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Avigdor Lieberman: A Profile in Ultranationalist Extremism - by Stephen Lendman
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Lieberman represents the worst of Israel's lunatic fringe, sort of a combination Dick Cheney/John McCain/Joe Lieberman, too extremist to be entrusted with power, but he's got it.
On March 18, 2008 in the London Independent, Robert Fisk headlined, "Why Avigdor Lieberman is the worst thing that could happen to the Middle East," saying:
"....Israelis have exalted a man....who out-Sharons even Ariel Sharon. A few Palestinians (said) the West will see the 'true face' of Israel. (He's) talked of drowning Palestinians in the Dead Sea or executing Israeli Palestinians who talked to Hamas. (His) incendiary language (promotes) executions....drownings....hell and loyalty oaths," perfect for the role he's assumed, allied with Israel's most extremist ever Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also out-Sharons Sharon, no easy feat by any means.
On September 20, Haaretz writer Akiva Eldar headlined, "Freeze Lieberman," referring to his opposition to a settlement freeze, telling Israeli Radio that his party (Yisrael Beiteinu) has enough power to stop it and much more, including obstructing meaningful peace talks.
Eldar's conclusion - "There is no excuse for Netanyahu to keep the man and his party" as part of his coalition government. He's an embarrassment, but for that matter, so is Netanyahu and Israel's most extremist ever Knesset, a topic earlier writing addressed.
On August 2, 2009, Haaretz writer Gideon Levy headlined, "Kahane won," referring to extremist Rabbi Meir Kanane and his racist Kach Party, banned by Israel in 1988 under a law passed to disqualify him and his zealots. Later in 1994, after the Cave of the Patriachs massacre (committed by Kach member Baruch Goldstein), it was the first Jewish organization in more than 40 years to be called a "threat to security" and outlawed.
Levy said he "can rest in peace." He's been resurrected. "His doctrine has won....Kahanism has become legitimate in public discourse....racism and nationalism (have been transformed) into accepted values."
If Kahane ran for office today, "not only would (he and others in his party) not be banned, (they'd) win many votes....the ostracized is now accepted, the detestable has become the talented - that's the slippery slope down which Israeli society has skidded over the past two decades."
In his youth, Lieberman was a Kach party member. He "was and is a Kahanist. The differences between Kach and Yisrael Beiteinu are miniscule, not fundamental and certainly not a matter of morality."
For example, Lieberman demands Israeli Arabs declare loyalty to a "Jewish, Zionist, and democratic state," its emblems and values, and to perform military or equivalent service as a condition for a national identity card signifying citizenship. Kahana wanted unconditional annulment. Lieberman wants them transfered to a "Palestinian state." Kahane wanted them deported.
Israel under Netanyahu/Lieberman institutionalized racism in its worst form - potential expulsion or extermination, a "nightmare (that's) here and now. Kahane is alive and kicking - is he ever - in the person of his thuggish successor."
His extremism promotes "hatred for Arabs, hatred of democracy and the rule of law, and the stink of nationalism, racism and bloodthirstiness. (He's) the voice of the mob, and the mob craves hatred, vengeance and bloodshed." He's a malignancy on the body politic, a "cancerous growth (throughout) society, (a dangerous, embarrassing) abomination," one step removed from being Prime Minister.
Who Is Avigdor Lieberman?
Hebrew University Professor Yitzhak Brudny said his "model is not very democratic. He doesn't like balancing government with checks and balances. He wants a kind of imperial presiden(cy), an executive authority. This is why he is dangerous."
Hebrew University Professor Zeev Sternhell calls him "perhaps the most dangerous politician in the history of the state of Israel."
