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Ayelet Shaked calls on Liberman to ‘act maturely’ and rejoin the right

Ayelet Shaked said the best outcome would be for Avigdor Liberman to return to the right. 

By World Israel News Staff

Ayelet Shaked, leader of the Yemina faction, called on Avigdor Liberman of the Israel Beiteinu party to “return to the Right,” in a Monday radio interview.

The former justice minister said that if Liberman returns to the fold then a strong right-wing government could be formed. Liberman’s party won eight seats in last month’s elections.

“Liberman needs to act maturely and return to the right, and that will be the best government,” Shaked said to Kol Barama Radio. “But if Liberman doesn’t return to the right and join us, the other option is a government with Blue and White, to prevent another round of elections.”

Liberman, however, showed no inclination to join with the Likud party, blasting it on Monday.

“Today’s Likud has nothing to do with the Revisionist movement. It’s a collection of businessmen, from the miserable liar Israel Katz to the quintessential national-haredi Shlomo Karhi. For them, the Likud is just the platform for each one’s personal political career,” he said.

Liberman referred to the Revisionist movement founded by Zionist leader Vladimir “Ze’ev” Jabotinsky in 1925. Jabotinsky is a political figure still admired by many Israelis and occasionally cited by both left- and right-wing politicians.

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Liberman also singled out Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev for special opprobrium.

“An intellectual like Jabotinsky, if he listened to Miri Regev for one minute, who boasts that she never owned a Chekhov book, he would explode. It’s an insult to the People of the Book. That’s what happens when you take a beast and put her in the Culture Ministry,” Liberman said.

Liberman’s actions after the April’s vote are what led to a second round of elections being held in September.

He has since called for a unity government to be formed with one condition – that ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, parties be excluded.

September’s elections led to a stalemate with neither the Likud nor its main rival, Blue and White, having enough Knesset seats to form a majority coalition.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was given the first chance to form a government on September 25. However, negotiations have failed to lead to a government thus far.

Netanyahu has only succeeded in forming a 55-seat bloc that includes the Likud and right-wing parties. Shaked said on Monday that Yemina will remain true to its commitments regarding that agreement.