What election means to Israel

If opinion polls are to believed and going by the right-leaning Israeli society, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should register a comfortable win in the election to the 19th Knesset on Jan 22. And since there is little doubt over the outcome of the election, the question to answer is what kind of foreign policy Israel will adopt after the election.

Netanyahu has said preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon will be on top of his agenda if he is re-elected. In fact, Netanyahu called for an early election mainly because of the Iranian nuclear issue.

In February 2012, Iran unveiled a new-generation centrifuge for uranium enrichment, drawing criticism from Israel and many Western countries. Israel insists that Iran may have enough material to build a nuclear weapon by the summer of 2013. To stop Iran from reaching the "final stage" of the process, Israel has even threatened to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.