Avigdor Lieberman was born in 1958 in Moldova and immigrated to Israel in 1978.
He served in the IDF,
and has a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
One of the founders of the Zionist
Forum for Soviet
Jewry, Avigdor Lieberman was a member of the Board of the Jerusalem
Economic Corporation and the Secretary of the Jerusalem branch of the Histadrut Ovdim Le'umit and was the editor of a newspaper (Yoman
Yisraeli). Leiberman served as Director-General of the Likud Movement from 1993-1996, and then as Director-General of the Prime Minister's
Office (1996-1997). In 1999, he founded and became Head of the Yisrael
Beiteinu Party.
First elected to the Knesset in 1999, he has served as a member of the Foreign Affairs & Defense
Committee and State Control Committees, and as Chairman of
the Israel-Moldova Parliamentary Friendship League.
In March 2001, Lieberman was
appointed Minister of National Infrastructures. He resigned his post
in March 2002. He served as Minister of Transportation from February
2003 until June 2004.
Lieberman served as Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Strategic Affairs in Olmert's coalition government beginning in October 2006. He resigned in January
2008 when Yisrael Beiteinu withdrew from the coalition in protest against
what the party viewed as unacceptable concessions to the Palestinian
Authority. Following the party's withdrawal from government, news
sources reported that Lieberman was under ongoing investigation for
allegedly receiving a bribe from Jericho's
Oasis Casino financier, Austrian-Jewish
businessman Martin Schlaff.
In March 2009, Avigdor Lieberman
was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
in Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's coaltion government.
In December 2012, Lieberman announced that he would resign from his
Foreign Minister and Vice Prime Minister positions due to the pending
indictment against him for fraud and breach of public trust. He said
he would resign so that he could fight the charges, which would enable
him to serve in the next government if exonerated.
In order to expand his majority in the Knesset, Prime Minister Netanyahu signed a coalition agreement with the Yisrael Beiteinu party on May 24, 2015, appointing Lieberman to Defense Minister.
He is married, with three children.
