Nothing "Brilliant" About Avigdor Lieberman

Submitted by Amy Watkins (United Kingdom), Apr 9, 2009 at 17:16

Regardless of his ability to give a good speech, I think it is a disaster for both Israel and Palestine that this man has been appointed foreign minister. Unfortunately, it was necessary in order to bring Lieberman's party on board with Netanyahu's coalition government. This is a man who wants to force all of Israel's Arabs to take a "loyalty oath" to the Israeli government.

Well, it is quite possible to be an Israeli citizen and not support the positions of the government. I wonder what would happen if all Jews were forced to take the same oath? His past statements suggest that he is in favor of removing the remaining Arabs from Israel. He would support the creation of more settlements in Palestinian territory in violation of international law. Lieberman would say that these measures are necessary in order to defend the Jewish state of Israel. He wants to avoid the regrettable history of discrimination against Jews who were in the minority. But now that he is in power, Lieberman wants to discriminate in many of the same ways against Arabs. In this way, he is no different than those who espouse anti-Semitic views.

He is a racist who will harm any chance Israel has for peace with the Palestinians, and I cannot imagine that many Arab leaders will want to meet with him in Jerusalem or anywhere else.

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