Liberman suggests soldiers’ votes could boost Yisrael Beytenu to 14 or 15 seats, urges Likud members to defect

Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman says he believes his party could win as many as 14 or 15 seats once the votes of IDF soldiers have been counted, after exit polls by major broadcasters suggest he’ll win eight seats.

The hawkish leader urges patience as he addresses his supporters at Yisrael Beytenu’s election headquarters in Tel Aviv, and jokes that he was late to his party’s event due to a doctor’s appointment to treat his “short fuse.”

“We have to hold on until we see the actual, final results,” he says, estimating that final results won’t be available until at least Friday morning and urging supporters to exercise “restraint.”

“By Friday we will have a much clearer picture,” he says, “and a much more optimistic one than what we see today.”

Turning to Likud members, Liberman urges them to launch a “rebellion” and defect from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp to allow for the establishment of a “true” right-wing government.

At present, he says, the so-called “national camp” is made up of “self-serving opportunists clinging to their seats.”

Netanyahu “has no connection to the teachings of Jabotinsky, and no connection to the Revisionist movement,” Liberman says. “He is driven solely by personal and familial interests. Therefore, you within Likud must raise the banner of rebellion so that the entire national camp can be properly restored.”