I'm joining a small protest of Ethiopians outside Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking for support for the Tirgray in Ethiopia
Holding banners and Tirgray flags, the protesters describe the massacres carried out by the Ethiopian Government and Amhara militias in Tirgray Region as a genocide
This woman's banner says "in the middle, on the side, where is Israel?"
The protest organisers told me Tirgray Region is essentially under siege and is running out of food and medicine. They want Israeli to airdrop humanitarian aid into the Region.
More banners. One reads "murder is everyone's responsibility." Another says "the Jews of Tirgray have the right to life too". A protesters told me all the Ethiopian Jews here are from Tirgray Region.
Passing people are interested in the protest and its cause. A bus driver invites one of the protesters to give him a flyer. He gets on the bus and gives them out to other passengers too.
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Ron Watkins is pushing yet another election fraud theory. This time he's saying Runbeck, the printing company, deliberately sent out ballots to fake addresses, waited for them to be returned and then illegally voted with them.
Later, he deleted the message that named Runbeck.
I hope @RunbeckElection is aware that they're about to become the next target of the everlasting election conspiracy theory.
Oh, I'm late to this. Watkins has been pushing the Runbeck conspiracy for a couple of weeks already.
What happens next in Israeli politics? The immediate fight will be over when a vote to seat the new government will happen. Usually it'd be as soon as possible, but the Knesset Speaker is a Likud MK and can delay things as long as legally possible.
How long? That's the argument. The law says when a new Government is formed, "the Speaker of the Knesset shall notify the Knesset thereof, and set a sitting for the purpose of forming the Government, within SEVEN DAYS from the day of the notification."
But Likud seems to be arguing that seven days doesn't mean seven days, and they can actually push the vote forward to the week after next. Not sure what their argument is, but it might be this: "What has to be within seven days? The sitting, or setting the date of the sitting?"
The United States is one Trump statement away from a civil war. That's been true since November, and if Twitter hadn't taken away his account it might have actually happened late January. But it's still true now. If he calls for people to rise up, they will.
Naftali Bennett delivers remarks. Opens by slamming the current (Netanyahu) Government for negligence and mismanagement over the Meron tragedy and says repeated elections are a disaster.
Bennett: There is no option for a pure right-wing government. Anyone who tells you this is lying to you. Netanyahu is dragging the country to crisis for personal reasons
Bennett: I will work with my friend Yair Lapid to build a unity government. Every party is welcome. This isn't a left-wing government, and the left-wing parties made significant compromises to join it.
It's looking increasingly likely that Bennett will replace Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel in the next few days, despite winning just seven seats (6 following a defection) in the last election.
Bennett is more ideologically right-wing than Netanyahu. His party is even called "Rightwards". But the government he'd lead would be a broad coalition of parties of the centre, left and right.
The much-hyped meeting of the Yemina ("Rightwards") party caucus finished after less than an hour. The five other Knesset members gave Bennett their unanimous support. That means that Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett could notify the President today that they can form a government.
Watching former Boris Johnson advisor @Dominic2306 testify at the Parliamentary inquiry on the Covid-19 pandemic, I'm struck how it's SO much better, more useful, more constructive and more informative than a Congressional hearing.
@Dominic2306 No subpoena power (Cummings himself has refused to attend a committee summons before), no enforceable penalties for lying. But also no grandstanding by Members, no speeches, no nonsense. Short questions, long answers.
Cummings reflective. Apologises for not setting up a Downing Street "red team" on the coronavirus to inspect Govt preparation in January 2020.