Liberman: Ready to compromise on draft law, won't back Ra'am

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman announced Sunday that he is prepared to compromise on the draft law as part of efforts to form a government after the elections. According to Liberman, national interest requires flexibility on issues that don't cross the three red lines he has set: ending the Netanyahu era, avoiding another election, and refusing to support a government relying on the abstention of the Joint List and Ra'am.

"Willingness to compromise doesn't mean abandoning values and principles," Liberman wrote in a statement posted on X. "In recent days I've seen a parade of foolishness from a line of commentators, agenda-driven journalists, bots and people with preconceived notions, sometimes with a clearly racist tone. No matter what I say, what I do or what the truth is, they're always busy attributing malicious motives and inventing conspiracies."

"Whoever attacks me for trying to reach understandings with the chareidi parties is among those people who prefer to form a government relying on Ra'am and the Joint List, parties whose MKs publicly identify with Hamas, call it a charity organization and accuse the State of Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity," he wrote.

"I want to make this unequivocally clear: that won't happen. I won't give my hand to forming such a government, which in my view would harm security and return Netanyahu to power. In the reality that has been created, in order to prevent another election and put an end to the Netanyahu era, there's no avoiding difficult decisions and determinations on issues where flexibility can be shown and understandings reached. Understanding is not abandoning principles, and dialogue is not erasing red lines."

"I still believe the right model is a draft law for everyone. At the same time, in light of the election results, we must examine possibilities for reaching agreements, even based on frameworks formulated in the past. In 2018 I brought a draft bill formulated by the IDF and the security establishment. Later the Shaked report was published, and the current coalition formulated its own bill. It's clear to me that after the events of October 7th, even the law I proposed in 2018 requires changes and adjustments, but it still constitutes a worthy basis for formulating agreements."

"I haven't given up on the principle of conscription, nor on the commitment to expanding benefits and improving the status of reservists and career soldiers. I remind you that during my tenure as Finance Minister I raised the salaries of soldiers in regular service by 50%, and later I included the 'From Uniforms to Studies' program in the state budget," Liberman said.

"I'm not acting out of personal ambition to be prime minister at any cost. I've always emphasized that for me it's an option, not an obsession. Since 2019 until today I've received countless tempting offers from the other side. I'm not busy with political exercises and I'm not trying to sabotage anyone. I act and will continue to act out of one commitment only: the good of the State of Israel and the people of Israel. That's what has guided me all along, and only that will stand before my eyes in every decision I make."

Netanyahu, Liberman, Eisenkot, Deri and Asher (Photo: Chaim Goldberg, Tal Gal, Avshalom Sassoni and Yonatan Zindel, Flash90)

Kikar Hashabbat reported earlier that a source in United Torah Judaism said there is willingness to join a government led by the Change Bloc, on condition that agreement is reached on the draft law. "We're not very surprised. Since the elections we've been hearing the talk. We've been speaking with people in the Change Bloc, we understood where this is going," the party source said.

"If they give us a draft law we'll go with them. Absolutely. That's the most important thing right now. When that's freed up, the budgets will be freed up too. We're in politics and in politics you do what needs to be done," the source clarified.

A senior figure in United Torah Judaism marked the coming week as dramatic on the path toward possible agreement on a law regulating the status of yeshiva students and political cooperation with the Change Bloc. "We have a significant week ahead regarding cooperation with the Change Bloc. This is the week that will teach us how much the bloc will really agree to reach compromises on the draft issue," the source said.

The source outlined the chareidi faction's roadmap and emphasized that contacts are being conducted according to instructions received from the leadership of the chareidi public. "We have an unequivocal directive from gedolei Yisrael to conduct negotiations with anyone who agrees to regulate the status of yeshiva students — and that's exactly what we're doing."

At the same time, alongside the willingness to hold talks, United Torah Judaism makes clear that regulating the status of bnei yeshiva will not come at the expense of harming the Jewish character of the state or religious values. "It's clear that the draft law issue is the central issue, but there's still no doubt that any cooperation of ours with any such party or another will require full preservation of the status quo on every religion and state issue," the senior figure noted.

President Yitzchak Herzog will grant Yesh party chairman Gadi Eisenkot the mandate to form the 38th government on Monday. The decision was made after Eisenkot received the recommendation of 67 MKs, including the Arab parties, while 46 MKs recommended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Seven MKs, the United Torah Judaism faction, chose not to recommend anyone.

According to law, Eisenkot has 28 days to form the government, with the final deadline for presenting a government being December 6, 2026. If additional time is needed, the president is authorized to grant an extension of up to 14 additional days.