Israel had an election that moved the country markedly to the right. I have been wrong about politics in Israel and in Palestine. This time, I want to be careful. The Israeli politicians attempting to form a new government now have to deal with
Avigdor Lieberman [picture], leader of the Israel Beiteinu ("Israel is our home") party which came in an alarming third, behind Tzipi Livni’s Kadima and behind Likud, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, the likely next prime minister. Lieberman favors a sharper division between Jews and Arabs that would push Israeli citizen Arabs out of Israel into Palestine. It sounds awful—like apartheid, with echoes of Judenfrei Nazi Germany.
The Israeli press doesn’t seem so horrified, sort of treating Lieberman as a politician who knows how to win votes. Nevertheless, there is discussion of the coalition that would work best for the U.S. under the circumstances—one headed by Netanyahu and including Labor (Ehud Barak) along with Kadima, and pointedly leaving out Lieberman and the smaller right-wing and religious parties. At least this slightly moderate option is under consideration.
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