Avigdor Lieberman, the far-right representative for the anti-Arab population within Israel and leader of the Yisrael Beitenu (”Israel Is Our Home”) political party is running a very close third in current pre-election polls.

The Likud Party, the current leader of the polls, promised that in wake of their election, Avigdor Lieberman will serve as an important minister within their government; what this position would be is still undecided. Lieberman once ran with the Likud party, before breaking free to start the Yisrael Beitenu party.

Lieberman (50) was born in the Soviet Union, where he immigrated to Israel at age 20, publicly supports the expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens from the country. His expulsion strategy involves a negotiation with Palenstine to redraw boundaries around where the majority of the country’s 1.2 million Arabs live, in exchange for free reign over the Jewish-dominated West Bank.

His party has been gaining popularity over the course of the election.

Lierberman’s plan would forcibly revoke citizenship rights from those Arabs who were located in the regions which he plans to transfer to Palestinian control, transferring sovereignty of these people to Palestine. The racist overtone has been criticized by left and right alike.

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