Liberman says he won’t join Netanyahu coalition

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said his Yisrael Beytenu would not join a new coalition with the ruling Likud party, throwing a wrench in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to form a government days before a looming deadline

Liberman, who also announced he would resign as foreign minister, said that he chose to be in the opposition rather that serve in a government that he called opportunist, conformist and not “nationalistic.”

“We have come to a unanimous decision that it would not be right for us to join the coalition,” Liberman said during a press conference in the Knesset in which he announced his decision. “We chose our principles over cabinet seats.”

The announcement puts Netanyahu in a corner as he attempts to cobble together a government before a May 7 deadline. Yisrael Beytenu’s six seats were thought key to bolstering Netanyahu’s nascent government, which may now have to rule with a razor-thin 61-seat majority.

Netanyahu has thus far signed coalition agreements only with the Kulanu and United Torah Judaism factions, giving him 46 seats. He is considered close to closing deals with Jewish Home and Shas to give him a majority.

Liberman said that the prime minister’s Likud party made concessions in coalition agreements with other parties that Yisrael Beytenu could not accept.

“The Jewish-state Bill was so important in the last Knesset – suddenly no one is talking about it,” he said, referring to the controversial legislation proposed last year that would enshrine Israel as a Jewish state.

Liberman further criticized Netanyahu for his weak stance toward terrorism, and charged that the future government “had no intention of uprooting Hamas in Gaza.”

The comments echoed ones made by Liberman over the summer that exposed a rift between him and Netanyahu. The two ran together under a joint list in the 2013 election.

Liberman also lamented that the future government would likely not permit the building of new homes in the major settlement blocs.

In recent weeks, Liberman has criticized Netanyahu’s concessions to ultra-Orthodox parties on the issues of conversion and recruitment to the IDF.

Both issues are important to the electorate of Yisrael Beytenu, which is largely composed of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Liberman also accused Netanyahu of planning a coalition reshuffle in the future, predicting that the prime minister would bring the Labor Party into the government after it holds a primary election next year.