Although the Israeli government is in a state of limbo between the election of the Knesset and the formation of a new government, Prime Minister Netanyahu is still required to appoint a justice minister. On Tuesday, he chose a loyalist, Ofir Akunis, for the job—against the legal advice of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. The details of the laws at work are obscure, and in any case not easily applied to the current, anomalous situation, so the Supreme Court put a stay on the appointment, after which the prime minister backed down. David Horovitz sums up the outcome:

While the Biden White House is committed to restoring the 2015 agreement to restrain the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, Tehran’s behavior since the deal was concluded should be sufficient to demonstrate that it had no intention of keeping to its terms, argues Elliott Abrams: