Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Lieberman was unable to conceal his rage whenever anyone attempted to tie his party to the leftist camp. His electorate is clearly on the Right, and that has been his target audience all these years.
Even though he has repeatedly stated his belief that he will at some point need to evacuate his home, situated beyond the Green Line in the Gush Etzion community of Nokdim, in return for peace with the Arabs, Lieberman adopted what has become the fashionable stance among a majority of those on Right following the failure of the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip: Attack the leftists, including those who, like him, support a two-state solution; clash with the Arabs; offer violent solutions for dealing with our enemies in Gaza, and emphasize again and again that you are part of the nationalist camp.
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Even as he refused to join a right-wing government while feigning its existence was at risk, Lieberman never ceased to claim he was still a member of the Right and the only suitable prime minister from his perspective was Benjamin Netanyahu.
But in a post to Facebook, Saturday, Lieberman in effect admitted that all this time, he had deceived and defrauded his voters and the entire Israeli public for that matter. When Netanyahu claimed Lieberman was only interested in saving his dying party from the impending threat of extinction, the Yisrael Beytenu leader boiled over with anger. On Saturday, Lieberman revealed the reason he was angered by the prime minister's remarks was that they had exposed the truth. Lieberman had made the decision to switch out his hard drive and change his target audience – from members of the Right to those in the Center and on the Left, haredi haters and the like – in the previous election campaign.
It is clear from Lieberman's statement on Saturday that he would join a government led by Blue and White party leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid should their party garner the most Knesset seats that his plan was to bring down Netanyahu all along. With the desire for vengeance leading his way, Lieberman chose to lie and cheat the whole way to the ballot box. With every poll that depicted Yisrael Beytenu as part of the pro-Netanyahu right-wing camp, Lieberman must have laughed to himself. When the Likud decided to help Lieberman meet the electoral threshold by deciding not to establish a Russian-language election campaign for the first time in many years, Lieberman must have erupted in laughter. His web of deceit had been spun.
Lieberman says he is in favor of a Jewish state but against the state being governed according to Jewish law, but the truth is that Judaism is of no emotional significance to him. Criticizing the haredim is one thing but being photographed surrounded by official security detail while out at a café on a Saturday is an entirely different matter. Even Lapid hasn't gone this low. Lieberman threw the haredim, who until now had been his partners in the government, to the dogs as soon as he was forced to do so to save his party from annihilation.
Nor do Lieberman's sentiments lie with those on the Right. When it is his belief they are no longer electorally beneficial to him, Lieberman made it clear the nationalist camp he purported to speak for and swore allegiance to could go to hell.
It seems that never before in Israeli politics has there been such a blatantly cynical and dangerous sham as the Yisrael Beytenu party. A failed and submissive official in every ministry he has headed, who for years succeeded in making a laughing stock of the Israeli public and members of his own party who were tossed aside as soon as they were no longer of use, Lieberman will in the coming days be the "great white hope" of the Left, which is certain to hoist him up on its shoulders and present him as a responsible and principled leader who would not give in to Netanyahu.
That also says something about the Left, which for years, attacked Lieberman for years, portraying him as radical and dangerous. They will now have the honor of calling him a new and senior member of the "anyone but Netanyahu" camp. They will undoubtedly feel comfortable with one another in the upcoming election campaign. In this second election round, it is the Left's hope that Lieberman will help them steal away enough votes from the Right that they are able to emerge victorious in September 2019.
