An Israeli man walks beneath election posters for Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, right, and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu
One by one, in reverse order, the leaders of Israel's top three political parties appeared on television the night of the Feb. 10 elections and declared victory. This was clever, since none of them had really won. Avigdor Lieberman, whose extreme anti-Arab Yisrael Beitenu party finished third , went on first. His party had surged in the final weeks and would now, he boasted, be "the key" to forming a majority coalition in the 120-seat Knesset. Maybe. Benjamin Netanyahu , whose Likud party finished second, appeared next. He had won, he said, because Likud was the leading right-wing party...
