Nir Barkat demands the government convene for an emergency session over the Palestinian consulate, the opening of which would "undermine Jerusalem's status as the capital of Israel."

Sahar Ismail, 50, was killed near his home in the northern Arab village of Rameh. Placed 17 on New Hope's Knesset slate, he was a close associate of Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton and party leader Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

Israel suffered its worst ecological disaster in February, when a spill in the eastern Mediterranean coated virtually all of its 170-mile coastline with oil. Israeli environmental groups warn that incident would “be dwarfed alongside a massive oil spill” off Eilat.

Nachman Shai's statement that "aliyah is not a part of his ministerial goals" reflects the ideological deterioration of the left-wing camp. It has not only stopped viewing the immigration of Jews to Israel as the ultimate goal of the Jewish state, but even that of the diaspora ministry itself.