Will Israel’s third election in a year at last produce a government?

THE BLUEPRINTS had been gathering dust for 25 years. No Israeli leader, not even Binyamin Netanyahu, prime minister for the past decade, was willing to face the international criticism that would follow from building 3,500 new homes near Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank. The new district would cut off the Palestinian part of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, ending any possibility of a viable Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. So the plans were put on the shelf—until February 25th, when Mr Netanyahu publicly dusted them off.It is no mystery why Mr Netanyahu changed his mind. Israel is holding a general election on March 2nd, its third in a year. The last two, in April and September 2019, failed to produce a government. The prime minister thinks the only way for his bloc of nationalist and religious parties to eke out a majority this time is by mobilising the base. He is under pressure from his main rival, Benny Gantz. The former general and leader of Blue and White, Israel’s largest party, has been pursuing “soft-right” voters by matching many of Mr Netanyahu’s campaign promises.