Liberman says Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc has ‘broken down’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc is fracturing and “no longer exists,” Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman claimed on Wednesday, predicting drama and “quite a few surprises” in the run-up to the upcoming March Knesset election, Israel’s third in less than a year.

“What I hear from at least some of the ultra-Orthodox is that… the bloc no longer exists, the bloc has broken down,” Liberman said in an interview with Kan public radio.

“I am not entirely sure that the results of the elections will follow what we see today in the polls,” he continued. “There are many events, we can’t guess… There will be a very intensive campaign, very short and emotional and so you can’t predict anything.”

Following September’s inconclusive election, Netanyahu rallied right-wing and religious parties to form a united front, inking a deal that saw the establishment of a joint negotiation team in order to maximize his leverage in coalition talks.

Earlier this month, Channel 12 news reported that a senior right-wing figure told associates his party will not automatically support Netanyahu to form the next government if he doesn’t have enough votes following the national poll.

“There will not be another blind following of Netanyahu,” the unnamed lawmaker reportedly said. “A fourth election is not an option and would be unforgivable.”

Liberman’s sentiments regarding the possible breakup of the right-wing bloc were not shared by senior United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, who on Tuesday told a conference organized by the business daily The Marker that Israel’s political deadlock was Liberman’s fault.

“According to Liberman, who brought us to second and third elections, there is a chance that we will find ourselves also in a fourth election,” he said. “Inside the bloks there may be changes, but based on what we see at this point, the blocs are not going to change.”

After the April elections, Liberman and the Haredim forced a second election when they failed to compromise on pending army enlistment legislation, with Liberman stating that he would not join the government without the passage of the bill in its current form. After the next elections in September, Liberman refused to join Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, instead insisting on a secular national unity government.

“Liberman hates two sectors: Bibi and us, the Haredim,” Gafni said, using Netanyahu’s Hebrew nickname. “And for that he is ready to paralyze an entire country.”

“I am not a follower of Bibi and not against Gantz, but as long as the traditional public is on the right we will support the right-wing candidate, so we will go with Bibi,” he continued.

In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, Yisrael Beytenu number two MK Oded Forer said that he had “no problem sitting with the ultra-Orthodox leadership in the coalition, but there must be balance.”