Israel defence minister quits and blames Netanyahu of fanning extremism

[garbon]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-defence-minister-resigns-spat-netanyahu-063033708.html

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon resigned on Friday, charging that extremists had taken over the country after he clashed repeatedly with hardline ministers over the army's handling of Palestinian violence.

Yaalon said he no longer had any trust in Benjamin Netanyahu after the prime minister offered his post to a hardliner loathed by the Palestinians, in a bid to expand the governing coalition's majority.

The surprise move by the respected former armed forces chief comes after a series of disputes over the military's values and role in society between ministers in Netanyahu's government and top generals backed by Yaalon.

"I told the prime minister this morning that due to his conduct in recent developments, and in light of my lack of trust in him, I am resigning from the government and Knesset (parliament) and taking a break from political life," Yaalon said on Twitter.

His resignation comes two days after former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said he would be open to bringing his far-right Yisrael Beitenu party into Netanyahu's governing coalition if a number of conditions were met, including being named defence minister.

That condition looked likely to be met as Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party pressed talks with Yisrael Beitenu on Friday on the terms of a deal to boost the coalition's wafer-thin majority in parliament.

Yaalon's resignation does not take effect for two days and, hours after it was announced, he used the podium of the defence ministry to deliver an impassioned tirade against the extremism that he said was gripping the Likud party and the country as a whole.

"Unfortunately extremist and dangerous elements have taken over Israel and the Likud and are threatening (society)," he said.

"This isn't the Likud I joined," he added, calling on the "sane majority" of Likud voters as well as the rest of the nation "to realise the severe implications of the extremist takeover of the centre, and fight this phenomenon."

Yaalon said he had worked harmoniously with Netanyahu in the past, but recently "found himself in serious dispute over professional and moral issues with the prime minister, a number of ministers and lawmakers."

Within the government Yaalon had been an outspoken defender of the army's handling of an upsurge of Palestinian violence since last October against criticism from hardline ministers and lawmakers.

- Sane and balanced voice -

He had also insisted on senior officers' right to "speak their mind" after deputy armed forces chief Major General Yair Golan enraged Netanyahu by comparing contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany.

Yaalon accused the prime minister of political opportunism in offering Lieberman his job in a bid to add a few seats to the coalition's majority in parliament.

"Leaders should show the way with values.. not be dragged for electoral reasons and over polls," he said.

Centre-left opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli said Yaalon's departure deprived the country of a voice of moderation.

"We lost a sane and balanced voice in the dangerous and deranged right-wing government Netanyahu is leading," she said.

President Reuven Rivlin, known for having a difficult relationship with Netanyahu, said he was "greatly saddened" by Yaalon's resignation, which he called "understandable, and even appropriate" under the political circumstances.

Ironically, Yaalon's resignation will move the Likud parliamentary party further to the right as his seat will be taken by religious hardliner Yehuda Glick, who is next on the party list.

The 50-year-old US-born rabbi is an outspoken campaigner for a change to rules governing Jerusalem's most sensitive site,the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, to allow Jews to pray as well as visit.

Palestinian fears that the government might be preparing such a change were one of the triggers for the wave of violence that erupted last year.

Glick survived a 2014 assassination attempt by a Palestinian, and recently renewed his visits to the mosque compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Speaking on army radio, Glick said he would strive to turn "the Temple Mount from a place of (Palestinian) incitement to one of peace."

The expected return of Lieberman, who served as foreign minister under Netanyahu from 2009 to 2012 and again from 2013 to 2015, is likely to raise international concern about his government's political direction -- especially on the conflict with the Palestinians.

As defence minister, Lieberman, who himself lives in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, would oversee military operations in the Palestinian territories and have a major say in policy towards the settlements.

The international community considers the settlements illegal and regards their persistent expansion by successive Netanyahu governments as one of the biggest obstacles to peace.

[Malthus]

There is no doubt that the Bibi government is dreadful and getting worse. It seems that right-wing authoritarianism is getting more popular in all sorts of countries. 

[DGuller]

There is no doubt that the Bibi government is dreadful and getting worse. It seems that right-wing authoritarianism is getting more popular in all sorts of countries. 

Damn right.  Liberalism is certainly retrenching after great success of 1990ies.  In a specific case of Israel, I think Israelis can be forgiven for regarding Western liberalism as a threat to their existence.  Nowhere is liberalism's tendency for creating useful idiots more on display than in the case of Israel.  What they can't be forgiven is for treating Obama as their enemy long before Obama could've possibly given them any valid reason to do so, which is what gave Netanyahu such a great boost.

[The Minsky Moment]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.  Although perversely it seems to have improved Israel's diplomatic position with China and Russia, even as relations with the US and Europe deteriorate.

[DGuller]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.

I'm not saying anything about outcomes.  Right-wing reactions are almost always counter-productive, just like allergic reactions.  Unfortunately, the problems right-wingers introduce often help them politically rather than hurt them.

[Barrister]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.

I'm not saying anything about outcomes.  Right-wing reactions are almost always counter-productive, just like allergic reactions.  Unfortunately, the problems right-wingers introduce often help them politically rather than hurt them.

[The Minsky Moment]

I suspect you'd find yourself on Yaalon side of this were you in Israel.
Burkeans are thin on the ground in Likud these days.

[PJL]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.  Although perversely it seems to have improved Israel's diplomatic position with China and Russia, even as relations with the US and Europe deteriorate.

Not sure it has worsened their security situation, other than perhaps worsening relations with Western security services. And even then the fact the Israel has kept it's nose out of the Syrian conflict, thinking that having Assad there was better than the alternatives has given it leeway with Western alternatives in Russia and China.

[Martinus]

There is no doubt that the Bibi government is dreadful and getting worse. It seems that right-wing authoritarianism is getting more popular in all sorts of countries. 

Damn right.  Liberalism is certainly retrenching after great success of 1990ies.  In a specific case of Israel, I think Israelis can be forgiven for regarding Western liberalism as a threat to their existence.  Nowhere is liberalism's tendency for creating useful idiots more on display than in the case of Israel.  What they can't be forgiven is for treating Obama as their enemy long before Obama could've possibly given them any valid reason to do so, which is what gave Netanyahu such a great boost.

Leftists are the ones most to blame for the retreat of liberalism. It's just right wing vs. left wing authoritarianism these days.

[Barrister]

I suspect you'd find yourself on Yaalon side of this were you in Israel.
Burkeans are thin on the ground in Likud these days.

My was directed at DG's general "anyone who disagrees with me is not just wrong, but stupid" attitude, but I think you're right.  I haven't been a Bibi fan in some time.  I'm not sure which Israeli party would get my all-important foreigner non-vote.

[The Minsky Moment]

Leftists are the ones most to blame for the retreat of liberalism. It's just right wing vs. left wing authoritarianism these days.

Just because you've gone from one to the other doesn't mean those are the only available alternatives 

[Martinus]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.

I'm not saying anything about outcomes.  Right-wing reactions are almost always counter-productive, just like allergic reactions.  Unfortunately, the problems right-wingers introduce often help them politically rather than hurt them.

I disagree. It's extremism/populism vs. reasonable moderatism, not right-wing vs. left-wing that matters anymore. Just look at Canada - they have replaced a reasonable moderate conservative government with a left-wing populist one.

[Martinus]

Leftists are the ones most to blame for the retreat of liberalism. It's just right wing vs. left wing authoritarianism these days.

Just because you've gone from one to the other doesn't mean those are the only available alternatives

Surely you are right. It's just that reasonable moderate liberalism or conservatism are not really popular these days.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Justin Trudeau: Chavez of the North.

[Malthus]

I disagree - hardline atavistic xenophobic conservatism has worsened Israel's overall security situation, not improved it.

I'm not saying anything about outcomes.  Right-wing reactions are almost always counter-productive, just like allergic reactions.  Unfortunately, the problems right-wingers introduce often help them politically rather than hurt them.

I disagree. It's extremism/populism vs. reasonable moderatism, not right-wing vs. left-wing that matters anymore. Just look at Canada - they have replaced a reasonable moderate conservative government with a left-wing populist one.

I'm not a fan of Trudeau for various reasons - but then, I wasn't a fan of Harper for others; but I don't think this is an accurate description. Libs and Cons are more similar than they are unlike. The main difference was in the personality of their leaders: Harper was far more "dictatorial" as a person than Trudeau is; it was his habits of maintaining secrecy and control, above all, that lost him popularity - more so than his policies. For all the rhetoric, there isn't really all that much of a significant difference between the parties themselves - even with the NDP thrown in, laste election (though they dove off the deep end following failure in the last election with this "Leap Manifesto" nonsense).