U.S. Jewish academics call for coalition without Lieberman

WASHINGTON - Two Jewish academics from leading American universities have launched an online petition urging Kadima and Likud not to let Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party join the government.

"As friends of Israel and supporters of Israeli democracy, we say: Don't do it!" reads the petition, launched by Dennis Gaitsgory, a mathematician at Harvard University, and Josh Tenenbaum, an associate professor of cognitive science and computation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Through his platform and his rhetoric, Mr. Lieberman threatens Israeli society with the darkness of race-baiting, demagoguery and ultra-nationalism. We respect the right of Israeli citizens to elect their own political leaders. Yet as supporters of a democratic state, we cannot remain silent at this crucial time. We remember too well how democracies in the 20th century were brought down by anti-democratic leaders who came to power through popular elections."

The petition, entitled "No government with Lieberman" and signed by at least 300 people, will be sent to Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu this week.

"Granting Mr. Lieberman a senior ministerial post would endanger the foundations of Israel as a democratic state and delegitimize it in the eyes of the world," the petition states, citing the politician's call for Israeli Arabs to sign a loyalty oath or be stripped of their citizenship. "Such a government would be one that even Israel's friends would find increasingly difficult - if not impossible - to identify with or support."

Meanwhile, several hundred American Jews participated in a 24-hour protest across from the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency buildings in New York over the weekend to protest Israeli policy toward Palestinians as well as the Israeli election results.

Organizers said the rally was held for 24 hours "to highlight the reality endured by the people of Gaza who are forced to live under inhuman conditions without reprieve, 24 hours a day."

Some of the protesters also demonstrated against the use of the Holocaust to justify the subjugation of Palestinians.

"As someone who with my immediate family was a child refugee from the Nazis, but who lost much of my extended family in concentration camps, I stand here on the grounds that the Holocaust did not confer impunity on the State of Israel," said protester Renate Bridenthal. "I reject the claim that the descendants of victims are therefore entitled to become victimizers of others."