Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named one of Israel’s most polarizing politicians Avigdor Lieberman as defense minister on Wednesday, solidifying his parliamentary majority at the risk of antagonizing the international community and his own military — and clouding already slim hopes for a resumption of peace efforts.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner expressed concerns with Israel’s right-wing tilt.
“This raises legitimate questions about the direction it may be heading in and what kind of policies it may adopt,” Toner told reporters.
Avigdor Lieberman delivered a speech at the United Nations in 2010 that cast doubt on the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Instead, he talked of a decades-long intermediate period and proposed shifting regional borders to rid Israel of its Arab citizens and incorporate West Bank settlements into Israel.
Just a few weeks ago, he suggested that a top Hamas leader in Gaza be killed if the Islamic militant group doesn’t return the remains of two Israeli soldiers it is holding. And during a 2014 war against Gaza militants, Lieberman favored much harsher military action.
Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, a moderate who last week had been in talks to join the government, said Netanyahu has become a “hostage” to the hard-line Israeli right wing. He called Wednesday’s appointment “a day of sorrow.”
“Lieberman is a fascist similar to the fascists from the ’30s of the last century,” said Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Arab bloc in parliament. “He is inciting against the Arab citizens.”
While Lieberman has been a member of the sensitive inner Security Cabinet, he has limited military experience. The parliament’s website says he only reached the low rank of corporal, and he reportedly had only a brief career working in an army warehouse.
Lieberman replaces Moshe Yaalon, a decorated former military chief of staff who had warm relations with the army command.
In March, for example, he backed military leaders who had criticized a soldier who was caught on video fatally shooting an already-wounded Palestinian attacker in the head. The soldier is now on trial for manslaughter.Lieberman went to the court to offer his support for the soldier.
