On Wednesday night, a panel of experts discussed the upcoming Israeli elections and their possible ramifications. As Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS) said, the purpose of the debate was "to understand where we have come from, where it is that we might be going and what might happen after the elections."

The event was sponsored by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. The panel consisted of Prof. Shai Feldman, Judy and Sidney Swartz Director's Chair of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies; Dr. Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and executive director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab American Leadership; and Prof. Yehuda Mirsky (NEJS).

Troen, who is the Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies and director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, moderated the discussion, which covered issues such as the peace process, the two-state solution, shifts in party coalitions and leadership and Israeli-Palestinian relations.

The parliamentary elections, which will take place today, will differ greatly from American elections. As Troen pointed out, there are around 30 political parties in Israel, each representing different interests and viewpoints. "There are religious parties, ultra-religious parties, less ultra-religious parties, parties for the Sephardim [and] parties for the Europeans," Troen said.

The first question posed to the panel was whether or not these elections will be critical or significant and what to expect from the vote. Mirsky said that "every Israeli election is critical because [of] the magnitude of the ongoing challenges Israel faces on a daily basis." There are questions about who will succeed the leadership in several Ashkenazi groups, following prominent Orthodox leader Rabbi Elyashiv's death and Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's recent stroke.

Feldman discussed the alliance between two Israeli parties, the nationalist Likud party and Yisrael Beytenu, made up mostly of Russian-Israelis, and the new religious-Zionist party of Habayit Hayehudi, and how there is a major contradiction in Israeli society. "If the country has gone up in almost every dimension-science, technology, the economy, the unbelievable things that are happening in Israel-what happened to Israeli politics?" asked Feldman.

Dr. Ibish brought what he called "partly an Arab perspective, partly an American perspective that isn't Jewish" to the panel. "This isn't going to be a watershed election in the sense that the next government is probably going to continue, on those issues that concern me the most, more or less along the lines of the prime minister," Ibish said.

When asked what advice he would give to President Barack Obama on the situation in Israel, Feldman said he urges the president to remember that "the Middle East remains important."

The discussion concluded with audience questions, which ranged from the issue of mandatory military service to the United States using leverage on Israel.

Kristina Cherniahivsky, associate director of the Crown Center, said that the goal of the event was for everyone to gain a better understanding of the elections and what is happening in Israel.

"There has not been a lot of press in the United States about the [upcoming Israeli] elections, so it seemed a good opportunity to take some experts in the field and get a sense from each of them of the possibilities of the elections, and, even more importantly, what can happen after," said Cherniahivsky in an interview with the Justice.

The night, in Cherniahivsky's opinion, was a success. Cameron Wolfe '16 and Rom?(c)e Swaab '16, agreed.

"I thought it was very fascinating. A lot of the insights that were made, some of the suggestions to President Obama," said Wolfe.

Swaab said, "I was expecting a lot more right-wing views, but I was happily surprised that it was so moderate."

As the panelists pointed out, the outcome of the elections is not hard to foresee. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will most likely be reelected, and the final polls indicate that his support might shrink if he leans too far to the right, according to a Jan. 18 BBC News article. Today's vote will decide the formation of the next Knesset and the future of Israel.