Go to the country?

摘要

After three years of comfortably domi-nating Israeli politics, Binyamin Netanyahu is suddenly engulfed in a swirl of election speculation. By law he can govern until autumn 2013. But politicians are now betting on an election a year or more ahead of time, reluctantly brought forward by Mr Netanyahu himself. The prime minister and leader of the Likud party is still very much the front-runner. But there is renewed talk that he may prefer to set up a different, more moderate coalition next time around. The death on April 30th, at the age of 102, of Mr Netanyahu's rigidly right-wing father, Ben-Zion, a distinguished historian, has rekindled hopes on the left-and fears on the right-of a new pragmatism in the son. Mr Netanyahu himself has always snorted at suggestions that he was cowed or inhibited by his father's ideological severity.