Yisrael Beytenu chairman criticizes conduct of the War Cabinet, Chief of Staff and the head of the Shin Bet.
By Yedidya Shalman, INN Nov 29, 2023, 6:46 AM (GMT+2)
Avigdor LibermanYonatan Sindel/Flash 90
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News on Tuesday and criticized the conduct of the political echelon and defense establishment in the face of the violations by Hamas of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar.
“There is something here that is really unacceptable. There is a continuation of the same concept – the same attitude of containment. They shot at IDF soldiers today, detonated explosives on them and there is no response. All this is also added to the news about a clause in the deal which says that the representatives of the Red Cross will visit the hostages who have not been released, and I see no sign of that.All the time the other side initiates, dictates our moves, and that’s how they manage to make a laughingstock of us and we follow them and do not initiate anything,” claimed Liberman.
Are you in favor of stopping the hostage deal and resuming the war?
“I am not saying at the moment whether to stop the deal. I am wondering, if you reached an agreement which stipulates that the Red Cross visits the hostages, where is it? The approach of containment is simply not changing. The second thing is what is happening in the north. We hear all the time only statements that Hezbollah did not move beyond the Litani River. When talking to the residents in the north, we need to make it clear to them that we, as a country, are determined to implement [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701, even unilaterally. The other side should listen to us and understand it. The same goes for the Red Sea with the Houthis. This is an essential maritime trade route for the State of Israel and it is simply impossibleto continue like this. Unfortunately, this is the picture on the ground.”
“What I see is that [Mossad chief] David Barnea is in Qatar with the head of the CIA and they are talking about extending the ceasefire beyond two days. Meaning they agreed that there would be two more days and they are already talking about extending the ceasefire, when [Ismail] Haniyeh is one room away from them. It doesn’t add up in my head. So what about the soldiers? They are already in Gaza. So now some of them are being discharged and they will be recruited once again? The message being conveyed to the soldiers is simply problematic.”
Even though you are criticizing, you would be willing to sit with Netanyahu in the War Cabinet.When you are there, will it look different?
“I said that what I’m interested in is being in the War Cabinet. I don’t want another ministry, nor a coalition agreement or anything like that. I’m here to voice the opposite opinion and that’s why he doesn’t invite me. He wants to hear himself. They’re all part of the old concept – Bibi, Eizenkot, Gantz, and also the Chief of Staff and the head of the Shin Bet. After all, just a few days before the war broke out, they all said the same thing, that ‘Hamas is deterred and not interested in a war.'”
“We must challenge them. We must voice a different position and they will have to face it. But don’t worry, there is no fear that they will invite me. Right now the coalition between Likud and Blue and White is a coalition of the old concept.”
https://twitter.com/Yossi_Mansharof/status/1729818410291273971
READER-
Millions of Israelis disagree with you re the PM. And in one post below you have weaved the most tangled and twisted reasons to attack Netanyahu. Levin-Judiciary- and Uncle Tom Cobbley and All The Gordian Knot comes only in second place to your twisted thread of “insanity”. You know that I normally respect your opinions in which I find much interest, but lately you have jumped far out down the cliff.
..I wish there was just an icon for “Meshugga”, to save me commenting on your lunatic “reasoning”.
As Peloni notes, “I don’t hate Netanyahu” is a huge joke, and certainly NOT shown by your totally illogical diatribes raking up imaginary crimes and accusations against him.
@Reader
Best joke I have heard in years. Even better than stating that the Moldovian bouncer
Notably, Lieberman wanted to destroy Hamas before forming a govt which enabled it, which was notably before now when he wants to destroy it again. So perhaps you are correct that he means what he says, but if so, his meaning seems a bit unsteady don’t you think?
@Adam Dalgliesh
No, it was the lunge for money and power by the Hareidi and the NR MKs and the obsessive push by the maniac Levin to dismantle the judiciary in order to keep the current coalition led by Netanyahu in power for as long as humanly possible and save Netanyahu from the lawsuits, and they did it almost to the exclusion of everything else.
