"Things you see from here you don't see from there": The lesson politicians forget
Lieberman sets a conscription condition, Yair Golan disqualifies the coalition parties, and Eisenkot speaks of principles. But political history, from Begin and Rabin to today, teaches that red lines before elections tend to blur the…
Assessment
Israeli politicians are drawing red lines ahead of elections, but political history shows these lines rarely survive the coalition negotiations that follow. Liberman, Golan, and Eisenkot are each staking out positions now, yet the lesson from Begin, Rabin, and every government since is that campaign promises bend to the arithmetic of power. The real question is which of these declared principles will hold when seats are counted and a government must be formed.