Tel-Chai Nation

So now, Avigdor Liberman's pushing for the idea of a national unity government, just to keep the Haredis out:

Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman said Saturday that after the upcoming elections he would force an “emergency” coalition with the Likud and Blue and White parties to block ultra-Orthodox parties from entering the government.

“We will impose a government with the Likud and Blue and White parties — it will be an emergency government, a liberal-national government. We will do everything to block the ultra-Orthodox; not to let them enter the government,” he told Channel 13 news.

Liberman, who used his party’s five seats to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from forming a coalition after the April 9 elections, is aiming to again be kingmaker or king-breaker after September’s elections. His call for an emergency government involving both Likud and Blue and White amounts to a demand for a government without Netanyahu — though he did not spell this out in Saturday’s interview — since Blue and White, under its leader Benny Gantz, has said it will not sit in a coalition with Netanyahu, who is facing indictment, pending a hearing, in three criminal cases.

Asked whether he would again recommend Netanyahu as prime minister, might recommend another candidate, or would seek to become prime minister himself, Liberman was non-committal. But in recommending Netanyahu after April’s elections, he specified, Yisrael Beytenu had been “committing to an agenda” which it then became clear the coalition Netanyahu sought to build would not have followed. Yisrael Beytenu, he said dryly, had not been “crowning” Netanyahu “for life.”

While I'd like to think this was altruistic, I honestly doubt it is, and considering the serious issue of Iran's nuclear warfare is still looming, that's why Lieberman's actions now are totally irresponsible.

A Likud, Blue and White, Yisrael Beytenu coalition, without the ultra-Orthodox, Liberman added in his Facebook post later Saturday, would represent the will of “an overwhelming majority of the citizens of Israel.” He also ruled out a coalition in which the far-right Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir would be present.

Why does Ben-Gvir suddenly matter? I don't think he's so great either, but it sounds an awful lot like Lieberman's just looking for more excuses to earn brownie points he doesn't deserve.

The Likud party responded to Liberman, saying: “The cat is out the bag — Liberman says explicitly that he is willing to go with [Blue and White No.2 Yair] Lapid and Gantz, and force the establishment of a leftist government. Anyone who wants a right-wing government must vote only for the Likud party, headed by Netanyahu.” [...]

Ben-Gvir slammed Liberman, saying he “once again proves that he is deep on the left, and lacks any ideological backbone.”

Well considering the shady involvement Lieberman once had with businessman Martin Schlaff, that's why at this point, he's no longer trustworthy.

The article points to a subject that does have some valid reasons for concern:

Last week the Kan public broadcaster reported that during the failed coalition talks a month ago, Netanyahu agreed to an ultra-Orthodox demand to allow for gender segregation in public spaces.

A leaked draft of Likud’s agreement with the Haredi United Torah Judaism party stated that “within 90 days the government will amend the law in such a way that it will be permissible to provide public services, public study sessions and public events in which men and women are separated. This separation will not constitute discrimination according to the law.”

The draft agreement also barred individuals from filing a civil suit against municipal organizers of such events on the grounds of gender discrimination.

Ultra-Orthodox groups have pressed in the past to have gender segregated events or facilities, like public transport, but the moves have been knocked down by the courts, which ruled it constituted discrimination.

While what's told about UTJ's demands is certainly offensive, the link happens to state that:

Responding to the report, Likud issued a statement saying that the agreement on the matter had not been finalized and that Netanyahu had sought during the coalition talks to soften the demand of Shas, UTJ, and the Union of Right Wing parties on issues of religion and state.

And it wouldn't do any good from a PR viewpoint to agree to any irrational demands, which, from what I can tell, were mainly brought about by UTJ, the party whose current leader, Yaakov Litzman, is under investigation by police for filing false medical reports for the sake of a sex offender. Something which, strangely enough, Lieberman and company haven't brought up as an issue, even though it's a most decidedly valid one.

On Saturday, Yisrael Beytenu MK Evgeny Sova condemned the army’s punishment of a soldier who put dairy and milk in the same fridge on a base, warning it could portend further religious strictures on troops.

“Today they forbid putting milk and meat together in the same fridge. Tomorrow they’ll forbid girls from enlisting in the army. In two days we’ll become the army for the defense of Jewish law,” Sova said.

Hey look, I can agree it's ridiculous to penalize a soldier over something that petty that otherwise doesn't do anybody physical harm. But Lieberman still hasn't shown any real signs he's doing this for altruistic reasons, and if he's willing to bring about a situation where the left could have some kind of dominance, that's also hugely dismaying. He's just not trustworthy, and the time's come to let it be known to him at the ballot box.

And like I may have noted before, the case of Iran's nuclear warfare is a far more pressing matter at the moment.

Labels: haredi corruption, iran, islam, Israel, jihad, Knesset, military, misogyny, Moonbattery, political corruption, terrorism