BICOM

Israel’s Foreign Minister and leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party Avigdor Lieberman has been criticised by his political opponents after he accused European governments of paying lip service to Israeli security, comparing their attitudes to the behaviour of Europe during the period of the Holocaust.

Speaking at a Yisrael Beitenu event on Tuesday evening, Lieberman spoke in reference to a statement released by the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, which criticised Israeli construction plans in the West Bank and also termed “unacceptable” Hamas calls to deny Israel’s right to exist.  Lieberman said, “From the point of view of some of the European foreign ministers… the destruction of Israel is apparently something that is taken for granted,” and questioned “how much we can rely on those same countries that say that they guarantee Israel’s security interests.”

Continuing on the same theme, Lieberman spoke at a Jerusalem Post conference of foreign diplomats yesterday. He said that Israel was not willing to become “a second Czechoslovakia”, in reference to the European policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s, explaining “All expressions and promises of commitment to Israel’s security from all around the world remind me of similar commitments made to Czechoslovakia [in 1938].”

Speaking at the same conference, Israel’s former-foreign minister and leader of the Hatnuah party Tzipi Livni sharply opposed Lieberman, saying “Comparing Israel’s situation today to the Holocaust is contempt for the Holocaust… It’s an incorrect comparison, and incomprehensible. There is absolutely no similarity between the situation of Israeli citizens today to that of European Jews then. Not everybody is against us, and not everyone is anti-Semitic.”

Meanwhile, Labour Party chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich also condemned Lieberman’s comments, saying that evoking “images of the Holocaust” and “stirring up the winds of extremism,” were “extremist, wild and irresponsible.”

The office of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also responded to Lieberman’s claims. Her spokeswoman said, “Mr. Lieberman’s reference to Europe in the 1940s in this context is inappropriate and offensive to Europeans… Europe’s commitment to Israel’s security cannot be questioned.”

In a related story, Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is today expected to announce the closure of an investigation into claims of money laundering and bribery against Lieberman. However, it is thought that the lesser charge breach of trust could still be brought against him.