31 may 2016
The Knesset constitution, law and justice committee on Monday approved, by a 10-2 majority, an anti-terror bill for its second and third readings in the Knesset, which will greatly expand the Israeli security agencies' powers.
The committee had previously met for 30 sessions, rejecting all 150 objections to the bill. The bill will become law if passed after the third reading, according to Israel's channel 7.
The law would give the Israeli police and the intelligence apparatus, Shin Bet, extensive powers to fight hostile activities against Israel.
The new law would include various measures that were previously part of the British Mandate emergency measures act (1945). These include administrative detention and travel restrictions forbidding people from leaving the country.
The bill widens the definition of terrorist acts and organizations and provides for equal punishment for perpetrators and their abettors.
MK Issawi Frej (Meretz) attacked the law, calling it "ultranationalist legislation applying only to Arabs, while civil legislation is used with Jews."
"Now any Arab can be deemed a terrorist. An Arab stone thrower will become a terrorist, while a Jewish stone thrower will not," Frej said.
For its part, MK Osama Saadia (Joint List) said his party believes "there is an occupation, recognized by international law. People have a right to resist.
The new law embraces the infamous emergency rules and hampers freedom of expression and organization."
The committee had previously met for 30 sessions, rejecting all 150 objections to the bill. The bill will become law if passed after the third reading, according to Israel's channel 7.
The law would give the Israeli police and the intelligence apparatus, Shin Bet, extensive powers to fight hostile activities against Israel.
The new law would include various measures that were previously part of the British Mandate emergency measures act (1945). These include administrative detention and travel restrictions forbidding people from leaving the country.
The bill widens the definition of terrorist acts and organizations and provides for equal punishment for perpetrators and their abettors.
MK Issawi Frej (Meretz) attacked the law, calling it "ultranationalist legislation applying only to Arabs, while civil legislation is used with Jews."
"Now any Arab can be deemed a terrorist. An Arab stone thrower will become a terrorist, while a Jewish stone thrower will not," Frej said.
For its part, MK Osama Saadia (Joint List) said his party believes "there is an occupation, recognized by international law. People have a right to resist.
The new law embraces the infamous emergency rules and hampers freedom of expression and organization."
29 may 2016
An Israeli study reviewed procedures and cooperation among various concerned institutions in dealing with a large-scale attack.
Nationwide drill next week aims to ready the homefront for a scenario in which Hamas and Hezbollah unleash massive missile attack, Israeli sources said.
"We are ready to evacuate tens of thousands, in the south and the north," says National Emergency Management Authority (RAHEL) head, Bezalel Treiber.
“The closer to the border fence the settler is the earlier the evacuation will take place,” he added.
Next week's National Emergency Week drill will witness the evacuation of tens of thousands of settlers from their homes.
A poll conducted by RAHEL ahead of National Emergency Week showed that in the case of a massive missile attack, only 14% of Israelis will want to be evacuated from their settlement units.
Nationwide drill next week aims to ready the homefront for a scenario in which Hamas and Hezbollah unleash massive missile attack, Israeli sources said.
"We are ready to evacuate tens of thousands, in the south and the north," says National Emergency Management Authority (RAHEL) head, Bezalel Treiber.
“The closer to the border fence the settler is the earlier the evacuation will take place,” he added.
Next week's National Emergency Week drill will witness the evacuation of tens of thousands of settlers from their homes.
A poll conducted by RAHEL ahead of National Emergency Week showed that in the case of a massive missile attack, only 14% of Israelis will want to be evacuated from their settlement units.
Moshe Gafni
The Knesset Finance Committee, in a special meeting, insisted on receiving details of how much money the HMO received from Germany and how it was spent; Clalit claims it didn’t have a list of survivors
At a special meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee on Wednesday, Holocaust survivors made harsh claims against entities entrusted with their care. According to them, there are too many bodies that deal with handling the money intended for survivors.
They also claimed that an annual "Holocaust festival" takes place around Holocaust Remembrance Day, and afterwards the survivors return to dealing with the harsh reality devoid of any actual solutions to their needs.
The harshest accusation was laid against the HMO Clalit for not transferring money paid by Germany. The affair was discussed as part of a class-action lawsuit and as part of a settlement agreement on compensation to living survivors and to family members of deceased survivors.
Yael Kubo, the daughter of deceased Holocaust survivors, is behind the class-action suit. She said in the meeting, "Clalit has hidden from the survivors the fact that it has received hundreds of millions of euros and that they are eligible for free treatment.
