Liberman says he will demand defense portfolio in next government
Liberman says Yisrael Beytenu will not enter into any coalition without demands being met.
By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANAvigdor Liberman.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Yisrael Beytenu will not enter any coalition in which its chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, is not given the Defense portfolio, he told Channel 2 Saturday night.“We will request the Defense portfolio and we will receive it,” Liberman said on its Meet the Press program.Yisrael Beytenu received only five mandates in a Panels Research poll published in The Jerusalem Post Friday and just four in a Ma’agar Mohot poll published in Makor Rishon.Liberman said he was not worried about the polls, noting that the last time his party ran independently in 2009 the polls underestimated his party’s support.Koolanu candidate Yoav Galant, meanwhile, blasted Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid for demanding the Finance portfolio in a speech Saturday.“It was chutzpah that Lapid came to be Finance Minister after not running a corner store,” Galant said.Channel 2 reported that Galant sought to enter Yesh Atid two months ago and run for Knesset with the party.A Koolanu spokesman said Lapid initiated the meeting, not Galant.Koolanu began an effort to win votes away from Yesh Atid over the weekend, releasing a video making fun of Lapid and portraying him as clueless and obsessed with social media.
