Is Netanyahu Banking on a New American President?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conceded to demands by his education minister (and former chief of staff), Naftali Bennett, that cleared the way for the approval of Avigdor Lieberman as defense minister.
Bennett has long wanted better access to information reserved for Israel’s security cabinet, but his willingness to break Netanyahu’s government over the issue seemed to be motivated by a mix of personal and political ambition that is the hallmark of members of coalition governments in Israel.
Netanyahu’s appointment of Lieberman as defense minister does not appear to have had much to do with Lieberman’s hard-line right-wing views. It was, however, vital to ensuring the survival of the prime minister’s coalition.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon quit as Netanyahu offered his job to Lieberman. Ya’alon had earlier expressed disgust over the treatment of the Israel Defense Forces by Netanyahu and some of his right-wing allies. This followed the killing of a captured and wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron by an IDF soldier, and the IDF’s decision to put the soldier on trial. Ya’alon resented the prime minister’s initial support for the soldier’s actions.
Netanyahu also appears to have employed the cabinet change to sabotage an emerging effort by former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, in league with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, to repackage the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
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http://www.newsweek.com/netanyahu-banking-new-american-president-465101
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