A high-profile far-right politician has left the Israeli government accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not honouring promises made in a coalition deal.
Avi Maoz, the Noam party's sole representative in the Knesset, is known for his hardline stance on promoting conservative religious values, including revising the school curriculum and changing policy on an egalitarian prayer zone at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
As part of negotiations to form a government in November, Mr Netanyahu agreed to Mr Maoz's petition to form an authority on Jewish national identity. Although details about the office are unclear, Mr Maoz has expressed strong interest in changing education and immigration policy.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister on Monday, Mr Maoz said that he was “shocked to find there was no serious intention of honouring the coalition deal”.
Despite resigning from his role as a deputy minister, Mr Maoz will remain in the 64-member coalition that makes up the ruling bloc in Israel's parliament.
The resignation adds to pressure on Mr Netanyahu at a time when other senior far-right ministers in the government are voicing concerns that their demands are not being respected.
Earlier in February, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign in three months' time if what he described as “lenient” government approaches to security issues were not scrapped, even if it meant destroying the coalition. Mr Ben-Gvir's policies include allowing the death penalty against terrorists and giving more powers to Israel's military.
This week, the Prime Minister faced further criticism from Mr Ben-Gvir's party, Otzma Yehudit, as well as others over his perceived failure to honour coalition deals.
A sharp rise in regional violence is also challenging Mr Netanyahu's administration.
On Monday, an Israeli-American was shot dead after a Palestinian opened fire near the city of Jericho, hours after Israel deployed hundreds more soldiers to the occupied West Bank amid escalating tension.
Elan Ganeles, 27, was raised in Connecticut and had served in the Israeli military.
“We condemn the horrific killing of two Israeli brothers near Nablus and the killing today of an Israeli near Jericho”, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
“We express our deepest condolences to all of the victims' families and their loved ones.”
Violence escalated on Sunday after a Palestinian killed two Israeli brothers and a large group of settlers torched Palestinian homes and cars in the West Bank town of Hawara.
It resulted in the death of one Palestinian and the wounding of dozens, according to medics and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Six settlers were arrested by Israeli police, but four were released on Monday and the remaining two on Tuesday.
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called for calm on Monday as he visited the site.
“It is neither legitimate nor possible to operate individually”, he said.
However, National Security Committee chief Zvika Fogel said Israel needed to “take the gloves off”.
“I want to restore security for the residents of the state of Israel”, he said. “How do we do that? We stop using the word ‘proportionality’. We stop with our objection to collective punishment.
“Yesterday, a terrorist came from Hawara. A closed, burnt Hawara. That’s what I want to see. That’s the only way to achieve deterrence … we need burning villages when the [military] doesn’t act.”
On Tuesday, the EU released a statement condemning Palestinian killings of Israelis and “the outbreak of settlers' violence, which resulted in the killing of one Palestinian, injuring of several hundreds of Palestinians and burning of houses and shops, causing the unacceptable destruction of Palestinian property.”
The UN Security Council will convene its third emergency meeting over violence in the West Bank since Mr Netanyahu came to power.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
