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JERUSALEM -- A right-wing politician who is calling for the expulsion of Israel's Arab citizens looks set to score big gains in national elections here on Tuesday.
Avigdor Lieberman's party, called Yisrael Beiteinu, or Israel Is Our Home, is running a close third in current polls, which could make the Moldovan immigrant and former nightclub bouncer the kingmaker of Israeli politics when it comes time to negotiate a coalition government after the vote.
Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud Party and the current favorite to be Israel's next prime minister, has promised Mr. Lieberman will be an "important minister" in his government.
That could damp already dim hopes for a Mideast peace breakthrough anytime soon. Mr. Lieberman has vowed in his campaign to stop all peace negotiations, including those with the U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Lieberman rejects the principle of "land for peace" -- which calls for Israel to give Palestinians certain territories in exchange for a peace agreement -- that has anchored U.S. peace efforts in the Middle East for the past 30 years.
A central tenet in Mr. Lieberman's campaign is a proposal to redraw Israel's borders to transfer most of the country's 1.2 million Arab citizens to Palestinian control, in exchange for land in the West Bank occupied by Jewish settlers. He also wants to make it mandatory for Israeli citizens to take an oath of loyalty in order to get citizenship, the right to vote, and social services.
"Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without," the 50-year-old Mr. Lieberman said at an annual conference on national security Monday, north of Tel Aviv. Speaking Hebrew with a Russian accent, and occasionally making grammatical mistakes, he took aim at the country's Arab citizens, warning "the threat from within is more dangerous than the threat from outside."
Israeli politicians have long tried to woo voters with tough talk about the country's many enemies. What's notable about Mr. Lieberman, analysts say, is the degree to which he is vilifying Arab citizens, and the success he appears to be having doing it. Recent polls indicate his party will get as many as 19 seats in the country's 120-seat Knesset, up from its current 11 and just shy of the 26 forecast for the Likud Party, which leads the polls.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's ruling centrist Kadima Party, which now holds 29 seats, is polling a close second to Likud. Meanwhile, Ehud Barak's traditionally pro-peace Labor party, with 18 seats now, could win as few as 13 seats.
"For many years we said to ourselves that we don't hate, that hatred is something the others do," says Israeli historian and author Tom Segev. "This has changed now. It has become legitimate to hate the Arabs. It is an indication of just how far to the right Israel has moved."
Israeli voters have been shifting to the right since the collapse of Mideast peace talks at Camp David in 2000 and a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that followed.
Mr. Lieberman's anti-Arab platform is by no means new to Israeli politics. In 1984, an American-born rabbi named Meir Kahane was elected to the Knesset on a similar platform, but was declared racist by the government the following year and banned from competing in future elections.
This time, however, the country's politicians appear to be echoing Mr. Lieberman's bellicose rhetoric. Ms. Livni said in December that if elected she would tell Israel's Arab citizens "your national aspirations lie elsewhere," comments widely interpreted as an endorsement of Mr. Lieberman's plan to transfer Israel's Arabs to Palestinian control.
Israel's Arab minority has full citizenship rights, and has traditionally been held up as evidence of Israel's strong democratic roots. Recently, however, some Arab politicians in Israel have made provocative statements in support of Hamas and attacks against Israel.
Peace advocates haven't lost all hope at the prospect of a government anchored by Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Lieberman, whose party will likely be needed to reach the minimum of 61 seats for a ruling coalition. They point out that it was the country's right wing that secured most of the significant peace breakthroughs, including the Camp David Peace Accords with Egypt in 1978, the Madrid peace talks in 1991, and the withdrawal from Gaza in 2004.
"If there is an American administration that is proactive, then there is a chance to do something," said Yossi Beilin, a leading Israeli peace activist.
Mr. Lieberman emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in 1978 at the age of 20 and joined the Likud Party as a student. After working briefly as a bouncer in a nightclub, he eventually aligned himself with Mr. Netanyahu and became chief of staff, a position he held onto when Mr. Netanyahu became prime minister in 1996.
In 1999, Mr. Lieberman broke from Likud and established his own party, Yisrael Beiteinu. As an immigrant, he quickly attracted support from the country's Russian community and won a seat in parliament that same year.
As he has staked out positions far to the right of other Israeli parties, his support has grown.
"I like his idea that without loyalty you can't be a citizen in this country," says Mariam Tal, a 32-year-old kindergarten teacher in Jerusalem who voted for Kadima in the last elections but supports Mr. Lieberman's party today. "I am tired of the same candidates every year and so I'm ready to try someone new."
