Significant turn to the right; Israel's left wing evaporates

Who in the world is Avigdor Lieberman? -Tori Cheifetz

To some, he is the Jörg Haider of Israel, to others, "the king-maker" - what's certain is that his success in the 2009 elections has made him the talk of the town.

After recognizing the fact that Israel does not yet have a prime minister, foreign news agencies worldwide in their analysis of Tuesday's elections could talk about only one thing: Israel's shift to the political right, spearheaded by Moldovan-born former nightclub-owner and chairman of Israel Beitenu, Avigdor Lieberman [pictured].

With a slogan of "No loyalty, no citizenship," Lieberman's party has, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "ridden on a wave of frustration" to become the third largest party in Israel. German daily Der Spiegel described the election results as indicative of "a lurch to the right" by the Israel public…
[Jerusalem Post]
{Note: In Israel "right" and "left" do not connote ones commitment to government social intervention. In fact, some of the most "right wing" folks in Israel support strong welfare-state interventions. Instead, those labels reflect the extent to which an Israeli is willing to cede land for peace, an increasingly irrelevant notion.}
*

Is Avigdor Lieberman a racist? -Abe Selig

"At least some Israeli Arabs, and surely many of their cousins in neighboring countries, do want to see Israel eliminated. So he's putting Israeli Arabs on the spot and saying, do you want to be loyal to the state and receive its benefits? And if not, he's saying that they will lose their citizenship. He's playing on the reality that is the Middle East. That's not racism," said Efraim Zuroff, famed Nazi hunter [with] the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Lieberman's loyalty oath would apply to haredi [ultra-Orthodox] Jews as well [some of whom are not Zionists].
[Jerusalem Post]
{Note: Considered somewhat of an enigma, Mr. Lieberman strongly supports ceding land to Arabs, a position usually associated with the "left." Thus, he has sat comfortably in the recent center-left government. Additionally, it should be noted that American school children recite a pledge of allegiance every day.}
*