Haaretz exclusive: Avigdor Lieberman was member of outlawed radical Kach movement

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman was once a member of the outlawed far-right party Kach, the movement's former secretary general revealed on Tuesday.

Yossi Dayan said he issued Lieberman, a prime ministerial candidate whose current electoral campaign against Israeli Arabs has sparked outrage, with a membership card for the party. Kach was banned from running for the Knesset in 1988 for inciting to racism.

"I don't recall to what extent he was active in the movement, but if he denies, I am ready to testify in any forum that Lieberman was indeed a member for a short amount of time," said Dayan.

Israel's most recognizable television anchor, Haim Yavin, on Monday branded Lieberman as "Kahane's successor," a reference to the murdered extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, who headed Kach movement."

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Kach, Kahane Chai (Israel, extremists)

"Kach is a hard-line Israeli militant group that advocates for the expulsion of Arabs from the biblical lands of Israel. The U.S. State Department listed it as a terrorist organization in 1994. Kach, as well as the splinter group Kahane Chai, condones violence as a viable method for establishing a religiously homogenous state. The group has not staged a large terrorist attack since 1994, although people affiliated with the groups have been arrested for “low-level attacks” since 2000, according to the State Department’s 2006 Country Report. In 2006 a U.S. Federal Court upheld that Kach was rightly listed as a terrorist organization in an appeal."

http://www.cfr.org/publication/9178/

[madrchsod]

1. is that a surprise?

i hope the citizens of israel reject these right wing opportunists. they are only in it for themselves not for the people of israel.

[Howardx]

7. they wont

the israeli people want what lieberman wants.

[LeftishBrit]

8. Some do; but a majority vote for less extreme parties

Even Likud are bad enough but not as bad as Avigdor Liebermans' party.

[oberliner]

9. Totally disagree

Lieberman's party will come in 4th in the elections and hopefully will be shut out of whatever governing coalition is formed.

[Howardx]

10. yes

his rising poll numbers clearly indicate a loss and a rejection by the israeli public :sarcasm:

[LeftishBrit]

12. If current polls hold, his party will get 17 to 18 out of 120 seats

That's too many, but is hardly a majoriy or a ringing endorsement.

[Howardx]

13. it should be interesting

to watch the du pro israelis scurry around trying to think up justifications for leibermans presence in the govt.

[oberliner]

14. He was already part of the government from 2006-2007 nt

[Howardx]

15. thats right

i remember a number of racist comments he made at the time about arab israelis. i believe at the time the meme around here was that he was "fringe" and didnt represent most israelis. its gonna be hard to use that one again if his popularity is growing.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Doesn't remotely surprise me...

He is a hard-right type of the BNP/LePen variety, and I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him.

[bemildred]

3. Lieberman Rises in Polls, Likud Scared, Ketzaleh Challenges Both

(IsraelNN.com) MK Avigdor Lieberman’s party, Yisrael Beiteinu, is gaining significantly in pre-election polls at the expense of the Kadima and Labor parties, yet it’s the Likud that’s running scared.

Two polls taken early this week by the Maagar Mohot (Brain Base) Survey Institute show that the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party has gained tremendously in the polls. If elections were held now, these polls show, the party would receive 17-18 seats – compared to only 10 seats in three polls taken a month ago.

---

Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz, head of the Ichud HaLeumi (National Union) party, has come out strongly against Lieberman. “He is yet likely to recommend that Tzipi Livni, and not Netanyahu, be the one to form the government,” Katz said over the weekend.

“Lieberman will divide Jerusalem,” Ketzaleh warns, “and has expressed willingness to give up neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. He talks right-wing before the elections, but the fact is that he was a member of the Olmert government. Our party not only speaks right-wing, but we also act right-wing.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129750

[LeftishBrit]

4. I suppose one of the few good things about the situation..

is that the factionalism on the Right may damage its chances. Not as much as it would in many places, however, given that even quite small factions get representation in the Israeli parliamentary system.

I don't generally trust Israel National News as a source; but will concede that they probably do know their right-wingers!

[bemildred]

5. I doubt there is anything good about the situation.

I don't distinguish much among news sources, I get in trouble here for that once in a while. I assume INN doesn't put things in quotes unless the party indicated actually said or wrote the quoted comments. It is certainly true that they have a high noise factor, but so do most news sources these days, some a bit worse than others of course.

The primary thing that strikes me about the election is how frantic they all seem, just by way of comparison with the imperturbable Mr Obama. Who would you want running your country, a collection of frantic loons, or someone smart, well-informed, and unflappable? But clearly, that won't get you elected in Israel right now.

[IndianaGreen]

6. The Russians will vote for him!

Makes one long for the return of the KGB, doesn't it?

[Scurrilous]

11. 'Veteran Israelis, not just olim, lift Lieberman in polls'

<snip>

"On the eve of the 2006 general elections, Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu Party held just three seats in the Knesset and was seen as little threat to the traditional powerhouses that had dominated the Knesset for decades.

But now, with just over a week before the 2009 elections, Lieberman's party is poised to become the third-largest in the country, surpassing the Labor party with 16 projected mandates and a Knesset list that runs the gamut from former models to former ambassadors.

So how has this party, often dismissed by its critics as a populist fluke, risen from its humble beginnings as a party for Russian immigrants to a full-blown political juggernaut?

"I think the Israeli voter respects our honesty," former ambassador to the US and current Israel Beiteinu Knesset candidate Danny Ayalon told the The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. "What we offer is a very direct, logical platform that caters to the voters' common sense, and I think more and more people are waking up to that."

If the polls are any indication, Ayalon is right. Nearly every survey taken in recent weeks has charted Israel Beiteinu's consistent rising star, moving in on the Labor Party for the No. 3 spot in the government and wooing more Israeli voters than ever before.

"If they can hold on to their momentum, Israel Beiteinu will be the biggest election surprise of 2009," pollster Rafi Smith of the Rafi Smith Institute told the Post. "Even before (Operation Cast Lead), they had good signals going for them, but during the war they received a huge boost."

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[Idealism]

16. Baruch Goldstein was a member of the racist Kach party

until he massacred dozens of Palestinian worshipers at the Cave of the Patriarchs. That event, and Kach's praise of his actions, led to their expulsion from the Knesset.