The Week

• All our missing voters seem to have turned up in Israel.

• The general election in Israel was a triumph for Benjamin Netanyahu. His opponents had overtaken him in the polls. The politically correct folk in the West and the politically incorrect folk in Tehran had agreed that he was about to lose, and deserved it. It was boring to listen to him repeating in speech after speech that the Shia radicals are an existential threat to Israel, arming themselves with intercontinental missiles and nuclear warheads, building massive military emplacements for militias on their side of the borders, and exerting pressure to establish a Palestinian state dedicated to permanent hostility. In the program of Netanyahu’s opposition, better housing and cheaper food easily has priority over national security. However much the electorate may dislike the political reality of the region, they are capable of recognizing it. They vote for Netanyahu on the understanding that the West prefers to make common cause with the Shia radicals rather than fight them. Whatever the Israel-bashers maintain, there’s nothing right-wing about the instinct of survival. Israel’s system of proportional representation allows small minority parties to win parliamentary seats, and Netanyahu will have to go through a lengthy and rather displeasing period of horse-trading in order to obtain the majority for governing. This coincides uncomfortably with the likely conclusion of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Should Netanyahu’s fears about those talks be realized, at least the Israelis have made it plain that they are determined to look after themselves.