Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the secular nationalist Israel Beiteinou, will not support outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rival Benny Gantz to form a coalition government. "I refuse to support a minority government [Gantz backed by the Arab parties] or narrow [Netanyahu and its right and religious bloc]," Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday (November 19th) at a press conference.
"I have done everything in my power to achieve a unity government (...) If we are dragged into elections it will be because of a lack of leadership," he said. , like a peak directly addressed to his opponents.
Israel's parliamentary elections in September failed to clearly separate Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz for a parliamentary majority. President Reuven Rivlin then mandated Benjamin Netanyahu, in power since 2009, to form a government. But he failed to win enough votes to reach the 61 support, the threshold of the majority in Parliament. The president then turned to Benny Gantz to avoid a third election in less than a year.
One of Benny Gantz's options was to gain the support of Avigdor Lieberman's party to form a left-wing minority coalition, supported externally by Arab parties. What the leader of Israel Beiteinou refused. The latter also blamed Benjamin Netanyahu for not abandoning his allies of ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to form a coalition.
"As things stand we are on our way to new elections," Lieberman said. Benny Ganz has until tonight, 23:59, to form a coalition government.
With AFP