Personal Politics

摘要

To BIBI or not to BIBI: that is the question that dominates everything," jokes veteran Israeli pollster Hanoch Smith. It is a shorthand way of saying that the elections next week for prime minister and Parliament have come down to a referendum on the character—more than the policy positions—of Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. Elected prime minister three years ago by a margin of fewer than 30,000 votes after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Netanyahu is not faring well. The likely winner of the first round of voting: Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak, 57, former Army commando, chief of staff and foreign minister.