Word: netanyahu
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After the Gaza war, Israeli voters are expected to veer towards the right in Tuesday's elections, paving the way for a new hard-line coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party. When Israelis last voted in 2006, they chose the centrist Kadima party, which vowed to push for a U.S.-sponsored peace with the Palestinians, even if it meant sacrificing Jewish-held land in the West Bank. This time, with the rise of Hamas in Gaza, few Israelis have illusions about reaching a lasting peace...
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...
Nevertheless, with the election due on Feb. 10, voters do not find any of the main candidates for prime minister particularly inspiring. There are two failed ex-premiers - Netanyahu and Labor's Ehud Barak - and a terse and untested politician, Tzipi Livni, 50, the current foreign minister and leader of the centrist Kadima party. If elected, she would be the second woman to lead Israel as prime minister...
...Israel A HAWK'S RACE TO LOSE In the run-up to parliamentary elections on Feb. 10, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu (above, center) is widely considered the favorite to become Israel's next Prime Minister. Most polls put Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party ahead of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's ruling Kadima Party and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor Party, by several seats. Following the war in Gaza, national security has become the campaign's central issue, and Netanyahu has accused his rivals of prematurely ending the offensive against Hamas...
...That doesn't mean, of course, that the new Israeli premier - probably Netanyahu - is going to listen. During his campaign this past week, he claimed that he would allow West Bank settlements to expand. (Last year, according to the Israeli human rights group Peace Now, settlements grew by 69% over the previous year.) If Netanyahu insists on refusing to close down the settlements, it may be the Israelis that the Obama Administration and Mitchell find themselves lecturing...