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Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Lieberman
Lieberman in 2017
Ministerial roles
2001–2002Minister of National Infrastructure
2003–2004Minister of Transportation
2006–2008Deputy Prime Minister
2006–2008Minister of Strategic Affairs
2009–2012Deputy Prime Minister
2009–2012Minister of Foreign Affairs
2013–2015Minister of Foreign Affairs
2016–2018Minister of Defense
2021–2022Minister of Finance
Faction represented in the Knesset
1999–2003Yisrael Beiteinu
2003–2006National Union
2006–2016Yisrael Beiteinu
2019–2021Yisrael Beiteinu
2022–Yisrael Beiteinu
Personal details
Born
Evet L'vovich Liberman
(Эвет Львович Либерман)[1]

(1958-07-05) 5 July 1958 (age 66)
Chișinău, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union
SpouseElla Tzipkin
Children3
Residence(s)Nokdim, West Bank
EducationChișinău Agriculture Institute (no degree)
Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BA)
OccupationPolitician

Avigdor Lieberman (Hebrew: אביגדור ליברמן, romanizedAvigdor Liberman, IPA: [aviɡˈdor ˈliberman] (audio); born 5 June 1958)[2] is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who served as Minister of Finance between 2021 and 2022, having previously served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2008 and 2009 to 2012.

Born and raised in Soviet Moldova, Lieberman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1978. He entered the Knesset in 1999, and has served in numerous roles in the government, including as Minister of National Infrastructure, Minister of Transportation, and Minister of Strategic Affairs. He served as Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu. He served under Netanyahu as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2012 and 2013 to 2015 and as Minister of Defense from 2016 to 2018. On 14 November 2018, he resigned as Defense Minister because of a ceasefire in Gaza which he characterized as "surrendering to terror."[3]

He is the founder and leader of the secular nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, whose electoral base initially consisted overwhelmingly of Russian-speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but later attracted broader support. Lieberman has stated his opposition to forming a coalition with religious parties and refused to join Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition in April 2019.[4] As a result of the arrival in Israel during the 1990s of about one million Russian-speaking immigrants, Yisrael Beiteinu has regularly played the "king-maker" role in Israel's coalition governments.[5] He was replaced in the Knesset by Elina Bardach-Yalov when he became the finance minister.

Lieberman is a polarizing figure in Israeli politics due to his hardliner positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His name is associated with the 2004 Lieberman Plan, which advocates land swaps between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the barring of Arab Israelis from Israeli citizenship unless they swear a loyalty oath to Israel. While this has been decried as discriminatory, this however makes him unique among right-wing Israeli figures in that he is not categorically opposed to any form of two-state solution and even ready to cede land from the pre-1967 borders.[6] He is nonetheless also known for rhetoric considered violent and hawkish in times of military escalation. During the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests and the Israel–Hamas war, he iterated that there are "no innocents in Gaza".[7][8]

  1. ^ "Семья Либерман: долгая дорога домой". avigdorliberman.info. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Factbox – Israel's Avigdor Lieberman". Reuters. 9 February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced his resignation from his position at a meeting of the Yisrael Beytenu faction meeting at Knesset Wednesday". 14 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Meet Israel's New Kingmaker". Foreign Policy. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Israel election: profile of 'kingmaker' Avigdor Lieberman". The Telegraph. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  6. ^ Rothenberg Gritz, Jennie (14 March 2007). "Israel Is Our Home". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
  7. ^ Lazaroff, Tovah (8 April 2018). "'The Arabs have to be afraid of us'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  8. ^ Avigdor Lieberman [@AvigdorLiberman] (30 November 2023). "אין חפים מפשע בעזה" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

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