Watched the press conference in which Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his resignation, Wednesday, one thing was certain: He is under a lot of stress. It is clear that for some time now, Lieberman has not had any real impact on government decisions on security. He lacks the authority and scholastic diligence necessary to argue with the IDF's General Staff and the heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agency.
Without this professional authority, the defense minister has no way of convincing the cabinet of his positions that contradict the unanimous stances of senior members of the defense establishment. This state of affairs is almost identical to the way Lieberman functioned for years as foreign minister, in practice focusing primarily on Russian-speaking countries.
Another factor that contributed to Lieberman's frustration was his apparent realization that he has been consistently losing his elector base. A majority of those who made aliyah from the former Soviet Union have been absorbed in the country in a most impressive way. With significant contributions to the fields of culture, medicine, economy and science, these people no longer need an immigrant party to represent them. The one problem that does remain from their standpoint concerns Israel's religious establishment. On that matter, Lieberman's partnering with Shas party leader Aryeh Deri in backing ultra-Orthodox backed Jerusalem Mayor-elect Eli Lion has not done much to help his voters. In fact, the exact opposite is likely true.
Yisrael Beytenu's drop in the polls along with the number of mandates its former member Orly Levy-Abekasis's newly formed but as-of-yet unnamed party is set to receive can only serve to further chip away at Yisrael Beytenu's voter base.
Frustration and distress cannot be the foundation for making significant decisions, even in the political realm. It is a real shame that by resigning, Lieberman handed Hamas the only win it can speak of, a win that means more than Qatar's millions. The ability of a group of violent terrorists to shock the government in Israel to the extent that its defense minister resigns means more to Hamas than 50 attack tunnels ever could.
Israel must not calculate a new path. There is no reason to hold snap elections. The Left, with the cover of impassioned commentators, has, for politically expedient reasons, attacked the government for hesitating to send soldiers into the snake pit in Gaza and alleged the Israeli Air Force did not take out nearly enough Gazans in this current round of fighting.
These left-wing hypocrites would be the first people to blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if, God forbid, soldiers had been killed in Gaza.
Residents of the Gaza periphery region are angry, and rightfully so, at what they consider the absence of an appropriate response to the barrage of rockets that has pummeled their communities. Netanyahu without a doubt made his decision to agree to a cease-fire out of clear security concerns and with full knowledge of how that decision would be received by the public. Such is the responsibility of our lonely leader.
If a poll taken immediately after Lieberman's resignation gave the Likud party 29 mandates, it is clear that many citizens trust and respect Netanyahu's judgment and there is no reason to fear elections. Nor is there reason to prevent the appointment of Habayit Hayehudi party head Naftali Bennett as defense minister ahead of the elections. It may be that in that position, Bennett will gain some perspective.
