An election that matters

Tomorrow Israeli voters choose a new government, and the results are likely to resound far beyond the borders of their own small but vigorous nation.

Israel's present government is led by Kadima, the more "soft on Islam" of Israel's two major parties. Many Israelis consider the recent Gaza operation to have been mishandled; even though Western leaders' hypocritical condemnation of Israel's self-defense was actually more muted than in similar cases in the past, the government halted the attack before Hamas was completely crushed, leaving the jihadist gang in control of Gaza and likely to rebuild and threaten Israel again.

As a result, voters are likely to deliver power to the rightist Likud party and its tough and realistic leader, Binyamin Netanyahu. Herb Keinon explains.

Frankly I'm hoping Likud makes it. With jihadism as genocial in its goals as ever and the Iranian nuclear threat looming, and with Obama's intentions toward (and understanding of) the Middle East still an open question, Israelis cannot afford hopeful illusions and wishful thinking.