Liberman and Netanyahu
Liberman and NetanyahuFlash 90

The Likud and Yisrael Beytenu parties were involved in some back and forth bantering on Sunday, after Yisrael Beytenu chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, said he would not rule out joining a coalition led by the Labor party after the elections in March.

Responding to Liberman’s statement, the Likud party warned voters that voting for Liberman might result in a leftist government.

"Liberman's statements about his willingness to sit in a government headed by [Yitzhak] Herzog prove that a vote for Liberman might move votes from the right to the left and lead to the establishment of a leftist government," said the Likud.

“It is clear that anyone who wants a strong and broad government headed by Netanyahu, based on the right and center-right bloc, must vote this time for the Likud led by Netanyahu,” added the Likud statement.

The statement also responded to criticism voiced by Liberman about the way Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu oversaw Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer.

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ran Operation Protective Edge firmly and responsibly, with the Defense Minister and the Chief of Staff, and did not allow himself to be drawn to different proposals. The operation was handled from an overall perspective of maintaining national security and caring for the lives of civilians and soldiers,” said the Likud.

Yisrael Beytenu fired back, saying, "Israeli citizens are interested in hearing various opinions and not slander, and we will continue to talk business, how to maintain the state of Israel as a Jewish and strong state, and we will not be dragged into unnecessary confrontations."

Likud and Yisrael Beytenu forged an alliance prior to the last national election. While internal surveys conducted by Likud showed that the merger would increase the number of mandates shared by the parties, analysts warned that the move could become the biggest political mistake in the elections.

Ultimately, the joint list won only 31 seats in the elections, far below the number it expected to achieve. The joint list was the Knesset’s largest faction, but the number of seats shared between the two factions was down from 42 seats in the last Knesset. Eventually Liberman announced that the partnership was over and that the two parties would act as separate factions.

The mutual criticism of the parties on Saturday is likely indicative of Likud’s plans to criticize Liberman as part of its election campaign, in order to strengthen its position as a true nationalist party.

Likud and the Jewish Home have already made a pact that they will refrain from attacking each other in the current campaign, as Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett revealed last week at the Saban Forum.

Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked confirmed the agreement and said her party would focus on attacking Yisrael Beytenu and former minister Moshe Kahlon’s new party, Kulanu, in order to ensure “that mandates will not drip away from us and the Likud, to parties that disguise themselves as right wing but are not.”