Liberman: Arab MK ‘must be thrown out of Knesset Mazal Mualem/Al-Monitor/December 23/15
With the Israeli flag behind him, Yisrael Beitenu Chair Avigdor Liberman holds up a red-lettered banner screeching, “Throw Haneen Zoabi out of the Knesset — now!” in the opening of the video clip launching Liberman’ new public campaign. The tacky-looking clip, filmed in the party chairman’s office in the Knesset, is designed to bring about the removal from Israel’s parliament of both Arab Knesset member Zoabi and her Balad Party, one of the Arab parties that makes up the Joint List.
With no special effects or sophisticated graphics, in front of a shaky camera, Liberman addresses the public while grasping the sign in both hands. He calls on listeners to pressure Knesset members and ministers — mainly from right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties — to support a bill he proposed, nicknamed the “Zoabi law.”
In his characteristic combative manner, Liberman briefly explains that the objective of the new bill is to strip the High Court of Justice of its authority to overturn decisions by the Central Elections Committee. The committee has the power to disqualify lists and candidates from running in the Knesset’s general elections. Under the current law, the decisions of the committee must be confirmed by the court. Prior to the two last election campaigns, the High Court overturned the committee’s decisions to disqualify Zoabi’s candidacy based on claims that she had supported terror.
Liberman ends the clip with, “If you support my position, like and share. Haneen Zoabi must be thrown out of the Knesset, once and for all.”
From a political point of view, there is something refreshing in the former foreign minister’s belligerent act. Liberman heads a party that almost disappeared in the last elections, and now he fights from the depths of the opposition against his former partner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Liberman begins this campaign from a position of weakness, as he has no official position in the Knesset and heads a shrunken party that was severely affected by corruption investigations. After years of being accustomed to sitting pretty in the foreign minister’s seat, Liberman has been trying to reinvent himself in recent months.
Despite postelection assessments that Liberman would hurry to join Netanyahu’s government, he surprised everyone by staying out. After the government had been cobbled together, Liberman was expected to prefer to leave political life rather than lead a small faction in the opposition wilderness. But he remained to fight, and since then has consistently tried to topple Netanyahu from the premiership.
On Dec. 19, Liberman participated in a “cultural Shabbat” event in the town of Ness Ziona. Yedioth Ahronoth reported in its print edition that he repeated his appraisal that elections would be held in 2016, expressly committed himself not to join the government or contribute to any of Netanyahu’s attempts to form a large right-wing party and concluded with sharp criticism of the government.
“This is not a right-wing or nationalist government but an opportunistic one, which is concerned solely with its own survival,” he said. Liberman exploited the event to mention his “Zoabi law” and emphasized that Netanyahu’s government opposes the bill.
Meanwhile, polls show that Liberman is recovering and gathering strength. Ever since the eruption of the current wave of violence in October, Liberman has been leading public-opinion polls as the person who would know better than anyone else how to cope with terror. He garners more support than even Netanyahu. Recent opinion polls show that Yisrael Beitenu is making a comeback, testifying to the former foreign minister succeeding in finding a new space within Israeli politics.
Liberman is very far from enjoying the public status he held in the period of the previous government, when he was mentioned more than once as a possible candidate for the premiership, under certain political scenarios. But that was before the corruption investigation into several Yisrael Beitenu higher-ups — an inquiry that toppled numerous politicians including former Deputy Interior Minister Faina Kirshenbaum, who had been Liberman’s strongwoman and operational arm in the party. This blow came three months before the last elections, terrible timing for Yisrael Beitenu. The investigation almost totally destroyed the party’s campaign, directed at the liberal right-center.
At the time, Liberman talked about diplomatic compromises and Ariel Sharon-type pragmatism, and there were quite a few buyers of this line in the political center. But the corruption affair forced Liberman to change his campaign a moment before the elections, as the party’s electorate was extremely put off. The Yisrael Beitenu chairman then returned to his element and waged a campaign against Arab-Israelis with racist overtones. Liberman fought for every vote, aggressive and brazen, and managed to survive. Under such circumstances, the six mandates he ultimately received were an achievement.
Since then, Liberman clings to this public line, which seems to enjoy a considerable following. He no longer talks about diplomatic compromises but cleaves to nationalistic messages, attacks against Arab Knesset members and stinging, combative slogans on the war against terror. Liberman also uses the secular-civil agenda in appealing to the Russian public that is still faithful to him. On Dec. 21, he announced at a Yisrael Beitenu faction meeting that next week he will submit a bill that would allow municipal rabbis to deal with conversion, thus easing the conversion process for those interested.
“How can it be that municipal rabbis are authorized to conduct weddings, issue Kashrut certificates to businesses, yet be deprived of [authority over] only one issue: conversion? Therefore we’ll bring up the law of municipal rabbis again regarding their powers in dealing with conversion. Then we’ll see again how this coalition will vote.” This bill was designed to embarrass Netanyahu’s government and show the Russian secular community that Liberman is still their man in the Knesset.
Liberman is a rather active oppositionist. He responds to almost anything connected to the war on terror, foreign policy, religion and state — all the new-old banners he waves. He castigated the emerging Israel-Turkey agreement from almost every platform, claiming that it will inflict diplomatic damage on Israel.
“Opportunism is not a substitute for prudent and wise diplomacy,” Liberman said. “Erdogan heads a radical Islamic regime. The Turks trade with the Islamic State.”
