Lieberman: Yisrael Beytenu won't join a left-wing coalition

Yisrael Beytenu leader and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared on Sunday his party would not join a Left-led coalition after the March 17 Knesset elections.

"We will not be partners in a leftist government -- we've always clearly defined what we are and what we are capable of," Lieberman said. "We have never zigzagged or gone astray."

In Lieberman's view, there are two potential scenarios after the elections: a right-wing government, or a national unity government led by the Right.

"As I see it, even though Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and Buji [Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog] say they are opposed to a national unity government, they are locked on having one," Lieberman said.

He said past Yisrael Beytenu voters have plenty of reasons to remain loyal to the party, pointing to his wealth of experience and his "ability to make decisions," as he put it.

"I've served in all the roles, and I think my record is consistent and not bad. We've never zigzagged, we did not vote for the disengagement [from the Gaza Strip], and we did not hand over Hebron," he said.

"Indecisiveness has made a fourth military operation against Hamas in Gaza inevitable, just as a third war in Lebanon is. We [Yisrael Beytenu] are the only ones who can say our word is our word and deterrence is deterrence."

Current polls do not favor Yisrael Beytenu, suggesting that the party will win only a single-digit number of seats in the next Knesset. But Lieberman believes the situation will change before election day.

"I don't think the political picture among the public has crystallized; there are still a lot of undecided voters," Lieberman said.

Regarding the corruption investigation involving a number of Yisrael Beytenu officials, Lieberman accused the media of falsely tainting the party's image.

"Everything that has happened has been unfair," Lieberman said. "Most of the individuals [involved in the corruption case] are not connected to Yisrael Beytenu, yet the media insists on calling it 'the Yisrael Beytenu case.'"

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