I haven't blogged since the Israeli elections. I just didn't have the muse to write about the depressing results. Now Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to piss me off even more than I ever expected. Reportedly, he is planning on appointing Avigdor Lieberman as the next foreign minister. Really? Bibi wants this fascist to be the face of Israel to the world? You think this guy will be welcomed with open arms in Europe and the United States? Foreign officials will not ignore the fact that Lieberman and his party, Yisrael Beitenu, want to revoke the citizenship of anyone who is unwilling to vow allegiance to the state (mostly Arabs, but also Jews with the "wrong" views).
This guy who looks and acts like a bulldog or nightclub bouncer is unfit for government in general. He's especially unfit to be our top diplomat. Is there anything diplomatic about him?
Holy crap.
A Great Day for *The Atlantic*
2 weeks ago
"Bibi wants this fascist to be the face of Israel to the world? You think this guy will be welcomed with open arms in Europe and the United States?"
ReplyDeleteOh, calm down already. Lieberman's international make-over is going on all over the show, don't you know? It's rather telling that European countries tend to draw a cordon sanitaire around guys like that (in our own arena) and yet, they're unlikely to do the same with Lieberman. What does that tell you? That in the governments of the nations that really count Israel's standing is still high.
We'll have to wait and see about that. They may not say a word now, since there is still a chance he won't be the foreign minister. Besides, we also have foreign relations with a few Arab countries. Our relationships with them are rocky as it is. Liebman won't help, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteEven if Lieberman's appointment goes smoothly with the entire world (which it won't), I just don't want him as my foreign minister. Or my minister of anything.