Foreign Minister and Chairman of Yisrael Beitenu Avigdor Liberman was the first to signal that he sees no chance of Zionist Camp Chair Isaac Herzog forming the next government. Liberman is known for his ability to read the current political map and to adjust himself accordingly. It should be remembered that he entered the election campaign as the person who would determine whether incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would continue serving as prime minister. He then moved himself and his party to the center with a diplomatic plan and even dared to consider himself a candidate for prime minister. Those were the days, however, when the “Anyone but Bibi” coalition was gathering momentum, and it looked as if the threesome of Liberman, Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri and Kulanu Party leader Moshe Kahlon would determine Netanyahu’s fate. This ultimately provided the tailwind needed to propel Herzog and Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni to join forces in December 2014.

Then the Yisrael Beitenu scandal erupted. The party collapsed in the polls, and Liberman returned to his natural element on the right, hoping to save his core of supporters for himself. Those supporters are embedded deeply on the right.

As soon as Liberman came to terms with his new circumstances, he returned to play on the right wing. This, in turn, put the brakes on his collapse in the polls. Over the past few days, he has already made a series of clear and decisive statements along the lines of, “We will never be partners in a left-wing government.” He later offered his assessment that a government headed by Herzog would in any case never be formed and determined that there were only two realistic options: either a right-wing government or a unity government headed by the right.

On the night of Feb. 8, he took all this one step further, by announcing on ''Meet the Press'' (Channel 2) that he would demand the Defense Ministry as a condition for joining the government. This demand directly targeted the soft underbelly of his supporters as well, with Liberman explaining that if he is put in charge of Israel’s security, he would adopt a far more decisive policy against Hamas and Hezbollah.