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PHOTO BY FILE: Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman heads to Kerem Shalom Terminal, Gaza's main commercial border terminal, on July 22, 2018. REUTERS / Amir Cohen / File PhotoReuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is expected to make a public statement on Wednesday and a source close to the far-right politician said he could announce his resignation regarding the government's policy to with regard to the Gaza Strip.
"He's thinking of quitting," the source told Reuters, after Lieberman's office said he was opposed to a security cabinet decision to end the attacks in Gaza, where a ceasefire fired by the Palestinian armed groups put an end to two days of fighting.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that sources close to Lieberman said he was planning to withdraw and was planning the move, saying he "was not leading the defense services in the country. Where he wanted to go. "
Lieberman's departure would probably also mean the withdrawal of his party Yisrael Beiteinu from the ruling coalition. Without his five seats out of the 120 in Parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would end up with a majority of one seat. This could prompt Netanyahu to consider holding national elections scheduled for November 2019.
Lieberman's office said he would address the media at 11:00 GMT after convening a special session of his party. A spokesman for Lieberman declined to comment on the content of his planned announcement.
Lieberman pleaded for a harsh Israeli military action against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip, even as the government had authorized an injection of Qatari funds into the impoverished enclave and accepted the mediated truce on Tuesday. by Egypt which had put an end to Palestinian rocket attacks and Palestinian attacks. Israeli air strikes.
Lieberman, a former foreign minister, received the defense portfolio in May 2016. Despite his hawkish remarks about Gaza, he was criticized by another far-right party in the coalition, the Jewish home. , as easily dominated by a cautious military brewer.
Born in the former Soviet Union, Lieberman's electoral base is composed of Russian-speaking immigrant colleagues, right-wing and secularists sharing his hostility to the Arab minority of Israel and the rule of law. religion exercised by ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.
(Written by Dan Williams, edited by Jeffrey Heller and Peter Graff)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
