Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu signed the deal which brings five members of Lieberman’s six seat faction into the government, increasing Netanyahu’s majority to a comfortable 66 out of 120 Knesset members.
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The last round of U.S. -brokered peace talks broke down in 2014 and U.S., European Union and United Nations officials have become increasingly uncertain about whether Mr. Netanyahu is committed to a two-solution to the conflict.
Knesset member Benny Begin, son of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, called it “delusional” and said it showed “a lack of responsibility toward the defense establishment and all the citizens of Israel”. He has threatened to assassinate leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and to topple the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
“My government remains committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians, pursuing peace with all our neighbors”, Netanyahu said in English, appealing to an global audience.
The intense backlash thrown Israel’s way is a result of the country’s “desire to destroy itself” as evidenced by “Netanyahu’s steady elimination of any possibility that Israel will separate itself from the Palestinians in the West Bank”.
As minister of defence, Lieberman, who was foreign minister in Netanyahu’s government from 2009 to 2012, and again from 2013 to 2015, would be second only to Netanyahu in rank.
“I believe the developments in our region have created new challenges for us all, but I also believe they have created new opportunities for peace”. “All of us have commitments to peace, to the final status agreement, to understanding between us and our neighbors”. A government official confirmed both sides have reached an agreement.
Netanyahu has continued to insist that he wants to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, but Liberman’s arrival in the cabinet has raised concerns inside and outside of Israel that it will toughen its stance.
Only a year ago Lieberman said Israeli Arabs disloyal to Israel “deserve to have their heads chopped off with an axe”. But in the end, the right-wing Netanyahu opted for Lieberman with whom he is more ideologically aligned.
“Lieberman is a fascist similar to the fascists from the ’30s of the last century”, said Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Arab bloc in parliament.
Yaalon was forced out after siding with his commanders in a series of disagreements with political hard-liners.
Lieberman went to the court to offer his support for the soldier.
Netanyahu has sought to ease fears over Lieberman’s expected appointment, saying he will continue to seek peace with the Palestinians and oversee the defence ministry’s policies, which include control over the occupied West Bank.
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Avraham Diskin, a political scientist at Hebrew University, said Lieberman is more pragmatic than commonly thought but also is unpredictable and problematic for Netanyahu.
