Likud

* Measure passes the first of four votes * Contains tax hikes and welfare cuts unpopular with public * Budget deficit was 4.2 percent of GDP last year By Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Steven Scheer JERUSALEM, June 18 (Reuters) - A budget of tax hikes and...

For skeptics who doubt a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians is still possible, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert argued passionately last week that now is the moment — and his plan is the answer. Olmert's plan, which is the...

By Crispian Balmer and Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM, June 6 (Reuters) - A small rock lies on the desk of Dov Lipman. It was hurled at the member of parliament by a fellow ultra-Orthodox Jew and is a constant reminder of the deep divisions within Israel that...

JERUSALEM, May 29 (Reuters) - Israel clinched a deal on Wednesday to abolish wholesale exemptions from military service for Jewish seminary students, ended a brief crisis that divided the ruling coalition parties. The issue of "sharing the national...

* Israel hopes gas finds will strengthen diplomatic hand * Decision on export quotas to be made in a "few weeks" By Crispian Balmer TEL AVIV, May 22 (Reuters) - Israel's newfound natural gas reserves will boost its regional clout and could help it...

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's newfound natural gas reserves will boost its regional clout and could help it improve ties with neighboring states in need of new energy sources, Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said. Once totally dependent on fuel imports,...

* Netanyahu's political allies clash in parliament * Coalition cracks herald trouble for any future peace deal By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM, May 21 (Reuters) - Israel's coalition government presented a divided front on Palestinian statehood on Tuesday...

* Ultra-Orthodox privileges at heart of political debate * Committee at impasse over fines for draft dodgers By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM, May 27 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main coalition partner threatened to quit on Monday...

JERUSALEM — With three airstrikes against Syria since January, Israel has inserted itself forcefully into the "Arab Spring's" most intractable conflict, heightening fears that Syria's civil war could spiral into a regional conflagration. The...

President Obama will arrive in Israel on Wednesday for his first visit since being elected in 2008. We wish him the best, but frankly, we have very low expectations. Indeed, it's hard to figure out why he's making the trip at all. The peace process...

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an agreement Tuesday night to bring his onetime political foe Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Movement Party, into his pending coalition government. Livni, a former foreign minister...