Avigdor Lieberman’s attempt to turn Israel into fascist state rejected

Much has been made among individuals like Christopher Hitchens and the like of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s fascist past. He was a member of Meir Kahane’s racist and fascist “Kach Movement,” and has long discussed forcing people living within Israel’s borders to swear an oath to the country and its symbols.

Well his proposal was shot down by a ministerial vote of 8-3, with only members of his ultra-right wing fascist Yisrael Beitenu party rejected this idea outright. Here’s the story from the AP:

The Israeli government on Sunday threw out a proposal aimed at minority Arabs to require an oath of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state or risk losing their citizenship, dealing a blow to the country’s ultranationalist foreign minister, who spearheaded the proposal. Avigdor Lieberman, a rising force in Israeli politics, made the proposal a central plank of his election campaign last February. The message, which sought to play on the perceived disloyalty of Israel’s Arab citizens, helped propel his Yisrael Beitenu Party to a strong third place finish in the parliamentary vote. Lieberman’s electoral success was seen as evidence of growing polarization between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. Many Israeli Arabs, once considering themselves bridges between Israel and the Arab world, have become alienated in the Jewish state and side openly with the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel. Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel’s 7 million citizens. The draft would have allowed the Interior Ministry to strip even native Israelis of their nationality if they refused to swear allegiance to the Jewish state and “its symbols and values” and profess their willingness to perform military service. Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser said the proposal was rejected 8-3 by a ministerial committee on legislation. With the exception of Yisrael Beitenu, all parties in the government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, opposed the proposal. Netanyahu has not commented on the draft. Many Israelis have described the proposal as racist. It also met resistance from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party because it could have affected ultra-Orthodox Jews, most of whom are currently exempt from military service on religious grounds and would not be eager to endorse the symbols and values of the state, which they consider too secular.

Firstly, the idea of a loyalty oath is 100% rooted in authoritarianism, or at the least horrendous, a monarchy. Secondly, forcing people who don’t even believe in the symbols of Israel to be loyal to them is even worse. Thirdly, to think of anyone who isn’t a right wing Jew as an enemy is the same kind of fucked up nonsense that got this country in trouble during the 2002-2005 period. It’s not even remotely a part of a free society.

How the fuck did someone as blatantly opposed to freedom and any notion of even 20th century thinking like Avigdor Lieberman get such a high ranking post? His existence in the Israeli government is a tough pill to swallow for leftist supporters of Israel (like myself).