Settlement Drink off

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman which sounds more like a face-off. Arutz Sheva:

The relationship of “good friends agree to disagree” took a tough test Wednesday afternoon as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman standing at her side, told reporters, "We want to see a stop to the settlements.”

The Foreign Minister, who lives in the community of Nokdim in the eastern part of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, did not flinch and retorted, “We think that as in any place, babies are born, people get married, some pass away and we cannot accept this vision about an absolutely complete freezing of settlements."

Lieberman surprised me as I had no idea he spoke English – my bad. Frankly, if Hillary thinks she can steamroll over Lieberman I think she is in for a big surprise but I'd rather watch a drink-off between the two over the issues of settlements in the disputed territories and the first one who can give a coherent statement after three hours of heavy drinking wins. To make it fair Hillary, she can add Obama to her team but he has to drink too and be able to speak without a teleprompter.

Well, well, my, my, the Bear has a change of mind

At first, I was quite snarky about (Yvette) Lieberman being named as Israeli Foreign Minister, and then came the change of heart. Now I am thinking the dividends of having Lieberman as FM might already be starting to pay-off. Last week Russia signed the deal for Israeli drones and this week, Russia has announced it will not sell the S-300 air defense system to the Iranians. Ynet News

Russia is not currently implementing its planned sale of sophisticated S-300 air defense systems to Iran, a top official with the state office for arms sales told Interfax. "Nothing is happening. Supplies are not taking place," said Alexander Fomin, deputy head of the Federal Service for Arms Cooperation, at an arms fair in Rio de Janeiro.

Russia's plans to provide the systems to Iran have attracted criticism from the United States and Israel, neither of which have ruled out attacks on Iran's controversial atomic facilities. The comment came after an unnamed official at the same agency said last month delivery of the defense systems, intended to shield key areas from attack, would depend on the "developing international situation and the decision of the country's leaders."

The Ynet article goes on to suggest Russia’s change of heart has more to do with international pressure being leveraged against the sale and the new, warmer friendlier ties with the US – which I find no evidence of. If anything, I would say the Russians have been much more dismissive of the Obama Administration. I am betting it has more to do with a Lieberman/Israeli connection.

exercising my perogative

Earlier in the week I suggested making Avigdor Lieberman the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs was a venture in rank diplomatic stupidity. Since I committed myself to post, I have undergone somewhat of a change of mind. While I still do believe Lieberman will cause further upheaval and chaos in Israel’s relationships with most western nations, in retrospect, a case can be made for him being immune to outside pressure. He certainly won’t be busy trying to ingratiate himself with the US Administration unlike a rather frighteningly large number of his predecessors, and when interests collide, it will be most difficult to convince him to put American interests before Israeli ones.

It seems to me, it might be prudent for Israel to change spheres of influence or at least actively pursue relationships with governments which often lie outside American/European influence. Lieberman could prove invaluable in developing a relationship with Russia, and Russia has a far better record of taking care of their friends and allies than some others I could mention. Not only that, but Russia does have friends, allies and much influence among the neighbors while American’s brand is decidedly poor in that regard. Did I mention Russia also has a veto in the UN Security Council?

So - Go Lieberman.

What was Netanyahu thinking?

This is one of those rare times when I find myself in agreement with Ha’aretz. There is an opinion piece suggesting the world will take a dim view of Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Israel Beiteinu, as Israel’s foreign minister and public voice to the world.

American and European officials have thus far declined to comment publicly on the expected appointment of Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister. Behind the scenes, however, many officials are asking whether this appointment is really necessary - and newspapers on both continents are criticizing the move openly.

The official position in Washington is that Barack Obama's administration will work with whatever Israeli government is ultimately established. Beyond that, American officials are keeping mum.

But the "Lieberman question" continually arises in State Department briefings for journalists and in other forums. And opinion columns in the American press have presented Lieberman in an extremely negative light, with comparisons to Austria's Joerg Haider and even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, (both use "ultranationalist rhetoric of hate," one paper charged).

