Outgoing Defense Minister Ya'alon: Extremists Have Taken Over Israel
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- Published on Thursday, 26 May 2016 09:15
- Written by editor
AUTHOR: Jonathan Lis
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.720653
May 20, 2016
Extremist elements have taken over the country, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned on Friday morning as he explained his resignation from political life.
"This morning I told the prime minister that I'm resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking a break from political life," Ya'alon said at the IDF's military quarters in Tel Aviv. "I have no intention of leaving the public and political life, and in the future will return to compete for the national leadership of Israel."
"I saw before me the safety of Israel and its citizens in all of my acts and decisions, and the good of the country above all other considerations. This was so in security and professionals matters and in matters of values and rule of the law."
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon explains his resignation at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday, May 20, 2016.CREDIT: Tomer Appelbaum
Earlier on Friday, Ya'alon wrote on Facebook that "I notified the prime minister this morning that following his conduct in the latest developments and in view of the lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the government and the Knesset and taking time out from political life."
Noting that he worked harmoniously with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a long time, Ya'alon said in his speech that "unfortunately, I recently found myself in strong disagreement on moral and professional issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and several MKs."
"I fought with all my might against manifestations of extremism, violence and racism in Israeli society, which are threatening its sturdiness and also trickling into the IDF, hurting it already," he said.
"I fought with all my might against attempts to harm the Supreme Court and Israel's justices, trends whose outcomes greatly harm the rule of law and could be disastrous for our country."
The latest confrontation between Netanyahu and Ya'alon, which took place at the beginning of the week, was over the public backing Ya'alon gave senior IDF officials to express their opinions. His remarks followed Netanyahu's criticism of comments made by IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The rift between Ya'alon and significant parts of the Likud central committee and party voters widened over the past year over the obstacles the defense minister placed in front of efforts regarding construction in the settlements.
"The rupture between Netanyahu and Ya'alon is real and serious, not political spin. Netanyahu owes a lot to right-wing voters who marked Ya'alon as a red flag," a Likud source said.
"In general, Israeli society is a healthy society, and the majority of it is sane and aims for a Jewish, democratic and liberal country," Ya'alon said. "But to my great sorrow, extremist and dangerous elements have taken over Israel and the Likud Party and are shaking the foundations and threatening to hurt its residents."
"Sadly, senior politicians in the country have chosen the way of incitement and segregation of parts of Israeli society instead of unifying it and bringing it together. It is unbearable to me that we will be divided among us out of cynicism and lust for control, and I expressed my opinion on the matter more than once out of honest concern for the future of society in Israel and the future of the next generations."
The Opinion Pages | EDITORIAL
A Baffling, Hard-line Choice in Israel
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDMAY 23, 2016
Avigdor Lieberman’s previous stints as Israel’s foreign minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were a disaster for Israeli-American relations. Mr. Lieberman’s ultranationalist positions on Palestinians, settlements and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rendered him effectively unwelcome in Washington and toxic to Palestinians. Yet to shore up his coalition in the Israeli Parliament, Mr. Netanyahu has now offered Mr. Lieberman the office of minister of defense — widely considered to be the second most powerful position in the Israeli government, with a critical role in dealing with the United States and the Palestinians.
Mr. Netanyahu may think his political needs are more important than relations with the soon-to-end Obama administration, relations that are already severely strained by the nuclear agreement with Iran. But the administration had at least established a working relationship with Moshe Yaalon, the tough but pragmatic defense minister who resigned once the offer to Mr. Lieberman became known. The timing of this changing of the guard is particularly sensitive because a critical 10-year defense agreement establishing new levels of American military aid for Israel is in the final stages of negotiations.
It’s hard to imagine peace talks moving rapidly forward in the immediate future, for a number of reasons. But it is entirely possible to imagine Israel’s relations in the region and beyond moving backward with a defense minister who has threatened, among other things, to conquer Gaza or bomb the Aswan Dam in the event of a war with Egypt. Mr. Lieberman’s ties with Israel’s own military establishment are frayed, most recently by his defense of an Israeli soldier arrested for executing a wounded Palestinian.
Avigdor Lieberman, center, at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on Monday. Ronen Zvulun/ReutersMr. Lieberman’s appointment would make a mockery of any possible Israeli overtures to the Palestinians. He resigned from the government last yearover Mr. Netanyahu’s failure to destroy Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, and to build more settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where Mr. Lieberman lives. He has called for removing Arabic as an official language and has proposed instituting the death penalty for convicted terrorists.
Even Mr. Netanyahu does not believe Mr. Lieberman is the right man for the job — or at least he didn’t quite recently, when he declared that“Lieberman hates me, he slanders me, he’s a dangerous man, he stops at nothing.”
Mr. Netanyahu may also believe that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as Washington has long advocated, is effectively dead for now, and that he may get a better defense deal from the next president.But the prime minister seems to think that bringing peace to his shaky coalition, which now holds a scant one-vote majority in Parliament, is more important than the risk of putting a rival in charge of Israel’s vaunted security forces and of further straining relations with Washington.
But that is a risky and cynical gamble. The next American president is not likely to abandon support for a two-state solution, and Israel’s position in Washington will not be strengthened by a defense minister at odds with the Israeli military establishment.
Lieberman Nomination 'Risky and Cynical Gamble,' Writes New York TimesNewspaper says Netanyahu chose to shore up his coalition at the cost 'further straining relations with Washington.'
May 24, 2016 9:39 PM
Avigdor Lieberman answers Reporters
IMAGE CREDIT: Ilan Assayagread more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.721314
The New York Times has sharply criticized the nomination of Avigdor Lierberman as Israeli defense minister, writing in an editorial Tuesday's that his previous stints as foreign minister were "a disaster for Israeli-American relations."
The nomination, the paper wrote, "is a risky and cynical gamble" on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who "seems to think that bringing peace to his shaky coalition … is more important than the risk of putting a rival in charge of Israel’s vaunted security forces and of further straining relations with Washington."The New York Times described the timing of the nomination as "particularly sensitive," coming as it does with the two countries in the final stages of negotiations for a 10-year defense agreement that would establish new levels of American military aid for Israel.
"It’s hard to imagine peace talks moving rapidly forward in the immediate future, for a number of reasons," the paper wrote, but "it is entirely possible to imagine Israel’s relations in the region and beyond moving backward with a defense minister who has threatened, among other things, to conquer Gaza or bomb the Aswan Dam in the event of a war with Egypt."
The editorial speculates that Netanyahu may be betting that, with the two-state solution "effectively dead for now," Lieberman is capable of getting a better defense deal from the next president.
That is not going to happen, the New York Times says. "The next American president is not likely to abandon support for a two-state solution, and Israel’s position in Washington will not be strengthened by a defense minister at odds with the Israeli military establishment."
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.721314
