THE POLITICAL ANIMAL

Thousands may have been killed or wounded in the recent war between the Israeli Defense Forces and virgin-starved Palestinian fighters, but extremists on both sides have made a killing (no pun intended!) from the conflict. 

In the Arab camp, the terrorist group Hamas is more popular than ever among Palestinians, while the more moderate Fatah party is seen by many as obsolete at best, and treasonous at worst.

In the Israeli camp, right-wing politicians have taken advantage of the war to stoke the fires of anti-Arab sentiment among Jewish voters and drive their poll numbers up.

One such politician is Avigdor Lieberman. According to Richard Boudreaux of The Los Angeles Times, “Fueled by the political fallout from Israel’s recent offensive in the Gaza Strip, Lieberman has scored the biggest gains in the final week of the campaign. Polls published Friday show that his party, Israel Is Our Home, has climbed into third place. That means Lieberman, once a marginal provocateur on the extreme right, could well be the pivotal player as Israel forms a multiparty governing coalition after Tuesday’s election.”

If Lieberman does as well as expected on Election Night, the Israeli government is sure to move further to the right. With this development and the ascendancy of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, President Barack Obama’s hopes for establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East could be dealt a severe blow.

In plain English, this isn’t good, folks. The only positive thing about Lieberman’s momentum in the polls is that it’s sucked some of Likud Party candidate and front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu’s support among the voters. Thanks to Lieberman, Netanyahu’s lead over Foreign Minister and Kadima Party candidate Tzipi Livni has narrowed, “making the race too close to call.”

By the way, I have to take issue with Mr. Boudreaux’s description of Kadima as the “centrist” party. I find this claim to be highly dubious, given the presence of warmonger Ehud Olmert in that party and Ms. Livni’s earlier remark that the recent war in Gaza could “advance” the cause of Middle East Peace.

Getting back to Mr. Lieberman, the man is being denounced by rivals as a racist and a demagogue due to statements he has made on the campaign trial that some regard as anti-Arab. However, it is these very statements that have won Lieberman a great measure of popularity among Israel’s Jewish voters.

Not only has Mr. Lieberman railed against Israeli Arabs who displayed Hamas banners during antiwar demonstration within the Jewish State, he has also “called for outlawing Arab parties whose leaders — including the mayor and the member of parliament demonized in the video at the rally — condemned the Israeli offensive.

“Lieberman condemns such advocacy as treasonous,” Boudreaux reports.

“We are under a coordinated attack of terror from within and from without,” Lieberman declared Thursday night, drawing thunderous applause at the rally in this suburb of Haifa. “And the threats from within are even more dangerous.”

Lieberman, who has long advocated “swapping areas of Israel that are heavily populated by Arab citizens for parts of the West Bank that are populated by Jewish settlers,” is calling for an amendment to his country’s citizenship law that would require all Israelis “to sign an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state; accept its symbols, flag and anthem; and commit themselves to serving in the military or doing alternative service.”

”Anyone refusing to sign would lose citizenship rights, including the right to vote and to run for public office, but could remain in Israel on a residence permit,” Boudreaux adds.

By way of clearing up any potential misunderstandings, Avigdor Lieberman is NOT related to U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman. That the two men share the same last name as well as the belief that all of the planets and stars in our solar system revolve around Israel is just a coincidence.

Or is it??? (Insert Hillary-like cackling)

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