Israel Has Its Cheney: Avigdor Lieberman: Foreign Minister Holding The Keys To The New Government!
“The Appointment Of Lieberman As Foreign Minister Borders On The Insane. “
“Some people believe that Lieberman is really not a new phenomenon at all and that he simply brings to the surface traits that were there all the time but were buried beneath a thick layer of sanctimonious hypocrisy.”
His Basic Philosophy Is Oblique And Simple:
“Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum --- If You Want Peace, Prepare For War,”
He is, among other things (see graphic): The ultra-nationalist politician Ex-bouncer chair of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party and virulently anti-Arab.
Just look at the positions he has taken and the statements he has made:
“There is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights. Peace will only be in exchange for peace"
"Whoever thinks that concessions ...... will achieve something is wrong. He will bring pressures and more wars," Avigdor Lieberman told an audience that included visibly agitated Israeli diplomats. "What we have to explain to the world is...”
Apr 3, 2009 Sky News
"We need a wide government with the three big parties, Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beiteinu," Lieberman said. "Netanyahu will lead the government but it will be a government of Netanyahu and Livni together."
Feb 19, 2009 FOXNews
"There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference," Lieberman said. "Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis."
Apr 1, 2009 AFP
"There is only one document that binds us and that is not Annapolis, it has no validity," Lieberman said in a brief speech as he took over the ministry from the centrist Tzipi Livni.
Apr 1, 2009 Reuters
"We will never agree to ...... go straight to the final cause, which is negotiations for a final agreement. No. These concessions bring nothing," Lieberman said.
"We want a right-wing government," Lieberman told party activists, but added that "we do not rule out anyone."
Feb 11, 2009 Independent
"Either Hamas is going to be dismantled, or the government is going to be dismantled," Lieberman said in a statement. "This is not an ultimatum, but these are the options."
May 20, 2007 FOXNews
"There is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights," he said. "Peace will only be in exchange for peace."
Apr 2, 2009 Ha'aretz
"There is one document that obligates us -- and that's not the Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Lieberman said in a speech, referring to a 2007 gathering in Annapolis, Maryland. "The Israeli government never ratified Annapolis, nor...
Apr 1, 2009 Reuters
"If we pull back to the 1967 borders, everyone should ask himself, what will happen the following day," Lieberman said. "Will the conflict stop, will the terror stop? “
“Nothing will change."
A Jewish Hitler?- by Justin Raimondo
Oct 27, 2006 ... With the entry of Avigdor Lieberman into the government as deputy ... of preparing for war with Iran – Israel makes a qualitative step ..
[PDF] One on One with Avigdor Lieberman: 'Without Iran, there is no ..
Sky News - Avigdor Lieberman And Iran In Depth
SPIEGEL Interview With Avigdor Lieberman: "Israel May Have To Act ...
Israel’s nuclear hawk Avigdor Lieberman in poll surge - Times Online
Feb 1, 2009 ... Avigdor Lieberman, 50, is advancing so rapidly in the polls that his ...Lieberman is said to have urged that Tehran be levelled if Iran ..
New Israeli FM criticizes peace efforts
"Negotiations on the basis of land for peace is a fatal mistake," Avigdor Lieberman, head of the faction, told a news conference.
Re: Article Below…. I fear Mr. Jacoby may be trying to find promise where there is no promise and like some other “commentators” that he does not take Liberman’s words seriously passing much off them off as bombast and bluster. Lieberman has proven time again that he is as serious as a heart attack or a Dick Cheney. He has no aversion to bringing down a government that is not bowing to his will. He has done it before and he is in a position to do it again, a position where he is racing to consolidate his power as surely as Russian Conspirators of old. There is no cause for optimism.
Finally, harsh realism from Israel
Boston Globe - 41 minutes ago | By Jeff Jacoby
IF Avigdor Lieberman's first speech as Israel's new foreign minister did nothing else, it certainly vexed the media. ...
