Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman (born June 5, 1958, Kishinyov, Moldavia, U.S.S.R. [now Chișinău, Moldova]) is an Israeli politician, leader of the nationalist right-wing political party Yisrael Beiteinu, who served as Israel’s foreign minister (2009–12; 2013–15) and defense minister (2016–18).

Immigration to Israel, early political life, and founding Yisrael Beiteinu

At age 20 Evet Lvovich Lieberman immigrated with his parents to Israel, where he took the name Avigdor. After serving in the military, he earned a degree in international relations and political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There he exhibited the combativeness that would characterize his later career, demanding that Palestinian students participate in civil guard patrols or forfeit their places in the campus dorms.

In 1988 he moved with his wife to the Jewish West Bank settlement of Nokdim. That same year he allied himself with Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu, and in 1993 he masterminded Netanyahu’s successful campaign for the Likud party leadership. When Netanyahu first became prime minister three years later, he appointed Lieberman director general of the prime minister’s office. Lieberman left Likud after a falling out with Netanyahu, and in 1999 Lieberman founded a new political party, Yisrael Beiteinu. The party, which drew its membership mainly from Russian immigrants, won 4 seats in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament) in the 1999 national election.

Lieberman served as minister of national infrastructure (2001–02) in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s first government, and, when Sharon was reelected in 2003, he appointed Lieberman minister of transportation (2003–04). In late May 2004 Lieberman outlined his “Populated Area Exchange Plan,” which proposed ceding Palestinian population centres in Israel in exchange for incorporating Jewish settlements in the West Bank into Israel. Palestinians remaining in Israel would be required to take a loyalty oath or lose the right to vote.

Rise to prominence

In October 2006 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brought Lieberman, whose party had won 11 seats in the March election, into his new coalition as minister for strategic threats, focusing on the Iranian nuclear program. Lieberman resigned in January 2008 over the Annapolis process (U.S.-led peace talks with the Palestinians begun in late 2007 in Annapolis, Maryland), during which both sides had agreed to additional discussions on the creation of a Palestinian state. In spite of his resignation, Lieberman’s service in a top security portfolio gave him national leadership credibility.

In the run-up to the 2009 election, Lieberman sharpened his questions about Israel’s Palestinian minority, expressing doubts about their loyalty to the Jewish state and threatening to make their right to citizenship dependent on an oath of allegiance. In the election, held on February 10, 2009, Yisrael Beiteinu secured 15 seats in the Knesset, and it joined a Likud-led coalition government with Netanyahu as prime minister. On March 31 Lieberman was sworn in as foreign minister. The next day he renounced Israel’s commitment to the Annapolis process. In May 2009 Yisrael Beiteinu introduced a citizenship law and other legislation perceived as discriminatory against Palestinian citizens of Israel, none of which was passed.

Soon after taking over as foreign minister, Lieberman was interrogated by police on suspicion of money laundering, bribery, and obstructing justice in a scandal that threatened to end his controversial political career. In August 2009 Lieberman announced that he would step down from all his government posts if indicted on charges of corruption. He resigned from his posts as foreign minister and deputy prime minister in December 2012, after he was indicted for fraud and breach of public trust. He was acquitted of all charges in November 2013 and returned to his position as foreign minister the same month. He occupied the post until May 2015, when Yisrael Beiteinu opted not to join the governing coalition led by Netanyahu.

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In May 2016 Yisrael Beiteinu agreed to join Netanyahu’s coalition. As part of the agreement, Lieberman took over the position of minister of defense. The appointment dismayed centrists, who worried that Lieberman’s bellicose statements and outspoken opposition to pursuing peace with the Palestinians would harm Israeli diplomacy. In late 2018 he resigned from his post after Netanyahu agreed to reinstate a cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, just one day after the most intense cross-border skirmishes in years had broken out.

Early elections were held in April 2019, and, with narrow coalition prospects, Lieberman stood as kingmaker. Negotiations to form a coalition remained at an impasse, however, as Lieberman insisted on ending conscription exemptions for the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews. No compromise was reached, and new elections were set for September.

Lieberman again found himself playing the role of kingmaker after elections were held in September. He insisted, however, that he would only support a unity government that included both Netanyahu’s Likud and its main challenger, the Blue and White list, which would be the only possible coalition that would not depend on the support of either the religious right or of Palestinian citizens of Israel. When no such government could be formed, a new election was held in March 2020, and Lieberman gave tacit support to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to form a government. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Gantz chose to form an emergency unity government under Netanyahu; Lieberman sat out of that government.