MIDDLE EAST: Right-wing Israeli party, called "fascist" by a prominent lawmaker, is set to make gains in upcoming Israeli parliamentary election

Record ID: 751300

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Right-wing Israeli party, called "fascist" by a prominent lawmaker, is set to make gains in upcoming Israeli parliamentary election
  • Date: 6th February 2009
  • Summary: NAZARETH, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 2, 2009) (REUTERS) STREET, CARS PASSING VARIOUS OF CAMPAIGN SIGNS WITH PICTURES OF CANDIDATES
  • Embargoed: 21st February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2AVD6HZ69A4VPDQMQLGEB1OT3
  • Story Text: Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the ultra nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, will likely not be the next Israeli prime minister. He is not trying to be, but that doesn't mean he won't top many of the headlines after Israel's February 10 Israeli general elections.
    Lieberman's conservative rhetoric, often directed towards Israel's own Arab citizens, has been gaining traction among Israeli voters.

    "Israel is under combined terror attack from inside and outside the country. Internal terror is more dangerous than the external one, and we should understand that and react accordingly," Lieberman warned voters at a recent campaign event.
    According to recent polls, Yisrael Beiteinu has been gaining support ahead of the elections. Some polls shows that his party may earn the third largest representation in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. That could mean that Yisrael Beiteinu may out-gain former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Labour party.
    But despite Lieberman's effective campaign, his critics are firing back.
    Israeli-Arab political leaders, are accusing Yisrael Beiteinu of being "fascist."
    Ahmed Tibi, is an Israeli Arab lawmaker, who is also running for a Knesset seat.

    "Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman party who are leading the ticket of anti-Arab propaganda, especially anti the Arab members of the Knesset, myself also included in this attack, encouraging the feel of fear in the Israeli society exactly like every fascist party is behaving all over Europe, Avigdor Lieberman is the compatible of Le Pen and Jorg Haider,"
    Tibi said in a recent interview.
    Uzi Landau, the former Israeli minister of internal security, is running as the number two candidate on Israel Beiteinu's list. He says the campaign's blunt message is attracting voters.

    "People from left and right are coming to us simply because we are saying today, without mammering or apologising, what people feel deep in there heart, that we had gone little far with trying to live together with enemies within the state, but we have to be absolutely clear on that," Landau says.
    But Israeli Arabs like Tibi say Yisrael Beiteinu's rhetoric is what may have gone too far.

    "The main slogan of this party is talking about, 'no loyalty, no citizenship.' This is fascism. You cannot connect or say that citizenship is the depending on so-called loyalty - loyalty to what? To his opinions? To ideology? That, we can't accept," Tibi said recently.
    Yisrael Beiteinu supports a land-swap platform that would trade Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank for Isralei-Arab communities that are within Israel's 1967 borders.

    "We have Jewish community, Israeli communities, in Judea and Samaria that we are going to return to help, as will they will be annex to Israel. There will be areas, which will are highly populated by Arabs, that will be within the future borders of the Palestinian future state, if it will come into being after a peace agreement," Landau explains.
    But Israeli Arabs, like Tibi, with full Israeli citizenship and rights, reject the idea that their communities could be turned over to Palestinian control.

    "We are totally rejecting the ideology of this fascist party, which is mainly is transferring of the Arab citizens in the 'Triangle' (area) - Wadi Ara, other regions, to the Palestinian Authority," Tibi told Reuters.
    Israeli Arabs comprise about 20 percent of the Jewish state's population. They have three main parties represented in the parliament, currently with 10 out of the 120 seats. The Arab population in Israel is concentrated mainly in two areas - the Galilee region, and in the southern Negev desert.
    Some Israeli Arabs say Lieberman's influence has affected the economy in their communities.

    "Because he (Lieberman) calls the Jews not to visit Nazareth, and the Arabs, the situation of merchants became worse and worse. No Jews are coming to Nazareth on Saturdays."
    Other Israeli Arabs say Lieberman, and other social conservatives who came before him, have a detrimental affect on Arab-Jewish relations.

    "It will not change anything. Yisrael Beiteinu, and any other party like it. Kahane was before it. All these things are not serving the peace."
    But Lieberman's supporters say he presents the most effective path towards co-existence between Arabs and Jews.

    "I think he (Lieberman) wants peace in this country, and he believes that the way to bring the peace is to expel factors that are not loyal to the state," one supporters said.

    "Lieberman should be elected (to be the prime minister). If he is not, I wish he will have many mandates," another supporter said.
    Other more moderate right-wing parties have attacked Lieberman and his party, as well - not because of the content of his campaign, but because of his growing success in public opinion polls.
    Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, and frontrunner in the election, has attacked Lieberman for, "stealing votes."
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