Bibi gets the nod

Despite coming in slightly behind Kadima and Tzipi Livni in the Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu has been granted first shot at forming a government in Israel.  The former Prime Minister, known for his hard-line approach, says he’ll try first for a national-unity government with Kadima.  Livni may make that difficult:

Israeli President Shimon Peres invited Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government.

After hearing from Peres Friday, Netanyahu, who leads the Likud Party, immediately invited Tzipi Livni, the leader of the Kadima Party, and Ehud Barak, the leader of the Labor Party, to form a national unity government.

Kadima got one more Knesset seat than Likud, but had a much more difficult path to forming a majority coalition.  It won’t be easy for Bibi, either; he faces conflicting policy issues within the conservative sphere that could easily fracture partnerships at the inception of his government.  He would much rather move to the center and rely on Kadima and Labor if just for the stability that such a partnership would provide.

For their part, Livni and Barack have strongly suggested that they’d rather oppose Netanyahu than join him.  Livni refused to consider Netanyahu for the top spot in a coalition before, infamously jotting down that thought on a note that got spotted by television cameras in a Cabinet meeting.  They recall Netanyahu’s strong rightward governance in his previous term and want nothing to do with it, although Netanyahu himself says that he would govern closer to the center if given another chance.

Does Peres’ pick send a message to the Obama administration?  The White House did a poor job of keeping their preference a secret, pushing Livni through a number of leaks since the Israeli elections.  Livni had participated in the Annapolis talks and was seen as much closer to Obama on the issue of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  The selection of Netanyahu may be a reply that tells Obama to keep his nose out of Israeli internal politics.

Blowback