Deri Does Not Rule Out Liberman Joining the Government

After being seen yesterday in the Knesset talking to Yisrael Beiteinu party chairman Avigdor Liberman with a broad smile on his face, Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri did not deny that he is working to bring Liberman into the government, despite being considered the sworn opponent of Charedim until very recently.

In an interview for Radio Kol Chai. Deri said: “I am also trying to bring in Liberman now. In time of war, we need to forget all that was. We are now in a period of life and death and we all need to carry the burden. We need to do everything to defeat our enemies, those wicked people, Amalek, who rose against us. There will be enough to time for accounting, now we just need to properly look at the situation.”

When asked if Liberman would actually join the coalition, Deri answered: “I don’t know. One cannot dismiss his experience, he’s a smart guy, did all the jobs, was in many cabinets. We don’t agree on everything, but it’s important that this coalition have from the coalition and the opposition. Our enemies were convinced that the State of Israel is broken and that they can easily destroy the Jewish People. Therefore unity is the greatest asset.”

A lot of bad blood had previously flowed between the Charedim and Liberman, and when Deri was asked whether Charedim would not be pained to hear Liberman is joining, Deri answered that “I was much more pained by the terrible massacre and the hostages.”

A source within the Yisrael Beiteinu party says that Liberman was surprised by Deri’s approaching him in the Knesset, while Shas sources said that until the war, the two entirely ignored each other and wouldn’t even greet each other when they randomly met in the hallway.

The break between them ended when the war started, and after Deri called Liberman, offering to broker his party’s entry into the government, even proposing he himself be a member of the expanded cabinet. Liberman made his entry conditional on being part of the limited war cabinet, but Netanyahu refused and the matter was dropped.