Prime Minister's Office says low level officials did not inform him of wording on urgency of peace talks, legitimacy of Palestinian state and self-determination.

Meretz chairwoman, MK Zahava Gal-On, said the decision was politically motivated.

Incumbent Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and openly gay MK Nitzan Horowitz will try to court the LGBT community at Friday's Gay Pride events.

Recent finance ministers have suspended the law, but resisted officials' attempts to annul it; Lapid, who heads the housing cabinet, said he would submit the proposal to the housing cabinet at one of its next meetings.

'Tel Aviv’s charm isn’t due to the current mayor’s actions, it’s despite his actions,' says Nitzan Horowitz, the first openly gay candidate.

From Palestinian militant group in Syria saying it got the go-ahead from the Assad regime to attack Israel, to the announcement of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial bill in Greece, Haaretz brings you the top headlines from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Vows to build affordable housing; City should build and manage housing itself, the Meretz MK urges.

A poll showed Horowitz had the best chance of any candidate to beat current Mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai, Haaretz has learned.

According to Meretz, some 400 people each year start process of leaving the ultra-Orthodox community, and they need help moving from a closed-off community to the modern, Western world that is secular Israel.

Party leader Zahava Gal-On will submit a bill granting ultra-Orthodox Israelis who choose to become secular benefits similar to those received by new immigrants to Israel; the party estimates that some 400 people begin the process of leaving the religious lifestyle every year.