MKs Demand Sacking of Professor Who Called for Israel Boycott

“Dr. Gordon’s article is repugnant and should be scorned,” Education Minister Gidon Saar said. He spoke by phone with BGU President Rivka Carmi and indicated that Gordon should be dismissed from his post.

Earlier in the day, Carmi had already made it clear that Gordon should seek work elsewhere. “We are shocked by Dr. Gordon’s irresponsible words which we absolutely condemn,” she said in a statement. “Academic personalities who feel this way are invited to look for an academic and personal home elsewhere.”

For full article, visit http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133048

Arab MKs slam Yishai for seeking power to cancel citizenship

“Yishai wants to cancel court decisions and to take the authority over political revenge into his own hands. Revoking citizenship is forbidden by international law – citizenship is not a favor, but comes as a result of the fact that we are products of this land,” Zahalka said.

MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) connected Yishai’s initiative to a recent series of legislative initiatives that Arab lawmakers say all targeted Israeli Arabs, including the Nakba Bill and the bill to require a loyalty oath as a condition for receiving a national identity card.

For full article, visit http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244035011656&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Gideon Levy: A marginal matter

The 18th Knesset is different from all its predecessors. It is the first that does not have a Jewish MK whose guiding principle is the struggle against the occupation.

Since the 7th Knesset, the first to be elected after the Six-Day War, we have not had a parliament like this one, devoid of Jewish anti-occupation activists. As such, the new Knesset precisely reflects the popular zeitgeist, in which the occupation is completely missing from the national agenda, and there is no reason to disturb our legislators with the issue.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078598.html

Nimer Sultany: Should Palestinian citizens vote in Israel’s parliamentary elections?

The recent Israeli elections witnessed a revival of the debate among the Palestinian citizens of Israel concerning the meaning of their participation, or the lack thereof, in the electoral process. The disqualification of Arab parties by the Knesset’s Central Elections Committee and the subsequent reversal of the decision by Israel’s high court led to two paradoxical results: on the one hand, it strengthened the doubts of some Palestinians vis-a-vis the fairness and effectiveness of the parliamentary presence of Palestinian representatives; on the other hand, it seems that these events mobilized more Palestinians to vote in order to defend their representation. Nevertheless, the steady decline of the Palestinian turnout in the national elections in recent years maintained its momentum: only 53 percent of the eligible Palestinian voters voted in the February elections. On the backdrop of the falling percentage of turnout and the rise of the Zionist far right wing, explicating and assessing the main positions in this debate — in particular the voices calling for a Palestinian boycott of the Israeli elections — becomes vital.

For full article, visit http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10461.shtml

Lieberman, Avigdor — Israeli politician and deputy prime minister

Avigdor Lieberman, chair of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party, joined Ehud Olmert’s government as deputy prime minister and Minister of Strategic Threats in October 2006. As a cabinet member, Lieberman is an integral part of all strategic discussions. Lieberman, who is known for his advocacy of “transfer,” or ethnic cleansing, of Palestinian citizens in Israel, as well as his declaration that Palestinian members of the Knesset who meet with Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza should be executed as traitors, immigrated to Israel from Moldova at the age of 20.

For full article, visit http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/people/658.shtml

U.S. pro-Israel lobby wages anti-Lieberman campaign

“J Street is deeply concerned about what Avigdor Lieberman’s recent strong showing in Israeli elections, and the key role he is playing as Foreign Minister in the new Israeli government, mean for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” said a statement on the group’s website, urging supporters to sign an open letter and call on Jewish community leaders to “speak out forcefully against Lieberman’s inflammatory platform and rhetoric and stand up for peace, justice and democracy.”

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1076043.html

Haaretz poll: 54% of public dissatisfied with new government

The problem could also be the friction that accompanied the government’s formation; two key cabinet members are suffering embarrassingly low support ratings. Netanyahu, who dreamed for a decade about returning to the Prime Minister’s Bureau, will have to work hard and fast to show he is productive. The most striking result of the Haaretz-Dialog poll, conducted under Prof. Camil Fuchs of the statistics department at Tel Aviv University, is the extent of the public’s dissatisfaction with the new government. Less than a third of those surveyed said they are satisfied with Netanyahu’s government. More than half, 54 percent, are dissatisfied with the new government.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075358.html

Netanyahu sworn in as Israel’s prime minister

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in late Tuesday to lead Israel’s 32nd government, after cobbling together a coalition amid rising tensions within his own Likud party and with other leading political figures.

Lawmakers voted 69 to 45 with five abstentions in favor of Netanyahu’s right-wing government after a six-hour debate, making Netanyahu prime minister for the second time in 10 years.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075341.html

Netanyahu officially replaces Ehud Olmert, who stepped down amid multiple corruption investigations, on Wednesday.

Speaking on Tuesday, Olmert ended his term with an emotional defence of his premiership, acknowledging that he had mistakes but saying that there had also been successes.

For full article, visit http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/03/2009331203050922203.html

The charter of Netanyahu’s Likud party calls for Israel to maintain control over all the land it occupied in 1967, expressly prohibiting a Palestinian state, thought to be the cornerstone of any peace deal.

For full article, visit http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36796

Image Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075503.html

“It is not with a victor’s joy that I stand here today in front of you, but with a great sense of responsibility,” Netanyahu began. “I ask for your trust at this time of worldwide crisis of a kind we haven’t known before, and it is with a sense of worry, but also with hope and faith, that the State of Israel confronts two major challenges: the economic challenge and the security challenge. I am certain that the people of Israel will cope successfully with the challenges that lie ahead of it.”

For full article, visit http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238423647847&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The vote tallied 69 Knesset members in favor and 45 Knesset members against. Labor MKs Shelly Yacimovich, Eitan Cabel, Yuli Tamir, Amir Peretz and Ophir Pines-Paz abstained.

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) was the only member of the House not present in the vote.

For full article, visit http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3695344,00.html

Israeli Railways fires Arab workers who did not serve in the military

One of the Arab workers said that this decision is discriminatory, and added that so far 40 Arab workers already received official dismissal letters, while the rest will most likely receive them in the next day.

Arab member of Knesset, Ahmad Tibi, raised the issue at the Knesset last week and Israel’s transportation minister, Shaul Mofaz, promised to look into it.

For full article, visit http://www.imemc.org/article/59663

The project, which began about three years ago following several grave railway accidents, employs 260 workers, about 60% of whom are Arab.

Up to now military service was not a precondition for getting the job, but Israel Railways recently decided to promote IDF veterans – a move which hurt Arabs working as observers or patrolmen.

For full article, visit http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3694148,00.html

The workers earn NIS 24 an hour, slightly above minimum wage. Since the story broke, they have allegedly been threatened not to speak to the media.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074814.html

Arab MKs to skip vote on Knesset speaker due to Land Day

Likud MK Reuven Rivlin is due to be elected Knesset speaker Monday afternoon, but Arab Knesset factions are objecting to the timing of the vote. On Monday the Arab sector commemorates Land Day, marking violent protests in 1976 over government land policies in which six Arabs were killed.

MKs from Arab factions are expected to be absent Monday from the vote, after failing to convince acting speaker Michael Eitan that it should be rescheduled to take place on Tuesday.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074809.html