Israeli elections update
Whoops. Well, it looks like the Gaza op may have backfired against my theory - namely, that the pro-two-state solution Kadima and Labor parties were trying to out-hawk Likud.
Recent polls show Benyamin Netanyahu’s Likud will get the first chance to form a government. As far as I can tell, instead of beefing up Kadima leader Tzipi Livni’s security credentials, the offensive has reinforced the idea in voters’ minds that they must remain, well, offensive against Hamas and their ilk. And Netanyahu is seen as the best man for that job, even if he’s not right for peace.
That doesn’t mean the election is free from some good ol’ fashion politics. The smaller sociallly conservative Shas party - ie, the deal breaker in Livni’s first attempt to form a government - has endorsed Likud, causing Defense Minister Ehud Barack’s Labor party to accuse it of secret deal-making:
Following Shas chairman Eli Yishai’s announcement Monday that Shas would endorse Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, not Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, as the nation’s next prime minister, Labor campaign chairman MK Ofir Paz-Pines on Tuesday called upon the opposition leader to “reveal his secret deal with Shas.”
“We will have to pay a big price for whatever Netanyahu and Shas agreed to behind closed doors. A smart politician like Eli Yishai would not endorse Netanyahu two weeks before the election if he didn’t have something in return already in his pocket,” Paz-Pines said.
Posted in Gaza crisis, Middle East peace, PPI