In the March Israeli elections, the fourth in under two years, a key question looms: will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be able to forge a coalition again, against many opponents? As of mid-January, the polls say no, the key reason being Likud renegade Gideon Saar's new party. But Israel's centre-left is divided, and an anti-Netanyahu coalition including Saar might be ideologically very diverse. Additionally, Netanyahu tactically courting Palestinian Israeli voters, the fate of the Arab Joint List and the impact of the new Biden Administration on Israeli politics and, perhaps, policy, are important factors to watch and which might also influence the election’s outcome.
Riccardo Bocco is Professor of Political Sociology. His main geographical area of fieldwork for the last 35 years has been the Near East with a particular focus on Jordan, Israel/Palestine and Lebanon, where he has been living for several years. He has successively worked on issues of development policies and statebuilding, on humanitarian aid and refugees, on peacebuilding and the role of art. Professor Bocco also has a publication forthcoming in 2021 with I. Saïd (eds.) on De-/colonizing the Palestine Question? Contemporary Debates.
Cyrus Schayegh is Professor of International History and Politics. Before joining the Graduate Institute, he was Associate Professor at Princeton University and, from 2005-2008, Assistant Professor at the American University of Beirut. His publications include The Middle East and the Making of the Modern World (2017) and the edited volume, Globalizing the U.S. Presidency: Postcolonial Views of John F. Kennedy (2020).