(Opinion) Avigdor Lieberman: Good Riddance

While most politicians are met with suspicion or indifference, you cannot meet Avigdor Lieberman with either the former or the latter as he has said a comment that will leave you in no doubt that he is “one of the most unpleasant politicians in the middle east”(1).  From considering that Arabs in Israel should “sign loyalty oaths” and openly suggesting that the democratically elected “leaders of the Hamas militant movement in the Palestinian territories be assassinated”, Lieberman has allowed no room for observers to question where he stands in the middle peace process(2).

His ideology is making Jerusalem Israel’s capital has been antithetical to the peace process as further seizure of Jerusalem will  remove the two-state solution as a viable option. Lieberman has no problem sharing his opinion about Jerusalem as in “in addressing a groups of foreign diplomats” Lieberman stated that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel and that it will never be divided-neither directly nor indirectly”(3). Lieberman is fully invested in this vision as he is seen as a “champion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and a settler himself”(4).

He has managed to antagonize allies as he told then Egyptian president and one of Israel’s best allies in the Middle East, Hosni Mubarak that he “should visit Israel or “go to hell”(5).  The use of language has been cited as divisive to the point that journalist Robert Fisk compared Lieberman’s language to “Mladic, Karadzic and Milosevic” as his language his rife with references “of executions-of drowning, of hell and legal oaths”(6).

So you can imagine the joy met with the news that Lieberman was resigning in lieu of a “financial scandal”(7). While Lieberman managed to escape the “more serious offences” against him, “including money laundering and bribery”, he did not escape lesser charges as prosecutors “charged Lieberman with the lesser offence of receiving official material from the investigation against him”(8).

However, unfortunately, this is likely not to be the last we will see of Lieberman because of the lesser charge and the lack of evidence of the eye catching indictments. In sum, the world would be a better place without him near a speakerphone or  even better, a diplomatic mission, anywhere.      

---

[1] R. Frisk, 2009, Why Avigdor Lieberman is the worst thing that could happen to the Middle East,  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-avigdor-lieberman-is-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen-to-the-middle-east-1647370.html

[2] CBC News, 2009, Jewish settlers’ champion could be next Israel I foreign minister, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/03/16/avigdor-coalition.html

[3] B. Ravid, 2010,  Jerusalem is our eternal  capital, it will never be divided, http://www.haaretz.com/news/lieberman-jerusalem-is-our-eternal-capital-it-will-never-be-divided-1.284574

[4] CBC News, 2009, Jewish settlers’ champion could be next Israel I foreign minister, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2009/03/16/avigdor-coalition.html

[5] R. Frisk, 2009, Why Avigdor Lieberman is the worst thing that could happen to the Middle East,  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-avigdor-lieberman-is-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen-to-the-middle-east-1647370.html

[6] Ibid

[7] BBC News, 2012, Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman charged with breach of trust,                                      

[8] Ibid