A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

November 20, 2008- Likud Opens Lead over Kadima

A new survey was released today on the election race in Israel. It shows a clear lead for the Likud, with 34 seats compared to 28 for Kadima. The Labor party based, on this survey, will get a mere 10 seats, the same as Yisrael Beitenu and Shas. Meretz will receive seven seats. Observers believe that the past week's announcements of new members of Likud and returning veterans such as Benny Begin resulted in the party's lead. The drop in the number of Labor's seats is particularly dramatic.

According to reports from Israel, Prime Minister Olmert, Minister of Defense Barak, and the head of the Mossad held a secret meeting with King Abdallah of Jordan yesterday afternoon. If it was a secret meeting- who leaked it? It's not clear, but it might have been leaked for political reasons. Reports in the press claim that the meeting took place due to Abduallah's fears that Israel might act in Gaza. Another theory is that Abdallah wanted to discuss what is going to happen in January when Abbu Mazen's term is over. Neither of these reasons really explain why all thee of Israel's top leader responsible for security needed to go.