Hardliner Becomes Israel's Defence Minister

A controversial right-wing Israeli politician has agreed to throw his political weight into the country's governing coalition.

Avigdor Lieberman, of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, will enter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in a deal which will see him appointed as defence minister.

The new coalition, which bolsters Mr Netanyahu's one seat majority in parliament, is the most right wing in Israel's short history.

Mr Netanyahu's razor-thin majority of just one member in Israel's 120-seat parliament - the Knesset - has now grown to 66.

The deal was signed and sealed on Wednesday morning.

But before the ink was even dry the political ramifications were being felt.

Mr Lieberman, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, has served as deputy prime minister and twice been the country's foreign minister.

He is also seen as one of Israel's most divisive politicians.

He has in the past called for the beheading of Palestinian "terrorists" and is currently trying to introduce legislation that could see Palestinian attackers sentenced to the death penalty.

But Professor Shmuel Sandler, an Israeli political analyst, told Sky News that now Mr Lieberman is in government he will likely have to moderate his rhetoric.

"You have to differentiate with his vocabulary and the way he spoke in opposition when he's appealing to his base and the way he's likely to behave now he's in power," he said.

"Time will tell but the expectation is he will have to tone things down.

"He's a pragmatic man, who wants to be prime minister himself one day."

This will do little to calm the Arab world which views this latest coalition as an "extremist" government that will do everything it can to block peace and continue the military occupation.

But for Mr Netanyahu the deal is, in the short term at least, a coup.

He has shored up his tiny majority and now on course to become Israel's longest serving Prime Minister - if he remains in power until the end of July 2019.

The big question though in the long term is whether Mr Lieberman has the temperament and the security experience to handle the defence brief - one of the most important jobs in Israeli politics.

Defence ministers have traditionally been former generals in the Israel Defense Forces. Mr Lieberman attained the rank of Corporal during his short military service.

The deal could yet well backfire.