Clalit personnel did everything to exhaust the survivors and their families and loaded every attempt at clarifying the subject with mountains of bureaucracy and legal claims. Now, after a compromise has been reached, the state must make sure that the money collected by Clalit will be transferred to the survivors."
Clalit's treasurer, Avi Steinberg, said, "We did not have a list of survivors." Ofra Ross, the director of the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority, answered, "You could have asked for the lists from the German government when you received the funds."
Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni insisted during the meeting that Clalit transfer comprehensive information to the committee as soon as possible. The information should include how much money was received from Germany, what happened over the years, how much was spent on survivors, and which families receive refunds.
The lawyer representing Clalit, Amir Dolev, noted that according to the settlement, the families of deceased survivors will receive compensation for the money that they spent, as would currently living survivors.
Ross replied, "The amounts will only come from a certain date in accordance with the judgment. The Germans gave the money, and it was for Clalit to also ask for a list of beneficiaries."
Clalit replied, "Over the years, Clalit has worked for the benefit of Holocaust survivors. Even before the legal arrangement, which affects a defined group, we have worked to provide refunds based on information that was transferred to us. We will continue the initiatives to ensure the full realization of rights and in fulfillment of the arrangement."
The Knesset Finance Committee, in a special meeting, insisted on receiving details of how much money the HMO received from Germany and how it was spent; Clalit claims it didn’t have a list of survivors
At a special meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee on Wednesday, Holocaust survivors made harsh claims against entities entrusted with their care. According to them, there are too many bodies that deal with handling the money intended for survivors.
They also claimed that an annual "Holocaust festival" takes place around Holocaust Remembrance Day, and afterwards the survivors return to dealing with the harsh reality devoid of any actual solutions to their needs.
The harshest accusation was laid against the HMO Clalit for not transferring money paid by Germany. The affair was discussed as part of a class-action lawsuit and as part of a settlement agreement on compensation to living survivors and to family members of deceased survivors.
Yael Kubo, the daughter of deceased Holocaust survivors, is behind the class-action suit. She said in the meeting, "Clalit has hidden from the survivors the fact that it has received hundreds of millions of euros and that they are eligible for free treatment.
Clalit personnel did everything to exhaust the survivors and their families and loaded every attempt at clarifying the subject with mountains of bureaucracy and legal claims. Now, after a compromise has been reached, the state must make sure that the money collected by Clalit will be transferred to the survivors."
Clalit's treasurer, Avi Steinberg, said, "We did not have a list of survivors." Ofra Ross, the director of the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority, answered, "You could have asked for the lists from the German government when you received the funds."
Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni insisted during the meeting that Clalit transfer comprehensive information to the committee as soon as possible. The information should include how much money was received from Germany, what happened over the years, how much was spent on survivors, and which families receive refunds.
The lawyer representing Clalit, Amir Dolev, noted that according to the settlement, the families of deceased survivors will receive compensation for the money that they spent, as would currently living survivors.
Ross replied, "The amounts will only come from a certain date in accordance with the judgment. The Germans gave the money, and it was for Clalit to also ask for a list of beneficiaries."
Clalit replied, "Over the years, Clalit has worked for the benefit of Holocaust survivors. Even before the legal arrangement, which affects a defined group, we have worked to provide refunds based on information that was transferred to us. We will continue the initiatives to ensure the full realization of rights and in fulfillment of the arrangement."
28 may 2016
Haaretz newspaper has revealed that the Israeli police launched activities to teach kindergarten children how to use weapons and suppress protestors.
According to the Hebrew newspaper on Saturday, dozens of preschool children from Ramat Negev settlement in the Negev participated recently in such activities supervised by police and rescue officers.
The children were provided with basic training on how to shoot using special plastic rifles and information on some anti-riot and disguise methods used by police and military personnel.
Police trainers also showed the children special police equipment, such as bullet-proof vests, handcuffs and guns, and how they are used against Palestinian protestors.
According to the Hebrew newspaper on Saturday, dozens of preschool children from Ramat Negev settlement in the Negev participated recently in such activities supervised by police and rescue officers.
The children were provided with basic training on how to shoot using special plastic rifles and information on some anti-riot and disguise methods used by police and military personnel.
Police trainers also showed the children special police equipment, such as bullet-proof vests, handcuffs and guns, and how they are used against Palestinian protestors.
27 may 2016
Israel's channel 10 has revealed an Israeli plan to allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to have administrative and security control over some Palestinian neighborhoods in Occupied Jerusalem.
