Tzachi Hanegbi, a former long-time senior member of the Likud party who served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's National Security Advisor during the October 7th Massacre, announced on Tuesday that he would not vote for his former party, but for Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu.
In a column in Yedioth Aharonoth, Hanegbi explained his decision, criticized the Israeli right's direction, and clarified that he can no longer identify with some of the positions represented by right-wing parties.
"In the upcoming elections I will vote for Avigdor Liberman," Hanegbi opened the column. He remarked that this would be his 18th time voting in Knesset elections, but for the first time since 1977, he would not vote for the list on which he and his mother, the late Geula Cohen, once appeared.
"This time I really have to choose, and not just vote," Hanegi wrote. He clarified that his worldview remains right-wing, but stressed that he does not sympathize with some of the phenomena that have developed in the camp he was part of for decades.
"I am not the messianic right. And I am not the racist right. And not the right that disdains its ideological rivals. And I'm not the right that remains silent in the face of nationalist violence," he wrote and added that he opposes what he called the lust to shatter the law enforcement system in the name of strengthening governance.
Hanegbi saved his strongest criticism for the issue of haredi conscription: "I have trouble understanding how right-wingers justify their support of mass exemptions from military and civilian service for a large sector of the population. As long as right-wing parties tolerate their political partners calling for summonses to serve in the IDF to be flushed down the toilet and scream 'We will die and not enlist,' I have no part of it."
Hanegbi admitted that governments he served in also failed on the issue, but argued that after the October 7th Massacre and three years of war, the situation is unacceptable. He added that draft evasion is threatening Israel's existence.
He further explained why he specifically chose Liberman, whom he has known for nearly five decades. "He was a lone voice when it came to the question of how to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas in Gaza," Hanegbi wrote. "Unfortunately, all cabinet members and all the heads of the defense branches did not treat his warnings with due seriousness."
Hanegbi recalled that Liberman resigned as Defense Minister in protest over the policy toward Hamas, adding: "Sadly, it was only the October 7th Massacre, less than five years after those forceful remarks, that made clear just how accurately Liberman had foreseen the magnitude of the danger."
At the end of his column, Hanegbi explained that he sees Liberman as a leader committed to right-wing principles, who also opposes religious coercion and harm to the independence of the judicial system.
"Against this backdrop, I see Avigdor Liberman as a leader who steadfastly upholds national principles while remaining a respectful and unifying figure on the right," Hanegbi concluded.