At this stage, it is unclear where Liberman’s current campaign will lead him and whether — despite his recurring denials — he will ultimately join Netanyahu’s coalition before the next elections. What is certain is that the chairman of Yisrael Beitenu has succeeded in halting the political collapse he and his party had faced. Instead, Liberman has created positive momentum and has reinvented himself as a political alternative in the nationalist right. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/israel-liberman-yisrael-beiteinu-political-revival-militant.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+[English]&utm_campaign=072959ea68-December_23_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-072959ea68-102494681
Will PA security turn on Israel?
Ahmad Abu Amer/Al-Monitor/December 23/15
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel is convinced that new developments are about to take place in the West Bank, especially after the killing of Mazen Arabia, a Palestinian intelligence officer accused of opening fire at the Hizma military checkpoint, northeast of Jerusalem, injuring an Israeli soldier Dec. 3.
According to the Arutz Sheva, Arabia approached the checkpoint, pulled out his weapon and started shooting at the soldiers, who responded in kind. Meanwhile, no Palestinian party has confirmed the incident, as the area in which the shooting happened is controlled by Israel.
This incident, the first of its kind during the uprising in the Palestinian territories, sparked Israeli concerns that other armed Palestinian security officers will engage in similar acts. Therefore, the Israeli government rejected the recommendations of the Israel Defense Forces on Nov. 25 to supply the Palestinian security apparatus with weapons and ammunition to be used to control the situation in the West Bank and face any security developments stirred by Palestinian protesters.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported Dec. 5 that the Palestinian security forces have been very concerned following the Hizma checkpoint incident. According to the newspaper, the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus informed Israel of its intention to investigate the incident and take all necessary measures to prevent such an occurrence. Maj. Gen. Adnan al-Damiri, the PA’s security services spokesman, denied these statements to Al-Monitor.
The Yedioth Ahranoth article stated that the PA’s security apparatus will open an immediate investigation into the incident and closely monitor its members internally to thwart any potential military operation against Israel. Meanwhile, the security leadership agreed to arrest anyone attempting to carry out such acts on the grounds that containing the security situation is a top Palestinian interest, according to the newspaper.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Damiri accused Israel of practicing “incitement against the Palestinian security services for many years. This has been happening in the media, while delivering a distorted image of these services to the Western and foreign public. Israel has been also storming into cities under Palestinian control without any prior warning or coordination with the Palestinian side, which has been an acute embarrassment for the Palestinian security forces, as they appeared in the eyes of Palestinian citizens unable to prevent such incursions.”
As for the Hizma checkpoint incident, Damiri said the Israeli security services were the ones who announced Arabia’s death without involving the Palestinian security forces in any investigation. He also stressed that the narrative concerning incidents in which Palestinian citizens are shot by the Israeli army are one-sided accounts, with no other party to confirm or deny them. According to him, Israel is making up pretexts to kill Palestinians and refuses to involve the Palestinian security apparatus in the investigations of these incidents.
Damiri believes that Israel is trying to find excuses to destroy Palestinian institutions as it did back in 2002, during the military invasion of the West Bank after the bombings by Palestinian factions from the West Bank. Israel has been also refusing to allow the PA to receive military equipment and weapons donated by many Arab countries and Russia. Notably, 50 armored vehicles donated by Russia are still in Jordan, as is other equipment not considered military combat gear, such as bulletproof vests.
Damiri stressed that the security services are regular forces and not militias, taking orders from the Palestinian political body — the PA command and the government — with one goal: the protection of Palestinian citizens by all means available. The Palestinian security services ensure security and order and solve conflicts between the inhabitants of the West Bank cities, yet officers remain in their headquarters when the Israeli military raids a city.
A Palestinian security officer told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that anger toward the Israeli practices against Palestinians has been mounting lately among the Palestinian security officers, especially with the high rate of executions of Palestinians accused of stabbing attacks.
He added that security officers also have been refraining from shooting into the air during the funerals of their relatives killed by Israeli bullets, for fear of punishment. He also stressed that his colleagues do not even express in private conversations the desire to take retaliatory actions against the Israeli forces.
In the same vein, several Israeli political analysts have said that the PA’s security apparatus has begun to disintegrate and that the Hizma checkpoint incident is a turning point and the beginning of the PA’s collapse.
Avi Issacharoff, a reporter for the Israeli news site Walla, raised questions about the PA’s refraining from condemning the incident in his article published Dec. 8. “Is the PA no longer against the operations by members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its security forces?” he asked, stressing that Israel fears that members of the Palestinian security forces will start conducting individual operations, which would lead to further killings in the ranks of Israelis.
Issacharoff added that these security officers are likely to participate in the popular outburst of protests as the killings continue and their relatives are shot by the Israeli military. He stressed that these actions, should they happen, would be carried out individually and not on the orders of the PA, which does not wish to escalate matters with Israel.
Palestinian political analyst Talal Okal agrees, telling Al-Monitor that the Palestinian security officers’ involvement is likely at an individual level.
Okar also said that Israel’s fears remain centered on incitement against the PA’s security apparatus as it searches for justification for greater use of military force against the young Palestinians taking part in the protests.
Ultimately, the actual engagement of the Palestinian security forces in the ongoing protests against Israel remains limited to its regular daily tasks of ensuring security and order and solving conflicts between inhabitants. This responsibility includes protecting Palestinian hospitals. An Israeli security unit stormed al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron on Nov. 12, killing one citizen and kidnapping another and prompting Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to order the security forces to provide protection to hospitals. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/israel-kills-palestinian-intelligence-reaction.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+[English]&utm_campaign=072959ea68-December_23_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-072959ea68-102494681