According to the channel, mayor of the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem Nir Barkat claimed that Arab neighborhoods in the holy city and its vicinity as well as Shu'fat refugee camp would be under the control of the PA.
In a seminar held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Thursday, Barkat expressed his support for removing security walls from several neighborhoods in the city and annex them to what he labelled as the capital, but he emphasized his opposition to any intention to waive any part of Jerusalem.
Under the Oslo accords, the Palestinian occupied territories have been divided into three areas classified as A, B and C. Area A, which comprises 18 percent of the West Bank area, is supposed to be under full PA security and civil control, while Area B, 22 percent of the West Bank, should be under PA civil control and joint Israeli-PA security control.
Area C, which is about 61 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli military and administrative control.
According to the channel, mayor of the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem Nir Barkat claimed that Arab neighborhoods in the holy city and its vicinity as well as Shu'fat refugee camp would be under the control of the PA.
In a seminar held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Thursday, Barkat expressed his support for removing security walls from several neighborhoods in the city and annex them to what he labelled as the capital, but he emphasized his opposition to any intention to waive any part of Jerusalem.
Under the Oslo accords, the Palestinian occupied territories have been divided into three areas classified as A, B and C. Area A, which comprises 18 percent of the West Bank area, is supposed to be under full PA security and civil control, while Area B, 22 percent of the West Bank, should be under PA civil control and joint Israeli-PA security control.
Area C, which is about 61 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli military and administrative control.
Israel's Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabai announced he was resigning on Friday in protest at the inclusion of Avigdor Lieberman in the coalition government.
Gabai slammed the appointment of Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman as "defense minister" and warned that the move could polarize Israeli society, saying that in light of the recent cabinet reshuffle he can no longer remain a member of the government.
"I see the recent political moves and the replacement of the defense minister as grave acts that ignore what's important to national security, and will widen societal rifts," he said.
"I cannot be partner to this line of action." Gabai is a founding member of the Kulanu party, which is headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who earlier expressed opposition to Liebmeran's appointment as "defense minister".
Gabai’s announcement comes days after the former minister, Moshe Yaalon of Netanyahu's Likud party, stepped down in protest at his portfolio being offered to Lieberman.
Gabai slammed the appointment of Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman as "defense minister" and warned that the move could polarize Israeli society, saying that in light of the recent cabinet reshuffle he can no longer remain a member of the government.
"I see the recent political moves and the replacement of the defense minister as grave acts that ignore what's important to national security, and will widen societal rifts," he said.
"I cannot be partner to this line of action." Gabai is a founding member of the Kulanu party, which is headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who earlier expressed opposition to Liebmeran's appointment as "defense minister".
Gabai’s announcement comes days after the former minister, Moshe Yaalon of Netanyahu's Likud party, stepped down in protest at his portfolio being offered to Lieberman.
25 may 2016
By Jonathan Cook
In a surprise move, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week forced out his long-serving defence minister, Moshe Yaalon. As he stepped down, Yaalon warned: “Extremist and dangerous elements have taken over Israel.” He was referring partly to his expected successor:
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose trademark outbursts have included demands to bomb Egypt and behead disloyal Palestinian citizens. But Yaalon was also condemning extremism closer to home, in Netanyahu’s Likud party. Yaalon is to take a break from politics.
With fitting irony, his slot is to be filled on Likud’s backbenches by Yehuda Glick, a settler whose struggle to destroy Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple has the potential to set the Middle East on fire. Israeli commentators pointed out that, with Lieberman’s inclusion, the government will be the most extreme in Israel’s history – again.
French prime minister Manuel Valls, who began a visit to the region on Saturday, is likely to face an impregnable wall of government hostility as he tries to drum up interest in a French peace plan. Less noticed has been the gradual and parallel takeover of Israel’s security institutions by those espousing the ideology of the settlers – known in Israel as the national-religious camp.
None of this is accidental. For two decades the settlers have been targeting Israel’s key institutions. Under Netanyahu’s seven-year watch as prime minister, the process has accelerated.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the settler party Jewish Home and education minister, recently boasted that the national-religious camp, though only a tenth of the population, held “leadership positions in all realms in Israel”.
One such success for Bennett is Roni Alsheikh who was appointed police chief late last year. He was a long-time resident of Kiryat Arba, one of the most violent settlements in the occupied territories. The force’s most recent campaign, “Believing in the police”, is designed to recruit more religious hardliners.
