Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog was elected to serve as the 11th president of the State of Israel after he received 87 votes from MKs in a secret ballot vote conducted in the Knesset plenum. Herzog’s opponent, Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz, received 27 votes. With his victory, Herzog become the first president whose father had been president. Chaim Herzog was Israel’s sixth president. This was the first presidential race in Israeli history in which none of the candidates were current parliamentarians.
PM @netanyahu now congratulating his one-time rival and now new President of the State of Israel, @Isaac_Herzog. pic.twitter.com/mI4a2tccQO
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) June 2, 2021
The parliamentary vote coincidentally was held as opposition lawmakers scrambled to forge a government to unseat Prime Benjamin Netanyahu.
A new coalition has still not been formed to replace Netanyahu, and opposition leader Yair Lapid had yet to update President Reuven Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin by the time Wednesday’s Knesset session began. Lapid must notify Rivlin and Levin by Wednesday night at 11:59 local time that he can form a government; otherwise, the mandate goes to the Knesset, where any MK has the option to build a coalition with the support of 61 other members of parliament.
Two sticking points remain. First is Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked’s request to join the judicial selection committee – a seat already promised to Labor leader Merav Michaeli. Second, Yesh Atid is struggling to close an agreement with the Islamist Ra’am party that Yamina and New Hope can live with.
The Hamas terror group urged Palestinians to hold a “Day of Rage” on Friday in order to confront what it called the “storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” in Jerusalem. “This aggression will be met by our people with further resistance and confrontation,” Hamas warned.
Despite the ceasefire between Israel and the terror group, the Hamas leadership is apparently pushing for further unrest in the West Bank. It has called on Palestinians to block Israeli bypass roads to confront “settlers who are working to impose a fait accompli under the auspices of the occupation government.”
Hamas has also beseeched Palestinians to march toward West Bank security checkpoints that have in the past been the scene of violent clashes with Israel Defense Forces soldiers.
The ‘protests’ are planned for the day before the so-called Naksa Day, which commemorates the Arab loss in the 1967 Six-Day War and is generally marked on June 5.
“We affirm that the masses of our people are ready to engage in the project of national liberation and to defend the land and the holy sites,” the terror group said.
After months of debate surrounding the April 11 explosion at Iran’s all-important Natanz underground nuclear facility, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has finally lifted the veil.
The blow delivered to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions turns out to have been much more significant than the regime admitted. The latest IAEA report indicates that Iran has only enriched around 2.4 kg. in seven weeks. This, despite the fact that the Islamic Republic has started enriching uranium to an all-new high of 60 percent – much closer to the 90 percent level needed for an atomic bomb.
As such, the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program was greatly weakened by the April explosion at Natanz. At the same time, Iran demonstrated a resilience that surprised even top Israeli intelligence officials, with Tehran having shown a similar ability to recover from significant setbacks in the past.
Relatedly, incoming Mossad director David Barnea hinted at potential future assassinations of Iran’s nuclear scientists and attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.
“The Iranian [nuclear] program will continue to be met with the full power of the long arm of the Mossad,” Barnea said, adding: “We are very familiar with the different components of the nuclear program and we are very familiar personally with the officials involved in it and also with the officials who direct them.”
Israel’s new top spy said that Mossad would undertake a mix of operations and the use of advanced technologies – likely a reference to cyberattacks, among other capabilities – to keep the Islamic Republic in check.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz will reportedly arrive in Washington on Thursday to ask for $1 billion in defense aid. He will meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Gantz during the visit will reportedly submit a request to the Pentagon to replenish the arsenal of the Iron Dome missile defense system, following the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza-based terror groups, US Senator Lindsey Graham revealed at a press conference while visiting Israel.
“Iron Dome performed incredibly well, saving thousands of Israeli lives and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives,” Graham said, adding that “I would imagine that the administration would say yes to this request and it will sail through Congress.”
The Thursday meetings will also include discussions on the possibility of the US rejoining the 2015 deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program, as well as ways to maintain Israel’s regional military superiority.
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Recommended Reading
- Can Hamas, an Iranian Proxy, Be Deterred? (Ofira Seliktar, Begin-Sadat Center For Strategic Studies)
- Israel Has Set a New Standard for the Ethics of War (Rabbi Daniel Rowe, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Israel vs Anti-Israel Advocacy Journalism (Eric R. Mandel, Jerusalem Post)
- Hollywood Industry Group Calls Cultural Boycotts of Israel ‘Affront’ to Those Seeking Peace, After 600 Musicians Sign Open Letter (Shiryn Ghermezian, Algemeiner)
- Israeli Woman Makes History as She Summits Mt. Everest (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21C)
