Israel’s Netanyahu names hard-liner to top defense post
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named one of Israel’s most polarizing politicians 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.
The addition of Avigdor Lieberman to the Cabinet comes at a sensitive time. After a two-year breakdown in talks, France is preparing to host a conference next month aimed at restarting negotiations. At the same time, the U.S.-led quartet of international peace mediators is set to release a report expected to be critical of Israel.
While both Netanyahu and Lieberman pledged to pursue peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors, their tough positions on key issues, strained relationship with much of the international community and the makeup of the rest of the Cabinet would seem to make significant progress a long shot.
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 said.
One of Israel’s most divisive leaders, Lieberman, 57, is known for a sharp tongue that has offended allies and opponents at home and abroad.
He entered politics in the 1990s as an aide to Netanyahu before breaking away and founding Yisrael Beitenu, an ultranationalist party that relies on immigrants from the former Soviet Union as its base of support.
Over the years, he has been both a key ally and strong rival of Netanyahu’s, holding a series of high-level Cabinet posts, including serving twice as Netanyahu’s foreign minister. With the addition of Yisrael Beitenu’s five seats, Netanyahu now holds a comfortable 66 to 54 majority in parliament.
But Netanyahu’s Cabinet is now dominated by religious and nationalist hard-liners who oppose Palestinian independence — a key goal of the international community and the U.S.-led peace process. Lieberman himself is a West Bank settler.
An outspoken skeptic of peace efforts with the Palestinians, 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.
Netanyahu distanced himself from the speech, saying it did not reflect Israeli policy.