Anti-Arab Israeli Party Surges - WSJ.com
Avigdor Lieberman's party, called Yisrael Beiteinu, or Israel Is Our Home, is running a close third in current polls, which could make the Moldovan immigrant and former nightclub bouncer the kingmaker of Israeli politics when it comes time to negotiate a coalition government after the vote.
Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud Party and the current favorite to be Israel's next prime minister, has promised Mr. Lieberman will be an "important minister" in his government.
That could damp already dim hopes for a Mideast peace breakthrough anytime soon. Mr. Lieberman has vowed in his campaign to stop all peace negotiations, including those with the U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Lieberman rejects the principle of "land for peace" -- which calls for Israel to give Palestinians certain territories in exchange for a peace agreement -- that has anchored U.S. peace efforts in the Middle East for the past 30 years.
A central tenet in Mr. Lieberman's campaign is a proposal to redraw Israel's borders to transfer most of the country's 1.2 million Arab citizens to Palestinian control, in exchange for land in the West Bank occupied by Jewish settlers. He also wants to make it mandatory for Israeli citizens to take an oath of loyalty in order to get citizenship, the right to vote, and social services.
"Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without," the 50-year-old Mr. Lieberman said at an annual conference on national security Monday, north of Tel Aviv. Speaking Hebrew with a Russian accent, and occasionally making grammatical mistakes, he took aim at the country's Arab citizens, warning "the threat from within is more dangerous than the threat from outside."
Israeli politicians have long tried to woo voters with tough talk about the country's many enemies. What's notable about Mr. Lieberman, analysts say, is the degree to which he is vilifying Arab citizens, and the success he appears to be having doing it. Recent polls indicate his party will get as many as 19 seats in the country's 120-seat Knesset, up from its current 11 and just shy of the 26 forecast for the Likud Party, which leads the polls.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's ruling centrist Kadima Party, which now holds 29 seats, is polling a close second to Likud. Meanwhile, Ehud Barak's traditionally pro-peace Labor party, with 18 seats now, could win as few as 13 seats.
"For many years we said to ourselves that we don't hate, that hatred is something the others do," says Israeli historian and author Tom Segev. "This has changed now. It has become legitimate to hate the Arabs. It is an indication of just how far to the right Israel has moved."
Israeli voters have been shifting to the right since the collapse of Mideast peace talks at Camp David in 2000 and a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that followed.
Mr. Lieberman's anti-Arab platform is by no means new to Israeli politics. In 1984, an American-born rabbi named Meir Kahane was elected to the Knesset on a similar platform, but was declared racist by the government the following year and banned from competing in future elections.
This time, however, the country's politicians appear to be echoing Mr. Lieberman's bellicose rhetoric. Ms. Livni said in December that if elected she would tell Israel's Arab citizens "your national aspirations lie elsewhere," comments widely interpreted as an endorsement of Mr. Lieberman's plan to transfer Israel's Arabs to Palestinian control.
Israel's Arab minority has full citizenship rights, and has traditionally been held up as evidence of Israel's strong democratic roots. Recently, however, some Arab politicians in Israel have made provocative statements in support of Hamas and attacks against Israel.
Peace advocates haven't lost all hope at the prospect of a government anchored by Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Lieberman, whose party will likely be needed to reach the minimum of 61 seats for a ruling coalition. They point out that it was the country's right wing that secured most of the significant peace breakthroughs, including the Camp David Peace Accords with Egypt in 1978, the Madrid peace talks in 1991, and the withdrawal from Gaza in 2004.
"If there is an American administration that is proactive, then there is a chance to do something," said Yossi Beilin, a leading Israeli peace activist.
Mr. Lieberman emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet republic of Moldova in 1978 at the age of 20 and joined the Likud Party as a student. After working briefly as a bouncer in a nightclub, he eventually aligned himself with Mr. Netanyahu and became chief of staff, a position he held onto when Mr. Netanyahu became prime minister in 1996.
In 1999, Mr. Lieberman broke from Likud and established his own party, Yisrael Beiteinu. As an immigrant, he quickly attracted support from the country's Russian community and won a seat in parliament that same year.
As he has staked out positions far to the right of other Israeli parties, his support has grown.
"I like his idea that without loyalty you can't be a citizen in this country," says Mariam Tal, a 32-year-old kindergarten teacher in Jerusalem who voted for Kadima in the last elections but supports Mr. Lieberman's party today. "I am tired of the same candidates every year and so I'm ready to try someone new."
Anti-Arab Israeli Party Surges - WSJ.com
