Israeli electoral intrigue briefly and haltingly suspended during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, resumed in earnest over the weekend. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party are voting today, in a second day of primaries, to determine the party’s slate ahead of the January 22 elections, with results expected at 3pm Washington DC time this afternoon. Meanwhile Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced his retirement from politics, having served as Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Chief of Staff in the Israel Defense Forces. Netanyahu’s Likud party has been widely expected to win the upcoming elections, and will likely increase its margin of victory should the ceasefire which ended Operation Pillar of Defense hold through late January.

[Photo: יעקב/ Wiki Commons]