Liberman: ‘Israel may soon have Russian-speaking PM’

Israel may soon have a Russian-speaking prime minister, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, himself a Russian speaker, said Sunday in New York.

Speaking to a predominantly Russian-speaking Jewish audience at a synagogue in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach neighborhood, Liberman praised the opportunities open to immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel, Haaretz reported on Monday.

“Only in Israel could the likes of [Knesset Speaker] MK Yuli Edelstein or Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky rise to their positions,” Liberman told the audience. “Only in Israel, can a young Russian immigrant arrive and in 20 years become foreign minister,” he said in a reference to his own career.

“One day we will have a Russian-speaking minister of defense, a Russian-speaking president, and soon we may have a Russian-speaking prime minister,” added Liberman, who came to Israel from Moldova in 1979.

The event, held at the Jewish Center of Brighton Beach, was hosted by the Russian American Jewish Experience, the American Forum of Russian Jewry, the Council of Jewish Emigre Community Organizations, the Russian American Foundation and the World Zionist Organization.

According to the Israeli daily, Liberman was warmly welcomed by the audience.

“After all the presentations, in New York and later in Washington, the best is always here in Brooklyn, in Brighton Beach, with one’s own landsmen,” he was quoted as saying. “The knowledge of your support, regardless of the ocean between us, is so dear to us in Israel.”

The foreign minister pointedly refused to take sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, noting only that “Israel has excellent relations with Russia, Ukraine and the United States, and that the main concern is the security of the Jewish community there. We are doing important and quiet work in keeping the Jewish community safely out of this fight.”

He also commented on the stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.

“The problem is not that we don’t want peace,” he reportedly said. “The problem lies with the Arab leaders who consistently incite against Israel and against peace among their constituents. The Palestinians’ problem is artificial, man-made, a problem created by Arab leaders. We are ready for peace, but we are even more ready to defend our borders and our right to this land.”

He concluded by calling for “major waves of aliyah in the near future as well,” a theme he has raised repeatedly, and to some criticism, in recent weeks.