The Likud’s Binyamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu is expected to form a coalition government in Israel which will include both the ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman and — a last minute surprise — the Labor party led by Ehud Barak. You can read about what all this means for U.S. foreign policy in my A Match Made in Tel Aviv: The Last Neocon the new issue of TAC I don’t think that the inclusion of Labor’s Barak will make a big difference as far as the main policy issues of Israel/Palestine and Iran. In fact, the coalition agreement did not contain any mention of the two-state solution as a goal for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I also agree with Matthew Yglesias that the decision by Labor to join the coalition marks the beginning of the end of that political party.

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