Netanyahu Faces Crisis in Building a Coalition
Two days before the deadline for Israeli Prime Minister to put together a new coalition government, he faced a crisis when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit his position and said he will not be joining Netanyahu’s coalition government. He said the decision was one of principle and that Netanyahu had dropped certain issues like the Jewish state law from the new government’s guidelines. But there have long been personal tensions between Lieberman and Netanyahu. Even without Lieberman’s party, Netanyahu has 61 members of the 120-seat Knesset who have agreed to join his coalition, which would still give him a narrow one-seat majority. However, the crisis intensified when the Jewish Home party headed by Naftali Bennett, announced it was cutting off coalition talks with the Prime Minister after Netanyahu promised several high-level religious positions to the Shas ultra-Orthodox party. Most Israeli analysts said Bennett is cutting off the talks just to increase the price his eight-seat faction will take for joining the government. But even if Netanyahu does manage to sign a deal before the Thursday deadline, it leaves his government with just a one-seat majority, meaning it could easily fall. The other alternative is to bring in the largest opposition party, the Zionist Union, with 24 seats, for a more centrist government, but it is unlikely to happen, if at all, by the deadline. In the May 17 elections, Netanyahu’s Likud party won 30 seats out of a total of 120.
Large Syrian Hospital Closes
One of the two major hospital in Syria’s largest city Aleppo has suspended its operations after it was bombed at least twice last week. The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders said the hospital is in a part of the city that is controlled by rebels and provides critical services for more than 40,000 people. Rebel groups say that Syrian government aircraft dropped barrel bombs and pictures on social media showed doctors in front of the seriously damaged hospital building. Meanwhile, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that if Syrian President Bashar Assad falls, that would also mean the fall of Hizbullah, which has been fighting with Assad since the civil war began four years ago.
France and Saudi Arabia: Iran Deal Must Not Destabilize Region
France and Saudi Arabia both said that any future deal between Iran and the international community over Iran’s nuclear program must not destabilize the region further and threaten Iran’s neighbors. Saudi Arabia invited French President Francois Hollande to Riyadh to discuss the emerging nuclear deal with other Gulf states who fear that leaving Iran with even a diminished nuclear program could be destabilizing. Israel has also opposed any deal that lets Iran keep its nuclear program, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes only.
Google Maps to Show Israel Trail
A group of Israeli hikers is set to document the 680-mile Israel trail which goes from one end of the country to the other for Google Maps. Wearing 25 pound Google Street View Trekker cameras on their back, about 80 teenagers from the Society for the Protection of Nature will take turns hiking the trail over the next three months. Once finished it will be the longest trail in the world recorded with this technique, as well as the first that crosses the length of the country. The Israel Trail is popular with young Israelis both before and after their mandatory army service.