Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Friday announced his resignation, citing his “lack of confidence” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Benny Begin, the widely respected member of Knesset from Mr. Netanyahu’s own Likud party said “the idea to appoint Lieberman as defence minister is freakish”.
Yaalon is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party that has ruled in a fragile coalition with just a one-seat majority since a year ago. As coalition negotiations ended past year, Liberman chose to sit in the Knesset opposition, claiming the new government would not abide his hawkish principles.
Instead, Mr. Yaalon is to be relieved of his duties as defence minister and replaced by Mr. Lieberman; talks with the Palestinian leadership are only a remote possibility; Mr. Herzog is struggling to stay afloat as Labour Party leader; and the Egyptians are left scratching their heads.
Since its formation in May 2015, Lieberman had repeatedly branded the current five-party coalition as “defeatist” but on Wednesday he told a news conference that he would be open to joining it if key demands were met. The investigation’s report also stated, “Considerable questions and queries remain in light of the evidence seemingly indicating Lieberman’s involvement in the companies and his improper connection with them”.
“Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is today once again showing the world that he puts politics and personal political survival above the national security of Israel and its people”.
Lieberman, a settler in the occupied West Bank, has stirred controversy by questioning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s commitment to peace and the loyalty of Israel’s Arab minority, while pushing for stonger military action against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
With Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts stalled, Lieberman’s addition to the government could push the prospect of reviving talks even further away.
France is trying to revive moribund peace negotiations, frozen since April 2014, but Israel has rejected the idea of an worldwide peace conference – instead pushing for direct bilateral talks. Lieberman’s party, Yisrael Beitenu, enjoys support among Soviet-born Israelis.
But Herzog held a press conference late Wednesday, announcing the negotiations between him and Netanyahu had reached a dead end. Please see our terms of service for more information.
With the far-right Lieberman, the coalition would have 67 seats.
Yaalon told reporters that “Israel is a healthy society” with a “sane majority” that is tolerant of minorities and strives for a liberal and democratic society.
Besides naming Liberman as Defense Minister, the agreement with Likud is likely to include another ministerial position for the party – that of the Absorption portfolio, with the job likely going to MK Sophia Landver – as well as an appointment of a party MK as a Deputy Knesset Speaker.
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Ya’alon subsequently called on IDF officers to “continue to speak their mind”.
