Free Republic

The Arab Balad party's election video is an animated clip showing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and several nationalist MKs singing Hatikva in to a Middle Eastern tune. Video In the clip, Lieberman explains that he was the one who proposed a law requiring citizens to pledge allegiance to the state of Israel in order to be eligible for an ID card. He then announces that he has now become convinced that the tune of Hatikva – Israel's national anthem – should be changed so that Arabs feel comfortable singing it as well. The well-executed clip follows, with MKs Aryeh Eldad,...

Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman, until recently the Foreign Minister, reacted with joy Friday as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threatened to quit if negotiations do not resume. Abbas has refused to negotiate in absence of several Israeli concessions, including a complete freeze on construction east of the 1949 armistice line. According to Lieberman, Israel "can't wait" for Abbas to follow through on his threat. "We congratulate Abu Mazen [Abbas] for reaching the correct conclusion, that only his leave from the PA leadership will allow the diplomatic process to resume," Lieberman said. "We anxiously await the official announcement from the...

At the end of this year, I will retire from the United States Senate. As my twenty-four years in Congress draw to a close, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your Senator. This has been an extraordinary privilege. During my career, I have always been inspired by the strength shown by people through even our darkest days; and this past Friday, December 14th, was certainly one of the darkest in Connecticut’s history. But even in the wake of the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we remain as united by our resolve...

Avigdor Lieberman responded Thursday to the recent indictment of fraud and breach of trust brought against him, saying he has been the target of suspicion and questioning for a long time now. Hinting that he has no intention of resigning, he said he hopes the matter will be settled as soon as possible. The Attorney General charged that Lieberman used his influence to promote the former Israeli ambassador to Belarus because the ambassador illegally leaked information about an investigation against him. "The investigation against me has been going on for sixteen years," said Lieberman. "From July 1996 there has not...

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman used his last speech on the U.S. Senate floor on Wednesday to call for bipartisanship and get in a last dig over the controversial result of the 2000 election, when he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Lieberman, 70, announced in January 2011 that he would retire when his fourth term ends next month rather than seek re-election. He reflected on his career in remarks that lasted for about 20 minutes, recounting landmarks in his career and changes in society since he became a U.S. senator in January 1989. “When I started here in the Senate,...

The taxes Israel collected for the Palestinian Authority but did not pass on should go to Israel anyway to cover the PA’s debts, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday, speaking at a Hanukkah event for Yisrael Beytenu party activists. “I hear they’re saying that Israel froze the Palestinians’ tax money. We didn’t freeze any Palestinian money,” he said. “To this point we paid 700 million shekels advance salaries for PA workers and we paid another 900 million when we absorbed the cost of water and electricity that the Palestinians were supposed to pay for but did not… What we’re doing...

Possible promotions for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and acting CIA Director Michael Morell remain in jeopardy after the two officials met Tuesday with three of their Republican critics regarding how the Obama administration responded to the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya. “Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the critics, said after the meeting. snip The discussions with McCain, Graham and Ayotte were arranged “to go over exactly the very questions that those senators had,” Carney said, including the origin of the information Rice conveyed on television. snip...

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, Friday announced they would conduct a bipartisan inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, that killed four Americans including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. “The lives of four patriots serving their country until the end were lost September 11, 2012, during a terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Those four men, their loved ones, and the American people deserve a full and fair accounting of why and...

International sanctions could trigger a popular uprising in Iran like the revolt in Egypt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman predicted on Sunday. "The opposition demonstrations that took place in Iran in June 2009 will come back in even greater force," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview with the Haaretz daily. "In my view, there's going to be an Iranian-style Tahrir revolution," he said, referring to last year's mass protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square that forced Mubarak to quit. "The young generation is sick of being held hostage and sacrificing their future," Lieberman said. "The...

Foreign Minister Lieberman has not ruled out the possibility of a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from much of Judea and Samaria, Yisrael Hayom reports. Lieberman’s stance - as expressed in closed-door meetings - was compared to that of Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also raised the possibility of a major withdrawal in the region. Lieberman, however, conditioned his approval for a withdrawal on two things: that Israel’s security interests would not be harmed, and that the international community would recognize the move as legitimate. He rejected the idea, raised by Barak, that Israelis living in areas affected...

