Liberman Denies Secret Talks With Haredi Parties Over Conscription

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman denied on November 8 that intermediaries were acting on his behalf in secret talks over conscription. In a statement on his official channel, he rejected reports naming Moshe Lion, Avi Abuhatzeira and others as go-betweens. He also denied that discussions had taken place about freezing the arrests law, either directly or indirectly. Liberman challenged those reporting the alleged meetings to provide specific evidence. He asked for the dates and hours when they supposedly occurred, their locations, the number of participants and who attended. His statement presented those questions as grounds for rejecting the reports, rather than acknowledging that contacts had occurred. On the substance of conscription legislation, Liberman rejected descriptions of his position as a retreat. “The prerequisite for any conscription law is that it passes High Court review,” he said. He argued that there was no point spending time on legislation that could not meet that legal test. Liberman also accused television coverage of being part of an organized campaign against him. He alleged that its purpose was to prepare the ground for a short-lived minority government that would eventually return Benjamin Netanyahu to power with a 70-member coalition. That scenario was his accusation and prediction; the statement announced no agreement or timetable for negotiations.