Professor Kaplan Comments on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Netanyahu’s victory follows his weekend decision to come out against a Palestinian state, reversing his 2009 stance. By breaking radically to the right, San Francisco State Jewish Studies Professor Eran Kaplan observed, Netanyahu “took seats away from the two other right-wing parties.” The result, Kaplan predicted, will be a new government without a centrist element. I don’t think a less-moderate Knesset helps this White House. Kaplan doesn’t think the March 3 speech was “the critical element in the campaign.”