Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman announced on Monday afternoon that he would recommend Gadi Eisenkot to the President as the candidate to form the next government and would support Yair Lapid as the anti-Netanyahu bloc's candidate to replace the Knesset Speaker.
During a briefing for journalists, Liberman emphasized that he would under no circumstances agree to a minority government that depended on Arab parties abstaining from votes.
"There will be no minority government. It simply won't happen. Such a government would survive less than a year, and afterward we would get Bibi back with 70 seats."
He also explained his opposition to relying on the Arab parties.
"In the previous elections, fewer than 14 percent of Arab voters voted for Zionist parties. We don't want to encourage separatism. I received thousands of text messages from the left urging me to sit with the Arab parties. I answered them, 'Don't you have a memory? Have you forgotten?'"
According to Liberman, prolonging the period of a caretaker government would also be problematic and unnecessary.
"You can't pass complex legislation under a caretaker government. You can't pass a conscription law without a serious discussion in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee."
Liberman categorically ruled out serving in the same government as Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Even if the world turns upside down, I will not sit with Netanyahu. Even if he offers me a rotation agreement in which I serve first. He needs to go home. He is unfit - physically as well."
The Yisrael Beytenu chairman emphasized that his preferred outcome would be a Zionist coalition that included Likud but excluded Netanyahu.
"The best option as far as I'm concerned is a Zionist coalition with Likud and without Netanyahu, but the ideal world isn't always practical.
"I have patience. There are 42 days, plus 28, plus 21. That's an eternity. Deri isn't answering Bibi. United Torah Judaism is saying it isn't committed to the bloc."
A substantial portion of the briefing was devoted to a harsh attack on Gadi Eisenkot and his Yashar party over their conduct during the final stretch of the election campaign.
"We suffered a complete failure in the elections. Forty-eight seats is far fewer than we expected, and responsibility for the failure lies with Eisenkot and his people.
"They ran the most selfish campaign imaginable. In the final ten days, we lost between eight and ten seats. The discussion of a minority government drove right-wing voters back into Netanyahu's bloc."
Asked about the investigation into suspected foreign interference in the elections, Liberman replied:
"The Palestinian Authority was very involved and was the guiding force behind both Ra'am and the Joint List. They're stirring the pot. As for Qatari money - maybe Urich knows."
Liberman also addressed the potential influence of U.S. President Donald Trump on political developments.
"There's also an unknown factor - Donald Trump. I don't know what will happen the day after the midterm elections, either."