Israel-Left, Center or Right
Feb 19th, 2009 by The Outsider
Far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for Israeli prime minister on Thursday, all but guaranteeing that Netanyahu will be the country’s next leader. I would say the people of Israel are leaning more to the right than center-left. It is now in the hands of President Shimon Perez.
“Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu Party finished third in the election, essentially allowing him to determine whether Netanyahu or his chief rival, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, would be able to muster the backing of a majority in parliament. If Peres names Netanyahu, then Netanyahu will have six weeks to work out a deal with other parties to create a coalition.”
“Lieberman told Peres that Netanyahu’s Likud Party should head the new government, but that he supports a broad coalition that includes Livni’s centrist Kadima Party as well.”
I suspect that including the Kadima party and Livni in this coalition is an attempt to appease Obama. It is difficult for me to understand how Livni and Netanyahu will come to any mutual agreements on how to go forward on the Palestinian and Israeli peace process. For peace to happen, there must be a desire for the Palestinian leadership to want peace. This is where I believe Netanyahu has the upper hand. He should have better ideas than Livni on how to force the Palestinians toward peace, especially if a military option seems to be the only option.
The other problem in Israeli politics is the prospect of Iran gaining ground on their nuclear weapons effort. This is very serious and poses some urgency for Israeli intelligence to keep Netanyahu and the US informed of any progress by Iran. Will Obama be as serious as Netanyahu in this effort? Can Israel trust Obama? Israel has a lot to lose by trusting this administration. Obama wants to appear friendly towards Israel and at the same time wants to appease the Muslim world. I see big conflicts between Israel and the US in the coming months and I’m not counting on S.O.S. Hillary to advance the cause of Israel. The story from FOX: