Word: beyers
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...Monday's election is certainly grounds for hope, but only if tempered with a measure of caution. "Such optimism is based more on the assumption that the peace process is better off without Benjamin Netanyahu than on an understanding of who Barak is," says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. "Barak is very hawkish. He's not an enthusiastic peacenik and, as military chief of staff, actually acted as a brake on Yitzhak Rabin in the initial stages of the peace process." And it was domestic issues, rather than peace, that formed the basis of the Labor party leader...
Barak's status as an Israeli war hero at the head of the country's pro-peace party raises the temptation to liken him to the legendary soldier-statesman Rabin. "It's an understandable comparison, particularly since Rabin chose Barak as his long-term successor," says Beyer. "But Rabin went boldly out ahead of Israeli public opinion with the confidence generated by a long and distinguished military and political career. Barak is only starting out on his political career, and he's unlikely to be prepared to take similar risks." He may be no Yitzhak Rabin, but with the peace...
...unseating Netanyahu, finally withdrew Sunday, recognizing that Netanyahu would be the main beneficiary if he stayed in the race. "Barak's best chance of winning was if Mordechai withdrew and allowed him a clear shot at winning it in the first round," says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. "If no candidate had won a clear majority in a three-way race, the two leading candidates would have fought a runoff election two weeks later, which would have substantially increased Netanyahu's chances...
...large Israeli-Arab electorate, who'll vote for him as prime minister when they go to the polls to elect their own parties to parliament. "They'd have been a lot less likely to be motivated to vote a second time when it's only for Barak," says Beyer. "But Netanyahu's core constituencies, such as ultra-orthodox Jews, are highly motivated. And a runoff would have also given Bibi two more weeks to come up with some gimmick to turn the tide." Barak may have a clear shot, but with Israel's ethnic and political divisions as fierce...
...election has turned into an ethnic brawl between the Moroccans and the Russians, with a lot of name-calling back and forth," says Beyer. And that major headache for Netanyahu is an opportunity for Barak to wean a key constituency away from the government. "Labor calculated early on that it couldn't win much support among the ultra-orthodox, and therefore, unlike Netanyahu, Barak could afford to alienate them if that could win votes from undecided secular Russians," says Beyer. "Barak has mounted a secular challenge to the ultra-orthodox, and promised to consider Sharansky for the Interior Ministry. That...