Straight to the point, I say what I think openly and bluntly. Suddenly the ground is shaking again. Not in the Gaza Strip, not in Lebanon and not in Iran, but right in the middle of the Israeli election campaign.

Gadi Eisenkot makes no secret of his plan to form a minority government with Arab parties abstaining, but he could end up helping crown another prime minister.

A party called “Gan Eden” wants to turn Israel into paradise. Its chairman Yeshua Ben David dreams of priestly service in the Temple, sees the Knesset as the Sanhedrin, and is running as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister.

Naftali Bennett warns of a “collapse” of Israel’s international standing and announces a diplomatic offensive for a future government.

Tectonic shifts are taking place in the rival bloc.

Reported pressure on Arab-Israeli parties to unite against Netanyahu raises serious questions about foreign involvement in Israel’s democratic process.

Likud between 19 and 26 seats – the new party of former IDF General Ofer Winter achieves eight seats or fails to clear the electoral threshold, depending on the poll.

New parties are a recurring feature of Israeli elections, but when they fail to pass, votes are lost.

The long-lost Altalena has resurfaced off Tel Aviv, and with it Israel’s oldest warning: political rivalry must never become civil war.