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Israel's Electoral Shift Unlikely to Affect Peace in Near Term
(Defense News) Barbara Opall-Rome - In post-election interviews, experts cautioned against drawing false conclusions from Israel's Jan. 22 ballot. An election driven largely by Israel's domestic agenda hardly reflects a broad-based repudiation of Israel's current political-military course. "Make no mistake, this election was not a referendum on war and peace," said Ron Ben-Yishai, a veteran political and security analyst. He said international observers should not expect "any breakthroughs" toward a Palestinian peace deal or new diplomatic strategies for coping with strategic challenges in the region. "Those who campaigned on diplomacy got no traction at the polls," said Efraim Inbar, a professor of political science and director of the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. "It's nonsense to say that the Israeli public is shifting away from the consensus that we have to block a nuclear Iran, we have to be strong in the face of terrorism, and that the Palestinian issue should stay on the back burner until there is a partner for negotiations."