Associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu estimate that casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, and subsequently Netanyahu, will soon decide whom to back in the US presidential race.

“In the 1980s, Ollie North and Fawn Hall gave us the Iran-contra affair. Now we’re experiencing the Iran-contradiction affair,” writes Donna Milbank.

In the rubble of the Gaza Strip, the militias are once again arming up, training men and women, and preparing for the inevitable war with Israel.

Netanyahu is interested in forming a wide coalition that would include both Herzog’s Zionist Union and Bayit Yehudi, despite the vast differences between the parties, sources report.

With coalition negotiations with United Torah Judaism in their final stages, and Shas and Kulanu not far behind, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may be on the verge of forming his fourth Likud-led government.

MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) said Tuesday that if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decides to establish a government in partnership with the Zionist Union – as the merged list of Labor and Hatnua is known – this would be “the greatest political fraud in the history of Israeli politics.

“Israel cannot maintain both its democracy and its occupation of the Palestinians,” writes Max Fisher. “Day by day, it is choosing the latter.”

Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem are increasingly pessimistic on the possibility of an independent state.

The Israeli High Court of Justice on Sunday accepted an affidavit blasting the Israeli Civil Administration’s planning system in Palestinian Area C, and has given the Israeli state 10 days to reply.