Israel's New Government (Uri Avnery)

SHALL WE start with the good news or the bad news? As confirmed optimists, let's start with the good news.

To paraphrase an old Hebrew saying: Don't look at the vessel but at what's not in it. Avigdor Liberman is not in the Israeli government.

He made a huge effort to board the ship. He put on an almost liberal mask, ate juicy herring with Yossi Beilin, who called him a nice person. After the elections, Amir Peretz made no mention of Labor's pledge not to sit with him in the cabinet. It seemed that the brutal racist would succeed in achieving legitimacy for his fascist views.

But the brutish wolf did not reckon with the wiliness of the fox. Ehud Olmert twisted the gross braggart around his little finger. At the last moment, Liberman was left on shore, looking on with longing eyes as the ship, bedecked with gay flags, put out to sea without him.

Furious, he threw away his amiable mask, and gave a speech in the Knesset demanding the execution of the Arab deputies who had met with the members of the Palestinian government. After that, even Beilin will not be having breakfast with him any more.

THE SECOND piece of good news is that Shaul Mofaz has been removed from the Ministry of Defense. This primitive man, the king of "targeted liquidations", has been thrown from the high tower of Defense into the empty well of Transportation. One can enjoy the cartoon showing Mofaz driving a tank down the streets of Tel-Aviv.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=10226