Israeli kingmaker endorses Netanyahu

FAR-RIGHT politician Avigdor Lieberman endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for Israeli prime minister yesterday, all but guaranteeing that the US-educated hawk will be the country’s next leader.

Lieberman emerged as kingmaker when Netanyahu’s Likud and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima Party, which leads the outgoing government, came out of the February 10 election deadlocked and Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party placed third. Yesterday Lieberman advised President Shimon Peres to call on Netanyahu to head a government with Kadima and Yisrael Beitenu as partners. However, Livni swiftly dismissed the idea.

“Today the foundations were laid for an extremist right-wing government under the leadership of Netanyahu,” Livni’s office quoted her as telling Kadima members. “That is not our way and there is nothing for us in such a government . . . We must be an alternative of hope and go into opposition.”