Tangling over Israel's foreign minister

Israel's deputy foreign minister defended his boss after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Avigdor Lieberman should not have been appointed foreign minister.

Abbas told an Egyptian weekly that Lieberman was not the best man for the job. His comments came after French President Nicholas Sarkozy recently urged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to replace Lieberman.

"The intervention of foreigners in the internal affairs of the state of Israel is totally unacceptable," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a statement obtained by The Washington Times. "This intervention is much more severe when the statement is made by a Palestinian leader who favors the right of return, the meaning of which is the annihilation of the State of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state.

There is no doubt that Abu Mazen [Abbas] would prefer Israeli leaders who will allow him to realize his dream, rather than leaders who are willing to stand up for the vital interests of the state of Israel."