Links from my del.icio.us account for February 10th:
- Exit polls: Livni’s Kadima leads in 2009 elections – Haaretz – Israel News – It appears Kadima has won the election but that Likud has the bloc that can make Netanyahu PM.
- PressThink: Audience Atomization Overcome: Why the Internet Weakens the Authority of the Press – How the internet is forcing topics and information normally relegated to "the sphere of deviance" on the news agenda. You know the obvious topic in the US context: Israel.
- Coptic arrests inflame Egypt’s sectarian tensions | Jerusalem Post – "State security officials arrested Mina 'Adil Shawki and 'Issam Kadees Nassif after they were seen handing out Bibles at the book fair. An Egyptian human rights center said police filed a report against the two men for "defaming Islam.""
- ELECTION DAY: ISRAEL GOES TO THE POLLS – Haaretz – "Voting for the 18th Knesset began in Israel at 7 A.M. on Tuesday, in what has turned out to be a tight race between Kadima and Likud. A total of 5,278,985 registered voters will be given a chance to cast their ballot in 9263 polls across the country until 10 P.M, electing their representatives from among 33 factions." Tight race between butcher of Gaza and the butcher of Oslo.
- Excerpts From The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 (washingtonpost.com) – Washington Post special about the decision to implement the surge in Iraq.
All this left/right stuff is a pretty imperfect metric for understanding Israeli politics. The religious parties joining left coalitions in exchange for school funding is the most obvious example, but even with YB, I can see how Lieberman might have reasons for joining a Kadima-led government over a Likud-led one.