What to Know About Israel’s Election |
By Ivana Saric
Digital Editor, Council on Foreign Relations |
Israelis will vote tomorrow in an election seen as one of the most pivotal in their country’s history, though there are concerns that no clear governing coalition will emerge. It marks the first election since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered their latest war. The outcome will determine the political future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already the country’s longest-serving prime minister. It will also shape how the country addresses accountability questions surrounding the October 7 attacks, Israel’s standing abroad, and domestic concerns, including cost-of-living issues.
CFR’s Ezra Hess and Ittai Ronen broke down all these topics and more in a new explainer ahead of the vote. It addresses questions including: - Who’s Running? Many of the parties running have divided into two main camps: for and against Netanyahu, Hess and Ronen wrote. The prime minister’s Likud party leads the pro-Netanyahu coalition, while former military chief Gadi Eisenkot and his centrist Yashar! party appear to be its leading challenger for the latter.
- How Will They Govern? Neither bloc appears slated to win an outright majority, and would need to negotiate with other parties to assemble a ruling coalition. However, at the moment, “there are numerous issues that will make coalition-building especially hard,” CFR’s Elliott Abrams told Hess and Ronen. “Should Arab parties be in a new coalition or excluded? What about coalitions with the [ultra-Orthodox] Haredim, who are demanding that their young men not be drafted? Should opposition figures agree to a coalition led by Netanyahu if he excludes the far right, or is he unacceptable now, after October 7?”
- How Will the Election Influence Israel’s Foreign Policy? Abrams and CFR’s Steven Cook said that an opposition win may not dramatically change Israel’s foreign policy toward Iran, Lebanon, and Syria—or toward the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state “in the foreseeable future,” Abrams said. However, Cook noted that such a result could lead to an “improved tone and tenor” in Israel’s relations with its neighbors.
Learn more about tomorrow’s election in Israel by reading the full article on CFR.org. The Daily Brief will bring you the latest on the election results as they develop. |
|
|
|
Thoughts on Today’s Newsletter? |
|
|
|
CFR’s Gideon Rose sat down with our video team recently to discuss the finalists for this year’s Arthur Ross Book Award. The prize is the Council’s way of recognizing books that make outstanding contributions to the understanding of foreign policy or international relations.
Rose, the jury chair, walked through each of the seven finalists—which include books about how America’s identity was shaped by its relationship to Latin America, a sweeping look at African history that decenters Western narratives of the continent, and an examination of how China has diverged from the United States in its technological rise. “These books help show us where we’ve come from, where we are now, and just possibly where we might be going,” Rose said. |
|
| |
|
Here’s a roundup of some of the best pieces the Daily Brief team has read, discussed, and enjoyed in recent days. - “Empires of AI,” by Niall Ferguson, Lisa Klaassen, and Eric Schmidt for Foreign Affairs, argued that the United States and China might both become a “new kind of empire” due to their control of the models, chips, physical infrastructure, and capital undergirding the artificial intelligence (AI) boom—and proposed a Cold War-style détente in the AI race.
- “Why Trump Is Failing to Make Iran Flinch,” an opinion piece by CFR’s Ray Takeyh and Reuel Marc Gerecht for the Washington Post, suggested that Iran—currently locked in a war of attrition with the United States—has not altered its objectives despite U.S. military threats.
- “The Defector,” by Matthew Luxmoore for the Wall Street Journal, described how a Russian officer in his mid-twenties became one of the deadliest saboteurs in recent military history.
- “Australian Zoo Plays Matchmaker for Giant Birds, and Big Green Eggs Are Proof,” by Jennifer Sinco Kelleher for the New York Times, took a look at the Adelaide Zoo’s efforts to help its cassowaries—the most dangerous birds in the world—produce the zoo’s first cassowary eggs in thirty-four years.
|
|
|
|
Every day, the Daily Brief brings you a curated list of the top stories from around the world. |
- UK Sanctions Those Responsible for El Fasher ‘Campaign of Rape.’ One year after a mass atrocity event in the Sudanese city, “the British government said it had sanctioned military leaders from both sides in the country’s ongoing conflict whom it suspected of sexual violence,” the Guardian reported. “Fifteen commanders from the military groups—the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces—have been subjected to a travel ban and an asset freeze.”
- Scientists to Probe Nigeria Ebola Case Origin, Africa CDC Says. The patient’s case is unusual because “her travel documents show she had not visited the outbreak epicenter,” Reuters reported. “Finding out how she became ill matters to ensure that the deadly Bundibugyo outbreak, already the second-largest Ebola epidemic on record, is not spreading silently in as-yet undiscovered locations.”
|
- Lula Wins Reelection in Brazil, Defying Latin America’s Rightward Shift. The outcome “showed voters in Brazil, Latin America’s largest democracy, declining to join the region’s marked rightward shift in which a wave of conservative candidates won office and built alliances with Trump,” the Washington Post reported. “[Flávio] Bolsonaro, however, refused to concede defeat.”
- María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s Leading Opposition Figure, Returns Home. After months in exile, Machado returned to her home country yesterday, “increasing pressure on the country’s authoritarian government—and its new chief authority, the United States—to move quickly toward a democratic transition,” the New York Times reported.
|
- China’s Political Elite Gather for Talks on Communist Party Discipline. More than three hundred members of the ruling Communist Party and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for a key gathering watched closely for clues as to the country’s direction and future leadership,” AFP reported. “Analysts told AFP that Xi is trying to maximise efficiency and loyalty among cadres by imposing more supervision and rules.”
- North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un Visits China for New Cross-Border Bridge. The visit marked the “latest move in an increasingly assertive foreign policy as he seeks to align Pyongyang with Beijing and Moscow in a united front against the United States under what he portrays as a ‘new Cold War,’” AP reported.
|
- Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić Concedes Defeat in Historic Snap Election. The populist leader’s “long grip on power” ended after yesterday’s vote, France 24 reported. “Turnout in the election was nearly 70 percent, the highest since the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992.”
- France’s Le Pen Launches Presidential Bid as Protests Rattle the Nation. Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader leading polls for next year’s presidential election in France, formally launched her campaign yesterday, Reuters reported. “As France faces one of its most turbulent periods in years, Le Pen cast herself as the best placed to navigate what she described as mounting economic, social, and security crises.”
|
- Flurry of Diplomacy in Iran as Regional Countries Try to Stave Off War. Iranian officials met with representatives from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey in Tehran today “amid widespread concern that the United States and Israel could soon launch fresh attacks on Iran,” the New York Times reported. “The visit is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts by regional mediators to stave off further turmoil in the Middle East.”
|
|
|
|
Host: Ivana Saric
Editor: Xian Chiang Waren
Email Operations: Eric Rojas
Editorial Director, News: Phil McCausland
Editor-at-Large: Robert McMahon
Chief Digital Content Officer: Millie Tran |
|
|
|
58 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10065 |
1777 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006 |
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment