Today, the United States is locked in a deepening great power rivalry with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In recent years, this contest has taken on many names. It was defined as “great power competition” during the Trump administration’s first term in office, and subsequently first as “long-term strategic competition” and then as “managed competition” during the presidency of Joseph Biden.

Earlier this week, Israelis went to the polls in a deeply consequential election. Tuesday’s vote was the country’s first since the massacre of October 7, 2023, and it served both as a referendum on the tenure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a larger statement about the country’s political and strategic future.

At first blush, events of recent days suggest that the democratic world remains in long-term retreat and growing disarray.

Next week, Israelis will go to the polls in what will arguably be the most important election in the Jewish state’s 78-year history. It is the first electoral contest since the horrific events of October 7, 2023, in which Palestinian terror group Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, and kidnapped 251 others. 

A tense calm has prevailed in Lebanon since Israel’s military withdrew to the “yellow line” outlined in the June ceasefire between the two countries. Progress on the trajectory outlined in the ceasefire agreement is stalled.