Liberman aims to be finance minister, favors coalition with Meretz over Haredim

Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman says he will demand the finance minister position after the March elections, adding that he would be more willing to sit with the left-wing Meretz party in a coalition than with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The right-wing leader, who last year fell out with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and adopted a staunch secularist platform, says he will only join a government that approves public transportation on Shabbat, civil marriage and a mandatory non-religious core curriculum for all schools, including ultra-Orthodox.

“I will demand the finance minister [position] to rehabilitate the Israeli economy and the economic devastation,” Liberman tells Channel 12 news.

He says his party will also demand the health and public security portfolios.