Just when Israelis thought their government couldn’t sink into even greater depths, it did. Not only is the Israeli President Moshe Katsav accused of rape and being asked to step down, police are investigating whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should be charged with cronyism related to the 2005 sale of Bank Leumi and the 2004 purchase of a Jerusalem apartment.
In any other democracy, leaders so accused would be out on their ear. But Israelis seem almost apathetic when it comes to the foibles of those in high office.
For instance, Ariel Sharon was revered even after being declared by an Israeli commission indirectly responsible for the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla and, later, found to be embroiled in an illegal fund-raising scandal during his 1999 bid for leader of the Likud Party for which his son Omri was charged.
In light of these scandals and its abject failure to prevail against Hezbollah during the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict, one might imagine the Israeli government would do all it could to clean up its act. Not so. Instead, it has voted to form a coalition with the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel, our home) party headed by former disco bouncer Avigdor Lieberman, an émigré from Moldova.
But there’s a lot more than Lieberman’s colorful career at issue. Lieberman, who is poised to accept the position of “minister in charge of threats against national survival”, is a racist who supports the forced transfer of Palestinians unable to prove absolute faithfulness to the state by passing loyalty tests.
Earlier this year, he caused controversy by calling for Arab Knesset members who had contact with Hamas, traveled to Lebanon or refused to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day to be executed. “The Second World War ended with the Nuremberg Trials and the execution of the Nazi leadership,” said Lieberman in an attempt to prove his point.
One Arab Knesset member filed a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee saying Lieberman’s call equated to racist incitement that could lead to the spilling of blood; another referred to him as a crazy fascist. Close to the truth when one recalls how Lieberman earlier courted Europe’s right-wing anti-Arab parties unconcerned that those same parties are also anti-Semitic.
According to Lieberman’s own pronouncements, he certainly isn’t adverse to blood spilling. “I would not hesitate to send the Israeli Army into all of Area A (on the West Bank) for 48 hours. Destroy the foundation of all the authority’s infrastructure... not leave one stone on another. Destroy everything,” he said in 2002. It isn’t surprising that Lieberman has rejected the road map.
It isn’t only Israeli Arabs and Palestinians who need worry about this new development. In 1998, Lieberman urged the Israeli government to bomb Egypt’s Aswan Dam in answer to Cairo’s support of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Lieberman’s new responsibilities include strategizing Israel’s response to a perceived Iranian threat, although Defense Minister Amir Peretz says Lieberman will be barred from direct access to the Israeli military. Many in Israel believe that Lieberman is himself a strategic threat.
Lieberman makes his former boss Binyamin Netanyahu look positively dove-like by comparison. Has Olmert and the others who voted in a secret ballot to embrace him into the fold suddenly been afflicted with some strange mental aberration? The answer is no.
According to a recent poll, Olmert’s approval rating hovers around seven percent while his Kadima Party needs a boost in numbers to stay in power. Hence, the welcome mat was put out for anyone with enough following to ensure Kadima’s grip on the country.
It’s nothing more than a move taken by failed politicians looking to be propped up so they can keep their jobs for a little while longer. In other words, Olmert and his Cabinet have made a shameful Faustian bargain for reasons that have little to do with the future of their country or the well-being of its citizenry. The acceptance of a bigoted warmonger into Israel’s Cabinet virtually closes the door to future talks on a Palestinian state and erodes Israel’s international stature even further.
Israel has been condemned for its liberal use of cluster munitions, white phosphorous and depleted uranium bombs in Lebanon and has fallen out with France over its continued overflights that contravene the cease-fire and also with Germany for aggressing one of that nation’s warships. In short, Israel could do with a large dose of positive PR but instead its government is going all out to thumb its nose at the international community as well as Israeli Arabs, Palestinians and peace-loving Israel Jews.
This bruised and battered region is currently at a major crossroads. The Palestinians are attempting to form a unity government that will have international credibility. The 22 member countries of the Arab League have signaled their desire for a comprehensive peace settlement.
The Americans and the Europeans have made clear their hopes that a two-state solution be pushed forward. If Israel’s answer to these calls is Avigdor Lieberman then the future looks bleak.
The Israelis have been complaining for years that they don’t have a partner for peace. It takes two hands to clap. Who today will lead the children of Israel into a promised land free of violence and wars?
A man who commands the loyalty of only seven percent of the country? A former rose grower who advocated peace before showing his true colors as a brutal minister of defense? Or a callous xenophobe despised at home and abroad? It’s a question only Israelis can answer. Let’s pray they do so soon before this rare window of opportunity irrevocably snaps shut.
