Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a bid for political survival, struck an alliance on Monday with a politician who has called for stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Hamas and bombing Palestinian population centers.
Taking the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu party into the government would shore up Olmert's coalition, weakened badly by the Lebanon war, but probably puts an end to Olmert's pledge to pull out of much of the West Bank.
Yisrael Beiteinu's leader, Avigdor Lieberman, announced the deal on Monday after meeting Olmert.
"We are joining the government," Lieberman said.
Olmert said Lieberman would be responsible for "strategic threats," such as Iran's nuclear ambitions. His appointment must still be approved by the parliament, a step seen as a formality.
The bearded, bearish Lieberman, 48, entered the political stage a decade ago as a top aide to then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He quickly gained a reputation as a powerful behind-the-scenes mover widely detested for his strong-arm tactics.
He has grown into a potent political force on his own since then, in large part because of his popularity with Israel's sizable community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Lieberman, a former bar bouncer, immigrated to Israel from the Soviet republic of Moldova in 1978 and still speaks with a Russian accent.
Lieberman's comments about Arabs have made him one of Israel's most divisive figures.
At the height of fighting against Palestinians in 2002, Lieberman, then a Cabinet minister, called for the bombing of Palestinian gas stations, banks and commercial centers.
More recently, he advocated trading Israeli Arab towns for West Bank settlements -- in effect stripping Israeli Arabs of citizenship. He has also called for the execution of Israeli Arab lawmakers who met with leaders of the Islamic Hamas.
But with his coalition weakened by infighting and harsh criticism of the Lebanon war, Olmert had little choice but to look past Lieberman's liabilities.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Lieberman questioned the wisdom of past peace deals where Israel ceded captured land to Arab adversaries.
"Maybe we should ask if we should go in a different direction," Lieberman said.
Dovish Israelis were enraged. Yossi Beilin, leader of the Meretz Party, accused Olmert of "defrauding voters" by striking a deal with Lieberman. Olmert was elected this year on a platform of a unilateral withdrawal from much of the West Bank, but he shelved the plan in the aftermath of the Lebanon war.
With Yisrael Beiteinu and its 11 seats in the coalition, Olmert now controls 78 of 120 seats in parliament.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese