For your perusal, my latest INTO THE FRAY column:
Liberman-A dove in hawk’s feathers?
(Kindly consider “liking”, sharing, tweeting – please use hash-tag #IntoFray)
The perception of Liberman as an abrasive hardliner is due more to his blunt statements regarding the loyalty of Israeli-Arabs, rather than to any territorial intransigence regarding the Palestinian question.
It appears this week on the following sites (in alphabetical order):
ALGEMEINER: https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/10/defense-minister-avidgor-lieberman-a-dove-in-hawks-feathers/
ISRAELI FRONTLINE: http://www.israelifrontline.com/2017/03/fray-liberman-dove-hawks-feathers.html
ISRAEL NATIONAL NEWS: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20262
ISRAEL NEWS ONLINE: https://israelnewsonline.org/into-the-fray-liberman-a-dove-in-hawks-feathers/
ISRAEL’S VOICE: http://www.israelsvoice.org/2017/03/10/fray-liberman-dove-hawks-feathers
ISRAPUNDIT: http://www.israpundit.org/archives/63621847
MEDIUM: https://medium.com/@martinsherman/into-the-fray-liberman-a-dove-in-hawks-feathers-4502ceae31ca#.g1ttdphlp
JEWSDOWNUNDER: http://jewsdownunder.com/2017/03/09/fray-liberman-dove-hawks-feathers/
JEWISH PRESS: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/columns/into-the-fray-martin-sherman/into-the-fray-liberman-a-dove-in-hawks-feathers/2017/03/12/
A brief excerpt:
“Anyone who wants to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria needs to understand that such a step will bring immediate repercussions from the new US government…We received a direct – not indirect – message: ‘Apply sovereignty and you will be cutting ties with the new government.’ – Defense Minister, Avigdor (Yvette) Liberman, March 5, 2017
“We do not want to turn our friends into enemies…[John] Kerry …is a true friend of Israel and he is leading the process correctly.” -Foreign Minister, Avigdor (Yvette) Liberman, February 7, 2015
[Liberman] has been quite specific in declaring his readiness to cede territory. As foreign minister he clearly professed his willingness to toe the leftist line of land-for-peace stating: “When there is a dispute between the unity of the nation or the unity of the land, the nation’s unity is more important…I’m willing to give up territory in the name of national unity.”…Curiously, he never seems to consider calling on the left-leaning doves to forgo their disastrously disproved concessionary dogma in order to attain the desired goal of unity. For some reason, he seems to assume that it must be the hawks who will have to give way to the doves to achieve that — despite the lessons of the past….
…Liberman’s credentials as a hardline hawk have always been a little questionable. He has not only been amenable to relinquishing significant parts of Judea-Samaria to a putative Palestinian state, but has advocated transferring parts of pre-1967 Israel …to Palestinian rule, in exchange for large settlement blocs across the Green Line…
Perhaps the time has come to call Liberman out for what he really is: A dove in hawk’s feathers…”
