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JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigned Wednesday after the government agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas to end two days of clashes in Gaza. could trigger early elections.
The decision by Lieberman to withdraw from the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his warmongering party, Yisrael Beiteinu, will increase the number of seats held by the government from 66 to 61 in a precarious siege out of 120.
Lieberman also called for early elections, stressing that the vagueness of the country's security policy must stop.
"I really hope that by Sunday, negotiations between the parties will reach an agreed date for the elections," he said.
It takes at least three months to prepare for elections in Israel. The four-year term of the current government is expected to end in one year.
It was not clear immediately who would replace Mr. Lieberman as the Minister of Defense after the 48-hour resignation came into effect.
The announcement made at a press conference in Parliament comes one day after the right-wing government decided on Tuesday to the ceasefire with Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, ending a outbreak of intense cross-border violence.
In Gaza, there were celebrations of what Palestinians saw as a rare victory over Israel. Many Israelis, including southerners who had been heavily fired upon by rockets, censored the government for humiliating capitulation after militant groups fired about 460 rockets and mortar shells from Gaza on the south. Israel.
Explaining the timing of his resignation and appealing to his right-wing constituency, Mr. Lieberman said that he considered the ceasefire as a "capitulation to terrorism" and enumerated a number of issues. other recent political decisions with which he was not in agreement.
"What we do as a state, is buying a short-term silence at the cost of serious damage to national security in the long run," Lieberman said.
The battle to replace Mr. Lieberman could precipitate the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu government. Various parties, including Mr. Netanyahu's Conservative Likud, Lieberman's ultra-nationalist party, Yisrael Beiteinu, and the Jewish home for Education Minister Naftali Bennett are fighting over the right-wing vote.
Bennett, who frequently marches in belligerent positions, will likely demand the defense position, but Netanyahu will not be eager to give it to him, according to Israeli political analysts.
Bennett's party legislator, Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, said that if Bennett was not appointed defense minister, Jewish Home would also withdraw from the coalition, resulting in the downfall of the government.
Lieberman has earned a reputation as a polarizing and abrupt figure, but his party's strength has weakened in recent polls, barely exceeding the electoral threshold. He was appointed Minister of Defense in May 2016 as part of a political agreement reinforcing the Netanyahu coalition, which had survived for a year with a very slim majority.
Minister of Foreign Affairs in Netanyahu's two previous governments, Lieberman replaced Moshe Yaalon, a prominent member of Likud, who gave up bitter disputes with Mr. Netanyahu.
