Netanyahu Advisor Resigns Amid Uprising

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff resigned Sunday under pressure from a rebellion against Netanyahu in the ruling Likud party.

The departure of Avigdor Lieberman, whose formal title was director general of the prime minister’s office, underscores the seriousness of the Likud uprising. Lieberman quit after Likud leaders accused him of improperly influencing a party conference to strengthen Netanyahu’s hold over the party.

It was unclear whether, by sacrificing Lieberman, Netanyahu might be able to quash the rebellion, in which top Likud politicians have been discussing whether to break with Netanyahu to form a new party.

Netanyahu’s office gave no explanation for Lieberman’s resignation. It issued a statement quoting Netanyahu as saying, “I feel great sorrow over the departure of a true and loyal friend who stood at my side for many years.”

Lieberman served as a powerful gatekeeper and political right arm to Netanyahu. Numerous politicians, including many from Likud, accused him of highhanded tactics in serving his boss.

A sign of Lieberman’s controversial profile was a political cartoon in the leftist newspaper Maariv last year depicting him as a Rasputin pulling the strings of a marionette Netanyahu.

Lieberman emigrated from Moldova, then part of the Soviet Union, about 20 years ago and quickly became a right-wing student activist. He was seen as a key architect of Netanyahu’s narrow election victory last year.