Israelis couldn’t just stand aside and helplessly watch this happen.
@Edgar G.
The difference between the “utterances” of Liberman and those of Netanyahu is that Liberman says what he means and means what he says while Netanyahu wouldn’t be caught dead doing this.
I don’t hate Netanyahu, I just think he is not fit to lead the country.
My opinion is that it is most important is that major changes in policy need to be made, whether Netanyahu remains in office or not. These changes in policy must involve both national defense and internal government issues.
1. No one involved in the recent insurrection against Israel’s elected government should remain in the government. Instead, they should be permanently banned from public offices, and deprived of citizenship. Their property should be confiscated and perhaps sold to raise money to compensate victims of Arab terrorism including any surviving freed hostages.
It was this “jewish intifada” that enabled Hamas to carry out their invasion, destroy several Jewish communities and murder or kidnap large numbers of Jews. Inevitably, the attention of all of Israel’s intelligence officers, from all of the Israeli agencies that did intelligence work, was deflected from observing Israel borders and prepations for attacks by the Arab aggressors to observing the insurrection and trying to figure out what to do about it. In addition, some of the intelligence officers with leftist opinions were probably participating in the insurrection. In that casr thry certainly would not have been paying attention to what was going on in Gaza.
Only the total exclusion of the insurrectionists from Israeli public life can remedy this situation.
2. All judges, prosecutors and other government lawyers who have rulings based on the “reasonableness doctrine” rather than Israeli law must be removed from office and permanently disbarred. Procedures to enable the impeachment of judges who rule according to their personal values rather than Israel’s laws will need to be put in place. Judges and other government lawyers must be deprived of the current power appointments to high offices of state.
3. The Israeli Bar Association must be removed from all governmental power, At present, one or more committees of the Bar Association control all appointments to higher office below the ranks of cabinet ministers,. In addition, the the Bar Association has deprived cabinet ministers, including the prime minister, of all but ceremonial powers, so that anyone who has actual power, such as civil servants and high-ranking military officers, are appointed by the Association or one of its numerous governing committees. The Israeli Supreme Court is merely one of these committees. Cabinet members, including the prime minister, must have full authority to nominate and dismiss all senior government officers, without judicial interference or “advice” from prosectors or court-appointed advisors. And any attempt by judges or other government officers to veto such appointments should lead to their immediate dismissal by the Knesset.
3 .The Knesset, is the sovereign power of thew Israel government according to its very first Basic Law. As a result, the approval of the Knesset should be required to confirm all nominations to the high offices of the state by the cabinet-level officers of the executive branch . Confirmation of such appointments by the judiciary, which is more or less the current system, should not be necessary. Only the Knesset and executive officers who the approval of the Knesset should be permitted to govern the country.
All people who support the terrorist organizations that murder Israelis must be deprived of citizenship and if possible expelled from the country. All citizens must renounce citiizenship in any other country, even the country of their birth, in a public ceremony. In particular, all citizens must renounce in public all allegiance to states or other entities that are at war with the state of Israel, such the “State of Palestine and Hamastan. All such persons should be placed in indefinite detention until ways can be found to resettle them in other countries.
I am not saying that there is any realistic possibility that these measures will ever be adopted. Opposition by Israel’s trading partners and arms providers, especially “UNcle Sam,” will probably make these reforms impossible to enact. What I am saying is without enactement of these reforms or similar ones, the survivial of the state won’t be possible. And since I don’t think it will be possible to enact these reforms, I dont’t think the state will survive the next twenty to forty years,
FELIX-
Lieberman is the head of an insignificant party of 5-6 seats Max. Never more. He can say what he likes, but it’s all for internal consumption. NO world leaders ever listen to Lieberman except when he was a rep of the Israeli govt. a very long time ago.
On the other hand, Netanyahu is LISTENED to by ALL, internally and especially EXTERNALLY.
News reports are doubtful sources of accurate info We ALL know or SHOULD know THAT..??