Lieberman snags this post as part of his door prize for entering into a Likud led coalition and for once I find a Ha’aretz article rather moderate for not strongly underlining his general unsuitableness for this position and instead focusing on the world’s perception of Lieberman.

Lieberman is loose cannon who regularly shots his mouth off in all directions and has an uncanny ability to offend just about everyone at the same time. Go search my archives under ‘Fun with Lieberman’. He is enormously entertaining as politician to watch in a three-stooges kind of way but an utter failure as a bridge builder or consensus maker. I cannot think of no one more able to set the hasbara campaign back to the stone ages in a single press or telephone conference than Lieberman. He should be considered the Israeli politician mostly like to start a world war.

I understand Likud’s first or even second choice for a coalition partner was not Israel Beiteinu, and in Bibi’s world, the ultimate coalition partners were Labor and Kadima, but Lieberman wanted in and would come in – a little horse-trading was certainly the order of the day, but surely to heavens, Lieberman could have been satisfied with something else. Not to mention, he might very well be the first Israeli Foreign Minister to have to conduct foreign policy from a jail cell.

Lieberman speaks truth to power and gets sued

I haven’t done a fun with Avigdor Lieberman post in a while. Truth is, until last week, Leiberman has been relatively quiet since he resigned his party (Israel Our Home) from the Kadima coalition. His party is poised to perhaps be returned as the third largest fraction in the next Israeli election.

Last week Lieberman suggested that Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak can go to hell for never visiting Israel. This week he is being sued in an Israeli court for the alleged “libel” for insulting Mubarak. The Jerusalem Post carries this report:

An Egyptian lawyer has launched a lawsuit against Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman, who slammed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week over not coming to visit Israel. An official at the general prosecutor's office says the lawyer, Galal Khalil Abdel-Rahman, filed the suit Monday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The lawyer could not be reached for comment. The official said the suit contends Lieberman insulted Mubarak when he said last week that the Egyptian president can "go to hell" because he never makes return visits to Israel but receives Israeli officials in Egypt. The suit demands Lieberman be summoned on libel charges.

Of course, in most traditional western court systems, truth is a defence against libel charges but during the last Sharon Administration the Knesset enacted a law which in effect made it against the law to ‘insult the dignity of a public official’ so I suppose Mubarak meets the bar per say. Either way, it will be fun to watching the Egyptians dive off the deep end of reason over how far Lieberman will go. And Lieberman is like a force of nature which nothing man-made can restrain.

Avigdor Lieberman, after all these years, is still making crazies, crazy

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is gunning for Avigdor Lieberman, Leader of the Israel Our Home party.

The PFLP said on Tuesday it will kill Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman.

A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine identified himself as Abu Jamal made the threat speaking on the terrorist organization's radio station. The group assassinated tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi at the capital's Hyatt Hotel in 2001.

Lieberman wants to transfer some Israeli Arab towns to Palestinian jurisdiction and annex large West Bank settlements to Israel. A source close to Lieberman said he would not change his behavior due to the threats, that he was not frightened by them and that he would not surrender to terror.

Abu Jamal spoke in response to the recent Arab-Jewish clashes in Acre and said the PFLP would defend Israeli Arabs. "Our fingers are on the triggers of our weapons and we know where to direct our fire... The fate of the Zionist Lieberman will be similar to Ze'evi's," he said.

Lieberman happens to be one of my favourite Israeli politicos, not because I agree with his politics or his positions but there is nothing like Avigdor in action to get the blood boiling of the local loons on all sides of the political divide. He does it without even breaking a sweat or changing his stride. He says exactly what he thinks without sugar coating his words or message. In fact, what might be considered a diplomatic turn of phrase out of anyone else’s mouth becomes a license for the loons to loon out from his.

Go Lieberman.

I admit that I get an enormous amount of entertainment watching Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman in action. It is not so much that I agree with his positions or political party but watching all sides of the political spectrum go into meltdown over most of what he says gives me hours of enjoyment. This guy is definitely not for the PC crowd.

The Ynet News reports Lieberman has finally snatched his manhood back from Olmert:

Fifteen months after being sworn in, Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday he was resigning his office and that his party was leaving the coalition.

