Election fever in Israel has elevated from mild speculation to virtual certainty as political parties begin planning for elections before the end of the year. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Saturday that his Yisrael Beiteinu party, a key member of Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, is no longer obligated to the coalition after the heads of the three major opposition parties announced they will file bills to dissolve the government. Compared to America’s system of government, it seems strange that the ruling coalition would be tested at the polls when surveys uniformly indicate that its strength is greater than ever. But as Netanyahu prepares his own party for elections, he has the opportunity to renew his party’s leadership for another four years. Recent polls are in agreement that the big loser “if elections were held today” would be the Kadima party, which recently unseated its head Tzipi Livni; while the Labor party, which has imploded in recent years, stands to gain some strength. Virtually all polls indicate Netanyahu’s Likud party will repeat as coalition anchor. Two dark clouds mar Netanyahu’s political horizon: one is criticism of his handling of the Iranian nuclear issue by two past heads of intelligence agencies went public with their assessments that Israel cannot succeed in taking out the Iranian nuclear sites alone; and the present army chief-of-staff suggested that the Ayatollah is most likely not prepared to “go the extra mile” of enriching uranium to weapons-grade. The other is the expected second summer of socio-economic protests.