He has to be careful what he says as Israel is dependent, during wartime on others. for munitions and armaments. Netanyahu seaks for ALL Israel. He reiterates Not that Hamas must be, or should be, but WILL be destroyed. Over and over. He had garnered fantastic world support on this issue.
I certainly believe him. We all should should. You are reasonable and do..
Reader never will, .
There is strong forces to try to separate the Yesha Arabs from Jew Hatred
But the Israeli people do not believe in that and do not want that.
Separate the two.
Discuss in detail how that will work
Say to the world living cheek by jowl with a Nazi people is no future for Jews.
Say to the whole world BEEN THERE DONE THAT!
READER this is why all the time an independent party of Trotskyism theory in action must be built.
Reader please all I say is that Netanyahu must be defended against the Fascists
Reading over what I wrote the problem is that I said a lot of things.
And some of it may be confusing.
It was a similar kind of problem with Milosevic
My position is that these types of national leaders must be defended against the common enemy when they fight the common enemy, very clearly, but always the defence is a critical defence.
I am not in fact uncritical of Liebermann but in the present he says no Palestine state and Netanyahu coalition I stress coalition is not saying that. The coalition is saying the opposite.
The coalition is saying make the Arabs strong again. Or remove Hamas to make the Arabs strong again.That’s the worst thing to do.
Who can refute that I am wrong.
There is this deadly contradiction in the Coalition.
I think Lieberman sees the contradiction. And his position NOW is correct and it is self evident.
FELIX
I see NO reason why the PM MUST agree with Lieberman. He is the leader of the ruling coalition of 65 seats. Lieberman leads maybe 5-6, and stayed out of the coalition when in recent elections his joining with LIKUD would have avoided the Bennett-Lapid-Gantz debacle which did so much harm to Israel.
Besides thePM has uttered the very same sentiments many times, We read it maybe in one report inn Arutz 7, but he has many daily meetings and must be saying the same things over and over, likely a dozen times a day.
Lieberman said it ONCE and suddenly he’s a hero……..Pshaw….!!
I must strongly disagree with you in this.
As for Reader, he has a Netanyahu phobia and nothing he does is right according to Reader.. an almost Arab hatred of the man..
@FelixQuigley
I am not sure what it was you found so objectionable in what I said about Netanyahu.
I agree with your assessment of Netanyahu and with your assessment of what Liberman said except that I don’t think that Netanyahu needs us to defend him against anyone.
He is a perfect populist politician who uses his charisma and the ability to tell everyone what they want to hear with perfect timing, and when things don’t work out the way he promised, his fans pull out the excuse of the tremendous pressure he was under and/or blame the horrible people he works with, etc. – I don’t buy that stuff but it permits his fans to keep their idol on his pedestal.
In my opinion, he will never publicly agree with Liberman because this would be humiliating and it would mean that he is expressing support for Liberman.
Don’t worry, he will know what to do to keep himself out of trouble, whether he can do the same for the country, I am not so sure.
@Felix
Bibi does not need to cite the Moldovian bouncer for support. In fact, he has repeatedly cited his reasons for opposing allowing the PA or anyone similar to them to rule in Gaza. That being said, he should recognize that the Pals support Hamas’ position as per Israel rather than hoping to find some Pals with non-Pal sentiments which might be whimsically invented.
The issue in fact should be recognized by Bibi and the rest is that the continued presence of the Pals as an nihilistic cleft with a close geographic access to the Jews which they see as prey, something which should supersede the distinction between Fatah, Hamas or any other group of Pals ruling Gaza. The presence of the Pals will remain to be the source of the problem which can only be resolved by their removal to somewhere else, or at a minimum, reducing their geographic presence to only being in the south.
This is what needs to be pursued, by one and all, but it flies in the face of the interests of the Americans, and even with Lieberman being in the Opposition, I notice that he can not bear to bring his voice to support such a conclusion. It is noteworthy that Bibi did make some attempt at having Egypt take the Pals, but even failing this, he should push them south and keep them there, and on this too Yvette fails to advocate despite his freedom to do so from the Opposition.
