The founder and leader of the Our Home is Israel party, which is largely oriented towards returnees from the former Soviet Union, has long been working in the Israeli government. He served as Minister of National Infrastructure and Transport, Foreign Affairs in two governments. Since 2016, Avigdor Liberman is the Minister of Defense of Israel.
short biography
Evik Lvovich Lieberman was born on July 5, 1958 in Soviet Chisinau. In 1978, he and his family repatriated to Israel, where he became Avigdor Lieberman. After serving in the army, I studied at the University of Jerusalem at the Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations. At the same time he joined one of the leading parties in the country - Likud.
He worked in various companies in the private sector. In 1986, he was involved in the development and implementation of several Jerusalem development projects. In 1993, he was appointed to the post of director general of the Likud political party. He played a key role in the victory of Benjamin Netanyahu, a candidate from the National Camp, in the election of the Prime Minister.
The political biography of Israeli Defense Minister Liberman began in 1996. He received his first appointment to the government as the director general of the ministry. After sharp criticism in the media, he resigned; in 1997, he took up business related to trade with countries of Eastern Europe.
Party education
In 1999, the future Minister of Defense of Israel Avigdor Lieberman created his own party, which he called "Our Home - Israel." With her, he went to the Knesset elections under the slogan "With Liberman - we! Without Liberman - us! ” The electoral base of the fraction was the Russian-speaking diaspora of the country. The party received 4 seats in parliament. NDI gradually increased the number of its deputies. By 2009, 15 people had already been elected from the party. For the next election in 2012, Likud and NDI went to the polls on a single list, in which Lieberman was the second candidate after Netanyahu.
All these years, Evik held various ministerial posts in the government. He dealt with transport, infrastructure, strategic planning and twice international issues. Eugene Primakov considered Lieberman very radical and stated that under him the Arabs would never have received political rights and citizenship, only a residence permit.
Appointment as Minister of Defense of Israel
In 2016, the faction of the Our Home - Israel party joined the ruling coalition, which enabled the Prime Minister to create a parliamentary majority with one voice. In exchange for this, in May of the same year, Netanyahu announced his intention to appoint Avigdor Lieberman as Israeli Defense Minister.
First of all, Arab and liberal politicians were indignant, as they had more than once accused Liberman of racism. Some Western publications called him an evil chauvinist, anti-Arab demagogue. The Israeli press wrote that he was a neo-fascist and gangster with a diploma. At the same time, his supporters noted that, as a minister, it was Avigdor who developed the Bedouin settlements. And he appointed high durzes, Ethiopians, Bedouin Arabs, and representatives of other minorities.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said the country was captured by dangerous extremists and resigned in protest of the deal. Saib Arikat, the main negotiator from Palestine, said the new appointment would lead to apartheid, religious and political extremism. The new Israeli defense minister, Lieberman, in turn, said he would be a responsible and sensible politician.
