Lieberman hits back over new direction: We don't need Likud approval
Cracks deepen in crumbling alliance as FM responds to Likud attack on his openness to cooperation with Labor.
A war of words between Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued Sunday, with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Lieberman lashing out at his erstwhile partner and Likud chief over the direction of his party.
"Yisrael Beiteinu is a national camp and more right-wing than any other," Lieberman declared at the beginning of the Cabinet meeting Sunday. "We do not require authorization, not from Bayit Yehudi and not from Likud."
Lieberman said on Saturday that he was open to serving in a government headed by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, drawing Netanyahu's fire.
"I have worked with Netanyahu for many years," Lieberman said Sunday. "There have been ups and downs and disagreements.
"I deeply appreciate and respect the prime minister. However, I have no preconceived notions about anyone. I hope we conduct a substantive election campaign without resorting to slurs. The country needs political debate, not a personal campaign."
The foreign minister also warned the Palestinians against their bid for UN recognition.
"Any unilateral step will not bring an agreement closer, but only make it more distant. I hope common sense guides all the international bodies. A solution can be reached only by agreement. Any one-sided solution is doomed to failure."
A Likud statement issued Saturday attacked Lieberman for his willingness to serve in a coalition with Labor, saying it "proves that voting for Lieberman could send votes from the right to the left and bring to the establishment of a left-wing government. It's clear that anyone who wants a strong and wide government led by Netanyahu, which is based on the right and right-center blocs, needs to vote for Likud led by Netanyahu."
Interior Minister Gilad Erdan told Ynet Sunday morning that "disagreements between the foreign minister and the prime minister have existed for a long time, ever since Operation Protective Edge. I do not think that Netanyahu has lost Lieberman. Speaking as someone who knows both of them well, they have disagreements on many issues, and the prime minister has disagreements with all of his coalition partners. That's the problem with the methods they choose."
Yisrael Beiteinu and Likud ran in the 2013 elections on a joint ticket, yielding them 31 seats. But Lieberman ended the partnership in July, announcing that the agreement "was not working out." The party remained in the coalition, however, and retained its ministerial portfolios.