The move, which was announced in a press conference, came just two weeks before the Winograd Commission, probing the Second Lebanon War, plans to release its final report; but the official reason behind the move was disagreements with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the core issues.

Lieberman told reporters he had given Olmert he letter of resignation, which will come into effect in 48 hours: "We haven't always seen eye-to-eye but we were always frank with each other," he said. Lieberman's position as minister for strategic affairs was tailored specifically for him in exchange for Yisrael Beiteinu joining the collation, as he was made responsible for gathering "strategic intelligence" on Iran. Besides Lieberman, Yisrael Beiteinu's Yitzhak Aharonovitch was named tourism minister and MK Stas Misezhnikov the head of the Knesset's Finance Committee.

The move, said Lieberman was made despite it's being contrary to the party's electoral interests: "Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not reckless… as I've said dozens of time, we have to do what we can to stop the Annapolis process." Yisrael Beiteinu's contribution to the government, he added, should be measured by the bills it passed: "We allowed the IDF time to regroup by providing political stability… compared to the days after the Second Lebanon War, we now have a completely different military."

The negotiations with the Palestinians, said Lieberman, have already hit a dead-end: "Anyone believing the fight is about territory is kidding himself and others… if we adopt Beilin's way (Meretz-Yahad Chairman MK Yossi Beilin) and go back to the '67 line will the fighting stop? Will the terror stop?

"Israeli Arabs will keep their Palestinian citizenship and keep colleting their social security benefits from the State of Israel… they come right out and say 'we will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and we want autonomy in the Negev and Galilee. That's what will happen if we go back to the borders of '67," he added. "We find the entire principle of territories for peace wrong. It should be about the exchange of both territories and populations… Our problem is not Judea and Samaria but the fanatic leadership in the Knesset."

The Israeli people, he continued, are ready – now more than ever – to consider such an exchange: "There is no reason not to mention Israeli-Arabs, just like we mention the refugees… anyone who burn the Israeli flag on Independence Day, any professor who kicks out a reservist or won't let a student sporting the flag on his backpack into class – it's utter madness. "Our biggest problem are (MK Ahmad) Tibi and (Hadash Chairman Mohammad) Barakeh, who are even more dangerous than (Hamas politburo chief Khaled) Mashaal and (Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan) Nasrallah, because they work from the inside."

Now if only Shas would go, but there maybe hope there too according to this brief snippet at the Jerusalem Post:

Aware that Shas would soon be the only right-leaning member of the government, the party's mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, issued a directive Tuesday for it to leave the coalition as soon as serious negotiations begin on the fate of Jerusalem.

Previously, Shas had said they would only quit the coalition if a deal were reached on the core issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But Yosef upgraded the threat Tuesday and said that raising the Jerusalem issue with the Palestinians in a serious manner was reason enough to leave. Shas chairman Eli Yishai, currently visiting China, informed Lieberman of the rabbi's new instructions in a phone call. Lieberman did not tell Yishai whether or not he would resign from the government.

Go Shas. Go Labor and Pensioners (Meretz can stay) but mostly; Go Olmert.

Lieberman, the most entertaining Israeli politician

I haven’t done a fun with Lieberman post in a while. The problem with Lieberman as a parliamentarian is; if you interrupt him he’ll probably tell you exactly what he thinks of you and his hopes for your future. The Jerusalem Post reports:

A fight broke out in the Knesset plenum on Monday between Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Balad chairman Wasal Taha, in which Lieberman called Taha a "representative of terrorists" in the Knesset and wished Hamas would "take care of" him, too.

The fight began when Taha interrupted Lieberman's speech during a meeting on approving incoming Labor Chairman Ehud Barak as the new defense minister. In the speech, Lieberman attacked Arab Knesset members for their silence on what he termed the "lynching in Gaza," referring to the Hamas attacks on Fatah members in the escalating violence between the rival Palestinian factions. Taha shouted back his opposition, after which Lieberman accused Taha of treason.