The Associated Press called it a "scathing critique of Mideast peace efforts" that had diplomats "cringing," while other reports said Lieberman had "dropped a political bombshell," "sparked an uproar," "repudiated a key accord," and "reinforced fears." The New York Times pronounced Lieberman's remarks "blunt and belligerent," describing the foreign minister as a "hawkish nationalist" who is "not known for diplomacy" and heads an "ultranationalist" party that is "seen by many as racist." Headlines summed up Lieberman's debut as an attack on peacemaking: "Lieberman dashes peace hopes," "Israeli official hits peace efforts," "Lieberman dumps peace deal."
But the headlines were wrong, as anyone can ascertain by reading Lieberman's short address. Far from disparaging peace, Israel's new foreign minister called for pursuing it with the respect and realism it deserves. And far from "dumping" agreements entered into by his predecessors, he explicitly committed himself to upholding the Roadmap - a step-by-step blueprint to a "two-state solution" adopted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the international Quartet in 2003.
"I voted against the Roadmap," Lieberman acknowledged, but it was "approved by the Cabinet and by the Security Council" and is therefore "a binding resolution." However, he insisted, it must be implemented "in full." The Roadmap imposes specific obligations that the Palestinians must meet prior to achieving statehood - above all, an unequivocal end to violence, terrorism, and incitement against the Jewish state - and Israel will not agree to waive them in order to negotiate a final settlement.
If Lieberman is as good as his word - and if he is backed up by Benjamin Netanyahu, the new prime minister - we may finally see an end to Israel's fruitless attempts to buy peace with ever-more-desperate concessions and retreats. Under Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, Israel surrendered the entire Gaza Strip, released hundreds of arrested terrorists, and even offered to divide Jerusalem with the Palestinian Authority. "But none of these far-reaching measures have brought peace," said Lieberman. "To the contrary." The steeper the price Israel has been willing to pay for peace; the more it has been repaid with violence: suicide bombings, rocket attacks, kidnapped and murdered soldiers, and wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It is time, Lieberman is saying, for Israel to stop genuflecting to a feckless and counterproductive "peace process" and to return instead to the pre-Oslo policy of deterrence. "The fact that we say the word 'peace' 20 times a day will not bring peace any closer," he noted. It only makes Israel seem weak and irresolute, encouraging its enemies not to halt their murderous jihad, but to redouble it. Sixteen years of appeasement have left Israel more demonized and isolated than ever, the foreign minister observed. And when was Israel most admired in the world? "After the victory of the Six Day War," when no one doubted the Jewish state's audacity or resolve.
"If You Want Peace, Prepare For War," Lieberman Declared.
That idea may offend the smart set and leave diplomats "cringing," but Israel's new foreign minister is hardly the first to express it. "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace," affirmed President George Washington in his first address to Congress in 1790.
Perhaps the world would more clearly understand the nature of Israel's enemy if the media weren't forever fanning moral outrage at the Mideast's only bulwark of freedom and democracy.
In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority has warned Arabs that it is "high treason" punishable by death to sell homes or property to Jews in Jerusalem; shut a Palestinian youth orchestra and arrested its founder because the ensemble played for a group of elderly Holocaust survivors; and celebrated the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel's history with a TV special extolling the massacre. On Thursday, after a Palestinian terrorist used an axe to murder a 13-year-old Jewish boy, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - a wing of the "moderate" Fatah party - issued a statement claiming responsibility.
There is no appeasing such hatred, and demonizing those who say so will not change that fact. "If you want peace, prepare for war." How refreshing to hear an Israeli foreign minister say so.
Jeff Jacoby can be reached at jacoby@globe.com. 
It would appear that the media is already adopting a position of blind support for this manipulative, back stabbing power hungry control freak. Liberman is not a man of peace and accomodation. (Ed.)
A Second View Of The Same Events!
The day started with a celebration at the President’s office. All the members of this bloated government – 30 ministers and 8 deputy ministers – were dressed up in their best finery and posed for a group photo. Binyamin Netanyahu read an uninspired speech, which included the worn-out clichés that are necessary to set the world at ease: the government is committed to peace, it will negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, bla-bla-bla.
Avigdor Lieberman hurried from there to the foreign Office, for the ceremonial change of ministers. He, too, made a speech – but it was not a routine speech at all.
“Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – If You Want Peace, Prepare For War,” declared the new Foreign Minister. When a diplomat quotes this ancient Roman saying, the world pays no attention to the first part, but only to the second. Coming from the mouth of the already infamous Lieberman, it was a clear threat: the new government is entering upon a path of war, not of peace.
With this sentence, Lieberman negated Netanyahu’s speech and made headlines around the world. He confirmed the worst apprehensions connected with the creation of this government.
Not content with quoting the Romans, he explained specifically why he used this motto. Concessions, he said, do not bring peace, but quite the reverse. The world respected and admired Israel when it won the Six-day war.
Two fallacies in one sentence. Returning occupied territory is not a “concession”. When a thief is compelled to return stolen property, or when a squatter vacates an apartment that does not belong to him, that is not a “concession”. And the admiration for Israel in 1967 came from a world that saw us as a little, valiant country that had stood up to mighty armies out to destroy us. But today’s Israel looks like a brutal Goliath, while the occupied Palestinians are now viewed as a David with his slingshot, fighting for his life.
With this speech, Lieberman succeeded in stirring the world, but even more in humiliating Netanyahu. He exposed the peace declarations of the new Prime Minister as nothing but soap bubbles.
However, the world wants to be deceived. A White House spokesman announced that as far as the American administration is concerned, it is Netanyahu’s bla-bla-bla that counts, not Lieberman’s straight talking. And Hillary Clinton was not ashamed to call Lieberman and congratulate him on assuming office.
That was the first test of strength inside the Netanyahu-Lieberman-Barak triangle. Lieberman has demonstrated his contempt for both Netanyahu and Barak.
His political base is secure, because he is the only person who can topple the government at any moment. After the Knesset debate on the new government, only 69 members voted for it. If one adds the five Labor members who “were present but did not participate in the vote” (a voting device that is less negative than abstaining), the government has 74 votes. Meaning: without Lieberman’s 15 members, the government does not command a majority.
His speech was intended to underline this political reality. He as much as told Netanyahu: If you intend to shut me up, forget it.
In fact, he held a pistol to Netanyahu’s head – in this case, it could be a German (Nazi..Ed.) Luger Parabellum, a pistol whose name derives from the Roman saying.
The full extent of Lieberman’s Chutzpah came to the fore only an hour later. From the Foreign Office ceremony he hurried to another ritual ministerial handover, this time at the Ministry for Internal Security (formerly called the Ministry of Police).
What business did he have there? None.
It is highly unusual for a minister to attend such a ceremony in another ministry. True, the new Internal Security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch, belongs to Lieberman’s party, but that is not relevant. After all, he did not attend the similar ceremony at the Immigration Absorption ministry, where another member of his party was installed.
The riddle was solved the next day, when the freshly installed Foreign Minister spent seven hours in a police interrogation room, answering questions about suspected bribery, money laundering and such, in connection with huge sums that were transferred from abroad to a company that belongs to his 23 year old daughter.
That explains his presence at the police ministry ceremony. He was photographed standing next to the chiefs of the criminal investigation department. It would be hard to see his appearance there as anything other than a crude and shameless threat against those who were to interrogate him on the morrow.
His presence at the ceremony declared: I am the man who appointed the minister who is now in charge of each of your careers, for promotion or termination. And the same message went out to the judges: I have appointed the new Justice Minister, and I shall decide upon the promotion of all of you.
It all reminds me of a diplomatic reception at the Egyptian embassy exactly 10 years ago. There I met most of the members of the new government which had just been formed by Ehud Barak. All of them were depressed.
Barak had done something that bordered on sadism: he had appointed every minister to the post most unsuitable for them.
The gentle and polite Professor Shlomo Ben-Ami was appointed Minister of Internal Security (where he failed miserably during the October 2000 disturbances, when he failed to prevent his police from killing a dozen Arab citizens.)
Yossi Beilin, a diplomat with a very fertile mind, a natural candidate for the Foreign Office, was appointed Justice Minister. And so on. In private conversations, all of them vented their bitterness against Barak.
Now Netanyahu has trumped Barak.
The appointment of Lieberman as Foreign Minister borders on the insane.
The appointment of Yuval Steinitz, a professor of philosophy and a personal friend of Netanyahu’s wife, Sarah, a man devoid of any economic experience whatsoever, as Minister of the Treasury, at the height of the world financial crises, crosses the border of the absurd.
