Liberman Says He Will Compromise on Conscription to Form Government Without Netanyahu

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said on November 6 that he was prepared to compromise on the conscription law as part of efforts to form a government without Benjamin Netanyahu. In a public statement, he said the election results required political leaders to reconsider their approaches and accept difficult decisions. He presented flexibility on conscription as part of that position, rather than announcing an agreed coalition arrangement. Liberman said: “On all other issues, we can and should show flexibility, compromise and understand that demanding everything risks getting nothing.” He explicitly included the conscription law among those issues. He described compromise as painful but said Israel’s national interests should take precedence. He reaffirmed three conditions that he said he had set out at a Monday briefing for journalists: ending Netanyahu’s tenure, avoiding another election and rejecting any government directly or indirectly dependent on Joint List or Ra’am votes. That rejection also covered a minority government supported by those parties from outside the coalition. He said Yisrael Beytenu would vote against such a government. Liberman also denied discussing a rotating premiership with anyone. He argued that whoever formed the government should have the authority to lead it for a full term and that rotation harmed its management. He called for efforts to assemble a 61-member coalition excluding Joint List and Ra’am, and suggested that three or four Likud lawmakers might subsequently join it. That possibility was his assessment, not an announced commitment by Likud members.