Nobody won the Israeli elections. Tzipi Livni’s Kadima managed to overcome the initial lead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud by siphoning off left-wing voters from Labor and Meretz. Kadima, however, would have great difficulty setting up a coalition. Likud lost many voters to Avigdor Lieberman’s more strident Yisrael Beiteinu party, but the right-wing and religious bloc will control a 65-seat majority in the Knesset. Kadima’s slight lead over Likud notwithstanding, the country has moved significantly to the right.Read More
Between the inconclusive outcome of Israel’s war against Hezbollah and the widespread perception in Israel that the war was badly managed, it is far from clear that the Olmert government will survive.Read More
In the year leading up to this past August’s disengagement from Gaza, Prime Minister Sharon had great difficulty in marshaling parliamentary support for his plan even though 65-70% of Israelis consistently supported it. His own party voted against it in an intra-party referendum, many of his fellow Likud ministers were either opposed to itRead More
In the year leading up to this past August’s disengagement from Gaza, Prime Minister Sharon had great difficulty in marshaling parliamentary support for his plan even though 65-70% of Israelis consistently supported it. His own party voted against it in an intra-party referendum, many of his fellow Likud ministers were either opposed to itRead More
A Rubicon in Israeli politics will be crossed by early September, when the evacuation of around 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank is scheduled to be completed. What will follow on the day after disengagement is still very much in the air, but this much is clear: The situation will never be the same again.Ever since 1967,Read More