The greater issue is that all of the Israeli leadership is cowed by American threats to accept American interests in place of Israeli interests, and this should be the crux of what should be changed in pursuit of the new Conception. Failing to do so, no matter what is said or done, will leave the old Conception of bowing to American demands in place, and this is why we are where we are, why those slaughtered on October 7 are dead, and why the abductees are missing and mistreated with impunity. The Americans are acting on behalf of Iran, and this is what the old Conception failed to directly challenge, and what the new Conception should directly address, or the Old Conception will still infect the New Conception, no matter what nuance the New Conception might be built around or which personality is chosen to repeat the old mistakes all over again.
Reader
I cannot agree with you on Netanyahu. You miss some things. APPROACH IS NOT TROTSKYIST!
First of all he has been a curse for Jews and Israel. I can easily itemise these times which are memorable. They go back to the disengagement in 2005. He was dangerous.
Silent on rape of Serbs…had been always a NeoCon
Especially war on Saddam and on Libya what treachery !!!
On Assad versus ISIS hard to believe. White Helmets were CIA Jihadist.
IT GOES ON AND ON
Yet the Supreme Court was the problem. The SC meant a new Holocaust. And then he had to be defended
Now he opposes an Arab Fascist state in Yesha
So he and Liberman are partly agreeing.
That Reader is the real lineup
What Liberman says is the truth 100 per cent on this.
He is ahead of Netanyahu. He says it openly. More openly and often than Netanyahu.
But also Netanyahu needs to be defended NOT ATTACKED AS READER DOES against Biden
What is needed is a Trotskyist party in Israel.
Trotsky unlike Stalin did not disrespect Jewish culture and religion. We respect THE HISTORY.
It is deeply ingrained in us.
We are atheists who are tolerant. So many do not know our history.
They are sometimes arrogant towards us.
They try to stop us speaking.
Most do not publicise Trotsky and his VALIANT role in Ukraine in the 1917 to 1921 period of great Jewish suffering, torture and death.
Not me personally, but Jews urgently need a Trotskyist leadership party now.
On the immediate issue Netanyahu should immediately say as leader of the coalition that HE AGREES WITH LIEBERMANN that NO PA IN GAZA
AND itemise his reasons for public consumption
Edgar and Peloni are wrong in missing this point and Reader is partly right.
Bottom line is defend Netanyahu ALWAYS CRITICALLY!
Thanks again Ted. I don’t know what happens with my posts, maybe some sort of delayed posting, or maybe direct to Trash from which you rescue them.??
TED
My response to READER on this subject has , as is becoming usual, not been printed. I seem to be having more duds than usual, almost successively.
If you can find, please post, and thank you.
READER-
You are wrong….! Liebermann IS a Moldavian, and also a crook. He had to get out of there in a hurry. After all, do you expect an honest man to be a chucker out and” manager” in a very sleazy club full of gangsters and prostitutes.
He is still being investigated for a variety of items in Israel. You’ll note that for many uears his party has remained Static, although there is a multitude of Russians in Israel.
I see no racism in calling a fact a fact.
AND, “Bibi hater” that you are, you cannot deny that the charges against him are spurious, and concocted to force him out of office. Bottle-gate, Icecream-gate, Garden furniture-gate, cigar-gate, etc.
The villain of this piece is Mandelblit and his backers, who actually offerd to drop all charges if he “got out” of politics. All this was printed in Arutz 7 years ago.
And look at the desperate attempts for the leftist dogs to attempt a coup d’etat against a democratically elected Govt, because he is at the head of it.
And not least, the lack of intelligence and sloth resulting in the Oct7th massacres were aided and abetted by those rebellious, planned civil disorders which interfered greatly with the Tourist Trade, costing billions of shekels as well as taking the attention from Hamas to the rebels.
You seem to have a Netanyahu phobia that goes beyond ALL bounds. I’m sorry you feel this way about Israel’s greatest and only World Class Statesman.
I could go on, but …….
