In the past, Lieberman has pushed for discriminatory legislative proposals including a failed attempt to require that Israelis sign a loyalty oath or have their citizenship revoked. He is now pushing a proposal to impose the death penalty against Arabs convicted of acts of terrorism. As a cabinet minister last decade he called for the bombing of Palestinian gas stations, banks and commercial centres. He said the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could “go to hell”. READMORE
Binyamin Netanyahu has appointed Avigdor Lieberman as defense minister. Rabin, Golda, even Begin must be crying.
So am I.
This is not far from the Hindenburg’s appointment of Hitler as German Chancellor in 1932. Lieberman, a former nightclub bouncer from Moldova with little military experience, has advocated for policies including the bombing of Egypt’s Aswan dam, the toppling of the Palestinian Authority, the introduction of the death penalty for terrorism as well as the transfer of Israeli Arabs into the Palestinian territories.
Like Hindenburg, Netanyahu is the prime minister, Netanyahu is attempting to govern. The Likud coalition has a majority of one. Initially he offered a deal to the centrist Zionist Union, headed by Isaac Herzog, then he reversed course with his offer to Lieberman and his hard-right Yisrael Beiteinu party. Herzog said Netanyahu was faced with “a historic choice” to “either embark on a journey of war and funerals” with Lieberman or choose a path of “hope for all [Israeli] citizens”.
Lieberman’s addition to the government means that Netanyahu is ending any cooperation with the US or Europe. Peace has no chance.
Like the appointment of Hitler in Germany, the offer of the defence ministry to Lieberman is also a blow to the professional military in Israel. The the incumbent defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, sided with senior military officers. It is unclear what Ya’alon’s role would be if Lieberman were made defence minister. Ya’alon directed scathing remarks about the direction Israel was heading in under Netanyahu’s leadership. Speaking at a youth seminar in Tel Aviv, he said he had been surprised of late at a “loss of moral compass on basic questions” in Israeli society, adding: “We need to steer the country in accordance with one’s conscious and not whichever way the wind is blowing.”
Ya’alon and Netanyahu have clashed in recent days over the role of the military in public discourse. A senior general infuriated Netanyahu this month when he compared the atmosphere in Israel to Nazi-era Germany, while Ya’alon backed the general’s right to express his views. In March, military leaders criticised a soldier who was caught on video fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the head. The soldier is now on trial for manslaughter. While Ya’alon has backed the military, hardliners including Lieberman have backed the soldier. Netanyahu, for his part, called the soldier’s family to express sympathy.
The newspaper Haaretz’s main leader opined: “It’s hard to imagine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making a more reckless and irresponsible decision than appointing Avigdor Lieberman defence minister. For the second time since the last election, Netanyahu had to choose between the Zionist Union and the extreme right, and once again he chose to veer right and establish an ideological, racist coalition that aims to entrench the occupation, expand the settlements in the territories, oppress the Arab minority and undermine Israeli democracy.”
Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Nahum Barnea was equally damning. “Instead of presenting to the world, in advance of the serious diplomatic challenges that lie ahead of us in the autumn, a more moderate government, Netanyahu is presenting to the world the most extreme government ever to have served here. That is what the members of the government itself say about it, not just its adversaries.”
Yerachmiel HaLevi FACEBOOK
If Zoabi doesn’t like Lieberman that is a good reason to support him as defense minister!!!!
