A Defining Moment for Yair Lapid
Is it too early for lessons from the latest flareup this weekend?
08
Aug
30
Mar
Winners and Losers in the Most Recent Israeli Election
More than a week after the most recent Israeli election, Israelis are still trying to find a way to make sense of what happened—and, no less important, what didn't happen.
Based on the results, it is reasonable to assume that incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be reasonable and will not concede that he cannot form a majority. He will probably drag Israel into another election, the fifth in five years, likely to be held in the summer or early fall.
According to Israeli law, a new Knesset will be sworn in, and the current government will continue as an interim government until a new one is formed—or not—after the next round. However, before these elections recede into the previous ones’ not-so-distant memories, it is worth examining who the winners and the losers are and what...
04
Jan
Israel Still Has the Power to Change
By Scott Fox
The beginning of 2012 means the nearing of elections in Israel and the United States. In both, incumbents have surprisingly maintained a strong likelihood of being re-elected in spite of failures and widespread criticism. While most polling shows Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are trailing President Obama slightly, what is more surprising is that polls show that Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s Likud party would gain seats if an election were held today.
This affirmation is probably the reason Likud has moved up their primary for the next election to January 31 even though a general election does not need to be held until October 2013. Many suspect that a new election will be called during 2012 while Netanyahu still maintains this high level of support. An outside observer may find it strange that an incumbent...
12
Aug
Of Politics and Water
Senior Editor Mandy Katz reports from Israel...
A water crisis notwithstanding, tourists are having fun up here in the Kineret, Israel's name for the Sea of Galilee and its environs. While they might shake their heads at super-long "beaches" where the inland sea once lapped, and might fret over the much more worrisome possibility of pumps' going dry, they don't seem particularly concerned about the impending national elections.
Not all tourists here can vote, of course, as they're a multinational lot. In the national parks, you do hear a lot of Hebrew, as in the verdant spring-fed pools of Tel Dan. The tamer "Gan Yardan" (or Jordan River Garden) park also centers on flowing water, but diverted into masonry channels and pools; around shaded picnic tables, sometimes set right in the shallow streams, multi-generational Arab clans with...