THE MEDIA LINE
Israeli Elections Likely To Push Back Release Of Trump Peace Plan
by Charles Bybelezer
December 25, 2018

The upcoming Israeli national vote is liable to further delay the release of United States President Donald Trump’s much-hyped two-years-in-the-making peace plan to end the conflict with the Palestinians. The American leader has expressed a desire to roll-out the proposal by February, however, analysts believe that doing so could place electoral pressures on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as he invariably tacks to the right in order to rally his base ahead of the poll. According to sources, the White House prefers to deal with Netanyahu and should its peace plan call for concessions to the Palestinians it could put the premier in a difficult bind. READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST Netanyahu corruption cases to take center stage in election The consensus in the political field these days is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have tried a lot harder to come to a compromise with the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties or with opposition parties to allow for a haredi IDF enlistment law to pass before the Supreme Court’s January 15 deadline. The real reason Netanyahu wants an early election seems to be that he is racing against Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, to get reelected before a decision is made to indict him and on what charges.