Everyone Hates Lieberman

Israel's opposition leader Tzipi Livni responded to FM Lieberman's recent statements by saying he, "erased in 20 minutes years of efforts to advance the peace process."

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Friday accused Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermanas having "erased in 20 minutes years of efforts to advance the peace process" when he declared that Israel was not bound by commitments it made at a 2007 summit in Annapolis to pursue creation of a Palestinian state

In an interview with Israel Radio, the Kadima chairwoman said she had expected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce that he did not share Lieberman's expressed sentiments, and was disappointed that such clarification was not made.

Meanwhile, outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process kick-started in Annapolis bolstered international recognition of Israel.

But on the upside, Lieberman is now being investigated for fraud, which is awesome because it means at the very least, he will lose some credibility among his base of support. Best case scenario, he steps down.

Ha'aretz writes:

Police questioned Avigdor Lieberman as part of a corruption investigation on Friday for the second time since he was sworn in as foreign minister earlier this week.

Fraud squad detectives questioned the foreign minister, who is also chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, for more than five hours and said another round was likely in the coming week.

On Thursday, Lieberman was questioned for more than seven hours over suspicions of bribery, money laundering, fraud and breach of trust, less than a day after he took office.

Lieberman, of course, " denies any wrongdoing and says the probe is politically motivated." As much as I would love to see him investigated right out of office, I hope the investigation is not politically motivated. Because the fact is, his appointment is a symbol of one of my favorite concepts: freedom of belief. That being said, Lieberman has been investigated since 2007 and is suspected of laundering "large sums of money," so I think it's unlikely this latest round of questioning is connected to his appointment as Foreign Minister.