Avigdor Liberman: Netanyahu is ‘Mr. Zigzag’

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman referred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “Mr. Zigzag” during his faction’s meeting in the Knesset on Monday, in a personal attack on the Likud leader who, he suggested, is also unpopular with his own party members.

Liberman, who unexpectedly refused to join the government last month, emphasized that he had no problems with the Likud party, just with its leader Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu is not right-wing or left-wing, but Mr. Zigzag, the world champion of zigzags,” said Liberman, using an Israeli term similar to a flip-flop in American politics. “Yisrael Beytenu has no problem with Likud. We have a big problem with Netanyahu. It is not just us. Ask Benny Begin, Yuval Steinitz and (Jerusalem Mayor) Nir Barkat.”

The right-wing party leader referred to two Likud members and the mayor of Jerusalem, all of whom could be seen to be disappointed by the results of the long and exhausting process of the establishment of the current government.

MK Benny Begin on Friday resigned as minister-without-portfolio in the wake of a cabinet reshuffle that also forced Energy and Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz to share by rotation his security cabinet seat with Absorption Minister Minister Ze’ev Elkin.

“More than 80 percent of people who voted for Yisrael Beytenu in the last election agree with our decision to stay in the opposition,” Liberman added, apparently in response to comments Netanyahu made about his party disappointing its voters by joining the opposition. “Since the prime minister is such an avid enthusiast of polls, I suggest he check it this out for himself.”

Liberman then shifted his attention to Barkat, saying he supported the controversial appointment of Ze’ev Elkin to the post of Jerusalem affairs minister. Liberman accused Barkat of “not dealing with the development of the city but rather with public relations for himself at the expense of Jerusalem residents.”

The attack came the day after Netanyahu accused the Yisrael Beytenu party of letting its voters down.

“I don’t think there would be even one voter out of those who voted for Yisrael Beytenu who would have voted for them if he knew that they planned to join the left-wing parties to bring down the Likud government,” Netanyahu said at a Likud activists meeting, Army Radio reported.

Yisrael Beytenu responded in a statement that “a prime minister who voted in favor of the [Gaza] pullout and refused to include in the basic government guidelines sections such as the eradication of the Hamas government, is not permitted to speak on behalf of the national camp.”

Liberman’s decision last month to refrain from joining the Netanyahu coalition left him in an awkward position as the leader of an opposition party that is more right wing than some coalition parties. The surprise move condemned Netanyahu to the narrowest majority coalition, of just 61 members in the 120-seat Knesset. Liberman, the previous foreign minister, was a former director of Netanyahu’s office, and a political ally: Likud and Yisrael Beytenu ran on a joint list in the 2013 elections.

Liberman and Barkat have a long political rivalry. Liberman supported Barkat’s opponent Moshe Lion in 2013’s mayoral election, with Barkat accusing the Yisrael Beytenu leader of interfering in municipal appointments prior to the campaign.