Israel is on the cusp of going to the third round of elections in less than a year as the midnight deadline for Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a coalition comes to a conclusion with no agreement in the wings on a unity government. 

Knesset members will have 21 days to appoint another Knesset member who could possibly form a government. If that fails, the nation will go to elections for the third in less than a year, which is the widely expected outcome according to political commentators across Israeli media.

Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, had promised to throw his support behind a unity government if Prime Minister Netanyahu, head of Likud, and Gantz could decide on a power sharing agreement. Since they could not come to terms, he announced he could not support either party. 

Despite heavy pressure from the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement to cancel his trip, the world’s most popular soccer player Lionel Messi and his Argentinian team visited Israel for a soccer match this week.

The match, between the Argentine National Soccer Team and Uruguay, came more than a year after Argentina cancelled a match against Israel in Jerusalem succumbing to pressure from pro-Palestinian organizations.

This time, Messi and his squad arrived, to the thrill of soccer fans across the nation who love Messi and the sport itself. Some 20,000 Israelis attended the game, one of the largest soccer matches to ever take place in the Jewish state.

A day after four rockets were fired at Israel from Syria, the Israeli military struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria on Wednesday in retaliation, the IDF said.

“The attack was carried out in response to the launching of the rockets by the Iranian Quds force from Syrian territory,” the IDF said in a statement. 

Israel blamed Iran for the four rockets launched from Syria at the Golan Heights on Tuesday. The missiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, but not before sending Israelis in the north running for bomb shelters int he middle of the night. 

The declaration by the United States this week that Israeli settlements are legal and legitimate marked a significant policy change and a historic moment, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“This is a very great day for the State of Israel and an achievement that will stand for generations. The Trump administration has corrected a historical injustice and lined up with truth and justice.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the policy change, which is largely symbolic, on Monday. America previously considered Israeli building activity over the pre-1967 lines as illegitimate, as does the rest of the world. 

Friends, while you were sleeping rockets were falling in Israel—well over 100. What sparked this latest wave of terror was the targeted assassination of the most senior terrorist in Islamic Jihad. Baha Abu al-Ata was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip early this morning—and now knows that there are no virgins waiting for him in “paradise.” 🙁