Weekly Commentary: The October 2013 Elections in Israel

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 12 January 2012

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is planning to make history by being the
first Israeli prime minister to complete the full term provided for under
the law.

And he doesn’t plan to do it by standing still.

If anything he is in a race against time to rack up a series of very
tangible achievements spanning from education to infrastructure before
Israelis go to the polls.

The idea is straightforward: to establish a track record that speaks to the
hearts of such a broad cross section of the Israeli electorate that if a
second term American president should come gunning for him the Israeli
public will respond by defiantly increasing their support for the then
beleaguered prime minister.

And what of the new slew of politicians?

Well, in the meantime the new star politicians will face the challenge of
finding a way to retain their public appeal for the coming year and three
quarters.

How about an “achievement” with the Palestinians?

Don’t hold your breath.

Israel’s interests would most certainly not be served by signing some
half-baked deal on the White House lawn and such a move could only hurt
Binyamin Netanyahu’s reelection prospects.

And what about the “outposts”?

Expect most of them to be resolved once the thorny issue of Migron plays
out.

The residents of Migron have unfortunately decided to play chicken with Mr.
Netanyahu instead of following the long successful tradition of compromise.

Waiting for the prime minister to blink could very well prove to be a
disastrous choice.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il