Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his choice for defense minister, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, signed a coalition agreement on Wednesday and issued assurances that the most right wing government in Israel’s history would act responsibly. Once Lieberman is sworn in, Netanyahu will have a government of 66 legislators, widening his current one-seat majority in the 120-member…
There are many ways to describe the Israeli cabinet shakeup that brings arch-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman into the Netanyahu government as defense minister. It’s a broadening and firming of a shaky coalition. It’s a lurch to the right. It’s a settling of scores. Most consequentially, though, it might be called a military coup in reverse. That…
The death penalty for murder in a terror act that incoming Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman seeks will only apply to military courts, said a Likud source involved in the talks to bring Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party into the governing coalition. Such a move, which Lieberman demands if his party is to join the government, would…
Israel’s defense minister resigned on Friday, saying the nation was being taken over by “extremist and dangerous elements” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to replace him with a far-right politician in an effort to strengthen his coalition. Political sources say Netanyahu has offered long-time rival Avigdor Lieberman the defense portfolio, a post crucial for…
(JTA) – He was an outspoken politician with little military experience, appointed by a rival and promising to bring a new approach. Current and former officials at the Defense Ministry called his appointment an “enigma,” fretting that “it will take some time until he understands how things work” and that “he’ll have to undergo basic…
The Obama administration has remained silent regarding the political makeover of Netanyahu’s coalition government, which is set to put right-wing leader Avigdor Lieberman in charge of Israel’s defense ministry and push out Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief of staff and Likud party pragmatist, from the position he’d been holding since 2013. But as the…
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi to discuss how to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, along with other shared concerns. Meeting in Cairo Wednesday, Kerry “expressed his appreciation for [Sissi’s] recent statement of strong support for advancing Arab-Israeli peace,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement, according to…
Avigdor Liberman, Israel’s former foreign minister, called supporters of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict “autistic.” Liberman, who heads the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, made his remarks Thursday in an interview with Israel Radio. “Anyone who thinks going back to the 1967 lines will solve the conflict is autistic,” Liberman said. Liberman, who declined…
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