Liberman says a caretaker government cannot take Israel to war on its own

Avigdor Liberman, who leads the Yisrael Beytenu party, has warned that a caretaker government has no authority to take decisions that might draw Israel into a war unless parliament oversees them and every one of the country's security chiefs agrees. In a short Hebrew post on X, Liberman wrote that he was issuing a warning, and he repeated the point about the security establishment for emphasis: "I stress: all the security bodies."

The Times of Israel reported the statement as directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and said it followed an appeal to the premier made the previous day by Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party. Liberman's own post does not name Netanyahu or point to any particular decision, operation or front.

Why the government is in caretaker status

According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu's bloc lost its majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in the election held last month. President Isaac Herzog then gave Eisenkot the task of forming a government on Sunday, after Eisenkot received the most recommendations from lawmakers. In Israel, the president consults the parties after an election and hands the mandate to the candidate judged most likely to assemble a coalition.

Until a new government is sworn in, the outgoing one continues to serve. The Times of Israel noted that Netanyahu therefore remains caretaker prime minister, still in control of the government and the security forces. That arrangement is the backdrop to Liberman's statement: a cabinet that has lost its parliamentary majority but keeps its executive powers for the transition period.

What Liberman is asking for

Liberman's post sets out two conditions he says must be met before a caretaker government takes steps that could lead to war. The first is parliamentary oversight, meaning a role for the Knesset in scrutinising such decisions. The second is the full agreement of all the security officials, a phrase he repeated. In the Israeli context, the security establishment generally refers to the heads of bodies such as the military and the intelligence services, though Liberman did not list which officials he meant.

He did not say whether he believed any specific move was being prepared, and he offered no evidence in the post that one was.

Eisenkot's earlier appeal

The statement echoed a move by Eisenkot, the prime minister-designate. The Times of Israel said Eisenkot had published an open letter urging Netanyahu not to deploy the security forces in the absence of an immediate threat, and warning that doing so during the handover could have "devastating consequences" for Israeli democracy. The same report said Eisenkot later approached Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the government's chief legal adviser, though the available text of the report breaks off before saying what he asked of her.

How the statement was framed in Hebrew media

Hebrew-language outlets carried the statement in different tones. The Telegram channel of political commentator Amit Segal presented it neutrally, as Liberman joining Eisenkot. The News.co.il channel ran the same quotation under a headline casting the step as Liberman joining Eisenkot in harming the security of the state, a characterisation that is the outlet's own and does not appear in Liberman's statement or in the other reports.

All of the reports reproduce the same wording from Liberman, and none adds further comment from him beyond the post itself.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports carries a response from Netanyahu, his office or the caretaker government to either Liberman or Eisenkot. Neither politician identified a specific security decision they feared was imminent, and no report says whether any security chief has expressed disagreement with the government. The outcome of Eisenkot's approach to the attorney general has not been reported.