Israeli General Election 2013

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

So looks like despite all the hype about how the Gaza war would cost Netanyahu, there is virtually no chance he will not win another term. Good.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

So looks like despite all the hype about how the Gaza war would cost Netanyahu, there is virtually no chance he will not win another term. Good.

The thing is, that if you think Bibi was too soft during the war, but are not religious, you don't have much of an alternative. If Likud didn't merge with YB, and Lieberman was attacking Bibi's handling of the war, then Bibi would have been in more trouble.

Yep. The YB merger may have been one of the savviest political moves of his career.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Haaretz poll:

Likud Beitenu: 34
Labour: 16
JH-NU: 14
Shas: 11
The Movement: 10
Yesh Atid: 9
UTJ: 6
Meretz: 4
RAAM-TAAL: 4
Hadash: 4
Balad: 4
Kadima: 2
Otzma Leisrael: 2

So are the odds that the coalition essentially doesn't change? LB/JH-NU/Shas/UTJ for a total of 65?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

So...what actually happens now?

With Lapid ruling out an anti-Bibi coalition with Labor, Bibi is guaranteed to get the nod to form the government. He'll likely work from some combination of Likud/Yesh/Jewish Home, which gets him to 62, and then shore it up from there.

The tricky thing is what Lapid will demand. I think Netanyahu will likely make a lot of social concessions, but keep the current status quo when it comes to foreign affairs.