The deal caps a tumultuous week of politics that began with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being expected to invite the moderate Labor Party before he chose Lieberman’s ultranationalist party instead.
Advertisement
“The first thing I agree to do is a responsible and reasonable policy”, said to the press Lieberman, known for his anti-Arab diatribes and called for the crucial post of defense minister overseeing the Palestinian Territories.
The commentator said that Netanyahu’s conduct in criticizing the army over recent comments by generals as well as his waffling over the Hebron shooting of a subdued Palestinian assailant by an IDF medic.
Whether Lieberman can pull this off remains to be seen, however, as his previous term as the nation’s foreign minister saw him alienating a number of traditional Israeli allies, and virtually forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to run worldwide diplomacy out of his office because no one wanted to deal with the foreign minister’s office.
Mr Lieberman, who has spoken of harsh measures against Palestinian “terrorists”, will take over the key role of defence minister after being sworn in. He previously had 61, which made it hard to pass legislation.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon resigned Friday from what is widely considered Israel’s second-most important government position, amid political maneuvering by Mr. Netanyahu.
France recently announced it would host an global conference on 3 June to try to revive the peace process, which collapsed amid acrimony in 2014.
“I intend to seize those opportunities”.
Yet, Friedman joins other Israeli officials who are concerned about Israel’s historic development, including Major General Yair Golan, the army’s deputy chief of staff, who suggested that the same things that unfolded in Europe were beginning to unfold in Israel. Netanyahu’s Likud has rejected the proposal.
Yaalon, like Netanyahu, is a security hawk who was deeply skeptical of peace prospects with the Palestinians and led the military through a 50-day war against Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip in 2014. In fact, Lieberman himself lives in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim, south of Jerusalem.
Over three decades, Lieberman has at times been Netanyahu’s closest ally and other times a fierce rival. “Peace is achieved through direct negotiations where the Palestinian Authority would face a historic choice: recognize a Jewish state side by side with a demilitarized Palestinian state, or try to eliminate it”.
“All of us have commitments to peace, to the final status agreement, to understanding between us and our neighbours”.
Advertisement
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers, said all Israelis leaders are “criminals and killers” and that appointing Lieberman signaled “the increasing extremism and racism in the Israeli occupation”. “I’m committed to a balanced policy that will bring stability to the region and to our country”, he said.
