Nationalist Rising Fast in Israeli Politics

An Israeli politician who based his election campaign on baiting the country's Arab minority, drawing accusations that he is a racist demagogue, now seems likely to become the Jewish state's top diplomat.

U.S., European and moderate Arab officials have maintained public silence on the issue of Avigdor Lieberman's ascent, but privately acknowledge serious concern.

An emerging coalition deal expected to be wrapped up in the coming days would anoint Lieberman foreign minister at a time when Israel's international image is suffering from its bloody war in Gaza and last month's election of a hawkish government likely to be at odds with would-be Mideast peacemakers.

Lieberman, a 50-year-old immigrant from the former Soviet Union, has said Palestinian prisoners should be drowned in the Dead Sea, that Israeli-Arab lawmakers who meet Palestinian militants should be executed and that the president of Egypt could "go to hell."

His Yisrael Beitenu movement emerged as the third-largest party in the Knesset, or parliament, in a Feb. 10 election, with a platform that would require members of Israel's Arab minority to swear loyalty to the Jewish state or lose their citizenship.

Spokesmen for both Lieberman and Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the two men have already agreed that Lieberman will become foreign minister in the next government as part of a deal expected to be signed within days.

"It's not over until it's over. But I assume at this point now that it's a done deal," said Danny Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington who is now a lawmaker in Lieberman's party.

The new government is expected to be sworn in next week, according to officials from Yisrael Beitenu and Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Lieberman's defenders insist the world has nothing to worry about, pointing out he now supports Palestinian independence and is a secularist who wants to limit the power of Israel's religious establishment.