Yisrael Beytenu chief and outgoing foreign minister slams new government of ‘opportunists’, says choosing ‘principles over portfolios’.
Avigdor Lieberman will lead his Yisrael Beytenu party into opposition and will not join the new government, the outgoing foreign minister announced Monday, effectively ending a years-long partnership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
“I am happy we chose principles and not portfolios”, Lieberman said at a faction meeting in Jerusalem. “What’s being built is not a national camp, but a government that smacks of opportunism”.
The Yisrael Beytenu leader also said he was resigning from his position as foreign minister.
Lieberman lashed out at the disappearance of the controversial nationality bill, which sought to legally define Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and determine that the right to national self determination in Israel belongs solely to the Jewish people.
“Someone vetoed the issue and suddenly it’s off the agenda. The coalition does not reflect the position of the national camp. This government has no intention of overthrowing the Hamas regime,” he said.
“The ink on the governance law has yet to dry and they’re already increasing the numbers of ministers and deputy ministers to unlimited amounts. This is unacceptable,” Lieberman added.
The Yisrael Beytenu leader also slammed the coalition deal Likud signed with the United Torah Judaism, which will result in the cancellation of many reforms agreed upon in the last Knesset.
Two weeks ago, Yisrael Beytenu faction chairman and coalition negotiator Robert Ilatov stated that if Netanyahu did not go back on the agreements he had made with the religious parties, then Yisrael Beytenu would remain in opposition.
On Monday, Lieberman made good on that pledge.
With Yisrael Beytnetnu’s departure, Netanyahu is now looking at a coalition of just 61 out of the 120 members of the Knesset.
Netanyahu could ask the leading centre-left opposition party Zionist Union to join forces in a “national unity” government, though both sides have so far played down any such possibility.
Shelly Yachimovich, a senior Zionist Union lawmaker, did not rule out her party joining Netanyahu but said it appeared unlikely.
“I don’t see an option like this,” she told Israel’s parliamentary television station. “It would be silly of me to consider something that does not exist.”
Lieberman and Netanyahu have had a long-standing political partnership, which began to fray last year. In October 2012, the two party
leaders announced that they would run on a joint ticket in the January 2013 elections, as Likud Beytenu. The election victory saw Netanyahu return as prime minister and gave Lieberman the Foreign Ministry. But Lieberman pulled his party out of the partnership in July last year, and each ran on a separate ticket in the elections earlier this year. Yisrael Beytenu won just six seats, down from 13.
Meanwhile, Shas leader Aryeh Deri said Monday he believes that on Wednesday, Netanyahu will be able to present to President Rivlin a government of only 61 MKs.
“We always wanted a wide government, we could’ve established a wide government but we didn’t,” Deri said.
“All members of the coalition must overcome their differences. Sometimes a small and homogenous coalition is better than a wide one,” he added.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2: Thanks I will be back at you at a later date.
@ Bear Klein:
To meet is the best way. We live in the North and would welcome you.
Buen apetito!
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Y las comidas todas deliciosas de Mexico.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
I am truly always interested in new government structures.
I am in the early stages of writing a book that relates to this topic in great part. Would love to be privy to your ideas.
@ honeybee:
VIVA! La piniata esta lista? LOL
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Viva Cinco de Mayo !!!!!!!!!
That wasn’t the question though
@ mrg3105:
King may not or be Mochiach depending on G.d’s decision.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
Since you have done all the looking already, would you mind pointing me to a source in HaZa”L that supports Moshiakh needing to be a direct relative of David HaMelekh?
Exactly how are the descendants ‘clearly identifiable’?
@ mrg3105:
Ancestrally only direct descendants of King David are entitled to assume the throne if a King is opted for.
Details are ample in in INTERNET and are fascinating.
There are several such royalty descendants living here and are clearly identified.
yamit82 Said:
Of course someone who laughs through their anus has more of an idea…
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
You mean just like the British monarchy?
What do understand “ben David” to mean?
yamit82 Said:
Of course someone who laughs through their anus has more of an idea…
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
And how does your vetting process work?
@ yamit82:
Correct you are. That is the first option part of the Platform’s Plan.
Malchut is exclusively the province of Bnei David.
@ mrg3105:
Besides bheing mostly innaccurate in just about all you have stated here, saying “I personally applaud Yisrael Beytenu and Lieberman for sticking to principles.” pretty much seals it that you don’t have a clue. principles??? ROTFLMAO!! 🙂 😛
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
What we need is a King! A limited Constitutional Monarchy.
