Pulling off a come-from-behind victory in elections last week may well prove to be the easy assignment for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His tactics in the last days of the campaign alienated many Israelis and antagonized many of the country's international partners.
Relations with the United States have been especially hard hit. Contrition does not come easily to the Israeli leader, but he should demonstrate some flexibility and meet his allies more than halfway to restore trust in him and consolidate support for his country.
Israel has long been ruled by coalition governments, but the main parties, Likud and Labor, have fractured in recent years and the work of forging and maintaining a government has become more difficult. Netanyahu wanted to strengthen his Likud party's presence in the Israeli Parliament, or Knesset, when he called elections last year.