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The Schmooze

Avigdor Lieberman Heckled in Bedouin Town

Avigdor Lieberman has such a way with words. Israel’s ultra-controversial Foreign Minister went to visit el-Zarnouk today, a Bedouin town in Southern Israel, to emphasize the fact, much to residents’ anger, that the government considers illegally built. His subtext was to point to the fact that unauthorized structures in the village are still standing even though, to his disappointment, the state yesterday began evacuating Jewish settler homes that are illegally built on Palestinian land.

As Lieberman spoke to reporters, an Arab lawmaker, Taleb el-Sana, came to heckle him. “You have no business to be here,” el-Sana said. “You are persona non grata in the Bedouin communities. You act like the mafia.”

Did Lieberman continue in dignified manner? Or come up with a witty response? Nope, instead he threw out that stick insult that members of the Israeli right love to throw out at Arab with whom they are in conflict. “You are a terrorist,” he retorted.

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