Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman campaigning before the March 17, 2015, election. He announced Monday, May 4, that he will pull his Yisrael Beitenu party out of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Reuters
Israel's foreign minister will not join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, according to multiple reports Monday morning. Avigdor Lieberman, who leads the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Is Our Home), announced he will take the party into opposition, according to the Associated Press.
Lieberman's announcement comes two days before Netanhayu was about to assemble a majority in the 120-member Knesset, the parliament. Lieberman, a two-term foreign minister, had been an ally for Netanyahu, and his departure from the coalition is bad news for the country's leader, who won the March 17 election, but was far from a majority.
Lieberman scorned Netanyahu's shifting stands on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a tweet from Jerusalem Post reporter Lahav Harkov.
Ouchhhh. Liberman calls Netanyahu a zigzagger, says he spoke out against 2-states before election and backtracked after.
Lieberman was considering his next move before arriving at a decision, Haaretz reported. A senior Israeli politician who requested anonymity told the paper that Lieberman was "depressed" over the country's political outlook, a sentiment that is shared within his party. “It’s not clinical depression, but complete disgust with the coalition negotiations and the apathy about his political future," the politician said.
