Saturday, July 7, 2012

What a Pity Lieberman Speaks Fluent Israeli

Sometimes (well most of the time actually) I just don't understand The Australian Jewish News. No sooner had I registered (in my previous post) my amazement that former Argentine military supremo Jorge Videla speaks fluent Israeli, than I came across the much more extraordinary spectacle of an  AJN columnist expressing amazement that Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, does too:

"Avigdor Lieberman has such a way with words. Israel's ultra-controversial Foreign Minister went to visit el-Zamouk last week, a Bedouin town in southern Israel, to emphasise the fact - much to residents' anger - that the government considers it illegally built. His subtext was to point out that unauthorised structures in the village are still standing, even though, to his disappointment, the state has begun evacuating Jewish settler homes that are illegally built on Palestinian land. As Lieberman spoke to reporters, an Arab lawmaker, Taleb el-Sana, came to heckle him. 'You have no business to be here,' el-Sana said. 'You are persona non grata in the Bedouin communities. You act like the mafia.' Did Lieberman continue in a dignified manner? Or come up with a witty response? Nope, instead he threw out that stock insult that members of the Israeli right love to throw out at Arabs with whom they have a conflict. 'You are a terrorist,' he retorted." (The things Liebermans say, Bob Meiser, 6/7/12)

If only Lieberman had displayed a bit of the old Jewish wit instead of speaking fluent Israeli, then it would have more than made up for the bulldozing of Bedouin homes, right Bob?

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