"It's the economy, stupid." These words were addressed this time to Benjamin Netanyahu rather than to George Bush Sr. They reflect the unexpected result of the Israeli parliamentary elections, with the emergence of the center, represented basically by the Yesh Atid party. It is the revenge of the middle class — a weakened, frustrated, fearful middle class facing a serious economic crisis at home. It was also accentuated by the deepening divide of burden-sharing between the ultra-Orthodox religious parties and the secular ones, the former profiting from exemption from military service and other social benefits.
Avraham Burg has described Israel by saying that the country is becoming a more fundamentalist and less modern society (The New York Times, Aug. 4 ). The message to the returning prime minister is that you can form the government, but you will not be able to govern freely. Would Netanyahu form a large coalition government, bringing on board religious parties, leading to safe immobilism; or, would he choose a compatible alliance government, made of secular parties, a fragile majority government that will also be hostage to finding the minimal common economic priorities and policies that have proven to be key issues. These would be relegated by the second Netanyahu government to a marginal place on his former agenda.
