The chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Liberman, called Tuesday morning, March 24, for an official boycott of the Joint List by the government and Knesset. Speaking on Army Radio, the racist Lieberman called on all Zionist parties to “boycott the Joint List in the Knesset, and for no official body or government ministry to cooperate with it.”

Caricature of Lieberman swinging two portfolios: his current governmental position, Foreign Minister, to the right, and a police file to the left, reminiscent of past police investigations into his activities, personally, and of current investigations into alleged corruption by key members of his party. Caricature by Avshalom (28.5.2009).

Lieberman said that the head of the Joint List, MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash), should be barred from running for the next Knesset because “he refuses to denounce extremist statements by members of his party.”

The Joint List quickly responded to Lieberman’s call for a boycott against it, saying that Israel’s Foreign Minister is, in his characteristically racist manner, “spreading hate.” The statement issued by the Joint List on Tuesday said: “As if there were no elections, Lieberman, whose party is mired in corruption, continues its racist campaign” against the Arab public in Israel. “The man whose entire political career is dedicated to spreading hate and fear and polarizing our society” got his answer last week “when we were elected with 13 seats in the Knesset,” the statement added.