The appointment of the No. 2 Likud leader, Silvan Shalom, to two junior ministries has made him into a deadly enemy.
The creation of a long list of new and hollow ministries, just to provide jobs to his cronies, has turned the government into a popular joke (“a Minister for Incoming Mail and a Minister for Outgoing Mail”).
But a government is no joke. And Lieberman is no joke. Far from it.
Already on his first day he made clear that he – he and not Netanyahu or Barak – will set the style of the new government, both because of his strong political position and his massive personal presence and provocative character.
He will maintain this government as long as it suits him and overthrow it the moment he feels that new elections will give him supreme power.
His rude and violent style is both natural and calculated. It is intended to threaten, to appeal to the most primitive types in society, to draw public attention and to assure media coverage. All these are reminiscent of other countries and other regimes. The first one to congratulate him was - not by chance – the ex-fascist Foreign Minister of Italy.
This week, earlier statements by Lieberman were quoted again and again.
He once proposed bombing the huge Aswan dam, an act that would have caused a terrible Tsunami-like deluge and killed many millions of Egyptians.
Another time he proposed delivering an ultimatum to the Palestinians: At 8 am we shall bomb your commercial centers, at noon your gas stations, at 2 pm your banks, and so on.
He has proposed drowning thousands of Palestinian prisoners, offering to provide the necessary buses to take them to the coast.
Another time he proposed deporting 90% of the 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel.
Recently he told the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, one of the staunchest allies of the Israeli leadership, to “go to hell”.
In the recent election campaign his official program included the demand to annul the citizenship of any Arab who did not prove his loyalty to Israel.
That was also his main slogan. This, too, is reminiscent of the programs of certain parties in history.
This is coupled with an open hostility to the Israeli “elites” and everything connected with the founders of the State of Israel.
Some people believe that Lieberman is really not a new phenomenon at all and that he simply brings to the surface traits that were there all the time but were buried beneath a thick layer of sanctimonious hypocrisy.
What is his solution to the historic Israeli-Arab conflict? In the past, he spoke about a regime of cantons for the Palestinians. They will live in several enclaves in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which will be disconnected from each other and dominated by Israel.
No Palestinian State, of course, no Arab East Jerusalem. He even proposed adding to these cantons some areas of Israel inhabited by a dense Palestinian population, whose Israeli citizenship would be revoked.
This is not so far from the ideas of Sharon, nor from those of Netanyahu, who declares that the Palestinians will “govern themselves” – of course without a state, without a currency, without control of the border crossings, without harbors and airports.
At the Foreign Office ceremony, Lieberman declared that the Annapolis agreement, which was dictated by President Bush, is invalid, and that only the “Road Map” counts. The Foreign Ministry spokesmen hurried to explain that the “Road Map” also speaks about “two states”. They forgot to remind the world that the Israeli government had “accepted” the Road Map only with 14 provisos that rob it of any content. For example: that Palestinians must “destroy the terrorist infrastructure” (What is that? Who decides?) before Israel shall make any move, including the freeze of the settlements.
(That may remind one of the rich Jew in the Shtetl, who dictated his Last Will and Testament, dividing his wealth between his relatives and friends and adding: “In case of my death, this Will shall be null and void.”)
As far as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is concerned, the controversy between Olmert and Livni on the one side and Netanyahu and Lieberman on the other is about tactics rather than strategy.
The strategy of all of them is to prevent the creation of a normal, free and viable Palestinian state.
Tzipi Livni was for a tactic of endless negotiations, decorated with pronouncement about peace and “two nation-states”.
Not for nothing did Netanyahu mock her: You had several years to achieve agreement with the Palestinians. So why didn’t you?
This debate is not about peace, but about a “peace process”.
But in the meantime Tzipi Livni settles into her new job as the Leader of the Opposition. Her first speeches were vigorous and hard-hitting. We shall soon know if she can fill this job with content. If having to speak about peace will convince her of its value and turn her into a real alternative to the government of Lieberman and Liebermania….
Or The Target Of An Unfortunate Accident Or Outright Assassination. (Ed.)
No comments:
Post a Comment