Netanyahu signed the coalition deal in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, alongside his controversial new partner, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beitenu party.
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Reports of Israel’s new right-wing governing coalition raise “legitimate questions” about the direction of Israeli policy but the United States will judge the new government based on its actions, the US State Department said on Wednesday.
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. At times, he has been his closest ally and at other times he has been an intense rival.
In response, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah accused Netanyahu of aiming at stalling time, as “the past 22 years of direct bilateral negotiations have not led to any result with Israel”.
Besides Lieberman becoming defence minister and another member of his party becoming immigrant absorption minister, the government agreed to allocate approximately 1.4 billion shekels (US$363 million, €325 million) to pensions of elderly Israelis.
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories – The appointment of a hardline right-winger as Israel’s defence minister represents a “real threat” to regional stability, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.
Netanyahu has continued to insist that he wants to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, but Lieberman’s arrival in the cabinet has raised concerns inside and outside of Israel that it will toughen its stance.
In March, Lieberman showed up at a military court where a soldier, Sergeant El’or Azaria, faced murder charges for killing a Palestinian who had stabbed a soldier.
Although his supporters point out that Lieberman – who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank – is open to a two-state solution, his vision includes the transfer of areas with Israeli Arab majorities out of Israel. Lieberman himself is a West Bank settler.
“Lieberman deserves his reputation for being extreme. for saying some things that are downright insane, but go back and look, he said them whenever he was in the opposition”, Mr Hoffman said.
In a speech given the same day, Sisi called on both Palestine and Israel to revive peace talks, stating that a resolution to the Palestinian case would bring resolution to conflicts in the Middle East at large.
When the Palestinians sought upgraded membership at the U.N.in 2012, Lieberman called for toppling President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli military tends to be more pragmatic and moderate than hard-line politicians like Lieberman, and it’s unclear how they will respond if he issues an order that the generals disagree with.
In 2001, the former nightclub bouncer advocated bombing the Aswan Dam in Egypt, accusing Israel’s Arab neighbour of supporting a Palestinian uprising. “My first priority is to the security of Israel, I as prime minster, together with Liberman as defense minister, the IDF chief of staff and other military commanders will continue to uphold the responsibility to Israel’s security”, he vowed.
But Lieberman’s biggest troubles could come at home with the army.
In addition, Lieberman’s appointment comes after a year in which hard-line nationalist policies have gained increased prominence in Israel.
Not everything Lieberman believes is nestled firmly within Israeli public consensus, but even his more extreme ideas are rooted in hard-nosed realism, not ideology or ethnic particularism.
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“Time is short”, Hamdallah said.
