JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Knesset (parliament)voted and approved the addition of extreme-right party Israel Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman into the government coalition on Monday evening.
The Knesset voted 61-38 in favor of Israel Beiteinu's inclusion, and thus finalized the party's procedure of joining the government.
Earlier on the day, the Israeli cabinet led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved by an overwhelming majority the inclusion of Israel Beiteinu into the government.
Olmert said after the cabinet's voting that the move strengthened the coalition.
He said that the entry of Israel Beiteinu is a step towards increasing the government's ability to deal with the issues at hand, and the first issue is the budget.
On last Monday, Olmert and Lieberman signed an agreement on the party's joining the coalition, which was seen as Olmert's efforts to bolster his shaky six-month-old government.
With Israel Beiteinu and its 11 seats in the coalition, Olmert controls 78 of 120 seats in parliament, ensuring enough support for the government in important parliamentary votes, including the 2007 budget.
The government would collapse if the budget failed to be passed by March.
Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Israel Beiteinu party, will be appointed as deputy prime minister and minister of strategic threats in the prime minister's office.
However, the entry of Lieberman into the government had caused disputes across Israeli political spectrum and enraged dovish Israelis.
Shortly after the cabinet's approval of Israel Beiteinu's entry into coalition, Israeli Science, Technology, Culture, and Sports Minister Ophir Pines-Paz announced his resignation from the government in protest of the decision.
Speaking at a press conference held on Monday, Pines-Paz said that there had been no other option left to him in the wake of the cabinet vote, adding that he had fought as hard as he could against Lieberman's inclusion in the government and had resigned for reasons of conscience.
Pines-Paz, a member of the left-wing Labor Party, was the only cabinet member to vote against the inclusion of Lieberman. He also revealed at the conference that he would ran for the leadership of the Labor Party in later elections, adding that Labor's leadership should be replaced.
Before his resignation, Pines-Paz had tried to convince his fellow party members to quit the current government, in protest against the extreme-right party's entry.
However, the central committee of the Labor Party voted on Sunday night to remain in the government, and Pines-Paz then revealed his intention of quitting the government.
Other Knesset members also criticized Israel Beiteinu's inclusion into the government.
Zahava Gal-On, Knesset member from the Meretz party, said during Monday's Knesset discussion that the entry of Israel Beiteinu Chairman Lieberman into the government is a real attempt to assassinate the Israeli democracy.
She also slammed the left-wing Labor Party, which voted to remain in the government, as only interested in political survival and jobs.
Born in Chisinau in then-Soviet Moldova, Lieberman emigrated to Israel in 1978. He served as a member of the right-wing Likud party until 1999, when he formed Israel Beiteinu, a party draws support mainly from immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Lieberman, 48, has long taken a tough line towards the Palestinians as well as Israel's own Arab minority.
Lieberman's hawkish policy can also be seen from his attitude towards Iran, an Islamic country that had sworn the wipe-off of Israel from Middle East map.
Last Monday, shortly after signing the entry agreement with Olmert, Lieberman said that "the big issue now is the Iranian threat, and I don't want to think about what would happen in a year or two if we don't deal with it now."
Lieberman has also called for stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and bombing Palestinian population centers, which made him one of Israel's most divisive figures.
