JERUSALEM, Dec 15: The resignation of powerful Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top cabinet partner, has shaken up Israeli politics a month before elections. Analysts say Netanyahu is likely to survive, but is losing a valued ally.

Lieberman announced his resignation Friday, a day after the attorney general filed an indictment for breach of trust in a fraud and money-laundering case.

He insisted “I did not break any law” and voiced confidence he would be cleared before the Jan 22 election.

Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu and Netanyahu's Likud Party recently joined forces in the parliamentary election, enabling the charismatic ultranationalist to position himself as Netanyahu's heir.

Opinion polls have predicted the list would be by far the largest bloc in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and would lead a new coalition government. But without Lieberman's sway, negotiations for such a coalition among an array of fractious parties will be more complicated.

Also, analysts doubted Lieberman could make the case go away before the election as Lieberman was hoping.

The blunt-talking politician, a native of Moldova, has amassed power with support from immigrants from the Soviet Union and from others drawn to his broadsides against Israeli Arabs, dovish groups, the Palestinians and Western Europe.—AP