when it falls in a forest in the middle of the night and no one is there to see it. And now modern day philosophers and political analysts can debate whether a sound was made when the largest Knesset faction entered the government in the middle of the night and left 71 days later. At least the tree made an imprint. Some branches inevitably fell down. It might even have injured an unperceptive animal.

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Is There More Trouble Ahead for Benjamin Netanyahu?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The next Israeli elections, which will take place no later than late October 2013, will determine whether the right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will keep running the government with hardly any parliamentary opposition, or if his Likud party and its potential right-wing and Orthodox partners will face a center-left bloc which either eliminates or, at least, decreases Netanyahu's political power. It will determine whether the peace process will remain in a deadlock, or will get a fair, if not a last chance. 

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Bibi in a Corner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The short marriage between Israel's ruling Likud Party and Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset, is ending as these lines are written. The official reason for the coalition's collapse -- a disagreement over a bill that would ensure the conscription of ultra-Orthodox youth -- is not the main reason it has come apart. The Likud-Kadima split was primarily the result of fear: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fear of losing his original coalition partners, and Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz's fear of a looming political disaster.

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Defense Ministry hires architect to resume construction of illegal West Bank outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The government is stepping up construction in the West Bank settlements and acting to legitimize at least one illegal outpost it has pledged to demolish, Haaretz has learned. The Defense Ministry recently contracted an architect to resume construction of the Givat Sal'it outpost in the Jordan Valley, in what is seen as a step toward legitimizing the outpost. Givat Sal'it is one of 26 communities the Sharon government had promised the United States it would tear down nearly 10 years ago.

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Ariel academic center in West Bank expected to be named university in disputed vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Talia Nesher - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

The Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education is to meet this afternoon at Bar-Ilan University to vote on whether to recognize the Ariel University Center as a full-fledged university. The planning and budget committee of the state's Council for Higher Education had recommended against it at this time.

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