Liberman says 'no chance' he'll sit in coalition with Meretz

Although he doesn’t reject joining left-led government, FM’s comments complicate coalition-building prospects for Labor

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Saturday night that there was “no chance” his Yisrael Beytenu party would serve in the same coalition with the left-wing Meretz party after March’s elections.

He told Channel 10 that Meretz chairwoman “Zahava Gal-on is not even an option. There is no common denominator, there is no chance.”

Still, Liberman did not rule out the prospect of a coalition with other parties, including Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni’s Labor-Hatnua slate.

According to current polls, Herzog and Livni would need Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party — which is polling at around seven seats — to build a stable coalition, together with Meretz, which ideologically is a natural partner for Labor.

“What we are obligated to is basic policy: Will there be an effort to destroy Hamas? We can’t progress on the peace process without kicking out [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] or destroying Hamas,” Liberman said.

He said that the Palestinian Authority in its current form should be dismantled and that an alternative body should be founded, in cooperation with the international community. Due to Abbas’s effort to join the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Israel should not only refuse to transfer funds from tax money to the PA, which it has already done, but also encourage Western countries, especially the US, to halt assistance to the PA, he said.

Liberman is to meet Sunday with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and is expected to request that Canada cease its funding of the ICC at The Hague.

The Yisrael Beytenu leader refused to directly address allegations of corruption that have roiled his party in recent weeks.

“All I know, factually, is that this is the sixth time that an election opens with interrogations regarding Yisrael Beytenu. Why it did not happen two days after the elections or after the establishment of a coalition – I don’t know,” he said. “What matters is that decisions will be made in court and not by the media. I will be happy to have my say on this affair – in court.”