Israel's defense minister resigns

Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon announced Friday his resignation, citing his "lack of confidence" in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a recent attempt to replace him with an ultranationalist lawmaker.

"I informed the prime minister this morning that following his recent actions and developments, and in light of (my) lack of confidence in him, I am resigning from the government," Ya'alon wrote in his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

He added that he will also leave the Knesset (parliament) and will take time-off from political life. He is set to give a televised statement at noon.

The move came as Netanyahu was reportedly attempting to oust him in order to give his post to ultranationalist lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman from the Yisrael Beytenu ("Israel Our Home") party.

Netanyahu and Lieberman's factions were in intensive negotiations on Thursday to finalize the details of the deal, which would pave Lieberman's party way into the government, and increase Netanyahu's coalition lead on the opposition from 61-59 to 66-54.

Lieberman demanded the defense ministry portfolio from Netanyahu in order to join his coalition, as well as promoting a law that would seek death penalties to Palestinian attackers of Israelis.

Ya'alon, considered a moderate member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, slammed Netanyahu's "loss of moral compass on basic ethical questions" on early Thursday.

Ya'alon and Netanyahu have locked recently, with the former taking a more moderate tone regarding the military conduct amid a wave of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians which claimed the lives of at least 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis, whereas Netanyahu and the far-right Jewish Home party from his coalition adopted a more hawkish approach.

A specific point of argument was Ya'alon's advocating for the right of senior military figures to draw criticism over the government's policies. Enditemara Santos Traubaman