Following is a profile of Lieberman, highlighting his extremist views:

- The Yisrael Beiteinu party, which Lieberman heads, advocates transferring Arab areas of Israel, along with Israeli-Arab citizens, to a future Palestinian state in exchange for areas and settlement blocs in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law because they are built on occupied territory.

- Yisrael Beitenu encourages settlement activity as a fulfilment of Zionism.

- In March 2002, Lieberman pulled his party out of government in protest at then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon easing restrictions on then-Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who was confined to his Ramallah compound by Israeli forces.

- Lieberman rejoined Sharon's government in 2003 as transport minister, but in 2004, Sharon sacked him and Tourism Minister Benny Alon to ensure that the plan for "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip would pass the Cabinet vote.

- In 2004, Lieberman published his book "My Truth", a call to draw Israel's borders to exclude Arab citizens and include illegal Israeli West Bank settlements.

- In May 2005, Lieberman called for the execution of Arab Members of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) who had contact with Hamas or did not celebrate Independence Day, insisting that those who had come into contact with Hamas "are cooperating with the enemy" and therefore should be tried: "The Second World War ended with the Nuremberg trials and the execution of the Nazi leadership…Not only them, but also those who collaborated with them. I hope that will also be the fate of the collaborators in this house [the Knesset]."

- In the aftermath of the attack on Israeli soldiers by Palestinian militants in which Corporal Shalit was captured, Lieberman called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Defence Minister Amir Peretz, who he described as "spineless," and called for the kidnapping of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh: "We need to tell Haniyeh and the Hamas leaders that after a Kassam rocket attack on Sederot, we will turn their homes into soccer fields."

- Lieberman attacked the UN-brokered ceasefire with Hezbollah in August 2006, claiming that the UN failed to eliminate the threat posed by the Lebanese group, that it had "legitimised" Hezbollah, and that the group would take over the Lebanese army in a couple of years: "We are not talking about a ceasefire, but a cessation in the fighting for a limited time period."

- In 1998, Lieberman called for the bombing of Egypt's Aswan Dam for Cairo's support of Arafat.

- In October 2006, Olmert approached Lieberman to join the government as a deputy prime minister and minister of strategic threats (primarily dealing with Iran's nuclear threat). Lieberman set five preconditions to joining the government, including:

1. Protecting from destruction the outpost settlements in the West Bank that are unauthorised by the Israeli government.

2. Changing the current structure of the Knesset so that a party will need at least 10% of the electoral vote to enter. This would mean that none of the Arab parties would be eligible.

3. Establishing an official enquiry into the mismanagement of the recent war in Lebanon.

4. Officially ending Olmert's unilateral plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank.

- MKs have denounced the prospect of Lieberman in Olmert's government, and Culture and Sports Minister Ophir Pines-Paz resigned hours after Lieberman's inclusion in Israel's Cabinet, announcing his intention to "contend the [Labour] party leadership in May 2007 and to lead it back to the right track" after it agreed to Lieberman being in government.

- "He wants a Jewish state without Arabs," said Raleb Majadele, one of nine Labour MKs - including Pines-Paz - opposed to Lieberman's inclusion, and party secretary for the Arab sector. "In my worst nightmares I never believed that the Labor Party would reach a day like this, with Lieberman and us as coalition partners," Majadele told Israel Radio on 27 October 2006. Lieberman "denies the right of Israel's Arab citizens to exist," he said, adding that his inclusion in government would mark a "black day for the Knesset of Israel, a black day for democracy."

- Hebrew University professor Zeev Sternhell, Israel's leading academic specialist on fascism and totalitarianism, has described Lieberman as "perhaps the most dangerous politician in the history of the state of Israel."

- Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher said: "Lieberman has racist overtones when he addresses Arab issues. He's not subtle, he's blustery, and he's not a strategic thinker. He readily advocates force to resolve complex issues. In Israel he tends to be scorned by most Israelis but he's a skilful demagogue who has built a strong following."

- Reacting to Lieberman's appointment, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz said: "The choice of the most unrestrained and irresponsible man around for this job constitutes a strategic threat in its own right. Lieberman's lack of restraint and his unbridled tongue, comparable only to those of Iran's president, are liable to bring disaster down upon the entire region."

- Haaretz columnist Akiva Eldar reacted thus: "The prevalent comparison between Avigdor Lieberman and Joerg Haider does an injustice to the Austrian nationalist whose party joined the government in the winter of 2000. Haider is far from being a righteous man, but even in his most fascist days, he never called on Austria to rid itself of citizens who'd been living in the country for generations. Also, Haider never suggested standing up legislators representing these citizens in front of a firing squad… Lieberman has stuck to his obscene views…There is also no comparison between the response of the Austrian people to the inclusion of the Freedom Party in the coalition, and the tranquility with which the majority of the Israeli public has received Lieberman's appointment as deputy prime minister in charge of the most sensitive strategic issue. It is important to note that Haider himself stayed out of the government. In Israel, 'peacemakers' like Amir Peretz, Ephraim Sneh, Eitan Cabel and Yitzhak Herzog went out of their way in their efforts to convince members of their party's central committee to allow them to bring into their home an extreme nationalist…The silence of the leadership of mainstream Jewry in the world, in view of the legitimization of a person such as Lieberman, undermines the moral high ground they hold in the struggle against Israel-haters throughout the world. If a Jewish politician who aspires to transfer an Arab minority across the border can sit in an Israeli cabinet, why should an anti-Semite not sit in an Austrian government? Let's hear it for the Haiders."

- Just two days after becoming a deputy prime minister of Israel, local media quoted Lieberman as telling the security cabinet that the country should operate in the Gaza Strip "like Russia operates in Chechnya." Russia has fought two wars in the southern republic of Chechnya in the post-Soviet period, in which tens of thousands of civilians are estimated to have been killed. Chechnya's capital Grozny was bombed extensively during the campaigns, prompting comparisons with Germany's Dresden after World War II, and Russian troops have been accused of massive human rights abuses in the Caucasus republic.

- Days after that, Lieberman called for the separation of Jews and Arabs (including Arab citizens of Israel) along the Cyprus model, telling Israeli Army Radio that "anywhere in the world where there are two peoples and two religions...there is conflict."

- On 9 November 2006, Lieberman was appointed to the parliamentary commission overseeing the removal of outposts in the occupied West Bank that Israel's government deems illegal (under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal). This despite his staunch pro-settlement stance, and the fact that he lives in one in the West Bank. Lieberman will replace Ophir Pines-Paz of the Labour party, who resigned from the government on October 30 at the hardliner's inclusion in the cabinet.

Sources: The BBC, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), the Guardian, Reuters, Haaretz, Israel National News, the Jerusalem Post, Ynet, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Knesset, the Scotsman and Agence France Presse