Whom Israelis elected as their leader is not yet clear. What the electorate said, however, is very clear.
Whether Tzipi Livni or Benjamin Netanyahu becomes prime minister, or whether they work out a power-sharing arrangement, the electorate went to the right.
The centrist Kadima (Livni) held steady, while the right-wing Likud (Netanyahu) more than doubled its strength, and the still more right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu (Avigdor Lieberman) made the right-wing bloc the major victor in this election. Why?
JTA correspondent Uriel Hellman put it this way: Lieberman said things during the campaign that Israelis could easily understand.
He was angry that Israeli Arab citizens voiced public support for Hamas. He was angry that the Hamas regime in Gaza was able to survive last months military operation and still fire rockets into southern Israel. He was angry that the world appeared to be standing by passively while Iran races to produce a nuclear bomb that will threaten Israel. Israelis were upset about these things, too.
Israels next prime minister faces dangerous challenges. We hope for a national unity government.
