Avigdor Liberman Dumps Partnership With Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party
Image by getty images
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has dissolved the partnership between the political party that he heads, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Liberman made the announcement Monday, after days of disagreement between the two parties’ leaders over how to respond to the recent onslaught of rocket fire from Gaza.
The two parties ran together in the last general Knesset elections in 2013; they are permitted to separate once elected, however.
The separation means that the ruling Likud party now has 20 Knesset seats, one more than the centrist Yesh Atid Party, headed by Yair Lapid.
Liberman informed Netanyahu of his decision on Monday morning, a day after the two leaders publicly argued at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
During the meeting, Netanyahu, according to leaks, reportedly reprimanded Cabinet members who spoke out publicly against the government’s reaction to the situation in Gaza. Netanyahu reportedly chided Liberman, who has publicly criticized Netanyahu for holding back in responding more forcefully to Gaza attacks, for missing two Cabinet meetings during which the Gaza situation was discussed. Liberman was acting in his capacity as foreign minister during both of t hose meetings.
Liberman told reporters Monday that there have been longstanding differences between the leaders and that it was preventing them from working together.
“Disagreements between the prime minister and me are fundamental and do not allow for a future partnership,” Liberman said. “The partnership did not work during the elections, it did not work after the elections and to this day there were quite a few technical issues. When technical issues turn to fundamental ones there is no point in continuing.”
He said his party will remain in the government coalition.
Liberman reportedly also is reportedly trying to shore up his party’s and his personal sagging poll numbers.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
