Short answer: Yes. As of August 2026, Avigdor Lieberman is a living Israeli politician, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, and one of the country's longest-serving public figures. He has held Israel's Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Finance portfolios, and he is currently campaigning to become prime minister in Israel's 2026 election.
What Avigdor Lieberman has actually said and done
1978: Born Evet Lvovich Lieberman on June 5, 1958 in Kishinev, in what was then the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union, he immigrated to Israel at age 20, with his family in 1978 as part of the wave of Soviet-Jewish aliyah, according to Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
November 14, 2018: As Israel's Defense Minister, Lieberman resigned and pulled his party out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition to protest a Gaza ceasefire he considered too lenient. After a barrage of roughly 500 rockets fired from Gaza, he said Israel's response was "not enough" and called the ceasefire "a capitulation to terror," according to CNN and Al Jazeera.
June 2024: Lieberman publicly criticized the Netanyahu government's conduct of the Gaza war, telling the press that "Israel is losing the war in Gaza" and that Israeli deterrence had "declined to zero." He also called then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's management of the war a failure, per Middle East Monitor.
Later in 2024: Lieberman shifted his position, calling on Israel to wind down the Gaza campaign, cut ties with the Strip, and redirect military focus toward confronting Iran directly. He argued Israel was "fighting the wrong enemy" by continuing to concentrate resources on Hamas and Hezbollah instead of Iran, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
May 2025: Lieberman told Channel 12 he would run for prime minister in Israel's next election, signalling he intended to lead the next government, as reported by The Jerusalem Post and All Israel News.
May 2026: With Israel's 2026 election campaign underway, polling showed Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party projected to win roughly nine seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Lieberman has continued campaigning on replacing the Netanyahu government and pursuing a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, according to a risk analysis from the law firm Steptoe, citing Israeli polling.
Context: nearly five decades in Israeli public life
Avigdor Lieberman is one of Israel's longest-serving political figures. Born in Kishinev, Moldova, he immigrated to Israel in 1978 and rose through the Likud party before founding the secular-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu, which draws much of its base from Russian-speaking Israelis. Over his career he has held three of Israel's most senior cabinet posts: Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, and Defense Minister.
His public record is that of a security hawk who has repeatedly staked his political career on demanding a harder line against Hamas and other adversaries, most visibly when he resigned as Defense Minister in November 2018 over a Gaza ceasefire he viewed as too soft. During and after the Gaza war that followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Lieberman was an outspoken critic of the government's wartime management, at various points arguing Israel was not doing enough to defeat Hamas and, later, that resources should shift toward confronting Iran directly. He has called for a state commission of inquiry into October 7 and is now campaigning to become Israel's next prime minister. Nothing in the public record reviewed here contradicts a strong, consistent identification with Israeli security and state interests; his disagreements with various Israeli governments have been about strategy and severity, not about support for the state itself.
The bottom line
The public record strongly supports that Avigdor Lieberman is a supporter of Israel. He has spent nearly five decades in Israeli public life, including holding the Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Finance portfolios, and his most prominent controversies (resigning over the 2018 Gaza ceasefire, criticizing 2024 wartime management) reflect disputes over how hard a line Israel's government should take, not any question about his commitment to the state. He is alive and actively campaigning to become Israel's next prime minister in the 2026 election.
Wear your own support for Israel
Whatever you make of any individual politician's record, plenty of people want a simple, everyday way to show where they stand. If that is you, our I Stand With Israel collection is a straightforward place to start, including pieces like the I Stand With Israel bracelet.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
