Far Right-Winger Avigdor Lieberman Joins Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government

Image by Getty Images
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his choice for defense minister, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, signed a coalition agreement on Wednesday and issued assurances that the most right wing government in Israel’s history would act responsibly.
Once Lieberman is sworn in, Netanyahu will have a government of 66 legislators, widening his current one-seat majority in the 120-member parliament, a goal the Israeli leader has said he has sought since winning a fourth term last year.
Lieberman’s return to office – he was previously foreign minister – has raised questions at home and abroad given his past criticism of Israel’s Arab minority, U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Palestinians and regional powers Egypt and Turkey.
At the signing ceremony, in which Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party formally agreed to join Netanyahu’s Likud, both men switched from Hebrew to English to deliver a message to the international community.
“My government remains committed to pursuing peace with the Palestinians, pursuing peace with all our neighbors,” said Netanyahu. “My policy has not changed. We will continue to pursue every avenue for peace, while ensuring the safety and security of our citizens.”
He said a broader and more stable government would make it easier to “seize new opportunities” in the region, a reference to potential peace moves with Arab states that share Israel’s concern about Islamist militancy and Iran.
Palestinian officials said that with Lieberman, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, back in the cabinet as defense minister prospects for reviving statehood negotiations that collapsed in 2014 had grown dimmer.
But also speaking in English, Lieberman, who once famously threatened to bomb Egypt’s Aswan dam and has called for the assassination of Hamas Islamist leaders in Gaza, promised a “responsible and reasonable” policy.
“At the end of the day my intention (is) to provide security and of course all of us we have a commitment, strong commitment, to the peace, to the final status agreement (with the Palestinians),” said the Soviet-born party leader.
Nabil Abu Rdainah, the spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “What’s important is deeds not words… “Israel should learn the true lesson from making peace because there can be no peace and no stability in the region unless the Palestinian cause is resolved.”
Netanyahu began negotiations with Lieberman last week after coalition talks failed with the center-left Zionist Union, the main opposition. The courting of Lieberman came as a surprise as he and Netanyahu have been sharply dismissive of one another.
Several former Israeli defense ministers have criticized Lieberman’s appointment to the sensitive post, citing the politician’s relative lack of military experience.
Yisrael Beitenu has six legislators, but one of them, Orly Levi-Abekasis, has said she is leaving the party and would vote independently in parliament, citing what she called its failure to pursue economic and social reforms.
Levi-Abekasis’s spokesman said on Wednesday she was still formally a member of Yisrael Beitenu as procedural issues had yet to be finalized.
Yisrael Beitenu will become the sixth party in Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition. The deal prompted Moshe Yaalon, a Likud member and former general, to quit as defense minister in protest on Friday.
He could emerge as a future challenger to Netanyahu. —Reuters
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Opinion In Trump’s war against campus antisemitism, hate the tactics but don’t ignore the problem
-
Yiddish כ׳בענק נאָך די וועלטלעכע ייִדן וואָס האָבן אָפּגעריכט אַ טראַדיציאָנעלן סדר Longing for those secular Jews who led a traditional seder
מײַן פֿעטער יונה האָט נישט געהיט שבת און כּשרות אָבער בײַם אָפּריכטן דעם סדר האָט ער געקלונגען ווי אַ פֿרומער ייִד
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.