Cheat Sheet

We can’t pretend to be experts on Israel’s complicated political system, but here’s what appears to have just happened: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni—who as recently elected head of the ruling Kadima Party had to form a coalition government before next week to become prime minister or face a general election—has given up a week early. She told President Shimon Peres at a televised meeting today: “I discovered immediately after the holidays that the process had exhausted itself and I didn’t need more time.” The ultra-Orthodox Shas Party had refused to join a coalition led by the centrist Kadima. Livni has said she is confident that Kadima will emerge victorious in the upcoming election, though polls have shown a lead for the hawkish Likud, led by former premier Benjamin Netanyahu.