Israeli defense minister resigns over Gaza cease-fire deal
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister abruptly resigned Wednesday in protest over a cease-fire reached with Gaza militants, in a move that rocked the Israeli political scene and seemed likely to bring about early elections.
Avigdor Lieberman said the cease-fire amounted to “surrender to terrorism” after two days of heavy fighting, and that he could no longer serve a government that endorsed it. Lieberman had demanded a far stronger Israeli response to the most intense round of rocket fire against Israel since a 50-day war in 2014, but appeared to have been overruled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His resignation is a major setback to Netanyahu’s coalition government and sparked calls for early elections.
The government still has a one-seat majority in the Knesset without Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu faction, but is unlikely to survive until the next elections, currently set for November 2019.
Netanyahu had come under heavy criticism for agreeing to the cease-fire, especially from his political base and in rocket-battered towns in southern Israel that are typically strongholds of his ruling Likud Party.
Angry residents took to the street Tuesday chanting “Disgrace!” at what they saw as the government’s capitulation to violence and its inability to provide long-term security. Many have openly vowed to never vote Likud again.
Netanyahu presented the decision as a unified one made by his Security Cabinet and based on the military’s recommendations. But Lieberman later expressed reservations.