Israel coalition govt faces new split over Jerusalem violence

JERUSALEM/TEHRAN: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is working to hold his fractious coalition together after a split on the right and an Arab-israeli party’s threat to quit over violence in Jerusalem.

Right-winger Bennett, a key figure in Israel’s settlement movement, last year ended 12 continuous years of rule by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier. To do so, the former tech tycoon brought together an unlikely grouping united by little other than their opposition to Netanyahu.

They included leftists and centrists, religious and hard-line Jewish nationalist parties -- and, for the first time in Israel’s history, a party drawn from the country’s Arab-israeli minority.

But after more than 150 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with police over a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem, the Raam party -- largely backed by Muslim Arab-israelis -- said on Sunday evening that it was suspending its membership.

“If the government continues its steps against the people of Jerusalem... we will resign as a bloc,” Raam said in a statement.

That would be a serious blow to a coalition that already, two weeks earlier, lost its one-seat majority of 61 in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Iran warns Israel against any hostile action

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Monday that the armed forces would not let archfoe Israel rest if it took action targeting the Islamic republic.

“You must know that if you try to take any action against the Iranian nation... our armed forces will not leave you in peace,” Raisi said, during a military parade to mark Army Day.