READER-
You are wrong….! Liebermann IS a Moldavian, and also a crook. He had to get out of there in a hurry. After all, do you expect an honest man to be a chucker out and” manager” in a very sleazy club full of gangsters and prostitutes.
He is still being investigated for a variety of items in Israel. You’ll note that for many uears his party has remained Static, although there is a multitude of Russians in Israel.
I see no racism in calling a fact a fact.
AND, “Bibi hater” that you are, you cannot deny that the charges against him are spurious, and concocted to force him out of office. Bottle-gate, Icecream-gate, Garden furniture-gate, cigar-gate, etc.
The villain of this piece is Mandelblit and his backers, who actually offerd to drop all charges if he “got out” of politics. All this was printed in Arutz 7 years ago.
And look at the desperate attempts for the leftist dogs to attempt a coup d’etat against a democratically elected Govt, because he is at the head of it.
And not least, the lack of intelligence and sloth resulting in the Oct7th massacres were aided and abetted by those rebellious, planned civil disorders which interfered greatly with the Tourist Trade, costing billions of shekels as well as taking the attention from Hamas to the rebels.
I could go on, but …….
@Edgar G. @dreuveni
While I can understand that some people will just about defend the dear Bibi with their lives, calling Liberman “a Moldavian crook” is racist and beyond the pale.
The whole point of what Liberman is saying is that the people who run this war are the same ones who messed things up in the 1st place, and they still think along the same lines that caused the problem to begin with.
A PM under indictment, especially the one who has so openly and publicly bought his coalition in order to protect him in and, ideally, from the court is a HUGE NATIONAL SECURITY RISK FOR ISRAEL.
That whole incompetent and corrupt coalition has no business governing anything, the only reason it was formed is to destroy the judiciary before it had a chance to try Netanyahu.
Unfortunately, there are no leaders who could have done that (dissolve the coalition), so Bibi’s fans can keep joyfully watching Bibi’s shticks, tricks, and “adroit maneuvers” and listen to his soothing lies which let him stay in power, the country be damned.
Apropos of the CIA, a former operations officer details how it is no longer funcional. All tied up in beurocracy, no guts, no feet on the ground. In other words, adding to the delusional culture of the US and parts of Israel.
imprimis.hillsdale.edu/why-the-cia-no-longer-works-and-how-to-fix-it/pro
Bibi was oddly surprised by a field visit with his soldiers to learn that Gazan citizens were fully supporting Hamas. I find that troubling. How come he was so out of it when even American journalists were reporting on it? Is he competent? This video starting around minute 7:25 shows this.
youtube.com/watch?v=m64-Er6eCo0
I read Liebermann’s statement about being in the war cabinet. Like he says, he will only vent his own opinion but not cause any change. The other arguments below will not make any difference. Bibi may be just as criminal as most think but the charges against him, while less than comfortable, do not add up to cause to dismiss any more than most other Israeli politicians, not to speak of politicians in other countries. Getting rid of him although not found guilty before the court simply means that those of the deep state, led by Biden at this time, would achieve their goal. The fact that they convinced a portion of the Israeli public to go along with them because where there’s smoke, there must be fire, just proves that propaganda works. I suggest that we get the war done, followed by the investigation. Then is the time to vote in a new government and I can only hope that this not-so-common common sense will prevail.
READER-
Right NOW, is when it counts. Liebermann has said nothing that many other pols have not also said. The PM most of all. He is determined and nothing you surmise will change that
To think a Moldavian crook would be a better PM than Netanyahu shows a disassociation from present situations on the ground.
Liebermann reached his high point of competence when he went from chucker-out to manager of that sleazy club where he came from. \The Peter Principle works fine here.
You have plenty of common sense, so start using it. stop with the rhodomontade.
@peloni
Your last comment makes no sense.
No one is perfect but if it came to that, Liberman as a premier would be much better than Netanyahu.
You did an excellent and impressive timeline on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, why don’t you look as thoroughly and objectively at Netanyahu’s record for the last 30 years or so and post it here without personal comments.
