Israeli government in turmoil as defence minister resigns over Gaza ceasefire deal
- Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for early elections and said his party was leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition
Israel’s defence minister abruptly resigned Wednesday in protest over a ceasefire reached with Gaza militants, in a move that rocked the Israeli political scene and seemed likely to bring about early elections.
Avigdor Lieberman said the ceasefire amounted to “surrender to terrorism” after two days of heavy fighting, and that he could no longer serve a government that endorsed it. Lieberman had demanded a far stronger Israeli response to the most intense round of rocket fire against Israel since a 50-day war in 2014, but appeared to have been overruled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His resignation delivers a major blow to Netanyahu’s coalition government and sparked immediate calls for early elections. Lieberman said he hoped that in the coming days a date would be set for a new vote. The opposition parties joined his call.
The government still has a narrow one-seat majority in the Knesset without Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction, but is unlikely to survive until the next elections, currently set for November 2019.
The party of another Netanyahu rival, Naftali Bennett, has already announced that if he is not appointed defence minister it will also quit the coalition – a move that would trigger early elections.