Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu splits from Likud

Yisrael Beytenu Chairman and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced Monday that his party would be splitting from Likud, effectively dissolving the political partnership the two parties formed ahead of the 2013 general election.

According to Army Radio, Netanyahu and Lieberman held a long private meeting on Monday morning. Lieberman then continued to a Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting, after which he called a press conference in Jerusalem and announced the split, which spells the end of the Likud-Beytenu Knesset faction.

"It's no secret that the differences of opinion between the prime minister and me have become pivotal and fundamental. The situation no longer enables us to maintain the joint faction called Likud-Beytenu," Lieberman told reporters. "Therefore, we plan to petition the Knesset's House Committee in the next few days and ask it to allow us to become a separate faction."

Lieberman said the political partnership between the two parties "didn’t really work during the election [campaign], it didn’t work after the elections, and it doesn’t work today. There were more than a few technical problems, and when those [problems] become fundamental issues, there is no point in hiding them."

Lieberman said his party would remain "a loyal part of the coalition. I see no reason to dismantle the coalition. If anything, splitting [the factions] will only make the coalition stronger. ... This was a colorful coalition to begin with, sporting some of the widest ideological gaps in history."

Commenting on the tensions with Netanyahu, Lieberman told reporters, "The prime minister has his opinions and I have mine. He is entitled to his opinions and I'm entitled to mine, just as everyone else in the coalition has the right to their own opinions. This is a strong coalition and it will carry on. ... There is no better alternative to this coalition."

While no official comment was given by the Prime Minister's Office to Lieberman's announcement, Likud sources hedged that the Lieberman had no interest in early elections.

Speaking of the timing of his decision, Lieberman told reporters, "I have always been consistent in my opinions, and I have always been very accurate, especially when I was chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. I believe Operation Pillar of Defense [in November 2012] ended prematurely. It ended because it was two months before the general elections and we were not about to let Hamas dictate when Israel holds election, so ending the [operation] when we did was the right thing to do at that point.

"Still, I can recall, and I can remind you of, all the times I said we have to do something about Gaza and what I think in the right time to do so. Operation Pillar of Defense had significant achievements, from the assassination of Hamas chief of staff Ahmed Jabari to destroying 95 percent of Hamas' long-range missiles.

"Since then, they have been able to manufacture hundreds of quality missiles with a range of 80 kilometers [50 miles] that can reach the outskirts of Netanya. This reality, living with a terror group training hundreds of missiles at us -- that's intolerable. This has to stop because 1.5 million people can't live under constant threat."

Lieberman also commented on the recent tensions between the Arab and Jewish sectors in Israel. Lieberman said, "What's happening is very disconcerting. There is a consensus among the Israeli leadership, the Right, the Left, the Center -- we all agree that the law must be upheld and any violence or incitement must be denounced.

"Unfortunately this is not the case among the Arab leadership, and all you have to do is recall what [Balad MK Hanin] Zoabi recently said. ... It is unacceptable that some in the Arab sector try to have it both ways -- enjoy the rights afforded by a democratic society on the one hand, while staging protests and waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags and rioting. We have to do everything we can to stop this incitement."

Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely commented on Lieberman's move, saying, "The foreign minister has turned the Israeli government into a battleground. If the foreign minister disagrees with the cabinet's decision, he should be so kind as to resign. Lieberman's hypocrisy has been evident throughout his political career -- he sways with the public's mood. His conduct is an embarrassment to his position as a member of cabinet."

Cabinet meeting face-off

Lieberman's decision was apparently made after Netanyahu and Lieberman traded barbs during Sunday's cabinet meeting over the way Israel has been dealing with the security escalation in the south.

Lieberman's associates said Sunday that he was livid over the criticism Netanyahu had leveled at him, which compounded the already palpable tensions between the two, noted during several public debates despite their once-close political alliance.

According to Army Radio, Lieberman is seeking to distance himself from Netanyahu's policies on the Gaza Strip and Hamas, and assume a harder line ahead of the next general elections.

According to the foreign minister's associates, the most recent bone of contention was Netanyahu's failure to brief Lieberman on his decision to endorse former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin's presidential candidacy.

The split will see Yisrael Beytenu become the fifth-largest faction in the Knesset, as it has 11 MKs, the same as Shas. Likud will be left with 20 MKs.

Ministers privy to the Sunday exchange said the discord between the two stemmed from the fact that both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon support the military's "quiet equals quiet" premise, by which Israel will not strike the Gaza Strip if its terror groups refrain from firing rockets at Israel, while Lieberman and Habayit Hayehudi Chairman MK Naftali Bennett demanded that the government order a large military operation in Gaza.

Bennett also urged the cabinet to announce the construction of new housing units in Gush Etzion, but the cabinet voted to postpone the move at this time.

The difference of opinion between the ministers turned into a confrontation during Sunday's meeting: As Netanyahu, Ya'alon, and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch were briefing the cabinet about the recent security developments, including the weekend's riots in Jerusalem and northern Israel, Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz (Hatnuah) asked Netanyahu to instruct the minister to "act like cabinet ministers and not like commenters" while visiting Sderot homes that were hit by rockets.

Peretz is a resident of the southern city, which has endured years of rocket salvoes, and has come under terrorist fire again over the past week.

The prime minister responded to the comment -- clearly directed at Lieberman -- by saying, "You have a point. You shouldn’t use these events as an excuse for any harsh statement, and some have been voicing them not just against the government, but against me as well. There is a time and a place for expressing such opinions. Uniformity is important when it comes to the things being said and the actions taken when dealing with Hamas."

Lieberman apparently understood the hint, retorting, "You're one to talk. The one to take advantage of the situation, to call a press conference before the funerals [of murdered Israeli teens Gil-ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frenkel] and give statements to the press was you, Mr. Prime Minister. You stood there and used slogans you can't back up. At least my statements follow a set [political] line. You said you would act harshly against Hamas, you ran for election on that slogan -- so act on it."

Netanyahu stressed that some decisions were best left to the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet's discretion, telling Lieberman, "Maybe if you attended cabinet meetings you'd understand."

The foreign minister said he was absent from recent cabinet meetings because he was on a series of state visits, which he cut short given the recent events. Unrelenting, Netanyahu reminded Lieberman that he was absent from last week's cabinet meeting despite being in Israel, to which Lieberman blasted, "Don’t patronize me," adding he had a meeting with Albania's parliamentary speaker and that "you can't cancel a meeting with foreign dignitaries on two hours' notice."

Other ministers also commented on the tension in southern Israel. Finance Minister Yair Lapid noted that "Hamas has to be made to understand that we will not tolerate rocket fire on the south."

Tourism Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beytenu) said, "When someone is quoting IDF officials, you don’t want to hear things like 'quiet equals quiet.' You want them to speak in terms of victory."

International Relations, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said he expects the cabinet to order an operation that will "take Gaza, clean house, take care of the root of the problem and get out of Gaza."

According to Steinitz, "The problem is not just [re-establishing] deterrence and achieving a cease-fire, but also about the military capabilities [Gaza-based terror groups] develop every year under this false calm."

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