Avigdor Lieberman is back in action. The pugnacious right-wing leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party was acquitted of fraud charges earlier today, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed him back into the government.
“I congratulate you on the unanimous acquittal and am happy about your return to the Israeli government so we can continue working together for the good of the people of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
It marks a return to power for a man known for pushing “loyalty oaths” and plans to transfer Palestinian citizens of Israel into a new Palestinian state.
The Foreign Minister’s post has been vacant for the past ten months as Lieberman’s trial trudged along. But now that he’s been cleared of charges, he’s set to take over the Foreign Ministry once again. Lieberman, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim and is a former aide to Netanyahu, will be sworn in next week.
Lieberman has been under investigation for the past 17 years due to shady relationships with foreign businessman, one of whom allegedly gave him millions of dollars through a company run by his daughter. But he was only indicted on a much lesser charge stemming from when a diplomat gave the Foreign Minister secret documents pertaining to a police investigation into Lieberman. Lieberman promoted the diplomat, Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, to an adviser post. Aryeh was eventually forced to step down and spend four months doing community service.
While the Israeli judges unanimously ruled that Lieberman did not break the law, they did say that he acted improperly. The acquittal sparked charges that the Attorney General, bent on winning cases against corruption, failed miserably.
Lieberman’s return to power will do no wonders for Israel’s international image. The secular, Moldova-born figure who rose to power on the strength of Russian Israelis but has broadened his appeal to others is also the man who shows Israel’s ugly face.
He’s disdainful of the peace process that the U.S. is so desperately pushing. He has voiced support for measures that would force Palestinian citizens to declare their “loyalty” to the Jewish state–or else lose their citizenship status. And the solution to the conflict Lieberman desires is one that would draw the borders of a Palestinian state in such a way that Palestinian Israelis would be forced to live there.
But despite Lieberman’s brash persona, he has rose to the top of Israeli politics. Last year, Yisrael Beiteinu merged with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party ahead of Israeli elections, though it didn’t do them much good as the right-wing national religious party HaBayit HaYehudi stole some of their thunder.
Now that Lieberman’s back in power, the question is whether he will angle for the Prime Minister’s job in due time. Whatever the case, Israeli hasbara will have to kick into high-gear to get the world to see past Lieberman.
“He has voiced support for measures that would force Palestinian citizens to declare their “loyalty” to the Jewish state–or else lose their citizenship status”
Did the Nazis not do something similar to their Jewish fellow Germans?
I guess fraud in Zionism is all relative. The whole system is a big fraud.
And hasn’t leftie Zionism really been wiped out by these freaks like Lieberman and Danon? The post 1977 education reforms have really come through, haven’t they?
seafoid says:
November 6, 2013 at 4:41 pm
“He has voiced support for measures that would force Palestinian citizens to declare their “loyalty” to the Jewish state–or else lose their citizenship status”>>>>
Well for Palestines that are already Isr citizens that is just vengeful, belittling crap. ButI have no objection to nations requiring loyalty oaths for new citizens. I do believe that being given citizenship rights in a country does and should require some return obligation on the part of the person given the benefits of citizenship.
Most countries do require this and the US always has and still does:
http://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america
Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America
Oath
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
The language of the Oath is found in the Code of Federal Regulations Section 337.1 and is closely based upon the statutory elements in Section 337(a) of the INA.
Of course taking the oath doesn’t mean they live up to it.
Prosecution of Lieberman was quite incomprehensible, extremely prolonged and inept, suggesting a compromise between two motivations: to punish him for corruption (either because he was corrupt or because he was such a jerk) and to absolve him (because he was a political ally).
My impression is that the case reveals very low standards that Israel has for public servants whose families can get millions of dollars in payments from foreign shell companies with undisclosed owners for undisclosed reasons and this is OK if all officers of those companies refuse to offer explanations. At the very least, such irregularities should prevent Avigdor Lieberman from getting a security clearance (and allegedly, he was denied such a clearance) and again, having a Foreign Minister that cannot get security clearance is weird.
So prosecutors decided to drop all the charges because of the lack of evidence leaving more Orthodox Israeli to grumble that what makes a difference between Orthodox fraud and Russian fraud is that Russian mafia is much better at playing shell games and intimidating witnesses. As a Russian sympathizer I would reply “tough noogies, this is meritocracy for you”. If you can’t even put together a Cypriot corporation that is own by Bahamanian corporations that has owners in Cayman Islands who are incorporated in Cyprus again, how can we expect that you are capable to be a Cabinet member? Wait until your teen daughter can do it even in her sleep and then we can talk again.
On the bright side, Lieberman is fluent is several foreign languages and his accent in Russian makes him very easy to understand, and in English, almost easy.
The most lamentable part of the court verdict is that it would benefit the public if Lieberman got a suspended sentence with some stiff conditions, primarily that any attempt to sing in public would result in incarceration (as breaking conditions of parole). http://972mag.com/avigdor-liebermans-massacre-of-israeli-anthem-gets-new-youtube-renditions/63227/
Hasbara only works on children and the completely uninformed. Once an honest person starts to look into matters the whole scam that is zionism comes apart at the seams.
No amount of propaganda is going to turn that around.
So what will his role be in the ongoing, ahem, “peace process,” with SoS Kerry pushing to ramp things up? Is he not Kerry’s Israeli opposite number?