JERUSALEM -- Israel's defense minister on Wednesday abruptly resigned to protest a new cease-fire with Hamas militants in Gaza, throwing the government into turmoil and pushing the country toward an early election.
Avigdor Lieberman's decision was ostensibly a show of anger over Tuesday's informal truce with Israel's Hamas enemies. But in many ways, it was the opening round of a new political campaign.
His exit leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the narrowest of parliamentary majorities -- only 61 of 120 seats in his coalition.
In theory, Netanyahu can continue to govern until parliamentary elections scheduled for a year from now. But with another coalition rival, Naftali Bennett, threatening to leave the coalition if he doesn't get the defense portfolio, the days of Netanyahu's government appear numbered.
After two days of heavy fighting, Netanyahu's decision to accept the Egyptian-brokered truce was more than a case of cooler heads prevailing.
The longtime Israeli leader knows well that the military option has its limits. Israel has maintained a crippling blockade on Gaza and fought three wars against Hamas since the Islamic militant group seized power in 2007. This has inflicted heavy damage on Gaza, but Hamas remains firmly in power.
Ousting the group would require a military operation that could take months and cost the lives of thousands of Palestinian civilians and many Israeli soldiers. Reluctant to pay such a price, Netanyahu instead seems content to keep a weakened Hamas in check.
Netanyahu also may have a deeper agenda. Leaving the Palestinians torn between two governments -- Hamas in Gaza and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank -- works in his favor.
With the Palestinians weak and divided, there is little pressure for Netanyahu to make concessions, allowing him to expand West Bank settlements and cement Israeli control over the territory.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly accused Israel and the U.S. of collaborating behind his back and preparing a peace plan offering the Palestinians a mini-state in the Gaza Strip and small autonomous areas of the West Bank. That falls short of his demand for a fully independent Palestinian state that includes both territories in full.
Lieberman is a former aide to Netanyahu who has been both an ally and rival over the years. He currently heads Yisrael Beitenu, a small ultranationalist party that appeals to immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Calling the cease-fire "surrender to terrorism," Lieberman also made clear that his frustrations run much deeper. He said he also opposed a recent decision to allow Qatar to deliver $15 million in aid to Gaza and the cancellation, under heavy international pressure, of the planned demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank.
"We are buying quiet in the short-term at the cost of severe damage to our security in the long-term," he said. "The weakness we displayed also projects itself to other arenas."
With his resignation, Lieberman appears to be positioning himself for elections by painting Netanyahu as soft and portraying himself as a defense hawk.
Netanyahu's rivals are eager to tap into public anger over the cease-fire. Residents in rocket-battered towns in southern Israel have protested the truce.
"I see the big picture of Israeli security that I cannot share with the public," Netanyahu said Wednesday as he defended the cease-fire. "In times like these, leadership is not doing the easy thing. Leadership is doing the right thing, even if it is hard. Leadership is sometime facing criticism."
A Section on 11/15/2018