Behind the programme are settler-politicians who have called Palestinians “sub-human” and expressed sympathy for those who burnt to death a Palestinian family, including a baby, last summer. The other security agencies are being transformed too. Religious nationalists now hold many of the top posts in the Shin Bet intelligence service and the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency.
In the army too, the settlers are today heavily over-represented in the officers corps and combat units. For more than a decade their rabbis have dominated the army’s education corps, invoking God’s will on the battlefield. But, despite these rising tidewaters, Israel’s traditional secular elite – mostly of European extraction – have desperately clung on to the top rungs of the army command.
Netanyahu bitterly resents their continuing control. They stood in his way at two momentous occasions, as he tried to overturn the Oslo accords in the late 1990s and to bomb Iran five years ago. In a bid to curb their influence, Netanyahu tried to promote the religious Yair Naveh as military chief last year, but was blocked by the top brass.
Lieberman’s arrival as defence minister, however, may mark a turning point. In some ways, less is at stake than Yaalon’s hyperbolic warning suggests. For decades the secular generals have been in charge of an occupation that has crushed the rights of Palestinians and caged them into ever-smaller holding pens. These generals have been just as cruel as the religious officers replacing them. Nonetheless, the reverberations of this quiet revolution should not be ignored.
The old elites have lived off the fat of the land in the kibbutz, Israel’s spacious farming communities built on the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages ethnically cleansed in 1948. After the 1967 war, the kibbutz-generals happily exported the same model of industrial-scale theft of Palestinian land to the occupied territories. But their security obsessions were ultimately rooted in Israel, where they fear having to account for the crimes of 1948 from which they profited. Their abiding nightmare is a right of return to Israel of the lands’ original owners – Palestinian refugees today numbering in the millions.
The religious camp’s priorities are different. The lands they defend most passionately are not in Israel but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That is where many live and where the holy places that sanctify their territorial greed are located. The spread of this zealotry into the army has deeply discomfited its more liberal elements. In recent years, small numbers of whistleblowers have emerged, from military intelligence unit 8200 through to a group called Breaking the Silence.
The recent video of an execution of a badly wounded Palestinian by army medic Elor Azaria – and the outpouring of public support in Israel for him – has only intensified these tensions. This month the army’s deputy head, Yair Golan, compared Israel to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Lieberman, meanwhile, is Azaria’s most vocal supporter. The goal of the religious nationalists is undisguised: to remove the last restraints on the occupation, and build a glorious, divinely ordained Greater Israel over an obliterated Palestinian society. That means no hope of a peaceful resolution of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians – unless it is preceded by a tumultuous civil war between Israel’s secular and its religious Jews.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi)
In a surprise move, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week forced out his long-serving defence minister, Moshe Yaalon. As he stepped down, Yaalon warned: “Extremist and dangerous elements have taken over Israel.” He was referring partly to his expected successor:
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose trademark outbursts have included demands to bomb Egypt and behead disloyal Palestinian citizens. But Yaalon was also condemning extremism closer to home, in Netanyahu’s Likud party. Yaalon is to take a break from politics.
With fitting irony, his slot is to be filled on Likud’s backbenches by Yehuda Glick, a settler whose struggle to destroy Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple has the potential to set the Middle East on fire. Israeli commentators pointed out that, with Lieberman’s inclusion, the government will be the most extreme in Israel’s history – again.
French prime minister Manuel Valls, who began a visit to the region on Saturday, is likely to face an impregnable wall of government hostility as he tries to drum up interest in a French peace plan. Less noticed has been the gradual and parallel takeover of Israel’s security institutions by those espousing the ideology of the settlers – known in Israel as the national-religious camp.
None of this is accidental. For two decades the settlers have been targeting Israel’s key institutions. Under Netanyahu’s seven-year watch as prime minister, the process has accelerated.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the settler party Jewish Home and education minister, recently boasted that the national-religious camp, though only a tenth of the population, held “leadership positions in all realms in Israel”.
One such success for Bennett is Roni Alsheikh who was appointed police chief late last year. He was a long-time resident of Kiryat Arba, one of the most violent settlements in the occupied territories. The force’s most recent campaign, “Believing in the police”, is designed to recruit more religious hardliners.
Behind the programme are settler-politicians who have called Palestinians “sub-human” and expressed sympathy for those who burnt to death a Palestinian family, including a baby, last summer. The other security agencies are being transformed too. Religious nationalists now hold many of the top posts in the Shin Bet intelligence service and the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency.
