Acquitted Israeli Politician Returns to Job as Foreign Minister

A Russian-speaking immigrant from the former Soviet Union who lives in a settlement in the West Bank, Mr. Lieberman was foreign minister in the previous Israeli government from 2009 to late 2012, a tenure marked by several episodes that critics deemed highly undiplomatic. Famously skeptical of the prospects of reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians, Mr. Lieberman, a hard-line populist, accused the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, of engaging in “diplomatic terrorism.”

Last year, addressing an audience of foreign diplomats in Israel, Mr. Lieberman gave vent to his government’s anger over European support for diplomatic gains by the Palestinians at the United Nations and over international rebukes for Israeli settlement plans. Comparing Israel’s situation to that of Czechoslovakia in 1938 before the Nazi invasion, he said, “When push comes to shove, many key leaders would be willing to sacrifice Israel without batting an eyelid in order to appease Islamic radicals and ensure quiet for themselves.”

He quit the post shortly before the last government ended its term when he faced indictment on charges of fraud and breach of trust. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since acted as his own foreign minister. After forming his new government eight months ago, Mr. Netanyahu held the job open for Mr. Lieberman pending the conclusion of his trial.

Mr. Lieberman returns at a time when Israel is trying hard to stop what it views as a poor nuclear deal shaping up between the world powers and Iran. Israeli-American tensions have been rising over the Iranian issue and the peace talks with the Palestinians, which are now taking place under a cloud of mutual recrimination.

Israel is also involved in delicate negotiations with the European Union over the bloc’s move to ban the financing of Israeli institutions that work in territory seized during the 1967 war. And relations with Turkey, once Israel’s closest Muslim ally, remain strained despite Mr. Netanyahu’s apology for operational mistakes that led to nine deaths in a 2010 raid on a Turkish ship that was trying to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Mr. Lieberman opposed making the apology.

Israel’s most diplomatically fragile relationships — with the American administration, the Palestinians and others — are largely handled by the prime minister’s office, not by the Foreign Ministry. Still, Israeli opponents of Mr. Lieberman worried that his return to office was hardly likely to enhance Israel’s international standing.

“I can’t think of anybody less suited to serve as the diplomatic face of Israel than this person, who lacks inhibitions and sows discord,” Zahava Gal-On, the leader of the leftist Meretz Party, wrote on her Facebook page soon after Mr. Lieberman’s acquittal. In Parliament on Monday, she said that appointing Mr. Lieberman as foreign minister was like “planting a bomb under the peace process.”

Foreign policy insiders in Jerusalem seemed hard pressed to point to any resounding successes during Mr. Lieberman’s first term at the Foreign Ministry. He toured South American countries hoping to cement relations, but there appears to have been little follow-up. When the United Nations General Assembly voted last year to upgrade Palestine to a nonmember observer state, 138 countries voted in favor, while only nine voted against and 41 abstained, a diplomatic blow for Israel after months of lobbying.

One relationship that Mr. Lieberman has worked hard to promote is with Russia. Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Moscow later this month.