@Reader
If Bibi must go, they all must go.
Presuming that Lieberman is not compromised otherwise, his actions put the interests of a personal grudge over the state. Either way, he is no leader which anyone should find any confidence in supporting, not in spite of what he said in 2016, but precisely because of what he said in 2016 and what he did in 2021.
@peloni
Will you quit your obsession with “Bibi the Baby”, the Teflon PM?
Right now, Liberman is correct, and as far as the previous government is concerned, at least it tried to work for the whole country instead of lunging for money and power for its “sector” while being thoroughly incompetent while being encouraged in it by a corrupt PM who bought the loyalty of the coalition by promising it the moon and stars and inventing all sorts of weird ministries for it.
The current government should have been replaced as soon as the war started, unfortunately, there was no one in Israel who could have done it.
I just hope they won’t destroy Israel.
Most Jews in the Diaspora think that Israel is kind of optional but they will find out that it isn’t if (God forbid) it disappears because all of us will face another Holocaust and a lot more successful one for our enemies this time.
Sometimes I wonder whether Israel thinks that the Diaspora Jews are kind of optional, too.
Interestingly, it was Lieberman’s support which placed Bibi outside the govt when Bibi was going to re-enact the assassination of Hamas leadership following the May War of Riots and Rockets back in 2021. Instead, Lieberman chose to support a govt which actually rewarded Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Arab Israelis for their treachery in that war. Importantly, the prospective of rewarding the Pals for their treachery in that war was well known when Lieberman provided his support to it, and without his support the govt of Spare Parts including the Brotherhood could not have been formed. Him doing so would seem to indicate that he was quite willing to design his perspective on chastising Hamas to suit his political objectives of the moment. Is this current outburst against Hamas any different? Perhaps so, but we should be cautious about placing much stock in the words of this political chameleon who has so easily flipped hot and cold on how to deal with Hamas in the past.
Relevantly, it has also been stated that it was in the months following the 2021 war that the October 7 attack was first planned, while, with Lieberman’s full support, Israel cravenly rewarded her attackers and ignored the outrages conducted during that operation.
Furthermore, it should be recalled that the govt which Lieberman helped form in May 2021 was the same govt which actually surrendered the gas fields to Hezbollah under US pressure, and yet I do not recall Lieberman condemning his govt for doing so, or even joining the Right in challenging his own lame duck govt’s authority to cede state assets to a terrorist entity.
Hence, if Bibi must go to make room for a new conception as Lieberman suggests, it seems quite clear that Lieberman should not be among the governmental hold overs who should be left in power. The new conception must be one which recognizes that Israel is sovereign in her own nation, and Lieberman, despite his previous calls to destroy Hamas, chose to be less supportive of Israel’s interests at a key point in history to the gross advantage of both Hamas and Hezbollah and in accordance with the influence of the American govt.
Liberman makes a good point. The signs coming from the Israeli leaders are that they do not have the ability or freedom to break with the US. While Netanyahu has remained firm that the PA will not be in charge of Gaza, it appears that the US has won on every other issue.
At this point, extending the cease-fire after Israeli troops have been shot at does not make any sense. This is Israel’s chance to end the cease fire with justification. The problem for Netanyahu will be blowback from hostage families who want nothing to get in the way of the release of their family members.
Israel is being torn apart by its own people, with the leaders in the middle between hostage family members on one side, and everyone else who wants the destruction of Hamas to proceed.
The US is fanning the flames of this divide, letting Israeli leaders twist in the breeze.
Joe Biden wants to see Netanyahu done in, and he’s doing all he can to provoke that, putting Netanyahu in a no win situation.
At this point Netanyahu looks like he is doing the best he can with a terrible situation. He may have indeed erred when, in 2016 Liberman presented him with intelligence about Hamas’ plan to attack Israel.
The Israeli people will decide these issues of whom they want leading them. At the moment it appears the people want the war prosecuted and won, and nothing to get in the way of that objective. The vast majority of Americans stand behind Israelis.