The unfaithful cannot be citizens. Avigdor Lieberman
Daniel Pipes hosted a Middle East Forum lunch earlier today in NYC with Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Avignor Lieberman which I was most privileged to attend. Founder of the Yisrael Beiteinu, holding 11 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Parliment, it is the 5th largest party in Israel. Second most popular political figure (Bibi Netanyahu leads), he is right of center -- the opposite of the weak, appeaser Olmert. More curious than anything else was I of how Lieberman could sanction the policies of the feckless Olmert government by being a part of it? Photo right: Avignor and Atlas
I respect Lieberman. Canceling a planned appearance at the Public Relations Council in New
York because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had spoken there two
months before was righteous indeed. I respect such action.
Lieberman's ministerial position deals primarily with the threat of Iran's developing nuclear program. And he insists that this is why he joined Olmert 's government -- to address the greatest threat confronting Israel.
“Ahmadinejad is not a rational player,” “Any attempt to pacify him is like before the second World War in Europe.”
Iran president: Israel will be wiped out
He began his remarks by saying that those who are not faithful to Israel cannot expect to have full rights. He would have Israelis to sign a commitment to loyalty to the Israeli flag and to its national anthem, and of requiring service in the army or other national service. Citizens who wouldn't sign the declaration could continue to live in Israel, working, studying, and getting health care benefits, but they could not vote in national elections or be elected to national office.
“It’s not racism. The test is loyalty, not their religion.”
He said he would also deny Israeli citizenship to extreme anti-Zionist Orthodox Jewish groups, specifically pointing to Neturei Karta, which sent representatives to this week’s Holocaust denial conference in Tehran.
Lieberman presented his solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
"Israel has the right to demand full allegiance from all its citizens. He who is not ready to recognize Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state, cannot be a citizen in the country. Of course, this is TREASON This applies to extremists of the Neturei Karta [anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews -Atlas] as well as to extremist factions of the Islamic Movement."
(Photo:This is Achmaninejad greeting Neturei Karta rep at his evil Holocaust denial conference of the 70 in Teheran the last two days. hat tip Mark G)
Israeli Arabs should be made to take a loyalty oath.
An oath of loyalty to the country, not a religion. We have the right to demand loyalty from all of our citizens......loyalty is the key to the problem
He railed against the Israeli Arab MKs for meeting Syrian and Lebanese officials and expressing their support for Hizbullah .
"It is unacceptable that a senator or a representative in the American house of representatives assist Afghanistan during the war and meet with Bin-Laden and al-Qaeda leaders, express his support for their war against the US and be allowed to return to serve in Congress,"
He has a vision for Israel. His plan for the peace process, referring to it as the "Oslo process", is based on "three false basic assumptions, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the cause of instability in the Middle East, that the conflict is territorial and not ideological, and that the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders will end the conflict."
“The conflict includes not only the Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, but Israeli Arabs also,” Mr. Lieberman said. “The linkage between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Arab population — it will destroy us, it is impossible. What is the logic of creating one and a half country for one people and a half country for the Jewish people.
To say that the conflict is based on territories is "nonsense." This is a "worldwide collusion" of civilization and Israel represents the the free world. Israel, 9/11, London, Madrid, Bali, ...... it is about values. Values based on human rights, women's rights..........why did no one in the Arab world speak out against the fatwa on Salman Rushdie?
"Phenomenon of the Minorities"
Lieberman contends that wherever there is conflict between two peoples E.G. Quebec vs Canada, Catholics vs Protestants (Ireland), etc...the best solution is separation. Separation between two nations. The best example being Cyprus. There was terrible friction, blood between the Greeks and the Turks before they separated in '74 and moved to opposing parts of the island. There was no peace agreement .......but the separation lead to stability.
The main issue for Palestinians is economy.
The main issue for Israel is security. "Without resolving this, we are destined to failed. Providing jobs is critical."
Now we take money from the poor people of rich countries and give to the rich people of poor countries.
He believes Israel should exchange territory for population. And does not believe that Abu Mazen is the right partner.
“I don’t think that Abu Mazen is the right partner. I think that he is the biggest obstacle,”. Lieberman said. “Abu Mazen, he is excellent for declaration, but when he must deliver the goods, he is incompetent.”
He correctly posits the Arab world exploits the conflicts within Israel and Israel should do the
same
"Why don't we use the conflicts existing between the Palestinians?"
Our biggest problems are Jews, not Arabs [laughter from the table]
"Every light in the Muslim world has been killed extinguished [IE Sadat] time and time again."
Lieberman says Iran is not Israel's problem (but if no one does anything is is invariably Israel's problem IMAO.) The world is embarking on the biggest nuclear Arab arms race. (Photo: Lieberman left, Pipes right)
Pacifying Iran will not work. Like Chamberlain.......everyone paid a terribly high price. Israel has the terrible location of being on the front lines of the collision.
Here is the audio for his full remarks:
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Here is the question and answer:
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UPDATE:
CLICK HERE TONIGHT'S ATLAS PODCAST: CAROLINE GLICK . We discuss Lieberman and all of it. All of it.
The NY Sun has more: Israel's Lieberman Calls for Tougher Stance on Israeli Arabs
Click below for the VLOG of Lieberman's remarks on Iran
UPDATE: Obviously, Lieberman is onto something;
Increasingly radical, Israeli Arabs want end to Zionist vision of state JTA
JERUSALEM, Dec. 11 (JTA) — Increasingly alienated from the Jewish state in the wake of the recent Lebanon war, Israeli Arabs have produced a radical document demanding cultural autonomy and the right to veto government decisions that concern them. The document, titled “The Future Vision of Palestinian Arabs in Israel,” could prove to be a watershed.
Drafted by representative mainstream organizations and not by extremists, it constitutes an unqualified rejection of the Zionist model of Israel as a Jewish state in which Israeli Arabs are integrated as equal citizens with full rights.
[...]
Instead, the document proposes a model of Israel as “the state of all its citizens,” in which two ethnic groups, Jews and Arabs, both enjoy a degree of autonomy in a binational state. That would be next to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would be entirely Arab.
The rift between the Jewish majority and Arab minority in Israel has been widening steadily for years. Pre-existing tensions between the two communities were exacerbated by the Oslo process, the lethal clashes between Israeli Arabs and police in October 2000 and, most recently, by the second Lebanon war.
A last-ditch attempt by moderates on both sides to draft a conciliatory Jewish-Arab covenant collapsed in 2001. The protocols of their meetings, released recently, show that the main sticking point was the Arab side’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
The new document takes this rejection further. It has eight chapters dealing with sensitive issues like land policy, economic development, education and the nature of the Israeli state. The drafters do not recognize Israel’s essential Jewishness, and see it instead as a “joint homeland” for Jews and Arabs. That paves the way for the Arab side to demand not only individual rights but rights as a group.
From this basic position, the drafters derive their insistence on cultural, religious and educational autonomy. It also underpins their demands for separate representation in international forums and a veto right on domestic issues that concern them as a group.
The significance is far reaching: Israel would forfeit its Jewish character. Indeed, the drafters of the document urge Israel to forego its Jewish symbols of state — for example, the flag with the Star of David and the“Hatikvah” anthem, which expresses the Jewish yearning through the ages for a return to Zion.