@ mrg3105:
A group of akin Jews organized since 2002 to precisely that end. A Platforms was prepared and a major meeting organized. A pair or infiltrators sabotaged the plan.
We only offer details to vetted people.
SHmuel HaLevi 2 Said:
We ?
Thing is that there is NO cure for the Israeli political setting as it is. The combina is too rotten to be saved.
Elections are at best futile and as a rule only a prelude to betrayals, bribery… Elections within the system are a lost cause.
Solution possible? Almost 15 years ago we presented a Platform leading to a complete overhaul of the government system.
Still available and fit to do the job needed.
Lieberman stands for all the JEWS who made aliya from the former Soviet Union with the expectation of a safe and prosperous Israel. By and large they are not Zionists, or ‘secular’ or anything else. They come with a certain baggage of cultural borrowings form the Soviet culture in the way all JEWS from everywhere have, but, since their arrival in significant numbers from the 70s onwards they have consistently contributed to Israel’s sacurity and wealth generation. As with other cultural sub-cultures, the haredi ideologues pray on them, particularly the Lubavich sect, but most have reamined rational about accepting the Torah cultural heritage rather than opting for the irrational preaching and brainwashing of the Shasniks.
Natanyahoo will ignore them to his demise.
I personally applaud Yisrael Beytenu and Lieberman for sticking to principles. Kol haKavod for not being like other political ‘leaders’ in Israel.
yamit82 Said:
Better a ‘loose canon’ than somone who doesn’t know which part of the gun fires.
In a state at war, militry and economic, voting should be restricted to those who serve in armed forces or contribute to the wealth-generation of the nation.
@ Bear Klein:
BK, the Liberman you have described here is a man of honor and integrity. In any case, there are a large number of Soviet Russian Jews in Israel, and Liberman literally speaks their language and shares their dreams.
As for all things Russian, and just about everything else, I don’t have fetishes, only strong preferences.
I never was any kind of leftist, but I have admired the Russia of Iosef Vissarionovitch Stalin and the Russia of Vladimir Vladimirovitch Putin since I was a small boy hearing about the vast battles taking place around Moscow and Leningrad in the winter of 1941-1942, and the stupendous and ultimately victorious Russian victory in and around Stalingrad, which extended from August 1942 until February 1943, and was the most titanic single military confrontation in human history. The Russian men and women who fought those battles from the Volga River all the way westward to Berlin, the Elbe River and through the Balkans, were the enduring heroes of my childhood and of my memories.
And a majority of Americans who were alive about 70-75 years ago were stirred by the same emotions that I have never lost. And none of this makes me any less an American or any less a member of the Jewish nation. I served America in the United States Army, and I loyally honor the Jewish nation into which I was born, so long ago.
And yes, I sincerely hope Putin’s Russia retakes for his country control of all Ukraine east of the Dnieper River and all three of the Baltic states torn away from Russia by the West after the Russian revolutions of 1917 and 1991.
One other restoration that I would like them to do is to honor the glory of Russia’s history by restoring the name of the city that so many Russian men and women fought and died to defend: Stalingrad, may its glory stand forever. Quite a few of those men and women were Russian Jews, of whom more than a half-million served in the massive Soviet armies of the Great Patriotic War, and many of whom served with distinction and more than a 100 of whom were Soviet general officers. In that, nothing about the US armed forces in World War 2 has any comparison whatsoever.
By the way, “vodka”, translated to English, means “little water”. I learned that from my south-Slavic wife, Stefi.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ ArnoldHarris:The Likud party on Monday evening released a statement outlining an “unprecedented” offer to Jewish Home, under which chairman Naftali Bennett would receive the education and diaspora ministries, and membership in the security cabinet, and the education budget would be increased significantly.
Netanyahu also offered Bennett’s party the agriculture, and culture and sport portfolios, as well as the deputy defense ministership and the Settlement Division.
Arnold do you drink Vokda instead of water? Your russian thing is really quite a fetish. Lieberman did not leave because he is feed with coalition politics (he thrives on the political stuff). He actually left because of the stuff he stands for and his voters value were being changed from the last government in the deal with Haredi parties.
ArnoldHarris Said:
Any source for this statement of ‘quiet understanding of mutual cooperation”?
Where is this “steady pace of development in area C” being “maintained”, to which you refer?
to which additional parties might Kulanu be referring?
