Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu have wasted no time to begin begging Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu to join a possible Israeli government under their control. Yisrael Beiteinu finished third in yesterday's election (see this great election results tool on Ha'aretz's website). Given Israel's governing structure, Livni and Netanyahu will now try to build a coalition of parties that would give them control of at least 61 seats in the Knesset – Kadima currently represents 28 seats, Likud 27 seats. Although, Livni won a narrow majority in the vote, it will be Lieberman who will most likely decide the next Prime Minister based on the party he chooses to align his party with.
Lieberman has yet to announce his demands for joining a governing coalition, but there are clear signs of what his success will mean. Danny Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006 and a Yisrael Beiteinu candidate in yesterday's election, explains in this morning's Los Angeles Times:
Lieberman's blunt campaign slogan, "No citizenship without loyalty,"
connected with voters. He responded to the serious problem of Israeli
Arab support of terrorism, which reached new heights during Operation
Cast Lead. For example, at an anti-Israel rally, the Arab mayor of the
Israeli town of Sakhnin incited the crowd with thinly veiled calls for
suicide bombings: "I call from here to the people in Gaza and say …
block them with your blood in order to build the state of Palestine,
whose capital is Jerusalem. … Long live Palestine, whose capital is
Jerusalem, and long live the shahids [martyrs]." This from a man who receives his salary from the Israeli government.The Israeli intelligentsia insists that a healthy democracy must
tolerate the expression of dissenting opinions. Many Israelis, however,
realize that any society with a healthy instinct for self-preservation
needs to place limits on such expression, and that supporting the enemy
in wartime falls decisively on the wrong side of the line. Lieberman
was the only candidate who articulated this without apology.
Ironically, what makes him persona non grata among the bien-pensant is precisely the source of his appeal to the broader public.
Rather than run away from the racist anti-democratic policies that Lieberman rode to victory, Ayalon claims this could be the new way to peace. He continues, "In electing a strong right-wing bloc, Israelis were not rejecting
peace. They were, however, repudiating failed policies predicated on
ceding territory to unrepentant terrorists. . . As the Obama administration forms its Middle East
policies, it must recognize that the Israeli electorate has spoken from
the wisdom of bitter experience. Dusting off failed policies will not
end the fighting."
I agree with Ayalon. The Obama administration can't just repeat the failed policies of supporting Israel no matter what it does. The election of a far right wing government with an openly fascist party shows that Israel is not a partner for peace. The US needs to change its policy accordingly. (Adam Horowitz)
