![\"\"](\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/why-lieberman.jpg\" "\\"why")
<\/p>\n“Why Lieberman?,”<\/p>\n
Written by Shai for Syria Comment<\/p>\n
The question has been bothering me, as well as many other Israelis (perhaps even most), for quite some time now.\u00a0 We didn’t need to wait this long, to hear the controversial speech at the UN, to ask why the Israeli Prime Minister hasn’t fired Lieberman.\u00a0 We asked this question when Lieberman allowed for the most embarrassing treatment of the Turkish Ambassador earlier this year.\u00a0 We asked this when the Police disclosed its intention to recommend Lieberman be tried under multiple charges of corruption.\u00a0 We asked this when Lieberman patronized European foreign ministers, telling them to “first fix your problems” in Europe, before lecturing Israel.\u00a0 We’ve been asking “Why Lieberman?” again and again, ever since Netanyahu chose him for his post.\u00a0 Sometimes one finds comfort in unexpected places, even in knowing that others, outside of Israel, are asking the same question.<\/p>\n
Speculations about the Netanyahu-Lieberman political-marriage are varied but, surprisingly enough, Israeli media has focused less on “why”, and more on “why-not”.\u00a0 But the “why” is no less important, and might possibly be a key factor in our common goals towards Peace.\u00a0 In pondering this question, I’ve come up with a number of reasons, at least some of which I am convinced are true.\u00a0 By the end of Netanyahu’s term in office, I hope we’ll know whether the rest are true as well.\u00a0 Here are five reasons why I believe Netanyahu chose Lieberman as Israel’s Foreign Minister, and for now, prefers to keep him there:<\/p>\n
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1.\u00a0 Political Pressure-Reducer: 2.\u00a0 Foreign Minister doesn’t mean Foreign Policy: 3.\u00a0 Good for Negotiations: 4.\u00a0 Good for Outside Pressure: But Netanyahu does know, that if he can bring about a situation whereby Israel is “forced to comply”, by her closest allies, or by the threat of sanctions, or even by war, that he can then more easily come before his people and say “Israel’s security depends no less on her relations with her closest allies, than it does on a stretch of land in the West Bank, or on the Golan…”\u00a0 And if outside pressure is indeed something Netanyahu sees as necessary, then placing Lieberman as Foreign Minister, and allowing him to voice our “Foreign Policy” worldwide, are both logical agitators that can help speed up this pressure.<\/p>\n It is interesting to note, that while the PM’s Office did make a public statement disconnecting itself from Lieberman’s recent speech at the UN (calling it “his personal views, which are not representative of the Israeli government…”), Netanyahu has yet to tell the Israeli media why he keeps Lieberman in this position.\u00a0 All Israeli media forms have been calling for his resignation, and yet Netanyahu does nothing.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 The Countdown Begins after Lieberman is Replaced:<\/strong><\/p>\n Netanyahu knows that the minute he replaces Lieberman as Foreign Minister, his adversaries will have the political fuel they need, to begin the Offensive that will lead to new Elections.\u00a0 Lieberman will make Netanyahu look like the next Oslo-selling Rabin, and no political leader from the Right, Center, or Left, could help defend the Prime Minister (and none will want to.)\u00a0 Netanyahu’s political countdown will begin.\u00a0 However, it is not unlikely that if serious progress is made on any of the Peace tracks (Palestinian, Syrian or Lebanese), that Netanyahu will be forced to replace Lieberman by Tzipi Livni, to attain a large-enough coalition to carry out the necessary steps towards reaching a final Peace Agreement.\u00a0 The questions are if and when this countdown will begin.<\/p>\n Final Note: But to those who still fear Avigdor Lieberman, who still view him as more mainstream than do the Israeli media, the Israeli Police, or the Israeli people, I remind them of the old saying:\u00a0 “Smaller dogs bark loudest.”<\/p>\n Posted by Alex<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Why Lieberman?,” Written by Shai for Syria Comment The question has been bothering me, as well as many other Israelis (perhaps even most), for quite some time now.\u00a0 We didn’t need to wait this long, to hear the controversial speech at the UN, to ask why the Israeli Prime Minister hasn’t fired Lieberman.