Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman says there are “significant gaps” with Likud in coalition negotiations, mainly on security-related issues, but adds that Netanyahu’s party has agreed to pass a law within six months making the death penalty for terror convicts possible.
He also says Likud has agreed to give the party the defense and immigrant absorption portfolios.
Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on April 30, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
Liberman criticizes last week’s ceasefire with Gaza terror groups after a two-day flareup, saying he can be a partner for “defeating” Hamas but not “reaching agreements” with it.
He says he won’t agree to be defense minister if Netanyahu will be able to override him every time he wants to dismantle the West Bank Palestinian hamlet Khan al-Ahmar, which European countries have warned Israel not to destroy.
Regarding his dispute with the ultra-Orthodox parties over a law regulating how many Haredi seminary are drafted to the army and how, Liberman repeats his stance that he won’t agree to any change in the current bill that has passed its first reading in the Knesset. Ultra-Orthodox parties have said they won’t join the coalition if the bill isn’t changed.
He threatens to go to the opposition if his demands aren’t met — a move that would deprive Netanyahu of the 61-seat majority needed to form a government.
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