Israel Matzav

Knesset coalition chairman writes letter against BDS groups' parade participation

Knesset Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin has written a letter to JCC Watch's Richard Allen opposing the participation of BDS groups in the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 1. The letter is reproduced above.

It would be nice to hear from concrete steps in this regard from Israel's foreign ministry and from its consul general in New York, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Labels: BDS, Israeli Knesset, JCC Watch, Yariv Levin

MK's apologize to Shapiro for recording and leaking meeting contents

A group of MK's had an 'off the record' meeting with US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Tuesday. There were two small problems. First, at least one MK recorded the meeting. And second, several MK's leaked the contents of the meeting to the media.

Knesset Land of Israel caucus chair-people Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu) and Orit Struck (Bayit Yehudi) expressed regret on Wednesday that a recording of the parliamentary group's closed meeting with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro was leaked to the press.

The meeting, which took place on Tuesday, was closed to the press and was described by attendees as "charged," after MKs used harsh language in discussions of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard's treatment and accused the US of bias against Israel in talks with Palestinians.

Shapiro spoke to Levin and Struck, saying that he was upset that the meeting was recorded.
Levin and Struck apologized and said that the participant did not realize the meeting was closed before recording it.

However, sources in the meeting were made aware that it was meant to be closed to press by The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, but still agreed to divulge extensive information about it.

Struck and Levin thanked Shapiro for taking part in the meeting.

Shapiro accepted their apology and said that, in his opinion, it was a successful and beneficial discussion.

But it's not likely to happen again anytime soon. Only in Israel....

Labels: Dan Shapiro, Israeli Knesset, Jewish Home party, Jonathan Pollard, Likud party, Yariv Levin, Yesh Atid party

Likud in revolt over Netanyahu plans to raze 'settlement' homes

Have a look at these three tweets from JPost's Lahav Harkov.

Sounds like the Likud is revolted by plans to raze 'settlement' homes (i.e. Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria).

Maybe it's time for Netanyahu to say no to Master Obama. Hmmmm.

Labels: Danny Danon, Likud party, settlements, Tzipi Hotovely, Yariv Levin