Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined forces yesterday with a hardline nationalist who is set to become defence minister, forming a government considered the most right-wing in the nation’s history.
Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party will add five lawmakers to Netanyahu’s previously wafer-thin majority if the coalition deal is given parliamentary approval as expected.
Lieberman, who has spoken of harsh measures against Palestinian attackers, will take over the key role of defence minister after being sworn in.
The two men, who have in the past been bitter rivals, announced the deal at a ceremony at parliament, with Lieberman pledging to be “balanced” and saying he was committed to “responsible, reasonable policy.”
Netanyahu said that “we are joining hands now to march Israel forward.”
The move to hand the defence ministry to the 57-year-old hardliner has sparked deep concern among Israeli centrist and left-wing politicians, as well as among some of Netanyahu’s Likud party colleagues.
Religious nationalists from the Jewish Home party already hold key cabinet positions in Netanyahu’s government.
Moshe Yaalon, a Likud member who resigned as defence minister on Friday and who has also served as armed forces chief, warned of a rising tide of extremism in the party and the country as a whole.
Former Labour prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak went further, saying Israel’s government “has been infected by the shoots of fascism.”
The Palestinian leadership condemned Lieberman’s move into the government.
“The existence of this government brings a real threat of instability and extremism in the region,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
Others say that Lieberman is above all a pragmatic politician who aspires to be prime minister one day, noting that he will face opposition from the security establishment if he seeks to carry out some of his most controversial ideas.
An example of his provocative style was recently on display in comments directed at Ismail Haniya, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip.
Lieberman said he would give Haniya 48 hours to hand over two detained Israeli civilians and the bodies of soldiers killed in a 2014 war “or you’re dead”.
In 2001, the former nightclub bouncer advocated bombing the Aswan Dam in Egypt, accusing Israel’s Arab neighbour of supporting a Palestinian uprising.
The deal brings to a stunning conclusion weeks of speculation over Netanyahu’s efforts to expand his government, which has held only 61 of the 120 seats in parliament since elections in March 2015.
Netanyahu had earlier engaged in negotiations with Labour party leader Isaac Herzog to join the government before turning to Lieberman instead.
Besides Lieberman becoming defence minister and another member of his party becoming immigrant absorption minister, the government agreed to allocate approximately 1.4bn shekels ($363mn) to pensions of elderly Israelis.

New Israeli govt ‘threat to regional stability’
The appointment of a hardline right-winger as Israel’s defence minister represents a “real threat” to regional stability, a senior Palestinian official said yesterday.
“The existence of this government brings a real threat of instability and extremism in the region,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said, adding that the appointment would “result in apartheid, racism and religious and political extremism.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed yesterday that Jewish settler Avigdor Lieberman would take over as defence minister, in which capacity he is responsible for implementing Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The choice of Lieberman represents an increase in the racism and extremism of the Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.


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