Not Everybody Wins [Israel Edition]

by Eyck Freymann
As Sectori noted last week after the Israeli elections, the result was pretty much as close to a tie as possible. Centrist and Defense Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party won 28 seats to 27 for conservative Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

Israel's legislative system is parliamentary, so in order to become a majority both the Kadima and Likud were forced to fight for the endorsements of the ultraconservative minorities, who hold the deciding number of seats. It seems after überconservative Avigdor Lieberman endorsed Netanyahu this morning that conservative rule is guaranteeed.

This piles a million complications onto Obama's plan for an Israeli-Palestinian truce. Netayhahu was a vocal proponent of the Gaza invasion and is known from his previous tenure as PM as a war hawk who is not prone to compromise.

Livni will have a strong minority, but it's ability to get things done will be seriously limited. We should now hope like we haven't since Obama that Ahmadinejad gets booted. Otherwise the situation in the Mid East could get very nasty very fast.