Israeli citizens have been scratching their heads for a week, trying to figure out why the beleaguered state of Israel is about to spend $100M on early elections when the government appears stable and a war is looming.

The nation´s leading pundits have also not been able to provide a clear explanation for the move. The leading television news channel, Channel 2, has offered two reasons for the decision to call the election.

One, offered by ultra-leftist reporter-analyst Amnon Abramovich, is that the elections are a sly move by Binyamin Netanyahu, intended to create the ideal political circumstances for a strike on Iran in September or October.

Abramovich explained that by September, Netanyahu will presumably be in the process of forming a new government, following the elections. He will be standing at the head of an interim government, which will eventually be replaced by the new coalition. A strike on Iran at this point – even if it is not perceived as successful – will no longer be able to affect the result of the election, and thus Netanyahu will be in a political "safe zone" that will give him maximal maneuvering space, as far military moves are concerned.

Abramovich´s theory was intercepted in mid-air, however, by another one of the channel´s ultra-leftist political reporter-analysts, Rina Matzliach. Just over a week ago, Matzliach was the first reporter to state conclusively that Israel is about to enter an election season, and events appear to have proven her right.

Matzliach´s opinion is that it was recently retired Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch who made the elections happen. It was Beinisch who handed down a decision to annul the Tal Law regulating the recruitment of hareidim to the IDF, and to set a firm date for its expiration, she noted. According to Matzliach, by doing this Beinisch essentially forced Yisrael Beiteinu´s Avigdor Lieberman to put forth his alternative to the Tal Law, and made it impossible for Netanyahu to hold together his coalition, which also relies on hareidi parties.

Matzliach´s analysis is in line with a statement made by United Torah Judaism´s MK Yaakov Litzman, who said after Beinisch´s ruling that she had intentionally left it for the end of her term. "This matter was on her table for four years," Litzman told IDF Radio. "She did not make a decision until the last moment. This decision on the Tal Law is a ´hit and run´ by Beinisch."

"Judges know politics, too," he explained. "They know how to leave an impression for the years to come."

The two theories could both be true: Beinisch can be seen as the person who created the problem for Netanyahu, destabilizing his government at a critical juncture, and Netanyahu´s decision to call early elections without delay could be his way of solving the problem as soon as possible without letting it stand in the way of a strike on Iran. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/06/12)