Feiglin has proposed to all parties to the right of the Likud, being Zehut, Otzma Yehudit (Ben Gvir), Hatzionut Hadatit (Smotritch), and Ofer Vinter (who has not yet announced a new party or what party he will be running in but looks like he is making preparation to run in the elections) to come together in one large party. 

Feiglin mentioned joining together as a technical block, but for his goal, which I have not yet mentioned, I think it should be an actual merged one party, not a technical block.

So Feiglin wants the parties to all join together in one form or another (he suggests a technical block but I doubt that he is not open to other arrangements), and he says the positioning of candidates within can be determined by a very simple poll. 

If they were all to join forces into one party running in the elections, Feiglin thinks they can challenge the Likud and even surpass them as the largest party on the Right side of the political coin. This would allow them to actually be the ruling party and not just small sectoral parties, unseating PM Netanyahu and actually ruling the country with right wing ideals.

This is an intiative I can get behind, and is basically (not the specific details but the concept) something I have been reocmmending for the last few years - the Right parties should get together and push out Netanyahu and support someone else for Prime Minister. This tactical plan goes beyond what I envisioned, which is why they are in politics and not me, but the idea is one I can support.

I am not sure even together they have the numbers to succeed, but they should at least try!

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Of the technological units in which people will be affected by having served there, 8200 is the most famous but there are many others as well.

People from the hitech industry along with tax experts are calling this proposal draconian and say they will fight it and work against its passage.

The motivation of the Tax Authority is that these young men and women who graduate from the IDF's technological units were invested in heavily by Ithe State of Israel and they were given knowledge and tools and skills throughout their IDF service. They use that investment of Israel in them to then establish companies, but sometimes they move abroad and the State does not benefit from that investment when they become successful. The purpose of this proposal will be to give them the status of Israeli resident for tax purposes even if they move abroad within the first ten years so Israel can tax them accordingly and benefit from their success which was built off the back of the State of Israel.

The new law, should it be proposed and pass, will not take effect retroactively and will only apply to new recruits from the point the law is passed.

Those who oppose the proposal are calling it a draconian law and are saying it opposes basic laws such as freedom of movement and employment, along with international tax conventions. They say it also negatively discriminates against graduates of these units in the workforce. The way to keep these technology graduates in Israel is by creating the environment in which they will want to stay.

source: Globes

I get the reason for the law. It makes sense in some way. But the State really gets back its investment in these young men and women during their army service. These units have tremendous accomplishments. Why does the ROI have to include taxes for it be reasonable? And many of them do stay in Israel (I wonder if there are numbers showing percentages of how many stay within the first ten years vs how many relocate abroad) so Israel collects taxes on them as well... I understand the logic of such a move but I think the complaint behind it is disingenuous.

What do you think?

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This photo of Captain (Reserves) Yehuda Weitzman heading out to return back to his military base in Lebanon bearing a sefer torah (written in memory of two brothers, Hillel and Yagel Yaniv, two brothers who were killed in a terrorist attack in Hawara) alongside his military gear, captured the hearts of the masses online...

As a follow up to this picture, Goldberg captured another brilliant shot at the Central Bus Station...

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The Haredi parties, especially Degel Hatorah, were pushing for the law to be brought to vote, though they never said they got the go ahead from Rav Landau and Rav Hirsch to actually support it. When they sqaw it was not coming and PM Netanyahu was not doing anything about it, ot the point that Netanyahu told them it will have to wait for the next government, they decided to bring down the government over it. Even though they themselves never said they would support it.

So they decde they can't trust Netanyahu any longer and he is just playing with them, constantly making excuses to buy time and kick the can down the road, so they support going to early election (not a big deal, it is a different of 4-6 weeks, not any significant change). The initial vote passes. PM Netanyahu seems to go into panic mode and despite the process of voting the government out having started, he tries to push the bill through, has the committee put on the afterburner and plan to bring it to vote almost immediately, whether he has the votes or not - even if it does not pass he can say I brought it to vote and tried, don't blame me.

Tonight Degel announced they will not play along. We are not interested in Netanyahu just bringing it to a vote. They are also saying it is a bad proposal - though they still have not said if they would or would not support it should it actually come to a vote. They said Netanyahu can't just bring a law, he has to bring a law with a majority vote.

So Netanyahu first said wait until after the elections, Degel said no. Now Netanyahu is pushing for a quick vote on a law and Degel is saying, no, wait until after the elections. 

The news is reporting, anonymously of course, that the people around Netanyahu are angry at Degel Hatorah saying Degel played with them. Degel, they are saying, never planned to support the bill, they now just want to blame its failure on Netanyahu. Netanyahu's biggest concern, which is what's pushing him to push the law forward now, is that Degel might not support him for Prime Minister after the next election - he already lost Agudat Israel. And if Degel doesn't, it will be messy for Shas as well.

So they are each blaming the other for the failure of a bill that neither side, seemingly, wanted. Degel spent four years ignoring the fact that Netanyahu was trying to not bring the bill forward and only make it look like he was taking it seriously to keep them happy. Netanyahu spent four years saying this bill (that he clearly never actually intended to bring to vote) would bring 23000 haredim to the army within 3 years while ignoring the fact that the Haredi leadership repeatedly said, despite pushing for a bill, that despite any passed law not a single Haredi would conscript because of it.

Will Netanyahu successfully push a law through with a majority vote this week and save himself? We'll see what happens.