Israel’s McCarthy?

By Gabriel Weinstein When Avigdor Lieberman arrived in Israel from Moldova and began working as an airport porter he probably never imagined he would become Minister of Foreign Affairs and one of the world’s most reviled political figures. Since taking the post, Lieberman has staunchly advocated for a Loyalty Oath, which would require non-Jewish Israelis to declare their loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state on penalty of having their citizenship revoked, told the U.N. that Palestinian peace talks could take decades and insisted that Israel will not accept “any additional freeze – not for three months, not for a month, and not for a day.” Lieberman is part of a greater international trend, particularly in Europe, of far right politicians vaulting into the political limelight on ultra nationalist, anti-Muslim rhetorical platforms.  In an American...

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Israeli Elections Today–Who Would You Vote For?

By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Israel votes for a new leader today. A super duper quick review: Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and his Likud party still lead in the most recent polls, but Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Kadima can catch him. Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Labor), who was running third for most of the race, has fallen into fourth behind nationalist Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beitenu (whom we wrote about last week). Because Netanyahu's strongest campaign point has been a call for aggressive national defense, the emergence of the hawkish Lieberman threatens to take just enough votes to give the election to Livni. ITM readers, we at Moment are curious: Who would you vote for in today's election?

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Avigdor Lieberman: Israel's Le Pen

By Jeremy Gillick Two years ago, Ha'aretz correspondent Lily Galili profiled the right wing Israeli politician and founder of the Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel is our Home") Party, Avigdor Lieberman, for Moment. Having served as Transportation Minister under Ariel Sharon, and having subsequently been fired in 2004 for opposing the withdrawal from Gaza, Lieberman "re-emerged," Galili wrote in early 2007, "as a strange hybrid of an Israeli version of Jean-Marie Le Pen (the infamous French extreme right-winger) and respectable statesman." Indeed, it was recently revealed that Lieberman was at one point a member of Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach Party, which was banned from Israeli elections in the late 1980s for inciting racism against Arabs. Now, with Israeli elections just days away, Lieberman and his nationalist party are poised to make huge gains. Polls indicate that Yisrael Beitenu could win...

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