WaPo | Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister and the head of a right-wing, Israeli nationalist party, is known for his fiery rhetoric. But he possibly crossed a line during an election rally in the city of Herzliya on Sunday.
"Whoever's with us should get everything," Lieberman said,
in reference to the loyalty of Israeli Arabs, who make up some 20
percent of Israel's population. "Those who are against us, there's
nothing to be done – we need to pick up an axe and cut off his
head. Otherwise we won't survive here."
Lieberman, the head of
the Yisrael Beitenu party, may argue he was speaking in biblical
metaphors -- his comments carried allusions to the Book of Esther, reports Haaretz. But they are deeply provocative, and reflect Lieberman's known antipathy for the Israeli Arab population.
The foreign minister's comments in the past have led critics to accuse him of racism. These include his calls last year to boycott Arab businesses that had shut their doors in protest of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza, as well as a proposal made last November suggesting Israeli Arabs be given "economic incentives" to leave their homes in Israel for the West Bank.
Unlike
some other politicians on Israel's right, Lieberman is
staunchly secularist. His brand of nationalist populism is anchored
among Israeli Jews who emigrated from countries in the former Soviet
Union, where he himself was born.
