Yisrael Beitenu party chairman, MK Avigdor Lieberman, held a press conference on Monday evening during his pre-Pesach holiday “toast” for faction members.

During the event he stated his representative will recommend to President Reuven Rivlin to give the presidential mandate to form the next coalition government to Binyamin Netanyahu, which was done on Tuesday, when his delegation met with the president.

Liberman used the media event to reveal his demands for entering into a coalition headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He said, “Unfortunately, the chareidi/chardal group in the right-wing has grown from 21 to 22 mandates and I see this as a threat to all of the values of ‘Toras Jabotinsky’. While I am not pleased, I take this into account. This is the decision of the voter. The people have decided, and we must respect the decision and act accordingly, in line with the people’s decision”.

He attacked the chareidi politicians for their statements against him. “What the chareidi parties did and what they continue to do, it’s very easy to incite against Yisrael Beiteinu, who say that we hate chareidim, which isn’t true.”

Referring to the draft law, Lieberman said that the law passed its first reading and therefore it is subject to a continuity law, and it is possible immediately after the establishment of the government to regulate the matter within a week by passing the law on second and third readings. “We are not trying to produce goats and put them into the coalition negotiations. We are going to do what is needed and is not something new. Therefore, all the demands of the chareidim to empty the law of content are unacceptable to us and we will not agree and insist on every letter of the law. We will not give up a comma or a period. We will demand that the law be passed in exactly the same way as it did on first reading. It’s not against halacha or against the chareidim,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman also made it clear that he wanted to see a right-wing government not only in words but also in actions. “Whoever thinks that we will give up our principles in exchange for even seductive chairs will not happen, we will not give up our principles. We can only be part of the right government in deeds and not in words. We cannot be in a government headed by Ganz.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)