In the army too, the settlers are today heavily over-represented in the officers corps and combat units. For more than a decade their rabbis have dominated the army’s education corps, invoking God’s will on the battlefield. But, despite these rising tidewaters, Israel’s traditional secular elite – mostly of European extraction – have desperately clung on to the top rungs of the army command.
Netanyahu bitterly resents their continuing control. They stood in his way at two momentous occasions, as he tried to overturn the Oslo accords in the late 1990s and to bomb Iran five years ago. In a bid to curb their influence, Netanyahu tried to promote the religious Yair Naveh as military chief last year, but was blocked by the top brass.
Lieberman’s arrival as defence minister, however, may mark a turning point. In some ways, less is at stake than Yaalon’s hyperbolic warning suggests. For decades the secular generals have been in charge of an occupation that has crushed the rights of Palestinians and caged them into ever-smaller holding pens. These generals have been just as cruel as the religious officers replacing them. Nonetheless, the reverberations of this quiet revolution should not be ignored.
The old elites have lived off the fat of the land in the kibbutz, Israel’s spacious farming communities built on the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages ethnically cleansed in 1948. After the 1967 war, the kibbutz-generals happily exported the same model of industrial-scale theft of Palestinian land to the occupied territories. But their security obsessions were ultimately rooted in Israel, where they fear having to account for the crimes of 1948 from which they profited. Their abiding nightmare is a right of return to Israel of the lands’ original owners – Palestinian refugees today numbering in the millions.
The religious camp’s priorities are different. The lands they defend most passionately are not in Israel but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. That is where many live and where the holy places that sanctify their territorial greed are located. The spread of this zealotry into the army has deeply discomfited its more liberal elements. In recent years, small numbers of whistleblowers have emerged, from military intelligence unit 8200 through to a group called Breaking the Silence.
The recent video of an execution of a badly wounded Palestinian by army medic Elor Azaria – and the outpouring of public support in Israel for him – has only intensified these tensions. This month the army’s deputy head, Yair Golan, compared Israel to Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
Lieberman, meanwhile, is Azaria’s most vocal supporter. The goal of the religious nationalists is undisguised: to remove the last restraints on the occupation, and build a glorious, divinely ordained Greater Israel over an obliterated Palestinian society. That means no hope of a peaceful resolution of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians – unless it is preceded by a tumultuous civil war between Israel’s secular and its religious Jews.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. (A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi)
The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, slammed on Wednesday Israel’s appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as army minister.
“Lieberman’s appointment is a proof of Israeli extremism and racism,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Abu Zuhri called on the international community to speak up against the move.
A coalition agreement to bring incoming Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu into the Israeli coalition government has been signed on Wednesday morning at the Knesset.
Lieberman, one of Israel's most extremist politicians who publicly supports illegal settlement expansion, will take over as army chief in place of Moshe Yaalon, who resigned earlier this week. Wednesday's official signing of the deal comes after the coalition agreement was finalized during an overnight meeting between Netanyahu, Lieberman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) at Netanyahu's office in Occupied Jerusalem.
In November 2006, Lieberman, who described Arab members of the Knesset that meet with Hamas as "terror collaborators", called for their execution: "World War II ended with the Nuremberg Trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset".
“Lieberman’s appointment is a proof of Israeli extremism and racism,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Abu Zuhri called on the international community to speak up against the move.
A coalition agreement to bring incoming Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu into the Israeli coalition government has been signed on Wednesday morning at the Knesset.
Lieberman, one of Israel's most extremist politicians who publicly supports illegal settlement expansion, will take over as army chief in place of Moshe Yaalon, who resigned earlier this week. Wednesday's official signing of the deal comes after the coalition agreement was finalized during an overnight meeting between Netanyahu, Lieberman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) at Netanyahu's office in Occupied Jerusalem.
In November 2006, Lieberman, who described Arab members of the Knesset that meet with Hamas as "terror collaborators", called for their execution: "World War II ended with the Nuremberg Trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset".
A coalition agreement to bring incoming Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu into the Israeli coalition government has been signed on Wednesday morning at the Knesset.
Lieberman, one of Israel's most extremist politicians who publicly supports illegal settlement expansion, will take over as Army chief in place of former military chief Moshe Yaalon, who resigned earlier this week.
