Israel's Lieberman Faces Charges, Main Case Closed

Israel's attorney general on Thursday charged Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with fraud and breach of trust, just over five weeks before a snap election, but dropped more serious allegations against him.

"After examining the file, I have arrived at the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to charge him in the first case and have decided to close it," Yehuda Weinstein said in a statement.

"But on the case of the promotion of the ambassador, I have decided to charge him," he added.

"I decided to proceed with a case against Lieberman for having suggested in December 2009 that the government name the former ambassador to Belarus to a post in another country, despite the fact that -- according to the evidence presented -- he knew that he done wrong in passing along secret information, including details of a police inquiry against Lieberman," he said.

The decision closes a case that included explosive allegations of fraud, money-laundering and witness tampering. Lieberman has always proclaimed his innocence of all the allegations against him.

While the closing of the main case against him is something of a victory for Lieberman, who leads the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, he will still face enormous pressure to resign over the charges, ahead of January 22 elections.

Lieberman's party is running on a joint list with the Likud faction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is expected to win around 39 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, far ahead of the opposition.

Several opposition parties have already called on Lieberman to step down if Weinstein charged him.

In the past, he had suggested he would resign if the main case against him went ahead, but with that case closed and elections a little over a month away, it was unclear if he would choose to step down.

Lieberman has faced several investigations since 1996 on a number of fraud and corruption allegations but had never previously been charged.

A Soviet-born former bouncer, Lieberman has long courted controversy with his hardline stance on Israel's Arab minority, with critics accusing him of racism.

A resident of the West Bank settlement of Nokdim, he pleaded guilty in 2001 to assaulting a Palestinian youth who had hit his son.

The stocky politician has called for the execution of Israeli Arab MPs who had dealings with the Palestinian group Hamas and for Gaza to be "treated like Chechnya."

He has had regular verbal spars with Arab representatives who he has labeled "clowns" and "terrorists."

He has also attracted criticism from Europe, where his strident views and undiplomatic language reportedly prompted former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to suggest to Netanyahu that he should fire Lieberman.