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Ben Gvir's Religious Zionism party sees a surge of support in Israeli elections to come in third place. Mr. Netanyahu's Likud bloc party leads with a majority of seats in parliament in Israeli elections.

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This report in WSJ has an interview of Walter Mead with Israeli pm Netanyahu on Iran nuclear deal and  its development of nuclear weapons, ways of reaching peace with Arab nations that could end the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

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This report from Jerusalem in The Times says Mr. Lieberman's opposition to the influence of ultra-orthodox parties in the Netanyahu government is likely to result in the end of the Netanyahu government. Mr. Lieberman's party is gaining popularity and could be the difference in this weeks election in Israel. Mr. Lieberman helped Netanyahu to come to power in Israel and was part of his Likud Party till he broke away to form his own party in 1998. Before this he served as defense minister in Netanyahu's government. Lieberman emigrated from the former Soviet Union in 1978 at the age of 20. His party has the support mostly of former pensioners from the Soviet Union. His main aim is to have influence in any new government, not be prime minister. Over the years Netanyahu and Lieberman have moved apart.  Lieberman hopes to regain influence in new Blue and White unity government with Likud. This is unlikely as the newly formed Blue and White party started as an alternative to Mr. Netanyahu after criticism of  Mr. Netanyahu's policies and an investigation underway.   ...

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Changing governments and loss of the vision of the labor movement in the early decades after independence has led Israel to this impasse. Benny Gantz of the wartime Unity government calls for new elections in September as demonstrations for a new government take place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. US president Biden tells Netanyahu on Thursday that US support hinges on treatment of civilians in Gaza. Biden says he "outraged and heart broken" at the airstrikes on aid workers vehicles in Gaza. Gantz, a former general and prime minister of Israel, said- “This agreed-upon date for elections will leave us time to continue the security effort, and it will allow Israeli citizens to know that we will soon need to renew the trust between us,” he told a news conference. “It will prevent the rupture among the people.”  One of the problems Israel faces is the political fragmentation, many parties and frequent elections leading to changes in government unlike the early decades after independence when the Labor party offered effective leadership. The social Labor and agriculture farms movement is how Israel started and prime ministers till 1980's were from this Labor and farms movement including David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir. As Israel evolved into a more technology oriented state this aspect was lost leading to a great measure of inequality, and changing governments without a clear vision for the future.   ...

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This Journal editorial calls the point in the Obama speech calling for Israel to return to 1967 borders a serious misstep. At its shortest point the Journal points out, the distance from the West Bank to the Mediterranean coast is 9 miles. This makes such a major geographic factor critical to shaping a peace with the defensible borders Israel needs. This may actually make the peace harder to reach by putting Obama behind a Palestinian position that Israel will not accept, as prime minister Netanyahu pointed out on May 19, 2011.

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President Biden is moving forward a plan to setup a maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza and a pier where commercial ships can drop off humnitarian aid and food. The trip would take 28 hours from Cyprus and would be able to get in 200 trucks of aid supplies each day. The Qataris and UAE will also help with this plan and Israelis will cooperate. On the diplomatic front both the European nations, Britain and the US are working together to get Israeli cooperation. British Foreign Secretary Cameron met Benny Gantz. Earlier Gantz met with Kamala Harris in Washington D.C. Gantz is part of the wartime cabinet in Israel. The US and EU, Britain all now have serious differences with Mr. Netanyahu on putting the humanitarian situation first and foremost considering the situation in Gaza.

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To just go for Israeli policy changes it would not accomplish anything says Schumer in this interview with NYT's Annie Karni at a Brooklyn school which he attended years ago. He says it took 2 months and 10 drafts for his 44 minute address. And not to address Netanyahu would do little as Schumer says Netanyahu "was the fount of the problems." Schumer said he looked at words "stepping down" and "resignation" and said to himself no they were not the right words. Instead he says he called for new Israeli elections, the chips fall where they would fall.

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Netanyahu and Gantz form a unity government in Israel with the two leaders alternating as prime minister every 18 months. The alternative was new elections for the fourth time. Israel like other countries needs a strong government to tackle the coronavirus.

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Isaac Herzog, leader of Israel's Zionist Union centre left party, is the candidate challenging Netanyahu of the Likud Party in Israel's March 17, 2015 elections. The Zionist Union is running even with the Likud Party in polls as public dissatisfaction with the Netanyahu government increases.

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The great persistence shown by president Biden in negotiating with Hamas through Qatar's emir and with Israel's Netanyahu to get both to come to an agreement for release of hostages. This was delayed twice, once with Israel's takeover of the Al Shifa hospital complex in Gaza and then with recalcitrance shown by both sides to agree over which hostages would be released. Each time Biden persisted till he got the deal for both hostage release and a temporary ceasefire that could be the basis for future settlement of decades of conflict. Biden has expresssed his determination to end this conflict. In this he has the support of the world community of nations.

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Conditions that a Netanyahu government would accept for the creation of a new Palestinian state are a military presence on the Jordan river, and sovereignty over Jerusalem and the settlement blocs. He would be willing to negotiate the giving up of the rest of the West Bank. Another condition is that the Palestinian government cannot include Hamas. This was outlined in a speech he made to Parliament on May 16, 2011. In a speech outlining his government's policy in the Middle East President Obama called for a return to pre-1967 borders for Israel.