Wednesday's official signing of the deal comes after the coalition agreement was finalized during an overnight meeting between Netanyahu, Lieberman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) at Netanyahu's office in occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli Knesset will reconvene next Monday, when there will likely be a vote, followed by a swearing- in ceremony for Liberman and incoming Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver. The deal also includes an allocation of nearly NIS 1.5 billion for pensions for disadvantaged retirees.
Last week, Moshe Ya’alon declared his resignation from his ministerial position in the Israeli government and Knesset. In a statement issued Friday morning, Ya'alon said that he took the decision to leave "following the recent conduct" of Netanyahu, and "in light of my lack of faith in him."
The move came after Ya'alon was ousted by Netanyahu in favor of Avigdor Lieberman.
Following the appointment of Lieberman as Army Minister, Israeli right-wing groups sent letters to the new minister calling for expanding settlement construction and banning Palestinian building permits.
Israeli media sources revealed Tuesday that lawyers Itamar Ben-Gvi and Puntus Gofstein called on Lieberman to work for the release of the Israeli soldier who deliberately executed a Palestinian injured young man in al-Khalil.
Other right-wing groups called for stopping the “illegal EU-sponsored Palestinian construction in West Bank”, and expanding settlement construction. Avigdor Lieberman was born to a Russian-speaking family on 5 June 1958 in Kishinev, Soviet Union.
Lieberman and his family immigrated to Israel in 1978. A polarizing figure within Israeli politics, Lieberman is quoted as saying, "I've always been controversial because I offer new ideas. For me to be controversial, I think this is positive."
Lieberman has called for redrawing the border between Israel and the West Bank so that Israel would include large Jewish settlement blocs and the Palestinian state would include large Arab-Israeli population centers. He proposed that Israel's citizens should sign a loyalty oath or lose their right to vote.
In November 2006, Lieberman, who described Arab members of the Knesset that meet with Hamas as "terror collaborators", called for their execution: "World War II ended with the Nuremberg Trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset".
In January 2014, according to Haaretz, Lieberman said he would not support any peace agreement that did not include the exchange of Israeli Arab land and population. Lieberman stated: "I will not support any peace deal that will allow the return of even one Palestinian refugee to Israel."
Lieberman, one of Israel's most extremist politicians who publicly supports illegal settlement expansion, will take over as Army chief in place of former military chief Moshe Yaalon, who resigned earlier this week.
Wednesday's official signing of the deal comes after the coalition agreement was finalized during an overnight meeting between Netanyahu, Lieberman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) at Netanyahu's office in occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli Knesset will reconvene next Monday, when there will likely be a vote, followed by a swearing- in ceremony for Liberman and incoming Immigration and Absorption Minister Sofa Landver. The deal also includes an allocation of nearly NIS 1.5 billion for pensions for disadvantaged retirees.
Last week, Moshe Ya’alon declared his resignation from his ministerial position in the Israeli government and Knesset. In a statement issued Friday morning, Ya'alon said that he took the decision to leave "following the recent conduct" of Netanyahu, and "in light of my lack of faith in him."
The move came after Ya'alon was ousted by Netanyahu in favor of Avigdor Lieberman.
Following the appointment of Lieberman as Army Minister, Israeli right-wing groups sent letters to the new minister calling for expanding settlement construction and banning Palestinian building permits.
Israeli media sources revealed Tuesday that lawyers Itamar Ben-Gvi and Puntus Gofstein called on Lieberman to work for the release of the Israeli soldier who deliberately executed a Palestinian injured young man in al-Khalil.
Other right-wing groups called for stopping the “illegal EU-sponsored Palestinian construction in West Bank”, and expanding settlement construction. Avigdor Lieberman was born to a Russian-speaking family on 5 June 1958 in Kishinev, Soviet Union.
Lieberman and his family immigrated to Israel in 1978. A polarizing figure within Israeli politics, Lieberman is quoted as saying, "I've always been controversial because I offer new ideas. For me to be controversial, I think this is positive."
Lieberman has called for redrawing the border between Israel and the West Bank so that Israel would include large Jewish settlement blocs and the Palestinian state would include large Arab-Israeli population centers. He proposed that Israel's citizens should sign a loyalty oath or lose their right to vote.
In November 2006, Lieberman, who described Arab members of the Knesset that meet with Hamas as "terror collaborators", called for their execution: "World War II ended with the Nuremberg Trials. The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in the Knesset".
In January 2014, according to Haaretz, Lieberman said he would not support any peace agreement that did not include the exchange of Israeli Arab land and population. Lieberman stated: "I will not support any peace deal that will allow the return of even one Palestinian refugee to Israel."
