Slippery Slope

The State Comptroller’s report on the mid-sea takeover of the Mavi Marmara found that there were essential and significant deficiencies in the decision making process led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the weeks and months preceding the events of the Turkish flotilla, at the end of May 2010. (Ha’aretz)

(Hebrew - Walla)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to approve the construction of 551 new housing units in the West Bank, in addition to 300 units approved for Beit El, as part of a package of “candies” he announced, in light of the eviction of five houses in the Beit El neighborhood of Givat HaUlpana.

(Hebrew - Walla)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that 25,000 illegal immigrants from South Sudan, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia could be immediately deported. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew - Haaretz)

When serving as a minister in Ariel Sharon’s government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) signed an exceptional letter of recommendation praising the qualifications of Tony Gelbart, a businessman and chairman of the Nefesh B’nefesh organization. Gelbart paid Netanyahu tens of thousands of dollars to give lectures and donated tens of thousands of shekels to Netanyahu when he was running for Likud chairman.

A special Ministerial panel, appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to evaluate the authorization of the outposts Sansana, Bruchin, and Rechelim, decided to authorize the outposts after only one day of deliberation. (Times of Israel)

(Hebrew - Walla)

Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe “Bogie” Yaalon (Likud), said that evacuating the Ulpana neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Beit El may lead to the dissolution of the government coalition. “We have said that we must not remove the neighborhood,” said Yaalon. “This is a neighborhood of 15 buildings with six apartments in each building, of completely normative people, and all of a sudden they are being told off because a Palestinian claimed the land belongs to him.” The High Court ruled that the state must evacuate the neighborhood by May 1, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the State Prosecutor’s Office to examine whether a motion could be made to the High Court to further delay the evacuation order.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) demands that a vote take place regarding his Construction and Planning bill within two weeks, although the bill contains over 600 clauses and its final draft was only distributed yesterday.

(Hebrew)

The Israel Broadcast Authority (IBA) employed attorney Yehuda Raveh, who is associated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, without issuing a tender and without asking for an exemption from holding a tender from the Finance Ministry.

(Hebrew)

Outposts and agricultural lands which were taken over by settlers in the West Bank are incurring into Area B, in violation of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians.  One of the outposts’ houses is built on a nature reserve, east of Bethlehem, in violation of the Wye River Memorandum, signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat in May1998.

A senior “Israel HaYom” columnist, Dror Ider, is on the payroll of the Prime Minister’s office, receiving 50,000 Shekels a year for “speech and lecture writing”.