\u00a0 We asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[52,51,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alex","category-golan","category-israel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nLieberman, a West Bank settler and a politician with extremist views, is often considered the “loudest dog” in the pack.\u00a0 Few politicians on the Extreme-Right are more vocal and anti-Peace than Lieberman.\u00a0 By placing Lieberman as so-called “chief diplomat” for Israel, the man responsible for Israel’s foreign-policy (including that of Peace), Netanyahu assures himself a lot of political quiet-time from the Right and Extreme-Right, his only potential adversaries.\u00a0 While many suspect, few can openly criticize Netanyahu for endangering Israel, when Lieberman is allowed to speak as he does, at home and abroad.\u00a0 Notice, “endanger Israel”, from the Right or Extreme-Right point of view, is giving back land.<\/p>\n
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\nWhile Lieberman certainly has harmed Israel’s diplomatic relations, most noticeably with our critical and strategic ally Turkey, Netanyahu has made sure that our Foreign MInister does not “come near” our peace negotiations with the Palestinians.\u00a0 Netanyahu keeps Lieberman busy worldwide, while his own team sits with Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad.\u00a0 (Interesting note about Turkey:\u00a0 As relations continued to deteriorate, Netanyahu apparently sent Labor’s Infrastructure Minister Fouad Ben-Eliezer to Turkey, without informing Lieberman.\u00a0 Learning of this only upon Fouad’s return, Lieberman was furious.)<\/p>\n
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\nWhile Lieberman isn’t brought into peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Netanyahu knows that Abu Mazen cannot ignore Lieberman’s views.\u00a0 If Tzipi Livni were to replace Lieberman, her Center-leaning political profile, and her public statements regarding a two-state solution, would not serve Israel well during negotiations, as Netanyahu might see it.\u00a0 To close a deal, the other side might need to be reminded that there are those close by, who don’t want to close a deal at all.\u00a0 If one can maintain even the slightest speculation that such deal-opposers may be candidates one day for PM, this might be viewed by the other side as more a reason to compromise today, for fear of a worse tomorrow.<\/p>\n
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\nThis might actually be one of the key factors in Netanyahu’s calculations.\u00a0 If Netanyahu is interested in achieving Comprehensive Peace, and a final end to the Arab-Israeli conflict, then surely he sees his own people as the biggest hurdle to overcome.\u00a0 He already knows that the Palestinians are ready to compromise over Right-of-Return, over security, and even over territory.\u00a0 He knows that Syria has promised to meet Israel’s security-demands, and that Israel’s number one ally, the United States, has promised to vouch for Israel’s security.\u00a0 Netanyahu knows that Security is as close to guaranteed as any PM could ever get.\u00a0 But he doesn’t know that his people will back him.\u00a0 He doesn’t know, if his people will be ready to give back the Golan.\u00a0 Or to vacate hundreds of thousands of Jews, out of their homes in the West Bank.\u00a0 Or to divide Jerusalem.\u00a0 He doesn’t know if Israelis will either allow him to do all of these, or ever forgive him for having done so.<\/p>\n
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\nI have tried to answer the question “Why Lieberman?” without assuming that Netanyahu is interested in Peace.\u00a0 But clearly my answers aren’t truly-neutral.\u00a0 Yet the more I considered the second option, the one that many out there believe – that Netanyahu isn’t ready to withdraw to the 1967 lines, the more I found contradictions with keeping Lieberman around.\u00a0 After all, if the idea was to make time go by, to let the whole world think Israel is doing “everything we can” to bring Peace to the region, to end the Israeli Occupation, to bring about a just end to the Palestinian problem, then what could be easier than letting Ehud Barak or Tzipi Livni be Israel’s Foreign Minister?\u00a0 Why not form a Center-Right coalition, and let all our best Two-State supporters numb their listeners worldwide, as we have done so well over the years?\u00a0 Lieberman, in such a case, would be counterproductive.<\/p>\n
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