Avigdor Lieberman ^People

In 1983-1988, Lieberman helped found the Zionist Forum for Soviet Jewry and was a member of the Board of the Jerusalem Economic Corporation and the Secretary of the Jerusalem branch ofthe Histadrut Ovdim Leumit (National Workers' Union).Lieberman entered the Knesset in 1999, and has served in numerous roles in thegovernment, including as Minister of National Infrastructure, Minister ofTransportation, and Minister of Strategic Affairs. He served as Deputy PrimeMinister under Prime Ministers Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu. He servedunder Netanyahu as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2012 and 2013 to 2015and as Minister of Defense from 2016 to 2018. On 14 November 2018, he resigned as Defense Minister because of a ceasefire in Gaza which he characterized as surrende-ring to terror. He is the founder and leader of the secular nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, whose electoral base initially consisted overwhelmingly of Russian-speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union, but laterattracted broa- der support. Lieberman has stated his opposition toforming acoalition with religious parties and refused to join Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition in April 2019.As a result of the arrival in Israel during the 1990s of about one million Russian-speaking immigrants, Yisrael Beiteinu has regularly played the king-maker role in Israel's coalition governments.