On May 25, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu brought the ultra-rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is our Home) Party (YBP) into the governing coalition by appointing YBP founder and leader Avigdor Lieberman, Minister of Defense. With the YBP added to Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition, the number of seats for the fragile coalition increased from 61 to 66, out of 120 total seats in the parliament.
With the addition of Lieberman, an ultra-nationalist, xenophobic hard-liner and warmonger to the position of Minister of Defense, Netanyahu has sunk his government, one that is already the most right wing in Israel’s history, to such new lows of right wing extremism that even former members of the Israeli government had to criticize it. The former Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: “What has happened is a hostile takeover of the Israeli government by dangerous elements,” adding: “Israel has been infected by the seeds of fascism, which should be a red light for all of us regarding what’s going on in the government.”
Lieberman is a true racist and a sworn enemy of the Palestinians and Arab people in general. He has vowed in the past that there will never be a Palestinian state. He has made statements calling for the beheading of “disloyal” Israelis and advocates the death penalty for non-Israelis. He has threatened to assassinate Palestinian leaders and has advocated for the genocidal forced transfer of Israel’s Palestinian citizens to the West Bank. He once called for the blowing up of the Aswan Dam in a war with Egypt.
True to the Zionist spirit of occupation, Lieberman is a settler himself who lives in the occupied West Bank. It should be no surprise that he militantly supports more expansions for the settlements as well as a military re-occupation of Gaza. As the Minister of Defense, (read Minister of Destruction), Lieberman is now in charge of one of the biggest and deadliest armed forces, the Israeli Defense Forces, or more accurately, the Israeli Destructive Forces for occupation and murdering civilians. Since 2000 alone, the IDF has killed more than 1900 children. Only second in rank to Netanyahu, Lieberman will now be able to lead and attempt to expand the genocidal occupation and destruction of more and more Palestinian territory.
Commenting on Lieberman’s appointment, the Palestinian Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat stated that Lieberman’s appointment would result in apartheid, racism and religious and political extremism.
If by adding another racist warmonger to his government of war-criminals, Netanyahu thinks that he can stop the resistance of the people of Palestine and their struggle for liberation, he is dead wrong. The Palestinian people will continue to stand up to this injustice and continue to fight for justice and to ultimately put an end to the occupation. The words of the legendary revolutionary Leila Khaled, the icon of Palestinian resistance, captures that steadfastness and the determination of the people of Palestine:
“I never lost hope that things will change. Where there is occupation, there will always be resistance. That’s a fundamental equation nobody can change.”
End Israeli occupation!
Long live Palestine!
