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EDITORIAL
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Avigdor Liberman Resigns
As Israel's Foreign Minister

JTA

A

vigdor Liberman officially
stepped down as Israel's for-
eign minister following his
indictment for fraud and breach of trust.
Liberman left his post as foreign minister
as well as vice prime minister on Sunday.
"I have committed no
offense, but I wish to put
behind me this issue,
which is what remains
of many years of inves-
tigation:' Liberman said
in a statement Friday.
›...,„
Liberman said he also
Avigdor
would lift his immunity
Liberman
from prosecution, to
which he is entitled as a
member of Knesset.
On Dec. 13, Israeli Attorney General
Yehuda Weinstein closed a 12-year investi-

Keith Farber

gation on Liberman, dismissing most of the
charges. But he indicted Liberman for fraud
and breach of trust for advancing former
ambassador to Belarus Ze'ev Ben Aryeh's
position in the Foreign Ministry allegedly in
exchange for information about an investi-
gation against Liberman being conducted in
Belarus. Last spring, Ben Aryeh confessed
that he had received and passed documents
to Liberman in 2008.
In his statement, Liberman added, "I am
stepping down also because I believe the
citizens of Israel deserve to go to the bal-
lot box with this thing already settled, so I
can resume serving the State of Israel and
its citizens:'
A statement by the Prime Minister's
Office said that Netanyahu spoke with
Liberman "and wished he [Liberman]
would soon prove his innocence in the sole
remaining issue at hand and return before
long to take up a senior cabinet post:'

❑

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Robert Sklar

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Contributing Writers

Bill Carroll
Suzanne Chessler
Annabel Cohen
Don Cohen
Shelli Liebman Dorfman

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Ronelle Grier
Esther Allweiss Ingber
Harry Kirsbaum
Lynne Konstantin
Rabbi Jason Miller
Allan Nahajewski
Robin Schwartz
Steve Stein

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RED Ttiro

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Printed In

Michigan

6

December 20 • 2012

Jewish GOP Group Blasts Hagel
As Possible Defense Secretary

Daniel Treiman
JTA

D

uring election season, there
wasn't much accord between
the Republican Jewish Coalition
(RJC) and the National Jewish Democratic
Council (NJDC). But here's one area on
which the two partisan groups have his-
torically concurred: They haven't been too
keen on Chuck Hagel.
With Hagel now being
discussed as the leading
contender for defense
secretary, the RJC is
saying that nominating
the Republican former
senator would be "a slap
in the face for every
Ail:
American
who is con-
Chuck Hegel
cerned about the safety
of Israel." The RJC cited what it called "a
long list of actions Hagel has taken that
raise alarms about his failure to support
Israel."
By contrast, the NJDC has been conspicu-
ously mum on the prospective nomination.
"Conspicuous" because the NJDC five
years ago leveled a very similar litany of
Israel-related grievances against Hagel,
back when the Nebraska Republican was
a prospective GOP presidential candidate.
(Indeed, the RJC later cited the NJDC's
statement when Obama has reached out to
Hagel.)

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PUBLISHED BY:

Back in 2009, when President Obama
appointed Hagel to co-chair the President's
National Intelligence Advisory Board,
the NJDC's then executive director, Ira
Forman, reserved criticism, as the Weekly
Standard reported at the time.
"Anybody who's looking for purity from
us is going to be disappointed:' he said,
after apparently being pressed to criticize
Hagel's appointment. Forman at the time
also suggested that the RJC was engaging
in selective criticism and hadn't been so
exercised about Hagel until the former
Republican senator was embraced by
Obama.
But Forman (who since went on to
be the 2012 Obama campaign's Jewish
outreach coordinator) added: "If [Hagel]
was taking a policy role, we'd have real
concerns:'
Well, now with Hagel being talked about
for a much more significant position in a
second Obama administration, The Daily
Beast's Eli Lake followed up with Forman,
who declined to comment. Lake's article
looked at worries among some pro-Israel
activists regarding Hagel's possible nomi-
nation.
Meanwhile, J Street, the dovish Israel
policy group, has leapt to Hagel's defense,
saying he would be a "fine choice" for the
job and a "staunch friend" of Israel. And
former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel
Kurtzer tells Politico that Hagel is getting a
bad rap from pro-Israel critics.

❑

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