Making Bibi look like a peacenik

In the last 24 hours, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman -- ever the consummate diplomat -- said E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana was just grandstanding when he urged the U.N. to recognize a Palestinian state, and that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is "upping his demands" on Israel to make up for his own declining legitimacy.

And now he's planning to appoint a close associate, Shaul Kamisa, as Israel's ambassador to Egypt, a move that will seriously hurt Israeli-Egyptian relations. It will also likely leave Israel without an ambassador in Cairo for the foreseeable future; as the Ha'aretz article notes, the Egyptian government will be "in no hurry" to approve Kamisa's credentials as ambassador.

Just to remind you: Lieberman is the Netanyahu government's top diplomat.