Avidgor Liberman
Avidgor LibermanKobi Richter/TPS

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman took part in the ‘Talking Israeli’ event Friday morning in Glilot, commenting on the failure of the 22nd Knesset to form a government after the September election, culminating in the dissolution of the Knesset and Israel’s third election in less than a year.

Liberman said his Yisrael Beytenu party had tried to move away from being a sectorial party to become a “national party”, and denied that he had pursued a personal “vendetta” against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – an accusation the Likud has made against Liberman for his decision to push for a unity government rather than back the right-wing bloc.

“If I was pursuing a personal vendetta against Netanyahu, it would have been very easy to join a minority government formed by Gantz with Ayman Odeh,” Liberman said, referring to the proposal floated earlier this year for Blue and White to form a minority government with the outside support of the Joint Arab List, led by Ayman Odeh.

Liberman also accused Interior Minister Aryeh Deri (Shas) of betraying him “personally”, adding that he wouldn’t forgive the Shas leader.

The former Defense Minister added that his party would not accept the status quo on issues relating to the haredi community, including the draft deferment system for haredim and the haredi school system’s independent curriculum, which adheres to only part of the state curriculum.

“We cannot accept the situation today with regards to the haredim, from the curriculum to the draft. Everything here is dealt with either by political correctness, or slogans. I always stick to the facts.”