Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said today that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders.
“The prime minister has not changed his known view, and stands firmly on all political matters,” Netanyahu’s office announced. “In any peace agreement Jerusalem will remain the united capital of Israel.”
The statement came after Egypt’s foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss making “Arab Jerusalem” the …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited opposition leader Tzipi Livni to join a national unity Government today to face national and international problems, Jerusalem Post reports.
The offer came after the two met for nearly two hours to discuss state and security matters.
Netanyahu told Livni that a national unity Government would be based in “peace and security”, as the Prime Minister outlined in his Bar Ilan speech and that today “represent broad national consensus”.
After receiving the …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today announced a ten-month freeze on building Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, after the security cabinet approved the plan, and said the move was a “far-reaching and painful step”, the Jerusalem Post reports.
“We authorize it from a deep desire to move forward toward peace,” he said, adding that Israel hoped it would lead to “meaningful negotiations” toward a “historic peace agreement” with the Arabs.
Concerning Israel’s capital Jerusalem, Netanyahu said …

An Arab newspaper says that Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas terrorists that would eventually result in the return of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Arutz 7 reports.
According to the report published Thursday in al-Manar, Netanyahu agreed to carry out the first stage of the deal, in which Shalit will be transferred to Egypt.
The newspaper, which is distributed in Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem, said the Prime Minister’s approval …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel is the most threatened country in the world, and the rocket attacks the country’s civilian population have suffered are attacks not experienced by any other state since Britain in 2nd World War, Ha’aretz reports.
“We are faced with enemies who do not conceal their intentions, and who arm themselves accordingly,” Netanyahu said. “They first attack us physically, and then attack our right to self-defence.”
He noted that despite the …

A survey conducted by the Dialog polling institute revealed this week that support for the political right has continued to grow in Israel since the election of right-wing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Arutz 7 reports.
Sixty-five of the Knesset’s 120 seats are currently held by politicians considered to be on the right of the political spectrum, but if elections were held today, that number would rise to 72.
On the nationalist end of the political spectrum, the …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office denied a report in the Arabic-language newspaper al-Arabiya that Israel would agree to surrender the strategic Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty, Arutz 7 reports.
The platform of the Prime Minister’s Likud party specifically states that his Government will not withdraw from the area.
“The subject of the negotiations with Syria came up during a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy,” Netanyahu’s office said. “The Prime Minister said he …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama held a private meeting on yesterday, during which the two discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions as well as stalled Middle East peace talks, and Obama reaffirmed America’s “strong commitment” to Israel’s security.
“The President reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues,” said a statement issued by the White House after the one hour and forty minute closed-door session …

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claims that Israeli Government offered to end all settlement activity in Judea and Samaria, Arutz 7 reports.
Clinton claimed that Binyamin Netanyahu’s Government “would end permits, it would end approvals, it would end expropriation of land”.
“It is not at all everything we would want, but for that Government to do anything is unprecedented,” Clinton said.
Clinton repeated her call for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume talks with no pre-conditions …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today celebrates his 60th birthday and he’ll take some time off from his busy schedule to celebrate the occasion with his wife Sara and their two sons, Yair and Avner.
In his first term as prime minister, Netanyahu was the youngest premier in the history of the State of Israel. Today, he will mark his 60th birthday at the Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, in a celebration initiated by President Shimon …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his Spanish counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last Thursday that talks between Israel and the United States over construction in the settlements on the West Bank had ended, Ha’aretz reports.
“We solved the matter of the settlements with the Americans,” Netanyahu said. “I cannot say more than that. If you are interested in hearing more details, ask in Washington.”
It is not clear what Netanyahu meant and what the details of the …

Israel’s left-wing newspaper Ha’aretz compares their Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to UK’s wartime leader and probably the greatest Prime Minister of all times, Winston Churchill, saying that Netanyahu identifies with the feeling of being a small minority that is right, warning against the danger while being ignored by the majority, which goes about enjoying itself until he is called from the political sidelines to save his people.
“Netanyahu compared himself to Churchill when he opposed the …

The daughter of Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday night, making the Prime Minister a grandfather for the first time.
Happy mother, Noa Netanyahu-Roth was born to Bibi’s first wire Micki Weizmann and is the 59-year-old Prime Minister’s only daughter. Noa is married to Daniel Roth.
From The Empire Chronicles, a big mazal tov to Bibi, his daughter and son-in-law!

US President Barack Obama will host a meeting Tuesday with Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and “Palestinian Authority” leader Mahmoud Abbas, in an effort to lay the groundwork for renewed peace negotiations, the Jerusalem Post reports.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the three-way meeting would take place after Obama meets separately with each of the two leaders.
But the meeting between will not serve as a preparation for negotiations and not constitute renewal of negotiations …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office will acknowledge the growing power of bloggers by providing writers of the most popular blogs with press passes, Arutz 7 reports.
The press pass would allow the bloggers to enter press conferences and similar events.
Prior to handing out press passes, PMO officials will spend months investigating various blogs and determining which of Israel’s popular bloggers should be offered credentials.
In the United States, where well-known bloggers sometimes draw more readers than …

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the pre-1967 borders, which some think that should be the border between Israel and the “Palestinian” state, are not defensible, and Israel needs borders where it can defend itself.
“The Land of Israel is divided. The question is how it will be divided in the future,” Netanyahu said, according to Arutz 7.
“There are those who envisioned from the beginning that the borders would be along the 1967 lines [prior …