4 Quotes & Sayings By Avigdor Lieberman

Both parents were born Jews who kept their Judaism after arriving in the newly established state of Israel. Lieberman earned a BA degree in political science at Bar Ilan University, where he also completed his compulsory military service as a paratrooper. He then earned a MSc degree in social psychology at Tel Aviv University.

He later earned an MA degree in public affairs at Columbia University where he wrote his thesis on the topic "The Role of Ideology in Modern Jewish Politics." Lieberman has also studied law at Tel Aviv University. Lieberman first became involved with politics at age 22 when he joined the left-wing Moked youth movement (an offshoot of Mapam). He was politically active during this youth movement and served as its chairman from 1972 to 1973. In December 1972 he won a seat on Tel Aviv City Council and served on it for four years until his election to the Knesset in 1977; he was reelected to city council four times thereafter (1985–1988; 1993–1996; 2001–2006).

During his time on city council he served as chairman of the city's budget committee which led him into conflict with then Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat. In 1982 he lost an election for mayor by only 17 votes and subsequently resigned from city council citing health reasons. In 1977 he was elected to the Knesset on Likud's list and retained his seat when the party won the elections that year. A year later, in 1978, during a discussion about education in parliament following a strike by teachers' unions over low wages, Lieberman expressed strong support for teacher salaries which caused controversy given that Jewish religious law requires rabbinical salaries to be raised above those