BICOM

According to Israeli media reports this morning, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is considering withdrawing his Yisrael Beiteinu party from the coalition if a military conversion bill introduced by the party fails to be passed by the Knesset. The bill recently passed its first Knesset reading. Yisrael Beiteinu controls 15 mandates in the Knesset, and its departure would almost certainly mean the fall of the current Israeli government and a general election in Israel. The bill is intended to ease the process of conversion to Judaism for serving IDF soldiers. This issue is of importance to Yisrael Beiteinu’s voting public, because its support rests on relatively recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The issue of conversion to Judaism is relevant to a considerable section of this population. Yisrael Beiteinu has been widely accused of failing to live up to its electoral promises, in particular in the area of religious-secular relations.

Lieberman made the remarks regarding the bill and the party’s possible departure from the coalition at a gathering of the party’s MKs at a Dead Sea hotel. A full report on the gathering is due to be aired on Israel’s Channel 10 on Saturday. Lieberman is widely regarded as seeing his party as a competitor with the Likud for the leadership of the Israeli right. In his statement, Lieberman also stated his party’s goal for the next election was to achieve 20 election mandates. The next elections are likely to prove a crucial test for this ambition, and the decision as to when to bolt the coalition at the optimal time for the party is a key one for Lieberman.