Lieberman accused Taha of being an accomplice to terror organizations and said, "Your day will also come." The shouting match culminated in Lieberman saying, "I hope Hamas takes care of you, too! They would deal with you properly."

Lieberman is fun again

I haven’t done a fun with Lieberman post in a while. The Jerusalem Post reports Lieberman serves the Kadima coalition notice:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi remained reluctant to authorize a wide-scale ground operation targeting terrorist infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip, and preferred to discuss pinpoint tactics, Army Radio reported.

Prior to the meeting, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman (read his JPost.com blog) declared that Olmert had only two choices: disband Hamas, or disband the government. In the cabinet meeting, Lieberman indicated he would pull his Israel Beitenu party out of the government if it didn't take tough action against Hamas, including assassinating its leaders and ordering the reoccupation of the Philadelphi corridor to stop the smuggling of arms to terrorists.

"Either Hamas is going to be dismantled, or the government is going to be dismantled," he was quoted as saying. "This is not an ultimatum, but these are the options." The strategic affairs minister said the time had come "to stop making declarations and threats, and to engage in hard operations, daring operations, unconventional operations." He stressed that he was not talking about individual operations, but "a total and absolute dismantling [of Hamas], the creation of a completely different situation."

Olmert would still have a majority in parliament without Israel Beitenu's 11 seats, but a split would leave his governing coalition on shakier ground. Sources close to Olmert said in response to Lieberman's ultimatum that the strategic affairs minister was a dog who barked, but did not bite.

Earlier Sunday, Olmert opened the weekly cabinet meeting by declaring that Israel would be forced to step up operations in Gaza if the current military and diplomatic steps proved ineffective.

Like current military and diplomatic steps have proven just sooooo effective in the last 12 months. If the Lieberman makes good on his bark and it resonates with the Israeli voters - we may be witnessing the beginning of a major hemorrhage for the Kadima government.

Lieberman, Hours of Fun

Ever since Ehud Olmert’s election as Prime Minister of Israel a lot of the humour turned to horror for me in Israeli politics. Now that Olmert brought Lieberman’s Israel Our Home party into the Kadima coalition the humour ante is back in it for me. Not so much because Lieberman is a stand-up funny guy, but I am enjoying to no end all the protestations of horror from others at what he says.

It was a very slick tactical move by Olmert for bringing Lieberman and his party into the Kadima coalition on two distinct tactical levels. Lieberman’s party brings 11 seats to the coalition so Olmert’s majority has now increased to 78 members which strengths Olmert’s hand, and Lieberman offers the public eye something else to focus on rather than Olmert’s perpetual mismanagement. Talk about divide and rule in action.

I have no idea if Lieberman is a racist as many claim, he could very well be, but these remarks don’t make the bar that I set. Here’s Ha’aretz account of the reactions to what Lieberman has been saying:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday that he did not agree with Cabinet Minister Avigdor Lieberman's comments urging Israel to redraw its map to "exchange" part of the Arab population and create a more "homogenous Jewish state," as a solution to Israel's Arab minority "problem." The prime minister said Lieberman's words did not reflect his or his cabinet's opinion, which he described as support for complete equal rights for Israeli Arabs.

A number of Knesset members called Sunday for Lieberman's dismissal, as the minister stood by his remarks. MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) told Haaretz that Israeli Arabs are the salt of the earth, while Lieberman is nothing but an invader." MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) called for the immediate dismissal of Lieberman from the government in light of what he called "racist comments."

Here's a sample of Lieberman in action, Ha’aretz expands:

Lieberman told Army Radio earlier Sunday, "if we want to safeguard Israel's character as a Jewish and Zionist state, there is no other solution," adding that the separation should be "consensual." "The reason for the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict is not territory, not occupation, not settlers or settlements, rather friction between the two peoples and the two religions.

"Everywhere, the world over, no matter if it's the former Yugoslavia or the Caucasus region in Russia, or Northern Ireland, wherever there are two peoples and two religions, there is friction." According to Lieberman, Israel had no alternative but to move toward "exchanges of populations and territory, in order to create the most homogenously Jewish state."