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As the Israeli election happens on March 24, 2021, prime minister Netanyahu's popularity has increased because of his handling of the vaccination drive and the pandemic. Defense minister Gantz who was the rival for prime minister has seen his popularity drop to new lows.

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Both sides, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel, are more entrenched in their positions after the rocket attacks on Israeli cities and the airstrikes by Israel. There is even less prospect for peace talks now than before. And Israel is focussed on Iran with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu seeing support for its position strengthened within Israel. The Obama administration becomes dependent on the goodwill of Egypt's new government of Mohammed Morsi as the sole broker for peace in the Middle East. During the Gaza conflict the Turkish president Erdogan called Israel a terrorist state bringing Israel's relations with Turkey to a new low.

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Israel's Benny Gantz leader of the Blue and White party leading in seats in parliament with 33 seats to Likud's 31 seats, and his centre left coalition having 57 seats to Likud coalition's 55 seats, has rejected a call for a unity government with Likud bloc. Under such an arrangement Mr. Lieberman's party with 9 seats would also join the coalition. Mr. Lieberman pulled out of a coalition with Likud because of his opposition to ultra orthodox parties leading to this election in Israel in 2019. Mr. Netanyahu's rise in politics with Likud came with his close relationship with Lieberman. With this coming apart Israel is looking to the future with the emergence of new governing parties to replace the old politics and governance.

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Friedman quotes the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on the intransigence of both the Palestinians under Abbas and Israelis under Likud leader Netanyahu. The Haaretz account of the currrent state of Israeli-Palestinian relations said the situation was close to where it was at the turn of the century, when it was considered a goal just to have Palestinians and Israelis sit down and talk to each other. Friedman suggests Netanyahu offer a 6 month freeze on new settlements as a way to get the Palestinians to negotiate a new peace; saying it costs Israel little as there are already 300,000 new settlers, and the prospects for a settlement make this worthwhile. He also recounts the fears of both sides. The Palestinian side sees the new settlements as sending the message that Israel wants two states, one in the pre-1967 borders and the other in the post-1967 borders, both belonging to Israel. The Israelis fear the Palestinian's covet some of the land that is now inside Israel, but was once part of the old Palestine; and have never reconciled to the co-existence of a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state, or a Jewish people's co-existence alongside a Palestinian people....

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The strong challenge to prime minister Netanyahu from the Zionist Union party in Israel's March 2015 general elections. Public dissatisfaction with the Netanyahu government is increasing in Israel, giving the Zionist Union party and its leader Isaac Hezog, an opportunity to lead Israel.

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Tom Friedman of the NYT talks with retiring Israeli defense minister, and former prime minister, Ehud Barak, in Tel Aviv. Barak makes the case for seizing opportunities as they arise in a difficult situation, which might be lost if Israel adopts a permanently pessimstic state of mind about the prospect of peace with Arab countries. Barak and Friedman suggest the approach of the Israeli government of prime minister Netanyahu has risks of highlighting the dangers to Israel at its borders, to the point where Israel could lose the ability to make wise and sensible judgements as these opportunities arise, and the Middle East itself changes. Because of the political struggles and conflict in the Middle East this may obscure the newly emerging Middle East, which needs economic advancement to support the aspirations of the overwhelmingly young populations in these countries. This has the potential for a new dynamic that could see the Middle East move beyond Israel to seizing the opportunities presented by economic and technical progress. Similiar to the other nations of Asia, including the Muslim nations of Turkey and Indonesia. ...

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Israel's government dissolved parliament and called for elections to be held in April 2019. Prime minister Netanyahu's governing coalition failed to reach agreement on a controversial law to draft ultraorthodox men into the military, resulting in the move to hold fresh elections.

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Melanie Garson, professor at University College, London, says attention was diverted to expansionist settler programs in the West Bank leading to lax efforts for security on the border with Gaza. Parties on the right controlled the key ministry of Defense and their priorities were the West bank diverting resources,  say experts in this France24 report. Warnings were ignored from the Army, and from Egypt, according to this report. Garson says it will be very hard for Netanyahu to avoid responsibility for not having the mechanisms in place to protect people on the border with Gaza. On this page a former prime minister of Israel who had reached an agreement with Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for peaceful coexistence of the Jewish and Palestinian reflects on that progress and its disruption by rocket attacks from Gaza by Hamas leading to the Gaza war in 2006, 17 years earlier. The patterns are similar with the Israelis and  Palestinians close to an agreement but not going the last mile and external forces disrupting the process at the last moment. ...

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Iran has collected 60% enriched uranium for 2 years by 2023, enough for 2 nuclear weapons, says this report in the WSJ. Israeli premier Netanyahu says this would invite a strike if weapons grade uranium is converted into a weapon. In this situation after Iran provided drones to Russia, president Biden has renewed efforts to reduce the level of escalation in the relations with Iran, opening up talks in New York and through Oman. Iran wants money that is held in other countries for oil and gas deliveries after US economic sanctions on Iran, to be released in exchange for limits on nuclear work and prisoner release. The Biden administration has approved 2.5 billion euros in payments by Iraq. Another $7 billion could be released from South Korea if diplomatic talks lead to Iran taking steps the US seeks from Iran.