Avigdor Lieberman: A Profile of Israels’ Next Foreign Minister

Before February 2009

Avigdor Lieberman is a “hot” topic in the political world at the moment.

With the latest Israeli election in February, his party Israel Beiteinu came in third, making him into the “kingmaker” able to decide the next Prime Minister of Israel - Livni or Netanyahu. He chose Netanyahu.

The irony though is that Lieberman does not dream of being the power behind the throne, he wants the throne itself.

He was born in Kishinev, Soviet Union (now Moldova) in 1958, and given the name Evet Lvovich Lieberman. He went on to study at the local agricultural institute and worked as a nightclub bouncer and a broadcaster in Baku (the capital city of Azerbaijan) before moving with his parents to Israel in 1978.

Once there, he served as an army corporal and took a social science degree at the Hebrew University. It was and while studying in Jerusalem that he began his career in politics.

Between 1983-88 he helped found the Zionist Forum for Soviet Jewry, and was also a member of the Board of the Jerusalem Economic Corporation and the Secretary of the Jerusalem branch of the Histadrut Ovdim Le’umit (“national workers union”).

From 1993 to 1997 Lieberman served as Director General, first for the Likud party and then for the Prime Minister’s office, under Benjamin Netanyahu. In 1999 he started the Israel Beiteinu party, and was the same year elected to the Knesset.

He has through the years held positions such as Minister of National Infrastructure, Minister of Transportation, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs, the last one, held in 2006, focused on “the strategic threat from Iran”.

The Peace Process

According to Lieberman, the Peace Process(es) are based on three false assumptions;

- that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the main cause of instability in the Middle East,
Lieberman-“actually the tension s within the Muslim world are 95 to 98 percent of all the problems of the Middle East. The Iran-Iraq war, and the civil wars in Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia and Algeria account for 98 percent of all casualties in the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict accounts for two percent.”

- that the conflict is territorial and not ideological,
Lieberman- “It’s really about our values and vision, and is part of a worldwide collision between the West or the free world, and the radical Islamic world. Israel represents the free world, and the Palestinian Authority and Hamas represents the Islamic radical world.”

- and that the establishment of a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders will end the conflict.
Lieberman- “the best solution is separation, like in the Balkans. The best model is Cyprus: before 1974, Greeks and Turks lived together and there was friction and terror. Since the separation into Greek and Turkish territories we haven’t seen a peace agreement, but there is security. The same we must see in our region.”

Policy of Race

Most controversially, Lieberman’s platform contains two ideas that single out Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel for special discriminatory laws.

 The first would establish a “loyalty oath”, requiring them to swear allegiance to Israel as a Jewish State. A refusal to do so could lead to a revocation of one’s citizenship or certain rights of citizens within Israel.

 The second takes into account the need of establishing a Palestinian entity of some kind, if only to re-designate those parts of Israel in which Arabs form a majority into this new entity.

This novel form of ethnic cleansing preserves Israel’s Jewish majority, but also strip it of the pretense of being a democracy that assures equal rights to all its citizens.

A Policy of Division

In February 2007 Lieberman said about Arab Israelis, “they want to enjoy all the advantages of the modern Israel, but on the other hand they want to destroy us from the inside.”

In 2009 he said that, “Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without. And terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without.”

This man went on record in the Knesset in November 2006 to demand that Arab parliamentarians should be hung as collaborators, because of their opposition to the government policies. “World War II ended with the Nuremberg trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators”.

Lieberman’s Rhetoric

In March 2002, after several Palestinian attacks on Israelis, Lieberman was quoted saying: “I would not hesitate to send the Israeli army into all of Area A (the area of the West Bank apparent under Palestinian Authority control) for 48 hours. Destroy the foundations of all the authority’s military infrastructure and all of the police buildings, the arsenals, all the posts of the security forces… not leave one stone on another. Destroy everything.” He also suggested to the Israeli cabinet that the air force systematically bomb all the commercial centers, gas stations and the banks in the occupied territories.

In July 2003 Ariel Sharon made a commitment to the US that 350 Palestinian prisoners in Israel should be given amnesty. Lieberman, being the Minister of Transportation at the time, reacted by refusing to participate in the related committee and said, “It would be better to drown these prisoners in the Dead Sea if possible, since that’s the lowest point in the world," and added that he willingly would transport them there himself.

In January 2009, during the Israel’s massacre in Gaza, Lieberman said that Israel “must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II” – an apparent reference to nuclear holocaust. In the same month, when talking about the recent Gaza massacre, Lieberman said, “the soldiers succeeded, but the politicians failed. They didn’t let the army complete the operation.”

The main thread

Lieberman has many times been accused of being a fascist, a racist and an ideologue. The Israeli media and politicians are split in the question. Some have described Lieberman as tainted “by racist declarations that harm the democratic character of Israel.” Many have openly stated their fears of Lieberman’s bad PR being reflected on Israel abroad. An unnamed member of Israel’s Meretz party said of Lieberman in February 2009:

“If you liked Mussolini, if you were missing Stalin, you’ll love Lieberman.”

Statements like this have scared both Lieberman and the incoming Prime Minister Netanyahu, prompting a well-planned and coordinated ‘charm offensive’ by Lieberman abroad. He is trying to paint himself as a pragmatist who has been wronged by the media, that all of those bellicose declarations were mere words - never to be made into reality.

He has already toned down his plans for a ‘loyalty oath’, and gone even further by announcing his willingness to leave his home in the illegal West Bank settlement of Nokdim should a Palestinian state be created.

A man who led a party under an anti-negotiations platform, only took days to pull a complete 180 degree turn upon his constituency. This suggests that Lieberman is more of an opportunist than an ideologue - willing to incite fear and anger for political gain, only to try and douse the flames once in office.

Time will tell which of Lieberman’s tendencies will prove more destructive…