Current Events, Political

Somebody has to have a conscience

On the Israeli cabinet’s inclusion of the far right Israel Beiteinu Party in the ruling coalition (From XINHUA Online: Israeli parliament okays inclusion of extreme-right party)

Shortly after the cabinet’s approval of Israel Beiteinu’s entry into coalition, Israeli Science, Technology, Culture, and Sports Minister Ophir Pines-Paz announced his resignation from the government in protest of the decision.

Speaking at a press conference held on Monday, Pines-Paz said that there had been no other option left to him in the wake of the cabinet vote, adding that he had fought as hard as he could against Lieberman’s inclusion in the government and had resigned for reasons of conscience.

Pines-Paz, a member of the left-wing Labor Party, was the only cabinet member to vote against the inclusion of Lieberman. He also revealed at the conference that he would ran for the leadership of the Labor Party in later elections, adding that Labor’s leadership should be replaced.

Lieberman, 48, has long taken a tough line towards the Palestinians as well as Israel’s own Arab minority.

Lieberman’s hawkish policy can also be seen from his attitude towards Iran, an Islamic country that had sworn the wipe-off of Israel from Middle East map.

Last Monday, shortly after signing the entry agreement with Olmert, Lieberman said that “the big issue now is the Iranian threat, and I don’t want to think about what would happen in a year or two if we don’t deal with it now.”

Lieberman has also called for stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and bombing Palestinian population centers, which made him one of Israel’s most divisive figures.

Let’s see, in Israel calling for the execution of lawmakers and the bombing of population centers makes you divisive. In other places I think it makes you criminally insane, a terrorist, or a mass murderer.