Word: hawkishness
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...simple majority in the 120-seat Knesset. There's little chance that Lieberman could be elected Prime Minister - at best, his Yisrael Beitenu Party will place third - but he is expected to emerge as the kingmaker who will decide whether the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of the hawkish Likud Party, or Tzipi Livni, the centrist Foreign Minister and leader of Kadima, will be Israel's next leader...
...casting a vote for Lieberman would be "strengthening Satan." A burly Soviet immigrant to Israel in the 1970s - his Hebrew still retains a Russian inflection - Lieberman provoked the rabbis' ire not only because he is a secular Jew, but also because his tough, anti-Arab slogans are luring many hawkish Israelis away from religious parties. A trip to the Western Wall was a way for Lieberman to underline his kosher credentials. (See pictures of Israel's war in Gaza...
...Europe - be it the European Union or the European members of NATO - has no clear consensus on strategic priorities or how they should be pursued. That applies to challenges from Afghanistan and Guantánamo to Iran and Russia. The Obama Administration may want to cast aside the hawkish unilateralism of the Bush era and its divide-and-rule methods that so jarred European sensitivities. But as the new President will quickly find, Europe is quite capable of dividing itself without outside help...
Thus, though corruption and the battered Israeli economy have also beset the country, Israelis are scared about the security of their country, with perceived threats coming from Iran, the Lebanese militia Hizballah to the north apart from the Islamic militants Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu and other hawkish politicians are capitalizing on these fears, arguing, for starters, that Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza should have pressed on until Hamas was crushed. Despite the punishing Israeli offensive, the Palestinian Islamists are still firing rockets sporadically from Gaza. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...Livni's last-minute surge continues, especially among women voters, Kadima could emerge as the leading party. Labor and the smaller leftwing parties would rally to her side, but only if she refuses to draft the hawkish Lieberman into her coalition. Yet without Lieberman's backing, Livni will fall short of a majority in the Knesset. So Lieberman, the ex-nightclub bouncer, will decide if it is Livni or Netanyahu who is allowed past the velvet rope to this charmed circle of power. And whoever gains entrance has no choice but to bring Lieberman in with them...