Referring to the Nazi-era term Judenrein, describing an area from which all Jews have been removed, Lieberman said: "I don't understand why the Palestinians deserve a state which is 'Judenrein' - after all, we obligated ourselves to create a Palestinian state 'clean' of all Jews, to evacuate all settlements and all the Jews from there to create a homogenous state - while we turn into a bi-national country in which more than 20 percent of those within the state of Israel are minorities."

"Minorities are the biggest problem in the world," the Sunday Telegraph quoted Lieberman as saying. Asked by the newspaper if citizens of Arab descent should be forced out through territorial redistribution, he said: "I think separation between two nations is the best solution. Cyprus is the best model. Before 1974, the Greeks and Turks lived together and there were frictions and bloodshed and terror. "After 1974, they constituted all Turks on one part of the island, all Greeks on the other part of the island and there is stability and security." Told that in Cyprus thousands were forcibly driven from their homes, he replied: "Yes, but the final result was better."

The newspaper said that an aide to Lieberman later sought to expand on his remarks. "Israeli Arabs don't have to go," the unnamed aide was quoted as saying. "But if they stay they have to take an oath of allegiance to Israel as a Jewish Zionist state."

Here’s the original Telegraph interview Lieberman gave.

If I was an Israeli Arab, I would be in horror of a Lieberman and the ideas he represents. After being a citizen of Israel with its higher standard of living in wages, education, health care and general freedom, and be suddenly faced with the idea of being forced to move to any one of the Arab third world pisspots that inhabit the modern Middle East. Haifa for the Gaza City isn’t my idea of a fair trade. You can bet the farm that I would get a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach and my breathing would be coming pretty quick. Of course, I would not hesitate to take the oath of loyalty; better an Israeli than a Yemenite or Libyan or a Gazan.

But Lieberman does have a point. Why is it acceptable for whole areas to be cleared of Jews and Jewish homeowners evicted from their homes and the international community overwhelmingly supports it but it is completely unacceptable for the world’s only Jewish state to do the same? Why is Arab anti-semitism acceptable and sanctioned internationally while Jewish chauvism is not?

At the height of the infitada (circa 2003) the Israeli Knesset was forced to pass a law that while did not specifically targeted Arab Israelis did so in practise, concerning marriage and citizenship. If an Israeli of any ethnic background married a Palestinian from the Occupied Territories they could no longer sponsor their spouse for residency or even citizenship in Israel. The law was controversial and was narrowly passed into law by the Knesset. The law was the direct result of security considerations. Not all Palestinians were sponsoring terror with the sponsorship of their spouse into Israel proper but a significant number were giving material aid to suicide bombers with devastating consequences for all Israelis. In the end, the Knessset came to the conclusion that the safety and security realities of ordinary citizens overode family reunitification plans. Though I would be remissed if I did not point out that the law did not impede Israeli citizens the freedom of movement to the terroritories to live with their spouse.

But there are larger questions that should be debated not just in Israeli but in the west as well such as are all cultures or religious ethos compatible? And if one the answer is in the negative; why is it unacceptable to divide or separate the incompatible groups? Many are even now suggesting a separation along cultural/religious lines to save Iraq from a long bloody civil war.

While some cringe when Lieberman speaks he does have a way of getting results. More fun with Lieberman from Ynet News from Sunday’s cabinet meeting:

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman said during Sunday's cabinet meeting that he is concerned over Palestinian statements regarding kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit. "There should be a price tag on everything," he said, "it should be made clear that if anything happens (to Shalit), Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Sayid Siam will join the 'martyr's list'," said Lieberman. Lieberman refused to comment on the statements attributed to him as cabinet meetings are held behind closed doors and he does not see it fit to comment on classified matters.

But here’s the deal. After the alleged Lieberman cabinet comments were released, the Popular Resistance Committee (an ad-hoc coalition of terrorists made up of representatives from Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad) whose cell is currently holding kidnapped IDF Corporal Shalit issued this state in Ynet News:

A Palestinian terrorist group claiming to hold a captured Israeli soldier on Sunday said it has no plans to kill the serviceman, despite a bloody Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.