Wasn’t Bennett already a member of security cabinet last term? Any of these things to do with Jewish settlement in YS?
any effective power as Deputy Defense and Settlement division?
Who will get foreign Ministry, or is it being held open for Liberman return?
@ Bear Klein</
Ignore my earlier questioning about the authenticity of Bennett getting control of the WZO Settlement Division. It's already being trumpeted as about 50 percent of today's news from Israel; the other half being Liberman's pulling out of Netanyahu's new coalition. It's already been discussed that Bennett will have a quiet understanding of mutual cooperation with Ya'alon, Netanyahu's favored and therefore permanent defense minister, which should help maintain the steady pace of Jewish development in Area C.
Actually, I like Liberman. His family and my father's family came from similar bloodlines in the Jewish Pale of the old Russian Empire. And I think he talks truth in the face of others talking political bullshit.
I think Netanyahu's coalition can stand with one fewer party. The worst of all possibilities would be leftists such as Herzog and Livni taking over the government of Israel and using their powers to destroy Jewish Shomron and Yehuda. But with Liberman his party out of the coalition, Bennett and and his party gain in leverage inside the ruling cabinet. I don't think Netanyahu would be looking forward to new elections, all things considered.
If Netanyahu is half as crafty as everyone thinks he is, he will appoint Liberman in some high-level capacity to represent Israel in dealings with the Eurasian empires: Russia, China, and India. They will be much more important to Israel than anything in western and central Europe very soon, and will be operating bigger and stronger armed forces that the USA will be able to afford. Get ready for a very different kind of world than any of us ever have experienced.
In any case, I distrust democracy even more now than I ever did. And I think Liberman must think and feel the same way.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
It is more likely that the left will implement libermans “religious” issues than the right, and it is unlikely that anyone will implement his platforms on YS….. therefore…..
this makes bennett look even more like eunuch. Bennett should also consider the opposition if he wants a future rather than a record of accomplishing nothing for the right or YS. BB already did nothing for Jewish settlement in YS and now he also is unwilling to undo the deals he made in the last coalition. I see no point of congruence between BY platform and any likelihood that BB will implement it. I ignore what BB says and go only on what he has done and not done. (E1, Levy report, illegal Euro building, new Jewish settlement outside major blocks,muslim incitement in Israel, anti semitism in Israel, rights of Jews in Jewish holy places,…….) Deeds not words!
Bear Klein Said:
What is the actual power of the ‘settlement division”? I thought the Defense ministry ran and decided on YS issues.
1@ Bear Klein:
BK: Do you know for a fact that HaYom HaYehudi will get the settlements division, or are you passing on rumor?
If it is true, than this revolutionizes the situation in favor of Jewish Shomron and Yehuda. If it proves to be just bullshit, then shame on you. So where’s the evidence?
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Bear Klein:
Liberman will get the Russian vote, for much the same reasons that — I assume — Shas gets the religious Sfardi vote and Kahlon probably gets much of the secular Sfardi vote.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I place little credence on conspiracy theories and I have little patience for arguing with people about them. I take people at their word, unless and until I see evidence that they lied. That goes for you people who comment here as well as elected politicians.
Therefore, I assume that Liberman has in fact, having watched Netanyahu exercise his ploys of tricksterism in forming the new government, simply said to himself, maybe even in his native Russian:
“Fuck this coalition business. I don’t want to play these games anymore, and I probably can accomplish my political goals better in the opposition than in Netanyahu’s latest and most pitiful excuse of a coalition government”.
Considering the needs of outstanding needs of the Jewish nation as a whole and Jewish Israel in particular, the government of the State of Israel are a pack of wastrels.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Bayit HaYehudi has been offered the settlement divison. They should be able to get want they want for settlement. They will not get want they want for the religious ministry.
If they turn this down it will be either new elections or Bibi and Herzog will have to agree to a deal.
I hope Bennett gets what is right for Judah/Samaria.
Shas and Likud sign coalition agreement.
Again I have said that Lieberman is the loose canon and that he would pick his moment to get back at BB…… Any party now in the coalition can now bring the government down.
Now we could have a unity government if not immediately then in the near future after Labor has their new primaries. Not a very appealing thought.
A government with 61 members would not last very long. A coalition of five parties can not be very stable.
I do not believe Herzog can form a government. So it actually becomes possible that their will be new elections.
Who will loose out? Lieberman will he even get the six seats?
Neat. Coordinated with Netanyahu who always wanted to “unite” with dear Livni-Hertzog-Obama.