Hamas’s rocket fire having been halted by Operation Pillar of Defense, Israelis have returned to focusing on the upcoming January 22 election. Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni announced that she is forming a new party called The Movement. Current polls show that Livni’s party, which she described as a centrist party that could anchor a center-left coalition in Israel’s parliament, may win as many as 10 out of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Livni’s announcement ends speculation that she might join the opposition Labor Party in order to present a united front against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right Likud party. For its part the Likud party completed its primaries yesterday, electing a slate mixed between veterans, who will fill key cabinet positions should the Likud win the upcoming election, and younger, more right-wing, politicians. Some commentary today has focused on the latter group’s strength as an indication that the party is tilting toward the right, with analysts gesturing toward the defeat of Likud moderates whom those analysts had previously been disinclined to acknowledge as moderates.

[Photo: Itzike / Wiki Commons]