Netanyahu's Gamble on New Elections: A Coalition without the Centrist Parties?

Binyamin Netanyahu's call for new elections after public divisions within his coalition led him to oust two of his centrist coalition partners is likely to produce an electoral campaign largely based on personalities; he is clearly gambling on the fact that present polling suggests that the results may allow him to form a government consisting solely of rightist and religious parties. Polls can change in the course of a heated campaign, but by scrapping the parties of Yair Lapid nd Tzipi Livni, who were moderating elements in the 19th Knesset, the prospect may be for an even more rightist coalition by next spring.

I'm sure I'll have more to say as we go along.