The true power couple of the Israeli elections
Former Minister Moshe Kahlon’s quiet alliance with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is part of a move that might crown them as kingmakers who will determine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fate.
The enthusiastic and much-publicized partnership between Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog and former Minister Tzipi Livni, which took us by storm at a festive news conference on Dec. 10, has proven successful in creating the biggest party in Israeli politics, with 24 seats, according to initial polls. But the shape of the political arena after the 2015 elections will be determined by a completely different couple, one who prefers, for now, to operate behind the scenes based on quiet understanding.
The slate of the power couple of Israeli politics will be seized by former Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who will hold the top jobs in the next coalition government, whatever its constellation. They are the ones who will determine the identity of Israel’s next prime minister: Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or perhaps Kahlon or Liberman, according to a certain rotation scenario.
