Avigdor Lieberman is a colourful addition to Israel’s ruling coalition. In contrast, his predecessor, Moshe Yaalon, was a former military chief of staff. “It is a great mistake”. When Netanyahu was first elected Prime Minister in 1996, Liberman became director-general of the Prime Minister’s office. Lieberman himself is a West Bank settler.
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Netanyahu undermined and embarrassed his current defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, and Yaalon chose to jump before he was pushed, tendering his resignation.
On Wednesday, they renewed their partnership by announcing a new deal to bring Yisrael Beitenu into Netanyahu’s narrow governing coalition.
Lieberman, who has spoken of harsh measures against Palestinian “terrorists”, will take over the key role of defence minister after being sworn in.
Netanyahu once more called on the head of the opposition, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, to join the coalition in a unity government. But it risks alienating Israel’s allies overseas and the military, the country’s strongest and most important institution.
The move to install Lieberman was controversial because he has a reputation for taking a hawkish stance toward Palestinians, according to the BBC.
In 2001, the former nightclub bouncer advocated bombing the Aswan Dam in Egypt, accusing Israel’s Arab neighbour of supporting a Palestinian uprising.
Palestinian officials say more than 200 Palestinians, mostly alleged attackers, have also been killed by Israeli security forces.
Among Mr. Lieberman’s stipulations for accepting the post were increased social entitlements for Russian immigrants in Israel and the introduction of the death penalty in terrorism cases. And to what extent will actions on the ground (and in the air) by Israel’s defense establishment come to represent the hardline views he has voiced? “In fact, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Hamdallah, let slip the other day his hope for an imposed timetable, rather than a negotiated peace”.
“The Palestinian leadership doesn’t see the French initiative as an inducement for compromise, but rather as a way to avoid it”, Netanyahu added.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, warned that Mr Lieberman’s appointment as defence minister would “result in apartheid, racism and religious and political extremism”.
“I am committed to promoting the peace process”. A government official confirmed both sides have reached an agreement. He spoke in English in an apparent attempt to reassure an global audience.
But Lieberman’s bark is bigger than his bite.
Lieberman, who served as foreign minister under Netanyahu once, exited a political alliance with him in 2014, arguing that the prime minister’s response to attacks out of the Gaza Strip were not muscular enough. “Either you return the bodies and the civilians, or you die”, Lieberman said. But in the end, the right-wing Netanyahu opted for Lieberman with whom he is more ideologically aligned. Gen. Yair Golan, recently criticized what he said was widespread discrimination in Israeli society.
Over the years, Lieberman has made headlines for a series of incendiary comments. Lieberman went to the court to offer his support to the soldier.
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Those close to Lieberman, though, say he is far more pragmatic and level-headed in person than he appears in public and he seemed to be trying to convey that Wednesday.
