The first rifts in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expanded coalition have emerged just a day after its creation with religious and secular parties exchanging threats over draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a revamped coalition government today, forming a broad alliance with the chief opposition party that could free his hand to take bold action on peace with the Palestinians and decide whether to attack Iran.

An early election date could have implications for the timing of any pre-emptive strike on Iran

Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni announced her resignation from Israel's parliament yesterday with a withering attack against the current leadership, warning that its policies had placed Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state "in mortal danger".

Buoyed by a home win, Jewish fans of football club Beitar Jerusalem this week rampaged through a nearby shopping centre following an evening match, attacking Arab workers and shoppers in one of the worst racial brawls seen in the city in recent years.

A widow’s battle to win her late husband’s struggle to get the BBC to reveal analysis of its Middle East coverage was thwarted today when the Supreme Court found in favour of the corporation.

Described once by an American magazine editor as a "neo-fascist" and a "certified gangster", Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is no stranger to controversy. It has not stopped him from building up a devoted following that has propelled his party to the forefront of Israeli politics.

If the state of Israel is threatened, the assumption has been, that threat comes from outside – from militant Palestinian groups vowing to drive it into the sea or, more recently, from Iran. It is increasingly apparent, however, that the survival of Israel as a democratic and modern state is also threatened from within, specifically by its own ultra-Orthodox minority.

In a step that will further inflame already fraught relations between Israel and Turkey, parliamentarians in Jerusalem have publicly debated for the first time whether to recognise Turkish responsibility for the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.

Cabinet split over Bill that would prevent Muslims from being called to prayer

Aren't you a bit young for this conflict?

Britain is heading for a potential rift with Israel over plans for draconian legislation designed to curb foreign funding of human rights and civil society organisations that sometimes criticise government policy. 

Public opinion is divided on the merits of such an attack, but not along left-right lines

With all that John Terry is alleged to have said, a harsh response from Arsène Wenger could have been expected yesterday. Wenger, one of the game's purists and moralists, takes his Arsenal team to Chelsea this afternoon and his pre-match press conference gave him a perfect platform to denounce the accused, to rail against racism, to ensure uncomfortable headlines for Chelsea's captain.