A senior member of Israel’s center-right Kulanu party, which is part of the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday that the party intends to oppose legislation that would ease restrictions for sentencing convicted terrorists to death -a key demand on the part of the Yisrael Beytenu party that Netanyahu is attempting to bring into the coalition, Haaretz reports.
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Earlier this week, Netanyahu asked Lieberman to join his coalition as a way to shore up support in parliament.
In a surprise move, Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon today resigned from the Cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu citing “strong disagreement” with him over the army’s handling of recent violent protests by Palestinians.
Yisrael Beitenu held six of the 120 places in Parliament, but following news of the coalition deal, its MP, Ms Orly Levi-Abekasis, said on Facebook she was quitting the party but would retain her Knesset seat.
Mitchell Barak, an Israeli political analyst who has experience working with Netanyau, described Lieberman’s appointment as Defense Minister as “a colossal mistake from a public diplomacy perspective”, according to WSJ.
Mr Lieberman, who lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, said of Arabs in Israel in a 2015 election campaign speech: “Those who are with us deserve everything”.
“The change in portfolios did not stem from a crisis of faith between us, it stemmed from the need to expand the coalition in order to bring stability to Israel in the face of the challenges it is facing”, Netanyahu said.
Lieberman’s posting caps a dramatic political week in Israel, in which Netanyahu appeared close to adding the moderate Labor party instead.
At home, however, the tensions between Yaalon and Netanyahu had little to do with Mideast peacemaking, and much more to do with the role of the military in Israeli society. “Israeli society is a health society and the sane majority yearns for a Jewish, democratic, liberal state – a state that accepts any person without regard of religion, race, gender, ethnic origin or sexual orientation”.
“Unfortunately, both Israel and Likud have been taken over by unsafe extremists, undercutting our home and threatening those in it”.
Speaking at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Ya’alon said that despite his decision to resign from the government and the Knesset, he has no intention of stepping away from political life permanently and he will contend for the leadership of the country again in the future.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in a deep freeze, Lieberman’s addition to the government could push the prospect of reviving talks even further into the distance.
“Ultimately, it’s the prime minister who directs everything together with the defence minister, with the chief of staff, and apparently I haven’t done such a bad job during my years as prime minister – that’s the way it is going to be now”.
Mr Lieberman has a reputation for inflammatory comments and takes a hawkish stand towards the Palestinians. Since then, Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults, have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans.
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In October 2014, Glick was shot in the upper body after leaving a conference called “The Jewish People Return to the Temple Mount”.