Washington -- A group of US senators; US efforts to draw down military forces in Afghanistan to "insider attacks" by Afghans on NATO troops and called for a suspension of troop withdrawals... we believe questions the broader Obama strategy, especially with respect to its timetable for drawing down our military forces... John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham in a joint statement, conditions in Afghanistan warranted "an immediate suspension" of US troop withdrawals to allow commanders to evaluate how to proceed. A rush to handover security to Afghan forces had contributed to so-called "green on blue" attacks on NATO troops......

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas responded on Sunday to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s letter to the International Quartet, in which he called for Abbas to be replaced. Lieberman “doesn’t deserve an answer”, Abbas told an Army Radio reporter on the sidelines of a meeting with members of the Meretz party in Ramallah. He then added, “When he talks about the use of diplomatic terror he does not deserve anything. Everyone knows that we want peace between the two states, and for them to live and stability and security.” Lieberman wrote in his letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief...

Lieberman Proposes Special Counsel for Leaks ProbeBy ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON June 18, 2012 (AP) Sen. Joe Lieberman says there should be a special counsel to look into allegations that the administration has leaked information on a U.S.-Israeli cyber-warfare campaign against Iran's nuclear program and other classified activities. The Connecticut Independent also said President Barack Obama should instruct anybody on his staff involved in such leaks to come forward and that the president should himself be interviewed by investigators.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Monday that efforts will continue to summon South Africa's ambassador for censure over his country's announcement on Saturday that products made in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) will be marked as being from "Occupied Palestinian Territory". The South African ambassador disconnected his telephone on Sunday, however, apparently to avoid the summons, sources in the Foreign Ministry said. Arutz Sheva's attempts to reach the South African embassy for a reaction were not successful. Rabbi Natan Alexander, a Bnei Akiva emissary in Johanesburg, told Arutz Sheva on Sunday that he was not surprised by the...

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman says he’s not endorsing anyone – Republican or Democrat – for president in November. "I'm going to try to stay out of this one," Lieberman told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucuses with Democrats, famously endorsed his friend Republican John McCain over Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Wallace joked that that endorsement "didn't work out so well the last time." "I'm not running for re-election," Lieberman countered. "I'm enjoying not being involved in the nastiness of campaigning in America these days." Lieberman...

United States Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman called Tuesday for the U.S. to arm Syrian rebels. “The international community is failing the people of Syria,” said McCain. “The only way to reverse this is to help the opposition change the military balance of power on the ground.” Lieberman called to arm President Bashar Assad’s political opponents...

Sen. Joe Lieberman is leading a congressional move to push U.S. policy toward a more belligerent stance against Iran by urging President Obama to take action to "prevent the Iranian government from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability." The key policy change would shift the U.S. objective from preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons to that of preventing Iran from having the "capability" to make the weapons. The resolution is sponsored by Lieberman, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., and signed onto by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and 28 other senators.

Members of Occupy UConn will confront U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman on Thursday during his visit to campus about his commitment to increase debt, expand foreign wars and government surveillance of American citizens. Members said they want answers regarding Lieberman's willingness to send University of Connecticut students to die on the front lines to defend democratic freedoms, while sat the same time working to deny those same freedoms to American citizens. Lieberman was invited to the campus to discuss the Cybersecurity Act, a bill before Congress that he co-sponsored with three colleagues. Members of Occupy UConn were expected to confront Lieberman...

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman toured the Gaza Belt Thursday along with ministers and Knesset Members from Yisrael Beitenu. They visited Ein HaBsor, Shlomit, Avshalom, and Naveh, where families evicted from Gush Katif reside. They also visited Kissufim Base and received a security briefing. "When one sees the community of Naveh, which was built in two years on barren sands, one is heartened," Lieberman said. "This community is a proper Zionist response to the historic mistake made in the Disengagement when the government of Israel tore down 21 flourishing communities with no agreement, in return for nothing...

Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beitenu head Avigdor Lieberman called Sunday for a change of tack regarding peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA), and said that peace is not in the offing. "To continue to insist on a path that failed for 15 years will not lead anywhere and unfortunately today we are already on the same path for 18 years, in the same dead end, and worse than this – with desperation and frustration that continue to grow," Lieberman said at a conference of foreign delegates. "What needs to be clear to everyone is that this is not an...