{"id":198804,"date":"2026-07-09T19:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/198804\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T19:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:17:09","slug":"avigdor-liberman-claims-benjamin-netanyahu-is-a-burden-to-donald-trump-ahead-of-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/198804\/","title":{"rendered":"Avigdor Liberman claims Benjamin Netanyahu is a burden to Donald Trump ahead of elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> has dismantled Israel\u2019s relationship with the United States and has become a \u201cburden\u201d to US President Donald Trump, Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman<\/a> told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview, as he laid out his vision for leading the country after the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump wants to distance himself from him [Netanyahu]. The relationship has become a burden, and it is already hurting him in the upcoming US midterm elections,” Liberman said.<\/p>\n

Liberman has served in key security and diplomatic positions in previous governments, including as defense minister, foreign minister, and finance minister. He has been in the political sphere for over three decades.<\/p>\n

The Yisrael Beytenu leader has been open about his aim of becoming prime minister and is a fierce critic of Netanyahu and his government.<\/p>\n

His party is a core part of the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, which are set to take place no later than October 27.<\/p>\n

\"MKMK Avigdor Liberman speaks at Jerusalem Post’s annual conference on October 12, 2021 in Jerusalem, Israel. The conference featured officials, diplomats and business leaders discussing the health, economic and security challenges facing Israel. (credit: Amir Levy\/Getty Images)’A severe blow to Israel’s standing in American public opinion’<\/p>\n

Regarding Netanyahu’s relations with Trump, Liberman told the Post that the US president has “understood that he had given too much,” and was being harmed by Netanyahu “both electorally and politically.\u201d<\/p>\n

“This is also a severe blow to Israel\u2019s standing in American public opinion,” Liberman added.<\/p>\n

“There has never been such a negative attitude. The more Gaza declines, the more Israel\u2019s image declines as well.”<\/p>\n

“And they are doing nothing about it. They have managed to deteriorate both the security situation and the diplomatic situation,” he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he would be willing to say no to Trump if he were prime minister, Liberman did not hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would. I\u2019ve been involved in the leadership of this country for about 20 years, and Israel has already weathered some of its toughest disputes with the United States.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all due respect, we need to act. We are still a sovereign country. We are not a banana republic,” he said.<\/p>\n

Liberman noted that Netanyahu once could \u201cstand his ground\u201d and had done so in the past with former US presidents such as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

However, Liberman explained that this was no longer the case for Netanyahu, telling the Post that the reason for the shift was that the premier\u2019s priorities had changed.<\/p>\n

He explained that Netanyahu was focused on three things: canceling the criminal trial and the ICC arrest warrant against him, and maintaining his coaltion bloc.<\/p>\n

Liberman explained that Netanyahu\u2019s bloc was \u201can anti-Zionist coalition.<\/p>\n

He slammed the contentious legislation being advanced by the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, with government backing, \u00a0which critics argue encourages draft evasion even amid the IDF\u2019s severe manpower shortage.<\/p>\n

Liberman said that Netanyahu “is willing to sacrifice everything. This is truly a coalition that is willing to sacrifice soldiers, the IDF, and Israeli society as a whole, only to preserve the bloc and remain in power.”<\/p>\n

Liberman added that if he were prime minister, the October 7 attacks would have never happened and warned that Israel’s current security standing was worse than on the eve of the Hamas massacre in 2023.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his own plans for his party ahead of the elections, Liberman explained that he was taking a hardline stance toward haredi conscription to the IDF, in which legislation would be passed to ensure that there would be no exemptions, and that those who do evade service would be blocked from receiving any financial state aid.<\/p>\n

Liberman said he was against Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s approach to drafting haredim.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot’s plan includes granting exemptions to 3% of each annual haredi cohort to study Torah, similar to exemptions given to outstanding musicians and athletes. The Yashar Party has become the largest party in the opposition bloc in recent polls.<\/p>\n

Liberman said regarding Eisenkot that he “greatly appreciates him.”<\/p>\n

“Obviously, his worldview and mine are different, but I respect him. He is a man of values.”<\/p>\n

Asked if he was in favor of having Eisenkot lead the opposition bloc, Liberman responded that his first priority was to replace the government, and that he secondly wanted to become prime minister himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, we must replace the government. The question of who will be prime minister and who receives which role should be left for stage two,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

When asked if he was considering running in a political alliance in the elections, Liberman said that was not an option on the table.<\/p>\n

Yisrael Beytenu holds a hawkish security stance and advocates for expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It strongly advocates for a separation of religion and state.<\/p>\n

Growing support for alternate parties in Israel<\/p>\n

Liberman explained that there was growing support for his party from differing sectors in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many people in high-tech. I also see some of the Likud movement shifting,\u201d he explained about those moving to support his party.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the opposition bloc could form a government without relying on Arab or haredi parties, Liberman said he believed it was possible.<\/p>\n

He noted that a majority of the TV polling was only showing a small sample of the population, and that the opposition bloc has far more support than what was being presented.<\/p>\n

He said that, according to his party’s own in-depth surveys, the opposition bloc was currently polling at around 62-63 mandates and that Yisrael Beytenu was expected to gain over 13 seats.<\/p>\n

Regarding Blue and White Party leader MK Benny Gantz, who has indicated that he would be willing to sit in a government with Netanyahu, Liberman sharply criticized him.<\/p>\n

He said that Gantz was \u201cseeking revenge\u201d on the entire opposition bloc, amid his recent calls to form a \u201cbroad Zionist government\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberman said that Netanyahu\u2019s separate calls to form a \u201cbroad national government” were “a manipulation.”<\/p>\n

“He does not want to deal with the real issues. He does not want the security failures of October 7 to be discussed,” Liberman said regarding Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

“He does not even define what he means by a ‘broad national government.’ There already was such a government, the one formed with Benny Gantz. We remember how that ended.”<\/p>\n

“Clearly, this is all a show. The only thing that interests Netanyahu is how he survives and how he maintains his position.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenges from Hezbollah<\/a>, Hamas, and Iran\u2019s revolutionary forces<\/a> are not going away,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now he [Netanyahu] \u00a0is playing politics. I am optimistic that in the end we will win,\u201d Liberman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismantled Israel\u2019s relationship with the United States and has become a \u201cburden\u201d to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[10725,10842,2019,41,10843,4313,6540,6310,38,1303,4485,3748,100,218,37,2742,4028,40868,9918,11287,81,1413,4056,77,2235,37131,58733,43353,5418],"class_list":["post-198804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-anti-zionism","tag-avigdor-liberman","tag-barack-obama","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-benny-gantz","tag-bill-clinton","tag-blue-and-white","tag-defense-ministry","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-finance-ministry","tag-foreign-ministry","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran-israel-war","tag-israel","tag-israeli-politics","tag-knesset","tag-knesset-members","tag-midterm-elections","tag-october-7-commission-of-inquiry","tag-politics","tag-the-october-7-massacre","tag-us-politics","tag-us-israel","tag-us-israel-iran","tag-yashar","tag-yisrael-beyteinu","tag-yisrael-beytenu","tag-zionist"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}