Labor MK: Lieberman's entry into gov't would mark 'black day'

Readers of this blog will know that I started out quite positively towards Ehud Olmert, thinking that his disengagement plan was a positive move forward, with my only reservation being that this should not be done unilaterally.

Then came the immoral war with Lebanon, a mistake of such a scale that I am genuinely surprised that he is still in office today. However, as with the war with Lebanon, one thing Olmert has displayed is that he is willing to go to any lengths to retain power.

However, surely his decision to welcome Avigdor Liebermann into his government in order to shore up his support is simply a step too far?

Liebermann is a man who has suggested Israel should expel all Israeli Arabs who do not declare "complete loyalty" to Israel and has called for the execution of any Arab members of the Knesset who talk to Hamas. He has also called for the bombing of the Aswan Dam and the bombing of Tehran. He is also known to be vehemently opposed to Olmert's withdrawal from Gaza, the centrepiece of his administration's policy.

Why would Olmert legitimise such a person by giving him a place in the Israeli cabinet? He may find it annoying that some Labour MP's - two, in fact - may occasionally vote against him, but his government is hardly about to fall, which is the only thing I could imagine would make him consider such a contentious appointment.

He really does reveal himself as a man who will do anything to stay in power. The Labour Party have reacted with fury to talk of Liebermann's possible appointment.

MK Raleb Majadele, one of nine Labor MKs opposed to the inclusion of the right-wing Yisrael Beteinu party in the government, said Friday that the party's entry into the coalition would mark a "black day for the Knesset of Israel, a black day for democracy."

"In my worst nightmares I never believed that the Labor Party would reach a day like this, with [Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor] Lieberman and us as coalition partners," Majadele told Israel Radio on Friday. Lieberman "denies the right of Israel's Arab citizens to exist," he said.

Lieberman favors a land and population transfer that would give Palestinians control over a heavily Arab section of the Galilee and revoke the Israeli citizenship of Arabs living there.

The Labour Party are now tearing themselves apart with some members saying they should leave any coalition of which Liebermann and his party are members.

Moreover, six Labor ministers, including party chairman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, favor including Yisrael Beiteinu and are working to ensure a majority for their view in the central committee. On Wednesday, all Labor ministers except Pines-Paz backed the agreement between Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that led the Labor leader to back down from his initial opposition to Lieberman's inclusion in the government.

Disgracefully, it looks like the Labour Party will eventually acquiesce in this appointment and that will be a day of shame for them.

However, shameful as it will be for them, the real disgrace here is Olmert who - for the sake of his own political neck - is allowing such an extremist into the heart of an Israeli government.

In the Israeli press they are comparing this to the first steps to parliamentary power taken by Mussolini and Hitler.

And all so that Ehud Olmert can stay in power. And to do what? A man who was elected to bring about Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza now says that the time is no longer right, after the war on Lebanon, for such an evacuation to be possible.

Which leaves me wondering what he remains in office for? He now openly admits he cannot carry out the platform on which he was elected yet, in order to stay in power, he is bringing extremists into his government. A government that appears to have no other agenda than it's own survival.

Olmert's military inexperience was always a worry. However, his political scheming appears second to none. The real question though is, to what avail? And at what price?

It's a dark day for Israeli politics indeed.

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(Note: I also used Guardian's OpEd of 26 October 2006 to source this, although I was unable to find it online.)

tag: Israel, Ehud, Olmert, Avigdor, Liebermann, Labour, Party, Knesset, Israeli cabinet,