Avigdor Lieberman resigned as Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday, Nov. 14 after being isolated by the prime minister and army chiefs on government Gaza policy. He called for new elections, meaning that his Yisrael Beitenu party is quitting the government coalition.
Speculation that Avigdor Lieberman was about to resign as defense minister was rife on Wednesday, Nov. 14, after he was isolated by the prime minister and army chiefs on Gaza policy. The rumor gained momentum after Lieberman scheduled a news conference for 1 pm Wednesday, Nov. 14, the day after he and three other ministers objected to the security cabinet’s decision to accept a ceasefire with Hamas, after nearly 500 rockets were fired into Israel in 24 hours. Lieberman advocated intensified punishment for the Palestinian terrorist organizations led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad and objected to giving them a breather.
His situation worsened upon discovering that Netanyahu and the army chiefs had already decided that Israel could not afford to take on Hamas and the pressing threat from the North at the same time, and therefore Israel must accept Egyptian and UN efforts for a ceasefire. While cabinet ministers were discussing the Gaza issue, Netanyahu was running a parallel diplomatic track with international and Arab contacts outside the room. That is why the critical cabinet session ended with a vague communique: “IDF attacks on Gaza will continue as required.”
The defense minister and his other cabinet members had the sense that the prime minister had cast them in the role of film extras while pursuing the real action, totally at odds with his views, somewhere else. He had moreover cut the defense minister off from the military chiefs over whom he had charge.
Lieberman is the third defense minister to opt out of a government led by Netanyahu. His predecessors, Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya’alon, have become the prime minister’s bitterest critics. Netanyahu will need to appoint a new defense minister without delay, given the urgent security challenges confronting the country. Education Minister Naftali Bennett is pushing for the job. Rather than a cabinet shakeup, he may call a snap general election and meanwhile appoint a temporary stand-in as minister of defense.
WarSclerotic 
November 14, 2018 at 2:44 PM
Liberman Resigns, Says Ceasefire Was Surrender to Terrorism
“What happened yesterday is a surrender to terrorism,” Liberman said at an afternoon press conference.
Liberman noted several recent disagreements with Netanyahu, including allowing a Qatari fuel shipment into the Gaza Strip and the repeated postponement of the High Court’s sanctioned evacuation of illegal Bedouin settlement Khan al-Ahmar near Jerusalem.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/eye-on-palestine/hamas/liberman-resigns-says-ceasefire-was-surrender-to-terrorism/2018/11/14/
November 14, 2018 at 2:46 PM
Bennett threatens to leave coalition if not made defense minister
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Bennett-threatens-to-leave-coalition-if-not-made-defense-minister-571900
November 14, 2018 at 6:14 PM
Lieberman charged that in negotiating with Hamas, Israel was “buying short-term quiet, with the price being severe long-term damage to national security.”
Beginning of the end for Netanyahu, about time. He’s afraid to defend Israelis lost his nerve!
November 14, 2018 at 8:21 PM
Lieberman is a great politician. I hope Israel’s policy towards the murderous Iranian regime remains intact and as strong as ever.
November 14, 2018 at 8:44 PM
I do not think so , but i,am sure he is a GREAT Israeli-er !
But i have to admit i have some dislike for political people and so called intellectuals .