In a move the credulous call shocking, Netanyahu has proposed psychopath Avigdor Lieberman as Israeli defense minister. Exactly what about Netanyahu speaks to political temperance? How can his choice of Lieberman come as a surprise to anyone?
Lieberman was a nightclub bouncer in the former USSR who moved to Israel in 1978 at the age of 20. He now lives in Nokdim, an illegal settlement built on Palestinian land in the West Bank near Bethlehem. He has had a long career as a high-level Israeli politician despite investigations for accepting bribes, corruption, & fishy business dealings. He also has psychopathic anger management problems & assaulted a 12-year-old kid in Nokdim who allegedly hit his son.
He has been considered a polarizing figure in Israeli politics because of his mad-dog rabidity but that is changing as Israeli society moves farther to the right. He actually boasts of his notoriety for rightwing derangement & said, “I’ve always been controversial because I offer new ideas. For me to be controversial, I think this is positive.”
Some of Lieberman’s new ideas include: bombing the Aswan Dam because Egypt once supported Yasser Arafat; executing Palestinian members of the Knesset as “terror collaborators”; drowning Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea “since that’s the lowest point in the world”; the execution of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails; a nuclear strike on Gaza; opposing any peace agreement with Palestinians “that will allow the return of even one Palestinian refugee to Israel”; overthrowing the Palestinian Authority; the mass transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel into the Palestinian territories; last year, he proposed beheading Palestinian citizens of Israel who oppose the Jewish-only state.
Lieberman has no military experience that would qualify him as defense minister but when it comes to colonialism & ethnic cleansing, brute force serves where military tactics & strategy do not suffice. And brute force is what Lieberman excels at–not unlike Henry Kissinger, his counterpart in the US.
Now an apparent conundrum remains: last December, Obama condemned Palestinians for “terrorist attacks against Israelis.” In an aside, he urged the Israeli government to bring to justice anyone who commits acts of violence against Palestinians. Violence against Palestinians is Israeli state policy & by appointing Lieberman as defense minister they are making that crystal clear.
So how does Obama find himself not just in league with but bankrolling Saudi Arabia that beheaded 47 political dissidents last January & with Israel whose state policy is genocide & colonialism? Where did Mr. Hope & Changey go wrong!?
Honor & build the economic, cultural, & academic boycott of Israel. Demand no aid of any kind to Israel.
(Photo is Avigdor & Netanyahu in 2012 from Reuters)
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